2009 April
Print cartoonists versus web cartoonists, round … whatever
The April 20th "Non Sequitur," by Wiley Miller
In yesterday’s Non Sequitur, Wiley Miller took a shot at the web model in the ongoing war of words, and images, between some factions of print and online cartooning.
This morning, Kris Straub responds in kind in his webcomic Chainsawsuit with the depiction of a print cartoonist as a crying baby upset that he can’t make money online. In the comments below, Straub writes: “I expect a rebuttal to be delivered … in four weeks.”
(second link via Spike)
- April 21, 2009 @ 09:36 AM by Kevin Melrose
Paint it black: DC Comics solicitations for July 2009
Grumpy Old Fan
July should be an interesting month for DC Comics. Its latest big event arrives at last, and it launches a distinctive weekly throwback to the comics pages of yore. One seems like a license to print money, and the other may end up being simply an exercise in novelty printing. Still, I’m looking forward to both, and I’m cautiously optimistic about each.
Onward!
Continue Reading »
- April 21, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Tom Bondurant
That’s five, seven and then five, right?
Amazing Spider-Man #2
I can’t help but admire bloggers who concentrate on a very specific corner of comics, and have the dedication to maintain that focus.
I’m talking about niche blogs that aren’t dedicated to a specific character, but instead deal with narrow subjects: Polite Dissent (medicine, with a dose of Hawk & Dove), Dateline: Silver Age (newspaper headlines in old comics), Nad Shots (depictions of characters taking hits to the crotch), Hot Fictional Guys and Shirtless Superheroes (both pretty self-explanatory), and so on.
Add to the list the newly launched Superhero Haikus, which summarizes issues using the form of Japanese poetry. Since it launched last week, the blog has stuck with Spider-Man — specifically, the character’s first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man, and then the first handful of issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. For Issue 2:
Two stories again
Vulture, an old guy with wings
Tinker out of this!
The writer gets extra credit for giving a nod to the Terrible Tinkerer back-up story while maintaining the poem’s meter.
- April 21, 2009 @ 08:40 AM by Kevin Melrose
A short preview of Short Halloween
from Spider-Man: The Short Halloween
MTV’s Splash Page has a preview up of Spider-Man: The Short Halloween, the one-shot written by Saturday Night Live‘s Bill Hader and Seth Meyers and drawn by Kevin Maguire. There’s no dialogue, so it’s hard to say how the pair’s first outing as comic writers will end up, but I could stare at Maguire’s art all day.
- April 21, 2009 @ 08:08 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Templar, Book 3
Awards | Steven Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune has won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. This is Breen’s second Pulitzer; his first came in 1998 while at the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey. The other two finalists were Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press and Matt Wuerker of Politico. [The Associated Press, The Pulitzer Prizes]
Conventions | Stumptown Comics Fest announced the recipients of the 2009 Trophy Awards, led by Templar, Arizona, creator Spike with wins in three categories: Outstanding Art, Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Webcomic. Also, Matt Maxwell posts his report from last weekend’s convention. [Stumptown Comics Fest]
TMNT, Book 1
Publishing | The New York Times marks the 25th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by talking with co-creator Peter Laird about the black-and-white comic that became a multimedia juggernaut. “We were looking to do comic books successfully enough that we did not have to work at Pizza Hut,” Laird says of the comic he created with Kevin Eastman.
A 25th-anniversary celebration kicks off this week in New York City, and then continues in a nationwide tour. [City Room]
Merchandising | Marvel Entertainment is partnering with Walgreens for a massive direct-to-retail merchandising program that will bring products featuring the company’s superheroes to more than 6,000 drugstores. Marvel characters will grace everything from toys and posters to automotive accessories and pet products to novelty candy and snow globes at Walgreens beginning next spring. [Brandweek]
- April 21, 2009 @ 06:18 AM by Kevin Melrose
A look at Joe Quesada’s cover for Amazing Spider-Man #600
Wraparound variant cover for "The Amazing Spider-Man" #600, by Joe Quesada
On Twitter, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada offers a sneak peek at his variant wraparound cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #600, the 104-page special issue due out in July.
- April 20, 2009 @ 02:22 PM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Esther Pearl Watson
Unlovable Vol. 1
Esther Pearl Watson‘s Unlovable Vol. 1 features an artistic style that reminds me of Lynda Barry. Clearly I’m not the first to see the similarity (and in fact Barry offers words of praise for the book). As described by Fantagraphics: “Loosely based on a teenager’s diary from the 1980s found in a gas-station bathroom, Unlovable details the sometimes ordinary, sometimes humiliating, often poignant and frequently hilarious exploits of underdog Tammy Pierce … In the epic saga that is Unlovable, Tammy finds herself dealing with: tampons, teasing, crushes, The Smiths, tube socks, facial hair, lice, celibacy, fantasy dream proms, gym showers, skid marks, a secret admirer, prank calls, backstabbers, winter ball, barfing, narcs, breakdancing, hot wheels, glamour shots, roller coasters, Halloween costumes, boogers, boys, boy crazy feelings, biker babes, and even some butt cracks. Tammy’s life isn’t pretty, but it is endlessly charming and hilarious.
Originally (and still) serialized in Bust magazine, Unlovable includes over 100 new pages created just for this edition, which is handsomely packaged in a unique hot pink hardcover format with sparkly blue glitter that would make Tammy proud.”
One great thing I learned in this interview is that this is only the first volume of Unlovable. Next year on Valentine’s Day will mark the release of the second volume. Volume 1 covers from fall of 1988 to 1989 and Volume 2 is set in 1989. Be sure to visit the book’s page on Fantagraphics, for another of its great Flickr videos, allowing one to “flip” through the book virtually. And in a literal sense, Fantagraphics has a 20-page preview of the 416-page Volume 1.
Tim O’Shea: I have to know–”I walked around with a red lollipop stuck to my butt”–was that a direct quote from the found diary that inspired Unlovable or a total (incredibly hilarious) creation of your mind?
Esther Pearl Watson: Well…I made that up.
- April 20, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
More than three months out, Friday sells out at Comic-Con
Comic-Con International
With more than three months to go before the convention doors open, Friday passes have sold out for the July 23-26 Comic-Con International.
They join Saturday passes, which sold out about two weeks ago, and four-day memberships, which went the way of the dodo in mid-March. As of the time of this post, Thursday passes are at 45 percent, and Sunday at 41 percent.
Last year Comic-Con completely sold out a little more than a week before the opening. This year looks like it will sell out long before then, recession be damned.
- April 20, 2009 @ 11:11 AM by Kevin Melrose
Pushing Daisies is now heading to DC Comics, apparently
Pushing Daisies
Remember what Bryan Fuller said last week about resurrecting Pushing Daisies at Marvel? Well, forget it.
He now says the canceled ABC TV series will see new life at DC Comics as a 12-issue miniseries.
“We got a 12-issue order for a comic book for DC Comics,” Fuller tells E! Online. “I think the comic book is great, because it has all the characters in it, and it starts a new story. It’s basically Chuck, Ned, Emerson and Olive versus 1,000 corpses, so it becomes a zombie movie, but the zombies are articulate and smart and can do things that no other zombies can do. The Pie-Maker versus 1,000 corpses.”
The comic is set to debut this fall. However, attendees at Comic-Con International may receive another giveaway a few months early. (A preview comic was distributed at Comic-Con in 2007, before the show debuted.)
The Emmy-nominated comedy-drama, about a pie-maker who can resurrect the dead (with some limitations), was canceled in November after barely two seasons. The final three episodes will air beginning May 30.
- April 20, 2009 @ 10:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics | Money, comics and the economy [Updated]
Fox Atomic
• Variety reports that 20th Century Fox is closing Fox Atomic, the division created in 2007 to produce comedy and genre films.
The studio hasn’t confirmed the move. However, the story is being reported independently by Nikki Finke. (Update: The Hollywood Reporter has word that about six production employees will be let go.)
The label, founded by Peter Rice, generated such movies as Turistas, 28 Weeks Later and the Hills Have Eyes 2. It also included a publishing arm called Fox Atomic Comics.
At WonderCon in February, BOOM! Studios announced a publishing deal with Fox Atomic for a line of comics set to kick off in June with another 28 Days Later series. It’s unclear at this point how, or if, the shuttering of Fox Atomic would affect that agreement.
BOOM! declined to comment.
• Canned Dogs has translations of creator Satou Shuuhou’s blog posts about the financial aspects of the manga industry, including a breakdown of his pay and expenses, the state of the Japanese market, and the treatment of authors and their assistants. Last week he announced he’ll make his comics available online, for a small fee, a month after they appear in print.
• Warner Bros. and Marvel came in third and fourth on License! Global magazine’s list of the 100 biggest licensing companies in 2008, behind perennial top dog Disney. Warner Bros. held steady at $6 billion from 2006 to 2008 while Marvel grew from $4.8 billion in 2006 to $5.5 billion in 2007 and $5.7 billion last year.
• Comics retailer Up Up & Away! in Cincinnati apparently is doing well, despite the dismal economy. “We’re not just surviving, we’re thriving,” owner Kendall Swafford tells The Cincinnati Enquirer.
• Judge Parker, cut from The Washington Post’s comics page in a recent round of belt-tightening, has won a reprieve thanks to the “intensity of feeling” among complaining readers.
- April 20, 2009 @ 09:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
FCBD | No CAPE! this year, but Zeus welcomes several creators
Free Comic Book Day
Chris Williams at Zeus Comics in Dallas dropped us a note about their Free Comic Book Day plans, which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to post something about the event. 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.
Zeus Comics, which has ordered 4,000 free comics, will host several comics creators on May 2, including Scott Kurtz, creator of PvP; Matt Sturges, writer of House of Mystery and Jack of Fables; Kristian Donaldson, artist of Supermarket and DMZ; and James O’Barr, creator of The Crow.
But what about CAPE!: The Comic and Pop Expo, which has been hosted in the Zeus Comics parking lot for the past few years? Don’t worry — while they’re taking this year off, CAPE! will be back in 2010.
- April 20, 2009 @ 09:49 AM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 060
And, like on Friday, I’m probably on a plane right now, heading back to the Sierra Nevadas. In the meantime, read today’s entry, won’t you?
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
Oh, man, those look better once you fix the black levels.
See you folks on Wednesday.
- April 20, 2009 @ 09:35 AM by Matt Maxwell
Lost‘s Michael Emerson, Krazy Kat and a nursery rhyme
Michael Emerson's Krazy Kat illustration
This has only the thinnest of connections to comics, but I’m such a fan of actor Michael Emerson and his creepy-funny portrayal of Bejamin Linus on ABC’s Lost that I’ll make the leap.
In an appearance Thursday on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, it was revealed the Emmy Award-winning actor had been a free-lance artist in the 1970s and ’80s, working for The Boston Globe. Among his illustrations was the one shown at right, for an article about “a guy who was haunted in his dreams by the comic-strip character Krazy Kat.”
See? There is a comics connection.
Better still, but completely unrelated to comics, is Emerson’s dramatic rendition of the nursery rhyme “Little Boy Blue,” which you can see in the video after the break.
As an aside: Isn’t Jimmy Fallon just a terrible, terrible talk-show host? Wow.
(via TV Squad)
- April 20, 2009 @ 08:29 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
A Drifting Life
Awards | The Japanese edition of A Drifting Life, the Yoshihiro Tatsumi autobiography published by Drawn & Quarterly, shared the Grand Prize with Fumi Yoshinaga’s alternative-history series Ooku in the 13th annual Osamu Tezuka Cultural Awards. Viz Media will release the first issue of Ooku in August. [Anime News Network, Anime Vice]
Retailing | Although details are sketchy, it appears as if a fire on Sunday afternoon destroyed comics store Graphic Literature in Plymouth, Indiana. No one was injured in either the store or the upstairs apartments. [WSBT]
xkcd
Publishing | The New York Times spotlights xkcd creator Randall Munroe’s move into print this summer with a book published by the social-news website breadpig.com and sold through the webcomic’s website. Not exactly the traditional route.
“It doesn’t need to be in bookstores,” Munroe tells the newspaper. “I don’t have hard numbers about this, but the impression I get is that the amount of eyeballs you get from being on the humor shelf at Barnes & Noble — it is almost insignificant.” [The New York Times]
- April 20, 2009 @ 06:57 AM by Kevin Melrose
David Lloyd on the color of V
from Absolute V For Vendetta
V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd shares some newly-colored bridging art from the upcoming Absolute V for Vendetta collection on his website. He also explains why the work is now colored, as it first appeared in the U.K.’s Warrior in black and white:
- April 20, 2009 @ 06:55 AM by JK Parkin