Interviews

Always outspoken creator Joe Casey has another crack at pissing people off with his take on marketing, surviving in Hollywood, and his own brand of career advice in this exclusive interview.

[Little more than a week ago, Marvel announced a big change at the top, with VP, Executive Editor Axel Alonso being promoted to the role of Editor-in-Chief. A ten-year Marvel veteran, Alonso originally forged his name as one of the best regarded editors of the modern era during a stint at DC's Vertigo imprint where he developed 100 Bullets and won a reputation as an editor of thought-provoking action who got career-defining work from writers like Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello. As one of the main players at the Jemas/Quesada Nü-Marvel, he continued to make waves, introducing a gay Rawhide Kid, editing the acclaimed Peter Milligan/Mike Allred X-Statix and revitalizing such characters as Luke Cage and the Hulk. In recent years he's continued to bring in new talent, including a bevy of crime fiction writers like Victor Gischler and Duane Swierczynski. It's a strong creative portfolio for someone coming to the position and seeing how Alonso makes his mark on perhaps the most fabled job in comics will be one of the most important stories of the next few years. Despite his busy busy schedule, Alonso very graciously made time this week to answer some of the main questions facing any comics industry executive in these interesting times.]

A good publicist makes a lot of friends, but it's safe to say that few comics publicists have as many friends as Alex Segura Jr. Last week Segura announced he was leaving DC Comics after four years as Publicity Manager, during which time he oversaw getting the word out about some crises, final and otherwise, and even some blackest nights. On Monday he announced his new position as Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing at Archie Comics, another comics institution which is going through many transitions following the deaths of its long time executive team, and new leadership under co-CEO Jon Goldwater. It seemed like a good time to ask Segura to look back and forward -- when we first met him, we were just starting a daily comics news site and he was a comics-loving copy editor for the Miami Herald. So much has changed with comics, marketing and Archie in that time, and Segura has been at ground zero for much of it, so who better to give us some insights on where things are going:

A series of videos interviewing Vancouver comics legend Colin Upton . His website is here.

While some creators may go in for the hairless look (as cultivated by Brian K. Vaughan and Grant Morrison) in the minds of many comic book fans beards and talent seem to go together...

[In recent weeks there's been much discussion of comics pricing, and both Marvel and DC have made changes to their pricing levels in order to face the realities of the current economic climate. While DC has announced an across the board roll-back of prices from $3.99 to $2.99, Marvel's policy announcements have been somewhat less clear. At the ICV2 conference last month Vice-President Sales & Circulation David Gabriel announced a rollback on selected titles, but no details. In addition at a retailer meeting, Marvel announced that they would be putting out fewer titles. An interview earlier this week with VP-executive editor Tom Brevoort made it clear that the rollback was limited but left details to Gabriel. In order to clear up what Marvel's policies are in regards to pricing, Gabriel and Chief Operating Officer Jim "Ski" Sokolowski sat down for an interview, discussing some of the business realities of publishing, the growth of digital and how to reach new readers as older ones cycle out.]

Image publisher Eric Stephenson doesn't get quoted too much, but maybe he should. Rich Johnston has a very in-depth interview with Stephenson up and its about time. Image is consistently the #3 or 4 comics publishers and in recent months Image has absolutely stolen the mantle of "buzz book" publisher, starting with Chew, but continuing on with Turf, Skullkickers, Morning Glorys and so on. And of course, with the Walking Dead TV show debuting in a few days, they are set to sell even MORE copies of a book that already has 3 million copies in print. As Stephenson mentions, he doesn't often go around tooting his horn, so the inetrview touches on a lot of point seldom publicly spoken of. Kudos to Johnston and Stephenson for putting something substantive up on the internet for a change. Anyone interested in the state of comics publishing and creators rights should read the whole thing, but a few selected tidbits:

Vulture has one of the chattiest interviews with Neil Gaiman we've read in a while. HE talks about co-editing BEST AMERICAN COMICS and much more:

A couple of good reads:

Oh snap! Curmudgeonly genius Alan Moore delivers one of his most vinegary interviews yet, taking to Adi Tantimadh at Bleeding Cool mostly about DC's abortive attempts to get Moore to give his blessing for those Watchmen sequels and spin-offs and what-nots. As Moore tells it, DC sent Dave "Watchmen" Gibbons to discuss the matter with Moore, which, to the shock of no one, upset Moore's feelings. Moore wonders why DC is even seeking his approval, speculating that perhaps there is some kind of legal reason for the move. (Moore doesn't seem to think that maybe they were just...trying not to hurt his feelings.) Anyway, Moore also wonders why they even need him anyway and delivers s bunch of sharp zings to today's comics creators:

[With reality TV and reality contests everywhere, people have been wondering when someone would start a reality TV show about the comics industry. That hasn't happened yet -- maybe because sitting at a drawing board all day doesn't make for all that exciting a visual. However at least one comics creator is currently starring in a reality show: Jesse Blaze Snider, the 27-year-old son of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider is on A&E's Growing Up Twisted, which airs tonight at 10/9c. Although Snider has had much previous TV exposure, he considers writing comics the career he wants to follow. We were interested in finding out how someone with experience in so many fields balances all these different outlets. Currently the author of BOOM!'s Toy Story: Tales from the Toy Chest , Snider chatted to The Beat about his writing, being a reality star and his very colorful family.]

This weekend before MoCCA will be the second Drink & Draw Like a Lady, hosted by Hope Larson & Raina Telgemeier. Both ladies also have new YA graphic novels out this spring, creating a...