I realize I’m just playing into a Marvel PR ploy over a character revamp. but heck, this is a comics blog, so there ya go.

§ Rich Johnston’s annual Rumour Awards warps [sic] up the year’s embarrassments, including some of The Beat’s.

§ A CBR roundtable wraps up “The Never-Ending Secret Crisis.”

§ Matt Brady reports that Popeye is about to go into the public domain in the EU:

In terms Newsarama readers will be familiar with, in Europe, starting tomorrow, January 1st, Popeye enters the Public Domain, and anyone can use the character of Popeye in new comics, clothing, and other media without the need to seek authorization from the Popeye rights holders (King Features) or pay royalties for the use. As always, it’s a fine line – the Segar drawings themselves are out of copyright, so derivative work can use and be based on them, but not on later material that was built upon Segar’s material. Additionally, the expiration only covers the copyright, not the trademark.

§ Tom Spurgeon circles around the story that D&Q’s Gasoline Alley reprints have been halted by a rights issue.

§ The Good Comics for Kids blog wraps up some thoughts on manga publishing:

The over-saturation of the teen market hasn’t been entirely bad for the manga industry; in fact, I’d argue that the glut of shojo and shonen titles has inspired publishers to explore new territory: manga for elementary school students and adults. The first demographic offers considerable opportunity, as there’s almost nothing available for seven-to-ten-year-olds save a handful of Pokémon manga, several discontinued Broccoli books (Honoka Level Up!, Koi Cupid, Nui), and Tokyopop’s aborted line of Manga Readers. UDON’s recent announcement of a new all-ages imprint suggests the emerging importance of this category, as well as a special awareness of the challenges that parents, teachers, and librarians face when searching for kid-friendly comics. As part of its marketing strategy, UDON guarantees that their Kids Manga line has been vetted for readers twelve and under, meaning it’s free of the innuendo, violence, and/or language that make certain shojo and shonen titles inappropriate for the grade-school set.

§ Christopher Moonlight tells us WHAT NOT TO DO.

And three from Comixology:

§ Shaenon Garrity looks at Gahan Wilson:

Christmas morning is all about disappointment, and that’s the moral of Andrew’s favorite short story. “Remember how Christmas was so tricky,” begins the Nuts comic, “because it could be great, or just a letdown, or a complete disaster, and you never knew which it was until it was entirely over?” Like all Nuts strips, this five-pager follows the Kid, the nameless stand-in for all of Wilson’s childhood memories, iconic in his oversized deerstalker and baggy coat.

§ Kristy Valenti looks at those hilariously bad Edu-Manga in which Astro Boy teams up with historical figures:

Though it’s now bordering on my favorite genre of non-fiction, I didn’t like biography growing up, and the Edu-Manga series — which is exactly as unreadable as it looks, though I was hoping for the same kind of good-bad awesomeness as publisher DMP’s Project X - Nissin Cup Noodle — helped me understand exactly why.

§ And Tucker Stone has some modest proposals for the new year:

2008 was a bad year for a lot of people, some of whom actually died. But babies were born, the circle began anew, eventually, yes, those babies will grow up and die. Still, let’s not rest our haunches in gloom and doom! Let’s look to our past, and beg for its resurrection.

Yep it’s the end of the trail for 2008, a year which had some high points (Nov 4) but which an overwhelming number of our friends can’t wait to end. To which we can only say:

Everything looks better when seen through the lens of a J.C. Leyendecker baby in a Russian Constructivist pose.

As always, thanks to the crew — Zena, Trish, Suzu, Amy, Elim, Marti, Jon, Max, Potts, Desi, Sara, Dino, Sara, Frank 3, Nelson, Scummy, Eric, Jah Furry, Brian, Calvin, Amanda, Jimmy, Charles, Nikki — for helping with so much, and of course, to dear Future Mr. Beat, Ben McCool, for all the laughs, and probably to a bunch of folks we’re forgetting because we basically can’t remember anything. Special Big Ups to the Beat Operatives, Aaron, Mark, Steven, Marc-Oliver, and Paul, for helping with their time, wit, and wisdom.

And of course, most special thanks, as always, to YOU, our wonderful readers, who keep us on our toes and inspire us to get better and better.

We’ll be back over the next few days before going back to the grindstone next Monday, with our wrapup thoughts and forward-looking statements.
.

I’ve had a lot of private correspondence over my recent post on my dearth of women creators and decision-making execs, many from folks who work for indies who pointed out the number of women working in those fields. Which is true. I was commenting more on mainstream, i.e. Marvel and DC Comics, where the number of people out in front of the camera who are distaff is far fewer and not growing much. Heck, Jenette Kahn, once the most powerful woman in comics by a mile, is making movies now.

Several people took me to task for not mentioning someone who is easily one of the most powerful people in comics, Fae Desmond, Executive Director of the San Diego Comic-Con. I plead a huge mea culpa for that, although as I joked to one correspondent, Fae is so busy that I’ve literally seen more of Samuel L. Jackson than her in recent years at the show.

At any rate, Stephen Totilo, the MTV video games expert who I singled out had his own response to my post, which I’ll let speak for itself. Notably, Lance Fensterman, who runs new York Comic-Con, BEA and New York Anime Fest, responded directly on his blog:

I read Heidi McDonald’s post at The Beat on the standing of female creators in our industry and took it as a wakeup call of sorts. In the post (read it here) Heidi uses the guest list from New York Comic Con as an example of how little play female creators in the comic industry get. I took her use of the NYCC guest list as an example and not so much a criticism, but the reality is either way she’d be correct – we have very few female creators on our guest list.

Obviously this is not deliberate, but it was also not deliberately avoided by actively seeking out worthy female creators. So what’s a con to do? Same as we always do, we ask the fans and pros (our customers) for advice. We ask you for your ideas and recommendations, that’s what.

You can go on over to Lance’s blog and make some suggestions of your own.

And then there’s this,which fills me with sorrow and agita. The idea that by singling women out I’m continuing to ghettoize them is a distressing one to me, and I do feel that I am in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t, situation. In my own defense, I do know that I spotlight the work of many, many women in comics here without ANY reference to their gender, posting artwork and new project announcements and so on. That is my end goal in my own work, and one of the reasons I don’t have any “Women in Comics” categories on this blog.

That said, Drawn and Quarterly Associate Publisher (a promotion I wasn’t aware of, so congrats) Peggy Burns sent me a lengthy and worthy response reprinted below. Peggy is one of the smartest and most dedicated PEOPLE I know in the comics business, and one of the biggest behind-the-scenes movers and shakers. We’d be far, far poorer without her. I’ll have more to say on this topic soonish, but I think letting her have the last word is a great way to end the year’s discussion on this topic.

Dear Heidi,

As a former employee of DC Comics and current Associate Publisher of Drawn & Quarterly, I read your recent editorial on women in comics with great interest and couldn’t agree more. But to examine the question of why there aren’t more women working in comics, we have to find new answers. And there are new answers, and there are old answers that have been there all along, but for some reason just have never been properly recognized.

I agree that it’s important to note that NYCC has few female special guests, but it’s hardly surprising. Until the organizers develop a deeper understanding of the medium (meaning NOT having a “Women Who kick Ass” panel with Jenna Jameson), and not just see the show as a revenue stream among their many trade shows, NYCC will always be inferior to the one show that everyone keeps pontificating that NYCC may overcome in numbers and influence–Comic-con International. And I think it should be noted, or perhaps more likely spelled out in fireworks in the sky, a few of the talented people who are behind Comic-con International: Fae Desmond, Jackie Estrada, Sue Lord, Janet Goggins, and those are just some of the people I deal with directly. I would go so far as to say that Fae Desmond is the one of the most powerful people in comics, a “noted industry figure” if you will. And yet, no mention of her ever comes up. She’s been with CCI since 1985.

What’s wrong in the year 2008 is to state that one can only be a noted industry figure if they work for Vertigo or Dark Horse and the titles that Shelly, Karen, and Diana edit are “mainstream” and the comics that Francoise edits are “not mainstream” especially in age when Persepolis is the bestselling original graphic novel of the decade. If the debate is whittled down to superhero comics or the big two then the argument of few women in comics makes more sense. Yes, there are shamefully few women writers and/or artists for DC Comics and Marvel, BUT there are far more than the one new “noted industry figure” you cited from the past five or ten years. If I may, editorially: Anjali Singh, Deanne Urmy, Shawna Ervin-Gore, business-wise Judith Hansen, Michelle Ollie, Jennifer de Guzman and those are the names that are on my radar (I’m sure there are plenty more in the genres I don’t follow as closely, especially in manga and superhero) or retailers like Mimi Cruz of Nightflight, Chloe Eudaly of Reading Frenzy and Mary Gibbons of Rocketship or journalists like yourself, Nisha Gopalan, and Hillary Chute.

Perhaps it is because the process in single-authored comics is more organic is why no one ever mentions cartoonists (of single authored comics) and their publishers, it’s too obvious. But for the week ending 12/14/08, Lynda Barry was holding her own on the Bookscan hardcover graphic novel bestseller list at #9 (# 42 on the overall hardcover and paperback list), behind Alan Moore and Tim Sale and ahead of Neil Gaiman and Stephen King, six months after her book came out. If we’re going to discuss women in comics, let’s do the research and be inclusive not exclusive. Let’s change the debate with facts.

The comics medium has changed a lot in the past decade thankfully, and, for the few segments of the industry that have not caught up on the issue of women in comics or doing comics, there are others who are quickly changing this, and therefore the definition of mainstream. I understood you were trying to say there are not many women doing comics at the big two companies, but in an industry that can a bit narrow-minded, we need our pundits to be think a little broader, so that everyone can learn.

Best,
Peggy Burns
Drawn & Quarterly
Associate Publisher

Many late night holiday-themed movements in the WATCHMEN case, and they are enough to make a movie fan’s nerves as frayed as the collar on a pitbull. It seems that, yes, Fox is going to try to stop the movie’s release:

An attorney for 20th Century Fox says the studio will continue to seek an order delaying the release of ‘Watchmen.’

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess last week agreed with Fox that Warner Bros. had infringed its copyright by developing and shooting the superhero flick, scheduled for release March 6.

Feess said Monday he plans to hold a trial Jan. 20 to decide remaining issues.

Fox claims it never fully relinquished story rights from its deal made in the late 1980s, and sued Warner Bros. in February. Warner Bros. contended Fox isn’t entitled to distribution.

Warner Bros.’ attorney said Monday he didn’t know if an appeal was coming, but thinks a trial is necessary and a settlement unlikely.

Warners fired back with a statement of their own:

“We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film.”

Jeff Trexler has detailed analysis and links to the court documents so you can follow along at home, including this nugget:

These three filings in particular provide detailed allegations as to how Warner Brothers got into this mess. In a nutshell, Fox claims that it has evidence that Warner Brothers initially relied on an inaccurate chain of title provided by Paramount. Once Warner Brothers was aware of Fox’s documented claims, it nonetheless decided to proceed in a deliberate “business calculation” that it would be more profitable to deal with a court case than clear the rights before making Watchmen.

So for everyone blaming Fox for waiting until the movie was all but in the can to foul the Wheaties, it seems that WB went into this knowing they were gambling with the law. For more, check out the site Filmesq, which has more in-depth analysis and document linkage.

Finally, while fans may be fretting over seeing Carla Gugino in a perky superhero outfit, Paul O’Brien has a useful observation in the comments. Whatever the legal problems here, there’s got to be a dollar amount that will make things all good again — much to WB’s chagrin.

It’s totally true.

There are never enough new comics by R. Sikoryak, author of pluperfect pastiche/homage comics like “Good Ol’ Gregor Brown” and “Little Pearl” which make us appreciate classics of literature AND comics all the more when they are mashed together, chocolate and peanut butter style. Happily, Sikoryak’s “Masterpiece Comics” are going to be collected in 2009 by D&Q, and in the present, here’s a comic he did for this week’s Metro newspaper. Click for larger!

The reviews are in — 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, a mere 6 percent among Top Critics — and the box office is in:

9. The Spirit (Lionsgate)
$2.1M Saturday… $6.5M 3-day weekend… $10.4M 4-day holiday
Not every comic book can become a hit movie. Movie analysts didn’t expect much life from this adaptation of Will Eisner’s graphic novels despite a flashy marketing campaign. Lionsgate shouldn’t have tried to brave the Christmas competition.

…and the verdict is…THE SPIRIT is a big flopperoo.

Before we go any further, at the risk of sounding like a namedropper, I consider Frank Miller a friend, so I’m not going to jump up and down or pile on. Call me biased or non-objective or whatever you want. I’m just being honest.

Is THE SPIRIT a good movie? No. Is it entertainingly and inventively bad? Yes. At the press junket, Samuel L. Jackson was at pains to point out that “the movie is not mean spirited”, which would seem to be an odd way of promoting a film, but it’s an accurate one. Supporters of the film have compared it to the parodic anarchy of ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER, and I think that’s an apt comparison. For all its goofiness — some deliberate, some not — it’s a well-intentioned movie, with a kind heart…a lot like Frank, I think. As much as critics have ragged on the characterization, the film is fond of all the characters, even the villains. And it is visually inventive and imaginative. Plus, it has kitty cats. So…there’s a lot to look at.

Like I said, Frank is a friend, and I’m not going to write anything I wouldn’t say to his face (assuming I ever see him again). I will say that Lionsgate really shot everyone in the foot by thinking they could turn this cult movie into a Christmas film. It was originally set to be released on January 16th, in the wasteland of movie releases. At such a time, the film’s eye-poke awkwardness and weirdness might have been a welcome respite to winter doldrums and might have even made some money at the box office.

Instead, with a Christmas Day opening, it went up against a bevy of high-profile films by Oscar contenders, and just couldn’t make the grade.

Technorati Tags: Frank Miller

(more…)

NOTE: Several people have pointed out that “injunct” is not the correct legal term — “enjoins” is more accurate. However “injuncts” contains the comedy sound “K” and I will continue to use it, suckas.

As you may be aware, LA Judge Gary Allen Feess delivered a special Christmas Eve gift to Fox by abruptly announcing that they were the winners in the closely-watched WATCHMEN lawsuit. You’ll recall that even as Warner Bros. has been rolling out the eagerly awaited Zack Snyder film for a March 3 2009 release, Fox filed a lawsuit saying that Warners never had the rights to produce the film since producer Larry Gordon had not properly regained them from Fox. The suit has obviously threatened the planned release date and caused, at the very least, a few beads of worry sweat on WB execs’ brows over this real Christmas crumbler.

The judge’s decision came as a shock, since Feess had previously indicated that Warners and Fox should go to trial in early January. Nikki Finke has more:

But now Feess has abruptly done an about-face, saying he has reconsidered and concluded that Fox should prevail. So Feess intends to grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the Warner Bros pic. “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” said today’s written order obtained by the NYT. (A more detailed order is coming soon, according to the court.) Such a ruling could screw up Warner Bros’ plans to release the pic as soon as March. Unless, of course, Fox is just looking for a single payout or share in the proceeds, either of which Barry Meyer and Alan Horn will have to fork over once all the legal fuss dies down. (Warner Bros had a similar problem with the Dukes Of Hazzard pic because of Judge Feess and had to pay tens of millions of dollars to release the film.) Indeed, the judge himself advised both Fox and Warner Bros to settle or appeal. “The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review,” he said. But if WB goes down the appeal road, then Watchman may not come out until 2011 considering the glacial speed with which the court system moves.

Jeff Jensen at EW has the fullest account and most informed speculation on the decision, including the surprising nugget that, contrary to urban legend (see below), Fox HAD approached WB before the movie went into production. WB must have thought Fox was full of crap and went full steam ahead. Oh well. Jensen also has this scenario for how the two studios might settle:

How much will being right ultimately be worth to Fox? Perhaps a lot; perhaps nothing at all. Warner Bros. has been asking Feess to make one more crucial ruling in this case. The judge articulates the studio’s request like this: “[T]o summarily adjudicate the issue of a contractual cap on the amount of compensatory damages to which Fox is entitled.” Now, I am no lawyer, but here’s how I might rephrase Warner Bros.’ position: “Let’s pretend for a moment that Fox is right in this matter. Judge, could you help us decide a fair price for Fox’s rights? Because we can’t.” Perhaps all along, Warner Bros. has been gambling/banking that the judge will “adjudicate” a relatively affordable price for Fox’s rights, or at least put a price tag on it that’s much lower than the one Fox has been putting on it. As Feess has said that a longer version of his Christmas Eve ruling is forthcoming, perhaps the question of value will be determined at that time.

While the uncertainty over what was sure to be a high profile spring film has to come as a blow to WB’s halting (DARK KNIGHT aside) superhero movie efforts, fans would be the ultimate losers if this legal wrangling screws things up. Daniel O’Brien at cracked.com speaks for many with a colorful screed:

If you’re Fox, you patiently waited until the excitement over the movie reached a boner-inducing fever pitch, and then you decided to sue Warner Brothers and, according to the New York Times, you won. On Christmas Eve, a judge ruled that Fox has the right to, at the very least, distribute The Watchmen. Will they try to stop the release of the movie? Probably not, (though they certainly could). Will they try to change it? Again, no. Will they make some fat cash off of it? Certainly. Should they eat all the dicks? Without a doubt.

Developing…

§ After last night’s press deadline, The Comics Reporter posted another holiday interview, this time with writer Kurt Busiek, in a thughtful talk that explores many aspects of his work. However, the pull quote we’ll use covers the matter of the day:

I’m worried about the economy in general terms, but I don’t really know what it means for comics. I keep hearing people talk about how in troubled time, comics do great, but I don’t know why they’re saying that. The “troubled times” that comics have been through include the Great Depression, during which comics flourished and grew, but grew from nothing, and the recession of the 1970s, during which sales dropped and dropped and dropped, and comics lost thousands of retail outlets, and freelancers were talking about how there’d be no comics industry at all in a few years and everyone should find something else to do. And newsstand sales never recovered from that — what saved the industry was the Direct Market, and the ability to sell more efficiently and profitably to a dedicated fan base.

§ Check out Bryan Talbot’s spiffy new MySpace page. That’s right, we said it…MYSPACE.

§ Chris Butcher expands on the pleasures of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster:

So, honestly? It’s just an exceptionally well-done comic. There’s no way to look at this and not recognize the incredibly high level of craft, the sheer ability put into this series. The character development, the labrynthine plot, and just how compelling it is as a story! There wasn’t one point while reading that dragged for me, where I wasn’t propelled into the next chapter, the next book. And the art! It’s understated, probably doesn’t give the best impression on the ‘flip-test’, but it’s pretty clear that Urasawa and his legion of assistants can draw pretty much anything; any expression, any angle, any background character, and dozens of unique faces and body-types and even body language. He has a wonderful gift for caricature too, character faces that could seem cartoony (or in some cases grotesque…) work very well within the context of the story. The series is in almost every respect fantastically accomplished.

§ We were unaware of the website ComicsCareers.com, but it appears to be dedicated to interviews focusing on craft, a welcome change from the promotional nature of most interviews around. Specifically, this time out it’s Derf and his graphic novel, PUNK ROCK AND TRAILER PARKS:

Comics Career: Otto is an unusual take on the typical nerd character. How did you approach him?

Derf: The nerd is always a staple of comics, for obvious reasons, and particularly of indie comics. But, he usually seems to be a self-loathing, miserable wretch. The world is pressing down upon him, and “Oh, woe is me.” The confessional self-autobiographical comics are particularly prone to this.

I find those characters to be really boring, so when I was thinking about characters, I thought one of the things I haven’t seen is the narcissist geek, the egomaniacal geek. We all know people like that. They walk into a room and they just fill it with their sheer force of personality. These are the guys who are running the world now. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and all those guys. I thought I should do something like that, because I hadn’t seen it before, and I like doing things I haven’t seen before. I don’t want to cover ground that’s been covered. What’s the point?

So, that’s where I started with Otto. I started building his character, and I found that I really liked what he was becoming. He kind of told me what he was. He just spoke to me off the sketchpad and said, “Put this in and put that in.” I just started working with it and piling stuff on. He formed out of thin air on his own, conjured up.

If you have a little downtime over the holidays, you could do much worse than by reading The Comics Reporter’s yearend series of interviews:

Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson
Scholar and critic Jeet Heer
A looooong interview on mainstream comics with Tucker Stone
Indie comics with Sean T. Collins
PictureBox’s Dan Nadel
and the always interesting Eddie Campbell.

There are some newsy bits scattered here and there — PictureBox will be putting out retrospectives of John Kricfalusi and Syd Mead in their non-comics publishing arm. Also, Campbell, who it would seem to be impossible to interview poorly, has quite a bit to say about the recent reorganization at Macmillan which put his publisher, First Second, into the Macmillan’s Children’s Group:

I’m not surprised, because the book world, by which I mean the mainstream book publishers as well as the libraries and the Library Association, has been viewing “the graphic novel” as a young reader’s genre for quite some time. In part I think it’s because the part of a publishing house that is likely to be interested in bright illustrated narratives is the children’s books department, and in part also because those publishers, and America’s libraries, see the “graphic novel” as a way of grabbing a part of the literate populace that has hitherto proved elusive. Now, I have no objection to young folks having their own literature specially designed for them, though when I was a young ‘un myself I would have been highly suspicious of anything that the adult world thought I should read because it was supposed to be good for me. Let’s not forget that this is one of the things that drew us to comics in the first place, the very fact that they were not approved by our adults; they were our visual rock’n'roll, the things we knew that they didn’t. However, let’s not get bogged down on that point. The problem with this development is that comics were supposed to have grown up and become the “graphic novel,” but now we are apt to find articles telling us that the “graphic novel has grown up.” In other words we’re back where we started.

While Campbell has every right in the world to fret about his publisher, Tom Spurgeon also had made a bit note of First Second’s move. Nothing can be taken for granted in the publishing world, but this isn’t quite a shocker — First Second was ALWAYS part of Holt’s children’s division, as the initial press release from 2005 made clear:

Long rumored in the publishing press, children’s publisher Roaring Brook Press today announced it’s new Graphic Novel imprint, First Second, with an impressive line up of established creators like Jessica Abel, Warren Pleece, Eddie Campbell and others. The line will be guided by Editorial Director Mark Siegel and the first books will see publication in early 2006. The full press release of their announcement follows.

Tom mentions that First Second EIC Mark Siegel has his own response that will probably be even more forceful, but it’s worth pointing out.

Which doesn’t mean that Campbell’s general point doesn’t stand. While we’ll have more on this (hopefully) when we sit down (in March!) to do our own Year in Review, the fact is that juvenile graphic novels did much, much better in 2008 than literary comics from major (i.e. book) publishers did. Indeed, several of TCR’s interviewees ponder the effects of traditional publishers’ forays into graphic novels, and those effects do bear continued scrutiny.

The comics-loving New York Times ran a couple of comic-themed pieces over the holiday. Leslie Berlin sums up the changes brewing in the comic strip world as Internet syndication takes over from newspaper syndication, in a judiciously wide-ranging piece, which unlike some NYT pieces on webcomics, has much accurate information.

In many ways, Stephan Pastis is living his dream. In 2002, after years of frustration, he quit his job as a lawyer to pursue cartooning. Today his daily strip, “Pearls Before Swine,” appears in more than 500 newspapers. He says he answers his fan mail “in groups of 100.”
Nevertheless, he can’t help worrying.

“Newspapers are declining,” he says. “For a syndicated cartoonist, that’s like finally making it to the major leagues and being told the stadiums are all closing, so there’s no place to play.”

In addition, George Gene Gustines profiles Trevor von Eeden’s biography of boxer Jack Johnson, published by ComicMix:

The comic, which is being serialized in weekly installments at www.comicmix.com, is written and illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden, and is unflinching in its depiction of racism in America, the brutality of the boxing ring and the tragedies and triumphs of Johnson’s life, including his sexual conquests. New chapters are scheduled to be posted every Wednesday.

While it’s nice to see such a flattering look at a comic by a true original, like von Eeden, the piece glosses over the fact that the artist and the publisher would seem to have had some difficulties, which seems like a bit of an omission.

Along with everything else in the world, the future of manga in the US is being examined — not that it’s going anywhere, but a few of the weaker companies may get picked off during the tough times ahead. Ed Chavez has a loooong list of manga titles from many, many publishers that are MIA, and examines part of the bigger picture:

One shocking trend of note is how many shoujo titles have been dropped. Shoujo appeared to be the safest demographic but with TOKYOPOP and UDON’s additions it is now showing much more weakness. Even titles from the Kings of Shoujo Hakusensha have found their way to the list. Hakusensha is by far the most popular choice for shoujo by publishers, as CMX, Viz, and TOKYOPOP have gone to their well in the past (Digital Manga and Comics One have as well for non-shoujo titles).

Ed notes that the charming and accessible YOTSUBA&! is one title that everyone would like to see come back — it was last published by ADV, who say they are eventually going to publish manga again, but no firm dates have been announced.

In other news, Johanna reports that at least one publisher is cutting out sending out review copies, although they will send them out if reviewers pay postage, which doesn’t sound all that encouraging. While we don’t know which company it is, the one that we’d guess it ISN’T — despite what one commenter guesses — is CMX. CMX is owned by DC and they are not very shy about sending out review copies, although where CMX is concerned, they prefer to send out galleys.

We all know that superstar Stephen Chow has dropped out as the director of the upcoming GREEN HORNET movie, but could it be to make way for a project that is more suitable for his genius?

Chow, whose credits include “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle,” said over the weekend that he wants to free up time to work with Jack Black on a comedy about a superhero.

“If I direct ‘The Green Hornet,’ the superhero comedy will have to be delayed for two years,” Chow said. “The timing might not be right for a superhero comedy in two years. And I want to make a movie based on an original idea.”

Details about that movie weren’t immediately available.

Some have interpreted this news item as suggesting that Chow is ditching the role of Kato all together, to which we say, “GO, STEPHEN! GO!” If you’ve seen the much-admired-at-the-Beat KUNG FU HUSTLE or SHAOLIN SOCCER, you know Chow has ALREADY made two of the most entertaining “super action” comedy movies of the last decade, and whatever this Jack Black project is, we’re switching our allegiance to it post haste.

§ NOT AGAIN!!!!!! Disney has bailed on the Narnia franchise! Does this mean we don’t get VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER and SILVER CHAIR, the two best books in the series? The only reason we would even sit through boring, stinky PRINCE CASPIAN is to get to the haunting, lyrical DAWN TREADER. Walden Media may find a new home for the franchise, but color us frustrated!

We’re back at the keyboard after a week of horrible holiday travel…As bad as it was, other people had it worse. As we finally got home after a four-hour delay on Saturday night, we saw people sleeping on the floor of the shabby Delta terminal at JFK, and stories of people stranded for 2 or 3 days over the holidays have been everywhere. All things considered, we generally got to where we going on the same day we were supposed to, and suffered no nerve or limb damage, so it wasn’t all that bad.

Things are still on holiday time, so this week we’ll just be hitting the big stories.

Eartha Kitt died yesterday at age 81. Many people are called “legendary,” but Kitt truly was, as a singer, dancer, and actress. Julie Newmar may have been the #1 Catwoman on the campy Batman TV show, but Kitt was probably the most feline and villainous. As a cabaret singer she was an unsurpassed stylist, and we were lucky enough to see her at the Hollywood Roosevelt. She was a scary lady, but one who played by her own rules and won.

AND… A new holiday offering at Quick Stop Entertainment that Venture fans will enjoy, if they haven’t already.

Finally…when you need a laugh…

Thanks to Jimmy P. for the last link.

Hello there, faithful Beat readers. We’re currently in a northern clime, but prevented from blogging or even going online much by a faulty Belkin router which suddenly — after two years of working like a charm — won’t connect with a PowerBook. Which makes us ask, once again: Why must we have diversity? Can’t we have a world of Apple-only products?

But enough with petty griping! We wish you and yours a very, very merry, peaceful, and safe holiday. We’ll be back…soon.

Since THE BEAT herself might not be in a position to post right now, I’m fairly certain this is a sentiment that she would most likely want expressed at this festive time of year.

US AIRWAYS = !^%#&^!%$!*!@(*

I don’t know if it’s the crappy weather all over the country or the amount of people flying, but, I have to say that the last time I flew US Airways (BWI to LA in September), there were four segments and all left on time with no real problems. That said, there was the time we flew them on business at my old job, and we could have driven from Charlotte to Virginia Beach quicker than the flight, with all its delays, ended up taking.

Must read #2: The Daily Cross Hatch presents The Best Damned Comics of 2008 Chosen By The Artists with over 50 cartoon types picking their faves.

2008 will perhaps be known as the year that smaller publishers like Sparkplug and Secret Acres really came into their own, or maybe the moment that Top Shelf truly asserted itself as a publishing house on par with the likes of Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly, thanks to scheduled that include many of the year’s best titles. It will be regarded as confirmation that those who have weathered the storm with self-published titles are truly in it for the love of the medium and the creation of art.

Shamelessly stolen from Lew Stringer.

Aaron Albert attempts to break down the cost per minute of such forms of entertainment as movies and comics, and comics come out a bit spendy.

I think there are many reasons. Comic books are a very unique medium that you can’t really get anywhere else. There is an interactivity in comics, where you play out the characters voices and some of the action in your mind…at least I do. The collectible nature of comics also comes into play. I have comics that are worth quite a lot more than I paid for them, but I also have comics that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. It can go both ways. What isn’t calculated above is the other time we spend, and hopefully enjoy, on comics. Reading blogs, watching superhero movies, talking with friends about who could beat whom, all of that comes from the fifteen minutes where we suspend belief and delve into the an imaginative world.

It should be noted that Albert DOESN’T break down graphic novels, or manga tankubon ($10 for 180 pages) which would be interesting. I know it took me A WEEK to read, for example, ALICE IN SUNDERLAND and STUCK RUBBER BABY and GEMMA BOVARY, and so on. It takes a few sessions to get through WATCHMEN or your average SANDMAN volume, as well, perhaps more of the reason they have remained so popular. Bang for the buck, or as we like to call it…the satisfying chunk.

Daily Kos analyzes an old propaganda comic.

Ulises Farinas is a Member of ACT-I-VATE, and with this drawing, he says what many of us have been feeling.