The Beat is moving

Heidi MacDonald is moving her fun news blog about comics culture to the website of her current corporate masters at Publisher's Weekly. Since she has been working for PW for awhile and co-edits their weekly e-magazine about comics, the move makes a lot of sense and eliminates the need to constantly remind her audience who her employer is when reporting on PW stories or Reed Exhibits events (like the New York Comic Con). It's also a good move on the part of PW --they get an established, well-liked property with a huge backlog of posts and enormous community goodwill (not to mention one of the most experienced women journalists in the comics world --and one with a variety of interests beyond the myopic realm of superheroes and kids comics). Congrats to Heidi and here's to many more years of the Beat!

MILE HIGH COMICS presents THE BEAT at COMICON.com: The Beat is moving

Superboy 1940

Surprising bit of arcana concerning the early days of Superman that may be of interest especially to people curious about the ongoing litigation involving the Siegel family and the ownership of Superboy. It seems that the name "Superboy" was being used by the owners and promoters of Superman as early as 1940, when a Superman Day was held at the New York World's Fair. Long-time fans and collectors may know that a special World's Fair comic book featuring Superman was published, but many may not know that a Superboy and Supergirl, selected from real live boys and girls, were crowned on July 4, 1940.

Recently, the website Superman Through the Ages was contacted by Bill Aronis, who states in a letter that he was selected as "superboy" for a day by a panel consisting of Charles Atlas and other celebrities as part of a promotion for Superman comics. 15 at the time, Aronis responded to an ad on the back of a Superman comic and was chosen from among hundred of other applicants. He received a trophy and a tour of the National offices and met some of the creative talent behind the comic book.

The use of the name Superboy for this event predates Superboy's actual comic book debut in More Fun Comics #101 by 5 years. The use of the name Supergirl (won by Maureen Reynolds) predates the appearance of the comic book Supergirl by 18 years (the so-called "Magic Totem Super-Girl" from a story in Superman #123 or by 9 years (the so-called "Lucy Regent Supergirl Story" in Superboy #5 published in 1949), depending on which history you subscribe to.

Recently, the heirs of writer Jerry Siegel, who created Superman with cartoonist Joe Shuster, succeeded in winning co-copyright of the character Superboy. The Siegels argue that the concept and name of Superboy, and the idea for stories of a teenaged Superman, were invented by Siegel before he entered the army in 1943 (Siegel submitted Superboy concepts to National/Detective beginning in 1938, shortly after Action Comics #1 was published).

Read the full story here:

1940 New York Times Superman Day Article

photo above: the first Superboy?

Wonder Woman: Lesbian or Dyke?

A recent essay by Trina Robbins is now online. Trina discusses the lesbian overtones in the classic Wonder Woman titles and, as her title suggests, comes down on the "The inhabitants of Paradise Island were lesbians" side of the equation. Robbins reviews the reception of the WW comics based on a sampling of old letters page comments and finds a few choice quotes from WW's writer on the topic of his goals in creating the heroine. Always a fascinating topic, more so lately in light of the increasing attention to issues of superhero sexuality in the mainstream media.

Robbins doesn't really go into the flipside of her question (a topic popular not only with Wertham but also with contemporary readers like Chester Brown): "What is it that male readers find so stimulating about Wonder Woman's adventures?"

Wonder Woman: Lesbian or Dyke?



Above: Trina Paper Dolls and a panel from a Wonder Woman homage by Chester Brown

That's What You Think!

Thought Frequential was a dead blog?

That's what you think! And the Legion of Doom echoes that sentiment:

To celebrate the return of this infrequent weblog about comics, Frequential links to the latest potential viral website honouring the greatest tv show ever.

Superfriends was my favourite tv show for about 4 years when I was a kid, and here's why.

Comics Comics

Wow, Dan Nadel and Timothy Hodler have a blog and are putting out a FREE magazine about comics that should bring the artcrit and design sensibility seen in the Ganzfeld to an exclusively comics environ. Nadel seems to have a very unique (to comics criticism, anyway) take on art and his editorial style (basically: "this ugly drawing is comics --deal with it") is refreshing.

The blog is mostly a way to hype publishing efforts like PictureBox, Lime Publishing, and Nadel's Art Out of Time, but also has reviews (like a feature on Carl Barks) and excerpts from the new Comics Comics mag.

Hodler's essay on Barks has some interesting points. He argues that "His sense of space is outstanding" and that "this isn't complicated, theoretical stuff that needs a lot of explication to understand, anyway. In some ways, Barks' place in comics is similar to Robert Louis Stevenson's in English literature. They're both so masterful that sometimes they're taken for granted, their contributions to our culture overlooked or dismissed as children's stories."

I like those old Barks comics as well, but find it hard sometimes to get past the weirdness of the Disney brand (not to mention the weirdness of the animal conceit that the Air Pirates and Mad's "Mickey Rodent" had such fun with). Barks did manage some interesting social satire and his storytelling and dialogue are very sharp, but Robert Louis Stevenson? Maybe it's just because one of my old perfessors was an editor of the Complete RLS, but I don't see the complexity of plot or theme in the decidedly adult work of Stevenson mirrored in Barks. Now when we compare Stevenson's drawing to Barks...

Comics Comics

Nana Live

Everyone's favorite band inspired by a Japanese manga, Nana. Nana is a comic serialized in Shojo Beat about two girls named Nana and the band they are involved with. I tell people it is like Sailor Moon meets Love and Rockets. But not really.



Thanks to Heidi at THE BEAT for linking to this video.

Little Lefty

Kudos to Allan Holtz over at Stripper's Guide for unearthing and profiling the forgotten socialist classic, Little Lefty, a comic strip from the U.S. Daily Worker by Maurice del Bourgo. Holtz provides some background and dates for this didactic version of Percy Crosby's Skippy, complete with samples.

Holtz has also started digging up old news articles about cartoonists, including Peter Arno's highly publicized divorce suit.


Stripper's Guide: Obscurity of the Day: Little Lefty

V for Anarchy

Lots of interesting anarchist related activity around the movie based on the Moore and David Lloyd graphic novel, V for Vendetta, beginning April 17th:

V for Vendetta
A for Action!!!!
4/17: International A for Anarchy Action Day!

While V for Vendetta has been playing for a few weeks in the US, its only just premiered in Spain and a range of other for countries. The time is now here to ramp up this effort! We're calling for creating actions worldwide to educate moviegoers on the promise of anarchy and to take a parting shot at the corporations behind the film V for Vendetta film for eviscerating the anarchist politics of the original V for Vendetta graphic novel.

12:30-1:30PM Time Warner Center, 59th St and Columbus Circle
1:45-2:30PM DC Comics, 1700 Broadway between 53rd and 54th Streets
2:45-3:30PM AMC Empire 25, 234 West 42nd St. at 8th Avenue (this may change closer to date)

Come to leaflet, hold posters and banners, take pictures and video (bring your cameras) of the action!

Details on the NY Action

We'll perform street theater, leaflet, hold a banner promoting the A for Anarchy website (http://aforanarchy.com), and hold posters —detournments of V for Vendetta movie posters courtesy of our creative comrades in Spain (visit their site at http://vdevendetta.info).

To challenge the film's liberal politics, our street theater will feature a two-faced Clinton-Bush under the control of the ruling class and corporate power. The anarchist V will chase off these scoundrels and speak to the notion of a society without capitalism and the state.

We'll begin our action at the Time-Warner Center, home to the largest media conglomerate the world has ever seen (Time-Warner, with revenues last year of $43 billion), creators of the V for Vendetta film. It's no surprise that an institution at the heart of global capitalism would never expose mass audiences to anarchist thought. We'll be visiting their office not to protest them, because we don't expect them to "reform" or to be "more open to our message", since we call for nothing short of the wholesale destruction of the entire economic system they dominate. Rather, we intend to use their presence as a backdrop to illustrate the real agenda of corporate films like V for Vendetta, which co-opt the style of subversion yet never provide the kind of substance that would fundamentally challenge their interests.

Next, we'll visit DC Comics, the creative robber barons who used tricks of intellectual property to retain ownership of V for Vendetta, allowing their corporate parent, Time Warner to create a film that fundamentally betrayed V for Vendetta graphic novel writer Alan Moore's original anarchist vision. DC has a long history of bilking creators and destroying anarchist heroes—they did much the same with the original anarchist comic book hero—Superman! That's right, Superman. In the first 2-3 years of Superman comic books and comic strips, the Man of Steel was a far cry from the character we know today. Described by co-creator Jerry Siegel as "a thorn in the side of the establishment", this Superman's tagline was not, "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," but rather "Champion of the Oppressed." Instead of super-villians and space aliens, he used direct action to fight slumlords, munitions manufacturers and their lackeys in government, warmongering heads of state, and the execution of innocent people. Within three years, DC had seized control of the character and began transforming him into the toothless symbol of status quo "justice" we've known for decades.

Finally, we'll take our message directly to the moviegoing public by performing our street theater in front of the exiting crowd of a V for Vendetta matinee screening, inspiring them to connect the insurrectionary action of the V movie with an explictly anti-statist and anti-capitalist politics, and to recognize that eliminating oppressive governments isn't just for the movies!

THE BEAT on uclick deal

MILE HIGH COMICS presents THE BEAT at COMICON.com: Tokyopop and uclick team

Heidi writes up the second deal for Tokyopop in as many days. All this talk about comics on tiny cell screens makes me yearn for comics on tv! comics on walls! comics on blimps!

Music And Comics: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together? | Comixpedia

Music And Comics: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together? | Comixpedia

Tym Godek has the beginnings of a thought on the combination of music and comics (in a webcomix format, I assume).

While we all love the cute little bleeps and glurks our computers make while we explore webpages, I wonder how far a musical comic can go before we really do have to consider it more akin to film or video than a novel or short story. Of course, I read many comics as a kid that came with a record and didn't think of them as some new hybrid art form.

Try as they might no one has come up with a clear-cut, irrefutable definition of what "comics" is. The advent of web technology and the possibility of integrating elements such as animation and sound has blurred the picture even more. What is it that makes a comic a comic, and how does the addition of these other elements affect that? Is there something essential to comics that is lost in the attempt to integrate sound?

"Power Records: The action comes alive as you read!"

Smart Panel Developments

The only thing keeping Marvel from becoming the most boring comics publisher in the world is this little tech gimmick:

The Great Curve: Marvel.com adding blogs?: "Additionally, Marvel will be offering a ton of new Digital Comics that can now be viewed on desktops all over the world. Fans can't get enough of the new comic format and are singing the praises of the never-before-seen Smart Panel comic viewer technology. Keep a lookout for new and improved Digital Comics in the coming months. "

Internet Comics=Boring?

itpblog � Blog Archive � Making Comics Boring, One Click at a Time

So why would I want to download a podcasted comic strip, just to click through it, sequentially, one frame at a time?

T Campbell's history of webcomics

Hiedi MacDonald chats about this new book and refers to its legal problems. A history of webcomics? Already?

MILE HIGH COMICS presents THE BEAT at COMICON.com: T Campbell's history of webcomics

Cartoon Mash-ups

Short article about legal backlash against online mash-ups and parodies of comics, animation:

Journal Gazette | 03/05/2006 | Bloggers, tech savvy spin digital remixes of pop culture

Like disc jockeys pairing the Beatles with Jay-Z or The Strokes with Christina Aguilera, visual mashup artists exploit odd juxtapositions. An old “Superfriends” cartoon is synced with dialogue from the cult slacker movie “Office Space.” Scenes from “The Shining” are cut and overdubbed with feel-good narration to make it look like a trailer for a sappy family movie. And is there anything less likely than Mary Worth reciting the lyrics to “My Humps” over coffee?
“It was just sort of the absurdity of marrying this very serious serial strip with that song, which is so ridiculous,” said creator Sue Trowbridge.
Tools of the craft are software such as Adobe Systems Inc.’s Photoshop and Apple Computer Inc.’s Final Cut Pro instead of paint or clay, but fans say it’s still art.
Joey deVilla, a Toronto-based blogger, calls mashups a form of folk art that follows the age-old creative tradition of borrowing from existing works to create something new.
“It is the digital-media equivalent of collage, except instead of pasting together pieces of other people’s existing work you’re pasting together other people’s films and music, “ Lyall-Wilson said in an e-mail.
Jason Schultz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation contends that there should be legal protection for mashups such as “The Shining.” After all, it’s a non-commercial parody that poses no threat to the movie. (Ironically, the clip can be viewed on iFilm.com, a recent addition to the sprawling Viacom media stable.)
“This is a battle over creativity,” Schultz said. “Do we want a world where the law criminalizes that?”
Legal issues aside, putting the brakes on mashup artists might be a job that not even Superman could handle. They’re just so easy to create and circulate, with scores of sites such as YouTube.com devoted to sharing online video.

More Phone Comics

GoComics has released a press release about a new-ish "comics on your cellphone" service featuring several known comics properties:

Symbian OS mobile smartphone operating system - News, articles, wireless developer tools for Symbian Series 60, UIQ and Symbian mobile device Users and wireless developers of VB, C , Java, WAP, and .NET apps

KOMIKWERKS Changes

In a press release last week, Komikwerks, the digital comics publisher, announced some new hirings and new deals, including print collections of online strips and ebooks. No word on the ebook distribution end of things, though.

According to Komikwerks co-founder Patrick Coyle, the new hires will hopefully spruce up the site:

“Fans have already undoubtedly noticed a change over the last month,” said Coyle. “There have been a number of new columns appearing on a regular basis, we have rants and interviews coming out with a greater frequency, and some of the online strips have moved to daily releases.” Coyle explained that content areas are the major focus for Komikwerks. “We’re not a news and review site. There are so many sties out there that do such a good job with that there isn’t really a need for us to concentrate in that area. So rather we’ve formed partnerships with Comics2film, etc. to let them provide us with quality comics news.

A good thing, too: many of the features and columns, including prominent headliners like Stan Lee's Soapbox, are long out-of-date.

As well, the company seems to be all over the place in terms of comics delivery platforms, without any sort of logic. PSP, ebooks, and webcomics all see, to be vying for attention. No new high-profile creators or series seem on the horizon for the publisher, either.

komikwerks

Advertising Insights

Web Comics and Ads

Frequential became interested in the world of web advertising and comics after reading this exchange at The Comics Reporter about ads on the Dilbert webcomic discussed at webpronews.

In an email to Spurgeon, Todd Allen notes:

"Those Google Ads are on the Dilbert blog, not on the main Dilbert site with the strip. They're using standard, image-based banner ads on that site. Contextual Ads like Google Adwords are the de facto standard for blogs, so the fact Scott Adams is using them on a blog is pretty much a sign that the original columnist had run out of material.

Google Ads are served based on the text on a web page and in the text contained in certain tags in the HTML, so unless you have a lot of copy surrounding your online comic, it is questionable how well Google Ads will be able to function, relative to thier business model."

As well, other sites were honestly discussing their own advertising strategies. Jonah Weiland at ComicBookResources talked about the use of google ads at the CBR forums:

"Yes, today I instituted Google's AdSense program on the CBR Forums. I've been experimenting with them on the main site using only unsold inventory I have and have seen some nice results that have generated a little extra revenue.

After reading through Google's various FAQs I came across a suggestion to add Google AdSense ads to communities like the CBR Forums. The truth of the matter with forums is that generally the reader can train his/her eye to avoid any ads on the page. Thus, forums generate little income for the site owners. The click-thru rates for ads that run on the main CBR web site are much better than for the ads that run in forums. That means forums themselves are generally a money looser.

Now, with the ads placed at the bottom of a thread, there's a greater chance people might click on them, which is the key to success for any ad based Web site. (Remember, clicking the ads you see on your favorite Web sites helps keep that site running) Plus, through Google AdSense, we might be able to make the forums generate some revenue, although it's certainly not going to make us millionaires!

Google AdSense also does contextual based advertising, which means it will at least attempt to deliver ads that will be meaningful to the user. It scans the page it's hosted on and tries to feed you ads based on what you're reading. It doesn't always work perfectly, but it's pretty darn good.

It's an experiment that I'll be keeping a close eye on. I don't think it's too intrusive and doesn't harm the browsing experience. If I don't see reasonable results from the number of impressions we feed, then I'll take it off. If it does well, that will mean good things for all of us (i.e. expansion of the forums, the Web sites, resources we offer, etc.)."

Other tech wizards spend their time developing tools to make online comics searchable through Google:

Comics For Google Sidebar

By Nathan Weinberg
Comic Junkie has created the first third-party Google Sidebar plugin I've seen, one that displays the first panel of new comic strips for you to read.
(via Brad Hill )

The main webcomics syndicate, Keenspot, has a very sophisticated advertising strategy (and a small $25K annual budget) and specific ideas about making internet ads work for their cartoonists:

KEENSPOT ROLLS OUT GOOGLE ADSENSE, PAYS TO TRANSCRIBE EVERY ARCHIVED COMIC
The option to include Keenspot-supplied Google Adsense text advertisements on their site is now available to our creators. We work with creators to implement the text ads using the most effective methods available. Keenspot plans to join the Premium Adsense service, which supplies a variety of Adsense advantages not available to clients receiving less than 20 million pageviews monthly. Keenspot also plans to pay to have the archives of every Keenspot comic transcribed in text form. This will not only allow each comic to be fully searchable, it will also allow Google Adsense to deliver more effective and targeted advertising on every page they appear.

More articles:

*Comixpedia discusses all forms of blog advertising here.

*A primer for using advertising on webcomics sites here.

*The latest news about unauthorized use of brand keywords in Google ads (lawsuit) here.

Anime Exodus

Found on The Beat:

On the music meets comics front, and tying in with the New York Comic-con this weekend, the ultra cool Knitting Factory club in NY presents Anime Exodus, a dj'd party featuring "MARI IIJIMA, J-pop sensation and voice of Lynn Minmay [MACROSS], who will perform an extended set of her original music plus a few favorites from Macross just around midnight"

KF//KF Presents...

Arf Lovers Blog

The second week of Craig Yoe's new blog, serving in part to hype his latest books on comics history (Arf Museum, Modern Arf, etc). A unique blog with a focus on classic comics and newspaper strips. It also has several unique features including Wonderwoman Wednesdays when Yoe posts a photo of someone wearing a WW costume.

Worht checking in, if only to follow the link to Batman's Blog by Johnny Ryan (from Friday February 17, 2006).

Arf Lovers Blog

Warren Ellis gets Blog Tech Advice

Lots of tech-talk in the comments section for people who use obscure programs to create feeds and post pretty pictures.

Warrenellis.com � Interweb Stuff Is Beyond Me Now