God's country?

-First Inaugural Address of President George Washington (April 30, 1789, New York, NY):

We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.

And…

-2 Chronicles 7:14 (King James Version):

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

In recent times, I’ve been contemplating whether the United States of America is still God’s country. We have strayed. Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Don’t believe me? Then, check out "The Independence of a Judeo-Christian nation..."

Badge of Con...

Today, my mailbox gave me my 2011 New York Comic Con Professional badge.

Update: The Beat is reporting that tickets and passes to the New York Comic Con are selling quite quickly:

According to the show’s official Twitter feed, Saturday tickets are now sold out, although some may be available via retailers. And professional 4-day passes — which cost $10 as a registration fee this year — are almost gone as well.

Good thing I already got my pass.

Remembering…

Do we still need Diamond Comic Distributors?

Above: A couple of panels from Scott Kurtz’s PvP.

I’ve never had any problems with Diamond Comic Distributors. But, I know some small press guys and gals who have had problems with Diamond Comic Distributors.

The Direct Market was a big help to comics back in the late 1970s and 1980s. But, now, having only one comic book distributor shipping to comic book stores and with the advent of profitable downloadable digital comics, do we still need Diamond Comic Distributors?

PvP creator Scott Kurtz doesn’t think so:

You know, I sold PvP in comic book shops for seven years and I love all the retailers I met. But it makes no sense for me as an independent creator to sell my books to readers through a publisher/distributor/retailer chain when I can just sell directly to them. Diamond is a huge pain in the ass and they take 60% of my cover price. Because my business model skewed to the online side of things, and I decided to do what’s best for my business and my livelihood, now I’m an enemy of brick and mortar stores.

And seeing Diamond Comic Distributors trying to get a piece of digital comics' sales really makes me laugh. They’re seeing the writing on the wall (so to speak). For years, the larger comic book publishers didn’t care about webcomics. But, now that there’s a way to make money from downloadable digital comics, they’re all over that.