NYCC 08: Comics for Girls
Sponsored by Friends of Lulu, the Comics for Girls panel brought together parents and professionals to hear creators and editors discuss the growing number of comics aimed girls. That growth was evident from the panel itself, which included Archie Comics managing editor Mike Pellerito, Betty and Veronica writer Barbara Slate, Amelia Rules creator Jimmy Gownley, RealBuzz Studios principal Buzz Dixon, RealBuzz artist Alana Yuen, and Babysitters Club artist Raina Telgemeier. Christine Norrie, currently working on a Green Arrow/Black Canary title, moderated the panel. While girls have gotten short shrift from comics publishers in the past—Slate ruefully remembered Marvel’s short-lived Barbie and Disney comics of the early 1990s—that trend has been reversed in recent years. Pellerito touted Archie as the one comics line that has stayed true to female readers throughout its history, and Dixon said every RealBuzz project has at least one female creator. Telgemeier pointed to her most recent project, co-writing a shoujo manga version of X-Men that puts Kitty Pryde in center stage.
Recommendations from the panelists included the manga properties Yotsuba&! and Strawberry Marshmallow, Hope Larson’s Chiggers, Jane Smith Fisher’s WJHC, Archie comics, and Runaways. Pellerito had praise for both Viz’s Shojo Beat and DC’s Minx Line. Gownley was quick to respond to a complaint that comics were “dumbed down,” noting that because the pictures help guide comprehension, a child can read a full grade higher in comic books than in prose. “It’s a vocabulary builder that carries through for the rest of her life,” he said.—B.A.
NYCC 08: More Minx
Minx editor Shelly Bond used the Minx panel to introduce the next season’s books to an enthusiastic audience. Writer Rebecca Donner discussed Burnout, which is set in an Oregon logging town amidst tension between environmentalists and loggers. “It is also the oldest story, the story of a boy and a girl falling in love,” she said, except for one problem, the boy, becomes her stepbrother. Inaki Miranda is doing the art for the book. Ross Campbell, writer and artist of Wet Moon and The Abandoned, puts another punk girl in center stage in Water Baby, but her life changes when her leg is bitten off by a shark and an ex-boyfriend camps out on her couch. Brian Wood’s The New York Four with art by Ryan Kelly, is the story of four college students at New York University. Skim writer Mariko Tamaki has written Emiko Superstar, the story of a suburban babysitter who emerges from a dull summer to become an “urban art star.” Art is by Steve Ralston. Alisa Kwitney laughed at the idea of setting a cutting-edge girls’ graphic novel in 1980s Miami, but she described Token as “a sort of Dirty Dancing of Miami.” Joelle Jones will handle the art. Also on deck are two sequels to earlier Minx titles: Janes in Love by Cecil Castelucci and Jim Rugg, a followup to The Plain Janes; and Clubbing in Tokyo by Andi Watson and Grazia Lobaccaro, the sequel to Clubbing. Bond wrapped up the session with a preview of one of Minx’s 2009 titles, All Nighter, by writer/artist David Hahn. —B.A.
NYCC 08: Haspiel Joins Zuda
A new comic from Dean Haspiel and a second-chance competition for previous Zuda entrants were the big news at the Zuda panel on Saturday. Haspiel is a founder of the webcomics collective ACT-I-VATE and the creator of Billy Dogma. Haspiel’s Zuda entry is Street Code, a semi-autobiographical story set in Brooklyn, which will launch this weekend. “I don’t navel-gaze,” Haspiel said at the panel. “This will have stories where things happen.”DC director of creative services Ron Perazza said that Zuda will invite ten creators of previous Zuda comics to face off in a new competition next July. Every month, Zuda runs ten original webcomics and readers vote on a winner. Perazza said that readers will choose which ten of the non-winning comics from the site will compete, and each artist will be asked to draw eight new pages for the competition. The panel featured most of the past winning creators and the room was packed, illustrating High Moon writer David Gallaher’s advice for aspiring Zuda winners: “You have to promote your own fanbase.” Artist Steve Ellis agreed, “If anyone works as an independent publisher, most of it is not drawing or writing, most of it is making sure everyone in the world has heard your name, seen your thing, know who you are and how to find your project.”—B.A.
NYCC 08: Mobile Comics
Digital comics publisher GoComics announced a new product delivery service at the Saturday afternoon Mobile Comics and Manga panel presentation. The mobile comics publisher announced plans for a direct payment system that allows users to purchase credits to obtain their favorite mobile content. "3 credits or about 75 cents will get you a twenty page story," said Jeff Webber, GoComic’s v-p of product development. Home to a host of perennially popular properties such as Calvin and Hobbes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and TokyoPop's Princess Ai series, the company is hoping to replicate even a fraction of the $100 billion mobile manga market in Japan. Seen as a shift away from their current subscription model, the new system, which requires a download, should be up and running on all the major carriers in the next 60 days.—T.S.
NYCC 08: Tokoyopop In the House
Editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl talked about a few random things at the panel's opening: OEL manga Van Von Hunter is being adapted into a feature-length live-action documentary-spoof as an in-house project. Tokyopop is releasing a Fruits Basket 18-month planner as an exclusive to Barnes and Noble stores in July, expanding in October to other stores. Tokyopop's relationship with video game company Blizzard continues with an omnibus edition of the Warcraft manga trilogy, followed by a new trilogy of Warcraft manga. There are also plans to release a five volume Starcraft manga series over five months, starting in August. Following up their previous two-volume anthology series about the original Star Trek series, Tokyopop is planning a Star Trek; The Next Generation anthology series beginning in October or November. Some original writers of the television show will contribute stories.
Tokyopop is releasing the novel Goth by Otsuichi, a dark and gory suspense thriller. Fox Atomic has optioned the novel. A one-volume manga adaption of Goth by Kendi Oiwa, (Welcome to the NHK) is also planned for U.S. release. Ultimate Editions (oversized hardcovers editions) of I Luv Halloween and Dramacon are scheduled for September and October. I Luv Halloween will be in full-color and a larger format. Dramacon will feature a previously unpublished bonus chapter and fanart. And the Warriors manga adaptationcontinues to be a huge hit. Warriors: The Rise of Scourge will be released in June. Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha#1: Into the Woods will be available in September.—E.F.
NYCC 08: Zot! Returns
At a panel about his early comics work Zot!, comics theoretician Scott McCloud and creator of Understanding Comics, talked about the evolution of the series, which was originally created in the mid 1980s and early 1990s. He gave a lively presentation reviewing his early interest in creating comics as a teenager in suburban Massachusetts ("I love suburbia, I'm the only person of my generation who loves suburbia") and the influence manga (particularly Osamu Tezuka) had on his work when he worked for DC comics in New York in the 1980s. The new 576-page edition will be published by Harper Collins in July will contain all the black and white material previously published, and also commentary by McCloud as well as stories that have not been seen before.—J.C.
NYCC 08: Selling Emily
At the Dark Horse panel for Emily the Strange, the now international comic, graphic novel, merchandise and movie property, Emily creator Rob Reger narrated a slide show of his work, showed a frenetic video of the opening of the Emily store in Hong Kong last year, and discussed upcoming projects. He has teamed with Manic Panic for a new line of products based on the character and is working on a video game. A movie, based on the book Emily’s Lost Days: The Journals, Vol 1, forthcoming from HarperCollins, is also in the works. Mike Richardson, president and founder of Dark Horse, has signed on as a producer of the film and they are in discussions with several studios. Jessica Gruner, one of the authors of the Emily comics, was also on the podium and led the crowd in a spirited Mad-Lib inspired word game. Audience members who participated in the discussion were rewarded a variety of Emily swag, from stickers to German-language comics.—K.C.
ICv2 Conference: Tween Comics
During ICv2's Graphic Novel Conference, the warm-up to New York Comicon, Scholastic Book Fairs’s Ed Masessa and Tokyopop publisher Mike Kiley predicted challenges ahead for graphic novels. Kiley said he foresees a decline in overall sales. The tween demographic is age 8-12, a younger market than the teen market driving current comics sales, that is too young for some of the graphic novels currently on the shelves. Challenges include finding comics edgy and authentic enough to speak to kids without alarming parents; as well as finding a place to shelve tween comics. Kiley said getting word of mouth interest, which requires time, is harder, but Kazu Kibuishi, creator of Flight anthology, pointed to the internet as the place where comics can linger and find an audience. Kiley said that what kids want is to participate in generating the content and Tokyopop has revamped its website several times to include a strong interactive element and user generated content.—K-M.C.
ICv2: Buyers Aware
A panel of graphic novel buyers (for bookstores, libraries and Diamond Comics Distribution) speculating on the next three years identified a few particular trends and challenges the category is facing right now. Specialty stores, Diamond's Bill Schanes noted, are sometimes overwhelmed with the sheer number of manga series in print; Forbidden Planet's Jeff Ayers mentioned that independent publishers are doing better for his store now than they have in the past. He said he'd like publishers to concentrate more on keeping a solid backlist in print, a plea seconded by the Brooklyn Public Library's Alison Hendon. Ron Hill of Jim Hanley's Universe noted a steady trend of readers switching from periodicals to graphic novels. And one common concern of the panel was how to keep teenage manga readers interested in comics once they get a bit older. And B&N buyer James Killern noted retailers biggest challenge is making a distinction between "adult content"—material for older readers—and "explicit content."—D.W.
ICv2: Talent Fight
In a panel called "The Battle for Talent," book publishing editors and literary agents described the growing interest of book publishers in graphic novels, and the adjustments that book publishers and conventional comics publishers must make dealing in a new market that emphasizes the graphic novel. There are a lot of people who want in the game who are scrambling," said literary agent Bob Mecoy. "You've got to get everyone in house on board before you can move on to the next step," said Ginee Seo, v-p and editorial director of S&S's Ginee Seo Books. For houses with no experience with graphic novels, this can require significant re-education and shifts in nearly every aspect of the publishing process, from editorial to contracts. The panel also discussed the growing trend of book authors making the move to comic books and graphic novels. Literary agent Merrilee Heifetz cited the "huge success" of her client, Anita Blake author Lauren K. Hamilton, who now publishes an Anita Blake comic book series with Marvel Comics Although her fans have followed her to a new medium, Heifetz noted that book buying audience still prefer to buy the collected editions of the comic books, rather than single monthly issues.—L.H.
