2010 July
Vertigo announces Hellblazer miniseries by Spencer and Murphy
John Constantine: Hellblazer -- City of Demons #1
Ahead of its October solicitations, released this afternoon, Vertigo has announced a five-issue Hellblazer miniseries by Si Spencer (Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, The Vinyl Underground) and Sean Murphy (Joe the Barbarian, Off Road).
Called John Constantine: Hellblazer — City of Demons, the hard-living magician is run over by a truck. After a few weeks of hospital rehabilitation, “Constantine finds the London streets very different from when he left them behind as a series of occult murders and mutilations demands his attention. The common denominator points back to the ER where he was admitted …”
The first issue is set to debut on Oct. 13, followed two weeks later by the second.
City of Demons marks Murphy’s return to Constantine. He previously illustrated the “Newcastle Calling” story, written by Jason Aaron, in 2008′s Hellblazer #245-246. The character also played a supporting role in Spencer’s short-lived Books of Magick.
According to Murphy’s DeviantART account, the art for City of Demons will be nearly two years old by the time the miniseries debuts. “Am I upset?” he wrote. “Yep.” You can view some of Murphy’s cover sketches for the series here.
- July 19, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour is midnight tonight
Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6
Oni Press sent a release out on all the comic shops that’ll sell the newest and last volume of Scott Pilgrim at midnight tonight. Per Oni, more than 150 comic shops all over the United States and Canada are participating in the early release of Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour.
“From midnight releases to all day shindigs, costume contest, door prizes, give-aways, rock concerts, and street parties are just a few of the events that these comic retailers have planned for fans. So find your local shop and give them a ring, stop by and join in the action!” Oni said.
See if a comic shop in your area is hosting a party tonight after the jump, and if you can’t make it out tonight, you can always pick it up tomorrow.
- July 19, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
Sam Costello says: Just do it!
Sam Costello, the creator of the horror webcomic anthology site Split Lip, is a busy guy these days. He just updated the site, with a cleaner design, a larger display for the comics, and a blog. And he has just posted the first column in a four-part series at iFanboy.com about his life as an independent creator. Costello promises to bare all, including his website stats and financial info, in the final column, but the first one is more of a motivational piece about the importance of makin’ it happen rather than waiting around—and he cites his own experiences, both positive and negative. His advice in a nutshell:
If you want to be in comics, be in comics. There’s no certificate to earn, no test to pass. Comics are easy and relatively inexpensive to get into on your own. So if you want to make comics, start making them.
And because he takes his own advice (well, eventually), Sam has just released the second volume of his print anthology, a slightly less fancy version of the limited edition he debuted at MoCCA.
- July 19, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
SDCC ’10 | CBLDF activities
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is bringing parties, auctions, panels and exclusives to San Diego this week. You can find their complete press release after the jump, but a few items of note include …
- Before the show begins the CBLDF is auctioning off lunch with DC’s CCO, Geoff Johns. There are about two days left on bidding, and it’s already over $500.
- The CBLDF’s onsite art auction is scheduled for Saturday night; you can preview the artwork here.
- They’re holding three parties during the con, the details for which can be found after the jump, but I thought it was worth noting that comics retailer Things from Another World has a contest going for tickets to “Scenes of a Graphic Nature,” at the Soda Bar on Saturday, July 24. You can find more details here.
- July 19, 2010 @ 09:15 AM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’10 | Bring your smack talk to the Oni booth to become SDCC Champion
Super Pro K.O. Championship Belt
Mattel, which has the license to make action figures of World Wrestling Entertainment superstars, will host several WWE superstars at their booth during Comic-Con, including The Miz, Eve, John Morrison, The Bella Twins, Chris Masters, Melina and Kane.
But that still isn’t the coolest wrestling-related thing happening at the show. No, that would be Jarrett Williams‘ no-words-barred contest to be crowned Super Pro K.O. World Champion of Comic Con 2010.
Williams, whose Super Pro K.O. book debuts at the show, will award the above championship belt to whoever can deliver the best pre- or post-match “throw down speech” at the Oni booth on Saturday. “All the excitement will be videoed and posted on the Oni Blog, so even if you’re not at the show you can witness the action,” Oni’s press release reads. “The winner will be announced at the Oni booth on Sunday 7/25 at 10am where Jarrett Williams and special guest judge Bryan Lee O’Malley will award the first Heavyweight Championship Belt of Comic-Con!”
Old school “wrastlin’” costumes and personas are encouraged … where’s my Mr. Wrestling II mask when I need it?
- July 19, 2010 @ 08:45 AM by JK Parkin
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comic, trailer debut
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
A free trailer has debuted on Apple’s iTunes store for the motion-comic adaptation of Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight. The first episode apparently will be available later today; a “season pass” costs $14.99.
The motion comic will cover the first 19 issues of Season Eight, a canonical continuation of Joss Whedon’s cult-hit television series. The comic, which debuted from Dark Horse in 2007, has featured work by Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Brian K. Vaughan, Drew Goddard, Jane Espenson, Brad Meltzer, Jeph Loeb and others.
You can read the iTunes Store description for Season Eight after the break:
- July 19, 2010 @ 06:33 AM by Kevin Melrose
Everything’s Archie
The Source brought the news last week of yet another crossover, and it’s a doozie: Turns out the Tiny Titans live right near Riverdale, and at last they are going to meet up with their counterparts, Little Archie and his pals. It looks like the result will be extreme cuteness, with Tiny Titans artist Art Baltazar coming up with a fresh yet familiar look for the Riverdale set. (It’s interesting to speculate on what the crossover would have looked like if it went the other way, with Archie artists drawing the Tiny Titans.) It looks like this is going to be a series, with Tiny Titans/Little Archie #1 making the scene in October.
Meanwhile, at First Comics News, would-be Archie writer Jeff Krell, the creator of the long-running gay comic Jayson, explains why, after almost 30 years of his own comic, he still yearns to write about Riverdale. You can tell that both he and interviewer Mark Haney are longtime Archie fans, and there are a lot of intriguing insights and ideas there.
The Archie folks are heading to SDCC this week, of course, and their schedule is here, on their excellent Archie News blog.
- July 19, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Marvel’s Black Panther motion comic removed from iTunes
Black Panther: Who Is the Black Panther?
Marvel’s Black Panther: Who Is the Black Panther? motion comic has mysteriously disappeared from iTunes, the PlayStation Network and other outlets after just three episodes. It’s also been removed from the motion comics section of the publisher’s website, which now only features listings for Iron Man: Extremis, Astonishing X-Men: Gifted and Spider-Woman.
Marvel declined comment. However, there’s speculation the company may not have had the rights to digitally distribute the 12-episode Who Is the Black Panther?, which was produced in partnership with BET Networks.
Announced in April 2008 as an animated adaptation of the story arc by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., Who Is the Black Panther? was set to debut on BET in early 2009. Despite boasting an all-star cast that includes Djimon Hounsou, Jill Scott, Kerry Washington, Alfre Woodard and Stan Lee, the series never aired on BET. It had its world premiere in January 2010 on Australia’s ABC 3.
The project had seemingly fallen off the map until last month, when Marvel announced the release of Who Is the Black Panther? as a motion comic under its Marvel Knights Animation banner. The series was heavily promoted online and with ads in Marvel comics.
The first episode debuted on June 23 on iTunes, Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Zune and the PlayStation Network, with new installments promised weekly. However, the fourth episode, which should’ve been released last Wednesday, never materialized.
- July 19, 2010 @ 05:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC ’10 | Robert Kirkman launches Image imprint to help new creators [Updated]
Witch Doctor #1
Writer and Image Comics partner Robert Kirkman has launched Skybound, an imprint designed to recruit and showcase the next generation of comic creators.
Announced in today’s New York Times, Skybound will make its official debut on Thursday during Kirkman’s Comic-Con International panel. There he’ll introduce the imprint’s first title, Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner‘s Witch Doctor, a horror-medical drama described as “House meets Fringe.”
The duo came to Kirkman’s attention after he saw an illustration Ketner created for Portland, Oregon’s Willamette Week, and then stumbled across an earlier version of Witch Doctor on the artist’s website.
Kirkman, whose Image titles The Walking Dead and Invincible will move under the Skybound banner, will offer creators advance payments and marketing assistance. If a Skybound title draws attention outside of comics, Kirkman will help them maneuver international publishing rights, licensing for film, television and toys, and so on. In return, The Times reports, Kirkman receives a stake in all of the imprint’s properties — one that can include a percentage of any licensing deals.
However, Kirkman insists, creating good comics is the priority: “I’m not going to publish anything that would be a bad comic but would make an excellent TV show.”
Update: Kirkman has followed this morning’s announcement with a press release that includes details of Skybound’s second title, a collaboration with writer Nick Spencer (Existence 2.0, Morning Glories) called Thief of Thieves. Read the release after the break:
- July 19, 2010 @ 03:26 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC Wishlist | Get your Scott Pilgrim gig posters in San Diego
These could be even hotter than the Scott Pilgrim T-shirts from WonderCon … Oni Press will sell sets of four limited edition Scott Pilgrim gig posters for $120 a set. Here’s how they describe them:
Oni Press, Bryan Lee O’Malley and Daniel Danger’s Tiny Media Empire have teamed up for a limited edition run of Scott Pilgrim gig posters. Each of the four silkscreened gig posters feature a band from the Scott Pilgrim comics by Bryan Lee O’Malley including: Sex Bob-omb, Clash at Demonhead, Crash & the Boys, and Kid Chameleon.
Tiny Media Empire and three powerhouse artists have each lent their style to one of the bands in the Scott Pilgrim series. Kevin Tong, best know for his gig poster work with Sonic Youth, Weezer, and Wilco, took on the Scott Pilgrim series’ quintessential band Sex Bob-omb. Daniel Danger, founder of Tiny Media Empire, put together a legendary video game reference masterpiece for his Clash At Demonhead gig poster. Underground comics favorite, Hellen Jo, used her trademark vibrant style for the quirky Crash & The Boys. And gig poster pros, Aesthetic Apparatus, have created an iconic gem for Scott Pilgrim’s high school band Kid Chameleon.
Each of the four silkscreened, four-color, 18″ x 24″ posters is numbered and collected into a set and 200 sets will be sold at the Oni Press Booth (#1833) during San Diego Comic Con for $120 each. In addition to the full sets, 300 copies of a variant on Kevin Tong’s Sex Bob-omb gig poster featuring a metallic ink will available separately for $35.
If you aren’t going to the show, you can buy them online from each of the artist’s websites:
- Daniel Danger, Tiny Media Empire
- Kevin Tong
- Hellen Jo
- Aesthetic Apparatus
Check out the other two posters, as well as a lot more SP stuff Oni will have at the con, after the jump …
- July 18, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
King City #9
Happy Comic-Con week, and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest contributors are Jim Demonakos and Kyle Stevens from the Seattle nerd rock band Kirby Krackle. The band, whose newest video features Wolverine, is currently in Florida for Nerdapalooza, and will be in San Diego later this week at booth #1803. So stop by and say hi if you’re going.
See what the boys from Kirby Krackle, as well as the rest of the Robot 6 crew, have been reading lately after the jump …
- July 18, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’10 | Hero Initiative activities
The Hero Initiative
You have about 21 hours left if you’d like to bid on one of the Hero Initiative’s San Diego Comic-Con auctions, which include the chance to hang out with Dan DiDio, Joe Quesada, David Lloyd and more. One of the is with Tom DeSanto, who produced the X-Men movie, and he’s bringing Wolverine’s jacket and dog tags for the winner to try on.
In addition, the Hero Initiative will host several signings at their booth during the con and will sell an exclusive edition of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #40, featuring a cover by John Romita, Jr., Klaus Janson, and Dean White. Read their full press release after the jump.
- July 18, 2010 @ 01:19 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC Wishlist | Matthew Southworth’s sketchbook
from Stumptown #4
Artist Matthew Southworth, who draws Oni’s Stumptown (that’s a page from issue 4 above) and part of the “Grim Hunt” storyline in Amazing Spider-Man, sends word that he’s bringing a new sketchbook and Stumptown T-shirts to sell at the show.
“Unfortunately I was unable to snag an artist alley table this year (there’s a long long wait!), but I will be easy to find at the Oni Panel or at signings at the Oni Booth that I’ll be doing with Greg [Rucka],” he said over email. He add that he’s also doing a special piece for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
- July 18, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC Wishlist | Brian Winkeler’s Knuckleheads
Knuckleheads
Brian Winkeler, whose Bastard Road comics you may remember from Image’s Popgun anthology, will have copies of his first self-published comic, Knuckleheads Special Edition #1, at the San Diego Comic-Con later this week.
“I’ll be mobile during the show but will have copies on me to sell ($3/each) and give to publishers who might hopefully be interested in getting it out as the color series we hope it will become,” he said over email. “My collaborator Robert Wilson IV will stay home but we’ll have a table in Baltimore in August.”
Check out the first two pages after the jump.
- July 18, 2010 @ 11:01 AM by JK Parkin
Nominees announced for Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award
Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award
The comics retailer organization ComicsPro has posted the list of nominees for this year’s Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, which includes comic shops in Florida, New Mexico, Texas, England and Israel, among other locations.
Established in 1993, the award is presented to “an individual retailer performing an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large.” Nominees are judged based on the following criteria:
- Support of a wide variety of innovative material: Providing opportunities for creators’ material to reach buyers; stocking a diverse inventory.
- Knowledge: Working to stay informed on retailing as well as on the comics field.
- Community activity: Promoting comics to the community; maintaining relationships with schools and libraries; keeping active in social, business, and arts community organizations.
- Quality of store image: Innovative display approaches; using store design creatively.
- Adherence to standard ethical business practices.
The winner will be announced during the Eisner Awards presentation on Friday at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The list of nominees can be found after the jump.
- July 18, 2010 @ 09:57 AM by JK Parkin