2010 July
SDCC ’10 | Pickets, programming and … Pitt and Jolie?
With a mere 13 days left until Comic-Con International — well, 12 if you count Preview Night — the convention-related stories are beginning to pour in:
Westboro Baptist Church
• Rich Johnston catches word that Westboro Baptist Church, the small but vocal anti-gay extremist group best known for picketing funerals and Jewish institutions, will protest Comic-Con on Thursday — if only briefly. The Kansas-based congregation, which is headed by Fred Phelps, is in San Diego to oppose the appearance by former Vice President Al Gore at the 2010 AHA Health Forum Leadership Summit. However, members are squeezing in time from 1:15 to 2 p.m. to take a run at nerds, who “have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them.”
“The destruction of this nation is imminent,” the group’s website reads, “so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.”
• Brace yourselves for a media frenzy: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are rumored to be attending Comic-Con to promote their films Megamind and Salt.
• DC Comics has released the full programming schedules for its DC Universe, Vertigo and WildStorm imprints.
• Speaking of programming: As we noted yesterday, convention organizers unveiled the schedule for Thursday. I run down the highlights here, and break out the TV and movie panels at our sibling blog Spinoff Online.
• Douglas Wolk and Robert T. Trate roll out survival guides. But don’t forget Tom Spurgeon’s sprawling list of tips.
• The Live Feed breaks down some of the TV series that won’t be at Comic-Con, and why.
• San Diego News Room has a general overview of the convention.
- July 9, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Cat in a hot tiara
New duds for Scratch
Rob Worley and Jason T. Kruse, the creators of the kid-friendly action comic Scratch9 have been inspired by recent doings in the superhero world to redesign their main character’s costume.
That’s right, they are putting pants on a cat:
Scratch’s new costume is very versatile. He can open the jacket up for hijinks, or close it up to pass unnoticed as a cat in woman’s clothing. The look incorporates the classic design — he’s still completely nude underneath – while adding a tough, elegant, street-fighter look.
“Nothing says street-fighter to me more than a cat wearing a tiara,” exclaimed Kruse.
A naked bid for publicity? You bet! But why not? Scratch9 debuts next month, and the press release, a deadpan parody of solemn comics writing, is a good preview of the sort of goofy humor you can expect from Worley and Kruse. Scratch9 is the story of a runaway cat named Scratch whose earlier nine lives take on material form after an encounter with a mad scientist, Dr. Schrodinger. While it’s a good kids’ comic, in a Saturday morning cartoon kind of way, I found the first issue to be entertaining on a grownup level as well.
(Oh, and I’m pretty sure they’re not really going to dress him up in leggings and a bodice. Cats don’t take kindly to that sort of thing, as you can see after the jump …)
- July 9, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Quote of the day | Paul Cornell, on Action Comics
Paul Cornell
“My wife said when I first got the book, ‘Well, at least they can’t cancel Action Comics.’”
– new Action Comics writer Paul Cornell, whose acclaimed Marvel series Captain Britain and MI13 was canceled last year (and then nominated for a Hugo Award)
- July 8, 2010 @ 05:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | Retired … or “Doomed?”
Doom Patrol #121
(This starts out cynical, but it gets better.)
DC’s superhero line is essentially an intellectual-property farm. Every new issue cements the company’s hold on its existing characters and/or introduces new characters for future exploitation. If, by some chance, a particular story turns out to be Art, so much the better. The important thing is to maintain those property rights.
Accordingly, it’s rare that a character is “retired,” a la Jack “Starman” Knight or Tommy “Hitman” Monaghan, when his story has reached a stopping point. A little while back I wrote that maybe the New Teen Titans had reached their own peak at the end of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s original run. Originally I wanted to revisit that, and list a few more titles which perhaps might have benefited from similar retirements. Let’s do that, at least briefly….
- July 8, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Creed set to return to print?
Creed
And by Creed, of course, I don’t mean the 90s band of the same name … I mean the comic by Trent Kaniuga that started back in the 1990s and went through a variety of publishers. You might also know it as “CreeD.”
The book starred Mark Fraley, who fought supernatural villains in a dream world while coping with the reality of high school.
Kaniuga posted the entire thing online in the Creed Omnichronos, which includes comics that were published by Hall of Heroes, Lightning Comics, Image and Avatar over the years. It also includes crossovers with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ethan Van Sciver’s Cyberfrog.
And it sounds like the series may be returning to print. Kaniuga, who created the comic when he was just 17, noted on Twitter recently that “new developments are happening with the Creed series! Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement soon.”
And who might be making that announcement? Based on this post from IDW’s Chris Ryall, it sounds like it might be his company. “We’ll have another nice surprise regarding Trent’s book CREED soon, too,” he posted.
So is this new Creed comic, or are they printing the collection? I’m guessing we should keep our eyes peeled in San Diego in a couple of weeks to find out.
- July 8, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Flavio has the flavor for killing undead in Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer sequel
This week’s teaser for the upcoming Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater by Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins reveals Flavio, the puppet to the far left. Also, Van shared some additional information about he and Dusty’s Comic-Con schedule, where you can meet both of them and the little wooden boy:
The first preview of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater will be revealed at Comic-Con! In a spotlight panel, Dustin Higgins and Van Jensen will show off pages and the cover of the sequel to their 2009 graphic novel. The panel will be on Thursday, July 22 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 3. Higgins and Jensen (and Pinocchio himself) also will be set up at the SLG Publishing booth throughout the show to do signings and sketches. On Friday, July 23, at 4:50 p.m., Jensen will be on the Indy Writers Unite! panel (also featuring Larry Marder, Terry Moore, Carla Speed McNeil and James Sturm) in Room 3.
- July 8, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Paul Pope does the Beatles
Abbey Road by Paul Pope
Come together, right now, over the author of Batman Year 100: Yesterday Paul Pope posted a sketch of the iconic cover of the Beatles’ swan song Abbey Road. It kinda makes me want to see bearded, white-suited John Lennon have sexy science-fiction adventures, but then again, I usually do.
- July 8, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Sugar, spice and everything nice: Ben Caldwell’s manga Wonder Woman pitch
Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell
Last summer Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman strip was featured in the now legendary Wednesday Comics, and now the writer/artist is pitching DC another story featuring Diana Prince … this time as a manga character. You can check out some of his art here and here, and he explains the idea in the comments section of that second post:
right now this is just (part of) a proposal. i have no idea if DC will go for it or not — someone else tried a WW manga pitch a few years back, and while it was obviously very different from mine, i don’t know how comfortable DC is with any superhero comic that is not in a more conventional style/format. i mean, unless it’s paul pope or frank miller or someone, you know, famous.
but we shall see!
If you go backwards in time on his blog, you can find a lot of other Wonder Woman artwork, as well as a post about a Batman idea he had. Or you can head over to Pimpernel’s Blog, who has collected several of the pieces in one convenient post.
Also, the other Wonder Woman manga pitch he mentioned was by Tintin Pantoja, though it looks like she took her pitch down from her website.
(Thanks Simon!)
- July 8, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC’ 10 | Thursday programming announced
Comic-Con International
With just two weeks to go, Comic-Con International has released the programming schedule for the first full day of the event. The highlights for Thursday, July 22, include:
• A discussion with Jeff Smith (10 to 11 a.m., Room 5AB)
• “DC Comics Writers Unite!,” with Paul Levitz, Dennis O’Neil, J. Michael Straczynski, Gail Simone, Judd Winick and moderator James Robinson (10:15 to 11:15 a.m., Room 6DE)
• DC Talent Search, with editorial art director Mark Chiarello (10:30 to 11: 30 a.m., Room 4)
• “Divas and Golden Lassoes: The LGBT Obsession with Super Heroines,” with Marc Andreyko, Phil Jimenez, Andy Mangels, Michael Troy and moderator Charles “Zan” Christensen ( 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Room 8 )
• BOOM! Irredeemable/Incorruptible panel, with Mark Waid and Peter Krause (11 a.m. to noon, Room 32AB)
• Walt Disney Pictures: Tron: Legacy, with exclusive glimpses of the film, plus director Joe Kosinski, stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen and Bruce Boxleitner, and moderator Patton Oswalt The discussion, moderated by Patton Oswalt, is set to include exclusive glimpses of the film, as well as a Q&A involving all panel participants, along with special surprise guests. (11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Hall H)
- July 8, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Fact-checking LeVar Burton’s ConCERNed
Simon Barstow shuts down the LHC with his mind
When I saw LeVar Burton’s new comic ConCERNed, I knew immediately what I had to do.
I looked across the breakfast table and said, “Honey, could you please read this?”
Because yes, I am married to a physicist who works on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and I couldn’t resist hearing what he had to say about it.
Fortunately my husband has read a fair number of comics, and he was willing to suspend disbelief. He saw right away that it was a classic origin story, and the fact that the main character can generate material objects with his mind bothered me more than him. (OK, I can see a chunk of metal, maybe. But a set of golf clubs?)
But what about the physics?
- July 8, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Dean Haspiel scores an Emmy Award nomination
From the title sequence for "Bored to Death"
Among the nominees announced this morning for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards was artist Dean Haspiel, who received a nod for outstanding main title design for HBO’s Bored to Death. He shares the nomination with Dakota Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment, Fair Harbor Productions, designer/director Tom Barham, lead animator Marci Ichimura and compositor Mark Rubbo.
You can watch the sequence here. The Emmy Awards ceremony will air Aug. 29 on NBC.
- July 8, 2010 @ 09:20 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Comic-Con International
Conventions | With Comic-Con International just two weeks away, Lori Weisberg wades into the perennial problems with Travel Planners and the mad grab for hotel rooms. Whereas last year complaints centered on the interminable online wait for reservations, the problem this year is that, under the revised system, many attendees didn’t get a single one of their hotel choices. To try to accommodate con-goers who find themselves staying in Mission Valley or Shelter Island, organizers last month added additional shuttles. For those attendees feeling a bit prickly after the 30- to 60-minute ride to the San Diego Convention Center, there may be some good news: Travel Planners representatives will be on hand, “with targets on our backs,” to provide assistance. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
Crime | Following yesterday’s news that charges have been filed in the May murder of writer Stephen Perry, his friend Steve Bissette sifts through media reports and offers his own theories about what might have led to the gruesome crime. [SRBissette.com]
- July 8, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Scott Pilgrim vs. the manga
All five volumes of Scott Pilgrim made it into Bookscan’s top 20 chart for June, and in neat numerical order, too. Naruto and Vampire Knight, the two hottest selling manga, topped the chart, but Scott Pilgrim starts in at number 3 and keeps going from there. Presumably the buzz from the movie has caused a surge in interest, as the series has been almost completely absent from the Bookscan top 20 all year (except for vol. 1 charting in April). What’s interesting is that sales usually drop off for subsequent volumes of a series, but that doesn’t seem to have happened—either people are buying all five volumes at once, or the series is so good that they keep running back to the bookstore for more. Either way, it’s good news for publisher Oni Press.
Don’t count the manga out, though. There are at least two volumes, vol. 1 of Black Butler and vol. 47 of Naruto, which have made the chart every month for the past six months. That sort of staying power is what makes a publisher great and prosperous. It will be interesting to watch the charts once the movie comes out and see if that continues to increase sales—or if this was just a temporary bump.
- July 8, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Roommate charged in murder of ThunderCats writer Stephen Perry
James William Davis
Police in Zephyrhills, Florida, have charged Stephen Perry’s roommate in the May murder of the ThunderCats writer.
The St. Petersburg Times reports that 45-year-old James William Davis, who had been identified as “a person of interest,” was arrested today on a charge of first-degree murder. He has been in Pasco County Jail since May 21, when he was arrested on unrelated drug charges.
Perry’s 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. James Davis and his wife Roxanne Davis, 49, were missing as well. However, police later arrested the couple on unrelated charges. Last month, a torso also was discovered and identified as Perry’s.
According to the Times, Perry’s death is still being investigated, and Roxanne Davis has not been ruled out as a suspect.
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 last eight months of his life he received assistance from the Hero Initiative, which helped him to line up work and pay rent, utilities and medical bills.
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.
- July 7, 2010 @ 05:07 PM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Batman & Robin #13
With the cost of comics seemingly always on the rise, we’ve revamped our old Can’t Wait for Wednesday columns around cover price. Hence, welcome to our second Food or Comics? column, as we look at comics that’ll be in shops tomorrow.
Every week we’ll tell you what comics we’d buy if we had $15 to spend, if we had $30 to spend and if we had some “mad money” (like a gift card) to blow on what we’re calling a “Splurge” item. This week Chris Mautner and Brigid Alverson join Kevin Melrose and myself in our trip to the hypothetical comic shop, following our trip to the imaginary ATM machine.
You can play along as well in our comments section; check out Diamond’s shipping list for tomorrow to see what will be in shops.
Chris Mautner
If I had $15, I’d buy …
Batman & Robin #13 ($2.99)
Starstruck #11 ($3.99)
Godland #32 ($3.99)
Boys #44 ($3.99)
These are just about all the comics I’m currently reading in floppy form, minus a title or two. In fact, I’m relatively certain my LCS will be holding copies of these for me when I stop by this weekend. Three involve superheroes. One is a knotty sci-fi saga. One will almost certainly involve someone’s blood being sprayed across a room. That, or a bathroom joke.
- July 7, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin