2009 November
Shoot alpaca with a shotgun in Roman Dirge’s upcoming iPhone game
Vampire Puff Puff
Destructoid reports that Roman Dirge is working on a new iPhone game called Vampire Puff Puff. The game stars Ragamuffin from his Lenore comics fighting the undead in an attempt to save Lenore. You can see additional screen shots by clicking on the above link.
- November 25, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Jeffrey Brown covers Secret Wars II
Detail from Jeffrey Brown's Secret Wars II #8 cover
Just in case you have some sort of crippling emotional block that prevents you from checking Robert Goodin’s wonderful Covered blog every day — since that’s the only reason I can think of why you wouldn’t — I just wanted to bring Jeffrey Brown’s cover version of Al Milgrom & Steve Leialoha’s cover for Secret Wars II #8 to your attention. (Actually, it’s sort of an X-Men-centric remix of the original.) Above is a small portion–believe me, you wanna click through and see the whole thing, if only to marvel that yes, the major antagonist for a line-dominating crossover event once dressed in an all-white version of Eddie Murphy’s leather jumpsuit from Delirious.
- November 25, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
This holiday season, Hulks will smash!
Hulk #18 variant
To help make your holiday season simply smashing*, Ed McGuinness has drawn two interconnecting “Hulk Santa Variant” covers for Hulk #18 and Fall of the Hulks Gamma. Above is the cover for Hulk #18 that Marvel sent over, and I’m guessing the as-yet-unrevealed cover to Fall of the Hulks Gamma will feature the other side of the ginormous snowball fight.
Solicitation information for both books is available after the jump …
*I apologize for that.
- November 25, 2009 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
Your video of the day | Tintin shelf porn
Check out this neat video of Tintin collector Luc Mieuws, who takes viewers on a tour of his mind-boggling shrine to the cow-licked adventurer. (via)
- November 25, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Interview with the Robot 6-er
Me
As the newest member of the Robot 6 crew, I realize I’m still something of a stranger in these parts. I’m a phantom who pops up every now and then to write something about the Con War, and like that — poof! — I’m gone. Who is this “Sean T. Collins,” if that is my real name?
Well, if you really wanna know what makes me tick as a person who writes about comics for a living (or, more accurately, “a living”), check out the lengthy interview Christopher Allen conducted with me over at Comic Book Galaxy’s group blog Trouble with Comics. It tackles pretty much my whole history as a critic, such as it is and such as I am, and sounds me out on a variety of pertinent issues, from the evolution of the comics blogosphere to the usefulness of comparing comics to other art forms like music to whether or not scorched-earth criticism is valid:
[Chris:] I’m curious about the disinclination towards snark. Not that you should do anything you don’t feel, but doesn’t highly intelligent snark, or let’s call it no-holds-barred criticism a la Abhay Khosla or Tucker Stone, have its place? Isn’t it just as valid, as long as the arguments are reasoned and thought-provoking, no matter how harsh?
[Sean:] It may be valid, it may not be valid. It depends on the piece. What I can tell you is that valid or not, it’s not interesting to me, and it’s frequently actively annoying. I also think the harshness quickly becomes an end in itself, so in that sense, I grow suspicious of its validity pretty quickly, I guess you could say. I’ve done it in the past and I reserve the right to do it again, because grown-ups can change their minds about these things, that’s part of the fun of being a grown-up, but for now, it is not for me as a critic or a reader of criticism.
Further scintillating and provocative commentary, and overuse of the words “in terms of” and “engender,” can be found at the link.
- November 25, 2009 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Straight for the art | Pixilated superheroes
Up, up and away
It’s not a new idea, but I confess I’m enamored of the 8-bit style illustrations that the Dutch site Seven’s Heaven has up of iconic figures like Superman, Spider-Man and, yes, Tintin. (via)
- November 25, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
It’s a brief roundup on this day before Thanksgiving.
Art by Sonny Trinidad
Passings | Gerry Alanguilan reports that illustrator Sonny Trinidad, perhaps best known for his work in the 1970s on Marvel titles like The Savage Sword of Conan, Dracula Lives! and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, passed away Nov. 23 in the Philippines. [Komikero]
Publishing | An Oregon business magazine spotlights the booming comics scene in Portland, aka “Comics Town,” home to publishers like Dark Horse, Oni Press and Top Shelf, as well as countless creators. [Oregon Business, via Jeff Parker]
Manga | In response to the exclusion of manga from The A.V. Club’s best comics of the decade, blogger David Welsh puts out the call for five Japanese comics that merit inclusion on the list. [Precocious Curmudgeon]
- November 25, 2009 @ 08:23 AM by Kevin Melrose
Hickman to journey into Marvel’s far-flung past with Shield [Updated]
From the cover of "Shield" #1, by Gerald Parel
On today’s episode of G4TV’s Attack of the Show, Blair Butler revealed writer Jonathan Hickman’s next project will be Shield, a miniseries monthly series that will reach far into the past of the Marvel Universe.
In Shield, Hickman will team with artist Dustin Weaver (Star Wars, King Kong) to chronicle how some of the greatest figures in history worked to protect the Earth from Galactus, the Celestials and other interstellar threats.
Butler said the series, which debuts in April 2010, will “tell the secret history of SHIELD — one that started long before Nick Fury.” The comic spans the centuries from ancient Egypt to the 1950s.
Hickman, whose work includes The Nightly News and Fantastic Four, says Shield “feels like the best thing I’ve done.”
Update: Video from Attack of the Show is available after the jump …
Update 2: Hickman shares details about Shield with Comic Book Resources.
- November 24, 2009 @ 04:49 PM by Kevin Melrose
I’m thankful for pumpkin pie, parades and new issues of Powers
Typically you wouldn’t expect the day before a major U.S. holiday to have so many big releases, but hey — it’s just one more thing to be thankful for when you’re lapsing into a turkey coma and need something else to do besides arguing with your uncle or watching football.
This week sees the debut of Image United, the big mega-event crossover that brings together all the current and former Image partners under one comic cover (actually, multiple comic covers … you’ll have your choice of seven different ones). We’ve also got the return of Powers, the long-running superhero/cop mash-up, with a new #1. DC’s big event continues to roll on, as both Blackest Night #5 and Green Lantern #48 hit shops, among several other tie-in titles. And you’ll also find new issues of Beasts of Burden, Chew, The Goon, Detective Comics, Uncanny X-Men, New Avengers, Die Hard Year One and Fantastic Four on shelves.
On the trade front, look for collections of Chew, Justice League International, Shade the Changing Man, Incognito, Astonishing X-Men, The Winter Men and The Boys spin-off series, Herogasm.
And that’s only the first course of the magnificent bounty that awaits. Keep reading to see what Chris, Kevin and I have to say about this week’s releases …
- November 24, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
What’s wrong with The A.V. Club’s Best Comics of the ’00s list?
Earlier today, The A.V. Club, The Onion’s for-serious arts and criticism auxiliary unit, released its list of the Best Comics of the ’00s, featuring 25 comics/graphic novels and (separately) five reprint collections, ordered alphabetically. Now, it’s just one of many media outlets producing lists of this sort as the decade draws to a close — pretty soon, we’ll be able to come up with a “Best ‘Best Comics of the ’00s’ Lists” list — and disagreement with such exercises is to be expected. Indeed, it’s sort of the point. But I found The A.V. Club’s list problematic in ways that go beyond the usual “That book?No way!” and “Hey, you forgot about …” complaints.
Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1
So let’s start by getting those complaints out of the way, since they’re the most subjective. The list’s own introduction cites a quartet of comics that just missed the cut — Scott Pilgrim, Astro City, The Walking Dead and the work of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez — and I could see reasonable cases being made for three of the four, not that I’d necessarily agree with them. Given the mainstream-accessible tenor of the list, I also think you can get enough of a sense of the standards being applied to argue for several obvious oversights: David B.’s Epileptic, Phoebe Gloeckner’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl and Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde, for example. Moreover, the titles selected for particular creators can leave you scratching your head: One! Hundred! Demons! instead of What It Is, the gag/parody-centric Acme Novelty Library oversized hardcover rather than Jimmy Corrigan, Rick Geary’s The Mystery of Mary Rogers instead of, well, any of Geary’s other old-time crime books. Finally, in some cases, I think the selected books are bettered by other, similar efforts: I’d have picked B.P.R.D. over The Goon for quirky horror-action, for example, or The Walking Dead over Y: The Last Man for lengthy post-apocalyptic serials, or Shortcomings over Box Office Poison for slice-of-life drama.
- November 24, 2009 @ 01:45 PM by Sean T. Collins
Unbound: Thanksgiving buffet
Thanksgiving is around the corner; by the time you read this, I will be baking pies and getting out the good china. But first, I want to sit back and take stock of all the things I’m thankful for this year. Webcomics-wise, that is. Think of this as a buffet of my favorite dishes, and perhaps, when the table is cleared, the game is over, and the kids have spun down and fallen asleep on the floor, you’ll have time to sample them and find something new to like.
Breakfast of the Gods: Snap, Crackle, and Pop have been kidnapped (and tortured!), the Honey Bee turns up dead, Count Chocula paces the ramparts in his castle—and Boo Berry shows up to needle him. In Breakfast of the Gods, Brendan Douglas Jones shows the darker side of the cereal mascots of the 1960s and 70s in a fantasy adventure that’s part Lord of the Rings, part nutritious breakfast.
Unshelved: Bill Barnes’s art is simple to the point of being rudimentary, but he still manages to endow each of the characters in this library-themed comic with a unique and believable personality. Even better, he and co-writer Gene Ambaum really nail the feeling of working in a place where you have to deal with the varied whims of the public as well as your own wacky co-workers.
- November 24, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Robot 6 Q&A | Joshua Smeaton talks Haunted
Haunted
A recipient of a 2009 Xeric Foundation grant, cartoonist Joshua Smeaton wasted little time in moving his comic Haunted from the Web, where the story has unfolded for the past two years, and into print.
Beautifully illustrated and colored, Haunted centers on a group of middle-school friends who want nothing more than to sneak into a high-school Halloween party being thrown at an abandoned mansion. But once they get there, they soon discover that they’re not the only uninvited guests. (Smeaton has described it as “like Goonies in a haunted house.”)
Smeaton, who lives outside of Tampa, Florida, took some time over the weekend to talk about the graphic novel, which is listed in November’s Previews (order code: NOV090896).
I believe I only became aware of Haunted back in July, when you received a Xeric Foundation grant. When did you begin working on it, and how long has it appeared online?
I originally wrote Haunted as a screenplay with the idea in the back of my head that I would eventually draw it as a comic. That was around 2003/2004. I started putting Haunted online in July 2007.
- November 24, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Spend some time with Toon Books
Panel from 'Zig and Wikki'
Speaking of kids comics, Toon Books has a few news items worth noting. First of all, the company has upgraded their Web site, adding a number of interactive features, including Toon Readers, which features creators like Jeff Smith reading their books aloud as you virtually flip through the pages; and Cartoon Maker, which lets you build your own comic using the Benny and Penny characters. (via)
- November 24, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Tom Neely’s Post-It Notes
Paul Stanley by Tom Neely
I’ll see your miniature Marvels by Zack Soto and raise you Tom Neely’s Corpse Paint Post-It Portraits, a series of tiny oil-paint pen pictures of metal musicians known for sporting pancake make-up. Like Soto’s series, these were created for Giant Robot’s 4th annual Post-It show, featuring sticky little art by Jeffrey Brown, Jaime Hernandez, Paul Hornschemeier, Johnny Ryan, Hellen Jo, Lilli Carre, Anders Nilsen, Eleanor Davis, Vanessa Davis, Matt Furie, Nicholas Gazin, Leif Goldberg, Tim Hensley, and dozens of other artists. (Hey, when they’re drawing that small, you can fit plenty!) I got a feeling we’ll be seeing plenty of post-it posts before all is said and done. (Via Neely’s blog)
- November 24, 2009 @ 10:15 AM by Sean T. Collins
$1,700 in superhero T-shirts stolen from Zeus Comics
Zeus Comics and Collectibles
Through the wonder of Twitter, we learned that award-winning Dallas retailer Zeus Comics and Collectibles was burglarized overnight, with the culprit stealing the store’s entire inventory of T-shirts.
Owner Richard Neal tweeted this morning that he arrived to find a window smashed and more than $1,700 worth of shirts gone.
“Everything is fine,” he assured friends and customers. “Business as usual for us. It was a simple smash & grab. A loss is a loss is a loss but it could have been worse. No use in being over dramatic. I hope insurance covers it all.”
“There will certainly be a void of super-hero T-shirt gifts in Dallas this Christmas,” he later joked. “Christmas is ruined! … At least we were able [to] move that last Strangers in Paradise shirt, even if it was theft. Good luck trying to sell that at Traders Village!”
Opened in 2000, Zeus Comics and Collectibles won the 2006 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award.
- November 24, 2009 @ 09:45 AM by Kevin Melrose