2009 July
SDCC ’09 | Exclusives, Green Lantern, Farscape and more
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.
Exclusives | Artist Daniel m. Davis, who does a webcomic called Monster Commute, will have an exclusive print at the show.
“Limited to an edition of 150 pieces, this print depicts the heroes and villains of this steampunk comic,” Davis said over email. “Available only at the Steam Crow booth #4207, it measures 12 x 18 inches, and is printed on satin matte paper. A similar exclusive print sold out in about an hour at the 2009 Emerald City Comicon.”
Signed and numbered by the artist, the print will sell for $20.
- July 1, 2009 @ 02:27 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: Murder Moon – Page 5
Back from vacation, so automated posting has ceased. Though I’ll admit that it was awfully convenient. I may have to do more of that in the future.
Without further blather, however, is page 5 of the MURDER MOON preview that’ll be running over the summer.
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Luis Guragna
Commentary after the jump.
- July 1, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Straight for the art | The 1982 DC Comics Style Guide
Robin, by José Luis García-López, from the DC Comics Style Guide
Someone at Comic Art Community has been on a roll lately, uploading a slew of images by José Luis García-López from the 1982 DC Comics Style Guide. I’ve previously run across some of the pages, such as the color guide, but I don’t recall seeing the model sheets for Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Aquaman and Green Arrow. Just look at the Teen Wonder strut!
- July 1, 2009 @ 12:15 PM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | More Roger Langridge HeroesCon art
Go Alfred!
I linked to some of comic creator Roger Langridge’s HeroesCon sketches last week, but he’s added a few more that people have scanned in and emailed to him, and they’re just too fun not to point to again. So go check out Sandman drawn as a Muppet, Tom Waits and, as seen above, Alfred doing the Batusi.
- July 1, 2009 @ 11:19 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Exdrawminate!
A Scottish Dalek, get it?
Calling all Dr. Who fans. There’s a new art blog in town and it’s devoted to Daleks. That’s Darryl Cunningham’s contribution above.
- July 1, 2009 @ 10:41 AM by Chris Mautner
Slash Print | Following the digital evolution
Piracy | Global Gaming Factory X AB said it is buying the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, which hosts BitTorrents of various types, including comics. The Swedish software company “intends to launch new business models that allow compensation to the content providers and copyright owners,” the company said.
Digital comics | Last week Rich Johnston did another “Twinterview,” or interview over Twitter, this time with Longbox inventor Rantz Hoseley. The entire thing is collected over at BleedingCool.com. Rich asks about how Longbox will affect comic shops, mobile devices, funding and more. You can also watch Hoseley’s panel from HeroesCon over at iFanboy.
- July 1, 2009 @ 10:01 AM by JK Parkin
James Kochalka’s American Elf Bros.
Screenshots from Kochalka's game
Apparently being a prolific cartoonist, children’s author, singer/songwriter and father of two leaves James Kochalka with a lot of time on his hands, because he recently created a hack of Super Mario Bros. where you get to play as him (or, rather, his pointy-eared elfin character) instead of Mario. And yes, by you, I mean you, the person reading this, as you can download the patch to the game right here. There’s no other surprises. You don’t get to fight Amy instead of the Koopas or Bowser. You’re just controlling a pointy-eared, balding character instead of a red-hatted Italian stereotype. Really, that’s not a bad trade-off.
- July 1, 2009 @ 09:23 AM by Chris Mautner
Weston knows as much as you do about the future of The Twelve
The Twelve #9
If you read Comic Book Resource’s interview last week with J. Michael Straczynski then you’re as up to date as artist Chris Weston is about the status of the unfinished Marvel miniseries The Twelve.
“I’ll just leave you with everything I know on the subject of the book’s future,” Weston writes on his blog. “‘It’s going to be finished come hell or high water.’ So says JMS in a Comic Book Resources interview. Think I’ve found my T-Shirt slogan for this year’s San Diego Con.”
The 12-issue miniseries centering on obscure Marvel heroes from the 1940s debuted in January 2008. The most recent issue, No. 8, shipped in October 2008, with Issue 9 solicited and then canceled.
Responding in January 2009 to a fan’s question about the whereabouts of The Twelve, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada said the miniseries “has momentarily become a casualty of the success of its creative team.”
“First JMS became one of the most sought after writers in Hollywood following the release and success of the film he wrote, Changeling,” Quesada continued. “Then, Chris Weston signed on to do conceptual art and storyboarding for a completely separate film project at around the same time! So for the moment, while they stick pick away at it, The Twelve is on hold until such time as Joe and Chris free up from their incredibly hectic schedules.”
It was revealed last week that Straczynski will end his award-winning run on Marvel’s Thor in September, in large part because of a planned crossover event that would envelope the series. He stressed to CBR that “future projects for Marvel will probably be mini- and maxi-series where all of the scripts are written and being drawn before the book is even solicited.”
However, those will come after he finishes The Twelve.
- July 1, 2009 @ 08:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Harvey Awards
Awards | Discussion continues about the 2009 Harvey Award nominations, which contained more than a few surprises. Xaviar Xerexes looks at the positive — webcomics and works that began online are well-represented — as Johanna Draper Carlson considers how to fix a nomination process that many agree is broken. She also labels accusations of ballot-stuffing as “misguided”: “It’s not about stuffing — which generally implies a surfeit of questionable votes — it’s about a lack of participation giving those few professionals who do bother to submit nomination lists disproportionate power to affect the results.”
That brings us to events referred to online yesterday, most notably by cartoonist Evan Dorkin: Gemstone Publishing’s domination of the ballot in 2007 and 2008 when, by my quick count, the company’s books received 19 and 15 nominations, respectively. Travis Seitler, former art director for Gemstone’s Disney comics, popped up at The Beat to solve the mystery, such that it is: “For both 2007 and 2008, everyone at Gemstone Publishing was given pre-filled ballots (typically leaving one or two blank spaces for our own personal choices) to sign and send in. Nobody was required to submit the ballots (I didn’t either year; mostly because I was disgusted by the scheme), but I’m sure we still had two- or three-dozen nearly identical ballots sent for both of those years.” [The Harvey Awards]
Publishing | Ada Price looks at what effect Diamond Comic Distributors’ new order minimums have had on direct-market publishers and retailers. [PW Comics Week]
- July 1, 2009 @ 07:25 AM by Kevin Melrose