2009 September
Teens discover suspected Warwolf, promptly beat it to death
Warwolves
A group of excitable, and violent, teens in Panama may have saved our planet from other-dimensional invasion.
According to media reports, the kids were playing in a town north of Panama City when they saw a grotesque, hairless creature emerge from a cave. So what did they do?
Why, they beat it to death, of course.
“Fearing for the safety as it moved towards them,” the U.K.’s Telegraph reports, “the youths claim they attacked the beast with sticks before throwing its lifeless body into a pool of water.”
Don’t be quick to condemn them, though: Judging from these photos, the beast can only be a Warwolf — Popsie or Jacko, possibly — one of a pack of genetically engineered lupine creatures that do the bidding of Mojo, ruler of the Mojoverse.
If not a Warwolf, then it’s probably a follically challenged sloth.
But better safe than sorry, I say. Had the teens not bludgeoned the monstrosity to death, it might’ve drained their life essences and worn their skins as clothing! Without Excalibur to battle the Warwolves, none of us would’ve stood a chance. Today Cerro Azul, tomorrow New York City!
Of course, if it was that other thing, the beast likely would’ve avoided all human contact as it searched for cecropia leaves and bugs. But who wants to take that risk?
(via Gawker)
- September 17, 2009 @ 09:46 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Popeye by RaphaelB
Apropos of the Popeye/Namor mash-up that JK posted the other day, here’s another version of the squinty-eyed sailor by French artist RaphaelB. According to the Ephemerist, this is part of a Popeye art book that Les Editions Charrette will be publishing. Any chance it will come stateside?
- September 17, 2009 @ 08:58 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Disney and Marvel
Business | Faculty of the Wharton School consider the benefits of Disney’s planned purchase of Marvel, and some of the obstacles the House of Mouse may face: “… Disney will need to be careful, as it integrates Marvel into its fold that it doesn’t choke off the culture of the comic book company that gave birth to the bold characters Disney now desires.” [Knowledge@Wharton]
Business | DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson discusses digital publishing, attracting new readers, and what traits she’ll look for in a new publisher for DC Comics: “A couple things, although it is very early to say too much about this. A strong, credible partnership with the editorial team that complements what they do well, and having perhaps a greater knowledge of the publishing business than I. But also a forward-looking emphasis on how we’re going to grow build the business, both in terms of physical and digital publishing. … It’s going to be a key role. I’m not looking to stick my nose in in ways that don’t add value.” [Comics Alliance]
Publishing | Alan David Doane briefly interviews Chris Ryall, editor-in-chief and publisher of IDW Publishing. [Trouble With Comics]
- September 17, 2009 @ 08:22 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: Anne Freaks, Volume 2
Anne Freaks, Vol. 2
Anne Freaks, Volume 2
Written and Illustrated by Yua Kotegawa
ADV Manga; $9.99
Well, that was not at all what I expected.
Anne Freaks is the first manga that I’ve ever liked enough to buy a second volume (Akira doesn’t count because I borrowed the entire thing from a friend), so I don’t know a lot about Japanese serial storytelling. I guess I kind of figured that I’d get more of what I liked about Volume 1, but that wasn’t the case. I very much enjoyed Volume 2, but it surprised me by being a very different kind of story from the first installment. I don’t know if that’s typical of manga series or not (I suspect that – like most things – it varies from series to series), but it’s certainly welcome and exciting.
Volume 1 was so psychological. It had beautiful Anna recruiting two, tragic boys named Yuri and Mitsuba to help her take down her father and a terrorist organization. Did she orchestrate the events that led to their recruitment or is she just taking advantage of a couple of fortuitous incidents? Yuri is falling in love with her; maybe Mitsuba is too. Is that also part of her plan? Or does she actually have feelings that she’s doing a very good job of hiding? Kotegawa sucked me in with these questions and I was looking forward to spending more time with these characters and hopefully getting some answers. I’m going to have to keep waiting though.
- September 16, 2009 @ 06:20 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Send Us Your Shelf Porn. Our guest this week is Marc Mason, newly established PR guru for NBM and proprieter of the Comics Waiting Room Web site.
Remember, you too can be a featured Shelf Porn guest. All you need do is take some photos of your burgeoning comics collection and send them to me at cmautnerATcomcastDOTnet. Feel free to include as much or as little info about yourself and your collection as you like.
And now here’s Marc …
- September 16, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 086
And it’s a doozy.
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.
That’s probably the goriest page I’ve ever written. Didn’t really intend for it to come out that way, either, but sometimes the story takes you places.
No contest this week, still evaluating its effectiveness as a promotional tool.
- September 16, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Tour the Marvel offices with Joe Quesada
Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada gives Slate a tour of the Marvel offices, from the restrooms and the cover wall to the famed Bullpen and the kitchen. Also, he uses the word “smattering.” Twice.
- September 16, 2009 @ 12:31 PM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Off the Wall tribute to Michael Jackson
by Ashley Holt
In other tribute news, the folks at Wide Awake Press created a tribute book to Michael Jackson that I believe was available in San Diego this past summer, and now they’ve put the entire thing up on the web for free. It features stories and pin-ups of the King of Pop by Andy Runton, Ben Towle, J. Chris Campbell and many more.
- September 16, 2009 @ 12:15 PM by JK Parkin
Cool things to bookmark: CARzy
If, by some odd matter of happenstance, your love of comics just happens to coincide with a love of automobiles and all things pertaining to them, then you should by all means check out CARzy, a blog devoted to car-related comics and cartoons, particularly from such late, lamented magazines as (you guessed it) CARtoons. The blog is run by Nelson Dewey, who contributed 2,000 pages of material to these magazines (or so he claims). I found the above image by perusing his portfolio.
- September 16, 2009 @ 11:45 AM by Chris Mautner
A tale of two statues: a ‘dominating’ Thor and a ‘sultry’ Scarlet Witch
Kotobukiya statues of Thor and the Scarlet Witch
Unless there’s a lot online discussion about an item, I usually don’t pay much attention to high-priced statues based on comic characters. It’s obviously a lucrative business, one that sometimes targets very specific tastes, but I have no interest in shelling out $50 for, say, a Supergirl mini-bust.
However, occasionally something catches my eye, if not necessarily for the intended reasons.
A few months ago famed Japanese collectibles-manufacturer Kotobukiya launched its Marvel Bishojo (“pretty girl”) Collection of statues designed by Shunya Yamashita, who’s well-known for his illustrations of busty young women in provocative poses.
Between the name of the line and the name of the artist, you have a pretty good idea what you’re in for: Black Widow, her cleavage in full view and perched atop impossibly tall stilettos, posing with a gun; Rogue, showing off her “voluptuous curves” as she activates her comlink or maybe cups her ear to sing; and Scarlet Witch as she … well, I’ll get to that in a moment.
- September 16, 2009 @ 10:53 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | ‘Life sure has a sick sense of humor, doesn’t it?’
"He's not coming back."
DC employee and blogger Rickey Purdin pays tribute to actor Patrick Swayze, who passed away on Monday, with a sketch a day all this month on his blog. Today’s sketch showcases Swayze’s role as zen-surfer-turned-bankrobber Bodhi in Point Break.
- September 16, 2009 @ 10:32 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Dave McKean’s dancers
Ignore the “Dean McKean” at the header. The collection of artwork is by Cages author Dave McKean, consisting mainly of an impressive series of tango dancers.
- September 16, 2009 @ 09:42 AM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Cho’s ‘Noise’ cover
Cho's 'White Noise'
Illustrator and cartoonist Michael Cho recently revamped the cover for Penguin’s edition of the Don DeLillo classic “White Noise.” He talks at length about the process of putting the cover together and how he worked with editor Paul Buckley and Delillo to arrive at this final image.
I gotta say, I like it a lot better than the original cover.
(found via the Ephemerist)
- September 16, 2009 @ 09:01 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Blackest Night #2
Publishing | Direct-market comics sales grew in August for the third consecutive month, thanks to price increases. According to ICv2.com estimates, piece sales actually declined 1 percent from August 2008. Sales of the Top 100 graphic novels fell 16 percent, largely due to the performance of Watchmen, whose numbers sky-rocketed around this time last year.
Events and crossovers again dominated the top of the comics chart, led by DC’s Blackest Night #2 with about 146,000 copies — slipping just 18 percent from the miniseries’ debut. Marvel’s relaunched Ultimate Comics imprint premiered fairly strong, with Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 charting at No. 5 (95,000), followed by Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 at No. 11 (86,000).
The 10th volume of Image Comics’ The Walking Dead led the graphic-novel chart with more than 15,000 copies, followed by Vertigo’s Fables, Vol. 12, with more than 12,000. [ICv2.com]
Business | Tom Spurgeon presents his lengthy, and well-worth-reading, thoughts on Disney’s proposed purchase of Marvel and the restructuring of Warner Bros./DC Entertainment, how we process and report those two major industry events, and even who might be offered the job of publisher of DC Comics. Rich Johnston, meanwhile, lays out odds on that last part. [The Comics Reporter, Bleeding Cool]
- September 16, 2009 @ 08:29 AM by Kevin Melrose
This week, it’s giants, vengeance, and dogs and cats, living together …
Welcome to another edition of Can’t Wait for Wednesday, our stroll through the new releases list for the week. Kevin’s handed over the reins to this particular stagecoach to me; he’ll still be along for the ride to share his thoughts on the week’s books, but I’ll be putting everything together, which means I get to write up the intro every week.
And what a week we’ve got. Dark Horse has two projects I’ve really been looking forward to this week: Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson’s animals-turned-supernatural-investigators book Beasts of Burden miniseries and Matt Kindt’s follow-up to Super-Spy, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man. DC, meanwhile, has some notable creative team changes this week, as JMS begins his run on The Brave and the Bold, while Philip Tan takes over the art chores on Batman & Robin. And Marvel’s Dark Reign moves into humorous territory with a M.O.D.O.K. tie-in, but Moon Knight and Dark Reign The List: Daredevil make sure that’s only a brief side trip.
To see what Kevin, Chris and I have to say about this week’s releases, read on, and let us know what you’re picking up in the comments section.
- September 15, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin