I was on the fence about his movie, but after seeing the clip I'm totally in. Sure, one look at the trailer and you can figure out exactly how the movie is going to play out, but it's got big all-singing all-dancing musical numbers in Central Park!
Friday, 9 November 2007
Enchanted
LA Times has a feature story about Disney's upcoming Enchanted, along with a video clip from the movie featuring Amy Adams singing "That's How You Know."
I was on the fence about his movie, but after seeing the clip I'm totally in. Sure, one look at the trailer and you can figure out exactly how the movie is going to play out, but it's got big all-singing all-dancing musical numbers in Central Park!
I was on the fence about his movie, but after seeing the clip I'm totally in. Sure, one look at the trailer and you can figure out exactly how the movie is going to play out, but it's got big all-singing all-dancing musical numbers in Central Park!
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Gun-toting Yotsuba&! Netflix wha...?!
Stumbled across this weird flickr photoset, featuring a gun-toting Yotsuba&! toy and a Netflix envelope. Bizarre...
I swear Marvel, if you keep doing this crap I'm going to stop buying your floppies
Notice anything about many of your Marvel comics this week. They're thicker! No, Marvel didn't give you extra pages of story, they gave you extra pages of ads.
For example, Astonishing X-Men increased from 32 to 48 pages (not counting covers). Those 48 pages are:
1 'previously on' page
23 pages of story
18 pages of ads
6 pages of dubious editorial material
Basically the thing is half advertising.
Why do I care? After all, they didn't raise the price, so I'm still getting the same story value for my $2.99.
One, the plethora of ads really breaks up the flow of the story. It's often a page of story, then a page of ads, then a page of story, then three pages of ads. (Unlike when DC ads an extra insert of advertising, you cannot 'debone' the Marvel comics of their extra bulk.) So why not just wait for the trade, where I can read the story uninterrupted by advertising?
Two, the extra-thick comics add up to extra bulk. 50% more. That 50% more weight that your retailer has to pay in shipping, which eats into his/her profits. Retailers raised holy heck before when Marvel did this, and Marvel promised to knock it off. Guess they forgot.
For example, Astonishing X-Men increased from 32 to 48 pages (not counting covers). Those 48 pages are:
1 'previously on' page
23 pages of story
18 pages of ads
6 pages of dubious editorial material
Basically the thing is half advertising.
Why do I care? After all, they didn't raise the price, so I'm still getting the same story value for my $2.99.
One, the plethora of ads really breaks up the flow of the story. It's often a page of story, then a page of ads, then a page of story, then three pages of ads. (Unlike when DC ads an extra insert of advertising, you cannot 'debone' the Marvel comics of their extra bulk.) So why not just wait for the trade, where I can read the story uninterrupted by advertising?
Two, the extra-thick comics add up to extra bulk. 50% more. That 50% more weight that your retailer has to pay in shipping, which eats into his/her profits. Retailers raised holy heck before when Marvel did this, and Marvel promised to knock it off. Guess they forgot.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
New This Week: November 7, 2007
What looks good at the comic shop this week?The Middleman: The Third Volume Inescapability is a new OGN from Javier Grillo-Marxuach & Les McClaine. The first two volumes (released as mini-series) were a good deal of fun with plenty of action, so this should be good too.
I'm a huge fan of Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&!, but I've never really warmed to her earlier comic, Azumanga Daioh. However, many other people have, so if you're looking to give it a try, ADV has a massive omnibus edition collecting the first three volumes.
Lots of manga from both Viz and TokyoPop (nothing that particularly excites me, but YYMV).
Dark Horse makes a bid for your pocketbook with a new issue of Buffy (#8); the first issue of the new Groo mini, Hell on Earth; and a new volume of Eden: It's an Endless World (vol. 9).
Marvel send new issues of Astonishing X-Men (#23) and Criminal (#10) your way.
Enjoy your new comics!
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Comic Blog Popularity Contest
I've always been a bit too fascinated by Website statistics. Waaay back in the mid-90s (an eternity in Internet years) I wrote one of the first programs for doing transaction log analysis of Web server logs.
So of course I obsessively pour over my blog statistics.
I always figured I was on the third tier of comics blogs in terms of readership. The first tier being the blogs that nearly everyone reads, namely Dirk, Tom & Heidi. The second tier being those who have been around for a while and who post either long, highly entertaining posts or who blog frequently, like Mike and Chris1 and Johanna and Dave and others. The third tier being schmoes like me who have been at this for a while but who don't post every day. There's probably a fourth tier as well, mostly those bloggers who are just getting started and who haven't found a readership yet.
Based on the stats I get--and let's be clear, Web stats are an imprecise science at best--I figure that I have about 300 regular readers, and another 250 or so a day who come at me from random linkage2 or Google searches3. So put my total daily-ish readership at 550 people more or less.
In a post today, Johanna reveals that she gets over 3,555 readers a day, which puts her an order of magnitude higher than me and confirms my supposition that she's in a higher 'tier' of the comics blogosphere than me.
So, anyone else want to reveal their comics blog readership numbers?
1 Man, if I worked in a comic shop, I'd no doubt have no end of things to blog about!
2 Getting linked to by ¡Journalista! or When Fangirls Attack or Mangablog is a surefire way to pump up one's blog stats for a day or two.
3 Seriously, if you ever want to get a permanent boost to your Google search stats, write a post titled "Girls in Mini Skirts Kicking People" and get it linked to by Dirk; your Google page rank will soar!
So of course I obsessively pour over my blog statistics.
I always figured I was on the third tier of comics blogs in terms of readership. The first tier being the blogs that nearly everyone reads, namely Dirk, Tom & Heidi. The second tier being those who have been around for a while and who post either long, highly entertaining posts or who blog frequently, like Mike and Chris1 and Johanna and Dave and others. The third tier being schmoes like me who have been at this for a while but who don't post every day. There's probably a fourth tier as well, mostly those bloggers who are just getting started and who haven't found a readership yet.
Based on the stats I get--and let's be clear, Web stats are an imprecise science at best--I figure that I have about 300 regular readers, and another 250 or so a day who come at me from random linkage2 or Google searches3. So put my total daily-ish readership at 550 people more or less.
In a post today, Johanna reveals that she gets over 3,555 readers a day, which puts her an order of magnitude higher than me and confirms my supposition that she's in a higher 'tier' of the comics blogosphere than me.
So, anyone else want to reveal their comics blog readership numbers?
1 Man, if I worked in a comic shop, I'd no doubt have no end of things to blog about!
2 Getting linked to by ¡Journalista! or When Fangirls Attack or Mangablog is a surefire way to pump up one's blog stats for a day or two.
3 Seriously, if you ever want to get a permanent boost to your Google search stats, write a post titled "Girls in Mini Skirts Kicking People" and get it linked to by Dirk; your Google page rank will soar!
Sunday, 4 November 2007
Monkey Covers
Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.Peter Cannon — Thunderbolt! battles in the Ape Arena on the cover to Secrets of the Unknown #229. That's right: The Ape Arena! I love comics!
(Standard disclaimer about apes in arenas not really being monkeys applies.)
Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
The Librarians and Other TV News
ITEM! A writers' strike is looking imminent, and it appears that the first casualty is the Heroes: Origins series, as NBC needs to free up the budget money for non-scripted programming (i.e. crappy reality programs).
ITEM! One quote I read about the upcoming strike (I forget from whom and where) was that "a lot of novels are going to get written." With the number of writers from television moving into comics these days, I suspect there will be a lot of comics scripts written too; who knows, maybe this'll mean that Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk finally gets finished!
ITEM! Despite the troubles, FOX has greenlit a new series from Joss Whedon starring Eliza Dushku called Dollhouse for probably the 2008 season (unless the strike is still going on...) Reportedly Tim Minear will be involved too. Hmm, Minear + FOX = Cancelled within four episodes, so don't get too attached.
ITEM! Not really comics or television, but related to both, is the news that a new X-Files movie will begin shooting in December for a Summer 2008 release.
ITEM! And from a land (Australia) where there is no strike looming: I've always thought that a public library would be a perfect setting for a television comedy, and finally someone agrees with me! Yesterday marked the debut of The Librarians, a six-episode series on ABC (That's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Of course you can't see it on the telly outside of Australia, but for the time being you can go to the ABC Website and watch the pilot episode in YouTube-like-quality streaming video. It's not a laugh-a-minute sitcom, but rather a workplace comedy in the humour mode of the UK version of The Office. There were also some great background gags, and those of you who have worked in libraries will recognize the characters who work at the fictitious library, no matter which country you are from.
ITEM! One quote I read about the upcoming strike (I forget from whom and where) was that "a lot of novels are going to get written." With the number of writers from television moving into comics these days, I suspect there will be a lot of comics scripts written too; who knows, maybe this'll mean that Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk finally gets finished!
ITEM! Despite the troubles, FOX has greenlit a new series from Joss Whedon starring Eliza Dushku called Dollhouse for probably the 2008 season (unless the strike is still going on...) Reportedly Tim Minear will be involved too. Hmm, Minear + FOX = Cancelled within four episodes, so don't get too attached.
ITEM! Not really comics or television, but related to both, is the news that a new X-Files movie will begin shooting in December for a Summer 2008 release.
ITEM! And from a land (Australia) where there is no strike looming: I've always thought that a public library would be a perfect setting for a television comedy, and finally someone agrees with me! Yesterday marked the debut of The Librarians, a six-episode series on ABC (That's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Of course you can't see it on the telly outside of Australia, but for the time being you can go to the ABC Website and watch the pilot episode in YouTube-like-quality streaming video. It's not a laugh-a-minute sitcom, but rather a workplace comedy in the humour mode of the UK version of The Office. There were also some great background gags, and those of you who have worked in libraries will recognize the characters who work at the fictitious library, no matter which country you are from.
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