2009 July
Strangeways: Murder Moon – Page 07
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Luis Guragna.
Commentary after the jump
- July 6, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Six by 6 | Six questions with Sam Little on The Hammer
The Hammer
There’s nothing in the world that’s scarier than a pink bunny. Especially when he stands six feet tall, he’s from Detroit and he carries a hammer.
An international team of comics creators came together to create The Hammer, which won Zuda’s February competition. As their reward, Sam Little, Gabe Ostley, Rob Berry and Steve Steiner have launched the ongoing comic at the site this month. I caught up with Sam about the comic, which is being updated daily right now on Zuda.
JK Parkin: You guys won the February 2009 contest. So what happened between then and now, in between winning the Zuda contest and getting the strip up on the site as a regular feature?
Sam Little: Well, we’ve been steadily working on grinding out Hammer pages since before the contest even started. We decided when we first got together to do this thing that we would make a commitment to each other and complete the story regardless of whether or not we actually won the contest. It would’ve driven me crazy to just do eight pages and then let the rest of the story remain untold. Since we won, we’ve just kept at it, chipping away steadily and laying plans for the future. Besides that, all four of us have got our own solo projects and collaborations (not to mention day jobs) that have kept us mightily busy.
- July 6, 2009 @ 11:20 AM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
Asterios Polyp
• Another day, another stellar review for David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp. This time it’s Dan Kois for New York magazine, who calls the book “a great graphic novel” and “a masterpiece.”
• Got some time to kill? Then you might want to check out this lengthy series of posts critiquing the entire 28-volume run of the seminal samurai manga Lone Wolf and Cub. (found via Spurgeon)
• Frank Santoro dubs Mat Brinkman’s Multiforce “terrifyingly good and an indispensable record of possibly the most important serialized comics of the post-Ware era.”
• Jog declares Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea “a fairly lovely production.”
• Johanna Draper Carlson calls Posey Simmonds’s Gemma Bovery “engrossing, even watching people make stupid wrong decisions, it’s a page-turner.”
• Brian Heater thinks Fred Chao’s Johnny Hiro is “a rollicking love letter to boundary-less pop-culture, which, by the end, has embraced everything from Night Court to Brand Nubian.”
• Sandy Bilus uses Hellboy Vol. 6 Strange Places to look at how colorist Dave Stewart uses specific palettes to strong effect.
• Rob Clough reads Everyone Is Stupid Except for Me and wonders if Peter Bagge isn’t a modern-day Mencken.
- July 6, 2009 @ 10:15 AM by Chris Mautner
Comico 2.0? Company founders return on the web
CO2 Comics
Almost 30 years after it was born — and about 20 years after declaring bankruptcy — Comico is back, sort of. Comico co-founder Gerry Giovinco and his colleague Bill Cucinotta have launched CO2 Comics, a webcomics site that’s hosting several of the comics that debuted in the Comico Primer anthology back in the early 1980s. The site currently features comics by Chris Kalnick, Joe Williams, Andrew C. Murphy, Reggie Byers, Bernie Mireault, Bill Anderson, Rich Rankin and Neil Vokes.
“We recognize that comics are a medium of freedom,” Giovinco writes on the site. “Versatile use of words, pictures, space and time that flow freely from a creative hand onto a page that can wrap the world in seconds communicating the clearest vision of the artist to the largest possible audience. Independence is still our motto, as it was in the ’80’s, but today the internet presents itself as the ultimate tool of that liberation from traditional comics to the potential of the future. Tradition, however has its place, and comics in print will be as much a goal using new technology and distribution venues to put books in the hands of readers.”
Founded in the early 1980s, Comico Comics introduced the world to a number of comic properties, including Matt Wagner’s Mage and Grendel, Bill Willingham’s Elementals and Chuck Dixon’s Evangeline. They also published several licensed comics, including Steve Rude’s Space Ghost comic, several Robotech comics, Jonny Quest, Star Blazers and Gumby. Before the end of the decade, however, the company went bankrupt, and in 1992 it was sold. The new owner published only a few titles in the mid-1990s before eventually fading away.
To keep up with updates, check out the site’s blog.
- July 6, 2009 @ 09:33 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | The July 4th Project
Demolition Dove
Chris Duffy and a host of artists show off the American spirit at The July 4th Project, “an art blog featuring variations by many cartoonists on the notion of the patriotic, all-American superhero.” Above is Javier Hernandez’s Demolition Dove; check out the blog for more fun characters like Rockets Redglare and Bill of Rights.
- July 6, 2009 @ 08:59 AM by JK Parkin
Dear Chris, please pick me up an Astro Boy cookie jar. Thanks.
Astro Boy and Kimba guard the Tezuka installation
Chris Butcher is once again touring the Land of the Rising Sun and sending back photos of his excursions. So far he’s bought manga about cats and stopped by the Village Vanguard book store, but the real gold mine so far is his trip to the Tezuka World Installation. Man, I can think of at least five people who would love getting one of those Astro Boy coffee mugs for Christmas.
- July 6, 2009 @ 08:21 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
One Piece
Publishing | Taking a page from its “Naruto Nation” initiative, Viz Media will publish volumes 21-53 of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece between January and June at a rate of five books a month. Announced Friday at Anime Expo, the accelerated schedule is an effort to move the North American release dates closer to those in Japan, where Vol. 53 shipped in March. Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine also will publish the latest One Piece chapters from Japan beginning this fall. Lori Henderson provides commentary. [Anime News Network]
Publishing | Also at this weekend’s Anime Expo, DC Comics’ CMX imprint announced several new manga licenses for spring 2010. [About.com, ANN]
The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck
Publishing | Combing Amazon.com, Arthur de Wolf discovers a reprint of The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck among the upcoming Disney comics releases from BOOM! Studios. [Disney Comics Worldwide]
Sales charts | The top spots on The New York Times’ Graphic Books Best Seller List are the same as last week — Final Crisis, Watchmen and Bleach, Vol. 27 — but the lower positions in the paperback category are a little more interesting, with two volumes of Scott Pilgrim and the latest collection of Empowered making appearances. [ArtsBeat]
Publishing | Kim Thompson, co-publisher of Fantagraphics, discusses the ins and outs of translating graphic novels. [Omnivoracious]
- July 6, 2009 @ 07:41 AM by Kevin Melrose
What Are You Reading?
Asterios Polyp
Welcome to What Are You Reading, where we don’t let a little thing like national holidays and fireworks prevent us from talking about our current reading exploits. Our guest this week is cartoonist (you can see his work in the new anthology Syncopated) and editor Paul Karasik, whose latest book is the highly accclaimed You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! the second collection of comics by the late Golden Age artist Fletcher Hanks.
To discover what Paul and the rest of us are reading, simply click on the link below …
- July 5, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Mom! Dad! Buy stuff! A liveblog of FunFare magazine
FunFare magazine
Wizard CEO Gareb Shamus isn’t going to let paltry matters like financial insolvency and an ever-dwindling staff keep him from putting out new magazines. Hence, Wizard Entertainment’s latest endeavor, FunFare. According to the PR release, this new glossy mag “takes the humor and consumer focus of Wizard’s collector-targeted magazine Toy Fair and expands the focus to the family and general consumer.” That certainly sounds like fun, right?
By a unique stroke of luck, we happened to get our sweaty hands (and yes, they are a little sweaty. It is summer after all.) on a copy of the very first issue of FunFare. Taking a page from Christopher Butcher’s monthly Previews breakdowns, we thought we’d go page by page through the magazine and jot down our initial impressions. Will it measure up to Wizard’s past standards of excellence? Read on and find out …
- July 3, 2009 @ 04:00 PM by Chris Mautner
The Fifth Color – The Triumph of the Inhuman Spirit
Yeah, yeah, I know. Tomorrow is indeed the Fourth of July and most have stirring visions of Captain America already mixed about their brains. Captain America: Reborn has set us on a path to recapture our Greatest Generation’s hero of choice perhaps with a depth and breadth of understanding of our country, patriotism and this symbol of the ol’ USA none of us would have had without the insightful storytelling of Mr. Ed Brubaker…
… but we’re going to skip all that today. Captain America posts on Independence Day are kind of cliché, don’t you think? And since Captain America: Reborn #1 is just starting out what could very well be Act Three of the epic tale that is Brubaker’s Grand Design, well. The man isn’t done with it yet, so we can save the throwing of roses and the ticker tape parades for how awesome he is for when he’s done getting to the awesome parts at the end of his awesomeness (SPOILER: it’s gonna be awesome).
Let’s instead turn towards a story that’s coming to its own close and the war of Independence that no one may win after all.
Continue Reading »
- July 3, 2009 @ 02:03 PM by Carla Hoffman
Strangeways: Murder Moon – Page 06
Art by Luis Guaragna. Written by Matt Maxwell
Commentary after the jump.
- July 3, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
SDCC ’09 | More exclusives, more panels, more everything
40th Anniversary Souvenir Book
The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con is less than a month away, with preview night kicking things off on Wednesday, July 22. If you are a publisher, creator, retailer or any other kind of exhibitor who would like to let folks know about any special plans you have for the show (panels, signing schedules, exclusives, debuts, etc.) drop me an email and I’ll run it here.
Also, to the right is the 40th anniversary souvenir book cover, featuring art by the great Rick Geary. Comic-Con debuted it on their Twitter feed, where they’ve also been announcing panels and auctions for membership badges.
Publishers | Red 5 Comics will be at booth S-9 in the small press area, with the creators of We Kill Monsters, Neozoic, Atomic Robo and Afterburn available for signings.
Books | Scott Morse says he’ll have about 100 copies of The Ancient Book of Sex and Science, which sold out before its release after being mentioned on BoingBoing. He’s also taking orders for a signed and numbered edition, which he’ll bring to the con if you order one.
Exclusives | Becky Cloonan will have a set of four silkscreen prints at the con, limited to 100 “signed, numbered, stamped and enveloped” copies.
I asked if she and the 5/Pixu crew had another book planned for this year, but she said they’ve all been so busy they haven’t been able to do one. She also said she’ll have a big announcement at the con, and she’ll have a table with with Brian Wood, Cliff Chiang and Jill Thompson.
Mini-comics | According to Ben Towle, J Chris Campbell of Wide Awake Press is putting together a Michael Jackson memorial mini-comic to sell at the con, which will feature stories and pin-ups of the King of Pop.
- July 3, 2009 @ 11:45 AM by JK Parkin
Liefeld ‘can’t wait to someday undo’ Shatterstar development
From X-Factor #45
Rob Liefeld isn’t happy about the latest plot development involving Shatterstar, the Marvel superhero he introduced 18 years ago.
Last week’s X-Factor #45 ended years of speculation, and in-story hints, about the relationship between Shatterstar and Rictor by showing the former X-Force teammates — both C-list players in the X-Men universe — reuniting with a kiss.
On his blog, X-Factor writer Peter David assured fans the development “isn’t a fake out.”
Liefeld, however, wishes otherwise.
“… I have nothing against gays, I have gay family, nuthin’ but love here,” he wrote on his message board (registration required). “Ditto gay characters if that’s what their true origins are.
“As the guy that created, designed and wrote his first dozen appearances, Shatterstar is not gay. Sorry. Can’t wait to someday undo this. Seems totally contrived.”
Created by Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, Shatterstar debuted in New Mutants #99 (March 1991) before becoming a fixture of X-Force when the series launched a few months later.
- July 3, 2009 @ 10:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
ComicsLive | A guide to next week’s comic-related events
Welcome to ComicsLive, a guide to upcoming signings, conventions and more. If you’d like to submit an event for inclusion, please email them directly to me. Please include the venue, city and state, start time, event details and any related websites where we can send folks for more information. Virtual events, like online creator chats, are also welcome.
Friday, July 3
Bloomington, Minn | CONvergence — “a celebration of the funny side of science fiction and fantasy” — continues through Sunday and will have Dwayne McDuffie and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew as its special guests, among others. More details can be found here.
Brooklyn, NY | The comic shop Rocketship will host a release party for local artist Adam Suerte’s latest comic, starting at 8 p.m. Details here.
White River Junction, Vermont | First Friday Book Release party, with four new books debuting by Colleen Frakes, Denis St. John, Morgan Pielli and Jen Vaughn at Revolution. Details here.
- July 3, 2009 @ 09:42 AM by JK Parkin
Robot reviews: More potpourri
Wrapped-Up FoxTrot
by Bill Amend
Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99
Here’s my basic problem with FoxTrot: I can’t stand the family. Not a one of them. They all come across as a bunch of unlikeable clods to me, each one too invested in their own personal tics and desperate obsessions to show any interest in each other. Really, they seem more interested in making each other miserable, especially the bratty youngest child, Jason, who would have been thrown to the lions years ago by any real-life family. Of course, without him we’d miss all those obvious and occasionally desperate attempt to reference contemporary pop culture. “Hey, they’re making a Star Trek movie! Let’s make a strip about it!” “Here’s a joke about World of Warcraft! You know, lots of people play that!” People complain about the saccharine sweetness of The Family Circus, but their are times I prefer that to the insufferable smart-alec attitudes of the Fox family.
This new Treasury collects the last of the daily strips as well as some Sundays. It’s certainly readable. It didn’t make me want to claw my eyes out the way, say Snuffy Smith does, but still, that’s a real annoying family.
More reviews after the link …
- July 3, 2009 @ 08:45 AM by Chris Mautner