2010 July
Mickey Mouse at the Mountains of Madness
rom
Good Lord, I sort of wish I hadn’t seen Vacon Sartirani’s “Mickey Mouse Against the Worms,” a monstrous mash-up of Mickey, Minnie, and gelatinous creatures out of Jim Woodring/H.P. Lovecraft/Stephen King’s “The Mist.” According to Sartirani, the piece is something of a racial allegory, which if my rudimentary Italian is any indication only makes it more troubling. You can check out the English translation at the link, provided you don’t much value your sanity and soul. And you can see more of Sartirani’s work at his website.
- July 20, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Sega confirms Thor: The Video Game for summer 2011
Thor: The Video Game
Sega confirmed today it will launch an “epic” Thor third-person adventure game in summer 2011 to coincide with the release of the Marvel Studios film. Writer Matt Fraction is serving as a story consultant.
According to the announcement, Thor: The Video Game “will delve deep into the heroic tales of the Thor universe,” with players battling “an array of ancient enemies and beasts from the many worlds of Norse mythology by using different battle strategies and elemental powers.” Mjolnir will allow gamers to command the powers of the storm. Thor is being developed for all five major console platforms.
Word of the video game leaked in September when notes from a meeting between representatives of Sega and Sony Computer Entertainment America were discovered on a Sega America FTP site.
See the full press release after the break:
- July 20, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC ’10 | Scott Pilgrim’s, and Bryan Lee O’Malley’s, finest hours
Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6
Fresh from midnight release parties at more than 150 comics stores across North America, the sixth and final volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series climbed as high as No. 12 this morning on Amazon’s bestseller list. It’s ranked ahead of Stephenie Meyer’s latest novel and the Sookie Stackhouse boxed set.
It’s a good beginning to what’s destined to be a stellar week for O’Malley, Oni Press — the publisher released a 100,000-copy first printing for Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour — and Universal Pictures as they head to San Diego.
Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the graphic-novel series, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, is receiving the lion’s share of the attention at Comic-Con, of course, with the Thursday movie panel, the colossal “Scott Pilgrim vs. Comic-Con” banner and takeover of the Hilton Gaslamp Courtyard — see those details below — and more.
Here’s a roundup of news involving the release of Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, and the big push at Comic-Con for the graphic novel and the movie:
• The National Post and Comics Alliance spotlight O’Malley, looking at the evolution, and end, of the Scott Pilgrim series. “In the sixth one, I kind of had to start back from zero,” O’Malley says. “It was difficult to figure out where the hell the story was supposed to go. I wanted to be very conclusive. Even minor characters, I at least tried to say hello to them one more time.”
- July 20, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC ’10 | Kodansha to do portfolio reviews
Morning 2
If you aspire to become a real manga artist and draw for a Japanese magazine, like American Felipe Smith has done with Peepo Choo, here’s your big chance: Kaori Kitamoto, editor of Chi’s Sweet Home, will hold portfolio reviews for Morning magazine at the Vertical booth at Comic-Con International.
Published by Japan’s largest publisher, Kodansha, Morning and its sister publication Morning 2 are seinen magazines aimed at young men and are the source of such critically acclaimed series as Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, the cute cat manga Chi’s Sweet Home and Naoki Urasawa’s Billy Bat.
Vertical’s marketing director Ed Chavez says Kitamoto will be on the lookout for possible series to run in the magazine as well as entries for the Morning International Comics Competition, with the emphasis on the latter. She wants to see stories that are no more than 50 pages long, and she is open to “any style but with clear paneling, strong character development and thoughtful narrative,” Chavez says. Take a look at their site (in Japanese) to get an idea of the range of art styles — it’s not all big eyes and spiky hair by any means.
- July 20, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
SDCC ’10 | Apple likes comics, plan your Comic-Con online and more booth schedules
• Apple is getting in on the Comic-Con pre-show hype by highlighting all their comic book applications within iTunes. In their “App Spotlight” newsletter, they wrote: “We’re dusting off our Klingon costumes — it’s time for Comic-Con. From Marvel Comics favorites to more recent releases such as Twilight: The Graphic Novel, you can now enjoy comics and graphic novels from past and present right on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.”
• The Comic-Con International site this year introduced a scheduling feature that allows you to pick and choose the panels, films, etc. you’d like to attend, and then export them to your mobile device of choice. In addition, it also shows you how many people have indicated which panels they plan to attend, which is a fun way to see how popular certain panels are.
My wife used it over the weekend; it took her about half an hour to set up, browse the extensive schedule, make her selections and subscribe to it so she gets updates directly on her iPhone calendar (the bulk of that time was going through the schedule and deciding what she wanted to attend). At the time, it looked the Glee and Joss Whedon panels were the most popular.
- July 20, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
Bring out your dead: DC Comics cancels two more all-ages titles
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #21
Less than a week after the final issue of Super Friends hit shelves, DC Comics has announced the cancellation of two more titles in its all-ages imprint.
The publisher’s October solicitations, released yesterday afternoon, reveal that Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam will end with Issue 21 and Batman: The Brave and the Bold with Issue 22. As Johanna Draper Carlson notes, that leaves Tiny Titans, which begins a three-issue crossover with Little Archie, as the lone remaining superhero title in the Johnny DC line. The other comics are based on Warner Bros. animated properties: Cartoon Network Action Pack, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and Looney Tunes.
The DC Comics section of KidsWB.com is a memorial to recently departed all-ages superhero books, with “free reads” of the first issues of Justice League Unlimited (2004-2008), Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade (2009-2009), Super Friends (2008-2010) and, now, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam (2008-2010) and Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2009-2010).
The demise of Batman: The Brave and the Bold seems odd, and perhaps only temporary, considering the apparent popularity of the Cartoon Network animated series and the planned release in September of the video game. Then again, Super Friends‘ connection to a Mattel toy line didn’t save that comic from the ax.
- July 20, 2010 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC Wishlist | Dial R Studios debuts five titles
Dial R Studios will be at booth 1804 &1806 this week, and they’ll be bringing several debuts: Blacklisted, The Uniques Omnibus, The Villain, Skyward and Rainbow in the Dark.
Pat Loika also says they’ll have their “largest roster to date” at the booth:
Studio members in attendance will include Pat Loika (The Villain, Blacklisted), Chris Maze (The Gathering, Seeds of Darkness), Barry Miller (Billy Banes: Sidekick for Hire), and the Eisner nominated duo of J. Andrew Clark and Dave Wachter (The Guns of Shadow Valley, Scar Tissue). In addition, the booth will have guests, such as John Culjak (The Sound of Life, John and Unicorn), Jeremy Dale (Skyward, GI Joe), Adam Withers and Comfort Love (The Uniques, Rainbow in the Dark).
We will be debuting new books at the show, plus Jeremy, Adam and Comfort will be sketching as well. Be sure to stop by the booth to sample all of our new books and check our new merch! We’ll see you there!
Check out covers to the other books after the jump.
- July 20, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’10 | DC’s ‘Brightest Day’ poster hints at some dark secrets
DC's "Brightest Day" poster
With just two days until Comic-Con International, DC Comics early this morning unveiled a poster for its Brightest Day event. Created by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Rod Reis, the poster — in keeping with tradition — is chock-full of clues and Easter eggs, from the pile of boomerangs and the broken trident to Martian Manhunter stoking a fire and Deadman engraving “RISE” on a tombstone. Plus, there’s that whole Hal Jordan-White Lantern thing. And that energy ring-constructed coffin. And … well, there’s a lot to take in.
You can see a much larger version of the poster here.
DC kicks off its Comic-Con programming at 11:30 a.m. PST Thursday with a panel titled, fittingly enough, “DC Nation Convention Kickoff!”
- July 20, 2010 @ 05:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Jeff Lemire
Sweet Tooth 13
When I first interviewed Jeff Lemire back in early 2008, I knew he was immensely talented. But in terms of his creative path, quite honestly, I always expected his career to follow along the lines of the Essex Country Trilogy and Sweet Tooth. So earlier this year, when announcements came along that he would be writing an Atom one-shot/followed by a co-feature ongoing in Adventure Comics (which have seen releases in the past two weeks), as well an ongoing Superboy series, while the news caught me by surprise–it was the pleasant kind. This interview took place in late June prior to the release of his Atom work, as well as the announcement of his DC exclusive commitment. My thanks to Lemire for the discussion, as well as sharing with me a photo of the one-of-a-kind Jeffords action figure he had made (see this entry at his blog for more photos of the figure).
Tim O’Shea: In an April CBR interview about your Atom work, you revealed a clear affinity for the Silver Age science fiction roots of the character. With that in mind, are you hoping to explore the white dwarf dynamics of the character’s powers–or are you hoping to explore the science potential of the Atom in other ways?
Jeff Lemire: The white dwarf matter will be a central part of my story. I don’t want to say too much more with out giving away spoilers though. As important to me is establishing the character of Ray Palmer. What kind of man is he? Where did he come from? What does he want moving forward in his life. And I have tried to develop an exciting superhero plot that reflects this examination of his character.
- July 19, 2010 @ 03:38 PM by Tim O'Shea
SDCC Wishlist | Hard-Bullied Comics Volume 2: Dead Zep
Steve Earnhart writes to let us know he’ll have 150 advanced copies of Hard-Bullied Comics Volume 2: Dead Zep, the “first musical graphic novel in the history of the medium” available this week at Comic-Con, Small Press Table P-9.
Here are the details on the book, courtesy of Steve:
Hard-Bullied Comics Volume 2: Dead Zep
Los Angeles 2024: Six months after wrapping up the Torchsong case at the business end of a Woolly Mammoth’s tusk, Private Eye Billy Blackburn is the portrait of success. His business is flourishing, his gorgeous assistant might be hot for him, and he’s closing cases left and right. Too bad the same can’t be said of his partner, Knuckles. He’s being haunted by gruesome memories of WWIII, and they’re threatening to overtake his sanity. So when a little old lady pays Billy a visit claiming her rock star son, Dirt/Nap lead
singer Zeppelin Monroe has been murdered, the past and present are set on a collision course that will test old loyalties, uncover buried truths about the war, and bring long-simmering bad blood to boil. Spanning five years and moving between Shanghai, Los Angeles and Las Vegas comes Dead Zep, the first graphic in comics history to include a fully integrated soundtrack that ties directly to the mystery contained within. Comics? Meet Rock n’ Roll.
- July 19, 2010 @ 02:31 PM by JK Parkin
C.B. now a V.P. at Marvel
Veteran Marvel talent wrangler C.B. Cebulski has a fancy new title to go along with his gig of scouting and recruiting new creators (and his hobby of eating his way through the world’s fancy-pants restaurants): Senior Vice President, Creator & Content Development. According to the press release over on the CBR mothership, the gig not only solidifies Cebulski’s role as the company’s go-to guy for new talent, it also puts him in the Joe Quesada/Axel Alonso/Tom Brevoort braintrust in terms of determining the direction for Marvel’s comics line, and also gives him input into Marvel Entertainment’s various other creative initiatives. Finally, it gives me the excuse I needed to run that picture of him with Paris Hilton again.
- July 19, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Six by 6 | Six announcements we’d love to hear in San Diego this week
With Comic-Con International looming, you can expect to see all sorts of announcements about future projects from comic companies over the next week. I reached out to the rest of the Robot 6 crew to see what announcements they were hoping to hear at the con; keep in mind this is strictly a “wish list,” based on what we’d love to hear vs. what we expect to hear.
1. Flex Mentallo and Rick Veitch Swamp Thing announcements for “Vertigo Resurrected”: With the announcement that the Warren Ellis/Phil Jimenez Hellblazer story “Shoot” will finally see print under the just announced “Vertigo Resurrected” banner, one can hope that plans are in the works for the DC imprint to finally print Rick Veitch’s aborted Swamp Thing meets Jesus story and collect the Flex Mentallo mini-series into a trade paperback. One can hope. (JK Parkin)
2. Wednesday Comics 2: We’ve already listed what we’d like to see in it a few months back, so it’s about time that DC Comics announced the follow-up to their successful Wednesday Comics series from last summer. With a ‘Mazing Man strip, of course… (suggested by Tom Bondurant)
- July 19, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Hail Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit Book 3 cover
Sabbath bloody sabbath, that’s a kick-ass cover! With Prison Pit Book 2 — the sequel to Johnny Ryan’s hugely acclaimed, splatterific sci-fi bloodbath — due to debut at Comic-Con this week, Fantagraphics has already unveiled the cover for the third volume in the series, headed your way in 2011. My left hand is involuntarily making devil horns even as a type. (Related: It’s hard to type with just a pinky and index finger on one hand.)
- July 19, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Should Marvel bring back the “split book”?
Sure, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort’s formspring account — on which anyone can ask him anything they want — is often little more than a Festivus-style airing of grievances for people outraged that a) Jean Grey is/isn’t dead/Hope; b) Spider-Man and Mary Jane are no longer married; c) Thor lost a battle to [insert name of any character Thor ever lost a battle to]; or d) the awesome Ronan the Accuser/Unus the Untouchable crossover idea you wrote down on the back of a box of Wheat Thins doesn’t count as being a “published writer” for the purposes of Marvel hiring you to write Uncanny X-Men. But every once in a while something really interesting will pop up. Case in point: the following exchange…
Since its so tough to sustain new titles (Atlas, Cap Britain etc) is there any chance we could see an ongoing split feature like the old Cap/Iron Man Tales of Suspense? Maybe fans of two low selling titles are enough to support one shared book.
I’ve been thinking about this very thing recently–just haven’t concluded which two features would have the greatest chance of success.
- July 19, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Terrible beauty
Refugees flee Seoul in one of Kim Sung-hwan's watercolor sketches
The JoongAng Daily News has a brief story about South Korean political cartoonist Kim Sung-hwan, who sketched vignettes from the Korean war from life as a teenager. Sung-hwan, who is now in his 70s, went on to become a prominent political cartoonist under the pen name “Gobau.” This website, by Andrew Salmon, the author of a book on the war, has more of his war sketches, whose beauty belies the horrors they depict.
- July 19, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson