Virtual tour of Periscope Studio... In German!

A short photo tour of Periscope Studio, by a visiting German cartoonist: Fotos aus dem Studio

Women Creators at Marvel & DC (and Image & Dark Horse)

David Welsh's recent post about tips for media writers when writing about female comic creators got me to thinking: just how many women are writing or drawing comics at the major pop comics publishers?

Let's go counting through the April solicits!

(Note: I'm not counting manga or OGNs.)

Marvel:

Writers: 2: Robin Furth on Dark Tower & Lords of Avalon; Jessica Ruffner on Anita Blake.

Artists: 1: Adriana Melo on Ms. Marvel.


DC:

Writers: 2: Amy Wolfram on Teen Titans Year One; Gail Simone on Wonder Woman & Welcome to Tranquility

Artists: 2: Nicola Scott on Birds of Prey; Sandra Hope on World of Warcraft


Image:

Writers: none

Artists: 1: Laura Allred on Madman Atomic Comics


Dark Horse:

Writers: none

Artists: 1: Jan Duursema on Star Wars: Legacy



So as far as creator gender representation in mainstream comics goes, things are no better than they were ten, twenty or thirty years ago--the days of Louise Simonson, Jo Duffy, Ann Nocenti, June Brigman, Marie Severin, Ramona Fradon, etc.

One might think that, with more titles being pushed out these days, there would be opportunities for more creators, and that some of those slots would be filled by women creators.

It's hard to address the why of the gender imbalance without speaking in supposition and generalities. I think that there are a combination of factors at work, some of which boil down to a lack of desire on the part of female creators to work on corporate super-hero comics when there are plenty of other avenues available for their creative expression.

(1/28: Edited, 'cause I totally spaced and left off Jan Duursema.)

National Pie Tragedy

As most of you know, January 23rd – today, unless my medication needs adjusting – is National Pie Day. Since I include a piece of pie in almost all of my cartoons and have done so for years, one would naturally assume that I would be a fundamental part of this great celebration. But I have been snubbed.

All across the land people are rejoicing, families are gathering and giving thanks, congregations are praying, school children are singing about pie. But not one word is being uttered about Bizarro, which celebrates pie not just on a single day in January, but all year long. I wasn't asked to ride in a parade atop a pie made of geraniums, I wasn't interviewed by USA Today, I wasn't a guest on Larry King Live. I wasn't even called by some corny morning DJ to talk live on the air about what this day means to me. Instead, my wife and I will celebrate quietly in our tiny Brooklyn apartment with our two cats and a half-dozen (vegan) pies.

I blame capitalism. Greedy retailers have taken all the meaning out of National Pie Day and turned it into a money-grubbing orgy of merchandise and services. What once was a meaningful celebration of a time-honored staple in every person's life, has become another way to line our pockets with soul-draining cash and fill our homes with useless baubles and electronic gizmos to distract us from the real meaning of pie.

Let us not forget on this special day, that pie is not about cash and gifts and merchandise. It's about flaky crust. It's about juicy fruits and syrupy goodness, shared with family and friends. It's about the bounty of Mother Nature's Bosom, flowing forth with fruits and vegetables and grains, captured at their paramount in a round, portable disk of life-giving flavor.

Without pie, we would be nothing more than a nation of cartilage-gnawing barbarians.

http://www.piecouncil.org/national.htm

Diamond 2007 Chart Position and Sales

Near the end of his discussion on the ICv2 Diamond Sales Estimates for December, Tom Spurgeon remarks:

There also seems to be growth at the bottom of the comic sales chart, a slight shift of 20 or so place for equivalent sales, which is a phenomenon I don't know that I've seen convincing analysis on, but I would imagine has to be encouraging.

Ask and ye shall receive, Tom!

I looked at ICv2's Sales Estimates charts for all of 2007, grabbing the sales figures for positions 1, 10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300. (I also did the graphic novel charts for positions 1, 10, 50, and 100.) Here's what we get:



(The Y-axis on the chart is on a logarithmic scale.)

The only thing that jumps out at me is that for comics, for every position but 50 & 1, the Jan 2007 numbers are darn close to the Dec 2007 numbers.

Frankly, I was expecting to see more connections. I thought that high numbers at the top would mean low numbers at the bottom, as the big selling titles would eat away at the mid and lower ranks. This is slightly true, as we can see that the highest numbers for 150, 200, 250 and 300 come in October, when positions 1 & 10 are at the lowest.

But every time I thought a pattern was emerging, along came a data set for the month which quashed the pattern.

(In case you're wondering, the big numbers at position 1 in the beginning of the year are from Civil War #s 6-7, then Captain America #25.)

As far as the graphic novel position data goes, it seems to be completely divorced from anything.

Does anyone else see anything different in the data?

(There is also no doubt a better analysis to be made, such as adding all top 10 slots and comparing to the total of the bottom 50 or something like that. This is just what I came up with for a quick look...)

New Library Comics: Week of January 14, 2008

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Azuma, Kiyohiko. Yotsuba &! / Houston, Tex. : ADV Manga, 2005- vol. 5

The best American comics 2007. / Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006-

Brown, Jeffrey (Jeffrey David), 1975- Incredible change-bots / Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2007.

Elfworld / [San Francisco?] : Family Style ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2007-

Emond, Steve. Emo boy / San Jose, CA : SLG Pub., 2006- vol. 2

Fillbach Brothers. Maxwell Strangewell / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2007

Flight / Orange, CA : Image Comics, c2004- vol. 4

The Ganzfeld. New York : Kaput Press no. 5

Georges, Nicole J. Invincible summer : an anthology / Bloomington, Indiana : Microcosm Publishing, 2007.

Gothic classics / Mount Horeb, Wis. : Eureka Productions, 2007

Hernandez, Gilbert. Chance in hell / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, c2007.

Hickman, Jonathan. The nightly news : (a lie told in six parts) / Berkeley, Calif. : Image, 2007.

Hinds, Gareth. William Shakespeare's King Lear : a graphic novel / Cambridge, Mass. : Thecomic.com, 2007.

I keee you!! : a collection of overheards / Baltimore, MD : Atomic Book Company, 2006.

Isaacson, John. Do-it-together silk printing / Bloomington, Ind. : Microcosm Pub., 2007.

Jason, 1965- I killed Adolf Hitler / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics ; London : Turnaround [distributor], 2007

Kim, Derek Kirk. Good as Lily / New York : Minx, c2007.

Kindt, Matt. Super spy / Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2007.

Knapp, Bill. A thorn in the side. / Lafayette, IN : Carbon-Based Books, 2007.

Lat. Town boy / New York : First Second, 2007.

Lay, Carol. Goodnight, Irene : the collected stories of Irene Van de Kamp / San Francisco, Calif. : Last Gasp, 2006.

Marzocchi, Leila. Niger / Seattle : Fantagraphics Books ; [Bologna, Italy?] : Coconino Press, c2006- no. 2

Millionaire, Tony. Sock Monkey : the inches incident / Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, c2007.

Morse, Scott. Scrap mettle : fast art / Berkeley, CA : Image Comics, 2007.

Nilsen, Anders, 1973- Dogs & water / Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly ; New York : Distributed by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Petrucha, Stefan. Beowulf / New York : HarperTrophy, c2007.

Road, Cristy C. Distance makes the heart grow sick : a book of postcards / Brooklyn, N.Y. : Croadcore ; Portland, Or. ; Microcosm Publishing, c2007.

Robel, Nicolas. Joseph / Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2007

Ryan, Johnny. Johnny Ryan's XXX Scumbag party. Seattle : Fantagraphics Books, 2007.

Schulz, Charles M. (Charles Monroe), 1922-2000. The complete Peanuts 1965-1966 / Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c2004-

Staros, Chris. Chris Staros' Yearbook stories, 1976-1978. / Marietta, Ga : Top Shelf Productions, c2007.

Strip AIDS U S A : a collection of cartoon art to benefit people with AIDS / San Francisco : Last Gasp, Ron Turner publisher, c1988.

Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957- InuYasha / San Francisco, CA : Viz, LLC, c2003- vol. 31

Taniguchi, Jirō. The walking man / Wisbech, Eng. : FanFare, 2004.

Tomine, Adrian, 1974- Shortcomings / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2007.

Vaughn, J. C. Antiques, the comic strip / [written by J.C. Vaughn ; art by Brendon and Brian Fraim. Timonium, Md. : Gemstone Pub, 2007.

Weird science / Timonium, Md. : Gemstone Publishing, c2006- vol. 2


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The Big Three Return

There has been much speculation over the past year or so on the death of self-publishing, particularly for the comic book serial. Not surprising, as many self-publishers have either gone to established publishers (e.g. Linda Medley), gone to the Web (e.g. Phil & Kaja Foglio), or essentially given up (e.g. Mark Oakley).

I think that 2008 will be a make-or-break year. Three of the biggest names in self publishing have new projects starting up: Jeff Smith with RASL, Terry Moore with Echo, and the granddaddy of all Dave Sim with Glamourpuss.

The success of these three enterprises will tell us a lot about the viability of self-publishing comic books in the current era. Will their fans take to their new projects? And if so, will they buy the periodicals or wait for the inevitable trades? (Sim claims that the collection of Glamourpuss most likely won't come out until 2012 or thereabouts.)

However it goes, 2008 should make for an interesting year in comics publishing.

New Library Comics: Week of January 7, 2008

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Abel, Duane M. Zed : backstage pass : a cartoon collection / Carrollton, Ohio : Published by Corkey Comics, c2005.

Brubaker, Ed. Point blank / La Jolla, CA : WildStorm Productions, c2003.

Brubaker, Ed. Sleeper / La Jolla, CA : WildStorm Productions, 2004-2005. vols. 1-4

Chippendale, Brian. Battlestack galacti-crap foods. [Sunderland, England] : Reg Vardy Gallery; School of Art, Design, Media and Culture; University of Sundrland, 2005

Eisner, Will. Fagin the Jew / New York : Doubleday, 2003.

Fortier, Ron. The Boston Bombers special / Plymouth, Mich. : Caliber Comics, 1997.

Gaiman, Neil. The absolute sandman / New York : DC Comics, 2006- vol. 2

Graphic witness : four wordless novels by Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, Giacomo Patri and Laurence Hyde / Richmond Hill, Ont. : Firefly Books, 2007.

Lewis, Jon. Ghost ship / San Jose, CA : Slave Labor Graphics, c1996- no. 1

McInturff, Don. The mighty offenders / [Richmond, Va.] : Young American Comics, 2004-

Owen, James A. Starchild / Mesa, AZ : Taliesin Press, c1993- no. 12

Stoops, Tracy. Dark fury / Plymouth, Mich. : Webb Comics, [2002]- no. 1

Styrk, John. Boomtown scabs / [Belleville, Mich.?] : Boomtown Press, 2005- nos. 1-2

Tagami, Yoshihisa. Grey / San Francisco, CA : Viz Comics, c1988- no. 1

Takemiya, Keiko, 1950- To terra -- / New York : Vertical, 2007- vol. 3

Van Lente, Fred. Cowboys & aliens / Los Angeles, Calif. : Platinum Studios, 2006.


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