2009 April
Hugh Jackman loves Free Comic Book Day, too
Via The Beat, here’s a public service announcement from X-Men Origins: Wolverine star High Jackman on Free Comic Book Day, attached to a trailer for the movie.
- April 16, 2009 @ 02:46 PM by JK Parkin
‘PG-13′ GI Joe cartoon debuts online tomorrow
GI Joe: Resolute
GI Joe: Resolute, an “adult fan oriented animated mini-series,” kicks off on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim website tomorrow*. The web series is an hour long, and will run as 10 five-minute webisodes through April 25. Then the entire thing will be broadcast on Adult Swim on April 25 at midnight, which is the first place you’ll be able to see the final ten minutes. After that, the whole thing will be online for viewing.
The cartoon is written by comics writer Warren Ellis, who wrote about it on his blog last July:
It went like this. Sam Register phoned me up and said, we’d really like you to write a GI JOE animation, at a PG-13 rating, aimed at an older viewer. I said, I’ve never seen a GI JOE cartoon in my life. The closest I got to a GI JOE comic was drinking with Larry Hama. I’ve never even seen a GI JOE. Couldn’t tell you what they look like if you paid me. I know nothing about GI JOE. It is meaningless in my world.
Excellent, Sam said. Just the guy we need.
The trailer is available after the jump. There’s also a GI Joe: Resolute toy line (who would have thought?) that you can check out here.
- April 16, 2009 @ 02:41 PM by JK Parkin
Annotations for Trinity issue #46
Trinity #46
I found a lot to like in this week’s installment of Trinity. It advanced each major plotline, it showed characters behaving proactively, and it had some good, unexpected character moments. After all this time, I think I like Trinity best when it doesn’t go too small (like last issue) or too big (like the epic battles). I liked the super-team interaction which kicked off the issue, the frustration which ended it, and most things in between.
Of course, this is probably just the calm before everything goes big again.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
* * *
LEAD STORY
“They Who Taught Us” 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 16, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Why haven’t I heard of H2Octopus before this?
From "H2Octopus," by Diego Olmos
The focus of this Comic Book Resources article may be the upcoming one-shot Batman in Barcelona: Dragon’s Knight, but my attention was immediately drawn to the mention of artist Diego Olmos’ H2Octopus, and the accompanying eight-page excerpt.
First: H2Octopus? Awesome name. Second: The artwork!
I admit my knowledge of Spanish, and Spanish comics, is sorely limited. But really I should’ve been alerted to the title before this.
According to the Amazon.com description, H2Octopus is the greatest detective in the world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. In the volume titled The Cat’s Head, “H2Octopus finds himself employed in the search for the Cheshire Cat, an animal of great power that evil forces are seeking to control. But when the cat’s head mysteriously disappears, the clues will lead him into the real world of 19th century Europe.”
It’s as if it were written just for me. Except, y’know, in Spanish.
I think I know what I’m buying myself for my birthday.
- April 16, 2009 @ 11:28 AM by Kevin Melrose
Sparkplug debuts three new books at Stumptown
Reich 6
Kevin mentioned this weekend’s Stumptown Comics Fest in his Comics A.M. post today, and the good folks at Sparkplug sent over information on three books they’ll be debuting at the show:
- Department of Art by Dunja Jankovic
- Reich #6 by Elijah Brubaker
- Bird Hurdler by Andrice Arp, Theo Ellsworth, Faryl Dalrymple, Zack Soto, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg and Julia Gfrörer. This is a free book co-published by Sparkplug, Teenage Dinosaur and Tugboat Press.
They also sent over information about a pre-show event on Friday:
On Friday (April 17th) at 4:30-5:30pm @ the Portland Central Library (in the U.S. Bank Room) Sparkplug artists Hellen Jo and Ignatz Award-nominated Dunja Jankovic discuss and read from their work. Make sure you come!
Now, if you’d like to party and see all the new books in person they’ll be available on Friday night at the Guapo Comics & Coffee extravaganza. For more info on that you can check out: www.guapocomicsandbooks.com and take a look at the flier for the event, which is a giant reading and Kukoc awards ceremony. Reading at the event will be: Vanessa Davis, Jon Chadurjian, Coleen Frakes, Julia Gfrörer, Jason Martin, Hellen Jo, Calvin Wong and Corinne Mucha There will be all kinds of stuff going on there.
- April 16, 2009 @ 11:08 AM by JK Parkin
Snake ‘n’ Bacon on Adult Swim!
Snake and Bacon fight crime. Ssss!
Yes, it’s true. Tales Designed to Thrizzle auteur Michael Kupperman has revealed that his seminal, wacky pairing of meat product and reptile will debut on the small screen. What shenanigans will they get up to?
Snake ’N’ Bacon the TV show pilot is going to be broadcast as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of programming, on May 10th at 12:45 AM. The cast includes Kristin Schaal, Dan Bakkedahl, Bill Hader, Peter Serafinowicz, James Urbaniak, Brian Stack, and David Rakoff, in live-action and animated segments.
Kupperman also has a plethora of screenshots at the link to whet your appetites. Mark your calendars now. (And also remember that the fifth issue of Thrizzle comes out soon, not to mention the first trade paperback collection).
- April 16, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
My evening with Black, White and Schodt
Tekkonkinkreet
Last night I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the film Tekkonkinkreet at my local college. Even though I owned a copy of the movie on DVD, I was eager to tromp out in the rain and check out the film once more. Why? Two words: Frederick Schodt.
For most manga and anime fans and scholars, Schodt is best known as the author of such seminal books as Manga Manga!, Dreamland Japan and The Astro Boy Essays. These seminal works (particularly the first two titles) helped pave the way for acceptance or at least recognition of manga here in the U.S. and indeed remain valuable resources for those attempting to explain what manga is and why it’s so goshdarn popular.
Schodt was on hand to introduce the film and lead a discussion of it afterward. Apparently the college had managed to procure his services via something called Anime Masterpieces, an educational series designed to promote the art of anime at campuses and museums across the country. Let me just take a moment to say what a fabulous idea I think this is and how I wish there was a similar organization promoting American comics in the same fashion.
- April 16, 2009 @ 10:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Run to the border for a side of Fantastic Four
Marvel Comics at Taco Bell
Taco Bell Kid’s Meals are currently offering comic books as their special prize — although the covers may look familiar, the stories inside are original, according to writer C.B. Cebulski on his blog. He worked with artist Sara Pichelli on the Fantastic Four issue.
Update, 4/17: C.B. Cebulski shares the creative teams for each book.
- April 16, 2009 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
DC offers a first (official) look at Wednesday Comics
Batman from "Wednesday Comics," by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
DC Comics has debuted two pages from its much-anticipated weekly miniseries Wednesday Comics: Superman by John Arcudi and artist Lee Bermejo, and Batman by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.
Officially announced last month, the broadsheet-sized comic will feature 15 one-page stories serialized over 12 weeks. Other creators involved include Neil Gaiman, Michael Allred, Joe Kubert, Amanda Conner, Kyle Baker, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Pope, Walt Simonson and Dave Gibbons.
The Mark Chiarello series is set to debut this summer.
- April 16, 2009 @ 06:57 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Stumptown Comics Fest
Publishing | American publisher Viz Media and Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday will simultaneously premiere the new manga by Inuyasha and Ramna 1/2 creator Rumiko Takahashi beginning April 22.
Rin-Ne, about a girl who disappears into the woods and returns with the ability to see ghosts, will debut online for U.S. readers at TheRumicWorld.com the same day it launches in Weekly Shonen Sunday. New chapters will appear each week in both venues. [Publishers Weekly]
Conventions | The Portland Mercury and the Daily Vanguard preview the Stumptown Comics Fest, being held Saturday and Sunday in Portland, Oregon. Guests include Jeff Smith, Craig Thompson, Farel Dalrymple, Matt Wagner, Gail Simone, Brian Michael Bendis and Derek Kirk Kim. Nominees for the convention’s Trophy Awards can be found here. [Stumptown Comics Fest]
Naruto, Vol. 42
Sales charts | The 43rd volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto bounds 103 places to land at No. 40 on USA Today’s bestseller list, while the 44th and 42nd volumes debut at No. 44 and No. 50, respectively. Watchmen continues its drift back down the chart, falling 19 spots to No. 48. [USA Today]
Publishing | Using yesterday’s front page of A.M. New York as a springboard, Rick Marshall looks at the increasing practice by DC Comics and Marvel of spoiling major plot developments with stories planted in mainstream-media outlets: “Questions aside about daily newspaper circulation trends and their readership’s likelihood to pick up a comic book, the most troubling development in this burgeoning relationship between comic book publishers and newspaper media could be the basic notion of bartering ‘spoilers’ for coverage.” [Splash Page]
- April 16, 2009 @ 06:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: SLG’s Captain Blood #1
Captain Blood #1
Rafael Sabatini’s novel Captain Blood opens with rebellion, battle, and a country doctor dragged kicking and screaming into a civil war he wants nothing to do with. It’s an exciting opening that not only lets you know who Dr. Peter Blood is, but also explains his motivations for the rest of the novel.
SLG’s is the second comics adaptation of Captain Blood I’ve ever read – the other being part of Graphic Classics‘ Sabatini volume – and I think it’s interesting that both adaptations choose to begin their stories later in Blood’s life when he’s been sold into slavery by his own government. They both then flash back to England almost immediately, picking up Sabatini’s beginning.
I’m not sure why that is. I understand the advantage of starting a story with later, more exciting events and then skipping back to explain what’s going on. But Blood’s slave career is hardly more exciting than the action and drama around his fateful midnight house call to the bedside of a rebel leader. Or to his subsequent, wrongful imprisonment and monkey trial. That’s cool, thrilling stuff.
- April 15, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Michael May
Who is American Son?
American Son
…probably not the new mayor of New York. Anyway, Marvel.com teases a new character debuting in Amazing Spider-Man in May.
My track record on guessing these things isn’t great, but I’ll go with, oh, I don’t know … John Jameson. So you can take him out of your office betting pool.
- April 15, 2009 @ 10:36 AM by JK Parkin
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: A publishing news round-up
Sonny Liew's Spider-Man
* Sonny Liew reveals that he and Roger Landridge are working on a Spider-Man story for Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #50.
* PictureBox publisher Dan Nadel revealed two projects of note over on the Comics Comics blog: 1) He is working on a second volume of Art Out of Time; and 2) He and Marknewgarden are working on a “biography/art book” on Milt Gross.
We have spoken to hitherto undiscovered sources, found incredible artwork, and are finally beginning to understand the scope of Gross’s epic career in comics, film, prose, animation, fine art, and even television. We don’t have a release date for the book yet, but assure you that we will spend summer ’09 sweating it out over our keyboards. Anyhow, should any of you out there have rare Gross photos or ephemera, please contact me: dan (at) pictureboxinc (dot) com.
* If that wasn’t enough Milt Gross news for you, it looks like IDW will be collecting all of his comic book work in one volume, to be released in November. (found via)
- April 15, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 058
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
See? They *can* see themselves in mirrors! They just don’t like it so much.
Hit the archives to catch the story from the beginning.
Back here on Friday Morning. Well, I won’t be in person. I’ll be on my way to Portland, so it’ll be one of those scheduled post thingys.
- April 15, 2009 @ 09:55 AM by Matt Maxwell
Pushing Daisies may pop up at Marvel — and soon
"Pushing Daisies" Comic-Con Preview
Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is moving forward with plans to continue the quirky, and canceled, ABC television series as a comic — apparently at Marvel.
The Emmy-nominated comedy-drama, about a pie-maker who can (with caveats) resurrect the dead, was canceled in November after barely two seasons. The final three episodes will air beginning May 30.
In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Fuller says he’s negotiating with Warner Bros. for the comic-book rights, so the first issue could debut as early as this fall. It will be written by the show’s writing staff.
As for the artist?
“I love Tim Sale,” Fuller says. “He’s such a nice guy, and I have a really good relationship with him, so I’m hoping he’ll be able to work with us. His art is so specific and has an interesting point of view, specifically with The Long Halloween. That was such a perfect melding of comic-book writer and artist, so I’d love to do something like that.”
Fuller says the comic will be treated as Pushing Daisies Season 3, but will be accessible to readers who aren’t familiar with the TV show. It’ll also likely feature the return of the villain from the preview comic released in 2007 at Comic-Con International.
- April 15, 2009 @ 09:49 AM by Kevin Melrose