[Link] AMC Networks Publishing launches with graphic novels, Stephen King, Kirk Hammett and more

by Heidi MacDonald

As long as I’ve been writing the Beat, I’ve heard rumors of TV networks starting their own comics lines to cheaply (sorry) generate IP in-house.  (Remember when Netflix was going to start a comics line because they signed up Millarworld?) It’s never quite happened that way yet, but AMC Networks Publishing might just be the closest thing yet – a publishing spin-off of the network that will put out fan-friendly, genre-forward specialty books, comics, original graphic novels and more.

The line is headed up by publishing veteran and Head of AMC Networks Publishing Mike Zagari, who worked at Marvel, DC, Disney and Aftershock before moving over to AMC, so he certainly knows the territory.

Upcoming projects include several comics, a graphic novel and a coffee table book, in partnership with talents like Kirk Hammett, Brendan Fletcher, Greg Nicotero, Stephen King and many more.

The first AMC publishing venture was a coffee table book, The Art of AMC’s The Walking Dead Universe, published in partnership with Image Comics and Skybound. The new AMC Publishing output will have various print partners, including Titan Books and Every Cloud.

“We’re excited to launch this new initiative with talented creators, writers, artists and storytellers to further engage our passionate fanbases with the stories and characters they love, as well as open the doors to discover new and compelling worlds,” said Zagari in a statement. “From deeper dives on AMC’s The Walking Dead Universe, Shudder’s Creepshow and Acorn TV’s Miss Fisher, to a brand-new collection of fantasy and comic-based tales from Kirk Hammett, Marcel Feldmar, Brenden Fletcher and more, we can’t wait to entertain and thrill our audience and fans in new and innovative ways.”

The line-up...

Read the full article: https://www.comicsbeat.com/amc-networks-publishing-launches-with-graphic-novels-stephen-king-kirk-hammett-and-more/

[Link] Are cartoonists doomed to die poor and homeless while pirates dance on their graves?

By The Beat

Even as the economy shows fitful signs of flickering back to life, the comics economy, which was “too small to fail” to really take much of a hit during the Great Recession, is still puddling along, under-capitalized, under-recognized, and with even the greatest cartoonists prone to spells of belt tightening. Comics have been traditionally immune to the effects of a recession—”cheap entertainment does well in bad times!” we’ve heard time and again—but the corollary is also true: Economic boom times rarely touch comics.

During the late ’90s and the first dot.com boom, one of the greatest eras of general prosperity in American history, comics were going through their WORST slump since the end of newsstand distribution, with sales numbers so low executives were crying over them. And then, paradoxically, comics began to do better even during the mini-recession following 9/11 and the end of the dot.com bubble.

During the recent real estate bubble/stock market boom, quite a few cartoonists bought homes that would never have been available before—and some have lost them, sadly—but most comickers we know were sticking with comics instead of going into hedge funds and condo flipping. A lot of money flooded into comics in the end of the last boom, but the tide has been slowly going out.

But now it’s gone out. And people are wondering when it will come in again.

Continue reading: http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/01/25/are-cartoonists-doomed-to-die-poor-and-homeless-while-pirates-dance-on-their-graves/