2010 January
Graham Nolan launches Sunshine State on the web
Sunshine State
Graham Nolan, who you might remember from his long run on Detective Comics in the 1990s or as the co-creator of the villain Bane or from his work on the Rex Morgan newspaper strip, has launched a new webcomic called Sunshine State.
“After reading a few strips I think you’ll discover the double meaning of the title and find yourself slipping into that comfortable state of mind,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to share this link with all your friends, especially those that might be snowed in at this particular time (like me!) and could use a little bit of sunshine!”
- January 4, 2010 @ 11:25 AM by JK Parkin
Remembering David Levine
A Levine self-portrait
The Internet turned out in full force last week to pay homage to the illustrious cartoonist and illustrator David Levine, who passed away last Tuesday. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the more notable articles:
• Here’s the New York Times’ official obituary.
• The Times also has a nice appraisal by Michael Kimmelman. Oh, wait, here’s another one, by Steven Heller.
• Tom Spurgeon, meanwhile, does his usual excellent job chronicling the artist’s life and talent.
• David Margolick recalls his relationship with Levine for The Daily Beast, which also has a nice gallery of art.
• NPR has words and pictures, as well as an interview with political cartoonist Mike Luckovich.
• British cartoonist Steve Bell pays homage here.
• Finally, here’s a lengthy remembrance from New York Magazine.
- January 4, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Dan Hipp’s GYAKUSHU! returns next week on the web
The Thief is Dead!
Dan Hipp of Amazing Joy Buzzards fame announced that GYAKUSHU!, his OEL manga series that got caught up in the Tokyopop implosion a couple of years ago, is returning on the web. While the first two volumes saw print, the third was canceled by Tokyopop along with a lot of their other original English language projects in 2008.
Hipp is launching a site at http://www.thethiefisdead.blogspot.com/, where he plans to post the first two volumes and the first third of the third one starting Jan. 11. Right now the site is invitation only, but there is a way to get early access, as noted here.
He also shared a bit more on the project in the last days of 2009, talking about why he chose to post it on the web.
“Now, to anyone that has suggested I should look into an IMAGE deal, similar to what the amazing Brandon Graham did with KING CITY, well… Thank you so much for the thought and concern, but quite frankly, I did. There didn’t seem to be much interest, or maybe the lines of communication were crossed, regardless, after looking around and asking a few questions to people in the know, I realized that I loved the idea of putting a blog together on my own, with no interference, allowing for anyone that reads it to leave comments on any given chapter of the series and to ask questions if they felt the need,” he said on his blog. “Hopefully, anyone taking the time to read several hundreds of pages online that liked them, might feel the need to purchase a hard copy (Volumes 1 and 2 still available, more on Volume 3 later (he teased)). GYAKUSHU! was NOT designed to be read as single issues of a monthly comic, and in hind sight, I do not think that going to IMAGE (or anyone else (and I did)) would have been the right choice for the book. The story was designed as a series of graphic novels, and the only alternative I see to that, in print, is the ultimate/absolute/what$@#!in’ever 600 page version. The blog may be up for a long time, or not long at all, only time will tell. Volume 3 will NOT immediately be posted in it’s entirety, but rather just the first third.”
- January 4, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
The Robot 6 First Anniversary Spectacular! A Round-Up
Robot 6 and Friends by Guy Davis and Dave Stewart
How did you spend your New Year’s holiday weekend? Gorging on football? Partying with family and friends? Sleeping off a wicked hangover? We here at Robot 6 celebrated in our own special way. You see, while January 1st marked the start of a new year and a new decade, January 2nd was our first anniversary. And thanks to all our friends in the comics industry — not to mention Comic Book Resources head honcho Jonah Weiland, who handed us the reins to the CBR homepage on Saturday — we rang it in in style.
Just in case you were out gallivanting for the last few days, here’s a round-up of all the fresh content we posted during the long holiday weekend. Consider it our way of saying thank you to you, the Robot 6 readers, without whom none of this would be possible!
* In a two-part series, we crowned The 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade. Here’s part one; here’s part two. The list includes superheroes, manga, webcomics, classics, alternative comics, Eurocomics, autobio, political cartoons — the whole gamut of our art form in this momentous decade. And judging from our Robot-to-Robot transmissions, these are the R6 crew’s favorite posts in a long long time. Click to see what made the cut and why.
- January 4, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Second Love and Capes trade coming this summer, plus a Twitter contest
Love and Capes
Here are a couple of follow-up items to something we published this weekend … as you saw on Saturday, Love and Capes creator Thom Zahler said that IDW will publish the second Love and Capes trade later this year. Yesterday IDW publisher Chris Ryall followed up on his blog with some additional details on the trade — he posted the cover to it, which you’ll see to the right, and he said the trade would come out in the summer.
Also in the interview, Thom talked about the possibility of holding a contest on Twitter related to a song he had in his head when he drew one of the pages in issue #12. He’s followed through on that; you can find the details here, and you can follow Thom on Twitter here.
- January 4, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
A roundup of end-of-the-year (and decade) pieces
Pluto, Vol. 2
• In case you missed it, over the weekend we marked the one-year anniversary of Robot 6 by unleashing a torrent of content, including several year- and decade-in-review lists and previews of 2010: our favorite comics of 2009; the 30 most important comics of the decade (Part 1, Part 2); the 50 best covers of 2009; and what industry figures are most looking forward to in 2010 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
• Deb Aoki, Christopher Butcher and David Welsh consider the manga milestones of the past decade that changed the industry. Among them, Naruto‘s conquest of America, the licensing of Cardcaptor Sakura and the launch of DC Comics’ CMX imprint.
• Matthew Price, The Oklahoman’s features editor and comics blogger, names the top graphic novels of the decade, including Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, James Sturm’s Golem’s Mighty Swing, and Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon’s Pride of Baghdad.
• The National Post names Chester Brown’s Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography among the best Canadian books of the decade, and gives honorable mentions to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series and Seth’s George Sprott: 1894-1975. The newspaper also spotlights “the ascent of the graphic novel,” with nods to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Jeff Lemire’s Essex County trilogy, among others.
• Tom Spurgeon continues his series of holiday interviews with critics discussing comics emblematic of the decade: Noah Berlatsky on the Elephant & Piggie series; Tucker Stone on Ganges; and Douglas Wolk on The Invincible Iron Man: World’s Most Wanted.
- January 4, 2010 @ 08:26 AM by Kevin Melrose
Bill Mauldin, Archie to get their own U.S. stamps
Bill Mauldin stamp
U.S. comics fans have a new reason to give the United States Postal Service a big, wet smack on the lips (oh, like you needed one before) as they announced late last week that their commemorative stamp plans for 2010 include on honoring seminal editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin and another set titled “Sunday Funnies,” which will feature stamps of Beetle Bailey, Calvin and Hobbes, Dennis the Menace, Garfield and … Archie?? I tend not to think of Archie as a “Sunday funny,” but any port in a storm, I suppose.
- January 4, 2010 @ 06:45 AM by Chris Mautner
Finalists announced for 2009 Cybils children’s and YA literary awards
Nominees have been announced for the 2009 edition of the Cybils, the literary awards presented annually by bloggers who write about children’s and young-adult books.
The finalists in the graphic-novel category are:
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook
Middle Grade
• Joey Fly, Private Eye in Creepy Crawly Crime, by Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman (Henry Holt and Company)
• Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics, by James Sturm (First Second Books)
• Amulet, Book 2: The Stonekeeper’s Curse, by Kazu Kibuishi (Graphix)
• The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis (Bloomsbury USA)
• Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom, by Eric Wight (Simon & Schuster)
Young Adult
• The Dreamer: The Consequences of Nathan Hale, Part 1, by Lora Innes (IDW Publishing)
• Gunnerkrigg Court, Vol. 1: Orientation, by Tom Siddell (Archaia)
• Crogan’s Vengeance, by Chris Schweizer (Oni Press)
• Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia, by Edgar Allan Poe and Gris Grimly (Atheneum)
• Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, by Tony Lee, Sam Hart and Artur Fujita (Candlewick Press)
The full list of finalists in all 10 categories can be found here. The winners will be announced in February (I think).
- January 4, 2010 @ 05:56 AM by Kevin Melrose
What are you excited about for 2010? Part 3
And here we are with our final round of responses from comic industry folks, after I asked them what they were looking forward to in 2010. You can find part one here and part two here. My thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to Tim O’Shea or myself.
Walt Simonson
A couple of quick thoughts from the old year and the new one:
1. I’m delighted a new YA novel in Gerald Morris ‘The Squire’s Tales’ series came out in September. ‘The Squire’s Quest’ is his first new novel in the series about Camelot and the Arthurian legends in several years. I’ve enjoyed the books immensely. I know. I know. It came out this year. Tough. I still couldn’t be more pleased.
2. I’ve been working on a long graphic novel for DC for awhile now (96 pages), should wrap it up in 2010 and really, I can’t wait! Catch me again in April or May and I’ll fill you in with some detail.
Walt Simonson’s work spans decades; he’s worked on comics like Thor, Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Factor, Orion, Manhunter, Hawkgirl, World of Warcraft and his own Star Slammers, just to name a few. Earlier this year he donated this really awesome piece of original artwork for the auctions we did for our own Carla Hoffman, for which we will always be grateful.
Stray #1
Vito Delsante
1. Excited for a few things. The new Doctor (Who), Iron Man 2, and really excited for Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. I’m not sure if Darwyn Cooke’s next Parker GN is going to be out next year, but I will be all over that the second it’s announced.
2. Excited for a few things of my own: Popgun 4, a secret project that I can’t announce at all, my new comic, STRAY, and getting FCHS Volume 1 out there in print.
- January 3, 2010 @ 03:42 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Humbug
Like a train eager to meet its next destination, What Are You Reading chugs along into the new year without ever once looking back. Our guest this week is the ridiculously prolific cartoonist, critic and blogger Shaenon Garrity (who can also be found here). In addition to her latest comic Skin Horse, you can read her regular reviews at The Comics Journal and she has a regular column over at Comixology.
But if you want to know what Shaenon’s reading this week, you’ll have to click on the link below.
- January 3, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
The 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade, Part Two
Continuing our countdown of (in our opinion, obviously) the most important and influential comics of the past ten years, here’s the second half of our list, from #15-1. If you missed it, you can read part one over here, with an explanation of how we put the list together and the (admittedly somewhat arbitrary) ranking. Can you guess what made number one? (hint: it’s not one of the books sampled in the collage above.) Read on to find out!
- January 3, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
The 50 best covers of 2009
"Thor" #601, by Marko Djurdjevic
I’m not sure whether the quality of art and design has gotten better or if I’m simply growing softer in my old age — let’s go with the former — but what last year was a list of 25 has doubled this year.
The 50 best covers represent the work of 42 different artists (plus designers), from 15 publishers. Brian Bolland, John Cassaday, Marko Djurdjevic, Dave Johnson, Dustin Nguyen and Skottie Young all make multiple appearances.
I don’t know that there’s a recurring theme to this year’s entries. However, blood appears on a dozen covers, skeletons on four and vampires on three, so make of that what you will.
As with the 2008 edition, I’ve tried to the best of my ability to explain what makes the cover so successful, at least in my eyes. With some entries I succeed while with others … well, judge for yourselves.
With that out of the way, I present, in alphabetical order, the 50 best covers of 2009:
- January 3, 2010 @ 10:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
What are you excited about for 2010? Part 2
As I mentioned yesterday, over the last couple of weeks Tim O’Shea and I have been reaching out to various folks around the comics industry, asking them what they are excited about for 2010. We asked them to mention something they were anticipating as a fan and also something they were working on, if they could talk about it. Here’s round two; we’ll have round three up later today.
Jimmy Palmiotti
Splatterman
I am personally excited about what changes are coming at both DC COMICS and MARVEL COMICS. Most people look at change as a negative thing, but looking at the projects coming from both companies and the amount of multi-media projects coming our way, I cant help become excited to what the future holds. I think all these changes will help bring brand new readers to our industry and deliver some exciting projects to the loyal fans as well. see? a lot of positive vibes…there really is no reason to fear change. I believe in embracing it.
As far as what I have coming up… well , that would take a while, but the first thing that is coming to mind is the Image Comics one shot Justin Gray and I have in the works for this spring called Splatterman. Originally we were going to make this a few issues , but decided to go the graphic novel way and put it out as one book. It features beautiful artwork by Giancarlo Caracuzzo and Paul Mounts with a stunning cover by award winning artist, Tim Bradstreet. It’s the story of two comic creators [not us, lol] that create the ultimate horror comic character that comes back to haunt them. It’s crazy adult comics the way they were meant to be told. Anyone that enjoyed our Friday the 13th series and The Last Resort will understand what i mean.
- January 3, 2010 @ 07:00 AM by JK Parkin
What are you excited about for 2010? Part 1
Over the last couple of weeks Tim O’Shea and I have been reaching out to various folks around the comics industry, asking them one simple question: What are you excited about for 2010? We asked them to mention something they were anticipating, as a fan, and also something they were working on (if, of course, it wasn’t top secret). So we’re ending today with the first of three of these round-ups; watch for the other two to be posted sometime tomorrow.
Jeff Parker
Lava Men!
I’m excited by a NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL from Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover that is coming out from Top Shelf this year, that I don’t think I can name because they haven’t formally announced it yet. But really, those two names and a full length work should be all you need to hear to know I’m right.
What I’m most excited about that I’m involved with comes out in just a few weeks, it’s AVENGERS VS. ATLAS from Marvel, where I think my collaborators Gabriel Hardman, Elizabeth Breitweiser and I have really gelled. Even if you’ve never read an Agents of Atlas story, I bet you’ll enjoy seeing the original lineup of The Avengers back on the scene.
Or you’ll at least want in for the LAVA MEN.
Jeff Parker writes a whole bunch of great comics for Marvel, including all the Agents of Atlas projects and Thunderbolts. He also helped us out last year with our Robot Love posts at Valentine’s, in a post titled I ♥ learning from comics. Tim O’Shea also interviewed him about Underground earlier this year, along with artist Steve Lieber.
- January 2, 2010 @ 06:41 PM by JK Parkin
Your Mileage May Vary: Your Year in Review
It’s probably not a shock that the first few days of January brings a lot of looking back over the year before. Of course, the fans with their comic blogs are doing it too.
Anj of the Comic Box Commentary gives us a very Supergirl-centric look at his favorite moments over the past year:
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #6
So when I was reading Cosmic Adventures #6 and saw the hand emerging from that swirl, I knew just what Landry Walker and Eric Jones were referencing. I knew this was ‘the hand that Krona saw’, the hand of creation. And then we see that the hand belongs to Supergirl!! It was the best mix of DC history and Supergirl that this DC history/Supergirl fan could ask for. Perfect! Readers who don’t know the Krona connection probably did not get as big a bang for this scene as I did. But I had a silly grin on my face for a while after reading it.
- January 2, 2010 @ 05:28 PM by Melissa Krause