2009 January
Food or comics | A roundup of economy-related items
Secret Invasion #1
• The Los Angeles Daily News looks at how the recession is affecting Earth-2 Comics and Collectibles in Sherman Oaks, and how the owners are coping with a 20-percent drop in revenue. “We open earlier now, and close later, because every hour counts,” says co-owner Jud Meyers. “It’s not that we’re in a downturn, but we’re in a holding pattern. But in a time of fear, people want entertainment. They’re going to the movies. And people still want to read comic books.”
It’s obviously a tough time for retailers: In the past week alone we’ve seen news of the closings of Third Planet Comics & Games in Torrance, Calif., and writer/director Kevin Smith’s Secret Stash in Los Angeles.
• Sales-charts guru John Jackson Miller points out something I overlooked yesterday in Diamond Comic Distributors’ list of the top-selling comics of 2008: Every one of the Top 10 single issues sported a $3.99 price tag. Granted, they were all “special” issues — all eight issues of Marvel’s Secret Invasion, the first issue of DC’s Final Crisis, and the 500th issue of Uncanny X-Men – but that would seem to put an end to any doubts about whether we’re heading into the Age of the Four-Dollar Monthly. (via Heidi MacDonald)
• At ComicBook.com, Tony Dillard throws a wet blanket on the upbeat USA Today article that accompanied the release of Diamond’s year-end figures — the one that trumpeted a 5-percent growth in graphic-novel sales: “One factor that shows that 2008 may not have been such a great year for many in the comic book industry is the struggles faced by many popular comic book shops. … The recession is hurting everyone. Life-long fans are having to sell their beloved collections to make ends meet. Even comic readers, who normally would spend $30 a week on comics, are checking out free comic books from their local library.”
• Related to that quote, blogger Sean Kleefeld rededicates himself to remaining “engaged in and part of the comics scene without dropping $30 a week at my Local Comic Shop.”
• Another casualty of the economy is small publisher Young American Comics, which has announced it’s closing. (I confess I’ve never heard of the company, but some of its titles look interesting.)
• It’s not all grim news, though. The Folsom (Calif.) Telegraph reports that last weekend’s Sac-Anime Convention in Sacramento actually saw an increase in attendance. “Friday was bigger than we expected,” said convention program director Robert Bisjup. “Usually our Fridays are just average, but not this year. It’s good news, especially with the economy and all.” Friday’s attendance was estimated at more than 2,500.
- January 13, 2009 @ 08:58 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Century: 1910
Milestones | Tintin isn’t the only beloved comics character celebrating his 80th birthday this month: E.C. Segar’s Popeye first appeared in Hearst newspapers on Jan. 17, 1929. The years have been kinder to Tintin, I think. Popeye looks pretty rough. [Wales Online]
Weirdness | Speaking of Tintin, a 96-year-old Danish man claims a trip he took around the world as a teen-ager was Herge’s inspiration for the famous adventurer. [The Copenhagen Post]
Interviews | Writer Pádraig Ó Méalóid is soliciting questions for an interview he’s conducting with Alan Moore in advance of the release of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910. [via the Forbidden Planet International blog]
Politics | Barack Obama certainly isn’t the first president — or president-elect — to appear in a superhero comic. Jossip spotlights a handful of other cameos, from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton to George W. Bush. [Jossip]
Publishing | Comics-website columnist William Gatevackes wonders where to point fingers, this time around, for the cancellation of DC’s Manhunter: “… it is a bit too simplistic to lay the cancellation of Manhunter exclusively at the feet of the readers. Some of the blame has to lie with DC as well.” [Broken Frontier]
Creators | Cartoonist Derf talks about The City and Punk Rock and Trailer Parks, his work process, and his first paid work: “My first PAID cartoon was drawn in the sixth grade. A horny classmate gave me $2 to draw a comic starring our teacher—in the nude—which one must assume he used for masturbatory purposes. I can’t think of a better way to kick off my professional career.” [Bookslut]
Publishing | Even more attention is being lavished on author Jeff Kinney, whose Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw hits stores today. [USA Today, The Chicago Tribune]
- January 13, 2009 @ 06:51 AM by Kevin Melrose
Robot Reviews: Into the Volcano
Into the Volcano
Into the Volcano by Don Wood
Blue Sky Press/Scholastic
175 pages, $18.99.
The inside flap of this book says that Wood (author of such children’s books as The Napping House and King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub) spent five years working on this adventure story. That acknowledgment makes me feel even more guilty for what I’m about to write.
Into the Volcano just isn’t a very good book. Not by children’s book standards, and not by most graphic novel standards. There are a few striking moments, but some poor choices in plot and character nullify whatever charm those sequences provide rather quickly.
The book involves the adventures of Sumo Pugg and his (fraternal twin?) brother, Duffy. The pair are chucked out of school by their gruff dad and sent to spend some time with their mysterious and highly suspicious aunt and grown-up cousin who live on what I presume to be a fictional facsimile of Hawaii.
- January 13, 2009 @ 06:15 AM by Chris Mautner
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Hill and Wang, HarperCollins
Che
Today at TWFB, we’ll take a look at two prose publishers who have recently been dipping their toes into graphic novel waters: Hill and Wang and HarperCollins Children’s Books.
Hill and Wang, a subdivision of Farrar Straus Giroux, has been doggedly publishing its series of nonfiction and biographical comics for awhile now, the most notable title being Ernie Colon and Sid Jacobson’s adaptation of the 9/11 Report.
I covered Hill and Wang’s plans for the first half of the year here. For the summer, they have two books coming out:
- January 13, 2009 @ 06:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Hail to the chief
An Ed Sorel contribution
Vanity Fair bids a fond farewell to our current president by taking a look back at how contributing illustrators like Ed Sorel, Gerald Scarfe and Risko have potrayed him in their magazine. Go take a look.
- January 13, 2009 @ 05:35 AM by Chris Mautner
So what’s Vanessa Davis been up to these days?
Stranger in a Strange Land
Apparently the Spaniel Rage author is doing an ongoing comics column for Nextbook. Her latest one is all about her decision to move from the East Coast out to California.
- January 13, 2009 @ 05:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Studios ‘close’ to settlement in Watchmen lawsuit
Watchmen
Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox reportedly are “close” to reaching an agreement in the bitter lawsuit over the $130-million Watchmen movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, negotiations between the two sides “got serious” over the weekend after U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess postponed a status hearing so the studios could pursue settlement talks.
Attorneys met yesterday for 30 minutes behind closed doors in Los Angeles federal court to discuss details. Neither studio would comment, but the trade paper notes that Warner Bros. hasn’t pressed its earlier request to move up the injunction hearing, “suggesting a settlement is near.”
Fox filed the lawsuit in February, claiming it owned the movie rights to Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics
miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. In December Feess ruled that Fox owns a copyright interest in the movie because of a tangled development history that dates back to the late 1980s. Last week the studios agreed to allow the judge to decide whether Fox can block release of the movie.
Over the weekend, tea-leaf readers gleaned positive signs from settlement talks in the small rollout of a Watchmen TV campaign, and in the body language of studio executives during the Golden Globes ceremony.
If an agreement is reached, Watchmen will open in theaters on March 6.
Related: The Los Angeles Times looks at what the lawsuit could mean for producer Larry Gordon, who’s at the center of the bitter feud.
- January 13, 2009 @ 04:51 AM by Kevin Melrose
Time to get ill
by Israel Sanchez
You might remember last year when Gallery 1988 hosted an art show that paid tribute to Stan Lee. This year they’re paying tribute to the Beastie Boys, with artwork by more than 100 contributors, including some comic artists like Jim Mahfood, Dave Crosland and Israel Sanchez.
The show runs through Jan. 29 at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, or you can view all the artwork here.
- January 13, 2009 @ 04:00 AM by JK Parkin
More retailer reactions to Hexed
After the break are a couple more retailer responses on BOOM! Studios’ Hexed/MySpace promotion. The first round-up can be found here. My thanks to the retailers who responded.
Also received a press release from BOOM! in my in-box tonight … apparently their staff is working at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles every Wednesday in January. “Some of the best times I had growing up came from hanging at my LCS on new comic book day. We just thought what better way to support the release of HEXED than spending our Wednesday evenings helping out at Meltdown?” reads the quote from Chip Mosher. “And hey, who doesn’t like to get paid to hang out at comic book store?”
And meet celebrities like M.F. Grimm:
BOOM! staff with M.F. Grimm
- January 12, 2009 @ 07:56 PM by JK Parkin
From the Lineage of Ditko
Although you’ve probably already seen Brendan McCarthy’s ” script doodles” on an old Doom Patrol script from Grant Morrison, as Rich included them in his column last week, McCarthy shares them and some news on his Dr. Strange/Spider-Man project on his site:
“My Spider-Man/Dr Strange story is now at the half way point. It’s a three issue mini-series that will appear under the Marvel Knights banner, probably in the early summer. It’s been great fun drawing and writing the series, and Marvel seem to love what I’m creating so far. I’m coloring the book with Steve Cook, who designed the SWIMINI PURPOSE book for me a few years ago.
If Fantagraphics can’t have Dr. Strange, as Eric Reynolds suggested in August, this is equally as awesome.
McCarthy says he can’t show any art from the book yet, but he does share this piece, proclaiming he’s from the lineage of Ditko:
by Brendan McCarthy
- January 12, 2009 @ 12:45 PM by JK Parkin
Barrowman, Edwards collaborate on Torchwood comic strip
The "Torchwood" comics cast, by Paul Grist
Good, or at least interesting, news for fans of Torchwood: Actor John Barrowman is teaming with his sister Carole E. Barrowman and artist Tommy Lee Edwards on a comic strip for the next issue of Torchwood magazine.
Barrowman, as viewers of Doctor Who and the spinoff Torchwood know, plays Captain Jack Harkness, a time-traveling former con man who becomes leader of Torchwood.
The comic, which will appear in Issue 14 of the bimonthly magazine, “sees Captain Jack facing a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one … To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who or perhaps more specifically what is responsible.”
The previous issue featured a comic by Jack Staff creator Paul Grist. You can catch glimpses of Grist’s art on the magazine’s Facebook page.
Issue 14 will be available in the U.K. on Feb. 19, and in the United States on March 17.
- January 12, 2009 @ 10:09 AM by Kevin Melrose
The revolution will be serialized … eventually
From "The Winter Men Winter Special"
My monthly comics shipment hasn’t arrived yet, so I haven’t read The Winter Men Winter Special, the long-awaited conclusion to the sporadically released miniseries by Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon about the post-Cold War fallout from a Soviet superhuman program.
And that pains me, because although I’ve waited more than two years since the release of the previous issue, the idea that the finale is out there, taunting me, is frustrating.
However, my distress is eased somewhat by Jog’s review of the Winter Special, and the series as a whole, in which he nails everything that made The Winter Men so … fantastic, really: the denseness of the story, the intricacy of the plot, the cadence of the dialogue — “What Deadwood is to American Western speech, Winter Men is to transliterated Russian conversation,” Warren Ellis once wrote — the beautiful art.
The review is a fine sendoff to a miniseries that I dearly wish had been able to run its full length (it initially was eight issues, before being reduced to six).
At Comics Should Be Good, Greg Burgas also focuses on the long, spaced-out history of The Winter Men, and provides issue-by-issues summaries for those who might’ve forgotten about the miniseries, or who are wondering what the fuss is about.
In a magical world populated by unicorns and wealthy, comic-reading benefactors, someone would throw tons of money at Lewis and Leon so they could produce more Winter Men.
But until I see a horned horse skipping across my lawn, I’ll have to be satisfied with the Winter Special – when it gets here — and an eventual, and lovely, hardcover collection. (Hint-hint, DC/Wildstorm.)
- January 12, 2009 @ 08:51 AM by Kevin Melrose
Guest review: Farscape #1
I became a fan of Farscape pretty late in the game, after it had been on Sci Fi for a few seasons. And the reason why I decided to check the show out was because a friend of mine from an amateur press association I was in at the time had so many wonderful things to say about it (and she was right). So I asked that friend, Betty Ragan, if she’d be willing to read and review BOOM! Studios’ new Farscape comic for Robot 6, as I thought it might be interesting to hear what a hardcore Farscape fan who isn’t a hardcore comics fan (although she isn’t a complete comics newbie, as she’s read stuff like Watchmen, Persepolis and Bone) thought about the book.
My thanks to Betty for taking the time to write up her thoughts … and, again, for recommending the television show in the first place.
*****
by Betty Ragan
Farscape #1
Fans of Farscape have been waiting since 2004′s Peacekeeper Wars miniseries for an official continuation of the series in any medium, and many ended up having to wait even longer than expected after bad weather kept many U.S. comic stores from receiving the first issue of BOOM! Studios’ new Farscape comic on time. But now the wait is over, the comic is here, and I am pleased to report that, for this Scaper, at least, the result does not disappoint!
Visually, it’s attractive in a way that captures the design and feel of the show pretty well; the shipboard “sets,” in particular, were familiar enough to make me feel instantly nostalgic. I will say that to my admittedly un-artistic eye some of the characters match the look of their TV counterparts better than others, but all of them were obviously rendered by someone paying genuine attention to the source material.
The same is also most certainly true of the characters. The dialog is so absolutely spot-on that I could effortlessly “hear” everyone’s voices in my mind, and more than once I found myself thinking “Oh, that is so them!” about one person or another. And precisely because the characters all feel so right, the comic manages to capture the show’s unique sensibilities perfectly, especially its wacky, pop-culture-savvy, largely character-based sense of humor. I was actually glad to be reading this in private, because I laughed out loud several times in the course of the story.
The overall effect is very much that of watching a new episode after a long, Scape-less drought, not least because it is very firmly placed in the show’s continuity, taking up essentially where the miniseries left off. It also works in a fun reference or two to earlier episodes, in ways that should not, I think, be confusing for more casual fans. In fact, there’s enough back story provided here that I suspect the story should be reasonably accessible even to those who’ve never watched the show, although that exposition is presented in ways that, as a huge fan, myself, I found pleasing rather than dull.
Really, the only way in which it’s not satisfyingly like watching a new episode of Farscape is that it is in fact much more like watching the beginning of an episode. As soon as the story really gets going, unsurprisingly, the installment is over. But, oh, well. We Scapers have become very, very good at waiting for the “to be continued.”
- January 12, 2009 @ 07:01 AM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s a Critic: What we talk about when we talk about Batman R.I.P.
Batman R.I.P.
Welcome to the first 2009 edition of Everyone’s A Critic, now safely ensconced at its new home at Robot 6.
For those who aren’t familiar with the series back when it was over at Blog@Newsarama, the object of this column is to offer germane discussion on comics criticism, macrame and similar lighthearted fare. OK, I was lying about the macrame part. That was just to draw you in.
Every so often I’ll be poking out from my hidey-hole and offering my thoughts on a particular review-related issue of the day, pointing you towards an interesting discussion or review or talking with some of the industry’s more intelligent and articulate pundits.
I say “every so often,” because at this point, for a variety of reasons that I can’t go into right now (I’m lazy, my big toe hurts), I don’t have the ability to do the column as a biweekly, let alone weekly, thing. As things settle down it will, I promise, but for now it will more or less show up when I feel the discussion is germane enough. I like typing the word “germane.”
Today I want to point you towards a lengthy discussion you may have noticed taking place a few days ago over at Sean T. Collins’ site. Continue Reading »
- January 12, 2009 @ 07:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Not that Pottsville; it’s, um, some other one
From "Wolverine: Switchback"
The big mystery of Wolverine: Switchback apparently isn’t who’s laying deadly road traps for motorists. It’s, Where the heck is Pottsville?
The Marvel one-shot, released last week, features a certain Canadian mutant winding up in tiny Pottsville (elevation: 4,210 feet) as he tries to take a break from all things X-Men and Avengers and … the 17 other teams on which he serves.
But which Pottsville is it? Stephen J. Pytak of The Republican & Herald newspaper in Pottsville, Pa. (elevation: 659 feet) tries to find out.
“If you spend $3.99 to read the X-Man’s latest adventure,” he writes in Sunday’s edition, “don’t expect to see references to Route 61, Yuengling beer and the Pottsville Maroons.”
Artist Das Pastoras’ establishing shots depict rocky mountains with snow-covered peaks. So I’m guessing this Pottsville is … somewhere in the Rocky Mountains? New Mexico, maybe.
Marvel Assistant Editor Sebastian Girner assures Pytak that Wolverine’s Pottsville is entirely fictional, and fairly generic: “This could be Pottsville anywhere. It could be anywhere in America. The writer didn’t specify where this was taking place.”
So Pottsville, Pa., population 15,549, will have to be satisfied with Yuengling, and not a comic book, as its claim to fame — and be happy it didn’t suffer the fate of Stamford, Conn.
- January 12, 2009 @ 06:03 AM by Kevin Melrose