2009 July
SDCC ’09 | Disney gives details on Prince of Persia anthology
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Disney Book Group has revealed the details of its graphic-novel prequel to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the 2010 feature film from Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer.
The 128-page anthology, the subject of Friday’s Disney Press panel at Comic-Con, will feature six original stories from Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and such artists as Bernard Chang, Tommy Lee Edwards and Cameron Stewart. Todd McFarlane will provide the cover.
Disney plans to publish the graphic novel simultaneously in hardcover and paperback in April 2010 with an initial print run of 125,000. The movie is set to open on May 28.
The press release trumpets the anthology as “Jordan Mechner’s book debut.” However, Mechner was directly involved with Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel, published in 2008 by First Second Books.
- July 21, 2009 @ 06:54 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC ’09 | Dustin Nguyen’s ‘Gotham Girls Motors’ print
"Gotham Girls Motors," by Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen, artist on Batman: Streets of Gotham, provides a look at the “Gotham Girls Motors” print he’ll be selling at Comic-Con from his table in Artists’ Alley (Table FF-04). A free head sketch comes with each purchase.
Follow the link to see Nguyen’s process in creating the image.
- July 21, 2009 @ 06:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Terry Moore’s Echo optioned for film
Echo #1
The onslaught of Comic-Con-timed movie deals gets an early start with news that Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin has picked up the rights to Terry Moore’s Echo.
Variety reports the deal was for “six figures.”
The follow-up to Moore’s long-running Strangers in Paradise, Echo debuted in March 2008 as an ongoing monthly under the creator’s Abstract Studios banner. The series centers on Julie, a young photographer who witnesses the explosion of a high-tech battle suit. The liquid shrapnel fuses with her body, turning her into a living weapon.
In addition to Watchmen, Levin has produced the Hellboy live-action and animated features.
- July 21, 2009 @ 04:32 AM by Kevin Melrose
Six (or so) things a TV fan should do in San Diego
Marvel Anime
The title’s a bit of a misnomer because, really, it’s more like “six (or so) panels a TV fan should attend.” There are plenty of other TV-related things you could do at Comic-Con, like get autographs from actors or producers, grab free swag, stalk celebrities …
Wait, not the last one.
So, anyway. Yeah. Six (or so) panels you should attend if you’re a TV junkie:
1. Marvel Animation: This is where you’ll get the first look at Marvel Anime from Japanese animation studio Madhouse, and the next Marvel Animated Feature from Lionsgate. Also: Warren Ellis. (4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Room 6BCF)
- July 20, 2009 @ 05:10 PM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Evan Dorkin
Beasts of Burden
When an interview goes well, it has very little to do with me. The value of the interview, not surprisingly, is rooted in the answers. Evan Dorkin is proof of this. At one point in this email interview, the man justifiably ridicules my use of the term “sequential art narrative” in a question–and being Evan Dorkin, it’s damn funny when he does it. The interview covers a great deal of ground, given the diversity and richness of his career to date. First up, though, is Dark Horse’s Beasts of Burden, his upcoming collaboration with Jill Thompson, which is featured on the cover of this month’s PREVIEWS. (Beasts of Burden #1′s item code is JUL09 0015 [and goes on sale September 16]). Aweek or so ago my associate Mr. Melrose linked to the original Beasts of Burden short story, Stray, that Dark Horse posted to its site (and that Dorkin also mentions at the start of this interview). My thanks to Dorkin for what I hope you agree is a great interview.
Tim O’Shea: You are working on Beasts of Burden, for Dark Horse, what can you tell folks about the project?
Evan Dorkin: Beasts of Burden is a four-issue series debuting this September from Dark Horse, I’m writing it and Jill Thompson is illustrating it, and it’s about a group of neighborhood dogs and a stray cat that band together to fight the supernatural. It takes place in a town called Burden Hill, which has become increasingly plagued by monsters and the paranormal. The human inhabitants are largely oblivious to what’s happening, so it’s up to these “ordinary” animals to defend the area from these occult incursions. It’s a horror comic with adventure and fantasy elements, and hopefully a sense of humor. Each issue is a self-contained story, with some narrative undercurrents running through them.
- July 20, 2009 @ 03:20 PM by Tim O'Shea
Dark Horse goes from yellow to ‘green’ in San Diego
Dark Horse goes green
If you’ve been to the San Diego Comic Con in the last few years, then you’ve probably either picked up or seen folks with Dark Horse’s very identifiable big yellow bags. They’re huge bags, great for carrying around a load of con goodies, and priced to move (free). But they probably aren’t the most environmentally friendly things in the world.
This year, Dark Horse is trading in the big plastic bags for reusable cloth ones, per a press release they sent out today:
This year, the company has produced over 20,000 reusable cloth bags, which are made from 80 gsm nonwoven cloth. Each of these bags will feature the iconic Dark Horse logo, along with one of four different logos from popular Dark Horse properties: Star Wars, The Umbrella Academy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Japanese creative powerhouse CLAMP.
“Dark Horse is committed to doing our share to help the environment. We are firming up our resolve to find new ways to not only reduce our own ‘footprint,’ but also to get the message out,” said Dark Horse president Mike Richardson. “The first step in this new campaign is to move away from our traditional plastic giveaway bags at the San Diego Comics Convention to sturdy, reusable bags featuring a variety of Dark Horse character art.’
All four designs of reusable bags will be available only at the Dark Horse booth (#2615) at Comic-Con International 2009.
- July 20, 2009 @ 02:45 PM by JK Parkin
Roundtable | Girls and fandom
This week’s controversy over the scheduling of a Twilight movie at San Diego Comic-Con raised an issue that we at Good Comics for Kids have been thinking about for a while: Why don’t girls’ comics (and their other enthusiasms, for that matter) get any respect? Even the comics bloggers who leaped to defend the Twilight fans often speak with contempt of genres aimed at tween and teen girls, an attitude that was on full display later this week when Yen Press announced it would be publishing a Twilight manga.
So I sent out the Bat-Signal to my fellow Good Comics for Kids bloggers and asked what they thought.
Robin Brenner: I find it especially distressing that the SDCC crowd, made up of fans who have been typically dismissed and marginalized by the larger culture including comics fans, fantasy fans, and sci-fi fans, seem to think it’s perfectly warranted to dump on fans who you would think they have a lot more in common with than traits to divide them.
- July 20, 2009 @ 01:55 PM by Brigid Alverson
Strangeways: The Thirsty – oh sneaky sneaky
Oh naughty cheeky.
Come on, name the lyric (difficulty – it’s probably not in order). Bet you can’t!
Here’s a preview page from “Red Hands” which will be the backup story in the final collection of THE THIRSTY. This marks Luis Guragna’s return to STRANGEWAYS, after having illustrated the main story from MURDER MOON.
Can you guess who the vampire is? Canya? Bet you can.
Art by Luis Guragna. Non-existent dialogue by Matt Maxwell.
Thus ends today’s surprise STRANGEWAYS feature. Back next week with more MURDER MOON pages. See you folks at Comic Con, unless I see you coming first…
- July 20, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Straight for the art | Cameron Stewart’s Catwoman print
Catwoman
Artist Cameron Stewart posts the Catwoman print he’ll have in San Diego this week. You can find him most of the time at SplashPage Comic Art, booth #4400.
- July 20, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: A (short) publishing news round-up
Starting Point by Hayao Miyzazki
Three items of note. First of all, Viz will be publishing a new collection of essays, interviews, memoirs and manga by the one and only Hayao Miyazaki. Entitled Starting Point: 1979-1996, the book goes on sale Aug. 4.
The book will cover the first-half of Miyazaki’s legendary career, during which he rose from humble beginnings to create some of the most seminal animated features ever made, including Nausica Of The Valley Of The Wind, Castle In The Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Porco Rosso, as well as his launch of Studio Ghibli. A fitting introduction is offered by John Lasseter, the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar and Walt Disney. Ponyo is Miyazaki’s newest feature film and will be released by Walt Disney in North America this August.
- July 20, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Chris Mautner
SDCC ’09 | CBLDF, creator updates and more
All the Fun
A few more updates on con activities, including the CBLDF, Tripwire Magazine, creator plans and more. I have more coming as well …
Creators | Artist Ryan Kelly shares his schedule and the cover to All the Fun, his art book he’ll be selling at the show.
Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has updated their website with a lot of info on their activities at the con this year, including some offsite events with Amanda Palmer, an art auction and their “Master Sessions” panels. They’ll also host a welcome party on Thursday night, which is co-sponsored by Comic Book Resources, so be sure to stop by if you get a chance.
Free T-shirts | Capcom will be giving away this reversible zombie T-shirt at their booth this year, if you try out a co-op level of the new Resident Evil game.
Games | The SDCC folks have posted information on their games schedule, which includes Magic:The Gathering, Pokemon and a Tekken tournament.
- July 20, 2009 @ 11:01 AM by JK Parkin
Darwyn Cooke on adapting Westlake’s Parker: The Hunter
From "Parker: The Hunter," by Darwyn Cooke
Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of Donald Westlake’s crime novel Parker: The Hunter gets some major play from The Los Angeles Times in this profile by Geoff Boucher.
It’s a good article that moves from a brief overview of the recent resurgence of crime comics to Cooke’s approach to the IDW graphic novel and his correspondence with Westlake, who passed away in December at age 75.
“One of the most valuable things in my professional life, one of the big gifts in my career, was the time I got to spend chatting with him through e-mail,” Cooke told the newspaper. “What I tried to do more than anything was to impress upon him my interest in one question: Where did other adaptations fail and what did they miss in the character. How can we get these things on the page?”
Parker: The Hunter received limited distribution last week, but will be available nationwide on Wednesday.
- July 20, 2009 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
They changed mainstream comics — but not always for the better
The Justice League, by Alex Ross
The A.V. Club has an interesting, and likely debate-provoking, list of “21 artists who changed mainstream comics (for better or worse).”
As the title suggests, the panelists don’t have kinds words for everyone. They heap praise on the likes of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Carl Barks, and mix in some mild criticisms with their assessments of George Perez and Jim Lee.
But for George Tuska, Rob Liefeld, Greg Land and Alex Ross, they get a little rough.
Of Ross they write, “He’s a pioneer of the dull, unimaginative craze for giving superheroes celebrity faces, and with his shaky layouts and mediocre visual storytelling.” The charges against Land and Liefeld are, by now, quite familiar.
And then there’s “poor George Tuska,” who’s described as “the King Of The Fill-In Issue, hopping in to provide bland, forgettable work whenever someone else blew a deadline.”
So, what do you think? Are their assessments fair?
- July 20, 2009 @ 09:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC Fat Bastard Challenge: Preparing for the finals
The Blob
This will be our last update on the SDCC ‘09 Fat Bastard Challenge before the big weigh-in at San Diego. As you’ll recall, Comic Book Resource head honcho Jonah Weiland challenged Monster Attack Network/Highwaymen/Genius co-writer Marc Bernardin to a weight loss contest, where both competitors are attempting to lose 20 lbs. before the big show.
The rules are:
- The person with the most weight loss by San Diego is treated to a $50 meal by the loser.
- They both have to donate $10 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for every pound of weight less than 20 they haven’t lost by San Diego.
The final weigh-in was set to take place on the CBR Yacht at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Thursday, July 23, but I think that may be in flux due to some scheduling difficulties. However, we will see this through, even if I have to drag a scale into one of Marc’s panels or interrupt one of the interviews Jonah will be doing on the yacht.
Anyway, let’s, see where our contestants stand before the big show ….
- July 20, 2009 @ 09:12 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | When superheroes get old
When Elektra's ready for the rest home
I think I have linked to this or something like it back in the day (whichever day that was), but this rather amusing collection of cartoons by Donald Soffritti is always worth a second look, especially since it seems he’s put these illustrations together in a new book.
- July 20, 2009 @ 08:35 AM by Chris Mautner