* Graphic novel sales down 20%, manga down 20%, comics up 1%, industry down 12% over the past year, according to Milton Griepp of ICv2. Ugh.
* Bob Wayne has been promoted to Senior VP of Sales at DC; his department will stay in New York.
* Dark Horse will charge $1.49 per downloadable comic. We’re getting there…
* As Tom Spurgeon points out, the vague Marvel price-decrease announcement yesterday appears to amount to doing away with the $3.99 price point for new series, not eliminating it for all ongoings the way DC will be doing. Part of me feels like if you’re not reducing the price for the top-of-the-industry Avengers titles, why bother. But then, that’s approaching this issue from a perspective Marvel might not share. If you believe that charging four bucks per issue for the best sellers is choking off the midlist and you’re really interested in freeing up cash for that midlist, that might lead you to do one thing; if you believe midlist prices are what’s choking off the midlist, that might lead you to do something else; if you don’t mind the midlist being choked provided it’s not just your own company’s line being affected, that might lead you to do a different something else. I think a big question remains whether Marvel and DC will scale back production of midlist-type series over the next year in addition to whatever pricing moves they make on both the print and digital end.
* For what it’s worth, Alan David Doane talks to retailers Robert Scott, John Belskis, and Peter Birkmoe about DC’s price reduction; all three of them are skeptical that it’ll make any difference at their stores.
* Kiel Phegley interviews Jean Schulz on Peanuts‘ 60th anniversary. It’s interesting to hear how the strip looked and looks from the perspective of the person closest to the person who made it.
* Chris Mautner reviews Acme Novelty Library #20, the most daunting thing a comics critic can do in 2010.
* Christ, is Frank Santoro’s Strange Tales II strip gonna be gorgeous or what? Previews of Rafael Grampa, Jillian Tamaki, Nick Bertozzi, Dash Shaw and more at that link, by the way.
* Always happy to see new Isaac Moylan art.
* Thundarr the Barbarian is now available on DVD. I wonder how it holds up.\\
* It’s not too late to get in on The Great Slasher Research Project! What makes a slasher film a slasher film? Go let ’em know!
While there’s some welcome movement toward cheaper comics pricing, the Thundarr thing illustrates how tv/film continues to cut its own throat. $29.99 for the Thundarr DVD set? I remember the series fondly from my pre-teen youth – meaning while I’m also interested in seeing if it holds up, there’s no way I’m about to drop one-plus hours of pay at work to buy the series. Netflix will get my money instead. I’m hard pressed to believe that the supple/demand curves meet at $30 for something like that.