Finally! The traditional direct market comic industry takes an important step towards growing up: Diamond announces Tuesday delivery, allowing retailers to get comics a day early to prepare for sale. Thankfully, they are not changing the standard Wednesday new comic day, an idea they floated two months ago.

In most entertainment retailing, outlets receive product before the on-sale day, which allows them time to check it in, prepare displays, fix shortages or damages, and generally function as professional merchants. They then only put the merchandise out for customers to buy on its “street date”, the day it’s supposed to go on sale. Diamond has always shipped the same day, which puts comic shop retailers in a bind to accomplish all those tasks while customers are waiting to buy the product.

Beginning in January 2011, direct market retailers have the option of getting comics on Tuesday for sale on Wednesday. Diamond is calling it “day-early delivery”, and it “will take effect with shipments delivered on Tuesday, January 11, that have a scheduled on-sale date of Wednesday, January 12.” Retailers can also opt out if they want to keep doing things the way they do now.

Why might someone make that choice, when there are so many benefits the other way? Well, there are still rumors that Diamond may charge a weekly fee to fund “a ‘mystery shopper’ program to ensure that participating retailers abide by the industrywide Wednesday release date for books received on Tuesday.” It’s unfortunately likely that some few retailers, not accustomed to considering their hobby as a business, may break street date and sell the comics as soon as they get them. So the penalty for all the responsible shops, those who welcome this change as a much-needed step, may be having a fund a new income stream for Diamond. (If the fee rumor is true, and if we assume 2,000 comic shop accounts that participate, that’s over $500,000 a year for Diamond for doing … no one’s sure what yet.)

I’m glad to see Diamond finally willing to behave like a traditional distributor. Perhaps their desire to finally consider changes that have been requested for years is due to the increasing number of publishers who find they can get by without them? This also helps resolve an iniquity between large, multiple-outlet comic retailers, who could already get Tuesday delivery, and the independent, one-store comic seller.

It’s nearly the end of summer, but there are still good comic conventions to attend! I’ll next be visiting the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday, September 11. (Although the show runs two days, it’s relatively local for me, so I’m only making the trip for that one day. Unfortunately, other obligations call that same weekend.)

Isn’t this a darling promotional poster by Raina Telgemeier (Smile)? Look at all those diverse people enjoying comics and the chocolate fountain that’s a feature of the Saturday night festivities!

I’m honored to be part of two of the scheduled panels. First, I’m on the Critics’ Panel: How We Judge at 3:00. The subtitle is geared to give a little more focus to the usual journalism coverage. We’ll be talking about how to “regard different kinds of work in different ways” and how we form critical opinions. Panelists also include Gary Groth (The Comics Journal), Tim Hodler (Comics Comics), Chris Mautner (Robot 6), Joe McCulloch (Jog the Blog), Ken Parille (Blog Flume), and Caroline Small (The Hooded Utilitarian). That’s quite the group! I hope we all get a chance to share our opinions, but I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem, since we’re all outspoken.

Next, I will be moderating Comics for Younger Readers at 5 PM. We’ll focus on comics for kids/young adults by Metaphrog, Aaron Renier, Raina Telgemeier, and Drew Weing. If there’s anything you’d like to know about these folks, let me know!

If you’re going to be in the area, although I don’t know how you could tear yourself away from SPX, you may also want to check out Intervention, an odd new assemblage of “webcomics, videos, gaming, music” all with an online focus, debuting the same weekend. It’s an unfortunate coincidence that they’re scheduled for the same dates in the same area, as the Intervention organizers comment on:

The more we thought about it though the more we believe this isn’t a problem. SPX has always been focused on the idea of independent print comics. While some webcomics guests do attend SPX, the “idea” of SPX, as shown by the multitude of their programming, is still very much focused on the print realm. Intervention is about online distribution and promotion, and somewhat more open ended in the content type discussed (video, music, comics, blogging, etc.).

There is crossover, but in many ways Intervention and SPX appear to be the Yin and Yang of focus and programming. I can actually foresee people who might attend both for the elements that they want to get info about. Considering that the cons are also physically located only a few miles from each other, this is a very easy thing to actually do.

Here’s an interview with a founder that provides more focus on what they’re aiming to do.

As I feared, Friends of Lulu is in danger of losing its tax-exempt status as a charitable organization. At the end of June, the IRS released a “List of Organizations at Risk of Automatic Revocation of Tax-Exempt Status“, and as shown here, Friends of Lulu is on it. (Click for bigger version.)

That’s an excerpt from the NY list (PDF link) posted by the IRS. As described, “the list includes organizations for which the IRS does not have a record of a required annual filing for 2007 and 2008, and whose 2009 return, due on or after May 17 and before October 15, 2010, has not yet been received.”

If you gave money to Friends of Lulu since 2007 and you took a tax exemption, don’t fear. “Donors to section 501(c)(3) organizations may rely on the organization’s determination letter or listing in Publication 78 to deduct contributions until the IRS publishes notice on IRS.gov that the organization’s 501(c)(3) exempt status has been automatically revoked.” So we’ll have to check back with the IRS in late October to see what happens.

The helpful anonymous reader who tipped me to this IRS news also pointed out that the list includes the “Professional Association of Comics Entertainment Retailers”, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. That’s PACER, a comic retailer trade organization that disappeared a while back. (I only remember them because reviewer, now retailer, Randy Lander was once representing them. The last online reference I could find was a note about their meeting in San Diego in 2001.) Its role has since been taken over by ComicsPRO.

I somehow have missed seeing The Black Cauldron until now (although I was a fan of the books by Lloyd Alexander; I loved Gurgi). This 25th Anniversary Edition, although bare-bones, may be a good chance for me to remedy that.

I’m curious to draw my own opinion, since reaction to the movie appears very mixed. I was surprised to see that it was Disney’s first PG-rated animated film, as well as the first to use computers, and the darker nature of its content seems to spur debate (as well as discussion about how faithful to the source material it is). It was considered a flop, in part due to how expensive it was to make.

The Black Cauldron
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The new 25th Anniversary Edition DVD is due out September 14 with these new bonus features:

• A deleted scene in which Taran, Fflewddur Fflam, Gurgi, and Princess Eilonwy travel into the depths of the earth and meet the Fairfolk
• A Witches’ Challenge game in which you solve riddles to win a magical sword

They’ve also included the bonus features from the previous release: the theatrical trailer, another trivia game, an art gallery, and “Trick or Treat”, a Donald Duck cartoon from 1952. There’s no Blu-ray version, which suggests Disney doesn’t have high hopes for this re-release. They are promising a new movie transfer to digital, though.

So, if you’ve seen the film, is it worth watching? And does that opinion depend on whether or not you’re familiar with the books?

Thanks to the kind folks at MyTeeSpot.com, “home of your favorite funny and cool pop culture T-shirts”, I have a contest!

Five people will each win one of these Justice League superhero t-shirts! There’s a Batman logo, a Superman logo, a Flash logo, a Green Lantern logo, and to honor how he’s always there in the background, a Martian Manhunter art T. (If you’re looking for group images of the Justice League, MyTeeSpot.com has those too. They allow you to design your own T-shirt or pick from cartoon, movie, music, superhero, TV show, and video game T-shirts. They offer free shipping, too, on orders over $50.)

To enter this contest, post a comment here saying which Justice League member is your favorite and why. (Feel free to pick any era, which gives you almost any DC character.) The five winners will be selected at 3 PM East Coast time on Friday, September 3. Since MyTeeSpot.com ships to many countries, you can enter as long as your location is listed on their shipping FAQ.

Winners will be selected by random number draw and emailed for their physical mailing address and shirt preference, although choice is not guaranteed. If email is not answered within 24 hours or a valid email address is not provided, a replacement winner will be selected. Your email won’t be used for any other purpose. As always, thanks for reading!

I wasn’t able to attend the ComiXology panel at the Baltimore Comic-Con, as I planned, so I’m thrilled and honored that Julia Linthicum was willing to provide this writeup.

I attended the “ComiXology and the Future of Digital Comics” panel on Saturday, August 28th at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The panel consisted of David Steinberger, CEO of ComiXology; David Gallaher and Steve Ellis of Box 13; and Chip Mosher, marketing director of Boom! Studios. Mosher was a last-minute panel crasher.

Steinberger opened up the panel talking about ComiXology’s history, including their popular Pull List service. He said comic book stores have loved having the service available, especially since they can readily see what is available each week. When they shifted to the digital platform, Comixology encountered its share of hurdles, only working with smaller publishers before the wave of bigger names jumped onboard. Now they work with Marvel, DC, Boom, and more recently Image. Before ComiXology had to negotiate with each individual creators for Image titles, so the new Image app was considered a strong improvement.

Then the panel shifted to ComiXology’s foray into comics publishing with Box 13. The series was intended as content to bring users to the ComiXology app. David Gallaher and Steve Ellis talked about the constraints designing for the smaller screen. The biggest challenge for writer Gallaher was conveying the most information in a small space, but still making it interesting to readers. For Ellis, the iPhone screen limitations moved him to go old-school with his layouts. The more traditional gridded approach impacted the pace of Box 13, making it fast and high-powered, likened more to an animation storyboard. Readers could almost control the pacing of the story depending on how fast they tapped the phone.

The issue of page layouts cropped up again in discussing adapting existing books. Every comic book on ComiXology is reformatted and optimized for their applications. The ones with the simplest layouts were not surprisingly the easiest to adapt. Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby were both cited as favorites of the ComiXology development team. Whereas with a Top Cow book, they’d be struggling to find where a panel began or ended. In an age of quirky and intricate page layout, it’s interesting a high-tech toy is encouraging people to look backwards at older-style comics.

Steinberger showed some sample images on the projection screen from the ComiXology app, including Walking Dead and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Dust to Dust. The latter showed how sometimes the images would layer in new and interesting ways, almost like an old-style flip book. Panelists likened it to Sergei Eisenstein’s film work with montages.

Discussing the effect of digital comics on the general market, everyone seemed more optimistic. Steinberger talked about going around to the various conventions and trade shows earlier in the year to allay people’s fears of digital comics. What he’s noticed is the opposite. He’s heard stories of someone going to a local comic shop and buying every Walking Dead trade because they’d read part of it on their site.

Chip Mosher seemed to think the market would ultimately decide whether digital comics had a future or not. Right now, everyone is trying a bunch of different things and seeing what works. He didn’t think that was a bad approach necessarily, but it would take awhile to coalesce.

Mosher also went on an interesting tangent on comics reading. Best estimates right now have regular month-to-month comics readers at around 300,000. Comics aren’t sold in the corner drug store or 7-11 anymore, so they’re not as ubiquitous. Aside from television, there aren’t that many examples of serialized stories these days. Serialized novels are fairly rare, aside from Stephen King’s more recent experiments. So new comics readers frequently don’t have a frame of reference.

The counter question came up: what happened when those readers discovered they had to wait a whole month for the next part of the story? Would these newfound readers stick around or would they return to other media? When someone asked if webcomics could tide these people over, some of the panelists didn’t think there were many webcomics with continuing storylines. Examples cited were Girl Genius and Freak Angels. My own counterpoint is there is a world of back issues and other series to explore. It’s not like there’s only one comic published.

Worldwide rights would become more important. Boom Studios cited the example of the Darkwing Duck comic book. Boom only has the rights for Darkwing in the US and Canada, prompting some irate emails from UK and Australian fans. Likewise, Scott Pilgrim had a separate app in Comixology because they couldn’t secure the UK rights.

When the panel was opened for questions, Steinberger gave away ComiXology t-shirts and Box 13 trades to the first four people. Gallaher and Ellis were asked about the work load involved with Box 13. They managed eight pages a week, but they also cited the positive experience of Zuda where they were producing regular material for High Moon.

There was no news to report on a future Android application for ComiXology. Users with Froyo OS may be able to access the web application on their phone.

Asked if ComiXology would consider publishing other materials besides comic books, including art books, Steinberger said they were dipping their toes in that sphere. The “NeoIntegrity: The Comics Edition” exhibit from the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) exhibit catalog ran over 800 pages and featured donations from over 200 artists. ComiXology would be providing a digital version of that catalog. However, ComiXology was quick to add their focus was first and foremost comic books. They still thought they had a long way to go on that front, before they expanded too much.

I also stopped by the ComiXology booth on the convention floor. A big screen showed the web application, while iPhone and iPads showed off the application in their respective platforms. Having only access to the web version of ComiXology, I wanted to see what the difference was like. The reading experience was comparable between iPad & web versions; the biggest difference was the lack of navigation bar. With an iPad, tapping the screen brings up the next page. Steinberger did admit they needed to educate people better on the navigation bar and how it was used. He also said they listen to all of the feedback online, so if there’s an issue or question, raise it and it will get answered.

I certainly left the ComiXology panel curious and encouraged for the future of digital comics. I do wish some of the other platforms had been represented to provide the bigger picture. But ComiXology is definitely taking the ball and running with it.

Yesterday morning, Ed, Caroline, and I headed out early to drive up to this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con. (KC was going to go, but he had some writing to catch up on — and you can’t go play if you have work to do.)

The car trip was amusing — we had fun with an iPod stocked with the best of New Wave 80s — and the show refreshing, since I followed my new convention strategy of taking everything as it comes, not overdoing, and concentrating on the moment, which was usually about having a good conversation.

Line just before Saturday opening

We only had Saturday, and when I first saw the size of Artists’ Alley, I wasn’t sure I was going to get everything done I wanted to in that one day. If I’d been there two, I would have been a bit more relaxed, since I would have gone back to the room and not walked the whole show floor in an afternoon. (But I didn’t have the time, and I didn’t want to pay the $200+ hotels in the area usually charge on a weekend when there’s a sporting event going on.) Instead, we visited the con, met up with Ron, Rob, and Julia for a great sushi dinner early (with lots of fascinating chat), and made it back home by eleven, thanks to Ed’s familiarity with the back route back to Richmond.

(Click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

News

Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Baltimore this year was because West Coasters Steve Lieber and Jeff Parker were making an appearance, and it’s always wonderful to see them. I recently reread their Underground, and it was even better as a collected story in one edition. Steve gave me a heads up to watch out for another terrific-sounding graphic novel. Bad Houses, due from Vertigo next year, is by his wife Sara Ryan and the always-talented Carla Speed McNeil. It’s about hoarders and estate sales in small-town Oregon. With its portrait of obsession, it sounds right up my alley.

Cover Run
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I got a chance to chat briefly with Adam Hughes about his lovely book Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet — I’ve been saving it as a treat — but if you haven’t gotten it yet, it’s done so well that there’s a second printing coming, with a variety of typos corrected. Adam’s also now a NY Times-bestselling author, with the volume placing on their Graphic Books sales ranking.

Sam Costello of Split Lip

Although horror isn’t my thing, I quite enjoyed talking with Sam Costello about his series of Split Lip anthologies. He serializes stories on the web and then collects them into 150 or 160-page volumes once a year. Special for this convention was the limited-edition “Termites in Your Smile” 48-page comic with bonus material (script and sketches). It was illustrated by Douglas Draper (no relation that we could figure out), who’d also contributed to IDW’s Dark Delicacies. I also complimented Sam on his columns at iFanboy and ComixTalk for actually spilling facts and numbers, telling the truth that most people shy around.

Comic Discoveries

Chris Pitzer of AdHouse Books

I find it funny that I see fellow Richmonder Chris Pitzer more at shows than I do in our shared location. Here he is showing off the convention exclusive THB #2 by show guest Paul Pope. Every time I went by their area when Pope was signing, there was a capped line, and often people being turned away — popular artist! This will be my first chance to actually read this series. Thanks, Chris!

Wendy Linkous and Tara Tallan

I was so excited to see Tara Tallan (Galaxion) back doing conventions. I’ve enjoyed her comic for two decades now, and I hear that the revised web series is about to start moving beyond the previous print series. Plus, she had two minicomics I picked up — a cute Galaxion mini story, and a reprint of the fantasy story she and her husband did for the anthology Mythography with annotations.

Love Buzz
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I enjoyed meeting Len Wallace, writer of Love Buzz, which I somehow missed coming out from Oni late last year. I’m looking forward to reading it (watch for my review) because a book you haven’t seen yet that you enjoy is a neat discovery, whenever you find it.

Had a great discussion with Christian Sager, who writes the webcomic Border Crossings. Like me, he did academic work on comic fandom, and he describes the comic as “Firefly, Labyrinth, and Perdido Street Station in a nautical steampunk mash-up.”

Purchases

Handsome Thom Zahler, artist of Love and Capes

Love and Capes Book 2
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I’d been waiting to pick up Love and Capes Book 2: Going to the Chapel until I could get it from creator Thom Zahler, and I’m looking forward to rereading the story. It’s a wonderful comedy, leading up to the two getting married, and I was surprised to see some author commentary in the back. I love that behind-the-scenes stuff.

For some reason, I keep picking up interesting jewelry at comic cons for really reasonable (i.e. cheap) prices. My purchase this time was a bracelet made from bright pink, purple, and blue dice. It matched what I was wearing so well that I popped it on and everyone thought I’d worn it in instead of bought it new.

I knew there were movie-watching webcomics, but I didn’t know that Joe Loves Crappy Movies was one of them. His first collection seemed unique because each movie page has both a comic strip and a real review, so I had to buy it to support a fellow critic.

Andrew Cohen and Matt Dembicki

The two DC-area gentlemen shown here, Andrew Cohen and Matt Dembicki, had an oddly shaped minicomic called “The Brewmaster’s Castle”. It’s long and skinny, like stacking a typical minicomic on top of another (as though they were playing chicken). The design exists to showcase Cohen’s art and the unique architecture and contents of the subject building, the Heurich Mansion, previously owned by a brewer. I look forward to pouring over it (heh).

Last Thoughts

Heidi MacDonald and me

By the time 4:00 rolled around, I was looking for a chance to sit down any time I could. The floor was frequently busy, with delays in walking through, especially when someone in a costume appeared. When I bumped into Heidi in the aisles, we took advantage of the table at an empty booth and had an enjoyable chat about the business, travel, and a story I hope to write about Alex de Campi and the pioneering ways she’s approaching digital comics.

Also, I owe big thanks to John Steventon of HappyGlyphs Comics, who kindly let me sit at his table mid-afternoon. I badly needed a break, and I had a lovely conversation with John’s dad, who was helping him out. Turned out we had both previously worked at AT&T, although in very different eras and areas.

Since we left relatively early, I missed the Harvey Awards, so check out this list of winners and Heidi’s comments on Mark Waid’s keynote speech and the aftermath. (Amazingly, Scott Kurtz pops up in that thread as the voice of reason.)

It was a fun show, with more young, aspiring creators and webcomics people than I expected, as well as many old friends. I’m glad I went.

Review by KC Carlson

As a DC comic book, the original Brave and the Bold title ran from 1955 to 1983. For the first 24 issues, it was an adventure-style comic featuring tales of the Silent Knight, Viking Prince, Robin Hood, Golden Gladiator, and others. Issues #26-49 featured try-out series (ala Showcase), the most successful of which were Hawkman, the Justice League of America, and (later) the Teen Titans. Beginning with #50, the title contained a series of stories featuring random team-ups of various DC superheroes, which ran until #67, when the most popular team-up character, Batman, became the ongoing “star” of the title. Almost every subsequent issue featured a team-up with him and another DC hero, and this continued to the series’ end with issue #200.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Season One, Part One
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At first, it seemed like a pretty unlikely source for a new Warner Bros. animated TV show, especially since the near-endless continuity revamps at DC had rendered pretty much every issue of the series as “not in current continuity”. (Truth to tell, many of the issues were never part of any DC continuity, even as they were being published.) But since the basic concept of the series (popular Batman teaming up with a different character every issue) is one of the very favorite concepts of long-time comics readers, it seemed perfect to base a new Batman animated series around — providing it had the right tone.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold has nailed that perfect tone in spades by becoming the biggest mixed bag of influences in recent memory — yet somehow it all works! Unlike previous Warner/DC animated shows which were mostly taken seriously, with the occasional outrageously weird or funny episode, Batman: The Brave and the Bold has flipped that on its ear, with mostly outrageous episodes (or risky, yet perfect, character takes), occasionally interrupted with a serious episode.

Broken down further, the show is one part Silver Age love-fest, starring lantern-jawed Dick Sprang-era Batman with his teeny-tiny Bat-ears, and his “impossible” utility belt and equipment. A lot of the story ideas for this series come from that pre-Julie Schwartz, sci-fi-based Batman era that no one at DC (except for Grant Morrison) wants to admit happened, and so a number of episodes feature time travel, or interplanetary threats, just for old times’ sake. Plus, the show features old-school, beardless, gimmick-arrow Green Arrow!

Then there’s one part 1966 Adam West-style line-reading goonery (including Batman’s occasional snarky thoughts — brilliant, especially since current comics characters aren’t allowed to have thoughts anymore, other then endless murky monologue captions); one part crazy (but tough) Rogues Gallery, drawing from the entire DCU; one part up-to-date hipness (the inclusion of way-cool Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle, the bizarre Outsiders update, especially Japanese schoolgirl warrior Katana, and Ryan Choi Atom (hmmm… that might be a future problem)); and one part courage to not be SO serious. Loopy, over-the top, boisterous Aquaman is my new favorite incarnation of the character, and Plastic Man is always a treat — especially watching Batman and other heroes’ reactions to him. Find out lots more about the show after the break.