We don’t cover too much stuff on the Danish cartoon controversy — to be honest, it’s too depressing and hopeless, and Tom has been doing a bang-up job of keeping up with it. But once in a while a story comes along that bear mentioning. It seems two Azeri journalists have been jailed for publishing the Mohammad cartoons:

On November 1, Senet newspaper published the cartoons that Muslim clerics had denounced when they first appeared in a Danish daily in February, sparking protests in which more than 50 people were killed in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

“These journalists have been charged under article 283.2.2 for using their profession to stir up racial hatred,” said a court spokesman in Baku, capital of the ex-Soviet, largely Muslim state.

Rafika Tagi, the journalist who wrote the Senet article illustrated by the Mohammed cartoons, said prior to his arrest that he had committed no offence.

“We don’t live in a religious state and it’s impossible to suppress freedom of speech,” he said.

According to the wire report, demonstrators had demanded death for the two. As Dirk and Tom both note in their reports, there are many conflicting reports about exactly what happened here, but the net result seems to be depressing and hopeless.

It was a red letter day for The Beat when we finally got linked in Gawker in an item parsing Wil Moss’s report on the graphic novel symposium at the 92nd St. Y. Specifically…what to call those books of words and pictures.

La Perdida author Jessica Abel summed it up: “A graphic novel is a description, not a definition of an art form. We really need to repossess that word [comics] and make it something we can use.”

We totally support comic book nerds in their effort to take back this term, and we promise to use it every time we cover comic books, which is going to be . . . yeah, basically just this one time.

That’s fine. You just leave the comics to us. We know what we’re doing here. We are the deciders.

Actually, on one of the private mailing lists we’re on, people were discussing the same topic. We came up with an analogy we hadn’t thought of before, which, considering how much times we spend thinking about the comics, is highly surprising.

Why are comic books called comic books, anyway? Because somewhere in the mists of time they were named after “comic supplements” so called because they were…comic. I.E. funny. Like, for laughs. Thus the road to comic strips, and “the comics.”

So now we have “comics” which aren’t funny at all, and graphic “novels” which are actually based on true events. We’ve heard many people complain about the “novel” part of “graphic novel” for that very reason, including bibliographers, book shelvers and librarians…but it appears that “novel” will soon lose its original meaning in the neology, just as “comic” lost its.

As for us, comic book is downscale, graphic novel upscale. They will keep crossing over with ironic effect until some new genre buzzword comes along, like…”picto-rockets” or something.

The other day when I posted the news about Steve Rude and Mike Baron bringing back NEXUS, it was mentioned that I will be contributing to the Dude’s follow-up anthology. Just to clear things up, since in my glee I didn’t phrase it very well, this is NOT a Nexus story! I have about as much desire to write a NEXUS story as I do to write a new episode of THE PRISONER. I leave that to the pros. The Dude and I have been chatting back and forth for a while about this, and it’s still in the formative stages, but…if it works out, I think it will be cool. So there.

In one other bit of business, in re to the problems between Baron and Rude that had put the return of Nexus on hold, Mrs. Dude, Jaynelle posted this on Newsarama

For those of you who heard the rumor about Steve and Mike having a falling out, well, they did have a disagreement over the storyline, and Nexus was scrubbed from the lineup. After Steve saw the wonderful intro that Baron did for Steve’s upcoming “Art Of” book, he talked Baron into giving the story one more shot and the rest is history. Here’s something that was posted on our website (www.steverude.com) and was in our newsletter (www.steverude.com/dudenews) on Nov 8:

Welcome all ye faithful to a most astounding announcement of the first magnitude. Ironically, a message that was announced months ago, and sadly, had to be retracted due to internal conflicts between Baron and I. Conflicts, that have now been dutifully and thankfully put to rest, so that we may finally proceed with our intended destiny.

Now, with proper scripts finally in hand, we can indeed announce–the Return of Nexus. Just as before, Nexus will be taking it’s rightful place as the flagship title of Rude Dude Productions, in conjunction with The Moth and the Rude Dude Anthology title.

Dirk has the .pdfs etc of Fantagraphics/Gary Groth/Kim Thompson’s epic 41-page motion to dismiss the Harlan Ellison suit. Apparently The Beat has been submitted as an exhibit, so perhaps we’ll say nothing until we get back from the cafe after digesting the whole, chunky mass.

We had a chance to listen to the Alan Moore interview on Fanboy Radio, and in it he dropped a bit of a bombshell into the already ravaged crater that is the rights situation of Marvelman/Miracleman. You’ll recall that this long unavailable comics classic is unavailable because the rights are in dispute among Todd McFarlane, Neil Gaiman and possibly others. McFarlane and Gaiman already had one lawsuit with the rights as part of the stake, and further legal wrangling has crawled along.

The character of Marvelman was actually created by Mick Anglo, a British comics packager of the 50s and 60s. According to Moore, he wrote his version of Marvelman with the understanding that the rights to the character “had lapsed into receivership with the bankruptcy of the company that had published his adventures.That was the entire basis upon which I wrote my Marvelman stories.”

However, now, says Moore, “We’ve since found out that apparently this was all a pack of lies from the beginning.” Anglo had never lost the rights.

Anglo is still kicking at age 90. It’s believed that relatives (perhaps the Len Miller’s niece of this LitG report?) are helping him get back the rights – which he may have had all along – would then put him in clear ownership of the Marvelman material, and possibly lead the way to it returning to print.

Moore was hopeful but the situation sounds like it is far, far, far– like, way far — from being resolved. And thus, one of the great battles of comics continues on another front.

ICv2 has an analysis of the surging sales of the 300 graphic novel. Apparently that super-hot trailer has got everyone running down to the store to buy a copy, and Dark Horse has just put in an order for 40,000 more copies. A no-brainer, you say? Yes, but previous Dark Horse movie hits HELLBOY and SIN CITY saw ongoing shortages of books that put a crimp in sales. This time, evidently, Dark Horse has taken the hint and won’t be caught short again:

Having had some trouble in 2005 meeting the unprecedented demand for Miller’s Sin City books, Dark Horse has been very aggressive in scheduling additional print runs for the 300 graphic novel. A tenth printing that will provide an additional 40,000 copies is set to arrive in late November and an eleventh printing is slated for January/February. Dark Horse has already sold over 88,000 copies of Miller’s 300 since 1999 and by this time next year the 300 graphic novel, which won an unprecedented five Eisners, might just be the best-selling single volume historical graphic “novel” ever in the North American market (Larry Gonick’s 11 Cartoon History volumes have collectively sold over 750,000 copies).

AMERICAN BORN CHINESE lost out at the National Book Awards to M.T. Anderson’s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party, but Anderson gave a shout out in his acceptance speech:

In his acceptance speech, Anderson made a point of noting that Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese” was the first graphic novel nominated for a National Book Award. “There is a lot of dithering in the blogosphere,” he said, about whether graphic novels are worthy. This can now be laid to rest.

We also have a photo from the gala evening, courtesy of Calvin Reid: (l. to r.) Mark Siegel, agent Judy Hanson, Lark Pien, Theresa Yang and Gene Yang. (Click for larger version.)

Paul Rigby, the Australian cartoonist whose lush cartoons were a fixture of the new York Post and Daily News in the 70s, has died at age 82.

He began drawing political cartoons for Perth’s afternoon Daily News in 1952 and, between 1960 and 1969, gained national prominence with his cartoons, which were also published in Sydney’s Daily Mirror, winning five Walkley Awards.

Despite his being a Victorian, West Australians claimed him as their own, and his cult following in the state remains to this day.

His drawings often included larrikin Aussies and big-busted blondes in quintessential Australian environments of the times: the pub, the back yard, the footy. Tucked away somewhere in the frame were his trademark urchin and dog.

Rupert Murdoch poached Rigby and took him to London, where he worked for The Sun. His drawings also appeared in News of The World.

Rigby won multiple awards for his cartoons, and was a memver of the Order of Australia. In his later years he opened a gallery for his paintings and cartoons — you can see some photos and read an account of a visit here.

We ran out of room to mention this, but you can still listen to Alan Moore on Fanboy Radio yesterday. Moore talks about Lost Girls, the Simpsons, and, we don’t doubt, more.

BTW, FBR is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary next week, so congrats to the crew for hanging in there.

Trina Robbins, Joan Hilty, Leela Corman and Sabrina Jones appear tonight at the Jewish Museum as part of the ongoing comics related programming surrounding the Master of American Comics Exhibit.

IN FOCUS: WOMEN COMIC ARTISTS
Panel Discussion
The Mildred and George Weissman Program

Influential comic artists discuss how women have contributed to the development of the comics medium.

Leela Corman’s graphic novels include the 2000 Xeric Grant winner Queen’s Day, and Subway Series.

Joan Hilty is the creator of the comic strip Bitter Girl, distributed by Q Syndicate. She is also an editor at DC Comics.

Sabrina Jones is a cartoonist and editor of World War 3 Illustrated and Girltalk, creator of Prisoners of the War on Drugs, and a contributor to Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Works of the World. She is currently working on a graphic biography of Isadora Duncan.

Trina Robbins is a writer and pop-culture historian. She is the author of numerous books, including The Great Women Cartoonists.

Moderator: Laura Hoptman is Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. She has curated numerous contemporary art exhibitions including the 2004 Carnegie International (in Pittsburgh) which included a retrospective of R. Crumb’s work.

The Mildred and George Weissman Program has been endowed by Paul, Ellen, and Dan Weissman in honor of their parents.

[Link via Kyle Baker]

Wizard’s 2006 Awards are out, and you’ll have to pick up the magazine to see all the winners, but they have released the Man of the Year, and it’s “The man known as Joe Q to friends, co-workers and Internet fans”:

It was all there—Marvel’s entire publishing plan for 2006 through 2008 in red, green, black and blue marker, stretched across the walls of the huge editorial conference in Manhattan on the last day of the January planning meeting.

A cabal of the biggest and most successful writers in comics, including Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, J. Michael Straczynski and Greg Pak, sat around the large, square room filled with gray rectangular tables studying what the last few days of discussions, arguments and planning had yielded.

But as Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada reviewed the plans, something just didn’t feel right.

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…or at least dinner with Brad Meltzer. Volunteer Florida Foundation is auctioning off dinner with several famed authors, so if money is no object, your dreams of an erudite literary dinner can come true!

Imagine having a private dinner with New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer (The Book of Fate, The Zero Game). That gift can be yours via the new eBay-based Greatest Gift Auction, managed by nonprofit Volunteer Florida Foundation. The Greatest Gift Auction will benefit community service programs in Florida and will feature national celebrities throughout the coming months. The Meltzer auction runs through November 19.

Meltzer has invited four guests for a memorable dinner in Palm Beach, Florida on a mutually agreeable date this fall. This is your chance to spend some quality time with one of America’s best loved authors. Read more about this auction at www.VolunteerFloridaFoundation.org, or go directly to the auction at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330049496520.

Other auction participants in the coming months include satirists Carl Hiaasen (Nature Girl, Hoot); cookbook creator Art Smith – personal chef to Oprah Winfrey; medical thriller writer Dr. Robin Cook (Coma, Outbreak); and mother/daughter suspense novelists Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.

Volunteer Florida Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to volunteerism and community service in Florida, directly managing social service programs in the areas of family literacy, mentoring, hurricane recovery and more. For more information on the Foundation, please go to www.VolunteerFloridaFoundation.org. Read more about Brad Meltzer at www.bradmeltzer.com.

§ Trend-watcher really on top of that comic book thing.

§ The Austin Chronicle reviews ROCKETO and GØDLAND.

§ The Stranger reviews LOST GIRLS:

The last time I was in New York, I was just arriving at a fancy dinner when I got a phone call from my senior editor at the Internationalist. As I excused myself and stepped into the lobby, his voice, which gets high-pitched as he gets excited, shouted at me, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU REQUEST? THIS IS DIRRRRTY!” He and a couple other editors had broken into the huge box from Top Shelf Productions that had arrived, expecting maybe some large, art coffee-table book. Instead, they had opened up the box to discover Alan Moore’s newest graphic novel, complete with pages and pages of incredibly explicit fucking.

The CBLDF sends word that their motions to dismiss the Gordon Lee case have been denied and the case will go to trial:

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has learned that its recent motions to dismiss the case Georgia v. Gordon Lee have been denied. The Fund is now preparing to go to trial, which is anticipated to occur early in 2007.

This most recent round of motions in Lee’s case were filed last Summer in response to July’s second indictment against Lee – the third set of charges brought against the Rome, GA retailer as a result of an accidental Halloween 2004 distribution of “Alternative Comics #2.”

The motions filed included: Motion to Dismiss on grounds that the State Harmful to Minors law is unconstitutional, a memorandum in support of that motion, and a Motion to Dismiss based on prosecutorial misconduct. Two Demurrer and Motion to Quash documents; another motion to quash, and two procedural motions were also filed. Motions were heard last October.

The court dismissed all of the motions submitted by Lee’s defense team. The court held that this is the third “re-incarnation” of the earlier action brought in 2005, and in light of that dismissed many of Lee’s motions. Among the dismissed motions were motions alleging that Georgia’s Exhibition of Harmful Materials to a Minor law (OCGA 16-12-103) is unconstitutional, demurrers and motions to quash, and motion to dismiss based on prosecutorial misconduct.

In light of this decision, the Fund is taking preparations to go to trial to defend Lee against the two remaining misdemeanor counts of Exhibition of Harmful Materials to a Minor. To date the Fund has spent over $72,000 defending Mr. Lee, successfully knocking out 5 of the 7 counts he originally faced, including two felony counts and three misdemeanor counts. If convicted under these remaining misdemeanor counts, Lee faces penalties of up to a year in prison and up to $1,000 in fines for each count.

To support the defense of Gordon Lee, please make a donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund online at www.cbldf.org, or by calling 800-99-CBLDF, or by mail at 271 Madison Ave, Suite 1400, New York, NY 10016

For all the birthday wishes and good will and shout outs and what not from amazingly far and wide. I am humbled by the richness of friends I am fortunate enough to have, and you all brightened my day considerably.

Now…back to the snark.

Our rating: 9.7!

As you read this, we’re probably recovering from our birthday celebrations, so enjoy. Perhaps the best part of this video is hearing Viggo speak with Clive Owen’s voice. Slash away!

[Link via Colleen.]

Crap, here’s one more AWESOME comics event taking place tonight which sounds really groundbreaking:

November 15, 2006 - March 18, 2007
Africa Comics The first-ever exhibition of comic art from Africa comes to The Studio Museum in Harlem

Well here’s a nice birthday present for The Beat! It seems Mike Baron and Steve Rude have ironed out their differences and are working on NEXUS again…oh and apparently I am working on the anthology! Yikes!

Steve Rude announced today the formation of Rude Dude Productions, LLC. Rude Dude will publish Nexus and the Moth. The ground-breaking, award-winning Nexus first appeared on Capital Comics in 1981. The story of a cosmic avenger driven by dreams of mass murder captured the imagination of the comic-reading public throughout the eighties. Dark Horse recently released hard-bound volumes of the first twenty-four issues in their prestigious “Archives” editions. Mike Baron will script, Steve Rude will draw and Gary Martin will ink.

The Moth, a more-traditional super hero comic, was created by Rude and is written and inked by Gary Martin. The Moth follows the adventures of circus strong man Jack Mahoney and has been compared to the early work of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby.

Baron described the new Nexus as “the most intense thing I have ever written” and promises far-ranging repercussions for Horatio Hellpop and his world. Nexus has garnered numerous industry awards including three Eisners.

“The return of Baron and Rude and NEXUS is one of those events that gives me hope for the medium. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time and for me, personally, it means everything. I mean, how often does someone have a chance to say these words: My favorite comicbook is back!” –Joe Casey

“Nexus made me what I am today. Baron and Rude are the reasons I do creator owned comics. Without Nexus, there would be no Powers, and one less creator out there. Nexus is easily one of the best comic series ever, I can’t wait to see it return!” –Mike Avon Oeming, Powers co-creator

Following the four issue Nexus run, which will begin in July, will be Amazing Dude Tales, a 64-page anthology all drawn by Steve Rude. Writers include Mike Baron, F. Paul Wilson, Heidi MacDonald, and Gary Martin.

Following Amazing Dude Tales, the Moth begins its four issue run. Rude Dude plans to release four new issues of Nexus and four new issues of The Moth annually.

Diamond gives details on new hires and new division:

In 2006, Diamond Book Distributors (DBD) played a key role in cultivating the unprecedented growth, impressive book market sales increases, and immense consumer popularity of the graphic novel format. Today, DBD announced several organizational changes and unveiled its new children’s book group, all designed to position the company — and the publishers it represents — for even greater success in 2007 and beyond.

“With sales figures exceeding our projections, 2006 is shaping up to be one of DBD’s best years ever,â€? said DBD Vice President of Sales & Marketing Kuo-Yu Liang, “and 2007 looks even more promising as the market for graphic novels continues to expand. These organizational changes, plus the development of our newest group dedicated to children’s properties, will enable DBD to keep pace with that expansion next year, and for many years to come.â€?

Josh Hayes has been promoted to DBD Associate Director of Sales & Marketing. His responsibilities will include worldwide sales reporting & inventory management, handling the toys/games/merchandising program for bookstores and strategic planning with manga publishers. Previously, Josh was a buyer at Waldenbooks, then a DBD Sales Manager selling to the BGI Group.

Janna Morishima has been hired as Director for DBD’s newly formed Diamond Kids Group. She begins on December 11 and will be based in New York City. Janna was formerly Scholastic Publishing’s Editor at Large and was responsible for such graphic novel lines as Bone, the Baby-Sitters Club and R.L. Stine adaptations. In this newly created position, Janna will be responsible for coordinating DBD’s sales efforts of children’s books to customers worldwide including bookstores, libraries, online, mass merchants, book club and book fairs. Janna will also work very closely with DBD publishers to develop new properties for children.

Donnie Lewis has joined DBD as Customer Service Manager. Before joining DBD, Donnie was Assistant Manager of Data Processing at Diamond Comic Distributors, DBD’s parent company. With Diamond since 1997, Lewis’ new responsibilities include managing all aspects of customer service issues and coordinating with distribution centers in Memphis, Torrance and Plattsburgh. Donnie will report to DBD Director of Client & Customer Service Karen Huddler.

Additionally, DBD continues its commitment to international markets by partnering with organizations in countries and territories all over the world. These various organizations and individuals will work closely with DBD Director of International Sales Scott Hatfill.

In Canada, DBD works with the Manda Group, one of Canada’s oldest and most respected companies. With 13 sales representatives across the country, the Manda Group has started selling DBD’s products to Canadian bookstores, libraries and mass merchants.

For markets Down Under, DBD has chosen to work with Dennis Jones Associates. With offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Dennis Jones Associates has been selling DBD’s titles to bookstores, libraries and mass merchants across Australia and New Zealand including Dymocks, A&R and Borders.

In Latin America & the Caribbean, DBD will be working with Larry Kolarik to handle sales to bookstores in this growing area. Larry is already representing DBD titles to overseas military bases.

“Thanks to upcoming releases including Stephen King’s Dark Tower, Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books and Civil War from Marvel, plus tie-ins with related Hollywood blockbusters such as 300, Transformers, 30 Days of Night and Spider-Man 3, and titles related to the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, DBD is poised to have its best year ever in 2007, â€? said Liang. “These titles and many others will help bookstores expand their customer base for graphic novels, and the changes we’ve made at DBD ensure that we will be ready and able to meet their needs next year, and in the years ahead.â€?

We have been a bit remiss in covering the WizWorld Texas aftermath. Scott Hinze has a big round-up at Newsie, but even Wizard’s own PR machine says the show drew only half of what they expected:

Wizard World, the nation’s foremost touring event for pop culture, comic books, anime, toys, games and collectibles, concluded its tenth annual tour at Wizard World Texas, November 10 – 12 at the Arlington Convention Center with a confirmed attendance of more than 11,500 fans for the family-friendly three-day event. One of Wizard’s most successful tours, the 2006 series attracted a total of 127,500 fans in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Texas and brought a variety of celebrity guests and esteemed comic book artists and creators to meet their most loyal fans.

11,500 is LESS THAN HALF the attendance predicted in the preshow hype:

Over 25,000 attendees are expected over the three-day event that will explore the worlds of comics, cards, toys, anime, manga, gaming, and more, and will offer attendees the opportunity to meet some of the biggest stars in comics, film and television.

Our own spies said attendance seemed to be down from last year, although photos show a decent but not bustling crowd on Saturday. Over on the Bendis board, opinions were mixed:

Man, WWT is getting smaller every year. I’m worried that someday they are just going to cancel it. This year artists alley was so small it didn’t even have the seperate room, it was just 4 small rows in the corner of the dealers area.

Still, got a few signatures and a ROM sketch from the guy who does ‘Random Encounter’ that kicks ass so I’m pretty happy.

Another attendee has a differing view:

I don’t know the actual attendance numbers, but it looked to me like there were twice as many folks there as last year.

This was the most fun I have had at WW Texas, and I have been to them all. Got to meet Bill Sienkiewicz, Ed Brubaker, David Finch, C.B. Cebulski, Steve Epting, George Perez, and Kristian Donaldson. I know there are more that I am forgetting.

I hated that Artist Alley was crammed into the main room this year, and I wonder if it was not because Wizard sold fewer tables to dealers this time around.

The Dallas market can support a large con if Wizard would bring more top creators and not treat this con as the red-headed stepchild. Regardless, I thought it was great and plan to attend all three days next year!

And yet a third:

Actually, the reason Artists Alley was smaller was because a lot of artists were complaining about being in the ballroom instead of on the convention floor for the last few years. And since they didn’t want to cut the number of booth spaces, they simply cut some of the artists alley tables to move it into the main area. I think it’s a smart move, but in the end they might want to tighten the isles a little more, there was a ton of space between tables and they could have easily added 4 more rows.

But if you look at the creator list from last year and compare it to this one, you’ll see that it was a far more impressive list this year. But they did sell out of tables rather early (and I know a few people that couldn’t get tables) so I’m assuming they’ll re-think the layout again.

Anyway you slice it, this has been a pretty stagnant year for the Wizard shows. Increased competition, creator burnout, and bad programming would seem to be the culprits. Internally, many Wizard personnel have been working on the IFL launch, which has been successful, but not a barn-burner. Marvel and DC sat out Texas, few creators had the time or inclination to spend another weekend sitting behind a masonite table, and the fans didn’t come out for whatever reason.

As the Bendisboarder reaction shows, comics fans will have a good time meeting their favorite pros, getting sketches and drinking afterwards. But from our own vantage point, there is just no compelling reason to go to a Wizard show any more. The guest lists and programming are woefully behind the curve in reflecting the wider world that comics have reached this year. Ask yourself this, who would contribute more to a show? A local manga creator like Rivkah—or Virgil? Come on now. Wizard is even behind the times in the cartoonist-as-celebrity mindset they pioneered. We are always happy to see an Image founder or Michael Turner—they are fine guests and popular creators. But they can’t match the bookstore sales of a Scott McCloud or Svetlana Chmakova or BONGO COMICS.

Wizard has announced a restructured schedule for 2008, but 2007 will keep pretty much the same timeframe. We asked several frequent Wizard exhibitors who had replaced ousted Stewart Morales…and no one could tell us. Not a good sign for a business branch that desperately needs a goose. It’s possible their waiting for 2007 to bring out the regime change, but after a year of declining attendance, a Rumsfeld-like refusal to change would seem to be highly imprudent.

Photo by Clay Harrison, who sent us a really nice set of photos which you can view here.

Okay, it’s late and we’re not so hot with numbers and graphs, but a couple of blogs have done some number crunching so you can see the Long Tail theory in action for comics.

Yet Another Comics Blog kicked it off last month by making some actual graphs that show the “inflection point” for comics by graphing sales against rank. (We’re surely getting this wrong so please school us in the comments.) The inflection point shows where the log-log correspondence drops off and inefficiency begins. David Carter analyses it thusly:

It’s not surprising to see that the graph looks like many other markets. What is surprising to me is how soon the inflection point hits: right around rank #45. Looking at the raw data, it appears to be right between #45 (Sensational Spider-Man 29: 55,300) and #46 (Green Lantern Corps 3: 51,400). Put another way, that’s right at about the mid-list for Marvel, just after the top books for DC, and above any other publisher. Putting some names to the numbers: Comics like Y, the Last Man (91: 25,800), Fables (92: 25,300) & Runaways (93: 25,000) could probably be selling another 15-20,000 copies every month. Way down at the end of the tail, books like Gold Digger, Rocketo, & Action Philosophers which are selling 2,100 copies could be selling around the 20,000 range.

Carter goes on to suggest reasons for the underserved population, including alternate distribution channels, and the fact that no one can find a comics shop. Now, of course, the idea that people who read CIVIL WAR would be interested in ACTION PHILOSOPHERS seems kind of nutty on the face of it, at least from a conventional wisdom standpoint, but in abstract terms, the fact that only the top of the charts shows any forward momentum (aside from THE WALKING DEAD and one or two others) is odd.

MacGuffin picks up the thread:

The most common factor in limited a product ability to fully serve its market is a distribution bottle-neck. Because these numbers are sell-in to retailers rather than sell-through to readers, the implication is that any bottlenecks would lie with Diamond or the publishers. This is certainly possible considering the limits on growth due to the relatively low overprints from Diamond’s brokered publishers and Diamond’s own unwillingness to stock much of their non-brokered publishers’ titles in any depth. The bottle neck more likely occurs, however, much later in the supply chain, namely at the retail level. Most direct market comic shops (at least the ones that manage to stay open) base their orders primarily on previous sales patterns. This makes perfect sense, but most shops aim for at least 80% sell through on each title, which means that if orders are based on previous sales, growth is almost be definition limited to 20-25%.

Thus you have the bottleneck paradox. By any reasonable observation, comics are having a huge boom now, and yet that boom still hasn’t reached the end of the tail, or indeed anywhere beyond the top 50 titles. Is this only natural, or a harbinger of the heat death of the direct sales market? We can’t answer that…we can only ponder and ponder some more.

Thus reads the headline on a story , widely circulated via the AP which looks at the Marshall Library matter in a wider context:

The Chicago-based American Library Association said it knows of at least 14 graphic novel challenges in U.S. libraries over the past two to three years. Among the titles were “The Watchmen” by Alan Moore, which was challenged in Florida and Virginia as unsuitable for younger readers; “Akira, Volume 2″ by Katsuhiro Otomo, challenged in Texas for offensive language; and “New X-Men Imperial” by Grant Morrison, challenged in Maryland for nudity, offensive language and violence.

Even “Maus” and its sequel, “Maus II,” were challenged last year in Oregon as anti-ethnic and unsuitable for younger readers.

Sometimes the challenges are successful. In April, county officials in Victorville, Calif., removed from their library “Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics,” because the book included nudity and sexuality.

“Some people find graphical depictions of things more offensive than text,” said Carrie Gardner, a spokeswoman for the ALA’s Committee for Intellectual Freedom and a professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Of some interest is the note at the end which compares concern over graphic novels to parental unease when video tapes and internet access became part of library offerings.

While The Beat feels that parents are only being reponsible in showing concern over their kids reading habits, why does it always have to be major works of art like WATCHMEN, FUN HOME and CATCHER IN THE RYE that get caught in the net?

As is widely known, Tim Sale is the “ghost artist” for the painter character on HEROES, and over at Newsarama Zack Smith finds out everything you would want to know about the gig:

Newsarama: Starting with your Heroes work, how many pieces have you done so far?

Tim Sale: I’ve done maybe 20 paintings for the show and 30 comic book panels, not counting the comic that was given away as a promotion in San Diego. I should say right away, that the “paintings” are not actually paintings, they are wash drawings on comic book paper, about 11″x17″, that are then colored by the amazing Dave Stewart on a computer, and then blown up and transferred to canvas — except for the canvas part, just like Catwoman: When In Rome was produced.

Among the tidbits, former DC editor Chuck Kim is also working on the show.

Over at CBR Todd Dezago talks about a collected edition of TELLOS by himself and Mike Wieringo, due from Image.

The new edition features every “Tellos” work created by the Dezago/Wieringo team, including all ten issues of the original series, two 10-page side-stories and an additional 5-page supplement that appeared elsewhere in “Tellos’” short run. Dezago mentioned that the door is open for the remaining “Tellos” material, which was illustrated by other artists, to be collected at a later date. In the meantime, Dezago has reunited with Wieringo for an original graphic novel they expect to have completed next year.

A few blogs have been pondering hints that J. Torres will be writing a new LEGION series, based on the toon version. Actually, we can confirm this, since it was mentioned in a piece in Publishers Weekly a little while ago:

DC is planning an ongoing periodical comics series based on the cartoon written by J. Torres, Scott Beatty and writers from the show.

So there you go.

Meanwhile, the Grant Morrison/Andy Kubert run on BATMAN is having some delays, as a fill-in by John Van Fleet was itself pushed back to make room for a four-part story by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake called “Grotesk” will fill in issues #659-662, according to a DC mailer.

§ “Funky Winkerbean” cartoonist Tom Batiuk has won the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Care Hall of Fame Award for his comics about the Lisa character’s battle with cancer.

§ Iranian cartoonist wins Syrian award for nothing to do with prophets or the Holocaust. The topic was “travel” and it was a very international affair.

The director of Iran’s House of Cartoon Massud Shojaei-Tabatabaii has won the First Prize of the 2nd Syria International Cartoon Contest in 2006, MNA Reported. Competing cartoonists from Armenia, Ukraine, Spain, Bosnia, Iraq, Bangladesh, India, Japan, Romania, Russia, China, Morocco, Brazil, Kuwait, Syria, Palestine, Macedonia, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, South Korea, Indonesia, and France focused on the theme of theater. The Second Prize was presented to Naji Benaji from Morocco while the Third Prize went to Tomasz Woloszyn from Poland. The jury comprised Syrian cartoonists and journalists Raed Khalil, Salwa Abbas, and Jamal Abboud as well as Palestinian cartoonists Hani Abbas and Abdoula Abo Rashed.

§ Too pressed for time to read all of Linda H. Davis’ biography of cartoon great Charles Addams? Well you’re in luck, because Liz Smith has summarized what you really need to know: What did Addams have to do with THE KENNEDYS???

Addams often socialized with the Stephen Smiths and the Peter Lawfords. At one of those overcrowded Kennedy weekends, Addams was a guest, with Arthur Schlesinger Jr. at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport, Mass. Schlesinger found him “a very jolly roommate.” Now he was one of several discreet men who were taking Jackie out and he was clearly smitten. “He was stunned by, captivated by Jackie,” said Nancy Holmes. Jackie adored his work. “I love Pugsley and Lurch, but my favorite is Morticia. She and I have a lot more in common than you might think,” teased Jackie. … Once Addams and Jackie stopped for dinner at the Stockton Inn, which had inspired the Lorenz Hart song, “There’s a small hotel with a wishing well.” The waiter said, “Your friend looks a lot like Jackie Kennedy.” Addams answered, “That’s right. A lot of people tell her that.”

§ James Buchanon, a writer who specializes in gay fiction, including yaoi, speaks:

“My longer works have heavy elements of romance in them,” he explains on his Web site. “Some of my stuff is Original Yaoi, also known as June, with the traditional Seme and Uke roles with all involved being Bishonen. What can I say, I love Manga and it’s fun to write.” His work has also been described as “dark fic” or “Gothic.” Buchanan explains that this is because the work has an edgy, not-quite-happy feel to it. “It follows my own reading tastes. I’m more likely to be found with A Slave’s Condition than a pretty shounen-ai manga like Gokuaru Cafe,” he adds. “Clive Barker’s homocentric horror is on my shelves and I don’t need happy endings.”

§ Just what you’ve been waiting for: a report on last weekend’s Belly Dance and Comic Book Convention. Only in the Bay Area.

“The most unique holiday festival in the Bay Area, combining comics and belly dancing in a special and entertaining way,� according to its organizers, offered nonstop performances and one-stop shopping for a wide range of thematic gifts for collectors and costume lovers. This year, the third annual festival went on for two days, featuring Bay Area artists and vendors, comic book creators, and Mediterranean cuisine by a local caterer.