2009 November
Comics Cavalcade: Mannequins and mental disorders
Downloading Optimism by Lucy Kinsley
- November 19, 2009 @ 01:30 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA
Tim Burton's Joker
MTV.com has pictures from the Tim Burton Museum Of Modern Art Exhibition going on in New York, which includes artwork the director created for his Batman movies and his never-made take on Superman. You can also read their related article here.
- November 19, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
Pim & Francie In Golden Days
• The Comics Comics crew are having another cage match, although this time they’re calling it a round table, about Al Columbia’s Pim & Francie book.
• Curt Purcell continues his examination of the Blackest Night event, this time looking at some of the tie-in books.
• Ng Suat Tong examines the pleasures of owning original art and how that can change our appreciation for a particular cartoonist.
• Also at HU, Noah Berlatsky looks at the psychosexual underpinnings of the superhero genre, and how it’s shifted over time.
• NPR’s Glen Weldon talks about why Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series matters: “[It] remains one of the most literate, imaginative and intricately plotted accomplishments in long-form comics storytelling out there.”
• Sandy Bilus recommends Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms: “The book never feels preachy, but it certainly forces the reader to focus on this issue and raises his or her level of understanding about what the people of Hiroshima have endured.”
• Joe McCulloch compares/contrasts the new Astro Boy movie with the original Tezuka manga.
• Johanna Draper Carlson reviews the first volume of The Lizard Prince: “This manga, a romance in a magical fantasy setting, has enough humor to make it an enjoyable read for the young and young-thinking.”
• Tangognat on Vol. 5 of 2oth Century Boys: “Everytime I pick this series up I’m reminded again how great it is.”
- November 19, 2009 @ 12:29 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the craft | Slorge plushie
Slorge!
Want to re-enact Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit in the comfort of your own home? God, I hope not, but just in case you do (you disturbing person you), Ryan fan Andrea has made this little slorge doll, completely with lace-up hindquarters. Have at! (via)
- November 19, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Limited edition Usagi Yojimbo shirts arrive in L.A., San Francisco this weekend
Usagi Yojimbo T-shirt
Dark Horse Comics has teamed up with clothing label The Hundreds to release two limited edition T-shirts featuring new Usagi Yojimbo art from Stan Sakai. The shirts are limited to 200 of each design and will be released this Saturday at the Hundreds locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In addition, Sakai will be at the Hundreds location in L.A. from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. to sign copies of Usagi. The first 25 people will receive a signed copy of the recently released Usagi Yojimbo graphic novel, Yokai.
“I am always excited to hear stories of the impact of Usagi on other creative individuals, especially those working outside of comics,” Sakai said in a press release. “I hope that this collaboration exposes a whole new group of people to Usagi, and comics in general. I’m grateful to have had the chance to work on this project with Bobby and everyone at The Hundreds.”
“Much of what I do today, as creative director for the Hundreds, stems from poring over Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo art as a youth,” said The Hundreds co-founder Bobby Kim. “To this day, it was one of the most influential comic books in my life, and so it was an honor to work with Stan on two exclusive pieces of art for The Hundreds. To any fan of The Hundreds, it is important to acknowledge and appreciate Usagi Yojimbo’s inspiration to the brand.” You can read more of this thoughts on Usagi on the Hundreds’ blog.
More T-shirt images and a flyer for the events can be found after the jump …
- November 19, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
AOL hopes to cut a whopping 2,500 jobs
AOL
AOL, which has been described as an albatross around the neck of DC Comics parent company Time Warner, plans to shed more than a third of its workforce as it spins off from the media giant next month.
Although earlier speculation placed layoffs at about 1,000, the struggling Internet company announced this morning that it will ask 2,500 of its 6,900 employees to accept buyouts. If it can’t find enough volunteers, AOL will resort to layoffs. The announcement, part of an effort to cut $300 million in annual costs, comes a little more than a week after 100 layoffs.
Founded in 1983 as Quantum Computer Services, AOL at one point boasted 30 million subscribers, a number that shrank considerably after its 2001 merger with Time Warner — a disastrous deal that resulted in a record $99-billion loss for the (briefly) rebranded AOL Time Warner and the removal of Steve Case as chairman.
AOL, which The Associated Press points out still makes money, counts among its operations the comics blog Comics Alliance, the tech blog Engadget, the video-game blog Joystiq and, in partnership with Time Warner’s Telepictures Productions, the high-profile celebrity-news site TMZ.com.
- November 19, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Case of the Disappearing Comics Journal #300 — Solved!
The Comics Journal #300
What the heck happened to The Comics Journal #300? Stuffed to the gills with a murderers’ row of comics creators in cross-generational conversation (from Matt Fraction & Denny O’Neil to Art Spiegelman & Kevin Huizenga), this anniversary spectacular became a swan song of sorts when a letter to subscribers revealed that it would be the venerable comics-criticism publication’s final journal-format issue — henceforth switching to a more online-focused model with semiannual book-format print editions.
So the the news that the whole thing had been posted online was met with much rejoicing… but the subsequent news that the whole thing had been yanked back behind the subscriber wall per the orders of co-publisher and editor Gary Groth was met with much head-scratching. Was this the result of an internal debate over the utility of free-content-as-marketing-device, as web editor and Journalista! blogger Dirk Deppey seemed to imply the next day? Was it a really lousy way to debut the Journal‘s impending web-based iteration, as frequent Journal contributor and future Journal blogger Noah Berlatsky lamented? Or was it a reaction to retailers upset that the product they’d shortly be trying to sell had been made available for free with no advance warning, as Johanna Draper Carlson surmised?
Well, if you had Carlson in your office pool, get ready to collect: Today on Journalista!, Deppey revealed that retailer complaints were indeed the reason for the issue’s Internet vanishing act.
“We pulled TCJ #300 offline largely due to retailer concerns over not having been given adequate warning about said plans before ordering the issue,” Deppey writes. “It was a fair point, and one that we hadn’t properly considered.” Deppey goes on to say that the issue will be back online for all in December after retailers have a proper chance to sell the print version, and that all future issues will be available online for free as planned.
So yeah, rough start for the Journal‘s bold new era. Still, it’s clear a lot of people really want to read the issue — not the worst problem in the world to have, no?
- November 19, 2009 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
‘The music that will rock your eyes’
The Kids of Widney High
The Kids of Widney High are a group of students with developmental and physical challenges from J. P. Widney High School, a special education center in Los Angeles, Calif., who write and perform original songs, appear in movies like The Ringer and, according to a press release I received today, also write comics.
Per the release, The Kids of Widney High: Beyond the Sky’s the Limit is written entirely by members of the band and illustrated by Chuck B.B., Jim Mahfood, Rafael Navarro, Rikki Niehaus, Neal Von Flue, Robbi Rodriguez and Chris Brandt.
“The comic book medium provided a new way for the members of the band to not only communicate some of their challenges and frustrations, but many of their triumphs and fantasies as well,” said editor/publisher Mike Wellman. “All of the dialogue spoken by the characters in the book was drawn directly from quotes recorded during story sessions and really captures the spirit of the band. It was a very unique way to tie a story together!”
The book’s in the current issue of Diamond’s Previews catalog and will be published by Atomic Basement Entertainment. Kids of Widney High member Tony Whitfield proudly says that the comic is “the music that will rock your eyes!”
- November 19, 2009 @ 09:55 AM by JK Parkin
Hollywood group claims The Pirate Bay tracker still lives
Just a day after operators of The Pirate Bay announced they had shut down the site’s controversial BitTorrent tracker, a movie-industry lobbying group is accusing them of trying to pull a fast one.
On Tuesday the beleaguered website, which for the past six years had indexed torrents to facilitate often-illegal file-sharing, pulled the plug on its tracker — something operators say is no longer needed because of advances in peer-to-peer technology.
However, Wired.com’s Threat Level blog reports the Motion Picture Association, which lobbies for Hollywood overseas, claims The Pirate Bay tracker is simply operating under a new name: OpenBitTorrent, a site originally registered to Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij. (A commenter on Robot 6 pointed out the connection last month.)
For its part, OpenBitTorrent denies that it’s The Pirate Bay tracker, with a message on the website chalking up the confusion, in part, to the two using the same hosting company at one point.
The MPA isn’t buying that explanation, and has gone to court to force OpenBitTorrent’s current Internet host to stop servicing the site.
- November 19, 2009 @ 09:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Marvel vs. Twilight — fight!
Okay, not really — I live with a Twilight fan, and as a co-writer of the latest episode of Marvel.com’s Marvel Super Heroes: What The–?! video series, I can assure you it’s all good-natured ribbing. Still, I think veterans of this summer’s bloody Twilight-at-Comic-Con culture war will get a kick out of this Marvel-fied parody of Stephenie Meyer’s teen-vampire saga, whose latest movie adaptation, New Moon, hits screens at midnight tonight. (Did anyone else know Dr. Michael Morbius was European?)
- November 19, 2009 @ 08:57 AM by Sean T. Collins
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Black Dossier
Libraries | The library board in Jessamine County, Kentucky, heard public comment last night about acquisition and borrowing policies and the recent firings of two employees who kept a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier out of circulation. The hourlong meeting was marked by shouting, crying and the presentation of petitions, including one that called for the removal of two books and two DVDs — Black Dossier among them — from county library shelves. No action was taken by the board. [Lexington Herald-Leader]
Awards | A controversy emerged just a day before the National Book Awards ceremony as author/blogger Janice Harayda suggested that Kathi Appelt, a judge in the Young People”s category, should recuse herself because finalist David Small had illustrated her novel. In her response Appelt was cryptic, at best, saying that as committee deliberations are private, “I or any other judge might well have excused ourselves from voting on any particular book, if conflict of interest were an issue.” In the end, Small’s celebrated graphic memoir Stiches didn’t win last night; Phillip Hoose’s Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice did. [ArtsBeat, Jacket Copy]
- November 19, 2009 @ 07:53 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon
Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic
Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon
Text by Mark Schultz; Stories by Larry Ivie, Al Williamson, Archie Goodwin, Bruce Jones, Mark Schultz, and others
Illustrated by Al Williamson
Flesk; $29.95
The third volume of Checker’s reprints of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon is proving difficult to track down (unless I want to spend $70 for a used copy on Amazon, which I don’t), so I’m taking a break from that series until it becomes available again. In the meantime, Flesk helps fill the void with an excellent collection of Al Williamson’s Flash material.
I grew up reading Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson’s Star Wars strips and I was always impressed with how real Williamson’s characters looked without looking exactly like the actors. His use of models sometimes meant that figures looked posed and static, but it also leant credibility to the fantastic stories he and Goodwin were telling. As did his talent at creating lush, detailed worlds. It was almost like these were the real adventures of my favorite Rebels and Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford were just actors playing the parts.
I’d never read Williamson’s Flash Gordon stuff before this collection, but the same traits are all there. If you like his Star Wars stuff, there’s no reason you won’t enjoy this too, especially with Archie Goodwin joining in on some of the writing. But what surprised me about the book was its diversity. All the stories share some common Williamsonisms (giant mushrooms and alien animal life decorating the landscapes, for instance), but it’s interesting to see the different ways of doing things that Williamson employed depending on the particular project.
- November 18, 2009 @ 03:48 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once more to Send Us Your Shelf Porn. We’re so happy you could join us on this lovely day (metaphorically speaking of course).
Today we’re looking at the collection of Rick Lacy, who with Phillip Gelatt is the co-creator of the Oni Press series Labor Days.
Before we begin, however, let me do my usual plug and encourage — nay, implore — you to send your collection pics to me at cmautnerATcomcastDOTnet. The Shelf Porn well seems to be drying up very rapidly and may hit bottom soon unless a few brave souls out there opt to contribute.
But enough with the sob story. Let’s check out Rick’s shelves:
- November 18, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Robot 6 Q&A | Andi Ewington on Forty-Five
Forty-Five
If you found out your kid was possibly going to be born with super powers, you’d probably want to do a little research into what exactly that meant. For fictional journalist James Stanley, that means conducting 45 different interviews about super powers and how they’ve changed the lives of the people who have them.
This December Com.X is publishing an illustrated book that collects those 45 interviews called, naturally Forty-Five. Written by Andi Ewington, each interview includes an accompanying page of art illustrated by a different artist, with no “predetermined brief” given — just the written page as guidance. Artists for the project include Jock, Fiona Staples, Liam Sharp, Dan Brereton and many more.
My thanks to Andi, who was kind enough to share some additional details on the book.
- November 18, 2009 @ 12:51 PM by JK Parkin
The Pirate Bay shuts down its torrent tracker for good
Operators of The Pirate Bay have shut down the site’s controversial BitTorrent tracker, saying that advances in technology have made it unnecessary.
Established in November 2003 in Sweden, The Pirate Bay tracked and indexed torrents, allowing users to search for and download comics, music, video games and movies uploaded (often illegally) by others. Within five years the site announced it had reached more than 25 million users.
But with new peer-to-peer technology like Distributed Hash Table (DHT) and Peer Exchange (PEX), users to longer need to access a central server to find the files they’re looking for.
“Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down!” operators wrote Tuesday on The Pirate Bay’s blog. “It’s the end of an era.”
However, it’s hardly the end of The Pirate Bay story.
While the tracker is gone, the site will continue to index torrents. Then there’s the matter of the four Pirate Bay founders, who still face a year in prison and a combined $4.4 million in damages to movie studios and record labels for facilitating copyright infringement.
And in a delightfully absurd aside, Wired.com’s Threat Level blog reports that Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde has objected to a plan by a Swedish retailer to register the site’s iconic sailing-ship logo — it’s been adrift in the public domain since its creation — and use it to sell USB drives.
Yes, he intended to pirate the pirates. And the pirate didn’t like it one bit.
After Sunde complained to Sweden’s Patent and Registration Office, the retailer withdrew his registration.
- November 18, 2009 @ 11:29 AM by Kevin Melrose