Marketing Monday: First Things First
Among the myriad challenges comics publishers of all sizes face, one of the biggest — and most frustrating, personally — is marketing. Way too many publishers believe that marketing is little more than sending out badly written press releases and snagging previews, reviews and interviews from Wizard, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, et al. While some
Free Comic Book Day 2007
This year’s Free Comic Book Day is on Saturday, May 5 — the same weekend Spider-Man 3 opens — and the list of comics that will be available is pretty impressive. My initial thoughts on some of them: Archie Comics (Gold): Archie Comics Little Archie 2007 Archie Comics (Silver): Sonic the Hedgehog 2007 My son
On The Shelves: 1/24/07
Reading is fundamental. Don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit! My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 1/24/07. The full shipping list, as always, is 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
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
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,
On The Shelves: 1/17/07
Reading is fundamental. Don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit! My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 1/17/07. The full shipping list, as always, is 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
Review: The Guardian Line
Joe and Max #1 By Jason Medley, Claude St. Aubin & Chris Chuckery Genesis 5 #1 By Lovern Kindzierski, Claude St. Aubin & Chris Chuckery Code #1 By Mike Baron, Lovern Kindzierski, Howard Simpson, Dave Ross & Chris Chuckery (All published by The Guardian line, December 2006) Any sincere attempt by a comics publisher to
Fierman Out at DC Comics
NOTE: I’ve rearranged the updates, so if you’re checking this for the first time, scroll all the way down for the original post. ***** UPDATE (1/16 @ 12:49m): The Beat’s latest update stirs the pot a bit as former and current DC staffers debate the story. It’s mostly he said/she said stuff involving Vinnie Costa’s
Marvel: Leaving Money on the Table
Comic Book Resources’ review of 2006 has been made fun of by several bloggers for its participants lauding of Civil War as “the one project that had the biggest impact on the comics industry” — which is arguably true, if for all the wrong reasons — but I found this particular exchange much more interesting:
Much Ado About Cowboys & Aliens
I knew a lot of people in the comics industry didn’t like Platinum Comics’ Scott Rosenberg, but holy cow! Comics writer A. David Lewis (the excellent The Lone and Level Sands) absolutely flipped his lid last Friday upon seeing Entertainment Weekly‘s sporadic comics sales chart showing Cowboys & Aliens in the top spot, according to