2009 May
Strangeways: The Thirsty – page 072
Bad news first: apparently WordPress decided that I was only making a draft of the weekly update page for this week, and not an actual page that I’d, y’know, post for people to see. That’s been fixed, but it’s still late. If I can figure out how that happened, I’ll promise that it won’t happen again. Until then, I’m cursing. Read it here if you want a recap.
In other news, I’m back from Super-Con in San Jose. Ran into a couple readers there, which is always a nice treat. Speaking of treats, here’s today’s page:
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
Coming this Wednesday, another chance to win a copy of MURDER MOON. Be sure to tune in then.
Hit up the archives if there’s a page you missed or you just want to relive the terror.
- May 18, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Everyone’s A Critic: A roundup of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
Burma Chronicles
* The esteemed Jeet Heer reviews Guy Delisle’s excellent Burma Chronicles for the Literary Review of Canada:
Delisle’s style of journalism, with its reliance on small anecdotes, can be contrasted to other approaches. Prominent journalists such as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman practise a form of hit-and-run travel writing, where they parachute into a hot spot, interview a few bigwigs (and maybe a cab driver for local colour) and then go back home to expound grand themes about the future of globalization. Delisle’s small-scale storytelling seems like a deliberate antidote to this type of cocky and overheated journalism.
* Note to writers, artists, cartoonists and other people who make stuff: No matter how negative, nasty, mean-spirited or just plain harsh a critic is in reviewing your work, posting a smart-ass reply in the comments section of their blog is never a good idea.
- May 18, 2009 @ 12:10 PM by Chris Mautner
The ‘mettle’ of a man: ‘Metal Men’ preview
Metal Men
I was pretty excited to hear that the Justice League International team supreme of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire were reuniting to do a ‘Metal Men’ back-up feature in the upcoming Doom Patrol series by Giffen and artist Matthew Clark … and now seeing a preview of Maguire’s work whets my appetite to see more.
And let’s not forget that they’re also appearing in DC’s Wednesday Comics series, with art by some other legendary creators, José Luis García-López and Kevin Nowlan. It’s going to be a good year for the six (seven?) elemental robots this year.
- May 18, 2009 @ 11:37 AM by JK Parkin
What the world’s been waiting for: Alan Moore papercraft dolls
Alan Moore papercraft dolls
If you can’t get your hands on the latest issue of British comedy magazine Mustard, which includes a 15-page interview with Alan Moore, maybe this will console you: The publication’s website includes a printable papercraft Alan Moore by Sally Grossart.
Better still, there’s two versions of the doll — one dressed as the writer appeared in Mustard, and the other in his wedding finery. Both feature glowing eyes and a snakes-head cane. Naturally.
(via Forbidden Planet International)
- May 18, 2009 @ 11:05 AM by Kevin Melrose
Fully baked superheroes
Here are a couple of posts to help ruin your dinner, as my mom always liked to say … first, Thom Zahler shares some cookies his brother brought over for his birthday:
Watchcookie
I’ve never heard of the restaurant where he bought them, called Eat ‘n Park, but they specialize in smiley cookies, apparently. Zahler’s brother had them add the red, which transformed them from regular smiley-face cookies to comic book icons.
And next, retailer and blogger Matt Price shares a whole bunch of comic-themed sheet cakes his wife made, featuring everyone from the Wonder Twins and Captain America to Mr. Spock and Booster Gold:
Booster Gold
I shouldn’t be looking at cookies and cakes before lunch … now I need a snack.
- May 18, 2009 @ 10:40 AM by JK Parkin
Superman saved fictional town, but the real one wasn’t so lucky
Action Comics #558
The Pottsville, Pa., Republican-Herald marks a peculiar anniversary: It’s been 25 years since a fictionalized version of nearby Centralia, best known for its underground mine fire, first appeared in Action Comics.
It’s an interesting article that details how writer Bob Rozakis and artist Kurt Schaffenberger traveled to the eastern Pennsylvania borough to view the fire which, at that point, had been burning for more than two decades.
The fruit of their visit was “The All-Searing Eyes,” the lead story in Action Comics #558 (cover-dated August 1984), in which Superman extinguishes the fire raging beneath Coaltown.
The fictional burg appeared again the following May in Issue 567, when the residents erected a statue to honor hero who saved their town.
Unfortunately, real-world Centralia didn’t fare as well.
A federal program to relocate residents began in 1984, and by the end of the decade only a few had chosen to remain. In 1992, Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain of all property in the borough and demolished most of the buildings. In 2002, the U.S. Postal Service revoked Centralia’s ZIP code.
Today, about eight people live in Centralia, where the fire still burns.
- May 18, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
When Superman wasn’t so super
Superman ad
The Greenbriar Picture Shows blog takes a fascinating look at the Fleischer Superman cartoons and how they were received when they debuted in the early 1940s. Turns out most exhibitors, critics, and perhaps even the general public, didn’t really know what to make of the character:
Negative comments far outweighed praise throughout 1942 trades I canvassed, and the mainstream press, when it could be bothered, took out hatchets as well. Artistically, Superman shorts are the movie cartoon at its worst. Superman looks and acts like a wooden puppet. So do all his playmates. There is little that his creators—the old Fleischer Studios (now Famous Studios, Inc.) at Miami, Fla.—can do to improve their hero—even King Disney can’t animate human beings satisfactorily, said TIME magazine regarding Volcano in July 1942. There is never any suspense, since Superman always wins, no matter what happens. But his idolators (of all ages) seem satisfied to see him flex his muscles. By December of that year, the novelty of Superman seemed spent. These cartoons are getting to be just cartoons.
(via Cartoon Brew)
- May 18, 2009 @ 09:20 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Publishing | This report from Editors’ Day at the Savannah College of Art and Design indicates Viz Media’s planned line of original graphic novels may not be canceled after all. The initiative, announced last summer, was presumed dead after the departure in February of Marc Weidenbaum, the company’s vice president of original publishing. [Opinion Prone, via Brigid Alverson, with additional comments by Gia Manry]
Passings | Draper Hill, longtime editorial cartoonist for The Detroit News, died May 13. He was 73. [The Detroit News]
Century -- 1910
Sales charts | The top of The New York Times’ Graphic Books Best Seller List looks the same as it has for the past couple of weeks, with Marvel’s The Dark Tower: Treachery, DC Comics’ Watchmen and Viz Media’s Naruto holding the No. 1 spots in their respective categories.
IDW Publishing’s Star Trek movie prequel stands firm at No. 2 in paperbacks, while Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century — 1910, from Top Shelf, debuts at No. 4. Also of possible note: blasts from the past, like Civil War and The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes, and the reappearance of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born and Joker. Go figure. [ArtsBeat]
- May 18, 2009 @ 07:03 AM by Kevin Melrose
Six by 6 | Six comic items I’d bid the hell out of on eBay, if I could
If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent at least one night staying up until 2 a.m. to get in a final bid on an item on eBay. In my case, it was a vintage Mickey Mouse watch that my wife had her eye on. While I’ve never burnt the midnight oil for anything I’ve personally wanted off the site, there are a few fictional, comic-related items I could see bidding the hell out of on eBay for, if indeed they were real. And today I present six of them.
No doubt many of the items on this list would violate eBay’s prohibited and restricted items, at least in our world; for the sake of this list, let’s pretend it’s not in continuity.
1. Mr. Freeze’s freeze ray: The temperature today in my neck of the woods is over 100 degrees … in May, in California. What the hell? So on a day like today, I’d be more than willing to spend some time on eBay bidding on Mr. Freeze’s freeze ray. Instead of using it to make everyone’s life miserable and to fight guys in bat suits, I’d use it to turn my town into a winter wonderland … at least until Wednesday, when we should be back around the normal and more palatable 85 degrees.
- May 17, 2009 @ 04:04 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Pyongyang
Welcome to another edition of a little something we like to call What Are You Reading. Our special guest this week is none other than comics critic and blogger Johanna Draper Carlson, best known for her long-running site, Comics Worth Reading.
To find out what Johanna and the rest of the Robot 6 crew are currently reading, well, you know what to do …
- May 17, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Week of 5/14
So this was somehow transformed into a draft and not a real post. I’m still trying to figure out how that happened. Posting now.
This week in THE THIRSTY: The Sheriff of Cedar Creek snaps, with Collins and the vampire hunter Joachim right in his sights.
And remember, tune in to THE THIRSTY on Wednesdays to learn how you can win a copy of the first STRANGEWAYS graphic novel, MURDER MOON.
Free comics after the jump!
- May 17, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Bayou leads 2009 Glyph Comics Awards
Bayou
Jeremy Love and Bayou swept the Glyph Comics Awards Friday night in a ceremony held during the eighth annual East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention in Philadelphia.
The Zuda Comics serial captured five of the 10 awards. Parent company DC Comics won in eight categories, including the Fan Award for Best Comic for the miniseries Vixen: Return of the Lion.
The full list of winners are:
Story of the Year: Bayou, by Jeremy Love
Best Writer: Jeremy Love, Bayou
Best Artist: Jeremy Love, Bayou
Best Male Character: Black Lightning, Final Crisis: Submit, by Grant Morrison, Matthew Clark, Norm Rapmund, Rob Hunter and Don Ho
Best Female Character: Lee Wagstaff, Bayou, by Jeremy Love
Rising Star Award: Damian Duffy and John Jennings, The Hole: Consumer Culture
Best Reprint Publication: Me and the Devil Blues, Vol. 1 (Del Rey Manga); David Ury, translator/adapter
Best Cover: Unknown Soldier #1, illustrated by Igor Kordey
Best Comic Strip: Bayou, by Jeremy Love
Fan Award for Best Comic: Vixen: Return of the Lion, by G. Willow Wilson and Cafu
The Glyph Comics Awards “recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color.”
- May 16, 2009 @ 02:58 PM by Kevin Melrose
You will believe a boy can fly … again
Adventure Comics #1
Artist Francis Manapul posts the solicitation info for Adventure Comics #1 on his blog, as well as black and white versions of some of the color art The Source had a couple of weeks ago. The book will include two stories, one starring the newly revived Conner Kent and the other featuring JSA/Legion of Super Heroes member Starman. The copy promises a lot of guest stars in upcoming issues of the title, including several Legionnaires, several characters connected to Superboy and a Black Lantern named Alexander Luthor. Manapel is drawing the Superboy feature, while Clayton Henry is drawing Starman.
I thought it was clever that the variant cover of the book will be numbered Adventure Comics #504.
- May 16, 2009 @ 02:38 PM by JK Parkin
Scott Pilgrim’s Toronto, from page to screen
We don’t post much about comic-book movies — we generally leave that to Comic Book Resource’s “Comic Reel” — but I’ll make an exception for the latest video blog from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World director Edgar Wright. In it, he and Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley visit some of the Toronto locations that appear in the graphic novels and that are now being used for the film.
- May 16, 2009 @ 08:01 AM by Kevin Melrose
Your Mileage May Vary
New Mutants #1
Recently, Marvel has reunited its classic X-Team, New Mutants in the pages of the aptly named New Mutants #1.
Paul O’Brien of If Destroyed, Still True cautiously enjoyed the issue:
That aside, though, it’s a good issue. I like Wells’ take on the characters, and artist Diogenes Neves is doing solid work here. Okay, his Magma and Magik are a bit too similar, and I’ve seen flashier artwork. But he tells a good story, and does a great job with the final few pages. Wells sets up an effective mystery and makes sure to get the plot underway instead of dragging out the set-up.
The big question, of course is: if we’re not doing the junior team again, what is the premise of this book? Is it an entire series about a bunch of characters who happened to be in a series with a stronger premise 25 years ago? Is it really just a second X-Men series which happens to have a dash of nostalgia thrown in? Come to think of it, perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Carlton Hargro of HeroesOnline is enthusiastic:
- May 15, 2009 @ 09:04 PM by Melissa Krause