2011 January
2010: The year in piracy
If this was the year that publishers started taking legitimate digital comics seriously, it was also the year they started taking bootleg digital comics seriously. A group of American publishers banded together to take down HTMLComics.com, while American and Japanese publishers banded together to target bootleg manga scan sites. Six months later, HTMLComics.com is still down (and likely to stay that way, as the authorities have confiscated their servers), while the manga sites are back in business—in part, perhaps, because many are hosted overseas and thus out of the reach of American and Japanese authorities.
January
Kicking off a year in which piracy and creators’ rights took center stage, Colleen Doran reveals that former clients have released some of work to the Kindle and Google Books without her consent, and despite the fact that they have no right to do so.
- January 3, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Read (well, look at) Becky Cloonan’s East Coast Rising Vol. 2 online
It was one of the Tokyopop implosion’s most loudly lamented casualties: East Coast Rising, the promising post-apocalyptic pirate series written and illustrated by Demo artist Becky Cloonan. Only the first volume of the OEL epic made it to shelves before the series was itself shelved by the publisher, likely never to return. This despite the second volume being 75 percent finished, with some 120 pages completed. And as Cloonan herself puts it, “the worst part [was] that Volume 1 ended on a cliffhanger!”
Well, Cloonan’s taking matters into her own hands to right this wrong. Throughout this week, she’ll be posting three unpublished pages of East Coast Rising Vol. 2 per day, until the sequence that continues from the cliffhanger is wrapped up — starting here. Cloonan notes that the pages are unfinished, with no tones or lettering, but even still, if you’ve ever wanted to know how that scalawag Cannonball Joe escaped the tentacles of the Suffocating Death, now’s your best shot.
Actually, it seems like it’s your only shot: Sadly, Cloonan flatly states in the comments for her post that Volume 2 in her series “[will] never be finished,” so it sounds as though there’s no hope of a Brandon Graham/King City-style resurrection at some other publisher. Alas and alack, this is one cool comic that’s making Davy Jones’ Locker its permanent home.
- January 3, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Comics A.M. | Comiket sets attendance record, Archie challenges Indian film
Comiket 79 catalog
Conventions | Comiket 79, the winter installment of the self-published comic book fair held twice a year in Tokyo, set a turnstile attendance record last week with 520,000 people over three days. That’s just 20,000 less than the summer record — and the equivalent of about four Comic-Cons. [Anime News Network]
Legal | Archie Comics reportedly has threatened legal action against the in-production Indian film Boys Toh Boys Hain, which, according to this description, is “based on the lines of the celebrated [Archie] comic book but set in Delhi instead of Riverdale.” However, the director now claims that, “We never made any statement which suggested that the film is inspired from Archie comics. One of my actors may have said in an interview that the film has a feel similar to Archie, but never that the film is based on it.” The publisher was dealt a blow in an unrelated legal matter in September when India’s Delhi High Court refused to hear a complaint challenging the use of the name “Archies” by a Mumbai company. The court said it had no jurisdiction in the matter because Archie Comics doesn’t have an office in India. [Hindustan Times]
- January 3, 2011 @ 07:38 AM by Kevin Melrose
Looking forward, looking back: Creators weigh in on comics in 2010 and 2011
I know it’s getting kind of late, and if I keep working on this one it won’t even be our anniversary anymore by the time it gets posted … so let’s do it.
Over the last couple of weeks Tim O’Shea and I have been reaching out to various folks around the comics industry, asking them six questions about 2010 and 2011. And boy did we get an awesome response. My thanks to everyone who took time to respond to us today, not only for this feature, but for everything else we’ve posted over the last 16 or so hours.
So check out the responses (and lots of cool artwork) below … this is a mammoth post, and I apologize in advance for any formatting problems or other issues on my end
——————–
KURT BUSIEK (Astro City, The Witchlands, Kirby: Genesis)
The Witchlands
What were your favorite comics in 2010?
Offhand, I’d say THE 6TH GUN, USAGI YOJIMBO, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR THE MIGHTY AVENGER, FABLES and SMILE.
What works or creators got overlooked in 2010 that warrant more attention/praise?
I don’t know what got attention and what didn’t, really. Hope Larson’s MERCURY, I’ll say. Whatever attention it got, it shoulda got more.
What was the biggest news story of 2010, in terms of the comics industry?
Probably the shift toward digital distribution.
What do you hope to see from the industry in 2011?
More good comics!
- January 2, 2011 @ 09:49 PM by JK Parkin
Looking forward, looking back: Chris Pitzer on AdHouse in 2010 and 2011
Afrodisiac
If you’re looking for a company that started and ended strong 2010, look no further than AdHouse Books, the independent company that’s published books by Joshua Cotter, Paul Pope and James Jean, among others. Although they aren’t the kind of company that puts out a huge amount of books, they are one you can always count on to put out something interesting.
As for those bookends for the year, AdHouse kicked off 2010 with the release of Afrodisiac by Brian Maruca and Jim Rugg, and ended it with Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines, which landed at the top of some folks‘ best comics of the year lists. (Including my own; it came in at No. 16 on CBR’s list for 2010).
I spoke with AdHouse Publisher Chris Pitzer about the previous year, the above two books, their new AdDistro initiative and what they have coming up for 2011. My thanks to Chris for sending over a lot of cool art to show you as well.
JK: Thanks for agreeing to talk to us today, Chris. I thought we could start off talking about 2010, and in particular some the bigger projects you put out.Let’s start with something that seems like it came out a long time ago, Afrodisiac. It seemed to garner a lot of attention when it came out in January.
Chris: Thanks for the interest in AdHouse, JKP! I dig what the Robot 6 blog does, so I appreciate the opportunity to chat about this stuff. In regards to Afrodisiac, it was an HONOR to work with Jim and Brian on that. We’ve been “dancing” around the topic of publishing it for years, and it was nice to finally have it happen. Yeah, it feels like so long ago, doesn’t it?
- January 2, 2011 @ 05:26 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Deadpool Team-Up #886
Hello and welcome to a special “birthday bash” edition of our weekly “What Are You Reading” feature, where the Robot 6 crew talks about what books we’ve read recently. Usually we invite a special guest to share what they’ve been reading, but since today isn’t just an ordinary day for us, we thought we’d invite a whole bunch of special guests to help us out — our friends and colleagues from Comic Book Resources, Spinoff and Comics Should Be Good!
To see what everyone has been reading, click below …
- January 2, 2011 @ 05:00 PM by JK Parkin
Exclusive Preview | Irredeemable #21
Irredeemable #21
Courtesy of our pals over at BOOM! Studios, we’ve got one more thing from them to show you in honor of our big birthday bash — an extended 13-page preview of Irredeemable #21, which comes out later this week. With the Plutonian getting a new line of work (whether he likes it or not) thanks to the Vespa, it looks like Earth can breath easy. Looks like, anyway …
Check out the preview after the jump.
- January 2, 2011 @ 04:29 PM by JK Parkin
Exclusive Preview | Wolverine and Jubilee #1
Wolverine and Jubilee #1
If you saw the preview of Wolverine and Jubilee #1 that Comic Book Resources ran last month, you know that Kathryn Immonen and Phil Noto look to be hitting it out of the park with a mini-series that reteams Wolverine with his old sidekick, the newly vamped out Jubilee.
Courtesy of our friends at Marvel Comics, we’re pleased to bring you even more pages from the January-shipping title as a part of our birthday bash. Check it out after the jump
- January 2, 2011 @ 03:55 PM by JK Parkin
Exclusive: Tokyopop’s cover art for Priest: Purgatory
Cover art for Priest: Purgatory
Here’s an advance look, courtesy of Tokyopop, at the cover art for Priest Purgatory, a four-part graphic novel that will bridge the gap between the manhwa Priest, which is published by Tokyopop, and the film based on it, which will star Paul Bettany (Legion, The Da Vinci Code) and Karl Urban (Star Trek). Tokyopop sales and distribution specialist Ariyana Edmond says this piece will likely be on one of the covers. Here’s the skinny on volume 1:
Four young Priests and a Priestess (XLX-33, CXV-75, VI-16 and XV-45) are assigned a treacherous mission: to locate and recover a holy relic (the “Domas Porada”) in a recently discovered vampire nesting ground. So treacherous in fact, that a first team of Priests (led by DC-66) had been sent on the same mission six months prior but never seen again. The Priests (and the regular soldiers they command) begin their long journey/battle through vampire-infested lands, their alliance as uncertain as the dangerous path ahead. Through the various soldiers we are given different perceptions of the Priests (some hate them, others celebrate them), and on the Priest side the tumultuous relationship between XLX-33 and CXV-75 threatens to derail the entire mission.
If you’re curious about the original manhwa, it looks like the whole volume is online for free at the Tokyopop site.
- January 2, 2011 @ 03:25 PM by Brigid Alverson
Jim Zubkavich on Skullkickers, the ‘buddy cop film slammed into Conan‘
Skullkickers #4
Image Comics has been on a role lately, it seems, with what I called earlier today “really strong, character-driven stories with a bold voice.” Although it couldn’t be any more different in subject matter than The Walking Dead, Chew and Morning Glories, in my mind Skullkickers fits into that same category with those titles. Writer Jim Zubkavich and artist Edwin Huang have created a fun fantasy comic with two incorrigible mercenaries out to make quick buck, with nothing playing out the way they’d hoped.
I spoke with Zubkavich, who works for UDON Entertainment when he isn’t writing comics, about the book and what’s coming up for the as-yet-unnamed stars. My thanks to Jim and Edwin, who shared some EXCLUSIVE art with us, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the pages were created, including the crazy four-page spread from issue #3.
JK: For those who might not be familiar with it, what is Skullkickers?
Jim: The best way to describe Skullkickers is that it’s like a buddy cop film slammed into Conan – banter meets barbarians. It’s a sarcastically self aware sword & sorcery action-comedy series starring two monster mashing mercenaries who will do whatever it takes to get paid.
One of them is a surly stout dwarf with a violent temper and the other is a hulking brute who wields a strange anachronistic pistol that doesn’t seem to belong in their high fantasy world. In the first story arc neither main character is named, but our readers have christened them as “Shorty” and “Baldy” for the time being.
JK: I guess I assumed when I first saw the pistol in issue #1 that the story was taking place in some sort of medieval/industrial mash-up world, but now that you mention it … is there a back story to the pistol?
Jim: Yes, there is a back story but I’m not prepared to tip my hand on it just yet. The world of Skullkickers plays fast and loose with an indiscriminate medieval fantasy time period in terms of culture/technology. There may be the occasional cannon out there on a seafaring war galleon, but Baldy’s pistol is definitely out of the norm technology-wise and it will be explained at some point.
- January 2, 2011 @ 02:56 PM by JK Parkin
First Look: BOOM!’s ‘Stan Lee Presents’ covers for April
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios, we’re pleased to bring you another round of exclusive cover reveals for BOOM!’s April shipping titles — this time for the Stan Lee Presents titles. You can also check out BOOM!’s Irredeemable and Incorruptible covers for April, and their Disney Afternoon + Insurrection v3.6 covers, if you missed them earlier today.
All the covers and solicitation info for each book can be found after the jump.
- January 2, 2011 @ 02:28 PM by JK Parkin
Archaia on selling out: What it means and how to do it
We’ve all seen the limitless press announcements from every comics publisher there is about sold out books. After a while, they lose meaning. Did the publisher not print very many? Did retailers under-order? Do people just really love the book? Seldom do we get answers to those questions.
So when Archaia recently sold out of both Return of the Dapper Men and the Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard collection at the same time, there seemed to be an opportunity to dig into this phenomenon a bit. At C2E2 last year, I learned that Archaia is remarkably forthcoming about their business strategies, so their double sell out seemed like a great time to find out not only what that event means to a small publisher, but also to learn about the work that went into creating the situation in the first place. I asked Archaia’s Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy, Mouse Guard’s creator David Petersen, and Return of the Dapper Men’s Jim McCann and Janet Lee to help me understand. They not only did that; they also gave me a unique look at how Archaia perceives itself and what sets the company apart from other publishers.
Michael May: Stephen, can you talk about the print runs of Return of the Dapper Men and Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard? How do they compare to Archaia’s typical numbers?
Stephen Christy: They were both larger than a standard Archaia print run. Mouse Guard is our bestselling title, so we knew we had to print heavy and Dapper Men had enough preorders to justify a run of 10,000 copies. It wasn’t until preorders jumped on both titles a week or two before release that we started to get a feeling that we could get hit with a sell out.
- January 2, 2011 @ 01:56 PM by Michael May
Ryan Cody takes flight with Icarus
Icarus
A few years back Ryan Cody caught my eye with a comic he illustrated called Villains. Published by Viper Comics, the book featured a former cubicle worker who blackmailed an ex-villain into teaching him how to be a bad guy. More recently, Cody has been drawing a mature readers title called Jesus Christ: In the Name of the Gun, and now the artist has decided to begin writing his own comics as well.
Late last year, Cody started posting pages of Icarus on his website, with plans to publish it using a print-on-demand company later this year. You can check out the first issue on Ryan’s website, but hurry — it comes down tomorrow. I spoke with Ryan about the project and his approach to getting it in people’s hands.
JK: Let’s start with the basics – what is Icarus about?
Ryan: Icarus is about how a career military man deals with his own conscious when it comes into conflict with direct orders. Major Robert Riley has served his country well and is the premier covert assassin. He has never failed a mission, never missed a target. A young girl named Delphi has had a premonition about the end of the Earth. She believes an alien force is coming with the goal of domination and enslavement. When she and other heroes go public with their story, chaos ensues including religious and financial upheaval. The church cannot control it’s parishioners and the government cannot control it’s people when they are being told a power greater than all of them is coming to destroy them. Global riots ensue and in the end, the governments of the Earth decide that these super-humans are causing more harm than good and put Riley in play to put an end to them. Heroes and villains must be put down in order for the populace to be put back in it’s place. The story focuses on Riley, Delphi and the various characters they encounter. There is much more to the story but I can’t go into it without blowing the cliffhanger at the end of the first issue.
- January 2, 2011 @ 01:28 PM by JK Parkin
“Just to demonstrate that it’s possible”: Ben Katchor on The Cardboard Valise
There’s nothing else in the world quite like Ben Katchor’s comics. Perhaps that’s because there’s nothing in the world quite like the people and places you’ll find in them. Best known for his newspaper strip Julius Knipl: Real Estate Photographer, Katchor is an inventor of lost culture. His comics chronicle imaginary occupations and cultural attractions, like an island whose economy revolves around tourists visiting the ruins of abandoned public restrooms, “humane hamburgers” consisting of tiny slices of meat snipped from still-living cows so gently that they barely notice, or a seaside cellphone stand whose employees hold their phones aloft at the shore for ten minutes at a time so callers can hear the sounds of the ocean for a price. All of these things are just this side of plausible, feeling like old-fashioned customs that have been rendered obsolete or great ideas that never caught on, drowned out by the bustle of life in the big city.
But in his upcoming book The Cardboard Valise, due out on March 8 from Pantheon, Katchor takes a journey beyond his customary imaginary American-urban setting. This collection of strips culled from a variety of publications tells the loosely intertwined stories of two men dealing with our increasingly small world in two very different fashions: One is a literal travel addict who can’t stop visiting distant lands and cultures; the other proudly and loudly denounces the very notion of differing nations and customs, seeking to wipe out the physical and psychological borders that divide the world. Unsurprisingly, Katchor proves himself just as adept at chronicling the dislocations of travel and internationalism as he is at showing us (to use the subtitle of one of his books) the pleasures of urban decay.
As part of Robot 6’s second anniversary spectacular, Katchor allowed us to pick his brain about his new book, the allure of exoticism, the danger of nationalism, print vs. digital, and making the impossible possible.
- January 2, 2011 @ 12:45 PM by Sean T. Collins
Our favorite comics of 2010
Parker: The Outfit
As I said in my intro for our big birthday bash, it’s been a great year for kick ass comics, from Grant Morrison’s tales of various Batmen to the all-ages joy of Thor the Mighty Avenger to the physically stunning Acme Novelty Library.
Here, then, are the best comics of 2010, as chosen by the Robot 6 team.
Brigid Alverson
10. All My Darling Daughters: Fumi Yoshinaga’s collection of short stories about families and relationships is quirky, funny, and filled with rich detail and gesture. She can say more in three panels than some writers say in three pages of prose. This is a mature work by a supremely gifted creator.
9. Twin Spica: A lovely manga about a young girl who wants to be an astronaut, Twin Spica stretches outside the usual boundaries of children’s stories and has moments of true poetry and grace. Kou Yaginuma’s art goes far beyond the usual standards of manga, creating unforgettable characters and settings that really draw the reader in.
8. Drinking at the Movies: With a sharp eye and plenty of self-deprecating humor, Julia Wertz chronicles her first year in New York, a year of crappy jobs, terrible apartments, and good friends. Wertz is a great raconteur who manages to be entertaining and a bit deep at the same time.
7. Set to Sea: The story of a would-be poet who is shanghaied and learns about life at sea the hard way, Set to Sea is drawn in a series of single panels, each of which is a miniature masterpiece on its own. It’s a singularly economical way of telling a story, and Drew Weing makes each of his panels into a tight little world of its own.
- January 2, 2011 @ 12:25 PM by JK Parkin