Why Does Marvel Front-Load Its Release Schedule?

Here's something that's bothered me for a while now:

Take a look at Marvel's release schedule for May, in terms of how many new comics are being released each week:

May 5: 46 titles
May 12: 20 titles
May 19: 18 titles
May 26: 14 titles

There are more than twice as may titles being released on the first week as there are any other week. That's 47% of their total monthly output scheduled for the first week. This pattern is not atypical for Marvel.

Mu question is: why? Do they count on many of these titles slipping a week or two? Are they playing games with FOC dates? Do they want reorders to show up on that month's shipping to game the monthly Diamond market share?

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

So here it is President's Day and Valentine's Day back-to-back. Who can afford all of the presents for both such important holidays, especially in this sluggish economy?!

The solution is to get that special someone (and yourself) a Bizarro iPhone app! Boy, am I excited about it! I've been working for months with some very cool app designers here in NYC and we've come up with a new innovation in the comics-for-phones field!

Previously, with other comics apps, you could only buy a given number of cartoons and cram them into your phone and when you'd seen them all, that was that. Could take you ten minutes, could take you ten years.

With the Bizarro app, a NEW COMIC is added EVERY DAY! (The same comic that appears in newspapers.) PLUS, at any given time there is a YEAR'S ARCHIVE of comics that can be accessed super easy and fast from a handy-dandy calendar page. You can also click to access bio info about me (oh! so funny!), info about Bizarro (more humor!), and a help link if pushing buttons on a phone ends up being more than you can handle. Also, you can shoot an email to your other cool friends who might like this app, and you can leave comments. Last, but not least, you can
click to access this very ever-lovin' blog.

ALL FOR ONLY $1.99 PER YEAR! How can we give all of these laughs, drawings, insights, and life-changing experiences away for only $1.99 per year? I'm not sure, I'll have to ask them about raising the price to something more appropriate, like $10K per week. But for now, the price is DEAD CHEAP, so don't miss it!

As you can see from the graphic below, the home page is super long, so scroll down, amigos!

MAY I READ MORE ABOUT IT NOW?
YES! READ MORE ABOUT IT NOW!





Click it to big it...

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Lulu doesn't read the signs on the cover of Marge's Little Lulu #159 (Either that, or she just doesn't care. Or the monkey is sneaky. Yeah, that's it—those sneaky monkeys!)


Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Valentine's Ten of a Kind

With apologies to everyone's favorite Little Stuffed Bull...














The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21
Batman: The Long Halloween #5
Donald Duck #7 (2005)
Harlequin Valentine
Laugh Comics Digest #129
Looney Tunes #171
Love Fights #1
P.S. Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #75
Simpsons Comics #106
Slacker Comics #7

(Covers courtesy of the GCD.)

About that Smallville Episode

An episode of the long-running Smallville, written by a DC Comics scribe, directed by one of the show's stars, and featuring a classic DC character.

No, not "Absolute Justice." That was something of a train wreck.

Instead I refer to last night's episode, "Warrior." It was written by Bryan Q. Miller (recent scribe of Batgirl & Teen Titans), directed by Allison Mack, and featured the return of Zatanna in a supporting role.

And it was a good deal of fun.

The plot involved a cursed comic book that turned an eleven-year-old kid into an adult super-hero (shades of Captain Marvel). While Clark & Zatanna try to find the comic and restore the kid to normal, Chloe crushes on the new hero in town. Oh, and Lois Lane dresses up as both a Storm Trooper and Xena at the Metropolis Comic Con.

One of the themes of the episode was that you need a bit of whimsy in your life and not be so serious all the time; a lesson the show itself could stand to learn. If only Smallville were this much fun more often, it would be a much better show.

Best Music of 2009

Here are four mixes on 8track.com with my picks for the best songs of 2009:











For those of you reading this anywhere other than Yet Another Comics Blog (e.g. a feed reader or Facebook) here are some handy links to the mixes:

• Best of 2009, Part 1 (A-E)
• Best of 2009, Part 2 (F-K)
• Best of 2009, Part 3 (L-N)
• Best of 2009, Part 4 (P-Z)

Believe It!

(To see this cartoon in a bigger-sized way, click on the xkelrtoi stabilizer switch on the wall)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Miracles.

I never know how many people will be confused by a given cartoon but I'm guessing this one caused its share of puzzlement. What I'm referring to here is the Church of Scientology, which has followers all over the world but is headquartered in Los Angeles, and whose faithful believe something similar to ancient space aliens are living inside them. Yes, it sounds like a strange basis for a "religion," but then it was devised by a science fiction writer, so what do you expect?

I often wonder how otherwise rational people can believe these things, but then again, all religions are pretty outrageous when you look at them objectively. They usually involve virgin births, half-man/half-gods, resurrections from the dead, magical healing, evil creatures who can get inside you, and eternal beings who float around the universe. You might think these are Judeo-Christian concepts but they are found in the vast majority of belief systems throughout human history. They are ubiquitous concepts in many faiths that predate the Bible and they persist today.

I finally saw Bill Maher's film, "Religulous" and although I fully expected to enjoy it, it was far more entertaining and enlightening than I had anticipated. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the rational examination of human behavior and a good laugh, regardless of their faith or lack of it.