2009 May
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Week of 4/27
This week in THE THIRSTY: Father Murphy tells the tale of the day that Raphael de Medina came to Drytown and turned it bad, and how Murphy himself was powerless to stop it.
Click to the jump to follow the story, and to get yourself some free comics on this day *after* Free Comic Book Day.
Oh, and remember, next week begins the MURDER MOON giveaway. Win yourself a copy of the first STRANGEWAYS graphic novel at little or no personal risk to your sanity or safety. The contest goes live with the presentation of Wednesday’s page at 1pm Pacific (4pm for you easterners).
- May 3, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
What Are You Reading?
A Drifting Life
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Our special guest this week is Katherine Dacey, a former contributor to Pop Culture Shock and current contributor to the Good Comics for Kids blog. She also is the driving force behind the impressive new blog, The Manga Critic.
To see what Katherine and other Robot 6ers have been reading lately, click on the link …
- May 3, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Klein revisits DC and Marvel’s Amalgam line, part 2
Iron Lantern
A couple of weeks ago I linked to two posts by Todd Klein where the award-winning letterer took a look back at the logos for the Amalgam line of comics. So it only seems right to link to his follow-up posts, which examine the logos for the second round of the DC/Marvel mash-up books; here’s the first one, which talks about Bat-Thing and (heh) Generation Hex, and here’s the second one, with info on Spider-Boy Team-Up and Iron Lantern.
- May 3, 2009 @ 09:32 AM by JK Parkin
FCBD | Hero Initiative/Ralphs promotion in California
In addition to all the Hero Initiative events for Free Comic Book Day listed here, the organization also has a special promotion going on today in Southern California: If you sign up your Ralphs card for the Hero Initiative either in person or online, you’ll get a free Mike Wieringo What If? comic. Here are the details, from the Hero Initiative blog:
- May 2, 2009 @ 08:22 AM by JK Parkin
Artist Ric Estrada passes away
Ric Estrada
Mark Evanier passes along the sad news of the death of comics and animation artist Ric Estrada after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 81.
Estrada was perhaps best known for his work on Amethyst: Prince of Gemworld, Karate Kid, Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes and numerous DC war comics, including G.I. Combat, Our Army At War, Weird War Tales and Unknown Soldier. Later in his career, he moved into animation with such 1980s TV series as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Jonny Quest and Bionic Six.
Estrada is the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary, produced by his son Seth. You can read more about it here.
Just last week Estrada was profiled by the Mormon arts and culture website A Motley Vision, which referred to him as “the Father of Mormon Comics” (a title bestowed upon him by artist Sal Velluto). Estrada, who converted to Mormonism at age 40, apparently was uncomfortable with the honorific. He and his wife finally decided that “trailblazer” would be more accurate.
- May 2, 2009 @ 07:53 AM by Kevin Melrose
Is Marvel preparing for a ‘Siege of Asgard’?
Thor (and Asgard)
Writer J. Michael Straczynski doesn’t care much for Big Event Comics, a position he makes abundantly clear in this interview — right before he announces what may be Marvel’s next Big Event: “Siege of Asgard.”
“It’s my view that a Big Event should be in service to the individual titles, not the other way around,” Straczynski tells Newsarama. “In other words, the BE serves as something of a sampler platter for characters who you might not otherwise read. You read the BE, find Character X interesting, then go and check out his or her book. Now it seems like the tide flows the other way, with the titles bent in service to the Big Event in ways that may actually reduce accessibility to or interest in that character for new readers.”
He chalks up part of the success of his stint on Thor to the series’ “self-contained, self-sufficient and self-directing” nature before adding, “Of course, now that the Siege of Asgard Big Crossover Event is looming before me, I have to do some serious and hard thinking about the future.”
What, and when, is “Siege of Asgard”? Good questions. Straczynski doesn’t make further mention of it (though it’s presumably one of those “freaking Big Crossover Events” he tries to avoid).
- May 1, 2009 @ 04:28 PM by Kevin Melrose
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 065
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok
Happy Mayday, everybody!
Okay, free copies of MURDER MOON await. One a week from now until I end the run of THE THIRSTY. All you’ll have to do is answer a simple question. I’m thinking Wednesday is as good a day as any to run these, being the High Holy Day of the comic week, after all. Look for details then. Click on that there link to read the first chapter for the price of exactly nothing; go and see what you might yet win.
For Free Comic Book Day, I’ll be at GamersCircle Comics in Folsom, CA. Free comics, free pizza and free Five Minute Stories await those souls brave enough to venture out into the sunshine.
See you there, and if not so, then I’ll see you on Monday.
- May 1, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Quesada explains Wolverine shuffle, says goodbye to ‘MySpace Cup o’ Joe’
Wolverine #73
In this week’s installment of “MySpace Cup o’ Joe,” Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada says farewell to … “MySpace Cup o’Joe,” and delves into the reasons for shuffling the Wolverine publishing schedule so that Issue 73 will ship a week before Issue 72.
Issue 73, the first of a two-part contemporary story by Jason Aaron, Daniel Way, Adam Kubert and Tommy Lee Edwards, will be released on May 13, and is viewed as a better introduction to the comic for viewers of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Issue 72, the penultimate issue of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s near-future “Old Man Logan” storyline, will follow on May 20.
“It’s a tough moment,” Quesada tells Jim McLauchlin. “You try to keep the integrity of creators and their stories, and keep their run together. And at the same time … well, we have books we have to publish, and with that Wolverine movie coming out, we need our Wolverine books out there. It was one of those things where we had the Solomon-esque decision to make and unfortunately in this version, the baby gets split in half. There’s no pleasant way to do this. I know some people aren’t happy that the numbers are out of order but I don’t think people would have been happy if we had just said that Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s run was going to have to be canceled. Their run on Wolvie is just an epic story that people are raving about, so there was no way we wanted to do that. So … this was just the only way we found to go about this in a manner that maintained some semblance of a straightforward and linear story when it was all put together and would hopefully keep the completist happy.”
As for the end of his weekly MySpace column, Quesada cites a busy schedule that frquently has led other editors and creators to step in for him: “We’ve had a lot of fill-ins that have been great, but it’s more than I’d like in a column we call MyCup o’ ‘Joe.’ Someday I’d like to come back to this — hopefully sooner rather than later — but I’d like to come back to it in a way that I can really devote the proper time to it.”
The publisher, however, will continue its presence on MySpace with a “Marvel Fridays” preview feature.
- May 1, 2009 @ 12:33 PM by Kevin Melrose
Logan’s Run: He’s the best at what he does, and what he does is …
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
As X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens today in theaters, the Internet is filled with even more articles about Marvel’s most popular mutant. Here’s a sampling:
• Star Hugh Jackman hints to MTV’s Splash Page that the sequel could take place in Japan: “I won’t lie to you, I have been talking to writers. I’m a big fan of the Japanese saga in the comic book.”
• io9.com pulls out all the stops with four “backgrounder” articles covering Wolverine’s family and friends, his convoluted history, his powers and the question of his seeming immortality.
• Movie Marketing Madness analyzes Fox’s promotional campaign.
• IGN.com and Boxwish look at Wolverine’s many costumes.
• Topless Robot considers Logan’s “10 Least Badass Moments.”
• First Showing suggests five Wolverine stories with reading.
• John Struan rounds up his favorite Wolverine images and custom toys.
- May 1, 2009 @ 11:28 AM by Kevin Melrose
FCBD | 24 hours away
Fantagraphics FCBD 2009
Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow, so here’s one last roundup of various events and signings you can attend. Today’s update includes events in Seattle, Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, Canada and all over California.
You can find an even more extensive list of creator signings on the Free Comic Book Day website.
*****
SLG Publishing will celebrate Free Comic Book Day at their San Jose location, The SLG Art Boutiki, with live music:
The Boutiki will be open from 12-4 giving away (Yes, GIVING AWAY) comic books and all kinds of cool stuff. We will have a selection of the official Free Comic Book Day comics as well as a large selection of SLG comics from years past. Maybe a couple of toys, who knows. Live Music by Perpetual Infinity (come get your funk on).
The SLG Art Boutiki is located at 577 S. Market Street, San Jose, CA 95113. The night before they have a gallery opening featuring the work of Eric Jones, along with more live music. For information on all their May event, check out this blog post.
- May 1, 2009 @ 10:14 AM by JK Parkin
Somebody’s returning to the DC Universe (Hint: It’s not Batman … yet)
No, we're not talking about the dog
(First, a warning: This post contains spoilers for Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4 and beyond.)
Readers who picked up Legion of 3 Worlds #4 or read the DC Comics blog yesterday were met with a surprise. Sort of: confirmation of the return of a character who, for all intents and purposes, has been absent for the past few years.
To find out who it is — as if you don’t already know — continue reading.
Beware: Spoilers follow.
- May 1, 2009 @ 09:19 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Free Comic Book Day
Comics | USA Today previews Saturday’s eighth annual Free Comic Book Day as blogger Dorian Wright separates the good titles from the bad on a scale from “Get it” to “Avoid.” Meanwhile, Dave Olbrich talks to retailer Joe Field about the origins of the event, and gets the story behind Hugh Jackman’s FCBD public service announcement. [Free Comic Book Day]
Legal | On the heels of the Philippines ban of “hentai,” New Zealand is reportedly preparing to prosecute three separate cases of possession of “sexualized manga cartoons.” [Computerworld, via Anime News Network and Anime Vice]
Legal | A judge presiding over the Tribune Co.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case will consider the company’s dispute with actor Warren Beatty over the movie and TV rights to comic-strip detective Dick Tracy. Judge Kevin Carey agreed Thursday to accept initial briefs by June 2. [The Associated Press]
Publishing | Word is that Jann Jones, until recently the senior coordinating editor at DC Comics, has been hired as an editor by Viz Media.
- May 1, 2009 @ 07:17 AM by Kevin Melrose
Diamond declines to carry Warlords of IO mini-series
Warlord of IO
SLG Publishing was planning on following up the recent Warlord of IO and Other Stories one-shot with a mini-series — definitely good news for fans of James Turner. Or at least it would have been, if Warlords of IO and Other Stories had sold better, but Diamond Comics Distributor won’t be carrying it. According to an email from SLG, the mini-series won’t be published*, but they do plan to release it on the web.
“While that comic has been released to great reviews from both readers and online critics, the sales to comic shops were, well, less than spectacular,” the email said, in regards to the one-shot. “As a result our comics distributor has declined to carry the follow-up mini-series Warlords of IO, which continues the story from last month’s one-shot.”
The first issue is available now on the SLG website for 99 cents as a PDF, while the one-shot can be downloaded for $1.49. If you’re unsure about getting it, you can read Michael May’s review before doing so; he gave it “five out of five Tiki Pirates.”
“Lipstick on a pig? We prefer to think of it as another step in the eventual path of comics publishing,” the email says.
*It won’t be published as mini-series, anyway; hopefully it will be collected as a trade eventually.
- May 1, 2009 @ 05:59 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Edwards, Harris cover Olympus
Nathan Edmondson, writer of the Image Comics title Olympus, sent over two covers … first, here’s an uncolored variant cover to issue #4 by Tony Harris:
Olympus #4
- May 1, 2009 @ 05:05 AM by JK Parkin