2009 June
DC launches Vertigo and Wildstorm blogs, teases final Planetary
From Planetary #27
Following in the footsteps of Zuda Blog and The Source, DC Comics has launched blogs for its Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints.
The Wildstorm blog, The Bleed, debuts with confirmation that Planetary #27 — the series finale — will ship in October, and offers a colored page as evidence.
Meanwhile, Vertigo’s blog, Graphic Content, provides a preview of Peter & Max: A Fables Novel, which also debuts in October.
- June 10, 2009 @ 04:29 PM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: What Looks Good for August
Grandville
Time once again for our monthly look at upcoming adventure comics and which new series, graphic novels, and collections look interesting. As always, tell me what I missed in the comments.
Dark Horse
Kull, Volume 1: The Shadow Kingdom – I’ve never read a Robert E. Howard Kull story, but I dug that Kevin Sorbo movie and the whole Age-of-Atlantis setting. Plus the art looks incredible. I’d buy this just for the reproductions of the Andy Brase covers (which I’m assuming will be in there).
Grandville – A talking, gun-toting badger stalking a ruthless murder squad through steampunked Paris. That’s all you had to say.
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas - Is it bad that I still haven’t read any Umbrella Academy yet? It is, isn’t it?
- June 10, 2009 @ 03:27 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your Shelf Porn
This week on Send Us Your Shelf Porn, we’re getting a glimpse at a rather focused collection, with the potential to add to it via the online suggestion box that is our good ole comments section.
Today’s photos hail from one Justin Gonzalez in Brooklyn, NY. As the above photo suggests, Justin is a big Batman fan and has structured his budding collection around the caped crusader. He’s on the lookout for additions though, so if you know of a stellar Batman book that isn’t on these shelves, let him know in the comments below.
And don’t forget to let me know about your shelf porn. If you’ve got a stellar, or even mediocre collection you’d like to share, don’t be shy! Snap some pics and send them to me via cmautnerATcomcastDOTnet.
And now here’s the part where I let Justin take over …
- June 10, 2009 @ 02:03 PM by Chris Mautner
Plugging the hole in forever
Final Crisis hardcover
The Final Crisis hardcover hits stores today, and if you’re like me, you aren’t planning to pick it up because you already own the single issues. However, if you’re curious about the introduction to the hardcover by Arthur magazine’s Jay Babcock, DC has reprinted it over at the Source.
- June 10, 2009 @ 01:08 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 080
Eighty pages? Never thought we’d make it.
If you’d like to win a copy of MURDER MOON, just stay tuned.
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell
And now to the giveaway. Let’s see if we can get a couple more entries this week. On this page the engineer takes the vampire down with what piece of furniture that you migt find in an average frontier bar? It’s right there in panel two in black and white. Send mail to me, that’s strangeways@highway-62.com and put “Murder Moon Contest” in the subjectline (the link should do this for you). Put the answer in the body of the message. Do this before midnight on Thursday. Then you’ll be entered in this week’s drawing. Winners announced on Friday.
Head on over to the archives to catch the story from the beginning.
More bonus material on Friday. See you then!
- June 10, 2009 @ 12:08 PM by Matt Maxwell
Chip Kidd to write Batman comic [Updated]
Chip Kidd
Designer, author and Dark Knight enthusiast Chip Kidd has revealed he’ll write a full-length Batman story for DC Comics.
The announcement came over the weekend during the Printers Row Lit Festival in Chicago.
Kidd confirmed the news via Twitter, but told CBR this afternoon that it’s “far too premature for any ‘official’ announcement.”
“I am excited beyond measure about it, and there is a signed contract, but beyond that I just don’t want to say anything about it yet,” he said. “Believe me, when it’s a more appropriate time, you won’t be able to shut me up about it. I assure you.”
Kidd, the associate art director of Knopf, has a long fascination with the Caped Crusader, dating back to his childhood. In 1996, he released Batman Collected, a coffee-table book devoted to Batman memorabilia (including his own). Last year he compiled and designed Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan, which showcased Jiro Kuwata’s 1966-67 manga series as well as photographs of vintage Japanese toys.
Kidd also designed the trade dress for DC’s Final Crisis, Trinity and the All-Star line, and collaborated with Alex Ross on Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross and with Paul Dini on Batman Animated.
(via GalleyCat)
- June 10, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Dave Johnson’s cover for 100 Bullets, Vol. 13
"100 Bullets," Vol. 13, by Dave Johnson
Artist Dave Johnson unveils the cover for the 13th, and final, trade paperback for 100 Bullets, the Vertigo crime series by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. (It was solicited using a modified version of the cover to Issue 92.)
“Originally, it was going to have different/more color,” Johnson writes. “But I threw out that idea and went with minimal. I really like the green with white and black. As long as the cover stand out from the pack of ‘rainbow color’ covers, I’m happy.”
The collection is set for release on July 8.
- June 10, 2009 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Captain Blood and the Peril of Indie Comics
Matthew Shepherd, Michael Shoyket and David Hedgecock rework a few pages from Captain Blood to address the problems independent comics have with distribution, ultimately asking readers to “demand more from comics.” And, in one panel, not to download comics … which seemed very unpirate-like.
- June 10, 2009 @ 09:31 AM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s a critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
Ultimates 3
* If you dare to call something the “worst comic book ever,” you better have the ability to back it up. J. Caleb Mozzocco does just that in his ongoing takedown of Ultimates 3.
* Sean Collins dubs the latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book “a funny, creepy, nasty piece of work that encapsulates and articulates many of Alan Moore’s most heartfelt themes as explicitly and entertainingly as any book he’s ever done.”
* Shaenon Garrity runs through the top five cartoonists/children’s book illustrators. Is your favorite on the list?
* Doug Wolk praises Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know, calling it “a vivid, affecting, eccentrically stylish frame built around a terrible silence.”
* Sean Howe reviews David Mazzuchelli’s Asterios Polyp for EW. Apparently the book was the darling of this year’s MoCCA show.
* TCJ critic Kent Worcester talks about the burgeoning academic interest in comics, sorry, sequential art.
* The Batman & Robin reviews just keep on comin‘
* Johanna Draper Carlson wants to let you know that Kabuki: The Alchemy offers a “mind-bending conclusion.”
* Paul Gravett continues to examine the “atom style” in eurocomics.
- June 10, 2009 @ 08:34 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Rosamond
Legal | The author and illustrator of the Nate the Great children’s books have wisely counter-sued Cosmic Debris Etc., claiming the lucrative Emily the Strange franchise violates their copyright. Last month Cosmic Debris sued Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Marc Simont, and asked a judge to declare that Emily doesn’t infringe on the copyright to their 1978 book Nate the Great and the Lost List.
Cosmic Debris’ preemptive strike was sparked by online discussion late last year pointing out the similarities between Rob Reger and Nathan Carrico’s 1991 creation Emily and Sharmat and Simont’s 1978 creation Rosamond. An Emily the Strange feature film, produced by Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson, is planned for release next year, which may explain the eagerness of Reger & Co. to clear any potential legal entanglements. Dark Horse also is named as a defendant.
Sharmat and Simont seek a declaration that their copyright has been infringed, plus unspecified damages. [Courthouse News Service]
Legal | A Singapore couple has been sentenced to eight weeks in jail for distributing anti-Muslim comics created by Jack Chick. Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and Dorothy Chan, 46, were found guilty of sedition for “distributing seditious or objectionable publications” after they sent copies of The Little Bride and Who Is Allah? to Muslims. [AFP]
- June 10, 2009 @ 07:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
This week, it’s an alien apocalypse, death metal and a visit to the 25th century
Maybe it’s the heat talking, but this week’s shipping list reads a lot like a slate of Hollywood summer blockbusters. There’s a post-apocalyptic drama, a couple of new takes on an old franchise, some sci-fi action plus, y’know, Star Trek.
And not just any Star Trek, but The Wrath of Khan (which was released 25 27 years ago last week).
Where was I? Oh, right: Khannnnnnn!
The big releases, at least from a superhero-comics standpoint, may be Batman #687 and Red Robin #1, which continue DC’s efforts to establish a post-Final Crisis, post “R.I.P,” post-Battle for the Cowl status quo for the Batman Family. Oh, and X-Men Forever #1, in which Marvel pretends Chris Claremont never left X-Men.
Yeah, I don’t know, either.
To find out what other titles Chris Mautner, JK Parkin and I think are worth noting, just keep reading. And feel free to tell us your picks in the comments below.
- June 9, 2009 @ 02:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
Bono and Edge on Turn Off the Dark!
U2′s Bono and the Edge discuss their work on the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark! in this YouTube clip:
Tickets are available June 24 if you use your American Express card; you can find more details here.
- June 9, 2009 @ 01:42 PM by JK Parkin
Unbound: Reconsidering the Eisners
Bodyworld
Half the fun in awards like the Eisners is second-guessing the judges—everyone loves to discuss what should have been put on the list and what should have been left off. Reading through the nominees for Best Digital Comics, though, raised a bigger question for me: What comics really belong in this category?
All this year’s nominees are good, but as I read them, I kept thinking “This isn’t really a webcomic.” At first I attributed this to the lack of gamer jokes, Project Wonderful ads, and “about” pages. As I kept going, though, I realized that most of them would work just as well on paper as on the web, and their presence side by side in the same category was simply an accident of distribution.
What’s in a webcomic? A creator named KEZ recently articulated this very well:
My comic, The War of Winds, is a webcomic. It exists primarily in the digital format, and uses the internet as a vehicle for promotion and advertisement. It is read on a live connection to the world wide web. It has a site full of extra information that heightens the reading experience. It was created expressly for online distribution, not for print. It is free, and I’m there a lot communicating with the people who read my work. My comic would NOT exist without the internet due to logistical problems and the need for print publication.
Looked at in this light, only one of the Eisner nominees really fits the bill. The others would work as well on paper. Already we have seen Brian Fies win an Eisner in the Best Digital Comics category for Mom’s Cancer and then, two years later, get two nominations for the print version. This year’s nominations include not only the print version of Fishtown but also the MySpace Dark Horse Presents anthology.
As the landscape shifts, I think it makes more and more sense to nominate online comics in the appropriate categories—best writer, best short story—and reserve the Best Digital category for comics that could only exist on the web.
- June 9, 2009 @ 12:30 PM by Brigid Alverson
Robot reviews: Melvin Monster and Moomin
Melvin Monster
Melvin Monster Vol. 1 (John Stanley Library)
by John Stanley
Drawn and Quarterly, 184 pages, $19.95.
Melvin Monster is a bonafide hoot; the kind of comic that, though intended for kids, can be enjoyed thoroughly by adults without an ounce of embarrassment or awkwardness. This is the rare book that actually lives up to its “all ages” description.
What’s interesting for me is just how frenzied and manic these stories are, especially compared to the comics Stanley is better known for, mainly the Little Lulu series. While those classic tales are equally funny, they have a bit more of a structured feel to them. An equal amount of time is spent in the set-up as it is in the delivery of the gag.
- June 9, 2009 @ 11:34 AM by Chris Mautner
Paul Pope channels Akira Kurosawa for new poster
Yojimbo by Paul Pope
The pop culture fashion site Nakatomi Inc. has a limited edition T-shirt and poster available from Paul Pope. The poster, above, is called Yojimbo, after the Akira Kurosawa film of the same name.
“The central calligraphy reads ‘Yojimbo’ and the banner in the circle device at bottom reads ‘Toshiro Mifune’ with the actor’s birth and death dates,” the creator wrote on his blog.
The shirt features “Watson Robot Industries” from his THB comic series. The set is limited to 250 copies and are available this month only.
- June 9, 2009 @ 10:31 AM by JK Parkin