Babbling Point

***Press Release*** Neil Gaiman at the Music Museum The British Council is hosting a Writers Forum, PressSession and Autograph-signing with Neil Gaiman at the Music Museum on Monday, July 11 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. sharp. Registration begins at 1:00 p.m.

. Kick-ass advertising! Found this link from THE BEAT about a TV commercial for Kodansha manga . I don't think Marvel or DC Comics has ever done TVCs. I think the only American comic book company that has ever done a TVC was Malibu to promote their Ultraverse super hero line. Then again, DC has done a good job of getting the media to report and talk about so-called controversial storylines, as well as hype up the deaths and returns of their super heroes. There was also a time when DC placed print ads for "Starman" in magazines like Entertainment Weekly. I know someone, somewhere already wrote about this... but I still wonder why DC doesn't place ads for their comic books in teen magazines or shows like "Smallville" and "The O.C." and maybe, just maybe, reach out to a market that's never entered a comic book store. Anyway, you can watch the two TVCs for Kodansha at this site: http://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/cm/

. Signal No.1 How do you introduce a new superteam? Start your issue with a burning building full of people that need rescuing or have a group of terrorists hold a building hostage. This allows the new superteam to flex their super-powered muscles and show-off how great they are without getting injured or getting their asses kicked by the main villain. The new LEGION recently did this schtick. The JUSTICE LEAGUE during the 80s did the hostage thing. THE YOUNG AVENGERS did the burning building and hostage situation all in one issue. And almost every Alamat book in the late 90s that featured a superteam did the whole hostage situation thing. (God bless us all!) Anyway, this is all a segue to “What is a good example of a first issue of a new super team?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Below is an article I wrote about Warren Ellis’ “Stormwatch”. In 40-pages, Ellis was able to set-up the world of Stormwatch, introduce the new characters, tell you what they’re all about, and well… he did put in

FROM: Neil's blog Hi Neil,I just thought you might want to mention to your fans in the Philippines that the bookstore chain that's holding your book signing in July has set up a mailing list where fans can get updates and news about the event. It's at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gaiman_fullybooked/ . Can't wait for you to get here! Cheers,Tania Manila, Philippines I'm looking forward to it as well. (Did you know that there were 1484 visitors to this site from the Philippines last month? Well, that or 2,557, depending on which counter you believe.) Consider it mentioned. Hmmm... so, it is possible that 1,500 to 2,500 will show up at the Gaiman book signing? Oh my!