2010 December
Copyright Comics: The swindling of Siegel and Shuster
Comic Book Comics, by Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente, chronicles the history of comics in comic-book form. Their latest story, posted in full at their blog, is a short history of copyright grabs by comics publishers, featuring Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Jack Kirby and Joker creator Jerry Robinson make appearances as well. It’s interesting history and a painless way to learn a bit about copyright law and its pitfalls.
(Via Comics Worth Reading.)
- December 8, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Gift suggestions for every taste | Cooke artwork, old comics and fur coats
Darwyn Cooke is auctioning off this page from The Outfit, starting today
Darwyn Cooke is auctioning off 12 pieces of artwork, starting with a page from Parker: The Outfit, to benefit The Hero Initiative. There’s a certain type of person (me) who would be thrilled to find a Darwyn Cooke original under the tree.
For those with more esoteric tastes, though, how about one of Edward Gorey’s fur coats? J.L. Bell fills us in on this odd little story: Apparently fur coats were a big part of the Amphigorey creator’s personal style statement until the 1980s, when he got involved in animal rights and put the coats in storage. Some of the proceeds of this sale will go to the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust to benefit animal welfare.
If you’re going to be in the Cotswolds next week, check out the auction of vintage eponymous superhero comics. The first issue of Superman, Amazing Spider-Man, etc. Also on the block is the 1939 issue of Detective Comics in which Batman first made his appearance. Proceeds from the sale will go to the collector and the auction house—no good causes here.
Broke? You can still get into the holiday spirit with these Max Overacts Christmas cards. Print ‘em out and send ‘em to your friends; if you can’t give them a fur coat, a good laugh is the next best thing.
- December 8, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Diamond closing L.A. center, DC shuffling online staff
Diamond Comic Distributors
Retailing | Diamond Comic Distributors has announced it will close its Los Angeles distribution center in March, with the facility in Olive Branch, Mississippi, taking over its functions. Regional Manager James Nash will relocate from L.A. to Olive Branch. There’s no word on how many jobs will be eliminated in the move, but ICv2 reports that “other staff has been encouraged to apply for positions in Olive Branch after their tenure in Los Angeles ends at the end of March.” [ICv2.com]
Publishing | Following Tuesday’s announcement that Ron Perazza has been named vice president of online for DC Entertainment comes word of two more additions to the department: DC Comics Online Editor Kwanza Johnson will be digital editor for DC Entertainment, and Technology Editor Dave McCullough will become director of online, both based in Burbank, Calif. The department will be headed by former WildStorm Vice President Hank Kanalz, who was promoted in October to senior vice president, digital. Heidi MacDonald also has a letter to freelancers from DC Vice President Terri Cunningham announcing that the Editorial Administration department will become Talent Relations & Services, which will remain in New York City. [Twitter, Twitter]
- December 8, 2010 @ 08:08 AM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Thor: The Mighty Avenger
Welcome to our weekly “Food or Comics?” feature, where we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comics come home for Christmas dinner and which ones stay on the shelves, sitting cold and lonely through the holidays. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if they 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 release list for this week to play along. Because of weather issues, shops on the West Coast won’t be getting everything; Brian Hibbs has a list of what to expect in his store in San Francisco, which should give you an idea of what is and isn’t showing up out here.
Brigid Alverson
If I had $15…
No question, I’d get the first trade of Thor: The Mighty Avenger ($14.99). Back when I read superhero comics, The Mighty Thor was one of my favorites, and I’d love to revisit the character without getting tripped up by all the continuity I missed. This series has gotten great word-of-blog, particularly since it was canceled, and that has me curious as well.
- December 7, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
The Middle Ground #32: Pals and Gals
I have to admit it: Upon learning that Alex Segura was leaving DC to go and head up Archie Comics’ publicity department, my first thought was somewhere along the sarcastic lines of “Great, now I have to pay attention to what Archie is doing.” But here’s the thing: I used to really love Archie comics.
Growing up in the cold, barren and cruel landscapes of the west coast of Scotland, I think it’s fair to say that I’d be forgiven for having thought Archie and his gang were some ridiculous parody of the American High School experience – After all, everyone knew it was much more like Beverly Hills 90210, right? – but that was part of the appeal, when I first discovered the characters. Continue Reading »
- December 7, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Graeme McMillan
Grab a pawful of early and rare Bill Watterson art
Bill Watterson: The College Years
Face it, tiger-lovers — you just hit the jackpot: Check out this terrific gallery of early and rare art by Calvin & Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson. Included are pieces from the Kenyon College yearbook and student newspaper, covers from the political-cartooning journal Target, Watterson’s own editorial cartoons from the Cincinnatti Post, illustrations for an essay in The Comics Journal, self-portraits, a collection of Calvin & Hobbes sketches, and much more. The site design indicates that this is about a million Internet years old and thus many of you may have seen it before, but I sure haven’t, and it’s great way to see whole new side of Watterson — and a demonstration that his chops were ample even at a tender age.
(via Andrew Sullivan and Gavon Laessig)
- December 7, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
DC names Ron Perazza as vice president of online
DC Comics
Ron Perazza, DC Comics’ vice president of creative services, announced this afternoon he’s accepted the position of vice president of online for DC Entertainment. He’ll be based in Burbank, Calif., along with the rest of DC Online, which moves to the West Coast next summer.
Perazza is best known for his role in overseeing the company’s online initiatives, including the recently closed Zuda imprint.
His promotion is only the latest in a series of staffing announcements to come out of DC in the past few weeks as the company continues its major restructuring that began in September 2009 and is expected to continue through at least August 2011.
The reorganization has seen the establishment of DC Entertainment, under new President Diane Nelson, and the creation of an executive team that includes Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Most dramatic, however, is the “bi-coastal realignment strategy” that will see the shift business/administration, multimedia and digital-content operations to Burbank, while leaving the publishing division in New York City. As many as 80 employees are expected to be fired or relocated in the move.
Other recent promotions have included: Hank Kanalz to senior vice president-digital; Bob Wayne to senior vice president of sales and marketing; Bob Harras to editor-in-chief, VP, DC Comics; Mark Chiarello to vice president-art direction & design; and Eddie Berganza to executive editor of the DC Universe imprint.
- December 7, 2010 @ 01:45 PM by Kevin Melrose
Take a poster tour of comics’ great cities
Four Freedoms Plaza travel poster, by Justin Van Genderen
Designer Justin Van Genderen has created a beautiful set of comic-book travel posters showcasing Superman’s Metropolis, Batman’s Gotham, Spider-Man’s New York City, the Fantastic Four’s Four Freedoms Plaza and Akira’s Neo Tokyo. All five are available for purchase from Imagekind.
Van Genderen is also responsible for those minimalist posters for Star Wars planets, and the lovely black-and-white trio inspired by Superman II.
(via Rampaged Reality)
- December 7, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Webcomics: Taking a second look
Max Overacts—and also throws his voice!
As the year winds down, I’m reviewing my old posts to prep for all those end-of-the-year roundups and think pieces, and in the process, I’m taking another look at some of the webcomics I recommended during the year.
Max Overacts: You would think a joke like this—cute kid over-dramatizes everything—would run its course pretty quickly, but Canaan Grall keeps finding new and fresh ways for Max to drive his parents, his sister, his teacher, and his friends crazy. Recent episodes include a crush on a new girl, a near-death episode caused by an allergic reaction, and using ventriloquism to make the oranges in the supermarket talk back to shoppers. Grall is still updating regularly, and the comic keeps getting better and better.
Cleopatra in Space: This is a fun space-fighting action comic about a girl and her smart-aleck cat, but until the middle of the second chapter, it was all action and no backstory. That was a bit late, especially for a comic that updates weekly: The comic launched in August 2009 but the backstory didn’t start until November, and it has only just begun. I like this comic a lot, but I fell away because the weekly updates were too infrequent, but on the other hand, good for the creators for sticking to the schedule! The second chapter is in color, but I actually liked the monochrome of the first chapter better—it was more dynamic. I think this comic would work really well as a digital comic for iPad or Kindle, with an introductory page and the first chapter bundled as a single issue.
- December 7, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Robot 6 Q&A | Comedy writers unleash The Devastator humor anthology
The Devastator #2
After running a successful Kickstarter campaign, Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows launched The Devastator earlier this year, a humor anthology that features a mix of prose and comics by a variety of contributors. Each issue focuses on a particular subject; the first issue lampooned cartoons like Fat Albert, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Inspector Gadget, while the second issue will take aim at science fiction when it comes out later this week.
Contributors to the anthology include a mix of humor writers, Hollywood folks and cartoonists — James Urbaniak of The Venture Bros. fame, Masterpiece Comics creator R. Sikoryak, Wondermark creator David Malki!, Antz co-writer Todd Alcott and Metalocalypse‘s Jon Schnepp, among many others. Per their site, “The Devastator publishes quarterly, which naturally means twice a year.”
I met Golden and Meadows at the Alternative Press Expo in October and caught back up with them this week to talk about the anthology.
JK: So to start off, introduce yourselves. What do you do in addition to the anthology?
Geoffrey: I’m Geoffrey Golden, co-founder and editor in chief of The Devastator. In addition, I’m a freelance writer/editor – I’ve written for Cracked, MadAtoms, National Lampoon and recently finished writing an animated movie for Lionsgate and Mondo Media (Happy Tree Friends).
Amanda: I’m Amanda Meadows, co-founder and managing editor of The Devastator. I too am a freelance writer/editor; I’ve written for College Humor, McSweeney’s, and worked at a publishing company for some time.
JK: What made you want to start publishing your own humor publication?
Geoffrey: Groupies.
- December 7, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Superman: The Movie, told by Chris Samnee in six panels
From Chris Samnee's six-panel adaptation of "Superman: The Movie"
At Comic Twart, the 16-person art blog that tackles a different character or subject each week, Thor: The Mighty Avenger artist Chris Samnee took the Superman theme and ran with it, interpreting Superman: The Movie in just six panels.
“A while back someone on Twitter (so sorry I don’t remember who) was talking about doing a movie as a six panel comic,” Samnee writes. “When I heard the idea, I knew I wanted to do one for my favorite movie, Superman: The Movie. I never got around to it, but figured that Mitch’s pick of Superman this (last) week could be a great time to give it a go!”
Check out all six panels at Comic Twart.
- December 7, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Top Cow holiday specials join forces to form one super-mega special
Top Cow Holiday Special
Last week Jingle Belle creator Paul Dini said on Twitter that the previously solicited Jingle Belle special for this year was canceled, but the content would be combined with the Top Cow Holiday Special.
“Low preorders necessitated the Jing titles to be combined into the Top Cow special,” he later told an inquiring fan. “Ironically preorders shot up after that.”
According to Top Cow, the two former single issues, along with a lot of other material, will now be one graphic novel.
“Jingle Belle and the Top Cow Holiday Special (both single issues) were combined this year and will appear as the Top Cow Holiday Special OGN,” said Top Cow’s Christine Dinh. “It’ll be a flip book of both new issues.”
The graphic novel will arrive in stores Dec. 22, just in time for Christmas. Dinh said the 96-page OGN will retail at $12.99 and will include the content from The Top Cow Holiday Special #1, Jingle Belle: Grounded #1, the previously released Jingle Belle: Santa Claus vs Frankenstein, a 4-page preview of Marc Silvestri’s new project September Mourning and additional bonus material. You can check out a preview of some of the Jingle Belle artwork here.
- December 7, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Comics fall short of the 100,000-copy mark (again)
Batman: The Return
Publishing | Following its grim snapshot of year-to-date dollar sales in the direct market, ICv2.com has released a dreary analysis of the November charts: For the third time in 2010, the top-selling title failed to crack the 100,000-copy mark. Batman: The Return, priced at $4.99, sold about 99,500 copies, compared to the 144,000 sold by November 2009′s top title, Blackest Night #5. According to the retail news and analysis site, 20 of the Top 25 titles experienced a drop last month. As ICv2 noted last week in its initial report, dollar sales of comics were down 10.2 percent when compared with November 2009, while graphic novels jumped 14.84 percent, tied to the release of the 13th volume of The Walking Dead (it sold more than 19,000 copies). [ICv2.com]
Digital publishing | Google on Monday unveiled Google eBooks, a web-based e-book platform/digital storefront that boasts “the world’s largest selection of ebooks.” Dan Vado offers brief commentary. [TechCrunch]
- December 7, 2010 @ 07:08 AM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim | Ivan Brandon
Viking: The Long Cold Fire
December will be a good month for writer Ivan Brandon–what with the December 22 softcover edition release of Viking: The Long Cold Fire (Image) and more immediately, this week, the release of Doc Savage 9, the DC Comics/First Wave universe series that he is co-writing with Brian Azzarello. Brandon and I discuss both works, as well as the potential advantages of the digital platform, his recent involvement with Weird War Tales and the particulars of collaborating with a writer such as Azzarello. While we were not able to delve too much into his plans for 2011, it definitely sounds like his intentions for the new year are quite ambitious.
Tim O’Shea: How intrigued are you by the prospect of increased exposure via different platforms, such as the iPad for your work–how much of a priority is it for you to make your creative-owned work available for the digital platform?
Ivan Brandon: Well, of course it’s important to me to add millions of new outlets where people might find my work. The idea that I can link a new book and some of the people who follow me on Twitter, say, who don’t read comics at all might be able to just click and start down that road… that’s to me an incredible new market that needs to be taken very seriously.
But creatively moreso I’m very interested to see what new voices the digital world might bring to storytelling. What’s the new equivalent of a Jack Kirby when there are no longer any print world parameters to adhere to? Comics have for a long time toed a weird invisible line that I think this removes. I’m excited to see what kind of stories come from anyone who notices.
- December 6, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
More Stokoe comics: Nomad of the Domes
Nomad of the Domes
Since recently launching his blog, Orc Stain creator James Stokoe has been on a wild spree of posting unpublished comics on it. Following some Orc Stain pages and the 100+ pages of Murderbullets comes Nomad of the Domes, which is “a prototype to a lot of ideas in Orc Stain.”
It’s probably also worth noting that if you haven’t checked out his Image title, Orc Stain, just yet, you can find the first three issues on comiXology.
- December 6, 2010 @ 01:59 PM by JK Parkin