August 31 is becoming a benchmark day in comics. Remember that date in 2009? That was the day Disney bought Marvel for roughly four billion bucks and we all suspected that the comics industry would change forever. It didn’t.

This year all the current hullabaloo is about DC Comics’ announcement that it will renumber and revamp its entire line beginning with the release of the all new Justice League Number One to be released on…you guessed it…August 31. This too is expected to change the world of comics forever. It won’t.

Regardless what they say, do or plan, the big two have only goal and that is the market dominance of their perspective trademarks. You can’t blame them, it’s big business, but their focus is not really on the comics. You can believe that if you want to, but the real value of both brands is in film, licensing and merchandising of their trademarked intellectual property and has been for a long time.

The big two are so protective of their properties and dominating roles that they share exclusive trademark ownership of the term “Super Heroes.”

Marvel and DC do not want competition in the marketplace that they have comfortably controlled for decades when it comes to folks in tights, but the growth and success of independent publishers and unique comic related properties that have demonstrated an ability to succeed are causing them to tighten their grip on the market.

Both companies have always employed the ultimate biblical equalizer, the flood, when they found it necessary. The advent of the Direct Market has made the flood an even more effective tool since it has established what amounts to be a captive audience with limited spending resources. Whenever Marvel or DC have detected a threat to their market share, either one or both have simply increased their output and financially drowned their competition.

Pour one for our Homies

The first significant wave of independent publishers in the 1980′s,Pacific, Capital, Eclipse, First, Comico and others, all fell victim when Marvel flooded the market with X-Men spin-offs that were met with DC counter productions. The market could not bear the glut and the indies were the casualty.

DC’s announcement of a relaunch of their entire line of 52 titles is business as usual. A flood of epic proportion of first editions with variant covers, day and date digital content, print and digital combo packages and the final nail in the coffin…return-ability.

Marvel is not going to sit by and get waxed. They will counter. Independents, look out! You may as well not even plan to publish from September on, or at least until the novelty wears off. Break out the water-wings the Great Comic Book Flood of 2011 is coming and it will not be pretty.

Comic fans, if you love the medium, it is time to stop acting like lemmings. How many decades do you have to read story after story of the same old stuff? Is it possible to really do anything new or interesting with these characters that the big two have been milking for seventy years? Get real. The answer is, “NO!”

It is time to support new material if you really want to read exciting NEW comics. There are plenty of publishers out there putting out great, truly original material either in print, digitally or on the web. Marvel and DC are not going anywhere. You can get a fix of your favorite character at any time but please don’t, as a fan, be responsible for propagating a marketplace that stifles the opportunity for the creation and success of exciting new characters by exploiting blind brand loyalty and worse, the zeal of speculation.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

Creation Conventions produced by Gary Berman and Adam Malin from 1971 till today were where I first discovered a sense of community in comics that has hooked me for life.

Thing costume by Gerry Giovinco

I made my first mark in comics not as a comic creator but as a costume designer. In the summer of 1979 my costume creation of The Everlovin’ Blue Eyed Thing, Ben Grimm himself, impressed everyone who saw it. I was soon a popular guy at the Creation shows.

I think that I had made the biggest impression on Bob Schreck who was working for Creation at the time. He was generally the first guy you would see as you came through the door. Always friendly and welcoming, Bob loved my Thing costume. He would call me and have me do promo spots on the local Philadelphia “Dancing on Air” television show to promote upcoming Creation Conventions.

Hulk Meets Thing cast photo

Bob and his friend, Larry Ruggiero, wanted to make a fan film starring their buddy, Kevin Van Wagner as the Incredible Hulk and they wanted me and my Thing costume to be his co-star.

On the set of Hulk Meets Thing

The Incredible Hulk Meets the Everlovin’ Blue Eyed Thing was filmed in Long Island, NY and completed in 1982.

Hulk Meets Thing movie Poster by legendary artist Joe Sinnott

The short film became a staple at the Creation shows, featured in the movie room with such classics as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Phantom of Paradise and Plan 9 from Outerspace.

The relationship that I developed with the people at Creation during this time enabled me to negotiate table space in the artist alley at the shows. This is where Comico was first introduced.

Bob Schreck eventually became part of the Comico family and later moved on to be a mainstay as an editor in the comics industry.

The great illustration that was made for the film was created by the legendary Joe Sinnott.

Enjoy the film that is posted here.

Gerry Giovinco

What a revoltin' development!

The Fourth of July. Independence Day. The birthday of America. A time to appreciate the rich history of our country. A history that makes us uniquely American. History is what makes us who we are, biologically, emotionally, intellectually, and creatively. The choices we make about our future are tempered by lessons learned from accomplishments, mistakes, tragedies, losses, and victories. We can never truly control our destiny but history is our only guide for navigating the unknown future.

CO2 Comics Homepage

The Fourth of July. Independents Day. The birthday of CO2 Comics. We are one year old and we appreciate every minute of it. For us, it is a celebration of the moment in time when we first, publicly revealed our web site http://www.co2comics.com/. It is the celebration of the culmination of years of dreaming, experimenting, hypothesizing, observing and anguishing over history. The history of comics. Our place in the history of comics. How we will use that history to navigate and pioneer the future of comics at this, the Dawn of the Digital Age.

Comico Covers

Mike Sterling reminded us a few weeks ago on his blog Progressive Ruin , that Bill Cucinotta and I had stood at the brink of a new age in comics before as publishers of Comico. We are proud that we had charged in with the likes of Pacific, Eclipse, Warp, Aardvark-Vaneheim, Capital, First and others laying the foundation for what would become The Independent Age.

Top: Bill Cucinotta, Vince Argondezzi, Phil Lasorda, Gerry Giovinco Bottom: Aaron Keaton, Andrew Murphy

Like our forefathers who fought valiantly to establish the ideals and conventions of freedom that make America what it is today, the early Independents left a trail of casualties while they set standards for creator rights, compensation, quality, format and innovative marketing in the fledgeling Direct Market. Comico, a briefly shining star in the industry, unfortunately, is among those ruins but its legacy should be remembered as should the lessons learned from all the pioneers in comics, wether they be the innovators of cave drawings, nineteenth century French publications, Gold, Silver or Bronze Age Comics, Undergrounds, Independents, and now, Digital.

Understand the past before challenging the future.

DAK

This is a lesson I learned from David Anthony Kraft one evening overlooking Georgia from his home perched high on Screamer Mountain during the mid 1980′s. The long time Marvel editor and writer and publisher of Comics Interview had a unique perspective of the history of comics because he had the opportunity to work and speak with legends that had created comics from the dawn of the industry. He appreciated my enthusiasm for change but emphasized understanding the reasoning for why comics had been made the same way for forty years.

Don’t fix what’s not broke? No. Understand the past before challenging the future.

This has been a historic year for comics. The Digital Age is blossoming. What it will be like in full bloom can only be imagined. We know that CO2 Comics will be part of it. We have seen the power of the internet. We know the potential of the downloadable content. We do not underestimate the value of the printed product. We know and respect the power of the medium of comics.

Our first year as CO2 Comics started humbly last Fourth of July weekend with just a few pages of comic art by Bill and me, an introduction and the basic structure and design elements that remain intact today. During our maiden year we have had the pleasure of being able to post the work of over twenty creators, many of which were friends with strong ties to our Comico days. We have accumulated nearly 600 pages of comic art about ten times the amount of work that had been published by Comico in its first year.

CO2 Comics Year One

The audience has been bountiful. CO2 Comics has received nearly two million hits in its first year! In 1982, when Comico began publishing, it was inconceivable to reach an audience like that. Our sales figures of the two Primers that we published in our first year were just a few thousand copies, combined.

We know that as Comico grew into a significant publishing house, CO2 Comics, likewise, will make a major impact in the comics community.

Why? Because history repeats itself.

We also know that we as publishers are older and wiser. We have a proven history of learning from our mistakes, exploring unique options, and pressing the envelope. We also know from failure. We know that Comico, for all of its successes, became a casualty, but it laid a foundation for a future. We are living in that future now and looking into the next horizon.

CO2 Comics considers our first year a beta year. In many ways it was a campaign that developed a life of its own. This next year will be even more exciting. New product will appear on the site, new comics by new creators. Digital, downloads will be developed for e-reading devices, and we will release our first products in print.

A key theme that will prevail throughout will be history. We are excited about comic history and our first print product will have tremendous historic value for the entire comic community. I would love to tell you about it right now, but it’s a surprise! Actually, it has been a tremendous amount of work, a true labor of love, and so important to Bill and I that we will announce it only when it is 100% ready to fly.

Until then we will keep the subject of history alive in our blog with a new weekly feature, The Comic Company, that explores some of the innovations we tackled in our early years of Comico. Inspired by the Progressive Ruin blog, and the interest that was generated by it, we will look at the highlights of the Dawn of the Independents and our involvement in an exciting time in comics history.

Making comics because we want to!

Making history because we just can’t help it.

Gerry Giovinco

Ginger Fox made her debut on Nickelodeon/TeenNick this past Friday, March 19, 2010.

This is not the smart, saavy, sexy Ginger Fox character created and written by Mike Baron and illustrated by Mitch O’Connell that graces the web pages of CO2 Comics in full, glorious color.

Nickelodeon’s Ginger Fox (Ginger Rosselin Cynthia Fox), played by actress  Betsy Rue, is a washed-up pop star trying to make a comeback. Her exploits were featured in an episode titled “iFix A Popstar” on the popular television show iCarly that stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly.

The show, which is aimed at young teens, broadcast this episode in which Carly and her friends attempt to help Ginger Fox resurrect her career but discover that the has-been star is a bona fied, uncouth idiot. The episode is an obvious parody of Britney Spears and her bungled 2007 MTV Music Awards performance.

Nickelodeon's Ginger Fox

In stark contrast the lead character in Baron/O’Connell’s The World of Ginger Fox is a determined, intelligent and stylish executive of a Hollywood film studio of the 1980′s.
The World of Ginger Fox was first published as a graphic novel by Comico Comics in 1987 and is now one of the many fine comic features that are updated weekly on CO2 Comics.

GINGER FOX Graphic Novel by Mike Baron and Mitch O'Connell

The introduction of Nick’s Ginger Fox character has generated a search engine buzz that has tracked down many women whose real name is actually Ginger Fox and has lead many young teens to the CO2 Comics site to find comic material that may be intended for a more mature audience.

Though there is material that is perfectly acceptable for young readers, especially those that are considered “young adults,” the general disclaimer on the site reads:
“CO2 Comics is created by Adults for Adults. Some comics on this website contain subject matter that may not be appropriate for children.”

We do not consider any of the material on CO2 Comics to be obscene or gratuitous. There are enough mature themes found throughout the site, however, that warrant our position as responsible publishers to notify readers in advance.

This is a fine example of why parents should remain involved with their children’s experience on the internet. We hope that our efforts can support attentive parenting and lead to a positive comic reading experience for all.

CO2 Comics
Making comics because we want to.