Christopher Butcher has his RSS feed working again and the Beat rejoices. Now it is not so easy for us to miss stuff like this, where he reveals the dangers of reviewing OEL:

It’s funny, but the most difficult thing about reviewing any Tokyopop OEL manga is that you have to be ready for the creator to e-mail you within 12 hours of the review going online. Well the creator… or their fans. It’s easy enough when it comes to North American creators working outside of “global mangaâ€?; if you write something they just bitch about you on a friends-locked Live Journal post, or send an e-mail cursing your name to a couple of their buddies. This has not been my experience with Tokyopop’s “not-Japanese-manga-creatorsâ€?. The absolute worst example of this happened to my buddy Scott Robins, who was screamed at by (frankly) rabid Peach Fuzz fans for daring to suggest some of the imagery and language used in the book wasn’t 100% appropriate for their target audience of “very youngâ€?. It’s not like Scott doesn’t determine such things professionally, every day, at Scholastic Books. To her credit though, Peach Fuzz creator Lindsay Cibos did step in and calm them down after a little while…

Luckily brave Chris faces the danger and reviews FOOL’S GOLD, as well as non-OEL’s KAMPUNG BOY and SHIRTLIFTER in the past few days.

Crocodile Caucus did us all a big favor by posting the COVER for that big story on yaoi in SF Weekly from a last week.

Hm. Maybe we are right to be scared of Nancy Pelosi.

[Link via Manga Blog]

Variety says it all:

VHS, 30, dies of loneliness
The home-entertainment format lived a fruitful life
By DIANE GARRETT

VHS RIP
After a long illness, the groundbreaking home-entertainment format VHS has died of natural causes in the United States. The format was 30 years old.

No services are planned.

The format had been expected to survive until January, but high-def formats and next-generation vidgame consoles hastened its final decline.

“It’s pretty much over,” concurred Buena Vista Home Entertainment general manager North America Lori MacPherson on Tuesday.

VHS is survived by a child, DVD, and by Tivo, VOD and DirecTV. It was preceded in death by Betamax, Divx, mini-discs and laserdiscs.

Although it had been ailing, the format’s death became official in this, the video biz’s all-important fourth quarter. Retailers decided to pull the plug, saying there was no longer shelf space.

What the hell are we supposed to do with all our old tapes???

Please note we had the wrong date for the Gabrielle Bell party at Rocketship this weekend — it takes place on SATURDAY. That was entirely The Beat’s fault, and not that of our splendid intern Cindy, who now puts together the listings, allowing The Beat precious time to make calls to Biarritz, order from Fresh Direct, and pursue a long-dormant interest in philately. Honest, we’d forgotten how much we like stamp hinges until Cindy came to help us out.

We will be out of town next week and part of the next, and this is going to be one of those no-internet-access for days at a time trips. In fact our mission is covert, vital and lethal force has been authorized for use if necessary. But very little internet. We have some thrilling plans to fill the empty days that will have our readers crowing with joy, however. One word: Woodgod.

Neil Gaiman! Brian Vaughan! Joann Sfar! Gabrielle Bell…and many many many more.

Tuesday, November 14th

New York, NY at 7PMGene Luen Yang at the New School
Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) will be speaking at the New School along with 19 other National Book Award finalists. Tickets are $10 and are available through the New School Box Office at (212) 229-5488.

Conway, AR at 7:30 PM Neil Gaiman Speaking at University of Arkansas
Gaiman will be speaking in the Reynolds Performance Hall on the University of Arkansas campus. The event is free. For more information, call 501-450-3293.

San Francisco, CA from 2 - 3 PM Joann Sfar at the San Francisco Public Library
Joann Sfar discusses his new book Klezmer, Tales of the Wild East. Banjo music included. Book Signing afterward.
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BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! Platinum Studios announces bigger offices and a bigger staff by hiring former TopCow EIC Jim McLauchlin to run their comic book division.

In a show of continued growth, Platinum Studios (http://www.PlatinumStudios.com), an entertainment company that controls the world’s largest independent library of comic book characters, today announced the relocation of its headquarters to the Westside of Los Angeles and the new hire of Jim McLauchlin, formally of Top Cow Productions, as editor-in-chief of Platinum Studios’ Print and Online Comic Book Division. The new office encompasses the 14th floor of 11400 W. Olympic Boulevard and provides additional space for the company’s continued growth as Platinum Studios has recently expanded its services and staff in film and television development, Web and comic book social communities, mobile comics, publishing and product licensing.

Hiring McLauchlin was the next step in bolstering the publishing arm of the company. “It has been amazing to watch the growth of Platinum Studios over the past few years and I look forward to the tremendous opportunities that are in front of this company,” said McLauchlin. “Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and his team are doing some revolutionary things as seen with the upcoming release of ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ online and then in print.”

Prior to joining Platinum Studios, McLauchlin spent 11 years as a senior writer and contributing editor for Wizard: The Comics Magazine and spent two years as editor-in-chief of Top Cow Productions. He is a prolific freelance writer and is president of the non-profit organization The Hero Initiative, which aids comic creators in medical or financial need. “Jim brings a wealth of experience writing and editing comics to the already strong team at Platinum Studios,” said Brian Altounian, president and chief operating officer of Platinum Studios.

“Working with the editor of titles such as ‘Witchblade,’ ‘The Darkness,’ ‘Wanted,’ ‘Down,’ ‘Common Grounds’ and ‘Hunter-Killer’ has given us a valuable well of knowledge to draw upon in our upcoming phase of comic production.” Platinum Studios’ characters have been included in film and entertainment deals with Disney, Fox, MGM, Sony, Universal, DreamWorks, Warner Brothers, Lions Gate, NBC and Showtime, including the upcoming sci-fi epic “UNIQUE” at Disney.

Lee Nordling, has been overseeing the comics publishing end of Platinum as Executive Editor for several years. His current role with the company is unknown.

After a long search, DC has hired a VP for trade sales, Publishers Weekly reports. Sue Pohja, former v-p of trade sales for Langenscheidt Publishers, Inc. takes the post vacated by Rich Johnson, who left in June.

Pohja will also work with DC Direct, DC’s merchandising unit, to oversee sales and marketing of toys and collectibles to book and mass market retailers.

V-p of sales, Bob Wayne, who Pohja will be reporting to, told PW she was hired for her background in “fast-growing product categories,” and her ability to “provide suggestions to buyers on how to market, merchandise and promote in new, break-out ways.”

While Pohja has been responsible for sales and marketing for such Langenscheidt lines as Berlitz Travel and Reference and Insight Travel Guides, she also has book retailing experience. Prior to joining Langenscheidt, she was a buyer and store manager at Barnes and Noble.

Marc Weidenbaum, an early comics mole over at Tower Pulse! where he edited the back page comic strips, has been named Vice President Magazines and Editor-in-Chief of SHONEN JUMP Magazine and SHOJO BEAT Magazine, according to a press release at Active Anime.

Marc Weidenbaum started at VIZ Media as the Managing Editor of SHONEN JUMP and was promoted to Editorial Director, when he helped launch the successful NARUTO Collector series of magazines. Previous to joining VIZ Media he was an Editorial Director at Citysearch.com and editor at Pulse!, the magazine published by Tower Records, where among other things he edited the comics pages for a decade and founded Tower’s first online publication. He has edited comics that have appeared in such books as Adrian Tomine’s Scrapbook (Drawn & Quarterly) and Justin Green’s Musical Legends (Last Gasp). He also wrote the afterword for VIZ Media’s award-winning manga SEXY VOICE AND ROBO.

Well, it seems Nicolas Cage is a convert to comic book movies! When it was announced Cage and his 15-year-old son would be WRITING a comic for Virgin Comics (ENIGMA), wasn’t it just a tiny jump to guess he’d be ACTING in one? :

Virgin Comics, the publishing company bankrolled by Richard Branson, is adapting “The Sadhu” for the bigscreen as a starring vehicle for Nicolas Cage.

The script will be written by spiritual author and Virgin Comics co-founder Deepak Chopra.

“The Sadhu,” created and written by Chopra’s son, Gotham, chief creative officer of Virgin Comics, melds action with mythology from India. Cage will play James Jenson, a soldier who travels to India during colonial times and becomes a spiritual warrior.

Norm Golightly, Cage’s Saturn Pictures partner, will produce with Gotham Chopra and Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan.

So many comics. So many options. So many stories about comics being optioned — but only a handful will ever be turned into films. Yet, with the average comic book movie doing fairly well in Hollywood, quite a few of them seem to get made. We report on all the option news from the trades here, but then years go by with nary a peep. We thought we’d dig a bit into some of the “rest of the story” here. We welcome any scooper or spy reports on further doings.

• WHITEOUT: the story of a female US Marshall investigating a murder at the Antarctic was a comics hit for writer Greg Rucka and artist Steve Leiber, but what of the film, which has been in the works since at least 2002? A recent story on Joel Silver’s Dark Castle productions revealed that its first film would be WHITEOUT, and our own sources tell us that shooting is underway at a frigid location. Director and star are unknown, although Reese Witherspoon was attached at one time. Anyone who knows more about this want to spill the beans?

• THE LOSERS: a recent LA Times story on director Peter Berg revealed the THE LOSERS, an adaptation of the Andy Diggle/Jock comic, hasn’t fared so well, and even led to fisticuffs among the creative team:

A few months ago, the two friends were working on “The Losers,” a military thriller adapted from a comic book, when they got into a shouting match over how to approach the studio on casting. (Goldsman is a producer, Berg is the director.) The scene no doubt had great dialogue but, surprisingly, given the writers involved, it was short on action. The disagreement never became volatile enough for them to use their fists for anything other than holding coffee mugs.

“We absolutely went at it in a meeting,” Goldsman says now, with obvious amusement. “Although it was rumored that we were going to come to blows, I don’t know if you’ve ever met Pete Berg, but I would last about one blow.” Ten minutes after the flare-up, Berg, who played a reluctant boxer in 1996’s “The Great White Hype,” and Goldsman were laughing it off. Berg then went off with James Vanderbilt (”Basic”) to rework “The Losers” script, and the rewrite was strong enough for Warner Bros. to want to move into production. Until Goldsman lured Berg away to direct “Tonight, He Comes” instead. (”The Losers” is now looking for a new director, and Berg has moved into a producing role.)

The piece also has more info on TONIGHT, HE COMES, which could set off the dark-and-gritty era of superhero movies: “Tonight, He Comes” will star Will Smith as a conflicted, self-destructive superhero who finds himself embroiled in an affair with a married woman.” Whee!

• WANTED: Mark Millar and JG Jones’ tale of a second generation super villain has been announced with director Timur Bekmambetov and star James McAvoy. Morgan Freeman has just joined the cast. More interesting is a story synposis of the film somewhat different from Millar’s original, and Millar’s reaction to the same. Graeme had the whole affair a few weeks ago at Blog@Newwsarama. Millar reacted to the changes at Millarworld:

The Mythological Fates bit worries me. But I also have huge confidence in the director and all the casting (some of which you haven’t heard yet) has been spectacular. So fingers crossed this is as good as it looks.

One thing you WON’T see me doing is bitching. JG and I own this and had the right to keep it from ever being a movie, but we decided to take the plunge and hope for the best. They paid us well and we can only hope they do a good job. Like I said, I’m hopeful. Even if it’s nothing like the book in the end (I have no idea), The Shining was nothing like the book and was still great. I wish them nothing but the best.

• In other news, Salma Hayek has NOT joined the cast of a movie based on Gilbert Hernandez’ LUBA, which is sad, because if she did we could post more pictures like this.

MoCCA will be presenting an exhibit to tie in with Stan Lee’s appearance at the NY Comic-Con, curated by Peter Sanderson. They are still looking for a few key pieces — see the end of the PR:

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) today outlined details for its “Stan Lee: A Retrospective� exhibition honoring the famed comics creator and industry pioneer. Details included a call for sponsors and donors from Peter Sanderson, the comics scholar who is serving as Guest Curator for this exhibit, and MoCCA President Ken Wong. MoCCA’s “Stan Lee: A Retrospective� exhibition is sponsored in part by Reed Exhibitions and scheduled to open at the MoCCA on February 23, 2007, to coincide with Stan Lee’s scheduled appearance as a Special Guest at Reed’s New York Comic-Con (www.newyorkcomic-con.com) being held at the Javits Convention Center that weekend. The exhibit will remain on view at the museum through July 3, 2007.

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The Babysitter’s Club blog has pictures from this Sunday’s signing by Raina Telgemeier and Abby Denson at Rocketship. Call us crazy and say we have an agenda, but these pictures of young girls lined up for comics are intensely heartwarming.

Speaking of Telgemeier, over at her regular LJ she has pictures from Halloween of her dressed up at Agnes Quill, the character created by fiance Dave Roman. Cute!

Hells yah! NEVER SAY GOODBYE, because you might be on a COLLISON COURSE with that SILVER LINING. But beware DANGEROUS SEDUCTION! Arrow Publications has been putting original romance comics online at MyRomanceStory.com for a while. Subscribing to Arrow’s line of what were once called “confession magazines”–egads, we didn’t even know such things still existed — and you get access to two graphic novellas a month. New they are adding new novellas weekly to the site, as you can read in the PR:

New stories will be added weekly from popular Dorchester Media publications such as True Romance, True Story, Black Confessions, and others, which reach millions of readers each year. “This kind of collaboration is a natural for us. We are the leading source for online graphic romance stories, and Dorchester Media is the dominant provider of true-life love stories in magazines. It’s the perfect marriage of two media,” says Patricia White, president and CEO of Arrow Publications, LLC, the publisher of MyRomanceStory.com. MyRomanceStory.com offers exciting, vividly-colorful graphic romance stories anywhere you have access to the Web. “More and more, sharing audiences across various media makes sense. MyRomanceStory.com provides a popular Web-based outlet for our in-print romance stories. Now, readers who love their dynamic illustrated stories can read our true love stories, too, all online, all in one place,” says John Prebich, President and CEO of Dorchester Media.

From the previews, we’d say these are drawn in what the charitable would call an “un-dynamic” style…but given the pursuit of adult women as comics’ missing reader, it would be interesting to know what kind of audience these have.

There are really only two blogs that give it to you straight on what its like to create comics. One is, on course, Tom Brevoort’s over at Marvel.com. This is such a realistic day-to-day explanation of what it’s like to make comics for a big comic book company that we can only read it in bits and pieces. In a new series of posts entitled COMIC TUTORIAL, Brevoort takes you step by step with DR STRANGE: THE OATH #1 by Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martin, starting with the script.

The other interesting blog is 52 cover artist JG Jones diary over at Wizard. Jeff doesn’t tell tales out of school, but you get an idea of the logistical challenges of this project, and how a creator deals with it, well, creatively. Here he talks about the cover for #27.

I was originally going for a straight-up Kaluta composition, where everything is centered. Mike Kaluta sometimes composes in a formal way, very parallel to the picture plain and centered. He is really amazing at that, but me, not so much. I always have to go a little off kilter. I think centered composition looks fine, and that’s the sketch that was approved. But at the last minute I thought, “Let me try a couple of other things.” I went down and shot some reference photos in the basement with my lamp again, because the light is so good down there. I tried a few poses, and this 3/4 view was just sort of an afterthought pose. I did two or three from the side instead of straight on, and when I looked at them, I thought, “Yeah, that’s the way I want to go.” I rotated everything off to the side a little and changed the composition up.

The result is quite tasty.

Here’s today’s cute story: second generation comics kids with diabetes create a comic to help other kids deal with the illness, OMEGA KID VS DOCTOR DIABETES:

Kamaal, now 12, and his younger brother Malcolm, 11 — with the guidance of their dad Alonzo Washington, whose comic book creations include a socially conscious superhero called Omega Man — crafted a comic book series to help other kids dealing with diabetes.

The boys now have two comic books and a third on the way. The comic books ($5 each) are meant to help kids “know what to do so that if you get it or if someone you know gets it, you can learn about it in a funner way,” says Malcolm. He does not have diabetes, but he helps Kamaal by watching for signs that his brother’s blood sugar is too low or too high. He also doesn’t eat sweets that Kamaal can’t have.

Get Underground hace a nice interview with Monte Beauchamp, whose BLAB! remains an influential compendium of all things cool and suureal:

MATT: What draws you to certain artists and what tends to push you away from others?

MONTE: It’s the firefly effect. I’m drawn to work that generates
ORIGINAL light. I like imagery by artists who have gone through “rite of passage,â€? so to speak; people who have done a forensic accounting on their inner selves, and have come to terms with it — for better or for worse… people that create a visual resonance that vibrates within a society. BLAB! has no use for the corporate “fast-foodâ€? art that now permeates ninety per cent of the pages of ninety per cent of the magazines.

A cartoon pilot by those Paper Rad scamps.

[Link via Nick Gazin]

This is sure to be taken down, so watch swiftly! Last weekend’s SNL featured a new TV Funhouse by Robert Smigel that spoofed anime via competitive hotdog eating champ Kobayashi. Good stuff.

The fall Xeric Grant recipients have been announced! As is normal, several of them resist easy googling — one shares the name of a famous Beat poet; one seems to be a much lauded painter; and a third has had his book about Ham, the first monkey in space, already picked up my Oni. We’ve linked to info where we can, but if anyone else has information on these sure-to-be notable projectt, please shoot us a line.

The Xeric Foundation has announced its most recent grant recipients. A total of $25,606 was awarded for six comic book projects. The Foundation has awarded in excess of $1,750,000 to comic book creators and nonprofit organizations since its first grant cycle in September 1992.

Established by Peter Laird, co-creator of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Northampton, MA based foundation offers financial assistance to self-publishing comic book creators in the US and Canada and to qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations in western Massachusetts.

The next deadline and review dates are January 31, 2007 and March 1, 2007, respectively.

The charitable organization grants were decided in June 2006 and announced separately.

The artists receiving grants are as follows:

Joel White – Bronzeville
Gregory Corso – And How (Ed. note: Corso is of course the name of a legendary Beat poet who died in 2001. )
Aron Nels Steinke – Big Plans
Toc Fetch – Kids of Lower Utopia – V6 No 1 – Of Softdoor Scout Finnagain and Daffodil Dash Eleven
Joshua Hagler– The Boy Who Made Silence
James Vining – First in Space (Good News! Jim’s book was picked up by Oni Press. He won’t need to use the grant funds, but he’s still a Xeric winner.)

For information, write to:
XERIC FOUNDATION
351 Pleasant Street #214
Northampton, MA 01060

check out: www.xericfoundation.com

Bournemouth UK police dressed as Batman and RObin to nab drug suspects. But it appears the Dynamic Duo were effective not because their appearance spelled fear in the hearts of criminals — but rather because their unexpected sighting served as a distraction!

Two policemen dressed as Batman and Robin captured a suspected drugs offender - in a bizarre sting operation.

The Dynamic Duo - Sgt Tony Smith and PC Mike Holman - pulled on the superhero outfits in a bid to unsettle the suspected baddies.

They pretended to be drunks looking for a fancy dress party and knocked on the door of the suspect’s home.

Those inside refused to answer the door to the loud, comically dressed visitors - which was what the officers wanted.

Batman and Robin then went around the back of the property in Weymouth, Dorset, while seven uniformed officers went to the front door.

Those inside the house were PLEASED to see the policemen and complained to them about the fancy dress drunks. They then invited the officers in.

However, one of the men inside the house ran out of the back door on seeing the policeman - to where the superheroes were waiting for him.

Okay this one is a little mysterious, but we’ll try to piece it together. While you’re porbably still drying your pants by the campfire after viewing Thursday night’s debut of the SPIDER-MAN 3 trailer, a rougher, “unfinished” version with extra footage has been floating around on video sites. YouTube has been taking it down, but you can still see it on Google Video.
The important thing about this footage is that the first look at the face of VENOM is clearly shown for an instant.

Apparently this is footage shown at Comic-Con originally. Although Sony is taking it down, one wonders if the leak is entirely…unplanned. Such is life in the age of viral marketing.

Several organizations of comics retailers have emerged over the years, from ERCBRA, to COBRA to the DLG and several others we can’t remember. The latest attempt is ComcisPRO, and it seems one of the more serious efforts. Certainly with the comics pamphlet and the 25-year-old direct sales market model under increasing pressure from the evolution of the bookstore, the time is now for like-minded intelligent retailers to band together. DC has made that a little easier by ponying up some seed money:

Comics Professional Retail Organization (ComicsPRO), the only trade group specifically dedicated to the progress of comic book specialty retailers, is announcing that DC Comics has become its first ‘Angel’, with the publisher providing a $5000 kick-start to the efforts of the organization.

In providing the funding, DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz said “Nothing has been more rewarding at our RRP meetings than watching the collaboration between our retailers. ComicsPRO represents a step towards creating a permanent, ongoing forum for communication and cooperation that’s good for the field.”

ComicsPRO board member Chris Powell of Lone Star Comics in Dallas TX added “The team at DC Comics have long been among the first to show support for organizations and initiatives that they see as an aid to the comics industry. It’s gratifying to see this is still the case - support like theirs will help ComicsPRO members and the industry as a whole. Together, we can build better and stronger stores positioned to capitalize on comics’ popularity and wide appeal for years to come.”

“It’s no surprise DC Comics is our first ‘Angel’,” said ComicsPRO President Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord CA. “This stipend is yet another indicator that the management at DC Comics shares the goal of an ever-expanding and healthy comics’ specialty market. ComicsPRO will use this money wisely to further our mission.”

The goals of ComicsPRO are for direct market specialty retailers to speak with a single, strong voice on important industry issues, to provide educational and mentoring support to current and future retailers, and to offer opportunities to reduce some of the fixed costs that all comics’ specialty retailers incur.

In its first full year of operation, ComicsPRO has grown to more than 80 member retailers comprising nearly 120 storefront locations. ComicsPRO offers members a menu of benefits, including preferential rates on credit card processing from Chase Paymentech, savings on health insurance from Assurant Health, discounts on ComTrac and MOBY comic inventory software, and discounts on business forms from Legal Zoom.com. More member benefits are always being explored for ComicsPRO retailers.

More information can be found at http://ComicsPRO.org.

Zack Sims continues to faithfully chronicle the activities of the Marshall, MO library board, as another meeting to discuss their policy on material selection, with some progress made:

The committee had agreed to read the material selection policies of a number of libraries from around the state and the country and to take note of things in them that could be included in the new policy at the Marshall library.

The board discussed a large number of ideas and pulled quotes from a variety of the other library’s policies.

Some of the ideas discussed included wording to outline the responsibilities of the library, tools that should be used for selection, as well as the criteria used for the selection of library materials.

All of the ideas were written down and discussed. A task force made up of three of the committee members, Anita Wright, Jeanne Simonton and Priscilla McReynolds, was formed during the meeting. The task force will meet and condense the ideas discussed into a written document to bring back to the assembled committee to again discuss.

The next episode takes place on Thursday.

The Honolulu Star Bulletin look at Akira Toriyama’s DR. SLUMP. Toriyama is best known for creating the international blockbuster DARGON BALL Z, but his earlier creation, DR. SLUMP, is intelligible to even the more casual reader, a sometimes vulgar and yet warm comedy about a wacky doctor who creates a little girl robot — hijinks ensue, but because they live in a town populated by an amazing assortment of oddballs, the invention never flags.

[E]ven if Toriyama had never created “Dragon Ball,” his career still probably would have been deemed a success in the eyes of his Japanese audience. The reason: a pair of characters named after Japanese rice crackers, Dr. Senbei Norimaki and his robot girl, Arale Norimaki. (Yes, the name technically should be “AraRE,” but Toriyama’s drawings of her show her name written on her cap and bag in English with an “L” instead of the second “R.”)

“Dr. Slump,” which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan from 1980 to 1984 and now is being translated and released in America by Viz, was Toriyama’s breakout hit. Unlike the harder-edged action/sci-fi tone that much of the “Dragon Ball” series takes, “Dr. Slump” has a much more lighthearted feel to it. When the first page shows Arale’s head yawning while on the assembly table and saying “Bo-ring” as Senbei works on her, you know you’re in for quite a ride.

Dark Horse gets a HUGE, complimentary profile in the comics-loving NEW YORK TIMES.

COMIC books — sealed in plastic or not — were only the beginning. By 1991, Dark Horse had set up a unit to develop toys and later began a film division and a publishing imprint for decidedly noncomics products, including collections of Playboy interviews and a series of novels chronicling the early years of Tony Montana, the character played by Al Pacino in the 1983 film “Scarface.�

Today, Dark Horse is the third-largest publisher, behind the much larger Marvel and DC, in the direct market, which includes the specialty shops that cater to comic book fans. That market produced more than $500 million in sales last year, according to Milton Griepp, the publisher and founder of ICv2, an online trade publication that covers pop culture for retailers.

The story is accompanied by a CONCRETE comic, which you can view by clicking on the “multi-media slideshow” link.

Mark Evanier has some thoughts on the piece here.

I go to Mike Richardson, the guy who owns the company, and if he says he wants to proceed with something, that’s it. End of discussion. I can’t tell you how refreshing that can be. Even one level down, his editors can go to Mike and then call you back and say, “Mike approved it” or even that he didn’t. Either way, you’re not left dangling for months. It’s a fine operation, and I say that as someone who isn’t known for speaking excessively well of publishers, even some who’ve had the wisdom to employ me.

We are saddened by the passing of Oscar®-winning actor Jack Palance, and he even has a brief comics-ish kind of connection by having hosted RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT back in the day.

But while ya’ll find Youtube to be a source of wonders, it just frustrates us. We have dim memories of Palance starring in a commercial for — we believe — some kind of chunky soup where he talked about his satisfaction with finally finding a sodium-laden canned soup that included “vegetables I can identify.” However, we could find only this Prestone Anti-freeze commercial on Youtube.

Did we misremember the indentifiable vegetables spot? Did it ever exist? Help us not be crazy. Please.