Boom! Studios sent us a quick note to let us know that its Disney/Pixar books (The Incredibles: Family Matters, Cars: The Rookie and The Muppet Show) will all feature a $2.99 price tag when they ship in March. While the price may seem a tad high for a kid’s comic, remember the “standard” price for comics is now firmly in the $3.99 realm, with many smaller publishers opting to make $3.50 their starting point for issues.
Boom! Studios has announced its Editor in Chief Mark Waid has launched his own blog site aptly named MarkWaid.com as a platform for the writer to stand up on the soap box and be heard.
“Who better to hand a megaphone to than a comics vet who’s seen it all and done it all?” said BOOM! Studios marketing and sales director Chip Mosher. “Mark’s earned a reputation for being outspoken. BOOM! is proud to sponsor a site where Mark can stand on his soapbox and harangue readers far and wide!”
“I don’t know if ‘harangue’ is the word I’d use,” added Mark Waid while glaring at Mosher, “but I’ve been searching for a regular venue where I can upload some of my comics stories and behind-the-scenes anecdotes and, in general, go on at droning length about comics history and comics criticism, turn over some rocks, and see how long I can go without saying something stupid and inflammatory that will send the collective wrath of comics fandom down on me. What time is it now?”
I wonder why Boom! Studios didn’t contact us? We’d have been happy to host Mark’s thoughts on the industry here at Major Spoilers (nudge,nudge, wink, wink, know-what-I-mean?). Now that ship is sailed, we’ll have to make MarkWaid.com a new daily stop on the information super highway of comics and pop culture. MarkWaid.com is kicking off its first week by hosting the entire first issue of Potter’s Field on the site for free.
Once again, the kind people at DC have sent Major Spoilers the cover images and solicitation information for titles arriving in April 2009. Check the listing for all the Battle for the Cowl titles coming out in April, as well as the further build up to Blackest Night (hint: You’ll want to pay attention to the action figure section of the listing).
TRINITY #44-48
Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Art by Mark Bagley & Art Thibert, Mike Norton & Ande Parks, Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens and Tom Derenick & Wayne Faucher
Covers by Shane Davis & John Dell and Jesus Merino
Earth – and all of reality – is under assault from space, magic forces, other dimensions and more! But if Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman changed forever, does it mean salvation for everybody else – or disaster? The Trinity leads DC’s heroes and some surprising allies in a sprawling battle to save reality! Featuring Krona, Morgaine Le Fey, the Crime Syndicate, Despero, Enigma, the JLA and loads of other DC heroes and villains!
Issue #44 on sale April 1; issue #45 on sale April 8; issue #46 on sale April 15; issue #47 on sale April 22, issue #48 on sale April 29 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
If you are in the Los Angeles area, you might want to head down to Meltdown Comics and Collectibels on Wednesdays in January to see if you get your purchases rung up by Boom! Studios Editor in Chief Mark Waid.
Last week Boom! Studios staffers descended on Meltdown Comics to great regulars and to promote the company release of Hexed #1. The event went well so for the rest of January the Boom! crew will show up at Meltdown to promote the company’s latest releases, and I bet if you ask, sign a few things for you.
“Some of the best times I had growing up came from hanging at my LCS on new comic book day. We just thought what better way to support the release of HEXED than spending our Wednesday evenings helping out at Meltdown?” said Marketing and Sales Director Chip Mosher. “And hey, who doesn’t like to get paid to hang out at comic book store?”
Here is the New Comic Release list for comics scheduled to be in stores January 14, 2009. There may be items on this list that are not shipped at the last minute, or new material may be added. Check with your local retailer for more details.
This list was last updated January 11, 2009.
One of my favorite moments of 2008 was all the viral marketing that sprang up around the various movies and major events in comics. Even though the Watchmen movie is in turmoil at the moment, that hasn’t stopped the viral machine from launching The New Frontiersman website to hype the movie.
The New Frontiersman is Rorschach’s newspaper of choice, so why not have a website dedicated to this bit player in the movie? The website is only a dummy page at the moment, but it may spring to life as the release date (whenever that might be) draws near.
I’m not all that much into those inkblot tests, but does that look like a smiling fox to you? Could this be yet another dig at 20th Century Fox by Warner Bros? The domain is registered to the Picture Production Company out of the UK, which creates viral campaigns for a variety of companies. The company does list Warner Bros. as one of its clients.
Radical Comics has released a trailer for its upcoming Shrapnel series.
Venus. The last free colony in the system is about to fall. Unbeknownst to the attacking Marine Force or even the Venusian colonists themselves, one of the most infamous heroines of the war is hiding in exile on their planet, hoping to forget her past as a Marine Officer.
Now, she must organize a revolt against the very Marines she once fought alongside and lead the colonies to independence and freedom.
SHRAPNEL is the first book of an epic solar war trilogy set on Venus, the Jovian moons, Mars and finally Earth itself.
Shrapnel arrives in stores this week.
Here is the New Comic Release list for comics scheduled to be in stores January 7, 2009. There may be items on this list that are not shipped at the last minute, or new material may be added. Check with your local retailer for more details.
This list was last updated January 5, 2009.
In the holiday rush, you may have forgot to pick up your comics from the store. Or you may not have received them in the mail. In either case, if you didn’t get comics, you missed the second installment of Ultimatum from Marvel.
IDW Publishing has announced it will release a five-issue mini-series based on American McGee’s Grimm videogame in April 2009.
The series allows Grimm, the macabre dwarf who wreaks havoc on fairy-tale tableus, as he exits the latest fairy tale he darkened only to discover bright and sunny superhero comics. He enters the world, kick-starting a “Crisis on Earth 57,” where he launches a secret invasion crisis into a domain where villains are doomed to fail… until he gets involved!
The series will be written by Dwight MacPherson with art by Grant Bond as Grimm invades world after world of comics.
Radical Comics has announced Arthur Sydam will be providing the cover to Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising #2 – and it isn’t a zombie variant!
“Arthur always delivers when it comes to creating great covers, and this is no different,†said Barry Levine, President and Publisher at Radical. “Going into issue #2 of Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising, we definitely wanted a strong image of Samantha, and I knew that Arthur would be the artist to portray that. What he created is simply amazing, and a wonderful addition to our library of great covers.â€
Shrapnel #2 arrives in February 2009.
