Tag: Top News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoN7SyWJCJI Marvel has just released a new video teaser which s reveals that YES....all of those event teasers we've been seeing over the last few...

On Monday, James Sturm, cartoonist and director of the Center for Cartoon Studies, posted a cartoon at The Nib called "The Sponsor". I'm sure if you are a cartoonist you've already read it, since it was the talk of the town for a few days. Basically it concerns cartoonists, jealousy, the low bar for success, anxiety over one's abilities, tumblr hits, Kickstarter and more. All in 24 panels. I'd call that a good job. The basic conceit is that as in various 12-step programs, cartoonists have sponsors they can call in moments of stress. A young cartoonist named Casey calls his sponsor, Alan, in the middle of the night to fret about another cartoonist named Tessa who has a six figure Kickstarter, a line out the door at a Rocketship signing, and a book deal with D&Q. Tessa's success sends Casey into such a tizzy that he has to work things out and consider grad school, despite Alan's insistence that Crumb never thought about hits. And despite his "stay strong" rhetoric to Casey, Alan soon picks up the phone to call his OWN sponsor.

San Diego Workforce Partnership, a local employment consultant, has released some stats on the con's impact on local employment, concluding that convention center staffers are paid $320,000 for working during the con, which requires 100% of the staff where other cons only need 80-90%. This information was highlighted in some PR released by CCI, which I'll quote below, but Con scholars will probably want to read the original report. Among other figures, SDWP estimates for $178 million in economic impact for the 2014 show. I believe this is the highest estimate I've yet heard for his metric.

More and more job openings at DC Entertainment are being listed at the WB web site, and where once a Joe Orlando just barked at people that Superman's tights were blue, now it takes a village of VPs to keep the content properly strategized. Take this job, VP, Content Strategy, who works with the Co-Publishers (Lee and DiDio), the SVP, Editorial Strategy & Administration (a person not publicly announced, I believe), Franchise Management, Business Development, and Sales. He or she will be a busy bee indeed.

APE—the Alternative Press Expo—moves to San Jose next year, and it will be held in the San Jose Convention Center, which already hosts the more mainstream Big Wow Comics Fest in April. APE will stay in its fall dates, in this case October 3-4. The dates, and more plans for the show, were revealed in a wide ranging interview with show runner Dan Vado conducted by Deb Aoki for Publishers Weekly. Although indie CAFs haven't exactly thrived in traditional convention centers—Stumptown in Portland springs to mind—Vado has big plans to tie the comic fest in more with other local San Jose cultural events:

IT HAD TO HAPPEN. Jaxxon, the giant green rabbit who made an unforgettable impression in the FIRST EVER original Marvel Star Wars story in issue #7 from 1978...is coming back. But only on the cover of the Star Wars #1 "Party" Variant Cover, as depicted by artist John Tyler Christopher. So far.

Earlier this year, the selection of Bill Watterson as the Grand Prix winner at the Angoulême comics festival created quite a stir. The winner is traditionally the "grand marshal" of the whole festival, helping plan exhibits and appearing at official events. (Or, as in the case of Willem, last ear's winner, hanging out at Le Chat Noir until 1 am with everyone else.) It seemed a bit of a stretch for Watterson, but was it impossible? Although the once reclusive Calvin & Hobbes creator hasn't exactly turned into Taylor Swift, he makes occasional semi public appearances and is way more accessible in interviews. (If you call once or twice a year accessible.) When the win was announced, Watterson's editor Lee Salem said he would try to tell him how wonderful Angoulême is, so maybe Watterson would make an exception for this so not a comic-con event?

Image has jumped on the teaser bandwagon with what seems to be two new series. Lumosity is about the daughter of the President of the US having superpowers (attn: Shonda Rhimes), and The Recluse seems to be a less high concept tale. Will these be coming the books announced at January's Image Expo? Or just in next weeks solicitations?

You guys! You guy! Ohmigod! Cartoonist Tony Millionaire and animator Matt Danner are trying to make a hybrid CGI/live action movie based on Millionaire's Sock Monkey books. Danner—WWE Slam City, Hotwheels—has penned a script and the duo re attempting to line up financing for the film.

UPDATE: A GoFundMe has been set up to help Kelly Dale in this difficult time. Artist Jeremy Dale has passed away suddenly. Best known...

Today what will probably be the biggest selling graphic novel—or hybrid graphic novels, or picto-fic or whatever you want to call it—of the year goes on sale. Wimpy Kid #9, The Long Haul is the latest installment of Jeff Kinney's best selling series, and it finds the Heffleys going on a sumer road trip. Anyone who grew up with a family and car will immediately need no further hype as to the horrors and comedy plot potential inherent in the family road trip, but just in case you need more of a pitch:

In the local cable show covering diversity in comics linked to earlier today, Ms. Marvel editor Sana Amanat was interviewed and she mentioned that "she's our #1 digital seller." It's been mentioned publicly a few times that it's among Marvel's best selling digital titles, and over the summer at a Marvel summit it was announced that the first issue had sold more digitally than in print.