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Upbeat ComicsPro Confab Generates Optimism


Although faced with big questions—the economy, print vs. digital, and Diamond's evolving policies—the mood at last week's ComicsPRO retailer meeting was very upbeat…and why not? Led by unprecedented sales for the Watchmen graphic novel and Marvel's issue of Spider-Man co-starring Barack Obama, comics sales have remained stable throughout a period of worldwide recession. Rather than hunkering down, retailers and publishers alike are moving forward with new initiatives.

The four day annual convention brought together about 100 retailers, all members of ComicsPRO, a 5-year-old organization dedicated to uniting the comics retail segment to address issues and solve problems. According to ComicsPRO Board member and event organizer Chris Powell, who runs Lone Star Comics in Dallas, attendance was up 20% from last year, and overall membership in the organization is up by 40%.

ComicsPRO board member Rick Lowell, of Casablanca Comics in Portland, ME, was impressed so many retailers took the time to attend a four-day show in the current economic climate. "We haven't had the big hit that other sectors of the economy have seen, and the various conventions are going strong. Obviously, there is still a strong interest in what we have to offer and people are positioning themselves to take advantage of that interest."

Another board member, Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience in San Francisco echoed this upbeat assessment. While sales at individual stores have shown varying degrees of growth or shrinkage, "I think the fact that even amongst the stores that were down came to a meeting like this to get involved in the industry speaks pretty well to long term prospects."


First New England Webcomics Weekend a Big Success

Over 500 webcomics creators and fans congregated in Easthampton, MA for a show that was part learning symposium, part comic convention, part love-in.

Korean House Debuts Manga Bios in U.S.

Korean publisher Dasan Books is setting up Joyful Stories Press, a U.S. children's imprint with plans to release a series of manga-style biographies of famous Americans.

Guibert Revisits War in The Photographer

First Second Books and artist Emmanuel Guibert have again teamed up to bring to the U.S. graphic novel market another tale of a life shaped by war, The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders.
more on comics
Bigfoot causes chaos on the moon in this excerpt from Brian Sendelbach's absurd underground comic Smell of Steve, collected in the new book Planet of Beer due out from Dark Horse on April 15.
Click above for the full preview.
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Chmakova's Nightschool is First In Its Class

One of a handful of non-Japanese original manga creators who have achieved both critical and commercial success, Svetlana Chmakova is now releasing the first volume of Nightschool, a new original manga series that will be published by Yen Press in April. The series is also one of the first original graphic novels to debut in Yen Plus, a hefty, monthly magazine anthology serializing Yen Press's OEL, Japanese and Korean manga/manhwa titles.

Humbug
Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Al Jaffee and various. Fantagraphics, $60 (476p) ISBN 978-1-56097-933-3

MAD's early years have been justly lauded for their japing assault on postwar American culture, but this outstanding two-volume boxed set reflects the history of comedy in the period after staff stars like Kurtzman jumped ship in 1956. Humbug, whose mere 11 monthly issues published from 1957–1958 are all collected here, was a refreshing if little-noticed seat-of-the-pants hybrid of MAD-style buffoonery and a tony wit that sadly never found its place. Read today, Humbug seems a time capsule from when comedy was entering its drier, postvaudevillian period; comedians still wore ties and were expected to if not attend college at least have read a book or two. The magazine's mix of chaos and control—Kurtzman's Cecil B. DeMille–sized comedic crowd scenes set against Larry Siegel's pitch-perfect literary satires—creates an uneasy balance that almost necessitated a short shelf life, much in the same manner as National Lampoon (which years later briefly picked up the mantle that Humbug threw down). The set might not be best for end-to-end reading (11 issues is a heavy dose, with all those Sputnik and Have Gun, Will Travel references) but for dry cocktail laughs and low schoolboy snorts, it's hard to think of a better pair of books to have at your nightstand. (Mar.)
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"We never dreamed that we'd picked the election of the century. If we'd known then we probably would have ordered steaks instead of beer and French fries."

 —literary agent Bob Mecoy on the making of '08, Dan Goldman and Michael Crowley's graphic diary-in-comics of the 2008 presidential campaign. From the L.A. Times

March 25, 2009
  • Britten & Brulightly (Metropolitan Books)
  • Funny Misshapen Body (Touchstone)
  • Gakuen Prince Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
  • Gankutsuou Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1: Legacy (Marvel)
  • Gurren Lagann Vol. 1 (Bandai)
  • March on Earth Vol.1 (CMX)
  • Samurai 7 Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
  • Utahime: The Songstress (DMP)
  • A Wind Named Amnesia / Invader Summer (Dark Horse)

  • DC Launches Wednesday Comics Weekly
  • New Leadership at CBLDF
  • Viz Takes Entire NYT Lists
  • US, Japan Synch Anime Releases
  • Morning Manga Winners
  • Spider-Girl Returns Online
  • Star Trek Movie Comic Goes Mobile
  • Humbug Comes to The Strand
  • First Cosplay Party At Japan Society
  • SVA Thesis Show Opens

PW Comics Week
Editors: Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald
Contributing Editors: Douglas Wolk and Laura Hudson
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