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Because you could hardly Balti-less!
Okay, that was weak. But I'm only on my second cup of coffee here.
And apparently there's a contest too, over at Comics Waiting Room. Check it out. I would, but I'm not allowed to win, so I figure, why bother?
1. The first chapter of THE THIRSTY is lettered and done. You can see it if you track me down in Baltimore.
2. The Sacramento airport offers free wireless, unlike seemingly every hotel I stay in. I should stay in airports instead...
3. When you gamble, you sometimes lose. You sometimes even look foolish for having gambled.
4. Sometimes no answer is better than any old answer.
5. I've been to the east coast...four times. Ever.
6. I've been told to get crab cakes somewhere in particular, but I don't have that message any more, and wonder if I'll even have time to go.
7. I'll be underdressed for the Harveys, should I go.
8. A deal is never dead until it's dead.
9. Either you have to sell to your target audience or you have to secure a new one.
10. This takes some time. Don't even try if you're not going to work on it for three years.
11. I wish I was there, but I'm not yet.
12. It costs $25 if your bags are even one pound overweight.
13. Books are, sadly, heavy.
SUPERMAN story? From a 1985 annual?
Sure you do.
GeniusboyFiremelon: When Words Collide BONUS: Morrison's Very First Superman Story
Spotted at Geniusboy Firemelon, where else.
Could inner zombie be controlling your brain? - Science- msnbc.com
Inner zombies, man! It's all right there! They're COMING! You're NEXT!
See, that's the story behind the story with the ALL-STAR BATMAN #10 (it's #10, right?) kerfluffle. The badly printed black bars covering the naughty words aren't what folks are talking about, two weeks out. The language? Folks, this is SIN CITY BATMAN. If you didn't figure that out with the first issue, then there's not much I can do for you. Though honestly, I'd be more interested in it if Miller himself was providing the art.
But back to street dates. Now, why would a comic that's destined to be pulped drive debate over street dates? Because not all retailers got the book before it was supposed to be pulped. It's okay, you can let that roll around your head a moment. There's plenty of retailers who never got a copy, but not before word went out that the run was to be destroyed. Most of 'em were on the west coast, as I understand it.
Now, why is this a deal? Because any books that survive the pulping will be genuine collector's items. That's not something that happens every day in comics, even with variant covers and other attempts to manufacture collectability, rarity. The truth is, if you want a recent mainstream back issue, you can find it without too much trouble. Generally. There's still the occasional book like WALKING DEAD that has sufficient demand to drive up the cost of back issues, at least in the early run. But UNCANNY X-MEN #500? You'll still be able to find it in a year or two for not all that much over cover, if not in a bargain bin.
Now, a copy of ALL-STAR BATMAN #10 that gets away from this purge? That'll be an actual rarity (though how rare, I'm not entirely sure; I understand there's quite a few on E-Bay.) Maybe not on the order of magnitude of an inverted Air Post stamp, but still, rare. Or at least uncommon. And by this, I mean that not every shop will have one. Some folks will stand to make a little extra money on this. Maybe even enough for a nice dinner or a bottle of a little something something. Or covering the heating bill as temperatures drop.
Of course, these are books that shouldn't even be sold. The order went out to shred 'em. Theoretically, they should all be in landfills or at least hidden away for a discreet interval. But the fact is, they aren't. They're out there for people to sell and buy if they want. Which, rightfully, upsets the folks who either played by the rules or didn't even get the books in the first place, but really the former. And this example has re-kindled discussion of street dates for comics.
A street date, if you didn't know, is basically a reverse-expiration date. You can't sell a book before the announced publishing date. That's how it works with prose and music and videos. Protip: street dates get broken in all those businesses, too. Back in the old days, comic stores got the new stock shipped to them on Thursdays and they got put out for sale on Friday. I used to hang around after hours and chat with the owners of Comic Quest in El Toro (still there, but a different location and different owners) while they shelved the books that I'd buy the next day. But I often got to buy them that night for cash on the barrel head (didn't have a credit card back then, nor did I need one for a week of comics).
The perception now is that street dates hold even greater importance in this single-provider, PREVIEWS-driven, internet-frenzy, short-shelf-life, age of comics. I don't have a lot of room to argue a counter position. When Wednesday is the holy day of most comics fans and you as a retailer by gosh better have those new comics out or that business is gone, then there's a definite sense of urgency in terms of getting the dates right.
So in principle, I'm behind a street date for comics. But there's a number of problems, some of which are pretty big. The gotta-have-it-now urgency of the weekly comics rush may indeed tempt some fans and sellers to jump those dates and be the first on their block with the new books. The pressure would be real and on both sides of the counter as it were. To be completely honest, most of the retailers I talk to are responsible and not interested in jumping the gun--but they're often exceptional when it comes to comics retail.
The other problem is with the volume of (semi-) monthly titles that one has to wrangle and keep track of. Maybe that's less of an issue than I think it is, but I don't think so. Street dates for say, the new Kanye West CD are probably a lot easier to maintain (though to be fair, with a popular artist, there may indeed be extra incentives to break that date as well.) West only puts out a new CD, what, once a year? Every two years? Now, the record company as a whole might put out a bunch, but when it comes to serial management of "individual titles" there's a lot less regular work to do. There's more groundwork to do when it happens, but it doesn't happen every month. Or year.
Nobody but me cares when the next Bardo Pond or Roy Montgomery or Steven Smith CD hits the street. Consequently, there's probably a lot less demand (and therefore perceived reward) to break street dates with smaller, independent artists. So I'd expect that there'd be more...temptation...to try to get your hands on a copy of SECRET INVASION early instead of a LOVE AND ROCKETS (oh, my bad, they don't do a monthly serial any more.)
Now, if there's no dis-incentive for breaking street dates, then yeah, they're gonna be broken left and right. But if there was a chance that there'd be some real sanction for retailers who broke it (and yes, that happens in the non-comics world, but again, not enough to put a real end to breaking street dates), then maybe they have a chance of sticking.
I'm not holding my breath on this issue. Street dates, should they prove workable, would make retailers lives a lot easier. But then so was the idea of announcing what was happening in comics three months ahead of time. And where did most of the leaks of upcoming storylines start? Retailers who leaked them to readers. Announcing that sort of thing ahead of time isn't nearly as toxic when you're not dealing with a longform serial, like with blurbs of prose books getting out (as they're *supposed* to do). But in comics when you're trying to balance year-long stories and keep them fresh and surprising, and you have to tell folks what's happening three months before the book comes out so you can entice them to order the book, man, that's problematic on so many levels.
Just another of the "dreadful" things that happens in publishing, I guess.
As for street dates, I don't see them being workable until comics shift out of a regular serial format. But that's a bigger change than I can safely get my head around just yet.
Wherein I ramble about what I did over the summer "break", as well as the importance of backstory and compelling badguys.
Got the news yesterday, but haven't had much chance to comment on it yet. Richard Wright, keyboardist and arranger for (The) Pink Floyd passed away recently. Though it's uncool to admit (even reserved) affection for dinosaur rock bands, Pink Floyd have ever been one of my favorites, though I'll admit that the interestingness of their music matched an inverted track to their popularity (at least in the US when I was a kid).
But Wright's keyboard playing was a foundation of the band, through its entire existence, from the mid 60s of Swinging London through psychedelia ascendant, stoner rock, the odd doldrums of the late seventies (for which ANIMALS is a great antidote) and up until just recently where a reunited Floyd performed as part of, geez, I want to say Live Aid 8 or something. Only Nick Mason and Richard Wright survived as original members (there was a guitarist before David Gilmour, remember?) once Roger Waters broke with the band in the late eighties. Syd Barrett might be Pink, but Wright was pinker than most, should you catch my drift.
Running "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" currently. Odd that what was ostensibly a tribute song to Barrett should serve so well as an example of the foundational role that Wright played in the band.
I'll be at the Baltimore Comic-Con at the end of the month. Should be interesting. Hopefully will be able to make a final announcement regarding the serial publication of THE THIRSTY there, if not beforehand.
I will definitely have lettered art from the entirety of the first chapter of THE THIRSTY while there (unless I break an arm or something.) Just wrapped up writing the final chapter yesterday (but will head in for some tweaks before it goes to Gervasio and Jok.) Picked up a new lettering typeface from Comic Craft a couple weeks back, and it's different than the first one I used, but works in the same aesthetic.
Anyways, look for me there, in the artist's alley, I believe. Get a look at the next book before anyone else does. And if you're an editor (like they scour blogs looking for talent...) then I'm more than happy to talk to you about freelance jobs. Looking forward to the show, even if all I've seen of Baltimore is HOMICIDE.
No, I haven't watched THE WIRE. I know, I know. Someone buy me a month off so I can just take it all in, please.
YouTube's compression makes me a sad panda sometimes.
An Eternal Thought in the Mind of Godzilla: Godzilla Just Horsing Around
Seven-year-old me would have been appalled. In my dotage, however, I find these pictures quite charming.
PAGE 3
PANEL 1
Long panel. Joseph, trying to see who’s there. Shadows seem to be moving behind him, but they’re indistinct.
JOSEPH Who’s there? I can hear ya breathin’.PANEL 2 Joseph, leaning in to some nearby shrubs, mistaking them for a person. The shadow is more distinct now, looking like a man in silhouette.
JOSEPH Aw come on out. Maybe you got a little bust-head on ya?PANEL 3 Joseph, pulling back from the bushes. The shadow is tighter, as if materializing into a human form. It’s a powerful man, long hair, handsome features.
JOSEPH Hmmph.PANEL 4 The man materializing behind Joseph reaches two arms out, as if to seize him. His mouth is open, revealing long fangs glinting in the moonlight. There’s something savage about him, even in his noble human form. Keep most of him in shadow, don’t want a full reveal, but convey as much information as you can with him in the dark. This, by the way, is RAPHAEL GUZMAN de MEDINA, who we’ll see a lot of later on.
JOSEPH You be like that. I can get my own solace.PANEL 5 Pull back, long shot on the scrubland in the moonlight.
JOSEPH Hey!JOSEPH
AAAAHHHH…*