2009 June
The Fifth Color | Marvel Solicitations for September 2009
Okay guys, this is September. Time to get serious. The summer blockbusters are either put to rest or coming to an end, and we have 11 different #1 issues to sort through, not to mention the other 11 #2 issues that are kicking it into high gear from last month. And what about the eight issues we know NOTHING about?? Pencils down, kids. The Marvel U just got real.
Or kind of ridiculous in regards to the ongoing narrative. But don’t be afraid, not everything is all new and different. Let’s take a gander at the September solicitations for the House of Ideas and see what we can look forward to hearing about when we’re darn good and ready.
Okay, no joke, there are indeed 11 #1 issues coming out, from the benign Thor and Punisher Annuals (I actually find myself missing when they used to number annuals by the year they came out) to the long-awaited Spider-Woman #1 and Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1. There’s even the ridiculous, but I’ll get to that later. Point is, this is just as much a month for starts of things to come as August, which tips the scales at 14 #1 issues. Marvel may tout their 600th Captain America, Spider-Man or Incredible Hulk, but let’s face it: #1 on a cover gives the book that delectable little collector’s spice.
- June 19, 2009 @ 11:10 AM by Carla Hoffman
Criminal: The Deluxe Edition? I’m starting to save my pennies now!
Criminal: The Deluxe Edition
With the to-do earlier in the week about Captain America #600 and Reborn, and the release of Incognito #4 and a new printing of Sleeper: Season One, you may have overlooked this other piece of Ed Brubaker-related news: the solicitation for the 400-page Criminal: The Deluxe Edition, collecting the first three volumes of the award-winning crime series by Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
It comes with a $50 price tag, which may seem a bit high. But it’s a hardcover that includes the “movie trailer” that was used online to promote the series, behind-the-scenes material, a cover gallery and more. Plus, well, it’s Brubaker and Phillips.
- June 19, 2009 @ 10:20 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | The Phantasmal Four
The Phantasmal Four
DeviantArt user genesischant reimagines the Fantastic Four as “a group that was formed by the eccentric and brilliant Sir Reid Richard after some sort of supernatural catastrophe that occurred at the Van Allen Estate in Britain. It appears that the noted spiritualist attempted via a seance ritual to journey beyond the earthly Veil. The goal was nothing less than discovering a means by which to conquer death itself.” Genesischant is also offering to do commissions.
- June 19, 2009 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
This weekend, it’s Wizard World Philadelphia
Wizard
Wizard World returns to Philadelphia today and runs through Sunday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Guests on the comics side for this weekend’s con include Dan DiDio, Walt Simonson, Garth Ennis, Kevin Maguire, Howard Chaykin, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Dan Slott, Joe Kelly, Fred Van Lente, JG Jones, Steve Dillon, Dennis Calero, Phil Jimenez, Alex Maleev, Jeff Katz, Mike McKone, Greg Pak, Paolo Rivera and more. On the media side, you can meet Edward James Olmos, Ray Park, Doug Jones, Michael Hogan, Max Brooks and many others. Check out the full guest list here.
Programming highlights include:
- June 19, 2009 @ 08:30 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
TCAF 2009
Conventions | Organizer Christopher Butcher has announced the Toronto Comic Arts Festival will depart from its biennial schedule next year to hold the well-regarded event on May 8-9, 2010, at the Toronto Reference Library.
“This is something of an experiment for us,” Butcher writes, “and I can’t say for sure that we’re ‘going annual’ with the event, but we feel that a 2010 event is the best course of action to ensure that TCAF stays a fun, vital, and prominent festival both within the city of Toronto and in the larger comics community.”
This year’s festival drew 10,500 attendees, more than double that of the 2007 event. [Comics212]
HeroesCon
Conventions | Local newspapers preview this weekend’s two big comic conventions: The Winston-Salem Journal and Charlotte Observer look at HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., while the Philadelphia Daily News and the Bucks County Courier Times tackle Wizard World Philadelphia. And don’t miss Robot 6′s previews of HeroesCon and Wizard World. [Heroes Con, Wizard World Philadelphia]
Creators | The Savannah College of Art and Design alumni association has established a scholarship fund in memory of Jeremy Mullins, the cartoonist and SCAD alumnus and instructor who died Saturday from injuries sustained in a hiking accident. [alumni association blog, via Tom Spurgeon]
- June 19, 2009 @ 07:16 AM by Kevin Melrose
This weekend, it’s HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C.
HeroesCon
HeroesCon starts today and runs through Sunday at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N. C. The convention has a “straight up 100% comics vibe, without all the actors and movie stuff and all that,” according to one of the show’s organizers, Dustin Harbin. Marvel, DC Comics, BOOM!, AdHouse and Top Shelf will all be exhibiting at the show.
The con will be the first place fans can hear from Mark Bagley about his upcoming run on Justice League, Ed Brubaker on the recent Cap announcement, and Brian Michael Bendis on Avengers both Dark and New. The guest list also includes Chris Claremont, Matt Fraction, Mark Waid, Ethan Van Sciver, Colleen Doran, David Mack, Adam Hughes, Cliff Chiang, Mark Brooks, George Perez, Cully Hamner, Frank Cho, C.B. Cebulski, Roger Langridge, Eric Powell, Roy Thomas, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jonathan Hickman, Scott Wegener, Steve Epting, Dustin Nguyen and many, many more. Find the full list here.
HeroesCon also plays host to Indie Island, where you can meet Jeff Smith, Matt Kindt, Jason Lutes, Paul Maybury, Carla Speed McNeil, David Petersen, Andy Runton, Chris Schweizer, Dean Trippe and Ben Towle, among many others.
Here are some of the highlights (you can find the complete programming schedule here):
- June 19, 2009 @ 05:19 AM by JK Parkin
Brought to you by the color red: DC Comics Solicitations for September 2009
Grumpy Old Fan
The September solicitations are here, bringing with them another month’s worth of teases and puffery. There are ongoing series for the Red Circle characters, a new edition of Red Son, and a paperback featuring a Communist Lady Blackhawk. As if that weren’t enough, this batch includes the start of a long-awaited Superman miniseries, the highly-anticipated conclusion of Flash: Rebirth, and a couple of minor characters in desperate need of some salesmanship. I’m also fairly sure that DC has made some kind of history in its writing corps.
Before we get to that, though, a non-solicitation item. I’m pretty happy that DC will be putting at least part of Wednesday Comics in a newspaper, even if it’s just the first installment of the Superman strip in one issue of USA Today. You may remember a couple of months ago that I went off on a little tirade about DC not supporting Wednesday Comics sufficiently, and while this isn’t quite what I had in mind, it may be pretty effective.
Now then…
Continue Reading »
- June 18, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Robot Review: Chicken with Plums
Chicken with Plums
Chicken with Plums
Written and Illustrated by Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon; $12.95
Chicken with Plums is a misleading title for a murder mystery, but it’s especially appropriate for the one Marjane Satrapi has created. Chicken with Death or Murder with Plums: then you know what you’re getting into. Satrapi sneaks up on you though. You think you’re reading a slice-of-life story about her great-uncle and then you realize that he’s about to die and you’ve got no idea why. The twist that he’s going to kill himself makes it that much more intriguing.
Nasser Ali Khan is a great musician in Iran, but when his wife destroys his tar in the latest of a series of escalating arguments, his efforts to replace the beloved instrument are fruitless. In despair, he takes to his bed and gives up on life, declaring that he’s going to die in a week, presumably from starvation since he won’t eat. He won’t even take his favorite meal (you only get one guess as to what that is), which I guess represents the joy of life that Nasser Ali Khan has now turned his back on.
It’s such an implausible scenario, but Satrapi pulls the reader along with a strong characters, a delightful voice, and subtle clues that there’s more to Nasser Ali Khan’s anguish than a broken frickin tar. Why is he really killing himself? There’s the mystery.
- June 18, 2009 @ 01:46 PM by Michael May
Comics on TV: Lindelof and Vaughan eat, while Shatner flips the bird
Brian K. Vaughan (right) on "Top Chef Masters"
Last night saw a comic-book convergence on television as Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Runaways) and Damon Lindelof (Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk) appeared with other Lost producers and writers on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, and William Shatner took to The Tonight Show to, well, be William Shatner.
But after talking about airport security, peeing on the beach and speeding, and before flipping the bird to Conan O’Brien, Shatner did manage to get a plug in for The Tek War Chronicles comic, which debuts next week.
Bigger than the comic-book promo, though, is the revelation that the longtime captain of the Enterprise can’t do the Vulcan salute. Shatner has, however, mastered that other hand gesture.
You can watch his Tonight Show appearance after the break.
- June 18, 2009 @ 11:48 AM by Kevin Melrose
Dave Simons’ ‘unfinished symphony’
Dave Simons
Dave Simons, who passed away earlier this month, was working on a story for the Hero Initiative’s upcoming benefit book Hero Comics before he died. According to Jim McLauchlin, Simon had finished the script but hadn’t started drawing it yet — so they plan to run the script, undrawn, as a tribute to Simons.
“Dave’s script will still appear, as part of what will now be a tribute page in the book,” the organization’s president said. “Hero’s Charlie Novinskie, a friend of Dave’s, will write a remembrance on that page as well.”
The script can also be seen at the Hero Initiative blog.
- June 18, 2009 @ 11:15 AM by JK Parkin
Will the real Comic-Con Twitter feed please stand up?
Twitter users looking to find official information on July’s Comic-Con International in San Diego may be a little confused.
First, there’s @Comic_Con, the official Twitter feed that’s run by the organization. But there’s also another feed, @SD_Comic_Con, that appears to be run by someone with the convention as well. David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for Comic-Con International, says the second one isn’t legitimate.
“It appears some of this information may have been gathered from our committee and board meetings,” he said. “The problem here is multifold. First of all, that site ISN’T official. The person running that site ISN’T an employee and the information given is speculative at best.”
Glanzer said this could lead to problems for the con, as the leaked information could effect their relationships with potential guests.
“There may be things that will come to pass, however, some of the information is just random thoughts that have been expressed at meetings for which no official dialogue has been established,” Glanzer said. “Confirming guests and events that we haven’t confirmed may actually have the opposite effect. To ‘leak’ info can jeopardize relationships we have with the individuals and companies who may have planned to attend the show.”
- June 18, 2009 @ 10:20 AM by JK Parkin
Robinson, Bagley named JLA creative team
Mark Bagley's Justice League
DC Comics announced on their Source blog today that James Robinson and Mark Bagley will take over the flagship Justice League title in October.
Robinson, of course, is no stranger to the franchise, having written the upcoming Cry for Justice mini-series that features a spin-off team led by Hal Jordan and Green Arrow. And Bagley just wrapped up a 52-issue stint on Trinity, which featured, well, just about everybody in the DC universe.
“It’s a thrill to be given the reins of DC’s flagship team book and to know that my partner in crime(fighting) will be the esteemed Mark Bagley who’s dynamic storytelling skills I intend to make full use of,” Robinson said. “It’s further exciting/gratifying for me that I can dove-tail the events of Cry For Justice into the main book where post-Blackest Night will emerge a new team and a new exciting direction as they get caught up in the next wave of events building throughout the DCU.”
Robinson replaces regular writer Dwayne McDuffie, whose last issue was #33. As we noted at the end of May, McDuffie was fired from the series. A story by Len Wein is currently running in the title.
- June 18, 2009 @ 09:44 AM by JK Parkin
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: HarperCollins fall catalog
History of the Modern World Part II
One of the joys of doing this semi-regular feature, scouring through catalogs, is every so often you come across a real jewel, or at least something that makes you sit up and take notice. For example, looking through HarperCollins’s fall/winter line-up I discovered some rather interesting titles and one real notable graphic novel amidst the plethora of manga spin-offs. To wit:
- June 18, 2009 @ 09:24 AM by Chris Mautner
For the Steve Rogers fan who has everything (except a bloody T-shirt)
"Captain America: Reborn" T-shirt
What better way is there to celebrate the return of Steve Rogers in July’s Captain America: Reborn than with a T-shirt … splattered with red ink … that, um, evokes the character’s supposed assassination more than two years ago?
But hey! Look at that John Cassaday art! (And the blood. My lord, the blood.) The $18 shirt — a “Dads & Grads” gift idea — is available exclusively from the Official Marvel Shop.
(via IESB)
- June 18, 2009 @ 08:19 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Bill Finger, by Jerry Robinson
Awards | John Broome and Frank Jacobs will receive the 2009 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The award is named in memory of Bill Finger, whose role in the creation of Batman, and many of the associated characters and concepts, went unacknowledged for years.
Broome, who passed away in 1998, wrote for DC Comics from 1946 to 1970, working on such titles as Green Lantern and The Flash. Jacobs’ byline has appeared in more than 300 issues of MAD since he began writing for the magazine in 1957.
The Finger Award will be presented July 24 during the Eisner Awards ceremony at Comic-Con International. [press release]
Fourth Circuit
Legal | A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the 2005 conviction of Dwight Whorley, a Virginia man sentenced to 20 years in prison in part for possessing child pornography. However, the Justice Department also prosecuted him under the PROTECT Act for receiving cartoon (manga/anime) images via email depicting the sexual abuse of children. Whorley’s conviction was the first under the 2003 statute that was not based on photographs of children.
In a 10-1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear Whorley’s case. In his dissent, Judge Roger Case encouraged the Supreme Court to take up the case. [Threat Level]
Creators | Cartoonist Derf is recovering from quintuple-bypass surgery, an operation made necessary by radiation treatments for cancer. [Derf's blog, via SLG Publishing]
- June 18, 2009 @ 07:34 AM by Kevin Melrose