Comic Book Brain

Last Update: November 18, 2024


Are Indy comic books going to be able to survive rising costsAV Club

For the past 12 years, standard 32-page comic titles were priced at $3.99, with some titles (mainly for kids) still at $2.99. But prices have been steadily rising; more than half of all new comics in 2024 cost $4.99, with some going up a dollar or two more with variant and stock card covers, or in some cases, extra story pages. It might seem like a small difference, but it has big implications, Image Comics co-founder and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane explained. "…For 20 or 25 bucks when we were younger, you used to be able to walk out [of a comic book store] with a pretty thick bag full of comic books. Now you can count them on your fingers."...

McFarlane also talks about being told by Marvel and DC people that some books are going to be put out on cheaper paper to get the prices back down, on some titles, to $3.99. Lookign further down the road in this way of thinking, it will be the height of irony if some portion of the comic book business once again finds itself back on newsprint (the cheapest printing paper that dominated comics for many, many decades). The problem, though, is that newsprint traditionally requires "web printing" which is only manageable for cost when the print run is a large number - - something that most comic titles simply do not have.


Absolute Batman title dominates bestseller lists for comicsBleedingcool


The Ink Pop line launched from Random House to showcase "manga, manhwa (Korean comics), and print editions of webtoons"Comicsbeat


The Graphic Novel I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together wins Toronto Book Award of $10Kcbc.ca


Uh huh: Henry Cavill Superman costume destroyed during audition process at DCUCBR Resources


Speed Racer driving back to print with deal between Tatsunoko Production and Mad Cave Studios Comicbook


That this is a headline probably says more about the comics movie making business than anything: no, there's no Zoe Kravitz Catwoman movie in the makingComicbookmovie


Burbank California now has a Green Lantern John Stewart statue Cosmicbook

Crafted with intricate detail by Burbank’s American Fine Arts Foundry and Fabrication, the statue is based on designs by acclaimed DC artist Jamal Campbell. Weighing over 600 pounds, it joins Burbank’s prestigious lineup of DC statues, standing alongside the city’s tributes to Batman and Wonder Woman...."


The Feb 2025 DC book list CoversGamesradar


The Thunderbolts* Movie from Disney will have Ghost in it, but not the Ghost that was already in the Ant-Man III MovieSuperherohype


The very final show of the Arrowverse Superman & Lois finally reaching the endPolygon


Zatanna getting another series run starting next yearComic-watch.com



Saudi Arabia Comicon from Thursday, Nov. 28 to Friday, Nov. 29 at the Jeddah Convention CenterSaudi MomentsGoogle Map of location in Saudi Arabia


DC to expand on their Compact Comics line of 5.5 x 8.5 inch booksSuperherohype


James Gunn shoots down talk of Joker Series and rumoured New Frontier Justice LeagueBounding into Comics


Batman Hardback for Batman Resurrection

Saw this at Barnes and Noble on the new hardback display


Comics exhibit at Pompidou Centre, Paris, FranceComics Beat


The Overstreet Price Guide 2023-2024

Gemstone Price Guide 2024


The Jewish Answer To ‘Percy Jackson’ with the Dark Horse Comic ‘The Writer’ from Josh Gad and The Berkowitz Brothers

Story at Forbes

Golems, shedim, giant shofar blasts (tekiah gedolah, indeed), the Ring of Solomon, giants beasts of the apocalypse, Nazi conspiracies abound in the intoxicatingly Jewish fantasia that is The Writer. In other words, the new Dark Horse comic cooked up by actor Josh Gad (The Book of Mormon, Frozen) and the Berkowitz Brothers — Ben and Max — is the Hebraic answer to Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson you never knew you needed in your life....."


Candles for Batman and Wonder Woman

Cracker Barrel restaurant selling Batman and Wonder Woman birthday cake candles


Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner make charity campaign for help after Hurricane Milton.CBR MSN


Buying used Warlord Number 1

Manga artist Kazuo Umezo has died

Story at The Comics Journal


Belgian publisher Dupuis yanks the graphic novel Spirou and the Blue Gorgon from shops over controversy of visual depictions of women and minoritiesWION


Greg Hildebrandt has diedComicsbeat


The "mixed results" of superhero movies in 2024Digital Trends


Super/Man Christopher Reeves at Amazon UHD HDR Video


Superman artist Al Plastino gets plaque in Long IslandNewsday

Bio of Plastino here at Newsfromme

Mark Millar’s limited series Wanted, loosely adapted in 2008 into an atrocious movie, imagined a dystopian world where all the superheroes are dead and the supervillains have won. That’s kind of how the multiplex feels right now. Comic-book cinema, which towered over the competition a mere five years ago (it reached its popular peak in 2019, the year of Avengers: Endgame and Joker), has entered a state of ongoing commercial decline. Capes and cowls are no longer a sure thing at the box office; increasingly, it feels like we’ve stepped into a post-superhero age. And in the absence of the virtuously costumed, it’s supervillains — and antiheroes — who have fought for dominance over the screens of 2024...."


Black Panther Statue in retail

That headline is back: superhero fatigueMovieguide

Many have pointed out that this superhero fatigue is in large part due to a flooded market. Marvel in particular has pumped out dozens of movies and series, leaving even the most dedicated fans scrambling to keep up...."

The article addresses the obvious: quality is wanting in the recent slate of superhero movies, and the audience that would show up for so many past films and give them $100 million dollar opening weekends has thinned out considerably (for example Venom III opened to half that this past weekend, i.e., $51 million domestic).

The article goes on to say that if the James Gunn Superman Legacy that is being put together right now cannot break the $100 million opening wall, WarnerBros "will have to do some serious reconsideration," but that seems to be the wave of feeling that going across the entire cinematic superhero factory, considering how many streaming and theatre releases cannot get traction with a mass audience.


Comic sales dropped in 2023 – will they come back?Forbes

Retailers noted the slowdown throughout 2023, with anecdotal reports indicating slippage from the previous highs experienced during the pandemic, when fewer entertainment activities were competing for consumers’ discretionary dollars. Many at-home entertainment options, including streaming media and videogames, saw even more dramatic downturns, and the relatively moderate decline in the 2023 comics market was seen as beating even more negative expectations...."

Article goes on to quote various comic book store owners and publishers on the topic of business health, and the main takeaway seems to be that "...customers are still not in a financially comfortable place," underlining a linkage that the comic book economy and the general economy is transparently the same, and there is not a unique falling-away of business with comic books due to quality or the energy of the industry itself.


Jude Law regrets how he played the Yon Rogg character in the Captain Marvel movieSuperherohype


Comicsbeat website has 20th anniversaryComicsbeat


Disney adding more live Spider-Man stuff to Disneyland park in CaliforniaOrange County Register


Joker: Folie à Deux goes to streaming already - "Didn't exactly conquer the box office"IGN


New Venom film hits lowest opening weekend take of series: $51 millionYahoo

The-Numbers shows worlwide take of $178,127,404

Internet says production budget of $120 million for Venom The Last Dance


Is Deadpool and Wolverine actually a Halloween movie?MSN Cinemablend


Looks like Blade movie is axedMSN Western Journal

Not officially terminated, but recent announcements sure sounds like it.


How DC's Absolute Comics line changes Wonder Woman and Batman origins

Story at IGN


Rare Vermont comic book collection heading to auction

Story at NHPR

...estimates Farrell’s entire collection could be worth up to $7 million. He expects this weekend’s auction could bring in $4 million, with Superman’s 1938 debut likely to fetch the highest price. Poor quality copies of that can still go for a quarter million dollars, Allen said, and Farrell’s is in good shape. The collection contains other rarities too, like one called Double Action Comics. Only seven copies are believed to exist, according to Heritage. “It's so steeped in mystery, nobody really understands what it is or where it came from,” Allen said. “So it's something that's just impossible to value.”

The Christine Farrell comic book collection at Heritage Auctions


Rare Tintin comics signed by Herge himself going to auctionRFI France


Graphic novels and Manga still selling higher than before Covid, but sales have otherwise droppedPublishers Weekly


Remembering DC's shuttered Vertigo imprintIGN


How Frank Miller still influences Marvel ComicsFandomwire


Red Hulk promo featured in new Marvel murals at New York ComiconJoBlo MSN

".... The motion capture process was a new experience for Harrison Ford, who has described the process as "being an idiot for money."


The "Hilariously Obscure Batman Villain" put into the Penguin TV ShowMSN Esquire Magazine


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