PW reports the joyous news that ZOT will be reprinted by Harper Collins:

Acclaimed comics artist and theoretician Scott McCloud will see his classic comics series, Zot!, republished by HarperCollins as an original trade paperback edition in July 2008. One of McCloud’s earliest extended works of fiction, Zot! is a seminal work that reflects the influence of both manga and the emerging alternative comics scene on McCloud’s comics. The book was also instrumental to the creation of Understanding Comics, his groundbreaking theoretical work on the comics medium. The HC book deal was negotiated by the Judith Hansen Literary Agency.

The first 10 issues, which Eclipse printed in full color, will not be reprinted in this volume.

Believe it or not, we still haven’t had time to read the Zuda contracts.But lots of other people have! Johanna has an excellent summary of opinion so far, she catches Chris Butcher’s dire warnings

It’s nice to be paid a page-rate for your work and all, but that $14,000 salary cap ($1000 purchase price plus 52 weeks @ $250/strip) seems to be pretty limiting, in terms of the potential revenue that could be generated off of a successful webcomic. It’s not bad money I guess, but here’s the thing… It’s less than the money you would make doing a half-page of comics art at DC or Veritgo even, and it also involves selling off the intellectual property for your work for an unlimited amount of time (seriously, at $500 a year, Time Warner could quite easily afford to pay you that fuck-off money forever). The idea that you should fully own what you fully create? It’s a good one, and one that I feel should be taken seriously. I also personally feel that every time someone takes a very bad deal like this, it makes it that much easier for publishers to OFFER very bad deals.

Is it a bad deal? We can’t say, not having read it yet, although the analyses we’re reading so far sound pretty in line with what Marvel and DC usually offer. From what we’re hearing, some Zuda creators are getting a different contract, however, so that should be kept in mind.

While the reversion clause sounds pretty onerous, DC does let some properties revert — we can think of BREATHTAKER by Mark Hempel and OUTLAW NATION off the top of our head. Of course, these properties are not exactly V FOR VENDETTA and ROAD TO PERDITION. Suffice to say that if you have something that you really think is the next Ctl+Alt+Del or Pearls Before Swine, Zuda probably isn’t your best bet.

Anyway, more reax:
Tom Spurgeon
T Campbell
Gary Tyrell 0
Gary Tyrell 1
Gary Tyrell 2
Joey Manley with the title “Who Wants to be a Thousandaire.”
More later.

Pretty much everything of interest in the Nate Fisher/Eightball case has been said, until Fisher himself speaks, perhaps, but a few late comments are worth noting. We found these through our own trackbacks (Our story got Boing Boinged yesterday, sending our hits and trackbacks through the roof.) but if anyone knows of any other USEFUL commentary, send us a link.
First, Eric Reynolds has his final say on the matter. We encourage everyone to read it for themselves, as its quite thoughtful. Nut kernal:

I appreciate any parent wanting to protect their children, but in this case, would the child be any less protected if a solution that didn’t include a police investigation and/or immediate resignation had been pursued? To me, that’s the fundamental question.

Another interesting perspective is from a blog called Minivan Diaries, which the sidebar tells us, is written by a mother of four who once planned to be a children’s advocate:

However, at what cost and to what extremes do we go to protect our children? Isn’t it also our job to be good role models for our kids, especially when they are teenagers and they judge our behavior so scrupulously? By rushing to the police, and notifying school officials, she denied the teacher any opportunity to explain himself. He was guilty way before he even had a chance to prove his innocence, or at least his poor judgement. This was a perfect opportunity for a Parental Teaching moment — to demonstrate how adults work out differences by gathering facts, communicating, trying to understand both sides of an issue, and in this case, realizing that people, even teachers are human and they make mistakes.

After reading all of the hullabaloo, it’s pretty clear that mistakes were made on every side. I don’t think anyone would question the right or duty of parents to protect their kids. Hopefully the next time something like this happens, more private discussion will occur before the media decides to have its own field day.

The mighty Canadian Loonie continues its assault on the now-dinky American Dollar :

After sinking steadily for most of the year, the U.S. greenback hit a record low against the euro and declined against the yen yesterday. But nothing hits closer to home, literally, than seeing it fall to a 31-year low against the Canadian loonie, so nicknamed for the bird pictured on its coin. The dollar’s slide is affecting every corner of American life, from corporate earnings to vacation plans. But more disturbingly, it also has the potential to punish the very mortgage holders that the Federal Reserve intended to help with its aggressive interest rate cut last week.

While we don’t understand this kind of money talk, Don MacPherson has more on how this affects outtmost favorite people…COMIC BOOK PEOPLE.:

Eye on Comics inquired with major U.S. publishers about the discrepancy. Image Comics executive director Eric Stephenson said the company is aware of the issue.

“We’ve been reviewing pricing on a quarterly basis, but I think we’re going to address this fairly shortly,” he said.

A Marvel spokesperson issued a similar statement.

“We’re working on adjustments now that should take effect in a few weeks,” said Marvel sales co-ordinator Arune Singh. Exactly what kind of pricing change might arise on the covers of Marvel and Image titles was not made clear.

A DC spokesman declined to comment, stating the company didn’t want to issue a statement regarding pricing at this time. Each spokesperson was asked how a Canadian price is determined, but none offered a response on that issue.

Much more in the link, including how it affects Canadian creators. We canonly say that the Canadians have once again shown themselves to be the most sensible people on earth by heartily embracing the one dollar coin, even though it has a picture of a bird with a name synonymous with insanity on it. That is practical!

Via several blogs, The U.S.S. Catastrophe Shop is up again for a bit — time to grab those minis and limited edition goodies while you can!

Sarah Paulson, lately of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP will play Ellen Dolan in the SPIRIT movie, it’s being reported:

Paulson…joins Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson in the dark supernatural tale about a young cop who returns from the dead to fight crime, the Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday.

While Mendes and Johansson will play femme fatales, Paulson is set to play the hero’s more genuine love interest, Dr. Ellen Dolan, the police commissioner’s daughter.

Other cast members include Gabriel Macht as the Spirit, Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus and Dan Lauria as Commissioner Dolan. Of course, no one will notice with Paulson, Mendes and Johansson on screen, wethinks.

A special effects technician working on BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT was killed when the vehicle he was driving struck a tree, Reuters reports:
The studio said that none of the cast, which includes several Hollywood stars, was involved in the accident that occurred at a special effects facility.

It added that the fatal crash did not happen on the set or during filming for “Batman: The Dark Knight”.

Media reports said the vehicle was following a stunt car, believed to be the Batmobile, at a property near Chertsey, Surrey.
This is at least the second superhero movie related death: A wlder was killed when a crane fell on him during SPIDER-MAN 1 filmikng in 2001. Okay so maybe two deaths in 6 years isn’t a curse. We thought for sure that there was an electrocution on the set of BATMAN BEGINS, but not all of our Googling might could find a reference, so that must have been a figment of our imagination.

We’re told the above is how they roll in Atlanta. And we say more power to them.

We’re rolling off for a few days, so we’re a little discombombulated. There may be a lot of posting. Or none at all. That’s how WE roll.

We don’t know what a “sketchcast” is, but Brady Dale sent us this, and we guess it’s Etch-a-sketch you can share with your friends!

We almost forget that actress Salma Hayek had a baby girl last week. Congratulations! Valentina Paloma Pinault is the first child for Hayek, 41, and fiancee Francois Henri Pinault, but great training for when Hayek plays mother of god-knows-how-many Luba in The Beat’s imaginary but much dreamed for adaptation of LOVE AND ROCKETS. And maybe even Salma is thinking the same thing: Paloma…Palomar….hm…..

BTW, the previous pictures of Salma Hayak we’ve posted are now the most Googled upon elements of this blog. Sad but true. We’re thinking this is one traffic-raising ploy that most of our readers will enjoy, however.

Cathy Malkasian (Percy Gloom) and Gilbert Hernandez appear tonight at Book Soup in West Hollywood:

WHO: Gilbert Hernandez & Cathy Malkasian
WHAT: Graphic novel signing
WHERE: Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 25th, 7PM

Municipal parking across the street. Can’t make it? Pre-order a signed book by calling 310.659.3100 or visiting www.booksoup.com

More info.

by Paul O’ Brien

I usually like to start this column by running through the big events of the month. But this month, frankly, there’s not much to point out. WORLD WAR HULK is still going, of course, and the X-Men have a little crossover of their own underway, with the “Endangered Species” back-up strip. But there are no new ongoing titles, and only a handful of miniseries. The biggest of those is HALO: UPRISING, and it’s a big step down from there. Overall, it’s one of the quietest months I can remember.

Even so, Marvel retain a comfortable lead over DC in the US direct market – 41% to 32% in dollar share, and by 46% to 35% in units. That’s the smallest gap in some time, partly due to the mysterious chart jump of COUNTDOWN, which Marc discusses over in the DC column. But it’s still a substantial margin.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

1,252.  WORLD WAR HULK
05/07  Prologue               - 111,153
06/07  World War Hulk #1 of 5 - 193,868  (+74.4%)
07/07  World War Hulk #2 of 5 - 163,095  (-15.9%)
08/07  World War Hulk #3 of 5 - 156,526  ( -4.0%)

WORLD WAR HULK moves up to take the top spot for this month – not because it’s going up in sales, but because bigger projects like the FALLEN SON miniseries have ended. Still, sales on this book are stabilising nicely, and it’s doing as well as Marvel could realistically have hoped for.

There are three versions of this issue, and thanks to a quirk of the chart, one of them is listed separately. The number one chart listing refers to the main cover and the John Romita Jr variant, with estimated sales of 151,523. But way, way down at number 252, there’s the David Finch sketch variant, produced for the Toronto Comicon, which adds another 5,003 sales. Why is it listed separately? Because it’s got a lower price tag than the other two, and Diamond only list multiple covers together if they have the same price.

The book is also seeing reasonably significant re-orders on the earlier chapters. Issue #1 shifts another 5,264 copies, and issue #2 adds 7,773 to its total. As always, they’re included in the numbers above.
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Much to chew on and some awesomely great cartoonists to listen to:

Small Press Expo is proud to announce its slate of programming events for SPX 2007. There will be a series of Creator Spotlights, providing a unique opportunity to learn and interact with the special guests at this years Expo. There will also be a series of panels and workshops to further probe the world of graphic novels and comics. Below are the descriptions and participants, which are subject to change, with exact dates and times forthcoming on the SPX web site at http://www.spxpo.com.

CREATOR SPOTLIGHTS

Bill Griffith – As an underground cartoonist, Bill Griffith created such characters as Mr. The Toad and Zippy the Pinhead, while co-editing the anthologies Young Lust and Arcade. Zippy has since “escaped into the real world” as the star of a syndicated daily newspaper strip, surely the oddest character to still roam that now staid realm. Over the course of an hour Griffith will deliver a heavily illustrated slideshow talk about his life and work to date.

Jeff Smith – Jeff Smith’s Bone, a beautifully drawn black and white synthesis of Carl Barks and J. R. R. Tolkein, began as a self-publishing success story, drawing raves from all corners of the comics world. The series is now an international hit for young readers in its new incarnation as a series of full-color graphic novels from Scholastic. The artist will discuss his work in a special spotlight session with moderator Heidi MacDonald.

Kim Deitch – Underground comix veteran Kim Deitch continues to produce the best work of his career, most recently the graphic novels Alias the Cat and Shadowlands. His other books include The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Hollywoodland, and A Shroud for Waldo, and he has contributed to RAW, Weirdo, Zero Zero, Arcade, Esquire and McSweeney’s. Over the course of an hour Deitch will discuss his most recent books, his career, his thoughts about art and comics, and his current works-in-progress.

Gilbert Hernandez – In 1982 Gilbert Hernandez and his brothers Jaime and Mario burst onto the comics scene with the publication of Love and Rockets #1. Since then Gilbert has spun out a vast, intergenerational saga detailing the lives, loves, and heartbreaks of the citizens of Palomar, a fictional Central American town, as well as challenging short-form work and a variety of stand-alone stories for various publishers. The prolific artist continues to challenge himself and his audience with new work in a variety of formats and genres, including the self-contained graphic novel Chance in Hell. Long-time friend and publisher Gary Groth will lead a discussion with the seminal artist.

Rutu Modan – Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan is a co-founder of the Actus Tragicus comics collective, a group of Israeli cartoonists seeking to reach an international audience with accomplished, personal comics work. Her first graphic novel, Nobody Said It Was Going to Be Fun, was a collaboration with author and Actus collaborator Etgar Keret. Exit Wounds is her first full-length graphic novel to be published domestically in the United States.

Nick Abadzis – London-based cartoonist Nick Abadzis has worked in various areas of comics, including the British small press, Vertigo Comics, and 2000 AD, and has also drawn several children’s books. Most recently he wrote and drew the graphic novel Laika, about the first living being to be sent into space. Abadzis will discuss the research intensive process behind his latest work.

C.F. – C.F. (aka Christopher Forgues) is the creator of the mini-comics series “Low Tides” and also performs musically as “Kites.” His work has appeared in numerous anthologies including Paper Rodeo, Free Radicals and Kramers Ergot (including the wrap-around cover for that anthology’s fifth volume). Dan Nadel, whose PictureBox publishing company has just published C.F.’s book Powr Mastrs, will lead a discussion with the artist.

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PR:

John Nee has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Business Development, DC Comics. It was announced today by Paul Levitz, DC Comics President & Publisher. Nee will continue to report directly to Levitz.

Nee, who joined DC Comics in 1998 as VP, General Manager WildStorm, oversees Business Development, the WildStorm studio, and the CMX manga imprint. In his new role, Nee will continue to provide leadership for DC Comics in potential opportunities for expanding the company’s core businesses areas, including in international publishing, videogame production and new media initiatives with sister divisions Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and Warner Bros Digital Distribution.

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Jessica Biel is in talks to play Wonder Woman in the proposed JLA movie.

We said:

JESSICA BIEL

JESSICA BIEL

A couple more people speaking out on Diamond’s new mandatory barcode decree:
§ From the retail perspective, Neptune Comics’ Lisa:

Diamond primarily makes changes to benefit themselves – they have no competition so there is little need to make improvements to make retailers or publishers lives easier. That’s why I believe the new barcode mandate, while it will be helpful to every store that uses a barcode scanner to receive and sell merchandise, was primarily done to help them. And financially it will be tough on small publishers. I think eventually small publishers will start to sell directly to stores much more actively and/or they will be able to find or create some kind of distribution channel other than Diamond that will distribute their comics.

From the small publisher perspective, Scott King

I don’t get why they decided to tell news sites before they contacted the publishers. To find out that we are going to have to spend a couple thousand bucks a year for upc and isbn junk from Newsarama and Pulbishers Weekly is horse crap. It was rude and disrespectful of Diamond to announce it to us in this way. But I guess that’s just how Diamond does things.

Adrian Tomine’s SHORTCOMINGS is sure to be one of the hottest graphic novelsof the fall, and to help speed it along D&W has just launched a website including tour dates, which we have to reproduce as a jpg, but if you follow the above link you can get all relevant details.

Stately Beat Manor is humming with projects, activities and cat yak and we are way behind on pointing you to many interesting things that may prove to be the butterfly stamp of some future world. So don ‘t miss out!
§ Feisty Canadian dollar briefly catches up with US buck. While to us this just means more expensive Timmy Horton’s, to Don MacPherson, there is much more to it; fluctuating currency levels means that Marvel and DC should examine their prices more often:

Cover prices on many Marvel comics released this week were $2.99 US/$3.75; DC, $2.99 US/$3.65. Marvel’s Canadian price is a little more than 25 per higher than the American one. DC’s is about 22 per cent higher. As I type this, one U.S. greenback is worth $1.01 Cdn.

Canadian comics retailer Calum Johnston, owner of Strange Adventures in Halifax, N.S., said the currency difference doesn’t impact his price that much since he and his staff always take it into account.

“So long as the retailer is buying the comics or books based upon the U.S. price, the pre-printed Canadian price is no worry. We just charge the going rate. Currently most Marvel and DC stuff is $3.25,” he said. “Most of the TPBs have to be stickered with the correct exchange; it’s just too time consuming to sticker every comic.”

§ Tintin Pantoja proposes a GLOBAL MANGA MANIFESTO

point one: The term ‘manga’ refers in general to sequential art, in particular to sequential art first published in Japan, henceforth referred to as ‘Japanese manga’.

point two: Japanese manga ecompasses a near-infinite range of styles, formats, themes, stories, and idioms. Many of these recurring styles have influenced artists outside of Japan.

Six more points in the link.

§ Todd Allen looks at Platinum’s stock offering.

Inuit artist/cartoonist Alooktook Ipellie is remembered; Ipellie died of a heart attack on the 8th. Above: Self portrait: inverse Ten Commandments.”

§The Boston Glpobe profile 10-year-old cartooner Alexa Kitchen:

“When I was 2 or 3, I started drawing,” says Alexa, who’s now 10 and a professional with a white-hot career. She just published her second book, and she’s earned acclaim from the likes of R. Crumb (“incredible”) and the late Will Eisner (“marvelous”) as well as two nominations for industrywide awards. She never stops: She draws two or three hours a day, every day.

Long-limbed with sleek dark hair, Alexa folds herself up like a pretzel in an easy chair between her parents in the family’s living room in this woodsy Pioneer Valley town. Original comics, penned that morning, lie strewn over the coffee table.

Sonaste Maneco , as near as we can make out, is an online comics magazine out of Argentina. The latest issue has some interesting content, according to an email we received:

With exclusive interviews to MILO MANARA and ALBERTO ONGARO, Sonaste Maneco analyzes the relationship between the Fumetto and the Historietas, the Italian and Argentinian comics. Manara talks about his works with Hugo Pratt, Federico Fellini and Alexandro Jodorowsky, his passion for Pablo Picasso and the Modern Art, the relation between the Mafia and the Catholic Church, the Italian immigration in Argentina, the global phenomenon of terrorism; and the differences between eroticism and pornography.

This issue also includes a special supplement dedicated to 1806 – Invasion!, the graphic novel made by unhil and Thalos, dedicated to the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806 and 1807; as well as a tribute to the memory of Roberto Fontanarrosa. And, as always, a complete service of features, reviews, critics of Isidoro, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man 3 and the theatre plays Boogie el Aceitoso and Free Zone, based on El Eternauta comic, by Héctor Germán Oesterheld & Francisco Solano López.

It’s a sizable download and if you can read Spanish and like comics there’s plenty to keep you busy. We wish we could read that Manara interview!