2009 March
Batman & Robin is ‘like David Lynch doing the Batman TV show’
From "Batman & Robin" #1
More details have begun to trickle out about Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s run on the new series Batman & Robin, finally confirmed yesterday by DC Comics.
In a brief interview with IGN.com, Morrison describes the title “as the next book in what will be a five-volume series beginning [with] ‘Batman & Son’,” the 2006 Batman story arc that introduced Damian Wayne as the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul.
Compared to “Batman & Son” and “Batman RIP,” Morrison says Batman & Robin is “maybe more poppy, and more colourful, but it’s also creepier.”
“It’s like David Lynch doing the Batman TV show,” he says.
There are more details at the link, of course.
- March 11, 2009 @ 02:45 PM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: What Looks Good for May
I should’ve done this last week, but a) my comic shop got screwed out of their Previews order (yay Diamond!) and b) I was glad to get to talk about The New Brighton Archeological Society on the day it came out.
Once more, focusing on debut issues, collections, and graphic novels, here’s what looks promising a couple of months from now. And by all means let me know in the comments what I missed.
Femme Noir, Volume 1: The Dark City Diaries
Ape
Femme Noir, Volume 1: The Dark City Diaries – A mysterious, gun-toting woman fighting jungle girls and robot gangsters. Writer Christopher Mills knows how to do great, fun pulp and it’s illustrated by the legendary Joe Staton.
Avatar
Freakangels, Volume 2 – I haven’t been reading the webcomic version yet, but wow the art is gorgeous, isn’t it? Looking forward to seeing what it’s all about.
Boom!
Unthinkable #1 – A think-tank that develops nightmare scenarios for the government to prepare against shuts down and the members begin to disappear. One of them, a novelist, has to figure out what’s going on and stop it before – I assume – he’s taken and the scenarios start becoming reality. Sounds like a great thriller and I’m in the mood for one of those.
- March 11, 2009 @ 01:09 PM by Michael May
Six by 6 | Six questions for new comics retailer Tom Adams
Bergen Street Comics
Last week Tom and Amy Adams did what many comic fans dream of — they opened their own comic shop. Located at 470 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217, Bergen Street Comics is the newest addition to the Park Slope neighborhood.
Tom was kind enough to answer a few questions about opening the shop, which will host a grand opening party this weekend.
JK: What made you want to open a comic shop?
Tom: Trying to find a way to turn my complete obsession with comics into some kind of career was probably the main reason that I wanted to open my own store. When you find yourself at your job, constantly looking for an excuse to sneak out to the comic shop across the street, then it may be a sign that you are in need of a change. I also think that the incredible amount of great new comics coming out over the last several years — we’ve been in a new Golden Age since at least 2003, if you hadn’t noticed — and the emerging dominance of the collected editions made it seem like selling comics was a viable option.
- March 11, 2009 @ 12:03 PM by JK Parkin
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
It’s time once again for Send Us Your Shelf Porn, where you, the home audience, sends us pictures of your oh-so-beautiful bookshelves and comics collection and we post them here, thereby giving you bragging rights among the comics cognoscenti, at least for a day or so.
Our photos this week come via blogger, cartoonist and critic extraordinaire Derik Badman. He’s a rather erudite and clever fellow and you all should read his blog. What’s more, he’s got a swell collection! Take it away Derik!
- March 11, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Webcomic to watch: Jim Mahfood’s Los Angeles Ink Stains
Los Angeles Ink Stains #7 by Jim Mahfood
The first time I saw Jim Mahfood’s art was in 1999, in the pages of his creator-owned book Grrl Scouts. The book was filled with cute chicks, hip hop, comics and weed, pretty much everything that made me want to move to Los Angeles a year previous. (Sorry, Mom!) Every page was crammed full with Mahfood’s manic, graffiti-inspired line work and laid-back, don’t-give-a-fuuuuuuuuck sense of humor. I was in heaven!
Ten years later, I’m still in LA and Mahfood is still kicking it. His semi-irregular online series Los Angeles Ink Stains is one of the best comics on the web. Each auto-bio installment documents random highlights from his life in Southern California. The subjects range from late night taco runs to creating art to mourning his long-lost best friend.
Mahfood chronicles it all with that same expressive, always-experimenting artwork, and sincere storytelling that doesn’t go for easy glamorization. Rain or shine, moment of glory or walk of shame, Mahfood shares it all.
It’s a fantastic way to experience Los Angeles beyond what you see in US Magazine — the house parties, the creativity, the beach, the good friends, and the lost loves. And the amazing tacos. It makes me nostalgic for a place I’ve never left.
You can check out past installments of Los Angeles Ink Stains here, and catch new installment on Mahfood’s blog, updated regularly.
- March 11, 2009 @ 10:55 AM by Sam Humphries
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 049
Forty-nine? That can’t possibly be right.
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
Huh. So it is. We’ll hit our fiftieth anniversary page Friday. I’d say DOUBLE-SIZED, but that’d be stretching the truth by approximately 100%.
Hit the archives to catch the story from the start.
- March 11, 2009 @ 09:43 AM by Matt Maxwell
Lex Luthor wants a piece of the federal bailout
At Funny or Die, Lex Luthor — portrayed hilariously by Jon Hamm of Mad Men — makes a plea for President Obama to grant LexCorp. a $100 billion bailout.
“I know what you’re asking: ‘Lex, where did it all go wrong?’” Luthor says. “Well, we got heavily into investing in an awful lot of worthless desert property that we then tried to blow up the state of California so that would go up. We tried to build an entirely new land mass in the middle of the north Atlantic out of stolen Kryptonian crystals, but of course you-know-who comes in, scoops the whole thing out of the water, and throws it into outer space, which is … typical.”
(via Ian Brill)
- March 11, 2009 @ 07:31 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘Young Love,’ revisited
Homage to "Elektra: Assassin" #4, by Scott White
Editor Jason Rodriguez (Elk’s Run, Postcards) sends along this terrific homage to Bill Sienkiewicz’s cover to Elektra: Assassin #4, by illustrator Scott White. It’s for the cover of a comic that will be given as favors at the wedding in June of Rodriguez and Robin Castoldi (that’s, of course, them in the image). Noel Tuazon and Chris Piers are illustrating the stories inside.
- March 11, 2009 @ 07:13 AM by Kevin Melrose
Fantagraphics to publish Tardi
You Are There
Well, there goes one less potential column for Collect This Now. Over at Flog!, Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson announced the company will begin publishing the works of the legendary French cartoonist Jacques Tardi this summer:
“The first two releases will be West Coast Blues (Le petit bleu de la Côte Ouest), a hard-boiled crime thriller adapted by Tardi from the novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, and You Are There (Ici même), a satirical, surreal story written for Tardi by Barbarella creator Jean-Claude Forest that many consider one of the first true French graphic novels. Both will be released simultaneously in August, in what series editor Kim Thompson (ahem) calls a ‘double-pronged shock-and-awe assault on the American readership, to immediately show off Tardi’s versatility.’
The real gem comes next summer when the company plans to publish what is largely regarded as his masterstroke, the WWI epic, In the War of the Trenches.
- March 11, 2009 @ 06:00 AM by Chris Mautner
DC’s ‘After Watchmen’ site launches with more titles
After Watchmen, What Next?
This morning DC Comics launched the website for its “After Watchmen, What Next?” initiative designed to lead new readers to other comics.
Although the initial announcement last month mentioned just six DC titles — Identity Crisis #1, Planetary #1, Preacher #1, Saga of the Swamp Thing #1 and Transmetropolitan #1 — the website spotlights some 50 graphic novels and collections divided into categories such as “Books That Redefine Modern Super Heroes,” “More Books By Alan Moore” and “Books That Push The Boundaries of Science Fiction.”
Titles include All-Star Superman, DC: The New Frontier, We3, DMZ, Astro City, The Sandman, Ex Machina, Fables, Batman: Year One, 100 Bullets and Y: The Last Man.
According to Publishers Weekly, the DC program initially will focus on a fewer number of books — about 20. In addition to the website, the initiative will include co-op advertising, email newsletters, online banner advertising, and new groups on Facebook and MySpace.
- March 11, 2009 @ 05:34 AM by Kevin Melrose
Who walks out on the Watchmen?
Watchmen
Watchmen may have done respectable box office during its first weekend, but what sort of business is it going to do in its second week? If the following stories are to be believed, not very well. Christopher Borrelli at The Chicago Tribune is reporting that at least one-fourth of the audience at the screening he attended last weekend walked out, apparently having walked in unaware what type of movie they were going to be shown:
A father accompanied by antsy young boys shifted uncomfortably with every splatter of brain, sank lower into his seat at the arrival of a nude Dr. Manhattan’s fully exposed Little Dr. Manhattan and finally bolted with the kids during the fairly explicit sex between Night Owl and Silk Spectre. (This movie is rated R, people.) It’s hard to say when the trickle became an exodus, but maybe a quarter of the theater walked out.
- March 11, 2009 @ 05:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Kindred
Industry | The announcement of an international advisory board seems to signal a new push by Marvel Entertainment into the global market, with a focus on China and India. There’s no specific mention of comics, though. [Reuters, press release]
Publishing | Beacon Press, the publishing arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, is launching a line of nonfiction graphic novels, with cartoonist Alison Bechdel serving as consultant. The company also plans a graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s award-winning novel Kindred. [PW Comics Week]
Creators | Legendary EC Comics creator and MAD Magazine editor Al Feldstein is in poor health after blacking out last month on his rach. After being hospitalized, it was discovered the 84-year-old Feldstein will require open-heart surgery. [The MAD Blog]
Creators | Our condolences to Neil Gaiman, whose father passed away. [Neil Gaiman]
Creators | FreakAngels artist Paul Duffield, who won Tokyopop’s first UK Rising Stars of Manga competition, has advice for new creators looking to get their start at the publisher: “To be honest, I’d tell them to stay away for now. It’s best to get things straight about Tokyopop, they’re a company with an identity crisis. They have a team of editors who are enthusiastic, dedicated, understanding and great to work with. However the marketing and directing side of their business (which is the side that tells the editors what to do, and the side that decides which projects get published and which get dropped) is a shambles.” [Manga Punk]
Creators | Artist Dave McKean talks about his work and his collaborations with Neil Gaiman. There’s also an extensive gallery of McKean’s art. [Seven Impossible Things, via Bookslut]
Crime | A Tawainese man arrested Monday on charges of killing his landord with a hammer and a machete, and then tracking down and injuring the landlord’s wife and son, is blaming the manga Battle Angel Alita for his actions. [Anime News Network]
Fandom | A takedown of homophobia in “geek culture.” [Stuff Geeks Love]
- March 11, 2009 @ 04:50 AM by Kevin Melrose
Six in one hand…
Grumpy Old Fan
Last week Secret Six #7 wrapped up the ongoing series’ first story arc with a big fight scene on a Gotham City bridge. (Charmingly quaint highway sign: “Welcome to GOTHAM CITY/Come as a stranger/Leave as a Friend!”) Amidst all the carnage, two characters met their fates in a shared blaze of glory, old alliances were re-forged, and old enmities were renewed. In short, it was a rockin’ good time.
I really can’t say enough positive things about Secret Six, which is one of DC’s best superhero titles. (Of course, I use the term “superhero” advisedly.) Therefore, if you’re not reading it already, for what are you waiting? Gail Simone, Nicola Scott, Doug Hazlewood, Jason Wright, Rob Clark Jr., and Sean Ryan are at the top of their game!
Well, that’s it for me. See you next Tues–
– what? 1100-odd words to go?
And no more vamping with this one-sided fake-dialogue?
Okay….
- March 10, 2009 @ 05:45 PM by Tom Bondurant
The Dynamic Duo (Morrison and Quitely) strikes again!
From the cover of Batman & Robin #1, by Frank Quitely
As Comic Book Resources reported earlier on the front page, DC Comics confirmed today the long-running rumor that All-Star Superman collaborators Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely will reteam in June for the new series Batman & Robin.
It’s welcome, if not exactly unexpected, news. I’ve been hoping for Quitely on a Bat-book since I saw his variant cover for All-Star Batman and Robin #10. And I don’t care how long it takes him to draw it.
CBR has the teaser art from this week’s “DC Nation” page, while IGN.com has the full cover from Issue 1 (part of which you see above).
- March 10, 2009 @ 05:34 PM by Kevin Melrose
Robot reviews: These stories are totally true
American Elf Book Three
Ah, the autobiographical comic. Is there a genre more maligned and misunderstood. Apart from superhero comics I mean.
It’s a genre that tends to get lumped together as “too much of the same thing,” a criticism I really don’t agree with. Two recent autobiographical diary comics — Little Nothings: The Prisoner Syndrome by Lewis Trondheim and American Elf Book Three by James Kochalka – for example are very similar in execution and style (both are diary comics) but very different in what they reveal and the ways they present themselves to the reader.
- March 10, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner