2009 March
We watched Watchmen
Watchmen
With Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen here, a few of us Robot 6ers got together to talk about it through the magic of e-mail. Now, fresh from movie theaters around the world (well, the United States plus Luxembourg), here are Tom Bondurant, Chris Mautner, Carla Hoffman, Melissa Krause and Lisa Fortuner. Join us, won’t you?
(Naturally, there will be SPOILERS for the movie and book.)
- March 9, 2009 @ 09:06 AM by Tom Bondurant
Read giant-sized excerpts of both Chickenhare books
Chris Grine's Chickenhare
Cartoonist Chris Grine is offering 75-page previews of each volume of his fantastic Chickenhare series, The House of Klaus and Fire in the Hole. (Sadly, Dark Horse passed on a third volume.)
- March 9, 2009 @ 08:09 AM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics | A roundup of money-related news
Sabrina the Teenage Witch #100
• Johanna Draper Carlson compiles 2008 circulation figures for Archie Comics, which help to explain why Sabrina the Teenage Witch was canceled.
• Tomorrow is the deadline set by the Hearst Corporation to find a buyer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer or close the 145-year-old newspaper — the print version, in any case. But Michael Cavna learns the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey is in a more secure position than the rest of the staff: His contract is with Hearst and not the Post-Intelligencer, so he’ll continue to provide cartoons for the chain.
• Timothy Callahan wonders why, considering the drop-off in order numbers between the first and second issues, more comics companies don’t publish weekly miniseries.
• With less than five days until the end of the auction, the top bid for that unrestored copy of Action Comics #1 is $277,300.
• Tim Broderick ponders the future of comics and asks, “Will people make a living as a cartoonist in the future?”
• The Everett, Wash., Herald sees an increased interest in comics among teen-agers.
- March 9, 2009 @ 07:40 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘That’s right, thumbsucker. I see you.’
"Schulz City: That Yellow-Shirted Such-and-Such"
Timothy Lim and Jean Luc Pham imagine Charles Schulz’s Peanuts filtered through the mind of Frank Miller in Schulz City: That Yellow-Shirted Such-and-Such. (Part 1, Part 2)
(via Super Punch)
- March 9, 2009 @ 06:47 AM by Kevin Melrose
Welcome guest contributor Sam Humphries
Sam Humphries
With JK Parkin taking a well-deserved vacation this week, Robot 6 is pleased (and lucky) to have writer and new-media developer Sam Humphries stepping in to lend a hand.
Sam worked for more than two years in content and development at MySpace, where he was the architect of the successful MySpace Comic Books program. The initiative’s MySpace Dark Horse Presents online anthology earned an Eisner Award last year for “Sugarshock!,” the short story by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon.
Sam lives in Los Angeles, and can’t stop reading Boy’s Club.
- March 9, 2009 @ 06:27 AM by Kevin Melrose
Slash Print | Following the digital evolution
"Watchmen" on the Kindle
Conventions | Registration is closed for New England Webcomics Weekend, the March 20-22 event in Easthampton, Mass., that some already are calling “Webcomicstock.”
What’s Webcomics Weekend? It’s not really a convention, organizers say; it’s more a gathering — a free one, at that. It will feature panels, livedraw events, book signings, and guests such as Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes (Unshelved), Danielle Corsetto (Girls With Slingshots), Rene Engstrom (Anders Loves Maria), Meredith Gran (Octopus Pie), Scott Kurtz (PvP), Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics) and R. Stevens (Diesel Sweeties).
E-devices | At Gearlog, Brian Heater tries out Bone, Jimmy Corrigan, New X-Men and Watchmen on Amazon’s new Kindle: “In my humble opinion, the best device for reading comics at the moment (besides, you know, old-timey comics themselves) is the iPhone.”
Webcomics | The Floating Lightbulb and The Comic Chronicles’ John Jackson Miller try to figure out what to make of GoogleTrends data showing a steady decline of unique visitors for many of the most-popular webcomics.
E-devices | Jason Ankeny lays out why mobile devices are the future of comic strips: “Few forms of creative expression are better suited to that kind of brief consumer engagement than comic strips. Life in Hell — a crudely illustrated but consistently sharp and insightful black-and-white strip — would seem like a natural on a Kindle or on an iPhone, as would any number of classic daily efforts including Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, Krazy Kat or Doonesbury.”
Blogging | To mark the second anniversary of Super Punch, John Struan offers some good tips about blogging, with special attention to increasing traffic.
Social media | Gay & Lesbian Times looks out how artists are using DList, a social-networking site for gay men, to promote their work.
Podcasting | The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profiles local comics podcasters.
E-publishing | Fictionwise, the e-book retailer recently purchased by Barnes & Noble, has sold an estimated 5 million digital titles since its launch in June 2000. (via GalleyCat)
- March 9, 2009 @ 06:05 AM by Kevin Melrose
Bergen Street Comics opens in Brooklyn
Bergen Street Comics (from Geekanerd)
Geekanerd has some nice photos from Bergen Street Comics, which opened Friday at 470 Bergen St. in Brooklyn, N.Y. Judging from Geekanerd’s photos and commentary, and this review, it’s quite the store, with exposed-brick walls, leather chairs, hardwood floors and, most important, a good selection of comics.
On the store’s Twitter account, owner Tom Adams seemed pleased with opening weekend, noting the warm welcome from the neighborhood and several sold-out books. He’s planning a one-week anniversary sale on Saturday.
- March 9, 2009 @ 04:40 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Vagabond, Vol. 1 (VizBig Edition)
Passings | Rod Gilchrist, executive director of San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum for the past 11 years, died of brain cancer on Feb. 26. He was 58. A public celebration of his life will be held at 7 p.m. March 20 at the museum. [San Francisco Chronicle]
Awards | Japan’s Agency of Cultural Affairs has awarded Slam Dunk, Vagabond and Real creator Takehiko Inoue the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Art Encouragement Prize in the new category of Media Arts. [Anime News Network]
Creators | Christopher Borrelli has a lengthy profile of Lynda Barry, whom Ivan Brunetti describes as, “one of the most important cartoonists we have — however quietly people are recognizing it.” [The Chicago Tribune]
Creators | Garfield creator Jim Davis is profiled, with attention given to his youth and early years as a cartoonist. [American Profile]
History | Writer Marv Wolfman posts a letter he, Julie Schwartz and Gil Kane received in 1984 from Jerry Siegel, thanking them for the story “If Superman Didn’t Exist …” in Action Comics#554. [Marv Wolfman]
Publishing | A roundtable of bloggers discusses The New York Times’ new Graphic Books Bestsellers lists. [Good Comics For Kids]
Publishing | Fletcher Arnett recalls Marvel’s 2002 miniseries Marville, Publisher Bill Jemas’ ill-conceived entry in the “U-Decide” wager with Captain Marvel writer Peter David. [4thletter!]
Publishing | Why the Batman comics of today owe a lot to the campy ’60s TV show. [ComicBook.com]
Events | Nicole Campos reports on Physical Nostalgia, an exhibit of Watchmen-inspired art at Meltdown Comics’ Meltdown Gallery in Los Angeles. [LA Weekly]
- March 9, 2009 @ 04:07 AM by Kevin Melrose
What Are You Reading?
Wizzywig Vol. 2: Hacker
Welcome to “What Are You Reading?”, our weekend feature where we tell you about all the cool books we’re engaged with and make you feel oh so jealous.
Our special guest this week is Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics and a contributor to such notable outlets as The Savage Critics, Salon, The Daily Beast and The New York Times.
Doug’s got a lot of interesting and cool stuff by his bedside table this week, so click on the link to learn all about it.
- March 8, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Week of 3/2
With all the convention news from Wonder-Con last weekend, there wasn’t a big weekly update for readers of The Thirsty, so let’s fix that. Immediately that below that are the pages from the week of 3/2.
Free comics after the jump!
- March 8, 2009 @ 10:26 AM by Matt Maxwell
Watchmen: The premiere is nigh
Watchmen
• Slate.com’s Grady Hendrix argues that the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons miniseries is a failure in that its “most meaningless and shallow aspects were mistakenly hailed as its virtues and then widely imitated.”
• At The Walrus, Sean Rogers offers a “corrective to Watchmenmania” — a list of “funniest, most thoughtful, and often most searing entries in the masked hero genre.” You’ll find Herbie, 1963, “The Death Ray” and more.
• Marvel.com breaks out a new feature, the “Marvel Watch List,” which spotlights five stories that helped to define the Marvel Universe.
• The Isotope Lounge has all the recipes you’ll need for your after-Watchmen cocktail party.
• A nostalgic Gawker travels back in time to mid-’80s New York City.
• The movie already has grossed $4.6 million from its midnight showings.
- March 6, 2009 @ 12:21 PM by Kevin Melrose
Freaky Friday: All new, sorta different
If I tell you the title it will spoil the joke
Welcome to the newly revamped Freaky Friday, where we gather all the “weird” comic-related links that don’t quite fit easily in any one heading or are just strange enough to make you sit up and take notice. If you come across something that makes you do a double or spit-take, let us know by clicking on the “contact us” link on the lower right.
* We’ll kick off with an amusing and somewhat dark little strip Derek Ballard did for Vice magazine that I shall not spoil at all.
- March 6, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Six by 6 | Six things I liked about this year’s WonderCon
The Rocketeer
There was a lot to like about this year’s WonderCon, as others have stated in various reports, but I thought I’d use the opportunity to kick off a new feature here at Robot Six (Who doesn’t love lists?) and share my six favorite things about this year’s WonderCon:
1. IDW to collect Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer: At their panel on Saturday morning, IDW rolled out several announcements about collecting more comic strips in archive format, new comics about the president and even the return of Captain Canuck. But the best thing announced at the panel, and possibly at the con, was the upcoming The Rocketeer collections they’ll be putting out. The collections are in Scott Dunbier’s capable hands, and it was very cool to see Stevens’ friends, mother and sister there for the announcement.
- March 6, 2009 @ 11:03 AM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 047
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
It’s Friday! Friday means another page, just like Monday and Wednesday.
Click here to read the whole thing from the beginning.
- March 6, 2009 @ 10:46 AM by Matt Maxwell
Attention please: Jeffrey Brown has a new blog …
… and he’s posting pictures of G.I. Joe on it.
Snake Eyes!
That is all.
- March 6, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner