Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 04282013

(Crazy Cartoon Nutsy Squirrel cover stolen from DC Comics.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 04282013:

"There's no easy way to say this, Shannon. You're a crazy cartoon squirrel. You always have been. It's time you knew the truth."  -Robert Newsome.

• In his occasional Comics Group Think series, Tom Spurgeon asked "In What Ways Does The Culture Of Comics Have An Impact On How Business Is Done?"  I answered.  As did several smarty pants people.  It is worth a read. Bob Temuka's response got me to thinking that, on the bright side, at least it is now easier for we the fans customers to call out the companies when their practices are not so great.  If twitter had been around when Jack Kirby was trying to get his pages back from Marvel I think he would have had them in a couple of weeks.  Maybe a couple of days.  And that in turn would have actually improved the relationship between Marvel and Kirby.  And maybe Kirby would have done more work for them.  More money for Kirby, more profit for the company and more comics for the fans customers.  So, maybe if you do the right thing you win.  And maybe if you screw over everyone you lose.  But what do I know?  I had a banana and a pack of "Toast Chee" crackers for lunch.  Food for people so broke they can't even afford their fake cheese flavored food stuffs to have an S and an E on the end. 
• Oh, and here is the smoking gun. 
• This article (which I also saw first at The Comics Reporter) about the shuttering of Graphic Smash got me thinking about the early 2000s when there was so much discussion and worrying on the message boards (message boards are how you complained about how you were wronged by entertainment products before twitter and facebook) about the best platform/model for webcomics.  And I'm not just thinking about Joey Manley and his subscription based sites.  (Shaenon Garrity talks about her experience with that here and it is a must read if you want to walk down webcomics memory lane.)  Thank God for people like Manley that said, hey, maybe we should try to figure out a way to get paid.  But I'm thinking more about the different webcomics community platforms that came and went.  There were so many different platforms that people invested so much time and money into.  "This will be the MySpace for Comics!"  "This will be the facebook for Comics!"  And we were all so frantic to get on board.  Oh the horror of all the stalls being filled in the new digital shopping mall before we got ours.  I'm sure I created a login for every upstart webcomics platform between 1998 and.... yesterday.  

(This is a Star Wars piece by Jack Kirby.  It is amazing.  I don't know where it came from or why it exists.)

• I did a really crazy thing this week.  I invested a lot of money into file under other.  I've invested a lot of time into this site over the years but not a lot of money.  But I felt the need.  I felt I had to take action.  News came that the film rights to Daredevil had reverted to Marvel and I felt like it was my duty as a citizen of teh intronets to get to the bottom of what actor should play Matt "Daredevil" Murdoch in the next Marvel movie.  So, I took a very large business loan and I hired the very best market research group that money can buy to present to you, dear readers, exactly who should play Daredevil.  The results are surprising.  I hope you appreciate the financial sacrifice my family and I have had to make to bring you this important information. 
• W.  Maxwell Prince talks to The Beat about Comixology's Submit program.  There is an increasing amount of neat stuff on there. 
• Tom Spurgeon wrote 100,000 words on MoCCA and SPACE and most all of them are interesting. 
• Valerie Gallaher made some predictions on the future of comics.  I'm doubtful of some of them but terrified of most. 
• Sometimes I forget to mention it but comic books do continue to burn in hell. 
• Drunk Iron Man will always be my favorite Doctor Who.
• Martin Pasko's favorite Doctor Who will always be Superman. 
• Todd Klein's favorite Superman will always be Joe Shuster.
• Remember how Time Warner and DC Comics Entertainment didn't acknowledge the 75th anniversary of Superman at all?  Well, Wired threw together a brief history of the feller. 
• People.  Have we ever really taken a moment to think about how bizarre it is that not only is there an ongoing TV show adaption of an ongoing comic book but there is a live talk show that comes on after that show where they sit around and talk about that show.  Is Walking Dead the most successful comics-to-television project ever?  I don't think the '66 to '68 Batman show had a Mike Douglas hosted talk show on after ever episode.  (Oh, man that would have been great.  Just imagine the cigarettes.)  Mad Men has won twelve thousand Emmy Awards and it does not have a post show talk show.  I guess my point is this; Dang, The Walking Dead is a big deal.
• You guys are keeping up with the ongoing oral history of Marvelman/Miracleman right?
• Kids like all kinds of things. 
• Here is a look at an early Carmine Infantino Charlie Chan comic.  I don't know anything about Charlie Chan but the character was apparently a big deal.  Decades of movies, TV shows, books and comics.  Crazy. 
• And some Infantino Flash covers. 
• Whenever I have a major life decision to make, like where do I want to live, I turn to Peter Porker The Spectacular Spider-Ham.
• Never read the comments. 

(They read the comments.)

• That new Nobrow anthology looks pretty good. 
• Jack Kirby made 200,000 comics.  On a single random Tuesday in 1962.  And he took that afternoon off to stand in his front yard looking awesome. 
• Gabby Schulz has posted a few new comics recently.  Great stuff. 
• Patrick Dean has a new comic for sale in his store.  "The Grizzly".  I'm excited. 
• Rob Clough covered Jon Lewis' True Swamp.
• Rob McMonigal looks at Sara Lindo's Super Lobotomy. 
• Daryl Ayo talks about that new Mark Millar thing, Jupiter's Children Legacy.  I read it too.  It was, something.  Maybe I'll get around to typing up some thoughts on it. 
• Indie wrestling fan, writer, promoter and publicist (and possibly other things) Michael "LLakor" Ryan passed away.  I did know know him or even really know who he was but I had read some of his things.  Here is a great piece he wrote about El Generico.  Seriously, go read that.  It's like a real super hero origin.  And here is a nice thing El Generico wrote about LLakor.   You can read the same writers on the internet for years and never even think to pay attention to their names.  Pay attention to the guys/gals you like.  And maybe let them know. One day they will be gone.  So will you. 
• And finally...I threw the fireball in Ronnie Garvin's face in Charlotte in February of 1987.  Now actually, we just did it because I was going on my honeymoon so that way I could get suspended for a couple of weeks.

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Oh wait.  What?  Francis?  Oh alright.

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.