Get out your Oscar frock! Both Nikki Finke and the NY Times are reporting a settlement may near :

Informal talks between representatives of Hollywood’s striking writers and production companies have eliminated the major roadblocks to a new contract, which could lead to a tentative agreement as early as next week, according to people who were briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.

A deal would end a crippling writers strike that is now entering its fourth month.

Could this mean the end of non stop reality TV programming? We sure hope so, because we weren’t looking forward to Would You Let a Fifth-Grader Waterboard You?

Technorati Tags: Labor Relations

§ Adrian Tomine interviewed by Terry Gross.
§ Direct link to Shaenon Garrity’s Compleat Overlooked Manga Festival. BOOKMARK.

§ You gotta pay wholesale now.

§ Sam and Max in Surfin’ the Highway will be out this February in a remastered edition from the great Steve Purcell..

§ Ambush Bug is also coming back, with the old Giffen/Fleming team on board. And who will be made fun of?

Greg Rucka would know I was kidding. Geoff Johns would know I was kidding. I think any of the guys on 52 would understand. But the point is that we shouldn’t make fun of them as individuals. So, for example, we can make fun of something like a Shadowpact story, but we shouldn’t be making fun of Bill Willingham.

§ Area man teaches town about comics:

“Her work is really lively, really fresh, and she has experience drawing manga,” Zakour said.

What’s manga?

“It’s sort of friendly and anything goes,” Zakour said of the Japanese cartoon style. “Like my novel writing. I write bubble gum for the brain.”

§ New comic book store not as important as stopping crime to Bridgeport, CT.

§ Ad for IRON MAN film will be one of the big ads during them Super Bowl.

§ Some 1.3 million of whatever-is-the-currency-in-the-Philippines worth of fake Warner Bros and DC Comics school supplies were seized in a raid in Manila. That sounds like a lot but it was only 6,148 items. Still, piracy is bad!

For months, the LJ of Cold Cut Distribution employee Matt High has been spotlighting his spectacular vacation photos. Of late it started talking about packing up and moving. A post yesterday spelled it out

Still no official news on Cold Cut to announce, since the paperwork is not signed yet. But the unofficial news is Cold Cut is closed (and has been since before Christmas, really), and will re-open under totally brand-new ownership in Illinois sometime next month. Details to follow when they can be released.

Cold Cut is one of the very few surviving comics distributors that isn’t Diamond. Although exclusives had left them with a smaller amount of product to carry, their publishers page still lists a couple hundred publishers, including SLG/Slave Labor, Fantagraphics, NBM and book publishers like Random House and Harper Collins.

Cold Cut had been in dubious shape for a while, with a public plea for a new buyer posted in July. We wrote to High for any additional comment but received no answer. We also polled a few indie publishers carried by Cold Cut and the general sense we got is that owner Mark Thompson has generally remained current with publishers, so there is at this point no big financial hit to publishers in the offing.

The need for a distributor other than Diamond continues to be a theme bubbling under the industry, with many rumours of alternatives surfacing now and then, but never in an organized way. Baker & Taylor, the large book distributor seems to have become a de facto alternative for many retailers, as they offer speedier orders on mainstream books and reasonable rates even for returnable books. However, Cold Cut did have a niche that many people found useful or even essential. Whoever this company in Illinois is must have thought the same thing.

We’re battling some kind of virus that we got from eating some ill-advised food. It’s a real tussle that goes back and forth, and going to sleep before 4 am would probably help, as would getting up before noon. We’re working on it. So just a big newsy round-up today.

First, some people on the move:

• Joe Yanarella has been promoted to Senior Vice President — Operations at Wizard, from which he’ll oversee Ad Sales, Special Operations, and Conventions as well as his original editorial duties.

• Pamela Mullin has joined DC Comics as a publicist. She was formerly the publicist for Pantheon’s graphic novel line.

• Reportedly, Shannon Denton of Komikwerks and Actionopolis is joining Wildstorm as an editor.

• Johanna Draper Carlson has dropped out of the Savage Critic website.

§ You know a while ago someone suggested to us that the writer’s strike was a good opportunity for cartoonists to get on chat fests, but we didn’t think that was really going to happen! Marjane Satrapi beat Joe Quesada to the strike struck version of the Colbert Report. Satrapi put up with Colbert’s schtik pretty well, prompting him to say “That’s one of the dangers of your film — when you humanize your enemy, your enemy seems much more human.” Perhaps a writer could have made that line funnier. Quesada came on board to warn Colbert of a Skrull invasion.

§ Kevin Melrose has an excellent summary of the Red Sonja/Red Sonya legal battle which actually got to trial without anyone knowing what the heck was going on.

Red Sonja LLC, which owns the rights to Red Sonja — with a “j” — had filed a $5 million lawsuit in April 2006 accusing Paradox Entertainment of infringing on its trademark and attempting to create confusion in the marketplace. Paradox, which bought Conan and the entire Robert E. Howard library in 2006, owns the rights to Red Sonya — with a “y” — a character created by Howard in the 1930s.

Red Sonja is a character created in 1973 by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith for use in the Conan comics then published by Marvel. Red Sonya is Howard’s lesser-known pistol-packing Russian warrior from the 16th century.

The upshot is that Red Sonja LLC now owns ALL the Sonj(y)a’s, while Paradox retains rights to the rest of the Hyborian Age. In fact, here’s Paradoix’s statement. ICv2 has more.

A newsletter from MoCCA has a few news notes that we hadn’t seen elsewhere:

§ Ellen S. Abramowitz, of Newmark Real Estate, is the new Chairman. “2007 was a year of growth and great accomplishment for MoCCA,” she writes. “The MoCCA Art Festival drew close to 6,000 visitors and the Stan Lee Retrospective showcased one of cartoon arts finest. We have established a creative presence in NYC but need to do more! It has been and always will be the mission of MoCCA to promote the understanding and appreciation of comic and cartoon art. With our dedicated volunteers top-notch board of trustees and officers, we are poised to continue to make that happen.”

§ The gallery is closing from February 1st and March 5th, 2008 so the gallery can be reconfigured.

Currently our plan is to realign our movable wall units to allow for a more open gallery area, and allow for a more recognizable division in our exhibit areas.

The layout of the gallery is being handled by EPoc Partnership, a SoHo based design firm headed by partners David J. Ennis 2, RA and Shelly M. Pocsidio, who are also involved in a more extensive remodeling of the gallery to take place over time.

§ Upcoming shows:

When the monsters and web artists come down in March, they will be replaced by “Moving Pictures” an exciting showcase that will examine the transition of print comic and cartoon characters into live-action and animated film and TV stars. Previews will begin on “Moving Pictures” on April 17th, with official opening and closing dates to be announced shortly.
In September, MoCCA will switch its spotlight from the screen to the political stage, when it opens “Drawing the Vote,” an exhibit exploring the election process through the filter of comic and cartoon art. Official opening and closing dates, and opening night party details to come.

Patrick Jodoin of Lebonfon, a Canadian printer that has been picking up some work from the Quebecor mess, sent out a brief statement yesterday:

We have been receiving many questions with regards to recent problems at Quebecor World. We wish to inform you that Imprimerie Lebonfon Inc. or Lebonfon Printing is a privately owned company and is completely independent of Quebecor World since March 2006. Our printing and distribution operations are not affected by the current situation at Quebecor World.

In other words, Lebonfon was ONCE a subsidiary of Quebecor, but it isn’t now.

Diamond has released the figures for its top selling individual comics periodicals of ‘07. Marvel took 23 out of the top 25, with BUFFY #1 and JLA #7 to break up the string. It affords a bit of closure to see comics based on works by Stephen King doing so well here, because everyone always said “If only we could get best selling authors to write comics, we’d be okay!” It’s also interesting how much more publisher variety there was on the Top 100 Graphic Novel list. That’s the key to the whole ballgame right there.

(more…)

Annnnd here’s the top selling graphic novel chart. Manga has its own chart which we’ll hopefully be posting later on.

Sorry this looks funny. We’re trying to fix.

* - Combined multiple covers with same SRP.

Diamond has released its year -end figures for 2007, and as soon as we figure out the HTML, we’ll be putting up more of them. In the meantime here’s how to publishers shook out — it was Marvel’s year all the way as it widened its lead in both unit and dollar share over DC.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 was the top selling periodical of the year and CIVIL WAR was the best selling graphic novel.

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.

We can’t tell if this position paper from Comic Book Bin is a parody of the infamous ComicsPRO position paper (which we’ll be getting to in a a bit) but maybe we’re just punchy becauseit does make some great points:

If it is difficult for professionals whose job is to find source documents, one expects is harder for the average comic book reader to do the same.

There are specific aspects that are difficult to deal with at many comic book publishers’ Websites. These include solicited material, images of published books, lack of proper search engines and convoluted Website interfaces.

Actually we agree wholeheartedly, especially with our present pet peeve: PR without images. We understand not wanting to clog our inbox — a link to an image will suffice. Sending us nothing visual in a medium that thrives on it will not.

We don’t have what we’d call a commanding grasp on the Quebecor story, but after talking to a few people yesterday the pieces are beginning to come together. The short version is that Quebecor, the Canadian printers who manufacture most of the comics from (at least) DC, Image and Marvel is in a financial crisis after years of mismanagement, and needs to either re-finance or file for bankruptcy. Matt Brady runs down the story and concludes that the impact on comics will be minimal:

Despite the rough seas it’s currently navigating, Quebecor is a huge, multinational corporation, and while what’s going on in regards to its finances isn’t ideal, desirable or even normal, it’s not unprecedented or a direct route to the end of the business. At the end of the day, Quebecor World will refinance its debt and move on (albeit with a limp, most likely) or it will further weaken, and be bought out by a competitor who will work to keep its accounts. Now, if that happens, there is a question about pricing pressure due to reduced competition, but even that’s still a far way off if it ever comes to pass.

While this is a sensible and level headed conclusion, folks we spoke to are certainly looking into their printing issues this week, and the company’s uncertain future is causing headaches at the very least.

Quebecor is part of Quebecor World, a multi billion dollar international conglomerate that employs some 28,000 people around the world. A series of bad investments and poor business decisions over the years have left it saddled with debt and unable to make its loan payments. Its stock has been delisted on the NYSE.

Quebecor spokesmen insist the presses will keep rolling, although there are many rumours regarding potential stoppages floating around — none of them sound very credible at this point.

One thing that did strike us as we spoke to people in various ends of the business yesterday was how suddenly this hit the comics industry. Quebecor has been struggling for a bailout for a year, and yet “I’ve talked more about Quebecor this week than I did in the previous year,” one printing industry insider told us. While comics publishers may not need alternative means of printing, its a sure bet that they are still looking into other printers, including Transcontinental and the Chinese printers who are increasingly taking over trade paperback publishing. Based on the number of complaints about production mistakes at Quebecor, some people will be happy to make a move.

While many comments on this story have pointed to the weak American dollar as part of the problem, it seems to be secondary to Quebecor’s ongoing bad business decisions. Should the printer declare bankruptcy or be acquired by another printer, contracts may need to be renegotiated — and the puny dollar leaves the potential for rising costs there.

So the word for now is no one knows how this will affect the cover price of comics; but the likelihood of a disruption in the timely flow of weekly floppies appears minuscule.

For more on the history of Quebecor’s financial problemsthis story from the Globe and Mail paints a colorful picture including father son conflicts and a riot by laid-off workers at a French plant. It’s a real how the mighty have fallen tale:

How did a company once held up by provincial premiers as an example of Quebec Inc.’s global clout get to this perilous point?

Quebecor World, which in 2002 laid claim to being the world’s biggest commercial printer, is now a penny stock with a market capitalization of barely $25-million. It is threatened with being delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange. That is, if it manages to stay out bankruptcy court and remain a going concern.

The road since 2002 is littered with missed opportunities, poor decisions and enough internal bile to make the case study stacks at Harvard Business School - which happens to be the alma matter of Wes Lucas, 45, who suddenly quit as Quebecor World CEO last month on the heels of a couple of particularly fateful stumbles.

Speaking of that WGA strike, Variety blogger
Tom McLean explains very clearly why Comic-Con is strike-proof. The comment thread to the post points out something interesting that we had kind of noted in passing, as well: the price for a four-day pass has been raised from $55 (pre-reg) to $75. That should do a wee bit to keep people away. Stress the “wee.” $55 was a very low price considering all that you got.

And speaking of the WGA strike, the impending DGA contract settlement is ratcheting the pressure on everyone:

Top scribes have been telling agents they will seriously consider going fi-core (resigning from the WGA by declaring “financial core” status) should the leadership spurn the terms in the DGA pact. That group, which styles itself as moderate and pragmatic, held a meeting early in the week and has been seeking recruits with the warning that more pain will visit the scribes shortly should Verrone and Young give a thumbs-down to the DGA terms. The DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers met for the fifth consecutive day Wednesday under a news blackout. Both sides will meet again today at AMPTP headquarters.

Adding to the pressures: studios and networks are using force majeure to cancel dozens of independent contracts. That means lots of people are now out of work. And with the nation headed into a recession, if Lou Dobbs is to be believed, everyone is itching to get back to work.

UPDATE: Well, now it’s looking like the bail-out never came:

Quebecor World Inc (IQW.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it failed to obtain $125 million of new financing required under waivers from its banking syndicate and missed a debt payment on $400 million of notes. The struggling commercial printer, which is working on getting bank approval for C$400 million of rescue financing from its parent, media group Quebecor Inc (QBRa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), and a private equity fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management (BAMa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), said it did not make the $19.5 million payment of interest due that was due on Tuesday on its $400 million 9.75 percent Senior Notes due 2015.

We’re in the middle of an urgent project and don’t have time to follow this up, but it seems pretty important. We’ve been hearing about the financial problems at Quebecor, the major printer for Marvel and DC, for sometime, and they are quite serious but a bail out plan has been accepted:

Quebecor World Inc. (TSX: IQW), the struggling commercial printing giant, said late Monday it has accepted the $400 million rescue financing proposal saying it is “in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.”

Quebecor World said the bid, submitted jointly by Quebecor Inc. and Tricap Partners Ltd., a private equity fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX: BAM.A), was reviewed and accepted by a special committee composed of independent directors.

The package, considered a financial life-line at this stage for Quebecor World, was announced Friday to help it avert a cash crunch.

It was subject to several conditions being met, including the consent of Quebecor World and its banking syndicate.

Tricap and Quebecor Inc. will each provide $200 million.

We don’t know what caused Quebecor’s financial problems, but if the mind-bogglingly wasteful shipping and packaging on display when they mail us something — a single comic wrapped in four boxes and FedExed — is any example, we can see where the problem lies.

ICv2 reports on the latest in book distribution consolidation, which affects a few indy comics as well:

National Book Distribution has sold its small press distribution division, Biblio Distribution, to AtlasBooks, the distribution arm of BookMasters of Ashland, Ohio. Nearly 500 small publishers, including comic book publishers Exhibit A Press, Evil Twin Comics, and Knockabout Comics, will become clients of AtlasBooks under the same terms and conditions as their current Biblio contracts.

• ANN reports that Newtype USA, the glossy, oversized manga-culture magazine is to cease publication — but ADV will replace it.

Representatives of A.D. Vision (ADV) have contacted retail partners to inform them that the February issue of Newtype USA will be the last. At this time, it is unclear if this refers to the official February issue, which is set to go on sale later this month, or the March issue, which would go on sale in February.

According to reports from those contacted by ADV, the company is planning to replace Newtype USA with another magazine. No information about the new magazine has been made public.

UPDATE: The new magazine will be called PiQ according to a latter published on MangaBlog :

Thank you for your email to Newtype USA!

We will be launching a new magazine that will be on sale in mid-March. Titled PiQ, the magazine will cover anime, manga, video games and other aspects of pop culture of keen interests to you. All existing subscribers will have their remaining issues fulfilled at a two-to-one ratio, meaning you will get double the number of magazines delivered straight to your doorstep! We hope you stick with us and give the new magazine a shot. We’re sure you’ll love it!

• Fantagraphics Books will be relaunching their website any day now, and it sounds pretty slick:

Here are just a few of the things you can look forward to:

- Feature content (such as interviews and book spotlights)
- Real Flog permalinks
- Flog commenting
- All of our in-stock releases having individual pages that you can link to, with much more detailed information about our backstock, larger cover images that you can click to view, and previews of recent and selected books
- Better navigation with category pages for artists, series, interests, etc.
- Vastly improved Search
- Webcomics, expanded previews and specials available exclusively to registered users

Seriously, you’re going to plotz.

A Baltimore real estate section scrutinizes the housing sales of the Diamond Comics CEO:

The CEO of Diamond Comic Distributors and minority Orioles owner is a collector, with enough comic books, animation cels and other pop culture treasures to fill Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Camden Station. Apparently he’s also collected two too many houses, because he has one for sale in Stevenson for $7.7 million and another on the market in Cockeysville for $2.5 million.

The more expensive one - an eight-bedroom spread built in 1848 for a Baltimore coffee merchant - is listed in state tax records as Geppi’s principal residence. So where’s he going?

That question is unanswered, but you can virtuallytour both Geppi residences here and here—the former includes some shots of Geppi’s collection of Carl Barks paintings adorning the walls.

The other day we mentioned the cancellation of the retailer giveaway mag COMICS & GAMES RETAILERS. Former editor John Jackson Miller has his own reminiscences.

The news that Comics & Games Retailer is heading online after 190+ issues in print is circulating — bittersweet news to receive as a longtime editor of that publication, but something that, as an outsider, I’ve expected since editor James Mishler departed this past summer. The truth is, in one way or another, similar repositionings to deal with the realities of the markets it served were a part of every single year for the publication. Producing a free magazine for shop owners for more than a decade and a half required a readiness to adapt the product to follow opportunities, wherever they happened to lead.

It’s an interesting look back at the dark days of comics, when branching out into games, collectible card games and other media was sometimes the only way for retailers — and the magazines that served them — to survive.

Comics Worth Reading and ICv2 report that Comics and Games Retailer , the magazine for…well, retailers published by F+W/Krause (which also publishes CBG) will cease publication with the February issue. Over the last 15 years, the magazine hosted columns by people like Joe Field, Brian Hibbs and Mimi Cruz, and informed generations of retailers of ways to improve their businesses. It was an important tool for a while, but with the internet and message boards and ComicsPRO, it’s time probably was up a while ago.

C&GR always had a lot of good info in it, but it was presented in a fairly arcane way. We remember asking John Jackson Miller to explain what all the little triangles on his sales charts meant once — it was like getting a personal lesson in physics from Einstein, and we understand it about as much. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the mag was the monthly comments from retailers about what was selling. When we worked at DC, Tony Bedard and The Beat would go through all the comments and pick out how many times Knights of the Dinner Table was mentioned — no one had ever heard of this comic, but according to retailers it sold all the time. Who knew? Someone should try to resurrect this feature for a wider audience — we’d find it much more informative than endless message board complaining by people who buy books they don’t like month after month.

UPDATE: We’re informed by someone in the know that some of the C&GR info — including the parts we like — will be integrated to various publications and websites. We’ll let you know when we do.

In one fell swoop the NY Times sums up the graphic novelization of comics, vis a vis big honking Omnibi. Along the way, David Gabriel, Paul Levitz, Kuo-Yu Liang, Eric Stephenson and Larry Reid are quoted.

Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus has left his position at the IFL, the mixed martial arts league he co-founded in 2006. Jay Larkin, a former Showtime exec, takes over Shamus’s positions.

The International Fight League, the world’s number one team-based professional mixed martial arts league, today announced a change in its senior leadership, naming Jay Larkin acting Chief Executive Officer.

Larkin, who had joined the IFL as President and Chief Operating Officer on September 21, 2007, replaces IFL co-founder Gareb Shamus, who resigned his positions as chairman and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Shamus will remain available to the IFL as a consultant.

Taking a sports and entertainment entity from an idea to an established brand in 14 months is nothing short of amazing. Gareb should be commended for his vision and leadership during that period,” Larkin said.

Not sure where this fits in with all the recent reshuffles at Wizard. Various Wizard entities, including the conventions, had spent many resources promoting the IFL.

From Publishers Lunch today, announcement of an American arm for Egmont.