08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail contains Michael Crowley’s observations of the Presidential election we lived through last year.

It’s illustrated by Dan Goldman, who’s put a 20-page excerpt on his blog for you to download and check out. The graphic design is stunning, enough to distract from the photo-referenced talking heads art. (That in itself sums up how campaigners are presented.)

I realized, paging through the preview, that I really didn’t want to revisit mavericks and idiots. I had enough of that during the real thing. For those who are missing the constant stream of election coverage, here’s a memento in unique form. It’s due out at the end of this month.

The Hole: Consumer Culture, “a science fiction horror story about the buying of selling of race in America [and] the simultaneous worship and degradation of African Americans in popular culture”, is being solicited in the current issue of Previews. However, at Diamond’s decision, it was moved to the Adult Section. If you’re not porn (and a certain kind of big-breasted porn), this is not a recipe for success. So the creators of the graphic novel, artist John Jennings and writer Damian Duffy, put together a comic strip in response. (Click to see full size.)

The Spirit Archives Volume 26

The Spirit Archives Volume 26, the last in the DC Comics reprint series, was due out last week. It didn’t arrive. Today DC released this announcement:

Please note that all orders for THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL. 26 HC (AUG08 0190) are cancelled. This item will be resolicited at a later date.

According to Amazon, that new due date is June 23. Which will, interestingly enough, put it out AFTER Dark Horse’s tie-in “volume 27″, which is due out May 20.

Maybe they decided that tying a $60 volume into a movie that bombed wasn’t that good an idea. By June, the DVD may be available, and opinions may have softened.

(I recently reviewed the three previous Spirit Archive volumes.)

As technology and social networks have developed and expanded, there are many more communities open and opportunities for folks to gather. Just by the nature of the communities themselves, they’re going to be smaller and more specifically focussed, in terms of subject matter and interest. It’s a logical progression of the dynamic; the thing that links comics fans together isn’t just a general interest in the form like it was ten or even five years ago… now there are sites and forums and message boards and podcasts for every interest and taste. Not to mention MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and all the various blogs.

The Black Diamond:
Get in the Car and Go

So while you may not be seeing me around that much lately, commenting on various matters and writing articles and issuing press releases and whatnot, I suppose that just means that you’re not going to the same places I am. I write two thousand messages a year on Your Mom’s Basement, for example, and I don’t think I’ve seen you there. I wrote a general pop culture column for three months on Rescued by Nerds, and I was all over the place this summer when THE BLACK DIAMOND collection came out, with interviews and PR and whatnot. So my participation isn’t all that different than when we started ten years ago, but there certainly are more places for an enthusiast to explore.

Q: What else are you doing besides running AIT/Planet Lar, if anything?

Naw, a firm hand on the tiller of the vast entertainment empire is all I do. How I ran the company was a little more public in the past, but with all the changes in the industry in the decade we’ve been publishing, I suppose there’s a little more behind-the-scenes stuff now than the obvious puppet-mastery of the early days. And of course I continue my creative works, with the comic scripts and screenplays and novels and all the various other writing that I do. Eight am to six pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I wear the suit for the company, and all day Thursday I’ve got my Writer’s Jacket on.

Q: You’ve put out an average of three graphic novels a year for the past three years. Is that a level you’re comfortable with?

Well, I’ve gottta correct you a bit there; the last three years we’ve published four new graphic novels plus a seven-issue full color miniseries with thirteen different creators working on that project, in addition to tending our evergreen backlist. So, yes, I’m absolutely comfortable with that level of entertainment; you know we’ve always been a “quality-not-quantity” publishing house since the outset, anyway. Some companies just put stuff out to have a constant presence in the PREVIEWS catalog of new stuff just for the sake of having something “new.”

Astronauts in Trouble

Your readers know that Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image account for 92% of the comic book marketplace, so every other publisher in the back of PREVIEWS is carving up a mere 8% amongst themselves. I haven’t looked lately, but it’s what? 300 other companies fighting for attention? We figure it’s just a waste of everyone’s time to just publish something so there’s a “new” entry in the AiT, especially when there are so many interested comics fans who haven’t read WHITE DEATH, say, or ELECTRIC GIRL, or COLONIA, or SHATTER, or SMOKE AND GUNS, or ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE, even. There was a huge run on the AiT collection when ASTRONAUTS was selected as one of the sixty best graphic novels and I was given a “legend” nod in THE ROUGH GUIDE TO GRAPHIC NOVELS a couple months ago. Obviously, it was real flattering for the astronauts to be in with AKIRA and FROM HELL and JIMMY CORRIGAN and MAUS and SANDMAN and for me to be in with Will Eisner and Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore and all, but, honestly, the most gratifying thing to me about the deal was that we were still crisply selling books in 2008 from an idea I had had ten years before.

And it’s the same for all the books we publish. We’re creator-focused, so we’re not killing trees to put out the next adventure of COPYRIGHT RETENTION MONTHLY, or something. We’re bringing you the next Adam Beechen OGN, or unveiling the Next Big Talent, or whatever. When we put out a book, we’re offering up an entertainment event.

Q: What determines which books you choose to publish?

There’s no magic formula, if that’s what you mean. There are a lot of quality books that come to us that we don’t publish for whatever reason, but there’re also a lot of quality books that come to us that we do. Maybe it’s a story I like, or that Mimi likes, or creators we want to work with, or good folks we think we can give a leg up in the same way pros helped me in the early days. Timing is everything. I dunno; there are a million factors. Actually, I usually just make a joke when I’m asked this question in interviews because the answer is always different, and it all changes tomorrow, anyway.

Q: Rumor has it that AIT/Planet Lar has been trying to get more movie interest in their books. Any luck in that area?

The Couriers

With THE COURIERS shooting this spring, and Disney picking up MONSTER ATTACK NETWORK, and LAW AND ORDER’s Dick Wolf working on JOHNNY DYNAMITE, and all of our other books in development with Kickstart, other-media exploitation is certainly a part of the scene now.

But it always has been for us, so it’s not exactly a secret; the astronauts have been optioned three times in ten years. Probably one out of every five of our books is in some level of option or development or production; we just like to stay under the radar about this stuff until you can set the TiVo or go by a ticket, because there’s so much that can go wrong with a project.

I’m sure you can think of a million creators who announce some handshake deal for a multi-million dollar extravaganza based on their comic of which nothing is ever heard about again. Me, I think that’s just silly. I mean, I think it’s cool Harrison Ford flipped through LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS with an eye towards working with Richard Donner on it because it was presented landscape and he thought that they were really elaborate storyboards, but you’d never see me writing a press release about it, because what does that mean? Nothing. Now if that movie got made, well, then, sure; I’d crow to the rooftops. But otherwise I just think talking about options is counting chickens before they’ve hatched.

Q: What does the company have planned for 2009?

I’m looking forward to putting out Dennis Hopeless and Kevin Mellon’s CUPID book, and working with Tony Lee on his two books: DODGE AND TWIST with Paul Peart-Smith on art and JOURNAL with Bevis Musson. And of course I have a couple books on tap as well which will probably end up scheduled for the fall and winter.

For the first time, they’ll be publishing manga. Well, manhwa. Kim Dong Hwa’s “trilogy about a girl coming of age, set in the vibrant, beautiful landscape of pastoral Korea” starts in April with The Color of Earth. It’s about Ehwa growing up and learning to love as she helps her widowed mother run a tavern. Lovely art.

The Color of Earth
April 2009

The Color of Water
June 2009

The final book, The Color of Heaven, is due in September. All three are $16.95 for 320 black-and-white pages.

Adventures in Cartooning:
How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics
April 2009

Coming in April is another how-to-draw book, this one out of the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. It’s by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost. Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics looks fun… and more importantly, achievable … for $12.95 for 112 color pages.

The Eternal Smile
May 2009

The book I’m most excited by, though is The Eternal Smile. Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference & Other Stories) team up with three stories, drawn by Kim in three different styles.

One of them is Duncan’s Kingdom, a two-issue Image comic from 1999 that had an interesting take on the fantasy genre. I’m very glad to see it back in print. All of the stories involve how imagination affects reality. ($16.95, 176 pages)

And There You Are by Ronnie del Carmen (March)

Ace-Face: The Mod With the Metal Arms by Mike Dawson (April)

Remake by Lamar Abrams (May)

Also on the schedule is

• a new James Jean sketchbook, Process Recess 3 (July, no other details yet)
• a collection of Fred Chao’s Johnny Hiro (June) containing the three issues out so far plus two more
• Driven by Lemons, an exact replica of Joshua Cotter’s sketchbook (September)

I am most excited by the collection of FCHS, the webcomic by Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire, due in August (just in time for back to school!). The publisher describes it as “Archie meets 90210″. FCHS will also be the focus of the AdHouse Free Comic Book Day comic, which returns this year.

Best of luck with all of it, Chris!

Until December 14, an order of $40 or more from Top Shelf will get free Priority shipping within the U.S. At that link you’ll also find a list of their new releases and special offers — $3 each on a variety of older titles.

Oni Press has announced that all volume 1 graphic novels have been reduced 15-25%, and any order over $30 gets free shipping. Sale lasts through December 31, but to guarantee Christmas delivery, orders should be placed before December 19. Check out their t-shirts for unique gifts.

Bone: Crown of Horns
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Crown of Horns is the ninth volume in the series. The color version of Bone was one of the early graphic novel successes for big book publishers, showing that graphic novels were a growing category with plenty of potential. The Graphix imprint launched with the first Bone volume, Out From Boneville, in 2005. Since then, they’ve printed more than two million copies of the series books.

As the economy struggles and we face a grey 2009, the question becomes what’s next? I’m hearing fewer plans for long-term publishing — plenty of books have been announced for next year, but what about 2010? — and more anecdotes about increasing returns as sales aren’t as stellar as expected. I believe this period will be a turning point. Will graphic novels stay a viable, active bookstore category, or will it retrench to just the best-known, most predictable safe sellers?

(Yes, this is the same question as the perennial “is this finally the manga crash?” from those hoping for it, only not as emotionally tinged. Some people wish for manga to tank badly because they fear something they’re uncomfortable with for reasons with undertones of xenophobia. I’m more concerned about all book-format comics.)

The superhero publishers tried their typical “glut” strategy, pumping out works unsuited for the audience and flooding the shelves, which resulted in projects that would be better for those readers (noted author names, for example) getting lost. Several book publishers set up ambitious graphic novel lines, only to find that the best-praised books don’t necessarily sell in accordance with expectations. A desire for more content quickly meant some works didn’t get the polish they needed. And yet, no one can dispute the successes, like Fun Home.

I hope I’m wrong. In particular, with the end of the Babysitters Club adaptations and Bone concluding, I’m curious to see what Graphix does next.

Laura Hudson collects some disturbing thoughts on the recent book Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan.

In short, the book is credited to the designer, with the actual artist of the manga, Jiro Kuwata, mentioned only inside the book. So does this make Chip Kidd the modern-day equivalent of Roy Lichtenstein, co-opting comics he thought were cool under his own name?

Update: Chip Kidd responds in pissy fashion:

I am heartened that you all have such concern for Mr. Kuwata’s welfare. So here’s a question: where were YOU for the last thirty years, while he was languishing in obscurity both here and in his own country? I won’t bother waiting for an answer.

How DC of him, to suggest that there’s a time limit on accurate creator credit.

It’s barely November! Putting out a “best of” list ignores two months’ worth of publications, or 16% of the year. Maybe the publishing world is just getting ready for the holidays early.

Although some are cheating, a little. The PW list includes the much-discussed Kramer’s Ergot 7, which has only just debuted at a convention and has yet to widely ship. Alan’s War came out last week in bookstores and is due out tomorrow through Diamond.

Titles on both lists are Lynda Barry’s What It Is and Dash Shaw’s Bottomless Belly Button.

My tastes differ. I’m still strongly looking forward to these comics and graphic novels, due out before the end of the year:

• The Love & Capes collection
• Token, the last Minx book, which I just received
• Larry Marder’s Beanworld Holiday Special, the first new Beanworld in years
• And most of all, Sam’s Strip.

Ginee Seo Books, an imprint of Atheneum/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, today announced it has acquired the world rights to Jimmy Gownley’s popular comic and graphic novel series Amelia Rules! …

Centered around the happenings of ten-year-old spitfire Amelia Louise McBride, the Amelia Rules! series captures the true essence of being an adolescent girl in America today, as Amelia adjusts to life in “small town America” after her parent’s divorce as she is forced to leave NYC. “Jimmy is a true creative genius, and Amelia Rules! has that rare combination of mass appeal and literary substance that every publisher dreams about. We are thrilled for Jimmy to be joining the S&S list, as we work to expand our list with some of the top comic and graphic novel talent publishing today, and we look forward to making his name and his characters known to even wider audience beyond his already substantial following,” said Ginee Seo, VP, Editorial Director of Ginee Seo Books.

Over the next two years, the four existing collections will be republished. The fifth book, The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular, will be published in both hardcover and paperback in Fall 2010. No word on whether there will be continue to be comic issues in the meantime — I hope so!

Sam’s Strip
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Until I helped KC with some of the scanning, I hadn’t known about this amazing comic strip and its references to the medium’s history through character guest appearances. Now I can’t wait to read it!

KC also talks about how this Golden Age of comic strip reprints differs from those in the past, and pitfalls for publishers and readers to watch out for. Go check it out, and feel free to come back and discuss!

DC Comics sent out an official statement confirming the news but otherwise saying nothing:

Minx will cease publication beginning January ‘09. Minx was an experimental imprint for DC Comics and we are extremely proud of the books we published and the stories we told during the past two years. We thank all of the writers and artists who lent their talents to our endeavor and especially thank readers who came along for the ride. DC Comics remains committed to publishing diverse material for diverse audiences as we continue to welcome new readers.

When I questioned them as to what this meant for the next three titles specifically, they said “We are declining further comment at this time.” All I was asking was whether we’d still be able to buy Emiko Superstar, which already had advance reading copies put out!

The artist, Steve Rolston, answers that question: yes, it will be released on October 8. No word yet on Token, which was due in November. Given DC’s statement, I’m hoping that it’s still planned to come out, especially since it was already solicited (JUL08 0205). Update: It seems likely, given its October release date and state of completion, that Token will come out, so at least the line will end with a bang.

Hope Larson, author of Chiggers, has some insightful statements, including how her life might have been different if her pitch to them had been accepted.

I found that post via David Welsh, who ponders how mediocre works go over with girls who read.

The first comment at Heidi’s post points out that in his library system, the books “sat on our shelves gathering dust while most manga and superhero fare from the Big 2 continued to fly out the door at a brisk pace.”

Comic Book Resources is reporting that DC has cancelled the Minx line. After putting out six books in 2007, this year so far they’d released

• Burnout (best of the lot, in my opinion)
• Water Baby
• Janes in Love, sequel to the debut release
• The New York Four

The big problem? Distribution. CBR states

Random House, DC’s book trade distributor, has not been able to successfully place MINX titles in the coveted young adult sections of bookstores

I’ve previously speculated that the books were selling better in the established comic direct market than bookstores, which wasn’t the goal for the line, although it plays to DC’s strengths and comfort levels.

But then, the line was formed out of jealousy. Shelly Bond, the editor behind the imprint, said she “pitched this line as an alternative to manga, but also as an alternative to traditional fiction” — in other words, why aren’t these kids buying OUR comics? Which is typical DC thinking.

Too much of the promotion revolved around what the books weren’t, instead of what they were. The analysis at the CBR article states that

this development should be seen as a depressing indication that a market for alternative young adult comics does not exist in the capacity to support an initiative of this kind, if at all

Alternative to what? Again, that’s being reactive — “we’re not superheroes, we’re not manga” — instead of proactive. What are you, then? And the answer is some middling soap opera work without much passion, telling comfortable stories about young women who learn to accept themselves (and often get a boyfriend) after a significant event, with serviceable but not astounding art.

Also, DC spent at least $125,000 just on promotion. That’s a lot of money to expect a new line reaching to a new market to cover in under two years. An initiative of some other kind might be very well supportable.

Let’s not forget one major issue: the lack of significant female creative contribution, a problem from the start.

No one loved these books. Some of them weren’t bad, but none of them were truly great. And that, ultimately, is why they failed. Although being part of a company that over-controls creative efforts and isn’t really sure whether it wants women readers probably also contributed.

So farewell to the non-published titles:

• Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston (previously scheduled for October - anyone have an advance copy they don’t want?)
• Token by Alisa Kwitney and Joelle Jones (whose work I loved on 12 Reasons Why I Love Her - I’ll miss this one the most)
• All Nighter by David Hahn (was due in January 2009)
• Poseur
• Clubbing in Tokyo by Andi Watson

Perhaps some will be resurrected under Vertigo, or elsewhere.

Pure speculation: also announced this week was that another couple of CMX books were cancelled to be resolicited at a later date. Is that the next imprint to face cost-cutting?

No Formula:
Stories From the Chemistry Set
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Personally, I don’t care much for anthologies these days, because they’re not books I’m likely to reread, and so I don’t feel a need to start them in the first place. Several of the stories I sampled here also involved more violence than I’m comfortable with. (It’s a quirk that puts me out of touch with a certain chunk of today’s audience.)

I think with an anthology like this, all you need to know is whose work is included. They’re all outstanding young talents. And since these were originally webcomics, you can sample all you want.

Jim Dougan edited under a certain constraint: the stories had to be self-contained, which leaves out some of their works I’m more familiar with. Read more about his experience in this online interview, which also includes comments from many of the creators.

When I first opened up the PDF file I was sent, I flipped to “Snowblind”, by Chris Arrant and Jessica Hickman, because I vaguely recognized the names and thought the title was intriguing. How surprised I was to realize I’d reviewed it before in Arrant’s minicomic collection of his work.

To promote the new collection of Local, with all 12 issues from Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly collected in hardcover, publisher Oni Press has made issue 3 available for free online.

You can download a CBR from their site or read the pages online at myspace. This particular issue is my favorite from the series because it’s set where I live, Richmond, VA. It’s about a band returning home and how you can’t really go back again.

Writer Wood has talked about the process to create the cover, working with artist Kelly.

The whole book features one girl’s journey through twelve locations. Great care was taken to pick significant cities and get input on real locations there, working them into the artwork. Brian Wood says it’s “the best book I’ve ever written and my personal favorite,” while for Ryan Kelly, his artistic journey mirrored that of the book’s protagonist. A 400-page hardcover with color for only $30 (less with discounts) is a great deal, too.

Here’s one possible explanation: On The V, a UK-based web-board, Adi Tantimedh posts:

The reason the record isn’t included in the Absolute edition is that DC’s lawyers were played the songs and were worried that they sounded too similar to old British Sixties pop and TV shows, including the THUNDERBIRDS theme. Fearing charges of plagiarism - as opposed to pastiche or homage - they refused to press the songs for the book. Moore was only told this much, much later, and is pissed off, because, you know, if Oasis can do Beatles riffs without getting sued, why can’t a song that pastiches Sixties pop?

So the songs are still owned and controlled by Moore and his co-composer to do as they please, as long as DC has nothing to do with it. Moore is supposed to still control the masters and copies have not been circulated so far.

As the thread continues, Adi goes on:

[Moore] said that as the Absolute went to press, DC told him they wouldn’t include the songs because they were still nervous about the plagiarism issue, but someone else told him it was more likely they just didn’t want to spend the extra money pressing the vinyl disks. He chalks it off to DC messing him about as usual.

Adi can reasonably be assumed to know what he’s talking about, since he’s interviewed Moore about the book.

If I had to guess, I’d say both reasons — extreme legal caution and cheapness — are likely. We are talking about a company that had six characters in the background of one panel of a Legion comic redrawn because they looked too much like the cast of Friends… only first, someone had to explain to the decision-maker that Friends was a very popular TV show at the time. They can be both that gun-shy and that out of touch.

The Martian Confederacy
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It’s set on Mars in the year 3535, but this isn’t a shiny happy future. It’s Mars as trailer park. Think of the grimy bar that shows up in Star Wars or Serenity, and then envision a planet like that, where even the air is controlled by a corporation.

Boone’s a scrappy guy getting by on his wits (patterned after your typical charming rogue type, although a bit more generic and not very charming), while Lou is his android friend and Spinner is his fence and a bear. Alcarde is the bad guy preventing rebels from bringing oxygen to Mars in order to maintain profits. It’s a shame the motives are so predictable and the action familiar (if you’ve seen science fiction before), combined with the violence of a thriller. Personally, I would have preferred more comedy, less gore, but I’m squeamish.

This interview with McNamara will give you more idea of the background and aims of the story, while this one talks about how the two collaborated.

See preview pages at the book’s blog or on NewsaramaBlog, including examples of the coloring. Don MacPherson liked the book.

Dad! A Documentary Graphic Novel
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It’s described as “about a family dealing with a father’s illness and adjusting their entire existence to it. … the story of a bitter son feeling guilty about leaving home.” They’re aiming for readers of books like Mom’s Cancer or Fun Home. (Ambitious, since both of those garnered major awards when they came out two years ago.)

The most distinctive factor, though, is that they describe the creation as having been “filmed”, and a look at the preview shows that … well, I wouldn’t call it a graphic novel at all. It’s photos with word balloons put on. That limits what the author can do, and it doesn’t provide the level of removal I want to be able to approach the material as a story. I got caught up in trying to figure out how they arranged shots, whether they were recreating things as they happened, who took which photos when… all things that got in the way of my “reading” the pages.

It feels as though someone’s trying to use the hot publishing tag “graphic novel” without going through the difficult step of drawing (or the as difficult step of finding an artist). I didn’t care for the approach.

What do you think? Am I too stuck on what graphic novels have been to see what they could be? Or is this just a storyboard on paper, not an appropriate use of the “graphic novel” tag?