At the beginning of this year, Archie Comics released Life With Archie #16, in which Kevin Keller, their gay character created by Dan Parent and introduced in late 2010, married his boyfriend. Clay Walker was also Kevin’s physical therapist, as Kevin was injured serving his country in the military (just to stack the deck with patriotism).

Today, Marvel Comics placed a short mention on The View (like Marvel, ABC is a Disney company) about the upcoming Astonishing X-Men #50 (out tomorrow!), in which Northstar will propose to his boyfriend Kyle.

They need the publicity because I doubt anyone would suspect that cover, a generic hero battle shot by Dustin Weaver with a chick in front falling out of her costume, of containing that kind of content. (Who’s bird-head-girl anyway?) The interior page shown is by Mike Perkins, and I wish Kyle looked more pleased, less like he was disgusted and freaked out.

The actual wedding will take place in Astonishing X-Men #51, out next month. Covers are by Dustin Weaver and Marko Djurdjevic; I’m not sure who did the one provided here.

Northstar, created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, came out in 1992, so now, twenty years later, he gets to solemnize his love. That’s nice.

The Small Press Expo, held in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 15 and 16 this year, has announced a final call for the 2012 Ignatz Awards.

Ignatz Award brick won by Dave Roman and John Green

These awards are the only “festival prize” in comics, which means that the winners are selected by the votes of those who attend SPX. The list of nominees on the ballot are previously chosen by a jury of five cartoonists.

Eligible works must have been released between July 1, 2011, and May 31, 2012. (These dates have been changed from prior years and from the information available on the website. Previously, the eligibility period ran July to June.)

To submit work, send six copies to
SPX Ignatz Awards
c/o Big Planet Comics
426 Maple Ave East
Vienna, VA 22180
Submissions should be received by June 7, 2012. (Less than a month away!) Digital works should submit URLs. The print comics will later be donated to the Small Press Expo Collection at the Library of Congress.

As first mentioned last year, IDW has announced the fourth volume of my favorite superhero series, Love and Capes by Thom Zahler.

After getting married in 2010 (reprinted in Going to the Chapel) and then settling into life together, Abby and Mark, the Crusader, are now expecting a baby!

“I’m thrilled to be able to tell another chapter in Mark and Abby’s adventures. And there’s no greater adventure than parenthood,” said Zahler. “Except, of course, for a fight for existence itself against an all-consuming galactic threat, and this book isn’t about that. Well, probably not. Fifty-fifty, tops.”

Zahler does an excellent job blending traditional superhero comic adventures and expectations with touching romance and well-observed domestic comedy. Love and Capes always entertains me in inspiring ways.

This six-issue series launches in August ($3.99 for 32 color pages, available for order in next month’s Diamond Previews), but to promote What to Expect at the San Diego Comic-Con, IDW is pre-releasing the first issue with the “Baby Name” variant cover shown here. (Click for large verson.)

IDW will also be reprinting all three previous collections for resolicitation to comic shops in August.

Josh Neufeld, who’s been creating non-fiction comics for forever — I reviewed his travel collection A Few Perfect Hours back in 2006 — has been deservedly recognized with a journalism fellowship. He’s the first recipient of this award and only the second comics journalist to receive an American journalism fellowship of any kind.

Neufeld has been offered a 2012–2013 Knight-Wallace Fellowship in journalism at the University of Michigan, a program that, as he describes it, “gives mid-career journalists a chance to pursue customized sabbatical studies for a full academic year. The program includes twice-weekly seminars, as well as training in narrative writing, multi-platform journalism, and entrepreneurial enterprise. Fellows also make two extended international tours to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Istanbul.”

Neufeld will be researching Bahrain’s Pearl Revolution, a subject he’s already written about briefly, with the aim of creating a long-form graphic novel. Neufeld most recently created A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge and has illustrated The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media and Titans of Finance: True Tales of Money & Business.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make it to Velocity Comics, since they’re located two blocks from where the President of the United States was speaking, so the major roads in that area were closed. I’m told they’re having a sale today to make up for it, so locals may want to visit them to share the love.

I was able to find most everything I was looking for, with these exceptions. Although I already have a copy, I didn’t see the Archaia giveaway hardcover anywhere. The one shop I knew well enough to ask had given them away quickly, with all of them gone before I got there. I’m not sure the other two ordered any or put them out, or they may also have given them away first. I also didn’t see any copies of the Valiant relaunch sampler or Oni’s Bad Medicine launch. The Top Shelf Kids Club book, meanwhile, is coming via mail order.

Now that I’ve had a chance to read the comics, I was a bit disappointed by the number that are simply teasers or promote works not yet available. The DC Superman Family Adventures, for example, was five pages introducing a character, Superman, that everyone is already familiar with. I guess they figure that might not be true of the youngest readers, but to me, it felt like a waste. Especially since I’d already seen the promo used in the other DC Nation kids’ books.

I know, I’m not the target audience, but I’m beginning to be more sympathetic to those who denigrate FCBD material as lame advertisements. I suspect publishers don’t want to pump any more money into the event than they have to, but a full story gives a better taste than a segment or worse, a pinup ad page. (Yes, I’m disappointed that the promised Archie preview of the New Crusaders in the Mega Man comic turned out to be just that.) But when Capstone, for example, makes a big deal out of a “free!!” copy of two stories that end “find out what happens next in this book coming in August”, that’s a bit frustrating.

That’s a side effect of the flipbook structure that so many publishers used this year. The stories are short, and we know that shorter stories are harder to make satisfying. That’s especially disappointing for readers who aren’t interested in both properties.

Then there are the time frames involved between now and the release of the works being promoted. Yen Press’ Infernal Devices ships in October. Image 20 had introductions to stories that won’t be available until September, August, and July. The Drawn & Quarterly Moomin story continues in a book out in September.

Wow, I’m being more negative than I expected. Let me sum up this way: the appeal of FCBD to me was the event, traveling with friends and visiting the shops. The books are, in a way, secondary. I know too much about them already. (As pointed out to me by one unfriendly store worker who didn’t seem to like that I was asking for stuff beyond the DC/Marvel/big brand titles.)

That said, here’s what I enjoyed most from my reading (beyond what I’ve already talked about):

* I don’t get Adventure Time, but Lucy Knisley’s story in the Boom! sampler was cute, about trying to fix a load of laundry colored by a red sock.

* Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer contribute a piece featuring Super Robot Martian Girl fighting a robot recycler to Oni’s Yo Gabba Gabba! comic.

* The Carl Barks Donald Duck stories from Fantagraphics were, of course, funny and terrificly cartooned.

* Papercutz’s Smurfs/Tinker Bell book contained some one-page Dance Class stories. They really brought back memories of childhood ballet lessons. I’d read more of these, and I think the books have a built-in audience, if the potential readers know about them and can find them.

* The Fantagraphics Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley pulls the “to be continued” trick, but what was here was greatly entertaining, with Crockett Johnson’s little boy, his cigar-chomping Fairy Godmother, and a ghost named Gus who sleeps in a laundry basket investigating a local haunted house, which turns out to be related to coffee smugglers. (It was wartime, and coffee was apparently restricted.)

Oh, and I did buy a comic — a copy of the CrossGen Sampler, signed. It was in a dollar box, and it made me giggle, so I bought it as a momento of when the publisher was just starting out. The signatures include Barbara Kesel, Ron Marz, Brandon Peterson, and more I can’t make out.

Also, the day ended wonderfully, as I had a fabulous time seeing the Avengers movie. What a great note to end on! It was entertaining, a real thrill-ride, and I particularly appreciated how much humor there was, even in the fight scenes. I don’t care for one of Joss Whedon’s recurring tricks that cropped up here, but I was surprised how much I liked Mark Ruffalo’s portrayal of the Hulk. Although I didn’t care for The Incredible Hulk, with Ruffalo in the role, I’d enjoy seeing a new Hulk movie. I also like Alan Sepinwall’s idea (warning: spoilers at that post) of wanting to see “Marvel Team-Up”-style films.

I’d like to read comics with this group of characters, but as tends to happen after seeing a Marvel movie, there doesn’t seem to be a comic book available with this approach to this group of characters. I guess print just can’t capture the appeal of Robert Downey Jr.’s sarcastic Tony Stark or Chris Evans’ upstanding Captain America or Chris Hemsworth’s attractive Thor.

The book of the year is Archaia’s Mouse Guard, Labyrinth, and Other Stories, a free 48-page color hardcover with original comics. David Petersen’s lead story, in which he draws puppet versions of his characters, is inspiring and fable-like. The Labyrinth tale, written by Ted Naifeh and Adrianne Ambrose and illustrated by Cory Godbey, is faithful to the look and mood of Hoggle and other cast members. There’s also a confusing Dapper Men short by Jim McCann and Janet Lee; a piece of Royden Lepp’s Rust and another of Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl; and a funny yet stern introduction to Cow Boy by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulos. I’m not sure readers are going to like everything they see here, but it feels like a terrific value and it demonstrates the diversity of Archaia’s line and the comic medium. Some of their creators are making store appearances in support of FCBD.

Another outstanding book is The Censored Howard Cruse, released by Boom! in support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The uncensored versions of the pages herein will be available in next month’s The Other Sides of Howard Cruse. If it’s frustrating reading comics with black bars over words and images, that’s a good reminder that the freedom to read material aimed at adults is a valuable thing. The stories here cover artistic imagination (and erotic material), political debate, and drugs. Some amazing cartooning here, either way.

Dark Horse has two Free Comic Book Day issues, both flipbooks. Star Wars/Serenity are both written by Zack Whedon, with the characters looking similar enough to the media versions we know and love, even if the Serenity incident is minor. (I didn’t read the Star Wars.) I enjoyed the Buffy/Guild issue more. Andrew Chambliss, Georges Jeanty, and Dexter Vines’ Buffy story apparently takes place after the current issues, with Spike taking her into space for a brief vacation, although it’s interrupted by one of Spike’s space bugs having been turned into a vampire. Funny, adventurous, and a good representation of the appeal of the series. The Guild, by Felicia Day and Jonathan Case, is more cartoony than previous issues, but works well enough as a silly stand-alone. The two issues have one more story split between them, a chapter of Alabaster: Wolves by Caitlin Kiernan and Steve Lieber.

I haven’t seen yet, because they’re coming from my mail-order retailer, copies of Top Shelf Kids Club and Donald Duck Family Comics. I don’t know why I didn’t think to order Fantagraphics’ other title, Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley by Crockett Johnson, but that’s #1 on my “I sure hope someone in town ordered this one” list.

For more information, Dorian has a nearly complete rundown of all the books, while Chris Sims highlights a few of his favorites.

I took a long weekend in New York City to visit this year’s MoCCA Fest held to benefit the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. My mother and I were traveling together, since after the show, we planned to do some sightseeing and shopping in the city.

We stayed at the Ramada Eastside, which I heartily recommend. For about $200 a night (it is New York), we had a recently renovated room much larger than I expected with a bathroom with plenty of space as well. Plus, they provide free wifi and free breakfast (bagels, donuts, pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, cereal). This was all four blocks from the show location at the Lexington Armory. If you’re interested in visiting the MoCCA show and staying within walking distance, it’s a great choice. Now that I know of a reliable place to stay in the area, that makes it much easier to make this trip a yearly habit.

I was at the show at opening on Saturday, 11 AM, and was surprised to find myself done at 3:30. I had seen many wonderful artists, talked with old friends, met some new ones, and acquired a lot of terrific reading. I could have done another sweep of the floor, and I’m sure I would have found more great comics to try, but I was tired — we were up for our flight that morning at 3 AM — and I didn’t feel like I could carry much more.

My show strategy this year is to avoid overdoing, to enjoy what I what find and not stress about what I might have missed. (So I’m sorry I didn’t get to say hello to Stephen Robson of Ponent Mon or Ed Chavez of Vertical, but I’m sure there will be another opportunity in future.) This show can be done in an afternoon or take the full two days, especially if, unlike me, you remember to go to some of the panels and programming. By mid-day Saturday, the show floor was nicely crowded. I would get bumped every so often, which I don’t care for, but that many attendees hopefully meant good business for exhibitors.

The Comics, Artists, and Publishers

This show didn’t have one standout book for me. Instead, it was about continuing enjoyment of the medium and its artists. I should say to start that I didn’t spend a lot of time shopping with big publishers such as Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, or Drawn & Quarterly. They all had books I was interested in, but I can easily get them when I’m home, without worrying about how to carry them back there. I had limited packing space this trip, so I focused on small press and minicomics, many from artists who are long-term favorites of mine.

That was the best thing about this show — seeing creators whose work I’ve enjoyed for years continue bringing out new and exciting works. Take Kris Dresen, for example. I’ve been loving her work since the mid-90s, and now she was debuting the print edition of She Said. I also picked up Gone, which is almost an illustrated poem about trying to fly.

John Green at MoCCA

I enjoy Alisa Harris’ Cooking Up Comics web recipes, so I bought the three issues of her Urban Nomad minicomic about living in New York City. (Great reminder of how much fun it is to visit the city but how glad I am that I don’t live here. It takes a special kind of person to survive it.) And my mom was actually interested in taking the bookmark I brought back — Cooking Up Comics might be the first webcomic she reads!

Lucy Knisley had two minicomics I hadn’t bought yet, and I got to hear a little bit more about her upcoming book Relish, coming next year from First Second. Given the food focus, I expect to share that with Mom as well. The key to converting comic readers: subjects they’re interested in.

John Green didn’t have a table, but I bumped into him setting up for a sketch session. They are debuting Teen Boat with a release party on a real boat! Ok, it’s a stationery barge, but on Friday, May 11, the authors will be appearing at the Waterfront Museum in Brooklyn. What a neat idea!

There was also the fun of catching up with old buddies, such as former Richmonder Chris Irving, who was working with PowerHouse Books. They were at the show to promote their anthology of Golden Age Western Comics — which has a cover with holes in it, as though someone shot it! — and Chris’ interview book Leaping Tall Buildings, with impressive photographs by Seth Kushner. This beautiful volume is aiming to introduce some of the key figures who made American comics to non-fans.

Mark Smylie of Archaia

Archaia was at MoCCA for the first time in four years. Mark Smylie and I chatted briefly about their convention strategy, how they hope to make more appearances at smaller shows with targeted samples of their diverse line, which sounds like a great idea to me.

Also fun to catch up with was Ross Richie of Boom! Studios. Someday, we’re going to get a chance to get a drink together and really swap stories about all the comic history we remember; this time, we chatted about the Austin comic scene, remembering Sam Hurt and Hepcats. Plus, Ross, who was there then, told me the real story of why Marvel bought Malibu. I shouldn’t neglect to mention the pleasure of meeting Rich Tommaso, there promoting his just-out Pete and Miriam.

I picked up a copy of Luci’s Let Down by Marjee Chmiel & Sandra Lanz. I saw this at SPX last year, and I think I was going to borrow Ed’s copy from him, but you know how good intentions go. I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing this shortly.

Pete Stathis took a “daddy break” from comics, but he’s coming back with a new project, Kulok and Dunlop, a fantasy adventure comedy launching in June. There’s a preview at his website.

It’s always a pleasure to see Bill Roundy, who has a weekly comic called Bar Scrawl about “the drinking establishments of Brooklyn”. He’s smartly collected them into minicomics arranged by particular neighborhood, a smart idea for locals.

A lovely lady named Patricia Burgess had the most darling tiny fruit slice earrings. Amazingly, they matched a bracelet I bought online for summer, so I had to have the little oranges.

Billage, Amelia Onorato, Melanie Gillman, and Donna Almendrala

My last stop of the show was the kind of coincidence that ends the experience on a high note. While in one far corner of the room, an artist I knew introduced me to a Center for Cartoon Studies student. He wanted to show me his comics, but he had just left his table on the other side of the room for the first time in the show. I said I’d work my way back across the room and meet him there.

When I got there, he wasn’t back yet, so I looked around and discovered he was sharing a table with one of my favorite young webcomic creators, Melanie Gillman. I’ve talked before how much I enjoy her comic Smbitten, and now I own the print copies. Which are hand-stitched with pearl trim! If Billage, the student, hadn’t asked me to come by, I would have missed one of my favorite purchases. Serendipity!

I also got Bill’s comics, along with another tablemate’s, Amelia Onorato. I look forward to telling you more about all the many great minicomics I picked up in a future column.

The Food and Art

We’re done with comic stuff now — the rest of this is just me talking about dining out, because one of the goals of the trip was to eat some really good meals, and at that, we were successful.

Dinner Saturday night was at Artisanal Bistro, a French restaurant with an amazing cheese selection. They even have a cheese consultant, similar to a sommelier for a wine cellar. We chose a soft, Brie-like cheese (but with a stronger taste that was evocative of scallops) and discovered Shropshire Blue, a sort of blend of Stilton and Cheshire.

I love dining out with my mother, because we both love the same kinds of elaborate dishes and we like to share and taste. At Artisanal, she had a light and classic trout almandine with haricot vert, while I enjoyed a braised lamb shank with ratatouille and an amazing goat cheese polenta. It’s a good thing we ate early, because after all that and the early rising, we crashed early and slept well.

Sunday began with brunch with Brigid Alverson and her friend John, another Boston comic fan. The Tick Tock Diner, just across the street from Penn Station, was swamped, but the food was diner classic and made for a filling breakfast.

Instead of returning to the show, Mom and I were interested in another kind of shopping. We went to Macy’s, which was overcrowded with international tourists, and then Lord and Taylor. Mom was looking for a particular purse style which unfortunately isn’t in style this season, so no luck there.

We wrapped up the afternoon visiting the Museum of Modern Art. We only had a couple of hours, so it was a quick walk through the history of art, but we saw work by Picasso, Duchamp, Matisse, Warhol, and Monet’s Water Lilies. I recall two standouts of the experience:

* I saw Van Gogh’s Starry Night, which I will always remember.
* We had a lovely conversation about how to define art and the influence of the academy in declaring what is and isn’t. As modern art becomes more current, the piece becomes less about the craft and representation and more about the concept.

Dinner was at the MOMA restaurant, the Modern. After a delicious arugula/watercress salad and a liverwurst appetizer, I had an astounding duck breast with pistachio/truffle dipping sauce and surprisingly different peppercorn-crusted green apple slices. It was hard to tell they were apples, but they tasted terrific with the duck and the sauce. Mom enjoyed a pan-seared skate wing with creamy grits and brown butter vinaigrette. Everything was so intensely flavored, it was wonderful.

One more note for NYC visitors: It is not an early-rising city. We found ourselves relaxing in the morning, since there was nothing to do before 10 AM, and we were up and ready before 8. I suspect everyone else was sleeping in from a late night.

Jesse Lonergan, whose Dancer a Day blog brings a smile to my face every morning, will have two new minicomics, “High Flyer” and “Fancy Footwork”, which collects favorites from that blog.

Jonathan Baylis, whose So Buttons #4 Ed reviewed last year, will have a “MoCCA Edition” teaser of the upcoming #5 (which will premiere in San Diego). It features a cover by Tom Scioli, modeled after Kirby’s Captain America #212 and includes three short stories for only $1. The longest, drawn by Thomas Boatwright (panel shown here), can be read here. I’m sure coffee junkies will appreciate it.

Robot6 has a more formal rundown of publisher appearances, which mentions that Fanfare/Ponent Mon will have advance copies of The Summit of the Gods Volume 3 available to buy. I read an advance PDF and recommend it. Publisher Stephen Robson will also be joining Heidi’s small publishing panel, making it even more of a valuable discussion.

The following is my list of exhibitors and artists I’m looking forward to meeting at the show. It’s very individual, mostly based on so far on posts I’ve seen on blogs I follow or Twitter. If you’re going to be there, please, leave a comment!

Publishers

Just about everyone on my favorite list is here: Abrams, Archaia, Boom!, Drawn & Quarterly, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, Fantagraphics, First Second, NBM, Top Shelf, and Vertical (no! really? I haven’t been able to be at a con that manga publisher has attended in forever). It will be a thrill to see all these great indy publishers in one place.

(I only linked to MoCCA-specific posts I could find — if there’s more information out there on what these publishers plan to bring to the show, please share.)

Exhibitors and Artists

Way too many to list, but here’s a few I’m sure to seek out. (Note: always best to double-check if guests’ plans have changed — the list still includes Faith Erin Hicks and Spike of Iron Circus, both of whom are not planning to attend. Still, even if a favorite doesn’t make it, there will be plenty more people and their comics to check out.)

• Sarah Becan
• Kris Dresen
• Laura Lee Gulledge
• Alisa Harris
• Lucy Knisley
• Raina Telgemeier

And then I will simply walk the show floor, discovering things, my favorite part of an exhibition. I’m beginning to worry that I won’t have enough time to do everything I want to do during my time there! Especially when I look at the programming schedule…

Panels

I had planned to visit MoCCA Fest on Saturday and then spend Sunday touring NYC, but it looks like the panels I’d most like to see are kicking off the show at 11:15 on Sunday, with a focus on “Graphic Novels for Young Adults” (including Raina Telgemeier, MK Reed, and Derek Kirk Kim), followed by advice on how “To Run a Comic Shop”, with four NYC retailers, and then everyone’s favorite hot topic, “Digital Distribution and the Future of Comics” with David Steinberger, the CEO of comiXology.

There are some good panels around lunchtime on Saturday, too, with Alex Cox providing “A History of Comics Censorship” (sponsored by the CBLDF) at 12:15 followed by Heidi MacDonald moderating a conversation on “The State of Small Publishing” at 1:15. That’s the sign of a good show, right, when there’s more to do than time to do it all?

SPX Banner by Margo Dabaie

This year’s Small Press Expo will be held September 15 and 16 at the Marriott Bethesda North Conference Center. They’ve just announced the first of their special guests, and boy, they’re doozies. I’ll let Warren tell you about it, because I can’t do any better than he can:

Dunno if you heard, but we have one of the most amazing lineups ever. In fact, I am so hyped up about it I can barely type out that we will have not only Chris Ware and Dan Clowes, but also Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez!!!

Yes, indeed, The Fab Four of indie comics, all here at SPX!!!

This will be the first time at SPX ever for multiple Ignatz Award winners Mr. Ware and Mr. Clowes. In fact, as best as anyone can figure, this will be the first time in the 21st Century that Chris and Dan will be together at the same festival in the U.S. And for Los Bros Hernadez, this is the 30th Anniversary of Love and Rockets, with SPX being their ONLY East Coast festival appearance to celebrate this great anniversary.

The show is also expanding the size of the floor by half again and adding 35 tables to allow more exhibitors with wider aisles, which should make for easier browsing and shopping.

Bonfire Agency is now seeking comic fans to join their marketing advisory panel. The “FanPan”, first announced last year, is intended to provide consumer input to brands interested in marketing to such fans, researching who they are and what they like.

Bonfire has already been talking to the Fandom Advisory Network launched by Geppi’s Entertainment Museum last year. (I’m glad to hear that’s good for something, because their site content that isn’t simply copied from elsewhere hasn’t been updated in three months and their Twitter quit in December.) From the Bonfire press release:

Research projects that have involved use of the FanPan input panel have included online focus group testing of entertainment related advertising campaigns, qualitative research into the collectibles market, an evaluation of licensed product packaging designs, and opinion polls regarding the appeal of potential promotional tie-ins between consumer brands and content providers.

“Advertisers and their media buying agencies are finding FanPan very helpful,” said Kris Longo, Bonfire Vice-President in charge of the agency’s ComicsUnited ad network. “But in order for us to maintain the value and credibility of FanPan among the marketing community at large, we need to constantly rotate and refresh our membership,” added Steve Rotterdam, Bonfire co-founder. “That’s why we’re actively recruiting new panelists.”

Prospective members must be comic readers 13 years old or older. Participants will be compensated through small payments ($2-10) or collectible giveaways. And members must keep their participation a secret. To sign up, visit BonfireFanPan.com.

I thought, well, ok, you want to do something that weekend without the minimal buy-in to participate in the official Free Comic Book Day program, I guess no one can stop you… but I was shocked when I saw them actively talking down what all the other comic stores in town are doing. Their website is currently running this blurb:

I wanted to capture the image in case they change it. The first line says, “We wanted to offer something better than lame advertisements on Free Comic Book Day… We’re offering food and discounts!” Yeah, that’s a great teaser to get people into your COMIC BOOK store — call comics “lame ads”. This particular store is rather old school, in that they have plenty of back issues and trade paperbacks, but they aren’t in the best condition, and they often look pawed over. I can’t visit for long, because there’s a thin layer of dust over everything, and the store concept appears to be “cram as much stuff in as possible”.

I wish them good luck, but I won’t be visiting. Ed and several other local fans put together a caravan every year where we hit every store in town EXCEPT for this chain, because they don’t participate. I guess they finally got tired of not being part of Comics’ National Holiday — but this just looks petty.

After launching in 2008, the Inkwell Awards, created to recognize the craft of comic book inking, had some issues with their first round of winners. The list had to be revised due to perceptions of conflicts of interest in the first set. The next year, they changed their process — and bravo to them for adjusting as needed.

I haven’t followed them since, but I recently got a press release announcing their planned activities during this convention season. They will be attending the Pittsburgh Comicon this weekend and Heroes Con in Charlotte in June. To promote their work, the press release came with this teasing photo of Melissa Dloughy Bender, who is appearing in Pittsburgh as “Ms. Inkwell”. The model at Heroes will be someone different, Ciara Michelle.

It’s a traditional way to get attention, putting a girl in a sexy costume, but it unfortunately lends the whole endeavor an old-fashioned air of “boys club” that risks detracting from their other good efforts, such as their Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship to the Joe Kubert School. (On the other hand, it got me to mention the program after three years of ignoring them, so maybe they subscribe to the idea there’s no such thing as bad publicity.)

The Inkwell Awards will be voted on from May 1-15 at the award website. Winners will be announced at a ceremony at Heroes Con. No word on whether their spokesmodel will be handing them out, or what she’ll be wearing.

Dark Horse has signed up as one of the launch vendors, promising a program where purchases lead to digital comic pages. Buy enough, and your pages add up to an entire digital comic. After you collect a certain number of digital issues, you’ll be sent “exclusive physical copies”. Additionally,

Users will be able to earn comic books faster with purchases made at Dark Horse affiliates, sponsors, and retail outlets. At any time, a user can also decide to earn Dark Horse credits instead of exclusive content so that the user can earn any product from DarkHorse.com.

Other launch programs users can choose from include digital trading cards from Upper Deck (that can be collected and swapped for a physical collector card), social games, Toys for Tots donations, and other charity and social networking options.

This is all planning, not actual “you can buy it now” at this point — it remains to be seen if customers sign up for the experience (a big word in the publicity) or merchants will support it. It sounds a bit too complicated to me. Anything that promotes itself with this many buzzwords:

ground breaking in the way it links payment devices with unique content and experiences, empowering consumers to engage with brands of their choice

may have an uphill battle ahead of it living up to its promises. Also, since the coverage so far is business-oriented, there’s not a lot of information on how much information customers have to agree to share to get the promised rewards. I sense privacy concerns arising out of the greater amount of data promised to vendors. All this tracking and incentive purchasing makes me want to go back to cash.

JK Parkin at Robot 6 has noticed that Marvel is now soliciting that “Four Seasons” story material for a four-issue Muppets miniseries starting in July. Langridge himself comments at his blog, noting that he was unaware of the plans, and the work is probably coming via Italy, where it has been published first.

The cover shown here was planned for the Boom! release, so no idea whether it will see print.

Superheroes used to be wish fulfillment, but for the past couple of decades now, it hasn’t been fun to dream of that. Too many stories have focused on the downsides and the crippling responsibilities, taking all the enjoyment out of imagining yourself with superspeed or the ability to fly. So what are we imagining now, based on the new titles launching? In many cases, it’s one of two things.

Celebrities

The one trend that is driving new superhero comics is hero-as-reality-show-celeb. It’s most obvious in the recent Image launch America’s Got Powers, which sets up the idea of a superpowered competition show, like American Idol but with fighting instead of singing. (I’m probably the only one who remembers the similar WildGuard by Todd Nauck in 2003.) It makes a certain amount of sense — we now aim to become famous for being ourselves, perhaps with some kind of talent but mostly through luck and determination, which describes the motivations behind a lot of classic heroes. (AGP, by the way, is drawn by Bryan Hitch, so it looks amazing.)

Also in this category are Supurbia, which is structured after the Housewives shows and, to a lesser degree, Hell Yeah, which introduces superheroes as military heroes, dropping them into our world during action in Kuwait, and then winding up with a dissolute kid who acts like tabloid fodder, hanging in clubs. (The setup is not explicitly compared to a reality premise, but we do see the superhero on a TV talk show.)

Even these superhero books postulate dark forces controlling things behind the scenes. The show structure in AGP is manipulating society in a bread-and-circus, distract-them-with-entertainment fashion. There’s a secret agent deep undercover among the neighborhood in Supurbia. That leads into the more common super-factor these days:

Conspiracies

In these stories, the protagonist is a multi-talented individual on the outskirts of a corrupt society fighting for what’s right. This is the next-generation wish figure beyond the superhero. Prefigured by Transmetropolitan‘s journalist Spider Jerusalem, these characters might be burglars or consultants or mercenaries.

The one thing they have in common is they’re all super-competent and nearly untouchable. In Jonathan Hickman’s Secret, there’s a master of corporate espionage who can defeat any security system and knows more than anyone else. He faces off against a powerful law firm who steals and engages in perversion. Thief of Thieves lays the achievement out in the title. Saga sets its runaways in a science fiction world, but they’re still eluding the established justice system to live life on their own terms.

The difference between these guys and the old-school heroes is that they’re fighting for what they see is right, often against their society instead of for it. They follow more in the mode of Bogart than Batman. Sometimes, they just want to be left alone. They’re throwbacks to the superhero root of vigilantes that sprung up to give readers a sense that there’s someone out there who can battle the entrenched special interests who seem to be beyond the law.

FLARE #40 is coming hot off the presses! And if you’re not lucky enough to shop at Lone Star Comics in Texas, or at Minneapolis’s Comic Book College, or at Limited Edition Comics in Cedar Falls, Iowa, there’s only one way you’re going to be able to get your hands on this brand-new issue. Visit the Heroic Publishing website, and order your copy of FLARE #40 today! Retailers, too, can place discounted bulk orders for FLARE #40, as well as for the entire range of Heroic Publishing titles, by registering for an account with the Heroic Distribution webservice.

… Copies of this special issue of FLARE are not being distributed through normal comic book distribution channels. FLARE #40 is available only through select retailers, and by special order from the Heroic Publishing website.

At least, if you’re going to announce it, say *why* you’re not selling elsewhere in the release. After reading it, I’m not clear on why this is a special issue, anyway.

This announcement reminds me of the strategy Bob Layton’s Future Comics tried. They made a big deal out of trying to cut out the middleman of Diamond Distribution, but that only lasted for six months’ worth of issues before they realized that most comic shops and customers don’t want to buy direct. (Future then signed with Diamond and went out of business a year later.)

I know, if you’re in the situation where customers have to buy direct, then you have to try and get the word out by spinning whatever “news” you can to draw attention. But this “buy only from us” strategy most often leads to a declining spiral of sales, as fewer buyers are aware of your comic, leading to fewer purchases. The press release continues, claiming great things for their title heroine:

It was FLARE who redefined the way costumed heroines are treated in mainstream comics. It was FLARE who proved that a strong, independent female character can carry a solo title all on her own.

Funny, I would think that “honor” belongs to Wonder Woman, but what do I know? I look at the promotional image sent with this PR (shown here), and all I think is “It was FLARE who showed you how important it is that a female character have a good waxer.” I don’t want to ponder that when buying comics, thanks.

On the one hand, it makes FCBD more of an “event,” with more reason for “regular” fans to go and support their stores on the day, and it also gives readers who’re picking up the DC FCBD book cold more of a sense of “something’s happening!” when they look inside. And yet… It also risks making the DC FCBD book more of a commodity to be hoarded, speculated on and sold on eBay for ridiculously high amounts of money, thereby defeating the “come one, come all!” nature of Free Comic Book Day itself.

But that’s completely missing the point! (DC, not Graeme.) I know FCBD has become the national comic book holiday, but the purpose of FCBD is supposed to be to get new customers into comic book stores. If you’re already buying comics there, then the day is Not For You. (And before you get upset, regular customers, please realize that your feeling of being neglected can be a learning experience, since in some stores, some shoppers feel like that All The Time. Particularly the female or non-superhero-fan customers.)

(Although note that many stores have attempted to get more bang for their marketing dollar by offering sales and signings aimed at all readers, whether existing customers or not. Which is fine, too.)

Comics as an industry has a long history of having trouble attracting new customers. Too often, publishers try to increase their market share not by bringing in new buyers, but by taking buyers from their competitors. (Which helps them, but not the industry, since instead of raising the boat, that approach just bails the leaky water from one end to the other.) Free Comic Book Day was one of the few ways stores had to interest the “civilians”, by making it clear that this was a time to sample without worry. If you’re putting out a comic that existing customers see as a “must-have”, then you’re not doing FCBD right. That’s just trying to poach buyers into your market share dinghy.

Also, if you’re not welcoming to new customers, such as by only giving out FCBD comics with a purchase, then you’re also not doing it right. But that’s a store problem, not one for publishers.

During his time at DC, they aimed to create ads that were authentic and meaningful to the audience, such as the Converse shoe ads that used different historical versions of the DC characters. Those ads, because they spoke to fans in a way that didn’t insult or belittle them, were universally well-received, and they translated to sales — the shoes “sold through the roof.” It took six months of pitching to set that up, though.

Kris’ take was that declining ad sales was a problem that’s true of magazines in general. Ad budgets these days are smaller, so placements in print are more competitive. Companies are spending less and wanting more impact, so they aren’t spreading out their ad purchases among as many different venues, and they’re often switching to digital. A print ad might be included in a deal as a “bonus” to the paid digital placement. It’s not that any particular sales category has rejected comics; instead, it’s about looking for specific opportunities to align brands with what’s going on in comics.

In general, comics have a great story to tell advertisers. While other print venues have reduced circulation, some comics have had a growth spurt, and readers are much more emotionally involved with comics than with other magazines. Media buyers have to be educated on how much of a relationship comic buyers have with their shops and their “every Wednesday” routines, as well as the way comics are read cover to cover. (That’s not true of magazines.) Buyers, many of whom don’t have any experience with comics, expect feature packages targeted to different subjects planned months in advance; they don’t realize that comics are ongoing stories, not like other periodicals. It can take “herculean effort” to get awareness and comfort level up on the advertiser side.

That’s one reason for Bonfire launching their Comics United ad network, which started with Kris’ hiring at Bonfire in January. The agency is banding together a number of comic publishers — including IDW, the Image imprint Skybound, Top Cow, Aspen, Zenescope, Boom, and Dynamite — to create a buying situation with a million circulation based around a core of comic readers age 16-30. The advertising community needs higher circulation numbers, and counting publishers’ readership in total makes them a challenger to consumer magazines. Bonfire aims to raise the profile of comics as a viable media outlet in print and digital. The first ad placed through this program is expected to run in June.

In many cases, these paid ads are replacing house ads and other internal promotion pages, often on covers or right-hand pages located in the first half of the book. The goal is for this supplemental income to help boost the publisher’s projects. There will also be an all-ages-targeted group with a half-million circulation. The first ad placed there will be a back cover for Lego in books on sale in May.

Jack Staff: Soldiers

After plugging the four collections available so far for the title (start with Everything Used to Be Black and White), and announcing that the next book, Old Beginnings, New Endings, will reprint the six issues he released of Weird World of Jack Staff, Grist answers the question as follows:

The problem Jack Staff had was, despite its popularity amongst those who read it, there just weren’t that many people actually buying the comic. Despite my best efforts (and those of Image) there didn’t seem to be much that could be done to change the situation. Changing the title to Weird World of Jack Staff in 2010 was an attempt to try and catch a few new readers, but despite the initial push this gave it, it never actually increased the sales of the comic.

Might I suggest that there is something that might have been done? Much as I enjoy Grist’s work, I dropped his comics five years ago when I finally got tired of him never making a promised deadline. A little later, he and Image announced that the book would be going monthly, but that idea only lasted four months before the book was delayed again. Here’s the publication history of Jack Staff (comics, not books) over the past three years:

• Jack Staff #20, May 2009 (resolicited)
• Weird World of Jack Staff #1, Feb 2010
• Weird World of Jack Staff #2, Apr 2010
• Weird World of Jack Staff #3, Sep 2010
• Weird World of Jack Staff #4, Aug 2010
• Weird World of Jack Staff #5, Oct 2010
• Weird World of Jack Staff #6, Apr 2011

A patchy release schedule, making the book seem quarterly, isn’t going to support a superhero comic, no matter how well-drawn. And when you look at the pattern of his history… There are still uncollected issues of Kane, his cop series before Jack Staff, which once upon a time was announced to be going to an original graphic novel format. Never happened. Heck, I have three different Burglar Bill #1s, a six-issue miniseries that only ever made it to issue #4 under one of its three publishers.

I sympathize with Grist’s statement that he “can’t carry on indefinitely working on a comic that isn’t selling enough copies”, but I also suspect it’s a situation much of his own making, or at best, a chicken-and-egg case. (Does it not sell because people never know when to look for it, or do customers not buying make it take longer to get an issue out?) Grist mentions that he intends to bring Jack Staff back someday as a “series of mini-series and one-shots, like Hellboy.” I’ll believe it when I see it.

Oh, and Grist also says that “Jack Staff was not (as sometimes mistakenly reported) a reworked Union Jack proposal for Marvel Comics, but a variation on the British Superhero theme.” I could have sworn that Grist was the one who said it was inspired by Union Jack, down to naming a particular story it spins off of. (See here and here.) Regardless of whether it was or not, at this point, given Marvel’s legal history and their ownership, it’s safest to say otherwise now.