2010 January
Vertigo unveils Albuquerque’s American Vampire #2 cover
American Vampire #2
Here’s a fun one for the process junkies: over on Vertigo’s Graphic Content blog, artist Rafael Albuquerque walks through the creation of the cover to American Vampire #2, the upcoming series by Scott Snyder and Albuquerque that’ll also feature a story by Stephen King.
Above is the final cover, and you can see early sketches and the like over at Graphic Content.
- January 14, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Joey Weiser trades goodies for funds to publish next graphic novel
Cavemen in Space
Joey Weiser, creator of The Ride Home and Tales of Unusual Circumstance, is running a Kickstarter-like funding drive on his website to raise money to publish his next graphic novel, Cavemen in Space:
I plan to self-publish (and distribute through AdHouse Books) Cavemen in Space in 2010. I plan to solicit the book to be shipped in May (printed in April). To do so, I have to come up with $3500 in about 3 months. This price includes printing, shipping, purchasing barcode/ISBN, etc.
Unfortunately, as my wife, cat, and I are currently living off of part-time jobs and a little freelance here and there, I don’t have the funds to make Cavemen in Space a reality! This is where you come in…
Inspired by folks like Liz Baillie and Jamie Tanner, I have launched a fundraiser to publish Cavemen in Space! And as a thank you for donating, I have several different rewards based on the level of donation!
Depending on how much you donate, prizes range from copies of his previous work to an appearance in another Weiser comic.
Also, if you aren’t familiar with Kickstarter, you can find similar projects over at their site.
- January 14, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Viz’s early 2010 plans
All My Darling Daughters
Continuing our ongoing coverage of publishing plans for the new year, today we’re taking a look at mega-manga publisher Viz’s plans for the first half of 2010.
While they naturally have an extensive list of manga that will come out over the next six months, rather than list every single series and volume that’s coming out between now and June, I opted instead to just list new series and occasional volumes of note, like when a particular series was coming to an end. Hope that’s OK with everyone.
- January 14, 2010 @ 09:45 AM by Chris Mautner
Put Prison Pit on your living room wall
from Prison Pit Vol. 1 by Johnny Ryan
Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit — it’s not just for blood-soaked killing machines named Cannibal Fuckface anymore! Now you can own a page from Volume One of Ryan’s acclaimed, ultraviolent action opus. Several stunning pages are available for sale at Comic Art Collective. They really tie the room together, man.
- January 14, 2010 @ 09:20 AM by Sean T. Collins
Statistician rubs salt into Charlie Brown’s baseball wounds
This is perhaps both the nerdiest and most wonderful thing I have ever seen on the Internet. Using The Complete Peanuts as his Bible, Larry Granillo at Wezen-ball.com is attempting to calculate — on a year-by-year basis — how many games Charlie Brown’s baseball team lost.
Using my collection of these books (which only goes through 1970 for now – I’ve got to get on that), I’ve done my best to find every baseball-related strip produced in those twenty years and tally up any relevant stats that they reveal. For the most part this means counting wins and losses and documenting any stated scores, though there are a few strips here and there that mention other stats.
Yeah, I know, the team hardly ever won, but Granillo also tries to provide info on, for example, how many times Charlie Brown got hit by a line drive, and finds lots of fun trivia. Here he is, talking about the year 1954:
For as bad as Charlie Brown’s team is, he does manage to have some good players. Linus is often shown making amazing catches. On July 15, he makes his first (of many) eye-popping catch, snagging the ball after running through a jump-rope.
- January 14, 2010 @ 08:42 AM by Chris Mautner
Asterios Polyp, The Hunter top the Best of 2009 meta-list
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
The hive mind has spoken! Taking a page from retired comics blogger Dick Hyacinth, Sandy Bilus has compiled a “meta-list” of the 100 Best Comics of 2009. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli took the top spot by a landslide, followed by Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke, George Sprott by Seth, Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka by Naoki Urasawa, and A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi.
The list was drawn from fully 130 individual best-of lists — including those of Comic Book Resources and Robot 6, independent bloggers, online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, media outlets like NPR, USA Today and Publishers Weekly. Each selection on the individual lists was assigned points through a system devised by Chad Nevett that Bilus explains at length. The point totals were tabulated, and voila — a picture of collective comics criticism conventional wisdom.
Click here to see the whole list, as well as to read Bilus’s breakdowns of how various kinds of comics — superheroes, manga, ongoing series, non-fiction, anthologies, reprints, webcomics and more — all fared.
One quick thought of my own: I wonder if all the punditry we’ve seen recently to the effect that superhero comics weren’t gettin’ it done for many critics this year helps to explain the higher-than-ever rankings of manga on the meta-list. I mean, I’m not sure if A Drifting Life is necessarily the next logical step for folks who aren’t enjoying Dark Reign or Blackest Night, but Pluto, aka “Watchmen for Astro Boy”? That makes some sense. Plus, in any given year, a limited number of manga titles break wide among the comics blogosphere — see whatever I’m reading for the conventional wisdom about manga in action, yeah, I admit it. So for critics looking for something interesting from the East, it’s usually pretty easy to find worthwhile titles, since they’re the kinds of titles other critics will be talking about.
Anyway, enough of my yappin’ — go read! There’s enough to chew on to last till next year’s meta-list.
- January 14, 2010 @ 08:10 AM by Sean T. Collins
Paul Levitz to write relaunched Legion of Super-Heroes
Lightning Lad design by Yildiray Cinar
Birds of Prey isn’t the only DC Comics series returning this spring. The publisher announced this morning that it will relaunch Legion of Super-Heroes with writer Paul Levitz and artist Yildiray Cinar at the helm.
Levitz, who recently stepped down as president and publisher of DC, wrote the series on and off between 1974 and 1989, creating landmark runs against which all later versions of the title are inevitably compared. Cinar is probably best known for his work on the Ravager co-feature in Teen Titans.
As previously announced, Levitz also will write the recently relaunched Adventure Comics, which also features the Legion of Super-Heroes.
“It’s such fun to be back in the future, blowing up planets, undoing Legion marriages, revealing unrevealed factoids, and starting improbable new relationships,” Levitz told the DC Universe blog. “If there’s a better job in comics than writing the Legion, with its vast cast and creative opportunities, I’ve never held it.”
Levitz talks more about Legion and Adventure with Graeme McMillan at io9.com.
- January 14, 2010 @ 07:36 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
The Amazing Spider-Man #583
Publishing | Retailer Brian Hibbs asserts that substantial shipping problems created by the move of Diamond’s Memphis, Tennessee, warehouse in February may have contributed to the 2-percent overall decline of comics in 2009: “More or less the entire month of February there weren’t reorders on any product shipping from Diamond. … Even once they ‘fixed’ that issue (which memory tells me stretched into early April on many titles), there were HORRIBLE cockups in fill rates, accuracy, damages, etc all through the summer and fall. It wasn’t really until 4th quarter that things went ANYwhere close back to normal.”
Meanwhile, in USA Today John Geddes looks at direct-market sales in 2009. [The Savage Critics, USA Today]
Publishing | Twenty-one major Japanese publishers, including Kodansha, Shinchosha and Shueisha, are forming an electronic-book association in an effort to counter the expected launch of Amazon’s Japanese-language Kindle. The group plans to focus on creating a contract model for writers and e-book stores, contract negotiations and legislation. [The Mainichi Daily News]
- January 14, 2010 @ 06:47 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: Anne Freaks, Volume 3
Anne Freaks, Volume 3
Anne Freaks, Vol. 3
Written and Illustrated by Yua Kotegawa
ADV Manga; $9.99
“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”
– Michael Corleone
I know how you feel, Godfather. I enjoyed the second volume of Anne Freaks, but it suddenly became a very different series than the one promised in Volume One. A rapid invasion of new characters took the focus off of Anna, Yuri, and Mitsuba and the psychological drama that had been developing between them. Sure, new dramas were coming into play, but I missed the tense, claustrophobic world inhabited by the main three characters. It bothered me as I was reading it, but by the end of that volume I thought I’d gotten past it. I obviously hadn’t though, because after I bought the third volume it sat on my bookshelf for a while before I finally decided to give it a try. I’d lost the excitement and figured that this might be the last one for me. But then I read it.
Though the cast is still large, it doesn’t grow any bigger and I get the feeling that all the major characters are now onstage. In a story as twisty as this one, it’s comforting to have that feeling of consistency. It’s also nice that Anna is back to wicked form after sitting out most of the second volume. Yuri and Mitsuba split off from her in that book in order to infiltrate the terrorist organization they’re all trying to bring down, so we don’t get any more scenes of her manipulating them.
But in watching her with her friend Moe and the mysterious priest, we get to see her manipulate grown-ups instead, which is almost as good. It’s more fun when she messes with Yuri and Mitsuba because there’s also an element of romantic tension. The stakes are raised for the two boys in a way that they aren’t for the men, but Anna takes a different approach with Moe and the priest that’s also entertaining. With them, she’s just plain nuts. As Anna, Moe, and the priest make their own plans to attack the terrorist group, Anna’s obsessive determination drives the effort in a way that’s unsettling to the other two. Though the men don’t like it and would love to change it, it’s very clear who’s in charge.
- January 13, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Michael May
Marvel offers retailers a ‘rare’ variant, in exchange for unsold DC comics
The rings from DC's "Blackest Night" promotion
Just how successful was DC Comics’ highly publicized Blackest Night ring promotion? That’s what Marvel would like to know.
In an apparent attempt to find out, the publisher is offering direct-market retailers “an extremely rare” variant in exchange for covers from unsold copies of six titles linked to the DC promotion.
According to a press release sent this afternoon, for every 50 stripped covers Marvel receives by Feb. 16, retailers will qualify to receive one free Siege #3 Deadpool Variant.
The specified titles — Adventure Comics #4, Booster Gold#26, Doom Patrol #4, Justice League of America #39, Outsiders #24 and R.E.B.E.L.S. #10 — received significant sales boosts in November, thanks to a promotional incentive that allowed retailers who ordered a certain number of copies of each book to buy bags of the corresponding color plastic rings. For instance, for every 50 copies of Adventure Comics, retailers could buy two bags of blue rings, and for every 25 copies of Outsiders, they could buy two bags of violet rings.
In the case of a low-selling title like Booster Gold, the promotion meant an order increase of more than 35,000 copies over the previous issue. Critics at the time questioned how many of those would end up in the dollar bin. But a good number of fans and eBay sellers didn’t care — they were just happy to collect the plastic rings in Pokemon-like fashion.
The Marvel release notes that the offer isn’t a Diamond-affiliated promotion, and that the distributor shouldn’t be contacted. Instead, Marvel will get in touch with retailers once the publisher receives their submissions.
- January 13, 2010 @ 03:01 PM by Kevin Melrose
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Who’s ready for another round of Shelf Porn? Oh, let’s not always see the same hands …
Our guest this week is artist, blogger and graphic designer Dan Bru, who has has done a fabulous job decorating his “man-cave,” though a few of the more possessive collectors amongst you may balk at his method of decorating his walls. To see what I mean, click on the link and let Dan take you on his tour …
- January 13, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | James Stokoe’s Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer
Orc Stain creator James Stokoe draws a killer Silver Surfer. See the whole thing over at Brandon Graham’s blog.
- January 13, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 108
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell
Today’s post will be pithy observation-free. Seek your pith elsewhere.
- January 13, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Comics Cavalcade: Pogo, Lucy, elephants and Gene Simmons
Pogo Possum #12 by Walt Kelly
- January 13, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Marvel relaunches Marvel Adventures line
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #1
We learned back in December that the current Marvel Adventures title, Marvel’s all ages line, would end in March with Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #61 and Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #21. Today Marvel announced on their website that both titles would get new first issues in April.
“The Marvel Adventures line has been a runaway success for over five years now,” said Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Sales David Gabriel. “We’re extremely proud of not only the longevity of the line and the strength of the brand, but also of the quality of all the series. These are the perfect starting point for the youngest of readers. You’re going to see all the biggest Marvel heroes-Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and more-appearing in SUPER HEROES. Along with Spider-Man, these books are a fresh new start for the Marvel Adventures line-but with the same unparalleled all ages storytelling you’ve experienced!”
Paul Tobin will write both titles, while Matteo Lolli will draw Spider-Man and Ronan Cliquet will draw Super Heroes. The first issues of each will be oversized, cost $3.99 and will be “packed with a full length all-new stories and bonus back up stories.” Subsequent issues will be standard $2.99 comics.
- January 13, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin