Reviews of graphic novels and illustrated non-fiction, manga, anime, comics.
2008 Graphic Novel Sales Up 5%; Manga Off 17% by Calvin Reid - 02/06/2009
Total graphic novel sales rose 5% in 2008, its slowest growth since 2001, hurt by a 17% decline in manga sales. Overall graphic novels sales in the U.S. and Canada for 2008 were $395 million. More
Diamond’s New Minimums Shape a Tough Comics Market by Ada Price - 06/30/2009
Earlier this year, Diamond Comics Distributors, the dominant distributor to the roughly 3,000 store comics shop market, raised its minimum sales order and if a comic doesn’t reach the new advance minimum sales order, Diamond will not distribute it. The change sparked an immediate outcry from small comics presses, self-publishers and some retailers, who complained that the new minimum forces them out of the marketplace.
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New ICv2 Confab on Comics and Media Crossovers by Calvin Reid - 06/30/2009
Milton Griepp, longtime comics and pop culture business analyst and CEO of ICv2, a pop culture trade news website, decided to take a closer look at the powerful connections between comics, the Hollywood film industry, TV and the videogame industry and has organized the Comics and Media Conference to be held on July 22, just before preview night at the San Diego Comic-con International. The new conference will focus on the lucrative business of turning comics into other kinds of media.
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Scars and Stripes Forever: Peter Bagge’s Everybody Is Stupid Except For Me. by Steve Bunche - 06/29/2009
This July, Fantagraphics Books once more unleashes the works of best-selling Hate comics creator Peter Bagge in Everybody Is Stupid Except For Me (And Other Astute Observations), a decade’s worth of cartoon reporting for Reason magazine. Armed with a Libertarian-leaning viewpoint and his signature bemused approach to his exploration of human foibles, Bagge skewers the early-twenty-first century American zeitgeist.
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Graphic Novel Lifts Curtain on Modeling Business by Van Jensen - 06/29/2009 Petite model Isobella Jade has already written a memoir, Almost 5’4”, and now she's written a fictional graphic novel based on her experiences in modeling. Model Life, illustrated by Jazmin Ruotolo, will be published by Soft Skull Press in October.More
Heroes Con Holds Steady in Tough Economy by Van Jensen and Cheryl Harris - 06/22/2009
As a banking center of the southeast, Charlotte, N.C., has been hit hard by the economic downturn. So several retailers said they were pleased that sales at the 2009 Heroes Con either held level or dipped only slightly from previous years. “It’s no secret that Shelton Drumm runs one of the best shows in the country,” said Boom! Studios publisher Ross Richie. “Even in an economic downturn the fans came out and great fans they are."
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Henson Co., Archaia Ink Graphic Novel Pact by Calvin Reid - 06/22/2009
Indie comics publisher Archaia has reached a multiyear agreement with the Jim Henson Company to produce a series of comic book serials and graphic novels based on popular Henson properties as well as creating new and original co-branded properties. Henson and Archaia will jointly put together the creative teams for each property; the first title will be released this fall.
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Yet Another Evangelion Manga Spinoff by Erin Finnegan - 06/22/2009
In June Dark Horse will launch The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga series by Takahashi Osamu, the latest spin-off of the immensely popular, award winning Neon Genesis Evangelion animation series, which has spawned two previous manga series, several video games, three feature films, and countless toys and figures. 2009 marks the 14th anniversary of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise in Japan.
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