YACB Bulletins

ITEM! The WCBS-TV piece "A New Golden Age of Comics?" is remarkable primarily because it is edited so as to eliminate a consistant narrative and undermine the points that it is trying to make.

ITEM! Beleagured Alias Comics puts out a press release last week trumpeting the release of Victoria's Secret Service #1 this month--too bad it doesn't actually ship from Diamond in December.

ITEM! When a classic geek band and a seminal surreal comix artist get together, the results have to be good! Kim Deitch animates a short music video for They Might Be Giants with "Trees" (click on the link that says 'Dallas'). (via FLOG!)

ITEM! My Holiday Mix over on Yet Another Music Radio was a big hit. I mean huge! Who knew people would like my eclectic blend of Christmas music so much? But all good things must end, so I've put up a new mix: 2005 Favorites, featuring nearly 3.5 hours of some of my favorite tracks from the past year. Stop by and give a listen when you get a chance.

New This Week: December 29, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Roadsong, vol. 1 by Allan Gross & Joanna Estep, the latest OEL Manga from TokyoPop. I met Estep briefly at SNAP! and ever since I've been greatly looking forward to this tale of musicians, sibling rivalry, and the mob.


In other comics:

Antarctic have issue #70 of Fred Perry's Gold Digger, which is odd because issue #69 came out just last week, and I'm sure that ol' Fred didn't turn #70 out in just a week...

Dark Horse have the penultimate issue of BPRD: The Black Flame (#5) and the debut volumes of their Harlequin Manga lina, A Girl in a Million (pink) and Response (violet).

DC have a trade of Lex Luthor: Man of Steel; the 6th Fables collection; and new issues of All Star Batman and Robin (#3), JLA Classified, and Solo (#8 - Teddy Kristiansen, with a story by Neil Gaiman).

Del Rey have a new volume of Negima! (vol. 8).

Drawn & Quarterly have a new issue of Jason Lutes' Berlin (#12).

iBooks have the 3rd volume of Blacksad, which is sure to have stunning art.

IDW bring back Peter David's Fallen Angel (#1).

Marvel debut Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (must... avoid... obvious... joke...); and bring us new issues of Black Widow 2 (#4), Daredevil (#80), Drax the Destroyer (#4), She-Hulk 2 (#3), Ultimate Spider-Man (#88), X-Factor (#2), and X-Men and Power Pack (#3).

Speakeasy have a new issue of Rocketo (#4).

Sunday Press Books' Little Nemo in Slumberland hits comic shops, although don't count on getting a copy if you didn't pre-order.

Must be the last shipping day of the month, becuase TokyoPop is dumping a ton of product in comic shops (just in time for Christmas shopping!)

W.W. Norton's Will Eisner's Contract with God Trilogy hadcover also shows up.


That's all for this last week of the year. If you find yourself with a few extra dollars, please consider donating to your favorite charity--your last chance for a tax deduction for 2005!

YAFL: Semifinal Results

Results of Semifinal Playoff Games:

1. Power Pack 62
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 62

2. Nine Pound Hammers 53
6. Danger Unlimited 87

(Inferior 5 plus 6 advances on the basis of the 1st playoff tie-breaker: most touchdowns scored.)


Results of Consolation Games:

3. Kickers Inc. 73
7. Tomorrow Syndicate 34

4. B.P.R.D. 86
8. www.rickgebhardt.net 52


Next week's games (final games of the season):

Championship Game:

5. Inferior 5 plus 6 (8-7-1)
vs.
6. Danger Unlimited (9-7-0)


3rd Place Game:

1. Power Pack (11-4-1)
vs.
2. Nine Pound Hammers (11-5-0)


5th Place Game:

3. Kickers Inc. (10-6-0)
vs.
4. B.P.R.D. (9-7-0)


7th Place Game:

7. Tomorrow Syndicate (7-9-0)
vs.
8. www.rickgebhardt.net (7-9-0)


Good Luck to All!


In my other fantasy leagues I had a pretty good week: I won the consolation bracket in my public league with a 57-45 victory; and scored a respectable 314.20 points in my Pass & Kick league (still in last place though). I didn't do so well in my Basketball league, losing 2-6 to remain in 7th place (25-37-2).

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! Rivkah posts the results of her coloring contest. It's very interesting to see how different color schemes can really influence the character of the drawing.

ITEM! Tom Spurgeon reports over at The Pulse that Sunday Press Books has nearly sold out of its first 5000 copy printing of Little Nemo in Slumberland – So Many Splendid Sundays, even though the book is priced at $120 and was generally unavailable through traditional book outlets. We've ordered one copy for our library, and one of the historical libraries on campus has another.

ITEM! Love Manga asked a bunch of manga companies, creators and bloggers what there favortie manga of 2005 were, and compiled the results.

ITEM! Chris Butcher notes that, with a movie adaptation on the way and interest starting to peak, Frank Miller's 300 is unavailable to retailers, costing retailers and Dark Horse (and Frank Miller) sales. Dark Horse seems to have a history of not being able to keep trades in stock/print and missing out on obvious tie-in opportunities.

ITEM! I'm pretty sure that it's technically out-of-print, but Amazon has 5 copies of Moto Hagio's A, A' available to order. If you're looking for a way to spend those Amazon gift certificates you got for Christmas (or whatever your seasonal gift-exchanging holiday of choice) this would be an excellent thing on which to spend your money. (Thanks to David Welsh for the pointer.)

ITEM! The Pulse profiles Tania del Rio and her work on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Coming from Archie and not from a mainstream manga publisher, del Rio's OEL Manga work doesn't receive the same level of interest as other titles, but for my money she has been turning out consistantly entertaining work and has me interested in a comic that I ordinarily wouldn't care a lick about.

Christmas Covers - December 25

For each day of December until Christmas I've been featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

We finish this season's celebration of Christmas covers with a portrait of Madonna and Child from the cover of 1957's Treasure Chest #234.

We'll be back in December 2006 with twenty-five more holiday-themed covers (and for those of you who have been patriently waiting, we'll be back to Monkey Covers next Sunday!)


(Need some music to get you through the holiday gift unwrapping? Tune in to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)

Christmas Covers - December 24

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Santa is leaving toys for all the good girls and boys on the cover of Dell Four Color #1274.

Come back tomorrow for our last Christmas cover of the season.


Just 1 more 'get-up' until Santa!


(Can't wait for Santa to arrive? You can pass the time by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar and Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away..)

CBLDF Fund Drive - Goal Achieved!

We've now reach our goal for the Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive--a whole day early! Ten people have joined or contributed to the CBLDF at the $25 level or higher.

Thanks to everyone who participated--togther we've raised over $500 dollars fo the CBLDF. I'm heading over to their Website right now to make my own $250 contribution.

We'll be back next December to do this again next year.

Have a Happy holiday!

Christmas Covers - December 23

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Rudolph & Santa soar through the winter skies on Sheldon Mayer's cover to All-New Collectors' Edition #C-53.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 2 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Want to brighten up your holiday? Listen to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YAFL: Quarterfinal Results

Results of Quarterfinal Playoff Games:

1. Power Pack 71
8. www.rickgebhardt.net 41

4. B.P.R.D. 55
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 74

3. Kickers Inc. 80
6. Danger Unlimited 85

2. Nine Pound Hammers 64
7. Tomorrow Syndicate 51


Semifinal Games:

Championship Bracket:

1. Power Pack (11-4-0)
vs.
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 (8-7-0)

2. Nine Pound Hammers (11-4-0)
vs.
6. Danger Unlimited (8-7-0)


Consolation Bracket:

4. B.P.R.D. (8-7-0)
vs.
8. www.rickgebhardt.net (7-8-0)

3. Kickers Inc. (9-6-0)
vs.
7. Tomorrow Syndicate (7-8-0)


Good luck to all (and don't forget about Saturday games!)


In my other leagues, I won my consolation bracket game in my public league 77-60, and scored just 168.25 points in my pass and kick league (still in last place). I also got trounced 7-1 in my basketball league.

Quick Christmas Comic Reviews

The annual Marvel Holiday Special anthology is a mixed bag: "Christmas Day in Manhattan" by Mike Jenkins and Mike Carey does nothing for me. The story for "Moleman's Christmas" isn't much to speak of, but it has great fun art by Roger Langridge. The best of the lot is the Jeff Parker-written "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santron," an Avengers Christmas party gone horribly and humorably wrong, drawn by Reilly Brown & Pat Davidson, and worth the price of admission on its own.

Rating: 3 (of 5)



I can't put my finger on what seems wrong with Paul Dini's Jingle Belle: The Fight Before Christmas. The art is good, the writing is fine, but it just seems to be missing some of the spark and life of previous Jingle Belle outings. There are three stories here, with art from Stephanie Gladden, Jose Garibaldi, and J. Bone. Maybe there's just a bit too much someness in the stories by now?

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



Veronica #166 features three stories, all drawn ably by Dan Parent. The first, "A Dickens of a Tale," is a riff of sorts on A Christmas Carol, with holiday spirits visiting Veronica in her dreams to try to get her to change her spoilish ways. Graig Boldman's story "Garment Lament" is not holiday-related; Mike Pellowski's "Party Time" has Veronica feeling unfulfilled by holiday shopping, so she decides to throw a party instead. I've always found a comic featuring the self-centered Veronica to be a tough sell, and for Christmas stories that goes doubly so. As a foil for Betty for Archie's attentions she works well, but on her own it's difficult to empathize with a spoiled rich teenager.

Rating: 2 (of 5)



Betty and Veronica #213 has four stories--all by Kathleen Webb, Jeff Shultz & Al Milgrom--(plus a one-page filler), three of which are Christmas-related. The formula is in full effect here: Veronica is rich and spoiled, Betty is lower-middle-class and wholesome, and for some reason the two of them remain friends. IN other words, it's pretty much what you'll expect from a Betty & Veronica comic, with some holiday settings thrown in.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



The Justice League Unlimited cartoon is perhaps the best ever animated super-hero show, and the comic book based on the cartton version of the Justice League is a welcome companion. Justice League Unlimited #16 is a Christmas-themed issue by Adam Beechen, Carlo Barberi & Jim Royal that find the junior members of the league assigned to monitor duty on Christmas (along with Shayera keeping an eye on them). A crisis erupts, of course, with a super-villain escaping prison to try to visit his kid on Christmas. This is a good solid holiday super-hero tale that gives some of the minor ADCU (Animated DC Universe) characters a chance to take center stage. (For all of you out there complaining that the regular DCU is too dark, why aren't you buying the ADCU titles?)

Rating: 3 (of 5)



The high-energy seizure-inducing Teen Titans Go! cartoon has never appealed to me, and despite my usual admiration for J. Torres, Todd Nauck & Lary Stuckers comic work, I have to say that this high-energy faux-manga issue-long fight scene in a mall at Christmastime from Teen Titans Go! #25 leaves me with the same impression. I did like the little chibi gag strips that showed up at the bottoms of some of the pages though--that gave the entire enterprise a sense of fun.

Rating: 2 (of 5)




Dan Slott revisits his chararacters from this year's darkly humorous GLA mini in the GLX-Mas Special. He's joined by a number of artists--Matt Haley, Geroges Jeanty & Drew geraci, Ty Templeton, Paul Grist, Mike Kazaleh, and Mike Wiering & Karl Kesel--to tell a series of stories and vignettes about the group of well-meaning but hard-luck heros as they try to cope withe the holiday season. It is alternately funny, wistful, melancholly and insightful--easily the best holiday-themed comic of the year. Hopefully we'll see more GLX at some point in 2006.

Rating: 4 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 22

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Ho Ho Ho! Its Santa-Thing, wishing you a Merry Christmas on the cover of Man-Thing #3 by Liam Sharp.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 3 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Looking for your Christmas-Thing? Try listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Previews-o-Rama part 2: The Middle

Back with part 2 of Previews-o-Rama for December:


About Comics have a one-shot collection of Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin, classic work by Bill Loebs that I've never heard of before, but should be good. Loebs is at his best, I think, when he's drawing what he writes.

More Keif Llama from Matt Howarth at Aeon. By this point, I've probably gotten all of you that I can to read Howarth, right?

I wonder what the chances are that any of this month's Alias solicits will actually ship? I see that they've raised their prices though--surely a result of the new Diamond policies--but let's face it, what a struggling publisher with an image problem really needs to win readers over is to increase the price of their comics.

Amaze Ink/Slave Labor have a new issue of Rex Libris , which should be cool.

Antarctic's Oz: The Manga gets an epilogue issue (you just thought the 8-issue limited series was over at 8 issues!), and Rob Espinosa starts up a four-part full-color adaptaino of Alice in Wonderland. Also, the Ninja High School: Hawaii Pocket Manga has already been pulled from Diamond's shipping schedule, which must be some sort of record for quickest cancellation.

There's more monkey fun with Ape Entertainment's Go-Go Gorilla and the Jungle Crew Winter Fun Special.

I've read the black-and-white version of David Petersen's Mouse Guard, and it's just as charming as the preview pages here make it out to be (even if story was a little light).

COnsidering the Claypool is struggling with the new Diamond cut-offs, it's a shame that the solicit for the jump-on issue of Soulsearchers is accompanied by the wrong cover, an issue of Deadbeats...

You know, the Sci-Fi Channel's movie version of Painkiller Jane wasn't half bad; but even though I have very little memory of the comic, there was very little in the movie that seemed to be related to the story of the comic. But hey, now there's a new comic, from D.E., so you can be sure that each issue will have multiple covers, and be late (although Jimmy Palmiottu & Lee Moder aren't known for their lateness, so maybe there's hope...)

Does anyone else find it ironic that Josh Blaylock isn't self-publishing his How to Self-Publish Comics? (And in what universe does this need to be a four-issue series with each 32-page issue at $5?)

For some reason I'm finding it difficult to work up much entuiasm for any of this month's offerings from Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics.

Alas, Thieves & Kings raises its price to $3.50. It's still worth it, though.

You know, I vowed at one point that I was never going to be buying any of IDW's $3.99 comics, as they broke my $3 rule for price on 32-page comics. But dammit, now I'm buying five titles from them this month (Angel, Spike vs. Dracula, Fallen Angel, Maze Agency, and Supermarket).

Now that they've raised the price to $5, I'll be dropping the monthly Knights of the Dinner Table magazine. It's hard to begrudge them, as the thing is 80-pages long, but I'm really only interested in teh 20 pages of comics in each issue, so it's really not worth it. But now that they're rapidly catching up with the Bundle of Trouble collections, I think I'll wait and read them that way.

Queen & Country: Declassified II finally gets collected. I've been missing my Q&C fix (I'm #2 on the wait list for the new novel from the public library...)

Pantheon has a graphic novel adaptation of the A Scanner Darkly movie; but really, you should just read the original novel, as it's one of Philip K. Dick's best.

Puffin have two of the Graphic Classics that should be of interest to you because of those providing the art: Alex Niño on The Call of the Wild, and Becky Cloonan on Dracula.

OEL from TokyoPop this time out include Ross Campbell's The Abandoned and the second volume of I Love Halloween (just in time for Valentines Day!). There are also new volumes of Beck and Telepathic Wanderers.

Viz have a new volume of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix.

Back in the books section you'll find two very good Larry Gonick books: The Cartoon Guide to the Environment, which is informative without being too preachy; and The Cartoon Guide to Sex, the best sex-ed book I've ever read (I wish we'd had it as a text back in sixth-grade health class!)


Okay, that wraps it up for this month--sorry this second part was so late. If you'd like to see Previews-o-Rama return on a permanent basis, please use the comments and tell me so.

Quick OEL Manga Reviews

The Dreaming, vol. 1
by Queenie Chan
TokyoPop, $9.99

I love gothic-style stories, so it's a treat to read this first volume in Queenie Chan's new OEL title. This comic has it all: a remote location, a boarding school in an old mansion, a dark forest, mysterious old ladies, secret twins, and seances. The twins in question, Amber and Jeanie, arrive at an old exclusive Australian boarding school, and are soon caught up in mysterious late-night happenings and other spooky stuff. Honestly, I eat this stuff right up! Chan's art is very good. She gives her characters a manga-style look without being derivative, her backgrounds are strong without being overpowering, and her layouts flow well. The tones are good too, providing excellent balance and enhancing the art. In all, this is the strongest of the TokyoPop OEL titles that I've read so far.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)



Serenity, vol. 1: New Bad Girl in Town
by Buzz Dixon & Min Kwon
Real Buzz Studios, $7.97

Serenity Harper, the new girl at school, it short and mad at the whole world. She swears, gets in fights, and tries to steal boyfriends. Luckily for her, the James A. madison High School Bible Club decides to take her under their wing, and is determined to introduce her to Jesus Christ, whether or not Serenity knows that she wants to be. I'm all for having positive religious messages in comics, but Serenity is so full of cliched characters and situations that it's nearly unbearable. Kwon's figure art is good at aping a manga style, but her layouts could be stronger and the backgrounds, when they appear, are merely servicable. For its intented audience--Christian youth who want a manga fix--I suppose this will do, and the comic doesn't completely shy away from teen-oriented issues (e.g. sex). But I prefer religious themes in my comics that are more challenging (e.g. Testament--golly but I miss Metron Press.)

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 21

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

That sly dog Archie Andrews makes time with both Betty and Veronica (while a couple of elves look on!) on the cover of Archie Giant Series Magazine #15.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 4 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Invite your best girl(s) over for a little holiday lovin', and put on Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! Lots of interesting things to be found in reading over Comixpedia's List of 25 People in Webcomics for 2005 (link via Tom), including that Svetlana Chmakova's CosmoGirl manga strip is available online; Andrew Ford and Michael Kelleher's Rib is now being published online via 01comics; and both Finder and Girl Genius have seen their trade sales increase significantly since going to online-only for their serial publication.

ITEM! Shawn Hoke, who writes the very good Size Matters mini-comics blog, named YACB as one of his 365 Things I Enjoyed in Comics This Year. Thanks Shawn!

ITEM! I need to read Photon Torpedoes more often. Contributor kidflash has a good rundown of the Levitz-era Dream Girl; and warlock has an appreciation of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez on Atari Force.

ITEM! Kevin notifies us that Catherine Leamy has a new issue of her Geraniums and Bacon mini out. I reviewed the first two issues back in February, and liked them a lot, so sometime soon I have to PayPal her $2 to get issue #3--and you should too (and get the others while you're at it!)

ITEM! Chris Sims, over at Chris's Invincible Super-Blog, has been spotlighting some fun Christmas-themed comics, including Marvel Two-in-One #8, Marvel Team-Up #127, and Santa Claus in the DC Universe. It makes for fun holiday reading!

ITEM! Less than 5 days left in the Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive, and I'm still looking for five more people to step up and support the freedom to read, sell and create comics. I don't want to have to beg, but it's getting near crunch time people!

New This Week: December 21, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


The pick of the Week is Flying Lessons, the third volume of Andy Runton's charming Owly from Top Shelf. I realize that some people find Owly to be too sweet and charming, but I find it to be enjoyable, and I think that Runton has a real skill in telling wordless stories. If you don't like friendly anthropomorphic forrest animals, you probably hate puppies too. And Christmas. In which case, what are you doing here?


In other comics:

Alias have the TPB of David: Shepherd's Song, collecting the 3-issue mini. Which is odd, seeing as issue #3 never came out. I suppose maybe they're not publishing #3 because the series was losing money, but for those of us who bought the first two issues--and ordered #3 and not the trade--this doesn't exactly engender any goodwill for a publisher that desperately needs some.

Antarctic have new issues of Gold Digger (#69) and Ninja High School (#134), and a new NHS Pocket Manga too (vol. 7).

Archie have a new issue of Sabrina (#72).

Dark Horse have new issues of Conan (#23) and The Goon (#15).

DC have a second collection of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man (Rubber Bandits), which IMHO contains the strongest issues of Baker's sadly under-ordered run. They also have a collection of Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing (Spontaneous Generation); the debutof Testament; new issues of Birds of Prey (#89), Hellblazer (#215), Lucifer (#69), and Seven Soldiers: Bulleteer (#2); and the third issue of Infinite Crisis, which was originally scheduled for last week, then pushed back to next week, and is now shipping this week.

Drawn & Quarterly have Seth's Wimbledon Green OGN in hardcover.

Fantagraphics have a new issue of Acme Novelty Library (#16).

Marvel have new issues of Captain America (#13), Book of Lost Souls (#3), Runaways (#11), and Supreme Power: Hyperion (#3); plus a digest collection of Jeff Parker's Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four--yes, that Jeff Parker--if you like fun little super-hero stories, you should give this one a look.

Speakeasy finally get a new issue of Elk's Run (#4) out the door, as well as the debut of Shotgun Wedding.


And if you have any money left over, please consider giving to the CBLDF as part of our Second Annual Fund Drive. Thanks!

Christmas Covers - December 20

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Francine & Katchoo set a trap for Santa on the cover of Strangers in Paradise #70 by Terry Moore.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 5 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Don't be a stranger--stop by and listen to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

CBLDF Fund Drive Update

With less than six days left in the Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive, we've had five people notify me of their new membership, renewed membership, or donation. Which means that we need just 5 more people to support the CBLDF at the $25 level (or higher) to meet our goal.

It's been slow going so far, but I have confidence in you--my readers--the heroes--that you can make this happen!

(If you're looking for another way to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, there are still a couple of days left to bid on the original art from the WildStorm vs. Aspen challenge--proceeds go to the CBLDF!)

Marvel's Dot Bomb

I have to say that I'm rather unimpressed by Marvel's new Digital Comics feature.

Representing on screen comic books originally produced for the printed page has a variety of challenges, but they boil down to two:

1) How do you present a page (or a two page spread) as the whole element, while at the same time allowing readers to zoom in close enough to read the words?

2) How do you handle navigation?

Marvel chose to handle problem one by allowing readers to zoom in on individual panels, making the words legible but leaving the pictures pixelated. They handle problem two by offering a large menu of confusing navigational options. It's a rather frustrating experience.

Contrast this with the now-defunct CrossGen Comics far superior Comics on the Web, where users could use the tab key to cause successive word balloons to zoom up to a redable size, and navigation was done with simple keyboard commands. CrossGen also had other features, such as the ability to get rid of the text entirely, or turn off the computer coloring and view the pages in raw inked black-and-white form.

This is Marvel's second try at offering online versions of their comics, and I think that it's actually worse. Hopefully the third time will be the charm...

New Library Comics: Week of December 12, 2005

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


The education of a comics artist : visual narrative in cartoons, graphic novels, and beyond /New York : Allworth Press ; School of Visual Arts, c2005.

Hatfield, Charles, 1965- Alternative comics : an emerging literature /Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2005.

Kondo, Yuko. Too fat can't fly and other stories /Corte Madera, Calf : Gingko Press, 2004.

Kramer's ergot 5 /Corte Madera, Calif. : Gingko Press, 2004.

Marcel, Swen. David : La Finca /Koln : Mattei Medien, 2004.

Mills, Scott. Trenches /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2002.

Prince, Liz. Will you still love me if I wet the bed? : a comic /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, 2005.