Monday, January 12, 2009

New entry on Filip’s Blog @Newsarama talks about how a little variety is the spice of life

I love ice cream. It’s one of my many vices and I’m cool with that. Chocolate and vanilla are old standbys because they pair well with just about anything. Pie? Good. Cake? Good. Cookies? Good. Bananas, nuts, and candy? Good. A nice filet mignon? Probably not, but I’d be willing to try it.

As much as those two flavors are standbys and consistently the most popular flavors in surveys, I do love to experiment with different flavors. Hit me with some Peanut Butter Cup, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookies & Cream, Rocky Road, or any number of more unique combinations and I’m a happy man. What does this have to do with comics?

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen a bunch of “Best” lists online for top picks of comics and graphic novels for 2008 and couldn’t help but notice how heavily dominated they are by Big Two books. When I scan the list of top-selling books from Diamond each month on Icv2, I can’t help but notice the lack of what I would call independent titles. In the top 25 comics last month, there was only one non-Marvel, non-DC title – Buffy, The Vampire Slayer – an excellent read, but a licensed property with its roots in television. In the top 50, only two others – Angel (same boat as Buffy) and The Umbrella Academy. The Umbrella Academy gives me a little bit of hope, because it’s a fantastic, unique comic that doesn’t rely on a pre-established licensed property, but that’s only one out of 50! The top 100 looks a bit better, but only slightly so with the addition of The Walking Dead, Spawn, Conan the Cimmerian (licensed again) and Black Terror from Dynamite Entertainment.

READ MORE.



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