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  • Satisfying Anti Aging Consumption Result
  • Helpful Devices For Sufferers Of Snoring
  • The Safest Data Recovery Process
  • Is POS software For You?
  • Can Your Restaurant Use One Of These Systems?
  • Desktop or Server Databases for POS Software
  • Farley Takes SF
  • A New Brand Of Humour For Comics
  • Comic Artist Wins Tax Battle
  • Newbury Was A Pioneer In Comics
  • “Comic Book Biographies” Kill Complexity For Complex Subjects
  • Graphic Novels: Still Killing It!

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    Jun18

    Satisfying Anti Aging Consumption Result

    by admin on June 18, 2013 at 10:38 am
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    aacsIt was a pleasant experience reading product reviews on anti aging creams through the internet. I have never bought any anti aging product before and it’s definitely a challenge for me to locate a really good one considering my lack of experience in this matter. It’s only yesterday when I found out that I have wrinkles.  My mother associates the emergence of wrinkles on my face on my smoking habit. She has been asking me to stop smoking but it is not easy on my part to just put an end to this practice. But Mom is right; I read from an online source that one of the reasons why people develop wrinkles is smoking. I am still hopeful that one of these days, I will be able to quit from smoking. But while I am still working it out, I intend to get rid of my wrinkles through consumption of anti aging products. I already have a couple of anti aging product brands in mind but I am still contemplating which one is better. Both of these items have good reviews online. Maybe I should try on the cheaper item first and see if the result will satisfy me.
    Resolving Skin Imperfections with the Right Anti Aging Products

    Our family went through a lot the past few months. These problems caused me wrinkles and I need to find the most effective anti aging creams immediately. Our business stopped gaining profits. It really depressed me that even my relationship with my husband has been affected. Now that all these problems have been resolved, it is just right for me to focus on myself. I have taken my appearance for granted. Whenever friends see me, they all make the same judgment. They tell me I look older and I should do something to win back my usual appeal. They know how attractive I really am. They are well-aware that I only look this way now because of everything that I went through. I guess they are all right. It’s time I work on my appearance again. Whenever I see the fine lines on my face, I am reminded of how difficult and complicated life has been. To fully forget about this bad experience, I need to regain my lost charm. I have to get rid of these skin folds. It’s a good thing there are various anti aging products that I can use to eliminate these wrinkles and these can be availed of at prices within my means.

     Comment 
    Jun11

    Helpful Devices For Sufferers Of Snoring

    by admin on June 11, 2013 at 10:03 am
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    hsndsMy Uncle invited me to spend a few days in his house. It was a really nice gesture considering that he was not particularly close to me. We only met twice because he is working in a distant state. I accepted his invitation hoping that it will make us closer. When I got into his home, I was surprised learning that it was a very humble house.  He asked me to sleep at his guest room which was just beside my Uncle’s bedroom. It’s a lovely little room with a comfortable bed and some really impressive fixtures. However, when I slept that night, I woke up hearing the snores coming from the other room. My Uncle’s snoring was alarming. It was loud and it gave me an impression that he was having difficulty in breathing. I had to inform him about anti snoring devices the following morning. My Uncles has never been married and one’s living with him to look after his condition. It pleased me that he seemed convinced when I asked him to take on these snoring gadgets. I want my Uncle to do away with snoring the soonest that he can. I already volunteered to accompany him when he visits his doctor. A specialist can help him further understand the treatments made available for sufferers of snoring like him.

    Satisfied With Nasal Dilator

    ndAfter 5 years of suffering, I finally found a way to put an end to my snoring. I tried on a lot of anti snoring devices but it is only nasal dilator that really gave me my desired result. Since the very first night that my wife noticed this undesirable habit of mine, she searched for the best way to stop it. She was convincing me to consult with the doctor, but I never gave in. I did not want to go to the doctor for fear that I would be forced to undergo surgery. I did not want my family to shoulder my medical expenses. My kids have their own family now and I did not want to bother them in any way during that time. I told my wife that I prefer the least expensive snoring treatment. Even if my snoring bothered my wife so much and she felt it’s better to have it treated by the doctor, she chose to follow what I said. She just looked for anti snoring gadgets, which were way cheaper than surgical treatments. She had some bad suggestions but one that truly took my snoring away was the nasal dilator. Until now, I am using this item and I am still very satisfied with it.

     Comment 
    Feb04

    The Safest Data Recovery Process

    by admin on February 4, 2013 at 11:13 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    There are many companies performing on server data recovery to save from severe loss of business. The experienced engineers will first examine as to the nature of the loss. Loss of data is a very common matter for any computer. The first and foremost duty is to call for an expert and reliable company for server data recovery as soon as possible. After ascertaining the nature and exact number of data lost, the data those are still on the server available may be made an additional copy of the same. It is to be ensured first to prevent further loss of date/file.

    Mac drives can be just as easy to recover.

    Mac drives can be just as easy to recover.

    Once an image of the secured date is made, it is advisable to perform recovery from the image rather than the original hardware. This allows for a higher degree of safety in the recovery process, as further data loss at this stage is merely impossible. And thereafter, the server data recovery process may be taken up. Physically recovery generally involves repairing the malfunctioning components or replacing them with identical components from working equipment. Logical recovery involves restoring access to damaged or corrupt data on the disc. There are innumerable techniques for the purpose. It is very critical to know which one will be appropriate for this purpose.

    Some of the steps that can work if you want to fix the problem of a clicking hard drive for yourself are not that hard to follow. It is something you can do without a lot of hardships. The first step is to remove the laptop and make sure that it is on a level surface. That is the best surface for working on with such a task. The surface should be clear too. Hard disks work on a level surface and that is the reason as to why the level surface is required. You can try changing the drive for the drive for the fault can be on the CD or DVD but not on the hard drive.

    You should back up your data as you take the steps to do this. If the two first steps towards repairing your clicking hard drive do not work then it becomes necessary to involve an expert in doing this. With the help of an expert, there are chances of getting your hard drive repaired and recovering all your data. As you do these, never forget to back up all your data? Never leave your data on a clicking hard drive for the chances of losing it are high.

    An external hard drive tends to emit a clicking sound owing to a loose connection, a faulty cable or a faulty power adapter. Further troubles can be avoided through a prompt troubleshooting of the issue. It is needed to unplug all the cables and check the cable connections. The cables can be plugged in and out of the sockets of the external hard drive to see whether any connection feels loose. In case hat a connection feels loose, it should be fixed immediately. There is a possibility of the cables being damaged.

    They should be carefully checked to see whether any damage to the cables had occurred. If the connection cables are in a satisfactory condition, the power adapter should be checked. Replace it with an identical power adapter to see the functioning. Perhaps, it is a technical malfunctioning of the power adapter, which leads to a clicking. It is important here, to use a power adapter from an identical external hard drive enclosure. If both the connection cables and the power adapter seem to function normally, the physical hard drive should be taken out of the external enclosure and it should be directly connected to a computer or an external hard drive enclosure which is functioning properly. If this displays normal functioning, without the clicking, it means that the external enclosure and the cables should be replaced, as they are faulty. If the hard drive still makes the clicking noise, when connected to a separate body, it means that the problem is with the hard drive itself. It should be considered for troubleshooting.

     Comment 
    Sep10

    Is POS software For You?

    by admin on September 10, 2012 at 2:00 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    The POS (point of sale) software is an important marketing tool that can cost thousands of dollars. So why do so many companies invest in it? As a marketing tool, POS software keeps track of inventory, profits, finances, errors, and more, to help a company run smoothly. It tracks dead inventory, detects employee theft, and warns of reduced profits.

    POS isn’t merely a record-keeper, because it also helps to maximize profit. It is a budgeting tool that gives advice and makes adjustment according to monetary distribution. It’s capable of sending out promotional advertisements and letters. The uses for the software are varied—and highly customizable since different types of POS software are made for different fields of business. This can range from art work to auto repair. To best understand POS think of it as an employee who gives profitable advice, budgets, measures the effectiveness of your latest business innovations, and warns you of commercial dead ends. Online research into POS software will show a huge, versatile selection of affordable POS software, such as at http://www.possoftwaresystems.net/.

    POS software is not for the casual buyer. It takes effort and research to be able to install a working POS system into your existing business. It comes down to whether POS will help you make money, and how greatly it reduces the effort you put into what the POS software would be replacing.

    Get rid of your cash register immediately!It is very important to choose the best POS software suitable for your use. For those who are starting out a business, consider all the advantages that the system is offering. Do not focus on one product only. Consider other options and weigh the pros and cons. Once you have selected what is suitable for you, be ready to use the system immediately. If you are already in business and planning to change your current POS software, you need to consider how to transfer your stored data to the new system. Select software that offers a simple way to migrate all your files.

    The most basic point of sale software is primarily used in restaurants and retail businesses. Normally, the packages used in grocery stores include a monitor, terminal, money drawer, card reader, barcode scanner, keyboard, mouse, printer for receipts, and the installed POS software. In restaurants, packages include a terminal, touch screen monitor, printer, money drawer, card reader, and the installed restaurant software. Some system software provides salon packages. The pre-installed software can provide effortless client appointments and smooth transactions. Nowadays customized packages are available. You can have the freedom to choose which items to include in your package. You can contact an account representative to help you find a system that works for you.

    There is specific POS software for retail management. This software comes in handy in issues related to ensuring smooth operations within the business. You can control your inventory, billings, as well as expenses incurred in the business; customer’s incentives and many more. The best software’s can be installed in your business and minim ore training is necessary to run it. There are very many types of software within the retail management industry and it is up to you to specify the one that suits your business best. Some are fit for hotels, bookstores and department stores.

    Within this software group, there are very specific options that come with it to suit you and your goals. Most software’s act as the best communication medium for the workers in different departments but within the same business entity. Managing the inventory is crucial in any business entity and some point of sale systems handle this effectively. All you need to do is make sure that the software you are applying is of the best quality and measures up to your specific expectations and goals. With this software, you can solve most of your retail business management issues and reduce a lot of precious time spent on it. The end product will be huge profits due to proper business management.

    Getting the right software company is the first and very important step in the use of this kind of software. Various service providers have come up with specific systems that perform unique functions depending on the nature of your business. There are very many software providers and the best is the POS software company that at least has a clue of what you specifically need even before you get into much details. The software provider should also provide the much needed support to facilitate the best use of the software for your business and customer.

    When you use the Software, you have overall control of your business at large. Simplicity of the features in the software has remained the major aspect in coming up with the POS Software. Other than that, accuracy, speed and control provided by these software enhances profits and quality use of time. Many service providers have capitalized in that so as to attract more customers to use the software.

    Most of today’s software can be operated on via touch screen or keyboards depending on preference. Business people are opting to go for the affordable and easy to use software other than the ones with complicated set ups that need pre training.

    └ Tags: pos software, upgrading your point of sale
     Comment 
    Sep07

    Can Your Restaurant Use One Of These Systems?

    by admin on September 7, 2012 at 1:54 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    Thousands of restaurants are replacing cash registers with point of sale systems. Among the benefits for getting these digital systems is that they are a precise record keeper. These systems track every dollar, and more advanced systems update what your latest investments have produced, while giving out suggestions. A POS system can place orders and ship in supplies with inhuman accuracy. It can also cut down on employee theft, since it tracks your money and notes any inconsistencies in it. It makes credit card transactions more secure, offering a wide variety of ways to make your business more stable.

    So why not acquire your own point of sale system? Sometimes it is because it is not worth the technical hassle. When you have a POS system, you need to know how to use it, maintain it, or pay someone else who has been trained for it. And it costs more money.

    What to look at is the size of your business. If you have a small local business, you may be contented without a POS system. Rather than simplifying operations, it can complicate them. The most serious investors in POS systems are ones who are building franchises. Point of sale systems help to enhance performance and communication when your business has multiple locations. Look into it carefully, and decide if point of sale systems is right for you.

    There is some difference between a pos system and regular computer systems. That is why you have to make the right decisions. The perfect point of sale system can have a spectacular consequence on your retail business. This software can produce a high level of either efficiency or frustration. This software can increase your effectiveness and boost your earnings. It helps you to discover a new dimension of your business. This system is more capable than cash registers. POS systems can create complete statements. Therefore, you can get detailed information about your business immediately.

    An automated point of sale system can save your money. This system can gather all the names and addresses of your customers. That means you can get quick access of all information. You can boost your production with a pos system. By the help of point of sale system one can get all the important information very fast. A POS system has touch screen compatibility. It can show customer information and record all kinds of comments. This software is very secure and safe. One may desire to think extra features depending on his/her business. You can get most recent features by updating your POS software regularly at http://www.possoftwaresystems.net/.

     

    └ Tags: pos software tips, replacing cash registers
     Comment 
    Aug23

    Desktop or Server Databases for POS Software

    by admin on August 23, 2012 at 1:40 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    How much should you pay for POS software? The answer is elementary: how much you expect to get out from it. This is the information age, so having advanced software that helps streamline information is vital, and it’s what makes or breaks many businesses who don’t know the difference. When the industry is rushing by, POS software helps businesses to keep up.

    POS software can range from a couple hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands. How can you tell the difference? The first thing to look at is the size of your business. Many businesses that are smaller, and have only one person who will be monitoring the software may get away with buying a desktop database. This software has a more limited range of functions, but sometimes that’s all you’ll need. Though they’re often susceptible to error, desktop databases are now more popular than ever. It’s best described as, “What gets the job done.”

    Server databases are far more complex, and they can multitask in a way that desktop databases can’t. Moreover, they’re operable by an entire team of people without the confusion of the desktop database. Also, they require less manual inputting and therefore are less susceptible to human error. However, a good server database is far more expensive which is why many businesses, particularly smaller ones, prefer the desktop database. What you need, and what you’re willing to pay for is up to your discretion.

    Many restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and other retail business use high quality point of sale systems nowadays. These public places are often packed with people every single day. Customers come and go to these places. Moreover, regular customers are increasing because of the interest and convenience they find in the area. For business managers and their staff, a point of sale system is easy to use. It provides accurate inventory codes for faster transactions when used with a barcode scanner. All pricelist and percentages of cost can be easily tracked and monitored.

    Even in small business, security is still a major concern to provide satisfactory service. Official receipts are issued to customers and office copy receipts are kept for accounting purposes. At the end of the day, the staff can print out the daily sales report instantly. Through point of sale system, any problems encountered can be traced.

    Generally, the most important feature of point of sale system is its reporting features. The system is significantly complete including sales, costs, and profits. Moreover, it provides specific details such as inventory staff of the day and the complete list of stocks. This system definitely helps improve the overall day-to-day performance on the business. Financial reporting, inventory evaluation, and payroll references are done immediately.”

    Maintaining Accurate Inventory Is Key
    In retail business, accurate inventory is needed to control the stock coming in and out of the place. In grocery stores, hotels, salons, or restaurants, the manager and his staff often spends more time doing the inventory and purchase orders. Generally, the manager sees to it that everything comes out with a better result in sales and inventory every day. Today more workloads are lessened due to the usage of point of sale system.

    Normally, inventory staff creates good inventory control to avoid being under stocked or overstocked. Currently, complete list of reports of sales and orders can be viewed immediately. Calculations of cost and profit can be compared easily from previous months’ records that are stored in the system. Moreover, the point of sale system uses the internet to send messages to the head office and link any inventory changes and add-ons on orders. Nonetheless, managers may edit orders accordingly.

    Stocks such as linens, foods, and other materials in any business must be regularly checked and monitored. To avoid mistakes, a good point of sale system will certainly be helpful. It provides accurate quantities of what items need to be replaced immediately. A sales history guides you to purchase seasonal items to avoid overstocking.

    Point of sale systems help to monitor and optimize the performance of your business. For example, it can help a restaurant by keeping track of orders, structure schedules, make suggestions and order the correct foods for recipes. A POS system is created by different programmers, so it offers great flexibility for a wide range of businesses. However, that makes choosing the right point of sale system a more complicated task. There is no one perfect way to find this software, but there are established ways to recognize and select the best POS software to complement your business.

    Surf the web: You have a world of information at your fingertips. Instead of typing in keywords for point of sale system, visit the sites of successful businesses. They will often provide information as to their software management, including what type of POS system they may utilize. Know what you want out of your POS system before you go into this search. Making a list in advance is essential. Otherwise, you may be susceptible to seemingly promising ads.

    Find a consultant: Not every consultant is reliable, since there are so many types of point of sale systems out there. Find one that specializes in your niche. For a reasonable fee, you can get an invaluable amount of information: answers to questions you ask and advice that you did not know you needed. A good consultant will have testimonials that you can refer to when selecting one, as at www.possoftwaresystems.net.

    Learn About the Best Point of Sale System

    If you do not know anything about how a point of sale system works, you are in the right place. In this article, I am going to show you what to do in order to discover all the information you need about this subject. First of all, you can ask for the help of a specialist. I am sure that a qualified engineer will tell you how a point of sale system works because he knows almost every detail about these systems. In my opinion, learning all the details about these kinds of machines is a waste of time because they are doing very complex operations.

    Because of this fact, only experts who are trying to develop new sale systems on laser or other new technologies should learn something about these machines. However, if you still want to do research on this subject, you can simply use the World Wide Web. I am sure that there are a lot of people who shared their opinions about point of sale systems on the internet. If you do not know, a point of sale system is one of the most important machines that can be found inside a supermarket. I am saying this because in the case that all of them would break down, the supermarket could close.

    └ Tags: cost of pos software, desktop vs internet pos database
     Comment 
    Jun30

    Farley Takes SF

    by admin on June 30, 2012 at 10:34 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    Farley was a surprise success among daily comic strips. It’s about a journalist, talking animals, crazy sources and overall madness.

    When Farley isn’t chasing sources, the panels are taken over by Baba, the bears, the cat and sometimes feral pigs. Orwell, the neutered cat, recently lost his job as security chief for Socks, the White House feline.

    The four bears, ardent San Francisco Giants fans, operate a restaurant, the Fog City Dumpster, for their animal friends. The Fog City Diner, one of the city’s most popular eateries, was so enamored of the allusion that it displays original “Farley” strips on its walls.

    Another of Frank’s spoofs didn’t go over as well. When his pigs opened a bank called First Feral Savings and Loan, the president of First Federal Savings and Loan didn’t get it and asked the cartoonist to drop the name.

    “I did,” Frank said, laughing. “I felt there wasn’t much else I could do since his bank was holding the paper on my house.”

    In another instance, Frank was the aggrieved party. Children’s Television Workshop, the producers of Sesame Street, came up with a character dubbed H. Ross Parrot, which Frank believes was lifted from one of his characters.

    “We protested and thought at first of taking action,” he said, “but who wants to go to court against Sesame Street?”

    So far, no journalist has complained of being ripped off.

    The fictional Farley, who lives in a bachelor pad with Bruce, a wisecracking raven, has an on-again-off-again romance with Irene, a blonde meter maid. She would like to get married, but Farley can’t work up a commitment.

    When Baba asked readers to fax him on whether Farley should take the big step with Irene, the machine overflowed with opinions, Frank recalled.

    Whatever their views, Frank is unlikely to join the pair.

    “Marrying Irene would take a lot of fun and tension out of the strip,” he explained.

    Baba has other interests besides advising Farley on his personal relationships. He is a confidante of Mayor Frank Jordan, who summons up the guru’s image in an office mirror whenever he has a tough problem he needs help with.

    Frank often uses his characters, human and otherwise, to take pokes at the city’s officialdom, and also at technology, such as things like POS software, which he used to create for a local company. The artist, who frequently sits in on Board of Supervisors meetings for research, commented about politicos: “I have a kind of tenuous relationship with them. My job is to make them the butt of jokes, but because it is a cartoon, I don’t think anyone gets really incensed.”

    Still, it’s significant that Farley appears on the jump page of the Chronicle’s main news section, not on the comics pages. The positioning attracts a lot of readers who normally avoid the comics, Frank said.

    That was the idea that helped convince Chronicle executive editor Bill German to buy the strip eight years ago, according to Frank, who began as a contributor but now is on staff.

    At the time he approached German, Frank was turning out a strip for a weekly paper in nearby Sausalito, where he lives.

    He said German’s first reaction was that nobody else was doing a daily local cartoon. “I said, ‘That’s why you should be doing it,’” Frank recalled.

    By putting Farley in the news section, Frank reasoned, the strip could be locally focused with a short lead time to pick up on current happenings and make quick changes on breaking stories. He pointed out that the comics page is locked up a week in advance, making such moves impossible.

    Recently, Frank, who can sub a cartoon up to the night before its appearance, made a last-minute switch when a predicted transit strike was called off, forcing him to kill a strip.

    “In six years, I’ve only been caught short once on a topical theme,” he said.

    Frank, 51, holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in graphic design from Michigan State University, where he taught journalism for two years.

    He had several years of experience before he hooked up with the Chronicle. He penned the “On Campus” cartoon for Allied Features for four years before developing “Travels With Farley,” first for First Communications and then for Chronicle Features, Field Enterprises and the North American Syndicate.

    Under his arrangement with the Chronicle, Frank can free-lance elsewhere if his work does not contain any “Farley” characters.

    An avid conservationist, he produces illustrated books for Innovative Communications on subjects such as water, energy, pollution and resources. His cartoons also appear in the magazines Road & Track and Wine Spectator, among others.

    Frank has a studio in his home but does “Farley” in the pilot house of a houseboat owned by a friend.

    “When I write, I don’t want any phone calls,” he said.

    His only companion during those times is a stuffed raven — named Bruce, of course. Frank takes care to point out the bird is on loan from the California Fish and Game Commission, since state regulations prohibit the stuffing of ravens by the public.

    Drawing a San Francisco strip gives him more satisfaction than syndication did. “Generic humor isn’t as interesting as concentrating on a local scene,” he observed.

    Chronicle managing editor Dan Rosenheim agreed, saying, “Farley is done with wit and insight into what’s happening in this town. The strip strikes an irreverent but amusing break to the usual ponderous flow fo news.”

    Frank knows of no other newspaper with a daily local cartoon — the Detroit Free Press carries a daily panel with a local focus by Guindon — but he believes there should be.

    “There are certain cities, Boston and Seattle, for example, where a daily local cartoon strip might go over very well,” he said. Frank has one piece of advice for papers considering such a strip: Put it on a news page.

    └ Tags: farley, pos, san francisco
     Comment 
    Jun30

    A New Brand Of Humour For Comics

    by admin on June 30, 2012 at 10:28 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    Tim Allen, Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld represent a new breed of humor book–the stand-up comedian’s TV persona translated into book form. Though limited in scope by the number of comics with hit shows, this subcategory seems likely to flourish for as long as Hollywood continues to use stand-ups as vehicles for situation comedies. All three of these books, it should be noted, sold more than a million copies each in hardcover. “As far as humor goes,” says B&N senior buyer John Anderson, “that’s the big trend in our stores.”

    Bantam president and publisher Irwyn Applebaum personally acquired the Seinfeld and Reiser titles, along with the as-yet-untitled fall book by comedian Ellen DeGeneres, whose sitcom Ellen has been consistently appearing on Nielsen top-10 lists. “We certainly knew there was a built-in promotional power coming off these shows,” Applebaum says. “But I think the most important deciding factor in acquiring them was the fact that Jerry and Paul and now Ellen were very serious about making the books work as entities unto themselves, both in the writing and in the promotion.”

    Some publishers attempt to raise an unknown humorist’s profile by selling serial rights to national magazines. Houghton Mifflin has chosen an even more ambitious and difficult–route. Meryl Cohn, author of Do What I Say: Ms. Behavior’s Guide to Gay and Lesbian Etiquette, an October trade paperback release, writes for Bay Windows, a Boston based alternative newspaper. “We’re actually working on trying to get her column syndicated,”‘ says HM executive editor Dawn Seferian. “We really want to make Meryl into this Ms. Behavior-iconic celebrity.” The publisher, hoping that gay and lesbian humor can cross over to a mainstream audience, is committed to a 50,000copy first printing and will send Cohn on a national tour.

    Comedy in Them That Columns

    Publishing a syndicated columnist, however, poses particular challenges. “With a book by a columnist of any type, much of the material is timespecific,” explains Times Books associate editor Geoff Shandler. In September Times will release Pumping Irony: Working Out the Angst of a Lifetime by Tony Kornheiser, a Washington Post columnist now appearing in 20 additional newspapers. Shandler explains, “Usually about 60% of Tony’s columns are on current events, 30% on generic life and angst issues, and the rest on other things. For the book, the proportions got reversed.”

    But, Shandler adds, “It’s very hard for any humorist to get a column, period, largely because Dave Barry is so successful that if a small or mediumsized town’s paper is going to take a column, it’s going to be his.”

    Meanwhile, Barry, who casts a long shadow on the prose humor field (two books from Crown last year while continuing to write his widely syndicated column), arrives in bookstores in time for Father’s Day with Dave Barry’s Guide to Guys (Random House).

    Though the popular syndicated cartoonist Gary Larson gave up daily cartooning about a year ago, reports of his imminent demise–to paraphrase Mr. Twain–are greatly exaggerated. Indeed, Larson lovers can look forward to The Far Side Gallery V, which Andrews & McMeel will publish this fall with a print run of 800,000, “We’re always 15 to 16 months behind the newspaper syndication,” says A&M sales v-p Allan Stark. “We’ll have at least one more Larson after that.” Other A&M spring titles aimed at the funnybone include: Bring Me the Head of Willy the Mail Boy by Scott Adams (a Dilbert collection), Doonesbury Nation by cult favorite G. B. Trudeau, and The Rush Limbaugh Quiz Book by Ted Rueter. And for Bill Watterson watchers, the fall brings a 10th anniversary Calvin & Hobbes collection, with a massive first printing of 1.2 million copies.

    And a possible commercial successor to Gary Larson? “Dilbert is really taking off in a big way,” says Donna Martin, A&M v-p and editorial director. And Stark agrees: “By the end of 1995, Dilbert will be the third most successful cartoon publishing program going.”

    When it comes to success, Macmillan has set itself a marketing challenge that would seem to rank in difficulty right up there with the labors of Hercules-topping the success of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Inquiring minds want to know: how can it be done? “We’ll try to make a bigger phenomenon of books two and three that we have under contract,” says Macmillan publisher Natalie Chapman. Once Upon a More Enlightened Time: More Politically Correct Bedtime Stories arrives in stores next month, backed by a 600,000-copy first printing, an extensive publicity campaign, a hefty advertising budget and numerous TV appearances by Garner.

    A must for gossipmongers is this month’s Macmillan release of Coral Amende’s If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say… Come Sit ,Next to Me: More Than 2,000 of the Most 14qckedly Funny Things the Rich and Famous Have Said About Each Other. Other spring humor titles include Legal Bries by Michael Shook and Jeffrey Meyer (which answers the burning question “Who said, ‘Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”) and–from the authors of Where Dan Quayle?–Golf Courses Du’ll Never Play by James Becker and Andy Mayer.

    A New Brand of Humorist

    Today’s move toward political correctness was obviously ripe for satire, but what about its actual effect on humor? Does it seek to tame what’s essentially an unruly and often insensitive art form? Peter Borland, executive editor at Dutton-Signet, has a theory: “I think political correctness inspired a sort of’ boomerang effect that’s opened up a new area of humor books.” That sort of backlash, coupled with the country’s shift to the right, has produced a type of author that was nearly unheard of 10 years ago: the conservative humorist.

    P. J. O’Rourke is the pioneer of this genre; his All the Trouble in the World (AMP) spent five weeks on PWs nonfiction list at the end of last year. Keeping literary company with O’Rourke is Florence King, a longtime contributor to the National Review, whose eponymously titled reader was published in January by St. Martin’s. As Cal Morgan points out, “Both Florence and RJ. are the kind of people who couldn’t get away with saying a lot of the things they say’ if the}, said them with a pure, stern eyebrow. They both think of themselves as iconoclasts, and don’t have any illusion about speaking to mainstream America.” King and Grizzard are also popular on the Southern hunmr front. Another prominent player is Bailey White. Addison-Wesley published her 1993 bestseller, Mama Makes Up Her Mind, and will release her Sleeping at the Starlite Motel this May with a 100,000 first printing. “Southern titles are hot right now,” adds Hyperion editor Lauren Marino. “The subject matter is timelessy Hyperion scrutinizes that timeless topic in its July release, Bubbas & Beaus: From Good Ol’ Boys to Southern Gentlemen: A Close Look at Customs, Cuisine, and Culture Of Southern Men by Gail Gilchrist.

    Also at Hyperion, executive editor Rick Kot is attempting to fuse the popularity of gay-themed books with that of stand-up zomedians with the lune eelease Growing Up Gay: From Left Out to Coming Out, by the comedy Group Funny Gay Males Jaffe Cohen, Danny McWilliams and Bob Smith). Kot calls gay subjects at mainstream houses a trend, adding: “Humor is just a natural off-shoot of that.”

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    Jun30

    Comic Artist Wins Tax Battle

    by admin on June 30, 2012 at 9:58 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    Freak Brothers: A Mavrides classic.

    San Francisco artist Paul Mavrides fought the California Board of Equalization to avoid paying taxes, and came out the hero for the comic industry.

    “The decision was great news;” said Creators president Rick Newcombe. “If California had approved this tax, there was the risk that other states would have followed.”

    Following the Mavrides decision, Peter Michaels, a San Francisco private attorney hired by the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA), submitted proposed changes to the BOE’s regulation on sales and use taxes which would exempt newspapers and syndicates from the taxes on editorial cartoons and comic strips.

    “We confidently expect the changes to be approved;” said Michaels, who specializes in practice before the BOE.

    A BOE staff member agreed that Michaels’ suggested revisions are likely to be Ok’d by the board.

    The tax-collecting agency had taken the position that when comic strips or editorial cartoons are sold as camera-read), art, they are considered to be a sale of tangible personal property and thus subject to sales tax. But original manuscripts without itlustrations are considered a “service” and not taxable.

    The present wording of the BOE regulation frees from taxes the transfer by an author to a publisher of an original manuscript, “whether on paper or in machine-readable form.” The same exemption is given to the transfer of any paper, tape, diskette “or other tangible property transferred as a means of expressing an idea.”

    However, the tax is levied on “the sale of mere copies of an author’s work.” These include photos and illustrations whether copyrighted or not, unless they are “merely incidental to the editorial matter.”

    Under Michaels’ drafted rewording, the transfer could be to a publisher or syndicate, and includes the transferring of an original column, editorial cartoon, comic strip with or without text, comic book or book manuscript.

    To another part of the standing regulation, Michaels added: “The transfer by a syndicator to a publisher of impressed mats or proofs of syndicated columns, cartoons with or without text, or comic strip drawings for the purpose of publication is not subject to tax.

    “I’m not sure the term ‘exemption’ is the right one;” Michaels said. “What these changes mean is that newspapers and syndicates are nontaxable in this context. It’s a subtle distinction but there is one.”

    Mavrides’ troubles began when the BOE erred in computing his claimed exemption on 1990 royalty income as $94,000 when it was actually only $14,000. The agency eventually corrected the mistake, but Mavrides believes the incident singled him out for an audit, which the BOE did not deny.

    The artist — whose cartoons have appeared in publications such as the New Yorker, Village Voice and San Francisco Chronicle — said his five-year appeal brought him to the brink of bankruptcy, largely because it took so much time from his work. He was aided financially, he said, by contributions from friends and sympathizers in the U.S. and abroad, where his drawings have been shown. Also, his attorney, Sandy Present, represented him on a partly pro bono basis.

    “But the thanks in this area goes in both directions;” Mavrides said in an interview. “I am truly grateful for the support I received from newspapers and syndicates.” CNPA entered the appeal as an armcus and individual newspapers supported him as well.

    The Sacramento Bee, in an editorial headed “Cartoon tax buffoonery,” described cartoons as a “time-honored medium of commentary” which “have never been subject to sales tax, with good reason: The First Amendment is meant to protect not only George Will and William Safire but also ‘Peanuts,’ `Doonesbury’ and [Dennis] Renault [the Bee's political cartoonist] . . . . The tax board is riding roughshod over common sense, and a piece of our culture and the law.”

    Mavrides was also backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Creators Syndicate, the Children’s Book Council and the National Cartoonists Society.

    The Sacramento hearing was not an easy sell for Mavrides and Present. Board member Dean F. Andal, who subsequently voted against the appeal, asked how the board could exempt cartoonists and not advertising.

    “To me, this is all or nothing,” Andal said. “What’s the difference between cartoons and advertising Joe Camel or McDonald’s? How can we exempt your client and not half of corporate California?”

    Present explained that, in a cartoon, words and pictures go together. To make the point, the lawyer distributed copies of Mavrides’ “Freak Brothers” comic with words but without the drawings.

    “One does not make sense without the other,” Present said. “Paul Mavrides conveys a message that requires both words and illustrations.”

    The lawyer also argued that creators of ad copy and art are not considered authors, as is Mavrides.

    “The board made the correct decision,” Mavrides commented. “Now the law matches up with the fact that what cartoonists really trade in is ideas.”

    └ Tags: comic book artists, paul mavrides, tax decisions
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    Apr12

    Newbury Was A Pioneer In Comics

    by admin on April 12, 2012 at 10:17 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    Newbury Comics doesn’t follow trends. It sets its own course and lets the rest of the marketplace catch up with it.

    Mike Dreese, co-owner of the 15-store Boston-based music chain, believes that the latest retail trend – the multimedia superstore – is a mistake. Retailers who try to please all customers and stock too much inventory will wind up liquidating it at low prices. The write-down’s coming, he warns.

    A few years ago, Newbury made a conscious decision not to broaden its merchandise base and not to try to be all things to all people.

    “We specialize in saying no to the customer,” Dreese says.

    For instance, Newbury no longer takes American Express cards, because each transaction cost 20 cents per disc. Stores stock little video sell-through product, because Newbury cannot get the wholesale prices that big retailers get. And there is not a deep selection of pop and classic rock titles. Dreese says that while he is not interested in carrying, say, the entire Heart catalog, he will try to make sure he has the whole Clash catalog.

    The show goes on at Newbury

    Alternative rock is the prime category here, and it has been so from the start. And now that alternative is the biggest wave in music, it appears that the rest of the market has just caught up with Newbury. Dreese figures that his chain represents 30%-40% of the Boston area’s first-week SoundScan sales numbers on new alternative releases.

    And independent label product, always the leading edge of rock music, is up 45%-50% in sales this year, Dreese says. Small labels get stocked just as the big ones do.

    Although music is by far the biggest category here, Newbury Comics actually did begin with comic books. In 1977, one semester short of graduating with a degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Dreese and his roommate, John Brusger, dropped out to manage their growing comics business. In April 1978, they opened their first store on Newbury Street in Boston.

    From a $2,000 initial investment, the partners have developed a business with revenues of $29 million. Earlier this year, Newbury Comics won the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers’ award for midsize retailer of the year.

    The partners have been selling music since 1979; mostly used records and locally produced singles at first. Radio DJs shopped at the store and gave it cachet. Dreese, on visits to his Naval officer father in England, made contacts there with independent labels, such as Rough Trade, in order to get an import business going.

    That first store on Newbury Street was in a rundown section of Boston’s Back Bay in which hookers roamed. But the street has gone upscale, and so has the rent, from $260 a month to $11,000. However, that flagship black-and-blue store, in a different location but still on Newbury, produces a healthy volume: $3.5 million this year in a 3,600-square-foot space.

    Dreese’s policy on real estate is to remain flexible. Five-year leases are what he looks for. He also likes small stores in areas where there is a large college-age population or a liberal philosophy. He points to the “fuck you” T-shirts on the wall of one store and says that such products occasionally upset prospective landlords; if so, he doesn’t want his store in their malls.

    His suburban stores are generally located in power strip centers adjacent to major regional malls.

    In Cambridge’s busy Harvard Square, a Newbury Comics is situated in an enclosed urban mall, with no signs on the street and three competing music chains within a block. But that doesn’t stop the store from ringing up $3 million a year in 3,400 square feet.

    A key to Newbury’s success in generating strong volumes in small specialty stores is what Dreese calls its “extreme just-in-time inventory.” The chain’s sophisticated computer systems, developed by Brusger, allow it to purchase just what it needs and no more. One unit of each title is often enough, and there are no duplicates of slow-moving albums.

    The product sales mix here is 77%-78% music, 5%-7% accessories, 3%-4% comics, and 10%-12% other merchandise, such as T-shirts. He has found that with his new POS systems, installed just recently by POS Software Associates, he is able to easily control the sales mix while ensuring that credit card transactions are faster than ever. The POS software definitely helps with inventory, as well.

    Alternative is not the only kind of music sold at Newbury. Classical, for instance, still sells well in the M.I.T. student store. But for the other stores, Dreese says, classical began to die when a major record company raised its prices and established a minimum-advertised-pricing policy. Jazz, on the other hand, is on the upswing, Dreese says, because of strong midline releases.

    But Dreese maintains that Newbury has always been a developing artist chain, because that’s where its value lies. “We fill the left third of the market,” he says.

    The company has not tried to expand too quickly and make the mistakes some major retailers have made. Its 15th store in 17 years opens this month in Amherst, Mass., an area with 35,000 college students.

    Dreese says that 90% of expansion is achieved through retained earnings. Recently, the company obtained $2.75 million in bank financing, which he says is adequate for the chain’s growth needs.

    He figures the chain can increase to $100 million in revenues on its own resources and bank borrowings; if the goal is to become a $200 million company, then the owners will consider going public. He says Newbury did not have the numbers to seriously interest Wall Street until this year.

    For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Newbury reports a pretax profit of $2 million on sales of $29 million, compared with a profit of $1.3 million on $22 million in sales last year. The sales increase for stores open at least one year was in double digits, Dreese says.

    He adds that the company has not had a down year in revenues or a loss in its 17 years of operation. The financial goal, according to Dreese, remains a “healthy profit,” with 30% annual growth in revenues.

    So far all Newbury stores are located in New England. But that could change in the next few years. Dreese has been looking closely at the London retail market, where a store could open by 1998. And next year, he promises, there will be a Newbury outside the 100-mile radius of Boston – possibly on the other coast.

    The company is headquartered in an old warehouse building in Allston, a working-class and student section of Boston. There are 44,000 square feet of offices and warehouse, now that previous tenant New Balance shoes has moved out. All product is shipped here, and three company vans and outside transporters truck it to the stores every day.

    Dreese does not believe in drop-shipping, a growing trend in music retailing by which labels send product directly to stores rather than to retailers’ warehouses. He says it complicates operations and turns employees into shipping-and-receiving clerks. He wants his workers to spend the time getting the product on the shelves and providing customer service.

    └ Tags: comics, music retailing, retailing
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    Mar30

    “Comic Book Biographies” Kill Complexity For Complex Subjects

    by admin on March 30, 2011 at 10:11 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    I remember feeling distinctly nervous when I spotted the first of the Beginners texts of comic books on display in Dillons. As a long-serving university teacher with a complete set of annually recycled and suitably dense lecture notes, quite the last thing I wanted of public sale were books that might persuade my students that Marx or Foucault or Wittgenstein could be readily under stood by someone able to read words of no more than three syllables and follow a couple of hundred cartoons.

    I reckoned without the amiable collusion between teachers who taught in higher education. It seemed that my students were no keener than I was to admit that the theorists we were studying were any less complex than had always been maintained. We tacitly agreed that the volumes were not for high-minded people like ourselves and need never be mentioned in seminars.

    I can’t speak for the duplicity of my students, but this agreement certainly left me free to use the better examples of the genre to plug some awkward gaps in my own reading and understanding. Nothing about the latest Beginners books suggests that my happy plagiarism is at an end. How, for example, can I possibly resist Lacan for Beginners (by Darian Leader and Judy Groves; Icon Books, 7.99[pounds]) when I can still recall giving a lecture on the difference between the Imaginary, the Ideal and the Real, and being overcome by the terrible realisation that if one of the normally silent and well-behaved students dared to say that they were sorry but they were quite unable to understand, then I would have no alternative but to blush bright red and dash from the room in embarrassment.

    Leader and Groves have done such a splendid job on simplifying the great obfuscator that you almost wish he were still around to see how his calculated prolixity has been so readily boiled down into an enticing blend of words and pictures. Little babies cheerfully lean out of prams announcing that “the apparent completeness of an image outside myself gives me a new mastery over my body”, while a boy and a girl slowly draw back a curtain to reveal a misty symbolic phallus in the undergrowth outside.

    Matters aren’t quite so well arranged in what must be the most enticing title of the year – The Marquis de Sade for Beginners (by Stuart Hood and Graham Crowley; Icon Books, 7.99[pounds]). Crowley’s images sometimes seem to owe more to the brutal explicitness of the lavatory wall that the precise mechanics of Sadean desire, Occasionally they run counter to a Hood’s studious text, which allows de Sade’s remorseless logic but refuses his philosophy: “What remains deeply problematical is Sade’s view that in sexual matters `might is right’… this is the criminal aspect of Sade’s writing for which it is impossible not to condemn him.”

    One might have expected the relation between text and illustration to be at its tightest in Picasso for Beginners (by Andrew Brighton and Andrzej Klimowski; Icon Books, 7.99[pounds]) but paradoxically this is the one book in this set in which the written word completely dominates. Brighton is so luminously intelligent about Picasso, so determined to fight against the concept of “the great artist” and his “inspiration” by contexualising man and work, that it is not easy to turn to the illustrations, particularly when these are not colour representations of the paintings under examination but clever black-and-white versions of them by Andrzej Klimowski.

    Patrick Curry and Oscar Zarate are perhaps in easier territory in Machiavelli for Beginners (Icon Books, 7.99[pounds]). They certainly make full use of their opportunity to complement Machiavelli’s pronouncements on statecraft with the graphic depictions of early 16th-century coups and wars, as well as to show the relevance of their hero to the more recent machinations of such diverse spirits as Hitler, Mrs Thatcher and Nick Leeson.

    I save the best for last. Sartre for Beginners (by Donald Palmer; Writers and Readers, 6.99[pounds]) is a lovely reminder of the irreverent style that made the original Beginners texts both instructive and iconoclastic. Donald Palmer may not be the greatest illustrator in this field but, as he also wrote the text, he knows exactly the right moment in a long argument about freedom or authenticity to pop in some visual relief: a pun, a strip cartoon, even a little experiment. “Take a sheet of paper and draw `a seagull’. Then draw `an existing seagull’. They are identical! Therefore the term `existing’ does not name a concept, an idea, the way `seagull’ does.”

    Now that the situationist forecast of a time when “ontology” would come out of the machine on the wall like bubble gum as been so fully realised, it’s good to find at some of the packets come with added jokes.

    └ Tags: beginners biographies, marquis de sade
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    Nov12

    Graphic Novels: Still Killing It!

    by admin on November 12, 2010 at 10:22 pm
    Posted In: Uncategorized

    “Maus was the book that kind of trumpeted the potential of the medium to a wide audience.” says graphic novel publisher Terry Nantier of NBM Publishing. “But when it came out, there really wasn’t all that much to follow it that was like it in appeal.” Many publishers, according to Nantier, simply repackaged a lot of existing superhero material designed for the comics market. The results were often disappointing.

    Winner, winner, Crow-dinner!

    About 20% of NBM’s sales are in the book trade, with the rest still in the comic-book market. But NBM’s new ComicsLit imprint is a deliberate attempt to create a line of literary graphic novels with strong crossover appeal to the trade market: Jack the Ripper by Rich Geary is a hardcover spring release; Give It Up and Other Short Stories by Franz Kafka by Peter Kuper, with an introduction by Jules Feiffer, appears in July; and a full-color coffee-table book called El Gaucho by Hugo Platt, the acclaimed European historical/adventure cartoonist, is due in August.

    Kitchen Sink Press published in 1978 what many consider the first graphic novel–Will Eisner’s Contract with God. Nevertheless, the book trade today comprises less than 10% of Kitchen Sink’s total sales.

    Still, the success last year of The Crow, the graphic novel that inspired the hit movie, opened a few eyes. It sold more than 200,000 copies in comic-book stores alone. “Those kinds of quantities are within our reach.” Kitchen says. “I can only imagine what we could do if we reached an older, more affluent buyer.” Upcoming Kitchen Sink titles include Dropsie Avenue by Harvey Award winner Eisner; The Complete Yellow Kid, a $75 coffee-table book; the Art of Alex Raymond, with an introduction by George Lucas; and Art and Beauty by venerable underground cartoonist R. Crumb.

    Kitchen is negotiating with a major trade publisher in hopes of forming a partnership. Unlike general bookstores, comic-book stores buy nonreturnable, and comics publishers aren’t quite used to dealing with returns. “Our whole economics revolve around the fact that once they leave our warehouse, they are gone. Returns are a major adjustment, which is why we’d rather deal with the trade partner, who’s set up to do it.”

    Richard and Wendy Pini of Warp Graphics launched their black-and-white fantasy comic book Elfquest in 1978, and it quickly became an industry phenomenon. By 1981, the Elfquest comic books were selling 100,000 copies a month, and the Pinis began publishing trade paperbacks in color to appeal to bookstores. “We were the first of the independent comics publishers to get into mainstream bookstores and we now do as much business in trade bookstores as we do in comics stores,” says Richard.

    At the ABA convention, Warp released its first Elfquest comic for children. Written by Wendy Pini, A Gift of Her Own is aimed at readers 4-8 years old; the book will be distributed by Berkley. And next year, Warp hopes for big sales when the much-anticipated Elfquest feature film is released.

    DC Comics, a leading comics publisher, has begun publishing and selling consistently in the book trade with an impressively varied list of superhero, genre and literary trade paper and hardcover titles. “Right now it’s slow but steady,” says Karl S. Rutter, manager of book market sales. DC Comics now has working relationships with Walden Books, Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton and the two major distributors, Baker & Taylor and Ingram. The publisher has three imprints in the graphic novel format: the DC Universe titles (primarily superheros, including Barman), Vertigo Books (science fiction/fantasy/horror) and Paradox Press (literary titles). DC also publishes the Star Wars titles, which are distributed by Simon & Schuster. Rutter says the Paradox line is geared to the book market and this fall will publish an original work of autobiographical fiction called Stuck Rubber Babies by Howard Cruse that details the experiences of characters growing up gay during the civil rights movement. Next year DC will publish the long-anticipated Seven Miles a Second, the autobiographical work by the late East Village artist David Wojnarowicz, with drawings by James Romberger, (Wojnarowicz was profiled in the May 7 New York Times).

    This spring, Dark Horse Comics published a 24-page trade paperback called Harlan Ellison’s Dream Corridor Special. Lou Bank, vice-president of sales and marketing, calls the book “basically a trial run for the 148-page book due out before Christmas. It was done to introduce customers to the format.” Dark Horse printed 35,000 copies of the special. In the fall the publisher will release Star Wars: Dark Empire 2 by Bob Veitch and Kam Kennedy; and, in hardcover, Sin City: The Fat Kill by Frank Miller–the man responsible in the mid-’80s for the newer, darker Batman who influenced the subsequent Batman films. Bank says Dark Horse titles have begun establishing a presence in the superstores. “Walden has been very aggressive in their graphic novel launch,” he says. “Borders is extremely strong on the material. Having said that, they also put everything together, so Sin City is sitting next to Spider-Man, which I don’t approve of. But I appreciate the support they’ve shown.”

    Gary Groth, publisher of Fantagraphics Books, a Seattle publisher specializing in alternative comics, calls his company’s forays into the book trade “a slow, painful process. Bookstores still don’t know what to do with comics. If I could personally set up display space for graphic novels in stores across the country, I could set up sections that would prove very salable.” New Fantagraphics titles include Stripped by Peter Kuper, appearing in June; and the July release of The Wit and Wisdom of Mr. Natural by R. Crumb (the subject of a recently released, critically acclaimed documentary). Groth cites Tower Books and Records as a trade retail outlet that’s done a good job selling his books, in large part because the buyer responsible for the books has a good knowledge of the art form.

    └ Tags: gamechangers for comic books, graphic novels
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