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<div align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Friday, December 19th, 2003</b></font></div>
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<a name="tcj257">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Site updates: Rick Griffin, Joe Casey, CrossGen</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(The Comics Journal) </b>We still haven't received our advance copies quite yet, but with the holidays bearing down on us now seems like a good time to update <a href="http://www.tcj.com/">the homepage</a> for <i>The Comics Journal</i> #257. As always, we're giving you excerpts from the issue, including:<p>

<ul><li> <a href="http://www.tcj.com/257/i_griffin.html">Rick Griffin</a>: <i>Rebel Visions</i> author Patrick Rosenkranz assembled four never-before-published conversations with the late <i>Zap</i> artist and poster creator, including this Denis Wheary interview, conducted in the early 1970s.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.tcj.com/257/i_casey.html">Joe Casey</a>: Former <i>Journal</i> editor Tom Spurgeon sat down for a chat with the superhero comics writer, in a fascinating discussion about about the freelancer's life, his work and ethics.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.tcj.com/257/n_crossgen.html">CrossGen for sale</a>: <i>TCJ</i> news editor Michael Dean checks in with a detailed follow-up on the continuing saga of CrossGen's troubles -- and makes some surprising discoveries.</ul><p>

Hopefully, <i>TCJ</i> #257 should be on the stands in the next few weeks. Until then, consider these excerpts our holiday gift to you!
</font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 5:10 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#tcj257">permalink</a></b></font>
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<a name="news5">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Today's news</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Potpourri) </b>Let's take one last spin around the internet and look at what's happening, before shutting down for the weekend:<p>

<ul><li> There's a fair amount of news over at <i>ICv2</i> today. Let's look at manga first. Dark Horse comics <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/4037.html">has announced</a> a 40,000-copy printrun for first volume of the new <i>Hellsing</i> book series it's co-producing with Digital Manga. The article quotes Waldenbooks buyer Kurt Hassler as being optimistic about the book's potential for success; the article also notes that over 75% of the partnership's manga sales come from bookstores rather than comics shops. Meanwhile, Tokyopop is planning a <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/4031.html">30-40% increase</a> in book production in 2004.<p>

<li> I missed <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/4030.html">Wednesday's <i>ICv2</i> story</a> detailing the rise in price for Marvel comics sold to newsstands, noting that titles selling for $2.25 in the Direct Market can be found near magazine racks selling for $2.99. Today, Marvel manager of sales administration David Gabriel <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/4038.html">confirmed the price hike</a> for <i>ICv2</i>, and also noted that the company was planning a children's comics line called "Marvel Age," which would carry a $2.25 cover price both in the Direct Market and on newsstands.<p>

<li> In further Marvel news, The House That Jack Built has purchased Cover Concepts, a company which creates textbook covers and other educational materials, according to the press release found at <a href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7339"><i>Newsarama</i></a>. Your guess is as good as mine how this helps the company, aside from a possible steady stream of revenue generated by next year's Social Studies textbook cover.<p>

<li> Michael Miner of <a href="http://www.chireader.com/hottype/2003/031219_1.html"><i>The Chicago Reader</i></a> (temporary link) examines cartoonist John Sherffius' decision to leave <i>The St. Louis Post-Dispatch</i>, the inability of <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> to replace the late Jeff McNelly over three years after his death, and the general state of attrition facing editorial cartoonists today. <i>(Link via <a href="http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=57911">Jim Romenesko</a>.)</i><p>

<li> <a href="http://johnnybacardi.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_johnnybacardi_archive.html#107176314797407839">David Allen Jones</a> notes the latest update from Harlan Ellison on <a href="http://harlanellison.com/heboard/unca.htm">his message board</a> concerning legendary DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who was recently hospitalized with pneumonia. Schwartz's condition is reported to have improved considerably: "He's winded and tired, but he's walking a little now. Also still dozing a lot, which is an okay thing. His white blood count is good; his oxygen level is good. The kidney function is coming back. (Some of you apparently misinterpreted what I said about the kidney function, and wrote him off with "kidney shutdown." No such thing.) Both the kidney and blood infection problems, while still troubling, problematic, are under control and steadily improving."<p>

<li> Cartoonist Carla Speed McNeil <a href="http://www.sequentialtart.com/community/Forum6/HTML/001029.shtml">announced the birth</a> of her son, David Antony McNeil, on December 15th. <a href="http://www.artbomb.net/blog/"><i>Artbomb</i>'s weblog</a> reported the news the next day. <i>&iexcl;Journalista!</i> does so today. Conclusion: I suck.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2055008"><i>Editor & Publisher</i></a>'s Dave Astor surveys the decidedly mixed reaction that Berkeley Breathed's new strip <i>Opus</i> has received to date, then conducts an email interview with the cartoonist himself about the strip.<p>

<li> Writing for Japanese newspaper <a href="http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031219wo25.htm"><i>Yomiuri Shimbun</i></a>, Masami Murai notes that local bookstore owners are suffering increasing losses from youngsters shoplifting books and comics -- and are calling for parents to be held financially responsible for their offspring's actions.<p>

<li> With Comicon.com's <a href="http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=cbldf&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50">annual auction</a> to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund well underway, <a href="http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=001665"><i>The Pulse</i></a>'s Jennifer Contino sits down for a chat with CBLDF executive director Charles Brownstein, getting a good overview of the Fund's activities as of late. Incidentally, now's as good a time as any to <a href="http://www.cbldf.org/membership.shtml">become a member</a> of the CBLDF, don't you think?<p>

<li> Robert Birnbaum conducts a long interview with designer Chip Kidd for the webzine <a href="http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum136.html"><i>Identity Theory</i></a>, which covers a considerable amount of comics territory -- including Pantheon's top-secret plan to steal Charles Burns' <i>Black Hole</i> away from Fantagraphics when the series is at last complete. Also, there's a running joke about the horrified reaction to Kidd's <i>Peanuts</i> book on some chat-room forum or other. Hmm, I wonder which forum he could be talking about... <i>(Link via <a href="http://www.kottke.org/remainder/index.html">Jason Kottke</a>.)</i><p>

<li> <a href="http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/news/107176687214108.htm"><i>Silver Bullet Comics</i></a>' Tim O'Shea speaks with David Chelsea about the re-release of his graphic novel <i>David Chelsea in Love</i>.<p>

<li> <a href="http://slate.msn.com//id/2092739/"><i>Slate</i> Magazine</a> features a good profile on Alan Moore, written by <i>Publishers Weekly</i> writer Douglas Wolk. <i>(Thanks to David Acord and Jason Stebner, who both emailed me the link.)</i><p>

<li> <a href="http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=481&IssueNum=28"><i>Los Angeles CityBeat</i></a>'s Steve Appleford investigates the macabre world of painter and cartoonist Joe Coleman.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_Editorial.php?storyid=50515"><i>The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette</i></a> remembers political cartoonist George Fisher.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.time.com/time/bestandworst/2003/comics.html">Time.com</a>'s Andrew Arnold lists his ten favorite comics for 2003. <i>(Thanks to Brian Borland for posting the link to our message board.)</i><p>

<li> Karen Sandstrom provides today's "newcomer's guide to graphic novels" for <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1071750702166810.xml"><i>The Cleveland Plain Dealer</i></a>.<p>

<li> <a href="http://home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/columns/031218.shtml">Franklin Harris</a> wonders what happened to science-fiction comics as a genre. Also, I'd like to note my <a href="http://franklinharris.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_franklinharris_archive.html#107179388215276662">thorough agreement</a> with him concerning <i>New X-Men</i> #150. Man, I am <b>so</b> ditching this title once Morrison leaves.<p>

<li> Andrew Wheeler offers a lexicon of comic-book terminology for <a href="http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=740"><i>Ninth Art</i></a>. It's all true, except that Wheeler forgot to mention the "titty quota" enforced by most French comics publishers.<p>

<li> Game designer <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/bbaugh/iblog/C1890667054/E1661180003/index.html">Bruce Baugh</a> offers us a lengthy defense of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's marvelously wakka-ding-hoy sequel <i>The Dark Knight Strikes Again</i>.<p>

<li> The comics-bloggerfication of political cartoonist Ampersand's weblog continues apace. Yesterday co-blogger <a href="http://www.amptoons.com/blog/001106.html">PinkDreamPoppies</a> expressed outrage that graphic novels for adults are frequently still prefaced with declarations that such works aren't just kidstuff in disguise. I'm sympathetic with this view up to a certain point, but let's be honest here: we're talking about a medium that's run awash with awful, badly executed kiddie crap for most of its existence. Furthermore, as a comics weblogger I find myself constantly stepping around lame attempts to hold things like Judd Winnick's excreble <i>Green Lantern</i> gay-bashing storyline up as evidence of the medium at its maturity. Yes, I think it's unfortunate that artists like Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware have to put up with things like this when their work is being discussed. I just don't think it's all that surprising.<p>

<li> If you want to follow superhero comics fans at their wackiest -- but from the relatively safe distance of your browser -- I cannot think of a better way than to read <a href="http://fanboyrampage.blogspot.com/">Graeme McMillan</a>'s blog on a daily basis. Not only do you get a guide to the strangest threads available on comics-related message boards, but you also get a nicely sardonic take on the continuous stream of "new releases" announcements from Marvel, DC and the like. Here's <a href="http://fanboyrampage.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_fanboyrampage_archive.html#107176668109109840">a complete entry</a> from yesterday's offerings:<p>

<blockquote><b>"<a href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7345 ">Vertigo announce a new ongoing series set in the larger Vertigo/DC continuity: The Witching.</a> In a very un-Vertigo move, it seems to be aimed at goths.<p>

"Part of the previous sentence was sarcastic."</b></blockquote><p>

It almost makes up for losing A.K.'s <a href="http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/titlebout/index.html"><i>Title Bout</i></a>.<p>

<li> Courtesy of <a href="http://boingboing.net/2003_12_01_archive.html#107177017273146588"><i>Boing Boing</i></a> comes a link to <a href="http://www.woodenmen.org/maruo/gallery.htm">this gallery</a> of paintings and illustrations by Suehiro Maruo, the fiendish genius behind the manga collection, <i>Ultra Gash Inferno</i>. Not for the squeamish.</ul><p>

Finally, a truism: no matter how big a dolt you may think John Byrne may be, he's bound to say something that leaves you with the realization that you overestimated his intelligence. In his latest column for <a href="http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/features/johnbyrne_imo/archive_12_18_03.asp"><i>Underground Online</i></a>, Byrne states:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Superman began what we think of the DC Universe, and in his debut in 1938 he was shown to have come from a planet that had brought forth a 'race of supermen.' How much Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster were influenced in this by the propaganda pounding out of Nazi Germany at the time, we can leave to the historians and philosophers to decide -- though it is not a far stretch to imagine the teenage Seigel and Shuster, like their modern counterparts, finding the superficial flash of the Nazi movement 'cool' (not a word they would have used, mind you!), and thinking it would be a good idea if we had something similar of our own -- American-bred Supermen."</b></blockquote><p>

Let the record show that Seigel and Shuster were both Jewish, and thus unlikely to have found the propaganda "pounding" out of Nazi Germany at the time to be remotely "cool." I swear I am not making this up.
</font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 5:10 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#news5">permalink</a></b></font>
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<div align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Thursday, December 18th, 2003</b></font></div>
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<a name="news4">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Today's news</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Potpourri) </b>Here's what's happening in the world of comics and cartooning at the moment:<p>

<ul><li> On Wall Street, Marvel Comics seems to have <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B54165FA8%2D3148%2D4138%2D91BE%2D370A9EFF4021%7D">pulled its stock</a> from the doldrums, rising to $29.00 from its previous low of $26.56 in <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=MVL&a=11&b=12&c=2003&d=11&e=18&f=2003&g=d">just three days</a>. In a related story, investment management company Raymond James & Associates <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/031216/1315001102_1.html">has named</a> Marvel as one of its best picks for 2004.<p>

<li> In Great Britain, <i>The Daily Mail</i>'s <a href="http://www.russellsquareart.com/golf/Profile.asp?ArtistID=45">Stan McMurtry</a> has been named "cartoonist of the year" yesterday by the judges of the What the Papers Say awards, according to <a href="http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,1108885,00.html"><i>The Guardian</i></a>.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9945-2003Dec17.html"><i>Washington Post</i></a> staff writer Michael Grunwald offers a proper obituary and retrospective on Arkansas political cartoonist George Fisher. As always with the <i>Post</i>, site registration is required.<p>

<li> The latest publisher hoping to grab a little of that old manga magic is... Archie Comics, who just hired Tania del Rio, a recent winner of TokyoPop's "Rising Stars of Manga" talent hunt. Ms. del Rio will soon be writing and illustrating the Dan DeCarlo-created series <i>Sabrina the Teenage Witch</i> -- <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/4033.html"><i>ICv2</i></a> has the details. (Incidentally, manga fans, the fourth "Rising Stars of Manga" competition <a href="http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/news/107168494553131.htm">kicks off in January</a>.)<p>

<li> Getting on to the interviews, let's start with a comics-free link for the publishers reading today: here's Barnes & Noble's fiction buyer, Sessalee Hensley, as profiled by <a href="http://opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110004445"><i>The Wall Street Journal</i></a>. <i>(Link via</i> <a href="http://www.artsjournal.com/">ArtsJournal</a><i>.)</i><p>

<li> <a href="http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/12/17/amend/"><i>MacCentral</i></a> writer Brad Cook sits down with for a chat with the creator of the daily strip <i>Foxtrot</i> (and confirmed Mac geek), Bill Amend.<p>

<li> Rhode Island's <a href="http://www.projo.com/books/content/projo_20031218_comicguy.58fe9.html"><i>Providence Journal</i></a> has an profile of Jon Cooke, editor of the magazine <i>Comic Book Artist</i>.<p>

<li> New York Jewish newsweekly <i>Forward</i> offers no less than four comics-related stories this week: one on <a href="http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.12.19/arts2.html">Joe Kubert</a>, one on <a href="http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.12.19/arts1.html">Michael Chabon</a>'s formal entry into the world of comics with <i>The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist</i>, one on <a href="http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.12.19/arts3.html">Judd Winick</a>'s Vertigo comic <i>Capers</i> (focusing on Jewish gangsters in turn-of-the-century San Francisco), and one on <a href="http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.12.19/arts4.html">Alan Oirich</a>, mastermind behind a new comic book, <i>The Jewish Hero Corps</i>.<p>

<li> Jennifer Contino interviews <i>A Sort of Homecoming</i> author Damon Hurd for <a href="http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=001661"><i>The Pulse</i></a>.<p>

<li> Over at <a href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7313"><i>Newsarama</i></a>, meanwhile, Matt Brady speaks with Chip Zdarsky, creator of the indy comic book <i>Prison Funnies</i>.<p>

<li> Arni Gunnarsson sits down for a chat with fan-favorite artist Ben Templesmith over at <a href="http://www.popimage.com/content/viewnews.cgi?newsid1071563101,56966,"><i>PopImage</i></a>.<p>

<li> <i>Cerebus</i> creator Dave Sim addresses the Direct Market from the pages of <a href="http://previews.diamondcomics.com/editorial/misc_articles/cerebus_300/cerebus_300_fea.htm"><i>Diamond Previews</i></a>, on occasion of the completion of his 300-issue landmark epic. <i>(Thanks to Secret Santa for the link.)</i><p>

<li> British magazine <a href="http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2265895"><i>The Economist</i></a> names Marjane Satrapi's <i>Persepolis</i> one of the year's best books. <i>(Link via <a href="http://theintermittent.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_theintermittent_archive.html#107168816420361689">Dave Intermittent</a>.)</i><p>

<li> Critic David Thompson reviews the Craig Thompson graphic novel <i>Blankets</i> for the U.K. literary webzine <a href="http://www.bookmunch.co.uk/view.php?id=1220"><i>Bookmunch</i></a> -- It's a conspiracy of Thompsons, I tell you...<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.brokenfrontier.com/columns/thewall/thewall.htm"><i>Broken Frontiers</i></a>' Shawn Hoke would like to tell you all about the lovely goodness that is the cartoon work of Souther Salazar. (Temporary link.)<p>

<li> <a href="http://mystupiddog.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_mystupiddog_archive.html#107139286422894890">Tim Hulsey</a> sings the praises of George Herriman's <i>Krazy Kat</i>.<p>

<li> In a short recommendation, <a href="http://www.d-generation.ca/archives/000084.html">D. Emerson Eddy</a> calls the newly-released <i>Drawn & Quarterly Volume 5</i> "the only thing you need to buy this week." Actually, if you want to an advance look at what's coming out each week, by people with taste and a wicked sense of humor, you really can't beat <a href="http://www.previewsreview.com/shipthisweek/031217/"><i>Previews Review</i></a> -- which this week also gives the new <i>D&Qv5</i> a recommendation. Having managed to sneak a peek through the courtesy copy sent to someone else at the office while he wasn't looking, so do I.<p>

<li> <a href="http://oddjobs.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_oddjobs_archive.html#107159007821219244">Tim Broderick</a> explains his aversion to manga.<p>

<li> <a href="http://asmallvictory.net/archives/005548.html">Michele Catalano</a> provides us with pictures of PETA's charming new "comic" for children, <i>Your Mommy Kills Animals</i>, which they intend to hand to the children of fur-wearing parents outside of seasonal performances of <i>The Nutcracker</i> across America. It's not actually a comic in any meaningful sense, mind you, but my understanding is that "PETA" and "meaningful sense" are pretty much mutually exclusive by this point. Quick pop quiz: will this activity result in (A) parents thinking to themselves, "Hmm, the nice young lady just handed little Billy a flyer full of gory pictures -- it occurs to me that I should rethink my unexamined fidelity to the carnivorous heritage of my species;" (B) parents thinking to themselves, "Hmm, that heavily-pierced woman just handed little Billy a flyer full of gory pictures -- I think I'd better scream for the police;" or (C) various bruises about the faces and necks of a number of animal-rights activists, while the onlooking crowd applauds?<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.simpleweblog.com/comics/archives/000952.php">Simply Comics</a>' Babar checks in with a take on Stuart Moore's recent <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7273"><i>Newsarama</i></a> article, and suggests reading the comments session to see the readers do serious damage to Moore's arguments.<p>

(Incidentally, yesterday I forgot to mention Moore's big, scary warning about returnability in the bookstore market. It's true enough, so far as it goes -- Drawn & Quarterly's Crumb book, <i>Waiting for Food Volume 3</i>, is currently sitting in the remainder pile at my local bookstore for just $7, a far cry from the original $25 cover price. Shit happens. Ultimately, though, you have to get over the risks and try if you're going to succeed. Publishers have to do their best to anticipate the demand for the books they release; play it fairly conservatively and you've got a shot at making a go of it. It's not like you have an incentive to do otherwise -- given the Direct Market resistance to anything not wearing a cape and tights, it's not like publishers who buck the trend are likely to do well <b>there</b>, either. Ultimately, Moore's warnings are of a kind with those of a hermit, sitting in his cave and cautioning you not to go outside because the sun will blind you if you stare at it too long.)<p>

<li> Non-comics weblogger <a href="http://www.whiterose.org/pam/archives/004949.html">Ginger Stampley</a> explains why she stopped reading comics. <i>(Link via <a href="http://www.highclearing.com/archivesuo/week_2003_12_14.html#004817">Jim Henley</a>.)</i><p>

<li> Oh, look -- <a href="http://eatmorepeople.blogspot.com/">Rick Geerling</a>'s back at his weblog.<p>

<li> How <a href="http://www.addblog.com/archives/2003_12_14_archive.html#107166279829690534">thin-skinned</a> is John Byrne? This <a href="http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/thread?forumid=248951&messageid=1071581543&lp=1071613852&achk=1">thin-skinned</a>, kids, <a href="http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=009651">this thin-skinned</a>.</ul><p>

One final note: the comics world, like everything else, seems to be slowly winding down for the holidays, so unless something major happens, you can expect these little condensed daily updates every weekday through next Tuesday, when we'll be shutting down for a three-day break. (Two exceptions: an announcement for tomorrow's site update in advance of <i>The Comics Journal #257</i>, and a look at the reaction to two recent internet kerfuffles -- last Monday's Direct Market essay and the Corner Comics affair -- currently penciled in for Monday.)
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<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 3:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#news4">permalink</a></b></font>
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<div align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Wednesday, December 17th, 2003</b></font></div>
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<a name="news3">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Today's news</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Potpourri) </b>It's a bit slow at the moment, but you won't find me complaining. The biggest noise currently being made in the comics blogosphere at the moment seems to be one of those "let's you and him fight" arguments erupting around <i>TCJ</i> news editor Michael Dean and... myself. It kicked off via <a href="http://www.alltooflat.com/about/personal/sean/?BlogNum=514">Sean Collins</a>, who in lauding <a href="http://www.tcj.com/journalista/zarch200312C.html#corner">Monday's report</a> on Corner Comics paused to note that this weblog was covering more timely stories than the <i>News Watch</i> section of <i>The Comics Journal</i>. <a href="http://www.highclearing.com/archivesuo/week_2003_12_14.html#004807">Any</a> <a href="http://www.addblog.com/archives/2003_12_14_archive.html#107150319787997894">number</a> of <a href="http://oakhaus.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_oakhaus_archive.html#107158348298102911">webloggers</a> have joined in since, with Collins fleshing out his thoughts on the subject in an <a href="http://www.alltooflat.com/about/personal/sean/?BlogNum=519">expanded essay</a> yesterday. (Hey, if I'm going to gore other people's oxes, I should note it when oxen close to home get the same treatment, now shouldn't I?)<p>

It goes without saying that I have a conflict of interest on this subject, for if I defend the magazine's news-section I'm playing the company flack, while if I say anything else rumors will fly that I'm angling for Mr. Dean's job or something. Moreover, I doubt I have the proper perspective for analysing or refuting others' critiques of a magazine I've always supported in partisan fashion. Instead, let me just note a couple of things:<p>

<ol><li> <i>The Comics Journal</i> is a monthly magazine, which means by definition it isn't going to be able to compete with newfangled contraptions like the internet in covering every news story that comes along. Indeed, the whole purpose of the <i>&iexcl;Journalista!</i> weblog is to perform that function and handle the day-to-day news stories, using the website rather than newsprint to keep up with the breathless speed of the digital age and allow the <i>Journal</i> to concentrate on more in-depth news stories (such as the firing of Bill Jemas and trouble surrounding CrossGen, both of which -- contra Collins -- news editor Michael Dean <b>has</b> in fact covered in depth). The two house organs work in complementary, not competing fashion.<p>

<li> I absolutely deny being a journalist in the proper sense of the term. Indeed, Monday's report may well have been the first time I've written anything for this weblog that could even remotely be called a news article, and even there I got one key detail wrong (see retailer Bill Hicks' comments in <a href="http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubb/Forum1/HTML/006390.html">this message-board thread</a> to learn how the ins and outs of cash accounting are considerably more ambiguous than I had depicted as being). Beyond that, my job here in the weblog is to link to the reporting of others; to find interesting articles, essays and archives to throw into the mix; and to combine both tasks with opinions which will hopefully provide an interesting perspective for the readers. Since the launch of the blog, there's been a bit of gossip-columnist detail thrown in as well, as <i>&iexcl;Journalista!</i> has attracted the occasional tidbit from disgruntled employees of various comics-related freelancers and employees, but somehow I doubt that Rich Johnston is kept awake at nights by the thought of my shadow following him down the trail. I have many habits and vices guaranteed to make polite company keep its distance, but journalism isn't among them.</ol><p>

Oh, right, the links. Here you go:<p>

<ul><li> <a href="http://www.baxterbulletin.com/news/stories/20031217/localnews/50440.html"><i>The Baxter Bulletin</i></a> is reporting that George Fisher, longtime editorial cartoonist for <i>The Arkansas Gazette</i>, has died at the age of 80. Fisher served his paper for decades, lampooning the leaders of Arkansas' political scene from Orval Faubus to Bill Clinton. You can read a short appreciation of him at <a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/~arwhite/wchs/GeorgeFisher.htm">this link</a>; here's one of his <a href="http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/MRC-History-Center/gallery/cartoons/graphics/gmoments.gif">editorial cartoons</a>, showing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers parting the Red Sea in a commentary on Arkansas riverworks from 1978.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6458-2003Dec16.html"><i>The Washington Post</i></a> (registration required) leads its political gossip column with cartoonist Aaron McGruder's speech at an anniversary dinner Sunday night for venerable left-wing magazine <i>The Nation</i>, where the <i>Boondocks</i> creator earned boos for stating that the Democratic party would have to be "meaner" if it wished to beat George Bush in next year's election. This has been your Aaron McGruder link for the day.<p>

<li> Gina Lubrano, <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/lubrano/20031215-9999_mz1e15lubran.html"><i>The San Diego Union-Tribune</i></a>'s "reader's representative," gently explains to the readers that she represents that the comics pages sometimes contain adult themes.<p>

<li> Harvey Pekar, David Rees, Neil Gaiman, Chip Kidd and Dame Darcy all made Whitney Matheson's "top 100 people of the year" list for <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2003-12-17-pop-candy_x.htm"><i>USA Today</i></a>.<p>

<li> Susan McMillan profiles Hilary Price, creator of the syndicated comic strip <i>Rhymes With Orange</i>, for Vermont gay newspaper <a href="http://www.mountainpridemedia.org/oitm/issues/2003/12dec2003/ae02_price.htm"><i>Out in the Mountains</i></a>.<p>

<li> Over at <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7273"><i>Newsarama</i></a>, Stuart Moore expends a hell of a lot of effort to argue that Direct Market comics sales are reaching for the salad days again. Alas, it's mostly rhetorical. Here's the key quote: "There was, indeed, a decline from the salad days of the early '90s. But by February '97, the total dollar amount of the top 300 copies was $19.12 million. The latest figures I have are for September 2003, and that number is very similar: $19.06 million." In short, the Direct Market has been treading water for over six years now. Moore also acknowledges that better selling titles are essentially sucking cash from lesser-selling titles at this point, but forgets to note that graphic novels could well be doing the same thing. Is there a single shred of evidence that more people are actually shopping in comics shops these days? Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.neilalien.com/doc/archive/2003/12/index.html#a16">NeilAlien</a> went searching for industries equivilent in size to the Direct Market, in an attempt to compare growth curves. Among his findings: there's <a href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/archives/j09casinos.htm">a casino</a> in Joliet, Illinois that's as big as the comics industry. "Oof," indeed.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.newsfromme.com/">Mark Evanier</a> (permalink <a href="http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2003_12_12.html#003437f">not working</a> at the moment) reminds his readers that Julius Schwartz isn't dead yet.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.addblog.com/archives/2003_12_14_archive.html#107157963950230238">Alan David Doane</a> lists his favorite comic-book series for 2003.<p>

<li> Pop-culture weblog <a href="http://www.nutcote.demon.co.uk/nutlog.html"><i>Plep</i></a> points to an online exhibit hosted by <a href="http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/pubadmin/russianposters/Sov_era.html">Rutgers University</a>, which collects a fair sampling of cartoons from the Soviet Union, grouped by various eras.</ul><p>

Finally, a journalist working for a city newspaper recently sent me the following anecdote via email:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Just another two-cents on Tokyopop's growing empire...<p>

"As far as comics companies go, Tokyopop ranks highly in terms of media savvy. When I first came to work at the paper in May, I got the go-ahead to review graphic novels for the book review page. I sent out messages to a number of comics companies, mostly indies. I got some response, mostly emails, although Top Shelf sent me <i>Barefoot Serpent</i> and Jeff Mason at Alternative Comics sent me a huge amount of stuff, and still continues to do so.<p>

"A few weeks in I wrote a 'manga gets big' story, speaking to both Viz and Tokyopop. I had to really push Viz, calling several times to get a response. Tokyopop, on the other hand, practically fell over themselves to make sure I spoke to the right people. They also sent me a huge box with 17 volumes from different series to check out (I got hooked into a couple of them).<p>

"And since the story ran, they've continued to send me periodic press releases (which, I should mention, I also get from Oni and Fantagraphics, but only because I signed up for their mailing lists).<p>

"The only company that's even come close to that has been Alternative Comics. I count that media savvy as part of a larger 'business savvy.' I suspect manga will go through a boom and bust cycle before reaching a stable level, but Toykopop seems to have set themselves up pretty well so far."</b></blockquote><p>

With that, I'll see you tomorrow, when I <b>still</b> won't be practicing anything resembling responsible journalism.
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<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 4:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#news3">permalink</a></b></font>
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<div align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Tuesday, December 16th, 2003</b></font></div>
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<a name="schwartz">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Julius Schwartz hospitalized</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Comic Books) </b>Glenn Hauman -- you remember, we <a href="http://www.tcj.com/journalista/zarch200212C.html#nerd">had a fight</a> about Carol Kalish a year ago -- emailed me a link to Harlan Ellison's <a href="http://harlanellison.com/heboard/unca.htm">message board forum</a>, where we learn that legendary DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz has been hospitalized for pneumonia. It sounds very bad:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Just received an update from Julie's granddaughter, Andrea -- herself a nurse at Winthrop -- and the news is somewhat less than reassuring.<p>

"Julie doesn't even remember that we spoke yesterday. He is sleeping most of the time. Terribly dehydrated, especially for a man 88-and-a-half years old. A blood infection has manifested. He's on the respirator full time. His kidney function is imperiled and substandard at the moment."</b></blockquote><p>

I'll report further news as I hear it, although those interested in Mr. Schwartz's health would probably be better off simply following Ellison's forum for the latest.
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<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 4:15 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#schwartz">permalink</a></b></font>
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<a name="other2">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>In other news</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Potpourri) </b>Here's what else is happening in our little neck of the woods at the moment:<p>

<ul><li> In all the rush to get yesterday's Corner Comics report out the door, I somehow managed to miss this: <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/4005.html"><i>ICv2</i></a> reported that Tokyopop's push into further retail outlets has continued to show fruit, with exploratory test displays in Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, Shopko, Stop & Shop and Sam Goody locations, as well as a continued entrenchment in Best Buy. Meanwhile, <a href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7255"><i>Newsarama</i></a> notes that the company's move towards Western cartoonists continues apace. Weblogger <a href="http://shawnfumo.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_shawnfumo_archive.html#107150315175424086">Shawn Fumo</a> wonders why American companies are incapable of getting their act together in so comprehensive a fashion.<p>

<li> India's <a href="http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/00215210061.htm"><i>The Hindu</i></a> marks the death of cartoonist P. Ravindran at the age of 79. Since 1947 Ravindran had been a regular contributor to such newspapers as <i>The Times of India</i>, <i>The Hindu</i> and <i>Indian Express</i>. I was unable to find any examples of his work online.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.indexonline.org/news/20031216_morocco.shtml"><i>Index on Censorship</i></a> has a good summary on the continuing story of Ali Lmrabet, the magazine editor locked away in a Moroccan prison for publishing cartoons and articles critical of that nation's monarchy.<p>

<li> The American Film Institute has named the film based upon Hervey Pekar's <i>American Splendor</i> comics series one of the ten best movies of the year, according to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/15/film.awards.reut/">CNN</a>.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi.html">Scott McCloud</a> points out that the fledgling micropayments company <a href="https://www.bitpass.com/earn/">BitPass</a> is moving out of beta-testing and flinging its doors open to the public.<p>

<li> <a href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7251"><i>Newsarama</i></a>'s Matt Brady recently spoke with Eddie Campbell about the project that's been holding his attention since the collapse of his publishing house -- a fully-painted Batman novella.<p>

<li> Writing for <a href="http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/features/jamestaylor/"><i>Underground Online</i></a> (I don't think I can type that name without laughing), Evan Cantrell interviews the publisher of latest graphic novel upstart Rorschach Entertainment, Seattle's James Taylor.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.egonlabs.com/"><i>Egon</i></a> points to an essay on <a href="http://www.comicartville.com/rareeisner.htm"><i>Comicartville</i></a> by Ken Quattro, which offers an in-depth, copiously illustrated look at the early life and career of legendary cartoonist Will Eisner.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031222-561502,00.html"><i>Time</i> Magazine</a>'s Lev Grossman reviews the second volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's <i>The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</i>.<p>

<li> Nilanjana Roy surveys the modern-day graphic novel for Indian financial newspaper <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=34&story=29857"><i>The Business Standard</i></a>. She does a fairly decent job of it, too.<p>

<li> Could someone at Microsoft please buy Daryl Cagle some permalinks for Christmas? <a href="http://cagle.slate.msn.com//news/BLOG/main.asp">Today's entry</a> finds Daryl asking two female editorial cartoonists, America's Jen Sorenson and Iran's Sepideh Anjomrooz, why there aren't more female editorial cartoonists.<p>

<li> Monique Pryor's back at <a href="http://jimhillmedia.com/articles/guest/mpryor.12162003.1.htm">Jim Hill Media</a> with another collection of odd anecdotes about comics history. It's a shame there's no permanent homepage for this column, so I could throw it into the listings at left.<p>

<li> Ampersand's co-blogger, PinkDreamPoppies, <a href="http://www.amptoons.com/blog/001099.html">asks for help</a> in selecting non-superhero comics to read; the comments section jumps appropriately. Later Ampersand himself <a href="http://www.amptoons.com/blog/001100.html">checks in</a> with a list of his own.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/jkason/48834.html">Jason Kimble</a> finally got around to reading the second volume of the top-selling comics paperback series <i>Chobits</i>, and is frankly astonished by the unholy amount of titillation he encounters.<p>

<li> <a href="http://pacioccosmind.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_pacioccosmind_archive.html#107154904022490247">Michael Paciocco</a> tears through recent public statements made by Image co-founder turned universally-shunned doofus Rob Liefeld, and translates them from Egospeak into English.<p>

<li> <a href="http://fanboyrampage.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_fanboyrampage_archive.html#107152421161246078">The fanboys speak</a>, and what do they want? Nipples!</ul><p>

Finally, a quick answer to a question posed by <a href="http://grotesqueanatomy.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_grotesqueanatomy_archive.html#107146942689899180">John Jakala</a>: <i>Prophecy</i> Magazine essentially went tits-up <a href="http://elayneriggs.blogspot.com/2003_09_01_elayneriggs_archive.html#106441337646967039">in September</a> without publishing a single issue. Its founders claims it'll return as an anthology volume. I'll believe it when I see it.
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<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 4:15 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#other2">permalink</a></b></font>
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<div align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Monday, December 15th, 2003</b></font></div>
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<a name="corner">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>Corner Comics: IRS wins, retailers applaud</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Comics retailing) </b>Okay, I suppose we can now end the call-to-arms. Weblogger <a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/#107127381114098709">Laura Gjovaag</a> has the latest on <a href="http://www.cornercomics.com">Corner Comics</a> owner Paige Gifford's <a href="http://www.tcj.com/journalista/zarch200312B.html#corner">fight with the IRS</a>: it's over. Facing a December 31st deadline, after which the government agency has promised to take legal action, and unable to afford an extended fight, Ms. Gifford has elected to capitulate to IRS demands:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Paige wants to thank everyone who has responded with good cheer and advice, as well as everyone who linked to this story. While it's too late to save her from the clutches of the IRS, it isn't too late to warn other stores who might be listening to incorrect or incomplete advice from their CPA. She has already contacted a shredding company, and will be shredding much of her inventory before the end of the year. While it's true that most of the stuff that will be going under the grinder really is worthless, it's a really hard thing for a lover of books to destroy any books, even comic books. Yes, her lawyer and new CPA still firmly believe that she is completely in compliance with the law, but she cannot afford to fight the IRS on their terms."</b></blockquote><p>

While the professional help hired by Ms. Gifford to defend her against the U.S. government may believe her to be in full compliance with the law, fellow retailers following the news seem almost unanimous in disagreement. Reacting to Friday's report on this weblog, retailers in a thread on the Comic Book Industry Alliance's <a href="http://forums.delphiforums.com/retailforum/messages?msg=6676.1">Delphi forum</a> (don't bother clicking the link; it's password-protected) denounced Ms. Gifford's ignorance and lack of business savvy in neglecting to conduct a yearly inventory and deduct accordingly. The tone was set early on:<p>

<blockquote><b>"But, this is not a case of the Man coming down on an innocent businessperson. She goofed up, and they are not a very playful lot. I don't like the implication that she is a victim, because she simple has failed to do what all of us are supposed to do. I had to pay twenty grand to the feds last April 15th cause I had a good year. I'm not happy about it, but dems da breaks.<p>

"I do not mean to sound callous, I just think retailers need to be educated. And don't just rely on your accountant, learn it yourself. My accountant got me audited because she ran alot of shortcuts in my return and threw up red flags. Screwing up your inventory is one way to get yourself in trouble."</b></blockquote><p>

Another retailer was even less conciliatory:<p>

<blockquote><b>"I'm suppose to feel sorry and flock to the aid of a poorly educated store owner who broke the law? I'm suppose to listen nicely and nod my head in a caring way as they interpet the law the way they want to?<p>

"Complaining that they simply made up their own explainations of the tax laws and that those explainations don't make any sense... immediately after explaining how they did it... is absurd.<p>

"This is not a travesity. There is nothing to 'rally around'. The only danger for other stores is that they remain as poorly educated as this owner."</b></blockquote><p>

Let me acknowledge that the above may be an incomplete depiction of the discussions found in the thread in question; they are based upon fragments emailed to me by two seperate retailers with forum membership by Friday evening, and may not reflect the tone of any conversation that has taken place since then (I should add that this is why I'm not naming names). In any case, perhaps the best example of the attitude retailers following the controversy seem to have assumed -- certainly a more conciliatory response than others I've read -- can be found in this open letter emailed to me early Sunday evening from Massechusetts retailer <a href="http://www.modern-myths.com/">Jim Crocker</a>:<p>

<blockquote><b>"I read about the 'plight' of Comic Corner with some interest, as I'm always interested in how other retailers handle their shops.<p>
 
"Having read Paige's account of events, and having actually read the section of the tax laws she's citing as her defense, it seems to me that the situation is not a case of the big, bad, evil government harassing someone totally undeserving, but a small business owner who did not understand the tax laws. Without actually hearing the government's side of the argument, or any testimony from her accountant or tax attorney, we're only left with Paige's version of events, so I went and looked at the actual paragraph in the Tax Code she's citing in her defense.<p>
 
"The 'million dollar' exemption that she cites seems on my reading to refer to the necessity of performing an actual physical count of your inventory to verify the figures you report. When business owners pay taxes, they pay it on any profit they make. The government (correctly) doesn't make a distinction about how you spend that profit: if you sink it back into inventory, you still pay tax on it. This means that you still have to report how much inventory you have every year (usually determined by how much you spent on it if you don't perform an actual inventory). This failure to report her inventory is probably what brought her to the attention of the IRS in the first place. (Note that any business with an interest in efficiency or accuracy should be performing an annual physical inventory regardless of whether it's required by law or not.)<p>
 
"Seeing fellow retailers suffer because they make incorrect assumptions about the tax laws, or fail to perform required basic accounting procedures is painful. But when that happens, the blame should fall where it belongs, which is on their own shoulders. The IRS judgment will certainly have a profound effect on her business, but the fact that they gave her an out, even if it is a costly and perhaps painful one, would seem to indicate they understand that this is a case of ignorance and not necessarily malice. As a professional retailer who performs an annual inventory, pays to maintain a point of sale system, and employs a CPA, I appreciate when the IRS makes sure that other businesses who cut corners (deliberately or by inexperience) face the appropriate sanctions dictated by law.<p>
 
"I wish Paige luck, and hope that she takes the appropriate steps to ensure the health of her business in the future, but can't fault the IRS for doing it's job on this. I believe the powerful force of your righteous indignation and grassroots organizing juggernaut are misplaced, or at least mistargeted: rather than letters to senators or angry blog posts, raising donations to help her hire a good accountant and pay to perform a physical inventory so she has some concrete numbers with which to argue her case would be a more useful effort, both short term and long.<p>
 
"Also, just to correct a factual error in the column: Of several dozen active threads currently running on the CBIA, there are none that are currently discussing discounting. As a widespread practice of debatable effectiveness in the industry, it is certainly a legitimate topic for discussion among industry professionals, but it isn't something we've had a go at in several weeks, perhaps months. There are two dozen or so active posts with retailers asking for advice and getting good, practical answers of the sort that might have helped Paige avoid a mess like this in the first place, though."</b></blockquote><p>

We'll discuss the CBIA in a bit, but let's deal with the main issue on our plate first. Note that Mr. Crocker fully sympathises with the calamity which has beset Corner Comics, but nonetheless believes that by failing to take inventory, Paige Gifford has essentially brought her troubles upon herself. Is this true? I spoke to Ms. Gifford briefly over the weekend, making an appointment for an interview, but was not able to re-establish contact later. Having not heard the Internal Revenue Service's side of the case, nor having seen any documentation about it, I of course cannot make any claim as to her innocence or guilt. That's not the question at hand, however. The question is, is Corner Comics in defiance of the law by default because it didn't inventory its backstock on a yearly basis? After having investigated the relevant legal and accounting issues for several days, I feel fairly certain that I can answer this question: no, it isn't. In fact, Jim Crocker's quoting entirely the wrong law in the above letter. There's an entire side to accounting law that's being ignored here, and it is this aspect of the law upon which Ms. Gifford has based her case.<p>

(Before we go any further, let me acknowledge the obvious right now. Like most of the people currently involved in this debate, I have at best a layman's knowledge of the basic concepts behind business accounting, and what follows should therefore in no way be considered a comprehensive analysis, but rather my best attempt to discern the legal basis for the argument between Corner Comics and the IRS, based upon a few day's research. There are doubtlessly wrinkles in the law of which I'm completely unaware, and areas where I've misinterpreted the law by omission, although I shall do my best to avoid it. In the rest of this essay, I will argue that the public statements made by Paige Gifford and Laura Gjovaag seem to conform with what I've been able to learn about the relevant tax laws; that said, I do not have enough evidence at hand to make an informed guess as to Ms. Gifford's actual guilt or innocence in this matter. Just so that's all clear at the outset, you understand.)<p>

Mr. Crocker, like most (if not all) of the retailers commenting on the CBIA forum, apparently use what's known as <b>accrued accounting</b> to keep their books, and are reacting under what I'm going to guess is the assumption that this is the only legal way for small businesses to handle their accounting for tax purposes. They're mistaken. There are in fact two ways to do the books -- accrual accounting and <b>cash-basis accounting</b>, which is also known as "cash accounting." There's actually considerable difference between the two methods, so before we go any further let's define our terms. The online encylcopedia <a href="http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash-basis_accounting">Wikipedia</a> explains:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Cash-basis accounting records financial events based on cash flows. For example, when you pay your rent your landlord would record an income event when you make the payment. The landlord records an expense event when he pays the rental agent their fee for your apartment. It is the accounting method used by most individuals, and by some businesses that have limited payables or receivables or whose income and expense cash flows are closely associated with each other in time.<p>

"Accrual-basis accounting records financial events based on events that change your net worth (the amount owed to you less the amount you owe others). Standard practice is to record expenses with the incomes they are associated with. For example, your landlord would record an income event on the day your rent comes due (you owe it to him). He records an expense event when the fee owed to the rental agent comes due for your apartment that month (he owes it to the agent). The details of the actual cash flows and their timing are tracked by bookkeeping."</b></blockquote><p>

Put simply: cash accounting is similar to how one might handle financial affairs in one's checkbook -- incoming and outgoing cash are recorded in a two-column straight line, and taxes are calculated accordingly. Think of it as the 1040-EZ of business tax law. You don't deal with a lot of deductions -- while I have no doubt that there are complications involved, it's reputed to be nowhere near as complex as the law surrounding accrual accounting, where backstock is deductable in the short term but must be inventoried, accounted for and declared at the end of each year. Further, accrual accounting can generate tax debts where there's no money to be taxed; because money is taxable when a transaction is logged rather than when cash is actually exchanged, businesses can find themselves in hock for deals that have been signed, but have not yet been successfully billed. In theory, you could save more money with accrual accounting and a creative use of deductions, but cash accounting can save you time in bookkeeping and billing hours by accountants, which is what <a href="http://www.bcentral.com/articles/harper/124.asp">makes it attractive</a> to very small businesses.<p>

Under the accrual-accounting system, inventory is considered a taxable asset by the IRS. The difference between the value of a given business' inventory at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year is calculated, and the result is either added or subtracted from one's taxable income, based upon whether the result is a plus or minus. For retailers using accrual accounting, taking inventory is indeed essential to dealing with taxes, especially if one intends to depreciate comics that have gone down in value and are now effectively worthless bundles of paper cluttering up the shop. (For other forms of commerce, accrual accounting can lead to even further headaches. Builders and general contractors are an excellent example: the moment a client commissions the construction of a building, the Internal Revenue Service assumes that the builders are liable for the money they're set to earn, even if the contract states that payment will be made at the end of the job. More on that in a bit.)<p>

Using cash accounting, the basic rules are different. When you buy product from someone for later resale, you're spending money that you've already logged as income. Since you never deduct inventory to begin with, there's no need to count your inventory, and thus there's no legal reason for an IRS agent to try to tax it, since you already declared the money you used to buy the product in the first place. See how that works? This is why I believe it's possible for Paige Gifford to be in full compliance with the law, while the retailers quoted above do not: said retailers are basing their opinions on how they themselves handle accounting, using a method which is in fact wildly different than the one used to maintain the books at Corner Comics.<p>

Let's go back to Ms. Gifford's public statement, found in <a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/#107119904291697945">Laura Gjovaag's weblog</a>:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Now, the law clearly states that if a business makes less than a million dollars a year in gross receipts, they DO NOT have to recognize inventory. Which means that any store that makes less than a million dollars does not have to take a physical inventory of their store's product at the end of the fiscal year. MY STORE FALLS INTO THIS CATEGORY as do most other comic stores and used bookstores in America. So I have never taken a physical inventory of my store as I have not needed to."</b></blockquote><p>

This is an <a href="http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc408.html">accurate statement</a>, at least since the year 2000, if one realizes her to be discussing cash accounting (something I was able to confirm in the brief time I spent on the phone with Ms. Gifford Saturday afternoon). That said, this method of bookkeeping has always been unpopular with the Internal Revenue Service. Remember what I said about general contractors? The IRS has always preferred to be paid now rather than later, and a builder working on a house commissioned in 2003 but not scheduled for completion until 2004 will nonetheless owe taxes on money earned from the job on their 2003 returns under accrued accounting. Again and again, my research has led me past throwaway references to the Internal Revenue Service's desire to limit the use of cash accounting to the extent that it possibly can, for just this reason. In April of 2000, Small Business Legislative Council president John Satagaj testified before the House Committee on Small Business, calling for the rules on cash accounting <a href="http://www.house.gov/smbiz/hearings/106th/2000/000405/satagaj.html">to be relaxed</a>:<p>

<blockquote><b>"We are here today because the Internal Revenue Code does not set forth an affirmative rule on the use of cash accounting. Like many issues under the Internal Revenue Code, you find the answer by working backwards. Most determinations of which tax accounting method a taxpayer must use begin with Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 448. (Other IRC sections such as IRC Sections 447 and 460 may also come into play, but that is a story for another day.)<p>

"As a general rule, IRC Section 448 requires corporations to use the accrual method of accounting. There are three basic exceptions. There is one for farming and another for certain qualified personal service corporations. There is a third exception for corporations with less than $5 million in gross receipts. But, as it turns out, the small business exception may not quite be the exception we thought it was.<p>

"The Department of Treasury is in the early stages of a new effort to force small business service providers using the cash method to convert to accrual accounting. As we understand it, it is the Department's position that IRC Section 448 does not necessarily guarantee a small business the right to use cash accounting, rather, the Treasury asserts, IRC Section 448 only prevents large corporations from using cash accounting. It is the Department's position that if it can otherwise require a small business taxpayer to be on accrual accounting, it may do so, notwithstanding IRC Section 448. While we believe the intent of Congress at the time of enactment of the $5 million gross receipts test in IRC Section 448 was to allow small businesses to use cash accounting regardless of circumstances, the actual language of the section can be read to support the Treasury's views."</b></blockquote><p>

The above passage's implied confusion in the use of cash accounting prior to the year 2000 is reflected in my research; I was unable to discover the rules for its use prior to that date, or indeed if there <b>were</b> widely-accepted and agreed-upon rules prior to the turn of the 21st century. The first definitive clarification of the rules occured in Spring of 2000, when the Internal Revenue Service  allowed any business earning under $1 million a year in total gross receipts the use of the cash-accounting method, so long as they used the method consistently and exclusively throughout the year. The next year, the IRS further loosened the regulations, as noted by Milton Zall in the June 2001 issue of the general-contractors' magazine <a href="http://www.wconline.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,3299,28259,00.html"><i>Walls and Ceilings</i></a>:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Recently, the IRS changed its position by dropping the book-conformity requirement. The IRS now says it will permit use of the cash method even if a firm's books and records are on accrual method as long as the firm grossed $1 million or less in average revenue over the past three years. Thus, consult an accountant or tax adviser to determine whether taxes would be lower using the cash method of accounting. If the cash accounting provides better results, switch to the cash method of accounting for the 2000 tax year. A contractor who has already filed a 2000 return using the accrual accounting method needn't despair: He or she can file an amended return using the cash accounting method."</b></blockquote><p>

For those businesses earning over $1 million, the rules are trickier. Writing for <a href="http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2002/0902/dept/d096402a.htm"><i>The CPA Journal</i></a> in September of 2002, tax accountant Thomas Chiavetta noted yet another change in the rules, granting businesses earning between $1-10 million in gross receipts the right to use cash-accounting methods, but only if said businesses were not principally involved in certain farming, mining, manufacturing, information, retail or wholesale trade industries. Covers most of America's businesses, does it not? Like I said, the IRS doesn't like cash accounting, and accepts its legality only grudgingly, despite repeated attempts by legislators and the courts to force them to allow it and even expand its usage to benefit businesses which find the method advantageous.<p>

Okay, we're entering into overkill territory, here. Suffice it to say that yes, there is a method by which any small business earning less than $1 million can avoid the need to perform a yearly inventory of their backstock, that it's perfectly legal, and that if Paige Gifford is telling the truth, there's reason to believe that the Internal Revenue Service may well be violating her rights as a taxpayer by attempting to tax her inventory anyway. That's a big "if" there, of course -- if Ms. Gifford declared her inventory as a deduction in ways not permitted by the rules governing cash accounting, then it can indeed be said that she brought her problems upon herself. If this is the case, however, why use cash accounting in the first place? As I said many paragraphs back, every statement made by Gifford and Gjovaag concerning the rules by which Ms. Gifford handled her bookkeeping seem to be supported by the basic principles of her chosen form of accounting. Whether you believe there's a story here, therefore, depends upon whether you're inclined to give Ms. Gifford the benefit of the doubt.<p>

All of this leads us, in roundabout fashion, back to the Comic Book Industry Alliance. Friday's <a href="http://www.tcj.com/journalista/zarch200312B.html#corner">weblog entry</a> on the subject resulted in a flurry of email over the weekend, most of it by retailers (A) angered that I would issue an "action alert" for someone "so clearly in the wrong," and (B) outraged that I would question the usefulness of the CBIA as an active trade association. Just so we're all up to speed here, this is what I wrote about the CBIA that got so many people upset:<p>

<blockquote><b>"Of course, in an ideal world this would be a task best co-ordinated by an industry trade group, sufficiently organized to offer legal, moral and financial assistance to a fellow retailer in need -- you know, a "<a href="http://www.thecbia.com/index2.html">comic book industry alliance</a>" of some kind. Sadly, if such an organization <i>did</i> exist, it would probably be too busy, I dunno, whining about discounters on a message board somewhere to be of practical use. Still, one can dream..."</b></blockquote><p>

Let me state here and now that I have no problem with the CBIA's individual members, many of whom are among the most farsighted and forward-thinking retailers in the Direct Market -- proprietors of exactly the kind of shops that I have argued again and again in this weblog should be emulated by others. Hell, I <b>admire</b> many of the people involved with the CBIA. That said, I'm afraid that I find it tempting to break out the scare quotes every time I refer to the CBIA collectively as a "trade group." Most industries have such organizations looking out for their common self-interest, and such groups engage in a wide variety of tasks to achieve just this purpose. Through membership fees and fundraising efforts, they retain legal counsel, legislative lobbyists, publicists and other such functionaries to follow trends that affect their businesses and react accordingly. They join forces with other, like-minded organizations in an effort to increase their weight among people legislators and media outlets. They serve as clearing-houses for information useful to their membership, and advertise its availability to the industries they serve. Some even pool their resources to provide health-care options for small-businesses and professionals who might otherwise not have access to such things.<p>

These are all costly, difficult and time-consuming tasks, and I have no doubt that the CBIA would argue in response that most of its members simply don't have the money to fund such activities, even if they were to pool their resources. Given the profit margins under which most retailers operate, this is almost certainly true. That said, there's much that even the most cash-strapped of industry alliances can do to protect each other. One could keep a lawyer and CPA on retainer to offer the occasional advice when difficult situations arise. When a member finds him-or-herself in trouble, a single letter of concern, written on stationary identifying the writer as a representative for a trade organization with a nationwide membership, can have the same effect as a hundred letters from individual business-owners. That's the point. If the CBIA were a functional trade group, it could have afforded to seek professional advice as to whether there was some measure of merit in Paige Gifford's claims, then fired off an angry letter to the IRS Washington-state office, demanding clarification on the situation, rather than sitting around on a walled-off message board telling each other that she undoubtedly deserved everything she got.<p>

A functional trade organization, in short, would be one capable of doing something rather than nothing. I see no evidence that this describes the CBIA in any way, shape or form. This is a shame. If there's one set of businesses in these United States that <b>needs</b> a trade organization to offer its members a collective voice and source of business leverage, it's the shopowners whose hard work keeps the Direct Market functioning, day in and day out. Perhaps it's unfair to single out the CBIA for failing in this regard, but it's the closest thing to a trade organization we currently have -- and that's just sad. It's too late to save Corner Comics, of course, but what about the next retailer to face a similar situation? Is it possible to build something that might help them? If the Comic Book Industry Alliance isn't the organization for the job, shouldn't someone be thinking about a trade group that <b>could</b> fill this badly-needed role? Why isn't anyone trying?<p>

(Postscript: a tip of the hat to <a href="http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/003719.shtml">Jesse Walker</a>, <a href="http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/news/107146507552767.htm">Tim O'Shea</a>, <a href="http://www.alltooflat.com/about/personal/sean/?BlogNum=511">Sean Collins</a>, <a href="http://www.addblog.com/archives/2003_12_07_archive.html#107123237903738776">Alan David Doane</a>, <a href="http://ynot.motime.com/1071318685#185817">David Fiore</a>, <a href="http://www.highclearing.com/archivesuo/week_2003_12_07.html#004797">Jim Henley</a>, <a href="http://johnnybacardi.blogspot.com/2003_12_07_johnnybacardi_archive.html#107128053790704921">David Allen Jones</a>, <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/jkason/48253.html">Jason Kimble</a>, <a href="http://www.d-generation.ca/jd/2003_12_07_archive.html#107123141918182402">Jason Marcy</a>, <a href="http://www.neilalien.com/doc/archive/2003/12/index.html#a12">NeilAlien</a>, <a href="http://chrispuzak.blogspot.com/2003_12_07_chrispuzak_archive.html#107124467137475624">Chris Puzak</a>, <a href="http://elayneriggs.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_elayneriggs_archive.html#107132642417172477">Elayne Riggs</a>, <a href="http://oakhaus.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_oakhaus_archive.html#107126443048453460">Bill Sherman</a>, <a href="http://eve-tushnet.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_eve-tushnet_archive.html#107125099803874674">Eve Tushnet</a>, <a href="http://briefs.toddverbeek.com/archives/000120.html">Todd VerBeek</a>, <a href="http://www.thanator.com/index.php?p=67&more=1&c=1&curTheme=yao">Rob Worley</a>, and of course <a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/">Laura Gjovaag</a> for working to keep the Corner Comics story in play over the weekend. We can't win 'em all, kids, but that's no excuse not to try. I've undoubtedly missed a few, to whom apologies are of course extended for the omission.)
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<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 4:40 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#corner">permalink</a></b></font>
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<a name="other1">
<font face="Verdana" size="+1"><b>In other news</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana" size="-1"><b>(Potpourri) </b>Boy, you'd think we didn't need any other news to occur over the weekend, wouldn't you? Nonetheless, here's the latest update on doings in the pen-and-ink world:<p>

<ul><li> Rafael Agustin Gonzalez Verdugo, a retired air force interrogator indicted last week in Chile, may be able to provide clues leading to information on the death of political cartoonist Charles Horman, killed shortly after Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power in that nation in 1973. The quest by Horman's family to solve the mystery behind his execution formed the basis for the 1982 Constantine Costa-Gavras film <i>Missing</i>. California's <a href="http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/7483226.htm"><i>Contra Costa Times</i></a> has the Knight-Ridder report.<p>

<li> <i>Taimi 'o Tonga</i>, an independent newspaper serving the tiny South Pacific island of Tonga, has just been banned by a constitutional amendment signed by that nation's king, according to this <a href="http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/55564/?PHPSESSID=9a7304bbbd0cb846faeac19ddfa6de39">IFEX news alert</a>. The newspaper has been a constant thorn in the side of the Tongan government, printing articles and cartoons which have criticised how the nation is run, and has been the subject of numerous <a href="http://www.tcj.com/journalista/zarch200303D.html#tonga">previous attempts</a> to keep copies of the paper out of Tongan hands.<p>

<li> I don't mean to be upsetting retailers' stomachs today -- really, I don't. That said, I would be neglecting my duty if I didn't note this <a href="http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2050627"><i>Editor & Publisher</i></a> report, which reports that online sales jumped by 55% in November. Comics and graphic novels weren't specifically mentioned, but I suspect one can safely assume the trend to be rising there as well.<p>

<li> Rich Johnston's <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=1799"><i>Lying in the Gutters</i></a> for this week offers an unlighted rumor about a possible attempt by bookstore distributor CDS to challenge Diamond for distribution in the Direct Market, plus a conversation with former Now Comics publisher Tony Caputo about why his company went kaput-o in the 1990s (sorry, couldn't resist).<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/rage/107144769323789.htm"><i>Silver Bullet Comics</i></a>' gossip columnist Markisan Naso, meanwhile, recounts a heated exchange between Rob Liefeld and Rick Veitch over Liefeld's various inadequecies and moral failings as a publisher, which is always fun to watch.<p>

<li> Determined to leave no webcomics niche unfilled, online impressario Joey Manley has posted the prices for various levels of service at his new webcomics hosting service, <a href="http://www.webcomicsnation.com/">WebcomicsNation.com</a>. Clever young man, that Manley -- I think he'll go far. <i>(Link via</i> <a href="http://www.comixpedia.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1226&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0&POSTNUKESID=547d0cc9e175d52667389048795a3bb2">Comixpedia</a><i>.)</i><p>

<li> <a href="http://washingtontimes.com/arts/20031212-085648-3623r.htm"><i>The Washington Times</i></a>' Joseph Szadkowski interviews veteran comic-book cartoonist Joe Kubert.<p>

<li> Connecticut newspaper <a href="http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10654533&BRD=1656&PAG=461&dept_id=13278&rfi=6"><i>The Brookfield Journal</i></a> profiles local resident Marty Lowenstein, best known for his cartoons in <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, who now teaches in after-school programs.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/arts/design/14STRA.html"><i>The New York Times</i></a> (registration required) looks into the world of comic book historian Arlen Schumer, champion of the superhero comics of the 1960s.<p>

<li> Writing for Ohio's <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1071225274279162.xml"><i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i></a>, Michael Schuman details his recent trip to Santa Rosa, California, where he paid a visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center.<p>

<li> <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3637453&p1=0"><i>Newsweek</i></a> surveys cartoonist and illustrator Maurice Sendak's latest book, an adaptation of the Holocaust-era opera <i>Brundibar</i> created in collaboration with playwright Tony Kushner.<p>

<li> <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=709&ncid=785&e=10&u=/usatoday/20031204/en_bo_usatoday/12056058"><i>USA Today</i></a> offers gift-buying tips to help you be nice to all those weird relatives you don't understand. Top of the list: comics by Harvey Pekar, Lynda Barry and Dame Darcy! <i>(Thanks to John Roberson for emailing me the link.)</i><p>

<li> New Jersey editorial cartoonist Jimmy Margulies makes a guest appearance at <a href="http://cagle.slate.msn.com//news/BLOG/main.asp">Daryl Cagle's weblog</a> to explain how cartoonists can skewer Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon without resorting to imagery considered anti-Semitic by their readers. (As always, there are no permalinks, but it's currently the second item down for December 15th.)<p>

<li> Rob Vollmar continues his search for a proper definition of the term "graphic novel" at <a href="http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=734"><i>Ninth Art</i></a>.<p>

<li> Also at <a href="http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=735"><i>Ninth Art</i></a>: Andrew Wheeler, Alisdair Watson and Antony Johnston try their hands at picking the best comics covers of 2003 -- and unlike similar discussions in the comics blogosphere lately, manage to do so without spilling blood. Huzzah!<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.brokenfrontier.com/columns/grimtidings/grimtidings.htm"><i>Broken Frontiers</i></a>' Graeme McMillan (temporary link) tries to recount the most embarrassing ways that Marvel's publishing division screwed up this year.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.bugpowder.com/005193.html"><i>Bugpowder</i></a>'s Pete Ashton runs the photo that appeared next to this <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1104761,00.html"><i>Guardian</i></a> feature on "people in love," featuring John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs -- better known as the cartooning duo Metaphrog.<p>

<li> <a href="http://grotesqueanatomy.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_grotesqueanatomy_archive.html#107136028887177075">John Jakala</a> notes that the December 19th edition of <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> includes "A" grade reviews of Gilbert Hernandez' <i>Palomar</i> and James Sturm's <i>The Golem's Mighty Swing</i>.<p>

<li> <a href="http://www.addblog.com/archives/2003_12_07_archive.html#107135764738990660">Alan David Doane</a> managed to find a copy of the rare second issue of David Mazzucchelli's seminal anthology <i>Rubber Blankets</i> on sale at cover price, and takes the opportunity to rub the rest of our noses in it.<p>

<li> What kind of comics would entice women into becoming readers? According to <a href="http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/features/whatwomenwant/"><i>Underground Online</i></a> the list includes <i>Ultimate Spiderman</i>, <i>Superman For All Seasons</i> and <i>100 Bullets</i>. Write your own joke, folks.<p>

<li> The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education has erected <a href="http://www.lawforkids.org/index.cfm">a website</a> devoted to teaching children proper respect for the law, which they've augmented with embarrasingly <a href="http://www.lawforkids.org/animation/Toons.cfm">cheesy cartoons</a>. Why do I get the feeling that if kids do see these cartoons in large numbers, twenty years from now they'll be reminiscing affectionately about how awful they were the same way that my generation looks back upon <i>He-Man</i> cartoons? <i>(Link via</i> <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/30227">MetaFilter</a><i>.)</i><p>

<li> <i>"Cartoonist Aaron McGruder said on TV that Condoleezza Rice is a murderer but failed to give her any Nazi designation -- a big mistake by prevailing standards."</i> - John Leo, writing for Republican agitprop website <a href="http://www.townhall.com/columnists/johnleo/jl20031215.shtml">TownHall.com</a>. This has been your Aaron McGruder link for the day.</ul><p>

Finally, my apologies -- last Friday I said I'd be reviewing the reactions to <a href="http://www.tcj.com/journalista/zarch200312Ba.html">last Monday's essay</a> on the Direct Market. Alas, research on obscure accounting laws wound up taking up so much of my time over the weekend that I simply never got a chance to write anything. I'll try to do it later this week, if work doesn't get too far in the way.
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<font face="Verdana" size="-2"><b>Posted @ 4:40 AM by Dirk Deppey | <a href="zarch200312C.html#other1">permalink</a></b></font>
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