Comics A.M. | The Avengers, comics and the evolution of storytelling

Comics A.M. | The Avengers, comics and the evolution of storytelling

The Avengers #1

Comics | With the success of The Avengers film, Kendall Whitehouse discusses the narrative techniques comics have 'explored and exploited,' including 'multi-issue story arcs, crossovers, team-ups, reboots and multiple title tie-ins,' noting they not only help sell more comics but also have blazed the trail for complex stories: 'The story has now become a world unto its own that allows the reader to explore whichever dimensions are of the greatest interest. Follow the events from the perspective of Iron Man or Thor. Or just peruse the core series and ignore the supplementary story elements. The series presents a nearly unbounded narrative universe for the reader to experience. It is easy to interpret this with a cynical eye as nothing more than a series of cheap marketing tactics designed to pump sales. And yet, when well executed, something larger emerges.' [Knowledge@Wharton Today]

Retailing | Saturday's Free Comic Book Day also served as the grand opening for Aw Yeah Comics, a store in Skokie, Illinois, owned (as the name suggests) by Tiny Titans creators Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani and retail veteran Marc Hammond. [Skokie Review, Time Out Chicago]

Free Comic Book Day

Retailing | Dore' Ripley reports on Free Comic Book Day activities at Flying Colors Comics, the place where it all began. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Retailing | CBR's Kiel Phegley writes about his Free Comic Book Day adventures in Chicago. [Cool Kidz Table]

Retailing | Des Moines, Iowa, comic store Cup O' Kryptonite was forced to stop selling coffee when it moved to a new location because of a local food-service requirement for businesses to have a grease trap or interceptor, which would cost at the very least $20,000. [KCCI Channel 8]

Conventions | Paul Gravett files his con report from the Napoli Comicon in Naples, Italy. [Paul Gravett]

Creators | Matt Demers spotlights five creators he discovered at last weekend's Toronto Comics Art Festival: Faith Erin Hicks, Josh Rosen, Katherine Verhoeven, Eric Feurstein and Natalie Nourigat. [Torontoist]

Jerusalem

Creators | Guy Delisle talks about living abroad and collecting his experiences into a graphic novel, most recently, Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City. [Mother Jones]

Creators | Jimmy Palmiotti, Steve Niles and Justin Gray discuss their work for Creator Owned Heroes, a new monthly anthology that will launch in June. Phil Noto and Kevin Mellon are also involved, and the book kicks off with two stories, Triggergirl 6, by Palmiotti, Gray and Noto, and American Muscle, by Niles and Mellon. [Comicosity]

Creators | Morning Glories writer Nick Spencer talks about his love of Image Comics: 'I was the perfect age for that stuff. It was an exciting time. You felt like you were there for the start of something. I think to some extent, that's something we're missing a lot in super-hero comics these days. There's so much playing within the established histories and continuities, so much emphasis on revising and re-telling, it's easy to forget how much fun it can be to just show up with ten new characters or teams or whatever, and go crazy with them.' [Broken Frontier]

Creators | Gary Tyrrell talks to Meredith Gran about working on the Adventure Time comics, her own comic Octopus Pie, and the comics class she will be teaching. [Fleen]

Daniel Clowes

Creators | Laura Sydell profiles Daniel Clowes. [NPR]

Comics | The Hooded Utilitarian's roundtable on Wonder Woman continues with an essay by Sharon Marcus, a scholar of women's studies and queer literature and the author of Between Women, about why she likes Wonder Woman the character but not Wonder Woman the comic. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Comics | Writing for the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Patriot-News, Robot 6 contributor Chris Mautner lays out why he won't be buying a ticket for Marvel's The Avengers. [PennLive]

Comics | Matt Wilson counts down a dozen 'lesser-known Marvel super teams that also deserve movies,' including New Warriors, The Order and Guardians of the Galaxy. [Topless Robot]

Comics | Todd Allen has some suggested starting points for people whose interest was piqued by The Avengers movie and would like to read some of the comics. [The Beat]

• May 8, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
• Tagged: Adventure Time, Art Baltazar, cartoonists, comic books, comic conventions, comic retailers, comics a.m., comics creators, Creator Owned Heroes, crossovers, Daniel Clowes, direct market, Eric Feurstein, Faith Erin Hicks, Flying Color Comics, Franco Aureliani, Free Comic Book Day, Guy Delisle, Image Comics, jack kirby, Jimmy Palmiotti, Josh Rosen, Justin Gray, katherine Verhoeven, Kevin Mellon, Marvel, Meredith Gran, Morning Glories, movies, Napoli Comicon, Natalie Nourigat, Nick Spencer, Phil Noto, Steve Niles, The Avengers, Toronto Comics Art Festival, webcomics, Wonder Woman

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