2010 November
Millionaire’s art pops up everywhere, from Letterman to Chernobyl
National Ransom
Comics creator Tony Millionaire provided the cover art for Elvis Costello’s latest album, National Ransom, and as Costello has made the talk show rounds to promote it, Millionaire’s art has been popping up on shows like David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon.
And now Millionaire is holding a Photoshop contest on Facebook, where people are putting the album cover everywhere from Chernobyl to the hands of Moses (not to mention some of the places they’re putting Tony Millionaire himself). Go check it out, and add your own entry if you’ve got the skills.
- November 11, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Another One Piece sales record, another cartoonist layoff
One Piece, Vol. 6
Publishing | The 60th volume of Eiichiro Oda’s popular pirate manga One Piece sold more than 2 million copies in its first four days of release. It’s the first book to move more than 2 million copies in its first week of sales since the Japanese market survey company Oricon began reporting its charts in 2008. As we reported last week, this volume’s 3.4 million-copy first printing set a record, and propelled the series past the 200 million-copy mark. [Anime News Network]
Editorial cartoons | Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Matt Davies has been laid off by the Gannett-owned Journal News in White Plains, N.Y. [Comic Riffs]
Publishing | Abrams has made three comics-related promotions: Susan Van Metre to senior vice president and publisher, overseeing all comic arts books as well as Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books; Charles Kochman to editorial director of Abrams ComicArts; and Chad W. Beckerman to creative director, overseeing design for all comic arts books as well as Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books. [Abrams]
- November 11, 2010 @ 08:39 AM by Kevin Melrose
San Diego Convention Center expansion includes 5-acre rooftop park
The San Diego Convention Center's planned rooftop park
Officials this week announced the lead architect for the long-anticipated expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, unveiling plans that call for a five-acre rooftop park, a truck tunnel for exhibitors and a 500-room hotel.
The 870,000-square-foot addition, targeted for completion in mid-2015, will make San Diego’s exhibit hall the largest on the West Coast, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The design by Denver architect Curtis Fentress, whose firm was responsible for Denver International Airport and Dubai Towers, could end up costing less than the original estimate of $752 million because it calls for additional exhibit space on the ground floor rather than on a second level.
Questions, however, remain about the project’s funding. The original cost analysis called for $53 million in annual bond payments, but that figure likely will end up being lower. Potential funding sources include downtown business assessments, taxi and rental-car surcharges and redevelopment property taxes.
The planned expansion, which was key to keeping Comic-Con International in San Diego, will now undergo an environmental review. If it receives the approval of the California Coastal Commission, construction should begin in 2013 with the new space opening in 2015, possibly in time for Comic-Con.
See more of the architects’ renditions of the expansion after the break.
- November 11, 2010 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs | Black Metal
Black Metal
Black Metal, Book 1
Written by Rick Spears; Illustrated by Chuck BB
Oni; $11.95
As someone who’s not a fan of Black Metal the Music Genre, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Black Metal the Graphic Novel. I hoped I’d like it. I love Chuck BB’s (Secret Skull) art for one thing. I’ve also heard great things about Rick Spears’ Teenagers from Mars. Mostly though, while I don’t dig a lot of the music, I’m very entertained by the trappings of Metal: the skulls, the demon lords…the Vikings. If Spears and BB were able to just tell an awesome story with all that stuff, Black Metal would succeed.
Undoubtedly, readers will find more enjoyment in it the closer they relate to the music and the culture that Black Metal celebrates. There’s no false advertising in that title. Shawn and Sam Stronghand are an orphaned pair of junior high twins who’ve been shuffled from school to school and foster home to foster home. They also – as the book says – have “a penchant for the darkest of metal.” When they play an album by a hardcore band called Frost Axe, they hear the legend of a war in Hell between two Barons: a huge, horned bruiser called the Roth and the sinister demon named Von Char who defeated the Roth through trickery. Playing the record backwards, the twins are pulled to Hell where they recover the Roth’s Sword of Atoll and return to Earth with it.
Von Char doesn’t like this of course and sends minions to kill the boys. As the Stronghands (and their gross little foster brother) try to survive, they encounter a band of ancient warriors (action!), Norse gods (adventure!), and cute girls (romance!) only one of whom is human.
- November 10, 2010 @ 06:27 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your … Halloween Costumes?
Captains America
So it’s Wednesday, and you may be asking, “Hey, where’s the Shelf Porn?” Unfortunately, after running the feature for almost two years now, we came up short this week and ran out of submissions.
So is this the end of Shelf Porn? Will we never see another display of graphic novels, toys or original art in somebody’s home? Let’s hope not. If you’d like to put your pictures on display, just email your pictures and a write-up to jkparkin@yahoo.com. And to everyone who has ever mentioned that they plan to send in their pictures — that day is now!
In place of Shelf Porn, this week I have Halloween pictures from Metro Entertainment in Santa Barbara, Calif., where our own Carla Hoffman works. Check them out after the jump.
- November 10, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Something to look forward to: Who Is Jake Ellis?
Nathan Edmondson, who recently wrapped up the horror comic The Light, has a new comic in the works, and the first issue will be hitting the stands in January: Who Is Jake Ellis?, written by Edmondson and drawn by Tonci Zonjic, whose other credits include Popgun, The Immortal Iron Fist, and Daredevil.
Edmondson spoke with CBR about Who Is Jake Ellis? when it was announced at the New York Comic Con, and Edmondson and Zonjic have set up a dedicated website for the comic with a preview, downloadable art, and links to their Twitter feeds.
Edmondson was kind enough to share an unreleased page from the book with us (above), and had this to say about the project:
Tonci and I have put our heads together to make what we believe will be something exceptionally intriguing, thrilling, mysterious, and more than a bit fun. We’re just flat out thrilled with the incredible response so far just at the pre-order level–retailers getting the word out, fans taking it upon themselves to supply stores with postcards for the book–it keeps on getting better. Numbers seem to double daily.
This preview, especially the splash page, is a fine example of Tonci matching brilliance with diligence. Expect more of this, and some art that will blow you away.
It’s coming January 5.
- November 10, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Galactus tastes the rainbow in new 70s-inspired shirt
Mighty Fine T-shirts, makers of the Squirrel Girl shirts I linked to last month, have a few groovy additions to their Marvel line. Inspired by “fantasy-tinged black light posters” that were popular in the 1970s, the shirts feature Galactus, Thor and Doctor Strange … as well as rainbows, a Pegasus and a heavy metal album skull.
While the real ones don’t glow in the dark, the ones in my head do. Check out Dr. Strange and Thor after the jump.
- November 10, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Details emerge on Batman Live arena tour [Updated]
Batman Live
Batman Live, the big-budget arena show that premieres in July in the United Kingdom before touring Europe and North America, will focus on the relationship between the Caped Crusader and his sidekick.
First reported in April but officially announced this week, the multimillion-dollar production uses 45 performers, a 100-foot stage and a 130-foot-wide video screen to recreate such Gotham City locations as Wayne Manor, the Batcave and Arkham Asylum.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the show opens with an Arkham jailbreak and pits Batman and Robin against such villains as the Joker — a 26-foot giant Joker head is somehow involved — Catwoman, the Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face and Harley Quinn. But at the story’s core is Dick Grayson’s transformation from traumatized orphan to Boy Wonder, and how Batman relates to his new sidekick.
“We want to bring out a whole other level to Batman by looking at Robin’s journey from a circus performer to an orphan after his parents are killed, to a superhero,” Johns tells the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. (Update: Although the article identifies Johns as the show’s writer, he isn’t handling the script.) “Batman lost his parents, but he can cope with his pain and owns it. Then he sees this boy and it reopens all those wounds. Robin’s journey very much brings up Bruce Wayne’s journey. [...] I think very much that Robin brings out a whole new level to Batman. I actually think it is more about Bruce Wayne and Batman than almost any story.”
- November 10, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Start reading now: The Gutters
The first episode, with art by Lar DeSouza
If there ever was a comic tailored for the interests of Robot 6 readers, it’s The Gutters. Written by Ryan Sohmer (Least I Could Do) and illustrated by a rotating roster of artists, it’s a gag comic about comics, both the characters and the business. This has been done before, but Sohmer and his crew do it exceptionally well; the art is superb and the humor is fresh and insider-ish at the same time. Check out Mark Millar’s fear of speaking, the ten-second Arsenal, Angel agonizing between Dark Horse and IDW, and the X-Men’s Twilight moment. With 58 self-contained episodes by artists as diverse as Shannon Wheeler, Ben Costa, and Scott Kurtz, this could easily become your best thrice-weekly distraction.
- November 10, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Robinson to sell iconic covers at auction
This could be yours, if you have the dough
Like those mothers of legend who used to toss entire comics collections in the trash, comics artists used to throw away their original art, too, with little regard for its future worth. Back in the day, original comic art wasn’t considered valuable—it was the printed item that mattered.
Fortunately, Jerry Robinson, the creator of The Joker, had a bit more foresight. Back in 1942, he rescued the art for a couple of covers from the trash. One is his own work, Detective Comics No. 69, which featured the first appearance of The Joker, (apparently not—as our commenters noted) and the other is an equally iconic Superman cover by Fred Ray, a motif that came to be known as “The Superman Patriotic Shield,” according to The New York Post. Now he is selling both, via the online auction site ComicConnect.com. While the Post estimates the two will bring in $1.4 million, ComicConnect owner Stephen Fishler is a bit more restrained, estimating about $1 million. Said Robinson,
So obviously this was a very hard decision, they’re going to be very hard to part with — they were a big part of my youth, but I’m 88 now. I think it’s time to see that they get into the proper hands to be preserved. I’m hoping whomever buys them will donate them to the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian.
While he would like to have made that donation himself, Robinson said he was selling the covers so his family would be financially secure. If you’re interested, bidding starts today at noon, Eastern Time.
- November 10, 2010 @ 09:15 AM by Brigid Alverson
Book raises concerns about key witness in Michael George trial
Michael George
The attorney for retailer Michael George, who awaits another trial in the 1990 killing of his first wife, has requested an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the prosecution’s key witness gave an interview to a police detective after the murder, as reported in a recently released book.
George, 50, was found guilty in March 2008 of first-degree murder in the death of Barbara George, who was shot in the head at the comic store they owned in Clinton Township, Michigan. He was sentenced to life in prison in June 2008, but less than three months later Macomb County Circuit Judge James M. Biernat set aside the verdict, citing prosecutorial misconduct and the release of new evidence that could lead the jury to believe another person was responsible for the murder. A second trial is set for Feb. 8.
In a motion filed Monday in Macomb County Circuit Court, defense attorney Carl Marlinga points to a passage in the book Dead But Not Forgotten that indicates Michael Renaud, the sole witness who placed George at the store at the time of the murder, spoke to a detective back in 1990.
Renaud testified at the first trial that he called the comic book store between 5:15 and 5:45 p.m. on July 13, 1990, and spoke to George, who sounded rushed and quickly ended the telephone conversation. Police believe Barbara George was killed shortly after 6 p.m., when Michael George claims he was asleep on his mother’s sofa.
- November 10, 2010 @ 08:32 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Middle Ground #28 | Sometimes, it’s good to be lost
You’ve probably seen the various Image Comics teasers that’ve been released over the last week or so. They’ve been pretty eye-catching, with some nice design (In particular, I love the font they’ve chosen), weird obtuse dialogue and curiously alluring artwork. But you know what I really, really love about them? I have no idea what they’re for.
Normally, comic teasers come along and, even if you don’t know what series in particular it’s advertising, or what the answer to the exact question they’re asking is, you have a pretty good idea of what it’s all about. “Who is The Man Without Fear?” may not get you to “Oh, Black Panther is taking over Daredevil’s book,” but it pretty clearly says “They’re replacing Daredevil at the end of this Shadowlands crossover, looks like.” Same with these Age of X teasers that Marvel are currently putting out: I may not recognize the characters being slowly unveiled, but it’s an X-Men book that looks like it’ll be another Age of Apocalypse altered timeline deal. For all that they may tease – and some of them do – they also reinforce preconceptions and, in some cases, spoil what’s going on in the books you’re reading at that moment. Not so, these Image teasers.
- November 9, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Graeme McMillan
In another lifetime, Kittyhawk led the New Mutants
Letters of Note, a blog that posts letters related to history and pop culture, shares a letter from John Byrne to Chris Claremont on the creation of Kitty Pryde. In the letter, which is now owned by Jonathan Mueller, Byrne provides not only an illustration but powers, potential codenames (including Sprite and Ariel, both of which were eventually used, and Kittyhawk, which wasn’t) and the suggestion that she be on a second team of “X-Men in training.”
- November 9, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1
Welcome to another installment of “Food or Comics?” Every week we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comes home and what stays on the shelves. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if we only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what we’d get if we had some “mad money” to splurge with.
Check out Diamond’s full release list if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Michael May
If I had $15:
As usual, I’d spend it on single issues. Starting with Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1 ($3.50), then picking up a couple of Moonstone books: Zeroids #2 ($3.99) and Return of the Originals: From the Vault – The Pulp Files ($1.99). I enjoyed the first issue of the genre-mashing Zeroids and have been looking forward to the next part of the story; From the Vault is sort of Moonstone’s version of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe or DC’s Who’s Who. I don’t know nearly as much about the classic pulp characters as I’d like, so I’m looking forward to the education. Next I’d check out IDW’s Dungeons & Dragons #1 ($3.99) to see if they’ve figured out how to do a good D&D comic. That brings me to $13.47.
- November 9, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Paul Cornell wants your fan fiction
John the Skrull
Action Comics and upcoming Batman & Robin writer Paul Cornell has put out the call for stories starring his characters and written by the fans. As a part of his annual Twelve Blogs of Christmas, he’d like to feature “links to fan fiction stories that involve characters I’ve created.”
“The story must feature at least one character I created,” he wrote on his blog. “So not just characters I’ve used but were created by other people, like the Doctor or Lex Luthor. (Although they can appear too.) That covers prose, comics, television and anything else you can think of.”
So that begs the question (as someone asked in his comments field) — what characters has Cornell created? Well, there’s Bernice Summerfield, of course, plus Faiza Hussain, John the Skrull, the Young Masters and all those guys from Knight & Squire, for starters, plus a new character called The Absence who will debut in Batman & Robin #17, but it’s highly unlikely anyone has written a story about him yet, since he hasn’t even debuted.
The deadline to submit a link is Dec. 15.
- November 9, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin