Yesterday I wrote about how DC was trying, with Wednesday Comics, to do something that couldn’t easily be reproduced on the computer screen to drive sales of paper. Marvel has now announced they’re doing something that doesn’t work on computers well– though it might be the return of the biggest disaster to hit comics in the 90s.

Don’t worry, says the press release:

“This is Marvel doing the nineties right,” explained David Gabriel,
Marvel Comics Senior Vice President of Sales & Circulation. “We’re
taking two of the most popular cover treatments of all time—foil and
holograms—to create an all new kind of cover, as a ‘thank-you’ to fans
who’ve been demanding this kind of variant! Retailers and fans don’t
need to worry. We’re only doing this on a limited basis. You won’t see
one on Ms Marvel #46 or Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #4. We’re using
them to mark very special occasions…such as the launch of Ultimate
Comics line.”

I had the same type of feeling when the Bush Administration said it didn’t torture, and anyway those were special circumstances.

The hell of it is, foil covers do catch the eye and help promote books, that’s why they do it with novels, record covers, and every other kind of packaging. But if they crank up the stupid collectibles market again… or rather the collectibles stupid market… Marvel will have no one to blame but themselves.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to reading piles of press releases about stupid exclusive collectibles being released at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Ooh, a special Gleek action figure only at SDCC! How could I have ever survived without it…?

Adding a contradictory point to the previous post about Wednesday Comics, here’s a tidbit to consider: US kids aged 2-11 are spending +63% more time online over the last five years, according to a new Nielsen report, from about 7 hours in May 2004 to 11+ hours online in May 2009.

In May 2009, kids 2-11 comprised 16 million, or 9.5% of the online universe (a fairly split evenly between boys and girls).  This is an increase over 2004, with the number of K2-11 online growing +18%. K2-11 are also outpacing the increase for the overall population, which was up by 36% over the last five years. Boys are spending 7% more time online than girls, but girls are taking in more content, viewing 9% more web pages than boys in May 2009. Meanwhile, in May 2009, boys led in viewing and time spent, consuming 61% of video streams among kids and comprising 57% of the time spent viewing videos.

So with this new growth, combined with the collapse of the newsstand market, if you want to reach that new, upcoming audience and hook them on reading comics, where should you be…?

(Hat tip: Cynopsis. And a virtual nickel to the first person who can identify the picture.)

I have a big computer monitor. It’s probably bigger than yours. I know, I know, I probably shouldn’t bring size into it, but it’s true. And when it’s standing upright, it’s even bigger. Almost 18 inches standing up.

Yeah, sure, you say, quit bragging. And yet, it’s so nice. In fact, it’s got well over 350% of the area of a standard comic book page. Take a look to the right, where I compare it to a regular comic and the oversized books DC did a few years back.

And I really feel it when I read a comic book on a computer screen. Particularly the naughty kind. No, not the ones with panty shots of Supergirl, you pervert, I mean the naughty kind that you don’t pay for, but should have. The downloaded ones.

When I read those onscreen, they’re almost double the size of a regular printed comic. It’s great.

But now, here comes Wednesday Comics. And it’s really big– it might even be bigger than the area on my monitor; but even if it’s just close, the paper version will have better resolution. And the work is designed for the big area that they have.

DC is designing for the comic book equivalent of the IMAX screen–  an experience that you can’t get from the bootleg version. Heck, even the previews they’ve made available don’t fit on most screens.

And that’s brilliant. They’re trying to make comics an event again, one that you can only fully get in paper– delivering a better experience and fighting back against the scanners (who weren’t going to be happy with the oversize pages in any event). Small wonder USA Today has picked it up.

Kudos to DC for the grand experiment, and for bucking the trend.

And from now on, our slogan is going to be “Pretend Harder“.

Okay, the Invaders are already retro, but you know what I mean.

This, and much much more, is the work of Tom Whelan. You can see many more examples up at his DeviantArt gallery.

(Hat tip: Allan Lamberti.)

The 2009 Inkwell Awards have come out, highlighting the art form that arguably is the most quintessentially comics.

FAVORITE INKER (favorite inker over another’s comic book pencil art from ‘08 material)
Wade Von Grawbadger (Ultimate Spider-Man) winner
Mark Morales (Thor, Secret Invasion) runner-up

MOST ADAPTABLE (showing exceptional ink style versatility over other comic book pencil artists in ‘08)
Tim Townsend (Amazing Spiderman) winner
Danny Miki (Incredible Hercules, Ultimate annuals) runner-up

PROPS AWARD (inker over others comic book pencil art deserving of more attention from ‘08)
Matt Ryan (Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman) winner
Stefano Gaudiano (The Immortal Iron Fist, Daredevil) co-runner-up
Steve Leialoha (Fables) co-runner-up

THE SPAMI (favourite Small Press And Mainstream-Independent: ‘08
comic book cover-dated ink work over another pencil artist (Non-Marvel
or DC work))
Tim Townsend (Witchblade) winner
Tom Van Zandt (Unhappy Gran’ma) runner-up

ALL IN ONE AWARD (Favourite artist known for almost-exclusively
inking his/her own comic book pencil work and rarely the work of others
in ‘08)
Mike Mignola (Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch) winner
Simone Bianchi (Astonishing X-Men) runner-up

THE JOE SINNOTT AWARD (a hall of fame designation for an inking
career of outstanding accomplishment (lifetime achievement, 15-years
minimum- not limited to ‘08 comic book material)- two winners chosen
annually)
Terry Austin (winner)
Dick Giordano (winner)
Tim Townsend (runner-up)

Congratulations to all the winners, with a special shout out to Simone Bianchi– I was positive that Astonishing X-Men was reproduced from pencils.