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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Amazon POD Update: Raves for Sale!

Last month I posted a brief item about Amazon's Print-on-Demand services, offered in partnership with BookSurge, suggesting it might be "worthy of consideration for potential self- and micro-publishers." On Friday, Slate posted an interesting article entitled "Raves For Sale" that reveals one of the options available to its customers is "a personally crafted review written by 'New York Times bestselling author, Ellen Tanner Marsh.'"Amazon.com's recently acquired print-on-demand division, BookSurge.com, offers several tiers of publishing programs with menus of services starting at $99.The most interesting add-on BookSurge offers is, for $399, a personally crafted review written by "New York Times bestselling…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

CBC’s Massive Archaia, Viper & Spider-Man Giveaway

...and the return of the Blogaround Challenge! Back in September 2005, Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag of Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog issued the Blogaround Challenge, asking comics bloggers to poke around the blogiverse and write a short bit about the blogs they came across, the goal being "to meet new bloggers and see new stuff." (My entry is here.) Since then, a ton of new bloggers have popped up (and, sadly, several of my favorites have faded into history) so I thought it would be a good time to re-issue the challenge as a tie-in to our long-delayed Massive Archaia, Viper & Spider-Man Giveaway. 3…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Stephanie Fierman: Villain, Victim…or Scapegoat?

According to Rich Johnston, as reported in yesterday's Lying in the Gutters, DC's outgoing SVP of Sales & Marketing, Stephanie Fierman, "is still on contract at DC for another year and will work on special projects with DC Publisher and President Paul Levitz while she looks for a new position within Time Warner." If true, it suggests that what's happening is very likely personality-driven and not based solely on her performance, because contract or not, if it were the latter, they'd simply fire her outright and offer her a severance package. My wild guess is that her primary "special project"…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Review: The Dreamland Chronicles: Book One

The Dreamland Chronicles: Book One By Scott Christian Sava (Blue Dream Studios, 2006; $19.95) I have to admit that I was initially put off by the computer animated artwork when I first flipped through The Dreamland Chronicles, especially compared to Diego Jourdan's more familiar cartoony style in Scott Christian Sava's Ed's Terrestrials, which I received in the same review package. At first glance, it struck me as too similar to fumetti or cinemanga, the characters seeming unnaturally stiff, almost like the worst of Greg Land's work for Marvel over the past few years. Having enjoyed Sava's writing in Ed's Terrestrials,…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

On the Web: Zombies on a Plane

I'm going to be very disappointed if someone, at some point in this story, doesn't say, "I am sick and tired of these muthaf**kin' zombies on this muthaf**kin' plane!"(Flight of the Living Dead, via murdershow.net)I've only recently started to dabble in webcomics and Flight of the Living Dead looks like the first one that will keep me coming back on a regular basis. (If it had an RSS feed, I'd track it in the Watchtower. Hint...) Scott Ewen's taken a can't-miss premise and, on a weekly schedule, is planning to roll out what looks like it will be an entertaining…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Review: Ed’s Terrestrials

Ed's TerrestrialsBy Scott Christian Sava and Diego Jourdan (Blue Dream Studios, 2006; $19.99)There's few things in comics that I love more than a good, all-ages graphic novel, both for my own personal enjoyment and to be able to share it with my 6-year old son. In the past, I've praised the likes of A Bit Haywire, Amelia Rules!, Bumperboy, and Superhero -- all excellent reads for kids ages 6-60+ -- and Scott Christian Sava's delightful Ed's Terrestrials joins that list.Fans of such entertaining Nickelodeon fare as Fairly Oddparents and Jimmy Neutron will love Sava's slightly younger-skewing tale of aliens on…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Best of 2006

In the most glaring sign yet of how much my tastes have changed over the 3.5 years since I started reading comics again, compare my Best of 2004 choices to this year’s stellar roundup (below). Posted nearly two months before the year had ended, that 2004 list was limited to ongoing series, two of which were canceled prematurely, in my opinion, and two others that were cut from my pull list a while back. The lone survivor, Conan, remains a consistently good read, and a repeat honoree on my 2005 list, but it didn’t make the cut this year. In fact, reflecting my gradual shift towards OGNs and TPBs, only three ongoing/mini-series made my list this year.

Top 10 Comics of 2006(in alphabetical order)

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