Category: News

It’s our Official Toy Fair 2009 debriefing with some of the finest action figures we’ve seen yet including Strangers in Paradise, Dick Tracy and even The Wolfman. And by the way, someone out there forgot to buy their comics in January and the numbers showed it. Even the President couldn’t stimulate this, 

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Yes, I have a bit of history with comic books and condoms. (Go ahead, Google my name with "condom". I’ll wait.)

But even I wouldn’t have thought of this one.

Lord help us, it’s the Dr. Manhattan condom.

No, I don’t know if it glows in the dark.

And we hear another scream from Northampton, England…

Hat tip: Valerie D’Orazio’s new Comic Book Junction.

It’s been said that Barack Obama’s web-savvy would help the economy, and now we have proof.

ICv2 reports: "Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man #583 rode President Obama’s coattails to a record-setting total of 352,953, making it the bestselling full-price periodical comic book since ICv2 began tracking sales through Diamond Comic Distributors in 2001.  Previous high numbers belong to Marvel’s Civil War #3 and Captain America #25, which each sold 290K, but unlike those titles ASM #583’s performance was the result of not just multiple variant covers, but multiple printings–in fact it appears likely that the majority of ASM’s sales came from subsequent printings not its initial run.  And, for anyone who thinks that the Obama cover was not the primary sales driver, please note that prior to the Obama story and cover image, the title had been selling south of the 70,000 mark.  The sales for this title may not be all over–the fourth printing of ASM #583 shipped in February along with the fifth printing."

Now all we have to do is get Obama to crossover into every single comic published. I bet they’re already discussing it in editorial offices across the land, though it’s going to be tough to slip him into an issue of Jonah Hex.

UPDATE 3:15 PM: Looks like President Awesome has already predicted this.

I was wondering what sort of licensing tie-ins could be possible for Watchmen, but here’s one I didn’t expect. Watchmen photographer Clay Enos has enlisted his Organic Coffee Cartel  to produce a first-of-its-kind movie tie-in coffee. Yesterday, OCC introduced Veidt Enterprises’ “Nite Owl Dark Roast,” a limited-edition confection and collectible designed for fans and organic coffee gourmands alike. A portion of the proceeds from the special roast will be donated to charity.

One side of the uniquely crafted steel can resembles artwork straight out of the Watchmen universe; the other side features Enos’ striking black & white portrait of Nite Owl, played in the film by Patrick Wilson. There will be just one run of cans produced, to enhance collectible value.

“Making an imaginary coffee into something real seemed like a fitting and fun way to honor the multi-layered world of Watchmen. And having a majority of profits go to charity seems a little like something Adrian Veidt would do,” says Enos.

Further adding to the excitement, the OCC is sponsoring a contest for one customer to win two tickets to the Los Angeles premiere and after-party for Watchmen on March 3rd, 2009. Orders must be placed before February 26th, 2009. Details and contest rules are here.

“Zack Snyder and the other filmmakers got behind the coffee idea early on and suggested the contest to me. I am so excited by the idea of making someone’s day not just with great coffee but with an opportunity to be a part of the celebration for the highly anticipated film,” says Enos.  “It’s a dream in the making.”

“Nite Owl Dark Roast” Coffee is only available online while supplies last through the OCC’s webstore. (Hat tip: Ellen Abramowitz of Mocha– er, MoCCA.)

YIVO’s “Comics and the Jewish American Dream” interview series (moderated by Danny Fingeroth) concludes tonight at 7:00 pm with Harvey Pekar, creator of American Splendor. Go and see where Joaquin Phoenix learned how to behave on Letterman.

Admission at the door has been dropped to $10. All you have to do is say the secret word: “HARVEY”.

Tuesday, February 17, 7:00 pm
The YIVO Institute For Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street / New York, NY 10011
212-868-4444

Crogan’s Vengeance
By Chris Schweizer
Oni Press, October 2008, $14.95

The Crogan family – I’m reliably informed by this book’s end-papers – has a long and storied history of adventure, with private eyes, minutemen, ninjas, biplane pilots, old West gunfighters and French Foreign Legionnaires lurking around every bend of the family tree. (Though, apparently, no women have ever been spawned by the fecund Crogans, nor, possibly, deemed necessary to birth all of these generations. Perhaps that’s what drove all of these desperately lonely men to adventure.) This particular book, first in what could easily be a long series, focuses on “Catfoot” Crogan, patriarch of the clan (or at least the earliest figure on the endpapers – I wouldn’t lay odds against Schweizer turning up a Sir Lionheart Crogan, crusader, at some future point), a pirate at the turn of the seventeenth century.

But we don’t begin directly with Catfoot; instead we get a frame story of a modern doctor telling the story to his young son – which is slightly infantilizing for a book rated “Teen: Age 13+.” Even more damning to those over thirteen, it’s a story with a lesson. So there’s immediately a disconnect: Catfoot’s story is both (according to the publisher) restricted to readers over thirteen, and suitable for a boy of about eight (as depicted in the story). The frame story is short, and charming, so it doesn’t do any damage…except among teenage boys, a major audience for a story about pirates, since they will never admit to liking charm. I can see why Schweizer has the frame story – it’s his set-up for the whole series, all of which can be family histories told to this preternaturally history-savvy grade-schooler – but it flattens and domesticizes his story in a way I don’t think he wants. (more…)

We are on our way to Toy Fair 2009, but in the meantime join us for a behind the scenes look at NBC’s CHUCK, a trip to the comic store where this week we try and expand our horizons and a lesson in why CAPRICA is a big risk.

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Slave Labor Graphics’ comic The Ghouly Boys is coming to the big screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Ghouly Boys comic book series was created, written and illustrated by Christopher (he goes by just the one name) and was originally published by SLG Publishing (Slave Labor Graphics) in 2004. Lindsay Doran (Nanny McPhee) is producing the movie via her Three Strange Angels production company.

Here’s hoping this is the first of many pieces of good news for SLG, which could use some of late.