Two years ago I wrote a piece called “It Takes a Nation of 10,000 Dopes to Hold Us Back,” looking back on the comics industry in 2004, and the trends that emerged and are still, to a great degreee, shaping the business. The title was based on the phenomenon of POWERS by Brian Bendis and Mike Oeming going up 10K in sales when moving from Image to Marvel. I implied that blind brand loyalty was still the weakness of the direct sales market, even as new products became available for new audiences.

I’ve been trying to put together my 2006 in review piece for a while now — last year I didn’t even manage one, pathetically — but my schedule and the plethora of funny things to link blog has conspired to keep my attention span a bit too fragmented. I’m going to force myself to do it over the next few days, but I’m going to break it up into a few discrete parts so as not to be too daunting — to both author and audience.

First up, I’ll look at the return of the “10,000 Dopes” phenomenon. This time we have the most perfect lab specimen ever in Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s THE BOYS. Booted from Wildstorm for its wildly tasteless contents, the book was nevertheless a strong seller for DC. As the figures Marc posted the other day revealed, sales were ACTUALLY GOING UP, an almost unheard-of miracle.

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We came across this too late to put in yesterday’s events listing:

On Thursday, February 1st at 7pm, join Russ Turk, Rhino, Craig Bostick, J. Brett Hopkins, Tony Arena, Contributors to The Book of Boy Trouble comics anthology, and Abby Denson- creator of Tough Love at the LGBT Center (208 West 13th Street) in New York City for a panel discussion of gay themed comics from an alternative viewpoint.

“Is there an alternative point-of-view within the already-alternative world of gay comic books? The creative forces behind two of the hottest new gay-male themed comics anthologies will discuss their work and vision.

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Dave Roman reveals the incredible line-up of comics talent in the new issue of Nickelodeon magazine, including Czekaj , Kochalka, Travis Nichols and Patrick Morgan. But our heart was stolen by the gag from Karen Sneider we posted above. Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Reminds us a bit of Pelléas et Mélisande…

Just a few more Angoulême links. Comic Book Resources has a thorough write up with a more complete list of prize winners than we’ve previously seen. Andi Watson links to this Flickr site. Alison Bechdel had a busy time.

Meanwhile, the Forbidden Planet blog reveals that there may be new CORTO MALTESE volumes on their way, despite the fact that creator Hugo Pratt is still dead.

Now this will come as a shock for those who have always considered the character synonymous with and, to a large extent, an avatar for his creator. It’s well known that many of Pratt’s personal passions shaped the tales of his well travelled adventurer and for many it will be inconceivable that someone else might pick up the reins. However, 12 years after Pratt’s death it has been announced that a new writer/artist team have embarked on the production of new tales with the first book due in around 18 months to 2 years. It seems those that control Pratt’s estate state that he always meant for the adventures to continue beyond those published. Now those who have the power to do so have granted the right for new adventures to French publisher Casterman. Apparently the new tales will fit into a gap in the chronology of the adventures already written and drawn by Pratt, roughly covering the period 1905 to 1913 and will therefore be stories of Corto’s teenage years and young adulthood (not entirely unlike Charlie Higson’s officially sanctioned ‘young James Bond’ books).

Say, did that HEAVY METAL edition of Corto ever come out?

Much to see!

The all-new official home page for artist Will Eisner and Will Eisner Studios, Inc. has launched at http://willeisner.com . Besides a revamp of the existing design and content, the site has been expanded and includes new features like The Will Eisner Forums and the Will Eisner Wiki (or online Eisnerpedia).

The Forums have been set up to allow discussion of each of Eisner’s graphic novels which are currently being re-released by W.W. Norton. Also included are areas to discuss The Spirit monthly comic published by DC Comics and written by Darwyn Cooke. The Spirit Archives hardcover editions and the new John Law stories being written and illustrated by Gary Chaloner as well as Eisner-based news and information.

The Eisnerpedia has been added so that Eisner fans and readers can participate directly in posting information about any facet of Eisner’s amazing career and creations: from obscure characters to creators Eisner worked with, obscure published editions… practically anything to expand the online knowledge of this comics masters life and career.

Elsewhere on the site are sections dedicated to his greatest comics creation, The Spirit, as well as biographical notes, book-by-book information in the Library section and an online Gallery of his art… with some pieces for sale direct from the Will Eisner estate.

This launch serves as ’stage one’ of a much larger site dedicated to a legend in the world of comics and sequential art. WillEisner.com will be expanded on a weekly (almost daily) basis. With a career as long and involved as Eisner’s, the site is an ongoing project.

Hey what were we just saying…Guests below, panels in the link, and the big news that everyone alreayd knows should break around 7:30 on Friday.

* Jason Aaron (SCALPED, THE OTHER SIDE)
* Tony Akins (JACK OF FABLES)
* Jonathan Ames (THE ALCOHOLIC)
* Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS, LOVELESS, TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED)
* Al Barrionuevo (MARTIAN MANHUNTER)
* Chris Batista (52, JLA: CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE)
* Ryan Benjamin (GRIFTER & MIDNIGHTER)
* Philip Bond (EXTERMINATORS covers)
* Riccardo Burchielli (DMZ)
* Giuseppe Camuncoli (52)
* Percy Carey (THE LIFE OF M.F. GRIMM)
* Cecil Castellucci (THE PLAIN JANES)
* Cliff Chiang (TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED)
* Becky Cloonan (AMERICAN VIRGIN)
* Amanda Conner (JSA CLASSIFIED)
* Shane Davis (MYSTERY IN SPACE)
* Adam DeKraker (SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES)
* Tom Derenick (SHADOWPACT)
* Werther Dell’Edera (LOVELESS)
* Tom Derenick (JLA CLASSIFIED)
* Andy Diggle (BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL, HELLBLAZER)
* Paul Dini (DETECTIVE COMICS)
* Christos Gage (STORMWATCH: PHD)
* Keith Giffen (52, BLUE BEETLE)
* Patrick Gleason (GREEN LANTERN CORPS)
* Sanford Greene (THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY)
* Justin Gray (JONAH HEX, UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS)
* Peter Gross (TESTAMENT, WETWORKS, LUCIFER)
* Dean Haspiel (AMERICAN SPLENDOR, THE ALCOHOLIC)
* Jamal Igle (FIRESTORM)
* Phil Jimenez (52, INFINITE CRISIS)
* Jock (FAKER, THE LOSERS)
* J.G. Jones (52 covers)
* Joe Kelly (SUPERGIRL)
* Andy Kubert (BATMAN)
* Adam Kubert (ACTION COMICS)
* Andy Lanning (INFINITE CRISIS, 52)
* David Lopez (CATWOMAN)
* Tara McPherson (FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL)
* Todd Nauck (TEEN TITANS GO!, 52)
* Mike Norton (TEEN TITANS GO!)
* Dustin Nguyen (MANIFEST ETERNITY)
* Jerry Ordway (RED MENACE)
* Jimmy Palmiotti (JONAH HEX, UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS)
* George Pérez (THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD)
* Bob Petrecca (JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED)
* Whilce Portacio (WETWORKS, BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL)
* Stephane Roux (BIRDS OF PREY covers)
* Greg Rucka (52, CHECKMATE)
* Jim Rugg (THE PLAIN JANES)
* Douglas Rushkoff (TESTAMENT)
* Gail Simone (BIRDS OF PREY, GEN13, SECRET SIX)
* Jeff Smith (SHAZAM: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL)
* Jim Starlin (MYSTERY IN SPACE)
* Cameron Stewart (THE OTHER SIDE)
* David Tischman (BITE CLUB)
* J. Torres (THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY, TEEN TITANS GO!)
* Brian K. Vaughan (Y: THE LAST MAN, EX MACHINA, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD)
* Freddie E. Williams II (ROBIN)
* Ronald Wimberly (THE LIFE OF M.F. GRIMM)
* Brian Wood (DMZ)
* Pete Woods (AMAZONS ATTACK)

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Via the PR:

DC Comics announces that Michael Freeman has been promoted to Administrator - Direct Sales.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for me, and a great chance to expand my skill sets,” says Freeman. “I’d like to thank everyone who believed in me here at DC and in the retail community. I hope to serve everyone with the same enthusiasm and quality that I always have.”

“It’s always a pleasure to work with Michael, and his dedication never wavers,” says Vince Letterio, Manager - Direct Sales. “We’re very happy to see his hard work pay off, and we’re looking forward to even better things from him in the future.”

Freeman joined DC Comics in November 2001. Before that, he worked in Marketing for the American Red Cross and Kaplan Educational Centers, and as a Sales & Marketing intern at Marvel Comics.

If you volunteer for three days at WonderCon, you might end up with Aragorn or even Boromir, coutesy of Sideshow Collectibles and the fine LORD OF THE RINGS statues. We’d be itching for Glorfindel and Prince Imrahil ourselves…or maybe….hm….EOMER.

“We’ve been very lucky to have a dedicated group of volunteers at each of our shows,” commented David Glanzer, spokesperson for the non profit event, “as an instrumental part of WonderCon, many volunteer for all days of the convention. As a special thank you to those who are so dedicated, we have teamed with Sideshow Collectibles; manufacturers of movie, film, television and proprietary collectible figures, to make some of those figures available to our volunteers.”

WonderCon will be held March 2 ­ 4, 2007 at Moscone Center South in San Francisco, California. Sideshow Collectibles has donated an assortment of spectacular statues from The Lord of the Rings, and those statues will be given away in special drawings held on Sunday of the event.

Volunteers must be 15 years of age or older. Tasks for volunteers range from monitoring lines, to assisting department heads in a variety of duties. Everything volunteers do at the convention is an integral part of making WonderCon the success it is.

COWBOY CURTIS!!!!

News is finally leaking out about the upcoming Whiteout movie. Dominic Sena (Swordfish & Gone in Sixty Seconds) has been named as director, according to Production Weekly. Kate Beckinsale is still being rumored to play the lead, but this is not confirmed.

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Yes, it’s today!
Sadly, we don’t actually own a gorilla suit. We have some stuffed monkeys, but that’s about it. If we did have a gorilla suit we would put it on and surely–well what would we do? Maybe we would just sit down and watch some DVDs. That could be fun.

Yesterday was notable here at SBM for a couple of things. #1, Cindy the Intern was finally able to come back and resume doing the events calendar. Yay! This is doubly good because all of a sudden things were going nuts at SBM with New York Comic-Con around the corner, and everybody wants a booth or a badge or a booth and a badge, or a panel or whatever. And then there was the Swiffer to deal with, and the hidden stash of Vietnamese Instant Coffee we uncovered…well, let’s just say it was Hellzapoppin’ for a while there.

According to scuttlebutt, the NYCC panel schedule will be out any minute now. A few of them are leaking out here and there. The news about Stephen Colbert doing a signing rocked the world, eclipsing even the arrival of such con stalwarts as Frank Miller, Michael Uslan and a bunch of BUFFY stars.

If you check out the Autographing page on the official website, you’ll see some guests who haven’t been much publicized yet, like Chuck D (Public Enemy), Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria, Mick Foley, John Canemaker, George R. R. Martin, Mister Cartoon, Denny O’Neill, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, John Dolmayan from System of a Down, Miriam Katin, Takashi Okazaki, Bill Schanes, Gary Panter, Jason Little…and etc etc etc. Check out the guest page, which is being steadily updated.

Against this, we keep hearing how hard it is for people to get badges. People like comics pros. Apparently, comics pros are being charged $45 for a three-day pass. (There was a long Engine thread on this topic a while back which we didn’t get to link to.) Convention organizers suggested that pros would need to get badges via their publishers.

Yesterday we heard a new wildfire rumor that publishers were being limited in how many creator badges they could get, and in some cases the amount was Not Enough. Stress that it was a rumor, but all of this seems to be making it hard for the crazy mix of artists and writers from all walks of life — especially The Beat’s it seems — to swingle and mingle in that crazy comicon way we all love so much. We understand that keeping the guys who staple their cousin’s minicomics from flooding the zone with non pros getting in for free is necessary, but we’ll have to see how this plays out.

Anyway, expectations are high, and so is anxiety. Whatever happens, we’re going to pack power bars…and Vietnamese Instant Coffee.

It is the return of the Tiny Intern!

Here are your comic events for the week:

Thursday, February 1st

Atlanta, GA Design at Play: The High Design and Low-Brow Humor of Cartoon Network
The Museum of Design Atlanta opens its Cartoon Network exhibit today. It is a multi-media exhibit featuring advertising and marketing materials, storyboards, product designs and much more. Original Cartoon Network shows will also be featured such as the Powerpuff Girls, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and others. The exhibit runs through May 19th at MODA (285 Peachtree Center Ave, Marquis Two Tower, Atlanta, GA, 30303)

New York, NY at 6 PM ACT-I-VATE’s One Year Anniversary at the Village Pourhouse


Join the ACT-I-VATORS for their one-year anniversary at the Village Pourhouse (63 Third Ave., corner of 11th ST). Open bar from 6 -7 PM, festivities will be going on all night.

New York, NY at 7PM Red Eye, Black Eye Book Release Party at Ace Bar

K. Thor Jensen will be celebrating the release of his graphic novel Red Eye, Black Eye at the Ace Bar (531 E. 5th St.) He will have artwork up for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Come early to enjoy the free cake donuts and cheeseballs!

Monday, February 5th

Providence, RI at 5 PM Jamie Hernandez at Brown University
Jaime Hernandez will be delivering a speech and seminar at Brown University in conjunction with their exhibit Sex, Love, and Rockets: The Comix World of Los Bros Hernandez. The lecture will take place in the Solomon Center for Teaching (Room 001). It will be free and open to the public. Reception and exhibit opening will follow at the John Nicholas Brown Center, 357 Benefit St. For more information call (401) 863-1177 or e-mail publichumanities@brown.edu.

Arkadelphia, Arkansas at 7 PM Scott McCloud at Henderson State University
The Making Comics 50 State Tour is still going strong; join Scott McCloud for a Q&A session and signing in the HUIE Library at Henderson State University.

Tuesday, February 6th

New York, NY from 12 AM to 1 AM Peter David and Jae Lee Midnight Signing at Midtown Comics
Midtown Comics will be hosting an hour-long midnight release party for Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Writer and artist Peter David and Jae Lee will be there to sign copies.

[Listings compiled by Cindy Arias]

Neil Gaiman has put up a not quite legit (although we’re bettinghe won’t get prosecuted) version of the STARDUST movie site up at his own site.

UPDATE via Manga Blog: This blogger says how to make manga mavan Christopher Hart is also doing an OEL/OGM/americmanga for Del Rey.

Christopher Hart is drawing/writing The Reformed. http://www.artstudiollc.com/  here’s his site, wherein he hints at this project here http://www.artstudiollc.com/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

At his website, Hart says:

Not allowed to talk about the specifics yet, but I just sold a seriously cool manga graphic novel to Del Rey Manga (a division of Random House). It’s a very exciting story – more on this later – I promise.

They say Avril Lavigne is a young punker, and sure enough she’s following in Courtney Love’s footsteps by launching an original manga. What’s different is the publisher — Del Rey. This marks the line’s debut into original manga content…a huge story in and of itself. THe book — MAKE 5 WISHES — will tie in to Lavigne’s upcoming album release and tour, making it one big media synergy.

Here’s the PR:

Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Random House Inc. and one of the premiere publishers of manga in the U.S., announced today the acquisition of MAKE 5 WISHES, created in collaboration with platinum-selling and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist Avril Lavigne.

Del Rey Manga will publish the first volume of MAKE 5 WISHES on April 10, 2007. Avril Lavigne’s new album The Best Damn Thing will release shortly after on April 17, 2007 from RCA Records. In volume one of MAKE 5 WISHES, introverted teenager Hana stumbles upon a website that will change her life forever. After a demon grants her a series of wishes that go bad, Hana meets her hero Avril Lavigne, who helps her find the courage to conquer her own personal demons once and for all. The concluding volume of MAKE 5 WISHES will release in July 2007. Both volumes will appear in full-color.

More than simply lending her talents to the creative process, multiple award-winning singer, songwriter, model, and actress Avril Lavigne also appears as a character in the manga. When asked what inspired her to be a part of this project, Avril Lavigne had this to say, “I know that many of my fans read manga, and I’m really excited to be involved in creating stories that I know they will enjoy.”

Acquiring editor Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Books, said this about the enthusiasm surrounding MAKE 5 WISHES, “In the past few years, manga [the Japanese art form] has grown exponentially in the United States. For our very first original English-language manga, we’re very excited to be working with a person as versatile in her talent as Avril Lavigne.”

Del Rey Manga purchased world rights for the books in a deal brokered by Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Management.

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The Writers Guild of America will present Jules Feiffer with its lifetime achievement award for Animation Writing Variety reports.

Feiffer will be feted at the Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 11 at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles and simultaneously at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York.

Feiffer’s film credits include “Little Murders” and “Carnal Knowledge,” for which he received WGA nominations, along with “Popeye.” In 2004, Feiffer received the Ian McLellan Hunter Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in writing from the WGA East.

Feiffer is best known as an editorial cartoonist, as well as a playwright, novelist, screenwriter and author of children’s books. His cartoon strip “Feiffer” appeared in the Village Voice from 1956-97.

Just the PR from Shaenon Garrity:

Modern Tales one of the Web’s premier webcomics sites, is proud to announce the addition of five new comics to its lineup. The new comics are:

+Alma Mater, by Whitney June Robinson, a comic following five colorful sixth-graders at Blenheim School for Girls, a traditional all-girls’ prep school. +Bellen, by Box Brown, a daily strip about the quirky relationship between significant others Ben and Ellen. +Minus World, by Bill Mudron and Anne Maloney, a weekly strip about life in the offices of Minus World Game Studios, “where misanthropic, heartbroken bastards from all over the world have gathered to create overpriced gaming software.” +Nice Work, by Geoff Grogan, an ongoing graphic novel set in Hollywood in 1960. The story follows Johnny Cat, a professional stand-in for Frank Sinatra, and his adventures with an array of early ‘60s idols. +Steverino, by Steve Emond, a semi-autobiographical strip about an average nerd, by the creator of the Slave Labor comic book Emo Boy.

In addition, It’s About Girls, by Sahsha Andrade and William G, is moving from Modern Tales Longplay to the Modern Tales Strip Lounge, where it will become a weekly comic. A critical favorite in webcomics circles, It’s About Girls is a romantic comedy about a man called Icon and his circle of friends, which includes a pro wrestler, a girl who runs a porn site, and a college freshman who sometimes fails to wear pants.

The new comics will debut on Modern Tales in the first week of February. Over the course of the next two weeks, Garrity will interview the creators for the Talk About Comics blog (www.talkaboutcomics.com).

UPDATE: YOu can see much Kis comickery and order a 12 page preview here at kisscomicsgroup.com.
Via Variety, word that Kiss, the legendary rock band that was made for loving comics, is starting their own comics company through Platinum Studios.

Platinum Studios and Kiss Catalog, the company run by Kiss leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, have partnered to create the Kiss Comics Group, which will kick off with a book, “Kiss 4K,” and eventually venture out into platforms such as mobile, online, film, television and licensed merchandise products.

“Kiss 4K,” the story of the transformation of Simmons, Stanley and other Kiss band members from rock stars to world-protecting warrior spirits, will debut as the world’s largest comicbook, priced at $50. It will be the first comicbook-based property to simultaneously launch all of its merchandise in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! The adventures of Kiss will appear in a webcomic at Kisscomicsgroup.com, and KISS GIRLS launches later. It’s about four teenagers who”talk about shopping and are about as dysfunctional as anyone until something happens to them and they get to wear the Kiss makeup and look good doing it.”

Kiss and Platinum will work closely on the line, which launches at this year’s Wizard World LA, with characters from Platinum’s 3,800 character library appearing in the Kiss comics.

Kiss’s comic connection goes all the way back to 1977, when they appeared in a MARVEL SUPER SPECIAL written by Steve Gerber and printed with REAL KISS BLOOD. Since then they’ve appeared in comics from both Todd McFarlane/Image and Dark Horse. Demon and reality TV star Gene Simmons in particular is a long time comics-lover, dating back to teenaged participation in comics fanzines. Simmons quickly learned that playing in a rock band got you more pussy, however, and chose to pursue that career path, although his love of comics and science fiction clearly influenced Kiss’s costumes and staging. He is certainly no dabbler in comics, however, as his returning to them over the years shows.

Zack Soto tells the TCJ board about the long-awaited second issue of THE SECRET VOICE due in April from AdHouse.

Ignatz Award winner Zack Soto’s work straddles the line between superheroes and art comics like few cartoonists can. The Secret Voice is Soto’s solo showcase for both short and continuing stories, all set in the same unique world. In this issue, DR. GALAPAGOS and co. encounter ghosts, brigands, and adventure on the road as we learn more about his mysterious mission, and two members of THE TERROR LEGION have a really bad day that ends with large explosions. Don’t miss the comic that Comic Book Galaxy hailed as the Best Debut of the Year and Wizard Magazine called an Indie Comic to Watch!

We enjoyed the first issue of this quite a bit so we’ll be on the lookout for the second issue — but Zack, try to be a LEETLE more frequent, huh?

Screenwriter/novelist turned comics scribe John Ridley has gotten a lot of positive reviews for THE AMERICAN WAY, his Wildstorm mini-series about superheroes, the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement. The collected edition comes out next week, but in the meantime, Ridley is getting a lot of controversy for his essays, such as the modestly titled The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American N*gg*r for Esquire, or this for The Huffington Post: It’s a Hate Crime, So Where Are Jesse and Al? :

But the fact that blacks have been convicted for violence against whites is no cause in particular for documentation and certainly not celebration of this crime. Violence, and especially violence motivated by hatred of race or gender or religion or sexual orientation or merely the fact that the vic is “different” is deplorable.

Equally deplorable are those who pretend to stand for equality but who hypocritically allow such an injustice to pass without taking a stand against it.

If you Google around the political blogosphere, you’ll find a good bit of discussion of Ridley, such as this from Steve Gilliard at The News Blog:

Let me explain something, John, and you need to understand this. If the police shoot you in the street like a dog, those HuffPo readers won’t be there. All your pleasing commentary will be forgotten with “maybe he did something”. But if one of your cousins call Sharpton, he’ll show up and ask why the cops shot you.

Having installed a marketing guy, Avatar is now sending out press releases, and the first one is announcing a talent hunt for artists!

Want to work on an Alan Moore or Warren Ellis project?

Avatar Press is looking for artists for a number of projects over the coming year, including Alan Moore and Warren Ellis comics. Also needed are artists for licensed books that require the ability to draw good likenesses, artists for future Lady Death series, and over a dozen other high-profile projects.

“We currently have 22 artists working on comics for Avatar Press, and we’re still not where I’d like to be in terms of having artists available to assign to upcoming projects,” says Avatar Press EIC William Christensen. “We are focused on making inroads into addressing the scheduling issues we have had in the past, but one thing I need to do to continue to make progress on that is to hire more artists. I’ve got a number of already-written or in-progress upcoming projects currently without artists attached that I’d like to get firmed up on the schedule, so Avatar is looking for pencilers or penciler/inkers who can work in a variety of genres.”

Penciler/Inkers or pencilers may send their submissions or links to their samples to submissions@avatarpress.net.

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This may not seem like a big deal, but for comics retailers, Virgin allowing a more generous discount means retailers may feel more inclined to order more issues up-front. Virgin has done a lot of promotion for their line, and reorders have been good, but this is a step that retailers have been asking for for a while.

Effective with the February Previews, Diamond has increased the discount on Virgin Comics’ acclaimed line of comic titles.

Formerly available at an “F” discount (lower of 45% or standard discount), all newly solicited Virgin books will now be offered at an “E” discount (lower of 50% or standard discount), making them more lucrative than ever before. (Please Note: Though this discount change is effective with February-solicited titles, the February Previews went to press prior to the change, and as a result all Virgin titles are listed at an “F” discount in the February Previews Retailer Order Form. Diamond’s electronic ordering methods will reflect the change, and all February-ordered Virgin titles will receive the improved “E” discount. The improved discount does not apply to previously solicited and/or shipped Virgin releases.)

The Scotsman has a very long and sad account of the events leading up to the murder/suicide of cartoonist Harry Horse and his wife:

THE phone call had been planned for months. The three sisters of Harry Horse, the political cartoonist and children’s author, hoped to achieve in unity what they had failed to do alone: reconnection with their estranged but beloved brother.

It was agreed that in January they would gather round the kitchen table, put on the phone’s speakers and dial their brother’s home in Shetland. Kay, the eldest sister, who lives in the United States, was to return home as a surprise for their mother’s birthday and she, Mary-Anne and Emma had decided to bridge the family rift. It was a call never made. The discovery of 46-year-old Richard Horne - Harry’s real name - and his wife, Mandy, 39, dead on the bed of the couple’s home in Papil, on the island of Burra, on the morning of Tuesday, 9 January, after what is thought to have been a suicide pact, ended any chance of reconciliation.
For Horne had, one by one, cut his family out of his life as he struggled to cope with the mental torment of watching his wife dying of multiple sclerosis, a condition that first confined her to a wheelchair and later robbed her of speech.

§ All kinds of internet gossip rag scuttlebutt about Katie Holmes turning down a role in the next Batman movie:

Katie Holmes has turned down a $2 million deal to star in the sequel to ‘Batman Begins’.

The actress was expected to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes alongside caped crusader Christian Bale for ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ but has pulled out because of “scheduling conflicts”.

Rumours have already circulated that Katie has been replaced by ‘Wedding Crashers’ actress Rachel McAdams for the comic-book adventure, also starring Heath Ledger as The Joker.

While some are blaming this on Holmes’ conversion to Cruise control, we’ll note that she was never mentioned as being in the movie, and Mary Jane and Lois Lane aside, love interests almost never come back in superhero movies. Batman and Indiana Jones need a new main squeeze every time out. All we can say is: THANK GOD!

§ 300 is being released in IMAX:

“Warner Bros. Pictures and the filmmakers are very excited to bring this unique cinematic experience to both conventional and IMAX theatres this spring…The immersive IMAX Experience will transform this film, offering audiences an alternative way to view this highly-charged picture.”

Director Zack Snyder also just got his own production deal at WB where he’s prepping…WATCHMEN.

The trailer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters is up and it looks a lot funnier than we thought, but then the entire trick is making this funny in more than a 15-minute portion.

Speaking of Adult swim, they have announced their first two live action programmes, The Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job from the makers of Tom Goes to the Mayor, and Saul of the Mole Men, “a comedy-adventure shot entirely in-front of a green screen” said to be inspired by Sid and Marty Krofft. Both Debut on February 11.