2009 April
Return of the Mighty Crusaders
The Web
All this week DC’s The Source blog has been posting images of some of the “Red Circle” characters, a.k.a. The Mighty Crusaders, a.k.a. the Archie superhero characters DC is reviving this summer. J.G. Jones has redesigned them, (with the exception of the Shield, who is wearing his original costume) and did a nice job of updating them to make’em look a bit more modern. Up top is The Web, and you can also check out Hangman and Inferno.
So who are these guys? I only vaguely recollect DC’s first attempt to revive them as their own universe, under the name Impact Comics. And I have no recollection of Archie’s run at publishing them. Siskoid, however, has a pretty good rundown of the major and not-so-major players over on his blog.
The characters will debut in the DC Universe in August.
(Last link via Kiel Phegley).
- April 24, 2009 @ 04:22 PM by JK Parkin
FCBD | New York, D.C., Chi-town and So Cal
AdHouse's Free Comic Book Day comic
The annual Free Comic Book Day is coming up a week from tomorrow. Comic shops all over the world will give away free comics on May 2. Many retailers will host special events and signings on Free Comic Book Day, which I’ll collect and post right here at Robot 6.
If you’re a creator or retailer involved with or hosting a FCBD event, please drop me a note about your plans, as we’ll start posting them between now and May 2.
Today’s listing includes two events in the New York City area; one in Washington, D.C.; a concert/signing in Chicago; and a couple of signings in Southern California.
- April 24, 2009 @ 02:01 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 062
Welcome to the new time slot for your Strangeways updates. 1pm Pacific, just before quittin’ time on the East Coast. Synchronize chronometers accordingly.
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok
Weekly update will get posted around midday Sunday. Back to the regular grind on Monday. See you then!
- April 24, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Teenage armor: A review of the new Iron Man cartoon
Iron Man: Armored Adventures
“I couldn’t stand boy companions. If the theory behind Robin the boy Wonder, Rory the Superboy, the Sandman’s Sandy, the Shield’s Rusty, the Human Torch’s Toro, the Green Arrow’s Speedy was to give young readers a character with whom to identifiy it failed dismally in my case. The super grownups were the ones I identified with. They were versions of me in the future. There was still time to prepare. But Robin the Boy Wonder was my own age. One need only look at him to see he could fight better, swing from a rope better, play ball better, eat better and live better … He was obviously an “A” student, the center of every circle, the one picked for greatness in the crowd — God how I hated him.”
– Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes
So what is it with Marvel these days taking all their core characters and turning them into sulky teen-agers? First there was Wolverine: Prodigal Son, the Marvel/Del Rey book which attempted to “mangify” the character by turning him into a generic angsty shonen hero — thereby robbing everything that made him interesting to begin with — and now there’s Iron Man: Armored Adventurers, which imagines Tony Stark not as gadabout playboy but nerdy youth.
- April 24, 2009 @ 12:55 PM by Chris Mautner
Bedard/R.E.B.E.L.S. Interview Follow-Up: Claude St. Aubin Art
Last week, in my Tony Bedard/R.E.B.E.L.S. interview, we discussed that industry veteran Claude St. Aubin would be providing artist Andy Clarke with some relief on the DC ongoing monthly. I’m a long-time fan of St. Aubin’s work, in fact I interviewed him several years ago about Penny-Farthing Press’ The Victorian (and remember first noticing his work on Captain Canuck many years ago). So when Bedard said St. Aubin was “turning in the best work of his career”, I was eager to see a few pages.
Bedard and DC were obliging enough to send a few pages to share from R.E.B.E.L.S. 4 (on sale May 13) and R.E.B.E.L.S. 5 (on sale June 10).
R.E.B.E.L.S. 4
- April 24, 2009 @ 11:44 AM by Tim O'Shea
Straight for the art | David Hahn rocks
by David Hahn
Artist David Hahn shares some art from a pitch he’s working on, a “rock n’ roll adventure comic.” You can also check out some artwork for his unpublished Minx book All-Nighter.
- April 24, 2009 @ 10:25 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Full of Pryde art exhibit
Full of Pryde promo poster
Earlier this month I mentioned Full of Pryde, an art exhibit featuring images of X-Man Kitty Pryde that benefits the hemophilia research department at Oregon Health and Science University.
The good folks at Floating World Comics in Portland are hosting the exhibit, and not only have they released the art for the promo poster (by Barnaby Ward, above) but they’ve also set up a dedicated blog where you can view the art. For more details on the event, which kicks off May 7, check out this post on the Floating World Comics site.
- April 24, 2009 @ 09:31 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Cloonan’s con sketches
Becky Cloonan draws Delirium
Over on her blog, Demo artist Becky Cloonan shares a bunch of sketches she’s done at recent conventions, including this one of Delirium of the Endless. Nice.
- April 24, 2009 @ 09:01 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Peanuts
Education | Jean Schulz, widow of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, has donated $1 million to the Ohio State University Cartoon Library & Museum for the renovation of Sullivant Hall, future home of the research facility. She also pledged an additional matching gift of $2.5 million if the university raises an equal amount. [The Daily Cartoonist]
Publishing | Acclaimed manga creator Takehiko Inoue told a Japanese newspaper that his acclaimed samurai series Vagabond will end “within one or two years.” Inoue has been drawing the award-winning manga since 1998. Vagabond is published in North America by Viz Media. [Anime News Network]
Star Trek: Countdown
Sales charts | Although the Watchmen collection is tumbling down the USA Today bestseller chart, it still rests comfortably atop the paperback and hardcover sections of The New York Times’ Graphic Books Best Seller List. And while the manga category is again dominated by Naruto, in seven of the 10 spots, the paperback list has a couple of noteworthy entries in the second and third spots: IDW’s move prequel Star Trek: Countdown, and Drawn & Quarterly’s Yoshihiro Tatsumi autobiography A Drifting Life. [ArtsBeat]
Comic strips | Jaime Weinmen surveys the comics pages, and sees a lot of hand-wringing about the recession. I like the headline: “They ignored Vietnam, 9/11 and Iraq but Archie, Blondie and Co. sure are worried about the economy.” [Maclean's]
- April 24, 2009 @ 07:12 AM by Kevin Melrose
Wolverine’s claws = five more rebounds per game
Basketball legend Charles Barkley declares Wolverine the toughest of the X-Men and pops some claws of his own in this video from TNT’s Inside the NBA segment:
And Kenny Smith’s a Gambit guy? C’mon, Kenny …
- April 24, 2009 @ 05:42 AM by JK Parkin
Android dreams: BOOM! previews Philip K. Dick maxi-series
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
BOOM! sent out five preview pages from their forthcoming comic book version of writer Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Androids, of course, was the 1968 novel that was the basis for the film Blade Runner.
Per BOOM!, this isn’t an adaptation, but the full novel — every word — in comics form (which explains why the series will be 24 issues). They’ve even got the “he said/she said” text in it. BOOM! co-founder Ross Richie is doing panel descriptions for artist Tony Parker, and the first issue will have four different covers by Denis Calero, Bill Sienkiewicz, Scott Keating and Moritat (which is a retailer incentive cover). Ultimate Fantastic Four‘s Blond is coloring it, Richard Starkings’ Comicraft is lettering it and Ian Brill is editing it.
But wait, there’s more — BOOM! has recruited a few people you may have heard of to provide “back matter” for the comic. Issue one will have back matter by Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction provides it for issue two, Ed Brubaker’s on tap for issue three and Farscape creator Rockne S. O’Bannon is doing issue four.
All the covers and the first five pages from the first issue can be found after the jump.
- April 23, 2009 @ 02:59 PM by JK Parkin
Annotations for Trinity issue #47
Trinity #47
Lots of payoffs in this week’s installment of Trinity, and not just for this miniseries. Many of the plot threads and other elements about which I’d been curious show up here, which makes for a pretty exciting issue.
As the great tactician said, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
SPOILERS FOLLOW
* * *
LEAD STORY
“Power To Spare” was written by Kurt Busiek, pencilled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert, colored by Pete Pantazis, and lettered by Pat Brosseau; Rachel Gluckstern, associate editor; Mike Carlin, editor.
Continue Reading »
- April 23, 2009 @ 02:04 PM by Tom Bondurant
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Simon & Schuster’s kid books for fall
Which Puppy?
Children’s book publishers haven’t exactly rushed to lead the graphic novel parade, but neither have they ignored it entirely. Case in point: Simon & Schuster, who have a handful of comic and comic-related books coming out this fall, such as:
Burn by Camilla d’Errico. The artist on that Avril Lavigne manga that came out a few years ago tells his own story, about a young man who is merged with a sentient killer robot in a futuristic world. On sale Oct. 27, 124 pages, $9.99 paperback.
The Chronicles of Arthur: Sword of Fire and Ice by John Matthews and Mike Collins. A renowned Arthurian expert — it says so in the catalog — Matthews tells the story of Arthur’s teen years with DC and Marvel veteran Collins handling the art chores. On sale Sept. 15, 128 pages, $14.99 paperback, $21.99 hardcover.
Amelia Rules! A Very Ninja Christmas by Jimmy Gownley. Amelia is looking forward to the holidays until she realizes her friend Pajamaman hasn’t been getting any presents at all for the past three years. I’m not sure if this is all new material or collects stories from previous issues. On sale Oct. 6, 80 pages, $7.99 paperback.
Which Puppy? by Kate Feiffer. Illustrated by Jules Feiffer. I’m not sure why this is in the fall catalog, as it’s in stores now, but hey, new Feiffer! This one’s about how the Obama family got their dog, I think. On sale now, 32 pages, $16.99 hardcover.
- April 23, 2009 @ 01:03 PM by Chris Mautner
Robot reviews: Adventures in Cartooning
Adventures in Cartooning
Adventures in Cartooning
by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick Frost
First Second, $12.95.
Adventures in Cartooning is First Second’s attempt to offer a kids’ version last year’s big how-to book, Drawing Words, Writing Pictures. Produced by Center for Cartoon Studies’ co-founder James Sturm and two of his former students, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick Frost, it’s an engaging and informative book that nevertheless feels like it sacrifices learning for fun.
- April 23, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
IDW previews Darwyn Cooke’s first Parker book
The Hunter
IDW has posted 19 pages from Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter, the first in a series of graphic novels based on the Parker novels by Donald Westlake. Westlake wrote the novels under the pen name Richard Stark.
Check out the first three pages after the jump, or go to the IDW site to read all 19. The first scene is classic:
- April 23, 2009 @ 11:09 AM by JK Parkin