Publishing | The same day that Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus announced the launch of a new magazine, news trickled out of two more departures from the troubled company.
Tom Spurgeon reports he's been told Kate Napolitano, managing editor of Wizard's ToyFare magazine, gave her notice on Friday. Jairo Leon, who seems to have been the company's last in-house designer, was fired Sunday evening.
Meanwhile yesterday, Shamus announced the planned October launch of FunFare, a family-focused magazine covering toys and games. It appears to be a retooled version of Wizard's Toy Wishes, complete with the much-touted "Hot Dozen" toys list. (It's perhaps ironic to point out that Napolitano also was managing editor of Toy Wishes.) The Toy Wishes subscription page is no longer available.
If the company website is any indication, there may have been some hiccups in the launch of FunFare: The magazine initially was set to debut with a Spring 2009 issue -- sporting President Obama variant covers, naturally. [Wizard Entertainment, FunFare]
Publishing | Ed Tahaney provides some context for the release this week of Detective Comics #854, starring lesbian crimefighter Batwoman: "While it’s a positive step to see a gay character step out into a principal role, mainstream comic book companies are still struggling to depict greater diversity on their pages. To a large degree the fantasy worlds inhabited by DC Comics and its biggest rival, Marvel (the company behind Spider-Man), are still chock-full of straight white men in tights and spandex-covered women with melon-sized breasts." [The Advocate]
Publishing | The CW's Reaper could be the latest canceled TV series heading to comics. [TV Guide]
Digital comics | Ron Richards takes a closer look at Longbox, the digital comics platform announced over the weekend at HeroesCon: "... Longbox is getting a lot of things right. The price point, the method of distribution etc. But the thing that will guarantee the success of Longbox (or any other attempt at third party digital distribution) is the content available. It's great to hear that Top Cow and Boom! Studios are on board, but that's not enough. Unless Longbox can establish agreements with the big 4 publishers: Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics, it won't succeed, and I'm sure they know this." [iFanboy]
Creators | Tony Norman profiles cartoonist Ed Piskor, creator of Wizzywig. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Creators | Writer Mark Powers and artist Ardian Syaf discuss adapting Storm Front, Jim Butcher's first Dresden Files novel. [Comics Waiting Room]
Creators | Artist David Messina chats about illustrating Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing. [TrekZone Network]
Creators | FCHS collaborators Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire documented their appearance at Heroes Con on video. [YouTube]
Comics | Marc Fletcher runs down his list of the Top 10 comic heroes who deserve another shot at fame -- or at least a regular series. [Den of Geek]
Digital comics | David Baillie is serializing his fantasy graphic Tongue of the Dead online, with new installments daily. [The Sequential, via Forbidden Planet International]
Fandom | How much is too much to pay for a comic? "We as fans hooted and hollered about how we were NOT GOING TO PAY these outrageous prices," writes Cami Berardi. "But here we are, myself included, doing exactly what we swore we were not going to do. A typical 22 page single issue comic book is now costing on average between; $2.99-$3.99 per book. If you buy 15 singles every week at the $2.99 price point you are spending about roughly $44.85. If you are paying $3.99 you will be spending $59.85 a week, OUCH!!" [Comics Waiting Room]