2009 April
New Arkham Asylum trailer, screenshots
Continuing on the video game front, I should note that Warner Brothers and Eidos will soon be releasing a new Batman game, titled Batman: Arkham Asylum. Joystiq has video footage (below) and a collection of screenshots for the curious to peruse.
- April 8, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome to Send Us Your Shelf Porn, where you, the reader, sends us your shelf porn. Our special guest this week is our very own Tom Bondurant, who took time out of his busy schedule to snap some photos of his own extensive collection. Regular readers of this site know Tom and his insightful columns well enough that I shouldn’t have to go into a lengthy introduction but merely say “Take it away Tom!”
- April 8, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Apparently they’ve made a Wolverine video game
And big surprise, it’s a tie-in in to the upcoming Hugh Jackman film (now playing on a Web site near you). Here’s a trailer of the game:
Anyway, a lot of the big video game sites have taken a look at the game and are offering previews. What were their initial impressions? Click on the jump to find out.
- April 8, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
The good, the bad and the Eisner reactions
2009 Eisner Awards
The comics Internet has, of course, been humming since the nominees were announced yesterday for the 2009 Eisner Awards.
There’s the usual armchair-quarterbacking questioning how X was nominated but not Y, and suggestions of elitism or bias (the phrase “hoitie-toitie” has been spotted). But the consensus, I think, is that it’s a fairly well-rounded list — even if some favorites didn’t receive nods this year.
“holy crap, so many nice eisner nods,” Viking writer Ivan Brandon posted yesterday on Twitter.
Brian Michael Bendis jokingly responded: “to be fair there are some blindingly terrible ones as well.”
Don MacPherson has some thoughts on the nominations, most notably the inclusion of finite series All-Star Superman in the Best Limited Series category, and the relaunched Invincible Iron Man in Best New Series.
Brigid Alverson, meanwhile, notes that “Manga is pretty sparse among this year’s nominations, and weirdly, none of the titles in the Best Publications for Teens/Tweens is manga.”
Evan Dorkin has a nice mix of congratulations and critique, but reserves the best for the subsequent comments thread.
In response to a question about the comics industry naming awards for creators while those creators were still alive, Dorkin writes:
- April 8, 2009 @ 06:57 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
The Eternal Smile
Legal | A lawyer for retailer Michael George, who was convicted last year in the 1990 killing of his first wife, filed another motion yesterday asking that his client be released from jail while he awaits a new trial. The judge ruled Monday that George must remain in the Macomb County, Mich., jail, where he’s been held since March 2008. [Detroit Free Press]
Publishing | Ada Price spotlights DC Comics’ Zuda online initiative, and its moves into print. [PW Comics Week]
Creators | Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim talk about their collaboration on The Eternal Smile, criticism, their inspirations, and a shared love for the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. [Graphic Novel Reporter]
Creators | Sarah Warn kicks off a three-part interview with Gail Simone. The first leg focuses on Wonder Woman. [AfterEllen.com]
Creators | Brian Heater begins a three-part Q&A with Molly Crabapple. [The Daily Cross Hatch]
Creators | Madame Xanadu artist Amy Reeder Handley chats about “manga vs. comics” and her approach to storytelling. [Manga Punk]
Creators | Lora Innes, creator of The Dreamer, discusses her historical romance-adventure. [Sequential Tart]
Creators | Cat Garza discovers Whimville.com has returned, without his permission, thanks to “some voodoo called SEO.” [Magic Inkwell, via Joey Manley]
Creators | Colleen Doran discusses the often-grim financial realities of free-lancing. [A Distant Soil]
Art | Jim Lee walks through the cover process for Batman in Barcelona: Dragon’s Knight #1 [Gelatometti]
Art | I enjoy Paolo Rivera’s “Wacky Reference Wednesdays” posts on his blog. [The Self-Absorbing Man]
- April 8, 2009 @ 05:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
I feel the need…
Grumpy Old Fan
Today’s topic is The Flash: Rebirth #1, discussed at length already but hey, I’m on a schedule.
Because I’ve talked about the second coming of Barry Allen a fair amount, and because I haven’t exactly been a fan of the idea, you might be able to guess how I feel about the new miniseries. In fact, it’s been harder than I expected to pull together my thoughts.
* * *
- April 7, 2009 @ 12:24 PM by Tom Bondurant
Emerald City Abides
Emerald City ComiCon
Editor’s note: Strangeways creator Matt Maxwell attended the Emerald City ComiCon and agreed to write up a report for us about his weekend.
by Matt Maxwell
—–
See, I’m good enough at this convention thing now that I have to tack on extra difficulty just to keep myself from being bored. Which is why I traveled with my two kids by plane up to Seattle instead of doing the sensible thing and flying up on my own. At least I have enough sense to drop them with the grandparents while I try to sell books. Having an easily bored pair of five and eight-year-old kids is just not conducive to doing anything other than clinging to my last shreds of sanity and composure, and add to that selling books and spreading the Strangeways gospel? Not gonna happen.
Not that I’ve sold a ton of books this year as of yet. I write this on the Sunday morning of the show, as vendors and guests are beginning to creep in, volume steadily rising, like the lion house waking up at the zoo on a lazy morning, murmurs of greeting peppered with good-natured laughter. I guess other folks are doing better than I am. Not bad existentially, mind you, but I coulda sold a lot more books than I ended up doing yesterday. The comparison between this show and WonderCon isn’t fair, though. WonderCon on Saturday was OFF THE CHIZZAIN as the kids say. ECCC, by comparison, had a lot of foot traffic, but perhaps not as many people opening their wallets, at least not yet.
- April 7, 2009 @ 11:35 AM by JK Parkin
More on the Len Wein housefire
Len Wein
According to a report in the Contra Costa Times, the fire that devastated Len Wein and Christine Valada’s home yesterday was caused by “combustible items left next to an electric wall heater.”
Writer Harlan Ellison shared more details on his website, saying “… a power surge apparently went through the electrical system of the house, shorting out a wall heater that had been in place in the bathroom since the house was built…an appurtenance no one even paid any attention to: it was invisible, like a countertop. But it sparked, caught fire, and the fire caught on towels, curtains, bathroom mat, magazines on the hamper, clothes, and raced up the walls and across the ceiling, into the hall, and into the bedroom where Len lay asleep. Michael, Chris’s son, was dead asleep in the loft of the small bedroom.”
- April 7, 2009 @ 10:50 AM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s A Critic | A roundup of comic-related reviews and thinkpieces
Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye
• No doubt there will be a plethora of Seaguy-related reviews when the new series is completed, but for now you’ll just have to content yourself with Jeff Lester, who offers an excellent analysis of the original series and claims the sequel is “worthy of your time and attention.”
• Nina Stone, however, had an entirely different reaction: “I’m guessing this is all somehow a commentary on superheroes and our culture. But, honestly, I can’t really figure out what that commentary is supposed to be saying.”
• Every week it seems like more and more mainstream media outlets are reviewing comics. Here’s one by the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Keller, and here’s another from Bryan at St. Louis Magazine.
• David Welsh examines CMX’s Astral Project manga series: “It’s more inclined to drift than to progress, but it drifts in some very intriguing ways.”
• Also at Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon emerges from a reviewing hiatus to talk about Tarzan The Jesse Marsh Years Vol. 1.
• Jog continues his and Tucker Stone’s dissection of Humanoids books with an interesting look at how changes in coloring can affect the impact of a work.
• Sandy Bilus reads X-Men and Spider-Man 1-4 and declares “the art is the draw, here.”
• Noah Berlatsky compares Frank Quitely’s work on All-Star Superman with that of Dokebi Bride manwha creator Marley and finds the former lacking:
The point here is that super-hero comics very rarely have a strong sense of wonder. With all the spectacular feats, you’d think they would — but somehow they all end up as tricks; they’re fun and goofy, or I guess more recently bloody, but they don’t actually inspire awe. And I think it’s because of something Tom said, “Superman keeps the universe our size.” Super-heroes are there to make things more manageable. Awe — a sense of vastness, of human insignificance or vulnerability — is antagonistic to everything they stand for.
- April 7, 2009 @ 10:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Robot reviews: The Beats and Wizzywig
The Beats: A Graphic History
The Beats: A Graphic History
Text by Harvey Pekar and others. Art by Ed Piskor and others
Edited by Paul Buhle
Hill and Wang, 208 pages, $22.
The Beats is a supremely disappointing book, dry and dull where it should sparkle and enlighten. You would think it would be tough to make the lives and work of writers like Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs seem uninteresting, but writer Harvey Pekar, artist Ed Piskor — along with other contributors like Joyce Brabner, Trina Robbins, Mary Fleener and Peter Kuper — seem more than up to the task.
- April 7, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Live chat tonight with ‘Labor Days’ creators and goofball blogger
The Rick and Phil Hour
Last fall I interviewed Rick Lacy and Phil Gelatt, the creators of Labor Days, and tonight they’re turning the tables on me. They host a live chat show on the Oni Press site and have invited me to join them for their 20th episode at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific. Here’s the description of the show:
Well here we are! Victorious after 20 episodes of Tuesday night jaw-flapping! God, has it really been that long already?
In honor of this momentous milestone, we will be doing something a little different, something a little special, something a little crazy. Instead of the normal free form shotgun blast of chit-chat, tonight we have a special guest to interview about their life in comics.
And that special guest is J.K. Parkin of the super-blog, Robot 6.
That’s right, the interviewer shall become the interviewee. All bets are off!
We’ll be chatting about what it’s like wheeling and dealing in the world of comics blogging, all manner of pop culture ephemera and how he works that magic that he works so well.
As per the norm now, we’ll be doing it via Cover-It-Live. We’ll put a link to the chat up here so you can find it easily.
9 pm eastern/6pm pacific
Stop in and have a chat with the man who brings you all the news you need!
See that picture of Phil up top, where he’s snoozing on the plane? I only hope I don’t have that effect on their audience. In all seriousness, it should be fun, so stop by if you’re online tonight. The chat will occur on the Oni Press blog.
- April 7, 2009 @ 09:40 AM by JK Parkin
DC previews cover for Justice League: Cry for Justice #1
Justice League: Cry for Justice #1
On its new blog The Source, DC Comics unveils the cover for the first issue of Justice League: Cry for Justice, the ongoing-turned-miniseries by James Robinson and Mauro Cascioli.
The cover, by Cascioli, features Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Batwoman, Supergirl, The Atom, Starman and Congorilla (but no Freddy Freeman/Shazam), plus a Legion of Doom-style lineup of villains.
Although Robinson’s run on the Justice League was announced last year as an ongoing title, he revealed at WonderCon that it’s been changed to a six-issue miniseries. Justice League: Cry for Justice debuts in July.
- April 7, 2009 @ 09:08 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Stan Lee Media
Legal | A judge ruled Monday that Michael George, the retailer and convention organizer convicted last year in the 1990 killing of his first wife, will remain in jail while he awaits a new trial. [Detroit Free Press]
Legal | Yet another lawsuit was filed Friday against Stan Lee on behalf of the shareholders of Stan Lee Media. The suit accuses the creator of illegally transferring the copyrights of two characters to POW Entertainment. [press release]
Crime | A 24-year-old man shot and killed himself at 12:15 a.m. Monday during a screening of Watchmen in Eugene, Ore. [KVAL]
Legal | The trial continues in Singapore for a married couple accused of distributing anti-Muslim tracts from cartoonist Jack Chick. According to the latest testimony, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng has sent out some 20,000 publications in the past seven years. She and husband Ong Kian Cheong are charged with distributing seditious and objectionable publications. [The Straits Times]
Awards | Eisner Awards judge (and cartoonist) Ben Towle comments posts his thoughts about the submissions: “Is there some sort of favoritism/politics going on at the big comics publishers? Being an ‘indie guy’ I have no knowledge of the politics of what goes on a big ‘mainstream’ comics publishers, but I was really surprised that a few of them didn’t send copies of everything they’d put out in the previous year. I can’t imagine that this is a financial concern — it seems more like a deliberate snub to those folks they didn’t send books from. There were at least two people who’d done great work (I thought, anyway) for a couple of mainstream publishers in 2008 who I really wanted to champion, but without their company’s having sent their books along for the judges to read, there really wasn’t much I could do. To be fair, though, it’s probably better to submit a select few items than to submit everything, regardless of quality.” [Ben Towle]
Creators | Gabriel Ba acknowledges the April Fool’s joke he and brother Fabio Moon pulled last week, but pledges that Casanova will return: “Just the way you all do, we love Casanova. I can speak for Matt, Fábio and myself when I say we are doing all we can to bring Casanova back the best way it deserves to come back. … And I can tell you this: It WILL come back.” [Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba]
- April 7, 2009 @ 07:42 AM by Kevin Melrose
Moms agree art exhibit will rot your brain and ruin your eyesight
Sesame Street by Jeremy Tinder
Gallery 1988, who did the Beastie Boys art exhibit I linked to a few months back, has posted art from another exhibit called “Idiot Box.” In the new exhibit, artists like Jim Mahfood and Jeremy Tinder (among many others), pay tribute to television shows. Everything from ALF and the X-Files to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Cosby Show is featured in some pretty stunning images.
(Via Jeremy Tinder, who drew the Sesame Street artwork above)
- April 7, 2009 @ 07:12 AM by JK Parkin
Coffee company serves up a Watchmen lawsuit
Nite Owl Coffee
The Watchmen movie is just a lightning rod for litigation, isn’t it?
This time, though, it’s not another movie studio suing Warner Bros., but a coffee company.
Eriq Gardner reports that Virginia-based beverage company Massimo Zanetti has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros., DC Comics and Organic Coffee Cartel, accusing them of trademark infringement in one of the movie’s scenes.
Massimo Zanetti thinks the label of Veidt Industries’ Nite Owl Dark Roast, shown briefly when tenants rescued from a fire are given coffee in the Owl Ship, closely resembles the design of its own Chock Full O’ Nuts brand.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction against further exploitation of the mark — Organic Coffee Cartel, owned by Watchmen: Portrait photographer Clay Enos, produced a limited run of the fictional brand — and a share of the movie’s profits.
- April 7, 2009 @ 06:17 AM by Kevin Melrose