* Comics reporter Heidi MacDonald talks to Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon. Of interest to me is Heidi's thoughts on training a new generation of comics journalists, a place Chris Allen and I were in circa 2005 and the "teaching hospital" phase of Comic Book Galaxy, which was where a few good writers-about-comics circa 2013 did some early work. I am sympathetic to the urge to help foster the traditions and tropes of our little world in younger writers, as exasperating as it was at times. I'm sure Heidi's right that the next Raw or Kramers Ergot will be digital and probably an app for your smartphone, which means I am well and permanently disenfranchised from the future of comics. That would have depressed me a year ago, but today it just makes me a little wistful and sad. Comics: You can have it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, although it's impossible for me to imagine you having your horizons expanded by a comic read on a smartphone app as widely as mine were the first time I set eyes on Raw #3.
* Comics writer Tony Isabella wants you to know he's still available for work-for-hire gigs, despite rumours and innuendo to the contrary. I'm surprised by what he reveals about his contract for writing The Grim Ghost, but I guess it's yet another indicator of how little work there is for even the most experienced and easy-to-work with comics creators in this current, shitty economic and creative environment.
* Sorry to be so damned cynical.
* Uncomics: Writer-about-music Bob Lefsetz often says things highly relevant to comics (and my actual career, radio broadcasting). He did so again this week. Anyone comfortable with the current state of the Direct Market network of superhero convenience shops should pay careful attention to #8 on Lefsetz's list, "Old Media," and his statement that "The fact that something still exists does not mean it isn’t over."
No comments:
Post a Comment