2010 February
Stumptown Comics Fest releases poster, exhibitors list
Stumptown Comics Fest poster, by Theo Ellsworth
Organizers of the Stumptown Comics Fest have released the poster, by Theo Ellsworth, and exhibitors list for this year’s event, set for April 24-25 at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel in Portland, Oregon.
(via Tom Spurgeon)
- February 16, 2010 @ 08:24 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
The Murder of King Tut
Publishing | Bestselling author James Patterson is partnering with IDW Publishing for adaptations of his novels and comics based on new material. The first title, a five-part miniseries based on Patterson’s young-adult novel Witch & Wizard, will debut in May.
“Comics could reach a much larger audience than they do right now,” the author tells USA Today. “With all of the quality work and talent that’s out there, this industry could be so much bigger.”
Chris Ryall, IDW’s publisher and editor-in-chief, provides additional information on his blog. [USA Today]
Retailing | Discussion, or perhaps dissection, of retailer Brian Hibbs’ annual BookScan analysis continues: Hibbs, responding to Tom Spurgeon’s criticisms; Eric Reynolds, associate publisher of Fantagraphics; Hibbs, responding to Reynolds; and Johanna Draper Carlson. [Tilting at Windmills]
- February 16, 2010 @ 07:18 AM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Michael Dowers
Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s
I first started covering the comics industry in the late 1990s, and at first I had a mindset of trying to cover the mainstream stuff, DC and Marvel. Fortunately I soon broadened my horizons and started to cover independent and/or mini-comics creators. More recently, when I learned that Fantagraphics had tapped Michael Dowers to edit and compile Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, I jumped at the chance to interview him. Here’s a rundown of the book from Fantagraphics (plus a Flickr flipthrough of the book): “Newave! is a gigantic collection of the best small press cartoonists to emerge in the 1970s after the first generation of underground cartoonists (such as R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, and Art Spiegelman) paved the way. These cartoonists, inspired by the freewheeling creative energy of the underground comix movement, began drawing and printing their own comix. The most popular format was an 8 1/2” x 11” sheet, folded twice, and printed at local, pre-Kinkos print shops on letter-size paper; because of the small size, they were dubbed ‘mini comix.’ As they evolved many different artists, one by one, became interested in this do-it-yourself phenomenon. By the 1980’s they became known as Newave Comix, a term taken from England’s Newave rock ’n’ roll movement. An explosion of do-it-yourself artists emerged. Many talented artists went onto bigger and better things, others have disappeared into the fog never to be heard from again.” The collection is a staggering 892 pages–and Fantagraphics offers a 32-page preview here.
Tim O’Shea: The book is dedicated in “Memory of Michael Roden, Clay Geerdes, and R.K. Sloane”. Would you mind telling folks a little bit about each of them?
Michael Dowers: All three of these guys were very dedicated to what they were doing. It was their lives. Michael Roden was a very creative type and not only drew and made mini comix, but was a musician, a sculptor, and an entertainer. This man lived and breathed creativity almost all his life. Clay Geerdes was extremely dedicated to the world of underground comix. He saw Newave as the new underground and was responsible for encouraging, inspiring, and developing many cartoonists along he way. I do believe that Newave would have been a very different world with out him. R.K. Sloane was an amazing creative mind. He had accomplished many things in his life. In the early days he even had real underground comic published before undergrounds died in the latter 70’s. He made a movie called “Goblins” in the latter 70’s and went on to draw comics working for people like Big Daddy Roth. I met R.K. Sloane right around this time and published a full size comic of Big Daddy Roth’s RAT FINK drawn by Sloane. He went on to be one of the best of low-brow surrealistic painters that Robert Williams influenced before Sloane died. We will miss all three of these highly creative and influential people.
- February 15, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Comics cavalcade: Special Valentine edition
Girl’s Gotta Eat by Laura Park
Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies #82
- February 15, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Glyph Comics Awards nominees announced
Glyph Comics Awards
Rich Watson has sent out the list of nominees for this year’s Glyph Comics Awards, which recognize “the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year.”
This year’s nominees include last year’s big winner, Bayou‘s Jeremy Love, as well as World of Hurt creator Jay Potts, Trevor von Eeden for The Original Johnson, Joshua Dysart for Unknown Soldier , The K Chronicles‘ Keith Knight and many more.
The complete press release and nominee list can be found after the jump, along with details on how to vote in the fan award. The awards will be presented at The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention on May 15.
- February 15, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
This art show’s got you Covered
The Covered Art Show at Secret Headquarters
Founded by cartoonist Robert Goodin, Covered is one of the all-time great comic-art blog concepts: Get artists to draw “cover versions” of their favorite comics covers. And if you’ve been following blogs like Robot 6, you’ve probably gathered from the amount of linklove Covered has gotten that the execution has been just as awesome as the idea.
Now Covered is moving beyond the electronic walls of the Internet to the gallery walls of L.A. retailer Secret Headquarters, which is holding an Covered art show that opens March 6 at 8pm. The show will feature mostly all-new art in the mighty Covered manner from Goodin, Jeffrey Brown, Coop, Lisa Hanawalt, Dustin Harbin, Sammy Harkham, Sam Henderson, Tom Neely, Laura Park, Brian Ralph, Aaron Renier, Johnny Ryan, Richard Sala, Jeremy Tinder, Mark Todd, Jon Vermilyea, Steve Weissman, and many more. You’ll be able to buy art there or via Secret Headquarters’ Flickr page. Save those pennies, Los Angelenos!
(Via Shaggy Erwin)
- February 15, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Everyone’s a critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
• Hey, Brian Chippendale is blogging again! And this time, he’s talking about manga-ka Taiyo Matsumoto! Does it get much more awesome than that?
GoGo Monster
Number 5 is a strange work that reflects both Tekkonkinkreet and GoGo Monster. A schizophrenic collision of vicious playfulness and loose introspective beauty. At some point in each of his stories Matsumoto begins to pull you through a series of seemingly unrelated hoops, usually at an intense climatic moment when the characters are at a psychological breaking point. What slightly deviates in Number 5 is that the narrative hardly ever relaxes into a rhythm of storytelling for long. The entire book is a challenging ride that you have to hold onto constantly to not get thrown off track. But there are many pages of easy flowing action.
• Derik Badman and Thought Balloonist Craig Fischer engage in a great, lengthy discussion on the recent Abstract Comics anthology. Fellow TBer Charles Hatfield offers his own thoughts on the book here.
• Jog reviews two recent maga: Biomega and All My Darling Daughters. It’s worth checking out just to read his synopsis of the former.
- February 15, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Chris Mautner
BOOM! Town to put the ‘Ugli’ in Repuglicans
Repuglicans
What coincidental timing … just as the mainstream media and right-wing blogosphere are taking a closer look at the contents of Captain America #602 comes a press release from BOOM! Studios on a new BOOM! Town project that could very well turn their heads as well.
Called Repuglicans, the book will feature “completely unfair and not balanced” commentary and creepy caricatures of “Republican Party leaders and apparatchiks.” If you’ve ever imagined Ann Coulter as an alien or Glenn Beck as a zombie, here’s the book for you. Pete Von Sholly provides the art, while comedian Steve Tatham provides commentary.
You can read the entire press release after the jump.
- February 15, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Venture Bros., Jonah Hex figures debut at Toy Fair 2010
The Monarch
The Venture Bros. are here — or, at least, are in New York. UGO.com has posted several photos of Bif Bang Pow’s upcoming Venture Bros. ’70s-style’ figures, including Dr. Venture, Brock Samson and the Monarch. But wait — there’s more!
- February 15, 2010 @ 09:33 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Siege #1
Publishing | Sales of periodical comics in the direct market in January “inched up” 1 percent over the same month last year, while graphic novels continued their 10-month decline, ICv2.com reports. The retail news and analysis website notes that the total sales of single issues was the lowest since May.
Siege #1 and Green Lantern #50, which led Diamond’s Top 300, were the only titles to sell more than 100,000 copies. The 11th volume of The Walking Dead topped the graphic-novel chart with an estimated 16,900 copies, followed at a distant second by the first collection of The Unwritten. [ICv2.com]
Retailing | Simon Jones, Sean Kleefeld, Ralph Mathieu and Tom Spurgeon respond to retailer Brian Hibbs’ annual analysis of BookScan sales figures. Spurgeon details the “three big, sweeping problems to Hibbs’ general approach,” and goes on from there. [Tilting at Windmills]
- February 15, 2010 @ 09:31 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Leonardo Da Vinci, Agent of Shield
Weaver's Da Vinci
By Dustin Weaver. Apparently this is an actual variant cover to the first issue of the new SHIELD series. I wasn’t planning on checking this out when it’s in stores, but now I may have to, just on the slight possibility that Da Vinci will, in fact, be doing awesome super-hero spy stuff on the inside.
- February 15, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Booted from Southwest Airlines flight, ‘way fat’ Kevin Smith fights back
Kevin Smith: "Look how fat I am on your plane!"
The most entertaining reading of the weekend wasn’t, surprisingly enough, the continued overblown response to Captain America #602 but rather Kevin Smith’s Twitter crusade against Southwest Airlines after he was removed from a flight for, well, being too fat.
It all started on Saturday after the filmmaker and comics writer, who according to the airline had purchased two seats for a flight from Oakland to Burbank, California, changed his plans, opting for an earlier flight. That meant Smith was flying standby on a plane that, by the time he boarded, had only one seat available.
Shortly thereafter is when the problem, and the subsequent public-relations headache, began. Let’s mark the starting time at 7:52 p.m. Pacific on Saturday, when Smith fired the first volley: “Dear @SouthwestAir – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?”
“I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn’t give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a ‘safety risk,’” Smith continued. “Again: I’m way fat … But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as ‘Silent Bob.’ So, @SouthwestAir, go fuck yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no ‘safety risk’ (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was wrongly ejected from the flight (even Suzanne eventually agreed). And fuck your apologetic $100 voucher, @SouthwestAir. Thank God I don’t embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training). But I don’t sulk off either: so everyday, some new fuck-you Tweets for @SouthwestAir.”
But that, of course, was only the beginning.
- February 15, 2010 @ 07:24 AM by Kevin Melrose
Spider-Man, Wolverine join the Big Three on Avengers #1′s cover
Avengers #1 by Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita Jr.
Behold John Romita Jr.’s cover for Avengers #1, coming at you courtesy of IGN. (I spotted it via a tweet by Brian Michael Bendis himself.) Note the presence of Spider-Man and Wolverine, members of the New Avengers who nonetheless did not appear in Marvel’s recent series of teasers for the new adjectiveless Avengers line-up. Note also the presence of Iron Man, Thor, and Bucky Barnes as Captain America, who did get teasers. Ponder the absence of Hawkeye and Spider-Woman, who also got teasers. Keep in mind that Bendis tweeted “no, that is not the entire team.” Factor in Secret Avengers writer Ed Brubaker’s tweet that there are more Secret Avengers than those featured in that team’s mysterious teasers, too. Wonder just how many more Avengers surprises are in store.
- February 15, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
What Are You Reading?
Afrodisiac cover
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is none other than acclaimed cartoonist and co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies, James Sturm. Sturm, the author of such books as The Revival and The Golem’s Mighty Swing, has a new book coming out next month from Drawn & Quarterly entitled Market Day, and you definitely want to check it out, it’s a lulu.
In the meantime though, let’s simply check out what Sturm and the rest of the R6 crew is currently reading.
- February 14, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Toy Fair kicks off today
Tony Starch
Today is not only Valentine’s Day — the day you buy your sweetie a bunch of comics — but also the start of the annual Toy Fair in New York. Last week The Hollywood Reporter had a rundown of licensed toys expected to be “hot” at this year’s show, including, not surprisingly, lines for Toy Story 3 and Iron Man 2.
So what better way to celebrate than to post an image of Tony Starch, a mashed-up potato who combines both of Disney’s big movies into one awesome toy? Cool Toy Review has a whole gallery of new Iron Man toys up, and you can find more Toy Fair images on their site.
- February 14, 2010 @ 08:44 AM by JK Parkin