2009 March
“Rise” and shine
Grumpy Old Fan
SPOILERS for the Wonder Woman storyline “Rise Of The Olympian,” including last week’s Wonder Woman #30, after the jump.
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- March 31, 2009 @ 12:54 PM by Tom Bondurant
Trust fund for S. Clay Wilson started
The Art of S. Clay Wilson
As you may remember, the famed underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson fell and suffered a severe head injury last November. Now, The S. Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust has formed to help the artist get back on steady financial ground:
Although he is still recovering in the hospital and beginning to draw again, (in his signature dense-pack style) his ability to earn a living in the future is in serious question. a depleted bank account and mounting bills make it imperative that his fellow man (and woman) come forward now and donate what they can to help this iconic artist develop a healthy, independent quality of life when he comes home to Lorraine Chamberlain, with whom he has lived for the past nine years.
I encourage you to please at least take some time to consider donating whatever you can afford to give to help out this talented and influential artist.
- March 31, 2009 @ 12:15 PM by Chris Mautner
Because who can resist a title like ‘The Gospel Blimp?’
Archie the creationist
Back in the 1970s, Archie artist Al Hartley wrote and drew a number of stories for Spire Christian Comics, a number of them featuring everyone’s favorite criss-crossed redhead. I remember reading more than a few of them in Sunday school as a lad and even then being taken aback by their fervent and at times painfully awkward evangelism. A lot of these comics have been loosely floating around the Internet, but Carp’s Place is the first site I know of to try to collect them all in easy to download .pdf files. Now you too can thrill to stories like Archie’s Parables, The Cross and the Switchblade and Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika. (via Dirk)
- March 31, 2009 @ 11:31 AM by Chris Mautner
Slash Print | Following the digital evolution
Time Jumper
Digital comics | The Baltimore Sun spotlights Time Jumper, Stan Lee’s multimedia collaboration with Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
The article quotes Steve Geppi, president of Diamond Comic Distributors, who praises innovations like Time Jumper but stresses they won’t supplant the traditional comic book: “There’s a certain thing about picking up that book, about touching it and smelling it and reading it. … There’s just something about that experience you can’t replace.”
Digital publishing | Sean Kleefeld ponders why many publishers are reluctant to explore digital distribution.
Digital comics | Chris Williams considers what moves by publishers into the digital realm might mean to comic-book stores: “Are digital comics inevitable? Yes. Is it doom and gloom for your favorite local comic shop? Maybe.”
Piracy | Wired’s Gadget Lab reports that pirates have illegally cracked about 20 percent of the paid applications sold by Apple’s App Store.
- March 31, 2009 @ 11:20 AM by Kevin Melrose
Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t we?
Barack the Barbarian
We’ve all heard countless times that President Barack Obama is a fan of Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian, and we saw where his affinity for the wall crawler led a few months ago. Now the other sword has dropped.
On Sunday, Comic Continuum posted Devil’s Due Publishing’s solicitations for June, and they include a comic titled Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli #1, written by Larry Hama. There’s also a poster offered of the cover to the first issue by Tim Seeley (pictured above). Here’s the full solicitation text:
BARACK THE BARBARIAN: QUEST FOR THE TREASURE OF STIMULI #1
Written by Larry Hama, art by various, covers by Tim Seeley and Rachelle Rosenberg.
From a far away land rises a mighty hero. The son of peasants from two different realms, the one known only as Barak protects the people of Hope Kingdom at all costs. Watch as he takes on the likes of Boosh the Dim, Red Sarah, and Cha-nee the Grim in this first issue!
But wait, there’s more!
- March 31, 2009 @ 11:18 AM by JK Parkin
‘To the clichemobile, Trusty Sidekick!’
The Hall of Cliche Superheroes
The T-shirt site Threadless has a fun new shirt available by Joshua Kemble that features a cast of familiar-looking superheroes on it. No doubt they spend a lot of time fighting these guys.
- March 31, 2009 @ 10:40 AM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics | A roundup of money-related news
Lex Luthor
• For an article about how big-business executives have again become the moustache-twirling villains of American culture, The Associated Press turns to DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio: “We can dress folks up in crazy costumes and give them crazy powers, but when you see someone who has the ability to work above the law, above the government, and create their own set of rules, that resonates. Because people have a level of frustration with that.”
• It looks as if cartoonist Tom Meyer was among those staff members at the San Francisco Chronicle who opted for a buyout over a possible layoff. (via The Daily Cartoonist)
• Eric Reynolds’ praise for Roger Langridge and The Muppet Show #1 dovetails into a screed against the evils of variant covers: “… I’d like to think that a company smart enough to hire a talented cartoonist like Roger Langridge and publish a very solid comic is also conscious enough to not want to engage in the kind of confidence schemes that almost ruined the industry in the 1990s and continues to paint comics in the eyes of some as more Bernie Madoff than Art Spiegelman.”
• John Jackson Miller explains what the monthly Diamond sales charts don’t tell us.
• John Jakala offers more money-saving tips for buying graphic novels.
• I love that this new business in Craig, Colorado a.) is called “Pinky’s Palace”; and b.) “offers a comic book section, band paraphernalia, patches, hair dye, belts, gifts and much more.”
- March 31, 2009 @ 09:52 AM by Kevin Melrose
Robot reviews: A Drifting Life
A Drifting Life
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Drawn and Quarterly, 840 pages, $29.95.
Several of the initial reviews of this doorstop of a memoir have focused on its more revelatory, historical aspects — how it takes us back to a time and place we Westerners know little about, namely the birth of the manga industry and the subsequent rise of gekiga.
That’s certainly a valid approach to the work. I know that a good part of the book’s enjoyment for me hinged on author Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s depictions of the intricacies and politics of the then-budding industry, even if I didn’t know every single person by name in the story or got all the references.
But what ultimately propelled me through the book and what compels me to recommend it is nothing more or less than its basic bildungsroman qualities. At its heart, A Drifting Life is the simple story of a young man discovering his talent and by extension his place in the world. It’s told in as direct and plain a manner as possible, but still full of energy and passion.
- March 31, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Female Force: Princess Diana
Creators | Writer Chuck Dixon discusses his time on DC Comics’ Batman titles, and the double-edged sword known as the crossover: “Crossovers are the Frankenstein monster created when the direct market became the entire focus of the comics business. The first crossovers had phenomenal sales and the temptation was strong to do more. But they quickly became just anemic stunts designed to give sagging titles a sales boost. They gave up on trying to sell regular comics on a title-by-title, month-by-month basis and went for the easy-peasy marketing ploy of the crossover. Now superhero comics are pretty much all-stunts-all-the-time and the law of diminishing returns has set in.” [Examiner.com]
Creators | Brian Heater wraps up his two-part interview with Nicholas Gurewitch. [The Daily Cross Hatch]
Creators | Steve Duin profiles Paul Hornschemeier. [The Oregonian]
Creators | Writer John Layman chats about his new Image Comics series Chew. [Comics Waiting Room]
Comics | A U.K. newspaper catch wind of Bluewater’s planned Female Force: Princess Diana comic. However, the paper names Diamond Comic Distributors as the publisher. [Daily Mail]
Art | Mike Mignola walks through the cover process for Witchfinder #4. [Dark Horse]
Art | Letterer Todd Klein talks about re-lettering Death: The High Cost of Living for Vertigo’s Absolute Death hardcover. [Todd's Blog]
Blogosphere | One of my favorite comics bloggers, Rachelle Goguen, has moved Living Between Wednesdays and added contributors. Update your bookmarks accordingly. [Living Between Wednesdays]
Comics | This is the first time I’ve seen Wolverine: Origin referred to as a “classic.” [Den of Geek]
Pop culture | The Los Angeles Times includes “the comics oeuvre of Judd Winick” in its list of The Real World‘s “greatest contributions to Western civilization.” [Los Angeles Times]
- March 31, 2009 @ 07:51 AM by Kevin Melrose
Marvel revives ‘What the — !?’ as video series
Back in the late 1980s Marvel launched a parody series called What the –!? that featured humorous takes on various comic characters, like The Fantastical Four, Superbman, Knick Furey and Woof R’ Ream. Now Marvel.com has launched a series of videos in the vein of Robot Chicken that use stop motion animation of their action figures. The first episode features a de-powered Iceman trying to find life after the X-Men.
- March 31, 2009 @ 07:14 AM by JK Parkin
Gemstone lives, but Disney license is up in the air
Donald Duck Adventures #21
Despite recent rumors about the closing of Gemstone Publishing, President Steve Geppi claims the company will continue.
“As has been the case with many businesses across a wide array of industries, there has been a reduction in staff at Gemstone, and this included the departure of many valued employees,” he said in a statement posted Monday on his company’s Scoop website. “This, however, is not the end of Gemstone Publishing.”
(Last month Gemstone closed its offices in West Plains, Missouri, and laid off its five staff members there.)
But the future of Gemstone’s licenses for Disney comics and The E.C. Archives isn’t so clear-cut.
“At this time, no final decision has been made regarding The EC Archives or our comic books featuring Disney’s standard characters, but it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form,” Geppi said. “We all anticipate resolving the issues facing us and moving forward, and I will be happy to announce the specifics once things have been finalized.”
Gemstone has held the Disney comics license since 2003.
- March 31, 2009 @ 06:21 AM by Kevin Melrose
An update on sexy Spider-Man comic
Image from 'Revelations'
As you may remember, last week a Nebraska mom complained to her six-year-old son’s elementary school library about a Spider-Man comic he had unwittingly checked out that had, she felt, overtly sexual imagery. At the time, it wasn’t clear which Spider-Man comic she was complaining about, but ICv2 put their best detective on the case and managed to figure it out:
The book in question, which can be seen in the KETV report, but is not identified in the newscast, is J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man Vol.2: Revelations, which was published in 2002 and rated “PG, Ages 12+” by Marvel. During its report KETV showed panels featuring John Romita Jr.’s art depicting Mary Jane in a bikini and a short skirt (the graphic novel includes Amazing Spider-Man #39, the adventurous “silent” issue).
ICv2 also notes how a book like this underscores a lot of the problems school and other libraries face in attempting to provide age-appropriate material to a wide variety of age groups. I certainly know I can’t keep track of all the different Spider-Man titles, let alone figure out what’s appropriate for my kids. I imagine it must be equally tough if not more so for your average school librarian.
- March 30, 2009 @ 01:55 PM by Chris Mautner
Talking Comics with Tim: Peter Krause
Irredeemable #1
This Wednesday marks the return of Peter Krause to monthly comics as the artist on BOOM! Studios’ Irredeemable. The series is described by BOOM! as daring to “ask the question: what if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? A ‘twilight of the superheroes’-style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!” Many people, including myself, fondly remember Krause’s great run on the 1990s DC series, The Power of Shazam. My thanks to Krause for this email interview regarding his return to monthly fun, as well as BOOM!’s Chip Mosher for facilitating the interview.
Tim O’Shea: This marks the first ongoing title you’ve done since Power of Shazam–but you’ve been a busy and happily employed artist outside of comics all these years. How has your non-comics work served to help improve your artistic skills overall and are there certain chances you’re now willing to take–or visual experiments you want to try now that you never would have considered earlier in your career?
Peter Krause: Wow…what a great opening question. I suppose there are some chances I’d be willing to take, but I’m not sure if I can point to the non-comics work specifically as the reason. After a time, I think you get a bit more comfortable in your own skin, and you’re not chasing the artistic flavor of the month. You can be a bit more confident in the decisions you make.
- March 30, 2009 @ 12:31 PM by Tim O'Shea
Collect This Now! Miracleman
Miracleman #13
Like JK, the recent discovery of the third issue of Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Big Numbers put me in mind of another much ballyhooed, but equally hard to find Moore series, Miracleman.
Of course, as with Flex Mentallo, there’s little chance this series will ever see print, at least for the nonce. Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane and a host of other lesser mortals have been arguing in court and other areas over who owns the character for over a decade now, and resolution seems as distant as the Orion belt.
The fact that the original Eclipse Comics trades and pamphlets are either a) tough to find or b) very expensive only makes the absence of a new collection only more irksome, as Miracleman still holds up remarkably well, despite having to constantly live in the shadow of its bigger and more popular brother, Watchmen.
- March 30, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Paul Pope covers Hexed hardcover
Hexed cover by Paul Pope
Over in the BOOM! Studios forum, BOOM!’s Chip Mosher posts Paul Pope’s cover to the upcoming hardcover collection of Hexed. The book is due in July.
- March 30, 2009 @ 10:53 AM by JK Parkin