ARTLOVEMAGIC

This Saturday, ArtLoveMagic is hosting an all-day event at Titan Comics *map* to celebrate our local comic book scene. (Hey, I think we've earned "scene" status.) I've been invited to sign comics, starting at 1 PM and throughout much of the day. While the next graphic novel doesn't ship until September, if you haven't picked up any of my earlier work, it'll all be available at half price. I'm also giving away an eight page preview of Bolivar. Hope to see you there. Thanks to Mike Lagocki and ArtLoveMagic for organizing everything.

WEBSITE UPDATE

Just to let everyone know, I've updated the "published work" section of this website to include the forthcoming trade paperbacks.

My blog posts have been rather "business as usual" when, in fact, over the past three months that's hardly the situation. However, for some reason, I'm typing much much faster than my Firefox browser can keep up with. Anyone know how to fix that?

PREORDER COMIC FOUNDRY (AND KARMA)

While you're busy pre-ordering the Karma Incorporated TPB (yes and thank you, by the way), make sure to add Comic Foundry Magazine to your sub list. The grassroots movement continues! We fought to get it in Previews. Now we need it on the shelves -- and we're talking large numbers here!

From Tim Leong:

Some Info on the Mag:
I'm emailing you because the new Comic Foundry Magazine needs your help. We're in the new Previews Catalog and we need your help getting the magazine into stores this September. If you want to see the magazine in stores, you can help by asking your local shop to order a copy for you. In fact, we've got a special order form below for just that.

The market already has Wizard and The Comics Journal talking to the two very opposite ends of fandom, but no one is speaking to the wide and growing number of fans who find themselves somewhere in between. Personally, I read a mix of superhero comics, indie comics, and manga. My reading isn’t limited to just one category -- I like to mix it up, and I think you do too.

Comic Foundry is also different by approaching comics from a lifestyle perspective, with stories about how comics can influence your everyday life, through fashion, decorating, music, nightlife, and more. Comic Foundry defies traditional stereotypes about comic book fans with a smart and stylish package designed to draw readers of every stripe into the fold.

Stories in our first issue include:
- Interviews with comic stars like Brad Meltzer, Mark Millar, Brian K. Vaughan and Garth Ennis
- A feature interview with actress Kristen Bell on life after Veronica Mars
- An overview of the coolest comic book t-shirts available
- A feature exploring sex in comics, and what your pull list says about you

The Fine Print:
Comic Foundry is in the July Previews on page 384, #JUL073987. The first issue is 80 pages, black and white, and at $5.98, it's one cent cheaper than Wizard.

Printable Reservation Form:
http://comicfoundry.com/themes/reserve.jpg

KARMA INC PREORDER INFO

On page 357 of the July 2007 Previews catalog:
from Viper Comics, Karma Incorporated Vol. 1 "Poor Mr. Wilson" GN
by David Hopkins and Tom Kurzanski, color by Marlena Hall
soft cover, 6x9, 112 pages, full color

Diamond Order Code #JUL073898 (SRP $11.95)


"The Making of Karma Incorporated"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOaUE6qyHtA
http://antiherocomics.com/media/making_of_karma_inc.mov

"Entertaining premise with an equally engaging cast of characters" -- Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Buzzscope.com

"Terrific story. Terrific dialogue. Terrific idea." -- Marc Mason, Movie Poop Shoot

"One of the funniest comics I have ever read. Readers should read with care as this is a certifiable gut buster!" -- Raven Gregory, writer for The Gift

"We're enjoying the hell out of this book: it's funny, it's got a nice trace of bitterness, and we have no idea where the hell it's going." -- NeedCoffee.com

LEAVING FOR CALIFORNIA

Miscellany:

Kennedy and I are leaving for California tomorrow. Spend some time with the grandparents.

Check out Raina's post about MoCCA.

The latest issue of D Magazine features an article I wrote about Smart Pop Books. (click here)

While at MoCCA, I met a great guy named Mordechai Luchins. He bought a copy of Emily Edison for his daughter, and he writes this blog: What Were They Thinking? Hilarious stuff. Worth bookmarking for all the comic book geeks.

THE BEAT AND NEWSARAMA UPDATES

Heidi MacDonald posted our MoCCA announcement on The Beat. (click here and scroll down)

Also, the first press release for Astronaut Dad is on Newsarama. (click here) Any positive comments you can post would be greatly appreciated.


In addition to packing for my flight tomorrow, I'm making a trip to Kinko's to print an eight page preview of Bolivar, a graphic novel written by me and illustrated by Diana Nock. She sent the remaining layouts for the first chapter last night and they look wonderful.

THE TICK SHIPS THIS WEEK

According to the somewhat trustworthy Diamond Shipping List, THE TICK'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION #1 should be available at your comic book store tomorrow (Wednesday). Make sure to get a copy. It's a creative jam featuring one and two page contributions by over 30 renowned comic book professionals -- including Brock Rizy and myself. I'm excited to be part of this exclusive Tick celebration, and I'm rather proud of our page too.

Getting ready for MoCCA Art Fest. Tom Kurzanski, Diana Nock, and I will have a table with promotional goodies for the upcoming KARMA INCORPORATED Vol.1 and Vol.2 trade paperbacks, the cover for the ASTRONAUT DAD graphic novel series, and a sneak peek of BOLIVAR. Once I get back, I'll share with everyone else... maybe.

MISCELLANY

Karma Incorporated pin-up (below) by Cal Slayton. Make sure to visit Cal's blog, and check out the super cool Spookytown art.


New headshot of me, taken by Carissa Byers, for the La Reunion website:
photo 1 | photo 2

This Friday, I'm going to The Door in Dallas. My friend Heather Daniel released a new CD. Congrats Heather. We were friends in high school, and I think she may have been one of the few, rare, precious fans of my ill-fated band Cosmo Monkhaus -- and a spiffy person in general.

Then on Saturday, I'm going to Lee Harvey's to see The Happy Bullets (1807 Gould Street, Dallas TX 75215, music from 8:30 PM to 12 AM). It's going to be their last show for awhile, as they are about to start work on recording a new album.

CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND

1990s, Douglas Coupland's original website featured a quick time video CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND. During the days of slow dial-up, it took an entire afternoon to watch the 24 minute film. When his 2.0 website launched, CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND disappeared. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, it's back. Worth a watch. The ideas still hold up. His last comments seem prophetic of the MySpace phenomena.

CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND
part 1 | part 2 | part 3

A more recent Douglas Coupland -- his interview on BBC HARDTALK
part 1 | part 2 | part 3

Coupland talks about plastic.

A profile

ROADTRIP

Tomorrow morning, I'm going on a roadtrip. Get out of Texas and clear my head. I'll be gone all next week. The plan is to visit some friends in Norman OK, Lawrence KS, and St. Louis MO, stay at roadside motels, eat in local diners, and wander around a bit. For reading material, I have Jospeh Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces. It's not Jack Kerouac, but I still consider it a "road book" of sorts. My CD selection includes every Beatles album from Help! to Let It Be. I have my camera, my notebook, and myself. I'm looking forward to it.

Until I come back, don't expect any blog updates. However, if you miss me terribly, you can always visit my forum and mourn my absence.

INDY PICK OF THE MONTH

The most recent Comics Buyer's Guide (#1631) has a nice review of Antigone on page 74. Ray Sidman gives it four stars out of four stars, making it the "Indy Pick of the Month".

The comic does in 32 pages (all story) what most adaptations of such plays don't manage in far lengthier productions: tell the story adeptly. Not only does it cover the main points and convey the themes, it also maintains a pleasant and page-turning pace -- and it does all of this while keeping the entertainment goodness. As someone who has studied and taught Sophocles (including Antigone), I give serious kudos to the creative team here, especially writer David Hopkins.

I've been kudo'd. Thanks Ray.

EXPLOITIVE?

A study on the significance of not-so-subtle imagery.

As you might be aware, there's been controversy over the Heroes for Hire #13 cover, drawn by Sana Takeda. Here's the original, courtesy of Heidi MacDonald and The Beat. I find it highly inappropriate, especially for a publisher who supposedly wants more female readers and to reach a younger audience, but apparently not with this comic. Hey, outrage isn't limited to one gender or demographic, I'm a 30 year old male and I'm offended by this! Especially the semen-like ooze on Black Cat's chest. I mean, seriously, did no one at Marvel think this was a little too much? Joe Quesada's response went like this: (a) If you see something perverse, get your mind out of the gutter! They're fighting slimey aliens. (b) It was drawn by a woman, so how could it be sexist?

Quesada's logic is flawed, but typical of a person trying to save his ass. Point A: Being able to recognize perverse material doesn't make you a pervert. It makes you observant. Point B: The content is the issue here. No matter who drew it, the image is still exploitive.

I'm amused by Lea Hernandez's response (click here). In particular, her remixes of the cover: version 1 -and- version 2. Line up the original with version 1. Small changes make a huge difference.

Is the controversy a double standard on the freedom of expression, i.e. you can do whatever you want as long as it's not sexist or racist? I get the irony. Trust me. Though it's more about acting responsibly with your readership. Say whatever you want. Do whatever you want. Be responsible with what you say and do.

Maybe this cover says more about the culture of the comic book readers than it does about the mainstream comic book companies? It can be awfully frustrating to a small press guy like myself. Is this what I have to do for people to buy my book? Let's hope my audience is out there, somewhere, and that they have better sensibilities.

SUMMER BREAK

My students finished their final exams. A teacher work day tomorrow, and after, it's summer vacation. Thank god. I can get work done on our yard. Spend time with Kennedy. Write a little more. The great golden perk of being a teacher, beyond the thing about shaping young minds and all that.

Movies that look good...
Paprika
Superbad
Across the Universe
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Paris, Je T'Aime
(Makes me want to write a love story, something unashamedly uplifting.)

SMART POP ARTICLE

This weekend, I'm working on another pulse article for D Magazine. I interviewed my friend Leah Wilson, editor at BenBella Books. They publish the Smart Pop Series. These books target various pop culture fan groups. With her permission, I've posted the entire transcript of our interview, where she talks about the nature of fans.

What makes someone a fan?

Leah: I think of a fan as someone who is intensely emotionally involved with something, with which they are not involved in a material, creative sense-- a sports team, a television show, an artist's or writer's or musician's body of work.

Is marketing to fans a growth industry or a "find your niche" industry?

Leah: I'd say a growth industry, but not one that's growing at an extremely high rate. I do think that as the quality of television shows has increased, and as the frequency with which the creators of those shows engage with their audience (via new technologies) have increased, the potential for greater fandom has emerged. Look at Grey's Anatomy-- they've taken excellent advantage of the growing popularity and awareness of blogging and built an unexpectedly devoted (for such a "mainstream" successful show) base of fans through it.

The rise of social networking online has been a big factor as well-- being able to talk to other fans feeds fandom, in large part because being a part of fandom becomes a socially rewarding experience. When the show you love ends or its fandom fizzles out, you want to find another one, another group to belong to. The ability to "catch up" with shows via DVDs or online downloads is part of the growth as well. So is the increasing validation of popular culture's worth. Fandom used to be associated with, when it comes to things like television and other media, Star Trek fans, Trekkies, and they weren't exactly considered cool. The term "Trekkie" ended up with such negative connotations that even Trekkies don't use it anymore-- a lot of Trek fans prefer "Trekkers."

Is there any correlation between the commercial success of a property and success of the related Smart Pop Book?

Leah: Less than we wish there was! Passion is a much more reliable indicator. Plenty of people I know watched and enjoyed Everybody Loves Raymond, but I can't think of one who *loved* it-- who would talk about it in depth with friends the next day. A show like Veronica Mars, on the other hand, doesn't have a lot of commercial success, but the people who do watch it are deeply devoted. The nature of Smart Pop books is to go *deeper* into a particular property-- to be like one of those next-day discussions you have with your friends, only if you friends were bestselling authors or psychologists or scientists-- and that doesn't sell unless the show's fans are wanting to go deeper on their own.

What do you do to learn about a property before starting the anthology?

Leah: We try to look for indicators that there *is* that kind of engagements-- that people are talking about the show (or comic, or book series) in a serious way. Online activity is a good way to get a sense of that-- message board activity, fan sites, fanfiction archives, blogs and livejournal and MySpace. So, for TV, are DVD sales; often high DVD sales mean you have viewers looking to watch the episodes of their favorite show multiple times. Clearly they're getting more out of the show than just "entertainment."

From a content standpoint, I try to immerse myself as much as possible in the property in question, to understand what the compelling questions are, what's interesting to discuss further-- something more easily done with a two year old TV show, of course, than with 50 years of comics!

What are fans wanting from their beloved property (be it Grey's Anatomy or Spider-Man)?

Leah: In a general sense-- *more*. More ways to be involved, more ways to be engaged. More information. To know something about the property they love that they didn't before, whether it's more insight into a character or when a piece of set dressing first showed up in the background.

What can businesses and publishers learn from fans and fan culture?

Leah: That your audience-- whether viewers or readers or customers-- is smart. If you treat them like they're intelligent, they'll reward that, they'll reward your product-- with respect, with time, and with energy.

Which fans are the most obsessive? Are Grey's Anatomy, Survivor, and Desperate Housewives fans any less geeky?

Leah: I think obsessiveness is about even across the board, at least among the people I'd really categorize as *fans*. (There are many people who watch Grey's, for instance, that aren't engaged enough to really warrant the term.) "Geekiness" is really more a matter of mainstream approval than level of obsessiveness-- take sports fans. Painting your face and chest and going shirtless at a winter football game is way more insane than anything I've ever seen a fan do (well, *almost* anything) ... but it's way less likely to get strange looks.

COMIC FOUNDRY REJECTED?

Tim Leong's Comic Foundry Magazine has been rejected by Diamond Distributors for rather curious reasons (read here).

According to Diamond: "a B&W title at the price you're using just won't work well in the current market we believe." Fact: our cover price is $6.25 for an 80-page B&W magazine. Now they might not think that will sell, but it isn't consistent with what they're already approving. Such as Issue 14 of Draw! magazine, that's 80 pages, B&W and retails for $6.95. Same with issue 15 of Write Now! Both same specs, but 70 cents more.

I called Diamond for more clarification and spoke with Tim Huckelbery, who let me know the news in the first place. He said, among other things, "When I was looking though it and reading a magazine of that type, which is about comics, which has lots of images of comics characters, that is looking to be timely and topical, I was expecting color. That, just for me, is how my brain is wired." So, to be a timely magazine with topical content (and feature images of comic characters) it has to be in color? I'm sorry, I've thought about this all afternoon, and I don't really see how this makes sense. What about The Comics Journal or Comics Buyers Guide? Neither of those are full-color, right?

I'm a fan of Comic Foundry and level of quality they consistently bring to our market. This magazine would fill a niche that other comic-related publications do not, offering reasonable competition in a limited field. It's a shame Diamond has made such an error. However, I'm encouraging everyone to e-mail Diamond's Tim Huckelbery and request they reconsider this decision.