§ You will need to go through several sign-up tests to get to this Psychiatric Times article about the use of comics in psychiatric treatment, but inspired by the recent Comics and Medicine conference, the answer is “Yes.”

After hearing that I spent a few days at a comics and medicine conference, an ordinarily taciturn patient with autism spectrum disorder revealed that he enjoyed Japanese manga comics. It was unexpected to see him smile or show such enthusiasm, although I wondered if manga’s many sexually exploitative themes kindled his intrigue. Discussing comics in session seemed like a good way to open closed doors and circumvent his limited communications skills.

A transgendered patient seemed equally thrilled to tell me of her affection for artist/author Alison Bechdel. In one day, I felt confident that I had stumbled upon an unexplored but promising clinical tool. A few mental health–related graphic novels left in the waiting room can accomplish a lot, especially when dwindling appointment times leave less and less time for psychotherapy.

§ ONE MORE intervention link, I promise. Michael Cavna interviews co-founder Oni Hartstein :

ONI HARTSTEIN: I think the biggest lesson is that we all know each other much better than in the first year. The five-year point is when the staff really starts to gel with events, and that’s exactly what happened here. The quality of the event is higher than ever.

§ This piece entitled The Comic Book Industry Is On Fire, And It’s About More Than Just The Movies leads you through the many topics we’ve covered here over the last year or so (and links to a few pieces we’ve written) including more and better comics, more cons, more stores, more movies and so on but ends with suggesting actual comics to read. Curve ball!

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§ Huh well how do you like that: Marvel Has No Plans To Release Any Comics Based On ‘Big Hero 6’. This is the Disney animated movie based on Marvel Comics, but the subject matter has been thoroughly transformed. Straight out Disney kiddie comics are still a tough sell in the continental United States. And look at those characters. Who could possibly make comics about this gang!

§ After all the time we spent covering the amazing story of the Hulk Statue of the Northlake Library, we were stunned by this account of ANOTHER Hulk Statue in an Illinois backyard discovered by a news chopper inspecting flood damage.

Stunned.

What other Hulk secrets lie in the backyards of America? This could be an entire Marvel New Now Soon mini series. Hello Jonathan Hickman, this is right up your alley.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I’m not even sure that Marvel has plans to reprint (assuming it was previously collected) a collected trade of the original BIG HERO 6 miniseries.

  2. Considering how different the Big Hero 6 movie is from the comics, with a completely different target audience from Marvel’s, I can see the logic of not issuing a reprint to tie in with it.

  3. Marvel…
    Okay, I can understand if they don’t do a OGN tie-in. Prince of Persia (with a McFarlane cover!) sold horribly, and Peter David couldn’t get much interest for his “Epic Mickey” comics.

    But…
    did you know there’s a graphic novel adaptation of “Frozen” available as an e-book?
    9781484726198
    https://www.hachettebookgroup.biz/titles/none/frozen-graphic-novel/9781484726198/

    Yup. #5 worldwide, bigger box office than Iron Man 3, and there’s only an e-book GN. With almost no publicity.

    Marvel isn’t even reprinting the original comics.

    Marvel… do yourselves a favor…
    Take all of your young reader comics (Disney, Muppets, Marvel Age, Kingdom Comics…) and let Disney Italy produce everything. You’ve done this already with the Muppet reprint magazines from 2013.

    Let there be a Disney XD monthly magazine.
    Sure, make it a digital magazine, with paper copies only available by subscription. But really… this is a no-brainer.

    I mean… if Germany can sell 150,000 copies of Micky Maus every week to 658.000 readers in a market of 100 million German-speakers, why can’t Disney/Marvel sell an English Disney comic to some 1.5 BILLION English-speakers?
    HELL… Egmont/Ehapa, the German Disney publisher, published an ENGLISH edition for German school kids to learn English!!!

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