Try praising your wife, even if it does frighten her at first.

- Billy Sunday

May 7, 2008

New York Comic Con '08

I had a lot of articles run on Newsarama, and there were tons of pictures that ran with them. Plus Blog@Newsarama ran a lot of my other photos.

But what was left were some pictures that I took behind the scenes at the Newsarama skybox. I thought I'd share them here:

The Newsarama skybox:

Morning planning in the skybox:

John Siuntres interviewing Grant Morrison in the green room:

Another shot of John and Grant:

Mark Waid getting ready for his interview in the skybox:

Another shot of Mark in the skybox:

And a shot of the Dark Knight poster that was displayed at one DC booth:

This item has been viewed 138 times | Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

Geeking out over Loeb and Sale

Is it silly that I still get excited about certain creators working together? I do! And there is absolutely no other pair of creators I geek out more about than Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

As my friends all know, I started reading comics because of the amazing story I read when I picked up Daredevil: Yellow for the first time. The scope of the story and its ability to move my emotions in so many directions was something I hadn't experienced in that way before. The fact that it was so visual and beautiful, yet told such a compelling story was new to me. And it was all because of the work of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

Marvel announced today that Loeb and Sale will be back together. This time it will be Captain America that they'll be writing about. And I'm thrilled. This is going to rock.

This item has been viewed 609 times | Comments (0)

February 16, 2008

Persepolis

I just finished Persepolis. It was good. I'd add a full review, but I think there are plenty of those on the web. I see how unique it is, and I definitely appreciate its insight into the plight of Iran, but I wish it had followed up a little better on the author's relationship with God, which was so central to the first half of the book and kind of disappeared without being mentioned again. Still, it's quite an accomplishment and I recommend the read to anyone who enjoys graphic novels.

I'll take this opportunity to also recommend Fun Home, because they are both in an autobiographical vein and address bigger issues. But I felt closer to the main character in Fun Home -- the story seemed much more personal, while Persepolis felt a little more detached. Perhaps that was because it was so much more political.

I hope to see more books like this in the future. Any to recommend to me?

This item has been viewed 400 times | Comments (0)

February 9, 2008

Tabloid Mentality

A friend has a blog and wrote recently about how he feels that comics journalism doesn't delve into the "news" enough. He went on to list some things that he would like to know more about. Almost everything on his list smacked of celebrity tabloid trash. He wanted to know, for example, the secrets behind what parts of stories are "editorially mandated" - clearly looking for something to complain about, because all shared-universe comics have editorial involvement. He also wanted to know the details of how much creators get on their paychecks, as if that's something he needs to be told in order to understand the structure of the industry. And he wanted to know why a company decided to go with one creator over another for a certain title -- something he was told, but obviously he needed more details behind the decision. And for some strange reason, he felt like those things are "newsworthy."

I replied to his post and tried to be nice. All of those things have been touched upon in my stories, so if he wants to know about them in general, all he has to do is look. But the truth is, does he really need to know the details? That's just odd to demand from your hobby, and I would look like a fool if I seriously pursued those types of things. Sometimes fans go way too far in their fandom. Some people need to step back and remember why they enjoy the hobby in the first place. In the case of comic books, it should be because you enjoy the stories. So if you want to know more about the stories and the people who create them, then I'll be right there with you. But if you want to delve too far into someone's privacy and attempt to find some kind of controversy behind the scenes, then maybe you need to take a break from comics altogether. If that's really all you care about, pick up a copy of Star Magazine and try that instead of Batman and Spider-Man.

This item has been viewed 236 times | Comments (0)

February 1, 2008

I'm on Comic Geek Speak

OK, appearance isn't the right word, is it? You can't see me on a podcast!

Well, anyway, here is this week's Comic Geek Speak episode I am on where we talked about the ramifications of One More Day and the future of Spider-Man in Brand New Day.

The episode is also available in iTunes if you would rather listen to it that way.

I took part in the episode by discussing the retailer view of the controversy over One More Day, and to share what they were thinking about the potential sales of Brand New Day. The reason I was consulted is because I do the monthly Talking Shop article for Newsarama where I talk to various retailers about issues important to the industry, and the last one I wrote dealt with retailer reaction to One More Day.

It's a good episode, albeit a little long. Right before they called me, the guys on the podcast talked to Jim Salicrup, who was the Spider-Man editor when the marriage first happened. And then right after me, they talked to Tom Brevoort, current Marvel editor. So wow - I guess I was in pretty good company here.

But having just listened to myself, I think I did pretty well. I was a little nervous because after I left the show, they asked Tom Brevoort the exact same question they had asked me about whether the rotating creative teams on BND was a good or bad thing -- but his answer was almost exactly the same as mine. Phew. That's a relief.

And makes me feel like less of a dork! :p

I also wanted to share with you guys the episodes of Comic Geek Speak that I have greatly enjoyed over the last few months. I'll do that in a separate blog post, though, because I'm kind of swamped right now at work and need to take the time to look them up. But I do find that the Comic Geek Speak guys do a good job of thoroughly covering the topics they address.

And since I do mean thoroughly, this podcast is a little long. So if you're ONLY interested in hearing my portion of it, you can go just a smidge past the halfway mark. Or if you're on iTunes, I show up about 1:17 into the show (one hour and 17 minutes). Enjoy! :)

This item has been viewed 221 times | Comments (0)