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So...Frank Miller on Batman, huh? I wonder if he's going to play it straight, or write in his "satire so subtle no one realizes he's making a joke" style?
So...no more Dreamwave, huh? I'm guessing what finally did them in was the combination of declining sales and fixed license fees, and an expansion of the line past what the audience was prepared to buy. One Transformers book is fine, two is a bit much but still doable, but three regular, on-going Transformers titles...at that point you're cannibalizing your own sales.
Now, the interesting thing to see is if the license will be picked up by somebody else, or if the market is starting to weary of reviving older toy properties as comics. Judging by our sales on 80s toy and cartoon comics, I think the market is probably growing a bit tired of these things. Yeah, it's kind of cool to see something you loved as a kid come back...but seeing everything you liked as a kid come back in comic form...that must get kind of dull.
Your gay porn link of the day: Gay-themed Japanese erotic sim, featuring big, beefy masculine guys instead of the usual, vaguely disturbing hermaphroditic boy/men you get in your typical yaoi/shonen-ai title.
Speaking of gay porn, the first issue of Sticky from Eros Comix shipped today. It looks quite nice, with attractive, masculine figures and an effective use of a limited color palette. I hope to have a review up once I have a chance to give it a closer look.
Despite the fact that it was a light week for comics, it was a huge week for manga...tons of stuff came in. I'm not too sure I like the idea of Viz shrink-wrapping their "editor's choice" titles and stick "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" stickers on them (on the books themselves, not the wrappers...I hate that!). I'm sure it's in response to requests from the book-store market, but I can't help but think that it's a move that will a) discourage browsing of titles, thereby discouraging sales and b) foster the already too common belief that Japanese comics are "dirty" and not suitable for children.
Today we received a copy of How to Draw the Human Figure, and I remarked that since it's an art-instruction book that isn't manga and features, you know, anatomically correct figures, that we won't be able to sell it. Pal Mike suggested we send a copy off to Rob Liefeld...
Speaking of Mike, I know it's become common for people to view us as a double act, with me the Dean Martin to his Jerry Lewis...but to get the full effect you really need to get Captain Corey in the room as well. Then you can see that the dynamic is more like; I'm the Groucho, to Mike's Chico and Corey's Harpo.
(Though I should note that Mike considers himself to be more the Zeppo type, but it's my analogy and I say he's Chico, dammit!)
