2009 August
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: Cat Burglar Black
Cat Burglar Black
Cat Burglar Black
Written and Illustrated by Richard Sala
First Second; $16.99
I occasionally get some grief from my male friends when they find out I like gothic romance. They hear “romance,” their eyes glaze over, and they immediately want to start talking about something else. No amount of castles, ghosts, malevolent barons, girls in white dresses, or hidden passageways are going to change their minds. As far as they’re concerned, I might as well be talking about Confessions of a Beauty Addict or Better than Chocolate.
But I’m so not and it’s a pity that books like The Castle of Otranto, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Northanger Abbey are so easily dismissed. I’m a sucker for any story about a young girl forced to move into a creepy old house with a terrifying owner and at least one locked room she’s not supposed to go into. What’s not awesome about that?
The only thing I don’t like about some of these books is that the heroine ultimately has to be rescued by a guy. Product-of-the-times and all. In Cat Burglar Black, Richard Sala avoids that by making his protagonist an extraordinary thief who can take care of herself, but other than that it’s classic gothic romance.
- August 19, 2009 @ 06:57 PM by Michael May
You either die a hero or live to breakdance
Here’s a fun time-waster — an interactive YouTube game where a click of the mouse lets you decide who busts the better move: The Joker or Batman? (via Topless Robot)
- August 19, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Chip Kidd talks comics logos and cover design
"Final Crisis" covers, by J.G. Jones and Chip Kidd
Writing on The New York Times’ The Moment blog, George Gene Gustines chats briefly with author, editor and designer Chip Kidd about his cover treatments for DC Comics, including the 2008-2009 miniseries Final Crisis.
“I was thrilled that they [DC] went with the idea,” Kidd says, “but if I had it to do over again, I would have accelerated the progression. The reader should notice something going on by the second issue, and as it is it’s just too subtle. I don’t think fans really got it until the fourth issue, which is nobody’s fault but mine. But overall I think it solved the problem in an interesting way, which is getting harder and harder to do as so much ground gets broken. Mainly what was wanted was a graphic response to Civil War, but it had to look totally different. And I was impressed that DC took the vertical type scheme and made it the ‘brand’ for all the FC related books. That was very flattering, actually.”
The post also includes a nice gallery of some of Kidd’s DC work.
- August 19, 2009 @ 02:31 PM by Kevin Melrose
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
We’ve had Batman, Superman and a host of lesser DC heroes featured here at SP Central, but Wonder Woman hasn’t really gotten her due, shelf porn-wise, … until today.
Today we’re featuring the extensive WW collection of Elizabeth Reeves, a self-described Princess Diana fangirl who has got quite the collection to prove it. And how. Click on the link to see the evidence for yourself and let Reeves take you on a guided tour …
- August 19, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
‘Fahrenheit’ review gets folks hot under the collar
Fahrenheit 451
Writing for Slate, Sarah Boxer (who, it should be noted, is a cartoonist in her own right) penned a review of Tim Hamilton’s adaptation of the Ray Bradbury classic Fahrenheit 451 that — initially at least — seems flummoxed by the whole “graphic novel boom” thing:
It’s hard to know what on earth Bradbury was thinking. Did he just give in to the enemy? And what was the artist, Hamilton, thinking, when he illustrated the fire chief’s rant with his own tableau of degraded books: Hamlet for Dimwits, Time magazine, and, yes, two Classic Comics editions, Moby Dick and Treasure Island. (Hamilton himself illustrated a comic-book version of Treasure Island before taking on Fahrenheit 451.) It’s as if author and artist were vigorously waving a white flag and shouting, “We couldn’t beat ‘em, so we joined ‘em!”
Later on she adds:
Graphic novels may win some new readers, but the text is almost always shortened to make way for pictures, and what survives of it is radically different: It’s mostly dialogue, like a screenplay. In the graphic-novel version of Fahrenheit 451, almost all of the words are spoken. Even the pictures confirm that the novel has become a script.
By the end of the review, however, she turns around and suggests that Hamilton’s adaptation was more in keeping with Bradbury’s own interests in the medium and the book’s larger themes. It’s all very confusing.
Still, who reads all the way through an article these days? The damage was done and the review was muddled and grumpy enough to incite a firestorm in the comments section:
- August 19, 2009 @ 01:30 PM by Chris Mautner
Preview FCHS, Vol. 1: ‘Archie meets 90210′
From "FCHS," Vol. 1, by Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire
With so much attention focused this week on Archie’s proposal to Veronica, it’s the perfect time for AdHouse Books to preview Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire’s webcomic-turned-graphic novel FCHS, which is a lot like Archie Comics — if the Riverdale gang drank, smoked, had sex and cursed.
The 128-page first volume ships in November.
- August 19, 2009 @ 11:20 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Darwyn Cooke’s Jonah Hex covers
Jonah Hex #50
DC Comics posts two covers by Darwyn Cooke for the upcoming 50th issue of Jonah Hex. And yes, Jonah Hex has made it to 50 issues, which is both surprising and delightful for a book that features cowboys, no crossovers and mostly “done in one” issues. No doubt the rotating cast of talented artists has helped, but the real secret sauce is the writing team.
You can see the other cover by following the link.
- August 19, 2009 @ 10:50 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | The best Batman-Aquaman team-up you’ll ever read
Batman-Aquaman short, by Eduardo Medeiros
Fabio Moon points to this terrific, and wordless, five-page short by Brazilian illustrator Eduardo Medeiros that features Aquaman and Batman … riding around in a car … drinking beer … and talking about women and Superman.
Seriously, I would pay good money for an issue of The Brave and The Bold by Medeiros that is nothing but this. Heck, I’d go in for an entire story arc.
- August 19, 2009 @ 09:50 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Matt Kindt’s new Super Spy sketches
Super Spy
Matt Kindt shares some sketches on his blog for a new Super Spy project he’s working on. He’s been a busy guy, as he’s also doing a new book with Cullen Bunn and Shawn Lee called The Tooth, he’s about to start drawing a book called Super Natural plus he has the graphic novel Revolver coming out from Vertigo next year. You can also find a Black Widow story by Kindt in Marvel’s Strange Tales anthology.
- August 19, 2009 @ 09:05 AM by JK Parkin
More Lantern Corps rings on the way
Black Lantern ring
Remember those Black Lantern rings that DC Comics offered to retailers to help promote the comic? If you missed yours, or if you had misgivings about supporting the bad guys, you’re in luck. DC is going to create rings based on all of the other colors of the various Lantern Corps., so you’ll have the opportunity to show your support for Sinestro and his the devious Yellow Lanterns, Saint Walker and his boys in blue, or even the mysterious Indigo tribe.
Show your true colors, or sell them on eBay … your choice.
Here are the details on how retailers can get a hold of the rings, per DC’s Direct Channels email to retailers … each bag of rings costs $8:
- For every 25 copies of Doom Patrol #4 ordered by the order increase cut-off date, retailers may order one bag of 50 yellow promotional rings, scheduled to arrive in stores Nov. 4.
- For every 25 copies of Booster Gold #26 ordered by the order increase cut-off date, retailers may order one bag of 50 orange promotional rings, scheduled to arrive in stores Nov. 18.
- For every 50 copies of Justice League of America #39 ordered by the order increase cut-off date, retailers may order one bag of 50 red promotional rings, scheduled to arrive in stores on Dec. 2.
- For every 50 copies of Blackest Night #5 ordered by the order increase cut-off date, retailers may order one bag of 50 green promotional rings, scheduled to arrive in stores on Dec. 16.
- For every 50 copies of Adventure Comics #4 ordered by the order increase cut-off date, retailers may order one bag of 50 blue promotional rings, scheduled to arrive in stores Dec. 30.
- For every 25 copies of R.E.B.E.L.S #10 ordered by the order increase cut-off date, retailers may order one bag of 50 Indigo promotional rings, scheduled to arrive in stores Jan. 13.
- August 19, 2009 @ 08:05 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Wizard Entertainment
Publishing | Tom Spurgeon has word that Wizard Entertainment has laid off Benji DeJohn, who in February moved from the company’s West Coast sales office to manage the Chicago and Philadelphia conventions. [The Comics Reporter]
Publishing | Archie Comics continues to garner mainstream-media attention for the marriage storyline that kicks off this week. In addition to the prominent segment on last night’s Colbert Report, there’s a fan-reaction article in today’s New York Daily News, and an interview with Editor-in-Chief Victor Gorelick on The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs blog. “Overall, it’s been a very positive response,” Gorelick tells Michael Cavna. “An overhwhelming response. There’s also been a very large response [from people] being disappointed that he proposed.” [Archie Comics]
Editorial cartoons | The Chicago Tribune has hired Scott Stantis (Prickly City) as staff editorial cartoonist, filling a position that’s been vacant since the death of Jeff MacNelly in 2000. [Chicago Tribune]
- August 19, 2009 @ 07:48 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘There’s a proposal out there that’s tearing this country apart’
On last night’s episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert devoted a six-minute installment of “The Word” to Archie’s proposal to Veronica, “the biggest news from the comics world since Dilbert lost his favorite mug and gunned down everyone in human resources.”
Of course, it should come as little surprise that Colbert opposes the storyline.
“I can understand Archie wanting to have a wedding night after nearly seven decades of cold, poorly drawn showers,” Colbert said, “but this is changing everything we hold dear in Riverdale, the town where nothing changes. For Christ’s sake, Riverdale still has a travel agency!
- August 19, 2009 @ 06:38 AM by Kevin Melrose
This week is all about crime, sci-fi and the supernatural (the horror, the horror)
Crime, horror/supernatural and science fiction (or at least science fiction-like) books, rather surprisingly, rule comic shops this week. Go figure.
Crime is well-represented by the launch of Vertigo’s crime imprint — led by Dark Entries and Filthy Rich — Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark’s final issue of Daredevil, the latest volume of Black Lagoon, and more Punisher titles than you can shake an AK-47 at.
Horror/supernatural fans certainly could do worse than the Warren Ellis graphic novella Frankenstein’s Womb, or the deluxe hardcover collection of J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank’s Midnight Nation.
And science fiction checks in with the fourth volume of Naoki Urasawa’s excellent 20th Century Boys, Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s alternate-history Ooku: The Inner Chambers, the final episode of The Middleman, and Days Missing, a collaboration between Archaia and Roddenberry Productions.
To see what other releases have Chris Mautner, JK Parkin and me talking, just keep reading. And, as always, let us know your picks in the comments below.
- August 18, 2009 @ 03:15 PM by Kevin Melrose
Robot reviews: Remake, Ace-Face and Johnny Hiro
Remake by Lamar Abrams
Remake
by Lamar Abrams
AdHouse Books, 144 pages, $12.95.
Ace-Face: The Mod With the Metal Arms
by Mike Dawson
AdHouse Books, 96 pages, $6.95.
Johnny Hiro Vol. 1
by Fred Chao
AdHouse Books, 192 pages, $14.95.
The indie/alt-comix crowd can tend to dismiss the superhero genre, but it can be a solid jumping off point for exploring thematic alleys and byways that more traditional cape and tights publishers wouldn’t even consider. Three recent books from AdHouse – Remake, Ace-Face and Johnny Hiro — all use superheroes, or heroism at any rate, as their starting point but each end up with their own unique take on the subject matter.
- August 18, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Unbound: Tokyopop goes online
Last year, when Tokyopop underwent a major restructuring, it suspended most of its original manga series, leaving a number of incomplete stories in limbo. That state of suspended animation ended last week, when Tokyopop Director of Marketing Marco Pavia announced that Tokyopop will complete most of the series, including Earthlight, Afterlife, and Gyakushu, online. Each volume will be posted for free, one chapter per week.
For Tony Salvaggio, the creator of Psy*Comm, the news came as a relief. Psy*Comm is the first series in the new program; Salvaggio and co-writer Jason Henderson had finished the book, and it was being lettered when publication was called off last year. “We missed the window by about a month,” he said.
Now that the book is coming out, Salvaggio has put together a Facebook page to promote it. The series is being published in other countries, including the UK, Turkey, and Croatia, and the first volume was named to the 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. Salvaggio hopes that being online will get his story in front of more readers. “We don’t sell gangbusters, but people who have read the book have really enjoyed it,” he said. “At A-Kon, everybody who came by and bought book one came back the next day and bought book two.”
We talked to Pavia about Tokyopop’s plans for the online manga program and where they hope it will go from here.
- August 18, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson