2011 January
The Revolutionary TinTin turns into Tin Tin The Revolutionary?!
The resident bird-dog of all-things cool, Warren Ellis, has brought to the internet’s attention the online posting of 80s parody of Hergé’s classic TinTin, reappropriated into the then-current events of Thatcher-era Britain. Distributed in zine format then, it’s now online courtesy of Frank Lynn; click on the image for the complete pastiche strip:
I wonder what TinTin and Haddock would have to say about the current state of affairs?
- January 12, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Vintage comics: The Kin-der-Kids
Lyonel Feininger is best known as a German Expressionist painter, but what most people don’t know (well, I didn’t) is that he was born in the U.S. and started his career as a cartoonist, drawing The Kin-der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie’s World for the Chicago Tribune in the first decade of the 20th century. Michael Sporn posts some of Feininger’s more striking comics on his blog, and they are well worth a look. Sporn compares them to Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo comics, and while I wouldn’t go that far, these are some nice visuals. He also includes some of Feininger’s later fine-art work for comparison purposes.
(Via Comix 411.)
- January 12, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Talking Comics with Tim | David Liss
Black Panther
Today marks the release of Black Panther: The Man Without Fear 514, the second issue of writer David Liss‘ run documenting Black Panther’s effort to defend Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil’s absence. In this email interview, Liss shares his appreciation of secret identities, as well as his interest in immigrant crime families and organizations, among other topics. As detailed by Marvel, this latest issue features: “Luke Cage guest stars as T’Challa’s new adventure in NYC continues! The former King of Wakanda has sworn to protect the mean streets of Hell’s Kitchen, and while battling the mob is one thing, how does he stop a killer targeting innocent people? It’s a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, as T’Challa hunts ruthless new crime lord Vlad the Impaler, while Vlad concocts a desperate and bloody scheme to entrap the mysterious new vigilante that’s ruining his plans.” My thanks to Marvel editor Bill Rosemann for the art he provided for us to share with Robot 6 readers.
Tim O’Shea: In taking an assignment placing the Black Panther in Hell’s Kitchen, what factors appealed to you most in taking the assignment?
David Liss: I loved the idea of taking a very powerful figure, stripping him of his abilities, and placing him in a new environment. Characters are most interesting when they face challenges and obstacles, and this seemed a great opportunity to take a headstrong, confident hero and put him in situations in which he would have to grow, adapt and be uncomfortable. Plus it’s Hell’s Kitchen, which means there will be lots of ass-kicking. I thought the concept rocked.
- January 12, 2011 @ 10:45 AM by Tim O'Shea
Six Archie Comics titles move to simultaneous print and digital release in April
The New York Times reports that Archie Comics is moving to day-and-date digital releases with six of its titles in April. Archie, Archie & Friends, Betty, Veronica, Betty and Veronica, and Jughead join Batman Beyond and Walking Dead, among others, on the list of titles you can purchase digitally on the same day the print edition is released.
The digital comics will cost $1.99, a buck less than the print version.
As Brigid pointed out last month, it can be difficult to find comics simply by doing a search in iTunes, since comics exist in applications called “Comics by comiXology” or “BOOM! Studios,” versus the name of the title folks might be looking for, like “Batman Beyond.” Archie, however, is in a unique position, in that their company is named after their flagship title and character. Doing a search for “Archie” in iTunes brings the app right up. I guess that’s the advantage of being a branded house vs. a house of brands.
This follows the news that the company reported last week, that the free Archie Comics application, created by iVerse, has been downloaded “a little over 1.7 million” times. What that means in terms of actual sales within the app is something else entirely, but it’s an impressive amount of awareness that these comics are out there.
Update: CBR interviews Archie CEO Jon Goldwater on the move.
- January 12, 2011 @ 10:02 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Responses to Heavy Ink, Fan Expo Canada adds a day
Warren Ellis
Politics | Warren Ellis joins the list of creators who want nothing to do with Heavy Ink after Travis Corcoran’s inflammatory remarks. At The Daily Cartoonist, Ted Rall pushes back on the outrage, saying, “If I only bought from companies and individuals whose political beliefs I agreed with, I wouldn’t be buying much.” [Warren Ellis, The Daily Cartoonist]
Conventions | Now there’s even more of Fan Expo Canada to love: The self-proclaimed “largest combined gaming, horror, comic, science fiction and anime event in the country” is expanding from three to four days, Aug. 25-28, 2011. [Convention Scene]
Manga | A Chinese artist named Xiao Bai is this year’s winner of the Japanese government’s International Manga Award. The prizewinning entry, Si loin et si proche (So near and so far), was published in Belgium last year. [Monsters and Critics]
- January 12, 2011 @ 09:07 AM by Brigid Alverson
D&Q announces a collection of artist Kate Beaton’s work
Tom Spurgeon broke the news that Drawn & Quarterly has acquired the North American rights to publish a new collection of work by cartoonist Kate Beaton titled Hark! A Vagrant.
Using the name of Beaton’s website, the book will collect comics she has published there, as well as some new strips. The Montreal-based publisher plans to have the hardcover collection on store shelves in the Fall of 2011. UK fans will see her book put out through Jonathan Cape.
- January 12, 2011 @ 08:30 AM by Chris Arrant
Today is Girl Genius Day
Add a new holiday to your calendar: Phil and Kaja Foglio, creators of the long-running webcomic Girl Genius, have dubbed Jan. 12 Girl Genius Day. “We’re hoping you’ll do something suitably mad and/or steampunkalicious for the occasion,” they write at their site. In particular, they are hoping you will buy a copy of Agatha H and the Airship City: A Girl Genius Novel, which is based on the comic and officially went on sale yesterday. The idea is to give the book a boost in the Amazon ranking, a la Machine of Death, and hopefully bring it to the attention of booksellers.
In fact, the Night Shade Books site already shows the print version as “sold out,” but that turns out to be a good thing, as Phil found out when he asked:
Everybody thinks this book is going to do well, so everybody “ordered heavy”, so they’ll have a lot of books ready to meet demand. Great. Now there’s performance anxiety. And the publisher is still sold out, but they fully expect that they will have to reprint. The question is when. Thus they are now waiting to see how quickly the shops and wholesalers “sell through’ on the books they have in stock.
There are also two e-book editions, and this is where it gets a bit sticky. The Kindle version is $7.99, but you can also buy a DRM-free e-book edition from Webscription for $6. Obviously these sales won’t count in the Amazon rankings, though, so fans might want to consider whether it’s worth spending an extra two bucks to help give the Foglios that boost. If it helps, today is Kaja’s birthday as well, and if you’re in Seattle, you can wish her well in person, as the Foglios will be doing a book signing at Ravenna Third Place Books.
- January 12, 2011 @ 07:26 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Middle Ground #37: And Then, There’s That Zombie Invasion
There are all manner of reasons why IDW’s Infestation shouldn’t work for me. For one thing, it’s all about zombies, and I really don’t like zombies with the obvious exceptions. For another, it’s a crossover. So why am I eagerly anticipating the whole thing, having read the first issue?
Well, there’s always the fact that Infestation #1 – out on the 26th – is just a really fun comic. I’ve not really kept up with the Zombies Vs. Robots universe that this first issue is based in, but it really doesn’t matter; writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, seemingly continuing their plan for comic company domination, provide all the information you could need to know quickly and easily enough, helped by the fact that… well, comics like this are much more about the spectacle and speed than, y’know, plot. Continue Reading »
- January 11, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by Graeme McMillan
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Thor the Mighty Avenger #8
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list for this week if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Chris Arrant
With $15 worth of dingy bills and loose quarters, I’d go my local comic shop and start with Thor: The Mighty Avenger #8 ($2.99). Probably the pick of the week in some circles (even for a square like me), it’s a celebration of what Langridge and Samnee accomplished – and although it’s the last issue, there’s that FCBD issue on the horizon. I’d also pick up two number ones -– Casanova: Gula #1 ($3.99) and Daredevil: Reborn #1 ($3.99). With my last $4, I’d be hard-pressed to pick between Thunder Agents #3 ($2.99) and Infinite Vacation #1 ($3.50), but would probably pick the latter –- Nick Spencer’s on both, but Christian Ward’s art makes Infinite Vacation #1 worth the buy.
- January 11, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Fiona Staples saddles up to Jonah Hex
DC’s blog The Source just posted news (and art!) that up & coming artist Fiona Staples is drawing an upcoming issue of Jonah Hex.
Staples will be illustrating Jonah Hex #66, which is expected to hit shelves the first week of April. Staples has been rising in the comics world, with her most recently working with Steve Niles on IDW’s Mystery Society, and she also did the North 40 miniseries for Wildstorm as well as covers for DV8: Gods & Monsters.
Staples is just the latest in a long line of stellar artists that writers Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and the editors at DC have been able to wrangle. In its five year run, it’s had Tony DeZuniga, J.H. Williams 3, Darwyn Cooke, Jordi Bernet, Luke Ross, John Higgins, Phil Noto, Paul Gulacy, Brian Stelfreeze, Eduardo Risso, Russ Heath, David Michael Beck, Dick Giordano, Billy Tucci and more.
Wow. I get tired — and excited — just saying those names.
- January 11, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Writing tips from an artist
A page from Dawn Patrol
Martha Sperry has never written a graphic novel, but she has illustrated quite a few, and she is working with a writer right now to create Dawn Patrol, a graphic novel about the Battle of Britain. So when she explains the process of writing graphic novels, as she did recently for Beyond the Margins, it is from the perspective of someone who has worked with a number of writers, as opposed to “This is how I do it.” Her post is a good first look at the process, and she emphasizes the importance of collaboration, so that the finished work is not an illustrated book but truly a story told in pictures:
In my mind, the biggest challenge for a writer working with an illustrator is trusting the illustrator to help refine the visuals to better communicate the story. I perceive the greatest difference between writing a traditional novel and a graphic novel is learning how to exercise the skill required to “think in pictures.” The writer has at least as much responsibility for framing the images as the illustrator, and that means envisioning and examining the images to ensure that they tell the story the writer intends to tell. A writer who can move easily between the words and the images has already planted the seeds for a great graphic novel.
- January 11, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Hey Comics, meet Matthew Woodson
Every week it seems, we see someone new on the comic book shelves. It could be a new writer, a new artist, or perhaps someone starting out in coloring or lettering. Unless they’ve made their name elsewhere like movie writers Kevin Smith or J. Michael Straczynski, it’s a long slog to recognition… but there might be one name that jumps to the top of your pull list in 2011.
Matthew Woodson.
Although Woodson’s never been published in comics before, he’s done several comics in non-comics publications like Spin and fashion magazines. He’s best known as an illustrator for magazines — right after he finished college, he was hired to illustrate Perry Ellis’s Fall/Winter 2006 campaign. But he’s stepping off the catwalk and off the reservation completely as he makes his proper comics debut in an upcoming issue of Brian Wood’s Northlanders from Vertigo.
According to a blogpost over the weekend by Wood himself, the story arc with Woodson is titled “The Hunt” and will hit shelves later this year. Wood’s always had a keen eye for talent and nurtures the artists he works with (akin to Jeph Loeb), and says Woodson has “superhuman talent.” The pair almost worked together several years ago — Woodson was the original artist on Wood’s Top Shelf OGN Dogs Day End, which eventually fell by the wayside.
Although no art is available yet from Wood and Woodson’s Northlanders, visit Woodson’s website to get up to speed and see some of the comics work he’s done outside of comics.
- January 11, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Quote of the day | Is DC Comics a two-man operation?
Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns (via Bleeding Cool)
“The 26 best-selling DC single issues were all written or co-written by either Geoff Johns or Grant Morrison.”
–Techland’s Douglas Wolk makes a startling observation about Diamond’s 2010 sales charts. I mean, I knew Johns and Morrison were DC’s two bestselling authors by a long shot, and since I enjoy their work a great deal I’m pretty happy about that, but that level of dominance is really stunning to me. Moreover, Wolk goes on to note that “The best-selling DC single issue that was neither a Batman comic nor a tie-in to Blackest Night/Brightest Day was Superman #700, at position #109.” In other words, DC’s dominant writers have made the properties on which they work — predominantly Batman and Green Lantern — DC’s dominant franchises as well. Even superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski’s much-ballyhooed Superman debut failed to gain much traction relative to the Johns/Morrison juggernaut.
I think it’s safe to assume that Johns is being pulled in more and more directions by his Chief Creative Officer duties — the same position, keep in mind, that Joe Quesada recently relinquished his Editor-in-Chief gig to focus on over at Marvel. Meanwhile, Morrison is a writer whose work meets with frequent delays at the best of times, and who has a full slate of creator-owned work and various media projects (Hollywood screenplays and adaptations, the indie flick Sinatoro, My Chemical Romance videos, etc). Finally, there’s no way to tell how the Green Lantern movie will affect fan interest in the franchise. That’s a lot of eggs to have in relatively few baskets.
- January 11, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
TenNapel launches superhero webcomic Ratfist
Ratfist
I’ve long been a fan of Doug TenNapel‘s graphic novels, like Creature Tech, Earthboy Jacobus and the more recent Ghostopolis. My only complaint is the long wait between them. If you’re impatient like I am, here’s the cure — TenNapel has launched a new webcomic, Ratfist, which I believe is his first foray into the world of superheroes. There are only two pages up right now, as it launched yesterday, but his plans are to update every weekday.
- January 11, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Broadway’s unfriendly neighborhood Spider-Man covers The New Yorker
With great power comes great insurance deductibles: At least I think that’s the message of artist Barry Blitt’s cover for this week’s issue of The New Yorker, which pokes fun at the injury-prone, delay-plagued, lead performer-shedding, Bono and the Edge-scored, Julie Taymor-directed, terribly reviewed, bafflingly titled audience magnet that is the Broadway production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Somewhere out there, there’s an alternate Earth where Norman Osborn is calling Françoise Mouly to find out how much it would cost to buy the original art for this one.
(via Douglas Wolk)
- January 11, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Sean T. Collins