Jul 14
Sorry it was such a quiet few days. I have a bit of a hard time tracking to whom I’ve said what (and where), but much of the RocketAce family decended upon San Diego last week to celebrate the wedding of Chad Thompson and Jennie Reichert. We were only a handful of cast and crew away from a full on Dead End Days convention – so good times were most assuredly had.
Also there were theme parks.
Jun 10
Almost a week ago, D.J. Coffman announced that he’s putting his (really fun) Hero by Night on hiatus due to late payments by Platinum Studios. His post immediately reignited the eternal argument about the importance of creators rights in comics (see, pretty much any post from this site two weeks ago).
And while I agree with much of the sentiment behind the “hooray for self-determination” school of thought on creators rights – it does tend to overlook large areas where the current self/Internet publishing models might really suck for a lot of emerging creators.
May 28
Bryan Lee O’Malley has recently posted a number of objections regarding TokyoPop’s default contract for their new Manga Pilot Program.
Firstly the obligatory disclosure that I have a gigantic man-crush on Bryan. Anyone who has ever worked at The Beguiling is automatically cooler than me, but come on – “Lost at Sea”, “Hopeless Savages”, “Scott Pilgrim”!? I have lost this battle already. So I actually was going to limit my comment on this issue to an e-mail to him directly. But since a lot of other people have started commenting on his original post, especially creators I have huge respect for
[Edit – I owe Lea an apology as this whole kerfuffle started with her post, I mis-read the timing of the posts .. worse – I mis-spelled her name (which she was too polite to point out). How bush league is that?]
(Lea Hernandez, Kris Straub, I’m looking at you) I felt it was important to get some kind of contrarian opinion out there for anyone who might be Googling.
So please take what I have to say from a place of deep respect for some of my favourite creators out there: There are bad screwjob contracts out there. TokyoPop may have a record of bad Original Property Agreements (of which I can’t comment, having never seen one, or heard anything about one, ever) [Edit – No, their record is pretty bad. See my amended take at the bottom]. However as someone with no particular tie to TokyoPop whatsoever (other than devoting a copious amount of my bookshelf to Shojo titles which-shall-not-be-named) this particular agreement is not one of them.
My fraternal grandmother was an extraordinary lady. Like many of her time she survived extraordinary hardship and difficult times, but she did so with style and aplomb, managing to raise a close and loving family that has remained so to this day. I could write at length about many of the qualities I admired about her: Her adaptability growing up during the depression, the difficulties of being a RCMP officer’s wife while raising a family of three… reckless… boys, or her grace and spirit successfully fighting flesh eating disease in 1998.
Instead, if I can learn from any of her examples, I’d like to remember her indomitable zest for life – be it playing cards with friends, watching sports (of which she was an avid fan of the Calgary Flames, Toronto Blue Jays, and Saskatchewan Roughriders), or enjoying good food or company of any kind unapolagetically. While our entire family will keenly feel her loss for a very long time – I personally take comfort in that Nana lived each of her days to the fullest up and until her sudden but peaceful passing this morning while watching her beloved Calgary Flames win on Hockey Night in Canada.
I love you and miss you.
– Brad
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