2010 February
Straight for the art | Paul Hornschemeier prints
Project: Superior print by Paul Hornschemeier and Chris Pitzer
They once were lost but now are found: Cartoonist Paul Hornschemeier of Strange Tales and All & Sundry fame recently discovered extra copies three very cool prints he thought he’d sold out of long ago, and is offering them for sale on his blog for $30 a pop. Included are promotional prints for AdHouse’s Project: Superior anthology (above), Hornschemeier’s book Mother, Come Home (once published by Dark Horse and soon to be rereleased by Fantagraphics), and an appearance by the artists of The Holy Consumption, the now-disbanded collective that consisted of Hornschemeier, Jeffrey Brown, Anders Nilsen, and John Hankiewicz, drawn by all four artists. Your wall wants ‘em.
- February 4, 2010 @ 09:31 AM by Sean T. Collins
Straight for the art | Carre’s ‘Sleep Heap’
Carre's 'Sleep Heap'
Looking for something purty to hang on your wall? Here’s a lovely new print from Lilli Carre that she did for Tiny Showcase. If you need further incentive, Carre says a portion of the proceeds will go toward Doctors Without Borders.
- February 4, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
DC Entertainment
Business | During a quarterly-earnings call on Tuesday, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes revealed the company likely will announce plans “in a matter of weeks” regarding DC Entertainment. Bewkes appeared to be speaking specifically to the film slate, but perhaps we’ll also learn who will replace Paul Levitz as publisher. [ComingSoon.net]
Webcomics | In the wake of a malware-distributing hack that briefly affected Karl Kerschl’s The Abominable Charles Christopher website comes word of a possible a WordPress/ComicPress-targeting hack that could wreak havoc on the webcomics community. “It’s not clear yet how serious this is, but since ComicPress is pretty much the dominant ecosystem for self-hosted webcomics, it would have the potential to really abuse our community,” writes Gary Tyrrell. [Fleen]
- February 4, 2010 @ 08:26 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: What Looks Good for April
Cold Space
Time again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for interesting new adventure comics. I know it’s only been a week since the last one, but that’s ’cause I’d gotten behind.
Ape
Black Coat: Or Give Me Death – It took a while, but the second collection of my favorite Revolutionary War-era monster-hunter’s adventures is finally arriving.
Antarctic
Robin Hood – I’m a little nervous about Antarctic’s take on Robin Hood, but I’m encouraged by their publishing Richard Moore. I’ll give this a “shot” (ba-dum CHING!).
Boom!
Cold Space #1 – Celebrity comics aren’t exactly known for their high quality, but Samuel L Jackson is a smart, talented man. I’m taking the bet that he’s a pretty good writer too. Plus: space men.
- February 3, 2010 @ 06:37 PM by Michael May
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 114
Kids before cowboys and vampires…or something like that. Apologies for the delay.
Art by Gervasio and Jok, who are on time more than I am.
Back on Monday. If I make it that long.
- February 3, 2010 @ 02:34 PM by Matt Maxwell
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Here at Shelf Porn Central, we’re not size conscious. We know it’s not the number of shelves you have, but what’s on them that counts.
That’s why today we’re featuring not one but two collections. They are perhaps a wee bit smaller than some of the more ostentatious offerings we’ve had in the past, but they’re filled out in all the right places.
The first collection of photos comes from Doug Goodwin in Cartersville, Georgia. The second is from Jesse Young, founder and co-president of Saint James Comics. Click on the link to see their pics.
- February 3, 2010 @ 02:17 PM by Chris Mautner
High Fever: An interview with Brendan McCarthy
Spider-Man: Fever #1
One of the biggest problems with comics these days is that Brendan McCarthy simply isn’t making enough of them.
The UK artist, known mainly for his inspired and frequently surreal collaborations with writer Peter Milligan during the 1980s and 90s, (most notably Skin and Rogan Gosh) hasn’t produced any sequential art since his mind-bending issue of Solo (fittingly the last issue in that late, lamented series) six years ago, a comic which in itself marked a lengthy hiatus. In between those periods, McCarthy has opted instead to mostly work on various television and movie projects like Reboot, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and most recently a potential fourth Mad Max sequel.
Thankfully Marvel is about to change all that. The company that Disney bought has enlisted McCarthy to write and draw Spider-Man: Fever, a three-issue limited series starring the wall-crawler and Dr. Strange that will arrive in stores this April (or at least the first issue will).
I talked to McCarthy over email about the new series and the challenges it offered.
- February 3, 2010 @ 01:16 PM by Chris Mautner
Comics cavalcade: Backwards goldfish wrestling
Violence Becomes Tranquility by Shinobu Kaze
- February 3, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Download Mass Effect: Redemption #1 from Dark Horse for free all day
Mass Effect #1
Dark Horse released the first issue of their four-issue Mass Effect: Redemption comic book on iTunes today. The story occurs between the first Mass Effect game and the second one, which came out last month.
And if you download it today, it’s absolutely free. So if you’re interested in checking it out, act quickly — this link will take you directly to iTunes.
I myself have not played Mass Effect, as I don’t have an Xbox 360, but I have been very addicted to another BioWare-created game, Dragon Age, on the Playstation 3. If it’s half as much fun shooting up aliens in Mass Effect as it is fighting Darkspawn in DA, then it’s probably worth checking out as well.
- February 3, 2010 @ 11:02 AM by JK Parkin
Venture Bros. toyline to include ’70s-style’ figures
Last month we learned that Bif Bang Pow! is producing toys based on Cartoon Network’s The Venture Bros., including action figures, vehicles and bobbleheads. Now you can add 1970s Mego-style figures to the list as well, according to a press release posted over at the Mego Museum. Per the release (which doesn’t actually use the word “Mego,” I’m guessing, for trademark reasons):
The Venture Bros.
Reproductions reminiscent of the best-selling action figures of the 1970s and early 1980s, these highly articulated figures will feature body designs by EMCE Toys. Each 8-inch scale figure will include real cloth clothing and plastic accessories where appropriate.
Over 40 licensed action figures are planned for 2010. The first are targeted for an early summer arrival and Comic-Con International: San Diego 2010, with others to follow later in the year. Included are much-demanded characters from:
The Venture Bros.™ (Cartoon Network)
Dexter™ (Showtime Networks)
Lost™ (ABC Disney)
The Big Lebowski™ (NBC Universal)
The Twilight Zone™ (CBS)
Flash Gordon™ (King Features)
Scott Ian (Anthrax)
- February 3, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Thunderchickens to return in 2010
The Thunderchickens
Last month The Thunderchickens were riding high in Zuda’s monthly webcomics contest, but they dropped out due to some sort of kerfuffle with Chuck Harrison, creator of NewBot, another strip in the competition.
Well, it looks like both sides have made peace, based on this comic strip by Harrison and Thunderchickens artist William Blankenship. And above you’ll see that Blankenship and Chad Boudreau aren’t done with the Thunderchickens … Blankenship teased us on Twitter with the above image.
- February 3, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
Klein, Buckingham team up for ‘Each Beast at the Feast’ print
Each Beast at the Feast
Todd Klein has teamed up with several artists and writers over the last few years to produce a series of great prints … everyone from Neil Gaiman to J.H. Williams III has worked with the renowned letterer. Now Klein has teamed up with Fables artist Mark Buckingham to produce a new one called Each Beast at the Feast. The first print’s title started with an “A,” the second a “B,” etc. He’s on “E” now, so I guess it might be safe to assume that we still have plenty more of these to look forward to.
You can find Klein’s previous prints here.
- February 3, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Publishing | Despite indications that Amazon had blinked in its weekend-long standoff with Macmillan over the price of electronic books, by Tuesday afternoon some of the publisher’s major titles had not returned to the retail website.
On Friday, the Internet giant surprised everyone when it removed both electronic and traditional books from Macmillan after the publisher announced plans to raise the price of e-books from $9.99 to $14.99. (The titles were still available on the website from third-party vendors.) Macmillan and other publishers have been engaged in a pricing dispute with Amazon, which insists that all e-books for the Kindle be priced at $9.99. [Bits, Jacket Copy]
Publishing | Heidi MacDonald and Calvin Reid round up publisher reaction to last week’s iPad announcement. [PW Comics Week]
Retailing | Jim Mroczkowski considers the state of the secondary comics market: “In my neck of the woods, unless your grandfather’s estate just found Action Comics #1 in his airlocked vault, the comic shop’s not buying your comic. The comic shop has plenty of comics. That’s why they have that shop.” [iFanboy]
- February 3, 2010 @ 08:21 AM by Kevin Melrose
Siege, Demo, Buffy, Ultimo and more hit comic stores this week
Welcome once again to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, our weekly look at what you can expect to find in your local comic shop tomorrow. To see what Kevin, Chris and I have to say about this week’s comics, read on …
Crogan's March
JK Parkin’s pick of the week: Crogan’s March
This is the follow-up to the Eisner-nominated Crogan’s Vengeance, the first in Chris Schweizer‘s century-spanning series of graphic novels that detail the lives and adventures of various members of the Crogan family tree. Vengeance focused on the family’s pirate, while this one stars a member of the French Foreign Legion.
Schweizer’s art style has a great narrative quality that’s both cartoonishly fun and stylistically detailed, and the story was a hell of a lot of fun. I have no doubt this one will live up to the same level of quality he set in that first one. Check out a preview of the first 26 pages here. (Oni)
- February 2, 2010 @ 03:29 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: Shawn Crystal
Deadpool Team-Up 896
Shawn Crystal is a SCAD Atlanta professor I met back in October (as documented in this story). In addition to his role educating storytellers, Crystal is a professional artist equally busy building a name for himself in the comics industry. Tomorrow (February 3) will feature the release of his latest effort, Deadpool Team-Up 896 (written by Stuart Moore). As previewed last week by CBR and detailed here: “Get ready to hit the road with U.S. ACE, Marvel’s truckin’ hero! He’s back behind the wheels of a big rig with an unlikely partner — DEADPOOL — and together they’re puttin’ the hammer down, ridin’ the open road, and decapitatin’ giant killer raccoons. Good times…if they don’t kill each other first! Featuring the working-class villainy of THE HIGHWAYMAN, and the world premiere of the chart-toppin’ “Ballad of U.S. Ace,” composed and performed by Wade Wilson. What part of ‘Collector’s Item’ don’t you understand?” I was pleased to get an opportunity to talk to Crystal about this issue and creators he respects (as well as find out his David Lapham news). After enjoying this email exchange, be sure to check out Crystal’s blog as well as his deviantART page.
Tim O’Shea: The first question I have to ask–what reference does an artist use when drawing giant killer raccoons?
Shawn Crystal: There is a very popular book many artists have in their studio, and cherish like the arc of the covenant. It’s called “Homicidal Animals: A reference manual for the aspiring cartoonist.” Unfortunately, I do not own this book, so I had to resort to some more traditional methods. I started with the obvious, books on raccoons that were peppered with glamour shots of these little buggers. I also spent some time seeing how other artists had handled raccoons, mainly animators. There was some decent stuff in “Disney’s: The art of Pocahontas.” I also talked to a buddy of mine, Brad Walker who draws Guardians of the Galaxy, which has Rocket Raccoon as a team member. Researching raccoons was fairly easy; creating the chopper gang was a ton of fun. I needed to design a gang of Uzi wielding raccoons on motorcycles. The first thing I needed to find was a thread, something to make this gang seem like a team. Working for Marvel affords me the luxury of using their library, so I chose the X-Men. Well, the kid in me did. I started designing raccoons based on the themes and shapes of some of the X-Men and their costumes. I also wanted to give this biker gang a Hells Angel’s feel, ol skool choppers and leather. I didn’t want to go with the more current crotch rocket trend. I have an affinity of the art of Von Dutch, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Robert Williams. I pulled out the books I have on these guys and started drawing. X Men + Hells Angels + Racoons = Crazy fun designing.
- February 2, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Tim O'Shea