2011 January
At long last, the Spider-Man musical has a ‘triumphant’ finale
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (by Annie Leibovitz)
After seven tempestuous weeks of previews during which a temporary, and unsatisfying, ending was used, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has a dramatic new finale.
The New York Times reports the new, technically complex ending features a flying sequence in which Spider-Man flies “in a triumphant manner” around the 1,932-seat Foxwoods Theatre. The change comes in response to complaints that the show’s current ending — Spider-Man and Mary Jane embrace, then the curtain drops — was lackluster at best.
A spokesman for the $65-million musical would only say that the new ending involves “an airborne finale moment that will be familiar to Spider-Man fans around the world.”
Producers announced last Thursday that Spider-Man‘s opening would be delayed a fifth time, to March 15, to allow more time to fine-tune the finale and other aspects of the show. Grammy-winning record producer Steve Lillywhite was also been brought in by Bono and director Julie Taymor to work with the performers on the music.
- January 20, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
The Grave Doug Freshley finally sees the light
The Grave Doug Freshley is a comic with a lot of promise. It’s the story of a former farmhand and tutor who rises from the grave to seek revenge on the gang of outlaws that killed him and the family he worked for. The comic was first solicited in 2008, and some advance copies must have gone out, because it received a positive review from Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading. ComicMix interviewed writer Josh Hechinger a few months later. Hechinger (who was only 20 at the time) described the story as “[Sergio] Leone meets Looney Toons.”
And then … crickets. As Hechinger explains on his blog, pre-orders were too low to justify the print run, so the comic was solicited then canceled. I gather from this post that this happened not one, but three times, which must be incredibly frustrating, and Hechinger says that this last time, when the book was solicited for an October 2010 release, he didn’t do much publicity for it because he didn’t want to talk up a book and then have it not come out — again.
This is one of those situations where digital can make all the difference, though: Yesterday, iFanboy posted the news that the comic is available on Graphic.ly and showed off the first few pages with a demo of Graphic.ly’s web app. (iFanboy is owned by Graphic.ly.)
- January 20, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Craig Thompson’s Habibi due out on Sept. 20
It sounds like some of his blog’s readers found this out before he did, but Blankets author Craig Thompson has revealed that his looooooooong-awaited fantasy graphic novel Habibi will be released on Sept. 20 by Pantheon. “The book will be $29.95 — 672 b&w pages — clothbound hardcover with stamped gold foil, and look something like the mock-up above,” Thompson writes. It will come out just one day before Thompson’s 36th birthday.
It’s difficult to describe the impact of Thompson’s last bona fide graphic novel, the 2003 memoir Blankets, to people who weren’t there to feel it. (Though God knows I’ve tried.) This is hard to imagine in a world where your bookshelves can groan under the weight of Bottomless Belly Button, A Drifting Life, If ‘n Oof et al, but at the time this Top Shelf release was the longest original graphic novel ever published; its mere existence was a statement about the future of the medium. And it’s equally difficult to describe just how hard its story of finding and losing first love and religious faith while growing up amid the snows of the conservative upper-Midwest hit with readers, many of whom had never cracked open a comic without being harangued by true believers. My wife, whose prior experience with comics was pretty much limited to stuff I’d force her to read, started flipping through it on the kitchen table one day, read it in one sitting, and eventually got a picture from it tattooed on her person, let’s put it that way. Thompson followed the book up with Carnet de Voyage, a 2004 travelogue recounting his experiences touring Europe in support of Blankets and Northern Africa as research for his already nascent next project Habibi, but Habibi itself is really the “next Craig Thompson book” for which fans have been waiting. And God help us all, but its long-discussed filtering of Middle Eastern and Muslim culture through an epic fantasy lens remains as timely as it was when Thompson concocted the idea during the first term of the Bush Administration. I can’t wait to read it.
Anyway, click the link to see a whole bunch of cover designs that didn’t make the cut over at Thompson’s blog.
- January 20, 2011 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Move over, Captain America: Meet Captain Israel
In the wake of broader worldwide acceptance of superheroes and comic books, a new hero has been introduced: Captain Israel. Published by the nonprofit pro-Israel education and advocacy organization StandWithUs, Captain Israel #1 debuted at the group’s annual Festival of Lights event in Los Angeles.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein said the character was introduced because “as Israel’s Jewish connection to Israel and the land is always being challenged, we wanted to reestablish our Jewish roots and make sure that everyone understood the history, stuff we know and take for granted and that others try to chip away at.”
Rothstein goes further, saying the comic was devoted to “establishing a hero, establishing roots, [and] countering the venomous BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement. We’re in the business of branding the movement so that it’s clear that the players that promote boycotting Israel are not well-intentioned.”
Captain Israel was created by Arlen Schumer, a longtime New York City art director and illustrator, who has produced superhero-themed illustrations for publications such as Wired and The Wall Street Journal. This new Israeli hero’s costume bears a strong resemblance to Marvel’s Captain America, and fittingly enough that character has Jewish roots as well; Marvel’s star-spangled hero was created by two sons of Jewish immigrants: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
You can view an eight-page preview of Captain Israel #1 on StandWithUs’ website, as well as order the premiere issue.
- January 20, 2011 @ 09:30 AM by Chris Arrant
Cartooning for a cause: Cul de Sac vs. Parkinson’s
Cul de Sac
Cul de Sac is one of the freshest and funniest newspaper comics to come along in recent years, and it’s one of the few strips to gain a foothold with general comics readers as well. Creator Richard Thompson revealed in 2009 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and this week he announced he’s fighting back—with fan art.
Chris Sparks, of Sparking Design, has launched Team Cul de Sac, a fund-raising page for a book of Cul de Sac tributes. Professional cartoonists have been invited to contribute their takes on Cul de Sac characters:
Please run with them; deconstruct them, parody them, confuse them, cubisize them, psychoanalyze them, draw them in your own strip, whatever tickles your fancy. Enjoy. Open up your heart and just create something out of the ordinary, maybe not with your own characters, but this is an opportunity for you to let your talent to shine in a wide range of ways.
The contributions will be published by Andrews McMeel, and proceeds will go to the Michael J. Fox foundation, which raises money for Parkinson’s research.
- January 20, 2011 @ 08:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Asterix artist battles taxman, Dick Tracy cartoonist retires
Asterix
Creators | Ruling that cartoonist Albert Uderzo can’t benefit from tax breaks extended to authors, French authorities have ordered the Asterix co-creator to pay $273,000 in taxes on the 24 books he and late collaborator late René Goscinny produced between 1959 and 1979. The country’s tax office asserts the extra tax exemption applies only to “people who have participated in writing the texts of the comic strip.” “This is an injustice and a scandal,” the 84-year-old Uderzo said. [The Telegraph]
Creators | Cartoonist Dick Locher is retiring from the Dick Tracy comic strip after 32 years, handing the reins to artist Joe Staton and writer Mike Curtis. Their first strip will appear in newspapers on March 14. “It’s time to move on to other things,” the 81-year-old Lochner tells Michael Cavna. “It’s time to do normal things with my family, to travel, to paint in the American Southwest.” [Comic Riffs]
- January 20, 2011 @ 07:57 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics nominees announced for 22nd annual GLAAD Media Awards
From "Avengers: The Children's Crusade" #3, by Allan Heinberg and Jimmy Cheung
Nominations have been announced for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s 22nd annual Media Awards, which honor outstanding portrayals of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
The nominees for outstanding comic book are:
• Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, by Allan Heinberg, Jimmy Cheung and others (Marvel)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, by Joss Whedon, Brad Meltzer, Georges Jeanty, Scott Allie and others (Dark Horse)
• Fogtown, by Andersen Gabrych and Brad Rader (DC Comics/Vertigo)
• Veronica, by Dan Parent (Archie Comics)
• X-Factor, by Peter David, David Yardin and others (Marvel)
This is the third nomination in a row for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the second for X-Factor. Buffy won in 2008.
In addition, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, director Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Oni Press series, was nominated for outstanding film-wide release. Winners in all categories will be presented during ceremonies in New York City (March 10), Los Angeles (April 16) and San Francisco (May 14). It’s unclear at which event the comics category will be presented.
Christopher Butcher offers commentary: “Every year I agonize over these awards because they specifically reward the ‘straightest’ material that happens to be nice to gays, rather than doing anything to recognize the work of actual gay cartoonists. I’m trying hard not to do this, this year, because hey, at least they’ve nominated gay writers Allan Heinberg and Andersen Gabrych. And I don’t want to minimize the support or work of vocally queer-friendly creators like David, Meltzer, or Whedon.”
- January 20, 2011 @ 05:03 AM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim | Shawn Crystal on The Decoy
Wolverine/Deadpool: The Decoy 2
Today marks the release of the second installment of the three-part digital-only comic Wolverine & Deadpool: The Decoy written by Stuart Moore and drawn by the focus of this email interview, Shawn Crystal. As noted by Crystal, when teasing the Marvel Digital Comics project last week at his blog: “The story is 22 pages in length, each chapter being around 7 or 8 pages.” Once you’ve finished the interview and are looking for more info about Crystal, you can visit him at Deviant Art, Facebook, Twitter or a site where you can buy his original art.
Tim O’Shea: What can you tell us about your new Deadpool/Wolverine project which started last Wednesday?
Shawn Crystal: Well, it’s got Wolverine being a bad a$, Deadpool being a dumb a$, and a giant Robot. What more do you need?
I would like to say that getting to draw Wolverine was AMAZING. He’s a childhood favorite of mine, and I had so much fun drawing him. He’s such an icon. I had the classic Art Adams Wolverine poster on my wall, all through college. I felt like the kid in me was standing next to my art table watching me saying “DUDE! You’re drawing WOLVERINE!!!!!” I had a lot of smiles working on this book. I really hope to get another chance to play with him.
- January 19, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs | Night Animals
Night Animals (cover is probably NSFW)
Written and Illustrated by Brecht Evens
Top Shelf; $7.95 (Shipping in March)
When Brecht Evens describes his new work as “a walk on the Where the Wild Things Are side,” he’s not exaggerating. Night Animals contains two stories, each of which follows a normal person into a fantasy world that comments on his and her real-life situation. The second one, “Bad Friends” is especially (and intentionally) reminiscent of Maurice Sendak’s most famous book, complete with homemade crown and a wild rumpus in the woods with fierce, wonderful creatures.
But the similarities end right there. Night Animals is no children’s book. From the graphic details in the visuals to the dark, oppressive themes, this is a book for grown-ups. Or – especially in the case of “Bad Friends” – well-adjusted teens at least.
- January 19, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Michael May
Todd Klein breaks down Marvel’s Daredevil logos
In the latest of his series of logo studies, letterer and logo designer Todd Klein spars with the mastheads of the 45-plus Marvel title Daredevil. Klein’s research on these series is impeccable, covering every permutation of the comics’ logo — reaching out when possible to the original designers, back into the Silver Age. He even provides copious notes for when he was hired to work on the logo in 1996.
Although Klein is best known for his lettering, he’s contributed logos to virtually all major American comic companies, and his logo work is seen on the Batman: Year One storyline, logos for The New Teen Titans and its characters, as well as Witchblade, Tom Strong and Iron Man.
Klein’s releasing his Daredevil logo study in four parts, with the final installment due any day now. Begin with Part 1 which starts with the title’s debut in 1964. Read the installments, and then scroll back through his archives for other interesting logo studies.
- January 19, 2011 @ 02:30 PM by Chris Arrant
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, our look inside the home of a fan. Today’s collection comes from Stephen Hallam.
I’m out this week, and it would be awesome to come back to an in-box filled with Shelf Porn. So please email me your collection at jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now here’s Stephen …
- January 19, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Looking for a job in comics? UPDATED!
Marvel Bullpen circa 1992
UPDATE: Revised the DC links, added Comixology jobs and explained missing companies.
Comics is a medium and a business. In addition to the hard-working writers and artists who make comics, there’s also people working in editorial, publishing, marketing, distribution and printing. Here’s some job openings we found online:
Marvel:
- Web Software Architect
- Web Interface Director
- Video Editor
- Production Manager, Marvel Kids Website
- Motion Graphics Producer / Video Editor
- Junior Publishing Data Analyst (Temporary)
- Category Associate
- Associate Product Manager
- January 19, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Emily Carroll’s dream journal
When last seen in this space, Emily Carroll was sketching some mighty nice zombie fanart. Now she has a new project up: four-panel snippets of her recent dreams. You know how boring it is to listen to someone else go on and on about their weird dream? This is not that. Carroll shows brief vignettes and presents everything visually, which, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense: Since dreams are largely visual, drawing them is more economical than writing about them. Like most of us, Carroll has some disturbing images in her dreams, but her drawings of them seem almost like surrealistic gag cartoons — most of them end with some sort of a punch line or non sequitur.
(via Michael Buntag)
- January 19, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Whedon discusses the end of Buffy Season 8, drops hints about Season 9
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #40
With the release today of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #40, the conclusion of the sprawling Season 8 storyline, creator Joss Whedon says he’s already looking forward to a more “down to earth” Season 9.
“I got very excited when I had a comic book with the idea that I could do absolutely anything,” he tells Etertainment Weekly‘s Shelf Life blog. “We hit a lot of beautiful notes and I’ve got a lot of great writers working [on the comics], and I’m very proud of it. But at the same time, it’s like, yeah, ‘You can do anything’ is not really the Buffy mission statement. The Buffy mission statement is, ‘What does this feel like?’ So I wanted to bounce it back a little bit to the real world.”
Be warned: The interview contains spoilers for Season 8, so if you’ve been picking up the collected editions, you’ll probably want to avoid that link.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer will relaunch late this year, coinciding with the return of Angel to Dark Horse. The publisher has said that the new season will be “a little tighter, a little more concise” than Season 8, which took nearly four years to complete.
Related: Dark Horse has a list of retailers who are marking Buffy Summers’ birthday — it’s today! — with special events.
- January 19, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
FCBD: Darwyn Cooke’s wearable art
Darwyn Cooke, creator of DC: The New Frontier and Parker: The Outfit, has mixed up a bunch of DC’s iconic characters for this year’s Free Comic Book Day commemorative T-shirt. This is the second year the FCBD has had a T-shirt; last year’s was done by Sergio Aragones, who Cooke acknowledges is a tough act to follow:
“I looked at last year’s shirt design by Sergio and there simply isn’t any way to top that in one image,” said Cooke. “This brought me to the idea of celebrating the form with the design, and putting all our info into a classic comic page layout. The rest became quite easy because the decision to go that way led me to doing VERY poppy, iconic images for the panels that had fun with the idea of the DC heroes in the store.”
He talks a bit more about his creative process and his favorite comics store (Strange Adventures, in Halifax, Nova Scotia) at the FCBD site, and he adds that while 2011 is going to be a “quiet year,” he is working on an original graphic novel that will be formatted as an ebook. (Cooke expanded a bit on this a in his New York Comic-Con spotlight panel).
The shirts come in sizes ranging from small to XXL and in three colors: Orange, denim blue, and black. There’s more information in the January Previews.
- January 19, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson