2010 October
Inside If ‘n Oof: an interview with Brian Chippendale
Like the characters he chronicles in If ‘n Oof, his new book from PictureBox Inc., Brian Chippendale is prone to wandering. He just returned to his home base of Providence last week following a tour with his acclaimed two-man music group Lightning Bolt, whose sound can be best described as “What if Thor’s hammer and Loki’s helmet formed a band?” He’s also gearing up to hit the road again in another couple of weeks for a brief cross-country book tour with fellow PictureBox cartoonist CF.
But it’s Chippendale’s artistic travels that interest me the most. Each new Chippendale book feels like an experience miles removed from its predecessor. Maggots is a tiny softcover with incredibly dense pages, drawn on top of a Japanese book catalog so that even the white spaces are filled with visual noise. Ninja is a gigantic hardcover with a smoother approach to Chippendale’s trademark “snake-style” layout — you read the first row of panels on a page from left to right, then hop down to the next row and read that one from left to right, then down another level from right to left, and so on back and forth — and a healthy dose of comics he drew as a kid thrown in. If ‘n Oof is a doorstop-sized softcover in manga dimensions in which every page is a splash page or part of a spread. And while all three share Chippendale’s unmistakable rough-hewn line and love of sci-fi, fantasy, and action — an approach forged in the hallowed halls of the late great Fort Thunder collective, alongside artists like Mat Brinkman and Brian Ralph — If ‘n Oof‘s buddy-movie storyline of two lovable creatures battling their way through a wasteland in search of home (and snacks) is the artist’s most accessible work to date. Robot 6 managed to get Chippendale to settle down long enough to talk to us about the new book, how it stacks up against his new webcomic Puke Force, and the tantalizing possibility that as far as If and Oof’s world is concerned, we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.
- October 26, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 666 | Tom Neely mangles Popeye in Doppelgänger
Alt-horror visionary Tom Neely — he of the much acclaimed, mostly wordless graphic novel The Blot — is at it again with another psychologically troubling take on the cartoon icons of the early 20th century. This time he’s putting Popeye through the paces in Doppelgänger, an action-packed reinterpretation of E.C. Segar’s sailor man. The book pits Popeye against his greatest enemy of all: himself. Multiple copies, in fact. It’s not Neely’s most overtly horrific work, to be sure, but doubles have been a staple of the uncanny for centuries (as Freud himself noted), and the scenes of Popeye and his duplicates assaulting one another evoke everything from Dead Ringers to 28 Days Later, all with impeccable linework that recalls the great master cartoonists of yore. You can order it through Neely’s I Will Destroy You imprint. Tastier than spinach and twice as good for you, folks!
- October 26, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 666 | Axe Cop takes a swing at Halloween
from Axe Cop: The Night Monster
It was not even nine months ago that a brand-new webcomic called Axe Cop went viral within days of its creation, thanks in large part to its irresistible high-concept creative team: 29-year-old cartoonist Ethan Nicolle drawing the crazy action-adventure ideas of his 5-year-old kid brother Malachai. But I recently had occasion to read the entire strip in one sitting in preparation for a freelance assignment, and I was struck by how well the thing holds up long after you’ve gotten over the “haha that’s a great idea”-ness of it all. Nicolle the Elder’s art is uniformly kinetic, cartoony, and lovely, while Nicolle the Younger is obviously years away from running out of ideas for Axe Cop and his crew of very weird superheroes (or hitting middle school, for that matter). No wonder Dark Horse is releasing a collected edition this Christmas.
Anyway, the strip is still going strong, and this week it’s tipping its cop hat to All Hallow’s Eve with “The Night Monster”, a four-part saga of creatures who live in outer space in hopes of catching “space babies.” Yeah, it’s already wonderful, isn’t it? Check it out, and be sure to tune in for the remaining installments!
- October 26, 2010 @ 10:01 AM by Sean T. Collins
Now read this: Kevin Colden’s Strangle/Switch
Before his I Rule the Night strip was picked up by the now-defunct Zuda Comics, Kevin Colden entered a strip called Strange/Switch for consideration into the competition. It was about “a schizophrenic musician named Geoff finds a guitar that gives him the power to kill people and was essentially a take on Faust,” but it never went anywhere.
With the launch of a new art blog, Colden has posted the eight-page story; go check it out.
- October 26, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Image announces The Walking Dead Weekly reprints
The Walking Dead Weekly #1
With the television adaptation debuting in just five days, Image Comics announced this morning that it will reprint every issue of The Walking Dead, releasing one a week for a year beginning in January.
Called, appropriately enough, The Walking Dead Weekly, the $2.99 reprints are obviously designed to appeal to fans who discover the comic through the new TV drama, which begins its six-episode first season Sunday night on AMC.
“I think it’ll drive people into comic book retail stores, and I think that’s cool,” creator Robert Kirkman tells Techland. “The other thing about The Walking Dead is that it’s been going for almost eight years at this point, and I’m continually trying to think of ways to get new readers on board, and I was thinking, with [people coming in from watching] this television show, buying thirteen trade paperbacks for x amount of dollars is kind of a pain, but buying one three dollar comic book every week for a year may seem like an easier pill to swallow, and a good way to get in on the ground floor, read it in its original format.”
Kirkman says he isn’t concerned the weekly reprints might eat into demand the series’ collected editions, which are perennial bestsellers. (The six-year-old first volume, for instance, was No. 6 on ICv2.com’s Top 300 graphic novels for September).
“I think there are a lot of different people buying comics books right now, and I think there’re a lot of people out there who really don’t prefer trade paperbacks,” Kirkman tells the Time magazine blog. “I’ve talked to a lot of people who tell me that they prefer reading comics in single-issue form. There are people out there who prefer to read comics in trade paperback form. I think it’s important to service all of those audiences. You know, it’s good to finally come back around and service those fans who really like single issues. If you were to go back and buy all of our single issues now, it would be extremely expensive and difficult, but this is a way that you can get the comic book in single issue form and not have to sell your house.”
On a related note, the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal has a longish profile of Lexington-based Kirkman, focusing on the Image series, the TV adaptation and comics in general.
Read the press release after the break.
- October 26, 2010 @ 08:01 AM by Kevin Melrose
Tomasi and Gleason’s Batman and Robin debut delayed
The new cover to Batman and Robin #17
Paul Cornell and Scott McDaniel will unite for a three-issue arc on Batman and Robin as the debut of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason as the new regular creative team is delayed until February.
As announced in July, Tomasi and Gleason were to take the reins from Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart with November’s Issue 17. However, Editor Mike Marts tells IGN.com that their work on Brightest Day led to difficulties.
“Both Peter and Patrick were pulling double duty on Brightest Day and Batman and Robin — no easy task, even for dedicated and hard-working creators like these guys,” Marts tells the website in an e-mail. “So rather than have them running ragged on both titles we decided to make their lives a little easier by delaying the start of the run on Batman and Robin. This way, they can give priority to the important storylines they’re taking care of now in Brightest Day, then recharge and refocus for their debut on B&R.”
Cornell, who’s been busy with Action Comics and the Knight and Squire miniseries, says his arc features a new villain and centers on the theft of the corpse of one of Bruce Wayne’s former girlfriends.
“This is a very dark story, in the Grant Morrison tradition,” Cornell says, “with some evil stuff going on under the surface and some mad bubbles on top.”
- October 26, 2010 @ 06:33 AM by Kevin Melrose
Nut up or shut up with Squirrel Girl T-shirts
After years of being disrespected, laughed at and made to join the Great Lake Avengers, Squirrel Girl’s tenacity and perseverance pays off. The young girl who can chew through wood not only lands a job as the nanny to the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones in New Avengers, but she’s also got a line of T-shirts for sale by Mighty Fine T-shirts.
Check out two other designs after the jump, one of which puts the spotlight on her sidekick, Monkey Joe. All the shirts come with a bag of back-up nuts.
It’s also worth noting that while Squirrel Girl gets a whole line of T-shirts at Mighty Fine, her arch-enemy Dr. Doom only gets one, featuring rainbows and unicorns. Advantage: Squirrel Girl.
- October 26, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Jill Thompson
Beasts of Burden/Hellboy (one-shot)
The Monday before Halloween, as well as the Monday before the release of the Beasts of Burden/Hellboy one-shot (Set for release this Wednesday from Dark Horse), was the ideal time for an interview with writer/artist Jill Thompson. October has been busy for Dark Horse and Thompson, given that earlier in the month the publisher released the new hardcover Scary Godmother collection of the four “Eisner Award-winning, fully painted children’s books … (Scary Godmother, Revenge of Jimmy, The Mystery Date, and The Boo Flu)”. The prospect of new Scary Godmother was a great topic to cover with Thompson, as well as learning her thoughts on how she creates certain tales and how organic the creative process is for her. Thanks to Dark Horse’s Jim Gibbons for arranging this interview, and I offer a great deal of gratitude to Thompson for this discussion.
Tim O’Shea: How satisfying is it to have all of the fully-painted Scary Godmother stories repackaged into one book? You considered teaming with different publishers to collect the stories, but what factors motivated you to go with Dark Horse?
Jill Thompson: Well, the original books, published by Sirius Entertainment had been out of print for a long while and I was very anxious to find a way to get them back out to the reading public. Since there are two animated specials in seasonal rotation on the Cartoon Network I knew there were a great many new fans I could introduce or reintroduce to the original material. I’m so happy that the book is back in print and available at comic shops and bookstores and online.
- October 25, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Robot 666 | Gone Fishin’ by Cullen Bunn
Cullen Bunn
For the past three years at Halloween, The Sixth Gun writer Cullen Bunn has written a horror story starring a charming old woman named Mrs. Friedly. This year, to help us celebrate Robot 666 Week, Bunn sent us all three of the previous Mrs. Friedly tales to share with our readers, along with a brand new one that we’ll debut right here on Halloween.
So a big thanks to Bunn and Mrs. Friedly for sharing their Halloween with us. Check out the first tale below, then check back Wednesday, Friday and of course on Halloween to read more.
Gone Fishin’
By Cullen Bunn
“Another year,” Mrs. Friedly piped, “another Halloween Festival!”
The Elk Ridge Community Center was decorated with paper jack o’lanterns, dancing skeletons, and dozens of orange and black streamers. Children in costume—goblins and witches, vampires and ghouls, princesses and ninjas—scurried around the large chamber, and their laughter and squeals formed a constant din.
Mrs. Friedly clucked her tongue as she watched the children. Maybe she was old-fashioned, but some of the costumes just didn’t seem very… Halloweeny… to her. Ghouls and ghosts and monsters—those were fine. But the princesses and cowboys and monkeys just didn’t seem to fit the spirit of the occasion. Halloween, as the elderly woman saw it, was supposed to be a spooky night.
What on earth, she thought, is a ninja anyway?
- October 25, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Robot 666 | Jordan Crane gets creepy in “Dark Day”
Robot 6 readers seemingly can’t get enough links to cartoonist Jordan Crane’s hugely impressive webcomics portal What Things Do. Fortunately, Crane’s served up a spooky snippet of all-ages adventure that’s perfect for Robot 666. Discover “Dark Day,” the latest chapter in the saga of Simon and Jack, the schoolboy and giant cat who starred in Crane’s beloved The Clouds Above. Warning: Here be monsters!
- October 25, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Rob Liefeld kicks off Zombie Jesus webcomic
from 'Zombie Jesus'
Rob Liefeld, creator of Youngblood and Deadpool, among others, has launched a new webcomic on his site called Zombie Jesus.
The strip uses scripture from The Bible to tell some of the story, particularly Matthew 27:51-52: “The earth shook, the rocks broke and tombs opened and many men and women who had died came back to life again. They left the cemetery and went into the city and appeared to many people there.” And then attacked them.
Led by a possessed Judas Iscariot, the zombie hordes invade Jerusalem, with Lazarus the Immortal taking up arms against them. I’m not sure how often it will be updated, but I know I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next.
- October 25, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Robot 666 | Parasomnia, Part One
Parasomnia
As a part of Robot 666 week, we’re pleased to present Parasomnia by artist Greg Hinkle, who teamed up with several writers to tell the story of a young woman’s nightmares, which are the key to unlocking a deeper secret. Here’s what Greg had to say about this first story, an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft tale:
I’ve always wanted to draw a Lovecraft story, but it’s always been a little intimidating. His stories always deal with some grandiose cosmic unknown. Usually some indescribable evil. (They discussed some of the same stuff during the West Hollywood Book Fair’s HP Lovecraft panel, earlier this month.) I knew that Lovecraft had done some short stories, and I figured I’d better start small. “The Terrible Old Man” is less than 1,200 words, and less than three pages in the book I have. It’s completely without dialogue, too, which appealed to me. Lovecraft’s approach is similar to his longer works, and he let’s almost all of the action take place off-page, leaving the reader to insert his own scary stuff. It confronts the threat from outsiders, in this case, quite literally, but gives the story a shot of the supernatural.
Parasomnias are a class of sleep disorders which include sleep walking, sleep talking, and night terrors. They’re characterized by a partial arousal, or the body becoming caught in between a state of waking and deep sleep. So I wanted a story that could set the tone for a confused state of arousal. And who better to set the stage for a confusing, dreamy state, than the grand-daddy of mind-bending horror?
Check out part one after the jump, then check back tomorrow for part two. You can also get Parasomnia from Greg Hinkle’s Etsy shop.
- October 25, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Robot 666 | Becky Cloonan sinks her teeth into the Sluts of Dracula
One of the few drawings from Becky Cloonan's SLUTS OF DRACULA gallery we can show you on this blog
“Sluts of Dracula” is totally today’s phrase that pays. Seriously, if I were a publisher I’d greenlight a book called Sluts of Dracula sight unseen. Of course, since the phrase was coined by cartoonist Becky Cloonan — who then provided ample, gorgeous, gloriously NSFW illustrations of the concept — it really wouldn’t be that much of a risk.
- October 25, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 666 | Johnny Ryan destroys your childhood with “Small Wonder”
Okay, so cartoonist Johnny Ryan’s latest NSFW strip for Vice magazine isn’t quite one of the mind-meltingly bleak nightmares he’s churned out for the mag or for his Fantagraphics series Prison Pit lately. But if you’ve got fond childhood memories of spending Saturday evenings watching the notoriously cheesy syndicated sitcom Small Wonder, featuring robotic-voiced Vicki and her unctuous inventor father Ted, the comic’ll do a number on you anyway. “Dream yeast”…shudder.
- October 25, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Digital history: Manga on CD
You know something comes of age when people start writing its history—and parts of it start to look quaint. At the Masters of Manga website, Izumi Matsumoto (the creator of Kimagure Orange Road, which has a following here despite never being translated) talks about his experimentation with digital manga. He gave it a shot in 1996, simply because he wanted to do his manga in color, and it looked great on the screen, but he chose to go with CD-ROM rather than the internet as a means of distribution and… Oh well. The video is just two and a half minutes but it makes interesting viewing so it’s well worth a stop.
- October 25, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson