2009 November
Straight for the art | Mock Inglourious Basterds comics
Inglourious Basterds #1
These have been making the rounds the last couple of days … CHUD posts a series of faux Inglourious Basterds comic book covers they found on Harry Knowles’ Twitter feed that look like they were created in the 1970s. Cool stuff; go check out the rest of them.
Update: The covers were created by Martin Duhovic.
- November 18, 2009 @ 10:45 AM by JK Parkin
Happy birthday, Alan Moore and Mickey Mouse!
Mickey Mouse and Alan Moore
This is probably the only day of the year you’ll see those two names together in a headline.
Today marks the 56th birthday of the writer of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, From Hell and countless other influential and entertaining comics. It’s also the 81st anniversary of the release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, and the date The Walt Disney Company celebrates as Mickey’s birthday (despite his actual first appearance in Plane Crazy some six months earlier).
- November 18, 2009 @ 10:13 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics Cavalcade: Witches and Wildcat
Comics McCormick and Marvel Maid by Ed Wheelan
- November 18, 2009 @ 09:45 AM by Chris Mautner
Nicolas Cage reportedly sold comics collection to stop financial bleed
Nicolas Cage in "Ghost Rider"
Remember back in 2002 when actor Nicolas Cage auctioned off his comic collection for a cool $1.6 million but never said why? Well, now we may know.
Last month the star of Ghost Rider and the upcoming Kick-Ass sued his former business manager for $20 million, blaming him for financial problems that include more than $6 million in tax liens. However, in a countersuit filed last week, Samuel J. Levin claims that by the time the actor hired him in 2001 Cage “had already squandered tens of millions of dollars he had earned as a movie star.”
Levin asserts that he advised Cage he would need to earn more than $30 million to maintain his lifestyle, and persuaded him to sell a dozen automobiles and his comic-book collection, which included copies of Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #1 and All-Star Comics #3.
But by the time Ghost Rider was released in 2007, Cage reportedly had fallen back into his old habits: Levin contends that in that year alone the actor purchased three homes worth more than $33 million, 22 cars, 12 pieces of expensive jewelry and 47 pieces of artwork. Within a year, Cage’s tally of homes had reached 15. He also owned an island in the Bahamas, four yachts and a Gulfstream jet.
No wonder he’s so eager for another Ghost Rider movie.
- November 18, 2009 @ 08:41 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Weekly Astro Boy Magazine
Publishing | Tezuka Productions and D-Arc Inc. has launched Weekly Astro Boy Magazine, a service that delivers manga by Osamu Tezuka to iPhones and iPods in the United States. Announced last month, it’s the first English-language manga service for mobile devices.
If I’m reading the site correctly, the premier “edition” of Weekly Astro Boy Magazine offers the first volume of Astro Boy for free. Subsequent volumes of that title, and other Tezuka classics like Phoenix, Dororo, Black Jack and Buddha, cost 99 cents each, and are available in weekly installments. [Weekly Astro Boy Magazine]
Education | Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza, creators of the webcomic Least I Could Do, have established The Rayne Summers Webcomic Scholarship at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Named for the protagonist of their nearly seven-year-old comic, the scholarship will cover tuition for one student each year who is working toward a career in webcomics. [Least I Could Do, via The Daily Cartoonist]
- November 18, 2009 @ 07:32 AM by Kevin Melrose
Unbound: Josh Way on the end of Chronicle
I discovered Chronicle shortly after Josh Way started posting it online, and I liked it immediately. It’s the story of a brash big-city newspaper editor sent out to run a two-bit paper in a modern-day Green Acres, a small town with more than its share of colorful characters. I really enjoyed Way’s sense of humor and his varied cast, so I was disappointed when he brought the comic to an end this spring.
The end of Chronicle
Since I spoke to Joe Infurnari last week about the abrupt end of the Process, I thought it would be nice to talk to a creator who brought his work to a more deliberate end. For Way, Chronicle was a testing ground where he developed both his cartooning skills and the discipline to draw a daily comic. And now he is applying those lessons elsewhere: as it happens, Way is launching a new comic, Strewth!, on November 30 (but click now for the preview art).
Brigid Alverson: Why did you decide to end Chronicle?
Josh Way: I knew from the start that Chronicle would have an ending, though I was flexible about how and when that would happen. There was always a sense that Chronicle was a prelude to something else. Not that it was a throwaway or a false start, but it was as much about developing discipline as a cartoonist as it was about the story. For lack of a less dumb analogy, I suppose it was a kind of cartoonist boot camp I devised for myself.
The decision to actually end the strip came when I felt I had established some discipline in the daily work, and when the story was moving naturally into a kind of “third act.” I started wishing I could apply the things I’d learned to something new, and the web platform gave me the freedom to move in that direction.
- November 17, 2009 @ 06:20 PM by Brigid Alverson
This week brings aliens, zombies, celebrities and lemons
This week seems to be a bit quieter than the last few. Don’t get me wrong; there’s still plenty of stuff out there to draw you into the comic shop, but looking at the Diamond list wasn’t quite like drinking from the proverbial fire hose this time around.
On the first issue front, Wildstorm kicks off a new Sherlock Holmes mini called Victorian Undead, while Marvel has an Inhumans mini tying into their Realm of Kings event. Red 5 has Drone (which I think came out last week, didn’t it? At least at my local shop), BOOM! has a Farscape ongoing and a mini called Nola, and IDW has a tie-in for the upcoming Legion movie … which isn’t about Saturn Girl, but about angels. There’s also a Dr. Horrible one-shot from Dark Horse, a new creative team on Thunderbolts and, I believe, the last of the List books from Marvel … this one featuring Spider-Man. Oh, and country star Trace Adkins gets his own comic. Hey, if it worked for Tori Amos and Gerard Way, why not?
Looking at the stuff with a spine, Dark Horse brings Alien Legion back into print, DC’s Battle for the Cowl and Marvel’s Destroyer get collected, and AdHouse releases what’s already being named one of the year’s best books.
And there’s much, much more … click on the link below to see what Chris, Kevin and I have to say about this week’s releases.
- November 17, 2009 @ 03:30 PM by JK Parkin
Robot reviews: hodge-podge time
Cold Heat 7/8
by Ben Jones and Frank Santoro
PictureBox Inc., 48 pages, $20.
This may be my favorite issue in the series so far, and I’m not sure I can easily articulate why. It’s hard at times for me to talk about this series without coming up with empty, awkward phrases and stumbling cliches. There’s something about hitting the time travel/memory wipe/reset plot button that appeals to me though, as protagonist Castle finds herself back at home and romancing a overly eager British music critic, though little has actually changed and dangerous aliens and evildoers are still lurking about.
Hitting that button must appeal greatly to Jones and Santoro as well, as they seem to be firing on all cylinders here. There’s an ever so slight shift in tone that brings plot and dialogue a little farther up center than it had been before, though little of the series’ sublime weirdness has been abandoned. Santoro offers some of his best compositions yet here; there’s more than a few pages here that are quite striking. I like how he tries to think of the page as an entire unit and not a collection of separate tiny panels that tell a story. Too few contemporary cartoonists, indie or otherwise, follow that example. I also like how he uses overlapping lines to suggest a character’s inner emotional state or provide different perspectives of the same scene. Meanwhile, Jones continues to show off his gift for hilarious, idiosyncratic dialogue. Twenty dollars may seem like a high price point (it’s due to a limited print run) but you know what they say about no good comic being too expensive? It’s true here.
Reviews of Dungeon and more after the jump.
- November 17, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Kubert’s Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 coming in May
Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965
Kevin linked to this New York Times profile on comics legend Joe Kubert earlier today. While the article is focused mainly on Kubert’s original art being sold, it also mentions a new Kubert project coming next May — Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965.
What’s interesting is how this is being published. The Times said it is a Vertigo book, but actually it’ll be published by “The Joe Kubert Library,” according to all three of DC’s blogs. EDIT: This isn’t the first time the imprint has been used.
Here are some details on the project from those blogs:
DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 tells the story of a team of Special Forces soldiers who were on what was to be a simple assistance and observation mission in the village of Dong Xoai that suddenly turned deadly. Written as an original graphic novel with text and illustrations, DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 is based on extensive first hand information from the surviving members of the Special Forces group involved.
- November 17, 2009 @ 12:52 PM by JK Parkin
Hit-Maker? Not so much
Face Thief
Here’s a blast from the past … Brian Hughes looks back at Marvel Comics’ Superstars of Tomorrow event that ran through their 1993 annuals. While a few of the characters went on to bigger roles (like Captain Marvel’s son, Genis, who sported the name Legacy back then) others like Bantam, Tracer, Hit-Maker, Face Thief and Devourer never made much of an impact. Individual trading cards spotlighting the new characters were bagged with each annual, meaning you had to buy two copies if you wanted one in mint condition.
Hughes also shares some pages from Marvel:Year in Review ’93, which included a humorous look at the stunt written by Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich, as they poke fun at each character and suggest a few that didn’t make it in. Ah, the 1990s …
- November 17, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
SCAD Atlanta Comics Arts Forum Report
Murphy and Bernier
Back on October 23-25, the Sequential Art Department at the Atlanta campus of Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD Atlanta) hosted a comics art forum with Sean Murphy (2003 SCAD Savannah graduate and artist on the upcoming Grant Morrison-written Joe the Barbarian for Vertigo) and Matthew Bernier (School of Visual Arts in Manhattan graduate and currently at work on a book for First Second). Since I’m a Georgia-based member of the Robot 6 crew, Chris Schweizer, a SCAD Atlanta professor and creator of Crogan’s Vengeance, invited me to the forum.
According to Shawn Crystal, SCAD Professor (as well as one of the artists on last month’s Deadpool 900 [Marvel]), SCAD’s Comics Art Forum tradition started in Savannah years ago. Crystal selects the guests that are invited to the forum. “Every year, when I pick guests, I look to pick progressive/passionate artists. Artists who are doing new and exciting things, helping to move the medium forward,” he said. “Our Atlanta Faculty throw names around until we settle on the best choice for that year.”
Schweizer echoed Crystal’s thinking. “When we arrange these events, we try hard to pick guests whose work (and approaches to their work) varies from ours, because it opens our eyes to new ideas, and it does the same for our students,” he said.
- November 17, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Tim O'Shea
Marvel’s Heroic Age begins here
…or, rather, over on the new Techland blog. Just in case it wasn’t clear what happens after Dark Reign and Siege, this teaser image posted on Time.com’s newest blog should give you an idea:
- November 17, 2009 @ 08:13 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Blue Bloods: Masquerade
Publishing | Italian movie producer Domenico Procacci has purchased Bologna-based graphic novel publisher Coconino Press, adding it to his Fandango filmmaking and book-publishing company. In addition to its own titles, Coconino publishes the Italian editions of works by such artists as Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, and Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. [Variety]
Publishing | Young-adult novelist Melissa de la Cruz has signed new contracts with Hyperion, the Disney Book Group imprint that publishes her bestselling Blue Bloods series. The deal calls for three companion books to the teen-vampire drama, including Blue Bloods: The Graphic Novel. [Variety]
The Last Unicorn
Publishing | IDW Publishing will adapt Peter Beagle’s bestselling 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn as a six-issue miniseries. The comic, by writer Peter B. Gillis, artist Renae De Liz and colorist Ray Dillon, will debut in April. [ICv2.com]
Publishing | Simon Jones offers commentary about declining manga sales in Japan: “Some blame was again placed at the industry’s increasing focus on niche genres (just as comics is a spandex ghetto, manga is facing a crisis of the moe slum), but I think this is being overstated as a cause, when it’s really a symptom that is self-feeding. Manga sales have gone down … it could be lower birth rates, or competition from other media, or internet piracy (come on guys, we don’t need to couch this in flowery language), or any combination of those. But it all comes down to fewer companies being able to produce mainstream products, because a growing segment of mainstream audiences are no longer willing to pay for them despite increasing demand.” [Icarus Publishing]
- November 17, 2009 @ 07:37 AM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Shannon Wheeler
How to Be Happy
I recently caught up with seasoned industry veteran Shannon Wheeler for an email interview. This interview took place before Wheeler’s recent announcement that he was contemplating a project at ACT-I-VATE–I mention this only as an explanation as to why I ask no questions in that regard. As noted in this recent post, his work has frequently been picked up by The New Yorker as of late, while he continues his work on How to Be Happy. And, of course, we get in some discussion about his overall Too Much Coffee Man work. My thanks to Wheeler for his time.
Tim O’Shea: You are a creator with a long, proven track record, who covers a great many concepts in your work (judging by this tag cloud). This page offers me a wealth of topics to ask you about, but I’ll focus on one. In a down economy like this current one, does it make it easier (or even too easy) to tackle consumerism in the strip?
Shannon Wheeler: It makes it easier to criticize capitalism/materialism/consumerism when the economy is South in that you have specific things (like unemployment and poverty) to point at. Some of the humor becomes more poignant because the reality is more harsh. But that’s very external. To me it feels like the humor has stayed the same.
A lot of the cartoons are about my personal struggles. Consumerism is something I wrestle with. I love buying DVDs, collectibles, art. At the same time I think owning things, wanting things, is ridiculous.
- November 16, 2009 @ 03:30 PM by Tim O'Shea
Al Columbia: Good news, bad news
Al Columbia's Pim & Francie
If fans of mercurial cartoonist Al Columbia have learned anything over the course of his sporadic but storied career, it’s “get it while it’s hot.” He’s got talent to burn, but he burned out on Alan Moore’s Big Numbers, his groundbreaking work in Zero Zero and The Biologic Show has never been collected, and he kind of disappeared from the scene for a decade or so, infamously scrapping much of his own work before it could see the light of day. But after the recent release of his stunning art-comics-detritus collection Pim & Francie and signings at SPX and the Fantagraphics Bookstore, all is forgiven, right?
Let’s hope so, because it seems Columbia’s once again becoming an elusive commodity. First Columbia’s signing at Brooklyn’s Desert Island last Friday was canceled. Then, fellow artist Ashley Wood blogged that Columbia’s planned installment of the Sparrow art-book series from IDW has been canceled as well.
But all is not lost: Pim & Francie is out and is awesome, Providence’s Ada Books was still touting Columbia’s scheduled December 11th appearance there yesterday afternoon, and as Robot 6 has noted, Floating World is selling a jaw-dropping print by Columbia titled “Toyland.” (Thanks to Tom Spurgeon for the reminder.) Frankly, as long as the man produces work that looks like that, who cares what else he does (or doesn’t do)?
- November 16, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins