2014 what are you reading thread

I don't think Amazon sells many individual issues, so I think they are almost near enough exclusive. Recently I've started to see Amazon not selling some graphic novels until a few weeks (maybe a month) after it comes out in comic shops. Is this is new policy or something?

Those Richardson and Adams responses were good. Thanks for posting that Milo.

I don't think Stephenson meant that Image was the one solution to the problems of the industry, I think he was saying he wanted all publishers to focus on creator-owned work but obviously wants Image to be at the forefront of that.

I read Beano and Dandy every week for quite a number of years, then got Beetlejuice, Mighty Max and Monster In My Pocket comics all at the newsagents. It was only when I was 9 years old and got a Spiderman comic (because of the cartoon) that I became serious about comics and for some reason I didn't consider those previous comics "real"; 2000AD never really appealed to me and I used to turn my nose up at that too.
I guess time will tell if those current tie-in comics bring in readers that feed into the industry in general. I tend to think that an original story being a first comic for someone (if they enjoy it) probably makes a stronger impression about the medium and its possibilities than a tie-in.

I bought Previews again out of curiosity about this debate. Dark Horse has way more tie-in comics than I remember. Those Aliens, Predator, Terminator and Robocop comics used to put me off DH as a company. I think more often than not tie-ins for creators are jobs done for the money more than the pleasure; they generally look half assed as comics. When I see my favourite creators doing this stuff it tends to feel like a waste. Sad that they had to take that work.

I wonder if Darkhorse and IDW need these titles to stay afloat?

Looking at Image's current output I noticed the variant covers (Richardson was really right about that; but I don't think they do the incentive thing which really is rotten). I think too many of the comics look visually similar, you might have a varied subject matter, but if all your artists look like they learned to draw from copying superheroes and mainstream manganime, that is going to put off a lot of people.

I'm curious about why Image and IDW don't publish translated Japanese and European comics.

I saw two things that interested me: IDW publishing a Russ Heath art book and Darkhorse doing a Katsuya Terada one.

The high price of comics is easily the most common remark I hear in comic shops (I guess you could argue back that prices are complained about regularly in all kinds of shops), it might be obvious and I don't think they price these things high for greed but I think it should always be kept in mind. I don't know why there needs to be all those Humanoids special editions; other publishers doing slipcases for single books (why?!!); hardcovers and ultra thick glossy paper for comics that don't really need it.
I have to confess that I've chosen amazon a few times recently because some books are so expensive I don't think I'd buy them at all at regular price (38 pounds each for Simon/Kirby's Sandman and Newsboy Legion books, does it really have to be that expensive?). But I still made sure to buy a few things at the store. This time I bought Simon/Kirby's Horror and Creepy Comics volume 3.

A few more disordered tangents...

- I've been wondering a lot recently what a lot of creators do between comics jobs. There are a lot of times when many of my favourite creators don't seem to be doing any comic related work or commissions or anything that you can find out about on the internet. If I ever go to conventions I'd like to ask this. I could probably name 50 people I wish were regularly putting out comics work. Probably a lot of them cant find comics work that pays well enough.

- I remember an interview with Arthur Adams in which he said he wasn't really in a hurry to do creator owned work and I guess from reading Monkeyman and O'Brian that he maybe isn't great for plot ideas. But he is good with visual designs.
Even though people generally have a low opinion of pinup/gallery comics, I think there should be more stuff like that. Some artists have great visual ideas and clumsily shoehorn them into a boring story. Why not have more books of pictures?

- How many mediums could you say were close to how they should be. I'm glad I'm not someone who closely follows all the developments in films/cinema because that would really get me down. People always talk about poetry being in the worst rut in terms of sales and popularity but I have no idea about the vitality of what is coming out right now. Maybe radio drama creators and fans have more to despair over.
I think comics almost need to be better than other things to really grab and hold newcomers. Substandard films can be experienced by several people sitting together, possibly "free" on your tv, maybe with actors you already know that maybe get written about in gossip columns. Substandard music can be heard on tv, radio, shops, nightclubs, transport and can easily be experienced socially. Comics don't have enough of these advantages.
These pictures of loads of kids reading comics look surreal now...
http://beautiful-grotesque.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/cool-kids-read-comics-various.html

- Most countries don't seem to have much in the way of a comics scene. As much as I hate to say it, maybe franchises have kept the American scene alive. British comics seem to be coming back to life, with these new graphic novel publishers but it is amazing that we used to have so many comics up to the 70s and majorly tapering off in the 80s-90s (left with much fewer kids humour titles, kids franchise tie-ins, 2000AD and Commando).
I heard that the French/Belgian scene stays alive by the backbone support of translated Japanese stuff.

...more tomorrow.

The old way with single issues and some graphic novels was that non-direct market sources got them 2 weeks to a month later. The way the comics market works is insane - one distributor (Diamond) gained a monopoly in the early '80s when other distros went under, Marvel tried to branch out solo in the early '90s and that was a disaster so it went back to all the major comic companies selling to one source, who then distribute nationwide.

It's a collusion that has worked reasonably well for all parties - comic shops saved the comics industry, Diamond plays enforcer on behalf of comic shops while also providing shitty service and not so great discounts until you start buying a sizable amount - a shop still doing the 1980s cave thing probably only gets a 42-45% discount from Diamond. Diamond has a close relationship with DC (DC has an option to buy Diamond at any time, acquired when Marvel tried to break away) and the direct market, Marvel has been less friendly with both since Disney money started rolling in.

I wonder if Darkhorse and IDW need these titles to stay afloat?

i'm surprised that these retailers and publishers still see some kind of future - or market - in the physical comic book.

The way the comics market works is insane - one distributor (Diamond) gained a monopoly in the early '80s when other distros went under, Marvel tried to branch out solo in the early '90s and that was a disaster so it went back to all the major comic companies selling to one source, who then distribute nationwide.

no.

you're gonna have to expand on that opinion

I'd be sad to see Dark Horse go, I hope it doesn't happen. I imagine Hellboy would be picked up by somebody else if that were to happen. DH has also been a pretty good home for Richard Corben and it has been rumoured that his underground comics are going to be reprinted by them.

After Picturebox stopping and Fantagraphics needing a kickstarter to keep going, it is scary to think how those type of comics might struggle to stay in shops. Especially since Fantagraphics has lots of long running ambitious reprint series.

Don't most Mignola books stand alone? Isn't it just BPRD that is more continuity based? And all the stuff that is there isn't really that hard to collect compared to other superhero stuff.

I just realised there that Batman compared to a lot of superheroes (X-Men in particular) probably has more standalone books and maybe sells better for that?

- It confuses me why so many fans get antsy about comics not coming out monthly or being delayed a bit. I could imagine why if you only followed a couple of titles but some comic nuts get livid about delays despite there being so much else to occupy them.
If there was only graphic novels (or "big thick comics" as my preferred term, although some are only 40 pages) I wonder if that would turn some people away. Maybe some people who cant afford many comics per month (especially younger readers) wouldn't like it.

Personally I'd like it a lot. About 85% of monthly comics look unfinished to me; I see a lot of collected editions where the first issue looks great and the rest look hurried. I think this would be less frequent if only GNs were made.
Even if there was regular series of GNs, they would probably have a much better overall quality. I think some creators like Steve Niles makes comics that seem too brief individually and are obviously created with graphic novel posterity in mind.

One of the things that bothers me most about individual issues is that they seem like a waste of precious paper to me. I hate seeing stacks of issues nobody bought because they were waiting for the collected edition. It seems that collected editions are more often pre-decided now, when they used to depend on strong sales of individual issues.

I cant remember if there is a returns policy for direct market comics. I recall complaints about there not being a returns option or there only being limited options. It would explain all the stacks of unsold issues that nobody wants anymore.

- I used to hear the words "flood the market" quite a lot but that term doesn't seem to pop up as often. The biggest publishers being accused of creating more titles just to keep smaller publishers off the stands. I don't know if Diamond has encouraged this but I've heard some people partly blaming them for it. That most shops are obliged to sell all DC and Marvel titles before they think about stocking anyone else's titles.
I heard one comic shop employee bitterly grumbling that diamond stopped offering titles that did well (better selling than the minor DC and Marvel stuff) to make more room for comics, toys/merchandise from the bigger companies. That's really shitty.

- I used to see a lot of discussion about it being difficult to know what really sells well and about the numbers possibly being guarded (but why would anyone?). Between direct market, book stores, online shops and digital sales it's really difficult to accurately tell what is truly the most popular. I don't know how much library loaning enters the picture but illegal scan blogs, forums and file sharing are extremely popular. Some people just want to keep up with the latest storylines more than enjoying the comics as whole.

- To illustrate my discontent with the American/British/Canadian (anyone else share roughly the same direct market?) comics shops, I say imagine music shops overwhelmingly stocked tribute bands and covers bands (some people would says this is already true, but I'd say that is excessively reductive even though there are grains of truth in it) all based on the songs of a relative minority or bands. A large part of the store selling toys and merchandise of the most popular musicians. Toys of George Martin, Tony Visconti and famous groupies are more important than stocking cult bands.
Or imagine book shops sold mostly sequels/remakes of Charles Dickens, Tolkien and a few other writers and a large amount of the shop was James Bond, Tolstoy and Conan toys.

These kind of comparisons never work entirely but I think it still makes my point.

- Part of the frustrating thing about comics for me is that compared to other things they are extremely easy to make. People often say that any film being completed is a miracle because it's such a complicated process with so many people involved. With the internet it's easier than ever and I'm surprised that I don't see more interesting stuff. There is thousands of bad/mediocre webcomics and thousands of great artists/illustrators but very few notable online comics. Since it is so easy, why aren't there hundreds of great comics on blogs and tumblrs?

Speaking of Mould Map 3 above, even though I really admire the drawings of a lot of new alternative comics artists, I find most of them don't really communicate that much. I'm fine with vague obscurity but they don't often draw me in or seem potent enough. I'm sure none of these guys make a living from their work and I see a lot of promise in their way of doing things but I want a lot more from them in terms of power.

I cant remember if there is a returns policy for direct market comics.

That most shops are obliged to sell all DC and Marvel titles before they think about stocking anyone else's titles.

Thanks.

I got Verbeek's Upsidedowns collection (Sunday Press) in the mail today and it is amazing. Collects Quite a lot of his other strips but probably none of them to completion. I'd love a complete Terror Of The Tiny Tads collection but I'm sure I saved them all as jpegs years ago from some comic strip archive. There's something amazing about the morphing uncertainty (for lack of a better word) in his linework that is wonderful. I was dissing newspaper strips a little bit above but seeing these surrealist comics from this era makes me wonder how much more of this stuff there might be. Sunday Press actually doesn't publish much but they are pretty ambitious books.

Diamond didn't gain a monopoly until the mid 90s; when I started self publishing True Swamp in 94 it was still Diamond and Capitol City as the two big distributors with iirc three smaller but not negligible other companies (like if diamond and Capitol ordered 800 each the littler ones were ordering 100).

No publisher was exclusive with any of these distros; you got orders from all of them.

Then this stupid, stupid mania happened where all the publishers started going exclusive with one or the other of Diamond and Capitol, with much trumpeting for each signing. Everyone had to take sides all of a sudden. This resulted in the failure of Capitol City and the smaller distros. I still shake my head over this, it really really sucked and was unnecessary and ended up making things permanently worse for everybody except Diamond.

Denis Kitchen and James Owen were admirable, demented, quixotic heroes

Lol

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/spiderman-only-on-the-web-if-the-superheros-adventures-go-digital-will-they-have-the-same-magic-as-the-original-comics-9179098.html?origin=internalSearch

This would be a pretty extreme step if they weren't going to even stick with printed collections. I've heard talk of digital single issues for quite a few years and think it would be a good idea.
Some businesses can afford to act as if everyone on the planet has a great internet connection but I don't think they are one of them or that they'd totally abandon it, I don't see how sales could rise. Maybe avoiding the cost of printing would benefit them enough to do something this drastic?

I haven't bought any of these digital comics. Is anyone offering digital copies of Marvel's 30s-60s output without all that Masterworks remastering ruining the art?

I hope digital comics makes more translated and obscure work possible to own.

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2014/03/marvel-unlimited-update-introduces-native-marvel-comics-reading-experience
testing this out now.
went by a shop for the first time in forever, bought book 2 of adventure time, trondheims approximate continuum comics and vance and burr's on the ropes

The Marvel Unlimited app is finally fullscreen on iPads, which is nice.

xps Diamond gained their monopoly in the 90s exactly because Marvel tried and failed at going it alone.

Marvel bought Heroes World to distribute themselves exclusively -> the other distributers scramble to get exclusive deals with other publishers -> smaller distros fail without full roster of publishers -> Marvel's efforts failed -> Diamond left as the only distro standing.

Also, Marvel's attempt at going it alone and the subsequent exclusive deals meant retailers had to order from distributers. Splitting their orders meant losing out on their previous deals for amount of stock ordered, increasing the cost for the same comics they'd always ordered. Marvel's move put literally thousands of shops out of business.

order from *multiple* distributers

Thanks for sorting those memories out for me. Prior to the Marvel buy, Heroes was one of those second tier but substantial players.

It's funny what a microcosm of nineties capital idiocy the whole thing was.

Yeah iirc it's because of Heroes World being a second-tier player with limited coverage that doomed Marvel's endeavor. (I'm remembering all this stuff from reading the Untold Story book a few months ago.)

it was doomed for more reasons than that, all around Marvel's blind overconfidence in itself.

It is a total mystery to me why so many people prize this form for creativity. Monthly comics is a bad idea for a very large percentage of creators, but weeklies and dailies sounds insane. It’s like standup comedy in that there are so many factors against you that you have to be a truly special type of freak to make it work. ... I’ve been tempted to buy a Krazy Kat (because it is often called the best comic ever) or Thimble Theatre (because Domingos liked something that had a pop culture phenomenon in it) book before but there is just isnt enough allure in what I have seen. When I was a teen I assumed someday I would read Terry And The Pirates, Steve Canyon, Prince Valiant, Tarzan, Flash Gordon and Peanuts but I have pretty much no interest now.

i don't have much interest in the adventure comics (though i should check out terry one of these days), but it's important to remember that with very few exceptions the best strips either are relatively short-lived (barnaby, C&H, segar's popeye) or have a definite 'peak' period; it's very rare that a strip's creator manages to keep up quality for longer than about 10 years. krazy kat is the one exception i can think of, where you've got about three decades' worth of work and it's basically all great. but imo the best strips more than hold their own against anything else in the field.

terry and steve canyon are fun reads even now

Terry: Skip the first (IDW) book, where Caniff is still developing the premise and his art. Books two thru four are solid adventure yarns, the best of their kind but samey after a while. Towards the end of book four is where it starts to get really interesting, with the war taking over the story. The last two books, with Terry in the Air Force, are the essential stuff.

backed up, going to read a bunch when I fly on Monday:
Rover Red Charlie 2,3
Deadly Class 1,2
Night of the Living Deadpool 1-4
Royals Masters of War 1,2
Lobster Johnson, Get the Lobster 1,2
Empire of the Dead
Twilight Zone 2
Baltimore Chapel of Bones 2
new Dark Horse Presents

i dl'd the first six books of this, it's very good and easy enough to find cbrs if you wanna
http://www.amazon.com/The-Vanishing-Alone-Volume-1/dp/1849181969

That looks good! Always up for weirdo Spirou stuff.

http://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/000000000000000003870846/scanlations/126
found this and kinda went nuts. worth exploring.

Some increasing interest about little known comic artist Ryuichiro Kutsuzawa, really really impressive stuff...
http://www.cheshirecatart.com/blog/?p=1482

Interesting, like if Masamune Shirow did work that wasn't sci-fi/porn

some good looking stuff there forks

Yeah i uh "got" about a hundred books and am reading them now.

http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/1/hark-a-vagrants-kate-beaton-on-comics-history-and-drawing-admiral-nelson

interview is great but i was curious -- "She is perhaps the only cartoonist ever to be published by both Marvel Comics and The New Yorker." Is this true? I tried to think of other "cartoonists" who might've been published in both. I thought surely Stan Lee must've done something for New Yorker once? I couldn't find any online evidence if he had. Anyone else who might fulfill this criteria?

Jaime Hernandez did a cover and story for the indie version of Strange Tales and has had a number of illos in the New Yorker. Seems like he's done a cover or two as well?

she's probably the only "she" who published in marvel and the new yorker but i'm not sure i even believe that. marie severin?

Ivan Brunetti was also in that Strange Tales and has done at least one New Yorker cover.

Jillian Tamaki is a Canadian illustrator known for her work in The New York Times and The New Yorker and for the graphic novel Skim, written by her cousin Mariko Tamaki.[1]

Comix Book reprinted Maus, and Spiegelman has been in the New Yorker approx 972,034 times

Indie comickers : Strange Tales :: Heavy metal dudes : Testament ?

If Testament was formed with the intention of getting guys to play heavy metal in it, then yes

kinda sorta

Francoise Mouly, the art editor at the New Yorker, coloured some Marvel Comics

r crumb had a strip in a Kurtzman book published by Marvel, and has appeared in the New Yorker

^ covers and reportage multi-page colour strips

kinda think infinity would have been a lot better if roz chast had been the continuity editor

Mazzuchelli?

I've been getting into some of the 2000 AD series trades, since so many are now not hard to find in the US. I'm reading the first Slaine TPB, Judge Dredd Mega City Masters 1 and the first Dredd Case File right now. I got the first Nemesis the Warlock and Strontium Dog Agency File in my stack to start next.