2010 November
Exclusive: Previews from Strange Tales II #3 by Stokoe, DeForge
The third and final issue of Marvel’s Strange Tales II arrives in shops Dec. 8, and will feature stories by James Stokoe, Michael DeForge, Toby Cypress, Harvey Pekar and Ty Templeton, Nick Gurewitch with Kate Beaton, Eduardo Medeiros and Benjamin Marra, among others.
And thanks to our friends over at Marvel, we’re pleased to present two preview pages from the anthology today, featuring Stokoe’s Silver Surfer tale (who we alreayd know draws a jaw-dropping awesome Galactus), and DeForge’s Spider-Man, Jubilee and Iceman.
Check’em out after the jump.
- November 19, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Morrison’s ‘post-apocalyptic Doc Holliday’ returns in second My Chemical Romance video
If you enjoyed Grant Morrison’s appearance in the video for My Chemical Romance’s “Na Na Na”, you’ll be happy to know he’s back for the follow-up, “Sing.” The Batman Inc. writer has also revealed a little more about the character he plays in both videos to the L.A. Times.
“Korse is an exterminator for the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit of Better Living Industries,” Morrison told Geoff Boucher of the Hero Complex blog. “His extensive back story has yet to be revealed but he’s intimately connected with the Killjoys and their secret history. He’s a remorseless human bloodhound, a hunter who dresses like an undead, post-apocalyptic Doc Holliday.”
- November 19, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Detective Comics auction, comics prices and anti-piracy bill
Detective Comics #27
Comics | A copy of Detective Comics #27 bought for 10 cents by Robert Irwin in 1939 sold at auction Thursday for $492,937. It’s not a record price for the first appearance of Batman — a CGC-graded 8.0 copy fetched more than $1 million in February — but the $400,000 that the 84-year-old Irwin will make after the commission fee is subtracted will more than pay off the mortgage on his home. [Sacramento Bee]
Digital piracy | The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would grant the Justice Department the right to shut down a website with a court order “if copyright infringement is deemed ‘central to the activity’ of the site — regardless if the website has actually committed a crime.” In short, Wired’s Sam Gustin writes, the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act “would allow the federal government to censor the internet without due process.” [Epicenter, AFP]
- November 19, 2010 @ 08:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | Because nothing says love like Doomsday: DC Comics Solicitations for February 2011
This was the most romance-oriented image I could find in the February solicits
Time for the monthly look at DC’s periodicals … now that Superman Earth One has killed the periodical market, anyway….
YOU SAY GOODBYE, I SAY HELLO
A few high-profile creative-team shuffles will be resolved in February’s issues. The Peter Tomasi/Patrick Gleason Era of Batman And Robin begins in February, and new writers Chris Roberson and Phil Hester will flesh out J. Michael Straczynski’s plots for Superman and Wonder Woman.
Obviously all three books are going through some transition (to say the least) following the departure of a high-profile writer; and obviously the transitions speak to the relentless demands of the periodical market. DC needs to publish Superman and Wonder Woman every month, because quite simply they’re cornerstones of its superhero line. Conversely, DC could have cancelled Batman and Robin after Grant Morrison’s departure, but I suppose that would have provided a more definite jumping-off point than Morrison’s own transit to the new Batman Incorporated. (I still think Streets Of Gotham is on its way out, mostly because the Hush-oriented story it has been telling will be wrapped up by the spring.)
- November 18, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Book trailer: Night Salad takes you to fantasyland
Check out this video of Night Salad, a new book by the Scottish team of Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, who go by the name Metaphrog. At the Forbidden Planet blog, Joe waxes lyrical about the book and shows off some generous samples of the art, which is lovely and well worth the click. This is the latest of a series of books about the baby-faced Louis; earlier volumes have earned nominations for the Eisner and Ignatz awards. The story is a fable that works on two levels; children can read it as a simple story of Louis looking for a cure for his sick bird, while adults may see more sinster overtones. You can see more of Metaphrog’s work on their website, and an earlier Louis story, Red Letter Day at Serializer.
- November 18, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival unveils artist-packed programming schedule
Programming Director Bill Kartalopoulos has released the programming schedule for the upcoming 2nd annual Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, taking place on Saturday, Dec. 4 in Williamsburg, and it’s a doozy. Lynda Barry & Charles Burns and Françoise Mouly & Sammy Harkham will be paired off in panels that are perhaps the highlight of the show, while other spotlighted cartoonists include Golden Age artist Irwin Hasen (in conversation with Paul Pope, Evan Dorkin, and Dan Nadel) and Big Questions author Anders Nilsen, who drew the still-awesome poster you see above.
Check out the full schedule in the BCGF press release after the jump.
- November 18, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Second True Blood miniseries coming from IDW in February
True Blood Vol. 1
Fans of IDW’s recent True Blood series will be happy to know that a second series is on its way next year. The as-yet-untitled miniseries will be co-written by Michael McMillian, who plays the Fellowship of the Sun’s charismatic reverend Steve Newlin on the HBO show, and Marc Andreyko (Manhunter, Pantheon). The comic will feature several characters who didn’t appear in the first volume, including Newlin, Jessica Hamby, Hoyt Fortenberry, Terry Bellefleur, Arlene Fowler and Jesus Velasquez.
“The plot kicks off when bottles of Tru Blood are contaminated with this mysterious ingredient that makes vampires go, basically, insane,” McMillian told Entertainment Weekly’s Shelf Life blog. “They go crazy. They lose sense of all sort of moral center, and they pretty much go feral and attack anything and everything in sight. What happens is they reach Bon Temps and the lips of a very beloved vampire character. Sookie and the rest of the characters are trying to figure out: Who’s behind the contamination? How can they save their friend? That’s sort of where the whole arc starts off.”
He compared the contaminated beverage to the “BP oil spill or the contaminated Tylenol pills,” a PR nightmare where vampires who live among humans will see bottle of Tru Blood pulled from shelves. That can’t be good for human-vampire relations, can it?
No word on the art team. The new series starts Feb. 23. The collection of the first series, pictured above, comes out Feb. 8.
- November 18, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
John Allison comes out swinging with his Indie Comics Manifesto
Scary Go Round, Bad Machinery, and Giant Days webcomics impresario John Allison is throwing down the gauntlet. In his “Manifesto for UK Indie Comics in 2010″, the cartoonist offers some very blunt advice for aspiring comics creators, on everything from content to format to fandom to your personal demeanor as a creator. As is the case with most comics manifestos, there’s stuff in it I applaud, stuff in it that’s somewhere between a nasty rude awakening and a much-needed kick in the pants, and stuff that makes my skin crawl.
For example, I am generally speaking a diary-comics skeptic, and thus point #7, “Diary comics: stop it,” strikes me as advice potentially worth heeding, especially for new cartoonists looking for a way to channel their energies. On the other hand, point #3, “Make comics for people who don’t make comics,” though it sounds like a good enough idea, basically writes off vast swathes of the medium’s best work:
Why is anyone other than your comic making friends and a few select interested parties going to read an art-damaged visual tone-poem about the inside of your psyche? Learn how to engage and entertain people. It’s a profoundly useful skill.
- November 18, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Snyder on Detective and the fate of the Jim Gordon co-feature
Detective #871
Scott Snyder, who writes the awesome Vertigo title American Vampire, is set to make his debut on Detective Comics next week. Over on DC’s the Source blog, he talks about his upcoming run on the book with artist Jock.
“On the surface, the run will constitute a kind of back-to-basics approach, with Dick Grayson, as the newly anointed Batman of Gotham, solving brutal crimes around the city with new, high-tech CSI toys,” Snyder said. “But the run will also be about the dark and mysterious relationship the city has with Bat. Because for Bruce, Gotham has produced the Joker, Two-Face and all the great villains we know and love as dark and twisted reflections of Bruce himself. And now, with Dick in the cowl, the city seems to be changing, becoming meaner, more vicious. Which makes him wonder – what if being Batman in Gotham means having to face your worst childhood fears come to life, in the flesh? What if Gotham is like a black funhouse mirror to whoever wears the cowl?”
- November 18, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Mark Millar & Terry Dodson’s controversial Trouble to be collected in 2011?
Here’s a great catch by blogger Corey Blake and a great “is this real life?” moment for the rest of us: An Amazon listing for a hardcover collection of the 2003 miniseries Trouble by Mark Millar and Terry Dodson, slated for release on June 8, 2011.
For those of you who don’t recall those heady days, Trouble was part of the short-lived, Bill Jemas-shepherded revival of Marvel’s Epic imprint and an attempt to create the first hit romance comic in god knows how long. (I know, nothing says “romance comic” like Wanted, Kick-Ass, Nemesis, and Superior writer Mark Millar, but this was the same Nu-Marvel era that gave us Bendis/Maleev Daredevil, Milligan/Allred X-Statix, Millar/Hitch Ultimates, Morrison/Quitely New X-Men and so on, so cut ‘em some slack.)
Quite aside from whether the book was or wasn’t a good read, Trouble caused trouble for two reasons. First, it was basically a mildly randy sex dramedy about the teen years of Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and Peter Parker’s parents Mary and Richard…and it revealed that Peter was secretly May’s son through a hushed-up teen pregnancy. (I think — I’ve never been able to figure out how the very elderly May Parker made sense as the aunt for teenage Peter Parker, and having her be a teen herself at the time of his conception only confused me further.) At the time, Millar stated that this would be Spider-Man’s new origin if the book went over well. It didn’t, so the book never made it into official continuity.
- November 18, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Interview of the day: Art Spiegelman gets the Graphic NYC treatment
Art Spiegelman (photo by Seth Kushner)
Christopher Irving has a long, juicy interview with Art Spiegelman at the Graphic NYC blog, illuminated by Seth Kushner’s moody photos.
Spiegelman talks about his early comics reading and the freedom of working on comics in the 1970s, when the entire medium was caving in and there was plenty of space to create something new. He intersperses broad reflections on the medium with arresting moments, such as falling asleep in a basement full of old Happy Hooligan comics and dreaming about the iconic character (whom he later morphed in to a self-portrait, Hapless Hooligan).
- November 18, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Quote of the day | Thor: The Mighty Avenger and the Thunder God glut
“About cancellation of Thor: The Mighty Avenger: Want to see a big part of the problem? Just look at next week’s schedule…TMA out same week as Astonishing Thor #1 and Thunderstrike #1. Add to ongoing Thor, Thor: For Asgard, Thor: First Thunder, Ultimate Thor, recent Loki, Sif, Warriors Four and Warriors Three minis/one-shots. Count in Avengers, Avengers Prime, New Ultimates…Mighty Avenger was clearly the best of the bunch, but how was it meant to stand out amongst the glut?”
– retailer Tom Adams of Brooklyn’s Bergen Street Comics, with one possible explanation for the cancellation of Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee’s much-lauded, low-selling Thor: The Mighty Avenger, starring the much-published, soon-to-be-a-movie-star Asgardian Avenger. He forgot Marvel Adventures Super Heroes, Chaos War, Chaos War: Thor, Thor: Wolves at the Gate, Thor: Heaven and Earth, and Hulk.
- November 18, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Comics A.M. | Supermain lawsuit restarts, Hulk smash illegal immigration?
Superman
Legal | A federal judge has lifted the delay in the ferocious legal battle over the rights to Superman, allowing attorneys for Warner Bros. to proceed with deposition of the families of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright issued the stay last month while he considered an appeal on a procedural ruling, but on Tuesday he modified the order, permitting the studio to “proceed with full discovery of [heirs] Joanne Siegel, Laura Siegel Larson, Jean Peavy and Mark Peavy.” The depositions are expected to begin immediately. [THR, Esq.]
Retailing | Bookstores had their worst month of the year in September as sales slipped 7.7 percent, to $1.51 billion. [Publishers Weekly]
Piracy | Colleen Doran argues that it’s the middle-class artist, not the rich corporations, who are the real victims of digital piracy. [The Hill]
Crime | Houston police have arrested two people believed to be responsible for stealing thousands of dollars worth of comics from stores around the city. Bedrock City Comic Company was hit at least four times. [My Fox Houston]
- November 18, 2010 @ 08:34 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs | Getting to know Kelly Sue DeConnick
When we were over at Newsarama, I used to do these creator profile pieces that were a lot of fun. They were fun for me at least, because I always came away from them with an insight into some of my favorite creators that I never got from the typical project-oriented interviews. I mean, where else are you going to learn about a writer’s work-out routine or an artist’s favorite shirt?
So, once a month I’d like to use this space for a different kind of look at the creators of the fun kinds of comics we usually talk about here. I hope you’ll dig it as much as I do.
Kelly Sue DeConnick
First up is Kelly Sue DeConnick who got started in the biz translating manga for VIZ and Tokyopop before doing some Image anthologies (most of which featured robots) and 30 Days of Night: Eben & Stella for IDW. Nowadays, of course, you’ll find her name all over Marvel comics in anthologies like Age of Heroes and Girl Comics and one-shots like Sif and Rescue. You may have also noticed that Osborn, her first mini-series for Marvel, just launched today.
Let’s get to know her:
Q: Who’s your personal hero?
A: Man. After far more deliberation that I really should cop to, I’m going to go with Laurenn McCubbin. There are about a bazillion ways to interpret “personal hero.” I’m going with the person from whom I think I have the most to learn, the person I wish I were more like.
Laurenn’s exceptionally courageous and open-minded, two areas where I think I could be improved. More impressive still, she has the extraordinary willingness to be wrong. Do you know what I mean by that? Laurenn is one of the few people you’ll ever meet who will go into an argument with you willing to change her mind. She doesn’t seem to have her ego wrapped up in any of that. You don’t really realize how rare that is until you meet someone like her. I think it’s tremendously evolved.
I suck at being wrong. I’m embarrassed by it.
Good thing it happens so very rarely.
Wah wah.
- November 17, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Michael May
Joelle Jones’s Troublemaker sketches
Book 2 of Troublemaker, the graphic novel penned by mystery writers Janet and Alex Evanovich, is out at the end of this month, and Dark Horse is celebrating by posting some of artist Joelle Jones’s sketches for the book. I happen to think Jones’s art is the best thing about Troublemaker, so this is an extra treat.
(Via Comics Worth Reading.)
- November 17, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Brigid Alverson