Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Chris Evans as Captain America graces the cover of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly. Is it just me or does Chris Evans look eerily like Nathan Fillion? Via ICv2. Shelley Smarz is a comic book scholar and business woman.
Bleeding Cool’s reporting that Ron Clements and John Musker are working on an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s fourth Discworld novel, Mort. Mort was the first Discworld novel I ever read; I went through the Death novels first. It’s the book…
Warning! Most of the links (and this article is very link heavy) in this article are definitely NSFW! I chuckled when I saw the little jab taken at Barry Richardman in Uncanny X-Men #528. As the Marvel Universe’s stand-in for…
I got busy last night and didn’t get a chance to post this (I posted my report for the Pint o’CB panel instead). So, without further ado, here’s what my Saturday looked like: 7:00am – Jolted awake by the blaring…
When and Where: Saturday August 28, 2010 @ 3:30pm; Room 206c, Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) Before I move onto the announcements, I have to congratulate CB Cebulski on his thirteenth consecutive appearance at Fan Expo Canada. CB (who is…
On Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending the midnight release party of the sixth volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour. A tad sad to learn that I would be going alone earlier…
The Bestselling Graphic Novels for June 2010 (Bookstore Channel) Nielsen BookScan has released its rankings for the bestselling adult graphic novels in the bookstore channel for June 2010. Using sales data provided by major book chains, online retailers, mass merchants,…
About a month ago, at the Hobbystar Comicon Fan Appreciation event, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview Greg Rucka: Shelley Smarz: So, first I want to say, as a comic book scholar, as a fan, and as…
In my last article, I discussed the ritualistic nature of comic book collecting and participating in comic book fandom. I then outlined the challenges facing the industry in terms of increasing a readership that has been diminishing over the last…
The second day of the Toronto Comicon/Fan Appreciation event was just as awesome as the first. Perhaps more so as I got to interview the fantabulous Mr. Greg Rucka. In other news, I began and almost completed my collection of…
Since Hobby Star’s Fan Appreciation Toronto Comicon (in the very nice south building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre) is a fairly small event, we tried an experiment. Instead of having me go to the con, come home, write and…
When CEO Steve Job introduced the world to Apple’s new tablet device in January, many comic book fans and industry insiders questioned how the iPad would impact comics. Some hailed it as the saviour of the industry, while others stated…
The following is an article I presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico in February 2007. It examines and analyzes the popularity of Yaoi (or Boy Love)…
When I mentioned the other day that I had been listening to a Blaxploitation mix that I had picked up in Paris made me think about my trip (done in September 2007) to Berlin, the south of France, and Paris.…
Reflections on Day One: On the drive into the city today for the second day at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), I had a few moments to reflect about yesterday, what I did, and what the atmosphere of the…
On Saturday afternoon, I sat in on a panel on censorship of manga. Generally speaking, I feel that censorship ultimately does more harm than good. I think that being told what is “safe” for me to read is incredibly paternalistic and…
This morning, I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel on that aligned comics production to any product manufactured on an assembly line. That is, where parts are added to a product – usually in some kind of…
Excelsior, True Believers! I return from my school-induced exile, returning to post before burying my head back in the books to revise a proposal, write a giant 20-page paper, and finish a take home exam. *le sigh* On top of…
If you read my article on the March 2010 numbers in terms of dollar sales and market share, then it comes as no surprise that top-tier comic book and graphic novel publisher IDW has been advanced to “premier” status classification…
I wrote this little piece a while back and, as I’m a little slow in terms of transcribing my Gail Simone interview (squee!), I thought I’d post this. Women in Refrigerators (WiR) is the name of the list compiled by Gail Simone…