Commentary on various aspects of publishing and marketing, primarily focused on books, magazines, and social media.
We're heading down to Virginia for the holidays and I'm planning to post a bunch of TPB reviews throughout next week -- in between catching up on sleep and movies -- including Stagger Lee; American Born Chinese; Opening Lines, Pinky Probes, and L-Bombs, and a few others. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the holiday giveaway I mentioned a few weeks back; I just haven't had the time to pick and pull the comics in question. Stay tuned and have a great holiday!TWO CENTS*** Archie's Redesign: Not feeling it at all, but then, I'm not the target audience. Considering the…
[UPDATED: 9:55 pm] PW Daily has a sobering article about several independent bookstores shutting their doors thanks to increased expenses and competition, and I can't help but think about how it parallels the current state of the comic book industry, both on the publishing and retailing side, and how it could potentially affect graphic novel sales, one of the few growth categories in publishing right now. In New York City, after 34 years serving Manhattan's Upper West Side, the independent mystery bookstore Murder Ink will close on December 31. Owner Jay Pearsall also announced that the attached bookstore, Ivy's Books…
Reading is fundamental. Don't waste your time reading bad comics out of habit! My weekly, semi-informed look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 12/20/06 follows. The full shipping is list available at ComicList. [NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com] PICK OF THE WEEK Walk In #1APE ENTERTAINMENT Black Coat Call To Arms TPB, $12.95 I met Ben Lichius back in 2005 at Wizard World Philadelphia, where he'd gotten himself…
Well, okay, all of us, actually, and I couldn't agree more. The "Great Man" theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men." He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year. ...look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never…
With the publication of Fell, Warren Ellis started a mini-trend with what Image has now branded as their Slimline format: 24 pages @ $1.99. Fell has been very good, and a solid success story from a sales perspective, while Casanova has been a critical darling with respectable sales for an Image Central title without a well-known creator attached.Shadowline, Image co-founder Jim Valentino's personal imprint, has recently latched on to the format with their mini-series Sam Noir: Samurai Detective, but has taken a rather odd approach with it by...well, let Shadowline editor Kris Simon explain it:Sam Noir is done in that…
Today's N.Y. Daily News, in their monthly Viva New York pullout section, included a feature called "Authors Pick Their Favorite Reads of 2006", wherein Junot Diaz (of the critically acclaimed collection of short stories, Drown), gave Rocketo a shout-out:"A comic book of extraordinary power, with a Cuban hero, written by a Cuban writer. I've read nothing like it before and can't imagine anything like it ever being written again."High praise indeed! And with Diaz being one of three featured authors in the article, his selection, the only comic book picked, really stands out. (Drown was an excellent read, highly recommended,…
It's been a while between Bumperboy updates here at CBC, but Debbie Huey just posted a sneak peek at the upcoming Bumperboy.net redesign and it looks pretty sweet.Huey is not only a talented creator, but a savvy marketer and merchandiser, and Bumperboy.net is the perfect example of a comics web site done right. Hopefully the relaunch will integrate her own LiveJournal, while offering new updates from Gordy.For the uninitiated, check out my review of Bumperboy Loses His Marbles, the first collected volume of Bubtopia's favorite marble-playing, sock-wearing-Bear friend-having, Borperer Supreme!Then, hit Bumperboy's Shop to get yourself a copy, along with…
