2010 June
John Porcellino sells, talks about comics
Don't YOU want to hear what John Porcellino has to say about this comic?
Wow, this is a delightful way to spend some time this afternoon. John Porcellino, whose quietly beautiful, self-published series King-Cat is the most influential minicomic of all time, has created a blog for his DIY distribution outfit Spit and a Half. And not only is he selling hard-to-find comics, zines, photography books, and manga by Alan Moore (!), Gabrielle Bell, Minty Lewis, Zak Sally, Dave Kiersh, Lilli Carré and many more, he’s also personally writing up insightful little descriptions of each of them. Whether he’s calling Moore’s underground magazine Dodgem Logic “a weird, bright, in-your-face blast of idiosyncrasy,” dubbing Kiersh “a Great American Artist — his art addresses a uniquely American flavor of loneliness and desire, with his recurring themes of suburban, teenage anxiety, lust, ‘romance,’ and desolation,” or explaining how Kazuichi Hanawa’s Doing Time was his “gateway” manga, his thoughts on comics are as worthy as his comics themselves. Check it out!
(via Annie Koyama)
- June 10, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Comics Cavalcade | Monkeys, squirrels and sociologists
Every day people post comics on the Internet. Here are a few that caught our eyes.
“Lingerie Models, Secret Assassins” by Benjamin Marra
- June 10, 2010 @ 01:05 PM by JK Parkin
Quotes of the day | Tom Brevoort vs. the Titans franchise
from Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #3
“On sale today: HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD #1. Guaranteed to have 100% less heroin use and impotence than the average comic starring an archer.” —Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, implicitly comparing H&M #1 to DC’s much-maligned Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal, on his Twitter account last week.
“On sale tomorrow: YOUNG ALLIES #1 by Sean McKeever and David Baldeon. It’s like what you wanted Sean’s TEEN TITANS run to be!” —Brevoort, contrasting McKeever’s new teen-team title with his creative-differences-marred previous teen-team title, on Twitter this week.
(Lest you think he’s saving all his DC disapproval for Titans-related books, he’s also unhappy with the length of Batman #700, but I wanted to stick with the theme)
- June 10, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Comic-Con adds more shuttles to alleviate hotel pains
Comic-Con International
If you were one of the many Comic-Con International attendees who ended up with a room in Mission Valley or Shelter Island when booking your room through Travel Planners in March, the CCI folks are attempting to ease some of the pain of being so far away by expanding their shuttle route to include those areas.
“The hotel reservation situation this year didn’t go as well as it should have,” said David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations, in a press release. “As a result, many people who expected to be closer to the downtown area found themselves in hotels farther away. For this reason we have expanded our shuttle route to help accommodate those who are staying at Mission Valley and Shelter Island hotels.”
You can find the shuttle schedule here. They will also keep their bag-checking services open longer each night so attendees can check their bags while hitting some of the night time events. And for those who choose to drive to the show or rent a car, they’ve made a deal with some of the local parking lots to sell permits in advance.
- June 10, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Meet Harlequin, Pinocchio’s vampire-slaying friend
At HeroesCon last weekend we learned that Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen’s vampire-killing puppet will return this fall in the sequel to last year’s Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer. The new book, Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater, will see Pinocchio team up with several other wooden vampire hunters, the first of which we’re really happy to reveal today:
Watch for more reveals in the weeks ahead. Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater will be solicited in July’s Previews catalog for its October release. The solicitation text reads:
Pinocchio’s back… but who are his friends!?! In the sequel to the 2009 graphic novel Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer by Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen, the titular puppet has to share the undead-killing stage. The stakes are raised in Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater (SLG Publishing) as Pinocchio unravels the mystery of the vampire menace and his own shadowy background. The sequel will hit shelves in October.
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer was named one of the Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2010 by YALSA. Follow Pinocchio on Twitter: @p_vampireslayer
- June 10, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
This weekend, it’s Kids Read Comics!
Kids Read Comics!
The Detroit News previews the second annual Kids Read Comics! convention, which kicks off Saturday in Dearborn, Michigan.
The free event, which features two days of panels and workshops, boasts an impressive guest list that includes Katie Cook, Roger Langridge, Dwayne McDuffie, William Messner-Loebs, Dan Miskin, Jim Ottaviani, David Petersen, Dave Roman, Paul Storrie, Marc Sumerak, Raina Telgemeier, Rob M. Worley and Thom Zahler.
- June 10, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Heroes Con: Southern Comfort
Ben Towle's Razorback sketch
From the reports that have been trickling out, Heroes Con sounds like the exact opposite of San Diego: Laid-back and all about the comics. Everyone who went seems to have had a good time, and no one is complaining about not being able to get a hotel room. Heidi MacDonald reports that the con floor was sold out and pre-registrations were strong, which always bodes well.
Rich Barrett has been going to Heroes Con for years, but this was his first time in a professional capacity, and he posts about what he learned last weekend.
Jeff Parker‘s con report sounds like the absolute essence of comics conventions—eating too much, staying up too late, having a great time with friends, and talkin’ comics. A lot like being in college, in other words, but crammed into a single weekend.
Ben Towle peppers his con reports (day 1, day 2, day 3) with the sketches he drew when things were slow, not that things were slow for all that much of the weekend.
Roger Langridge checks in with a chronicle of his adventures and the people he met at the con.
Craig Fischer of Thought Balloonists arrived late but had a great time anyway, hanging out with creators and providing the intros for the film clips at the Defective Comics panel. His post will make you laugh.
For those who want to feel like they were there, Chris Sims posts the video of his Ask Chris Live panel at Comics Alliance.
Tom Spurgeon, of course, has the ultimate con post, because he went everywhere and saw everyone.
- June 10, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Start reading now: New, improved Wizzywig
A panel from the first page of Wizzywig
Drawn in an underground-comix style reminiscent of the old Zap Comix, Wizzywig tells the story of Kevin Phenicle, who begins as a phone phreak and is pulled deeper and deeper into the world of hacking. Piskor, who collaborated with Harvey Pekar on American Splendor: Our Movie Year and The Beats: A Graphic History, has already published the first two volumes of Wizzywig, and they are both available for free download from his website as well as for sale in better comics stores everywhere. What he’s putting up as a webcomic is a new and improved version. One page is up so far, and he plans to update on Wednesdays and Sundays; for more background, take a look at Shaun Manning’s CBR interviews with Piskor about volumes 2 and 3. (Via Comics Worth Reading.)
- June 10, 2010 @ 09:15 AM by Brigid Alverson
This weekend, it’s Superman Celebration
Superman Celebration
The 32nd annual Superman Celebration kicks off today in Metropolis, Illinois, home of a 15-foot bronze statue of the Man of Steel and the Superman Museum.
Along with events such as a carnival, a costume contest and a road race, this year’s celebration features such guests as comics creators Carmine Infantino, Dave Beaty and Josh Elder, actors Noel Neill, Laura Vanderwoot (Smallville) and Sam Witwer (Smallville), and producer Ilya Salkind.
Superman Celebration continues through Sunday.
- June 10, 2010 @ 08:42 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
The Beano Annual 2009
Publishing | D.C. Thomson & Co., publisher of long-running comics like The Beano and The Dandy, is closing a printing plant in Dundee, Scotland, eliminating up to 350 jobs. The facility is used to print magazines and books. The company, which also owns The Evening Telegraph and Sunday Post newspapers, employs more than 2,000 people. [BBC News]
Publishing | Lori Henderson returns to the question of what led to the failure of the CMX manga imprint: “Its parent company, DC didn’t do anything to market that line. Putting a solicitation in Previews is not marketing. DC claimed they would bridge the manga and comic store gap, yet did nothing to help retailers or promote the books to bloggers, bookstores or librarians, their three strongest advocates. You can’t buy or recommend books you don’t know about. While there were other factors that contributed to its ultimate end, the mishandling of the imprint in its first year, and then being completely ignored for the rest was the main factor in its lack of sales.” [Manga Xanadu]
- June 10, 2010 @ 08:02 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs | What Looks Good for August
Koni Waves: Perfect Wave
Time once again to flip through Previews looking for fun, new comics.
Arcana
Koni Waves: Perfect Wave – I had mixed feelings about the storytelling in some of the single issues I read from this collection, but the concept is awesome (a beautiful Hawaiian PI solves tiki-related and other supernatural crimes) and the art is stunning with heavy influences from tiki-culture and other ’60s groove.
Archaia
Syndrome – The concept’s really difficult to describe in only a few words, but Archaia sold me on it at their C2E2 panel. It’s basically about a group of scientists – each with his or her own reason for doing so – trying to discover the root of evil by putting a group of innocent, unsuspecting people into a “controlled” compound with a serial killer. Sounds fascinating and scary.
- June 9, 2010 @ 09:39 PM by Michael May
Send us your Shelf Porn!
We’ve got a huge treat for you in today’s Shelf Porn, as Justin Leiter from New Jersey shares his massive collection of action figures and comics in today’s edition. Justin sent in around 70 photos of his set-up.
Large or small, we can always use more pictures of people’s collections — and in fact, I think I only have enough right now for a couple more. So please send your pictures and write-ups to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now let’s hear from Justin …
- June 9, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by JK Parkin
Take a look at Greg Rucka and Rick Burchett’s Colonial America comic
Art by Rick Burchett
Greg Rucka has expressed a desire for at least two years to write a comic set in Colonial America, and judging from this blog entry, he’s getting his wish.
The two pages of art by Rucka’s former Batman collaborator Rick Burchett are labeled “Gowanus,” which I’m going to go out on a limb and guess is a reference to Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, site of the opening skirmish of the Battle of Long Island — the first major battle of the American Revolution.
Hopefully we’ll learn details about Gowanus (if that’s indeed what the comic is called) next month at Comic-Con.
- June 9, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Diamond announces 2010 San Diego exclusives
Doctor Solar #1 variant
With Comic-Con just a little more than a month away, now is as good a time as any to start thinking about your “buy” list for the big show. So if you’re lucky enough to be attending this year, here’s a good place to start.
Diamond Comic Distributors sent over a press release detailing the exclusive comics and other merchandise they’ll be selling at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. The items include variant cover editions of Doctor Solar, True Blood, Walking Dead and Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, as well as X-Men Minimates, a Tarot statue and more. You can see the complete list after the jump. A complete list of Diamond retailers offering them on the convention floor can be found at the Diamond booth (#2401) during the show.
- June 9, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
Court dismisses comic writer’s Zohan copyright-infringement lawsuit
Robert Cabell's Jayms Blonde
A federal judge has dismissed a comic writer’s claims that Adam Sandler, Columbia Pictures and parent company Sony Picture stole his idea for a hairdresser-turned-hero and transformed it into the movie You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.
Robert Cabell filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit in February 2009 accusing the studio, Sandler and screenwriters Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow of ripping off his comic The Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde, about a Navy SEAL-turned-hairdresser who fights crime armed with a blow dryer.
Cabell created Jayms Blonde — aka “Secret Agent 69″ — in 2000, and released the comic online two years later. He allegedly pitched a Jayms Blonde movie to Columbia in 2007, around the time Sandler began filming Zohan.
In granting Sony’s motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III determined the works weren’t substantially similar, finding that the concept of a blow dryer being used as a weapon is an “unprotectable” idea not subject to copyright. The court also noted, somewhat hilariously, that the blow dryers are different: “Blonde holds a blow dryer that purports to be a ‘mini Uzi blowdryer’ with a black muzzle — a real weapon disguised as a blow dryer. In contrast, Zohan’s blow dryer is just that, with glowing red heating elements visible in its muzzle.”
Pauley also concluded that Zohan doesn’t infringe on the Jayms Blonde storylines, which “are parodies of the James Bond stories, and much of the humor is double entendre and innuendo”: “In contrast, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan derives much of its humor by exaggerating Arab and Israeli stereotypes. For example, Israelis’ purported affinity for humus is the subject of many sight gags throughout the film. While Zohan’s sexuality is the
subject of humor in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, the jokes play off his exuberant desire for the opposite sex. An average lay observer would not mistake Zohan’s escapades with his elderly female clients for any of Blonde’s amorous activities.”
- June 9, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose