Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
With so much good modern manga out there (someday I will read Death Note!), I have to be a little convinced to go backwards in time. I mean, something can be historically important and great for its day but still a little clunky to modern eyes… which is what I thought flipping through a preview copy of To Terra… volume 1. Then it started getting really good reviews, like this one from Shaenon Garrity. I still don’t know, though. It […]
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Since I’ve been talking about beloved 1980s television, do you think there’s a chance I’ll ever see a DVD set of Probe? It’s best known (if at all) today for being co-created by Isaac Asimov, but I quite enjoyed this short-run TV mystery series. There was a two-hour pilot movie, followed by six hour-long episodes. (Judging by the comments there, some people are still bitter it’s gone.) Parker Stevenson co-starred as genius Austin James, who lived in a computer-controlled warehouse […]
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Dark Horse seems to owe much of their survival to the movies. On the one hand, they publish Star Wars tie-ins; on the other, several of their graphic novels have been adapted into successful films (Sin City, Hellboy, and now 300). Usually, a comic company tries to take advantage of that kind of free promotion by selling lots of related comics. DC, for example, had a consignment program with V for Vendetta where retailers could stock up and then return […]
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Looking back at a modern classic, Death: The High Cost of Living maintains its quiet charm over a decade after its publication. Neil Gaiman writes, Chris Bachalo pencils, and Mark Buckingham inks the story of Death’s day off. The opening demonstrates how beautifully Gaiman blends the fantastic and the everyday as Mad Hettie, an apparently scattered bag lady, turns out to be capable of a kind of hedge magic. The dialogue is immediately evocative, with the added Anglophile appeal of […]
Read more(Hey, at least the controversy I helped uncover doesn’t involve actual lawyers.) So, in an attempt to turn discussion in a more positive direction, I raise a topic for input and constructive suggestion: How does a volunteer group without the resources for paid staff effectively keep its members on message? What are good tools to keep focus on the group instead of individuals? In case something goes wrong, what’s a good way to restrain the over-enthusiastic without hurt feelings?
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Continuing coverage of the Friends of Lulu Empowerment Fund controversy, this time with more catfighting (at the end): Board member Leigh Dragoon has additional comments (link no longer available), including a statement that all fund contributions are being returned. …what we’ve decided to do is give all fund contributors full refunds. We contacted PayPal and, according to the customer service representative we spoke with, these refunds should go through over the next couple of days. If you contributed to the […]
Read moreFree Comic Book Day is scheduled for May 5 this year, its sixth. At this point, it’s a fairly well-established promotion for direct market comic book shops, designed to entice new customers into stores where they can be reminded comics still exist and see the variety of stories now available. In order to benefit them all, publishers create free comics (which may be new material or reprints) and offer them at reduced prices to retailers, with Diamond Distribution also pitching […]
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This year, 24 Hour Comics Day will be October 20, 2007. (It’s moved from April to put it further away from Free Comic Book Day.) Watch for more information later in the year about which locations will be holding events. Update: In the interests of providing greater context to new readers, the 24 Hour Comic is an artistic exercise created by Scott McCloud in which you attempt to create 24 pages of comics in 24 hours. 24 Hour Comics Day […]
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