Archive Page 2231
March 2025
Chris Ware profile – Financial Times
Chris Ware, artist of the unfulfilled, on how comics map the mind – as his strange, brilliant work goes on show in Barcelona, the graphic novelist explains why human life is never boring ..."
With Alliance the new owners, will publishers use their "opt out" clauses from their Diamond contracts? – Comicsbeat
A new Captain Planet comic book is coming after 33 years since the TV cartoon was cancelled. – Gamesradar
Disney’s Snow White now at $93,996,199 worldwide – The Numbers
More about Disney's SnowWhitopocalypse
Why Alliance bought Diamond and what that might mean to pricing – Bleedingcool
Bruce Ogilvie emphasizes profitability over being an "expensive hobby," targeting higher price points. They cited that it was pointless selling $5 CDs, they would rather distribute $20 CDs and look for a minimum profit on items as 95 cents....
"
Then the bottom fell out
"....Comics are so far in their (Disney's) rear view mirror. You notice they don't call it "Marvel Comics" anymore, it's Marvel Entertainment. And, the studio side is called Marvel Studios. We don't hear the term "Marvel Comics," they might still say it in the comics, but the fives-and-tens-of-people who actually read them, which is a smaller, and smaller... shrinking number everyday..."
This has come up a lot in the last years in my talking to other comic book aficionados: not reading the books we buy, just slabbing them away into boxes. I've also heard the complaint "I don't understand the story." So many tools of the medium, whether its a little bit of narration or some thought balloons, just doesn't get used. It's as if the medium is becoming more primitive, though more highly embellished, at the same time.
This was happening when I had a shop, I talked about this before, comic books are IP holders and baseball cards now. That's all they are. They get slabbed, and they don't get fucking read. That is the death of your industry, because comic books, for decades, for damn near a hundred years, were story-driven, story driven, character-driven, pieces of art. It was a serialized story you got to enjoy every week, you got to be with these characters every week every month, whatever you like, kind of like procedural television... now it's involved into making them into trades, but what they've forgot, and I was talking to a prominent actual comic creator, somebody who creates comic books, writes them, hires artists to draw them, and then they come out... this person said to me, it is interesting, this is what's happening in the movies is mirroring what's happening in the comics. I said, I know! But it's beyond bypassing decades of great storytelling to get into shit that's been cancelled, decades of great storytelling that sold, in some cases, in the millions, back in the day... now [they're] fast-forwarding to cancelled stories that sold in the single digit thousands in some case. And it's the same thing. They think the brand was stronger than the people creating it..."
This is a phenomenon that hits just about any corporate type of operation that goes into true 'decadence"... the thinking is "the name itself will carry us and we don't need to keep delivering whatever it is that made the name famous and pursued... " that is, cheapness, too often combined with greed. Although, we can't rule out simple incompetence, not knowing how to do something anymore. Whole civilizations, from the Romans to the Mayans, the Ancient Greeks... got into a situation where the know-how to do things the people had done for centuries dried up and society marched backwards into illiteracy and primitivism. With comics, though, the challenge is a little simpler, to put it mildly: tell the story in an understandable, enjoyable way, with the story itself being understandable and enjoyable.
So early MCU... Joss Whedon, Kenneth Branagh, John Fefrou, pretty big names. Edgar Wright was involved ... until he bailed, but a lot of the first Ant-Man is his, conceptually. A lot of very good, creative people. And then then they decided, no, the brand can carry it, we don't need to pay these talented people, we can just tell people what to do, because [audience] will just eat anything. The problem was James Gunn was still around... and Kevin Fiege could extend that [original style] a bit, but then the bottom fell out..."
So many of the recent flopped-superhero movies look like they were recut from the board room of a corporation.
The future of comics? "...one type of print media is still in style for students: comic books..." at Arizona State University Polytechnic – State Press
So Diamond got bought, now what? – Publishers Weekly
The article describes the landscape that awaits Diamond's new owners (Alliance Entertainment) which is quite different than what faced Diamond before they filed for Chapter 11 protection, basically saying that since then Diamond has lost that many more companies using it as a distributor.
The article also mentions that Alliance is managing the purchase by expanding its "$120 million revolving credit facility" to $160 million, which seems to sound like that old debt that was crushing Diamond is moving to a new home as new debt.
The Billion Dollar Club of Superhero Movies
The Superhero Future
They're bringing the Avengers back together but no Tom Holland? – Newsweek
With Disney taking a serious gut-punch at the box office over Snow White, getting talk going on a new Avengers movie featuring the old, money-making cast, is an obvious (and prudent) PR move.
More The Superhero Future 2025 with Superman and Fantastic Four on the way
Ben Affleck on Batman role woes – Variety
Long-time veteran comics writer Bill Barr facing significant medical issues – Comicbookmovie
...Barr is most famous for his DC work including Batman and the Outsiders, Green Arrow, Camelot 3000, Doc Savage and more. He also wrote for Marvel including Marvel Team-Up, Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Star Wars, Star Trek and more..."
The Diamond Distributors Auction
Alliance Entertainment Holding Company has acquired the major assets of Diamond Comics Distributors – Comicsbeat
Florida-based wholesaler specializing in music, movies, video games, electronics, arcades and collectibles has purchased Diamond – MSN Baltimore Sun
Lew Stringer retires – Downthetubes
"Behind the fiasco at Disney for Snow White" – Variety
Bane co-creator Graham Nolan against the design of Absolute Bane – Bleedingcool
Batfleck on filming with Snyder: misalignment of agendas – Gamesradar
About that leaked Batgrrrrl footage that was quickly pulled – Boundingintocomics
"Hollywood treated Dwayne Turner a lot better than comics" – The Comics Journal
Very long article on the artist's career, discussing titles like Acts of Vengeance, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Iron Man, Cage, Marvel Comics Presents, Thundercats, some DC Comics work, and story-boarding for the palmy city of movies.
I went to the Diamond Distributors auction and all I got was a look at a deluxe coffee machine
Heather MacDonald talks about trying to cover the Diamond assets auction in New York City and not being allowed to actually do so. Story at Comicsbeat
I’m now relieved that I wasn’t allowed to attend, because the auction took all day and is expected to go into a second day. As a reminder, there are 12 separate business units involved in the auction, and they could be sold separately...."
You might "overwhelmingly" want Mary Jane and Spider-Man together, but Marvel editors say "nope" – Boundingintocomics
The Diamond Distributors auction in NYC today – Bleedingcool
One of the sobering aspects of Diamond's fall is the debt picture running in both directions, that is, what Diamond owes people and what people owe Diamond. Both numbers are huge.
Diamond's gross revenue in 2024 was $344.9 million with assets valued at $39 million. Debts to creditors as of January 15, 2025 was at just above $50 million + a special bankruptcy loan of $41 million.
Info sources: MSN Screenrant, Comicsbeat, Bleedingcool
Why did 2025 mark the year of Diamond running into the mathematical realities? Because as 2025 started the revenues coming in was at 50% of the 2024 level (a reflection of the customers Diamond had lost, i.e., DC Comics and Marvel) and the worsening plight of comic book stores. Those January payment numbers plus the already existing debt picture meant a full collapse was dead ahead. Like the famous Earnest Hemingway quote on bankruptcy: at first it is slow, then it happens all of a sudden.
UK artists and publishers join fight against generative AI – Something
Britain's most prominent comic publishers have joined forces to confront the threat posed by artificial intelligence to their intellectual property. DC Thomson, owner of The Beano and The Dandy, as well as Judge Dredd publisher Rebellion Entertainment, are among the groups who have set up Comic Book UK, a new trade association to protect their intellectual property from generative AI..."
The DC Comics books for June – Comicsbeat
What's the pay for an artist starting out working for the big 2? – Bleeding Cool
Cap 4 at $400,817,391 worldwide – The-Numbers
Cap4 is now between Eternals and Black Adam in earnings on the Top Earning Superhero Movies of All Time List
Cutting through the numbers on the 655,000 copy orders for Planet Death #0 – ICV2
Call me Lobo! says Jason Momoa – Superherohype
Layoffs at Skybound – MSN Comic Basics
Skybound Entertainment, the comic book company owned by Robert Kirkman, has laid off multiple employees. The layoffs come as the comic book industry faces serious financial troubles. The industry has been struggling for years. Sales have been dropping, and small publishers like IDW Publishing, BOOM! Studios, and Valiant have made cuts...."
Snow White headed for $45 million opening? – MSN Hollywood Reporter
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Original page March 27, 2025 | Updated March 30, 2025