Word Balloon Podcast Comic Book Business Report With Ed Brubaker Sam Humphries and Josh Blaylock

Today on Word Balloon more conversations about the how comic book business is changing and what factors new creators should consider as they try to put their books in the hands of consumers.

Ed Brubaker is back for part 2 of our marathon discussion , and he gives the reasons why he left DC to join Marvel in an exclusive deal, that inlcuded taking advantage of the ICON imprint , which led to books like Criminal and Incognito.

Sam Humphries talks about the new status quo in The Ultimates #16, as Captain America becomes president of the United States and takes a hands on approach to settling the current US Civil Wars. We also take a look at his BOOM! Studios sci-fi series Higher Earth.

In the pre-tablet world, My Space was a big player in the digital comics arena , and Humphries as manager of content developement was a big part of My Space Comics. He tells us about the heyday of the social media site, specific promotions involving Dark Horse Presents  BOOM! Studios and Marvel, and what lessons can be learned from that digital initiative comparing it today's marketplace.

Josh Baylock , Publisher of Devils Due Publishing talks about his imprint's transformation into a "turn-key" operation set up to provide not only publsihing but other direct marketing services for a comics creator who wants to self publish.
He has a current Kickstarter project for the web comic western Plume by  K Lynn Smith , and talks about how crowd funding has impacted the comic businesss.



Blaylock and DDP skyrocketed to audience awareness in the early 2000's when he got the GI JOE license to publish new comics  from Hasbro and his DDP line expanded with more original titles along side the JOE books. He also created an early digital comic market called Pull Box Online , but factors from t