TCJ #253: Eric Drooker, John Cullen Murphy, Jason
(The Comics Journal) The latest issue of our illustrious magazine is now at the printers and should be hitting the shelves within the next week or two, which means it's time to update the website. TCJ #253 features interviews with cartoonist and illustrator Eric Drooker, Prince Valiant artist John Cullen Murphy and Norwegian cartoonist Jason, plus a critical focus on Brian Walker's new book The Comics Since 1945. In this month's Newswatch section, Michael Dean reports on the battle between Marvel and Sony to carve up the Spider-Man pie, and also offers an exhaustive look at the untold story of Jim Warren's legal dispute with Harris Comics and his own legal team. (Note: all linked items lead to excerpts from the pieces in question except the Drooker link, which leads to a trimming from the print interview, and the TCJ link, which leads to our homepage and the table of contents.)

Also new to the website is this week's edition of Dogsbody. Join critic Daniel Holloway as he looks at Dreamboat Dreamboat by Toby Morris and Looking at the Front Door by Sean McKeever and Tom Williams.
Posted @ 4:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Pierce Rice dies
(Comic Books) Mark Evanier brings word of the death of Pierce Rice, who drew comic books during the medium's Golden Age. Mr. Rice died May 23rd of pneumonia in a Washington D.C. nursing home; he was 86. The Washington Post lists his accomplishments in comics (second listing from top):

"He began his career illustrating for Harvey Comics, drawing such features as Green Hornet, Zebra, Captain Freedom and Black Cat.

"He served in the Army in Europe during World War II and was a recipient of the Bronze Star.

"After the war, he drew for Timely Comics, which became Marvel Comics, and began writing critical art essays for what is now the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America in New York."

Rice was also an accomplished teacher, portrait painter and author; his book Man as Hero: the Human Figure in Western Art saw release in 1987.
Posted @ 4:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

AOL-Time-Warner keeps book division
(Graphic Novels) AOL Time Warner finally pulled its book division off the market after an unsuccessful attempt to sell it. This is bad news for AOL/TW, but good news for DC Comics, as ICv2 explains:

"This news matters to pop culture retailers because it means that DC Comics will continue to be able to take advantage of an excellent "in-house" book distribution system. By using Warner Books and the WEA distribution arm, DC pioneered the current trend toward graphic novel publishing, which has altered the economics of comic book publishing and helped gain new readers for comic book publications."

The company had been trying to sell its book division in an effort to raise money to deal with an economic downturn, due in large part to the flagging fortunes of America Online.
Posted @ 4:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Dutch retailer lodges protest over comic-book prices
(Comics Retailing) An online retailer has filed a grievance with Dutch trade board NMa, accusing the KVB, the nation's book-publishing association, of price-fixing in comics. EuropeMedia.net reports:

"Kortingswinkel.nl protested that retailers in the Netherlands charge a uniform price for such popular foreign comic books as Suske & Wiske and Asterix, and are as such breaking Dutch competition law.

"Kortingswinkel.nl also cited the 1997 decision of an Amsterdam court, in which the judge ruled that comic and foreign-published books could be sold for under the fixed price."

A representative for KVB has offered various explanations in response. I don't know enough about the Dutch comics industry to offer up an adequate summary; see the link above for such details as are available.

(Thanks to Jeff Mason for the link.)
Posted @ 4:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) Here's a rundown of other headlines and links available from the web today:

• Tracking this story from Tuesday: despite continued outrage over a cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon being led toward the Bush Administration's "roadmap to peace" by a trail of dollars, cartoonist Dick Locher hasn't as yet lost any of the newspapers who carry his editorial cartoons. Editor and Publisher's Dave Astor stays on the story.

• Speaking of story updates, the folks at UPI are reporting that Taco Bell is appealing a recent jury ruling that the company's mascot Chihuahua was in fact the creation (and legal property) of Michigan cartoonists Thomas Rinks and Joseph Shields.

• A week later, the BookExpo America wrap-ups are still trickling in; this time out it's a lengthy and informative article by The Pulse's Heidi MacDonald.

• I haven't linked to the various and worthy advocacy groups and charities serving the comics industry in some time. Fortunately, Comic World News columns editor Ed Cunard uses Fantagraphics Books' recent financial tribulations as an excuse to list the major players, what they do and why you should support them.

• The Korea Herald profiles American expatriate Kent Ferris, who's working to open a chain of English-language magazine stores throughout South Korea -- using American comics as his initial focus.

• While I'm linking to newspapers named "Herald", the U.K. model is noting that a caché of previously-unknown cartoons and drawings by Ernest H. Shepard, the artist noted for his illustrations for such classic works as Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows, has been discovered among papers the artist donated to Surrey University in Scotland. Some of the works go on display today in an exhibition in Stirling.

• Meet Sgt. William Beechinor: 21-year veteran of the Austin, TX police... Cop Cartoonist. The Austin American-Statesman spotlights Sgt. Beechinor's work, which you can see in the APD's newsletter The Shield.

• Does your morning newspaper smell just a bit better this morning? It could be due to the recent cancellation of cartoonist Jim Davis' ghosted atrocity of a comic strip, Mr. Potato Head.

• Back to Editor and Publisher for a moment: cartoonist Mark Pett, creator of the syndicated strip Lucky Dog Cow (thanks, Dave), is working to break a world record and create the World's Largest Comic Strip. I wonder if he's aware of this recent attempt in England?

• Weblogger Sean T. Collins continues the dogpile on Dynamic Forces president Nick Barrucci's recent statements on How To Save The Direct Market. For those looking to accentuate the positive (and advice on the subject that isn't half full of shit), I heartily recommend this Ninth Art editorial by British retailer Stephen Holland, whose own experiences are entirely too sensible and productive to ever be implemented by the majority of comics-shop owners working today. Okay, I'm genetically incapable of accentuating the positive, but you get the idea.

• You can find a new interview with cartoonist Tom Beland, creator of the series True Story Swear to God, at Silver Bullet Comics (Part One, Part Two).

Finally, I leave you with this quote from comics critic and noted Sydney Mellon impersonator Augie De Blieck:

"The coolest and most affordable hardcover of the month would appear to be from Fantagraphics, of all people."

Will wonders never cease, eh, Augie? See you Monday!
Posted @ 4:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Legal action, comics
(Cartooning) Two recent comics-related lawsuits have just seen resolution. They are:

• Archie vs. DeCarlo: A U.S. District Judge has granted a request for summary judgement filed by Archie Comics, stating that the company owns the characters Josie and the Pussycats, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Cheryl Blossom. Famed cartoonist Dan DeCarlo had contended that he was the characters' creator and entitled to their ownership, but ultimately lost a legal challenge. Judge Lewis Kaplan has dismissed a subsequent challenge based on new evidence, and issued an injunction barring the DeCarlo estate from pursuing the matter further in court. Entertainment Law Digest has the story.

• Wrench LLC vs. Taco Bell: Two Michigan cartoonists, Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks, were awarded $30.1 million dollars in a suit against the Taco Bell company over ownership of the "Taco Bell Chihuahua". The plaintiffs successfully argued that they had created the characters and were courted by the company, who eventually dropped negotiations for an advertising campaign but went ahead and used the character (originally called "Psycho Chihuahua") anyway. Business Wire has the cartoonists' lawyers' triumphant press release.

200 protest Locher cartoon at Tribune offices
(Editorial Cartoons) About 200 people appeared yesterday at a noontime rally at Tribune Tower, to protest what they claim was an anti-Semitic cartoon drawn by Dan Locher for The Chicago Trubune. Jewish news organization JTA covered the event:

"In the days since the cartoon ran, Jews and non-Jews alike have voiced outrage against the Chicago Tribune for printing what they say is an anti-Semitic cartoon that obliterates the line between politics and blatant ant-Semitism.

"The image plays on old stereotypes of Jews as money-grubbers and is reminiscent of propaganda of the Middle Ages, Nazi Germany and the Arab press today, they say.

"The cartoon 'is worthy of the Arab press, which regularly shows Jews in such a way, but it is not worthy of an American newspaper,' said Rabbi Michael Siegel, spiritual leader of Chicago’s Anshe Emet Synagogue, who spoke at the rally. 'We demand that the heads of this newspaper acknowledge that cartoon for what it is, and apologize to the Jewish community, the people of Chicago and the State of Israel.' "

The protest was organized by the Zionist group EXIST, with other area Jewish groups participating as well. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Chicago has discussed taking further actions as well if the Tribune refuses to apologize for the cartoon.
Posted @ 4:25 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) Things have picked back up again, it seems. Here are the rest of the headlines and items of interest floating around the web right now:

• This is old news -- participants in our message board have been kicking it around for several days now -- but it somehow managed to slip past my radar: the nominees for the 2003 Cartoonists Choice Awards have been announced. The final round of voting has begun, and will continue until June 29th; click here for details. (Thanks to the folks at Comixpedia for reminding me.)

• ICv2 offers up its take on the presence of graphic-novel publishers at this year's BookExpo America.

• Editor and Publisher's Dave Astor reports on a speech given by Bloom County cartoonist Berkeley Breathed at the recent Reuben Awards Weekend sponsored by the National Cartoonists Society, wherein Mr. Breathed voiced a desire to return to weekly strip-cartooning.

• Mort Walker has created a Beetle Bailey poster to raise money for families of ill Montana veterans. The Helena Independent Record has the details.

• Comic-book writer J. Torres spoke to a variety of mainstream editors about preparing for portfolio reviews, and the results are pretty solid, practical advice for aspiring genre artists.

• The Seattle Times has a short review of the new movie American Splendor, which shines a spotlight on the life and work of Harvey Pekar. I saw this last night at the Seattle International Film Festival, and can't recommend it highly enough.

• Courtesy of Scott McCloud comes a link to Toronto's Sun Weekly, containing your "Intro to Webcomics" article for the week.

• Franklin Harris praises the new Marvel title Mystique as "a welcome development in Marvel's continuing evolution away from old-school superheroics." Hearing Harris say this surprised me enough that I just had to link to it.

• In this week's Title Bout, it's A.K. versus Nick Barrucci in a battle to the death! To the death!

• For your reading pleasure: Daisy Low, Girl Scout comics from 1954. (Link via SharpeWorld.)

Finally, weblogger Alan David Doane has helpfully reprinted in full the press update issued by Fantagraphics' Eric Reynolds concerning the current status of our plea for sales. Thank you, Alan.
Posted @ 4:25 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Slow news day
(Potpourri) Hey, it happens -- or in this case, doesn't happen -- from time to time. I've got a few links for you, but nothing major, so I won't pretend otherwise.

First, however, I should note that Fantagraphics' own Eric Reynolds has sent out a news release updating everyone on the company's status. Amusingly, I don't seem to be on his mailing list (mental note: have a talk with the boy about this), but that's as never mind; Reynolds is reassuring those following the story that the response to Fantagraphics' recent plea has been more overwhelmingly positive than anyone could've dared hope, and that we should meet our $80,000 target by the end of the week. Of course, we probably won't know we've hit it until several days after the fact, as the orders have been coming in faster than we can process them. When I visited the downstairs phone-center late yesterday evening, I found our late-shift phone receptionist working her way furiously through a stack of orders six inches thick.

Our plea has traveled far and wide, winding up everywhere from USA Today to Ain't It Cool News. I think it's safe to say that the internet played a big hand in all of this. The story spread across the web like wildfire; for the past few days, just keeping up with the weblogs giving us love has seemed like a full-time job (I've found 58 to date and have no doubt I'm missing a bunch). For a brief moment, "Fantagraphics" was the #10 subject on Blogdex, an MIT-funded site devoted to tracking memes in the blogosphere. Thank you very much for everybody who's ordered in the past week or so, as well as everyone who helped spread the word. It's most appreciated.

Anyway, on with the links:

• Courtesy of Steven Grant comes a link to the website of writer and technologist Todd Ver Beek, who offers a nuanced look at the ramifications of all those documents Marvel is asking Epic applicants to sign.

• Online lit-zine Bookslut has posted its June edition, and there are a number of comics-related offerings in the mix: an interview with cartoonist Andi Watson, a few thoughts on DC's Vertigo imprint in commemoration of its tenth anniversary, and reviews of Michael Rabagliati's Paul Has a Summer Job and the second volume in the Krazy and Ignatz series.

• The Pulse's Jennifer Contino recently spoke to Gene Yang about his forthcoming book Rosary (from Catholic publisher Pauline Books and Media), as well as his well-regarded webcomic American Born Chinese.

• The homepage of Canadian cartoonist Rick Trembles currently features an interview with the artist originally conducted by Max Douglas for a never-published zine. (Link courtesy of Egon.)

• A big thank-you to the reader who pointed out that I'd forgotten to change the month to June in the date-headers. What can I say? I've been distracted lately...

Finally, a quick update on Monday's story on Marvel Comics' sudden stock-dump: It seems that Marvel's stockholders, Rich Johnston and I weren't the only ones to notice the company's actions. MSN Money's Michael Brush refers to Argus Research Group analyst David Coleman, who has also been keeping an eye on Marvel, and is unimpressed by what he's seen:

"On the short side, Coleman thinks heavy insider selling raises concerns at Marvel Enterprises [...] and Libbey [...]. Marvel, the home to comic-book superheroes like Spider-Man, X-Men and The Incredible Hulk, has seen significant insider selling in the past three months around the $20 range as the stock approached all-time highs. Chief Operating Officer William Jemas cashed out around $4.4 million worth of stock for around $19 per share in May. Directors Sidney Ganis, Morton Handel, Lawrence Mittman and James Halpin together sold around $8 million worth of shares in the $19 to $20 range in May. At Libbey, which sells kitchen utensils and tableware, insiders have continued to sell even as the stock declined in the past 12 months -- not an encouraging sign. Analysts recently cut estimates on declining margins and sales, once you take out the gains from acquisitions."

The "short side" refers to short-term trading, the practice of quickly ditching a stock you think is due for a tumble in value sooner rather than later.
Posted @ 2:15 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Winter Brothers lose appeal over DC Comics parody
(Comic Books) The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that two characters in Joe Lansdale and Timothy Truman's 1995 DC comic book, Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such, were parodies and thus did not violate the rights of the blues musicians upon which they were based, Johnny and Edgar Winter. Reuters has the report:

"The California Supreme Court acknowledged the comic brothers resembled the two musicians, and even took the unusual step of attaching a replica of a comic book cover to the decision.

"Yet the court ruled the images were so fantastic and altered that they were permitted under First Amendment freedom of expression rights.

" 'We can readily ascertain that they are not just conventional depictions of plaintiffs but contain significant expressive content other than plaintiff's mere likenesses,' the decision said. 'To the extent the drawings of the Autumn brothers resemble plaintiffs at all, they are distorted for purposes of lampoon, parody, or caricature.' "

The article, however, goes on to note that the judges sent one charge back to the appeals court: the usage of the Winter Brothers' names in advertising for the comics mini-series. The Winters' lawyer, Vincent Chieffo, announced his intention to pursue litigation on this point. This lawsuit has been running for, what, eight years now? As Matt Howarth likes to say -- it may stop, but it never ends...

(By the way, you can read the court's ruling for yourself in this Adobe PDF file; thanks to How Appealing for the link.)
Posted @ 4:20 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Locher cartoon sparks cries of anti-Semitism
(Editorial Cartoons) Chicago Tribune cartoonist Dick Locher found himself in the crosshairs of public outrage over the weekend, after a May 29th editorial cartoon prompted cries of anti-Semitism from fellow journalists and the public at large. The cartoon depicts a bent, fat, hook-nosed man wearing a Star of David -- ostensibly Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- being led across a bridge to Yasir Arafat by a carpet of dollar bills laid down by President Bush. Editor and Publisher's Dave Astor has a round-up on the controversy:

"The June 1 Sun-Times editorial stated: 'The cartoon's message -- that Israel's interest in peace is sparked, not by a desire to end bloodshed, but by American cash -- is a lie that sails beyond legitimate comment into a baseless slur.'

"And Don Wycliff, the Tribune's public editor, wrote June 1: 'It is no secret to readers of this column that I have been no fan of Sharon and his policies. But I was jolted when I looked at the cartoon and saw that figure with the hooked nose, the Star of David, and those words -- particularly since money has never been the decisive issue in the Middle East dispute.'

"But Locher said he's an equal-opportunity caricaturist -- noting that he always draws a big nose on Yasir Arafat (including such a nose on an Arafat-like figure in the May 30 drawing). 'Editorial cartoonists work with exaggeration,' he explained."

Locher went on to claim that the cartoon was just an example of the exaggeration editorial cartoonists always use when depicting their subjects. I find myself agreeing with weblogger Sean T. Collins on this one -- I'd be more inclined to buy Locher's explanation if the caricature looked like Sharon in the slightest. It doesn't. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to damn the cartoonist as a raving anti-Semite on the basis of one image, but the thing nonetheless reeks.
Posted @ 4:20 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

The Tokyopop empire continues to expand
(Graphic Novels) After seeing strong sales in the bookstore market in 2002, manga publisher Tokyopop has announced ambitious plans for continued growth in 2003. As you'll recall, back in April the company advertised for a development editor who would oversee the creation of original manga-style graphic novels for the American market. ICv2 reports today that Tokyopop is pressing ahead with the project:

"...Three original titles by American creators are planned for late this year (World of Hearts, At Large, and Shutterbox), and one for 2004 (Karma Club). The creators involved are not names known in the comic or manga fields, and were not found through the first Rising Stars competition, according to Tokyopop."

The "Rising Stars" the report is referring to is a competition to find original manga talent in North America; a volume containing work by the winners has already cracked the top-50 graphic-novel chart for bookstores, and a second competition is set to kick off later this month.

ICv2 is also taking note of plans to produce works for younger children, which Tokyopop revealed at last weekend's BookExpo America in Los Angeles. The new projects include a line of "cine-manga" taken from stills of Nickelodeon cartoons and arranged with word balloons and captions to form comic strips, as well as a line of manga aimed at children five years of age and younger.

One of the things that bugs me the most about The Current Situation here in Comics Journal Land is the way the desperate need to conserve cash blows all hope of convincing the bosses to set us up with a BookScan account, which would satisfy once and for all a pet theory I've been nursing: that Tokyopop might well be the #1 selling publisher of comics in America today. If it isn't, I'm willing to wager that it's within spitting distance of the title.
Posted @ 4:20 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) Here's a rundown of other headlines and links available from the web today:

• In a ruling which makes reprints of classic comics a safer operation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared yesterday that trademark law could not be used to sue people who release public-domain materials for sale. California's Long Beach Press Telegram has the Associated Press report. Courtesy of the weblog How Appealing -- useful bastards, aren't they -- comes a link to this Adobe PDF file of the ruling opinion from the Court.

• South Africa's Cape Times reports that three editorial cartoons were recently removed from an exhibition held in honor of visiting American politicians and religious leaders. The cartoons, which were critical of U.S. foreign policy, were removed from the 56-piece Centre for Conflict Resolution display after complaints from representatives of the Washington DC-based Faith and Politics Institute.

• The news-agency Inter Press Service profiles the work of Finnish cartoonist Leif Packalen, whose organization World Comics recently was in Tanzania to stage its latest conference on the production of educational comics.

• Courtesy of Neil Gaiman comes this story in The Prague Post, which details the struggle that Czech publishers face in establishing a comics scene in the post-Communist Czech Republic.

• Sharon Miller, a writer for Arkansas newspaper The Baxter Bulletin, spotlights the current run of Tom Batiuk's daily comic strip Crankshaft, which returns to the character Lucy McKenzie's battle with Alzheimer's disease. The current plotline is a sequel to a series of strips which ran in 1995.

• Holy crap, the new Sequential Tart is now online, and chock full of interesting stuff! There are interviews with Dan Jurgens (who laments the current state of the comic-book industry), Jill Thompson, Keith Knight, Matt Fraction, and Xeric winners Julie Yeh and Jai Sen; plus part two of the hilarious series "What Comics Can Teach You About Being A Real Girl", a long look at crime and mystery graphic novels, and much more.

• Slush Factory has an interview with Colleen Doran, hot off the release of the Orbiter graphic novel she created with writer Warren Ellis.

• Silver Bullet, meanwhile, has the first part of a serialized interview with Modern Tales impressario Joey Manley.

• Indiana's Fort Wayne News Sentinel reports that local retailers are hoping that the new Hulk movie will lead to an increased customer base. The bounce for every previous such film has been pretty fleeting, but hope sure springs eternal, don't it?

• The Philadelphia Inquirer looks at the recent WizardWorld Philadelphia convention, and paints it as the biggest fucking freakshow this side of a carny tent. Zap! Bam! Pow! Comics aren't for kids anymore!

Finally, a snippet in this Guardian story claims that film-director Alan Parker once wrote a graphic-novel to coincide with his indescribably cheesy directorial debut, the all-kiddie gangster musical Bugsy Malone. I must confess to being a fan of this memorably godawful film, and would love to learn more about its comics incarnation. Are we talking about fumetti here? If you know anything about it, please, do write and fill me in.
Posted @ 4:20 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Comics shine at BookExpo America
(Graphic Novels) The transition of comics from the Direct Market to the bookstore market took one more small step this weekend, as another BookExpo America concluded for the year. As noted last week, Saturday was the graphic-novel format's chance to take the spotlight in front of booksellers and distributors from all over North America -- and naturally, the American Booksellers Association was there (Link courtesy of Jeff Mason):

"One huge genre within this overall format is manga: Japanese comics licensed for English-language publication. 'Manga is driving sales across the board,' said moderator Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly news editor in charge of PW's graphic-novel reviews.

"But the graphic novel umbrella also covers such literary titles as Art Spiegelman's Maus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning work that alerted many book buyers and sellers to the existence -- and aesthetic possibilities -- of a format estimated now to be a $100 million market.

"With such a diversity of product, it's crucial that booksellers know the different types of graphic novels, from children's comics to young-adult books to adult fare. 'Often these all get jumbled together,' noted Drawn and Quarterly publisher Chris Oliveros, who said his firm's sales through general stores (as opposed to comic-book outlets) has gone from zero to 50 percent in the past five years. 'It's important for retailers to understand there are different audiences for all these.' "

The pertinent part's about halfway down, for those of you following the link. Viz sales representative Mike Roberson noted that his company had seen "triple-digit sales growth in the last three years" -- a not-altogether uncommon thing for a manga publisher to say these days, it would seem. Tellingly, Dark Horse Comics chose the BEA to announce that it had acquired the rights to three new manga titles, all of which would be released in softcover book format -- bypassing the comics pamphlet altogether.

Update, 3:20 AM: I just noticed that Eric Reynolds, one of two Fantagraphics staffers attendees at this year's BEA, just checked into our message board. Here's his take on the show:

"This weekend at BEA was pretty amazing and overwhelming. Fanta was maybe the most popular booth in the W.W. Norton pavilion in terms of foot traffic, one fellow Norton-distributed publisher very graciously told me we were the envy of the Norton pavilion, I don't know if he was just being kind or not, but it made us feel good. The moral support given us was just amazing, Greg Zura and I had no idea what to expect and people were just phenomenal. And the interest in graphic novels was unparalleled, from media to booksellers and librarians. I was a bit nervous going in, frankly I would have preferred staying in Seattle this particular weekend, but I came away humbled and hopeful."

The Mighty Marvel stock-dump
(Comics Publishing) In this week's Lying in the Gutters, gossip columnist Rich Johnston makes note of some recent financial doings over at Marvel Entertainment:

"Marvel executives have been cashing in what with Marvel stock booming. A recent run down of insider dealings show director James Halpin helping himself to twelve hundred thousand dollars after selling up share options, Chief Executive Officer Allen Lipson trousering two and a quarter million, President Alan Fine getting around seven and a half million, Officer Richard Ungar on three and a half million, director Mortan Handel on just over two million, director Sidney Gannis getting a gut-wrenchingly low three quarters of a million, director Lawrence Mittman pulling in just under two million and Publisher Bill Jemas netting himself a very cool four and a half million and more. Click on the link to check my figures.

"This pales, of course, to the reputed 42 million dollars worth of shares reported to be owned in AOL Time Warner by Paul Levitz."

I'd actually been tracking this one for a while myself, but wasn't sure of what to make of how these recent sell-offs had affected Marvel's stock prices -- the cost per share has been bobbling between $19 and $20 for the better part of a month, causing some investor concern, before finally rising a buck or so at Friday's closing bell and again setting the shorts and the longs at each other's throats. Those with questions about the company's sudden stock-dump may have a point, though; how high would Marvel's price have gotten if its executives hadn't dumped over a million shares on the market, I wonder?

This is all idle speculation, of course; I've long ago given up trying to predict which way this company's stock will turn next...
Posted @ 2:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) Before we hit the Mailbag, let's check up on what else showed up online over the weekend:

• Taiwan is seeing the blossoming of its own surge in graphic storytelling for adults, with "picture books" being the terminology of choice for the new breed of publishing. The Taipei Times has the details.

• Elsewhere in the region, The Star takes a look at comics retailing in Malaysia, both online and off.

• Dynamic Forces president Nick Barrucci and comics retailer Cliff Bigger recently sat down with Newsarama (part one, part two, part three) to try and suss out why the Direct Market still sits in the doldrums after all this time. Gee, it sure is a stumper, isn't it? After all, the DM sells superhero comics, superhero comics, superhero comics... oh yeah, and superhero comics. Fortunately, Nick and Cliff come up with the correct answer in the end: take more pride in selling superhero comics!

• Brian Alvey sits down for a long chat with Darby Conley, the cartoonist behind the recent breakout comic-strip Get Fuzzy.

• The Toronto Star offers up a profile of Ho Che Anderson, whose concluding volume in the King series has just hit the bookstore shelves.

• Over at Ninth Art, Alex Deuben interviews indy strip cartoonist Keith Knight, whose first collection of Th(ink) strips is due from Manic D Press later this year.

• A reporter for Japan's Asahi Shimbun, meanwhile, recently spoke to Takayuki Matsutani, the man charged with keeping the legacy of Osamu Tezuka alive into the new century.

• Staying in Japan, Kosei Ono gives his take on Yoshiharu Tsuge's appearance in The Comics Journal #250.

• Over at Comixpedia, Shaenon K. Garrity has a plea for otaku everywhere: stop drawing bad manga!

• Time Magazine comics columnist Andrew Arnold offers up an appreciation of Chester Brown's Louis Riel.

• Further grist for my Doomsday Theory: in what must be a sure sign of a quality movie, Ananova is reporting that actor Sean Connery is "overseeing" the editing of the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie.

Almost forgot -- happy first blogaversary to Alan David Doane. If I think of it, I'll email him some cake later.
Posted @ 2:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Monday Mailbag
(Commentary) You'd think there wouldn't be much weblog-related email coming in, what with the current situation and all -- and you'd be right. Let's get to what little there is. Newspaper columnist Jeff Kapalka saw my take on his recent article concerning Bob Hope's career as a comic-book star, and had this reply:

"You're not the only person who lamented the absence of Super-Hip in the Syracuse Post Standard article 'When There Was Hope For Comics'. I wrote the darn thing, and was shocked to see several sections truncated to make room for more illustrations. Rest assured that the complete article went a little more in-depth in investigating Tadwallader Jutefruce's alter-ego. (Not to mention Benedict Arnold High, Harvard Harvard III, and a little cameo by Arthur Curry.)

"Ah, well..."

Well, you did what you could, Jeff; it was still an entertaining article. Our next correspondent writes:

"I just thought you should know that the Dave Eggers quote used in today's ¡Journalista! is an old one. It was the closing line of Egger's review of several comics in New York Times Book Review a couple of years ago."

Thank you. Finally, by this time I'm sure most of this weblog's readership must be asking itself, "Say, whatever happened to the ¡Journalista! Fuck-Up of the Week™, anyway?" Well, I have an answer for you -- you haven't seen the ¡Journalista! Fuck-Up of the Week™ for a while because lately, I've been perfect. Yes, you heard me, perfect. I'd like to take this opportunity to bask in the Glory That Is Me (three... two... one...) before Devlin Thompson comes along to spoil it all. Everybody remembers this obituary notice for Al Hartley, right? Take it away, Devlin:

"Just for the record, Spire wasn't a branch of Archie... rather, it was a subsidiary of Fleming H. Revell (one of the biggies in the Christian book market). Hartley's Archie work was getting more and more aggressively evangelical, to the point that Goldwater, et al. felt compelled to tell him to knock it off. Instead, he cooked up the licensing scheme, sold the companies on it, and the rest is history. It's interesting to watch his stuff get further and further off-model the longer he stays out of the secular books. The last few '80s ones are kind of disconcerting, actually. It's not really the usual decay of skills late in one's career... his non-Archie stuff still was consistent. I think he just kind of forgot what they were supposed to look like. Rest in peace, Al. Hope he got the sort of afterlife he was aiming for."

And after I went to all that trouble to make fun of that Sarasota Herald-Tribune writer for getting his comic-book lore wrong, too. So much for perfection. Like the sidebar says, send email to weblog@tcj.com -- all email is considered anonymous unless you volunteer otherwise, and assumed printable unless you say otherwise.
Posted @ 2:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

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