A couple of stories that illuminate this sometimes confounding activity. In Hawaii, the deck sums it up:

Passive fun isn’t for hard-core anime fans who toil to dress the part

and the story digs in:

About an hour and a half later, Sasaki says in her gentle voice, “So, anyone want to start on buckles?” The eight group members clear away dinner, head for the soda boxes and bring out … costume pieces. Half contain Styrofoam pieces that will become shoulder pads. The other half are full of vinyl pieces cut into arrow shapes that will become buckles for jackets — the main reason for tonight’s get-together.

MEANWHILE, Japan Times focuses on some new establishments in the Shibuya os Tokyo where you can pretend you’re in prison, complete with giant needles. Whee!

Each version of Alcatraz incorporated some variation on the basic theme, and the Shibuya E.R. seems to strike the right balance with its unique blend of (im)pure cosplay. In short, it is both a maximum-security prison and an emergency medical room where it’s Halloween every night and ghoulish jailers and macabre medics take charge. Talk about a spanking.

Fortunately, it is all just play. As soon as you step out of the elevator onto the second floor, you are in a holding cell. The doors are controlled from the inside, so you must wait until they are ready to admit you. Once inside, your induction will be “processed” by the resident on duty. The night nurse will be summoned to assist. It is her job to see that any potentially dangerous inmate in each fresh intake is securely handcuffed. Remember: good behavior will be rewarded, so be on your best or it might be you — or at your worst if you want it to be you.

After that, disinfection procedures begin. There are simply no words to describe the size of that needle, except for maybe “ouch!” Well, not really. It is big, but I don’t want to spoil the gag by revealing exactly what they do with it. You’ll have to go and find out for yourself.

One of our fave cartoonists is having a two-fer with both THE SALON and HOUDIDNI coming out this month. The Washington Post Express blog profiles him:

NICK BERTOZZI IS not a graphic novel machine. But editors and publishers might mistake him for one as the award-winning artist watches two works roll into stores within a month of each other.

“The Salon” is a beautifully drawn murder mystery set in Paris starring the likes of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. If that sounds like something from the mind of an art history student, you’re on the right track.

“I took a bunch of art history courses in college, and I guess I didn’t pay attention to the professor,” said the artist, who will be signing his books at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda on Thursday. “Everybody in the painting field always talks about Cubism being this life-changing, art-changing, culture-changing event. I was just going, ‘Why?’”

Speaking of Bertozzi we were at the Salon/CBLDF benefit last night at the Village Pourhouse, ironically right across the street from the premiere of WILL EISNER: PORTRAIT OF A SEQUENTIAL ARTIST movie. Jon Cooke stopped by to say hi and invite us to another screening. It was a fun filled evening, with much catching up for all. It seems everyone is so busy no one ever has any time to leave their cribs. The Act-i-vate posse was totally in the house, along with Nickelodeon’s Chris Duffy, Ivan Brandon, Neil Alien, Harris’s Bon Alimango, David Mazzuchelli, and probably lots of people we are forgetting. Bertozzi mentioned that he and wife Kim have another big delivery on tap for later this year — a second child. That’s just one of the cartoon kidz on the way — attendees Josh Neufeld and wife and collaborator Sari Wilson are also very much infanticipating. Congrats to all!
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Not too much posting today. Not much going on. We will have our TUF recap tomorrow with a new feature which we think everyone will like!

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

The recovery of DC Comics average sales in the direct market continued in March, but that didn’t prevent the publisher from losing more market share — largely thanks, of course, to two surprise sales juggernauts from other publishers, Marvel Comics’ Captain America #25 and Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1. DC, meanwhile, are left with only one regular title selling in six-digit figures, Justice League of America, as well as last year’s bunch of new launches and revamps, which have largely failed to utilize the recent string of high-profile event storylines to their advantage.

Through plenty of fill-in issues, the publisher has managed to reduce the number of missing titles, but the situation remains far from ideal: Although a number of major titles appear back on track, many perennially delayed ones are still absent, and new ones begin to slip from their schedules. Via its Vertigo and WildStorm imprints, DC launched the ongoing Army@Love and the limited series Grifter & Midnighter, respectively. Neither sub-label looks very healthy right now. Oh, and Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Hellblazer got new writers or creative teams. See below for the details.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

6 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
03/2001: JLA #52            —  67,382*
03/2002: JLA #64            —  61,871*
03/2003: JLA #79            —  61,589
03/2004: JLA #94            —  76,134           [ 77,822]
03/2004: JLA #95            —  69,898           [ 73,620]
03/2005: JLA #112           —  64,790
————————————–
07/2006: Justice League #0  — 162,378 (+118.4%) [169,199]
08/2006: Justice League #1  — 212,581 (+ 30.9%) [238,353]
09/2006: Justice League #2  — 143,412 (- 32.5%) [154,923]
10/2006: –
11/2006: Justice League #3  — 140,939 (-  1.7%) [143,310]
12/2006: Justice League #4  — 136,709 (-  3.0%) [139,123]
12/2006: Justice League #5  — 132,460 (-  3.1%) [133,924]
01/2007: –
02/2007: –
03/2006: Justice League #6  — 130,099 (-  1.8%)
—————–
6 months: -  9.3%
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : +100.8%

The book is sticking to the 130K area. These are remarkably good numbers, obviously. A five-part crossover with the similarly healthy Justice Society of America (see below) is around the corner, so sales will probably remain up for a while. As usual, there was a 1-in-10 variant cover edition.

After three unplanned skip months, it’s also worth mentioning that the book seems to be back on schedule; two issues shipped in April. DC may not have any other perennial 100K+ sales juggernauts left, but this one keeps delivering, at least.

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This should be an awesome bash, and despite everything else going on tonight we’ll be there.

This Thursday, April 26, The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is proud to present a benefit book launch party for Nick Bertozzi’s controversial graphic novel THE SALON. Bertozzi’s graphic novel about the birth of Cubism is the subject of the Fund’s current casework. The launch party will be at The Village Pourhouse at 64 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, and will feature an open bar & appetizer reception from 7 - 8 PM, live music by The Cangelosi Cards all night, and a free signed Picasso print by Bertozzi for all attendees.

Since 2005, The Fund has been defending Georgia retailer Gordon Lee for distributing a preview of THE SALON which depicted Picasso in the nude. To date the case has cost upwards of $80,000, with the Fund successfully knocking out 5 of the 7 charges originally brought against Mr. Lee. A trial is expected in early June where the Fund’s legal team will work to defeat the two remaining counts.

The Salon benefit launch party is presented to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in cooperation with JahFurry and St. Martins Press. The Village Pourhouse is located at 64 Third Avenue at 11th Street in Manhattan. The party is this Thursday, April 26 from 7 PM to Midnight.

Jon Cooke reminds us that WILL EISNER: PORTRAIT OF A SEQUENTIAL ARTIST has its premiere tonight as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

While tickets for the Saturday night showing are officially sold-out, some tix are still available for tonight night’s 7:30 p.m. screening at AMC Village VII — Theatre 2, at 66 Third Ave. (at 11th Street) — and can be purchased online at www.tribecafilmfestival.org.

Please note that film critic Jeffrey Lyons will be reviewing the movie for his REEL TALK television show airing on Saturday morning at 10:30 on WNBC (channel 4) in NYC! Yow! The Big Apple-based magazine TIME OUT has also selected the Eisner flick as one of its best picks for Tribeca!

For more info go to the Montilla Pictures site.

Superstar cartoonist Jhonen Vazquez (JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC) returns to comics with JELLYFIST, a new collaboration from SLG. PR:

SLG announced the impending July 2007 release of Jellyfist, a new work of collaborative nonsense by Jhonen Vasquez (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac) and J.R. Goldberg, a comic that is quite possibly like nothing that heretofore has been seen in the universe. Produced in a climate of tension, aggression, meandering conversations and ego-clashing arguments, Jellyfist is the work of two artists who battle with interpretation and pull down the curtain between audience and creators, revealing artistic collaboration in all its alarming nudity.

Jellyfist is a 48-page, full-color book of strange, disconnected stories written by Vasquez and drawn by Goldberg, a newcomer to comics. Begun as a simple, spontaneous collaboration when Vasquez wrote “a tiny, incredibly vague surreal script” and gave it to Goldberg to draw, Jellyfist soon grew into a side-show-freak embodiment of the issues that arise when one artist tries to draw what another has envisioned. After the initial story, Goldberg began to take more time and care to draw the scripts Vasquez gave to her. “So I started getting a lot more bossy in my writing direction,” Vasquez said, “and then the battles begin.”

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And now, in more traditional comics marketing parlance, here’s the “trailer” for a new Robert Clementa GN bio, courtesy of Flog:

One of the books I’m most looking forward to in the next year is 21: The Roberto Clemente Story, a graphic novel biography of the great Puerto Rican slugger by Wilfred Santiago. I’m a huge baseball fan, and Wilfred looks like he’s gonna knock one out of the park with this one. Here’s a “trailer” for the book — our first, and be sure to check out the official website that Santiago has put together, it’s really sharp and almost certainly the nicest pre-pub book site we’ve ever been associated with.

As part of the imminent cell phone/iPod revolution many large corporations are sinking money into creating comics that can easily be morphed into cartoons or movies, or hybrids of the same. The flipside is animating existing comics into something more flashy, and we’ve had several people showing us their special software on iPods lately. Looks like the race is on!

Among these hybrids, the recent Fox Atomic Comics 28 Days Trailer is one example. Now here’s something a lot more complicated: Jonas Moore. We were alerted to it via an email from TheOneRing’s Michael Regina:

Heya, it’s Mike Regina, I’m working on a brand new project and want to tell you about it. It is called ‘The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore’ and stars James Bond & Resident Evil star Colin Salmon as the title character.

What makes this project unique is the format in which it tells the story, it is a relatively new technique using CGI, live action & 2D animation in a comic book style setting. All elements are meshed together to tell a great story set in an alternative England, where gaming has become a way of life, where characters and games are so realistic they seem to take on a life of their own.

A bit of poking around reveals animated photos, drawings, special effects and even some CGI for what might charitably be called a mishmash. We haven’t had time to actually watch or read or whatever it is you do with the thing. The spots are co-sponsored by Triumph, hence the motorcycle-heavy content, but we’re fine with Colin Salmon on a bike, to be honest. There are also actual comics on the site, with art by Mick Trimble.

We found this interview/PR with creator Howard Webster, and a blizzard of new media buzzwords ushers in the project:

“Branded content and fan generated content is a vast, evolving beast with huge metrics emerging from the web. The business models that drove the revenue big media agencies and global advertising agencies is collapsing, The easy relationship between big media buyers and media agencies and the net and gross fees that earned them massive paydays is thankfully dying.

It was, in my opinion, a snug cartel based upon suspect metrics that didn’t actually take into account how people actually interact with media. All it favoured was a justification of the media spend on the part of the manager who sanctioned it and the fees. In an effort to reinvent themselves the global media agencies are trying to claim they are now somehow experts in the field of branded content; the new content digerati. They’re not. In branded content terms they are the embarrassing father drunk at a wedding trying to look hip on the dance floor dancing to sounds of the 80s. The global media agencies are simply trying to copy what teenagers and web-heads are already doing in their millions with content on the web and are attempting to charge brand directors huge sums of money to do it.

Translation: Ads must look more like content in the future.

However, this hybrid format is not being embraced like a cuddly kitten, at least not according to this article in Macworld which says that “visual novels” are already the rage in–where else?–Japan but face an uphill battle in the US:

Visual novels feature rich color graphics and soundtracks with some of Japan’s best-known voice actors speaking character dialogue. They aren’t as interactive as games, but they’re not totally passive like e-books or movies, either. Visual novels often provide users with decision-making capabilities that will affect the story’s outcome. The pacing is slower than a game or a movie, but offers a rewarding payoff for enthusiasts who like the unique experience.

When visual novels are prepared for American audiences, the original Japanese language track and all the original story is maintained, but a subtitle track may be included so English speakers can understand what’s going on, which may turn off some casual users who don’t want to have to read.

Sometimes visual novels are equated with “dating sims,” a genre of largely erotic interactive entertainment where the goal is to disrobe a woman or to have sex, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Hirameki, for example, markets products safe for teens and others. In 2006, the company began offering Mac-compatible titles as well, first with a gothic horror novel called “Animamundi: Dark Alchemist” and more recently with “Yo-Jin-Bo,” a story set in feudal Japan. Both titles leverage Adobe Flash to achieve cross-platform compatibility.

Will the “visual novel” format ever take off? Maybe when it gets its own Griffith or Kirby. In the meantime it has two factors going for its eventual adoption here in the US: 1) advertisers will keep sinking money into it and 2) as goes Japan, so goes America. It’s inevitable.

§ Jim Lee has posted the pencils for the covers to the next three ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER covers. This qualifies as newsworthy since the book has been rather titanically late for a while, but now it looks like some issues will be out this summer. Good news!

§ Add novelist Greg Palast to the list of folks fascinated by graphic novels:

WW: Is it true that you have a graphic novel in the works?

Yes. Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys has also produced a spoken-word CD of mine: Live from the Armed Madhouse. That will also include several dance tracks, where stuff is sampled. The graphic novel is important because there’s many ways to reach people. Understand that comic books, that Superman and Captain America were inventions of political, left-wing journalists who were trying to create characters to encourage Americans to take on the Nazis. So, I’m just going back to the original purpose of Marvel Comics, which is to communicate and to empower people with information.

§ Alison Bechdel is the latest to find the regular work vs graphic novel dynamic difficult to navigate as she has cut DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR’s frequency in half so she can work on her second graphic memoir:

The reason I’m doing this is that I have to crank out a new memoir by 2009. I just signed a contract for it. (MLK, thank you for raising the very interesting question a while ago about the difference between writing without a contract, and with one. I’ll get to that in a minute.) As many of you know, Fun Home took me seven years to complete. And most of those were spent quietly and reclusively at home, not galavanting around the country (and beyond) yammering about myself to all and sundry, like I’ve been doing for the past year.

I have more travel coming up soon, for my paperback tour. But even without the time on the road, I need to make some kind of change if I have any hope of getting this new book done on schedule. I don’t want to stop doing Dykes. That doesn’t make any sense. I love doing the strip, and it’s extremely important to me on so many levels that I can’t even enumerate them. Cutting back to one strip per month seems like a good compromise if people are willing to hang in there with me. I can keep the story going, but I can also slow down the crazy juggernaut that my life has become lately, and have some time to think.

§ A nice interview at the Pulse with Josh Neufled about A.D.: After the Deluge, his webcomic about Hurricane Katrina survivors.

NEUFELD: The people we ended up choosing came from multiple sources. Some presented themselves early on. Others came via articles, radio programs, and various personal contacts. We cast a wide net and did tons of legwork. It was only in January (the same month that the first part of the prologue went up) that Larry Smith and I “nailed down” all five main subjects, and got to meet everybody in person on a short trip down to New Orleans. We felt it was important to get a sense of our characters in person, and let them get a sense of us. The amount of information we took in in those meetings was truly intense, and we believe will serve our characters, comic, and readers well. In the end, we’re taking our best guess that this mix works — for us, the reader, and the “characters” themselves who make up the mix.

Sega and Marvel have signed a big pact (although Marvel has been working closely with Activision recently) and GameDaily BIZ talks to Sega about the deal:

BIZ: Did you have to compete with other publishers to get the rights to these other Marvel characters? Obviously Activision has produced a number of games for Marvel, so I would think they would have been interested as well.

SS: Yeah, that’s a great question. If you look back these past couple years, EA’s had a few dances with DC [Comics] with Batman and Superman, and Activision definitely did well with Spidey, and they’ve done X-Men and Fantastic Four, and Vivendi had Hulk, so there’s no doubt that these are competitive negotiations. I can’t speak to who else was at the table; oftentimes, in most cases we have no idea.

We don’t really know who they’re talking to, don’t really know whether Activision says, “Hey we’ve got two already; we’re not really sure if we want more,” or if THQ wants to get into it. I can’t really speak to that with authority, but I do know that these [deals] are always competitive because we’ve been in negotiations with other studios and have not come up with the goods on occasion. Clearly, the industry continues to look at big movies and big licenses, and comic books in particular, as a high target category, but in this instance Sega came out on top.

MEANWHILE< Telltale Games talks about more Bone games:

Developer Telltale Games has been in the press a lot for its revival of the Sam & Max series, but before that it developed an episodic adventure series based on the hugely successful Bone comic books by Jeff Smith. However, with all efforts focussing on Sam & Max you’d be forgiven for thinking Telltale had given up on Bone - but that’s not the case. “We’ve been really focused on Sam & Max and nailing the episodic model. This has helped the company better understand digital distribution, and we’re in a great position to take advantage of the Bone license, but our teams are very busy right now. As the company grows we will revisit Bone”, the developer told 1UP.

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Distrubia’s Shia LaBeouf is the hottest guy in showbiz this week, with a #1 movie and and upcoming co-starring role in INDY 4. And as befits every hot star, he also has his dream comics role in mind:

…does he have enough clout to survive as the last dude on the planet?

An adaptation Brian K. Vaughan’s Vertigo comic Y: THE LAST MAN has struggled a bit on the path to theaters, but it might get a boost of LaBeouf. JoBlo reader Jean-Michel C. (merci, mon ami!) informs us that while promoting DISTURBIA in France, Shia expressed substantial interest in playing the lead role in the Y film, proclaiming the series one of the best comics around.

Meanwhile, Eric Roberts and William Fichtner have joined the cast of the new Batman movie, giving the film a monopoly in the “craggy character actor” category. Filming is underway in Chicago, and Superhero Hype has the fullest coverage as always.

Speaking of Batman, Steve Bunche has a still of Conrad Veidt from the 1928 silent film THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, believed to be the visual inspiration for the Joker. Judge for yourself.

as these new FF posters show. . But see Tim’s commentary here.

Meanwhile, for the other team, as Johanna points out, Mr. Fantastic has got some serious Citizen Steel action going on in his tights.

BTW, is it just us, or does the FF look as lively as a Puppetoon in all of these shots?

There was apparently a display of sculpture made from Scrapple at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia yesterday, but try as we might we couldn’t find any online pictures of the momentous event. In case you’ve forgotten, scrapple is a vaguely-sausage-like substance made from simmering cornmeal, flour and spices with ground leftover pork trimmings. The trimmings include heart, liver and tongue and others bits and bobs of offal. We would very much like to see photos of sculpture made from pork tongue and cornmeal, so please, pass them our way.

Speaking of livers, we didn’t get a chance to do out TUF recap this week, but we did watch episode 3, in which Gabe got a colonic from a woman who was scarily enthusiastic about getting a “mudslide” and other members of the house paraded around in thongs with their butts hanging out wearing masks or something. They’ve gone completely William Golding in only a few DAYS! Awesome possum. Oh yes, Nate Diaz, Nick’s feisty little brother, beat Rob Emerson in a fight that an over-excited Dana thought was the second coming. Maybe we’ll have some screen caps with the next recap. We’re also attempting to recruit someone who actually knows something about fighting to augment our colonic-favoring covering.

Did we get your attention? They all did animated shorts for the upcoming French film Fear(s) of the dark and now you can see the trailer at the above link. Overseen by Etienne Robial, the films includes contributions by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Jerry Kramsky, Lorenzo Mattotti, Richard McGuire, Michel Pirus, Romain Slocombe and Dupuy and Berberian.

[Link via Meathaus blog.]

As the line between comic strips and webcomics continues to blur, more of Ted Rall’s handiwork is visible at United Media, as Steven L. Cloud’s webcomic BOY ON A STICK AND SLITHER has just joined the line-up at Comics.Com. Cloud explains how it happened in his LJ:

basically, i was recruited by ted rall. ted is the head of acquisitions and development at Unitied Media (UM). ted is also a a prolific cartoonist, author and columnist. the guy stays busy. you should google him.

i first met ted through my involvement in his compilation book “Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists”. this is how i know he cares about comics and respects cartoonists of all kind.

for this reason, it was very easy for me to work with him and UM.

not to mention this is an great way to expose boasas to a wider audience and, who knows, maybe they’ll offer me a “real” syndication deal in a year. or maybe they won’t. you can’t predict this sort of thing.

one thing i can predict is that i’ll be drawing comics for many years to come.

UMI’s official PR is in the jump.
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Jennifer DeGuzman’s APE report notices the decline of the mini-pamphet; if the web hasn’t killed regular floppies, it has certainly become the go-to place for the kind of independent spirits who used to create “mail art.”

While there were a few people self-publishing their comics, there were fewer of them than in the past, and there seemed to be an even marked decrease in the charming photocopied, hand-stapled mini-comic. Last year, I either bought or was generously given several mini-comics or self-published comics (you can read about that here). This year — I bought two (one by Johnny Siu and another called “Fremont Girl”) and was given none. (Boohoo!) The assumption is that the do-it-yourselfers have moved to the web.

[Link via Johanna]

Radar Online, which purports to be the Spy of its time, except that now it has to go online, has an article by Kim Masters about the behind-the-scenes on SPIDER-MAN 3, which is now believed to be the most expensive movie ever made. Masters’ reportage on Hollywood is always top-grade, so you can take all this as well verified:

On the surface, Spider-Man 3 has all the ingredients of a box-office slam dunk—spectacular special effects, an obsessive fan base, and a roster of bankable stars. Moreover, its two previous installments have grossed $1.6 billion for the studio.

“The real danger is that it makes the $200 million movie seem not quite so bad. And the risks of that can be absolutely devastating.

“Even before filming began in January 2006, Sam Raimi promised to pull out all the stops for his third Spidey film (likely the last he’ll direct in the series). He wasn’t kidding. As production dragged on into late summer—it had been scheduled to conclude in June—stories about the project’s ballooning budget started popping up all over town. But in the end, even the most hyperbolic of observers may have underestimated the final tab. Industry insiders claim that Sony spent $350 million or more on production alone. With marketing and promotion factored in, the total price tag will approach half a billion dollars—positioning Spider-Man 3 as the most expensive movie of all time. (Cleopatra, the 1963 epic that has long held the title of priciest picture, had an inflation-adjusted budget of $290 million.)

As Masters points out, Spidey #’s excesses are part of a larger pattern:

To be fair, Sony is hardly the only studio spending big bucks on tent-pole projects. Shrek the Third blows into multiplexes two weeks after the new Spidey film, with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End right behind it. Next come the Fantastic Four sequel and Steve Carell’s Evan Almighty. Then, on Independence Day weekend, Transformers hits the screen.

None of these projects was cheap. Indeed, the third installment of Pirates may also sail past the $300 million mark. But in contrast to the Spider-Man series, the second Pirates film outperformed the original and grossed more than a billion dollars. (Spider-Man 2 took in $783 million—about $40 million less than its predecessor.)

No wonder everyone is looking at the lean, and very, very profitable 300 as the future of Hollywood:

Lesson No. 1: Sometimes it really is about what you put on the screen, and maybe you don’t need to put as much up there as you might think. As far as epic wannabes go, 300 is modest, yet audiences are eating it up. The nonstop action came from computers, the actors were, well, wooden, and still the trailers and commercials were mesmerizing. Sometimes a great visual is worth more than heavyweight actors and a legion of writers.

The Smoking Gun has extensive coverage of yesterday’s Captain-America-with-a-burrito-in-his-pants ruckus, including the mug shot. This is bringing grim ‘n’ gritty to a new low.

Davis Welsh talks to all kinds of manga related folks to get the reaction to this year’s increased manga presence in the Eisner nominations. There are many good quotes and observations, but one that stoods out for us is the recognition for what might be called the “OGM/OEL Generation”:

This year’s slate also offers serious recognition for global manga. Becky Cloonan’s East Coast Rising (Tokyopop) earned a nod for Best New Series. Ross (The Abandoned – Tokyopop) Campbell and Svetlana (Dramacon - Tokyopop) Chmakova both were nominated in the Special Recognition category, formerly known as Talent Deserving Wider Recognition.

From Tokyopop editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl’s point of view, the Eisners are less a pioneering voice of support than a part of an already hearty chorus.

“If we’re looking for industry acceptance of OGM, I think we passed that point some time in late 2005,” Diaz-Przybyl said. “From blogs to [Publishers Weekly] to my editorial friends at Marvel and DC trying to poach my artists, the industry is clearly behind this new wave of talent, and for good reason. The artists nominated are all incredible, I’m sure have long and successful careers ahead of them, and they’re just a fraction of the new talent that is out there. The nominations just confirm what most of us already knew.”

Speaking of the Eisners, we understand there was much talk while we were away, much of it we haven’t had a chance to read. Of course we’re happy for our favorite books (BILLY HAZELNUTS) and old friends (STAGGER LEE) getting recognition, but the nominees seem increasingly more like a “Best of” list in a magazine, rather than a real award of merit. Juries now try to achieve some kind of “One from column A, one from column Z” parity so that everyone gets some attention. It’s nice that everyone can now call themselves an “Eisner nominee” but these kind of lists inevitably contain a howler or two. We won’t get snarky in public (catch us in the bar) but there are a couple of categories that show a lack of knowledge about how comics are produced…but, you know, that’s just us and it’s all subjective.

ICv2 is promoting it’s new ICv2 Guide #42: Anime/Manga with a list of the top Manga and Anime properties via Bookscan.

ICv2 Top Ten Manga Properties

1. Naruto
2. Bleach
3. Kingdom Hearts
4. Fruits Basket
5. Death Note
6. Full Metal Alchemist
7. Vampire Knight
8. Absolute Boyfriend
9. Loveless
10. Tsubasa

And the ICv2 Top Ten Anime Properties for Q1 2007

1. Dragon Ball Z
2. Pokemon
3. Voltron
4. Naruto
5. Robotech Shadow Chronicles
6. Full Metal Alchemist
7. Hellsing Ultimate
8. Howl’s Moving Castle
9. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
10. Bleach

More in link.

Boing Boing reports that Scott McCloud is now offering his webcomic THE RIGHT NUMBER, an early experiment in micropayments, for free.

The Right Number was originally presented in June 2003 using a micropayments system offered by a company called Bitpass, sold for 25 cents each. Since Bitpass ceased operations in January 2007, I’m offering Parts One and Two for free now.

Part Three was delayed due to severe hand strain problems on my part a few years ago and delayed again when I began work on my recent book, Making Comics. I do still hope to finish the third and final chapter and make it available at some point in the future. Part Three will also be offered free through this page. (Sorry for the delay!)”

Over at Wizard Joss Whedon mulls all kinds of woulda, shoulda, couldas. Take it from us, Joss, this kind of brooding does you no good in the long run! Time to think POSITIVE! Chin up!

Nobody interfered with my vision [On the Wonder Woman movie] because literally, nobody ever said, “No, no. We want it this way.” I told them what was I going to do, they said do it, I did it, they said no. I said okay.

How’d you react?

I could feel the end for a long while. I could tell they weren’t enthused and you know our conversations were never about what the movie was about, the very few that we had. And so I just felt like, if they know what I’m going for, they don’t like it, and they may not even know, and they’ve told me they don’t even know what they are going for, just that I’m not giving it to them, so it wasn’t like they were interfering. They gave me all the freedom in the world, all the rope in the world in which to build my noose.

So, are you going to be able to see the movie when it’s been written and directed by someone else?

I have absolutely no idea, you know? I mean, it’s hard for me. I’ll tell you the honest truth, it’s just as hard for me with Batman. I never wrote any Batman [comics], but I did go in to pitch [the movie]. I still stay up late at night thinking how cool my Batman movie could have been, and I liked “Batman Begins” a lot. I thought it had some awesome stuff I would never have come up with, but I still think about what I could have done. That’s the problem when you throw your heart into those things; it just stays there.

More in the link including news of his new movie, GONERS.

§ Catch-up: BKV.TV readers react to last weeks initial Brian K Vaughan co-wrtten LOST episode.

§ Stephen Lynch in the NY Post reports that HEROES is pulling a WATCHMEN, which may spell problems for Zack Snyder. Many spoilers in link!

It is also cursed, at least in Hollywood terms. Development of a “Watchmen” movie has bounced around for two decades, with everyone from Terry Gilliam to Joel Silver to Darren Aronofsky attached.

Snyder may have the clout to get it made. But it seems the curse has struck again in the form of a television show. “Heroes” - the popular series on NBC - not only swiped “Watchmen” ’s climax, it may have stolen its thunder.

[snip] Tim Kring, the creator of “Heroes,” was out of the country, but has said in interviews in the past that he doesn’t know comics that well - similarities are coincidental. And one could argue that the show is a patchwork of popular comic book themes beyond “Watchmen,” taking the mutant gene, for instance, directly from “X-Men.” Or that the plot is different enough because Ozymandias plans the attack, while Linderman simply does nothing to stop it (as far as we know).

§ Over in the NY Sun Grady Hendrix examines negative stereotypes of Asian-Americans, exacerbated bu the Virginia Tech shooting, and includes comics in the mix:

Ever since women have been given the choice to be either virgins or whores, Asians have been given the choice: gangster or geek? On the one hand, in pop culture you have the lovable nerd Hiro on the NBC’s hit show “Heroes.” On the other, you have DC Comics’ best-selling comic series of 2006, “52,” which features a sinister villain known as Chang Tsu, a revamped Wonder Woman Yellow Peril baddie from the 1960s previously known as Egg Fu, who assembled a cabal of evil scientists on the mysterious Oolong Island.

According to the PR, Papercutz’ papal biography The Life of Pope John Paul II…In Comics has been nominated for a Ben Franklin Award. Winners will be announced at the Book Expo in June.

Here ye, here ye, an award for “The Life of Pope John Paul II…In Comics!” the graphic novel published by Papercutz, has been NOMINATED FOR BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL, as a finalist, by the Publishers Marketing Association, for The Benjamin Franklin 2007 Awards™.

The Benjamin Franklin 2007 Awards™ will be held at the Park Central Hotel, New York, NY, May 31, 2007, the day before the annual book industry event Book Expo America begins. Papercutz already won the 2006 Best Graphic Novel Award for the Nancy Drew graphic novel #1.

The graphic novel also features an introduction by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, who, as Prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, may soon be deciding whether or not the beloved Pope should become a Saint. The process to beatify John Paul was fast-tracked by Pope Benedict XVI, who waived the traditional five-year waiting period for the process to begin. April 2, 2007 had marked the second anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.

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