2010 February
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 115
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.
No comments, no bon mots. Just me frantically trying to keep up. See you on Wednesday.
- February 8, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Comics cavalcade: Panther women, pyramids and Disney role-playing
zRitz by Scott McCloud (NSFW)
EcoCOMIC by Yuichi Yokoyama
- February 8, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Preview: ’120 Days of Simon’
120 Days of Simon
Last week (or thereabouts) Top Shelf announced The Swedish Invasion, a publishing campaign by the company to help North American readers become more aware of Sweden’s apparently abundant comic goodness by releasing a plethora of graphic novels from some of that country’s more notable talents this spring.
We here at Robot 6 are pleased as punch to present a preview of three of these upcoming works this week, starting with 120 Days of Simon by Simon Gardenfors.
Simon is Gardenfors’ chronicle of his trip across Sweden. I’ll quote liberally from the press release:
The 120 Days of Simon began when Swedish cartoonist/rapper Simon Gärdenfors left his home to spend four months on the road. The rules were simple: For 120 days he wasn’t allowed to return to his home, or to spend more than two nights at the same place. Otherwise, anything could happen… and it did.
This simple idea grew into an epic adventure across Sweden as Simon slept on strangers’ couches, visited an ostrich farm, ate a psychedelic cactus, practiced free love, received death threats, was beaten up by teenagers, got adopted by a motorcycle gang, drank obscene amounts of alcohol, and sacrificed his underpants to the Nordic god Brage. And that’s just for starters!
Apparently the book’s publication caused a bit of consternation in his home country. Anyway, the preview of Simon lies in wait after the jump. Look for previews of more Swedish comics from Top Shelf in the days to come.
- February 8, 2010 @ 11:20 AM by Chris Mautner
Is this the future of the Marvel Universe?
from Captain America Reborn #6
A few days ago, I noticed something…odd going on in both Captain America: Reborn and Invincible Iron Man: The giant flying robots with long tentacles presiding over the apocalyptic future glimpsed by Cap sure looked an awful lot like the possibly Starktech-derived “sentries” that have been bedeviling Tony Stark in the hallucinatory dreamworld he’s been stuck in throughout his recent coma. My suspicions deepened when I saw The Beat’s DC month-to-month sales analysis number-cruncher Marc-Oliver Frisch point the same thing out on Twitter — the first time I saw anyone talking about it online. Then io9′s Graeme McMillan took the ball, and the scanner, and ran with it.
- February 8, 2010 @ 10:50 AM by Sean T. Collins
More ‘I am an Avenger’ parodies
I wondered aloud the other day if we’d be seeing more “I am an Avenger” parodies like the one Chip Zdarsky did of Garfield/Tigra. Well, over at The Weekly Crisis, Kirk Warren shares several more, featuring everyone from Beta Ray Bill and Dr. Strange to Optimus Prime and Captain Jack Sparrow. But I think the Nextwave ones are my favorites:
I am an Avenger
Check out their comments section for more … or head over to Paul Milligan’s blog to see his political take on the meme.
And if you’d like to make your own, Joel Clifton made a template. Now we just need a Secret Avengers one, so folks can drop in silhouetted figures.
- February 8, 2010 @ 10:20 AM by JK Parkin
Send Us Your Tat Porn!
Well, I asked and you answered. Last week I inquired whether anyone out there had any interesting comic-related tattoos they’d be interested in sharing with the rest of the Robot 6 community. And while I wasn’t necessarily bowled over with submissions, I did get a couple of interesting responses, which you can find after the jump …
- February 8, 2010 @ 09:50 AM by Chris Mautner
Citing economic downturn, The Pulse lets Jennifer Contino go
The Pulse
Comicon.com co-owner Rick Veitch has confirmed reports emerging on Friday that writer Jennifer Contino has been let go by The Pulse after eight years.
“The problem isn’t with Jen but with the current ad market,” Veitch wrote Sunday on the Comicon message board. “Ever since the Great Recession hit, internet advertising has taken a nosedive. And it costs real money to get real talent like Jen’s.”
In addition to the economic downturn, Veitch placed the blame on a former advertiser that owes the website “a rather large amount of money.”
“The sad truth is, if this advertiser had been able to pay their bill, Jen would still be on the Pulse right now,” Veitch wrote. Heidi MacDonald seems to identify the advertiser as the Steve Geppi-owned Gemstone Publishing, which last year closed its offices in West Plains, Missouri, laid off five employees and failed to renew the Disney comics license.
Contino helped to launch The Pulse in 2002, and for the past several years had served as the site’s only full-time reporter. Her last post appears to have been on Jan. 18.
- February 8, 2010 @ 09:20 AM by Kevin Melrose
Wizard announces Cleveland Comic Con
C
ongratulations to anyone who had “Cleveland” on their Wizard World Tour bingo card: Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus has announced “the re-launch of North Coast Comic Con as Cleveland Comic Con Wizard World Convention.”
In the now-traditional mode for Wizard’s aggressive convention-circuit expansion, former North Coast owner Roger Priebe will remain aboard as an advisor and consultant.
The new show’s venue and dates have yet to be announced, but depending on when Wizard’s Cleveland and Cincinnati conventions end up falling, we may see another front in the Con War develop, this time against the Columbus-based long-time regional player Mid-Ohio Con.
- February 8, 2010 @ 08:48 AM by Sean T. Collins
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
DC Entertainment
Publishing | The filmmakers behind Spellbound, the Oscar-nominated documentary that followed competitors in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee, plan to premiere an authorized documentary on the history of DC Comics at Comic-Con International. Mac Carter (The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft) is directing the project, with Spellbound‘s Sean Welch producing and Jeffrey Blitz executive producing.
“DC Comics contacted us and asked if we would do this,” Welch told Collider. “Jeff and the director are comic book enthusiasts since they were kids and remain comic book enthusiasts. So yes, we have access to their archives, their material, their covers, their panels, the creatives and the executives in the DC world. [Collider]
Publishing | The weeklong standoff between Amazon and Macmillan over the price of digital books ended Friday evening, with the publisher’s electronic and paper books quietly returning to the website of the retail giant. Details of the dispute’s resolution have not been made public. [Bits]
- February 8, 2010 @ 07:39 AM by Kevin Melrose
What Are You Reading?
Young Liars Vol. 3
Well, the snowstorm that socked the East Coast may have shut down everything from Virginia to Philadelphia, but it won’t stop the What Are You Reading train from keepin’ on a rollin’. Our guest this week is Phonogram, Thor and S.W.O.R.D. scribe Kieron Gillen, who was kind enough to offer his thoughts on his current reading matter. To find out what exactly he is reading, click on the link below.
- February 7, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Your Mileage May Vary: Smallville: Absolute Justice
Smallville event “Absolute Justice” hit this week, and the long-awaited appearance of the Justice Society definitely got people talking.
It probably goes without saying that this post contains episode spoilers.
- February 6, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Melissa Krause
What could have been: Avengers H.I.T. Squad
Avengers H.I.T. Squad
Over on his blog, writer Kurt Busiek shares some artwork from a pitch that once upon a time he and Karl Kesel submitted to Marvel called Avengers H.I.T. Squad. The “Heroes in Training” team would have featured Hawkeye teaching a group of former villains to be Avengers.
For a brief time, wasn’t Rhino a good guy in the pages of Silver Sable? I wonder if Busiek and Kesel included him because of that, or if they had the idea first.
- February 6, 2010 @ 09:11 AM by JK Parkin
Screenwriter hired for Daredevil movie reboot
Daredevil
Spider-Man isn’t the only Marvel superhero-movie franchise destined for a reboot. Fox-affiliated New Regency, which produced 2003′s Daredevil, has hired screenwriter David Scarpa to have another go at the Man Without Fear.
The first movie, which starred Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Garner, received mixed reviews at best, grossed about $102 million domestically and spawned the widely panned spin-off Elektra.
Rumors of a Daredevil do-over have circulated since at least 2008, when in the wake of a tepid summer 20th Century Fox reassessed its superhero properties.
By pushing forward with the reboot, the studio bolsters its superhero slate — Fox holds the X-Men and Fantastic Four licenses — and keeps the property in active development, which prevents it from reverting back to Marvel.
Scarpa wrote the screenplays for the 2001 thriller The Last Castle and the 2008 remake of the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. The first Daredevil was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who went on to helm Ghost Rider.
- February 6, 2010 @ 06:03 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Fifth Color – GRR! BAM! KABOOM!
Okay, say you have a collection of Megos (not to far a stretch for a lot of you). You’ve had them since you were young and they now decorate your bookshelf or your computer desk, basically in a display of fond memories. Sure, you’ll pose them from time to time, dust off their cloth costumes with care, maybe even do some repair work, but they sit in a place to remind you of your childhood and the wonders of your imagination. Perhaps even some spare cash on eBay, but let’s go with the more touching idea about childhood and memories.
Now, add to this, say you have a younger brother. Or a little sister, or a son or daughter. Someone of the next generation set who is totally enthralled by your collection of figures. In great childlike wonder they ask you about each and every one, amazed by all the stories they represent. It’s great to see someone love something dear to you and it’s a great bond that helps me sell comics and connects us all through our fandoms. If you’ve never explained a comic book plotline that you love (no complaints now) to someone younger than you, please do so at your earliest convience. They’ll think you’re a genius for knowing the tale and you’ll be reminded of your own viceral reactions to the story at hand.
Anyhow, you have your Megos and your sister/brother/son/daughter/etc. seems to love them as much as you do, so you eventually relent and let them play with your figures. They very gently take each one from you, go off to the living room and then suddenly POW! BANG! BOOM! CRASH! They’re smacking them together as part of some terrible fight. Plastic clicks against plastic, some are catapulted off the couch, others are mauled by childlike enthusiasm and small, but dangerously strong hands. They’re having a ball, you’re cringing in the corner. Or ready to run and yell because those are YOUR toys! Play nice! Those are collector’s items! You’ll RUIN them!
But at the same time… you used to play like that with them.
(eventual SPOLIERS: for Siege #2 ahead, but really I’d be surprised if you hadn’t heard by now. Bendis likes a good death in his event books!)
Continue Reading »
- February 5, 2010 @ 03:44 PM by Carla Hoffman
DC reveals Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 cover
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2
On the heels of last month’s reveal of the cover to issue #1, DC Comics has released Andy Kubert’s cover to the second issue of the upcoming Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries. Written by Grant Morrison, it looks like Bruce will be huntin’ some witches …
- February 5, 2010 @ 02:14 PM by JK Parkin