2010 March
Scott Pilgrim defeats Justin Bieber (on Twitter, at least)
Twitter worldwide trending topics
In what can only be a good sign for the movie, and perhaps the universe, “Scott Pilgrim” leaped ahead of “Justin Bieber” this morning on Twitter’s list of worldwide trending topics within minutes of the release of the trailer for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
Yes, that’s worldwide.
For those readers who don’t use Twitter, it’s important to know that on any given day, no matter what manner of war, policy debate or natural disaster is occurring, the teen pop sensation will appear as a trending topic. That’s because his fans apparently enjoy few things more than tweeting messages like “Yeahh Justin Bieber is a little cutie!” and “RT IF YOU WANNA KISS JUSTIN BIEBER!” (Note: Those are actual comments from this morning.)
Now add to that daily low-grade Bieber Fever the release earlier this week of his second album My World 2.0 and — brace yourselves — a video clip showing him blow-drying his trademark hair. It’s a wonder that Twitter, if not the Internet itself, didn’t explode.
Yet here we are this morning, with “Scott Pilgrim” climbing above “Justin Bieber,” above “#ItsReallyAnnoying” and, hell, even above “#omgfacts.”
Curiously, though, our evil ex-boyfriend-fighting protagonist has yet to crack the U.S. trending topics list, where South Park, with “Scrotie McBoogerballs,” reigns supreme.
Some day, Scott Pilgrim. Some day.
- March 25, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Bobby Timony’s Popeye pitch
Popeye by Bobby Timony
Bobby Timony, co-creator of the Zuda strip Night Owls, shares some artwork for a Popeye pitch he created some years back, featuring Popeye and a 10-year-old Swee’ Pea going on a treasure hunt. There’s also a giant robot, which is always a bonus in my book.
- March 25, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Gaga, ooh la la: More “Telephone”-inspired Lady Gaga/Beyoncé art
"Telephone" by Stan Chow
From deviantART to The New Yorker, artists and cartoonists keep dialing G for Gaga. In the wake of Jonas Åkerlund’s epic video for Gaga & Beyoncé’s duet “Telephone” a bumper crop of artistic tributes has blossomed. We’ve already rounded up a few early highlights; consider this the remix.
- March 25, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Twilight graphic novel sells well; sun to rise in east tomorrow
From "Twilight: The Graphic Novel"
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Yen Press announced yesterday that Twilight: The Graphic Novel had a highly successful debut week. Here’s the official word:
The graphic novel adaption of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight sold over 66,000 copies in its first week, the largest debut for a graphic novel in the US, according to publisher Yen Press. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1, illustrated by Korean artist Young Kim, already broke the record for largest first printing for a graphic novel with 350,000 copies.
You may be saying, “Duh! It’s Twilight!” but success doesn’t always transcend genres when a prose work is adapted into a graphic novel. When best-selling author Christine Feehan tested the waters with Dark Hunger, a global manga based on her Carpathian novels, readers on Amazon gave it terrible reviews (some of which, admittedly, were due to people buying it online and not realizing it was a graphic novel). The book was on the remainder tables within months. And this for an author whose readers are so obsessed, they compile book-length guides to her created world.
Twilight looks like it will fare better. While the initial burst in sales is not surprising, early reviews have mostly been positive, aside from Chris Sims’ brutal commentary on the lettering. Japanator’s Karen Gellender does a good job of explaining how the graphic novel compares to the prose book, and what it does better.
Of course, these numbers are tiny compared to the real giant of the industry: Jeff Kinney’s graphic novel-ish Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has sold 24 million copies, according to official company PR. That gives Bella and Co. something to shoot for.
- March 25, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
ComicsPRO
Retailing | The annual meeting of ComicsPRO, the direct-market trade organization, begins today in Memphis, Tennessee, with DC Comics-focused programming — we’ll likely see some announcements this afternoon — and continues through Saturday. Matt Price gauges the general mood among attendees concerning the economy, digital comics and the increasing reliance by publishers on “classified” solicitations whose details aren’t revealed until just before the final-order cutoff. [Nerdage]
Publishing | French publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés, which in recent years has had deals with DC Comics and Devil’s Due Publishing, plans to “formally reestablish itself” as a U.S. comic-book publisher — this time without a partner. The venture, called Humanoids Inc., is overseen by Publisher Fabrice Giger, Director Alex Donoghue, Editor-in-Chief Bob Silva and Senior Art Director Jerry Frissen. The first titles will be released in June. [Humanoids]
- March 25, 2010 @ 08:08 AM by Kevin Melrose
Forbush Man, Doctor America and Golden Age Deadpool star in Who Won’t Wield the Shield? one-shot
Doctor America
When I first saw the solicitation for Marvel’s upcoming Captain America: Who Won’t Wield the Shield? one-shot, I thought it was just another Deadpool parody comic. But while Deadpool does make an appearance — or the Golden Age version, anyway — he’s not the only character making fun of Captain America. The book will feature a new Forbush Man story written by Jason Aaron, a Doctor Strange/Captain America mash-up by Matt Fraction and the previously mentioned Golden Age Deadpool tale by Stuart Moore. Marvel.com talked to all three writers about their stories.
“Dr. Stephen Rogers, transformed by the Super-Satan formula into the pentagram-bespangled sentinel of the arcane, Doctor America,” Fraction said. “On behalf of the Undergovernment he goes mano eeeee mano with Richard Milhous Manson, aka the sinister Red Dick, and his genocidal assistant Bebe Rebeyonder to save the soul of the swinging, sinister, ’60s.”
Fraction’s tale, appropriately, will be drawn by Brendan McCarthy, as you can see to the right. OK, now I wish I’d pre-ordered this …
- March 25, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Will Paul Pope’s Battling Boy first be serialized online?
Battling Boy
Paul Pope’s eagerly anticipated, but much-delayed, graphic novel Battling Boy may see life online before it’s released in print.
The cartoonist revealed the information this afternoon on Twitter. “Battling Boy: can’t say final details yet but it looks very likely it will be online before in print,” Pope wrote. “I’m glad for that.” He quickly deleted the post, but not before it had been commented on, and passed along, by several readers.
Presumably Battling Boy would be serialized as part of First Second Books‘ new TBC/To Be Continued initiative that already boasts Mark Siegel’s Sailor Twain, or, the Mermaid in the Hudson, Amir and Khalil’s Zahra’s Paradise, and Derek Kirk Kim’s Tune. All three comics later will be released in print.
Announced in 2007, Battling Boy centers on the son of a god (or perhaps superhero) who’s sent down from the top of a mountain by his father to rid the continent-sized city of Monstropolis of the monsters that plague it.
“These are horrible, Grimm’s fairytale, Beowulf-ish monsters, awful things,” Pope wrote in 2008. “Child-stealers. Plus some of the vampires and mummies and wolfmen we remember from the old black and white Hollywood horror films.” He’s also teased a 50-page fight scene, the benefit of not having page restrictions.
Paramount Pictures optioned the film rights in November 2008.
- March 24, 2010 @ 04:19 PM by Kevin Melrose
Anaheim turns to Facebook for help in wooing Comic-Con
From the convention bureau's Facebook fan page
The courtship of Comic-Con International, and its $40-million annual boost to the local economy, has made the move to Facebook.
The Wrap discovers that the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau is turning to social media, and the people of Southern California, to help in its bid for the pop-culture event.
On a newly launched Facebook fan page called Bring Comic-Con International to Anaheim, CA, the convention bureau posts an “Open Letter to Comic-Con International” extolling the virtues of the Orange County area and the Anaheim Convention Center — it underscores the selling points on its website — while acknowledging organizers’ hesitancy about uprooting the event from its longtime San Diego home.
“… We get the feeling that it is going to take something extra to get you to leave a place of comfort and familiarity to come to Anaheim,” the letter states. “We need to show you the level of interest and excitement that Comic-Con International elicits out of this huge Southern California drive market.”
To that end, the convention bureau is using the Facebook page “to gauge the fervor of the Southern California crowd” and show convention organizers “just how excited people would get at the mere consideration of Comic-Con International moving to Anaheim.”
It will take more than excitement and Facebook fans, though. As Comic-Con nears the end of its lease with the San Diego Convention Center, the home it long ago outgrew — attendance has been capped at about 126,000 because of lack of space — Anaheim and Los Angeles are prime contenders for the event for 2013 and beyond.
That’s not to say San Diego should be counted out: The San Diego Convention Center Corp. has submitted a proposal seeking to extend Comic-Con’s contract through 2015, and has secured commitments from three waterfront hotels to provide for free about 300,000 square feet of meeting space from 2013 to 2015.
- March 24, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
Send us your Shelf Porn!
For a little more than a year, in addition to all the other stuff he posts here at Robot 6, Chris Mautner has been your guide inside the homes and shelves of comic fans from around the world. Starting this week, Chris is stepping back from blogging with us on a daily basis and will no longer be doing stuff like Shelf Porn and our Sunday What Are You Reading? features. Never fear, though; Chris isn’t actually leaving, and you’ll still see stuff like Collect This Now!, Comics College, reviews and other stuff from him every week.
And Shelf Porn isn’t going anywhere either. I’ll be taking it over each Wednesday, so if you’d like to show off yours, drop me an email at jkparkin@yahoo.com. If you sent Chris yours already, there’s no need to send it again — he passed on a folder full of submissions that we will get to in the weeks ahead.
Today’s awesome entry comes from Stev Page in Lexington, Kentucky, whose collection ranges from comics and action figures to artwork and even a movie prop. Check out Stev’s pictures and commentary after the jump.
- March 24, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Fantagraphics teams with historian Rick Marschall to create new imprint
Fantagraphics announced today that they’ve entered into a publishing agreement with comics historian Rick Marschall to create Marschall Books, “an imprint devoted to comics, cartoons, and graphic humor.”
“Marschall Books will offer a unique and wide range of comics and cartooning projects,” said Fantagraphics Books publisher Gary Groth in a press release. “The breadth and depth of Rick’s historical vision is such that he will be editing anthologies of complete strips, ‘Best Of’ collections, critical appreciations, biographies, and some new multi-media projects.”
Marschall is a former editorial cartoonist, Marvel editor and Disney comics writer who has worked on more than 60 books and hundreds of articles on pop culture and comics history. He’s also taught related classes at various universities and has worked with Fantagraphics before, on collections of works by E.C. Segar, Windsor McCay and Will Gould, among others.
This new imprint will draw upon Rick Marschall’s collection, which is comprised of thousands of original drawings; complete runs of newspaper comics beginning in 1893; complete runs of the major cartoon and humor magazines from American and Europe; comic books and reprint comics, graphic novels, political cartoons and protest graphics, specialty collections including posters, ads, toys and games, post cards and greeting cards, pinbacks; cartoonist letters and sketches; biographies and anthologies.
Information on some of the books they have planned can be found on the Fantagraphics blog.
- March 24, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 125
Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.
Dayum.
Back next week.
- March 24, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Slash Print | Following the digital evolution
Devices: Manga expert Jason Thompson checks out iPhone apps for reading scanlations. Ironically, this article appears on the website of comiXology, the creators of the legit comics-reading app.
Creators: Lucy Knisley discusses both digital media and her favorite comics store at Question Riot.
Creators: Overflow Magazine profiles Dean Haspiel and the Brooklyn comics community, which includes such notables as Becky Cloonan, Vasilos Lolos, Mike Cavallaro, and George O’Connor. (Via The Beat.)
Webcomics: Delos Woodruff reviews King Spot, a comic that mixes text and images in an unusual fashion.
Devices: Japanese artist Aya Fujii is publishing the yaoi manga Peach Boy: MOMO & MIKAN on the Kindle in English and Japanese.
- March 24, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
There is something out there in the darkness, something … wet
Awww ... the Batman rain collection
Criminals may be a superstitious, cowardly lot, but with this new Batman rain gear, they’ll also be dry. Dry and adorable.
There, Washington Shoe Company and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, you’re free to use that for the ad campaign for the new Batman rain collection. It’s a heck of a lot better than “April Showers Bring Batman Powers.” (Psst. Batman doesn’t have any powers. Also, that phrase would only make sense with someone like Aquaman. Possibly. But there’s probably not a big demand for Aquaman rain gear …)
Anyway, the collection, geared toward kids and juniors, features umbrellas, boots and raincoats — the latter of which comes with a removable cape with glow-in-the-dark Batman emblem. You can see more photos at the link.
- March 24, 2010 @ 11:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
Science corner: Moving pictures
From the "Hokusai Manga"
The comics page is static, yet artists have many ways to make the characters move: speed lines, superimposed images, or simply having the character lean in the direction of motion. The 19th-century Japanese artist Hokusai used another technique, placing his characters in unstable postures that often defy gravity.
Curious about how the brain detects motion, a group of researchers at Kyoto University showed images from the Hokusai Manga to test subjects while observing their brain functions using MRI. Although it’s hard to imagine reading a comic during an MRI, the researchers found that indeed, when the subjects saw Hokusai’s off-balance wrestlers and swordsmen, the parts of their brains that sense motion lit up, while his drawings of priests standing still had no such effect. Next, the researchers are planning to see if drawings of animals or even ocean waves can trigger the same response as the human figures.
- March 24, 2010 @ 10:45 AM by Brigid Alverson
Williams on Batwoman: ‘I don’t know if that’s going to happen’
iFanboy.com has posted a video of footage from the Emerald City Comicon, where they spoke to several creators at the show about what they were working on. Around the 4:00 mark they talk to artist J.H. Williams III and ask him if the Batwoman title that was mentioned as being in the works last year will still happen.
“I don’t know. We were hoping for that,” Williams said. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen.” The artist, who worked with Greg Rucka on an amazing Batwoman run for Detective Comics, did say he was working on a short story for the upcoming DC Legacies title featuring the Seven Soldiers and another upcoming issue of Jonah Hex.
You can watch the entire video below, which also features interviews with Brian Michael Bendis, Jeff Lemire, Jim Rugg and Peter Tomasi.
- March 24, 2010 @ 10:07 AM by JK Parkin