How much we love Tomer Hanuka. New gruesome work from his blog/

Via Meathaus

Lionsgate and Marvel have joined the list of studios cutting their own deals with the WGA:

The deals followed separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as United Artists, The Weinstein Co. and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants.

The guild said such agreements confirm it’s possible for writers to be compensated fairly and for companies to operate profitably.

Bravo, Marvel! Let’s get the rest of this dumb strike settled so we can watch Lost for more than 6 episodes.

IESB interviews TRANSPORTER Jason Statham who talks about his comic book role aspirations:

I took a meeting for Sub-Mariner. I don’t know if I’d look right running around in a tight speedo with wings on my ankles but there’s so many cool fucking characters. The Hulk, I’ve always been a big fan of but Ed Norton’s doing that. And rightly so. He’s fucking amazing. And he’s working with Louis Leterrier, believer it or not who did The Transporter. I’m trying to think of what would be a good comic book character for me to play. You know, there’s talk of them redoing The Crow. That was a good movie with Brandon Lee, although that was years ago. So if that one comes my way, bang! You know, there’s so many comic book movies out there and most of the time there’s only a handful of people who can do them any justice. Hopefully, they’ll come my way for one of them.

This Statham as Subby thing is particularly appropriate since in his youth the action-star was an international level diver, once placing 12th in the World Platform Championships. So he knows his way around a Speedo and the whole underwater thing.

NYC blogging circles have been abuzz for months with all the upheavals and woes at Gawker, but honestly, this lame ass post called Jonatham Lethem’s Comic-Book Woes is more pointless than poking a dead woodchuck with a sharp stick:

Jonathan “novelist-hot” Lethem’s Omega the Unknown is a project that you might not know about unless you’re a geeky comics reader. Then again, even if you are a comics reader, sales figures indicate that you might not know about it

If you’re going to write about a scandal, make sure there’s an actual scandal, kids.

PS: Mick Stevens blog about cartooning at the New Yorker is quite funny!

hot loans home new the product

Unlike co a signing loan s, cordless phones use private base stations that are not shared between subscribers.

From the New York Times:

J. K. Rowling blocked the Finnish publication of her latest Harry Potter novel on paper from Finland because it lacked the ecologically friendly certification she favors, Agence France-Presse reported. Her Finnish publisher, Tammi, said that Ms. Rowling insisted that it import paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as being derived from wood grown and harvested in a way that promotes sustainable forest development. Sinikka Partanen, a spokeswoman for Tammi, said the first Potter books in Finnish were printed on recycled paper. “This time it’s a more specific demand,” she said. The Finnish-language version of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is due on March 7.

Posted by Mark Coale

We hear that DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES, the second volume of Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series, will debut at #1 on this Sunday’s NY Times Bestseller list. Wimpy Kid book 1 holds steady at the number two spot. With Hugo Cabret at #3, picture books definitely rule.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid phenomenon is one that hasn’t been overanalyzed by the comics blogosphere — the books are very text heavy and are more truly called comics/text hybrids than straight out comics. However, the series has long been labeled a webcomic, and its sales success does prove you can give something away on the internet for free for a long time and still sell loads and loads of books — as long as someone wants to read it in the first place!

Even as everyone limbers up dialing fingers and tests internet speed for the Big Day when the hotels go on sale, many San Diego Comic-Con rumors are rampant. Before reporting them we thought we’d check in with David Glanzer, PR head honcho for the con, and he gave us the straight scoop on some stories making the rounds. The main news is that the aisles in some parts of the exhibit hall are being widened.

“As you know the configuration of the floor changes from year to year,” he told The Beat “This can be attributed to any number of things including numbers of booths, size of booths and size of aisles.

“Safety is always a paramount concern, and because of that we have long been in the habit of increasing aisle width in areas of crowding or potential crowding. This year is no different.

“Our aisles are always at least 10 feet wide, with some aisles 20 feet wide. This year we have increased a portion of the back aisles in Hall D & E from 10 feet to 20 feet and a portion of Hall G also from 10 feet to 20 feet.”

Does this mean, ulp, fewer booths?

“This increase has resulted in some booths being moved to different locations on the floor,” sayd Glanzer. “As far as a wait list for Comic-Con yes, there is a wait list again this year. However, the reconfiguration of the floor hasn’t had an impact on that wait list. The reason is that while we do experience a great return of exhibitors, not every exhibitor can return from year to year.

“So while we may have lost minimal booth space because of the increase in aisle width, the attrition rate has resulted in that not being a factor for returning exhibitors who have turned their paperwork.”

As in the past, booths will be allocated to past exhibitors first, then new exhibitors. The con is still looking to find ways to accommodate as many exhibitors as possible in a “safe and fun environment.”

When you say wider aisles, we say HELLS YEAH! We hate being trampled while some Princess Leia tramp poses for every drooler on the planet! We need to make our getaways! We’d also heard that the gridlock-inducing confluence of studio booths in one area might be broken up this year but Glanzer expects the floor plan to be similar to last year’s.

Vulture excerpts THE MUSEUM VALUTS by Marc-Antoine Mathieu. It’s just out from NBM and we read it the other day. If you like dark, surreal twisted but funny parables about the nature of art and intensely imaginative world building, YOU WILL LIKE THIS BOOK. Recommended.

A detail from JESUS AND THE BEAR by Jim Woodring. Clickee for whole thing.

Via Meathaus.

We have no horse in this race, never having done any print-on-demand, and we’re completely ignorant as to who is the best and who isn’t. However we received a letter from a creator we know well recounting his POD headaches. We’ve edited this down a bit, and it does seem to be more a problem with the process in general than a rip off, but it does seem to be a cautionary tale for anyone who is expecting a speedy turnaround on their books.

Okay, this may be a non-issue for most. Maybe, it’s just happening to me, but it’s starting to turn into a very frustrating nightmare. As far as I know there aren’t to many choices [for print on demand] out there. www.comixpress.com and www.ka-blam.com are the only two I know of, outside of Lulu (and Lulu is just way to expensive ) that offer to sell your comics from their site, (Lulu no do that) which is really helpful.

I signed on with comixpress.com to get the first issue of [my comic] printed, and yes, they did a fine job, but since then I’ve been able to get a reply to my e mails to them once. I have people telling me they’ve ordered my book and haven’t received it. Again, no reply to my e mails. There’s supposed to be a section on their site where you can check your order status, but I’ll be dammed if I can find it.

I’ve tried using Ka-Blam in rebuke, but once I signed on with them, my user name got declared invalid by their system, and it won’t even let me reregister because “someone is already using that info.” My e mails to them also go unanswered and they even have a hot line which I’ve called. Also, no answer.

So, I’ve got potential readers miffed at ME for leading them to order something they haven’t gotten, and small press conventions passing me by because I can’t get a response.

Later this creator wrote that he had heard from someone at Kablam with information on how to log onto the site, and though it hadn’t worked at least they had replied to him.

So, this sounds like ordinary snafus but it’s best to make sure what your turnaround time is when going with a POD printer.

The 19th Annual GLAAD Awards, highlighting thew strongest portrayals of GLBT characters in all media were just announced and the comics nominees are:

Comic Book
American Virgin by Steven T. Seagle (Vertigo/DC Comics)
The Boys by Garth Ennis (Dynamite Entertainment)
Midnighter by Garth Ennis, Brian K. Vaughan, Christos Gage, Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, and Keith Giffin (Wildstorm/DC Comics)
The Outsiders by Judd Winick, Greg Rucka, and Tony Bedard (DC Comics)
Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore (Abstract Studio)

Some may be surprised to see the THE BOYS on the list — it’s most notorious scene this year was a hamster crawling from a dead man’s ass — but you know sometimes shock and insight go hand in hand.

Here.

We got a little misty eyed, in all honesty. What did you expect? We’re nerds. Sadly, no teaser of the Eric Bana/Karl Urban steambath fight though! We’ll just have to imagine how it will look.

As reported yesterday, Quebecor World, printer of most North American comics periodicals, has filed for bankruptcy in both US and Canadian Courts. Jim Milliot at PW writes:

According to the company, as part of the filing, it has reached financing commitments with Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley for $1 billion in new financing that will allow it “to meet all current operating needs, including wages, benefits and other operating expenses.” The financing was approved be the Canadian court yesterday and should be approved in the U.S. by tomorrow. Operations outside of North America are not included in these filings. In an interview with PW last Thursday, Sean Twomey, senior v-p of market development for Quebecor World, said that no matter what the outcome of the refinancing discussion, Quebecor’s book facilities would continue to operate. Kevin Clarke, head of the book group, reiterated that position this morning, saying that from an operational standpoint “it is business as usual.”

Today, Quebecor is trying to calm its customers:

Quebecor World Inc. is moving to reassure jittery customers, suppliers and employees as the struggling commercial printing giant prepares for a massive restructuring under court protection from its creditors.

“People are scared,” said a source close to events at the Montreal-based company, which obtained court protection from its creditors Monday in Quebec Superior Court and is before a U.S. bankruptcy judge today.

“Customers are worried that their orders won’t get done, suppliers that they won’t get paid,” said the source.

These worries appear to be more theoretical and actual thus far. Although Quebecor World’s bankruptcy sounds like a disaster for comics, it really isn’t according to everyone we spoke with. For one things, other printers would be happy to pick up business which, as precious as it seems to comics fans, isn’t that huge an undertaking. Contingency plans have been made, and many companies are in very serious talks about switching, but it appears the impact will be minimal.

However, we would emend that statement just a bit. Yesterday we recveived a package of Image comics from Lebonfon, another Canadian printer with ties to, but independent from Quebecor. Instead of opening the usual Chinese box from Quebecor, the comics were sensibly bundled inside a manila envelope.

We like their style.

UPDATE: Hey everyone I do have a Gmail account and use that 95% of the time. I also have Yahoo, Hotmail and what ever else there is. Please take all this energy you have to help me and use it to shoot scud missiles at AOL headquarters.

This morning discovered I have a backlog of about 8 week’s worth of unsent email in my AOL account, which explains why so many people have been rudely not answering my emails. IN reality I have been rudely not answering my emails. If you suddenly get an email wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, that is why.
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This iis not a dream, not a hoax, and not an imaginary story.

We’d been looking around for a list of this year’s Angoulëme Prize nominees, but no such list seems to exist in English save this as-always excellent article by Bart Beatty commenting at the list of nominees. Beatty explains that this year’s winner be be drawn from a list of 50 notable books. You can see that list here at a truly excellent site with sample pages covers and so on. A whole afternoon of browsing fun there, but for easier reference we’ve made a list with a few notes and the English titles of books published here.

Angoulême 2008 notable books:

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At his BLOG. Apparently Dan Didio liked this idea, but Paul Levitz wouldn’t go for it.

Joey Manley writes:

ComicSpace, LLC is looking for a full time PHP/MySQL guru.

You must have a plethora of knowledge, experience, talent and (most importantly) imagination. Unix/Javascript/AJAX/CSS proficiency will make our eyes bulge out of our heads. If you’re also an avid reader of comics, we’ll probably start giggling with delight.

You must live within driving distance of either Portland, Maine or Unity, Maine, or be willing to relocate to within driving distance of one of those two locations.

ComicSpace, LLC is a fully funded Web 2.0 startup, which means you should consider working for us only if you like not knowing whether you’ll still have a job in a year. Did I mention we’re fully funded?

Contact us at this email address: ComicSpaceLLC@gmail.com — preferably this week or next!

§ If you are a friend of Bob Greenberger, you will probably want to read this.
§ Warners reacts to Heath Ledger’s death.

§ What WILL Matt Maxwell do? One very small self publisher ponders the realiies of today’s market.

Let’s be real. I’m a new publisher, with a first book and not a ton of advertising behind it in the DM. I am actually paying to have an insert put into all Diamond account invoices this week to advertise the book. Yes, you can do that. It’s pretty reasonably priced. My account rep at Diamond was able to secure a “Spotlight On” box for the PREVIEWS that S:MM solicited in (the current issue, check page 299). I’m getting the word out as best I can through my vast network of bloggers, etc. I’ve done some things to raise visibility, and I’ve passed on others (no PREVIEWS ad – it seemed like a lot of money for real estate in part of the magazine that a lot of retailers never get to)

§ Paul Gravett on Tove Jansson and two new volumes concerning her

To write fiction well for children and the child in all adults takes a variety of gifts, among them a directness and lucidity with words and emotions, and the courage to keep them clean of pretense. This becomes especially true when crafting illustrated stories, where pictures as well as words do the telling and need to enhance and complete each other within the confines of the page.

§ Jog on HOTWIRE VOL. 2

Okay I can’t resist posting another one of my old comics cycle sheets; this one two sided and from 1984.

This is interesting for several reasons. For one, by now I was now writing about comics, so I was a “pro” of sorts. For another, as opposed to the Marvel hegemony of the chart from 5 years prior, now we have things from Thriller to Cerebus to American Flagg to Amethyst to Journey. “indie” books like Cerebus sold in numbers that Marvel or DC wouldn’t be surprised at nowadays; I think you would be hard pressed to say that there wasn’t a promisingly diverse range of material beginning to emerge and it had emerged in a mere five years. This stuff had been itching to get out.

1984 was also an interesting year because about halfway through it my family had to flee the house we were living in in Owl’s Head, ME. It’s a long story that involves dead chickens, a scrofulous St. Bernard, an old pet cemetery, old pickling jars, a business selling plastic hinges, and a family of grifters who went by the name of Thompson. An interesting tale, but for another time, perhaps.

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NP: Ultra from the album “Nihil” by K.M.F.D.M.

By the way, Brute, aka Aidan Hughes, has a blog believe it or not.

On his blog, he posted this old LIFE magazine cover.

Do you see how it all fits together now?

Today’s renovations uncovered an electrical outlet in the bedroom we didn’t know we had!

Oscar nominated actor Heath Ledger, who plays the Joker in this summer’s THE DARK KNIGHT was found dead in his Soho apartment this afternoon, multiple sources are reporting.

According to the NY Times, a masseuse arriving for an appointment found the actor dead in his bedroom. Pills were found near his body.

Ledger’s Joker character was the subject of an ongoing viral marketing campaign for the new Batman film. These plans will undoubtedly be reassessed in the wake of Ledger’s death.

This year’s nominees for Best Animated Feature are:

* “Persepolis”
* “Ratatouille”
* “Surf’s Up”

This year’s nominees for Best Animated Short Film are:

* Même les pigeons vont au paradis
* I Met the Walrus
* Madame Tutli-Putli
* Moya lyubov
* Peter & the Wolf

Other tidbits:

* Five nominations in all for “Ratatouille,” including Best Screenplay and Score.
* Two nominations for BEAT favorite “Pirates 3.”
* Three nominations for “Sweeney Todd,” including Best Actor for Johnny Depp.
* Three nominations for nerd favorite “Transformers.”

Who ya got?

Posted by Mark Coale

This year’s con slate is fast getting nailed down for many people and we’re hearing the usual rumors, some of which we’re investigating. One which doesn’t appear to be a rumor is that as it was last year, pro reg for New York Comic-Con will be VERY early this year! The following letter has been making the rounds:

Free Registration for Professional Creators has been available online since December and will be cutoff on January 31. All Creators will be free until February 15, and then after that they’ll need to go through the exhibitor or publisher to get their badge.

The early cut-off caught some people by surprise last year, but with all the semi-pros in NYC we can understand the cut-off. Anyway, if you are a pro and want to go, get thee over to this link ASAP. Don’t say The Beat didn’t warn ya!