Over at Blog@Newsarama, in his Art Link Column, Jim Zubkabich spotlights Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li artist Omar Dogan.
Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li #1 by Erik Ko, Ken Siu-Chong and Omar Dogan arrived in comic shops today (January 21). Udon Entertainment has a four page preview available on their site. Check it out!
Source: Newsarama
According to various sources across the internet, Diamond will be ending the print edition of its Previews Adult Supplement catalog (which lists all adult comics and products offered to retailers from various publishers), and, due to economic conditions, is raising the purchase order benchmark from $1500 to $2500. The distributor began informing publishers of the change last week by phone.
While the change sounds like something that it may not affect readers, the move may result in the disappearance of many small press and independent titles from store shelves unless alternative means of distribution are found, and retailers take advantage of them.
To read the full article, click on Newsarama above.
Many Canadian publishers solicit books through Diamond Previews such as Drawn & Quarterly, Aardvark-Vanaheim, Red 5 Comics, Arcana Studio, and Udon Entertainment. While some of those publishers have been pursuing alternate avenues to distribute their products, such as through bookstores, many are solely reliant on orders from direct market comics retailers through Diamond.
Since the mid-1990′s and the closing of Andromeda, Styx and Multi-Book there have been no Canadian direct market distributors.
Obviously there is a lot of discussion on the potential ramifications of these changes across the interweb.
UPDATED: Also at Newsarama, Matt Brady interviews Diamond’s Bill Schanes about the changes Diamond will be making to their catalog and benchmarks.
Source: Comic Book Resources
Following up on our interview with penciller Marcio Takara, CBR’s Shaun Manning gets the full scoop on The Incredibles: Family Matters series from writer/editor Mark Waid and more about Boom! Studios publishing efforts for younger readers.
Marcio Takara’s art on “The Incredibles” is a departure from the movie’s CG effects, but is also quite different from styles seen in many all-ages comics. “Pixar specifically asked us not to do the 3-D CGI look, because they realized, and we realized it too, that’s great for their movies but that’s not necessarily comics at its rawest,” Waid explained. “If you’re going to do comics, be unapologetic about it and do comics. And so we turned to Marcio and said don’t make it look like your standard Johnny DC Cartoon Network book, it shouldn’t look necessarily like it’s all kid-ified, but certainly bring that energy to it.
The Incredibles by Marcio Takara (from #1)
For the full article/interview, follow the Comic Book Resources link above.
Diana Schutz
Source: Comic Book Resources
Yesterday CBR reporter Shaun Manning posted the first part of his interview with Dark Horse editor Diana Schutz.
Welcome back to FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK, CBR’s series of in-depth interviews with the Dark Horse editorial team. This week, we chat with Executive Editor Diana Schutz, who has worked for the publisher since 1990. With nearly twenty years at Dark Horse, Schutz has accumulated considerable insight into the comics editing process, and part one of this feature will focus on some of her career highlights, along with a look at Dark Horse’s creator-centered structure and a hint of some new series coming up in 2009.
An avid comics reader since youth, Diana Schutz’s early reading habits included the entire Superman family, including “Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane” “Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen,” and any comic book featuring the various Superpets that populated DC Comics in the 1960s. “And ‘Supergirl,’ of course, was my favorite,” Schutz told CBR.
“I grew up in Montreal and my elementary education was in French, so I also became an avid ‘Tintin’ reader. For a brief period of a few years in high school–when I became more interested in boys and parties–I stopped reading comics, but got back into them in college. I saw a ‘Howard the Duck’ comic in a spin rack–that was like no comic book duck I’d ever seen before!–and that was it. I’ve never looked back.”
Follow the CBR link above to read the rest of the interview. Part Two will be published later today (January 21).
Store Name: Amazing Fantasy
Owner’s Name: Dave Hermary
Manager’s Name: Dave Hermary
Number of Employees: 2
Years in Business: 29
Physical Address and Phone Number: 5003 Ross Street, Red Deer, AB T4N 1Y2
Telephone: 403-346-7505
Website: Soon…
How did you choose your store name?
I sell comics and science fiction & fantasy novels.
Favourite Comic Book, published in the past few months:
Therefore Repent
Five all-time classic comics, graphic novels or story arcs:
V For Vendetta, Banana Splits #1, Thor #133, Flaming Carrot #1, Lowlife
What are you excited about for this coming year? What are your plans for the next 12 months?
Working on renovations for the store, mainly all new comic/trade paperback fixtures. Also, almost have the website ready to go live.
What has been one of the most rewarding parts of running your business?
My relationship with my customers.
What has been one of the biggest challenges?
Keeping up with changes and trends in the industry and keeping my store “current” (fixtures, layout, etc.). There is never a dull moment.
Why are you a comics retailer?
Because I (REALLY) love comics!
Product Lines Carried:
Comics, TPs, hardcovers, science fiction and fantasy novels, little bit of merchandise.
Best selling books:
In collected form, Walking Dead & Ultimate Spiderman. Singles and back issues, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Deadpool, Wolverine, Amazing Spiderman & Conan.
What percentage of your business is comics compared to the peripherals of a ‘culture store’?
About 90%
What books do you find yourself recommending the most?
Anything by Ed Brubaker
What great comic/manga should everyone under 14 be reading?
Groo
What comic/manga would you recommend for an adult interested in returning to comics?
Depends on the person and their tastes.
How important is the web to your business?
Don’t sell on the net, never will. However I can’t wait to get my website up and running so that I can assault the entire planet with a plethora of wacky stuff.
Does your store have an area of expertise? What makes your store unique?
I think the most unique thing about my store is me, not to sound vain or anything. I think every comic shop is defined by the personality(ies) of the people running them. Nothing is worse than going to a store that is just like every other store and the people working there might as well be robots.
Describe the comic book scene within your community?
Not much of a community as such, although a great number of my customers live for the annual conventions in the area (Calgary and Edmonton).
Do you participate in Free Comic Book Day?
Yes.
What aspect of your store are you most proud?
My customers. When competition opened up in my town four years ago, I lost less than 2% of my customers to them, even when they offered them better discounts. At conventions they will stand in two hour line-ups just to get a sketch for me, then surprise me with it because they like to see a grown man cry. They just can’t wait to show me their new tattoos (sometimes, it’s best to wait, at least until it’s healed a bit…). They invite me to their weddings. We shoot pool together, go to movies together, consume adult beverages together (the ones that are of legal drinking age). My customers are my friends. I am not a millionaire and I never will be. My wealth is my friends. I have the best customers in the world and would do anything for them.
What have been some or your best/most fun promotions/events?
Hands down, the annual Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, for which I am a perennial sponsor. Biggest show in western Canada, always a blast, and every year it just gets better and better.
Have the last few years of Hollywood film releases changed your customer base?
Movies never really seemed to create much in the way of comic sales until just lately.
Graphic Novels have been a growth product for large bookstore chains, does this affect your customer base or business?
I thank the book trade everyday for growing awareness of the medium and “legitimizing” it. Acceptance of comic books as a fun and exciting medium of entertainment is a beautiful thing. As I said, I (REALLY) love comics!
