RIP Peter David, Eisner Noms, Living in a Post-Diamond World and more... The Comic Bookmarks— June 1st, 2025
Our summer season started this week. You may remember that last year, our 2024 summer season included posts (almost) every week between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I'm not too sure if we're going to be that ambitious this year but I do have plans for it as well as a theme to it just to help me keep things running around here for the next couple of months. It helps that almost all of the professional sports that I enjoy are finally entering their championship tournaments or still a couple of months away from really beginning their summer camps.
Previously on FC2C
Scott Cederlund
Headlines
...and more sad news. Writer Peter David passed away last night per his wife, Kathleen. Writer of The Incredible Hulk, Star Trek and too many others to list. Definitely one of the best creators of the 80s and 90s. Condolences to his family, friends and fans from around the world.
— BACK ISSUE! Magazine (@backissuemagazine.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 1:18 PM
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Peter David was a really good writer and has always sounded like a good, stand-up kind of guy. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Alex Zalben
The 2025 Eisner nominations are up. If you're a professional, you still have about a week to vote in it. We've covered a few of the comics that are nominated and collected them together under an Eisner 2025 tag.
I'll admit, the only category that I really get worked up for is the Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism one, which for the last couple of years has been left off the initial list of categories but has still made it into the nominations.
- The Beat, edited by Heidi MacDonald and others, https://www.comicsbeat.com
- ICv2: The Business of Pop Culture, edited by Milton Griepp, https://icv2.com
- INKS, The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, edited by Susan Kirtley (Ohio State University Press) https://comicsstudies.org/inks/
- SOLRAD: The Online Literary Magazine for Comics, edited by Daniel Elkin, www.solrad.co (Fieldmouse Press)
- Zdarsky Comics News, edited by Allison O’Toole (Chip Zdarsky) https://www.zcnmagazine.com
I'm thrilled to see The Beat and Solrad on this list, recognizing the work that those two sites do. I'm a bit perplexed by Zdarsky Comics News, partially because I've only ever seen one issue of it. It just seems more like a self-promotion vehicle that just has a brand name behind it and I'll admit that I've never quite gotten into that brand. Where's the SKTCHD? The Bubbles zine? Broken Frontier? I could name a number of sites and periodicals?
And when will The Eisners recognize that there's journalism and criticism happening on Youtube or in podcasts? I'm not too sure who would be nominated there but I'm partial to \Challenger Comics and Conversations weekly show as a living document about the ins-and-outs of running a comic shop.
Le Monde with AFP
It's been a bit since news of Charlie Hebdo made its way here. Now it sounds like pro-Russian forces have been creating and posting fake covers to make it look like the magazine is in favor of Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Comic Sites on Comic Sites
Andy Oliver
Broken Frontier is a very particular site and the opening paragraph of this piece explains it perfectly. I admire their focus on small press and the UK comic scene. This piece is continuing the recent discussion on the importance of supporting and encouraging sites that you like.
Business
Beat Staff
I'm not a comics retailer so there's an awful lot about that side of the business that I don't understand. But as a Monday-morning quarterback of that side of comics, it's a bit difficult to see how the changing landscape of comics distribution is creating a new world now as opposed this is the path that they've been on for five+ years. Continuing to write about a post-Diamond world like it's something new as opposed to being able to see the dam breaking years ago and preparing for it feels like a business holding onto the old ways and kicking & screaming into the present (let alone the future.) But this is a good primer on how to start adjusting after Diamond's implosion.
As a 30 year retail veteran, there are ways that I observe the direct market is mired in an idea of their business that is at least that old. It's a market-segment that has appeared very resistant to change over the years even though general retail has gone through substantial changes in those times. And part of that is a matter of curation, especially in shops that feel like they need to cater to every mainstream fan so are trapped in a particular way of doing business.
The Funny Pages
Frank Jacobs was instrumental in the formation of my class consciousness
— Jack Feerick (@jackfeerick.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 8:58 AM
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Pile and Ren
— Michael DeForge (@michaeldeforge.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 6:26 AM
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Reviews & Features
Eric Margolis
A look at the processes and concerns of translating manga for an English reading audience. One of the reasons I've started trying to credit translators when reviewing international works is for the work and choices that they need to make in conveying the story, the culture, and the character of a work.
Greg Hunter
I've actually gone back and forth on checking this book out. I've got the Mazzucchelli-drawn City of Glass but have never read the other two parts in this collection. And it's been so long since I read it that I really have no memory of it. This is a fascinating piece about how this book adapts literary genres and traditions as well as a fascinating comparison of the structure of these three books.
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