A Sense of Doubt blog post #2252 - Recent Comic Book News: Asian Erasure, the Winter Soldier, and More

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2252 - Recent Comic Book News: Asian Erasure, the Winter Soldier, and More

I wanted to keep up my Comic Book Sunday, but between work, lawn and house care, and fun times, I am a bit behind and need a quickie. I don't feel badly about posting two Comic Beat newsletters as there's tons of good information and news.

HAPPY COMIC BOOK SUNDAY.

STAY HOME AND READ COMIC BOOKS.

Asian Erasure in Madripoor; More on Industry Changes - and reviews, interviews and more from THE BEAT

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Supporting Small Presses You may never have pictured this, but Brian Hibbs and I often have a lively discussion about his Tilting at Windmills column that runs at The Beat. In our 30 year friendship,  Brian and I have disagreed many times, but one of the things that has made him such a strong voice in comics over that time (and such a good friend) is that he listens to and acknowledges different opinions. (I'd like to think I do the same – at least I try!)  In his most recent column, about Marvel's move to PRH, he ended it expressing concerns for the continuing ability of the direct market to sustain indie hits like Bone and The Walking Dead:  And, so ultimately my biggest fear is that the vanguard of independence for making comics, the ability of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or a Bone or even a Walking Dead to rise up “out of nowhere” and to build that periodical behemoth which then allows indy creators to leverage the book format, is about to be severely tested, and perhaps entirely lost. And while people will find a way to make comics –of course they will –the likeliest result is going to be that comics will start to pay a lot less for creators as a general class, and comics will get “safer” and less experimental as even more corporate control is consolidated. I’d rather that Eastman & Laird or Jeff Smith or Robert Kirkman & co are the ones who get to reap the rewards  instead of giant multi-national corporations – and this has always been the greatest promise as well as the greatest gift of the Direct Market. We had a bit of a back and forth over this, because I feel quite differently. All three of the examples he cites are from a long ago industry that no longer exists - even The Walking Dead, the most recent hit, launched in 2003. TMNT is from the Black and White boom of the late '80s, Bone is from the self-publishing boom of the early '90s. I'm sure there have been indie comics hits that launched in periodical format since then like...well, looking at the Best Selling Comics of the 2010s list from John Jackson Miller, the only non-Marvel or DC books on the list are Spawn, The Walking Dead and The Magic Order from Image and two licensed titles from Boom!. Of course, this is only the Top 300 titles, so it's hardly a long tail - but what am I forgetting? I'd argue pretty strongly that in their time as a near monopoly (a post-Bone era), Diamond did hardly anything to nurture The Next Bone. I'm not saying that this was a nefarious plot, it's just that the Big Two have been the bread and butter of periodical sales and foot traffic comics shops for this entire period, and helping new cartoonists break through wasn't really on Diamond's daily agenda.  Image Comics had plenty of new hits in this century (let's narrow it down to that time period) especially in the Saga/Image Expo Era that kicked off with that book and saw tons of mainstream creators flocking to Image with new titles. And guess what publisher is now the biggest one at Diamond? Image.  Where I really disagree with Brian is that I think we've developed other channels that support new Bones and TMNTs better than comics periodicals ever did - graphic novels and webcomics. The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is Check, Please! or Heartstoppers or Lore Olympus or Smile. Eastman and Laird lucked into a stunningly lasting concept and had an agent who got them great licensing deals. Today's Ngozis and Rainas go into the field already expecting to own their work, and finding a good book agent is no problem for people who have millions of views on WebToons or Instagram.  Which isn't to say that periodical comics, the humble comic book, can't be the format to introduce radical and instantaneously successful new concepts. I'm just not sure that they have actively been doing this much over the last 20 years. In fact, Simon & Schuster, a major book publishing house, is snapping up publishers as small as Ahoy and Scout  for bookstore distribution, giving smaller publishers a huge window for visibility, albeit with their graphic novels.  I'm sure I'm forgetting something super obvious that negates my entire point...and I'm sure you'll let me know! Tell me what you think!    --Heidi PS: Don't forget to support our Patreon!  Advertisement  TILTING AT WINDMILLS #283 Marvel’s move to PRH changes everything PUTTING THE FUN IN "NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN" Read “The Artifact,” Matt Kindt’s NFT MIND MGMT comic THE LATEST STORIES FROM THE BEAT! Ava DuVernay’s New Gods and The Trench films shelved at WB Angoulême International Comics Festival cancelled for summer 2021 Randall Park to make directorial debut with Adrian Tomine’s SHORTCOMINGS John Romita Jr. returns to Marvel in July Holiday mayhem arrives in BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN trailer The God of Mischief becomes a time cop in new LOKI trailer FANDOM FLAMES: Could toxic fandoms finally be on notice? Where are the Asians in THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’s Madripoor MORE STORIES STAR TREK: DISCOVERY gets a teaser (and new uniforms) EXCLUSIVE: Christmas & Luiz’s CREMA gets a print release from Dark Horse Sci-fi epic EVERFROST blasts on to shelves this June PREVIEW: Lazarus Island is unveiled in ROBIN #1 STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS Season 2 arrives August 12th Bizarro Spidey Web-Man gets his own Hasbro Marvel Legends figure Boldly go (again) with the STAR TREK: PICARD season 2 trailer! Vault announces interlocking covers by Yoshi Yoshitani for WITCHBLOOD DC unveils Monkey Prince, rundown of stories & creators for FESTIVAL OF HEROES. Elsa Charretier and Pierrick Colinet launch YouTube channel about the comics... ComiXology Originals delivers more Curt Pires with YOUTH SEASON TWO, MEMORIA LOST FALLS Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, and more commit to E3 2021 Advertisement  COMIC CON UPDATES   Will the world be ready for in-persons comics event by fall? The Retailer's View: Trying to find worth in a Bad Idea SILBER LININGS: BATMAN & ROBIN is better than THE DARK KNIGHT THE BEAT presents SHUT IN THEATER! INTERVIEWS Nate Powell on SAVE IT FOR LATER Mat Groom talks the new INFERNO GIRL RED Kickstarter THE BARBARIAN AND THE TROLL creators on making a puppet comedy during a pandemic Jed MacKay on how the MAGIC multiverse spoils him with with options Freddy Carter, Amita Suman, and Kit Young talk playing the Crows for SHADOW AND BONE Mat Groom talks the new INFERNO GIRL RED Kickstarter REVIEWS Another warrior quests for righteousness in ORPHAN AND THE FIVE BEASTS #1 Nickelodeon puppet comedy THE BARBARIAN AND THE TROLL guaranteed to entertain kids and adults MADE FOR LOVE sees Cristin Milioti in a dark comedy on toxic tech love You’ll stare at WITCHBLOOD #1 ‘til your eyes bleed FROM THE ARCHIVES I'm never, ever going to get tired of this.

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Ed Brubaker Speaks Out About The Winter Soldier; TWD's Clementine Debuts in Comics  - and reviews, interviews and more from THE BEAT

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Art: A Sean Phillips cover for Criminal The Creator's Lament By now, most of you have seen Ed Brubaker's comments on The Winter Soldier and his treatment over the character. He reveals that he's made more money from his cameo in the film than for co-creating the character (with artist Steve Epting, who should also be part of this conversation.) When Brubaker mentioned this in his newsletter there was some talk about it, and I heard from several people who pointed out that the Winter Soldier is a "derivative character," one based on a pre-existing character, in this case Bucky Barnes, who was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Both Marvel and DC do have "character equity" contracts for when a character from the comics is used in media, but with a derivative character there is not an ongoing participation in the use. In other words, Ed knew what he was signing. But that still doesn't make it sit right with a lot of people. It can't be argued that the use of Bucky in the MCU wasn't its own creative use - certainly actor Sebastian Stan brought his own special talents to the character and Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers had their own vision for him. But Brubaker and Epting created this specific use of Bucky - a character whose resurrection in the Marvel comics was strictly prohibited up to that point. (Uncle Ben is, I believe the only other character who had a permanently, truly dead rule for a while, although of course he has also come back in clone form.)  Captain America's beloved sidekick coming back as a deadly assassin with a covert ops past was both a unique interpretation of the character and very much of the post-9/11 time. And one that grew with added subtext over the years and spilled over into the films.  Reading Brubaker's tale, I'm reminded of many other classic stories of comics creators whose contracts betrayed them. And also, of the little petty things, like Brubaker and Epting not getting invited to the Captain America: The Winter Soldier after party. I have a whole little folder of slights of this kind, and honestly, it's just such a small thing and comics creators have such meagre expectations that just getting to have some free snacks and hob nob with directors would probably make most of them happy.  I wrote a story about this topic almost a decade ago that still has some salient points. At the time, I wrote: So, you adjust. A happy Alan Moore would have made more money for DC than an unhappy one. (The unhappy one has made a ton.) Think about the value of a happy Jim Lee, a happy Geoff Johns, a happy JMS. JMS was happy at Marvel…until he was unhappy. And SUPERMAN EARTH ONE made a lot of money for DC. At one point, Marvel wanted to make Ed Brubaker happy. So happy that they "let" him and Sean Phillips create Criminal for their creator-owned Icon line, which was for a while a place for Marvel's must valued creators to own some of their ideas. Bendis, Brubaker and, most notably, Mark Millar all published books through this line. Millar was a regular media factory there, with both Kick-Ass and Secret Service, the latter becoming the Kingsman series of films.  The Icon line dwindled away after Disney bought Marvel, and creators gradually took their properties to Image, where they had even more lasting control over their work. Millar sold his Millarverse to Netflix (where it is just beginning to appear) and Brubaker and Phillips have become a cottage industry of acclaimed and successful series. They've just shifted to a graphic novel first format with even more success: Pulp and Reckless were the #2 and 3 bestselling graphic novels of 2020 for Diamond last year.  Marvel as it exists - and DC in a different way - have no use for making themselves a long running home for authors. Giving creators perks and extras to keep them happy isn't seen as something that makes them money over the long run. They are IP factories, and by now, everyone should know this.  And yet, Disney does everything to make Kevin Feige happy, and Warners was happy to become a home for James Gunn when he was (briefly) exiled from Disney. The reason is the scale of money that the Feiges and Gunns make compared to publishing. But as I pointed out in my piece on Alan Moore, in the conventional publishing worlds, authors make tons and tons of money. You won’t see Scholastic doing anything to upset Dav Pilkey or Raina Telgemeier any time soon. Just a few days ago, ComicsXF ran an interview with James Tynion IV which really works as a counterpoint for all of this. Tynion has, among all current creators, been using his mainstream success at DC to start carving out his own publishing world, much as Brubaker and Philips did. It's a really a great interview that everyone should read in its entirety, but a few relevant quotes:  I am in a very privileged position to be able to do that. It’s something where, to be perfectly honest, I would not be able to bankroll a project like Razorblades at the same time as putting together the upfront costs for a series like Department of Truth without the bank role of Batman at my back. That’s something that changes and it’s something that I wanna build on. I wanted to see how each of these systems played off of each other.  One big thing that bothers me a little bit about how the direct market side of the comics industry has worked for the last couple of decades, and I think there are some signs that this may be changing, is the fact that I think there are a lot of publishers out there whose core business model isn’t actually selling comic books. When the core business model isn’t actually selling comic books, and all of the benefits that creators received are contingent on how many comic books you sell, that’s why creators have to work at a bunch of mid-tier publishers to sort of add all of that up to equal a living wage and that sucks. It means that you have to spread yourself thin. I am someone who likes working a lot. My brain likes doing a bunch of different things, and I like doing a bunch of disparate things at once because I can sort of shift gears in between each of them, but I think that is the underlying philosophy is a lot of it is me. Asked how the industry can improve he has an interesting take:  JTIV: I think there need to be younger people in decision-making positions. That is one of the most important things. Some of the tastes of the, even at the mid-tier publishers, are shaped by the sort of things that sold 10 years ago, which feels very recent, but actually isn’t all that recent in terms of the turnover of comic readers. Having done this now for a decade I’ve seen us cycle through basically three waves of audiences in that time, and I think there’s actually a new audience that’s picked up in the last year or two. But we cycle through audiences all the time, and you constantly have to shift. Each audience is coming in and asking for a different thing, and I think that we get caught in habit a lot. Oftentimes the young creators who are rising up have a better sense of what the audience actually wants then the people at the publishers. Just as Ed Brubaker learned from the lessons of Alan Moore, James Tynion IV has learned from the lessons of Ed Brubaker. Tynion has the luxury of creating a Punchline for DC - knowing it is a part of an interconnected universe  and grows form that – while creating his own stories at other publishers.  Creators keep getting smarter - and Brubaker is definitely among them, don't get me wrong. He's keeping his eye on changing industry trends and adapting to it.  And creators have the knowledge and freedom to do that as the industry currently stands, something Siegel and Shuster never dreamed of. But wouldn't it be nice if publishers addressed the needs and careers of creators as part of their business plan and not a perk to be given and taken away whenever its convenient?  Tell me what you think!    --Heidi PS: Don't forget to support our Patreon!  Advertisement  THE LATEST STORIES FROM THE BEAT! Ed Brubaker gets more residuals from his WINTER SOLDIER cameo than from creating the character Business news: IDW’s lapsed deal; FairSquare signs with Diamond; retailer survey Matt Bors retires from political cartooning Tillie Walden and Donny Cates join The Walking Dead in Skybound X Behold old man Josh Duhamel in the JUPITER’S LEGACY trailer New STAR TREK movie announced for 2023 Berger Books brings Grayson & Adamovic’s REWILD to readers this fall MoCCA Festival goes virtual with Comic and Cartoon Art Week Jhonen Vazquez returns for INVADER ZIM finale The MCU still doesn’t know what to do with Bucky’s queer coding MORE STORIES Mid-Season Predictions: Where will THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER go in the next three episodes Scarlet Speedsters featured in JUSTICE SOCIETY: WORLD WAR II images Skybound/Image announce AAPI Heritage Month variant covers for May Sas Milledge’s MAMO explores small-town witchcraft this summer from BOOM! Studios MacKay and Cappuccio helm new MOON KNIGHT series for Marvel BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN PART ONE box art and release details revealed Stephanie Phillips’s A MAN AMONG YE returns with new artist Josh George Admiral Ackbar and Bro Thor among Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest reveal highlights Fans demand that Marvel #ReleaseTheZemoCut PREVIEW: Black Mask’s ALICE IN LEATHERLAND offers a modern romance The Beat Presents: An Overly Simplified Guide to WrestleMania 37 Advertisement  FANDOM FLAMES: Longing for in-person conventions SILBER LININGS: Why we love Kaiju THE BEAT presents SHUT IN THEATER! INTERVIEWS Jeff Lemire & Caitlin Yarsky talk BLACK HAMMER: REBORN Pornsak Pichetshote & Alexandre Tefenkgi on THE GOOD ASIAN Jessie Mei Li talks playing a mixed-race Alina in SHADOW AND BONE REVIEWS A HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS pulls away the curtains of the Central African Republic Catching feelings may be fatal in I FEEL LOVE MAGIC #1 drops you in a vast universe and doesn’t look back THE NEVERS is a lackluster affair in an AU Victorian England VOYAGERS treads a boring and familiar path FROM THE ARCHIVES Sean Phillips' covers for his collaboration with Ed Brubaker are so good. This is from Fatale.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2104.18 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2116 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.