…what better to kick it off than the Butt-biting Bug song that has transfixed the internets?

The Engine, Warren Ellis’s two year old forum for comics creators and aspiring comics creators, closes up shop today. So far, the replacement message board of choice seems to be Rantz Hoseley’s Panel and Pixel. Frankly we haven’t had time to spend on any message board of late, but P&P seems to be bustling along so far, with 500 members. Once we get back in the swing of things, we hope to settle in a bit more.

From where we sit, The Engine was a mixed success. While there was much useful information and intelligent discussion, it was constantly competing with threads full of Ellis-ites posting silly pictures of themselves, such as the above, and the number of exhibitionistic young women who professed themselves surprised at the level of interest in naked pictures of themselves quickly became cloying, then annoying.

Frankly, while we admire Warren for his imagination and writing skills, his twin obsessions — TV shows and BME Goth girls posing topless — were often twin distractions from the real business at hands — COMICS! (Plus, those girls who were talking theoretical physics in one post and posing in their underwear in the next, clearly haven’t learned the fundamental law of human nature that when a woman is in her underwear, a man isn’t going to actually hear a word she has to say.)

Anyway, message boards themselves are not what they used to be. #1, everyone is terrified to say anything interesting for fear that someone like the Beat will post it for all the internets to see. #2, everyone has their own message board and blog and MySpace and Facebook and Twitter to see to, now and no one has time to participate in someone else’s game. We really miss the “village square” message boards of old, but Panel and Pixel seems a bit friendlier than the heavily enforced* Engine, so who knows if it will go anywhere.

But there were good times. The art threads were always awesome. Tom vs Dirk was entertaining. Some noobs learned a lot and will go on to the next stage for sure. If nothing else, Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen learned how to be genuine “interwub personalities.” And there were pictures of cats, lots and lots of cats. And that is good.

* Despite this, our motto remains, the more moderation the better the board.

** Photo ©2007 Vanessa Yaremchuk

Upon discovering that Edward Gorey was a Star Trek fanatic, Shaenon Garrity imagines what might have been.

Aside: You realize this is just a blog post, right and not in some satirical magazine where it once might have been?

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

DC Comics’ performance in July was an improvement on the previous month, not unexpectedly. The publisher’s numbers were bolstered by issues of three high-selling titles, Batman, All Star Superman and Action Comics, which were late from June. Then there was the release of All Flash #1, the continuation of DC’s latest Flash revamp, whose numbers were enhanced through gimmicks and retailer incentives. Finally, the “Sinestro Corps War” crossover running through issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps continued to be a genuine hit and brought sizeable sales increases to both titles. In other news, July saw the launch of the limited series Green Arrow: Year One and Black Canary.

While DC’s overall position in terms of direct market periodicals improved somewhat in July, the publisher’s Vertigo and WildStorm sublabels had no part in the upturn. Despite the launch of Vertigo’s Faker and WildStorm’s The Programme, limited series by established creators, average sales for both imprints dipped again in July, reaching a new historical low in WildStorm’s case. At Vertigo, there’s a reasonably attractive mix of new and revamped properties in the pipeline. WildStorm, however, are essentially planning to offer more of the same, by less popular creators, and that doesn’t really inspire a great deal of trust.

Credit where credit is due, though: DC are continuing to cut down on late-shipping books. Although several titles remained an issue or two behind their schedules in July, the only series failing to be released altogether were Vertigo’s Deadman and Jack of Fables. See below for the details.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

7 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
07/2001: JLA #56            —  69,676*
07/2002: JLA #68            —  59,978*
07/2003: JLA #83            —  58,242 [59,154]
07/2004: JLA #101           —  64,615
07/2004: JLA #102           —  63,249
07/2005: JLA #116           —  87,644 [91,030]
————————————–
07/2006: Justice League #0  — 162,378 (+118.4%) [169,199]
08/2006: Justice League #1  — 212,581 (+ 30.9%) [251,266]
09/2006: Justice League #2  — 143,412 (- 32.5%) [158,480]
10/2006: –
11/2006: Justice League #3  — 140,939 (-  1.7%) [143,310]
12/2006: Justice League #4  — 136,709 (-  3.0%) [139,123]
12/2006: Justice League #5  — 132,460 (-  3.1%) [133,924]
01/2007: –
02/2007: –
03/2007: Justice League #6  — 130,099 (-  1.8%) [131,754]
04/2007: Justice League #7  — 154,984 (+ 19.1%)
04/2007: Justice League #8  — 130,365 (- 15.9%)
05/2007: Justice League #9  — 129,285 (-  0.8%)
06/2007: Justice League #10 — 129,265 (-  0.0%)
07/2007: Justice League #11 — 122,823 (-  5.0%)
—————–
6 months:   n.a.
1 year  : - 24.4%
2 years : + 40.1%

Leaving the “Lightning Saga” crossover behind, the book’s sales drop well below 130,000 for the first time since the relaunch. It’s still a great performer, obviously. As always, there was a 1-in-10 variant cover edition to boost the numbers.

(more…)

§ Jim Woodring is drawing bears

§ Len Wein is remembering old Bullpen stories:

Anyway, on this particular day, I had just returned from my annual pilgrimage to the West Coast to attend the now-omnipresent San Diego Comic-Con and spend some vacation time visiting with friends. During the course of my trip, I’d paid a visit to the self-proclaimed “Happiest Place on Earth”, Disneyland. Now, being a responsible person and knowing I can’t return home to the “kids” empty-handed, while at Disneyland, I’ve bought my entire staff those classic Mickey Mouse ears with their names embroidered on the back. Got it so far? Good.

§ Neil Gaiman is in China, frolicking with the locals.

§ Kazu Kibuishi enjoyed THE BOURNE TRILOGY (as did The Beat).

§ Lea Hernandez is collecting stories about glitter.

§ Blast from the past: Dean Haspiel is naked.

§ Mark Martin is in Prague.

§ Eddie Campbell is in Melbourne.

§ Ashley Wood is making wooden toys.

§ Becky Cloonan is working on the next volume of EAST COAST RISING.
…etc. etc. etc.

Controversial comics writer Alex DeCampi has been having quite a bit of success in the video field of late. Her video for “Those Rules” by The Schema a became the #1 music video on YouTube.

This week we’re ahead of the new videos by Enrique Iglesias (Universal), the new band Domino is pushing hard (Animal Collective), Ne-Yo, and something involving Pharrell Williams.25,000 50,000 136,000 views. Remember, this is for a video made for £500 on one week’s notice for an unsigned band. I don’t know what to say, except… well, I’m thrilled, mainly for all the people (especially my long-suffering and amazingly talented DP, Guy Routledge) who give up their weekends to work 12-hour days on my shoots for gin, cheeseburgers and a promise of “some day, we’ll make it big”.

The Indiependent has a big article on unsigned wonders tells more of the tale:

I appeal via e-mail and my blog on the www.schema.co.uk website, asking if anyone can help. Within a couple of hours a friend sends me the e-mail address of Alex de Campi, a graphic novelist who is also a budding video director looking to expand her portfolio. We exchange e-mails. She says that she is interested, and – incredibly – she reckons she can turn it around in just over a week. When we met up, her straight-talking, can-do attitude terrifies me; she has already come up with a complete video treatment, combining the paranoid emotions of the protagonist of the song with a meta-commentary on how difficult it is to make a video.

De Campi just directed a video for Thomas Truax, which you can see below.

Alex tells us that her “magnum opus” ADAM IN CHROMALAND part 1 has just been released in France, and KAT & MOUSE 3, “which is by far my favourite in the series”, is also just out from Toykopop.

Is there ANYONE alive who does not want to see these two get together? Vote Dame Darcy for Flavor of Love! It is the law.

On a serious note, why if Tubby wearing a diaper on that cover?

Over on his LJ Alex Robinson has been previewing some pages from his new graphic novel, LOWER REGIONS, which comes out this fall. Click for more.

James Kochalka writes to tell us his kids book from Random House, Squirrelly Gray is out this week. Random House has an activity page up for the book which includes a trailer narrated by Kochalka himself, of course.

PS: Over on the TCJ.com board, Kochalka notes that only 200 copies of this were ordered for the direct sales market.

PS: The Pulse interviews Kochalka, and digs up a few nuggets:

KOCHALKA: My editor, Nicholas Eliopulos, approached me at the San Diego Comicon a couple years ago. He came up to my table at Top Shelf just to say “hi”, and tell me he was a big fan. The timing was perfect, because I had just begun work on Squirrelly Gray, although at the time it’s title was the much more somber “When the World was Gray”. He was a junior editor, and had never actually “signed” anyone before, but his enthusiasm for my work definitely helped sell my book to the higher-ups.

I’m not sure if many copies of my previous books for kids (Pinky & Stinky, Peanutbutter & Jeremy’s Best Book Ever) actually ever made it into the hands of actual children. They probably mostly sold to my adult fans. I hope that now, with the backing of a huge children’s book publisher, we might be able to get this book into the hands of more actual children.

I think my adult fans would still love it too, though.

I finished a kid’s comic for Top Shelf called Johnny Boo, about a little ghost, which should come out in 2008. It’s really, really good. And I’m currently working on finishing a kid’s comic called Dragon Puncher, which is spectacularly awesome, and combines drawing and photography. However, earlier this year I submitted a rough draft of Dragon Puncher to a bunch of publishers, and they all rejected it! Undeterred, I’m finishing the book anyhow, because it really is simply too awesome not to finish. And hopefully, the finished version will fare better that the rough draft did.

You know isn’t that just like Tony Millionaire? He nags you and nags you to promote his cartoon pilot, and then when it gets picked up, you have to read about it on Comics2Film:

The show was aired as part of a pilot competition on the Cartoon Network, in which fans could vote on their favorites among a field of dozens of animated programs. It turns out, the show about a black bird with a penchant for grain alcohol was far and away the favorite pilot among viewers in the Adult Swim polls.

In all seriousness, we’re thrilled that the show has been picked up. Millionaire’s collaborator Eric Kaplan has many interesting things to say in the above interview:

Gesamtkunstwerk is a word from German philosophy that means “a total artwork,” something that would include music and painting and storytelling and they thought it was opera, these Germans, but they were wrong. They had the idea before the reality, which is animation. With animation, every aspect of it is, should be, can be part of a single organic artistic vision. I had this enterprise and we just needed geniuses. Like all you need is a genius and it would be in great shape, it would be a great company.

So then I heard that Tony Millionaire was a genius looking for some actual collection of people in the world who could realize his vision. So I was really excited and I wrote to Tony. I spent a lot of time courting him. And I just said sincerely, you’re this genius, you’ve been crucifying yourself every night, neglecting your family, neglecting the demands of your body in order to create this legacy with no reward from the world and just with this incredible integrity. So I almost felt like I would have an opportunity to steal some of his good karma.

[Link via CBR]

Occasional Superheroine talks about last night’s Comic Foundry party, which was a lot of fun and a great way to reacclimatize to civilization after our week in the country. In addition to pals like John Green, Marion Vitus, Red Stapler, Calvin Reid, Kai-Ming Cha and Nisha Gopalan, we got to meet 12 Days’ June Kim. We’d forgotten that Brooklyn has such a strong manga-ka population. Tim Leong also reports.

Brace for a Naruto invasion, as Blog@Newsarama reports

Viz Media unleashed “Naruto Nation” last week, releasing three volumes of Masashi Kishimoto’s international phenomenon into the book market. So, it should surprise absolutely no one that all three cracked USA Today’s Top 150 Books list: Vol. 18 at No. 116, Vol. 17 at No. 123, and Vol. 16 at 131. Meanwhile, the 17th volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket fell 42 spots at No. 76.

Meanwhile the official pr gives more info:

The accelerated publishing begins next week with NARUTO manga vol. 16, 17 and 18 ALL releasing on Sept 4th ($7.95 each) AND - every third vol of each month will get a sheet of 4 NARUTO stickers (while supplies last) (i.e. in Vol 18, 21, 24 and 27)

NARUTO Anime Profiles (episodes 38-80) releases on Sept 20th ($17.99) AND The long awaited release of …. NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW - releases on September 4th ($24.98)

AND here’s all the Exclusive offers: for NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW BEST BUY - comes with a mouse pad ($24.98) BGI (Borders and Waldenbooks) - Lenticular cover ($24.98) TransWorld (FYE and Suncoast) - exclusive NARUTO lunch Box ($29.98)

(more…)

§ The Ledger-Enquirer previews DRAGON-CON the freakiest show of them all.

There’s only one weekend when you get the chance to see Spiderman, Doctor Who and the Sith cheerleaders in one place.

Lucky for you, this is it.

Dragon*Con, touted as the nation’s largest popular arts convention for sci-fi, fantasy and a miasma of other delicacies, starts Friday in Atlanta. Hosted in the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and the Atlanta Hilton, Dragon*Con will turn downtown Atlanta into a Tatooine cantina faster than you can do the Kessel run.

“It’s just good seeing a whole street filled with storm troopers and Doctor Whos,” said Josh Plock, secretary for the Campus Nerds at Columbus State University.

§ Meanwhile, Warsaw braces for Polcon

Once in a year people of unusual talents meet in a Polish city. Some of them have seen Star Wars over 200 times and still take pleasure in watching for the 201 time. Some easily quote dialogues from Spiderman comic books, others know more about trolls and elfs than about washing machines. The Polcon convention is just the ideal place for them to talk, exchange opinions and learn more about science fiction.

An Italian scientist has come up with an idea for a Spider-Man like climbing suit. The suit would use the sticky million-hair technology employed by geckos and…SPIDERS.

It is generally accepted that the microscopic hairs adhere to the surfaces, not by gripping in the traditional sense, but by using intermolecular phenomena called van der Waal forces, which are the same that allow an atom’s protons not to burst apart.

Adhesion strength drops exponentially as the surface area and weight increases, so creating the same effect in a human-sized subject has been considered impossible.

However, Professor Nicola Pugno has calculated how sufficient stickiness could be generated in the same way to support an adult human’s bodyweight.

This would be achieved by creating gloves and shoes coated in an hierarchical structure of carbon nanotubes to provide the same effect.

According to the Taipei Times, Japan’s 24 hour manga/internet cafes are giving rise to a small population of refugees who live in them.

Internet cafes and “manga” comic cafes are omnipresent in urban Japan, offering couches, computers, soft drinks and comic books to stressed businessmen or commuters who missed their train.

But a government survey found that an estimated 5,400 people have virtually moved in to the 24-hour cafes.

It said some 80 percent of Japan’s “net cafe refugees” are men and that 52.7 percent said they decided to live in the lounges because they lost their jobs.

PR:

Today ADV Films and Geneon Entertainment (USA) announced a new distribution agreement. From October 1st on, ADV Films will be Geneon Entertainment USA’s sole distributor. ADV Films will handle all sales and distribution duties for the combined catalogue as well as certain marketing functions.

Geneon Entertainment (USA) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu, Inc. Geneon is a pioneer of anime in America, having helped to launch Pokemon, Appleseed, and Akira on home video. More recent hits include some of the best-selling franchises in anime today, including Hellsing, Ergo Proxy, and the new hit series Black Lagoon.

“This is a great alliance,” said Geneon President and CEO Eiji Orii. “The efficiencies we’ll achieve ultimately will mean more anime for the fans to enjoy.”

(more…)

Found this in our catchup and although it’s kind of old news, it’s still of some interest. Newsarama has a preview of Amy Hadley’s art for the upcoming MADAME XANADU book from Vertigo. It’s written by Matt Wagner. Hadley’s previous book was FOOL’S GOLD for Tokyopop. The move of American manga artists into the mainastream is a little awkward both ways. Quote Hadley:

AH: I actually didn’t think much about working in mainstream American comics until the mainstream approached me. I’d done some sample pages for a couple Marvel titles before this and it really opened my mind to how many awesome comics there were out there, when all I’d ever read was manga. So I’m sort of ashamed to say that before then, I was pretty closed minded at the idea.

But the love geos both ways as a Newsarama poster shows:

That its a kind of romance makes me less interested but eh…Phantom Stranger is a cool character, Matt Wagner is a great writer, and this art is pretty so I’ll give it a shot.

Hope the artist has gotten some tough skin. Most comic book fans, unlike manga fans, have no concept of, “If I don’t like a book, I just don’t read it”. I just know there’s a group of Madame Xanadu fans SOMEWHERE out there just waiting to insult this book if they don’t like it.

For you folks surfing The Beat late tonight, check out tonight’s “Superhero” themed episode of MYTHBUSTERS, another favorite of the nerderotti out there.

As we type this (9 PM ET), the first showing has just started. It repeats again overnight at 1 AM and again tomorrow night at 7 ET.

Topics include:

Building a Batman-like grappling hook
Can a Phantom-like punch like an imprint on your face?
How fast can you change in a phone booth?
will a hook fired from a Batmobile-style vehicle allow for 90 degree turns?

Posted by Mark Coale

If it’s New York, there must be drinking, as Comic Foundry celebrates its first issue with A LAUNCH PARTY:

The first time is always special. Thus, we’re having a party to celebrate Comic Foundry’s August 22nd debut.

WHERE?
The Irish Rogue
356 W 44th St.

WHEN?
Wednesday, August 29th
6 PM - whenever

BONUS: We’ll be giving out a limited number of gift bags to the first however many people get there, containing a free issue of Comic Foundry, a comic book pulled directly from my or Tim Leong’s personal collection, and potentially other… mysteries.

Wednesday also happens to be ladies night at The Irish Rogue, which means 2 for 1 Cosmos for the fairer sex. We aim for female friendliness!

Via Colleen Coover the “Comics are not literature” panel from San Diego that was practically the only provocative one, as far as we can tell, is up. We haven’t listened yet, but it’s very high on our catch up list.

Image of Douglas Wolk, Dan Nadel, and Sara Ryan stolen from Coover. Who just got married this weekend to panelist on the above Paul Tobin so big congrats to the happy couple, and here’s a picture of that, taken by Paul Guinan.

While we were out of town, the McCloud clan returned from a year-long tour that saw them traveling this great nation of ours and visiting all 50 states:

Yes, we actually did it! Even though we still have one more event — the wrap party at Golden Apple in LA listed below — we’ve now successfully fullfilled the mission we set out to accomplish: Staging at least one public event in every state in America in a single year. We could get hit by a meteor tomorrow and it wouldn’t change a thing since California has already seen a full 11 events even before the wrap party.

Congrats to Scott, Ivy, Sky and Winter. We’ll miss following their travels via the McCloud Tour LJ, even as we’re secretly smiling over the fact that, just like Dorothy, they have returned to the very place they left from, and will be staying in Southern California. There is one last event — a wrap party at the Golden Apple this Saturday:

So, in conclusion, if you are anywhere even remotely close to Los Angeles we hope you’ll join us for our final, final, final event:

Saturday, September 1
Los Angeles, CA
Golden Apple
Tour Wrap Party!
4-7 pm

See you there!

Peter Bagge writes to reveal a series of public appearances for the rootin’ tootin’ tooner:

Big Doin’s for me starting next week! First up is:

DRAGON CON in Atlanta, GA, Aug 31st- Sept. 3rd. It’s hosted by 3 hotels: The Atlanta Hilton, Hyatt Regency, Marriott Marquis all in the heart of downtown, and all right next to each other. I’ll be signing and drawing all day in the “artists alley” area, so please stop by and say hi if you’re planning on attending.

On the following Wednesday, Sept. 5, REASON Magazine will be hosting a meet ‘n’ greet in my honor at their Washington DC offices. Blush! It’s invitation only, however, so if you’re in the DC area and are interested in attending please contact me here or at: peterbagge@earthlink.net about the details. Drinks and light snacks will be served, I’m told. Can’t beat that!

Finally on Saturday Sept. 8th, I’ll be taking part in a big art show featuring work by myself, JIM BLANCHARD and JOHNNY RYAN at the Star Clipper Comics Shop and Gallery in St. Louis, MO. The opening reception runs from 7 – 10 pm, and all three of us will be in attendance. Par-tay!
Starclipper is located at:
6392 Delmar Blvd. (In the Loop!)
St. Louis, MO
Phone: 314.725.9110
http://starclipper.popshoponline.com/

I hope to see some of you soon!

Here’s one of the subjects we really need to read up on: the legal tangle surrounding the return of Valiant comics. It seems the tangle has already caused one problem: Diamond will not be distributing the HARBINGER reprint due to legal concerns:

In the latest development in what has seemingly become a quagmire of intellectual property rights and legalities over the former Valiant characters took another twist this past week. The Harbinger: The Beginning hardcover, originally due to go on sale this Wednesday from Valiant Entertainment, LLC. collecting the original 1990’s Harbinger #0-7 along with an all-new “Origin of Harada” story by Harbinger creator Jim Shooter, has been cancelled in the Direct Market. Retailers who have called their Diamond Comics Distributors representatives to inquire about the availability of the hardcover have been told that the item was canceled Friday due to “legal reasons.”

More in the link.