There has been a lot of press coverage about creator rights in the light of DC’s upcoming Before Watchmen and the new Avengers movie. Important topics, but to what extent should it affect the average reader? I’m offering three articles that capture the furor of the topics and...

My family is moving next week so I’ve been packing up my comics “stuff” since I don’t let the kids touch it and my wife steers clear of my hobby. Box after box of hardcovers and trade paperbacks were carefully packed away and set aside for the movers. If was great to...

Quite a few months ago I talked about changing my style of comic review here at Comic Book Daily. I wanted to pair down what was being presented: less about outlining the story or talking about the artwork. Since then I’ve had a good run of reviews and have honed my perspective but I...

Over March break my family was traveling in Ontario and I had an afternoon available to check out four local comic shops. I did an internet search for comic shops and came up with the four locations quickly; putting them on a map I decided my best route and put the four addresses in the GPS....

It was around 1989 that my local comic shop Silver Snail brought Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, on a tour of their stores. Silver Snail in those days had a mini comic empire going on Ontario and it was truly a golden time of creator store signings. Unfortunately I was seventeen and had no idea how...

DC is just past six months into its relaunch (don’t call it a comeback; I’ve been here for years) and we’ve been shown the new Shazam. That’s right, he’s not called Captain Marvel on covers anymore since DC lost that to Marvel comics more than thirty years ago,...

I enjoy a lot of web comics but find since buying an iPad I like to read them there in my hand as opposed to my computer monitor. That works out when I have wireless internet access handy but when without I don’t get to read them. Since I’m a bit of a technical sort I came up with...

Original art is near and dear to my heart; I’ve been an active collector for a few years and really enjoy getting a completely unique piece of comic art when attending a comic convention. I diligently check the list of attending guests and then decide who I’m going to try and get...

As most of you are aware comic shops get their comics from Diamond, the main (sole) distributor for most comics. Retailers receive a discount on their book; for most it’s 50-56% off cover price. With that profit they pay for the store, staff, expenses and some even offer a discount to...

Diamond Previews is a staple of the local comic shop; it lists upcoming items for sale, two months in advance. Images of the covers, creative team and a brief summary of the item, usually a paragraph, are standard fare. These solicitations are provided by the publishers and Diamond puts them...

We’ve had our fair share of speculation regarding a Watchmen prequel, but now we know for sure. DC is on a roll and they want to keep the momentum building. How better to do that then resurrect one of their best selling properties.

A lot of news has been made over the closing of Dragon Lady Comics, a Toronto comic shop that’s been around for a long time, first on Queen Street and then on College Street since 1996. A good amount of the coverage comes from Toronto media outlets, bemoaning the closing of a legend in...

As regular readers are aware I’ve been reading a lot of older works, mostly comic strip reprints.  The bulk of the material is pre-1945, and while it shares the a basic framework with modern comics they are vastly different.  And that’s a good thing. Let’s be clear:...

A great article about reading was published today and it really got me thinking about comics and how I consume them.  I love comics and graphic storytelling; have been an avid comic reader and collector since 1980.  Unfortunately it’s that “collector” part that interferes...

Really I’m talking about Boxing Day sales, but for those not living in Commonwealth nations I thought to provide a title that would be universally understood. Comic stores don’t run a lot of sales in general: most have something along the lines of an anniversary sale and then...

It’s December and everywhere you turn there’s a “Best Of 2011″ list. Since we’re talking comics here at Comic Book Daily I’ve been looking at best comics lists from the usual suspects like comic blogs, including this one, but also from major newspapers and...

An interesting look at graphic novels in the classroom from TVO’s Parents Book Club.  Watch it and then continue. It’s ridiculous listening to the host about how she had to follow the pictures.  Being immersed in comics and reading since I was eight I find it interesting how...

Dark Horse did an about-face this week over its day and date digital pricing.  Last week they announced day and date digital books would be $1 less than print, but after a furor on the CBIA retailer forums they changed to same pricing for the first thirty days and a $1 reduction after that,...

This weekend I was checking the comic news to see if any of the publishers were taking part in Black Friday or Cyber Monday, big discount shopping days surrounding Thanksgiving in the United States. I came across Digital Dark Horse cyber Monday deal: 50% off all books from their digital store...

The Edmonton Journal published a story last week about a man whose family donated his comic collection to the University of Alberta after his death.  Some interesting quotes. “His is not an old collection, nor is it particularly rare, but the quality is what really stands out,” says Grabia....