Topic: Funnybooks (Read 170166 times)

Büge · « **Reply #1400 on:** August 04, 2011, 07:12:08 AM »

"Hey, what about me?"

Mongrel · « **Reply #1401 on:** August 04, 2011, 07:15:58 AM »

Doesn't he go back to the 80's? If not further?

Anyway, Thad seems to think that list is.. I don't know, hopeful? I think it's appalling. If any other industry had gone thirty some years of hundreds of monthly releases without more than three or four really good product successes, that industry is probably dead. Mainstream north American comics work so heavily off nostalgia and legacy product that it's amazing they can even pay for ink each month let alone limp along as viable businesses.

Thad · « **Reply #1402 on:** August 04, 2011, 07:37:35 AM »

Quote from: Mongrel on August 04, 2011, 07:15:58 AM

Doesn't he go back to the 80's? If not further?

Yeah, and I'm not sure a smattering of TV appearances really qualify as mainstream recognition.

Quote from: Mongrel on August 04, 2011, 07:15:58 AM

Anyway, Thad seems to think that list is.. I don't know, hopeful? I think it's appalling. If any other industry had gone thirty some years of hundreds of monthly releases without more than three or four really good product successes, that industry is probably dead. Mainstream north American comics work so heavily off nostalgia and legacy product that it's amazing they can even pay for ink each month let alone limp along as viable businesses.

But really, how many non-legacy superhero characters became popular in the 1980's? (The TMNT, of course -- also creator-owned. Watchmen, though you could argue they don't satisfy the "non-legacy" requirement given that they're mostly Ditko characters with a fresh coat of paint.) The 1970's?

(I could ask "The 1950's?" but that wouldn't really be fair as legacy characters really WERE a fresh new idea back then. The Barry Allen Flash was a big goddamn deal.)

For all that I hate DC and Marvel's inertia and reliance on legacy characters, it's understandable. The 1940's and 1960's were unique decades in the history of comics and showcased the most amazing talents that the superhero genre has ever seen. So the fact that guys have managed to create breakout success stories at all in the past couple of decades -- and done it while KEEPING THE RIGHTS TO THEIR CHARACTERS -- yeah, that's a good thing.

And of course once you quit restricting it to superheroes you've got quite a lot of American comic-book success stories. Y: The Last Man, Fables, Ghost World, Road to Perdition, 100 Bullets, Hellblazer, Sandman, Walking Dead, and so on -- and you'll note that half of those made the list without even getting a movie or TV version. Include Canada and you've got Scott Pilgrim. Start looking at American imports of manga and you've got Dragon Ball, One Piece, Inuyasha, Bleach...

I'm not saying the industry doesn't have problems. It's more that there's a lot more going on than superheroes and the Big Two.

Bal · « **Reply #1403 on:** August 04, 2011, 07:39:11 AM »

Comic books are modern Mythology. A Spider-Man story doesn't need any context, because it's about Spider-Man, and you know who that is and what that means. There's nothing particularly sacred or interesting about "new" characters in this context. Now, I'm pretty massively disinterested in black-latino-gay-deaf Ultimate Spider-Man, but no more so than I was with Brand New Day or Grounded, to make a Superman example. Spider-Man doesn't need good stories to be Spider-Man, and neither do any of the other truly enduring characters in comics. Maybe some day people will stop making up stories about Spider-Man, just like they did with Zeus (Oh christ guys, what's he going to turn in to to rape someone this month? I swear, these traveling orators are such hacks these days), but then again Zeus beat up The Hulk a few months ago, so maybe not.

Büge · « **Reply #1404 on:** August 19, 2011, 07:05:48 AM »

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2011/08/poster-debuts-for-frank-millers-holy-terror/

And only a decade late!

Mongrel · « **Reply #1405 on:** August 19, 2011, 05:09:47 PM »

Oh man, I love the comments:

Quote

Man, I sure hope this isn’t super-racist so I can enjoy it!

Thad · « **Reply #1406 on:** August 22, 2011, 03:35:18 PM »

So here's some bad damn news: Atomic Comics is bankrupt and has shut down all four locations without warning.

I didn't usually buy my comics there, but it's always bad to see a local business shut down, particularly if it also happens to be one of the best-known comics retailers in the country.

The hell of it is that this is largely the result of an accident that they never recovered from: five years ago, an uninsured 16-year-old crashed a car through the storefront of their main location and broke a water main in the process, destroying nearly all of their inventory.

Hell of a thing.

Mothra · « **Reply #1407 on:** August 22, 2011, 05:29:56 PM »

Wow, that is a hell of a thing to destroy your business.

Mothra · « **Reply #1408 on:** August 22, 2011, 05:30:10 PM »

Fucking kids these days.

Rico · « **Reply #1409 on:** August 22, 2011, 05:41:37 PM »

Perhaps a little niche for the Superstore thread; Criminal Deluxe Edition 44% off. As far as Brubaker+Phillips goes I think Sleeper is probably their top tier but Criminal is very good. It'd be classic noir but for being in color.

Lottel · « **Reply #1410 on:** August 22, 2011, 06:16:27 PM »

Similar thing happened at the comic shop I worked at. It was in an old, old building anyway but when the river a block away flooded, they didn't get sandbags up quick enough and waters destroyed the front of the store (mostly cards/board games/painted figurines). While they were trying to get the water out, the roof collapsed in a few places causing gallons of water to flood the back, where the comics were kept. I was able to save a good chunk of stuff, but from then on my job was mold control. Every few days we had to crunch numbers to see if we could open.

And like I said in a different thread, they finally shut down earlier this year.

Thad · « **Reply #1411 on:** August 24, 2011, 04:20:04 PM »

There were 3 Atomic refugees in my store when I went in today.

Like, wearing Atomic Comics T-shirts.

Nice seeing them get new business even if it's a shitty way to get it.

Meantime, Samurai Comics and All About Comics seem to be at each other's throats (or at least their Internet fanboys are) over who's actually arranged with Diamond to cover Atomic's shipment.

Which is still probably better than all the out-of-state schmucks shooting their mouths off. (One guy on Bleedingcool yammered that Malve is a tax evader and should be breaking rocks in the Mojave Desert. It would sure be nice if the conversation were restricted to people who could locate Phoenix on a goddamn map!)

Mongrel · « **Reply #1412 on:** August 25, 2011, 08:15:04 PM »

During a panel session, Dan DiDio was called out on the lack of women writers at DC, his response was to basically jump down the questioner's throat and punch him in the appendix

Rico · « **Reply #1413 on:** August 25, 2011, 09:27:53 PM »

While he expressed it in the stupidest way possible, being Dan DiDio and all, he does have a point in that if you're going to ask a question like that you should be prepared to list names of known writers who have been passed up at DC comics.

Mongrel · « **Reply #1414 on:** August 26, 2011, 03:03:48 AM »

While there's a peanut-gallery guy yelling "Hire women!" and obviously the questioner does think that DC should be employing more women writers, that's not the question.

The question being asked is much darker: "Why did you fire basically every female writer you had?" And the burden of proof there lies fully on DiDio.

In attacking the way he did, DiDio makes it very clear that he does not think there are any good women writers for comics.

Lottel · « **Reply #1415 on:** August 26, 2011, 03:42:06 AM »

My idea is DC isn't so much a boys club as a "Big Names" club. Hell, they even brought Liefeld out because he sells. I know people who are buying Hawk and Dove just because he's doing it. Sure they are buying it to laugh at how bad he is, but they are still buying it.

You know, I would like to see the sales for the women writers for DC before they got fired.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #1416 on:** August 26, 2011, 05:49:13 AM »

I feel Didio is being picked on a little here, but mostly because Marvel is being ignored. The Batgirl cosplayer at Comic-con started the chain of "DC is ignoring women" complaints, but since her interests and focus were on DC, it shaped the internet debate to be about how DC doesn't have women writers.

Quick, name a top female writer at Marvel off the top of your head!

Thad · « **Reply #1417 on:** August 26, 2011, 07:28:50 AM »

You guys are about a month behind; following the bad press on this DC gave a "We hear you" response and promised to do better.

Quote from: Rico on August 25, 2011, 09:27:53 PM

While he expressed it in the stupidest way possible, being Dan DiDio and all, he does have a point in that if you're going to ask a question like that you should be prepared to list names of known writers who have been passed up at DC comics.

Bullshit.

I don't have to know names; I just have to reasonably assume that more than 1% of the people who apply to DC are women. If that's the case, then DC is disproportionately hiring men; if that's NOT the case, then DC still has rather a huge fucking problem on its hands.

Quote from: Lottel on August 26, 2011, 03:42:06 AM

My idea is DC isn't so much a boys club as a "Big Names" club. Hell, they even brought Liefeld out because he sells. I know people who are buying Hawk and Dove just because he's doing it. Sure they are buying it to laugh at how bad he is, but they are still buying it.

Fair, but (1) there are dudes I've never heard of working on the New 52 and (2) if there IS an institutional bias preventing women from getting hired at DC, they're not going to fix it by saying "Well, they're not already famous, so we have no reason to hire them."

Quote from: Constantmean on August 26, 2011, 05:49:13 AM

Quick, name a top female writer at Marvel off the top of your head!

Kathryn Immonen.

Also, not a writer, but Sara Pichelli's been getting more press this past month than pretty much anybody else in comics besides Bendis and Morrison.

Which isn't to say Marvel is squeaky-clean on this subject, just that they're less awful than DC at the moment.

Rico · « **Reply #1418 on:** August 26, 2011, 09:11:59 AM »

Quote from: Thad on August 26, 2011, 07:28:50 AM

Bullshit.

I don't have to know names; I just have to reasonably assume that more than 1% of the people who apply to DC are women. If that's the case, then DC is disproportionately hiring men; if that's NOT the case, then DC still has rather a huge fucking problem on its hands.

Never said they weren't passing up women left and right, just saying that one of these things is a much better way to call someone on the carpet in front of a ton of people.

Thad · « **Reply #1419 on:** August 26, 2011, 09:27:18 AM »

Fair, but we rarely find out the names of people who get rejected, particularly people who get rejected and aren't already popular.

And Didio's "Why don't you send us your portfolio?" response is disingenuous as DC doesn't accept unsolicited submissions.

Newsarama has a breakdown of the numbers, suggesting that DC's not actually any worse than it's ever been (that they haven't actually fired any female creators, it's just that they're not on the #1 issues of the New 52) but that it's still pretty bad.

News:

Author Topic: Funnybooks (Read 170166 times)