2010 July
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs | What Looks Good for September
Days Missing: Kestus #1
Time again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new adventure comics.
Archaia
Days Missing: Kestus #1 – Last week we talked about Days Missing and how it was going to change formats to tell a longer-form story in the next volume. That starts here.
Mouse Guard: Black Axe #1 – David Petersen returns to the series. I want to say what I’m most looking forward to about that, but just realized how spoilery that would be. If you haven’t read Mouse Guard yet, you’re missing out. It’s the new Bone.
Dark Horse
Serenity: Shepherd’s Tale – I miss Firefly. Can we please go back to calling the series Firefly? This title sounds like it’s going to be about New Age meditation when it is in fact about a kick-ass bounty hunter in space.
After the break: Robots fighting monsters, freaks (and a gunslinger) fighting nineteenth-century serial killers, chain-smoking chimps, a Frankenstein pop-up book, and more adventurers than you can shake a mummy at.
Continue Reading »
- July 7, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Send Us Your Shelf Porn, the column that allows you to show off your shelves. Today’s Shelf Porn comes from Ken Ograyensek, who shares his wonderful collection of Flash books and merchandise, as well as other cool stuff.
If you’d like to share your Shelf Porn with the world — or at least our viewing audience — send your write-up and pictures to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
Now here’s Ken!
- July 7, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Fort Thunder Forever?
Art by Mat Brinkman
They’re gettin’ the band back together, man! Tom Spurgeon reports that members of Providence, Rhode Island’s late, great comics/music/art/noise/wtf collective Fort Thunder are planning a one-off reunion issue of their anthology title Monster, to debut at the San Diego Comic-Con UPDATE: the Small Press Expo via exhibitor and Fort alumnus Brian Ralph. Though the Fort produced everything from installations to art-rock to bicycles, we comics folks know them best through the output of a line-up of cartoonists that included Ralph, Brian Chippendale, Mat Brinkman, Leif Goldberg, Jim Drain, and Paul Lyons. It’s tough to imagine the alternative-comics world without them anymore — their aesthetic heavily influenced or outright inspired entire publishing lines, including Highwater, PictureBox, Buenaventura, Bodega, and post-Tom Devlin Drawn & Quarterly — so for fans of comics’ outer limits, this is at least as exciting as the Faith No More reunion tour currently underway. Which is pretty damn exciting.
- July 7, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
The return of Youka Nitta
Youka Nitta's new site
Youka Nitta has a niche following in this country and in her native Japan—she creates yaoi manga—but as anyone who follows that scene can tell you, that is a pretty hard-core niche. Two years ago, she admitted that she had traced some of her art from fashion advertisements, which was not just an aesthetic sin but also an infringement of copyright. The magazine that published her work, Be-Boy Gold, apologized and dropped her from the lineup before she had completed her 14-volume series Embracing Love.
Well, Nitta is back. Last year she wrapped up Embracing Love in Japan, and this week, Animate U.S.A., which publishes manga in English on the Kindle announced that that last volume would be available, on the Kindle, in Japanese. They are also publishing two other Nitta manga in English this month. Some non-Japanese speakers claim they can read untranslated manga because the visuals carry the story, but that has never been my experience. Nonetheless, it’s interesting that Animate sees enough of a market for untranslated manga to make it available to fans. And Nitta has launched a website, with quite a bit of English content, “in response to the huge demand from fans,” according to Animate.
- July 7, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Fred Van Lente to write new Avengers series
Fred Van Lente
Incredible Hercules co-writer Fred Van Lente announced this morning on Twitter that he’s penning an Avengers title that debuts in November. He’s just not saying what it is.
“When it’s announced, I think you’ll agree it’s the most ‘Van Lentean’ Avengers title ever,” he wrote. “They’ve been New, Mighty, Young, Dark, West Coast, Great Lakes, Initiative, Academy, Prime … What could be next? What?”
Guesses have ranged from Euro-vengers and Disney Avengers to Avenging Avengers and Deadpool Avengers. None of those is correct, but neither, perhaps unfortunately, is Great Lakes Avengers. This is a new Avengers title (lowercase “new”).
“I’m really flattered all you guys think I’d be perfect for Great Lakes Avengers,” Van Lente tweeted. “Oh, wait. No I’m not. [...] Kidding, GLA fans. Never read ‘em, sure they’re great.”
Van Lente’s comic will bring the total number of monthly Avengers titles to six five. In addition, there’s the Children’s Crusade bimonthly maxiseries, plus countless miniseries and one-shots. Presumably we’ll learn the title of the new series in two weeks at Comic-Con International.
- July 7, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
J.H. Williams III pays tribute to Wonder Woman #1 with variant cover
Batwoman artist J. H. Williams has posted a variant cover he created for Wonder Woman #603, a homage to the very first issue of Wonder Woman. No doubt this is a part of DC’s 75th anniversary celebration plans, which includes classic covers redrawn by contemporary artists.
Check out the full cover and the original from 1942 after the jump.
- July 7, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Bid now: Web-Comics Auction For The Gulf Coast
Carly Monardo is spearheading an art auction to benefit the people and wildlife affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill:
The idea to organize this auction came from my friend Thomas Bayne – the animatic director on Venture Bros. After selling a number of original Venture production drawings to raise money for the Gulf Coast, Tom expanded his efforts and launched an even bigger auction of artwork from a variety of cartoons. I thought it would be great if we got the same thing going for web-comics.
All proceeds from the Web-Comics Auction will be donated to the Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund, which is being managed by The Baton Rouge Area Foundation. You can read about this charity here.
Creators who contributed art for the auction include David Malki! (above), Kate Beaton, Stephanie McMillan, Phil & Kaja Foglio, Dean Trippe, Jon Rosenberg and many more. Several auctions have gone live, with more coming later this week. You can find the complete list here, and after the jump, check out Dean Trippe’s contribution to it.
- July 7, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
The Rainbow Orchid makes a splash
I have good news and bad news about the second volume of Garen Ewing’s The Rainbow Orchid, which was released on Monday.
The bad news is that it is still available only from British sources; like the first volume, it hasn’t been officially published or distributed in the U.S., although I believe you can purchase it as an import.
The good news is that you can read a fairly hefty chunk of both books online at Ewing’s site. Set in the 1920s, The Rainbow Orchid is a graphic novel for Masterpiece Theater fans; it features a distinguished professor, his audacious assistant, a movie star, a crusading reporter, and of course the wicked rival, all in a race to find the mythic rainbow orchid and take top prize in a plant show (although the stakes are much higher, naturally). It’s a familiar plot but done very well and drawn in a lovely ligne claire style reminiscent of (but quite different from) Tintin.
Ewing really uses the web to its fullest potential; in addition to the comic, his site has purchasing information, story details, even a blog with puzzle pages, all organized in a logical and easy to navigate fashion. It’s worth checking out just to see how much information he can include in a single web page without turning it into visual mush. Plus the comic is a lot of fun to read.
- July 7, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Apple
Technology | Apple said it is adding new security measures to its iTunes store after a developer reportedly hacked into numerous customer accounts to boost the ranking of his comic apps, which briefly dominated the book category. The company claims the weekend incident was an isolated — about 400 of its 150 million iTunes users were affected — but customers tell The Wall Street Journal that hackers have hijacked accounts before, with Apple doing little to stop them. [The Wall Street Journal]
Conventions | Heidi MacDonald looks at the tug of war between San Diego, Los Angeles and Anaheim for Comic-Con International, and the tough decision facing event organizers. “This has been by far the most challenging thing we’ve ever done,” said David Glanzer, the convention’s director of marketing and public relations. “Nobody thought we wouldn’t have a decision by June.” The board hopes to make a decision before this year’s event kicks off in two weeks. “If we don’t [make an announcement],” Glanzer said, “a lot of the focus is going to be on that.” [Publishers Weekly]
- July 7, 2010 @ 08:37 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Middle Ground #11: Devil’s Due Leaves Diamond, But Why?
And just when I think I know what I’m going to write about this week, Devil’s Due Publishing has parted ways with its exclusive direct market and bookstore distributor, Diamond.
Now, I’m a fan of expanding and exploring alternative distribution methods for comics as much as the next man, but something seemed odd about this news, and the press release that accompanies it. Mainly, this section:
“For almost over a year Devil’s Due has been in an unwinnable situation wherein Diamond garnishes our revenues to pay back returns and fees it claims are owed from 2008 and 2009, making it impossible for us to keep up with payments to talent, printers, and other expenses while maintaining a stable business,” said Josh Blaylock, president of Devil’s Due, who was forced to wind down the company’s publishing rather than ramp up as it originally planned to do when hit with a rough econom in 2008. “We’ve exhausted every resource to get on track, with a primary focus on catching up with talent payments first and formost, but when Diamond controls the money flow, that becomes impossible.”
I read that and thought, I am not entirely sure I understand what’s actually happening here. Is Diamond stopping all payment to DDP until it considers its own debt paid? Is the split to ensure that DDP sees any money? So, I thought I’d ask Josh Blaylock straight out.
- July 6, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Graeme McMillan
Scott Pilgrim and the Incredible Action
I post this new international poster for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (via Heidi MacDonald via Empire) mostly to ask our illustrious readers the following question. I understand how SP‘s origin as an independent comic, its use of music by indie/alt-rock icons Beck, Broken Social Scene, and Metric, and the presence of Quirkmeisters General Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman is the collective lens through which a lot of people are viewing the thing. But am I the only person who’s got it on a “movies to see this summer” list that includes Predators, Neil Marshall’s Centurion, and Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables — seeing it first and foremost as an action movie rather than a whimsical hipster romantic comedy, in other words? I’m always excited for movies that introduce a new way to shoot action and combat to Western audiences, from Saving Private Ryan to The Matrix to 300 to Speed Racer, and I think what Wright (and of course the source, Bryan Lee O’Malley) are up to in Scott Pilgrim might do exactly that. What say you?
- July 6, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Zuda’s Ron Perazza discusses the imprint’s future
Zuda Comics
Last week Zuda Comics shut down their website and announced they will release content on DC’s new digital platforms. Currently issues of Bayou and High Moon have made the jump to the iPhone, iPad and PSP, with more on the way.
Ron Perazza, vice president of creative services for DC Comics, oversees DC’s online initiatives and has been at the helm of the imprint since it launched in 2007. He agreed to answer a few questions I had about the imprint, its immediate plans and a few of the lessons they’ve learned over the last three years. My thanks to Ron for answering my questions in what is likely a very turbulent time for him.
JK: Last week we saw a transition in what Zuda is, from a free webcomics site to becoming a part of DC’s new digital strategy, meaning people will be paying to download and read the strips (except for the free first issues, of course). What were the reasons for making this transition?
Ron: The reason is pretty simple, actually. As DC Comics moves more aggressively into Digital Publishing they wanted to coordinate their efforts across all imprints. So while the specifics about which title or how many of each issue might differ, the overall plan is the same for the DCU, Vertigo, WildStorm and Zuda.
JK: What were some of the lessons you guys learned over the past three years that maybe helped pave the way for DC’s digital plans?
Ron: I think the most significant lesson was the importance of Digital Publishing and digital content itself. In addition to some really amazing critical successes that clearly resonated with the comic-buying audience, we were putting up some solid metrics month after month. So in a way, ZUDA was sort of like a pioneer project for DC Comics. Exploring. Now it’s time to move in and settle in a more permanent way.
- July 6, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Cool old comics: A Dudley D. Watkins sampler
A Dudley Watkins illustration for Treasure Island
Don’t feel bad if the name Dudley D. Watkins doesn’t ring a bell—I grew up reading his comics and I never heard of him either. Watkins was a regular artist for the Scottish publisher DC Thomson, which published the children’s comics Beano, Dandy, Topper, and Beezer, and from 1925 until his death in 1969 he brought a variety of oddball characters to life, including Biffo the Bear, Smarty Grandpa, and my family’s personal favorite, Desperate Dan. The Scottish newspaper The Courier (“Taking you to the heart of Tayside and Fife”) has posted a generous sampling of Watkins’s works, and although I wish they were a bit bigger, they sure do bring back memories.
I was raised in the U.S. but spent stretches of time in both Ireland and Scotland (in fact, I lived in St. Andrews, which is in Fife), so I know from solid experience that British children’s comics of the 1960s and 70s were far more entertaining than their American counterparts. (I wrote about them for The Hooded Utilitarian and the former incarnation of this blog.) To this day whenever someone in my family goes over there they are instructed to bring back copies of Beano and Dandy, which are still delighting kids 85 years after Watkins first put pen to paper.
And that Treasure Island book? I own it. I got it in kindergarten and was utterly terrified by the Black Spot and other pirate antics. That Watkins, he knew what he was doing.
(Via The Forbidden Planet.)
- July 6, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Hollywood costume designer shares her own Wonder Woman designs
Wonder Woman designs
Shawna Trpcic is a costume designer who has worked on several Joss Whedon TV shows, like Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse. And via Twitter, she’s been sharing images of her own redesigns of Wonder Woman she created.
Quick update: I asked Shawna via email about the pictures, and despite what other sites have been reporting, she said that while Joss Whedon “saw them and liked them,” she initially did them without any direction from him.
Check out a couple of other designs she did after the jump. And check out some of her other designs at her website.
- July 6, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Real Old Man Logan is the best at what he does (and what he does isn’t legal)
Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1
It’s not a real Fourth of July celebration until somebody breaks out the adamantium claws. Bub.
Police in Joliet, Illinois, report that an argument turned nasty on Sunday afternoon when 73-year-old Benjamin C. Price apparently had enough and cut another man with a glove that had two 6-inch blades attached to it. According to The Herald-News, “Evidently the glove resembled the retractable claws of comic book character Wolverine.”
The victim was treated for severe lacerations at a local hospital, while Price was taken to the county jail. Pfft. As if that can hold him.
- July 6, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose