A few months back I was on a Geekweek Videocast at Brave New World Comics in Newhall, CA– It was my first time at the store, but its reputation was stellar– as soon as I walked in, it was abundantly clear as to why. It’s a gorgeous store, with an open and friendly atmosphere, staffed by warm people who greet you with a smile. Honestly, it’s a model that every comic book shop should strive for.
Recently, two of my Geekweek cohorts, Bryan J Daggett and Atom Freeman (who also happens to own Brave New World) started up their COMICCENTER LIVE video show which streams from Brave New World– the first episode is just marvelous, and highly recommend, so in lieu of a blog entry today ( I’m trying to sneak in time to write Spy6teen #4) I’m presenting it here.
As longtime blog readers know, my soapbox is Digital Comics. I love print comics as much as the next guy, but it’s abundantly clear that the curtian is drawing on print and it will soon be relegated to niche publishing, right alongside Vinyl Records.
The guy who talk smrter > me is a fellow named Mark Waid. Mark, along with writing some of the best comics I’ve ever read, also used to be the guy that signed Lisa’s checks at Boom Studios, and is a pretty outspoken proponent of (loud narrator voice) “THE FUTURE OF COMICS….”
When Mark starts talking Digital, Copyright, or Piracy (arrr-Matey) I listen– and you should too.
Atom and Bryan have put together a great show for their initial COMIC CENTER outing– a roundtable discussion with Mark and Andy Khouri (of Comic Alliance), both of whom represent the Digital marketplace, and Atom and Bryan– who (for obvious reasons) discuss the Retailer POV.
It’s an important conversation to have– as mentioned in the ‘cast, we’ve run out of time to NOT talk about this stuff– if you love comics, this IS the talk to have right now.
I know a lot of you reading are digital publishers as well, so if there’s one thing you should probably tune in for, it’s around the 20 minute mark, where Waid explains how the business model of print just doesn’t work for the Indie guy. It’s sort of funny for me to hear him rattle off his calculations and numbers, because he’s dead on for us– and he’s talking about Publisher that have a much higher overhead than we do– and yet, for the most part, we and these publishers are almost on the same playing field.
Also of note is around the 35 minute point where the gang discusses how Digital will affect the format of what we think of as comics, continuing on to the 40 minute point, where Mark brings up FreakAngels– Trust me, all of this is worth a watch.
Here’s the embed:
If you happen to be in the area of Newhall, California– I highly recommend stopping by Brave New World– it’s a fantastic store, with a wonderful and great staff– Atom and Bryan will return next week with a new (live) Comic Center episode next monday at 7pm PST on Geekweek.
And, after watching this whole talk, if you feel that digital comics are worth supporting– please pick up a copy of Spy6teen in the Store!!
Ok, that’s it for this week’s blog– back to script writing!!
