Category Archives: Comics

What I’m Reading Now: “The Book of Human Insects” by Osamu Tezuka

Posted on September 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

When the lovely Laura Shatzkin at Vertical, Inc. offered me a copy of The Book of Human Insects by the “grandfather” of Japanese comics, Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy), I nearly soiled my ill-fitting pants in anticipation. Then, I took some deep breaths, cleaned myself up, and asked her to send it to me. I sat staring at the mailbox for a full two days.

And now, I have it in my clutches – as you may know, I’m a huge Tezuka fan, specifically for his work on Buddha. Can’t WAIT to break it open!

The book description:

Osamu Tezuka’s The Book of Human Insects is a dark and haunting story of a young woman who has plagiarized, blackmailed, stolen, and replicated the works of others in her quest for success and public adoration. As she climbs higher and higher – from acclaimed stage actress, to award-winning architect, and, finally, to the recipient of the Akutagawa Prize for Japan’s best new writer — Toshiko Tomura will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what she wants.

The Book of Human Insects was originally serialized in the 1970s. But Tezuka’s disturbing, seductive vision of a world where only those willing to sell their souls to the masses can achieve their dreams, will resonate today more than ever. Contemporary culture is shaped by reality shows, tabloids, and gossip blogs. We have become obsessed with celebrity, and readily accept it as a substitute for true talent and any semblance of artistic integrity.

With his unerring skill at understanding the psychological and emotional underpinnings of behavior, Osamu Tezuka anticipated this cult of fame by forty years. In his wickedly entertaining tale – now available in English for the first time – he uses his sharpest scalpel to peel back the layers and reveal the essence of our humanity.

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Posted in Books, Comics, Japanpop

Social Media for Comics: 5 Tips for Promoting on Facebook

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 3 Comments

Illustration by HogBoy (http://moadesign.net)

It’s that elusive juggernaut of social networking called Facebook – a mystery to some, a second home to others (ahem, me) – but equally, ultimately, a fantastic platform for promotion.

Continued from my last Social Media for Comics article, 5 Tips for Promoting Your Comics on Twitter, here are a few tips on how best to use Facebook to promote your work and nurture your online relationships for biz betterment. Keep in mind that this is assuming you understand the bare bones of the site and how it works, but don’t really know some of the etiquette that comes along with using it for promotional endeavors.

5 Tips for Promoting on Facebook

1. Have a personal profile and a fan page – NOT a fan group.

“Groups” on Facebook used to be OK, way back in the good ol’ days before people couldn’t just add you into them at their whim, without your permission. They were invite-only. For me personally, it’s a huge source of contention and I immediately delete myself from those groups with a sudden distaste for whoever placed me in it. I shake my fist at you, groups!

This is in addition to your personal profile. I recommend keeping a public personal profile (you can always have another private page for just your close friends and family). This will allow you to accumulate fans and friends to invite to your fan page – notice how on the fan page it gives you the option to “Suggest to Friends” – this makes it easier to invite people with the click of a button. One personal page and one fan page will allow you to cover all the bases: a friendly face for your fans AND a place to promote your business.

I also recommend having at least one actual photo of yourself in your profile photos – people who only have artwork as their photos kind of creep me out, and minimizes the feeling of comfortable, personal interaction online (which is, in fact, possible!).

Here’s a fantastic step-by-step guide on “How to Build the Perfect Facebook Fan Page” on Techipedia.com.
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Posted in Comics, Social Media

What about the Hot Nerd Guys? (a thought on the “Hot Geek Girl” debate)

Posted on May 6, 2011 | 4 Comments

No...no, I didn't.

The “hot geek girl” debate is taking the interwebs by storm, spurred by a poorly-researched rant made by blogger Zooey Mae on The Synthesis, titled “Having Tits and Liking Spider-Man Isn’t Shocking Anymore” about one of the industry’s favorite geek girl bloggers, Jill Pantozzi. From there, a whirlwind of well-versed responses: on Newsarama by Jill herself; Bleeding Cool, The Beat by Heidi MacDonald, and others.

As someone who just this past weekend moderated a “Female Creators” panel at the Boston Comic Con, I heard a lot of this similar debate – not specifically about “hot” women, but women’s presence in the Nerdom in general (one audience member’s reaction here).

I’m glad the topic’s being discussed – I’m always psyched to see girls getting geek cred, and I love reading the comments spurned by these opinionated pieces. All this talk about the legitimacy of “hot nerdy girls” (how could hot girls really be nerds? are they just pretending, so as to get attention? etc, etc.) had me thinking, though – what about the guys?

Helloooo nurse!

Guys that are into comic books, toys, video games and other stereotypically geeky past-times have generally been dismissed as either socially inept, overweight, unattractive, and deserving of a good shove into a metal locker. But as I lurked the aisles of the Con this weekend, I had a most stunning realization – there were a LOT of good-looking, clean-looking dudes there. Guys I would even DATE (see: because I’m shallow; also see: and by date, I mean do).

Okay, so what about these weight bench-hitting, Star Wars t-shirt-wielding menfolk? Because geek culture is becoming more mainstream, are these hot dudes now springing for their true interests in public, plastic lightsabers flailing? Is this what’s going on with the “hot nerd chick” thing, too? Or are the hot nerd guys coming to the Con to pick up “hot nerd chicks”? So many questions. So much psychology. So much of “I don’t really care.”

Here’s one thing I DO care about: are geek guys throwing so much hate at these “hot nerd guys” the way women are at the “hot nerd girls”?

As Kate Cotler on Bleeding Cool wrote (and was quoted on The Beat, also), which is too good not to re-post: Being a geek girl is challenging: Not only do we have to contend with the fact that pop-culture tends to objectify and marginalize women, often reducing geek girls to being a pair of tits and an ass in a Sailor Moon or Catholic schoolgirl outfit – but, we have to also contend with girl-on-girl hate crimes such as this one… The competitive, bitchy, mean girl antics of those who aren’t secure enough in their own geeky glory to resist lashing out at those who are makes it twenty times harder for women to succeed in a male dominated culture.

I’m curious as to whether or not this type of discrimination happens in man-world, too – or if we women are just doomed by the overwhelming presence of estrogen. *starts weeping*

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Posted in Comics, Geeked Out, Rambles

Gonna Moderate the HECK out of Some Panels at the BOSTON COMIC CON!

Posted on April 19, 2011 | 1 Comment

It’s official, folks – I’ve been invited to moderate two AMAZING panels at the Boston Comic Con next weekend, April 30th-May 1 at the Hynes Convention Center! Not only am I flattered, but I’m super-psyched to get the chance to chat with some creators I truly admire.

I’ll be moderating the Female Creators Panel with Ming Doyle, Sara Richard, Stephanie Buscema, and Allison Sohn on Saturday, April 30 from 11:30A.M.-12:15.PM and the Spotlight on Terry Moore from 6:00P.M.-6:45P.M that same day – so get yo’ questions ready!

Here’s the full lineup for the Con:

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Posted in Comics, Events and Parties

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Social Media for Comics: 5 Tips for Promoting Your Comics on Twitter

Posted on March 25, 2011 | 9 Comments

As a publicist AND a blogger, I’m lucky enough to see several slices of the promotional spectrum. Some may even say a publicist and a writer are polar opposites – I prefer to see it as a beneficial partnership: we hook you up with content and news ideas, you hook us up by writing about it if it interests you.

The important thing is to actually provide news that’s interesting, which, sadly, many publicists can’t claim. I feel fortunate that I get to promote cool books, interesting stories, and things that actually peak the interests of most reporters. But the key for me – and the mantra I stick to – is to remain transparent. Let’s be real people – everyone knows I do PR; and they know it because I tell them. Nobody likes to be “tricked,” manipulated or sold.

I don’t try to spin stories or use sellsellsell jargon – I like to say, “Hey, I’m promoting this. We both know that. Here are the details of what I’m pitching, and here’s why I think you’d like this. If not, cool,” and I can leave the discussion knowing that that person won’t feel negatively “sold” to, and perhaps be open to more of my ideas in the future.

And after years of learning and utilizing different methods of promotion, I wanted to share these little tidbits of knowledge with you comics creators whose strengths are in doing what you do best: illustration and writing. Public relations is not necessarily intuitive, especially in the digital age, and it helps to have a guideline to show you the way.

This is the first in a series of articles that will focus on social media for comics and webcomics, which I’ll continue to do throughout the next few months. For now, I want to focus on Twitter, with 5 tips to help you either get started or get better.

5 Tips for Promoting Your Comics on Twitter

1. Build an Audience
Easier said than done. Want to know how? Time. Repetition. Patience. The goal is to have more followers than the number of people you’re following. Although it’s generally frowned upon, you’ll need to Follow, Follow, Follow at first, everybody in the comics world – then, eventually, weed out the people that aren’t necessary to be following. There are four important tools I recommend to help you on this incredibly tedious task:

  • Bit.ly – Not necessarily for gaining followers, but to make your life easier – this is a service that shortens your links so that you’ll use up less characters in your Tweet. Make sure to actually sign up for the free account – it will provide you with valuable tools to track who’s clicked on your link.
  • Tweepi.com – Filter out people who haven’t updated in awhile or who haven’t followed you back within two weeks of following them (my recommended time period you give before saying YOU HAVE BEEN DELETED – unless a celebrity or prominent figure, who most likely won’t follow you back anyway).
  • SproutSocial.com - Check out the trial period of this. Allows you to search for people by subject, check out stats, etc.
  • TweetReach.com – Plug in a keyword, and this program tells you how many people Tweeted/Re-Tweeted the search term and how many actual people had the chance to view it.

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Posted in Comics, Social Media

All the Single Issues! All the Single Issues!

Posted on January 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

In an attempt to start reading more weekly single issue comics (and not just sticking to trades – which usually make more sense financially, but whatevs!), I made a trip to my favorite Massachusetts comic shop, Salem-based Harrison’s Comics and Collectibles.

Embarrassingly, I think the last time I had been there was when I took comics pal (and comics genius) Steve Niles for a little tour of the witchy capital of the universe before his signing at Harrison’s on Halloween weekend – supremely fitting for the creator of some of today’s best new horror comics (see: 30 Days of Night). It’s an impressive shop, to say the least – great selection, super helpful staff, and I don’t get there often enough. I also make an attempt to hit up the tiny but lovely Jerry’s Comics & Collectibles in Beverly, MA – the shop of my childhood – when I’m not really looking for something specific; mostly because I love Jerry, and that shop is really struggling (so GO THERE locals – support!).

I’d been avoiding doing the single issues thing, if only because I’m a commitmentphobe, and also because I HATE picking up a series in the middle of a storyline, especially so many years out of the game. So, I enlisted Seth, the store manager, to make some recommendations for new storylines that I should delve into – specifically for Batman and X-Men.

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Posted in Comics

Graphic Novel Review: Vertigo’s “How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less” by Sarah Glidden

Posted on December 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

If you were Sarah Glidden a few years ago, you weren’t Israel’s biggest fan. You thought the country was a political bully and provocateur. You swore when you went there that you wouldn’t get emotional about this so-called religious “connection.” A few years ago, you didn’t know which of the two levers to push when you flushed Israeli toilets. And you certainly didn’t know the difference between a mentally challenged camel and an average one.

Years later, in her debut, 206-page autobiographical graphic novel, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, Sarah Glidden becomes a changed woman – and we lucky critters get to witness every step of it.

Originally launched as a self-published mini-comic series at the 2007 Small Press Expo (SPX), comic book giant Vertigo (DC Comics’ “edgy” graphic novel publishing leg) got their lucky publishing mitts on the 30-year-old, Newton, Massachusetts-bred artist’s work after only three chapters to then produce the full graphic novel. Touted as a glimpse at a young woman’s life-changing experiences on a ten-day Taglit-Birthright Israel tour, How to Understand Israel isn’t about the search for Glidden’s Jewish identity (you can relax now, skeptical goyim!), but as a manifest of a cultural pilgrimage – specifically, to a place of which she believed to be an expert, but learns she really doesn’t know much about.

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Posted in Comics, Reviews