CBR: Also this week, it was announced that Marvel will be releasing an original graphic novel based on the ABC show “Revenge,” which follows the earlier “Castle” and “Once Upon a Time” OGNs – what makes “Revenge” a good fit for Marvel?
Alonso: Emily Thorne, in essence, is a real life super hero. Her mission was sparked by a tragic past and she even dons an all-black costume to perform her takedowns. Such a strong and bold character merges perfectly with the world of our ABC/Marvel OGNs, and underscores our commitment to creating new comic book fans. We are beyond excited to be part of reaching “Revenge” fans with an in-continuity tale about this amazing heroine.
It is another year of growth for Marvel, so there is that. But, I think it is clear at this point that Marvel, at least in the Bookstore market, isn’t really that significant of a player able to drive very many hits. Yes, they’re largely dominant in the Direct Market channels, and they rule periodical comics, but their backlist strategy does not seem to be paying off with any kind of solid results – in either market.
I remain frustrated by this because Marvel is clearly a stronger brand than DC, better known, more established, and, for many “civilians,” practically synonymous with “comics” itself. Further, Marvel does rule the periodicals, and strong periodical sales really should yield strong backlist sales – it is audience tested material!
Brian Hibbs looks at the bookstore sales for comics and graphic novels in 2013. As ever, it’s a good reminder of what the true mainstream really is, but I remain stunned that Marvel – arguably one of the biggest brands in entertainment today – remains in seventh place in terms of bookstore sales for western publishers.
On the plus side, Hawkeye sold well for them – as did Deadpool vs. The Marvel Universe, fascinatingly; only 4,000 copies less than Hawkeye – but still. It’s mind-boggling to me that the publisher is apparently unable to break out of the comic stores, especially considering the quality of a lot of the work there right now. Is it just distribution woes, or something else, that’s behind that?
PLAYBOY: Is it possible you set a lower value on privacy than most people do?
DENTON: I don’t think people give a fuck, actually. There was a moment when I thought some sex pictures of me were about to land. Someone claimed to have some and to be marketing them. I even thought I knew where they’d come from—I’d lost a phone. But it turned out to be a hoax.
PLAYBOY: And you weren’t freaked out?
DENTON: It would have been mortifying, but every infringement of privacy is sort of liberating. Afterward, you have less to lose; you’re a freer person. Shouldn’t we all want to own our own story?
Playboy interviews Nick Denton.
Am I the only person who thinks that, if someone else reveals something about you that you wanted to keep private for whatever reason, that’s the very opposite of “owning your own story”?
Abnormal Service, Etc.
Well, hello there.
As you can tell, posting here has been non-existent for the last month and a bit, due to various technical reasons that essentially come down to “Oh, the website got hacked and kept going down.” It’s not that I’ve not been blogging — it’s just that I’ve been doing most of the link blogging and random music videos over at my new(ish) Tumblr, instead.
That’s going to continue to be the case, for reasons that I’ll one day expand into a full post here (Short version, though: I like the instant community aspect that Tumblr provides, as well as the ease of reblogging/use). So what does this mean for The World That’s Coming? Mostly, it means that my longer, original content will end up here, whether that’s posts written for outlets that ended up going nowhere — there’s a bunch of them, sadly — or all-new things written for here to scratch itches that couldn’t go anywhere else.
It also means that posting here will be irregular. I’d apologize for that — I really do feel guilty about it — but the truth of the matter is, anyone who’s been following this blog for awhile is already used to horrendously irregular posting schedules. I apologize for that, for sure. At least now, the irregularity will be a feature, instead of a bug.
For those wanting daily shortblog and links, then, you want to be here. I’ll post links to the longer posts here on that Tumblr, too. Otherwise, you can find me at Wired and Time and the Hollywood Reporter, as usual.
As always, it’s been a strange start to the year. As always, I hope that things get slightly more sane for the rest of the year. Let’s see if that’s the case together, shall we?
The Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives people the right to be treated equally by their government, unless there is a good reason for unequal treatment. That is, any time the government establishes different sets of rules or laws for different sets of people, there must at least be what the law calls a “rational basis” for those differences.
The law in this area is developing and it is now clear that there is no rational basis for Oregon to refuse to honor the commitments made by same-sex couples in the same way it honors the commitments of opposite-sex couples. Marriage is the way that loving couples become family to each other and to their extended families, and there is no good reason to exclude same-sex couples from marriage in Oregon, or from having their marriages recognized here.
It’s a start, Oregon. (From here.)
A group in the UAE called the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment have issued a fatwa barring Muslims from living on Mars.
A one-way journey like that “poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam,” the committee said, according to the UAE-based Khaleej Times.
“Protecting life against all possible dangers and keeping it safe is an issue agreed upon by all religions and is clearly stipulated in verse 4/29 of the Holy Quran: Do not kill yourselves or one another. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful,“ the committee said.
Stunningly, not an Onion article.
Cable Network Discovers That Kids Like Social Media or Whatever
Cable Network Discovers That Kids Like Social Media or Whatever
The HLN network has unveiled its first development slate aimed at the social media generation. Brace yourselves.
And one final link for now – this is what happens when I rant during a pitch meeting at WIRED.