We’re blogging a little feebly today….

§ Laura Hudson responds to Frank Santoro’s essay on the Direct Market:

The “death” of the Direct Market is similar to the way that languages die; it’s not the ultimate black screen, the permanent 404 of existence, but something more gradual and conceptual. The Direct Market is dead in the same way that Latin is dead, even though plenty of people of people still speak it. And as dramatic as “death” sounds, this is the kind of death that lingers, and it is something very anti-climactic indeed.


§ Tim O’Shea interviews the Great Carol Tyler

Tyler: Maus is such an important work. To be likened on some level to Maus: unbelievable. However, my answer comes more from a personal place.

When I first read the New York Times Review by Douglas Wolk, I was ready to bust out cryin’ with joy. You see, Art Spiegelman was one of the first official cartoonists I met. I was part of the fan team that helped with the first Raw promotions, hanging up fliers all over Manhattan. This was 1982 maybe? It felt so cool to be part of his inner circle and close to the early excitement he was feeling about Maus. I remember we were in a cab once on the way back from a Raw party and I was thinking how my Dad was over there, too, as part of the armed effort that eventually liberated his Dad. And his Mother. But I never believed that I could ever produce a work that would be mentioned in the same sentence.


§ Comics legend Neal Adams has signed with agency ICM to represent this and that and Bucky O’Hare. Details in the link.

§ Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman looks at the number of books about Siegel and Shuster:

A friend asked me why I think the last few years have seen a surge in interest in Siegel and Shuster. Good question, and it also begs a more specific one: is this increased interest only within the comics community or also among the general public?


§ Bruce Lidl looks at Technology and the Future of the Comic Book

Why have comics lagged behind other entertainment industries in feeling the effects of new distribution technologies? Comics are strangely, sui generis, in the sense that they share many of the characteristics of the publishing industry, but in my opinion are quite different from books. Specifically, comics share many elements with art. Comics, no matter how low brow their history, are undeniably a visual medium with a very different experience than purely textual books.


(We have a few con reports from Bruce awaiting the energy to post, so they should be up in the next few days.)

§ If you thought my con report was Anna Karenina, Matt Maxwell’s is War and Peace.

1 COMMENT

  1. I keep seeing “mainstream comics press” posts referring to this essay that read something to the effect of:

    “Yah, but Nexus was already dead, what does that have to do with the Direct Market?”

    I say clearly in my Preface that “Maybe everyone’s just had their fill of Nexus but the news of this indie’s end got me thinking about the bigger picture.”

    http://comicscomicsmag.blogspot.com
    /2009/08/bridge-is-over.html