2010 June
Remembering Al Williamson (1931-2010)
"Flash Gordon" record album art by Al Williamson
The family of Al Williamson has confirmed yesterday’s report that the legendary artist passed away on June 12 at age 79. According to a statement from the family, he had suffered in recent years from Alzheimer’s disease.
Tom Spurgeon has a detailed obituary for Williamson, whose long career and massive and varied output allowed several generations of fans and creators to be exposed to, and influenced by, his work. Some of those creators have been sharing their memories of Williamson, both personal and professional. Here’s a selection of those remembrances:
Michael Kaluta: “It was Al’s combination of draughtsmanship; composition; drama; and ability to add a sense of reality to an obviously fantastic setting, presented with profound elegance, that nailed my attention and devotion. His storytelling used apt gestures and body language as well as his native drawing ability to reinforce the world he was portraying. Along with the best artists, Al also had the ability to ‘make it look easy,’ to make even the student artist get caught up in reading the story instead of dissecting the art.”
Rick Veitch: “I’m sitting here feeling a lot of different emotions. Loss, of course, because I’ll never get to see Al again. But also amazement at his long and productive life; the kind of wonderful person he was, the astounding talent he had and the generous way he encouraged young artists like myself to pursue our dreams of doing comics.”
- June 15, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
What comics websites make you say “Jackpot!”?
from Dance of Doom by Leonard Starr, found at USSCatastrophe.com
Ever stumble across a comics treasure trove when you least expected it?
The other day I was looking around for the websites of artists associated with the late, lamented Buenaventura Press when I clicked a random link USSCatastrophe, the site of cartoonist Kevin Huizenga. Suddenly I found myself looking at a hidden repository of out-of-print comics by an astonishing range of cartoonists from throughout the history of the medium. An entire book of dog cartoons by Barnaby artist Crockett Johnson … early minicomics by two of my favorite altcomix artists, Dave Kiersh and John Hankiewicz … crazy-gorgeous strips and cartoons by C.C. Beck, Abner Dean, and Garret Price … links to, samples from, and miniature reviews of dozens more titles … sure, some of the links are broken — it’s been years since the stuff was updated, it seems — but what’s there is more than enough to keep me blissed out on hidden gems for hours on end.
Have you ever wandered into a similar motherlode of comics goodness online? Superheroes or scanned minicomics, a killer collection of original art or a webcomic you never knew existed, a site full of classic strips or a gallery of stunning covers — whatever it is, post your links in the comments. Face it, tiger — you’ve just helped thousands of readers kill an afternoon!
- June 15, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
BOOM!’s Chip Mosher discusses their digital distribution plans
BOOM! on the iPad
Over the last couple of days BOOM! Studios has made two announcements related to digital distribution of their titles. Yesterday they launched their own iPad/iPhone application with some help from comiXology, and today they announced they plan to make their entire catalog of BOOM! Studios titles available via comiXology, iVerse, Graphic.ly and Panelfly.
I spoke with Chip Mosher, BOOM!’s director of marketing, about their digital plans, timing of releases, the customer base for their digital comics and more.
JK: Let’s talk timing, as that’s been a popular topic of late. How long will it take new BOOM! titles to reach the digital apps, compared to when books hit retail stores?
Chip: BOOM! really sees the digital comics market as its own animal. We were one of the first companies to have comics on the iPhone with iVerse back when they launched and have been watching the market place for a couple of years now. Having a consistent release schedule is important for that market segment, and what we are seeing is that the people who are reading digital comics are far and away removed from the rhythms of the direct market. A ton of what the release schedule depends on has to do with administrative things that are out of our control. Currently we have no plans on doing anything earlier than 30 days.
- June 15, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Apple changes content policy, allows Ulysses Seen in original format
iPad version of one panel from Ulysses Seen
Note: Some of the images in this story are intended for adult audiences.
Here’s a nice bit of news for BloomsDay eve: Yesterday, Apple told Rob Berry and Josh Levitas, the creators of Ulysses Seen, that they would be able to put their comics adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses on the iPad in its original form.
When I talked to Rob and Josh a few weeks ago, they mentioned that Apple had asked them to remove some nonsexual nudity from the comic. Neither fig leaves nor pixelation would do; they solved the problem by zooming in on the faces of the figures, which changed the composition and flow of the panels, although readers could still see the original on the web. That piece of the story got picked up and passed around the internet, attracting attention from Wired, The Huffington Post, Slate and The New York Times, and yesterday, Apple told Rob and Josh to re-submit their original panels.
Rob is having a busy day today, but he was kind enough to answer my questions about what they have gone through over the past two weeks.
Brigid: Had you and Josh been lobbying Apple to change their standards, or did this move come as a surprise?
- June 15, 2010 @ 09:02 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Spawn #9
Legal | A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin, heard testimony Monday from Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane and Dark Ages Spawn writer Brian Holguin, but didn’t rule on Gaiman’s claim that he’s owed royalties from the characters Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany.
In 2002, a jury found that Gaiman co-owned the copyrights Medieval Spawn, Angela and Cogliostro, which he created in 1993 for McFarlane’s Spawn series. Since then the two creators have attempted, with little success, to determine how much money Gaiman is owed for the three characters.
On Monday, Gaiman testified that he thinks Dark Ages Spawn is merely a copy of Medieval Spawn, while Domina and Tiffany are copies of Angela. Holguin, who created Dark Ages Spawn, said any similarities to Gaiman’s character were unintentional, while McFarlane argued that all of the versions of Spawn share certain features. The judge gave both parties until June 25 to submit additional arguments. [The Associated Press]
- June 15, 2010 @ 07:42 AM by Kevin Melrose
BOOM! Studios to offer entire back-catalog in digital form
BOOM! goes digital
Following up on their announcement yesterday that they’d launched their own application for the iPad and iPhone, BOOM! Studios announced today via press release that they plan to make their entire back-catalog of BOOM! Studios titles available through several digital distributors by the end of the summer.
Per the release, comiXology, iVerse, Graphic.ly and Panelfly will offer BOOM!’s “frontlist and backlist for digital download spanning the mobile, portable and desktop space, including the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, laptop and desktop computers.” All BOOM! Studios single-issue digital comics are priced at $1.99 with the first half of each series’ first issue available to download for free from all four vendors.
Check out the complete press release after the jump, and check back shortly for my interview with Chip Mosher, BOOM!’s marketing director, about their digital strategy, release schedules and more.
- June 15, 2010 @ 07:24 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: Tom Scioli
American Barbarian
I’ve been aware of Tom Scioli‘s work for a good long time–back to the early phase of his Myth of Opus-8 days. More recently, he and co-creator Joe Casey have been entertaining folks with their run on the creator-owned Gødland (Image). I’ve been aiming to do an email interview with Scioli since I got him to autograph an Incredibles (BOOM!) cover at HeroesCon 2009–but then the year got away from me. Once I ran into him again last weekend at HeroesCon 2010 I told myself another week could not go by without that interview happening. Fortunately for me, Scioli agreed and even better it was on the heels of his newest project, American Barbarian, starting its online presence on June 8. He also opted to start posting UnMortals: The Myth of 8-Opus online at the same time. We talk about all three projects. But first here’s Scioli’s description of American Barbarian: “A red-white-and-blue-haired hero must defend a post-post-apocalyptic world from the immortal Two-Tank Omen.” That’s right, “post-post”. Double the post. You bet we talked about that.
Tim O’Shea: The first I saw of American Barbarian was a piece that ran in the HeroesCon program, what kind of feedback did you get from folks at HeroesCon?
Tom Scioli: I’ve been working on American Barbarian as a little side project for the past two years. I recently started taking it to shows and it’s been getting a reaction. People seem very curious and interested in it. It seems to trigger a similar reaction in people, they start to wax nostalgic about He-Man or Thundarr or Conan or Blackstar or whoever their touchstone from that 70′s/80′s Barbarian period is.
- June 14, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Sony unveils new trailer for DC Universe Online at E3
The big E3 Expo is going on down in Los Angeles right now, and with it comes all sorts of news, announcements and goodies about upcoming video games. Over on the Playstation blog, Sony has posted the official E3 trailer for the upcoming — and long-awaited — DC Universe Online MMORPG that’s due to come out this fall.
“This trailer also shows the tremendous influence Jim Lee has brought to the table working as the Executive Creative Director on this title – his edgy take on the DC Universe has been transformed from the traditional 2D comic book medium into an immersive 3D interactive environment where you become the next legend!” the post reads. “Between now and our release in November, stay tuned for tons of exciting releases from the team – we can’t wait to show you what is up our sleeves!”
- June 14, 2010 @ 01:07 PM by JK Parkin
Too Precious for Pâté: Howard the Duck returns in September
Spider-Man: Back in Quack #1
Considering their history, I guess — or hope, anyway — that someone at Disney has a sense of humor, as Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik’s most famous creation, Howard the Duck, returns to comics this fall in Spider-Man: Back in Quack #1. Written by Stuart Moore and drawn by Mark Brooks, the book popped up in the advanced solicitations for the Spider-Man titles for September. Sporting a cover (above) by Skottie Young and back-up Man-Thing story by Moore and Joe Suitor, the solicitation text reads:
- June 14, 2010 @ 12:14 PM by JK Parkin
Scanlation sites: Making it legal
The latest chapter of One Piece
Last week’s news that Japanese and U.S. manga publishers are teaming up to combat illegal scan sites has led to a robust discussion of whether scanlators can go legit—and in fact such a project may be in the offing.
The publishers are targeting aggregator sites, which are draining off their profits by posting their licensed, copyrighted books online. They are less concerned about scanlation groups working on unlicensed manga. In fact, the publisher Digital Manga may be trying its own legal version of scanlation, according to this report at The Yaoi Review.
DMP is working on a new ‘secret’ project for publishing more manga faster and cheaper than it is now. It would be via a digital format and they are looking to hire scanlators to help with this. Essentially, scanlators would be doing what they do now except there is the possibility of getting paid based on the sales of said manga titles they worked on. They also get to have their name on everything they translate and retain certain rights to the work they do.
There are two ways of looking at this. One is that Digital is pioneering a legal scanlation model and paying translators for work they were previously doing for free. The other is that Digital is exploiting inexperienced translators by asking them to work on spec. There is a robust discussion of this and other points in the comments.
Meanwhile, at least one scan site seems to be trying to go legit.
- June 14, 2010 @ 11:15 AM by Brigid Alverson
The end of Buenaventura Press: a reaction round-up
(L-R) Robert Crumb, Kramers Ergot 7 contributors Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, and Adrian Tomine, and publisher Alvin Buenaventura; photo by Melissa P. Coats
On Friday, publisher Alvin Buenaventura announced he had shut down his imprint Buenaventura Press as of this past January, due to a single knockout legal/financial blow. Publicly available details are few, in keeping with the private way the move has been handled for the past six months. But comics creators and critics en masse are mourning BP’s demise and reading the tea leaves as to where its publisher, artists, and entire brand of comics will land.
Robot 6 reached out to several of the artists published by Buenaventura, as well as a few of his fellow publishers, for their reaction:
Working with Alvin over the years has been really amazing. He has introduced me to a lot of magical and influential artists and hooked me up with tons of inspiring and perverted books. His place has awesome shit scattered all over- mountains of crazy books, toys, memorabilia, gigantic figures, artwork- it’s like a bomb went off. Now that he’ll be taking a break from the business we’ll finally have more time to play Rock Band and trip out on weird TV shows.
–Matt Furie, writer/artist, Boy’s Club
- June 14, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
I, Scott Pilgrim, will be the best side-scrolling video game … EVER!
Scott Pilgrim’s quest for universal dominance this summer continues, as the book’s creator Bryan Lee O’Malley shares the trailer for the “old-school, side-scrolling beat-’em-up” video game. Imagine if gaming technology had never moved past the side scroller, but the ideas of what to do with that technology continued to advance.
Its release is set to coincide with the August premiere of Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
- June 14, 2010 @ 09:45 AM by JK Parkin
Legendary illustrator Al Williamson passes away
"The Jungle," by Al Williamson
Although there’s no official confirmation, reports are widely circulating online that renowned artist Al Williamson passed away on Sunday at age 79.
Born on March 21, 1931, in New York City, Williamson took art classes in the mid-’40s with legendary Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth and, later, at Hogarth’s Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City. He assisted Hogarth on some Tarzan Sunday pages and, at age 17, made his professional debut working on series like Eastern Color’s Famous Funnies and Standard Comics’ Wonder Comics.
In 1952, Williamson began working for EC Comics, where he was the youngest member, and “kid brother,” of the “EC Family.” He primarily contributed to the company’s science fiction titles like Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, often collaborating with Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel and Angelo Torres. In the mid- to late ’50s, he produced hundreds of pages of short stories — Westerns, mostly — for Atlas Comics. By the next decade, Williamson was assisting John Prentice on the Rip Kirby comic strip before helping Warren Publishing to launch its Creepy and Eerie horror magazines and contributing to Blazing Combat.
- June 14, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC working on a live-action Blue Beetle series
Blue Beetle #36
Amid all the talk about DC’s treatment of non-white characters, it sounds like they’re banking on a certain Latino teen superhero in a big way. Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns tweeted yesterday that the company is working on a live-action Blue Beetle series.
BLUE BEETLE NEWS from DCE!! We have a live-action test of Jaime Reyes’ scarab activating his suit. It. Is. Awesome. Blue Beetle’s going to appear in most of the Brave and the Bold’s this year and we’re hoping to develop a live-action show. Fingers crossed! If I can break it out of the vault, I’ll bring it to SDCC. LIVE ACTION BLUE BEETLE!!
All caps and double explanation points indeed.
For what it’s worth, I’ve thought for a while that the Jaime Reyes incarnation of the Blue Beetle was the legacy character with the most staying power for one reason: Instead of just being a new guy with the same basic look and power set, he’s as different from his predecessor Ted Kord as the now-legendary Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern were from their Golden Age antecedents. It’s nice to see that he’s got some legs, no?
- June 14, 2010 @ 08:20 AM by Sean T. Collins
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Todd McFarlane
Legal | A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin, will hear arguments today regarding Neil Gaiman’s claim that Todd McFarlane owes him money for his copyright interests in three characters — Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany — that he says are derivatives of their earlier creations Medieval Spawn, Angela and Count Nicholas Cogliostro.
“Our view is McFarlane just took some of the characters Neil was a co-creator of and just gave them different names,” Gaiman’s attorney Allen Arntsen told The Associated Press. “It’s a matter of principle.” In court filings, McFarlane attorney James Alex Grimsley denied Gaiman has any rights to the three additional characters, claiming they’re not based on the earlier creations. [The Associated Press]
- June 14, 2010 @ 07:20 AM by Kevin Melrose