2009 November
Slash Print | Following the digital evolution
iPhone applications | Apple has rejected an iPhone application called “Bobble Rep” featuring artwork by MAD Magazine artist Tom Richmond. The application is a database of the members of the U.S. Congress, and includes names, contact information and caricatures of each of them drawn by Richmond. Each image also serves as a virtual “bobblehead” when the phone is shaken.
Apple’s rejection letter said “it contains content that ridicules public figures,” which they said violates their iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.
“This is the very reason that Apple as a company should be taken to task over its ludicrous and inconsistent app approval policies,” Richmond writes. “Clearly this app does not ‘ridicule public figures’ and is violating nothing, but Apple has decided the world must be protected from the insidious subversiveness this would force upon the public and the brutal, heinous ridicule that my cruel, cruel caricatures would subject these politicians to.”
Daryl Cagle, who is waiting to hear back from Apple on a political cartoon application, offers commentary. Richmond says the producers of the application are looking at other options, including other platforms.
Digital comics | Over at Boing Boing, Douglas Rushkoff talks a little bit more about the alternate reality game and online graphic novel he’s doing for Smoking Gun Interactive.
Webcomics | Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man fame is considering joining the ACT-I-VATE crew with a new strip, and he needs a name for it. Speaking of ACT-I-VATE, be sure to check out Dean Haspiel’s new strip, A-Okay Cool.
- November 12, 2009 @ 09:04 AM by JK Parkin
A picture’s worth a thousand words …
Superhero Changing Station
Posterchild at Blade Diary has photos of a conveniently labeled superhero changing station in New York … (Thanks David!)
Spider-Man's walk of shame
While The L.A. Times’ Mel Melcon snaps some shots of Spider-Man’s big arrest in Hollywood … J. Jonah must be really proud right now.
- November 12, 2009 @ 08:25 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Stuck in the Middle
Libraries | There is, of course, follow-up on the decision by the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to remove the anthology Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from middle-school libraries. Local CBS affiliate KELO reports on the reactions of parents and highlights some of the better-known challenged and banned books.
As we noted yesterday, teachers will still have access to the 2007 collection of stories about life as a teen-ager (by such contributors as Gabrielle Bell, Daniel Clowes, Joe Matt and Dash Shaw). That’s because, in the words of School Board President Kent Alberty, “There is value in the book. One of the subjects addressed is bullying, something the district is very interested in making sure is handled appropriately, and the book does address that.” [KELOLAND.com]
Publishing | Japan’s NHK television network reports that publishing giant Shueisha, a co-owner of Viz Media, plans to develop plans to sell manga via mobile phones in the United States beginning in spring 2010. [Anime News Network]
- November 12, 2009 @ 07:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Miguel Cima
November 14: Dig Comics Screening
This Saturday, November 14, at 3 PM, Jim Hanley’s Universe (at 4 West 33rd St.in New York) will present “an EXCLUSIVE screening of the award-winning documentary (and comics evangelism project) Dig Comics with filmmaker Miguel Cima“. In advance of this screening, I caught up with Cima to discuss the project, as well as to find out where things stand on the planned expanded version of the documentary. At the San Diego Comic-Con this past summer, Dig Comics received the Best Documentary Award at the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival (CCI-IFF). According to Jim Hanley’s Universe, after the exclusive screening, it will also “have an A-List panel discussion with Mr. Cima; Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort; Writer/Editor of the PW Beat Blog, Heidi MacDonald; noted DC writer/editor and founder of Paradox Press, Andy Helfer; author and editor of the Graphic NYC Blog Chris Irving; and author of Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent, Danny Fingeroth!” Cima’s passion and strong opinions are apparent in this email interview–and I appreciate his time. Please be sure to visit YouTube for the Dig Comics trailer.
Tim O’Shea: How long have you been pursuing this project, and in terms of your documentary approach, I was curious if there were certain documentary makers that influenced how your approached the project?
Miguel Cima: I’ve been working on this for about three years now. I guess my main angle is sort of a Michael Moore model, as in let’s see what’s wrong here and what can be done. Plus I too am a husky loudmouth, so there you are.
- November 11, 2009 @ 08:36 PM by Tim O'Shea
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: What Looks Good for January
Time again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for interesting new adventure comics.
Hairy Things
Ape
Hairy Things #1-3: Interesting strategy releasing three, individual issues in the same month rather than a single graphic novel. I hope there’s a collected version coming soon though, ’cause Bigfoot vs. cowboy cannibals sounds awesome.
Dark Horse
Blacksad: Funny animal comics for people who don’t like funny animal comics. In fact, calling Blacksad a funny animal comic is like calling Homer a fantasy writer. The characters may all be animals, and they may talk, but private eye John Blacksad’s world is absolutely real and his mysteries are utterly engrossing. Unfortunately, even though it’s in January’s catalog, the book isn’t coming out until March.
Hellboy, Volume 9: The Wild Hunt: The latest Hellboy collection. I really need to get caught up.
Mesmo Delivery: Rafael Grampa is enough to peak my interest, but this gets on the list for the Elvis impersonator and the words, “wrong delivery man to mess with.”
Funny animal Frankenstein, robots vs. dinosaurs, and steampunk fairy tales after the jump.
- November 11, 2009 @ 06:01 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Here I was at Shelf Porn Central, thinking “you know, we haven’t had a big manga-themed post in a long while,” when who should appear in my in box but one Emily Snodgrass, with a manga collection to beat the band.
Remember though, you don’t have to be an uber-collector to submit your pics to Self Porn. Large or small we’ll gladly accept and and all submissions. Just send photos and commentary to cmautnerATcomcastDOTnet and we’ll take care of the rest.
And now heeeere’s Emily ….
- November 11, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
University of Nebraska literary journal to accept comics submissions
The Plains Song Review journal, published by the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, announced on their blog that they will now accept “graphic literature” — or as we low-brow types call them, comics — submissions:
I really think comics could be a good fit at PSR. They’re such a uniquely American art form, which makes sense for a publication like ours. Furthermore, graphic novels are uniquely well-equipped to explore “place,” as they are able to both depict place both through words and through images.
Of course, PSR’s publishing standards will remain the same as ever. We will only accept submissions that explore the Great Plains, and we will only accept submissions that we feel are high quality. If we don’t get any good comic submissions this year, we simply won’t publish any comics. That said, I’m hoping that we get some really good stuff to show you when Issue XII comes out.
The post credits Van Jensen, journalist and Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer writer, with the idea for adding comics to the journal, which also features fiction, poetry, nonfiction essays and photographs.
- November 11, 2009 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 102
Hey, it’s a splash page! You know what that means?
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
That’s right. The chapter ends right here. THE THIRSTY returns after Thanksgiving. I’ll look into having some other bonus material run next week. Week after that is vacation time and I’ll be off the grid entirely. Stay tuned for, as they say, the thrilling conclusion.
In the meantime, may all your vampyr be sparkle-free!
- November 11, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Process junkie alert: The Work in Progress blog
Batman by Kevin Nowlan
Batman by Kevin Nowlan
Batman by Kevin Nowlan
This is probably the best use of Flash I’ve seen in awhile … the Work in Progress blog showcases Flash animations that detail the process of creating pages of comic art, from basic layouts and sketches to the finished colored art. It can be a bit mesmerizing to watch them, so be careful.
(Artwork above is from a Kevin Nowlan Batman page. Via)
- November 11, 2009 @ 12:01 PM by JK Parkin
Comics Cavalcade: Ayn Rand and Wonder Woman
Will Everyone Please Stop Freaking Out Over Ayn Rand by Peter Bagge
- November 11, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Steve Epting’s Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Artist Steve Epting shares this killer Frankenstein piece on his blog, noting Frank’s a little late for Halloween. Well, he does walk slow…
- November 11, 2009 @ 11:03 AM by JK Parkin
An early trip into the Village
The Prisoner
In support of the new Prisoner TV miniseries, which runs Nov. 15-17, AMC has posted the first chapter of an online comic featuring “a new heroine and more secrets of The Village exposed.” The art is by Mitch Breitweiser.
Another item of interest might be this timeline of Prisoner references in pop culture, which include The Simpsons, Battlestar Galactica, the music of Iron Maiden and comics like Watchmen and Fantastic Four. (Although the site loses points for using a Fantastic Four movie image when they could have featured Jack Kirby artwork from issues 84-87).
- November 11, 2009 @ 10:29 AM by JK Parkin
Who created the original Batman logo?
Batman #1 logo
As you may have guessed, we’re big fans of the Logo Studies feature letterer Todd Klein runs over on his blog, where he looks at various comic book logos and how they evolved over the years. Yesterday he shared a bit of history about the original Batman logo from the 1940s, which was designed by comics legend Jerry Robinson.
“One of the things I expected when I started doing my Logo Studies was that I would never be able to find out for sure, or at all, who designed many of the original comics logos from the 1940s,” Klein wrote on his blog. “Today I proved that expectation wrong when I spoke to Jerry Robinson, one of the first Batman artists, and involved with the character almost from the beginning.”
Klein had originally gotten in touch with Robinson to ask about the Robin logo that appeared on the Boy Wonder’s first appearance, and Robinson told Klein he also designed the original Batman logo, seen above.
Check out Klein’s complete rundown of the Batman logos over the years here and here, and his commentary on the Robin one here.
- November 11, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
Footnotes in Gaza
• Tom Spurgeon once again beats everyone to the punch with a review of Joe Sacco’s new book, Footnotes in Gaza: The first good news to report … is that the cartoonist is in top form throughout.” He also has good things to say about Prison Pit.
• Christopher Allen offers 60 ways of looking at Watchmen.
• Critics critique critics — Robert Boyd reviews Bart Beaty’s Unpopular Culture: “This is a thought-provoking book, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in comics-as-art.”
• David Welsh gets schooled in college manga.
• Rob Clough calls MK Reed’s new book, Cross Country “the most complex, ambitious and visually interesting of her comics.”
• Perhaps if I link to Sean Collins’ review of Refresh, Refresh, he’ll forgive me for accidentally (I swear) stealing the title of his review feature.
• Nina Stone enjoyed the first issue of Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love: “All the pieces of the story just started to fit together perfectly.”
• Grant Goggans declares The Art of Osamu Tezuka “very highly recommended.”
• Finally, Kristy Valenti looks at a 1999 graphic novel drawn by Mia Wolff and written by acclaimed sci-fi author Samuel Delany.
- November 11, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Wolverine: Old Man Logan
Publishing | Comic sales to the direct market fell 14 percent in October, versus the same month a year ago, resulting in the biggest decline since May. Sales of the Top 100 graphic novels plummeted 30 percent — again due to the brisk sales of Watchmen last fall — combining for an overall decline of 17 percent.
As we reported last week, DC Comics had the top six bestselling comics for the first time in four decades, with the fourth issue of its event miniseries Blackest Night coming in at No. 1 with an estimated 137,169 copies. Marvel’s Wolverine: Old Man Logan hardcover collection topped the graphic novel chart with an estimated 7,347 copies.
The retailer-focused news and analysis site ICv2.com notes that Marvel’s $3.99 titles continue to slip, with the third issues of Ultimate Comics Avengers and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man each shedding about 5,000 copies from the previous issue. Of course, they weren’t the only ones to slide: 19 of the top 25 comics saw drop-offs in what the website describes as “a bearish month.” [ICv2.com]
- November 11, 2009 @ 08:31 AM by Kevin Melrose