I just have to get this out of the way: Lea Hernandez is awesome. At The Great Curve, she offers a rallying cry: “Comics need hurting. Go on, hurt them.” I plan to hurt comics at least three different ways before lunch. Four, if I don’t get too bogged down with work.
Okay, so yesterday the clerk at the store actually asked me why I wasn’t buying Countdown. I calmly explained my inoculation theory, which he accepted without suspending my nerd license. I swear he glanced accusingly over his shoulder at the new issue of Secret War, though.
So what’s my first impulse after escaping new comics day with a shockingly low price tag? Run to the grocery store and buy food? Flip through the stack of seed catalogs and place an order? Make a donation to the local animal shelter? Nope. The shop door had barely closed before I was telling myself to stop at the bookstore on the way home to buy some manga.
I resisted the impulse, but only because laziness triumphed over instant gratification. I’m sure the next couple of days will find me slurping on a mocha as I try to decide between Tramps Like Us, Wallflower, and Othello. (Who am I kidding? I won’t escape with only one.)
Speaking of manga, Franklin Harris does a fine Manga 101 article for the Decatur Daily News. At Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog, Laura Gjovaag has been sampling some manga titles and is looking for more recommendations. Go forth and inundate her at your earliest convenience.
Laura also shares the interesting news that the wonderfully entertaining Girl Genius will be published on-line. Kaja Foglio explains that pages will be available one at a time, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, replacing the floppies. Here’s Foglio’s thinking on the move:
“Graphic novels will still come out once a year (through Diamond Book Distribution, hooray!), but we’re suspending the production of the periodicals. This will free up a lot of my time, save some trees, and cut our overhead at a time when we really need to do something. Plus, I have to say, periodical comics serve two functions; one as a frequent reminder that we exist—sort of a placeholder; and two as a cheap entry point for new readers experimenting to see if they want to commit to the series. The Girl Genius comics, at the higher end of the price scale and on a quarterly release schedule, didn’t really do this as well as a more frequent Web presence will.”
That’s a really interesting approach, and if I had enough caffeine in my system, I would probably drone on about the influence of manga’s publishing approach, the rise of different distribution methods, and a bunch of other stuff. But I’m still kind of foggy, and I’m certain smarter people will cover that territory.