MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
July 12 – July 19, 2007 Edition
Comics Market
Gains Momentum
Across All Fronts
7/12/2007The market for comic book content on the web, on mobile media, and in print is booming, as major comic book publishers increasingly invest in technology to reach wider audiences.
Comics publisher uClick, owned by Andrew McMeel Universal, is expanding its mobile phone titles on both GoComics Books, the consumer site for uClick, and Tokyopop Mobile Manga. GoComics latest title, Thunder Road, is an original made-for-the-mobile comic book sold exclusively through the mobile service. It is one of more than a dozen comics on its product list. Tokyopop Mobiles title list now includes eight manga comics. Tokyopop will soon introduce their iManga service, featuring motion graphics and sound.
In October, DC Comics will launch Zudacomics.com, which will feature a new line of Web comics created by members of the online community. Zudacomics will solicit original material from fans for publication on the web and also in printed form. The Zudacomics community will vote to pick the best comics submitted to the site and winners will be published online for a year and in print. Heading the Zudacomics team will be Ron Perazza, DC director of creative services, and Kwanza Johnson, DC Comics online editor, and Richard Bruning, DC senior vice president and creative director.
JACK ENYART, writer, story editor and/or development specialist for virtually every major animation studio in Hollywood, has also just launched a sort of comics help site, CONSULTOONTING. Its a great time in cartooning! Big-budget features, edgy TV shows, experiments on the Internet. Animation has never been hotter. And in printcomics, graphic novels, newspaper stripsalmost anything can now be done, and is, says Enyart. Enyart worked on Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby Doo, Duck Tales, Pink Panther, Johnny Bravo and many, many other TV series. His comic book credits include Looney Tunes, Roger Rabbit, Tiny Toons, Aladdin, Toy Story, Lion King and more.
According to the Comics Chronicle, http://www.comichron.com/ a resource for comic book research, in the last six years sales for the top 300 printed comics have climbed from $13 million in May 2001 to $24.51 million in May 2007. As Internet and mobile phone sales get added to the mix, the comics market will, without a doubt, explode.
