2010 May
Talking Comics with Tim: Sierra Hahn, Joëlle Jones
Janet & Alex Evanovich's Troublemaker
Troublemaker is a unique opportunity for Dark Horse, in which Janet Evanovich continues her best-selling Barnaby series (as first chronicled in the prose novels, Metro Girl and Motor Mouth) with her first graphic novel [co-written by Evanovich with her daughter, Alex]. Troublemaker is a two-part series–the first book comes out in July and the second book is due out in November. I recently email-interviewed the editor of the project, Sierra Hahn, as well as one of the series’ artist, Joëlle Jones. Dark Horse describes the book as follows: “Alex Barnaby and Sam Hooker are back together and fighting crime the only way they know how — by leaving a trail of chaos, panic, and disorder. Alex, an auto mechanic and spotter for racecar driver Sam Hooker, is drawn to trouble like a giant palmetto bug to a day-old taco. Unfortunately, she’s also drawn to Hooker in the same fashion. There’s no steering clear of trouble or Hooker when friends Rosa and Felicia call for help. A man has gone missing, and in order to find him Barnaby and Hooker will have to go deep into the underbelly of Miami and southern Florida, surviving Petro Voodoo, explosions, gift-wrapped body parts, a deadly swamp chase, and Hooker’s mom.” My thanks to Hahn and Jones for the interview and Dark Horse’s Jim Gibbons for his assistance.
Sierra Hahn
Tim O’Shea: When did Dark Horse first approach Janet Evanovich about the possibility of a graphic novel–how much were you involved?
Sierra Hahn: I’ve been assisting on Buffy Season Eight going on three years now, and one day discovered that Janet Evanovich had done an incredibly thoughtful review of Season Eight for Time magazine. After that, Dark Horse reached out to her not only to say thanks, but to see if she had any interest in making comics herself. I wasn’t involved with the initial outreach to Janet, and came on board after a project was decided on.
- May 31, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
What Are You Reading?
The Man with the Getaway Face
Welcome to a special holiday weekend edition of What Are You Reading?, as we take a break from hot dogs and street festivals to take a look at what comics we’ve been reading this week. Our special guest this week is Vito Delsante, writer of FCHS and the upcoming Stray. When he isn’t making comics, he’s selling them at Jim Hanley’s Universe, located in New York near the Empire State Building.
To see what Vito and the rest of the Robot 6 crew are reading, click below …
- May 30, 2010 @ 03:17 PM by JK Parkin
Superheroes gather in Melbourne to break Guinness World Record
Batmen and Robin
The Guinness World Record for the most people wearing superhero costumes in one place was shattered Saturday, and it wasn’t at the San Diego Comic-Con. According to the Australian, 1,245 people dressed as Superman, the Hulk and plenty of other superheroes gathered in Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, breaking the record of 1,091 previously set in the United Kingdom. You can see a gallery of photos from the event here.
- May 29, 2010 @ 03:35 PM by JK Parkin
U.S. government sues operator of pirate comics website
HTMLcomics
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Gregory Steven Hart, who operated HTMLcomics and five similar pirate websites.
The complaint asks for a federal judge to order Hart to forfeit the domain names of the sites — among them, HTMLcomics.com, ComicBooksFree.com and PlayboyMonthly.com — which the government says were used to commit criminal copyright infringement.
HTMLcomics hosted more than 100,000 copyrighted titles, from Batman and The Amazing Spider-Man to Hellboy and Dilbert. Hart had asserted that because the comics couldn’t be downloaded, the website was legal and “like a lending library.” He reportedly told his attorney the site received up to 500,000 hits a day.
In April the FBI searched Hart’s home in Tampa, Florida, seizing records, hard drives, computers and DVDs containing copyrighted images. The raid followed an investigation spurred by a consortium of publishers and copyright owners, including Marvel, DC Comics, Dark Horse, Bongo Comics, Archie Comics, Conan Properties International, Mirage Studios and United Media.
Hart claimed as recently as December that he had spoken with Marvel representatives, and “all is good.” “Our approach is not distribution,” he wrote on a comics forum, “hence the reason we’ve been around for over a year, and will be around for a long time to come. Google is using our site as a reference of how to create an online library, and not violate copyright laws.”
However, according to the lawsuit, Marvel and other companies sent letters to Hart demanding that he remove their publications from the site. Curiously, Hart reportedly said that if no publisher agreed to a revenue-sharing arrangement, he would continue to operate the site without charging users.
At the time of the HTMLcomics shutdown, Hart had more than 6 million pages from some 5,700 separate series.
- May 29, 2010 @ 06:22 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics College | Harvey Kurtzman
Mad Archives Vol. 2
Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.
Today it’s time (long pat time actually) to take a look at one of the most influential and undisputed masters of the comics medium, Harvey Kurtzman.
- May 28, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’
Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965
With Memorial Day approaching on Monday here in the United States, Vertigo had a couple of posts on their blog this week that seem appropriate to link to. First, on Thursday, Pamela Mullin posted filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s introduction to DMZ: Hearts and Minds trade:
We’re lucky here in the United States. There hasn’t been a war fought on American soil in more than 145 years. We’ve been distanced, protected, and made safe from the fear and horrors of war, especially from the possibility of having one in our own backyard.
When you go home tonight, turn on one of our Big 4 TV news networks and see how much coverage is actually dedicated to any of the ongoing struggles happening beyond our borders. In the United States, we have helped support and create a government and a media machine that puts us in a bubble, reinforces a xenophobic view of the world, and puts all of our troubles “out of sight and out of mind.”
But all that stops in DMZ – and I find that to be the bravest and most important part of this revolutionary series.
- May 28, 2010 @ 12:01 PM by JK Parkin
Slash Print | Following the digital revolution
Marvel's iPad app
Quote of the week goes to Penguin’s deputy chief executive Tom Weldon:
The only way to fight piracy is to publish digital content across as many formats as possible, through as many channels, at a fair price. If we go for exclusive or proprietary formats, we’re completely screwed.
This got approving links all over the place, although at TeleRead, commenters pointed out that Penguin seems to be doing just the opposite at the moment.
Marvel: In a BookExpo America panel, Marvel executive VP Ira Rubenstein said that iPad sales are increasing, and they are leading to sales of physical books. His reasoning is that people are discovering new characters as they browse, then picking up the comics on their next trip to the store: “We’re seeing that digital is becoming the newsstand of today.”
Digital publishing: In case you missed it, be sure to read Augie De Blieck, Jr.‘s Pipeline column chiding publishers for regarding comics stores as partners to be protected, rather than one of several possible income streams (with digital sales being another). Sean Kleefeld raises another possibility, though: Maybe publishers are holding back because they are afraid going digital won’t bring in new readers, because everyone who would ever read a superhero comic is already reading them.
- May 28, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
If I Were In R’lyeh, I’d Go To This
Here’s something to look forward to if you’ve ever heard the call of Cthlhu: A Love Craft, an upcoming exhibition of art inspired by the work of hugely influential horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Hosted at Observatory in Brooklyn beginning with a Friday, June 11th opening reception at 7pm, the show features such masters of the macabre as Monster Brains impresario Aeron Alfrey and comics artists Greg Ruth and Johnny Ryan, whose contribution you can see after the jump. Go get your fhtagn on!
- May 28, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Finally, Ace the Bat Hound gets his own T-shirt
Lanvin’s Dog Batman T-shirt
Well, not really. According to WWD Fashion, in honor of DC’s 75th anniversary, French clothing retailer Colette has asked several clothing designers to create DC character-themed clothing for its latest window display. The limited edition items include the above Dog Batman T-shirt by Lanvin men’s wear designer Lucas Ossendrijver, whiskered Catwoman thigh boots by Roger Vivier, a Green Lantern glove by Karl Lagerfeld and Plastic Man shades by Thierry Lasry. You can see pictures of them here.
- May 28, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
One Manga among world’s 1,000 most-visited websites
One Manga
One Manga, a scanlation website frequently at the center of discussions about online piracy, cracked Google’s newly released list of the world’s 1,000 most-visited websites.
Using data compiled from Google’s Doubleclick Ad Planner, the list places One Manga at No. 935 with 4.2 million unique visitors each month. The site, which illegally posts translated scans of hundreds of manga titles, ranks higher than Toysrus.com, Barbie.com, NFL.com and VirginMedia.com — and, well, countless thousands of others that didn’t make the list at all.
(via WebNewser)
- May 28, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Hassler defends Twilight lettering
How not to place a word balloon (thanks, Chris Sims!)
Kurt Hassler pretty much invented the notion of selling comics to girls when he was the head buyer at Borders, so it’s not surprising that he has continued that trend as publishing director of Yen Press. And indeed, Yen’s graphic novel adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight sold 66,000 copies in its first week of release, which is a pretty good indication that Hassler knows what he is doing, regardless of what the rest of us may think. While most comics folk grudgingly admitted that the book itself wasn’t bad, the lettering got a lot of criticism online. So naturally, the subject came up when CBR’s Kiel Phegley interviewed Hassler earlier this week. Hassler parried the question, essentially saying that the critics didn’t understand what the artist was doing:
- May 28, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Marvel’s Loki inspires name for newly discovered horned dinosaur
Medusaceratops lokii and Marvel's Loki
A newly identified horned dinosaur owes its name to a combination of Greek mythology and Marvel comics.
Michael Ryan, a scientist at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, tells The Plain Dealer he wanted something memorable for the pickup truck-sized plant-eater that roamed the plains of Montana 78 million years ago.
To capture the strangeness of the creature, with its sharp beak, curved horns and enormous collar, Ryan settled on Medusaceratops lokii — drawing from the monster of Greek myth and the Norse god mischief. However, Ryan wasn’t inspired by the classical figure, but rather the Jack Kirby-designed Marvel supervillain.
“We had a lot of confusion with this,” Ryan tells the newspaper. “And if you look at the way they draw Loki in the original comic, he has this big helmet with these two giant hooks that come out of the top. So it’s coincidental that it all lines up. I thought it made a great name.”
- May 28, 2010 @ 08:16 AM by Kevin Melrose
Paolo Rivera’s mother unveils pages from ‘One Moment in Time’
"One Moment in Time" art by Paolo Rivera
In a novel marketing move, the mother of artist Paolo Rivera has debuted four pages of her son’s art from the much-discussed “One Moment in Time” storyline that kicks off in July’s Amazing Spider-Man #637.
“Paolo Rivera is my son,” she writes, “and he’s been working round-the-clock to finish these illustrations. I’m pleased to have been asked to feature these pieces for Marvel.”
Written by Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, “O.M.I.T.” will deal with the controversial “One More Day” story that erased the wedding day of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Serialized in The Amazing Spider-Man #637-640, the new arc will turn back the clock to show the events on what should have been the couple’s wedding day.
- May 28, 2010 @ 07:23 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC to bring back its war comics as one-shots in September
Weird War Tales #1, by Darwyn Cooke
DC Comics announced this morning that some of its most famous war titles will return in September with a series of one-shots.
The comics include: Weird War Tales, by Ivan Brandon and Darwyn Cooke; Our Fighting Forces, by B. Clay Moore and Chad Hardin; Star-Spangled War Stories, by William Tucci and Justiniano; G.I. Combat, by Matt Sturges and Phil Winslade; and Our Army at War, whose creative team apparently hasn’t been named.
The one-shots feature covers by Cooke, Mark Schultz, Geof Darrow, Joe Kubert and Brian Bolland.
There’s no word on which characters will be spotlighted, but it seems likely that G.I. Combat will feature the Haunted Tank — Darrow’s cover verifies as much — Weird War Tales the Creature Commandos or maybe G.I. Robot, Our Army at War Sgt. Rock or Enemy Ace, and, fingers crossed, Star-Spangled War Stories “The War That Time Forgot.”
- May 28, 2010 @ 06:50 AM by Kevin Melrose
Police confirm that ThunderCats writer Stephen Perry was murdered
Stephen Perry
Police in Zephyrhills, Florida, have confirmed that ThunderCats writer Stephen Perry, who has been missing for more than two weeks, is the victim of an apparent homicide.
His van was discovered on May 16 at a Tampa motel, reportedly near a severed arm. More remains were found in a dumpster at a gas station two miles from his ransacked home. Perry’s roommates, James Davis, 45, and Roxanne Davis, 49, were missing as well. However, police later arrested the couple on unrelated charges. They’re now considered “persons of interest” in the case.
Perry, 56, suffered from bladder cancer and had been jobless, without health care and, for a time, forced to live in his van with his 5-year-old son Leo. Over the past eight months he received assistance from the Hero Initiative, which helped him to line up work and pay rent, utilities and medical bills.
The Tampa Tribune reports that Krystal Carroll, his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend and the mother of Leo, was told on May 19 that Perry was dead. The two had a tumultuous relationship, with Carroll seeking emergency custody of their son and Perry getting a domestic violence injunction against her, all in late April.
Earlier this week the newspaper spoke with Perry’s longtime friend, artist Steve Bissette, who had been instrumental in bringing the writer’s plight to the attention of the comics industry. Since Perry was reported missing, Bissette has devoted his blog to remembering his friend’s life and career and tracking news reports of his disappearance.
Perry was best known for his work on the mid-1980s animated series ThunderCats and SilverHawks, both developed by Rankin/Bass. However, he also wrote comics like Timespirits and Psi-Force for Marvel and Wally Wood’s THUNDER Agents for Deluxe. Nat Gertler revealed that, to help the writer, he recently purchased the rights to Salimba, the jungle-heroine comic that Perry created in the 1980s with Paul Chadwick.
- May 27, 2010 @ 05:15 PM by Kevin Melrose