2010 March
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Nick Simmons
Publishing | The release of a statement Monday by Nick Simmons has done little to fend off widespread accusations that he plagiarized Bleach and other manga, as well as DeviantArt members, in his Radical Publishing miniseries Incarnate. If anything, the statement — characterized as a “non-apology apology” and “oil on a grease fire” — refocuses attention, and blame, on Simmons after much of the online discussion had branched off into debates about scanlations and fan works. (It also was noticed by The New York Times.) Tom Spurgeon’s humorous headline pretty much sums up the tone of Simmons’ two-paragraph remarks: “Plagiarist Apologizes For Being Awesome.”
Simon Jones, who writes a good post title, tackles some falsehoods that keep getting repeated in the debate. Gottsu-Iiyan, meanwhile, points to near-identical panels in Frank Miller’s Elektra Lives Again and Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita, and wonders whether there are double standards at play (last link via Brigid Alverson).
- March 2, 2010 @ 07:58 AM by Kevin Melrose
Stan Lee still the busiest guy in comics
Stan's Back
BOOM! Studios confirmed via press release this morning what many people already suspected — the “Stan’s Back” promotion that’s been running on various websites is, indeed, their handiwork. Legendary creator Stan Lee is teaming up with them to create three new superhero titles that’ll be written by Mark Waid and two other unannounced comic writers.
This, of course, is just one of several irons that Lee has in the fire right now. Earlier this week Archie Comics introduced High Rise, one of the characters appearing in Lee’s Super Seven, the project he’s working on with them and A Squared Entertainment. You also might remember that his company POW! Entertainment is expanding its ties with Disney. Not to mention Ultimo and his appearances in movies, video games, conventions … I hope I’m that active when I’m 87.
The press release can be found after the jump.
- March 2, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: Jim Rugg
Afrodisiac
Regular readers of Robot 6 will not be surprised to read we’re fans of Jim Rugg‘s work. Rugg and I recently did an email interview regarding his latest collaboration with Brian Maruca, Afrodisiac (AdHouse). The book is described here as: “Inspired by the blaxploitation films of the 1970s and classic superhero comics, the Afrodisiac collects art and comics starring the original super badass and featuring cool cars, sexy women, scary monsters, self-righteous superheroes, corrupt cops, aliens, Dracula, Richard Nixon.” Any interview so deeply focused on an unforgettable independent work of this caliber is a blast–partially also thanks to the wacky turns our discussion takes, including into the realm of Wolverine. My thanks to Rugg for his time and to longtime pal of mine (as well as a great publisher), AdHouse’s Chris Pitzer, for his assistance in arranging the interview.
Tim O’Shea: Before getting into the guts of the book, one quick question on the back cover. Who had the idea to do the female silhouette glaze (or what would it be called) on the back cover?
Jim Rugg: It’s called a spot varnish, son. When we figured out the front cover design, Chris Pitzer (Adhouse Books publisher and all-around awesome design guru) suggested a spot varnish for the glasses. That sounded great to me. So I wanted to take advantage of the spot varnish on the back too. But the illustration on the back didn’t really lend itself to the same treatment as the front. I wasn’t sure the back cover effect would work, but figured it was the back cover. Give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out.
- March 1, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Tim O'Shea
Read the third chapter of Mark Crilley’s ‘Brody’s Ghost’ right here, right now
Brody's Ghost
The next edition of MySpace Dark Horse Presents comes out on Wednesday, but courtesy of Dark Horse we’re happy to bring you the entire third chapter of Mark Crilley’s “Brody’s Ghost” before this week’s issue goes live.
Mark spoke to CBR about the story in January, and I asked him if he wanted to set up this third chapter. So, let’s hear from Mark:
This story centers on Brody’s training with his samurai mentor ghost, Kagemura. We’ve leaped ahead to a point in the saga where Brody is in the thick of his training. I wanted to show how demanding it was and the toll it was taking on him. In the series I’ll be challenging myself to make the acquisition of supernatural powers as believable as possible; not a miraculous ‘bit by a radioactive spider’ type deal, but something more gradual: a process the reader can almost imagine going through him or herself. This eight-pager conveys some of the training process and also some of the mental tug of war that goes on between Brody and Kagemura. In the series we’ll get to see more of this, following Brody’s transformation from a deadbeat loser to a young man of truly superhuman abilities.
You can check out the first two chapters on the MySpace Dark Horse Presents page. And all of chapter three can be found right after the jump …
- March 1, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by JK Parkin
Everyone’s A Critic: A roundup of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
The Art of Jaime Hernandez
• Tim Holder offers an initial critique of the upcoming Art of Jaime Hernandez book, which results in a flurry of great comments from book designers, critics and the editor of said book. Easily one of the most informative and insightful comments threads in months, if not years. (Also: L&R fan Marc Sobel offers his thoughts.)
• Along the same lines, Jeet Heer offers an old review of Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz.
• Marc Singer talks about why he included Maus in his comics class, and how his students reacted to it.
• Responding to an earlier essay by Jeet Heer (there he is again) on cartoonists’ mid-life crises, Gary Groth offers his own thoughts and posts an essay he’d written on the topic several years ago. (part one, part two, and part three).
- March 1, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Bendis’ two Avengers titles to feature back-up stories
New Avengers #1 teaser art by Stuart Immonen
Hot on the heels of this morning’s announcement of New Avengers‘ June relaunch with a new issue #1, writer Brian Michael Bendis is revealing a little more about his upcoming work with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. On his Twitter account, the Avengers and New Avengers scribe wrote,
both my avengers titles have back ups written by me. every month. it’s what we call in the biz, a handsome package.
The first of those two titles, the adjectiveless Avengers, debuts in May with art by John Romita Jr., while the following month’s New Avengers #1 will be drawn by Bendis’ longtime Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers collaborator Stuart Immonen — and co-star newly minted Thunderbolt Luke Cage, apparently. Or as Bendis puts it:
two avengers titles with rock star artists who CAN DO A MONTHLY! NA 1 is almost in the can!
The post-Siege world of “The Heroic Age” is starting to come into sharper focus. So too, perhaps, are Marvel’s plans for books bearing the $3.99 price point. And will we see back-ups in Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato’s Secret Avengers as well, I wonder?
- March 1, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 119
Back on track to two pages a week.
Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’ll cut my pinky off or something…
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.
Well, looks like someone has a bunch of new best friends.
Let’s see how that works out on Wednesday.
- March 1, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Incarnate creator Nick Simmons responds to plagiarism allegations
From Tite Kubo's "Bleach" (left) and Nick Simmons' "Incarnate"
Incarnate creator Nick Simmons has responded to widespread accusations that he plagiarized Bleach and other popular manga, saying that “certain similarities” were “simply meant as an homage to artists I respect.”
Radical Publishing last week stopped production on the collection of Simmons’ three-issue miniseries amid growing claims he had copied panel compositions, character designs, dialogue and plot elements from eight manga, including One Piece, Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D and Bleach.
In a statement issued by Simmons’ representative and posted on Comics Worth Reading, the 21-year-old artist said: “Like most artists I am inspired by work I admire. There are certain similarities between some of my work and the work of others. This was simply meant as an homage to artists I respect, and I definitely want to apologize to any Manga fans or fellow Manga artists who feel I went too far. My inspirations reflect the fact that certain fundamental imagery is common to all Manga. This is the nature of the medium. I am a big fan of Bleach, as well as other Manga titles. And I am certainly sorry if anyone was offended or upset by what they perceive to be the similarity between my work and the work of artists that I admire and who inspire me.”
A representative for Radical Publishing verified the statement comes from Simmons, son of KISS frontman and reality-TV star Gene Simmons.
Incarnate debuted in August with heavy promotional support from Radical and A&E TV, the network that airs Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels. The comic is showcased on the show’s webpage and sold through its online store.
The plagiarism allegations emerged early last week, igniting discussions — and art comparisons — on countless blogs, message boards and fan sites, with a Facebook group going so far as to call for legal action against Simmons. However, when alerted to the accusations via Twitter, Bleach creator Tite Kubo seemed more amused than anything: “I’m more interested in the fact that Gene Simmons’ son is a mangaka than whether he’s plagiarizing me or not.”
- March 1, 2010 @ 12:41 PM by Kevin Melrose
Comics cavalcade: Dan DeCarlo, Charles Schulz and Reed Crandall
Every day, people post comics on the Internet. Three times a week, we try to link to the ones that catch our eyes.
When I Grow Up by Lucy Kinsley
How to Suck at Facebook by The Oatmeal
- March 1, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Shaner’s Fury
Perhaps Marvel is overthinking this whole super-spy Nick Fury angle. Perhaps a more sophisticated, retro approach, as suggested by Evan “Doc” Shaner, is warranted in these sullen times. By the way, check out the rest of Shaner’s blog for some more cool DC/Marvel pin-ups, including Fin Fang Foom and Black Adam as a Red Lantern.
- March 1, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Reed Business sells Library Journal, School Library Journal
Library Journal
Ohio-based Media Source Inc. announced this morning it has purchased Library Journal and School Library Journal magazines, part of the Reed Business Information empire.
Media Source owns Junior Library Guild and The Horn Book Inc. The School Library Journal website plays host to the Good Comics for Kids blog.
Reed placed Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal and other publications on the block in July following an earlier unsuccessful attempt by parent company Reed Elsevier to sell its entire magazine-publishing division. The global publisher also owns Reed Exhibitions, which produces New York Comic Con, BookExpo America and Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.
Shortly after news of the sale was released, Publishers Weekly announced Jim Milliott and Michael Coffey as co-editorial directors and Cevin Bryerman as the new publisher. Brian Kenney will continue to edit LJ and SLJ under the ownership. Ron Shank, Reed’s former group publisher, will serve as publisher of the two magazines.
- March 1, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Ryan Ottley’s cinnamon-scented Crayon Hulk
Hulk by Ryan Ottley
Invincible artist Ryan Ottley shares a pin-up of the Hulk he created for his four-year-old son with the only tools he had on hand — “two big fat crayons and one pencil that was cinnamon scented, which was odd but pleasing at the same time.” If you follow the link, you’ll also see a page from Invincible 70, which probably wasn’t created with a cinnamon-scented pencil.
- March 1, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Get a sneak peek at the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack
Jealous ones still Envy: The Clash at Demonhead from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Well, “peek” isn’t quite the right word, but sneak listen just sounds kinda funny. Either way, Canadian rock outfit Metric is offering a sneak preview (yeah, that’s the ticket!) of one of their contributions to the deeply cool-sounding soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, director Edgar Wright’s upcoming adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s much-beloved comic series. Visit Metric’s Facebook page and become a fan to have a listen to their song “Black Sheep.”
The song is basically performed in character: Metric will be handling all the music for Scott Pilgrim‘s fictional band The Clash at Demonhead, while their semi-sister band Broken Social Scene will be “playing” Crash and the Boys. The music for Scott Pilgrim’s own band Sex Bob-omb will be provided by none other than Beck.
Man, this movie’s gonna be fun.
(Via Edgar Wright, Slashfilm, and Sean Belcher)
- March 1, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Straight for the art | Mico’s Rocketeer
Mico's Rocketeer
I’m really digging these two iconic logos the artist known only as The Mico did of The Rocketeer. Enough so that I wish there were more. (via)
- March 1, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Superman
Legal | In what could be a prelude to a courtroom battle with the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, Jeff Trexler reports that Warner Bros. has replaced its outside counsel with superstar attorney Daniel Petrocelli.
A partner in the Los Angeles law firm O’Melveny and Myers, Petrocelli is best known for representing Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ronald Goldman, in a wrongful-death lawsuit against O.J. Simpson. Petrocelli also successfully defended The Walt Disney Co. in a lengthy battle over merchandising royalties from Winnie-the-Pooh.
The Siegel family, of course, has its own superstar attorney: intellectual-property lawyer Marc Toberoff, who also represents the children of Jack Kirby in their bid to reclaim their father’s copyrights to characters he created for Marvel. [Blog@Newsarama]
Legal | A proposed amendment to Tokyo’s regional laws designed to ban the sale of loli material to minors uses such vague and sweeping language that the effects could be far-reaching. [Sankaku Complex, Icarus Publishing]
- March 1, 2010 @ 08:12 AM by Kevin Melrose