We are back and barely unpacked from New York ComicCon 2009 and we brought you some surprises already starting with the coolest Comic iPhone app so far, plus DC revives The Doom Patrol yet again, Mike Gold talks comic economics plus The Five Cool Things in comic shops this week. Not enough? Then wait until you meet The Great Cat!
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The collection of non-NYCC posts that have come in over the last few days while we’ve been on the floor at Javits.
Anything else we missed? Consider this an open friend.
Amy Goldschlager is an editor for FindingDulcinea.com.
Listen… you can hear the engines beginning to rev…
But what’s on the floor? Let’s take a look…
* Quote of the day from novelist David Mack, talking about Sandman:
One story from that series, “Calliope,” continues to haunt me; a writer who tried to justify his crimes as a desperate search for ideas is cursed by Dream to be deluged with story ideas faster than he can write them down. In a handful of panels, the character rambles off nearly a dozen snippets of story concepts as he succumbs to a delusional fugue. What really haunts me about that scene is that Neil Gaiman tossed off a dozen story ideas as throwaway lines of dialogue that are all better than anything I’ve ever written. As a writer, I’ve never slept well since reading those panels.
This is all part of agent Lucienne Diver‘s weeklong discusion about comic books. Monday was Keith DeCandido‘s turn. I look forward to seeing who’s next– and slightly insulted she hasn’t asked me yet.
* Sandman, of course, is not to be confused in any way with Mr. Sandman, who, "though immortal and existing since the beginning of time, is your standard everyday teenager from the 50s. He enjoys such activities as going on dates with Calliope and Nada (rivals for his affection), meeting up with his old friend Jughead (a mortal granted everlasting life) at the same soda jerk every 100 years, and bringing into existence desirable new teenagers at the request of existing ones." Here, we see Mr. Sandman’s famous crossover with Jughead.
* This is ironic and deeply cruel: Unscrewed, which was formed to help comics creators who’d gotten screwed by a particular publisher, had funds embezzled by their former treasurer. Via Rich Johnston.
* TNT renewed the drama series Leverage for a second season, ordering 15 new episodes. Congratulations to show co-creator John Rogers, who won’t have much time to write comics any more, and the rest of the crew and cast.
* Hank Pym Is the New Doctor Who.
* And finally, our condolences to Scott Edelman on the passing of his father.
Anything else? Consider this an open thread.
The city of big shoulders will soon hold up a second "as major as you can get in the midwest" comic convention. As announced today by the fine folks who bring you the New York City Comic Con, the newly dubbed Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (or for us locals, the aptly catchy ‘C2E2’) will take the city by storm April 16th-18th, 2010 in the ‘As Deep As Our Pizza’ McCormick Place Convention Center.
Boasting the fastest growing attendance list in recent memory, Reed Exhibitions promises to come to town with guns a’ blazing, Capone style. Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Show Manager (for this year’s impending New York Comic Con, and the aforementioned Chicago show) wants to let the fans know that they are “aiming big”:
“We plan to apply everything we have learned in launching and building New York Comic Con to our Chicago event and we intend for it to be a major attraction right out the gate. Of course, this not only means providing a customer friendly atmosphere but also providing dynamic programming that boasts top talent from across the pop culture spectrum, including artists, creators and celebrities from Hollywood, TV, comics, books, video games, toys, Anime, Manga and all other applicable aspects of the popular arts. But, most importantly, we will also seek to make adjustments so that our show reflects the essence of Chicago. This will be critically important. The city itself will form an important part of our identity.”
Prior to this, Chicago has been host to Wizard World Chicago, as well as the new-and-not-created-by-corporate-overlords-grassroots Windy City Con. Given the recent announcement of Wizard World Austin’s demise and the postponing of Wizard World LA, it seems the wave of change hitting the nation is hitting the con circuit too.
Yes, we know it’s getting ugly out there. If Robot 6 has a daily roundup called Food Or Comics, and we’re covering stuff that they’re missing, it’s just outright brutal.
So what to do about it? Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning author and editor, posted the following to an email list regarding the shutdown of Realms Of Fantasy:
If you’re really worried about the magazines, subscribe to them. If you already have a subscription, give a few gift subscriptions. If you can afford it, ask if the magazine has lifetime subscription rates and buy one. Or purchase a five year subscription.
In this economy, an upturn in subscriptions will help any magazine. If everyone on this list bought a subscription, either as a gift or for themselves, that would seriously help.
If you read the information on Realms, it’s pretty clear that the downturn in the fourth quarter hit Sovereign Media hard. Apparently, they rely heavily on newsstand sales. This is one area where the digests have already suffered, so their losses in the fourth quarter won’t be as severe as other companies. However, they’ll see a trickle downward of subscriptions as renewals don’t come in at the usual pace.
So they have time—provided that people continue to renew or subscribe anew.
Just a thought in all the gloom and doom.
That’s good advice in general. If you are in a position to do so, subscribe to your favorite comics. If your local store has a pull list or subscription list, take advantage of it– if they know they’ll have some set income coming in, that will help them budget.
If there are online comics or websites you like, drop some cash in the tip jar.
If you’re downloading comics, buy paper editions as well. It’ll be good practice when MinuteMan loses his job and stops buying and scanning the comic that you were reading.
Watchmen toys at last! Just one of the five cool things in the comic shops this week, plus The Punisher headed to DVD, Hot exclusives headed to the New York ComicCon and why no one is headed to The Oscars this year. Â
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Twenty-five years ago today, on January 24, 1984, two days after the famous "1984" Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott right after Blade Runner, the first Apple Macintosh– the Macintosh 128– first went on sale.
From this humble beginning, the comics industry would never be the same. From the earliest experiements in MacPaint to the first comic created completely in a computer, Shatter (and First comic, for that matter) Macintoshes have evolved and are now used in every single aspect of comics today– and most times, you don’t even know it.
So if you still remember doing everything on a 400k 3.5" disk, black and white screen, no hard drive, no modem, no MS Word– man, don’t you feel old.
Here’s that original commercial:
From a prone position while dealing with a strained back (ouch ouch ouch) here are the last few days wrap-up of comic-related news items that might not generate a post of their own, but may be of interest…
* E! Online: Veronica Mars Movie Finally in the Works . Because you just can’t get enough of Kristen Bell.
* Oh, and speaking of Kristen Bell, the long delayed Fanboys is finally coming to theaters February 6 and the first clip is now online, courtesy of Trailer Addict:
How come this never happened to me when I was working in a comics store?
* The 10 Most Unnecessarily Horrible and Horribly Unnecessary Cartoon Sidekicks. You just knew Marvin and Baby Plas were going to show up here.
* Colleen Doran posts a list of Graphic Novel Agents on her newly redesigned weblog.
* And even in bad times, Cowboys and Aliens and Platinum keep plugging along: Damon Lindelof Joins Hollywood Brain Trust On Cowboys And Aliens.
Anything else? Consider this an open thread.
Battlestar Galactica is underway and Apollo weighs in on where the final nine are headed, big treasures in the comic stores this week, More stars are coming to NY ComicCon and why you really need to see FanBoys.
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