Posts Tagged ‘Comics History’

51 items.

Photo Parade: Frank Miller, Jeff Smith, Jim Valentino, Cliff Broadway, Larry Marder

by Colleen Doran on October 5th, 2010
Posted In: Blog, Culture, Comics, Comics History, Colleen's Work, Shows/Exhibits

Courtesy Jeff Smith. From GASP! sometime around 1996, Frank Miller, me, Jeff, Larry Marder, Don Simpson.

Yours truly about 4 years ago. I think. Photographer unknown. Those are some big dark circles under my eyes, so it must have been a late night.

Photo by the dashing and talented Jim Valentino! Me, mum, and the dashing and talented Cliff Broadway of The One Ring.net and Ringers.

2003-2005? Who knows. My family kept telling me I looked gaunt. I don’t think I look gaunt in this photo, I think I wish I still had that flat stomach. Then again, I don’t miss doing hundreds of sit-ups a day. And I like chocolate.

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Art and Lit and Comics Links: JK Rowling, Jane Austen, Spider-Man, Orbiter team up.

by Colleen Doran on August 31st, 2010
Posted In: Blog, Culture, Literature, Children's, Colleen's Work, Culture, Comics, Culture, Comics, Comics History, Culture, Culture, Literature, Fantasy, Culture, Literature

i09 lists Orbiter among the top SF graphic novels guaranteed to get you hooked for life. Warren Ellis wrote it, and I drew it.

If you are interested in picking up a copy of this fine tome, try to get the first printing. Far better quality paper.

JK Rowling donates 10 million pounds to new multiple sclerosis research center.

The world-famous children’s writer made the generous donation in memory of her mother Anne, who suffered from the degenerative condition and died in 1990 at the age of 45.

Can the iPad Save Spider-Man?

Single issues regularly topped a million in sales during the Depression; last year, the top 300 comics sold in the United States combined added up to less than 75 million copies. Hard-core collectors may still flock to dedicated comic shops, but even the comic-book movie craze hasn’t drawn mainstream fans to the oft-impenetrably serialized monthlies. And while more sophisticated, complex graphic novels have charged into bookstores, it still can’t compare to the widespread accessibility comics enjoyed during their old newsstand days.


Does Peter Parker Have a Moral Responsibility to be Spider-Man?

If we were consequentialists and thought that the rightness and wrongness of actions depends entirely on the good or bad outcomes produced, we would believe that Peter is morally obligated to be Spider-Man, at least on the assumption that being a superhero produces more overall good than being a good scientist, boyfriend, etc. As appealing as consequentialism might seem at first blush, it’s riddled with problems.

Jane Austen had punctuation issues.

“Austen hardly punctuates at all, so what you get is a much more urgent form of language, which becomes more restrained when it is edited,” he said.

“There tends to be an awful lot of clauses and sub-clauses. There is the odd comma, but they aren’t always in the most rational places. There are no paragraphs.”

I used to get a ten-point deduction for every comma splice.

Jane Austen and her homies fight it out.

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08/02/2010

by Colleen Doran on August 2nd, 2010
Posted In: A Distant Soil Webcomic
08/02/2010

A screen shot of yours truly from The Cartoonist, the documentary feature film on the life of Jeff Smith, creator of Bone.

Before I allow myself to appear on screen again, I promise to get my split ends trimmed.

That gorgeous Aran cardigan I am wearing suffered a cruel, shrinking death in hot water bath shortly after this film. I am still in mourning.

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Lying about the numbers: Does your comic have “Millions of Fans”?

by Colleen Doran on July 29th, 2010
Posted In: Blog, A Distant Soil Blog Posts, Blog, A Distant Soil FAQ, Blog

Let’s talk about hype.

The A Distant Soil comic went online late January 2009. The current traffic is over ten times higher than our traffic in January of last year. We have approximately 9 times more repeat viewers per day.

That is fact, not hype.

Income has increased, largely due to incentives and donations, which I appreciate very much. It’s early days to see a significant increase in sales. I get royalties on the book. Considering I haven’t had a new book out in awhile, that’s a good sign. I realize my expectation of a sales jump on a webcomic anywhere in the first year was unrealistic. The only webcomics I know of which have done well with sales of physical books have been online for three years or more.

There’s an increase in foreign traffic, but it’s doubtful we’re selling a lot of books in Slovenia. That does not diminish my deep appreciation of Slovenia.

I’ve enjoyed learning how to read stat information, especially how to read independent site meters. Many of them are wildly inaccurate, but my linked stat counter sometimes agrees with the info at 7Zoom.com. It’s in the ballpark of a bad day of page views for me.

I’ve compared my traffic to that of other sites, and some people are Liar! liar! Pants on Fire! If their traffic is that low, one wonders where their “millions of fans” are.

They never had ‘em in the first place. Duh.

Anyone can see your book sales, with a little digging. If you run around telling whoppers about how your small press book “sold better than the X-Men”, some gullible blogger may believe you, but the rest of us will wonder where the hell you got those numbers. Especially when we can see that your last graphic novel sold 2,000 copies.

If I had millions of fans one day, and my last book sales dropped to 2,000 copies, I would not be making a public issue of it. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Ups and Downs

by Colleen Doran on July 11th, 2010
Posted In: Blog, Culture, Comics, Culture, Comics, Comics History

Yours truly took a dive down a flight of stairs this week. I usually complain about my extra padding, but I am grateful for the shock absorber. Very sore, but since I can’t do heavy lifting, might as well draw stuff. I was supposed to go out of town next week, but I will rethink that (No, not going to San Diego.)

Work Bird is pleased that I am affixed to the drafting chair.

I shipped a number of remarqued editions books and the art I sold for the charity auction debsliverlovers. I also shipped Neil Gaiman’s manuscript for his short story “Murder Mysteries” to be autographed for auction winner Anne Kong. It went for just under $450, with all proceeds going direct to The Hero Initiative in memory of writer Steve Perry.

Steve Perry’s roommate James Davis has been arrested for the murder.

From Steve Bissette’s website:

So, Davis shot Steve through a pillow, likely holding it over his face and head.

I can only hope that was it — one shot.

Davis methodically dealt with Steve’s body.

Davis used Steve’s ATM card (or tried to) to fleece whatever cash Steve had left — cash donations from me, you, fans of Steve’s writing, fellow writers and the Hero Initiative — and disguised himself to do so. He did this either before disposing of Steve’s head, legs, left arm and torso, or during that process.

DNA evidence on a saw has been linked to both Perry and Davis. Video shows Davis stealing from Perry’s bank account.


Steve Bissette posts Perry’s last letters.

If I end up on the short end, with the bad option of dying in four motnhs on the street, please know I love you. I am surrounded by loving, supportive people, and you are one of them, one of the very best. It willl come back to you in all sorts of ways, of this I am sure. If I am dead and the dead have any influence from beyond the grave over the living, then you will know I am there haunting the world in a way to make all my friends and loved ones get the best outcomes of everything they need, want or do. If death is blackness and nothingness, please remember me from better times.

This ride is almost over, one way or another. I wish I could give you everything you need in life.

I thank you deeply for all you have done, and anything you might do in the coming week, even if it’s just a kind thought, a hope for the best, a prayer or a buck.

c

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