After working for months on a client’s website, we finally got it to (their vision of) perfect, nailing all the brief points e.g. modern, interactive, etc.
A day later…
Client: We need to fix the website.
Me: Did something happen?
Client: It’s not centred when I print it.
Client: I threw out that black pen, it was out of ink.
Me: What black pen?
Client: The one that was lying on your tablet.
Me: You threw out my $150 Wacom pen?
Client: I tried writing with it and it didn’t work. It must’ve been out of ink.
Browser game Attack on Titan Wings of Counterattack Online has been keeping busy. Following the recent Attack on Titan Junior High promotion and last weekend's Defense of Trost event, featuring plenty of Rico Brzenka, it's introduced new, kid versions of the Survey Corp's Erwin and Hange.
------
Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
Pixar TV special “Toy Story That Time Forgot” poster by Mike Mignola (Hellboy) for Comic Con 2014.
(+ Incredibles poster by Mignola for Comic Con 2004, in memorial)
kateSo many sci-fi titles, so great! I think I'm most curious about Tokyo Ghost (I love Sean Murphy's artwork), Southern Cross (ditto on Becky Cloonan's art), and Descender. Also I'm glad to see a title like Under the Mountains which is decidedly un Image-y.
by Zachary Clemente
At Image’s pre-SDCC Expo,12 announcements were made, we covered it live, but here are the full details:
Rick Remender and Sean Gordon Murphy’s TOKYO GHOST:
TOKYO GHOST welcomes readers to the isles of New Los Angeles, 2189. Humanity has become nothing more than a sea of consumers, ravenous and starving wolves, sick from toxic contamination, who have to borrow, beg, and steal for the funds to buy, buy, buy their next digital fix. Getting a thrill, a distraction from reality, is the only thing left to live for. Entertainment is the biggest industry, the drug everyone needs, and gangsters run it all. And who do these gangsters turn to when they need the “law” enforced? Led Dent and Debbie Decay, constables of the law, which is a nice way to say “brutal killing machines.” The duo are about to be presented with an assignment that will force them out of the decay of LA and into the mysterious lost nation of Tokyo.
Marian Churchland, Claire Gibson, and Sloane Leong’s FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS:
Set in the isolated country of Akhara, rival houses face off in the struggle for political power and military security in FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS. Three unlikely figures—a lord’s daughter, a disgraced knight, and a runaway thief—will change the fate of their world, but the only hope of peace may lie with the mystery shrouded goblins and witches, and the ancient powers they command.
Joe Casey and Paul Maybury’s VALHALLA MAD:
VALHALLA MAD introduces a set of brand new characters: the Glorious Knox, Greghorn the Battlebjorn and Jhago the Irritator. The series depicts this
particular trio of fun-loving gods’ return to Earth—Manhattan, specifically—to drink and party and revel in their resplendent godhood after many decades of being away. Needless to say, they find a very different world than the one they last visited.
John Arcudi and James Harren’s RUMBLE:
RUMBLE is a strange book, that’s for sure—like a scarecrow-Conan fighting in a Louis C.K. TV show directed by David Fincher—with a supporting cast of odd characters, many of whom aren’t even human.
Ray Fawkes’ INTERSECT:
Bodies shift and merge, warring with themselves. Blood rains from the skies. A child’s song is translated into toxic, thought-destroying whispers. Everything is changing. Everything is wrong. This is the world of INTERSECT.
Tom Neely and Keenan Marshall Keller’s THE HUMANS:
Apart, they are nothing… deemed by society as outcasts, misfits, losers, no good punks! But together, they are THE HUMANS! Follow Bobby, Johnny, and all The HUMANS as they fight and fly down the road to oblivion on a ride filled with chains, sex, leather, denim, hair, blood, bananas and chrome.
Gabriel Hardman’s KINSKI and Hardman and Corinna Bechko’s INVISIBLE REPUBLIC:
KINSKI, previously a digital-only collection, both written and drawn by Hardman, promises to be a quirky crime thriller about Joe, a down-on-his-luck salesman who finds a cute puppy. The thing is, this puppy already has a home. What starts as a simple rescue mission from neglectful owners quickly escalates into a righteous crusade. Hardman announced a second project to be executed with frequent collaborator Bechko (HEATHENTOWN, Savage Hulk, Star Wars: Legacy). Described as a gritty sci-fi series, INVISIBLE REPUBLIC explores the secret history of one man’s rise to power after an unspeakable act of violence elevates him to folk-hero status on a war-torn planet seeking independence.
Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger’s SOUTHERN CROSS:
Now boarding: SOUTHERN CROSS, tanker flight 73 to Titan. Alex Braith is on board retracing her sister’s steps to the refinery moon, hoping to collect her remains and find some answers. The questions keep coming though—How did her sister die? Where did her cabin mate disappear to? Who is that creep across the hall? And why does she always feel like she’s being watched?
Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s DESCENDER:
DESCENDER will explore one young robot’s struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet.
Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein’s DRIFTER:
Mankind’s colonization of the galaxy has left countless planets mined bare and lifeless in DRIFTER. A space transport crashes onto a backwater world whose unique properties set the stage for a story that combines the dark wonder of a strange and alien landscape with the struggles of an abandoned and lawless frontier town.
Kurt Busiek and Ben Dewey’s TOOTH AND CLAW:
In TOOTH AND CLAW, a secret conclave of wizards brings a legendary champion back through time to save the world, with disastrous consequences. Swords, sorcery, animal-wizards, gods, empires, golems of radioactive decay, crystalline badlands, con women, ancient armories, young love, mystery, blood and death and treachery and destiny…TOOTH AND CLAW is an epic story you won’t want to miss out on.
Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s INJECTION:
INJECTION explores how loud and strange the world is becoming, and the sense that it’s all bubbling into chaos—a chaos poised to become the Next New Normal—and that we did this to ourselves without thinking for a second about how we were ever going to live inside it.
“Each and every year, it is our goal to grow the comics marketplace with new creativity, and this current slate of talent is intent on doing exactly that,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “It’s nothing short of thrilling to be involved with so much unique and inventive talent, and I couldn’t be more proud of the work these amazing men and women are developing as we finish out this year and head into the next. We don’t pass out assignments or dictate directions here, we ask writers and artists what they want to do and let their creativity guide us. For some, relying on so much new material might seem like an uncertain way forward, but I prefer to look at every venture into uncharted territory as yet another path to the future. Thanks to these creators and more, that future is looking brighter than ever.”
As always, keep your eyes keenly trained on The Beat for any and all coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2014!
Behold the Lego Ultimate Collector's Series Batman Tumbler, a 1,869-piece vehicle built to minifig (mini-land?) scale. That means it's huge: 15 by 9 inches long, with a gorgeous interior cockpit. It'll come with Dark Knight Batman and Joker (the Heath Ledger version) minifigs for $200 this September.
Last week, Amazon informed us that for ten dollars per month, Kindle users can have unlimited access to over six hundred thousand books in its library. But it shouldn't cost a thing to borrow a book, Amazon, you foul, horrible, profiteering enemies of civilization.
For a monthly cost of zero dollars, it is possible to read six million e-texts at the Open Library, right now. On a Kindle, or any other tablet or screen thing. You can borrow up to five titles for two weeks at no cost, and read them in-browser or in any of several other formats (not all titles are supported in all formats, but most offer at least a couple): PDF, .mobi, Kindle or ePub (you'll need to download the Bluefire Reader—for free—in order to read ePub format on Kindle.) I currently have on loan Alan Moore's Watchmen, Original Sin by P.D. James, and The Dead Zone by Stephen King.
Perhaps you would prefer to download books onto your Kindle, and keep them there permanently. In that case, please hie yourself over to Project Gutenberg, which has been offering free public domain e-texts since 1971. There, you may download any of over forty-five thousand books onto your Kindle. Or one of thousands of Librivox audiobook recordings made by volunteers, all in the public domain. (R.I.P. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg and one of the Internet's greatest benefactors.)
You can do anything you like with the public domain books and recordings you download from Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive: Make a literary Girl Talk-type mashup with them, hide Satanic messages in there via "backmasking," make letterpress reprints of the books and illuminate them by hand with gold leaf like a medieval monk and sell the results on Etsy. It's all free and legal. That is what "public domain" means. (By the bye, I wrote to the PR contact supplied by Amazon in the subject press release, and asked how many of these six hundred thousand titles offered through Kindle Unlimited are in the public domain and therefore, already free to the public, but did not receive an answer.)
Are you interested in borrowing the most recent titles? Perhaps you belong to a public library. I live in Los Angeles, and am a grateful and loyal patron of the Los Angeles Public Library, and of all the lucky things in this world, I live about ten minutes' drive away from our gloriously beautiful and fantastic main library downtown. But maybe I don't feel like driving ten minutes—in which case I can use my Kindle to check out e-books from the library, zillions of them. There are all different e-book programs, such as OverDrive, and countless recent popular books to check out, including Insurgent, which is the sequel to that daft Divergent book. (I saw the movie on the plane, I don't know! I can't help myself.)
Maria Bustillos is a writer and critic in Los Angeles. She also started an auction site for rare books, once upon a dot com.
The post Seriously, Fuck You, "Kindle Unlimited" appeared first on The Awl.
Just because this is another comic about social media in real life, that doesn't make it any less funny or any less spot on.Me: Since we are on such a tight schedule, could you please be more precise when giving me feedback on this?
Client: It needs to look a bit nicer.
Included with this year’s roster of new pilots from Disney TV Animation is the announcement that an animated TV special based on the classic Disney theme park attraction, Haunted Mansion, is in the works. Legendary horror genre artist and children’s book illustrator Gris Grimly is attached to executive produce and art direct with Scott Peterson executive producing, story editing and writing and Joshua Pruett consulting producing and writing, both of “Phineas and Ferb.”
Gris Grimly’s unique water color inspired illustration style can be found in Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet and his own Wicked Nursery Rhymes series. He has numerous projects under his belt including music videos, children’s books, and is rumored to be working on a stop motion version of Pinocchio from Guillermo del Toro.
The studio also extended its overall deal with Emmy Award-winning “Phineas and Ferb” co-creator and executive producer Dan Povenmire for development on new projects. Recently nominated for its ninth Emmy Award, “Phineas and Ferb” currently airs on Disney Channel and Disney XD with the television special “Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars” set to debut later this month.
“Over the past few years we have focused our strategy on making Disney Television Animation the home for the strongest talent in the business,” said Eric Coleman, Senior Vice President, Original Series, Disney Television Animation. “We have steadily built our roster with both animation veterans and fresh voices, and have fostered an environment where artists support and inspire one another. This group will help us continue to deliver the great storytelling and beloved characters that the Disney animation legacy is known for.”
It’s the 45th anniversary of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, so it’s nice to see some extra attention beying paid to it. I’d still like to see that planned feature film from Guillermo del Toro. According to a recent Reddit AMA, he promises he’s working on it.
Other shows in development below the jump
New pilots in production are:
“Billy Dilley’s Super Duper Subterranean Summer”
Creative Talent: Director Aaron Springer, whose credits include the Emmy Award-winning “Mickey Mouse” cartoon shorts and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” is creator.
Synopsis: Summer break takes an unexpected turn when Zak and Marsha end up stuck in uncharted land at the center of the earth with eccentric classmate Billy Dilley.
“Very Important House”
Creative Talent: Jhonen Vasquez, creator of cult favorite “Invader Zim” and character designer Jenny Goldberg (“Rick and Morty,” “Bravest Warriors”) are co-creators.
Synopsis: 11-year-old Frolie moves into the Very Important House and suddenly finds herself in the role of caretaker of the universe.
“Douglas Furs”
Creative Talent: Highly-regarded illustrator and former Sub Pop Records art director Jesse LeDoux and actor/writer Matt Olsen (“Sly Cooper”) are co-creators.
Synopsis: Deep in the woods, beyond human reach, exists the thriving animal community of Douglas where Barry the bear, the world’s least-handy handyman, takes it upon himself to fix all the town’s problems.
New short-form series in production:
“Future-Worm!”
Creative Talent: Director Ryan Quincy of “South Park” and IFC’s “Out There” is creator.
Synopsis: A boy creates a time machine lunch box and befriends a fearless worm from the future.
Disney Developing ‘Haunted Mansion’ Animated TV Special originally posted on
The Disney Blog - Disney News and Information -- by fans, for fans . If you're reading this on a different site, please click the above link to read the original story. Thank you.
kateGah this makes me wish I had a smartphone.
For the past few months, I’ve been sharing many details about my favorite new shopping destination at Walt Disney World Resort – the Marketplace Co-Op in Downtown Disney Marketplace. Containing six different boutiques, this location serves as our testing space for new products, retail concepts and guest experiences. I think my favorite boutique inside the shop is D-Tech on Demand as it combines rapid printing technology with great artwork to create personalized electronic accessories for guests. I recently spoke with merchandiser Kevin-Michael Lezotte to get the inside scoop on how D-Tech on Demand works.
Currently, we offer cases for the following phones – iPhone 4/4S, iPhone 5/5S, iPhone 5C, Samsung Galaxy SIII and Samsung Galaxy S4.
I loved watching how quickly cases are printed as the team can print several cases at one time. The printer uses UV ink which dries immediately and requires no cooling time. As soon as my case was finished, I covered my mobile phone.
Kevin-Michael shared that it’s easy to add additional designs to the D-Tech on Demand system. We recently introduced 12 new designs featuring characters from Disney’s “Frozen.” Four of those designs are only found at the Marketplace Co-Op as seen in the image above.
Fans of Disney Villains, Donald Duck, Pluto, Figment, or Chip and Dale should look for additional artwork being added to the location later this summer.
I would love to see which case you select. Use #DisneySide if you share an image of your phone case on a social network like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Showing My Disney Side Using Rapid Printing Technology at D-Tech on Demand in Marketplace Co-Op by Steven Miller: Originally posted on the Disney Parks Blog
Gundam G no Reconguista character-designs by Kenichi Yoshida (Eureka Seven), who is also one of the greatest japanese animators (he worked a lot for Ghibli).
You would have thought by now that Mario would know that mushrooms are bad, m'kay?
Kelsey Kronmiller, a graphic designer, designed this amazing LEGO aquarium, which is about 90% done and "entirely coated in "Krylon Fusion," a clear enamel recommended by aquarists to protect fish." I love all the little details. This is such a cute build and totally makes me want to build a Lego aquarium.
I turned forty last year.
When I was a kid, forty seemed like a lifetime away. I didn’t think about forty all that much, but when I did I imagined I’d have life figured out. By the time I got that old, I’d have cracked the code.
My actual fortieth year has been a blur of ink and airplane trips and diapers. Most days feel chaotic, but it’s a satisfying sort of chaos. And while I definitely haven’t cracked the code, I have learned a few things along the way.
That’s why, when I get asked for advice by aspiring cartoonists, I feel that I have something to offer. The following is for those of you considering a career in comic books. I hope you find it helpful.
[Read More]
1. Decide what’s more important to you: expressing yourself or earning a living through art.
Money and self-expression aren’t mutually exclusive in the long run, but in the short term they usually are. Books are a difficult way to make money. Independent, creator-owned comic books? Near impossible, especially when you’re just starting off.
If your primary objective is to make money through art, I’d suggest switching to a related field: animation, graphic design, web design. You’ll most likely be using your talents executing other people’s visions, but these sorts of jobs can still offer enough creative elbow room to be satisfying.
Don’t get me wrong—becoming a successful animator or graphic designer can be just as difficult as becoming a successful cartoonist, but at least you’ll have a chance at working for a company that offers health insurance.
But if what you really want is to get a deeply personal vision out of your head and onto paper, get a day job. Get a day job you like, one that leaves you with enough time and energy to work on your dream project on the side. As I’ve expressed in a previous post, I’m a big fan of day jobs. I’ve taught at the high school or college level for my entire cartooning career. My day job isn’t just a source of income, it’s also a source of inspiration for my books. Interacting with a variety of people on a daily basis naturally leads to stories.
2. Explore different ways of making comics.
When I began drawing comics, I drew on Bristol board, using a brush and a bottle of ink. Why? Because that’s how Stan Lee and John Buscema told me to do it in their book How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. After meeting other cartoonists, however, I realized that The Marvel Way isn’t the only way. If you talk to ten cartoonists, you will probably find that they use ten different sets of tools. Heck, if you talk to one cartoonist at ten different points in her career, you will probably find that she’s gone through ten different sets of tools. There is no one right way to make comics, and art tools are personal. Experiment, read books besides How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, get pointers from friends. Especially that last one. Nothing educates you on cartooning like having cartoonist friends. Which brings me to my next point:
3. Find a community of like-minded people.
I was lucky enough to fall in with a shockingly talented group of cartoonists when we were all in our twenties: Derek Kirk Kim, Lark Pien, Jason Shiga, Jesse Hamm, Thien Pham, Ben Catmull, Jason Thompson, and a bunch of others. We used to hang out once a week. We would draw together, critique each other’s writing, talk shop. I never went to art school, so my friends were my comics education. I learned about storytelling from them. I tabled with them at conventions. I even got publishing deals through them. Derek Kirk Kim introduced me to my current editor.
Making comics can be a lonely affair because you spend most of your days cooped up in your studio, alone at your drawing table. But the truth is, success often occurs within the context of a community. You have to find that community, grow it, and nurture it.
4. Go write. Go draw. Right now.
Have a groundbreaking idea for a graphic novel? That’s great, but I’ve got to be honest: Ideas are cheap. Everybody has at least one groundbreaking idea for a story. Most people have several.
But most people don’t have the determination to do something about it. If you actually sit down and write your story, if you draw it out in panels, you put yourself several steps ahead. Set goals for yourself. Give yourself a few weeks or a few months to mull over an idea, to do sketches of it in your sketchbook, to talk to friends about it. But once those week or months are over, you’ve got to move on to the actual writing and drawing, no matter how scared you may feel. You have to force yourself to do it.
A great idea that’s still stuck in your head might seem big and important, but in reality it’s a small and feeble thing. A successfully executed great idea, on the other hand? One that’s made the journey out of your head and onto something tangible? That’s powerful enough to change the world.
So go do it. Punch your excuses in the face.
Go write. Go draw. Right now.
Gene Luen Yang’s first book with First Second, American Born Chinese, is now in print in over ten languages and was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Printz Award. Yang’s other works include the popular comics adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the New York Times Best-Selling graphic novel diptych Boxers & Saints. The Shadow Hero, the story of the first Asian-American superhero is his most recent graphic novel. It is being published in six e-issues, starting in February, 2014; the sixth and final issue will be available on Tuesday, July 15th.
“The Deer God is a breathtaking 3d pixel art game that will challenge your religion and your platforming skills.”
You play as a stag, it has pretty music and everything is so so pretty.
This game is beautiful and you should pledge on its kickstarter- it has only a month remaining!Correction - 7 Days. 5k from goal.
$3,500 to go in a week!
Pixar’s next animated short Lava will have it’s world premiere at Hiroshima International Animation Festival in Japan. Pixar released a new image from the animated short film in advance of the film festival. Woven together into a musical love story, Lava tells the tale of a volcano, Uku, who is looking for love among the ocean waters surrounding the Hawaiian islands.
That’s Uku in the image above. He looks wise, lovable, and powerful. Perfect for a volcano. We’re also told that some new animation techniques are allowing for very realistic animation of plants and animals in the film. Hard to tell from the preview image.
Director James Murphy recently spoke about the inspiration for the animated short. He was honeymooning in Hawaii some twenty years ago and was so taken with Hawaiian culture that he learned to play the ukulele. Later, he wrote the song that would be the basis for Lava’s story.
Lava will debut in front of Pixar’s upcoming feature, Inside Out, on June 19, 2015. The song James composed will be performed by Hawaiian recording artists Kuana Torres Kahele and Napua Greig.
Previously: First Details on Pixar’s next animated short released.
First Image Released from Next Pixar Short – LAVA originally posted on
The Disney Blog - Disney News and Information -- by fans, for fans . If you're reading this on a different site, please click the above link to read the original story. Thank you.
noxi:
Sailormoon by kenichi sonoda
From one of Kenichi Sonoda’s “Chousen Ame” series of doujinshi from the 90s (Fun fact: American artist Robert DeJesus was a contributor on some of them, along with other Japanese artists like Masaki Kajishima, one of the artists who created Tenchi Muyo!…This image is pretty tame, considering “Chousen Ame” is a very adult doujinshi line.)
I was asked not too long ago what was something I was proud of writing on The Beat, and it’s actually something I didn’t write. This post by political communications specialist Brett Schenker entitled Market Research Says 46.67% of Comic Fans are Female from February, was pretty groundbreaking. Why am I mentioning a six month old post? Well, people continue to quote it when they look for demographic information on comics readership, and it represents a solid benchmark in an area where there is shockingly little research. Schenker’s research via Facebook, which he’s graciously presented here, has been quoted in numerous articles and yesterday it was referenced in this Time.Com piece on the new female Thor. I tweeted it again and it got a whole new set of reactions on twitter from people who hadn’t seen it the first time.
But before talking about that let’s go back to Lady Thor. In the official Marvel PR about the new book, this bombshell was dropped:
THOR is the latest in the ever-growing and long list of female-centric titles that continues to invite new readers into the Marvel Universe. This female THOR is the 8th title to feature a lead female protagonist and aims to speak directly to an audience that long was not the target for Super Hero comic books in America: women and girls.
Now that coupled with the announcement of the book on The View indicates, ever to subtly, that this books was being marketed as something that actual women who are non-comics-averse might be curious about. I’ve seen some suggestions that there were big political machination behind all this, and I’m sure there’s a story there, but we’ll take it at face value for now. As I’ve indicated before, Marvel/Disney are big on customer info, and about a year ago they started being way more female reader friendly, so obviously something is happening.
Sue at DCWKA took the Marvel statement as the occasion for a much deserved victory lap:
Say what? I’m sorry what was that? Is Marvel actually saying they want female readers? That they are now targeting female readers?
Why yes they are.
It’s almost worth the amount of trolling, attacks, rape threats and other shit I’ve experienced to see this.
Of course, DC Comics also seems to be finally finding the female audience worthy of their attention. Nothing as clear cut as Marvel did above but the recent Batgirl respin and Gotham Academy are clearly going after that audience and I was told by folks close to those books that women are definitely are a target.
Two years ago Heidi McDonald wrote a great story (that I disagreed with) about how Marvel and DC would never truly [target] female readers.
But now? Something has changed at both publishers.
Is it real? Will it last? Who knows?
But I will say I am enjoying it.
It’s true that two years ago I felt that the place of superheroes as the great hope for boys entertainment at both WB and Disney meant that aiming them squarely at the male demographic was in their corporate interests. Since then, female consumership of all kinds of media has become a lot more obvious via social media and so maybe a dollar is a dollar. (See Box-Office Woes: Age and Gender Gap Helping Fuel Summer Decline.)
It is also possible that superheroes are just SO IRRESISTIBLE to EVERYONE that even girl cooties can’t destroy boy interest in them. The success of Marvel’s movies would seem to be the prime evidence of that.
Anyway, yesterday was a busy day but I took a peek back at Brett’s original post and scanned the comments, which are a fleet of brittle ocean liners of denial in a troubled sea of floating demographic icebergs. These comments also aroused a new round of response on twitter, from dismay to agreement. But in the comments a matter was broached by Kurt Busiek that is far more telling, to me anyway: why the female readership of the comics medium dwindled so much in the 80s that it’s taken us 30 years to admit that it might actually exist.
They read early newspaper strips. They read early superhero comics. They certainly read romance comics and humor comics in the 40s and 50s and on through the 60s. (Trina Robbins‘s research deiscovered readership statements from the 50s that showed a bit more 50% of the comics readership was female.) They read Archies. They read later newspaper strips, in fact they read them to this day.
But of course, in the 70s, the newsstand distribution system for cheap comics dissolved, to be replaced by the direct sales market, a business run by passionate fans of mostly superhero comics, a group that was heavily male, as early fanzines show. The other day John Jackson Miller did a major analysis of Archie sales through the years (which got picked up by Fivethirtyeight.com, go John!) and it included this chart of Archie newsstand sales, according to Post Office statements:
Not too much to argue with there. Without newsstands and their broad, non fanatic readership, Archie sales struggled. And since the readership was significantly female, you can see right there where the girls went away.
We were left with a period, lasting to this day although drifting away as the dawn breaks up a fog, in which a factual situation that was demonstrably historically true—women reading comics—simply became nonexistent.
Scary, isn’t it?
I’m not sure why it is so, so important that the comics medium remain a boys club to so many men. Guys, you can read what you want and no one will ruin it just by liking Lucy Knisley or Moto Haggio. I think it’s fine to have boy-focused material like Batman or Spider-Man or whatever, as long as you don’t use boy focused material as “proof” that women don’t read comics. It’s like saying that just because guys overwhelmingly like Transformers movies, women don’t like any movies. It’s exactly like that.
Luckily, as I’ve said here many times, the internet has revealed some truths that gatekeeper media did its best to suppress. So now we see cartooning schools overwhelmingly female, conventions about 40% female, bestselling female cartoonists, award winning female cartoonists, popular female characters, and lots of women who demonstrably provably read and enjoy the comics medium. Are the numbers in Brett’s Facebook research writ in granite? No. But since FB mostly exists as a giant marketing tool, it’s kind of what this sort of research was made to do. It isn’t voodoo, it isn’t lies, it isn’t damn lies, it’s just statistics. Statistics which are generally born out by other demographics that we’re seeing.
@hoodedu @Comixace @bencomics I’ve done these typs of break downs for data we know, like conventions, or opening weekend for movies.
— Graphic Policy (@graphicpolicy) July 16, 2014
@hoodedu @Comixace @bencomics it matches up well, within 5% points pretty consistently.
— Graphic Policy (@graphicpolicy) July 16, 2014
Perhaps most amusing about all this is concern trolling by those who claim to want to get comics back to “the mainstream” by getting back on “newsstands.” I got news for ya hub, we have a new newsstand it’s called digital and the mainstream—just as it was for the first 70 years or so of the comics medium’s existence in the US—appeals to a fairly broad demographic.
Just to finish up, Brett is working on updated research which I’ll be presenting at this panel at San Diego, where Rob Salkowivz will also be presenting new demographic info from Eventbrite. Come on out to find out if they match up!
The Future of Geek
Will comics’ takeover of pop culture continue, or has geek peaked? Industry-watchers Heidi MacDonald (The Beat), Rob Salkowitz (Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture), and Tim Beyers (Motley Fool) follow the money in conventions, movies, and publishing to forecast the future of the fandom business. John Siuntres (Word Balloon podcast) moderates.
Friday July 25, 2014 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Room 28DE
Image via Superdames
OK BUT THIS IS MAKING ME LAUGH SO HARD because you can tell this is some American artist that’s probably never seen the show and has just been given designs and they’ve tried SO HARD but has innocently mistaken them for flying American superheroes and has drawn a picture in which Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are about to fall to their deaths.
(Thank you Miss Dream)
The American-made art for Sailor Moon was always SO goofy! But I think most fans that were around for DiC’s release knew that. If you check out the link to the source above, the whole January 1995 Hollywood Reporter magazine has been scanned…despite Sailor Moon being on the cover, the article inside is about animation from all over the world (and the part on Japan focuses more on Hayao Miyazaki’s newest movie at that time—Pom Poko—than they do about Sailor Moon). An interesting read nonetheless.
kateThis bodes well for TV anime possibilites. Why is the title of this post the Japanese name? Plenty of people have discovered this by it being licensed on CR manga! They might not know this is the same thing.
kateOkay at first you're gonna be like Kate why are you sharing this!? But trust.
Following the spring edition featuring Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha., Uchoten Kazoku, Hakuouki the Movie, and Kyousougiga, in collaboration with Kyoto-city, the Planning Committee for Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair has started running the summer 2014 edition of "Kyomafu-gou," a subway train decorated inside and out with the anime characters, through the city since yesterday July 14. This time it is featuring Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Hoshi Meguru Hakobune, Kamigami no Asobi, Sword Art Online II, and Yowamushi Pedal. Check the official photos provided by the committee below.
This year's Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair will be held at Miyakomesse (Kyoto-shi Kangyo Kaikan) on September 20 and 21.
"Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Hoshi Meguru Hakobune"
"Kamigami no Asobi"
"Sword Art Online II"
"Yowamushi Pedal"
The spring edition
"Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha."
"Uchoten Kazoku"
"Hakuouki the Movie"
"Kyousougiga"
Source: Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau, Kadokawa's press release
