“Diamond website has been down all day and I need to order many books for an event. #stress”

 

Contact me: dirk@deppey.com
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Recently posted to our homepage:

• Rob Clough concludes his top-50 best-of-2009 list: 1-25, 26-50.

 

• Rich Kreiner reviews minicomics by Lisa Hanawalt and Tim Stout.

 

• As always, R.C. Harvey covers the funny pages.

 

• Over at Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky reports on a Gender and Cartooning panel held in Chicago last April.

And in the news…

 

Above the Fold

 

Format Wars^TM bring-on-the-fanfare-trumpets newsflash… what?

• The Nook makes its way to Barnes & Noble outlets.

 

• Megan McArdle (one, two) asks, “Is Apple paving the way for oligopoly” with its pricing strategies for the iPad?

 

• Image Comics’ Erik Larsen talks digital comics:

  For some time, everybody’s been running around like chickens with their heads cut off screaming that the sky is falling as fans have busily scanned and uploaded comics. Illegal comics are thriving. Guys scan in and upload new comics all the time and you can get new comics on your computer the day they hit the stands in many cases. The big difference for those who care is that these are scans out of comics — and they simply don’t look as good as real comics do.

  Clearly, most people do not give a shit.

 

Life in interesting times

• John Jackson Miller notes that the big snowstorm Back East totally fucked over Diamond Comic Distributors’ Eastern US operations — comics delivery, Web, electricity, you name it. The big snowstorm may possibly have even made fun of Steve Geppi’s big fat butt in front of his employees, though that last bit cannot be confirmed… or denied. As of early this morning, the Diamond website loads slowly but otherwise successfully manages to throw up a homepage, while the Previews website is still good and hosed.

 

• Funding cuts may put Germany’s Erlangen Comics Salon in danger, according to Wim Lockefeer.

 

• These days, the idea that going back to newsstands will “save comics” isn’t looking so hot. Not that it ever did, mind you…

 


Above: detail from the cover to the first volume in the Twilight comics series.

 

• George Gene Gustines looks at graphic-novel print runs, while Tom Spurgeon lodges a complaint.

 

• Gareb Shamus acquires his eleventy-billionth convention. So that’s the strategy, then? Corner the market on big-kid flea markets? Don MacPherson has further commentary, while Heidi MacDonald notes the obvious next step.

 

• I’m thinking someone needs to tell Kurt Westergaard that it’s a little late for this to fly as a defense, especially considering that Jyllands-Posten cultural editor Flemming Rose specifically asked for, you know, Muhammed cartoons.

 

• Nothing Better author Tyler Page discusses the logistics and economics of print-on-demand publishing.

  (Link via Xaviar Xerexes.)

 

• Matt Krantz answers the musical question, “Why did shares of Marvel Entertainment float up to more than $54 a share when the comic company was being bought by Disney for about $50 a share?”

 

Profiles

 

• Ger Apeldoorne on Dik Browne
  
  Illustration from the article.

   

  Reproducing a pre-Hagar the Horrible profile of the cartoonist.

 

• Jeffrey Renaud on Jordi Bernet

  Whoever at DC Comics thought to offer Jonah Hex to this legendary cartoonist, you aren’t paid nearly enough.

 

• Tim O’Shea on Jim Ottaviani

  The science-comics writer discusses his career.

 

Reviews

 

• Charles Hatfield, Craig Fischer and Derik Badman on Abstract Comics

  A series of discussions on the avant-garde anthology.

 

• Curt Purcell on Extreme Sacrifice
  
  Page from some comic, drawn by some guy.

   

  Purcell looks back at an old Image Comics crossover event.

 

Also

 

• Tom Spurgeon on Smile
• Kristy Valenti on I Kill Giants
• Brian Heater on Burn Collector #14
• Justin Giampaoli on The Wang: Erection Year
• Richard Bruton on A Study in Scarlet
• Michael May on Talking to Strangers
• Larry Cruz on The Dreamland Chronicles
• Erica Friedman and Christopher Butcher on Sexy Voice and Robo
• Mike Sterling on Czar Chasm #1
• Nick Gazin on various titles
     (Link via Mike Baehr.)
• Richard Pachter on various titles

 

Commentary

 

• Christopher Irving: The King of Comics

  “Jack Kirby’s eloquence wasn’t through words, it was through raw and violent action, pictorally speaking the language of the rough Depression streets he grew up on. This barrel-chested, short man with an ever-present cigar has been immortalized as the apotheosis of the great cartoonist, a powder keg of dynamism and creativity.”

 

Business and Craft

 

• Jamie McElvie: Comic book design

  “In this workshop I’m going to walk you through my process for creating a page of my comic, Suburban Glamour. We’ll start with the script and end on the finished digital file, ready for printing. There are key differences between creating artwork for print and making art intended for the monitor – what looks good on screen can often print horribly. While everyone has their own methods for creating comic book artwork, there are some basic rules you have to follow to get the best out of your work. Throughout the workshop I’ll make it clear what these are, and the reasons behind them.”

  (Link via Joe Gordon.)

 

• Calista Brill (one, two): Inside the submissions process at First Second

  “I’m not sitting on that “maybe yes maybe no” project for six weeks out of spite. I’m sitting on it because it’s a decision that carries weight and consequences both for First Second and for the artist or writer who submitted it. And a decision that big takes a little thinking. And ten to forty decisions that big per week, well, let’s just say we sleep in our thinking caps around here.”

 

Comics and Art

 

• What Things Do: King-Cat Comics and Stories #63
  
  panel from the comic, ©2004 John Porcellino.

   

  Now here’s the sort of thing you always like to find on the Internet: A generous collection of comics by one of the medium’s Zen masters, John Porcellino.

  (Link via Matthias Wivel, who also has links to comics by Fabrice Neaud and Aristophane.)

 

• John Glenn Taylor: “Chuck Barris”
  
  From The Big Book Of The 70’s, ©2000 DC Comics.

   

  Jonathan Vankin and Rick Geary recount the life of the game-show impresario.

 

Also

 

• Ger Apeldoorn: Early Hi and Lois
• Star-Studded War Comics: War Comics #29
• Ten-Cent Dreams: “Sweethearts or Strangers”
• Diversions of the Groovy Kind: “Whatever Happened to Luke Malone?”
• Robot 6: The 120 Days of Simon preview
• Emi Lennox: Oh, Pilot Precise V5 extra fine pens, I love you
     (Link via Athena Currier.)
• Questionable Content: Yes! My armor set is complete!
• Xkcd: Trimester
• Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles: Dating is impossible
• Osamu Nomura: Eight Japanese portraits
• Heidi MacDonald: Four New Yorker covers
• Sammy Harkham: Crickets #3 cover
• Thom Buchanan: One amazing Krazy Kat panel
• The Ephemerist: Let’s have our ads talk!

 

Comics Culture

 

• Paul Gravett: Angoulême Comics Festival 2010

  If you’re going to give the last word to anyone, give it to Gravett.

 

• Your Not-Comics Link of the Day:

  Patricia Zohn investigates the history of the Disney animation studio’s ink-and-paint girls.

  (Link via Amid Amidi.)

 

• Your Scans_Daily Link of the Day:
  
  Sequence from Jack Elrod’s Mark Trail, ©2009 North America Syndicate, Inc.

   

  Mark Trail vs. domestic violence.

 

Events Calendar

 

Today:

 

• February 9 (Houston, TX): Scott McCloud will lecture at the University of Houston’s Dudley Recital Hall, beginning at 7PM. Admission is free and open to the public. Details here.
• February 9 (New York City, NY): Comics-industry types match wits with comedians on-stage in the Comic Book Club at the Peoples Improv Theater on 29th Street, beginning at 8PM. Details here.

 

This Week:

 

• February 10 (Van Nuys, CA): Veteran comics writer Len Wein will be signing books and meeting readers at Galaxy of Comics on Saticoy Street, from 2-6PM. Details here.
• February 10 (Westwood, CA): Advice columnist Dan Savage joins New Yorker cartoonist Bruce Eric Kaplan onstage at the Hammer Museum on Wilshire Boulevard, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• February 10 (Rochester, NY): Nick Gurewitch and Chris Onstad discuss their successful careers making comics for the Internet at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Webb Auditorium on Lomb Memorial Drive, beginning at 8PM. Details here.
• February 11 (Seattle, WA): An opening reception for the latest show by the Friends of the Nib cartooning circle takes place at the Vermillion Gallery on Eleventh Avenue, from 6-10PM. Details here.
• February 11 (San Francisco, CA): PvP creator Scott Kurtz will give a presentation at the Cartoon Art Museum on Mission Street, from 7-9PM. Details here.
• February 13 (London, England): The Alternative Press Fair takes place at the Aloysius Social Club on Phoenix Road, from noon-midnight. Details here.
• February 13 (New York City, NY): Raina Telgemeier will read from (and sign copies of) her new book Smile at Brooklyn’s own Rocketship on Smith Street, from 4-6PM. Details here.
• February 13 (Seattle, WA): Legendary cartoonist Gahan Wilson will be signing books and meeting readers at the Fantagraphics Bookstore on Vale Street, from 6-9PM. Details here.
• February 14 (London, England): We Are Words and Pictures presents an all-ages comics workshop at the Notting Hill Arts Club on Notting Hill Gate, from 3-6PM. Details here.

 

Want to see your comics-related event listed here? Email a link to dirk@tcj.com and let me know. Please include an online link to which I can send people for more information. No sales-only events, please — it’s nice that you’ve marked things down at your store or website, but I won’t be listing it here.

 

Tags: Dirk Deppey, Journalista

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 8:03 am and is filed under News.