Dogsbody
(The Comics Journal) Dan Holloway's minicomics review column returns after a week's hiatus (my fault, not Holloway's). This time out, our critic-in-resident takes a look at works by Matt Blackwell, Tim Kelly and Phonzie Davis.
Posted @ 2:15 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Slow news day
(Potpourri) Oh thank goodness -- here I am at the tail-end of a two-week working binge, rapidly running out of energy, and the world rewards me by standing still for a day. Here's what little I found today:

• Last week, The Chicago Tribune elected not to run two Boondocks strips by Aaron McGruder (July 14th, July 17th); yesterday Don Wycliff used his column to defend the decision. (Links via Romenesko.)

• Barrie Appleby, cartoonist for British children's comic the Beano, discusses the magazine's 65th anniversary with The BBC. (Link via Egon.)

• Over at Ninth Art, Andrew Wheeler reflects on his experiences at the San Diego Comic-Con and tries to read them like tea leaves to gauge the health of the industry. I'd call the results inconclusive, myself.

• Bill Sherman critiques Gary Groth's latest essay (excerpt available here) from the Journal.

Man, is it ever bedtime...
Posted @ 2:15 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Legal action round-up
(Cartooning) A couple of court resolutions have shown up on the radar recently. Let's take a quick look:

• Back in May word first leaked of a lawsuit filed against Disney by the estate of cartoonist Al Capp, alleging that the planned use of "Sadie Hawkins Day" in an episode of the Lizzie McGuire TV show violated Capp's trademark of the term -- gee, you'd think Disney would be against that sort of thing, now wouldn't you? Anyway, yesterday Steven Wintle pointed to this Media Life page (fifth item down), which reports that a U.S. District Court has dismissed the lawsuit. Capp's estate is reported to be planning an appeal.

• Florida's Miami Herald carries an Associated Press report on the resolution of a similar lawsuit, which had been going on for at least four years (and possibly as long as nine). Briefly: a golf-equipment company operating out of Ohio, Toucan Golf Company, filed a trademark in 1994 on their logo, a toucan perched on a golf club. The Kelloggs Corporation got wind of this, decided that the logo too closely resembled its Fruit Loops cartoon mascot, Toucan Sam, and the battle was on. Kelloggs lost its case before the trademark appeals board in 1999, lost an appeal in Kalamazoo's U.S. District Court in 2001 -- and yesterday Cincinnati's 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling to have the case thrown out of court. You can read the court's decision here.

Speaking of legal action, yesterday Mark Evanier made mention of Harlan Ellison's continuing efforts to sue AOL-Time-Warner-Mellencamp for owning a subsidiary that developed a file sharing program called Gnutella, which was later used to pirate some of Ellison's stories. Nevermind the fact that AOL-etc. shut down the project the moment they caught wind of it, and that the program in question has largely been abandoned in favor of newer efforts. Likewise, you should certainly pay no attention to the fact that the entire internet is one big "file-sharing program", and that Ellison's lawsuit is analagous to suing the phone company because someone once used a telephone to plan a robbery.

I say all this hesitantly, knowing that it may be perceived as stepping into the goofy, long-running public dispute between Ellison and my employer, Gary Groth -- I think I'd rather have my eyes poked out with tweezers, to be honest. Nor do I mean to make light of the underlying issues; file-sharing is effectively stealing, and authors have every right in the world to be aghast at the phenomenon. This is an issue that affects comics as much as it does any other medium, after all. That said, the object of Ellison's opprobrium should be the person who bootlegged the file, not the network through which it was transferred. We live in an age when everyone has access to what is in effect a digital printing-press, and I would argue that this is a good thing (despite the fact that a certain percentage of the population is going to use it to screw creators out of royalties owed). Trying to take away people's means of communication by pre-emptively removing their tools isn't exactly a new idea, but it is fairly loathsome: think the Catholic Church destroying Protestant printing presses during the Reformation, or Ceaucescu's ban on unlicensed typewriters in Communist Romania. Is this really the sort of company Ellison wants to be keeping? I'm all for fighting bootleggers of other people's creative works, but this is the wrong way to go about the job.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Marvel stock drops
(Comic Books) Marvel Comics seemed invincible back in May, so far as investors were concerned. The company had streamlined its operations by outsourcing toy production and moving the primary focus of its business model to licensing, which reaped cash while others made the expenditures required for production. Likewise, Marvel had made truly impressive strides in paying down the debt left over from Ron Perelman's disastrous reign.

Then its executives took advantage of the climb in stock prices to dump over a million shares on the market, a confidence-shattering measure if ever there was one. For over a month the stock wobbled under a high of $24 per share -- and then The Hulk hit, underwhelming all who tracked the $150 million film's performance. Last Friday the stock analysts at WR Hambrecht & Co. placed a hold on the company's shares, telling investors that MVL had reached its full valuation and that the stock was unlikely to rise any further. Yesterday the price-per-share crawled under the $17 line for the first time in many months. Needless to say, the investors aren't happy:

"How many people got sucked in between $20 and $25; there was just too much hype. Now how many are bailing today just to save their ass? I'm not sure if today was a selling climax or not but there had to be alot of pain.

"Its really sad to see the manipulation by the analysts. A 'BUY' at $25 and a hold at $19?? Give me a break. Was the 'BUY' rating at $25 done to support the price so clients could sell? Was the 'HOLD' (SELL) at $19 done knowing it could drive the price down and create a buying opportunity?? Games the market players play!"

Another investor glumly reported that sales on the Wolverine's Revenge videogame were being reported as below the manufacturers' expectations. So much for invincibility.

The next test for Marvel will be on August 12th, when the company releases its second-quarter financial results. Jemas and company will need to find some way of convincing investors that more money is coming down the pipeline -- a neat trick, especially when you consider that the next movie, The Amazing Spider-Man won't hit the theaters until next summer. Still, it wouldn't be the first time that Marvel has pulled a miracle out of its hat...
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Reparative therapy
(Comic Books) A few choice quotes, submitted for your approval:

"This was another of those comic books around which the media swarm for a period of time, holding it up for the curiosity of the nation and invariably saying something like 'Comics aren't kid stuff anymore.' It's distressing, to be sure; as a gay man, I'm particularly distressed by the way Alpha Flight #106 is being additionally heralded as a significant step forward for gay people. As if our representation in crappy commercial comics was something to be heralded."

- Rob Rodi,
writing in The Comics Journal #152
August 1992

"Donna Barr has achieved a large cult following, and The Desert Peach should soon join the ranks of books like Cerebus and Yummy Fur, books that became first-rank sensations on the strength of word-of-mouth alone. It certainly warrants it. Do yourself a favor and get on the bandwagon now."

- Rob Rodi,
same essay

"For example, Joe and I popped into the 'Gays in Comics: Crossfire' panel. I fully expected plenty of talk about Rawhide Kid and Northstar or whatever, but I didn't expect that the focus would be so thoroughly and even arrogantly superhero-centric. 'Someday,' one of the panelists said, wistfully, almost sadly, 'someday, somewhere, somehow, there will be room in comics for well-rounded gay characterizations – but there's just nowhere that this can happen today.' When one of the audience members (well, okay, me) pointed out that such characterizations are very much with us today, in titles like Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For and Howard Cruse's Wendel and Stuck Rubber Baby, one Mr. Robert Rodi, panelist and pissy queen, immediately dismissed such titles as 'intensely personal' (meaning, I suppose, that only their artists would care to read them) and insisted that 'we're here to talk about commercial comics.' The fact that Dykes to Watch Out For has more readers than Codename: Knockout isn't, I suppose, something one is supposed to have to bother oneself with, since, after all, Dykes to Watch Out For doesn't sell for squat in the Direct Market.

"Then the conversation went back to much more important topics, such as Northstar's unrequited crush on Iceman, and whether or not that was a positive sign for the gay community."

- Joey Manley (temporary link),
recapping his experiences at the
San Diego Comic-Con 2003

I should note that of the two Howard Cruse works in question, Wendel ran in The Advocate, the largest gay-themed magazine in America, for many years, while Stuck Rubber Baby (published by those intensely personal folks at DC Comics) has been lauded by the press nationwide, translated into four languages, and won the Critic's Prize at Angoulême. I should also note that Rodi's principal contribution to the body of gay characters inhabiting the comics is the eminently forgettable Gogo Fiasco, from the aforementioned Codename: Knockout.

What the hell happened to Rob Rodi, I wonder? Let's at least hope that the money's good.

(Thanks to Sean Collins for the link.)
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) Here's the rest of the stories and quotables wandering the internet:

• Editor and Publisher is quoting Canadian paper manufacturer Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. as being confident that they can drive up the price of newsprint by $50 per metric ton in the next quarter, based on increased newspaper sales -- hey, why should the growing revenues stay in publishers' pockets, anyway? Consider this one more reason not to print your comics on newsprint.

• Back in March we looked at the turbulent times experienced by Syrian cartoonist Ali Firzat, whose work was supressed for being openly critical of the regime of Sadaam Hussein in a region where such stances tend to carry a heavy political cost. California's San Mateo County Times carries an update on Firzat's circumstances (originally written for The New York Times). It's about what you'd expect, actually.

• ICv2 summarizes a recent Los Angeles Times article, which claims that the Peter Paul-organized fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign may well have been the straw that broke Stan Lee Media's back.

• Washington DC's queer magazine Metro Weekly interviews cartoonist and writer Michael-Christopher, whose self-published comics-and-novel series Living the Life has built a steadily growing fanbase over the past five years.

• The Cape Cod Chronicles takes a look at the life of strip-cartoonist Jim Berry as he settles into retirement.

• Writing in his Comic Book Resources column, J. Torres concludes his three-part look at the business behind Image Comics by interviewing Hawaiian Dicks creator B. Clay Moore.

• Florida's Naples Daily News profiles Brett Merhar, whise comic strip Free For All has gone from daily strip to Showtime animated series.

While we're at it, let's take a quick swing through the Comics Blogosphere and see what people are saying, shall we?

• Reacting to the news that DC Comics has signed Grant Morrison, Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale & Greg Rucka to exclusive contracts, Franklin Harris notes that this is an opportunity for Jemas to write lots more books. Wheeeee!

• Teresa Ortega watches Gangs of New York, and winds up with a new appreciation for Thomas Nast.

• Do the superhero bloggers do any trawling for links whatsoever? I suspect not, otherwise they'd have noticed Justin Slotman going on a comics jag and blogging everything from Justice League to Nocenti and Romita's Daredevil to the new Teen Titans cartoon. I swear, do I have to do everything myself?

• If it's any consolation, Jim Henley rounds up the rest of the superhero blog action.

Finally, if anyone in the Seattle area can recommend an broadband alternative to Comcast's sucky-ass cable-modem service, accessable in the northern suburbs, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

William Woolfolk dies
(Comic Books) Last Sunday saw the passing of one of the most esteemed of Golden Age comic-book writers, when William Woolfolk died of congestive heart failure at the age of 86. New York's Syracuse Post Standard puts his contribution to the medium in context:

"Woolfolk's work in the 1940s and 1950s shouldn't be forgotten, says Jeff Kapalka, who reviews comic books for Stars Magazine.

" 'He contributed to comic books at a time when the art form was new, and no one was really clear what they would turn into,' he says. 'He helped set the groundwork for many of the most famous heroes of comics.' "

Woolfolk wrote stories for such titles as Batman, Blackhawk, The Spirit and many others before leaving the field in the 1950s to pursue what was seen at the time as a more legitimate writing career. He succeeded, too; according to his website, Woolfolk wrote 18 novels, two non-fiction books, several plays and any number of screenplays. In the 1960s he was head writer for the television series The Defenders, a job which landed him two Emmy nominations. Wollworth is survived by a son, a daughter and four granddaughters.
Posted @ 2:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Movie Doomsday Theory depressingly on track
(Comics and the Movies) This isn't a good summer to be a Hollywood movie producer. The cost of creating today's special effects-laden blockbusters is way up, while the kinds of box-office returns required to actually justify such films are getting harder and harder to come by. Under such circumstances, the moneymen tend to (A) thrash about for The Next Big Thing to latch onto, hoping to return to the kind of success which keeps them in the lavish lifestyles to which they are accustomed, and (B) drop whatever habits are perceived as being responsible for the current predicament like a hot potato.

This, of course, leads us to Marvel Comics. With the vast majority of the company's income tied up either in movie licensing or ancilliary licensing based around movie licensing, plus $151 million in debt thrown in for good measure, the current slump in Hollywood has to be pretty fucking worrying. USA Today explains the problem:

" 'Using this summer as a model, these businesses will rethink their business strategies. A huge number of summer blockbusters have disappointed,' says analyst Michael Nathanson, of Sanford C. Bernstein, who tracks Vivendi Universal. Universal's comic book hero The Hulk has not met hopes for a $200 million box office, taking in $128 million so far.

"Accounting rules changes now force studios to more quickly 'recognize' box office duds in financial results, adds Sanford Bernstein's senior media analyst, Tom Wolzien. That's another reason to rethink big bucks for sequels and comic book films. 'I think comic books have run their course. We'll see more Spider-Man, but I doubt you'll see another Hulk,' he says."

I explained the potential ramifications of a sudden end to the superhero movie craze back in March, but let's recap briefly: if the movie deals stop coming, the toy and branding deals dry up as well. This could rob Marvel of the ability to service its debt, which could in turn land the company back in bankruptcy court, only this time without potential movie deals as leverage. Should any of this cause the company to cease production of its comics for even a month or two, the resulting loss of income could conceivably do lasting damage to the Direct Market, which depends on Marvel for something like 40% of its income.

I know, I know, we've been through all of this before. Still, I bring it up to remind retailers that there is in fact an easy way to hedge your bets, here: begin diversifying the kinds of product you offer. The obvious place to start is manga, which is drawing in a whole new generation of readers and has up to now largely bypassed the comics shops in favor of the bookstore market. It's not without its risks -- advertising dollars will need to be invested, and shops covered with illustrations of Batman and Wolverine will need to reconsider such monomania -- but given the alternative, the effort is surely justified, is it not?
Posted @ 2:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) Here's the rest of the day's news and linkables, compiled in a handy list for your edification and enjoyment:

• California congressman (and Homeland Security Committee chairman) Christopher Cox has sharply criticised the recent investigation of L.A. Times editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez by the Secret Service, after Ramirez drew a cartoon which depicted President Bush getting shot in the head by a gunman labeled "politics". Virginia's Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star has the Associated Press report.

• Screen Daily is reporting that French comics publisher Dargaud Marina has agreed to purchase the Ellipse Animation studio from cash-strapped media giant Vivendi Universal.

• Over at The Pulse, publisher Byron Preiss weighs in on the recent pissing match between Will Eisner and Jim Steranko over who created the first graphic novel. It's a hilarious argument, especially if you've read Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama's Four Immigrants Manga, self-published in San Francisco in 1931.

• Michael Barrier presents an archival interview with Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, which focuses on the business side of the cartoonist's empire.

• Rich Johnston interviews the always bullshit-free Kyle Baker. Yes, I should've linked to this sooner. What can I say? I was busy.

• Remember that European Union comic I linked to back in January? It's now online and ready for your reading pleasure -- provided you can read Italian. (Link via Fumetti.org.)

• Via ArtsJournal comes a link to this Wired article, which revisits the anti-comics scare in the 1950s led by Dr. Fredric Wertham.

I know I promised a San Diego Comic-Con wrap-up yesterday, but truth to tell, I just don't have a lot to report; having spent the vast majority of my time tending to the Fantagraphics booth, I never got any real chance to wander the rest of the hall. If I came away with any single message from the five-day event, it was "Damn, my feet hurt". I agree with Steven Grant that the most underreported story from the convention was undoubtedly the sudden explosion of interest in manga and anime at the show; one almost got the impression that the expansion of hallspace at this year's convention was to make room for Viz and Tokyopop. In fact, I was impressed with how much of the main hall wasn't even filled with comics-related exhibitors at all, but movie studios and unrelated pop-culture producers -- not for nothing was Ain't It Cool News able to file a convention report without really mentioning comics.

I didn't even manage to pick up a lot of reading material at the Con. The only books I brought back with me were Craig Thompson's Blankets (haven't cracked it open yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so), Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Date Book (my vote for this year's "book most likely to convince cartoonists to throw their drawing hands on the railroad tracks and wait for the train" -- really, this thing is just amazing), True Porn (which, given the unholy number of mediocre art-comics anthologies we've been plagued with recently, surprised me with its consistently good selection of strips) and Brian Hibbs' Tilting at Windmills, which honestly made me want to give up the weblog. Hell, why bother? It turns out that Hibbs has been saying most of the things I've been saying here for the last thirteen years, only more knowledgably and with greater persuasive power. I'm still reading it, but I can already tell you that it's indispensable reading for anyone interested in following the ups and downs of the Direct Market. (Incidentally, thanks to Brian for the really cool button.)

In any event, others have come in and filled the "SDCC recaps" gap admirably. The best two were written by Sean Collins and Derek Martinez, but there's no shortage of 'em: Publisher's Weekly writer Calvin Reid has a short-but-good report, and Neil Gaiman's piece even includes the text of his keynote speech at the Eisner Awards (incidentally, you can see a list of the winners here). You might also want to check out Hannibal Tabu's write-up and Tatiana Gill's collection of photos as well.
Posted @ 2:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

No San Diego Comic-Con 2003 report yet
(Excuses, Excuses) This one may take a while, and the below entries left me too tired to write; expect this one to appear tomorrow.
Posted @ 4:27 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Del Rey announces first manga volumes
(Graphic Novels) As reported back in June, book-publisher Random House signed a deal with Kodansha earlier this year to bring translations of various Japanese literary works into the English-language market -- including works from Kodansha's large library of manga. Last Thursday, Random House subsidiary imprint Del Rey announced the beginning of a manga line springing from this deal. Anime News Network cherry-picks the press release:

"Del Rey will launch with the simultaneous release of four titles in Spring 2004. Each will be the first volume of an individual series—all top Kodansha properties; these will be followed up by eight additional volumes over the next twelve months. The titles will be released as trade paperbacks printed in the traditional Japanese format, reading right to left. The target audience for the program will be readers 13 and older.

'We're terrifically excited about working with Kodansha, and about the potential for expanding the audience for manga,' said Betsy Mitchell, VP/Editor-in-Chief for Del Rey. 'Our program will mark the first time a major U.S. trade publisher has entered the manga arena. Random House's powerful sales, publicity, and promotional resources will bring manga to greater prominence in several markets that have not yet benefited from its current popularity.' "

Back in June, I wrote, "the current top publishers still have a solid home-team advantage, in that they know the market and hold the licenses to the most popular titles". I clearly spoke too soon; the same press release also reveals that the new line will be overseen by Dallas Middaugh, once Viz Comics' sales and marketing director. The company is clearly quite serious about getting into the graphic-novel game. That said, it's not quite the doomsday maneuver for Dark Horse and Tokyopop that some online commentators are making it out to be; as Middaugh told The Pulse's Jennifer Contino, "Their relationships are not affected at all. Del Rey is launching four core titles and while we certainly want to go out with the strongest titles we can, we’re not trying to dominate by flooding the market with tons of releases. Kodansha is not exclusive with us. They have a relationship with Tokyopop, Viz, and Dark Horse. We don’t anticipate that changing an any way."

As longtime readers of this weblog are aware, the stakes are high. The San Diego Union-Tribune recently ran a report on the growing influence of manga in the American comics industry, which included the following tidbit:

" 'My generation was weaned on video games, which originated from manga,' said Stuart Levy, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Tokyopop Inc. 'American kids are very used to the searing visual style of Japanese art.'

"Indeed, Tokyopop, which is the leading publisher of manga in the country, has seen its revenue double every year since its founding in 1997, to about $40 million this year, Levy said."

According to its annual report, Marvel's publishing division earned roughly $65.5 million in net sales for 2002. Levy's figure, if accurate, demonstrates that Tokyopop isn't quite in Marvel's financial league just yet, but that it's closing fast. Not bad for a company that (by the calculation offered above) sold just $5 million in product only three short years ago -- especially when you consider that Marvel has the advantage of dominating the Direct Market, where the manga upstart's percentage of the retail pie is still quite low. This makes Tokyopop the... what, number three comics publisher in America? Number four?
Posted @ 4:27 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

In other news
(Potpourri) The last week generated more than its fair share of comics-related news, and we've got quite a good deal of ground to cover. Please forgive me for burning through this so quickly:

• The Secret Service is investigating an editorial cartoon by The Los Angeles Times' Michael Ramirez, a pro-Bush panel which used a famous Vietnam photo as a starting-point to claim that the American president was the victim of politics, as a potential threat against Dubya's life. Reuters has the story, as well as a reproduction of the offending cartoon.

• Meanwhile on the other side of the country, a cartoon (temporary link) by Bob Englehart of Connecticut newspaper The Hartford Courant has led to charges of racism by the paper's ombudsman, Karen Hunter. Englehart hotly denies the allegation. Those interested by such controversies might wish to read this story by Chicago Tribune reporter Patrick Reardon, which takes an in-depth look at the controversies editorial cartoons can generate.

• As I suspected a week ago would happen, comics news-site ICv2 has released its own analysis of the Diamond Distributors' June sales figures, placing the comics-shop circulation of that month's top comic book, Wolverine #1, at 141,736 copies sold to retailers -- over 20,000 copies less than the figure calculated by Newsarama. This figure, if accurate, would constitute a noticable decline from May sales, with just seven titles pushing past the 70,000 mark.

• Newsarama's Matt Brady has part two of his conversation with San Francisco retailer Brian Hibbs, who continues his critique of the recent exercise in Team Comics daydreaming by Dynamic Forces' Nick Barrucci. Part one can be found here.

• Cartoonist and internet entrepeneur Steve Conley has been named as the new director for SPX; Comixpedia offers details.

• South Africa newspaper The Star is reporting that Gift Chimanikire, a top level opposition party official in Zimbabwe, has been arrested for cartoons run by that nation's independent press which criticized strongman Robert Mugabe.

• The Star is also running with word that a lawsuit filed against a Spanish patients-rights group, over cartoons critical of the medical establishment, has been dismissed by Madrid's Provincial Court, which called the legal action "reminiscent of the Inquisition".

• According to Taiwanese newspaper The Taipei Times, two pressure groups have asked the Taiwan government to crack down on stores that rent pornographic comics, claiming that the books frequently fall into the hands of children.

• Minnesota's Minneapolis City Pages recaps The St. Paul Pioneer Press' layoff of editorial cartoonist Kirk Anderson, and claims that it was the first shot in a struggle that is about to result in a strike by the paper's unionized employees.

• Magic Whistle cartoonist Sam Henderson has been nominated for an Emmy award for his work on the animated cartoon series Spongebob Squarepants. Digital Webbing has the press release.

• Ever wonder how cartoonists working a daily newspaper strip manage to take time off? Editor and Publisher's Dave Astor explains it all for you.

• Wired Magazine's website offers an article on the representation of minorities in the comics.

• The New York Times (registration required) looks at two new internet micropayment companies -- one of which entered into a business relationship with cartoonist Scott McCloud in order to advance its legitimacy in the eyes of websurfers.

• Wisconsin's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a profile of Dick Kulpa, a former editor for The Weekly World News whose current project is reviving the long-dormant Cracked Magazine.

• The Miami Herald details the adventures of writers like Gerry Conway and Howard Chaykin, who used comics as a springboard to the far more lucrative field of television scriptwriting.

• Via Comixpedia comes an article in The New York Blade, which details how gay and lesbian cartoonists such as Justine Shaw and Tim Fish are using the internet to distribute and promote their comics.

• Did the Swiss invent the graphic novel back in the 1800s? The Vancouver Sun investigates.

• The New Zealand Herald offers a profile of the Kiwi comics scene. (Link via Egon).

• Also via Egon: this Seattle Times piece on local comics genius Jim Woodring.

• California's Riverside Press Enterprise takes a long look back at pioneering strip-cartoonist Jimmy Swinnerton.

• The Pulse's intern turned comics critic, Jess Lemon, reviews Marvel's latest fiasco of a comic book, Trouble #1, and finds it ludicrous. As always, reading the fan reaction below is half the fun.

• The predicted demise of the comics pamphlet hits the Comics Blogosphere, and a conversation ensues: here's Sean Collins, here's Johnny Bacardi, and bringing up the rear is Bill Sherman. Have at it, gentlemen!

• TCJ Alumni Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon celebrate the launch of their new book on Stan Lee (excerpt available here) by launching a promotional website, which features such goodies as documents from Lee's life and a contest to find the person who best describes "what Stan Lee means to me" in a format postable to the internet.

As you might have noticed, a lack of punishing deadlines and asinine fights with service providers means that this weblog is once again operating at normal capacity. My sincerest apologies to you, the reader, for all that "Shorter ¡Journalista!" crap, as well as grateful thanks in understanding.
Posted @ 4:27 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

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