Having been born into money and married to a wealthy businessman, Ellen Fromme was used to the finer things in life. Little did she know a trip to the local opera house was about to send her spiraling into madness…
Death Angel, the first New Pulp Fiction hero from the mind of Mike Bullock, debuted in Phantom Doubleshot #1 from Moonstone Books in 2009. Death Angel has since been met with critical acclaim from fans and fellow creators alike. Further adventures of Death Angel take place in Death Angel: Hung Jury, also available for download from Amazon and Black Bat: Black Death volume one, a graphic novel from Moonstone Books.
Death Angel: Dominion part two is slated for release in October, with subsequent installments coming monthly.
Avengers Vs. X-Men #9 from Marvel Comics, the best-selling comic book to specialty retailers in August 2012, according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.
DC Entertainment was August’s leading publisher in Retail Dollars, leading Marvel Comics 33.32% to 32.42%. Meanwhile, Marvel Comics edged DC Entertainment on the Unit Market Share for the month, 37.18% to 37.12%.
For the second month in a row, Geoff Johns and Gary Franks’ [[[Batman: Earth One]]], the original graphic novel that reimagines the early days of Batman, was the best-selling graphic novel to retailers.
Based on Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s best-selling Batman: Arkham Asylum video game, Square-Enix’s Batman: Arkham Asylum Play Arts ~Kai~: Harley Quinn Action Figure was the best-selling toy product to comic book specialty retailers in August.
Earth’s most powerful heroes join the HeroClix campaign with the DC HeroClix: Justice League Expansion from WizKids/NECA, the best-selling games product to comic book specialty retailers in August.
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
PUBLISHER
DOLLAR
SHARE
UNIT
SHARE
DC COMICS
33.32%
37.12%
MARVEL COMICS
32.42%
37.18%
IDW PUBLISHING
5.88%
4.64%
IMAGE COMICS
5.75%
5.37%
DARK HORSE COMICS
4.92%
3.89%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
3.19%
3.16%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD
1.83%
0.40%
BOOM! STUDIOS
1.52%
1.48%
VIZ MEDIA
0.96%
0.41%
ARCHIE COMICS
0.85%
0.82%
OTHER NON-TOP 10
9.35%
5.52%
COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
DOLLARS
UNITS
AUGUST 2012 VS. JULY 2012
COMICS
6.49%
6.38%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
22.13%
19.48%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
11.23%
7.43%
AUGUST 2012 VS. AUGUST 2011
COMICS
19.27%
14.22%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
14.95%
24.74%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
17.80%
15.09%
YEAR-TO-DATE 2012 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2011
COMICS
20.51%
17.97%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
14.13%
12.78%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
18.41%
17.54%
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS
RANK
DESCRIPTION
PRICE
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9
$3.99
JUN120592-M
MAR
2
AVENGERS VS X-MEN #10
$3.99
JUN120599-M
MAR
3
BATMAN #12
$3.99
JUN120177-M
DC
4
JUSTICE LEAGUE #12
$3.99
JUN120142-M
DC
5
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692
$5.99
JUN120622-M
MAR
6
BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH #1 (MR) [*]
$3.99
JUN120129-M
DC
7
AVX VS #5
$3.99
JUN120590-M
MAR
8
BEFORE WATCHMEN: DR. MANHATTAN #1 (MR) [*]
$3.99
JUN120134-M
DC
9
GREEN LANTERN #12
$2.99
JUN120196-M
DC
10
DETECTIVE COMICS #12
$3.99
JUN120181-M
DC
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
RANK
DESCRIPTION
PRICE
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
BATMAN: EARTH ONE HC
$22.99
MAR120234
DC
2
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP
$9.99
JUL068351
IMA
3
SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES TP
$14.99
MAY120280
DC
4
SUPERMAN: ACTION COMICS VOL. 1: SUPERMAN MEN OF STEEL HC
$24.99
APR120245
DC
5
BATMAN VOL. 1: THE COURT OF OWLS HC
$24.99
JAN120300
DC
6
HULK SEASON ONE PREMIERE HC
$24.99
MAY120746
MAR
7
SCOTT PILGRIM VOLUME 1 COLOR HC
$24.99
MAY121234
ONI
8
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: SITH HUNTERS TP
$7.99
APR120041
DAR
9
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 2: MILES BEHIND US TP
$14.99
SEP088204
IMA
10
FEAR ITSELF TP
$29.99
JUN120721
MAR
TOP 10 TOYS
RANK
DESCRIPTION
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM PLAY ARTS KAI: HARLEY QUINN ACTION FIGURE
JAN128132
SQU
2
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM PLAY ARTS KAI: ARMORED BATMAN ACTION FIGURE
PATHFINDER BATTLES: RISE OF THE RUNELORDS BOOSTER BRICK
MAY128110
NEC
Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 3,500 comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. The account base includes brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, Internet merchants, and other specialty stores.
Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.
Please note that comics marked with an asterisk have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect.
Ever see a movie or read a comic book that just sucked? Ever wonder how that god-awful piece of shit came to see the light of day?
I have. Not only have I wondered how something so terrible can get made, I’ve done stuff and wondered how in the hell I managed to pull it off something so bad and someone paid me for it.
I vowed never to make that mistake again, which is why all my current projects are at least two years in the making. I just signed a deal to write another novel and my first novel has yet to come out. I could write any book in three months but I’m smart enough (now) to take the long road when it comes to content. My latest book deal calls for me to deliver the first draft in a year. Do I need a year? Nope. Will I take the year? Yep.
I’ve learned the hard way that just because you can do a thing in five minutes does not mean you should do that thing in five minutes. Ask any woman, if you get my drift.
Some creative people do as much as they can as fast as they can for a variety of reasons, chief among those reasons, particularly for new creators, is money.
Money is the reason, in my humble opinion, that some new creative people find themselves with a wonderful opportunity and completely fuck it up. Case in point…
Some time ago someone called and told me of the sweetheart deal he had made with a major entertainment company. Frankly I was very surprised because the idea (in my opinion) was just horrible and all the work this person had done that I knew of was just not professional enough to warrant the sort of deal he was talking about. But what do I know?
I have no right what so ever to judge what anyone creates or what some company wants to pay for. My opinion as to what is published or made into a TV show or movie means nothing except to me in reality.
But… as a person who is in the position of green lighting projects for the various production and publishing companies, my opinion matters if you bring something to me. Even then I may not the final decision maker depending on the type of deal I’m in with what company. All that said, the project I’m talking about I would not pitch to anyone I have a relationship with. Besides, the person who has the project somehow secured a deal with a major player and they don’t need me anyhow.
The way the project is being handled it’s only a matter of time before the company writing the check will either pull funding or replace the creator who brought it to them. The project is ripe with production problems and personalities that will cause the funding company to bail or take away all the decision making from the creator who sold his rights to the funding company.
Why has this not happened already? Because the company writing the checks is new to the comic book business and they don’t know what’s bullshit and what’s not. But no one can keep up a smoke and mirror con job forever, eventually someone in the funding company will not give a fuck about the potential of the idea. They will start to wonder why the creator and his team have missed every deadline and call someone outside of the creator’s team to see what the fuck is up.
Sensing he was in trouble, the creator called me and asked me to be involved. I listened to the pitch because the company they had the deal with is huge. After the pitch I took a meeting with the team putting it together and realized that these guys were way out of their league. I explained to them where I saw real problems and cautioned them that the funding company would eventually see the same problems as I and grasp that the business plan and projections the creator and his team presented were unattainable at best and just bullshit at worst.
My comments were met with scorn and disbelief. Who was I to criticize them? They were the people with the deal. They were the people who were now in business with a major entertainment company. Who was I to rain on their parade?
I was the guy the entertainment company called a few weeks later and asked to take over the project.
I declined. It’s just too much trouble, I don’t have the time and working with the creator whose days are numbered would be a nightmare.
This really is a dream project for the creator and rather he listened to me or not I do so wish it works out. I hope that the funding company does not get to a point of no return and decide because they already spent X amount of money they have to publish to recoup at least some of that money back.
That, by the way, is one of the reasons you see shitty product in the entertainment marketplace. Corporate decides that although the product is shit someone will buy it and instead of losing one million dollars they lose nine hundred thousand.
I hope I’m wrong and as bad as the project is it does gang busters in sales. I hope if that happens and the creator is still involved with the project he will count his blessings and not make the same mistakes again.
I also hope for a threesome with Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie while Jennifer Lopez makes me a egg sandwich and Kim Kardashian feeds it to me. I think that has a better chance of happening.
Drama By Riana Telgemeier Scholastic Graphix, 233 pages, $10.99/$23.99
Despite being an adult, Raina Telgemeier has not forgotten what it was like to be an eighth grader when everything, from your body to your relationships, change with startling regularity. She demonstrated this in the wonderful memoir Smile and returns with Drama, a story across a school year.
Callie adores the theater and while isn’t comfortable on stage given her horrible singing voice, relishes her backstage work. This year, the final one of middle school, she’s now charged with the set design for Moon Over Mississippi. Her devotion to Broadway fills her head with larger-than-life ideas, almost impossible to pull off with a school budget coupled with her inexperience at things like hammering. What she does excel at is making friends and she forms some new attachments during the course of the production.
She’s gaga for Greg, the older brother of her best friend Matt, but he has eyes for someone else. Then she meets twins Justin and Jesse; one wants to be the star, the other is equally good but more comfortable working behind the scenes. Their integration into the school’s theater culture forms a large chunk of the story, especially as it becomes apparent one of the twins is out and proud. Of course, drama kids tends to be more accepting of gay friends, but in middle school it’s never easy and Telgemeier doesn’t shy away from, ahem, the drama inherent in this.
The entire graphic novel is set within the framework of a play with opening and closing curtains and even a brief intermission. Aided with subtle and effective coloring from Gurihiru, Telgemeier’s accessible style makes this an easy, entertaining read. She doesn’t crowd her pages and makes her characters look and speak in distinctive ways, yet retaining that youthful exuberance we all recall from those years in school.
There is plenty of tension during rehearsals and performances and Callie’s attempts to perfect a cannon going off is a metaphor for the entire experience. There is a lovely rhythm to the character arcs as things go from complicated to easy and then veers into the “it’s complicated” territory. By the end of the play, bonds have been forged that helps prepare all of the cast members for the leap into high school. Growing up is never easy and you survive school thanks to your friends and Telgemeier sees to it Callie is well loved as people respond to her devotion to theater and all its trappings.
Jim Beard, author of the best selling Captain Action novel to chat with Ric Croxton and Art Sippo about the first Captain Action novel in the latest episode of The Book Cave podcast. They are joined by Airship 27 publishers Ron Fortier and Rob Davis to discuss Captain Action: Riddle of the Glowing Men.
Trying to decide what book I wanted to take with me when traveling to the Pulp Fest Convention in Columbus, several weeks ago, I grabbed a paperback that had been sitting on my To-Read stack for a few months. It was “Written in Time,” by Jerry & Sharon Ahern and appeared to be an action-adventure science fiction novel dealing with time travel; a favorite sub-genre of mine. While packing the book away in my backpack, a niggling memory surfaced in my mind about a particular post I’d seen recently on Facebook concerning a writer’s recent passing. For whatever reason, Ahern’s name was the one I remembered. Sadly my memory proved to be working just fine because, after finishing this truly excellent novel, I discovered that Jerry Ahern, age 66, had indeed passed away only last month, 24th July, 2012.
From what I gathered, he and his wife were best known for their sci-fi series called, “The Survivalist,” about an American family surviving in a world ravaged by a nuclear war. One of the hallmarks of Ahern’s writing was his expert descriptions of hand weapons employed in his fiction as he was himself an authority on handguns and contributed to many well known magazines such as “Guns & Ammo.”
“Written In Time” mirrors the Aherns a great deal as the protagonists are Jack and Ellen Naile, a popular husband and wife sci-fi writing couple. One day they receive a photo in the mail sent to them from a fan in a small Nevada town. The picture, a clipping from the local newspaper dated 1904 shows Jack, Ellen, their daughter Elizabeth and son David all wearing western garb and standing before a general store bearing their name, “Jack Naile – General Merchandise.” After several tests the two come to believe that the photo in the clipping is authentic and not a hoax; meaning sometime in the near future some bizarre event is going to hurl them almost a hundred years into the past.
From this point forward, the Nailes set about planning for the event and doing their best to prepare themselves for their new life in the past. Eventually the freakish event occurs and our cast is sent back in time. There they slowly begin to adapt to turn of the century living and the challenges it presents them while being careful not to affect any changes that may alter the future itself.
Unfortunately the Nailes’ nephew, Clarence, having been told of their coming time travel adventure becomes obsessed with duplicating the phenomenon and joining them in the past. In the process of successfully achieving this goal, he inadvertently sets into motion actions that ultimately expose their experience to an unscrupulous businesswoman. Being immoral, she sees the potential for riches and power to be won by shaping time to her own will. When Jack and Ellen become aware of this new faction that is about to invade the past to control the future, they scramble to find allies to help them thwart her deranged plans and save history. The person they recruit to their cause is none other than Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt.
The true fun of this book is that it really is two books in one; a fantastical science fiction adventure and a bona fide western actioner. The Aherns pull this off seamlessly and after finishing the book, this reviewer had to wonder if in the writing, both of them saw it as a very special, intimate dream fulfillment to cap their writing careers. That it would be their last book together lends a poignant credibility to that idea.
Sixty-six in our age is not a long time and yet Jerry Ahern seems to have filled it to overflowing with living a life of love and creativity. After reading, “Written In Time,” it is clear we’ve lost a truly gifted and original voice. R.I.P. Jerry Ahern and thanks.
Friends with Boys, the new graphic novel by Faith Erin Hicks (whose The War at Ellsmere I reviewed in a huge round-up month),has an oddly ill-fitting title; it’s the story of a teenager, Maggie, who is starting in a public highschool after her mother (who home-schooled her and her three older brothers — all of whom oddly seem to still be in the same school though there seems to be a few years in between her and her twin brothers and then the oldest one) ran away mysteriously. Maggie has trouble making friends with anyone, since she’s been so wrapped up in her family, but she’s a tomboy, and has been closer to boys (her brothers) her entire life. So being “Friends With Boys” isn’t really the big thing here — it’s that she’s in the company of people who aren’t family, or without her mother, or something along those lines. The title also makes her homeschooling sound more controlling or sinister, as if it were based on some controlling-young-women religion, and it isn’t like that at all.
But there’s nothing to stop Maggie from becoming friends with boys, or more than that — her brothers are friendly and supportive (if awfully rough-and-tumble) rather than over-protective, and even her father (the chief of police of their small town) is a support rather than an authority figure. Friends With Boys is somewhat the story of potential friendships for Maggie, but those friendships are with a brother and sister (Lucy and Alistair) that she meets at school, her brothers (as they work out their own conflicts), and a ghost that she’s been seeing in the local graveyard for the past seven years.
The ghost and the Alistair/Lucy friendship together drive much of the plot — Alistair, a mohawked punk, has a feud with the blond captain of the volleyball team (though, luckily, it’s not otherwise as cliched as that may sound), and Maggie is sure she knows what she has to do to put that ghost at rest. But, if Hicks has a message in Friends With Boys, it’s that things are more complicated than they look. There are several plot or thematic strands that are raised but never resolved — primarily among them the disappearance of Maggie’s mother just before the book starts — and the answers we do learn aren’t the ones we expected.
All of that makes Friends With Boys an excellent graphic novel for teens, its expected audience — it’s a story about walking out into a wider world, not entirely understanding it, making plans based on what you see — and then still not entirely understanding that world. So much fiction for teens tries to wrap everything up in one ball or another — that everything is horrible because adults, or that they can be perfect special snowflakes if they want, or some other pat explanation — that Hicks’ messy complications (and that’s without any kind of love-plot, too; how complicated will Maggie’s life get what that gets into the mix?) are a breath of cool air, like the dizzying view from a mountaintop. As this book ends, Maggie still hasn’t learned how to be friends with boys, but maybe she has learned how to be friends with her brothers, which is one step forward.
Weird Tales, a Magazine known for featuring the odd and strange and being the home of such classic Pulp Authors as Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, has found itself in a position to retract an endorsement by Weird Tales Editor Marvin Kaye of a novel by author Victoria Hoyt.
In a post entitled, ‘A Message from the Publisher’, said Publisher John Harlacher details that editor Kaye had endorsed a novel written by Hoyt. Upon further investigation and learning more about the content of the book, The Publisher consulted with Kaye and the decision was made to rescind the endorsement. For the full contents of the letter from Weird Tales’ Publisher, go here- http://weirdtalesmagazine.com/2012/08/20/a-message-from-the-publisher/
Although it is not stated in the above cited message, it is believed by All Pulp staff that the title of this novel is “Save the Pearls”. This novel and Hoyt herself have been criticized on the internet for what is being cited as obvious racist themes in the book as well as in promotional material. All Pulp has not contacted any of the parties involved, but is willing to discuss this with both sides and report on it accordingly.
Kickstarter is a topic that tends to get people worked up, both on the pro and con sides. Call it what you want, Top Cow just pulled in six figures to relaunch Cyber Forcein what’s the biggest crowdfunding effort to date from a U.S. comics publisher (and #6 largest comics project to close on Kickstarter).
I occasionally compare crowdfunding to the days when artists had patrons who paid the bills and let the artists create. That metaphor seems particularly apt here. 1,419 people pooled their resources to raise $117,135 which will fund 5 issues of Cyber Force with free distribution online and in print. That averages out to roughly $82.50/person. A very high average.
Kickstarter tells you the most popular pledge is in the $20-$25 range. The most popular Cyber Force pledge level was the $50 level, which was also the hard cover graphic novel level. 622 people pledged there/ordered the hard cover and when you add in the higher premiums, it looks like somewhere in 800-850 range for various HC copies. So while this wasn’t _solely_ funded on the strength of the collected edition, around half of it probably was.
The gamble here is that by making the material freely available, Cyber Force will garner a big audience for issue #6, which would theoretically be a paid purchase. Or perhaps they can do another Kickstarter for the next arc. Either way, Top Cow rolled the dice on this one and came out of it getting what they wanted and a little bit more.
There’s a lot left to play out with this new variation on Kickstarting a comics project. The material has to be produced. Reactions gauged. The plans for issue 6 and beyond formalized and executed. The journey has just begun, but this is going to be fascinating to watch. New rules apply and we’re not sure what those rules are yet.
James Palmer and Mechanoid Press Proudly Present a Different Kind of Pulp Detective
Atlanta, GA— James Palmer and Mechanoid Press have just released another Kindle exclusive melding elements of Dashiell Hammet and H.P. Lovecraft, in the first in a series blending 30’s noir with urban fantasy and supernatural fiction.
Slow Djinn begins the adventures of Sam Eldritch: Occult Investigator for Hire. Eldritch is a private eye in 1930s New York, trying to cope with his newfound ability to see the world of magic that lies all around us, yet just beyond our reach.
Synopsis
Sam Eldritch is down on his luck. His partner was murdered by a Chinese demon, but it gave Sam a gift. Now he sees ghosts, demons, and even worse things. Things that no one else wants to know about. Kicked off the force as a laughing stock, Sam hires himself out to those who need his special “gift.”
But when a mysterious Saudi businessman hires him to retrieve a stolen ring, Sam realizes he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Haunted by the ghost of his murdered partner, his only friends a Chinese sorcerer and the ingénue of a jealous crime boss, can Sam find a force so powerful it destroys everyone it touches before it falls into the hands of the local mob? Can he learn the secret of the demon who destroyed his life?
“I had a lot of fun writing this one,” says Palmer. “And I have a few more stories in the beginning stages. If readers like Sam, there will definitely be more adventures.”
The photo cover is by the talented J.R. Blackwell (jrblackwell.com), and represents the classic pulpy noir feel of the story.
“A lot of paranormal and urban fantasy is set in the present day,” says Palmer. “And that’s great, but I wanted to take it back to its pulp roots a bit. I think fans of classic occult detective characters will really dig Sam Eldritch.”
This universe has several influences, from the gritty dime novel detectives to Carl Kolchak and The X-Files and books like Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim.
“All of the characters are really colorful and interesting,” says Palmer. “And there’s a twist at the end I don’t think anyone will see coming.”
About James Palmer James has written articles, interviews, columns, reviews and fiction for Strange Horizons, Tangent Online, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, and New Pulp Publishers Airship 27, Pro Se Productions, and White Rocket Books. For more, visit http://www.jamespalmerbooks.com/ or follow James on Twitter @palmerwriter.
About Mechanoid Press Mechanoid Press is a new publisher specializing in science fiction, New Pulp, and steampunk ebooks and anthologies. Their first anthology should be out by the end of the year. For more, visit http://www.mechanoidpress.com/ or follow the robot revolution on Twitter @mechanoidpress.
, the new graphic novel by 
I reviewed in 
