2009 August
Talking Comics with Tim: Elaine Lee
Starstruck #1
When I got a look at IDW’s first remastered issue of Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta’s Starstruck, I immediately wanted to talk to Lee about the story’s return. In doing the email interview, I wanted to get an idea of the creative processes involved (for the comic, as well as related theater and audio productions) and some of her thoughts regarding the remastering of the work. My thanks to Lee for her insight, as well as IDW Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier and IDW’s AnnaMaria White for helping make this interview possible.
Tim O’Shea: Back in the 1980s when you and Kaluta originally developed this comic, it seems like you were among the first to attempt a multimedia concept–You were able to take a play and adapt it to a comic book. How challenging was it to pull off, given that you were taking comics into seemingly uncharted territory?
Elaine Lee: I guess we weren’t really thinking about taking comics into uncharted territory. We were just thinking about telling the story we wanted to tell and having a good time doing it!
We never tried to adapt the actual play. The action of the play takes place on two ships out in space, over maybe a day’s time. Not enough scope for a comic series. And any play has much more dialogue than even the wordiest comic, so it wouldn’t translate very well. But in the play, each character had a big monologue, wherein he or she described events that happened in his or her past. We first envisioned Starstruck as a series of vignettes that related these stories from the characters’ pasts. Later, we would add the material that linked all these events together.
If Michael and I were influenced by anyone working in comics, it would’ve been the European artists, like Moebius and Enki Bilal, whose work was appearing in Heavy Metal at the time. And in fact, Starstruck was published in Europe before it was published here in the States, serialized in magazines in France and Spain. They weren’t publishing much unusual material in the US at the time. But we always had an American sensibility and both the play and the comic were greatly influenced by old American science fiction movies and TV series, the stuff that came out between the forties and the sixties, from the old Buck Rogers serials and Rocky Jones Space Ranger, to Star Trek and Lost in Space, Queen of Outer Space and Barbarella. We lifted themes, archetypes and settings from classic sci-fi and tried to drop into them flawed characters with real human problems.
- August 31, 2009 @ 04:30 PM by Tim O'Shea
If nothing else, the Disney-Marvel deal makes for fun parodies
Paul DeBenedetto and Matt Occhuizzo's version of Marvel's solicitations
We’re only hours removed from the comics news of the month decade year and already folks are churning out mashups and parodies. First there was Chris Samnee‘s wonderful-yet-disturbing MODUCK sketch — I tried to break down the acronym but gave up — and now there’s Paul DeBenedetto and Matt Occhuizzo’s take on Marvel’s first solicitations after the Disney acquisition.
- August 31, 2009 @ 02:24 PM by Kevin Melrose
iPictureBox?
PictureBox Inc.
It’s not exactly Mickey Mouse buying Spider-Man, but it’s fascinating news nonetheless: Indie publisher PictureBox Inc. will be selling digital versions of its comics and graphic novels through the iPhone comics app Panelfly. Available titles include C.F.’s Powr Mastrs Vols. 1 & 2, Frank Santoro’s Storeyville, Lauren Weinstein’s The Goddess of War #1, and Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel. Panelfly‘s other publishers include indie outfits NBM and SLG.
That even PictureBox — the artiest of the artcomix publishers, known for envelope-pushing material, extremely high production values, and a publishing line that straddles the comics and fine-art worlds — is going digital says a whole lot about the industry’s perceived need to get a foot in that particular door, not to mention about PictureBox’s willingness to seek out an audience outside of the traditional art/alt/underground comics venues.
- August 31, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Straight for the art: Nate Powell’s Autopilot
See My Brother Dance isn’t some new YouTube craze, but the blog of one Nate Powell, who won a lot of raves last year for his stunning graphic novel Swallow Me Whole. The site’s full of the usual sort of news and updates, but also lots of nice art, including the above limited edition poster. (found via The Beat)
- August 31, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Chapter 1 recap
Okay, let’s see if I can remember how all this stuff works. Right. And the Transmogrifier control points north like this…Double-polarity and the antimatter containment is at 68%, but that should be fine for our purposes… Check. Aaaaannnnnddd… Let’s turn this sucker back on. Hopefully I won’t blow anything up the week that we have the illustrious Sean T. Collins (David Bowie fan extraordinaire) in residence.
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Word mangulation by Matt Maxwell
I know it’s August, and the new material isn’t going up until next week, but I figured that people would want to catch up on the story or get a little refresher course. So, here’s the Cliff’s Notes on the first chapter.
Of course, you could go read the whole darn thing yourself for free, if, y’know, that’s your sort of thing. Hey, it beats working.
Back on Wednesday with Chapter 2 in a nutshell.
- August 31, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Comics + fashion = um, awesome?
Thor hat
You’re heading off to school, and I know what you’re thinking: How can I impress everyone with my good fashion sense? Well how about a Thor trucker hat?
No? Well perhaps that is a bit outlandish. Instead, perhaps you’d prefer this stunning bag designed by Exit Wounds author Rutu Modan? At only $11.99, it’s an affordable head-turner:
- August 31, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Ted May previews Injury #3
Page from Injury #3
Like the subject line says, artist Ted May has a brief pdf-file preview of the third issue of his ongoing series Injury up on his Web site. The comic will be available from Buenaventura Press soon.
- August 31, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Chris Mautner
‘I was thinking of kneecapping Paul Pope,’ Dorkin confesses
From the Plastic Man strip, by Dorkin and DeStefano
How do you ensure that an ambitious anthology involving more than a dozen creative teams comes out weekly without a hitch?
If you’re Wednesday Comics editor Mark Chiarello, you have a spare completed page waiting in the wings — just in case.
“I had an insurance page written and drawn just in case somebody didn’t come through so I could plug it in,” Chiarello told Comic Book Resources last week. “And it’s a Plastic Man page written by Evan Dorkin and drawn by Stephen DeStefano. And it’s just gorgeous and I’m just really sad that we’re not going to be able to use it.”
With the silence broken, Dorkin expressed “a bit of disappointment” that the Plastic Man strip wasn’t needed.
“I really wanted to see the strip in print, large, on newsprint, old school,” he wrote on his blog. “I was thinking of kneecapping Paul Pope or having Jimmy Palmiotti held captive for a week, but I couldn’t afford any minions and I’m too chickenshit to pull that kind of crap myself.”
- August 31, 2009 @ 10:22 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Mouse of Ideas: More on Disney’s purchase of Marvel
When Mickey met Wolverine
As you’ve heard from CBR, pretty much every news outlet in the world, and probably multiple emails from family members who know your hobbies, The Walt Disney Company is acquiring Marvel Entertainment in a $4 billion deal. The move, initiated by Disney CEO Bob Iger several months ago and formalized over the past couple of weeks, sees Marvel shareholders receiving $30 in cash, plus 0.745 of a Disney share, for every Marvel share they own. Marvel remains under the supervision of CEO Ike Perlmutter, who will work with Disney to integrate Marvel’s 5,000-character library and other intellectual properties into Disney’s multimedia empire.
Though the emergence of specific details is more like a trickle than the explosion that was the announcement itself, we’re starting to learn some of the key points, largely through Disney’s morning investor conference call.
- August 31, 2009 @ 09:20 AM by Sean T. Collins
‘Everybody take a deep breath, all your favorite comics remain unchanged’
Disney-Marvel
As investors, creators and fans reel from this morning’s news of Disney’s $4 billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment, message boards churn with hand-wringing and wild speculation. Twitter, meanwhile, emerges as a calm spot.
“G’ morning, Marvel U!” tweets Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. “Welcome to this moment in history. Everyone relax, this is incredible news and all is well in the Marvel U. … Everybody take a deep breath, all your favorite comics remain unchanged and Tom Brevoort remains grouchy.
“If you’re familiar with the Disney/Pixar relationship,” he continues, “then you’ll understand why this is a new dawn for Marvel and the comics industry.”
But as Quesada and talent liaison C.B. Cebulski set about easing concerns, others turn their attention to what’s really important: the creation of a meme detailing the ramifications of the merger of the House of Mouse with the House of Ideas.
My favorites so far: “Howl’s Moving Frank Castle” and “Hannah Montana: Herald of Galactus.”
- August 31, 2009 @ 08:16 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Convention center concept art
Publishing | Everything else kind of pales in comparison to the big Disney-Marvel announcement, doesn’t it? [Comic Book Resources]
Conventions | As a mayor’s task force this afternoon delivers its final report and, presumably, officially endorses the proposed $750-million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, the focus again turns to how the city will raise the roughly $50 million a year to fund the project.
Meanwhile, a leading expert on convention centers claims his views have been misrepresented in the task force’s report. “There is stuff that so misrepresents reality it is appalling,” says Heywood Sanders, professor at the University of Texas-San Antonio. He tells the San Diego Reader that convention centers are grossly overbuilt nationwide, and that the task force distorts statistics in its report. [Convention Center Task Force]
Editorial cartoons | The Westchester, N.Y., Journal-News has reversed its decision to lay off Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Matt Davies, who has been with the newspaper for 17 years. [The Daily Cartoonist]
- August 31, 2009 @ 07:23 AM by Kevin Melrose
Welcome guest contributor Sean T. Collins
I’m going to be out of town for most of this coming week, so writer/blogger Sean T. Collins has agreed to lend a hand here at Robot 6 while I’m out.
Sean’s no stranger to the blog, as he contributed to our Shelf Porn feature back in February, and we’ve linked to his blog and the various interviews he’s done in the past. Sean has written for Maxim, Wizard, Comic Book Resources, The Comics Journal, ToyFare and Marvel.com, where recently he’s been doing a series of interviews with the creators associated with the Strange Tales anthology. You can find some of his comics over on the Top Shelf 2.0 website.
He also blogs at Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat and the Savage Critics on a regular basis.
Thanks to Sean in advance for helping us out; I look forward to reading his contributions all week!
- August 30, 2009 @ 04:59 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Love and Rockets New Stories #2
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another round of What Are You Reading. I am very pleased this week to say that our guest is Jeet Heer, the peerless critic and historian who, when not writing introductions for Little Orphan Annie or Krazy Kat collections, can be found at the Sans Everything or the Comics Comics blogs.
Jeet and the rest of the crew have been reading a lot this week and are eager to share, so get clicking on that link pardners.
- August 30, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Ray Harryhausen and BlueWater Productions part ways (Updated)
Wrath of the Titans
Sources associated with Ray Harryhausen and BlueWater Productions confirmed that they are no longer collaborating on comics based on Harryhausen’s works. The partnership ended in May.
Darren G. Davis, head of Bluewater Productions, said that BlueWater chose not to renew the contracts.
According to Harryhausen’s representative, they have no plans to move the properties to another publisher.
BlueWater began publishing comics based on the works of the filmmaker in 2006, including Jason and the Argonauts, Wrath of the Titans and Sinbad, Rogue of Mars.
Thanks to CBR Executive Producer Jonah Weiland, who contributed to this post.
Update: In response to the above, Ray Harryhausen’s representative contacted CBR again and said, “In fact, it was Ray Harryhausen, and Ray Harryhausen alone who decided, for reasons I cannot disclose, not to renew the contract. Saying otherwise is simply not true.”
- August 28, 2009 @ 05:02 PM by JK Parkin
The Fifth Color – How We Handle Crisis
This week on Totally Biased Opinion with No Real Numbers Backing up a Gut Feeling Theater, I’ll put on my comic shop clerk hat and say that, as a retailer, there was a drop off of customers reading Ultimatum as the issues chugged along.
Keep in mind, this is not me as a comic fan or as a critic (as laughable as the term is in my case), but for awhile the comic shop I work for sold Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates like gangbusters. That is, with a loud and explosive beginning; I can recall barely getting my copy of Ultimate X-Men #1 as Marvel’s newest set of titles did remarkably well and the speculator market turned its Saruman-like eye on the brand. Years went by and we continued to put our stock in the Ultimate titles, through the rocky road that was Ultimate Fantastic Four, through the non-existent road that was Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine. Yes sir’ee, if it had word ‘Ultimate’ on the cover, you could practically call it the ‘Gold Standard’ by which Marvel Comics could be judged by!
Man, remember those days?
- August 28, 2009 @ 03:15 PM by Carla Hoffman