2010 October
Robot 666 | Dracula: The Company of Monsters #3 preview
Dracula: The Company of Monsters #3
Courtesy of our fiendishly fine friends at BOOM! Studios and just in time for Robot 666 week comes a preview of Dracula: The Company of Monsters #3. Written by Kurt Busiek and Daryl Gregory, with art by Damian Couceiro, this issue features a “revived, enchained and seemingly tamed” Dracula under the control of the Barrington Corporation … or is he?
Check out the preview and solicitation text after the jump.
- October 25, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Millar, Yu tease Nemesis/Superior/Kick-Ass crossover
Nemesis, Superior and Kick Ass
Over on his message boards, writer Mark Millar teases a crossover between three of his creator-owned properties — Kick-Ass, Superior and Nemesis — with some art by Leinil Francis Yu.
“Leinil’s just finished some layouts here, but it’s a nice teaser for everyone,” he said about the art. “The picture really says it all: Nemesis, Superior, Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass. The first Millarworld crossover event.”
No other details were given in terms of what this is or where it might appear, but his Clint Magazine might be a likely venue.
Update: It’s three covers.
- October 25, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
Tech rumor: B&N to debut color e-reader?
The current Nook, in glorious black and white
CNET has picked up on a rumor that B&N will show off a full-color version of the Nook tomorrow. The supposedly reliable source reports that the new Nook will be Android-based (like the original) and feature a 7-inch screen and a price of $250.
It’s worth taking a look at the lengthy comment string on the post to get an idea of the issues involved; the commenters at CNET are a lot more tech-savvy than I am. But this does raise some issues from a comics reader’s point of view. Most people focus on the screen: The iPad’s backlit screen is bright and makes the colors pop, but it also shortens the battery life and is hard to read in sunlight. Dedicated Kindle and Nook readers prefer their e-paper screens because they are easier on the eyes. The early Kindle had terrible resolution, rendering comics unreadable (I tried), but they seem to have overcome that problem, and the Japanese company Animate is actually publishing yaoi manga direct to Kindle.
But as Steve Jobs could tell you, it’s not all about the technology. Everyone talks about the iTunes store, but I recently had a conversation with a creator who pointed out that when people want books, they go to Amazon, not iTunes. In fact, iTunes makes it hard to find comics unless you are using a dedicated app, because the store doesn’t have a separate section for them. Neither does Amazon, but the search function works more smoothly and displays the results in a more useful manner (with product details right on the search page). So for someone who is looking for the digital equivalent of poking around a comics store, a retailer who specializes in books may have an edge.
And for someone who is just looking to read comics, $250 looks a lot better than $499, the starting price for the cheapest iPad.
(Via CrunchGear, via Journalista.)
- October 25, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Robot 666 | Parasomnia by Greg Hinkle and various
Parasomnia
As a part of Robot 666 week, we’re pleased to bring you a Robot 6 exclusive — Greg Hinkle‘s debut comic, Parasomnia.
Serialized over the next five days, the story revolves around a young woman’s nightmares, which are the key to unlocking a deeper secret. A recent graduate from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Greg teamed up with local writers STORM (Princess Witch Boy), Jason McNamara (The Martian Confederacy, First Moon) and Matt Silady (The Homeless Channel) to bring his horror landscape to life.
Here’s what Greg had to say about the project:
- October 25, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
Toriyama returns to Dragon Ball
Rich Johnston reports this morning that manga creator Akira Toriyama is going to write some new chapters of Dragon Ball (also known as Dragon Ball Z in the United States). Dragon Ball originally ran from 1984 to 1995 in Japan, and Viz Media published it in the U.S.
Johnston states the obvious: “Something that will make this event even more spectacular is a simultaneous fully translated worldwide launch of the new book.”
The Viz folks were tweeting last week about a big announcement to come this week, and they have already done a simultaneous release with Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-ne, so this indeed may be their big news. Stay tuned!
- October 25, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
ComiXology debuts The Walking Dead digital comics app
The Walking Dead app
With the days ticking down to the Oct. 31 premiere of AMC’s adaptation of The Walking Dead, comiXology has unveiled a dedicated digital comic app of the horror title for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
The Image Comics series, by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn, moved last month to simultaneous print and digital release, with downloads priced the same as physical copies — part of an effort to get the award-winning comic in front of as many people as possible.
The new comiXology app includes the collected editions.
“Today’s app release will provide fans of The Walking Dead, new and old alike, another way to enjoy this series,” Kirkman said in the announcement. “The Walking Dead app will make the series that much more accessible to the new generation that, more often than not, experiences their entertainment completely digitally. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with comiXology, on the eve of the debut of the AMC television series, to bring this series in front of a whole new generation of readers.”
Read the press release after the break. For more on The Walking Dead television series, visit Spinoff Online.
- October 25, 2010 @ 08:38 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Wonder Woman #122
Passings | Veteran inker Mike Esposito, who teamed with childhood friend and frequent collaborator Ross Andru on such DC Comics titles as Action Comics, Wonder Woman and Metal Men, passed away Sunday at age 83. To conceal his Marvel work from DC, Esposito used the pseudonym Mickey Demeo, inking John Romita Sr. on The Amazing Spider-Man and Jack Kirby on The Hulk. Andru later joined him at Marvel on Spider-Man. [Mark Evanier]
Publishing | Kuwaiti entrepreneur Naif al-Mutawa, whose Muslim-superhero comic The 99 recently met with absurd, manufactured controversy, is profiled just as DC Comics prepares to debut a crossover with the Justice League: “It seems likely that a media firestorm is brewing. On forums last week, DC comics faced accusations of ‘Muslim pandering’ and ‘treachery,’ but that’s the salient feature of The 99, not just that they’re superheroes from four continents fighting crime wherever they find it, but that they – and Mutawa – have to fight enemies and overcome resistance from both the east and the west. ‘One of the tough things is that people always think I’m working for someone else. In America, it’s like, “Sure, they’re private investors.” Back home, they think I’m working for the Americans and here they think I’m working for some sort of Islamic agenda’.” [The Observer]
- October 25, 2010 @ 08:06 AM by Kevin Melrose
I am the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red
From 'Swamp Thing: Anatomy Lesson'
Next Sunday is Halloween, and in celebration, we’re kicking off our second annual Robot 666 week, seven days of horror-filled fun. All this week, in addition to our regular blogging, we’ll look at the scarier side of comics, with horror-themed columns, scary stories and appearances by special “spooky” guests.
So stay tuned today as we get into the spirit of the season later today!
- October 25, 2010 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Changing Ways
Welcome to this week’s edition of What Are You Reading?, and a big thanks to Chris Mautner for helping out last week.
Our special guest this week is Larry Young, AiT/Planet Lar publisher and one of the editors behind the Kickstart Comics. To see what Larry and the rest of the Robot 6 crew have been reading, make with the click below …
- October 24, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Bootleg manga site goes back to its old ways
A screenshot of Manga Fox, showing a couple of familiar names
Remember when the manga scan site Manga Fox announced they would stop posting scans of licensed manga?
Well, that didn’t last long. Yup, those are links to the latest chapters of Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach, all licensed by Viz. There is one Yen Press manga on the site, Darren Shan (released in the U.S. as Cirque du Freak), but the more popular series Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji) and Pandora Hearts are still missing. I spotted some Tokyopop series as well: Maid Sama!, Deadman Wonderland, and Gakuen Alice are all up there and have been updated within the last month, and a number of other high-profile series, including Hetalia, Neko Ramen, and Hanako and the Terror of Allegory, are still posted but have not been updated recently.
Del Rey was not part of the publisher group that asked scan sites to remove their titles, and Manga Fox never took their series down. Consequently, the site is well stocked with manga that have been licensed in the U.S.
What’s more, they seem to be a little tired of vigilantes:
- October 23, 2010 @ 08:27 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Fifth Color | Forward into the Past: Marvel’s Solicitations for Jan 2011
Nothing Says a Milestone Issue like a Djurdjevic cover!
Before we play the numbers game for the new year, I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is awesome. Full of adventure, excitement and so many nods to Marvel canon you’ll feel like a bobble doll. Marvel Animation is at it again, putting out some of their best work in episodic cartoons and it’d be a shame if you didn’t look to your local cable stations and give it a try. It’s on Disney XD, Wednesdays around 8:30/7:30 Central with plenty of repeats.
OK, enough cartoon shout-outs, let’s look a little further than next week: let’s look to the New Year! 2011 cometh on large promises and new, exciting events and movies! Looking over the solicitations for the first month and an all-new, all-different year, one has to note how… disheveled the future seems. Spelling errors, credit errors, the wrong covers depicted for some books; heck, Chaos War #5 is just listed as #5 (of 5). Especially with such Distinguished Competition moving out west, putting out some really nice looking covers, that whole “price thingie” everyone keeps talking about… This all seems so rushed. Tom Brevoort notes the strain the move is having on the ol’ Bullpen, so maybe this is just growing pains. We’ll cut the House of Ideas some slack as they do some housecleaning and maybe forgive a few tiny mistakes within their upcoming books. After all, it’s not like they’re asking us to pay $25 bucks for four comics, right?
- October 22, 2010 @ 06:22 PM by Carla Hoffman
4chan piracy causes spike in sales for Lieber and Parker’s Underground
Someone on 4chan scanned in all of Steve Lieber and Jeff Parker’s Underground and posted it for all to read. Rather than pitching a fit (which would have been perfectly justified under the circumstances), Lieber joined the discussion and cheerfully suggested folks kick in a few bucks if they like the book or maybe even, you know, buy it. Then he posted it on his own site for free. The picture above, taken from this post on his blog, concisely summarizes what happened next.
Why did it work out this way? Perhaps the comic is that good (I haven’t read it), perhaps because 4chan helped it find its audience, and perhaps because Lieber took some time to engage the readers and establish himself as a real person—it’s a lot harder to steal from someone you know.
He talks a bit more about it at Warren Ellis’s forum. (Found via Teleread.)
And remember, kids: Only Stephenie Meyer can defeat 4chan.
- October 22, 2010 @ 03:45 PM by Brigid Alverson
Aspiring editor gets a burger and advice from Joe Quesada
Greg Pelkofski and Joe Quesada
If Greg Pelkofski have anything to say about it, he’ll be making comics for years to come. Hoping to get some advice on how to do that, the 21-year-old fan and aspiring comics editor paid $536.51 to have lunch with Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada as a part of one of the Hero Initiative’s fund-raising efforts.
“Almost immediately, Joe began asking me questions about myself and I was able to explain my desire to be a comic book editor,” he wrote. “With an attentive ear, he patiently listened to me speak of my college studies and my experience as an intern at AARP. He explained how tough it is to actually break into comics, especially in today’s job market, but he also told of how rewarding the work is. We discussed editorial work in comics and what a typical day at Marvel is like, and I found myself wanting to work there now more than ever.”
Head over to the organization’s blog for a guest post by Pelkofski about the experience.
- October 22, 2010 @ 01:56 PM by JK Parkin
This Sunday, it’s Wonder Woman Day
Wonder Woman Day artwork by Chris Samnee
This Sunday brings two events, one on each coast, that celebrate Wonder Woman and give back to a couple of good causes — the fifth annual Wonder Woman Day. Folks in Portland, Ore. can head to Excalibur Comics, while Comic Fusion hosts an event in Flemington, N.J. Both events will feature comic artists, costumed characters and silent auctions that, respectively, benefit the Bradley Angle, one of Portland’s leading domestic violence agencies, and Safe in Hunterdon, a domestic violence shelter in New Jersey.
The event, spearheaded by Andy Mangels, also has an online component — you can bid on Wonder Woman artwork on eBay, including the above piece by Chris Samnee and pieces by Ethan Van Sciver, Tom Yeates, Guy Davis, Steve Lieber and more.
You can find the complete press release after the jump.
- October 22, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Midtown’s variant Soldier Zero cover has us seeing silver
Soldier Zero #1 variant
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios, here’s the special Midtown Comics variant cover art for Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero #1, which came out this week. The cover, by Paul Rivoche, recalls an earlier Stan Lee comic:
- October 22, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin