The Tech for Comics Ramble is a weekly digest of news from the intersection of technology and comics.
NFTs
Veve.me
Update: Last week, I said I was super excited about the Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1 drop on Saturday. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Even with VeVe’s integrated waitlist feature designed to avoid this issue, the initial drop had to be rescheduled when the rush of buyers broke the system! In their second attempt, all 10,000 copies sold out almost instantly (at $20 each).
It’s popular to say digital collectibles are dead, but it’s probably more accurate to say “…out of the mainstream news.” The actual status of the industry is a lot more nuanced and complicated. Like with most tech innovations, we’ve reached the consolidation stage that typically follows the hype cycle. (Expect the same to happen in AI in about a year.)
Oct. 17 Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #41 The first appearance of the Rhino. Published: 1966 Cover Variants: 5 Total Editions: 7,500 List Price: 10.00 (Sold Out)
Oct. 19 Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #8 Spider-Man dons the black costume for the first time. Published: 1984 Cover Variants: 5 Total Editions: 7,500 List Price: 6.99 (Sold Out)
Oct. 18 Tarzan of the Apes #215 Tarzan: The Mine Published: 1972 Cover Variants: 5 Total Editions: 3,500 List Price: 6.99
Funko and VeVe Team Up To Showcase New Physical + Digital Collectibles Featuring Marvel's Iron Man. Dropped October 18th. $50 (Sold Out)
nft.dcuniverse.com
Oct. 19 The Demon (1972–1973) #1 Price: $9.99 (Max purchase: 5 per account) Total Editions: 4,000 (Still available)
dReader
I can’t say anything yet, but this.👆Links here.
End of the World Pizza
Creator Rob Shields has leaned into the possibilities of NFT tech with this “Augmented Reality” comic. Very cool. Visit End of the World Pizza to see a demo. The drop is live on OpenSea here. (0.0375 ETH ~ $60.53 USD)
Just Charts
This is a bit of a tangential chart, but I wanted to show how “[insert tech] is dead” has happened before, in this case during the dot-com bubble. After a tech hype bubble, there is typically a consolidation cycle. Does anyone else remember Wang, Osbourne, & Commodore? They were all rivals of Apple’s at one point. Lycos? Ask Jeeves? They were rivals of Google. I fully expect digital collectibles & AI to follow this same trajectory.
Writer Accountability
I had my first one-on-one Zoom call with
this week. These short monthly “office hours” meetings are a perk of his Black Jacket Club tier on Substack. Having an industry pro of this renown willing to look at your work is priceless. (Brian Michael Bendis offers a related perk with the top tier at ) What a time to be alive.comic-writer-who-makes-me-feel-unworthyI finished my DC “pitch” document. In reality, it is anything but. First, it will never be a pitch. DC does not take unsolicited pitches regarding existing characters (for legal reasons), and even when they do bring in new talent, it is to fill a specific slot. I knew this going into the project and did it anyway as a practice exercise. What I didn’t expect was to end up writing what is best described as eight Marvel-style scripts for an event-level mini-series. Instead of a two-to-three-page pitch document, I ended up with 17 pages! But at least that story is out of my head now.
The Lump Dog production contract is close to being signed. Really close.
The most important thing
My wife had an important, demographic-category-changing birthday this week. The priority has been to make sure she felt loved, honoured and appreciated.
What I am watching
The new season of Loki. Ke Huy Quan is a great addition to the show.
What I am playing
I am still playing Star Atlas Sage Labs when I get a chance. There were a few tweaks to the in-game economy of this beta product this week that also added to the lore. Thumbs up, but I still wish it was compatible with my iPad.
🚀 Can’t spell my last name from memory? Seriously, who can?! 😂
Fortunately, you can now reach this substack via two easier-to-remember domain redirects: techforcomics.com and tech4comics.com.