2010 November
The Fifth Color | The Ladies and the Little Guys
They'd Really Like You to Buy Their Book
Marvel, by their own admission, knows they have a lot of titles on the stands. We have seen firsthand the gamut of Thor books produced, thanks to the buzz on the upcoming film. We have seen Captain America branch out into a variety of different styles and stories, and the Avengers are a franchise of their own. Tell me you wouldn’t look twice at a book with Wolverine on the cover. I mean, just to see what he’s doing there?
From this ‘Jump On What’s Hot and Print It!’ attitude from the House of Ideas, I’m still a little amazed that Heralds found the light of day, not to mention extremely grateful. Possibly my favorite comic this year, Heralds was a five-issue weekly event that brought Emma Frost, She-Hulk, Agent Abigail Brand, Hellcat, Valkyrie, Monica Rambeau and Sue Storm together to help a young woman find her place in this world and in the cosmos. It’s an honest story, one that fills the scope of cosmic powers with personality and humanity. These are people living in this great and strange Marvel Universe, and it expressed them all so well that I was drawn in and loved every page.
It was a hard sell. While the characters above are popular, there was no Deadpool cover or marketing jazz to hit the mainstream. A lot of people may have missed the book or passed it by, so please try and grab it in a back issue bin or on the shelves as a trade. The hardcover edition is lovely.
Which brings me back to my title, “The Ladies and the Little Guys.” Two comics came out this week that could easily be passed over on the way to bigger books and this week, I say thee nay. Deciding between Thor, Thor: For Asgard or Thor: First Thunder? Try She-Hulks #1. Too many Avengers books got you down? Grab a copy of Ant-Man & Wasp #1. Not only will you be encouraging character spotlights like Heralds, but you’ll be getting some great new stories a little off the beaten path. Ant-Man & Wasp and She-Hulks are like the off Broadway plays that might not be the hit productions on the big stages, but give just as much performance. They might even be a little experimental!
I read both of them this week (because it would be silly of me to talk aboutthem if I hadn’t) and not only did I get some great character pieces, but there was quick pacing and plot to chew on, moments that reminded me of comics past and even a couple odd notes or moments that made me look forward to the next issue to see how their resolved. No comic is perfect and in the right kind of flaws, we can see a little humanity shine through an artificial world.
Still waiting on the Tron covers? Here, let me tell you what I read.
(WARNING: Yep, spoilers ahead for both She-Hulks #1 and Ant-Man & Wasp #1. I have to tell you what happens inside, don’t I?)
- November 12, 2010 @ 05:16 PM by Carla Hoffman
Six by 6 | Six x-rated comics you can read without shame
Small Favors Vol. 1
Dirty comics have been around almost as long as the medium itself. No doubt a few years after the Yellow Kid first appeared, some wiseacre created a Tijuana Bible of him getting busy with Buster Brown’s mom.
Sadly, most of the sex comics produced over the years are awful, dreary affairs — works that either feature abysmal art and writing or indulge in such ugly stereotypes (or both), so that you feel ashamed for all the people involved, including yourself for having read the thing.
But there are a few gems amidst the x-rated dross. Below are six smut-laden books that, while you may not want to be caught reading them on the bus, can proudly display on your bookshelf without embarrassment.
I had a couple of self-imposed rules with this one. First of all, the comic had to be sexually explicit. Second, it had to be primarily designed to titillate the reader, thus nixing darker, serious work like Phoebe Gloeckner’s A Child’s Life.
Also, I’m sure there are plenty of books I’m forgetting about (catering to my own tastes, there’s a focus on heterosexual fare here), so feel free to mention your own particular favorites in the comments section. You naughty thing you.
Finally, while I’ve tried to keep everything below the jump relatively safe for work, I can’t promise that all the links will be PG-rated, so caveat emptor.
- November 12, 2010 @ 02:42 PM by Chris Mautner
Farel Dalrymple gets some help from John Buscema for Strange Tales II story
For his contribution to the alt.superhero anthology Strange Tales II, artist Farel Dalrymple copied a page by John Buscema from How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way — adding in his own words and integrating it into his Spider-man/Silver Surfer story. Over on his blog, the artist puts the two pages side by side, so you can see how they line up. Be sure to check out the really nice commissions he added to that post as well.
- November 12, 2010 @ 12:21 PM by JK Parkin
Laugh, cry or run far away from Our Valued Customers
Donald Blake he's not
The blog Our Valued Customers spotlights comments that artist/comic shop employee Mr. Tim has overheard at work. No doubt these are just the most extreme ones, but looking through them really makes me happy I’m not a customer at his store.
He breaks them down into several categories, like “creeps,” “crazies” and “fighters.” If you don’t want to be too disturbed, I recommend the “Jus’ Folks” category.
Update: ComicsAlliance is looking for stories of things you’ve heard in comic shops … and are giving away the Jim Lee Icons book to the winner.
- November 12, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Stuck? Just draw a cigarette!
Lynda Barry did a guest turn on NPR’s Talk of the Nation yesterday, talking about how to deal with writer’s (or artist’s) block. Barry’s solution is simple: Just do it:
In her latest graphic memoir, Picture This: The Near-Sighted Monkey Book, she writes,”The worst thing I can do when I’m stuck is to start thinking and stop moving my hands.”
And if you also have doodler’s block too, or think you can’t draw?
“All I tell them is try drawing a cigarette on anybody in a magazine,” Barry tells NPR’s Neal Conan. “They always start laughing, and I can tell they always feel better.”
You can listen to the entire interview at the link.
(Via Graphic Novel Reporter.)
- November 12, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Fables ‘Supergroup’ storyline to bring spandex to Vertigo
Fables #102
Superheroes at Vertigo? What the heck?
On Vertigo’s Graphic Content blog, Pamela Mullin released a trio of covers this morning that give an indication of what will be going on in the Fables-verse after the big battle with Mister Dark in issue #100. And it appears to involve superheroes.
“Now, we all know that Fables already have magical powers and use them, well, in their own clothes,” she wrote. “So why has Pinocchio suddenly got it in his head that he needs to design tight fitting costumes for a carefully selected team of Fables? In fact, why was the little brat caught looking over his own comic book collection, mumbling things like, ‘We can call him Werewolf Man, and he can be the Golden Knight, and she can be called The Green Witch?’”
That looks like Ozma on the cover to Fables #102, which was done by Joao Ruas.
After the jump, you can also check out covers to Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #1 by Chrissie Zullo and Jack of Fables #50, the oversized final issue, by Brian Bolland. All three come out in February.
- November 12, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Steve Rude’s home, Jim Davis’ apology, Stan Lee’s star
From Steve Rude's 2011 calendar
Creators | Renowned artist Steve Rude has announced that money raised from an online art and comics auction has enabled he and his family to keep their home: “When I saw the bread coming in after Gino made her announcement (this was unbeknownst to the oblivious Dude), I was, and still am, in a mild state of stupefication. The outpouring of generosity was clearly far beyond what Gino and I could’ve asked for. Your contributions poured in from all corners of our planet; the sizeable backstock of comics and Dude related ‘higher reading paraphernalia’ were ordered by the spit-load; and Erik Larson bought his complete Next Nexus 3 issue! All said, we saved the house.” The Nexus creator is still working to regain his financial footing, so he’s selling 2011 calendars and, soon, a new sketchbook. [DudeNews]
Creators | Stan Lee will receive his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Jan. 4. [Mark Evanier]
Jim Davis
Comic strips | Cartoonist Jim Davis has issued an apology for an ill-timed Garfield strip that appeared on Veterans Day. The strip, which appeared in newspapers on Thursday, featured a standoff between Garfield and a spider, and referred to “an annual day of remembrance” called “National Stupid Day.” In a statement, Davis explained that the strip was written almost a year ago, “and I had no idea when writing it that it would appear today — of all days.” [CNN, The Daily Cartoonist]
Conventions | Wizard World Austin Comic Con kicks off today at the Austin Convention Center. [The A.V. Club Austin, KXAN]
- November 12, 2010 @ 07:59 AM by Kevin Melrose
Teaser: ‘Doomsday Will Reign!’
"Doomsday Will Reign!"
On the heels of Marvel’s “Death of Spider-Man” teaser, the DC Universe blog has posted an image of the blood-dripping Superman shield under the headline “Doomsday Will Reign!”
Is this a case of good-natured ribbing from one publisher to another, or should readers expect dueling deaths — make that “deaths” — of two of the best-known superheroes? (Move over, Batman and Captain America — it’s Superman and Spider-Man’s turn!) Or DC could simply be hinting that Doomsday will (again) awaken following the events of the recent “New Krypton” storyline.
Of course, those aren’t the only possibilities. Speculation already has turned to a “Death of Superman” Absolute Edition and a Legion of Super-Heroes arc.
The bloody Superman logo debuted in November 1992 on the black bag that encased Superman #75, the conclusion of the blockbuster “Death of Superman” crossover that saw the deaths of the Man of Steel and Doomsday, the killing machine from Krypton’s distant past.
- November 12, 2010 @ 04:37 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | All I do is miss you and the way we used to be
Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (1989)
These days it’s very easy not only to discover some venerable bit of pop culture, but to bone up on its history almost as thoroughly as if you’d experienced it in real time. Although it’s some thirty-odd years old, only fairly recently have I become acquainted with the excellent Dire Straits song “Romeo And Juliet.”
The song doesn’t quite track the play, instead choosing a different take on the tragedy of true love. Juliet, not death, separates the star-crossed pair; and the refrain has Romeo pour his broken heart out to her:
Juliet! When we made love you used to cry/
You said “I love you like the stars above, I’ll love you ‘til I die”/
There’s a place for us (you know, the movie song)/
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong?
The song is almost triumphal in its melancholia, running the emotional spectrum from highest high to deepest low. In one of those low points, Romeo moans,
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah/
Now you just say, “Oh Romeo? Yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him.”
It’s about incredible passion, and the desperate need such passion creates … but it’s also about the reality that sometimes passion fades, or at least stops being returned in kind. “Romeo And Juliet” creates the sort of longing that can make you hug your significant other that much tighter; and if that’s not your current circumstance, it can bring you to the brink of tears remembering your own long-lost Juliet.
And — of course, right? — it now reminds me of my own relationship with the Legion of Super-Heroes.
- November 11, 2010 @ 03:01 PM by Tom Bondurant
What might have been: Captain Britain by Matthew Dow Smith & Guy Davis
Captain Britain by Matthew Dow Smith
Last month the artist blog Comic Twart did themed drawings around the idea “What if Comic Twart ran Marvel?” In that spirit, writer/artist Matthew Dow Smith (Dr. Who) shares his rendition of a Captain Britain that was originally redesigned by Guy Davis (B.P.R.D.). It was part of a pitch they made to Marvel.
“… I spent a lot of time early in my career pitching projects that I could write to anyone who would listen, and the closest I ever came to getting one off the ground was a Captain Britain mini-series at Marvel, with Guy Davis on board as the artist,” he said on his blog. “This was right as Marvel had put Grant Morrison on the X-Men, and they were open to a lot of new directions for their stable of characters. And Guy and I had planned out a pretty radical new direction for Brian Braddock. Unfortunately, our editor was suddenly let go before we started work on the first issue and the project got dropped, but Guy had already turned in a radical redesign of CB’s costume that would have played in perfectly with our plans for the character, which included him finding Excalibur and becoming tied directly to the Arthur legend.”
- November 11, 2010 @ 02:01 PM by JK Parkin
Why do webcomics work?
The action at NEWW (photo by Mike Peterson)
Mike Peterson went to the New England Webcomics Weekend, and if you are curious how it went but not familiar with all the names involved, his is the account to read, as he gives a good general overview of the event. plus a few conversations with individuals. I liked this in particular, from part two of his account:
There was a lot of laughter and a lot of conversation, but it was basically a mass book-signing event, with this important difference:
What makes webcomic fans so loyal is the sense of community that springs up around a successful webcomic. This doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of emailing back-and-forth with individual fans, but it does mean creating place online where they can feel their input and their presence is of value to you and perhaps has some effect on the cartoon itself. “Success” and “community” are inseparable, and it’s a major reason why, as mentioned yesterday, you can’t hide in your garret churning out amazing art and expect to succeed in this medium.
(His hiding-in-a-garret point is from part one.) A lot of the successful webcomics that I see have blogs or comment areas, which helps promote the feeling of community, and of course everyone is on Facebook and Twitter nowadays. The result is that while the Stan Lee of my childhood was a distant figure sitting at a desk in a skyscraper in New York (itself an abstract concept to a Midwestern kid like me), todays comics creators are all over the place, and their readers can interact with them on more than one level—read the comic, buy the T-shirt, follow them on Twitter, chat with them at cons. Of course, print comics creators have gotten a lot more accessible as well, but it seems to be more fundamental to the webcomics model.
- November 11, 2010 @ 12:53 PM by Brigid Alverson
First date: Me and my iPad
So, I broke down yesterday and bought an iPad. (I got the 32 G, Wi-Fi only version, for those who care about such things.) It’s a toy, but it’s a very nice toy. The question is, will it be a good workhorse?
So far so good. I’m a good tester for products like this, as I am not particularly good with technology, and I find that moving things to multiple platforms is often more trouble than it’s worth. The guy set the iPad up for me right in the store—got the battery charged, showed me how to use it, and made sure I installed iBooks right away. I doubt I’ll ever use iBooks, because I couldn’t find any free books, but whatever, it doesn’t take up much space. With a quick sync, I had the iPad versions of several comics readers that I already had on my iPod Touch: Comics by comiXology, Comics + from iVerse, some Dark Horse stand-alone books. Somehow the Viz Manga reader appeared as well, although I don’t remember signing up. Downloads were swift and easy. When I went home, I added the iPad to my Kindle account and moved some books over there.
Interestingly, the iPod comics I already own are readable on the iPad but in the smaller iPod format, so while I haven’t gained anything, I haven’t lost anything either.
- November 11, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Quote of the day #3 | JMS’s vote of no-confidence in monthly comics?
“…Straczynski basically indicates that the future is stand-alone works and short runs, which strikes me as a terrible vote of no-confidence in terms of such a company’s — an industry’s! — bread and butter. If JMS doesn’t want to write continuing series, doesn’t that suggest that fans might want to reconsider reading them?”
–The Comics Reporter’s Tom Spurgeon, analyzing the ramifications of J. Michael Straczynski’s decision to depart his runs on Superman and Wonder Woman for the original graphic novel series Superman: Earth One and similarly formatted projects. “I think that’s where the business is going,” JMS said in his statement; will it go there faster now that one of its most high-profile writers has made the switch?
- November 11, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Quote of the day #2 | The future of JMS’s The Twelve
“For those who’ve been asking, yes, JMS is finishing The Twelve. #9 & 10 are done, and Chris [Weston] is waiting on script from JMS this week.”
–Marvel Senior VP – Executive Editor Tom Brevoort on the other book J. Michael Straczynski departed mid-stream, the long-delayed Marvel maxi-series The Twelve with artist Chris Weston. Perhaps this is one of the “high-visibility mini series…with a beginning, middle and end” to which JMS was referring in his statement about leaving Superman and Wonder Woman to focus on non-monthly comics. (The “and end” part’s the kicker.)
- November 11, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Quote of the day #1 | Mark Waid on JMS leaving Superman, Wonder Woman
“I think we call that ‘Pulling a Palin.’”
–Writer, editor, and long-suffering Superman superfan Mark Waid, presumably comparing writer J. Michael Straczynski’s abrupt mid-storyline departure from his controversial Superman and Wonder Woman revamps to focus on the (previously announced) second volume in the Superman: Earth One series with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s departure from office to do…whatever it is Sarah Palin does now. I say “presumably” because as far as I know, Superman hasn’t yet walked far enough across America to be able to see Russia from his house.
- November 11, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins