§ Nice Art: J Monkey D Luffy by James Stokoe (Via BlueSky)
§ A lot is happening! So many things I couldn’t get to this week – here’s a brief round-up.
§ The week in Diamond: only one filing this week but it was pretty interesting. Sparkle Pop filed a motion asking for relief from storing all 8,250,936 items that comprise The Stuff, the consignment goods that everyone is fighting over. Brett Schenker has the detailed breakdown, but the short of it is basically “There is a lot of stuff, we are owed more than $600,000 in back rent, the trustee is not paying insurance, and we might have to take a lien out on it to cover our losses so you need to give us relief.”
The lien refers to a “warehouseman’s lien” whereby abandoned property can be seized and used for back rent.
Basically, Storage Wars.
I’m not a lawyer but: As I understand it, under Mississippi law, the property would have to be proven to be abandoned in order to apply a lien. Obviously the Stuff has not been abandoned, so this argument literally might not hold up in court. I’m told there are several other technical objections but I won’t bore you with them.
Where does this fit in all the ongoing struggle? Just more pressure on the consignors to give up or settle, possibly.
One of the exhibits is a 125 listing of the items published by the Ad Hoc committee that are in the warehouse. Here’s a snapshot:
Some of these amounts may surprise you, but this is not a complete reckoning.
Anyway, more to come!
§ The announcement of Ben 10’s return in the pages of a Dynamite comic written by co-creator Joe Casey was met with great enthusiasm – and a press release from Dynamite show just HOW MUCH enthusiasm.
Ben 10#1 sold more than 82,000 copies to retailers. A healthy number! According to the pr, stores are excited by new customers who are enquiring about the return of this beloved character. But it was a team effort:
Writer Joe Casey, who is lead writer on the first story arc, and the rest of the Man of Action Team (Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle) are putting their all into this series, seeing it as an Absolute / Ultimate esque approach to the franchise, their definitive take closer to their original intentions and the perfect blueprint for any prospective adaptations down the road.
At Final Order Cutoff, Dynamite marketed the book aggressively to retailers and fans. An exciting FOC exclusive variant by artist Cormac Hughes in homage to Pitt #1 was offered. Retailers were also able to stock up on the mystery blind bag, which guarantees a foil virgin variant in every bag which normally MSRP at $29.99, but is being offered at $10.99. Another highlight is a 50 copy incentive offering signed by all four creators of Ben 10.
The issue goes on sale May 10.
§ TokyoPop has joined the ranks of companies looking to raise funds via crowdfunding on DealMaker Securities, a platform for raising equity. This part has been reported on many sites, but Milton Griepp actually read the filing and found many interesting stats, including declining sales (down 50% in 2025), and a forward looking statement that was a bit gloomy:
Sales reached $16.0 million in 2025, up from $14.8 million in 2024, but gross margin did not grow at the same rate, leading to a gross profit that was only slightly higher than in 2024, while expenses were up nearly $2 million. The company reported $2.1 million in new Event-related expenses, which the notes to the financial statements indicate were primarily due to costs tied to a large Naruto the Gallery exhibition in Berlin which TOKYOPOP’s German operation mounted via a new live events division. There was also a roughly $1 million flip in non-operating income/loss, from $786,000 in income to a $218,000 loss, which we could not further identify from the information provided.
Based on the 2025 results, TOKYOPOP’s accountants provided a going concern opinion with the financials, which states that “conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year.”
Going concern statements are a bit of a boilerplate but it does explain why TokyoPop is trying to raise cash.
§ The Bologna Book Fair just wrapped up, the biggest international gathering of children’s book publishers, and reports are that folks remained upbeat despite the gloomy political clouds overhead. There a lot of concern over fewer teens reading but, guess what, graphic novels are doing ok worldwide! Check out this fact dense report:
Comics and graphic novels remain a booming category even in light of the global decline in reading rates. Publishers from Norway and Poland, the fair’s current and incumbent guest-of-honor countries, told the BCBF audience on Monday that the graphic novel market has matured significantly over the past two decades, driven in large part by a dramatic shift in who is making comics. Speaking on a panel titled “Graphic Novels for Adults: The Synergy Between Words, Design, and Illustration,” Håkon Strand of Norway’s Strand Forlag and Szymon Holcman of Poland’s Timof Comics noted that entrants to a national Norwegian comics competition went from 95% male in 1997 to 52% female last year, a change Strand said has reshaped readership as well. Holcman described a parallel shift in Poland, a market that barely existed under communism and now publishes nearly 2,000 comics titles annually, with a creator and reader base that has moved to a roughly equal gender split.
Both publishers identified manga as the dominant force in their markets—Japanese is now the second most translated language in Poland, with around 800 new titles per year—but said that literary graphic novels occupy a distinct space that continues to grow. Norway’s national library system, which purchases 1,000 to 2,000 copies of most graphic novels on publication, was cited as a key driver of that country’s development and a potential model for others. The two publishers acknowledged a structural tension between the slow production cycle of literary graphic novels, often two or more years per title, and the appetite of readers who can consume a catalog in weeks.
§ Speaking of graphic novels, The LA Times Book Festival is this weekend, along with the LA Time Book Prize winners. We never covered this years graphic novel finalists, but here they are — al from Fantagraphics or D&Q!:
Graphic Novel/Comics
- Black Cohosh, Eagle Valiant Brosi, Drawn & Quarterly
- Life Drawing: A Love and Rockets Collection, Jaime Hernandez, Fantagraphics
- Cannon, Lee Lai, Drawn & Quarterly
- The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief, Carol Tyler, Fantagraphics
- Milk White Steed, Michael D. Kennedy, Drawn & Quarterly
These are all spectacular books! Check ‘em out!
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