2009 August
Six by 6 | Six great comics published by Comico
Grendel
The birth of the direct market brought a slew of new independent publishers in the 1980s, including First Comics, Eclipse and Comico. It was the latter that really made an impact on both myself and Strangeways creator Matt Maxwell at the time.
In an email discussion earlier this week about 1980s comics, the subject turned to Comico, and Matt and I started listing some of our favorite series by the publisher. So when I decided to make them the focus of this edition of Six by 6, I reached out to Matt to see if he’d be interested in helping me out this week. “I started expanding my horizons right about the time they started publishing comics,” he told me, a sentiment I can echo. Elementals, in fact, may have been the first non-Marvel/DC comic I ever bought.
So without further ado, here are six great titles (actually seven, if you’ll note how Matt slipped in an extra title in his last entry — sneaky!) that Comico published back in the day.
1. Grendel, written by Matt Wagner, art by Matt Wagner and a host of others: I missed out on the Comico Primer and the very early Grendel material, but I came on board for Devil by the Deed, which was a graphic novel retelling of those stories that came out about the time that the Devil’s Legacy (written by Matt Wagner with art by the Pander Brothers) started up. In short, I was blown away by the range of the themes at play in Wagner’s storytelling (and by the hyper-stylized renderings of the Panders.) The first convention sketch I paid for was a Christine Spar Grendel (right before I got Stephen Bisette to draw Cthulhu). Grendel really was a comic for grownups when such a thing was a comparative rarity. I can’t do it justice in the time I have here, but really, every fan of sequential storytelling owes it to themselves to catch up on this book, which I believe is being reprinted in its entirety by Dark Horse. Romance, treachery, betrayal, crime, noir, science fiction, dark fantasy, even straight superheroics can be found in the pages of Grendel, not to mention an incredible range of formal techniques and experimentation, and work by artists who are both superstars now and all but forgotten, sadly. (Matt Maxwell)
- August 16, 2009 @ 02:31 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
The Harvey Girls
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. We had a bit of a scare this week at WAYR Central, as our planned special guest fell through at the last minute due to a lack of proper communication on my part and a sudden illness on his. Quickly becoming panic-striken, I turned to the person I always turn to in such matters — my wife, Evelyn, who handed me a paper bag to breathe into and said she’d fill in this one time as long as I promised never to ask her to do something like this again.
So without further ado, let me present our very special all-nepotism edition of WAYR! Click on the link to find out what delightful comics we’re currently reading …
- August 16, 2009 @ 08:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Your Vimeo video of the day: Nate Neal’s Sanctuary
Nate Neal plugs his upcoming collection of his series The Sanctuary on Vimeo.
- August 14, 2009 @ 02:30 PM by Chris Mautner
Zudist Colony: Talking to the August Zuda contestants
Zuda
Welcome to the second edition of Zudist Colony, which we kicked off last month.
Every month since late 2007, Zuda Comics hosts a competition between webcomics, with the winner becoming a regular strip on the site. In Zudist Colony, I interview the contestants via email, which hopefully gives you a little more insight into the strips and the creators themselves. For instance, this time around I asked them all to name their favorite strip besides their own, and the variety in their answers was pretty interesting.
So without further ado, let’s see what they said …
- August 14, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: Murder Moon – Page 21
People often ask me why I’m happy to see summer go. Because my kids will be back in school then and maybe I’ll be able to have a couple hours of sanity and non-distraction a day. Maybe. I can dream at least. At any rate, here’s today’s page, a touch late, apologies.
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Luis Guragna.
Another of my favorite pages. You know the drill.
- August 14, 2009 @ 01:32 PM by Matt Maxwell
Robot reviews: Abstract Comics
Abstract Comics Anthology
Abstract Comics
Edited by Andrei Molotiu
Fantagraphics Books, 232 pages, $39.99.
Scott McCloud famously posited (among other things) in Understanding Comics that it was the sequential nature of the medium — the fact that images were placed one next to the other — that gave them their uniqueness and strength. As a reader, one couldn’t help but create a connection or story of some sort between two images placed together, even if none existed. Comics, in other words, is an inherently narrative medium.
Or is it? That’s the question — one among several — that Abstract Comics, a new anthology edited by Andrei Molotiu, asks. If you’re the sort of person, like me, who gets off on these sort of labyrinthine, subjective, academic questions, then you’re sure to like this book (in fact, chances are you’ve already bought a copy). But even if the very mention of the word “abstract” makes you poke your fingers in your ears and go “La la la la”, I’d strongly recommend the book, as it contains a number of strikingly beautiful images and sequences.
- August 14, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | True Blood paper dolls!
"True Blood" paper doll, by Andy Swist
This is totally not-comics, unless you count this, but I don’t care. I’m an unapologetic fan of HBO’s trashy and addictive True Blood, so I’ll cast a wide net for this: Designer and cartoonist Andy Swist has debuted a printable paper-doll collection based on characters from the series.
First up: sassy short-order cook Lafayette Reynolds and delightfully cynical vampire Pam. Swist promises new characters each week.
- August 14, 2009 @ 09:42 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | John Pham’s Sublife
Fantagraphics shows off a page from John Pham’s forthcoming second volume of Sublife.
- August 14, 2009 @ 09:10 AM by JK Parkin
Face it, tiger: ‘Mary Jane’ isn’t coming back to Spider-Man musical
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Today brings more evidence that, despite the claims of producers, the Spider-Man musical may be deader than Uncle Ben.
New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel, who’s been breathlessly chronicling the problems of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, now reports that agents for Evan Rachel Wood are scrambling for movie roles the actress had turned down so she could play Mary Jane Watson in the $45-million Broadway production.
That comes on the heels of Wednesday’s report that Wood, Alan Cumming and other actors had been released from their contracts while producers tried to overcome “cash-flow obstacles.” Officially, work on Spider-Man is “suspended”; a spokesperson maintains the show will start previews, as scheduled, on Feb. 25.
Riedel also claims that Sony and producer David Garfinkle could face further trouble from Live Nation, owner of the Hilton Theater, which was gutted for the production. The columnist quotes an anonymous source as saying “it’ll cost millions” to put the facility back together.
- August 14, 2009 @ 08:10 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Krypton explodes
Legal | Marc Graser breaks down what aspects of Superman are now controlled by the heirs of co-creator Jerry Siegel after Wednesday’s court ruling: depictions of “Superman’s origins from the planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lora, Superman as the infant Kal-El, the launching of the infant Superman into space by his parents as Krypton explodes and his landing on Earth in a fiery crash.” In 2013, the estate of Joe Shuster will become co-owners of the copyright to Action Comics #1 and the newly recaptured early works.
Warner Bros. and DC Comics, which still own later additions to Superman’s mythos — flight and other superpowers, kryptonite, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, etc. — issued a statement characterizing the decision as affirmation that “the vast majority of key elements” developed after Action Comics #1 remain the property of DC. [Variety]
The Muppet Show #1
Publishing | Wired.com’s Andrew Kardon profiles BOOM! Studios’ kids’ imprint, which features Disney/Pixar comics and, soon, the Disney Standards line. [GeekDad]
Creators | Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Matt Davies talks about being laid off by the Westchester, N.Y., Journal-News after 17 years with the newspaper: “I was told a few months back by my editor that my position was valued, so I didn’t expect this. I’m not stupid, the business model is in dire straits for all newspapers, we all know that. It’s weird. Before there was a focus on the content; management was cognizant of the need for content, but this time it was all about the numbers, so my position was cut.” [The Daily Cartoonist]
- August 14, 2009 @ 06:39 AM by Kevin Melrose
Edginton and Fabbri bring zombies to London in Victorian Undead
Victorian Undead
Wildstorm revealed yesterday what that zombie-fied Sherlock Holmes image from earlier this week was all about — it’s a new six-issue mini-series called Victorian Undead by writer Ian Edginton and artist Davide Fabbri. The story revolves around Holmes and Watson trying to figure out who is behind the zombie plague that’s infected 1854 London. Watch for the first issue in November.
The Tony Moore cover from earlier this week is the main cover for the book, BTW; the one above, by Simon Coleby, is the variant.
- August 14, 2009 @ 04:51 AM by JK Parkin
Blackest Night to be read all over
Adventure Comics #4
If you’ve been following DC’s Blackest Night crossover so far — and by that I mean reading everything related to the story, from the mini-series to the monthly tie-ins — it’s been relatively inexpensive to follow, compared to most crossovers, anyway.
There’s the main mini-series, of course, named after the event, plus three tie-in minis focused on Batman, Superman and the Titans. There was also the Tales of the Corps. mini-series, which gave some background on some of the players. And there are the regular issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. that tie into the story.
According to the checklist that’s been running in various DC titles, it’s set to go at that same pace through October. In November, though, it looks like the flood gates are opening.
According to IGN, eight monthly titles will cross over into the story in November, including Doom Patrol, Outsiders, Justice League of America, Booster Gold, Superman/Batman, R.E.B.E.L.S., Teen Titans and the Geoff Johns-written Adventure Comics. Expect to see lots of Black Lanterns in these titles, including Ted Kord, Dr. Light and a whole lot of Titans who have died over the years.
I was a little surprised to see all of these tie-ins, but Dan DiDio said in July that there would be “some crossover that will be taking place in certain series.”
And speaking of IGN and Blackest Night, today Johns revealed the identity of the main bad guy behind the Black Lanterns. Spoiler warning, of course; if you’d like to know who it is, click here. Apparently the big bad will also be on the cover of the next issue of Previews.
- August 13, 2009 @ 05:03 PM by JK Parkin
Everyday players
Grumpy Old Fan
You know them like you know your own relatives. They are the administrative staff, the co-workers, the parents and siblings and in-laws. They add flavor and texture; and without them, superhero comics would inch that much closer to soulless exercises in widescreen action. Their perspective informs the headliners. They are the supporting casts, and once they were integral to DC’s comics. Today? Not so much.
To be sure, Alfred still plays off Batman, Lois Lane is still active in the Superman titles, and Etta Candy just got through a harrowing experience in Wonder Woman. However, for every Jim Gordon and Lana Lang, there is a Josh Coyle or Julia Kapatelis who used to get a lot more attention.
- August 13, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Don Lomax’s Vietnam Journal returning to print
Vietnam Journal
This was announced right before San Diego, but I missed it the first time around — Transfuzion announced in July that they’re bringing Don Lomax’s Vietnam Journal back into print, with volume one due in October. Lomax is a Vietnam vet who also worked on Marvel’s The ‘Nam series.
The comic, originally published by Apple Comics back in the late 1980s, received a lot of critical praise at the time; in a guest post for Comics Should Be Good a few years ago, The Other Side and Scalped writer Jason Aaron called it “one of the most gritty and brutally honest war stories ever published.” And Newsarama published a great interview with Lomax about his work on the book back in 2003.
Transfuzion will release the volumes bi-monthly, followed by collections of three miniseries by Lomax — Tet ’68, Bloodbath at Khe Sanh and High Shining Brass. The first issue of the comic is available for free via myebook.com.
- August 13, 2009 @ 01:10 PM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
• Andrew Rilstone’s 60-page zine on Watchmen, Who Sent the Sentinels, has been garnering quite a bit of attention, mainly because of passages like this:
Who Sent the Sentinels
I’ve never stopped being surprised that something as geeky as Watchmen is so popular with people who are not geeks. How can a book which so full of superhero in-jokes be so much admired by people who have never read a superhero story — by people who purport to dislike superhero stories — by people who sometimes end up denying that Watchmen has got superheroes in it… Maybe Watchmen manages to generate its ironic double-vision internally: the text itself tells you both what superheroes are meant to be like, and what these superheroes are actually like, and it would do so even if there had never been another superhero comic in the world… Or maybe the people who were so enthusiastic about Watchmen were unaware of the idea of superheros, and read the story simply as a story – with an un-ironic single vision.
In which case they’d be reading a different comic to me and it wouldn’t be surprising if they assessed it differently.
I’ve barely had a chance to do more than scrape the surface of this thing but I like what I’ve perused so far.
- August 13, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner