That Umbrella Guy gives an in depth analysis of the June sales figures posted on Comicchron and more importantly gives us a better look at the overall pattern. [12 mins]
It’s bad people. It’s really bad. Especially if you’re IDW (which has fallen from #4 in overall sales to #5.) That deal with the Mouse-Devil to make licensed comics featuring Marvel characters was a matter of corporate survival.
Alternative title: The Mouse-God twitches and all good men tremble.
In what could be a forerunner for major changes in the comic industry. Disney is now licensing major Marvel characters to IDW. Disney has licenced Star Wars characters to IDW in the past but this is the first time in recent memory that Marvel characters are being licensed out to a another publisher.
This move show either that Disney does not trust the current Marvel publishing team to handle the cash cow movie version of characters or this could also signal the intention to cannibalize Marvel and move towards a strictly ‘licensing out’ model.
The big winner here is IDW which has been in serious financial trouble in the recent months and was desperate for any kind of as lifeline.
As for the comics themselves… we should expect the usual SJW trash (and Disney corporate oversight) to choke out any creative impulses that might somehow miraculously spring up. Status quo as usual.
Bounding Into Comics‘ article on the news.
http://boundingintocomics.com/2018/07/17/idw-to-publish-marvel-characters-in-new-comic-book-line/
“IDW Publishing and Marvel Entertainment are teaming up to produce a brand new publishing line targeting younger readers with middle-grade comic books. This new publishing line will feature some of Marvel’s top characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther and more.”
Yellow Flash covers the news. A great roundup of recent events. [12 mins]
Capn Cummings gives his take. [7 mins]
This comment sums it up.
“Good, I was just thinking of what the next most wrong move Marvel could possibly make and was having trouble coming up with an answer.”
Rorshach1004 gives his take and brings up the point that these comics are going to be specifically aimed at children, [6 mins]
Actually the real gold here is the comment left by Makdaddi.
“Writers who have never had kids will find it difficult to write anything about kids or that would be of interest to kids. Just as I would be hard pressed to write about welding. Politically incorrect….but true enough. There is more than enough evidence in current commic book and cartoon fare to support this thesis. SJW written are disenfranchising an entire generation of kids they either don’t care about….or we wouldn’t want around them in the first place.”
Remember ultimately all children’s entertainment is produced by adults. In most cases by adults who need to be watched very carefully around children. Finding a way to cut that particular Gordian knot is going to be one of the great battles of the Culture War.
In the case of comics; legitimate all-ages comics are desperately needed in order to not only save the artform but to encourage children to read for fun.
Even two bit hacks in the mainstream media can sense this void, which is why they are maneuvering their minions in order to take advantage of it. However like all SJW ventures we can expect this one to fail and to fail in a hilarious manner.
Looking forward to it. The comics world is ripe for a change and one thing is for certain. The change is going to happen in a way that none of the big players expects.
Semi-related:
On the subject of writers finding it difficult to write about normal families and relationships I do have to admit that this comedic Short Story was actually quite difficult for me to pull off. Still showing a normal working class family in the Breylandverse was highly therapeutic and growth exercise as a writer.
Also Trumpmas is only really a big deal in certain Christian working class neighborhoods. The Homeworld is about 65% Pagan, 30% Christian and about 4% Celtic-Christian (an unhappy compromise between the faiths.) The City of Roland is majority Christian and a major spaceport…. but that’s all petty worldbuilding for another time.
Haven’t posted anything for a while so I figure I’ll share some of the old covers I saved on an impulse.
This was a horrible NES game but damn if that cover art isn’t beautiful. Heroic swashbuckler in fancy red hat saves hot chick from pug-uglies.
Funny how the punch a Nazi comic pros never seem to mention these Captain America isues.
Yes this one isn’t real. It should be.
Yes they actually did make a BattleTech comic miniseries.
AN image from Alex Jones’ younger days as he fends off the agents of the reptilian hordes.
From back when movie posters actually made people want to see a movie.
Back when quality war comics were a thing.
Before there was Jawbreakers… and your inner six year old just jumping up and down in excitement.
Sci-fi mystery comic? Well you have my attention.
Arkhaven Comics has just released the second issue of Alt*Hero; this time following the American vigilante story and featuring the Rebel and Hammer characters that were central in the original trailer video.
This one definitely went in a different direction than I was expecting. While a certain level of dark grittiness was inevitable, shit got real very fast here.
It was also good to see that Rebel and Mike Hammer are actual multi-dimensional characters here when it would have been so easy to turn them into lazy stereotypes.
Overall while I liked Alt*Hero #1 Crackdown I couldn’t really get excited for it. I could see the European Storyline being set up for future issues and the comic was overall surprisingly funnier than I expected. In baseball terms issue #1 was a lead off single.
Issue #2 however was a RBI double, bringing home the baserunner and the bacon. Much faster pace and higher immediate stakes for the viewpoint characters. An element of humor remains however, as seen in the offhand some of the rebel superheroes are introduced to us.
Overall a clear step forward for Arkhaven and a bit of fun for the rest of us.
Looking forward to seeing the online hatescreeches… which just makes the whole fan experience ever better.
—Wolfman Out—
Sorry about the delay on this one but I got sucked into a wormhole and spent most of the last couple evening messing around with MegaMek and trying (er… failing) to get the hang of it. That campaign editor is just taunting me at this point. Sadly I’m not that familiar with the Battletech Tabletop rules.
Anyway let’s begin.
How to make Warhammer Adventures NOT suck [11 mins]
Arch Warhammer outlines his modest proposal for how to go about writing a children’s story in the Warhammer 40k universe while still staying faithful to established lore.
Cody Fernandez on the Punisher, antiheroes and how the character effected him as teenager.
https://www.thecomiccorner.co.uk/blog/the-punisher-and-dehumanization
An excellent take on vigilantes and the contrast between heroes who wear white hat and those who feel they must wear the grey hat.
Edible six pack holders? This is actually a good idea.
How the Crusades begin in Spain [22 mins]
The video is a little dry but this might be interesting to anyone who plays Crusader Kings or is interested in medieval history. Of note is how Pope Urban II seemed to consider the Reconquista of Spain to be equal in importance to retaking the Holy Land. Also a castle actually named “Deus Vult.”
Tim Simon on how Byzantium and Gondor from LotR are connected.
https://bondwine.com/2010/03/13/gondor-byzantium-and-feudalism/
and yes this was Tolkien’s intention.
Strangely this would make for some pretty exciting comics. The character interaction between Knighty Knight and Detective Horse would no doubt be memorable.
J. D. Cohen Declares the Short Story dead and begins a murder investigation.
https://wastelandandsky.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-assisted-suicide-of-short-stories.html
One thing I’m going to add it that it has proven to quite difficult to start writing short stories when you’ve grown up not reading them.
Mecha Warriors [song]
I just love the little stories this guy comes up with for his songs.
A quick note on worldbuilding.
https://gscotthuggins.com/2018/05/31/a-few-thoughts-on-worldbuilding/
Food, art and music. Food is the easiest but only becomes a concern when the characters don’t have a steady reliable supply of it. Or if they are moving between multiple cultures. Art and music are best left for the slower parts of the story and again would only be noticed if the character is operating outside his usual culture.
A typical day on any internet gaming forum.
Anthony M. On the nature of parody and what makes a good one.
http://www.superversivesf.com/2018/05/31/what-makes-a-great-parody/
The old maxim is that the best parodies are done out of a love for the source material. Which is why so much of the modern subversive comedy of recent years falls flat.
Where’s my tactical buzzbombs?
The Rocket Robin Hood opening and theme song.
This was a horrible cartoon but damn if that theme song didn’t inspire young boys. Also you do have to respect the sheer pulpiness of the premise.
Well okay when you look at it this way…
Amanda S, Green critiques the internal economics of Star Trek.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2018/05/31/trekonomics-3-wheres-the-money-by-amanda-s-green/
Military History Visualized on German Flak Towers in WWII [8 mins]
So basically a form of Nazi castle. These flak towers might also work transferred over to a sci-fi setting as spaceport cities would need to be defended against pirates and Marine raiders.
I case you we’re wondering just how ridiculous Disney Star Wars is.
Cameron Mount goes over the history of The Green Hornet and what made the character popular.
https://broadswordsandblasters.com/2018/05/28/pulp-appeal-the-green-hornet/
Quick note if you dig around on Youtube it is possible to find the old movie serials. Sometimes even edited together into a single movie.
1933 US Army Cavalry Training Film [10 mins]
A very interesting look at how interwar cavalry units operated. The horse handling procedures are also a great deal more involved than I would have envisioned. Each platoon also has two light machine guns organized into a weapons squad that breaks apart into fireteams to support the rifle platoons. This is logically the only way to do things but actually seeing how it was done is strangely satisfying.
An article covering the flaws in more contemporary vampire stories, while giving a few suggestions.
https://urban-fantasy.com/2018/05/30/vampires-suck/
“The most common complaint I hear about Twilight (other than Kristen Stewart’s acting) is the vampire as a romantic figure. I wholeheartedly agree; casting a vampire character as a romantic figure is akin to putting a mosquito on the cover of People magazine.“
Jim Fear on how Realism destroys Sci-fi, Fantasy and Horror Stories.
https://jimfear138.blogspot.com/2018/06/against-realism.html
These genres are fundamentally based on wonder and fantastic elements. Even Low Fantasy which uses supernatural elements very sparingly needs to sell those elements when they are encountered. Besides if I wanted reality I’d look out the window.
Battletech Lore: Origin of the Battlemech [14 mins]
Strangely topically at the moment. As there does seem to be a BattleTech revival of sorts in the works.
A neat piece of history.
J. D. Cohen Declares the Short Story dead and begins a murder investigation.
https://wastelandandsky.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-assisted-suicide-of-short-stories.html
One thing I’m going to add it that it has proven to quite difficult to start writing short stories when you’ve grown up not reading them.
Jon Mollison on how the new wave of Independent Crowd-funded comics are rekindling his love for the medium.
http://jonmollison.com/2018/06/03/when-did-i-become-a-comic-book-fan/
“Seriously – those of us following a policy of, “Don’t Give Money To People Who Hate You” are being boxed into ever tighter corners. Can’t watch TV. Can’t go to the movies. Can’t even enjoy vast swathes of tabletop gaming.”
— Wolfman out—
The womp rats died for nothing,
A few quick thoughts about developments in the comic industry, new emerging business models and some resulting trends.
Again a quick disclaimer: I’m not normally someone who buys comics but this is where the culture war is burning hottest right now and I simply can’t look away from the dumpster fire that raging all over the internet. I find the whole culture war deeply fascinating; even if I do take a much more holistic approach than most people. In the end it’s all one big Nerdwar and we must defend our hobbies, if not for our sakes then at least for the next generation. I vow to respect your hobbies and I ask only that you in turn respect mine. Comics is where things are happening now, I simply have to talk about it but I don’t do so lightly and I well take the time to listen to experts and long time fans when I come across them.
Also I DO NOT have any sort of insider information. I’d like to think that I’m paying attention and good at guessing what other people are doing.
As the mainstream comics industry begins to shake itself apart people are naturally going to begin looking at other models producing and more importantly distributing comics.
The recent wave of crowdfunded indie comics certainly comes to mind including not only Diversity and Comics’ Jawbreakers, EVS’ Cyberfrog reboot, pair of Chuck Dixon related projects (Ravage: Kill All Men and Jungle Comics)
There’s also smaller projects like
Cirsova’s Wild Stars 35th Anniversary Edition
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1161542777/wild-stars-35th-anniversary-time-warmageddon
Jack Iron: Steel Cowboy #2 by Cody Fernandez
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jack-irons-the-steel-cowboy-2-books#/
You can read Issue 1 for free here.
https://tapas.io/episode/994758
and Silvio Spotti’s Ruby and Warriors of Dion
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1197020690/ruby-and-the-warriors-of-dion-1
It does not hurt that the main character is a hot redhead.
While this model is not going to be enough to fully feed the huddled masses starving for soy-free entertainment; it does produce comics that hardcore fans want and gives creators a great deal of freedom in doing so.
A second model would seem to be what Alterna Comics is doing. Keeping things cheap by printing on newsprint and focusing on having fun stories. They also seem to making at least passable all ages comics which are quite important from a cultural point of view as such books are how a lot of children learn to enjoy reading.
I have heard nothing but good things about Alterna Comics and I really should be paying more attention to them. Again distribution is a major problem; these comics really should be in toy stores and 7-11s.
A third model involves a focus on digital content. Arkhaven/Dark Legion is doing some of this but they really have more of a blended model mixing cheap digital content while promising high quality physical copies for fans who really want them.
However for a focus on digital content to work best if helps if the company owns the delivery platform.
And this is exactly what Amazon has in mind. There just be be a few catches with their approach or at least the type of content that they are promoting.
I meant to get to this earlier but a few days ago Amazon announced a new series of in house original comics for their digital distribution platform Comixology.
http://comicbook.com/comics/2018/06/02/comixology-originals-amazon-comics/
For the lack of better term I’m going to call it Corporately Subsidized Tumblr Cringe. Sadly we should expect to see a lot more of this going forward.
Comicsgater Mim Headroom on the new Amazon originals [13 mins]
Bit of rumbling video but he makes a lot of good points here.
-All the comics in question seems to be going for “LOL so random.”
-This new line is a direct competitor to SJW Marvel; as it is targeting the same audience.
-Younger comic readers have no brand loyalty towards Marvel.
-Amazon is talking about print on demand; which will bypass Diamond.
-This whole line of comics could be a loss leader which Amazon eating the cost in order to promote Comixology as a platform.
His advice to a comic shop around 9min mark actually makes a lot of sense and would be good way to build up a customer base.
And in other news the DC Vertigo relaunch looks like very good news for Alt-Comics. That is some serious cringe there folks.
Picture unrelated but too awesome to not share.
— Wolfman Out—
Going to make this a quick post just to get something up on this but it seems that Ethan Van Sciver is beginning to really draw out the crazies. The SJW Comic Mafia is starting to get truly desperate to shut down the rise of Artisanal comics.* So desperate in fact a number of them set up a phony mirror copy of Ethan’s Indie Go Go campaign on Kickstarter in order to mess with the already successful campaign… in a manner that could very well be considered as criminal fraud.
I guess Mark Waid isn’t the only one willing to commit crimes in order to rearguard the ongoing collapse of the mainstream comics industry.
Capt Cummins on this whole incident [8 mins]
“It’s funny because four days in and it seems like the hysteria has already started.”
-25 points for the Limp Biskit reference. Lame then, even lamer now.
Nanofrog! He’s like Antman but a frog! We’ll make a fortune!
And for those of you who don’t like rambling videos, Bounding Into Comics did an excellent write up.
Yes I know these feels.
*While I do think that there are long-term flaws with this crowdfunded bunch production model, is it a 2018 solution to a 2018 problem. Short term? Keep Winning! Drive your enemies before you and hear the lamentations of the cucks!
UPDATE:
Here’s Ethan’s version of events [16mins]
There appears to be much more to this story.
Just a small tiny insignificant event today but one that brought a lot of joy to my heart.
Today comic artist and Star Wars critic Ethan Van Sciver launched his Indiegogo campaign for the Cyberfrog Bloodhoney graphic novel; one of his dream projects.
and how well did it do?
Well for starters the initial goal of $8000 was reached within 23 minutes... and is currently sitting at $31,290. So yes this is another major comic kickstarter success to come out of comicsgate and the surrounding circles.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ethan-van-sciver-s-cyberfrog-bloodhoney-comic-book-fantasy#/
Again credit where credit is due and good job people.
Remember it’s for the children.
Yes I’m doing these things again. Sanity is overrated anyway.
Okay let’s start with the obvious news. The first issue of Alt*Hero has been released on Amazon Kindle and physical dead tree copies are promised for two weeks from now. Distribution will be through Ingram and any store with an Ingram account should be able to order it.
Calarts ruins everything.
I still think the real fun starts when Chuck Dixon’s Avalon hits the stands (which is a good reason for your local comic store to set up an Ingram account) as that series is going to have stronger normie appeal than the AltHero series itself but the important thing is that the readers are happy and the SJWs are continuing to REEEEE and call everyone Nazis.
I’ll try to get Issue #1 read by this weekend.
Toy gun commercials for the 50’s and 60’s. [6 Mins]
A fun vision of a lost era. Those tommy guns looked awesome. Of course this was an age there would have been a lot of WWII veterans around to teach the boys about the real deal.
You WILL get the Johnny Eagle theme song stuck in your head. (A small price to pay.)
And all of a sudden I want some nachos.
SF author Michael Z. Willamson gives a long detailed loving rant against the argument that mere rifles are of no use against a tyrannical government.
http://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/blog/index.php?itemid=450
Hell yes!
A decent read about mining and gathering natural resources form space.
http://www.explainingthefuture.com/resources_from_space.html
Classroom Physics Experiments [3:30 mins]
The sand patterns are neat but stick around for the artificial ice trick at the end.
Quick article on playing centaurs and Minotaur in DnD (5th edition?)
http://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/05/14/dungeons-and-dragons-unearthed-arcana-centaur-minotaur/
and yes I can already hear the OSR guys laughing.
This is why it’s important to learn click discipline.
Metal Cover of The Muppet Show Theme [3:12]
Nothing to say here as you’ve probably already clicked on the video.
We’ve all been there. Be careful which mushrooms you eat on a camping trip, kids.
A Technical Analysis of the Gunstar from The Last Starfighter [5 mins]
A great fan piece breaking down what we know about this space fighter.
Also the 1984 movie is well worth hunting down if you haven’t seen it,
Jeffro breaks down just what the Cultural Marxists have done to modern SFF
https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/why-contemporary-science-fiction-and-fantasy-is-godawful/
Benjamin Cheah ponders the meaning of heroism and goes over some of the more flawed concepts.
http://www.pulprev.com/2018/04/what-makes-hero.html
The section on flawed heroes is definitely worth highlighting. While a protagonist without vices or weaknesses can often be boring in the end we value heroes for their virtues and heroism.
The Start of H.P.’s series on Tolkien.
https://everydayshouldbetuesday.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/tolkien-101/
A Sober and Sane Explanation of this whole Calarts Thing.
https://cirsova.wordpress.com/2018/05/21/the-calarts-thing/
—Wolfman Out—
Wolfperson Media reserves the right to ‘awoo’ at any time.
Why do comic shops fail? [13 mins]
Am interesting and highly educational podcast I stumbled across.
Truth is that now knowing what I know I’m incredibly impressed that there are any local comic stores still open. This gives you an idea just what sort of ruthlessly independent small businessmen would have to be running such stores, in these dark times.
Gentlemen I salute you.
Of Wolves and Men 