Theater for Comic Book Geeks

The Intergalactic Nemesis
Friday, January 20, 2012, 7:30 pm
Capitol Center for the Arts, Concord NH

“A must-see!” –The Austin Chronicle
“Pitch-perfect… totally nuts and a ton of fun! … An official selection of Fantastic Fest … Do not miss it!” –The Austinist
“Something you simply must experience if you are a fan of awesome.” –collider.com

The Intergalactic Nemesis Live-Action Graphic Novel is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience that mashes up radio drama with comic-books. Three actors voice dozens of characters; one Foley artist creates hundreds of sound effects; one keyboardist performs a score of thousands (yes, thousands!) of notes; while on a two-story high screen we project more than 1,250 individual, full-color, hand-drawn, hi-res, blow-your-mind comic book images to tell the story visually. LIVE.

Inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, and the pulp serials of the 1930s, The Intergalactic Nemesis is a spectacle unlike any other and it’s for the kid in everyone.

Pulitzer-winning reporter Molly Sloan, her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez, and a mysterious librarian named Ben Wilcott face the most serious threat Earth has ever known: an impending invasion of sludge monsters from the planet Zygon.

Promotional artwork by Tim Doyle.

Boombox Visits Boston Book Festival 2011

Saturday, October 15, 2011, in Boston’s Copley Square. FREE admission!

Whatever your age or interests, BBF 2011 has something for you! Attend terrific sessions with world-class presenters, enjoy a performance at the Berklee Stage, try your hand at a Grub Street workshop, meet costumed characters, or just take in the lively street fair. Oh yeah, plus FREE admission!

We’ll be there, will you?

Boombox Likes MICE in Boston

We’ll be attending MICE in Boston to check out the amazing array of alternative comics, webcomics, and ’zines…hang with all the cool cats…and hopefully find a few books to publish under the Boombox imprint. Join us at the official After Party at the Tavern in the Square!

MICE, The Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo

September 24, 2011 10am – 6pm

1815 Mass Ave., Cambridge MA (Porter Square)
Illustration by Jerel Dye

Diamond Digital Aims for September Launch

An interesting development in the future of digital comics…

Diamond Digital – the joint venture between Diamond Comic Distributors and iVerse Media which will empower brick and mortar comic shops to sell digital content – announced that in September Diamond’s retail comic shop customers will be able to pre-generate codes redeemable for new digital comics. 

The Diamond Digital program —with components in both physical stores and on comic shop web sites — is an initiative unlike anything undertaken in other retail markets. Many of the comics in the program will be available first from comic shops or will contain special bonus material unavailable elsewhere. Participating stores will be able to sell a wide range of new comics, digital back issues and digital backlist graphic novels. A key feature of the initiative is the Print PLUS option, which allows consumers to purchase a digital companion copy of a print comic book, usually for just 99¢ more.  

According to Dave Bowen, Director of Diamond Digital, “The September launch date has actually been our target for months, but we didn’t want to announce it until we’d passed certain critical unit testing benchmarks. This worked out well because of the way our Beta Test group of retailers has evolved. After we put together our Beta Test group — an international assembly of more than fifty businesses — the participants suggested many great ideas and improvements, including added functionality in support of the individual retailer web-site based part of the initiative.” 

The beta process, now underway, is supported by close partner and industry technical leader iVerse Media, LLC . Michael Murphey, CEO of Iverse said, “Part of the beta test group is currently doing dry-run testing of the web site capabilities we’ve created for them. The advanced group — companies with existing sophisticated e-commerce web sites — are beginning to integrate our API into their processes.” 

Bowen says the next phase is to get physical. “In August we plan to beta test new weekly digital comic offerings in the physical stores, giving our code generation and redemption processes a good workout. We’ll also use this time for retailer training with the beta stores and customer service training on the Diamond end. By September we should have a more mature, well-tested process that any store can join with minimal effort. 

All of our Retailer Services will be driven from http://www.diamonddigital.com,” Bowen says. “Retailers can go there now and read the general information about the program. In September, we plan to turn on full login capabilities for all Diamond accounts, including UK and International retail customers. Participating publishers will also be able to log in and see how their material is being represented, monitor their sales, and gauge the effectiveness of the program.” 

On the publisher side of the program, Bowen noted that more than 30 publishers—including IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Archie, NBM/Papercutz, and Top Shelf— are currently participating in Diamond Digital, and that the number continues to grow. “We recently confirmed the addition of Image Comics, which is very exciting because it brings a cross-section of creative voices with broad consumer appeal to the program. ‘We’re still in talks with many other publishers and expect participation to expand continuously as a natural part of the business process.’ 

“We’ll be launching Diamond Digital with dozens of new releases and nearly 2,000 back issues,” Bowen added, “many of them graphic novel length. All of those digital issues have been created in the central Diamond system so we can invoice retailers and pay publishers correctly. As September draws closer, we’re confident that all concerned will appreciate our efforts to get every detail of this launch right.”

While it’s nice to see an initiative that would keep retailers involved in the evolving digital comics market, small publishers like Boombox Media can’t help but remain cautious about a monopolistic entity like Diamond trying to immediately seize control.

Ebooks Keep Grabbing Market Share

The Association of American Publishers reports that sales of ebooks were more than double what they were one year ago (up to $69.9 million), while mass market sales have declined 31%. It is predicted that ebook sales will surpass mass markets sometime next year.

Boombox Media publications will be available in digital, trade, and hardcover formats.

Random Facts from Our Friends at Publishers Weekly

Top outlets for trade books 2009-2010:

• B&N 23% of the market
• Amazon 15.1%
• Borders 13.1% (now in bankruptcy)
• Wal-Mart 5.8%
• Warehouse clubs 4%
• Indies 3.5%

So what does that tell us? Well, despite our love for independent bookstores (as well as comic book specialty stores), we need to make sure our books also get placement with the major players. The indies offer more flexibility when it comes to promotional partnerships, allowing us to actually compete for attention against the large publishers. But Barnes & Noble and Amazon obviously offer the potential of widespread exposure.

Notes from Yale Publishing Course

Bodour Al Qasimi, founder and CEO of Kalimat, a publisher of Arabic-language children’s books, recently attended the Yale Publishing Course and shared some of the highlights of her experience with Publishing Perspectives. Among the lessons we found most intriguing:

“Many of the speakers at the course stressed the importance of thinking about the potential of publishing in a global context. This is especially true for digital books where there is a push for English language rights to be global.”

“With all the change and disruption in the publishing industry, there are no longer any standard models for publishers to adhere to. Authors’ royalties are not standardized, retailers’ terms are not uniform, standard parameters about licensing and rights no longer apply.”

“Big companies that used to dominate the publishing sector are now being challenged by smaller start-ups. The smaller, more nimble companies might even have a better chance of surviving than the bigger publishing houses. In times of flux, publishers need to be flexible and ready for change – opportunities are available everywhere for those who know where to look.”

These reflections echo much of the sentiment that inspired the formation of Boombox Media.

Herein you shall bask in the shining light of items, innovations, and ideas that seem too cool to be true…yet they ARE!

Believe it or not, this artist (Ebru Sanati?) paints on water. Take a look at this fascinating video of him creating marbled paper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DfHm1x44uw

Happy New Year from the Undead

Everybody here at Boombox Media sends you greetings of peace and happiness for the coming year. Hopefully the holidays brought some joy, spiritual rejuvenation, and much-needed rest into your life.

We received an email recently from a well-wisher who saw a posting in a forum that listed comic publishers/imprints who are closing their doors and she was concerned because Boombox Media was one of the casualties mentioned. Our reaction was a resounding, “WHAAAAT?!”

As mentioned previously, we have delayed the launch of our initial titles until early/mid 2009 because of the dour (not quite dire) economy. And we’re stubbornly sticking to that plan. Despite continued reports of layoffs and restructurings at major publishers, despite the growing list of bookstore and comic shop closings (online as well as bricks & mortar), we’re still going forward with a 2009 launch.

If you think about it, the fact that we’re a teeny startup with minimal resources actually positions us well for tough times. Our business model helps too. We don’t have the burden of unnecessary overhead, we don’t have the pressure of greedy investors, we don’t have the financial drain of cash advances paid for underperforming books. We don’t even have enough staff to worry about layoffs!

So no, Boombox Media is not dead. Only resting. Waiting. Planning. And because we don’t have enough time to randomly check all forums and blogs for untrue rumors and speculation, please help us spread the word.

Cheers to 2009!

Biding Our Time…

Hey, have you heard? The U.S. economy is in free fall, and so are the economies of many of the other industrialized nations around the globe.

Oh, you have heard? Well that makes sense since the Chicken Little mentality of today’s news media is to preach doom & gloom 24/7. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as stressed out about this as anybody else. I’ve got five kids and two dogs to feed. I know this is serious. But if we could stop with the irrational panic and knee-jerk reactions on Wall Street, if we could stop with the finger pointing and mendacious denials in Washington D.C., if we could just sit down for some level-headed, bipartisan discussions about the true root causes of this financial crisis, we might actually make some progress toward rectifying it. Perhaps the new administration will prompt some calm and optimism.

In the meantime, as the little Boombox ship readies to set sail on a voyage to discover a new world of artistic freedom and multimedia expression, we’re facing some very stormy seas. And though I’m eager to begin this adventure, my primary duty as navigator is to chart a safe course. So I’ve reluctantly come to the realization that I would be an irresponsible idiot to launch Boombox Media’s initial publications right now.

Many “experts” look at the recent woes of book publishers and traditional bookstores as the death throes of an industry, soon to be replaced by the iPodization of printed matter via innovative devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader, and Apple’s iPhone (or its legion of clones). They feel that the current economic recession will hasten the inevitable demise of physical books. I beg to differ. But I do feel the time has come to merge these multiple distribution outlets, and that’s why Boombox Media was designed to initiate a revolution in cross-media, multi-channel publishing.

Alas, due to the current state of the economy, that time isn’t now. We are officially delaying our launch party until 2009. After consumers have had a chance to focus on the holidays, the elections, a new year, and hopefully a slowly stabilizing economy, the waters should be much calmer. Ideally it will be the first quarter of 2009 when you will see our first publications: a manga anthology produced in-house, as well as a few debut books by creators who are destined to make a name in the world of pictorial literature.

Batten down the hatches!