2010 July
Bongo Comics to launch new website (Updated)
So, just yesterday, when we were prepping our Food or Comics? post, I went looking for a catalog page for Futurama and could find no trace of a Bongo Comics website whatsoever. I snarked a bit on this in an internal e-mail to my Robot 6 colleagues.
And now, I’m feeling a little creeped out, because Heidi has the news that they are, in fact, getting one of these newfangled website thingies. That’s right: About 20 years after the rest of us, 17-year-old Bongo Comics discovers the internet.
It looks like they are making up for lost time, though, with plenty of content.
www.bongocomics.com will offer regular “Simpsons” and “Futurama” news items and blog updates, as well as announcements of new publishing ventures. A comprehensive history of all Matt Groening’s comic-book, trade-book, and calendar publications, including Groening’s catalog of books collecting his syndicated strip Life in Hell, will also be featured.
Well, OK, that actually sounds like every other publisher’s website. But hey, at least they are doing it! As of this writing, the actual website is password-protected, but hopefully the scaffolding will come off later today. It’s live! Go check it out.
- July 21, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
SDCC ’10 | New Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game trailer debuts
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game,
Universal Pictures and Ubisoft have released an all-new Comic-Con trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, the highly anticipated side-scrolling beat-’em-up set for release in August.
Loosely following the plot of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, the game allows up to four people to play as Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, Kim Pine or Stephen Stills, who must battle through several levels in to defeat Ramona’s seven evil exes.
Watch the Comic-Con trailer after the break:
- July 21, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC Wishlist | Jim Rugg’s Marvel vs. Capcom 3 T-shirt
by Jim Rugg
I’m not even sure where this will be available, but I really, really need one … artist Jim Rugg shares artwork he created for a limited edition Marvel vs. Capcom 3 T-shirt that’ll be available in San Diego this week. That’s the front of the shirt up top; click over to his blog to see the back.
I plan to hit the Capcom booth as soon as possible to see if I can find one.
- July 21, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
True Blood #1 arrives in comics shops, San Diego and in iTunes
from True Blood #1
IDW Publishing’s comic adaptation of HBO’s True Blood will arrive in comic shops today and can also be purchased at their booth tonight as Comic-Con International kicks off. And it can also be downloaded from the iTunes store as its own application for $2.99 right now.
The app works on both the iPhone and iPad, and includes all of issue #1. It also asks if you’d like to be notified when the rest of the mini-series is available. According to a press release from HBO this morning, it is also available in the Sony PSP Digital Comics shop.
The release of the application adds IDW to the list of publishers who have released comics digitally at the same time they hit comic shops. – or, actually, before they hit comic shops; apparently the True Blood comic became available on iTunes on July 19. I received some clarification … the date listed on iTunes is the date it was cleared by Apple; the application became available today.
If you’re curious to see what the comic looks like, check out the preview after the jump.
- July 21, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’10 | Promo image for this fall’s Avengers cartoon
The Avengers
Marvel Animation sent out the above image to promote their panel slate in San Diego this week … I’m not sure if it is new, but I don’t remember seeing it before.
In any event, if you’re at the con on Saturday, you can see the world premiere of two full-length episodes of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes . Otherwise you’ll have to wait until it debuts on Disney XD this fall.
- July 21, 2010 @ 08:30 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Rocketship
Retailing | Well-regarded Brooklyn retailer Rocketship, whose owners confirmed just last week had closed after five years, apparently has reopened. However, it’s unclear whether that’s only temporary.
An update posted yesterday on the store’s blog reads: “Rocketship is currently open again for business. We apologize for any inconvenience over the past few weeks.” C0-owner Alex Cox had attributed the closing primarily to the end of the store’s five-year lease: “Five years went by fast, and my partner and I are suddenly making some large life decisions about what comes next. We love the shop, and as fun as it is, we have to figure out what makes sense for us on a practical level.” Cox posted yesterday on Twitter that, “Rocketship is back open for a bit; vacation is over, time to sell some books!.” [Rocketship]
Retailing | Gary Warth spotlights local comic-store owners about Comic-Con International, from the first-time exhibitors to the veterans — some of whom don’t view the event as a moneymaker. “All I ever did was just make enough to pay for next year,” said former retailer Tom Piper. [...] At the ‘Con,’ there was so much competition. I did the best I could.” [North County Times]
- July 21, 2010 @ 08:02 AM by Kevin Melrose
SDCC ’10 | The many faces of Abrams
Having been an art major in college, I associate Abrams with slab-like, beautifully produced art books of great intellectual and physical weight. In the back of my head, I expect their comics to be equally ponderous. But not so! If there’s one thing the Abrams line has, it’s variety. Their recent and upcoming books include a hardback, slipcovered edition of the Archie Marries… graphic novel, Audrey Niffenegger’s seriously literary The Night Bookmobile, historical tomes like The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want You to Read! and Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal, Jason Shiga’s choose-your-own-adventure book Meanwhile, and the lively kids’ graphic novel Hereville. Something for everyone, in other words. If there’s a book that seems really Abrams-y, in my older conception of their line, it’s The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death.
Naturally, the Abrams folks will be at SDCC, holding down the fort at Booth #1216. Full schedule, including signings and panels, is below the cut, and if I were going, I’d make it a point to stop by.
- July 21, 2010 @ 07:19 AM by Brigid Alverson
Help PictureBox fix Thor!
Color Anthony Hopkins Badd!
Did you see that first still of Thor, Odin, and Loki from Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor movie and think it needed more Kirby Krackle or Walt Simonson Psychedelia? You’re not alone. Dan Nadel, head of the art/comics publisher PictureBox and editor of their house mag Comics Comics, lamented what he perceived to be the costumes’ conservative superhero-movie style, as opposed to Kirby’s “mind-bendingly intricate mythological armor and sets with a nearly psychedelic color palette.” And dammit, he’s gonna do something about it!
Nadel will award the first-ever “Know Prize” to the person who best recolors the image. If you wield Photoshop like Mjolnir, give the Asgardian Royal Family a Rainbow Bridge makeover and send the results to knowprize (at) comicscomicsmag (dot) com (72dpi RGB jpegs only, please) by midnight tomorrow, Wednesday, July 21. The winner will receive a Thor comic hand-selected from the infamous collection of cartoonist Frank Santoro, plus the satisfaction of knowing that he/she be worthy. That deadline’s approaching faster than Ragnarok, so get ye cracking!
- July 20, 2010 @ 06:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Seven Seas announces three new manga
Amnesia Labyrinth
Seven Seas has decided to beat the SDCC rush and go ahead and announce their new licenses now. And they didn’t just announce them, either, they teased them on Twitter for three days running. If you have been following Anime News Network, you already know the answers—ANN guessed correctly on all three: Amnesia Labyrinth, ToraDora, and A Certain Scientific Railgun. (You know, even after five years of covering manga, most of the titles still look to me like they were chosen using darts and an unabridged dictionary.) This press release from Seven Seas honcho Jason DeAngelis confirms it and gives more information about each title, including release dates for the first volumes (spring-summer 2011, with new volumes out every 3-4 months). And they have a little fun:
So why the decision to announce these titles via Twitter and in the form of anagrams, no less? “If I had to write another boring press release, I would’ve stabbed myself with a fork,” said Senior Editor Adam Arnold. “But seriously, we wanted to have a little fun and figured this would be a unique way to announce these new manga series.”
Full press release after the cut.
- July 20, 2010 @ 05:30 PM by Brigid Alverson
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6
Welcome once again to Food or Comics? Every week the Robot 6 crew lists what comics we’d buy if we had $15 to spend, if we had $30 to spend and if we had extra money to spend on what we’re calling a “Splurge” item.
So join Brigid Alverson, Chris Mautner and me as we run down what we’d buy this week, and check out Diamond’s release list to play along in our comments section.
Chris Mautner
If I had $15 …
The obvious choice seems to be the newest and final volume in Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour (none of my local comic stores are getting the book until Wednesday, the stinkers). I’ve been a fan of the series for awhile (http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_holiday_interview_101/) and am anxious to see how it concludes. (Unfortunately, I don’t actually have $15 of real world money to spend this week, so I’ll have to wait another week or two.)
- July 20, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC Wishlist | Something bitchy this way comes
Spell Checkers T-shirt
Here’s another item you’ll be able to pick up at the Oni Press booth, if you are so inclined … a T-shirt featuring the three stars of Jamie S. Rich, Joelle Jones and Nicolas Hitori De’s Spell Checkers graphic novel. Gotta give points for a Bradbury reference, y’know?
- July 20, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by JK Parkin
The Middle Ground #13: Once More Into The Breach, Dear Friends
Comic-Con International
So, it’s Comic-Con this week. The kind of thing that, even if I wasn’t going — and, by the way, moderating a panel on Comic Publishing on Friday at 10am in Room 8, with newly promoted BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon, Dallas Middaugh from Del Rey Manga, Mark Siegel from First Second and Gary Groth from Fantagraphics. Come early to avoid disappointment — I’d be able to tell was just a day away by the sheer amount of tension in the comics force over the last few days. Yes, Comic-Con may be fun to attend, see your favorite creators, watch some movie trailers and wait in lines for what seems like half of your life in order to stand at the back of a large hall where people you adore might possibly be right there at the other end, if only you could tell (Not that I’m bitter or anything, oh no), but it’s also weirdly stressful for many people involved, as well. Continue Reading »
- July 20, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Graeme McMillan
AMC reveals The Walking Dead motion comic
This afternoon AMC debuted a motion-comic adaptation of The Walking Dead — or at least the first half of the first issue. Don’t get too excited, though, because it looks like this is simply a teaser for the live-action series, which debuts in October, rather than a full-blown push into motion comics. But I could be wrong.
Whatever it is, the eight-minute video features Juice Films animation of art by Tony Moore, and the voice of Phil LaMarr (Futurama, Justice League Unlimited). So, y’know, good stuff all around.
Comic-Con attendees will get a double dose of The Walking Dead with Thursday’s Robert Kirkman panel (4 p.m. in Room 4 p.m.) and Friday’s AMC panel (11:30 a.m. in Room 6BCF).
- July 20, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Start reading now: The Sisters Grimm
There isn’t much to The Sisters Grimm so far, just a couple of teasers and the first page, but what there is, is choice. I think the tagline on their poster says it all: “On Mars, in the year 2339, the only thing that doesn’t suck is the music…” Creators Dave Pauwels and Nicolas R. Giacondino have clearly thought this thing through and have already stocked their site with an intro and background material; now I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out in comics form. The art alone makes this worth a second look.
- July 20, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by Brigid Alverson
SDCC ’10 | ‘God Loves Batman,’ handicapping the Eisners and more
Comic-Con International
A roundup of Comic-Con news, announcements and tips as the clock ticks down to Thursday:
• Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction (and I imagine by this time others) are turning the planned protest of Comic-Con International by the Westboro Baptist Church into something positive: Project God Loves Batman. If the hate group actually shows up, DeConnick and Fraction will donate $50 to amfAR, and they’ll give an additional $10 for every hour that Fred Phelps and his misguided flock picket the convention. DeConnick encourages others to join them with donations to amfAR or the Human Rights Campaign. More details are available at the first link.
• Douglas Wolk handicaps the 2010 Eisner Awards, which will be presented Friday evening in the Indigo Ballroom of the San Diego Hilton Bayfront.
• Marvel artist Reilly Brown (Heroic Age: Prince of Power) on Thursday will add to the famous comic book mural of The Palm Restaurant, which already features art by John Romita Sr., John Romita Jr., Simone Bianchi, Mike Choi, Mark Brooks, Leinil Yu and others. Brown will be drawing from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the restaurant, 615 J St.
- July 20, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by Kevin Melrose