I was going to do a write-up on Mid-Ohio Con, which went just fine and it was great to see all the fine folks there. But this just hit my e-mail box so I thought I'd post it:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact David Seidman, Claypool Comics marketing director
davidseidman@earthlink.net
CLAYPOOL IN CRISIS
Independent Publisher Reaches Out to Readers and Retailers
Diamond Comics Distributors has told Claypool Comics of plans to cancel the Claypool titles DEADBEATS and SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY, starting with the issues shipping in April, unless Claypool can push their sales up. That move would wipe out much of Claypool's line.
This news comes as Claypool is in the middle of a group of special issues. SOULSEARCHERS #76 and ELVIRA #153 (shipping in January) and DEADBEATS #76 (shipping in February) are "Jump In" issues written and drawn especially for new readers. Last year, when Claypool inaugurated the "Jump In" issues, they sold very well.
Claypool has asked retailers to order an extra copy of each "Jump In" issue. In addition, Claypool has asked readers to buy Claypool titles now and request that the retailers order the "Jump In" issues. The cover of SOULSEARCHERS' "Jump In" issue is on the Web at http://www.claypoolcomics.com/uploads/ss76.gif, while http://www.claypoolcomics.com/uploads/db76.gif houses DEADBEATS' cover.
Claypool is backing up its requests with point-of-sale cards that retailers can put on their counters or use as bag stuffers. The cards tell readers about the issues and include a spot to check off which issues they'd like to buy.
DEADBEATS, by Marvel veterans Richard Howell and Ricardo Villagran, is a punk vampire soap opera that should appeal to fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 30 Days of Night. SOULSEARCHERS, written and co-created by Peter David, is a super-hero satire featuring a group of supernatural investigators, featuring art by Joe Staton and covers by JSA Classified: Power Girl's Amanda Conner.
Claypool editor Richard Howell says, "Claypool Comics has always had a dedicated base of fans, most of whom are literate and educated people whose needs aren't always met by the current comics marketplace. A retailer who puts our comics on the shelves will most likely find that they continue to sell month after month. The consistency of our sales is undisputable, and we have every indication that if our books got more exposure, they'd sell strongly for many, many more retailers. Claypool Comics are and always have been a labor of love -- love of comics, that is. We're committed to good comics, and that makes our readers committed to us. Any retailer who wants to profit from that dedication and goodwill is enthusiastically invited along for the ride."
Claypool, which has published comics steadily since 1993, is known as "the publisher of hidden treasures" -- but it doesn't WANT to hide them!
PAD
Thanksgiving with an actual family. I have a loving wife, Kathleen, my munchkin, Caroline, and my loving teen, Ariel all here with me in our house...and there was a time in my life where none of those things were assured or even possible.
My dad back home. I hadn't mentioned it here because I didn't want to discuss it until we knew how things were turning out, but my dad was recently hospitalized with a minor heart attack. Fortunately everything's okay now, he's back home with my mom, and the prognosis is very good.
Politics. If it weren't for that, this site would have a fraction of the traffic it does.
Fans, whom I'll be meeting and greeting this week at Mid-Ohio Con.
Bowling. If I weren't in three leagues, I'd have no social life. Plus at the end of February, Ariel and I are going to be going up to upstate New York to bowl in the Pro/Am along with my brother, Wally (and, hey, have you checked out his website, http://wallydavid.com yet? Beautiful nature photos. He's having a grand opening sale. Go buy some, okay? Make him thankful.
Turkeys. With all the concern about mad cow disease, thank God there's no worries whatsoever about contracting any sort of flu from birds.
So read some comics, then go out, take some photographs with your family, give your dad a call and talk about what a dummy Bush is, and bowl three strikes in a row which is, of course, referred to as a turkey.
PAD
Ariel has been anxious for about the last year to see the film of "Rent," so I took her to a showing right after school. What fascinated me about many of the reviews I read was complaints over how it didn't work as well as the show.
Well, I didn't see the show on Broadway, and I liked the film just fine. I think it suffers from the same problem that many modern musicals have: Exactly one memorable tune. Makes you long for the old days when any one show would have at least half a dozen tunes you could leave the theater humming. Other than that, though, I applaud the decision to import most of the original cast members. I particularly regret missing her in "Wicked" after seeing Idina Menzel here, who is easily the show-stopper of the group (although Rosario Dawson and the guy who played Angel are close seconds.)
I'll tell you something, though: During one establishing shot, there was the Twin Towers, big as life. What kind of commentary on our life is it that a few people worrying about dying from an overshadowing disease as AIDS seems somehow small--even, God help us, quaint--in a world where all people are worrying about dying from anthrax or carbombs?
PAD
She made the bowling team. We got the list of practices and tournaments.
I'll be sure to let folks know how she does as the season progresses.
PAD
On oversight on my part: I should have mentioned that "Funky Winkerbean" began the trial last week of the comic book store owner up on obscenity charges. John Byrne makes an appearance as an expert witness, and the strip echoes the Jesus Castillo case (right down to the notorious, "C'mon...everyone knows comics are for kids" comment from the DA which wound up swaying the Castillo jury.) The strip can be found here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/funky.asp?date=20051120
PAD
So we were channel hopping yesterday, and stumbled over a half hour documentary running on the Independent Film Channel, of all things. It featured a presentation of the recent San Diego Comic Con from the point of view of three different sets of attendees, each going to garner attention for their individual indy project endeavors.
"Maybe you'll be in there somewhere, daddy!" chirped Ariel. I considered it unlikely: With 80,000 attendees over three days against the odds of my happening to wander on camera...well, do the math.
So we're watching it, and they have an interview with Tim Leong and Amber Mitchell of http://www.comicfoundry.com. They start talking about having attended the CBLDF get-together, and I said, "Oh. That's funny. I was at that."
And then they started talking about me. My jaw dropped. A helpful pop-up appeared on the screen that stated, "Peter David is a science fiction writer" for the benefit of the likely 99% of viewers to whom my name meant nothing. This, of course, delighted Kathleen and Ariel.
"I can't escape me," I muttered.
For anyone interested who has the IFC, the half hour is next being broadcast Tuesday at 3:30 PM EST.
PAD
1) After Kath and Ariel caught the midnight opening night showing of "Harry Potter And the Rapidly Aging Cast," I went (with Ariel again) to see it this evening. Definitely the best of the lot, as the kids truly come into their own as actors with this film. Certainly the most sophisticated and compelling plot (wisely not split into two as was originally considered) with many wonderful sequences allowing the increasingly sophisticated cast to bring many shadings to their performances. At Kath's suggestion, we watched "Sorceror's Stone" before Ariel and I went this evening, and it's amazing to see how this franchise has grown from a rote condensation of the books to works of art in their own right.
There were some curious omissions (would it have killed them to take a minute of screen time to explain what happened with Harry's and Voldemort's wands?) but most of the cuts were correctly made and serve the course of the film story. Miranda Richardson was gloriously daffy as reporter Rita Skeeter, who I'm convinced is J.K. Rowling's payback for reporters who have their stories written in their heads, regardless of what their subjects have to say. And Brendan Gleeson was so great as Mad Eye Moody that I wanted to see a whole film just about him. Plus Ralph Fiennes as a creepily chilling Voldemort and tons of great special effects makes this a must see. I should mention, though, that it's a lousy jumping on point if you've never seen any of the films or read the books, because--like the second and third LoTR films--it just assumes you know everyone and everything involved.
2) We're taking Caroline to her very first ice show tomorrow: "Disney on Ice," featuring the Incredibles. We picked up one of the program books in advance and Caroline has been flipping through it for the past several days. We figure this way she'll have a frame of visual reference (although "Incredibles" is already one of her favorite CGI films.)
3) Ariel is trying out for the high school bowling team. Tryouts go four days, so they can get a feel for the kids' consistency. After all, a lousy player could have three great games and a great player can have three lousy games. This way the coach sees 12 games over four days. So far she's doing very well, showing poise and confidence in her delivery and averaging a consistent 155-165. She's not stringing together a lot of strikes but her spare shooting is remarkably consistent, and that's really what it's all about. Monday and Tuesday are the final two days, so fingers crossed.
PAD
So it's definite, I'll be doing a "Battlestar Galactica" novel (I say it's definite because I got the contract in the mail.)
I figure I must be on the right beam because two of the story elements I wanted to explore were nixed by the BG folks on the basis that it's stuff they're planning to explore in season 3.
On the downside, "Night Stalker" has been canceled. Now, honestly, I'm not THAT choked up since I'd seen an episode or two and wasn't all that impressed. However, the annoying aspect is that Mira Furlan was talking up her guest appearance slated for December 8th...except the series is being pulled with this week's episode. Talk about "Lost."
PAD
The Lot Auctions server has crashed due to high volume. We're working on the problem and will be extending the comic book auction 24 hours from when we get the server live again.
Well, score one for my agent, who told me two weeks ago that Warners had pulled the "Aquaman" movie option from the folks who'd been developing it because they were planning to do a "Smallville" spin-off featuring the sea king. Kinda sucks to be the actor who is now going to be recast. Perhaps he can form a support group with Stuart Townsend who was tossed after a week of shooting LOTR for Viggo.
Speculation is abounding as to the title since reportedly it's not going to be called "Aquaman." I'm thinking "Miami" isn't happening. They could go with a watery term like "Depths" or "Waves" or "Tides." If they want to go for symbolic, they could go with "The Trident" and have an image of a trident be the running visual motif and potential link to his past. Or they could just call it "Arthur," although that evokes the Dudley Moore film.
Any other thoughts? Serious notions, not the inevitable "Fish Tales" jokes.
PAD
Back from United Fan Con up in Springfield, MA. Overall a perfectly nicely run Trek Con. The one problem was that, while the dealers were in the large dealers room and the guests were all signing in the main foyer, I was set up at a table in a small "comic book" room off to the side. But many Trek fans don't read my comics, or even know I write comics; they just read my Trek fiction. So they'd be wandering around with their copies of "Imazadi," give a perfunctory glance at the comics room, and keep going. I raised a mild fuss and by Sunday had been moved out into the main foyer, where fans kept coming up to me and saying, "Where have YOU been all weekend?"
At the Friday meet-and-greet, actor Matthew (Neville Longbottom) Lewis spend a splendid amount of time talking with Ariel, who had come to the convention with the specific hope of meeting him. He couldn't have been nicer to her, so if anyone is looking to invite him to a convention, do so by all means. Then invite me. And Ariel.
Saturday night was the banquet and the cabaret, in which all guests were required to participate. Richard Hatch didn't know that, and had nothing prepared. So he joined me in a dual reading of my parody Doctor Seuss poem, "Green Eggs and Crack." The audience loved him. Mira Furlan, also of a poetic bent, did some lovely readings of poems by Shel Silverstein. The most entertaining, however, to my mind, was Sylvester McCoy. He marched up with a full sized guitar case, opened it and produced a tiny violin case no more than a foot long...opened THAT and withdrew a pair of spoons. He then, with musical accompaniment, proceeded to play the spoons with dazzling skill, bouncing them not only off his own leg, but tables, chairs, people's heads and--most memorably--Mira Furlan's posterior when Mira leaned forward and half rose from her chair to whisper something to me.
So next weekend we actually have a breather, and then after that, it's off to mid-Ohiocon. Our house sitter is getting a workout this month.
PAD
Marty Kasman passed away today. He was my daughters' maternal grandfather, and he was one of the sweetest guys in the world. He passed away quietly of natural causes. He is survived by his wife, Claire, his daughter, Myra (mother of Shana, Gwen and Ariel), his sons Robert and Alex, and numerous grandchildren.
Although I don't think it appropriate to publicly post Myra's e-mail, she does read this website regularly, so anyone who wishes to post condolences may do so here.
PAD
Book's not out yet, but I thought I would pass on to you folks this review brought to my attention by Chris Ryall at IDW:
http://chadwickhsaxelid.typepad.com/chadwick_h_saxelids_cluel/2005/11/fallen_angel_1.html
PAD
Realizing that most of the series the ol' Cowboy was commenting on were of a serial nature and thus should be given time to develop, I've just been sitting on my high horse and waiting to see where things were going before commenting. So now, as the mood strikes me, I'll be talking it up on certain shows, such as "Lost." (Spoilers below)
Well, this season started like a rusty squeezebox, but has developed into a well oiled slide trombone. There have been some absolute slam-dunk winners this season, particularly Hugo's coming to grips with the idea of responsibility, and the story arc charting the raft survivors and their finding of the others (not to be confused with "the Others.")
What I love is that the past episodes have been a text book example of the A plot/B plot structure that I was JUST talking about at WizardWorld the other day, and how you can have the two of them intersect in unexpected ways. As a viewer, you know they got it right when something that you didn't see coming happens, but when you look back you realize that it was almost inevitable. That's pretty much what happened last night, in a good news/bad news scenario in which the good news is that Shannon no longer has to mourn the lost of her step brother. The bad news is, well...
(Although, just for the record, the early sequence where Shannon gets it on kind of telecast it for me. Nothing good on the island ever happens without a price. But that may just have been me.)
In any event, my earlier concerns are now officially allayed. And I'm looking forward to next week's extended episode so that we now see what happened with the other survivors. And purely from a business point of view, you have to love a show where not a single actor's agent is dare going to approach the producers at the beginning of season 3 to "renegotiate" their contract. "Yeah? Renegotiate? I got your renegotiation right here..."
PAD
Recent discussions I've been having on the internet have really brought into stark relief for me how my participation can be a perpetual lose/lose proposition. Why? Because literally no matter what I do--indeed, what any creator can do--it can and often will be construed in the most negative light possible. It doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing it, or that I'm upset about it. It's kind of fascinating, actually, in the way that any no-win scenario can be.
What truly underscored it for me was a comment made by one reviewer over on the silverbullet website. I'm not going to respond to the reviews themselves because, hey, opinions are opinions. At least they read the book. But he led off comments about ASM by saying:
"I’ve seen a surprising amount of defensiveness on the part of Peter David regarding this storyline. He’s popped up in numerous interviews and on more than one comics message board to counter those who accuse Marvel of scuppering the first three issues of his Spider-Man run with editorial constraints..."
This comment provides a distorted picture, as if I'm Paul Revere on my cyberhorse, galloping around willy nilly to sound alarms over impending disaster. Except it's not true.
Interviewers have been coming to me, at the rate of one a week for the last three months, asking for comments and responses to questions. It's not like I'm seeking them out. And all I'm doing is replying, to the best of my ability, to the things they want to know. As for message boards, I've been participating regularly in exactly three for years: Comicon, Newsarama, and comicboards.com (with a VERY occasional swing by Joe Q's board.) And I've always participated in various discussions, both about my work and other topics. The single change in my habits is that I've switched from the Hulk board to the Spidey board on the comicboards.com site since I'm writing the latter and not the former. Otherwise I'm doing nothing different than I always have. It's just that "The Other" is garnering far more discussion than anything else I'm involved in, so the perception is that I'm being more aggressive in discussing the work. Except I'm not.
Should I stonewall the interviewers? When fans pose questions to me on boards, should I ignore them? After all, in responding to them, I get pegged as "popping up" places and being "defensive." So certainly going in the opposite direction is the answer, right?
Except if I don't reply to questions that fans pose, then they repost them. And if I still don't answer, or if I don't reply fast enough, they complain that I'm ignoring them. One fan who posted a negative review of my work, to which I did not respond, then started a separate thread complaining that I didn't care about fan opinions because I did NOT provide rebuttal. And if I said "no" to all the interviews, then you just know that THAT would be remarked upon as well. "When approached for responses, Peter David had no comment" or "Peter David refused to discuss the subject."
So let's say that I restricted my internet activities to this weblog alone. Well, that's what John Byrne does, right? And how many times have we seen fans make snarky comments about how Byrne won't wander outside of a cyber realm where he totally controls the rules. Even I used to think it was a tad cowardly. More and more, I'm starting to see it now as simple common sense, because I do go other places and witness the result.
For that matter, if I DO get into an extended discussion about my work and keep at it and keep at it, then what do I inevitably hear? "Boy, you're sure being defensive." "Boy, you sure can't take criticism." "Boy, you'd think Peter David would have something better to do than keep arguing with someone who doesn't like his work." On the other hand, if I realized that the discussion is pointless and I say I'm done with it, what's the response? "A-ha! You're running away!" When I formally withdrew from commenting on rec.arts.comics, most posters snippily said, "Bull. He'll be back. They always come back." That was years ago. I wonder if they still claim I'll be back.
Now, of course, I could just ditch the internet entirely. What happens then? Fan discussion of how certain creators never participate in the internet. How they're relics or antiques or hostile to fans or don't give a damn about the fans or are missing out on the vast opportunities for marketing their work.
And there's no disputing that the internet CAN be a powerful marketing force. Orders for "Fallen Angel #1" are higher than the numbers it was drawing for the last several months of the DC run, and I attribute that in part to its internet presence.
But on-line participation, like anything else, is a double-edged sword.
So let's summarize. If I stick only to this board, I'm a control freak. If I participate on other boards or respond to interviewers, I'm popping up and being defensive. If I discuss my work at length, I can't take criticism. If I cease discussing it, I'm a coward. If I don't discuss it at all, I don't care about the fans. If I bail on the internet altogether, then I'm distant. James Kirk, who thwarted the Kobayashi Maru, would take one look at the internet and say, "You're on your own."
All I'm saying is, keep that in mind next time you're viewing how various creators interact or don't interact with the net, and realize the formidable odds that we can face.
PAD
The first Wizard World convention I've attended in years, and I have to say I was impressed by the overall organization. They had tons of volunteers and organizational folks with headsets that actually, y'know, worked. The only downside was that the con was somewhat underattended, mainly (I think) due to Nascar being the same weekend. But even an underattended Wizard con still has respectable crowds. In terms of signings, they only had me scheduled for a couple hours each day, but I wanted to be as accessible to fans as possible. So they managed to find me some table space in Artists Alley...which was fortunate, because I was signing pretty steadily both Friday and Saturday. I hate to think what it would have been like if we'd tried to fit all those fans into the scheduled signings.
Tons of people told me how much they're enjoying "The Other," which is very gratifying. I'm always fascinated by the variations in fan expectations. Some people come up to me with three books to sign and say tentatively, "Is this too many?" Others don't hesitate to bring me my entire run on "Hulk."
I was very impressed by Sean Astin. I chanced to see him during his signing, and there was this little boy who wanted to meet him, but didn't want to go near him without mommy...and then was wrapped around mommy's leg, not even wanting to look at him. And Astin took the time to gain the kid's confidence and had him doing a thumb war. About as unaffected as a Hollywood star can be.
They had me doing a thing on Saturday called "Wizard School." The concept is that it's a teaching programming track, and naturally it's supposed to be about writing. I chose to hew to the name of the concept, and strode into the class in my Tim the Enchanter outfit. I did a straight-up lecture about story structure for fifty minutes, and then took questions for another forty. I insisted that any question be prefaced with "Oh Mighty Peter," which they actually did. I very much suspect there will be pictures of it in an upcoming issue.
This weekend, off to United Fan con in Springfield.
PAD
Hi, it's Glenn again. As you may know, I posted a week or so ago about an auction going on now of 30,000+ comics over at Lot Auctions, and that I'd be answering questions about it over there.
Unfortunately, right after I said that, I got hit with deadline hell and site problems (that were exacerbated by Hurricane Wilma hitting my credit card processor, of all things) that had me unable to respond immediately. So I started a new post-- which of course also serves as an ad to go bid on stuff. Responses to everybody after the fold.
And yes, there's still ten days left to bid. Go for it. There's some really great stuff in there-- including comic books that never came out in this country and comic books that many people swore never came out at all.
First: yes, we know about the sign-up problems. It was initially a problem with our credit card software for verification, and to make matters worse, our CC processor was right in the path of Wilma. So after a few days of no action, we said the heck with it and removed the section just so we could get it working.
From dave w.: Are all the books going for one price, or do we bid on individual titles?
As Fred Chamberlain and Josh Wilhoyte noted, they are part of a whole lot.... and you can bid on the entire thing, each individual set, and each individual comic itself.
Take, for example, the Wolverine 4-issue miniseries. You can bid on the series or on individual issues. You get a discount of 10% on bids on that miniseries, so if bids on each issue are $2.50 apiece, you only have to bid higher than $9 to get the set. For this auction, there's also a 15% discount on the top level, so you end up saving close to 25% compared to the price of buying each issue individually. So if you're a dealer, is suddenly becomes much more economical.
From Bob Heer: Can you make a plain text file of each issue in the collection and the starting/current price available?
Done-- and we've also included the sweetener information on lots. You can get it at http://www.lotauctions.com/30000comicbooks.txt
Can you give a rough estimate of shipping costs per comic? I know it says actual amount, that's fine, but given the widely divergent shipping prices I've seen on on-line (espcially for me, since it's shipping to Canada) it's best to have a rough idea before bidding.
It'll depend on how many you're having shipped and how you want them sent. I'd use the DHL website to get a price estimate. We'd be shipping from postal code 07086. You can estimate the weight would be about 4-5 comic books per pound.
Can you fix the listings so that the issues are in order when you look at a set? Right now it goes "#1, #10, #100... #2, #20" for long running books, which is always awkward. Easiest way to fix that is usually just to make all issue numbers three digits ("#001, #002") so they sort correctly.
I'm not sure we can easily change it at this point in the auction, alas-- but the text file is set up in that way.
Happy hunting, all.
I'm working with the CBLDF (no big shock there) and IDW to produce some nifty "Fallen Angel" premiums that will debut at the Wizard World Texas convention.
First up is an exclusive CBLDF preview edition of Fallen Angel #1. This preview runs the entire first issue weeks before it hits the stands and is strictly limited to 100 signed and numbered copies. In addition to the preview comic, IDW has created a special Fallen Angel signature print and a limited edition run of the original script to Fallen Angel #1.
If you're going to be out there and want to snag yourself a copy, I hope to see you there.
If any copies are left over after the convention, I'll be sure to let you folks know in case anyone's interested in mail order.
PAD
I mean, naturally Bush is now going to select an arch conservative for the bench. And I personally don't believe for a second that he nominated Miers in order to make his subsequent pick more palatable. More palatable to whom? The conservative base? They were going to love him anyway. The liberal base? That wasn't going to happen no matter what. Miers or no Miers, the Democrats were still going to object.
Not that it will make any difference.
You know what the main problem the Democrats have right now is? No sense of blood lust. If a Democratic president were hemorrhaging support and mired in as many failures as Bush currently is, the GOP would be massing like sharks around a wounded dolphin, and then they would be tearing in from all directions. The Democrats still sound and feel like exactly what they are: The party out of power. The GOP is already making noises about eliminating the judicial filibuster. The Democrats should be right in their face, shouting, "Do it! C'mon, do it, you sum'bitches. Get rid of the filibuster, I double dog dare you. Because if you do, then sooner or later--probably sooner--the balance of power will be reversed, we'll be in charge, and we're going to make you eat whatever changes you make now to benefit yourselves, you hypocritical, smug, power-hungry jackasses."
'Cause if the situation were reversed, that's what the GOP would be doing.
Because the GOP fights fire with fire, while the Democrats fight fire with popcorn, and they'd be well-advised to get with the program and make the most of the opportunities that the sanctimonious smugness of Bush and company are handing them before it all slips away again.
PAD