Mark Your Calendar: Kids’ Comic Con
A kid-centric comic convention, in the Bronx?!?! Alex Simmons is my hero! Kid’s Comic Con Slated for the Bronx Known for his work as a writer of comics, prose and plays as well as an ongoing series of popular kids comics workshops held around New York City, Alex Simmons announced plans to hold the first
On the Shelves: 2/14/07
Reading is fundamental. Don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit! In honor of Valentine’s Day, my weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 2/14/07 is all about the love. No snark; no bad reviews; just the good, might-be-good and hope-it’s-good stuff. As a result, it’s a pretty light read, too!
Marketing Monday: A Simple Plan, Part II
Last week I covered the first three steps of Kevin Stirtz’ “Smart Marketing System”, focusing on a marketing plan’s Goals, Market and Message, and this week I’ll take a look at the final two pieces of this simple but apparently often confounding puzzle: 1. The GOALS or objectives you want to accomplish 2. The MARKET
Strip Club: Lust & Marriage
Opening Lines, Pinky Probes, and L-Bombs: The Girls & Sports Dating and Relationship Playbook By Justin Borus and Andrew Feinstein (Santa Monica Press, 2006; $14.95) While I was vaugely familiar with the Girls & Sports comic strip from the Daily News, thanks to the main crossword puzzle appearing in the comics section, it was never
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
Suburban Dysfunction & Blaxploitation
Ghost World By Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics Books, 1998; $11.95) I skipped the movie version of Ghost World when it came out because I could tell from the previews that it wasn’t my cup of tea; stories of suburban angst make my skin crawl (ie: I hated American Beauty), suburban teenage angst even more so. But,
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
Smallville’s "Justice" Was Pretty Damn Good
It’s been a long while since I caught a full episode of Smallville, but there was no way I was missing tonight’s episode, “Justice”, even if it meant skipping my latest addiction, Ugly Betty. (One year after “Code Black“, Grey’s Anatomy remains my numero uno!) Bart Allen is the only one of the nascent Justice
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: Robotika
Robotika By Alex Sheikman and Joel Chua (Archaia Studios Press, 2006; $19.95) It’s rare for a mini-series whose first issue turned me off the way Robotika‘s did gets a second chance, but thanks to Alex Sheikman‘s commitment to his work — emailing me to clarify something from the first issue that I didn’t like get,