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§ I’m sorry this is a weekly column now. But on the plus side, while I was googling around, I found these images of the ORIGINAL Kibbles ‘n’ Bits!

What’s interesting is that in the “classic” version, the dog is clearly holding a plate in its mouth because the pooch just can’t wait to tuck into some tasty kibbles ‘n’ bits. Int his modified version, the dog just has a plate under its chin which…makes less sense? Maybe it’s because it contains string beans? Serous talk: I am NOT a dog person but do they really eat string beans?

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BTW this column is called KnB because as a kid I saw this commercial…

…and it has haunted me ever since. A later version introduced “bits and bits and bits.”

§ Anyway lots to cover!!!!

§ Chris Butcher reflects on his once in a lifetime chance to interview Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto twice during NYCC. One of the interesting things he covers (really the whole post is great) is what it was like doing an interview in a big hall, which seats 2200 people:

I had a lot of questions prepared, and even after we figured out what he’d be comfortable talking about and not talking about, I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to get through all of them. Also, while I’ve been on stage many times in the past and generally have that down, this was my first time in front of an audience this size (I think), and 2200 people is a lot of people! An audience that size has demands, and those demands tend to be questions that are fun, quick, and intimately about the series, rather than longer discussions on the nature of war and peace (for reals). As an interviewer, it was a really great experience to edit myself on the fly, keeping in mind not just the conversation with the creator, but also the conversation we were both having with the audience. It was a unique challenge, and I hope I get the opportunity to do so again one day.


I haven’t read much about the art of moderating panels, or interviewing people on stage in front of thousands of people, but Butcher’s observations seem dead on to me. When there are that many people in the room they want some kind of “revival tent” experience, so you need to keep it moving.

§ Comics new site gets NEW personnel! After the recent comics EIC diaspora, some people are still getting into this business, sort of. Broken Frontier has named longtime staffers Tom Murphy as its new Managing Editor, and Jason Wilkins as Editor, the position previously filled by Murphy. Mpvin’ on up.

§ But another blog down as Chris Marshall has announced he’s shutting down his Collected Comics Library site. Awwwwwwww.

This website started out as a project when I took a web development class at the University of Michigan. In 2005 I added the podcast and turned a static site into a blog. Over time the site became a place where a niche comic book audience could come and learn about new releases of current and past material of comic books and comic strips. I became an advocate of the medium and called out over-hyped/over-priced books, ratted out typos and bad binding, and pointed out missed opportunities. But I was always fair and love to see a book come along that reprints forgotten material for a new generation. With hard work and dedication the CCL has gained me notoriety and friendships throughout the world, but I couldn’t of achieved anything without you, my loyal listener and reader.


In an email, Marshall gave the reason for the shut down as the good old “not enough time for blogging any more.” It happens to the best of us.

§ Teen Vogue has started a series of articles called Why Girls Should Love Comic Books by Tini Howard, winner of the 2014 Top Cow Talent Hunt, and writer on POSEIDON IX and more. I talked about this on this weeks More to Come podcast but getting comics into Teen Vogue is the final straw for All Media Comics Appreciation. There is no way that even 10 years ago you could have persuaded an editor at a Condé Nast magazine website that girls who are into fashion, dating and makeup would read comic books. But now, thanks to Marvel movies and The Walking Dead and Smile, they do! I want to do a mic drop here but I have to keep on living. Anyway, Howard gives good solid advice for getting into comics including:

The elephant in the room is that not every comic shop is welcoming to young women. I know women who have never had a good experience in a comic shop. Here’s the truth: You’re absolutely welcome and allowed to be there. If you walk into your local shop and they make you feel as if you don’t belong, they must not want your money, and I suggest you leave and go elsewhere. Or shout out at The Valkyries on Twitter — this group (of which this writer is a proud member) is made up of women who work at and own comic shops all over the world, and can direct you to a shop with a cool, lady-friendly environment.


I think it’s good to be upbeat even though the unwelcoming comics shop phenomenon is a real thing.

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§ Two piece of comics art sold recently for significant amounts of dosh. A painting of Batman called “A Sinister Figure Lurks in the Dark” that artist Mel Ramos traded away for a stack of comics, sold for for $173,000 at a Heritage Auctions event. Ramos, you were had. But it is a striking piece of work.
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But even more pricey, a rare page of Tintin art by Hergé from King Ottokar’s Sceptre sold for $1.7 Million . Tintin art has been selling in this range recently, but this is a record. It is a very nice piece and includes Snowy.

Konvention Korner:
§ MOAR CONVENTIONS. Heroes & Villains Fan Fest is a new entity spinning out of the Walker Stalker series of conventions. They have an event in San Jose next month and one in New York in January. The only guests for the NY (actually Secaucus) show thus far are John Barrowman and Stephen Amell, so it’s extremely pretty. San Jose has these two and Karen Gillan, Rebecca Mader, Hayley Attwell and other well known nerdlebrities. All very very pretty! Activities include getting autographs and taking pictures with your favorite nerdlebrities for the going rates. I have never attended one of these autograph shows…and until Karl Urban starts going regularly I probably won’t.

§ The San Diego Reader has a piece on San Diego Comic Con Hotel wars and how Airbnb has proliferated. However, some folks don’t want to rent out during con:

Airbnb business during Comic-Con has nearly tripled since 2014. Despite how ubiquitous Airbnb has become, not all hosts are extending the welcome wagon. One host, after learning that some potential guests were attending Comic-Con, turned them away, saying that the property was no longer available. Another host says, ”I did not like to take Airbnb guests during Comic-Con because some Comic-Con guests are hard on your property. I also need to set a time requirement.” On the flip side — some hosts encourage Comic-Con guests. Airbnb host Mark Hidalgo of downtown San Diego says, “We’ll have a lot of people and above average cleaning to do, for sure. Maybe a few small things get broken, but whatever.”


Whatever. It used to be we’d talk about getting a condo together and saving money but even that loophole has been sewn up now.

§ At the 2014 SDCC there was an unfortunate incident during the Zombie Walk in which a pedestrian was run over. A trial is now taking place and the man who did the running over, Matthew Pocci, faced three years in prison if convicted. The victim testified Wednesday, recounting the severity of her injuries:

Campbell got caught underneath the vehicle. In her testimony Wednesday, she described the injury to her arm. “The skin actually falls off the arm — not balls off but opens up, so that’s what I understand,” Campbell testified about a wound to her arm. “I knew clearly that I had a gloving injury, and that’s what I understand happened, and I also had a very deep tissue trauma to my right leg.” A professional photographer, Campbell said she was taking pictures of the walk on July 26, 2014, in hopes of selling them later.


Bocci took the stand yesterday:

Pocci said he turned off his car for 10-15 minutes, but grew impatient. He said he turned the car back on and honked — which caused people to surround the car. Pocci said two men sat on the hood and he started to fear for the safety of his passengers, which included his fiancee, her nine-year-old son and her sister. “I felt threatened, I felt scared. I felt I had an obligation, a responsibility to keep them safe,” Pocci said. Pocci sped through the intersection, hitting a woman who severely injured her arm and leg.


Video of the incident is inconclusive based on what I’ve seen. Pocci and his two passengers are deaf and that probably added to his anxiety during the incident. This is a tough one to call, honestly, even though gunning your car into a crowd is probably a bad idea and illegal. But I’m not a lawyer. 

ROUND-UP:

§ This interview with Jonathan Lethem about The Best American Comics 2015 was excellent.

§ TCJ also interview the fellow behind the new New York Review Comics line.

§ Cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto got the full on whats in my apartment treatment in the Sunday NY Times. What was I just saying above about breaking the barriers?

§ Oh this is another post from Chris Butcher: Twitter: A two act play. SO FUCKING TRUE.

§ I know I link to the NYTimes so much but I loved this piece called ‘Star Wars’: Their First Time because now you know what Ridley Scott thought when he saw Star Wars for the first time, and that is probably the key moment in the history of SF cinema.

I had done a film called “The Duellists” and was in Los Angeles to shoot at Paramount, and I honestly think Paramount had forgotten. I remember saying, I’m Ridley Scott, and they said who? So David Puttnam, one of the greatest producers I’ve ever worked with and the most fun, said, “Screw them, let’s go see [“Star Wars”] at the Chinese [theater].” It was the first week. I’ve never known audience participation like it, absolutely rocking. I felt my “Duellist” was this big [holds thumb and forefinger an inch apart], and George had done that [stretches arms out wide]. I was so inspired I wanted to shoot myself. My biggest compliment can be [to get] green with envy and really bad-tempered. That damn George, son of a bitch. I’m very competitive.

§ So sad. Matthew McConaughey will not play the villain in GotG 2. This article speculates that this might have been Adam Warlock, and you know, I can totally picture Adam Warlock driving around aimlessly in the middle of the night babbling about how magical his car is, so this is a lost opportunity, people.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I’d never used AirBnB and decided to try it for the experience at SDCC. Found a nearby place at a great price and submitted the reservation – only to get an email from the “host” (who turned out not to live there, of course, but was the owner of investment property) requesting a bid. The rental price wasn’t a price at all – it was deliberately set low so the investor could collect emails + personal info to run an off-book auction.

    The game, it was not played.

  2. Dogs will eat string beans if they’re hungry. They won’t be happy about it, and may play with them on the plate for a while, complaining that they taste yucky. (I may have dogs confused with children.)

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