2011 February
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
20th century Boys
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 or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Brigid Alverson
If I had $15,
I’d get volume 13 of 20th Century Boys. This series is fantastic, and I hear there’s a big reveal in this volume.
If I had $30,
I’d add some floppies to the mix. This is a good week for a lot of the series I have been following on and off: Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #4 ($3.50), Sixth Gun #9 ($3.99), Kill Shakespeare #9 ($3.99). Since I have a bit left over, I’ll throw in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #716 ($3.99), because I really have been enjoying that classic Disney.
- February 22, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Looking at DC’s move to expand artists into writer/artists
Although Marvel currently seems to outpace DC in terms of large-scale talent relations (which DC seems to be aiming to fix), DC has a long history as a proving ground for creators starting a new chapter in their career as well as giving the break to some of the industry’s biggest talents like Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. And recently, the stalwart NYC-based publisher broke with previously established rules to encourage a burgeoning crop of artists turned writer/artists.
Up until recently, individuals doing both writing and art duties simultaneously was relegated to special “outside the DCU” projects like Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier, Ben Caldwell’s “Wonder Woman” strip in Wednesday Comics and a large majority of Frank Miller’s DC work. Whether that’s to avoid potential delays from relying on one person to keep the deadlines of a series, or from some contractual issues from one person being the primary creator of a book — which I remember both Evan Dorkin and Mike Allred referring to once. Regardless, it’s uncommon… or it used to be.
In 2010, DC began actively promoting several of its artist to write their own material with artist Tony Daniel both writing and drawing arcs in Batman and recently hired artist David Finch to write & draw a new series titled Batman: The Dark Knight – reportedly one of the reasons Finch jumped from Marvel. And arguably one of the biggest promotions is J.H. Williams III taking over the writing chores of the Batwoman character for her eponymous new series from former collaborator Greg Rucka. And curiously enough, this is all occurring under the auspices of the Bat titles which are under the purview of editor Mike Marts.
With the competing war to get the talent heating up like no time before, could these moves by DC be away to combat Marvel’s upper hand in the sales charts while also trying to find the next Frank Miller? We hope so! Many of today’s biggest writers started out as artists — Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, Joe Quesada, Ed Brubaker and Rick Remender, to name a few. But what artists would you like to see write their own comics?
- February 22, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Daniel Clowes draws Glenn Beck
Courtesy of the minty fresh new DanielClowes.com website comes this unused illustration of the notoriously lachrymose right-wing TV and radio host, whose nightly journey into madness can be seen on the Fox News Channel. Wilson and Mister Wonderful author Clowes was commissioned to draw the portrait for a New York Times Magazine profile on Beck when it seemed he wouldn’t be willing to sit for a photograph, but apparently cooler heads prevailed and/or Beck found a break in his busy schedule of rooting for the massacre of unarmed Arab protesters, and an agreement with the dreaded liberal media behemoth was reached after all. Oh well, the Times‘ loss is our gain. Get the full story of the illo, and lots more besides, at DanielClowes.com.
- February 22, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Batman, Inc. is hiring, apparently
Batman, Inc. fanart by Dennis Culver
I’ve got to give artist Dennis Culver a hand. Last time we checked in with him, he was painstakingly drawing Batman’s rogues gallery — some 38 impeccable portraits of villainy in all. This time around he’s taking Grant Morrison’s Batman, Inc. ball and running with it, tackling 45 members of Batman’s crime-fighting franchise. But wait! you say. Does Batman, Inc. even have 45 members! Ah, that’s where the fun begins, Bat-fans. Not only does Culver draw the existing B-Inc. characters, as well as affiliated groups like the Birds of Prey, the Outsiders, and the Club of Heroes — he also puts new Bat-spins on existing characters from across the DC Universe. Those are Batmanified versions of Steel, Aztek, Wally West, Big Barda, and Zauriel above, just for example; I also kinda dig the idea of Cassandra Cain as a new Nightwing, which I take it has some major fan backing. Anyway, go check out the whole line-up. (And don’t miss his drawing of the cast of The Wire, too!)
- February 22, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Comic Strips to Comic Flicks: Warren Ellis movies they haven’t made (yet)
Portrait by Zoetica Ebb
In recent years, we’ve seen a boatload of comic books and graphic novels make their way to the silver screen, from “big two” stalwarts like Spider-Man and Batman to independent titles like Scott Pilgrim and 30 Days Of Night. Among the various adaptations, though, some creators have emerged as magnets for Hollywood types — and one writer in-particular has more to offer than anyone else: Warren Ellis.
Warren Ellis emerged in the late 1990s as the foremost sf writer working in comics. Starting with the seminal DC/Vertigo series Transmetropolitan and moving into his re-invention of the superhero genre with The Authority, Planetary and later Nextwave, Ellis became a rare thing — a successful writer in both the creator-owned field as well as the super-hero dominated work-for-hire mainstream. Along the way he became a prolific writer, with seemingly more graphic novels and trade paperbacks on shelves than any other comic creator. He’s produced more than 40 creator-owned series, with the recent film REDderived from the three-issue series he did with Cully Hamner. Ellis himself is no stranger to Hollywood — he’s worked on animated films for G.I. Joe, Castlevania and the upcoming anime based on Marvel’s Iron Man and Wolverine.
With such a broad and intelligent ouvre of work, Hollywood’s already lined up several more Ellis works they’d like to put on the big screen — but here are some ideas they may have not thought of (yet).
- February 22, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Arrant
Start reading now: Corporate Skull
British cartoonist Jamie Smart launched a new webcomic yesterday, Corporate Skull, which he describes as “My new webcomic about learning the skills of violence, profanity, and alcoholism in the workplace.” With just a cover image and a handful of pages up, the comic is already off to a strong start, chronicling the existential despair of a low-level corporate grunt, spurred on by furry porn and a YouTube video of a trapped cat. While Corporate Skull is definitely an adult comic, Smart has considerable range. He currently draws Desperate Dan for the British kids’ comic Dandy, and also is the creator of Space Raoul, Count von Poo, and a host of other wacky kid-friendly creations as well as some more adult comics.
(Via the Forbidden Planet blog.)
- February 22, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Stan Sakai interviews Usagi Yojimbo
In the grand tradition of Grant Morrison and Animal Man, the creators of Groo and, well, Usagi Yojimbo #100, Dark Horse presents a new strip by Usagi creator Stan Sakai that brings creator and created face to face. Hilarity and carnage ensue.
- February 22, 2011 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
Finalists announced for Los Angeles Times Book Prizes
Duncan the Wonder Dog
The finalists were announced this morning for the 31st annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, which honor works in 10 categories, including biography, fiction, history and, yes, graphic novels.
Finalists and winners are selected by panels of three judges composed of published authors who specialize in each genre or category. The winners will be presented April 29 in a ceremony at the Chandler Auditorium in Los Angeles as a prelude to the 16th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
The finalists in the graphic novel category are:
• Adam Hines, Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One (AdHouse Books)
• Dash Shaw, Bodyworld (Pantheon)
• Karl Stevens, The Lodger (KSA Publishing)
• C. Tyler, You’ll Never Know, Book Two: Collateral Damage (Fantagraphics)
• Jim Woodring, Weathercraft (Fantagraphics)
For the full list of finalists in all categories, visit the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes website.
- February 22, 2011 @ 08:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Spider-Man musical brings in help, could delay opening again
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, by Annie Leibovitz
Producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have brought in outside help for the beleaguered musical amid growing expectation that the show’s opening will be delayed a sixth time.
The New York Times reports that veteran conductor and musical supervisor Paul Bogaev was hired about a week ago to work with Bono and the Edge and to help improve the performance, arrangements and sound quality. Bogaev was the musical director and conductor of the technically complex Starlight Express, and collaborated with Phill Collins on Tarzan and Elton John on Aida.
News of Bogaev’s involvement comes less than a week after a report that comics writer and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had been approached to rework the book originally penned by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger (The Times says he’s yet to be hired). It also follows quickly on a rumor that producers wanted to bring in a co-director for Taymor — something a show spokesman and Taymor herself deny.
Spider-Man spokesman Rick Miramontez wouldn’t comment to the newspaper regarding speculation that the show’s opening could be pushed past March 15, the date selected last month by lead producer Michael Cohl “to ensure that this will be the final postponement.”
The $65 million musical, which began preview performances on Nov. 28, has experienced numerous setbacks, including technical glitches, serious injuries, cast departures and, early this month, an avalanche of scathing reviews from theater critics. Still, it’s the second highest-grossing show on Broadway, behind the long-running Wicked.
- February 22, 2011 @ 07:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Exclusive: Graphic.ly launches Android app
Graphicly on Android
Starting today, Graphic.ly becomes the latest digital comics service to launch an app for Android devices. With about 2,000 comics from 150 publishers, Graphic.ly is one of the smaller digital distributors, but they are the only distributor of Marvel comics on the Android platform, and their lineup also includes Archaia, Archie, Boom! Studios, IDW, and Top Cow. Last week, Graphic.ly announced that beginning in April, they will be carrying Archie comics on the same day they are released in print.
The Android app, which is free, includes a full storefront so users can buy comics via their Android phones, and they can also sync their Android app with their Graphic.ly account on other platforms, so you can, for instance, buy a comic via their web app and read it on your Android phone. In the official press release, Graphic.ly CEO Micah Baldwin says “This application is only the beginning of the expansion of our relationship with Google, which began as a launch partner with the Chrome Application Store.” That opens up some interesting horizons, as Apple begins to enforce its iTunes restrictions and publishers start to wonder about alternatives. With its web and Air apps (which allow you to buy comics through their own store) and now the Android app, Graphic.ly is definitely diversifying.
Until recently, Android users haven’t had many comics to choose from. Robot Comics has been publishing comics as single apps for Android phones for the past few years, but for a long time they had the platform to themselves. ComiXology announced an Android app in December, and Graphic.ly is only the second multi-comics app to make the leap to the Android.
Full press release and more screenshots after the jump.
- February 22, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Your video of the day | ‘Black Widow Gone Wild’
Patrick Boivin, the filmmaker behind last spring’s Internet sensation “Iron Baby,” is back, this time with an incredible stop-motion short called “Black Widow Gone Wild” that asks the age-old question “What if Black Widow were War Machine?” Also, “What’s the quickest way to stop a Michael Jackson doll from dancing?” and “Should you tug on Superman’s cape?”
- February 21, 2011 @ 04:40 PM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim | Hopeless Savages Roundtable
Hopeless Savages Greatest Hits
If you look at the number of talented creators that worked on writer Jen Van Meter‘s Hopeless Savages (Oni Press), it’s an amazing collection of people. To mark Oni’s release in late 2010 of Hopeless Savages Greatest Hits: 2000-2010 (which collects all of the Hopeless Savages material released as of 2010) as well as the fact that the series will return with new material in 2011, I was able to compile an email roundtable discussion with many of Van Meter’s collaborators. Thanks to an immense amount of help from Van Meter and Oni’s Cory Casoni, I garnered insight from editor Jamie S. Rich (with his trademark wit), as well as several of the artists involved, namely Ross Campbell, Christine Norrie and Bryan Lee O’Malley. Did I mention there’s going to be new Hopeless Savages stories in 2011? I just wanted to make sure I did–and, to also note, the artist for the new stories, Meredith McClaren, was also kind enough to participate in this roundtable.
Tim O’Shea: As evidenced by this 2002 interview, Hopeless Savages was fortunate to have a great many talented artists work on the book, but sometimes those artists got busy elsewhere. As you said back in 2002: “With Christine Norrie embroiled in her own miniseries, we kind of are back to square one …. Sort of like how Chynna drew the first short story, but then BLUE MONDAY prevented her from doing the miniseries. But, we’ve found an amazing artist to take over. Bryan O’Malley is new to most people, but he’s really got a handle on the medium. His work really captures the innocence and insecurity of adolescence.” What do you remember most about this confluence at talent (and juggling the variety of creative talent involved in the project)?
Jamie S. Rich: Well, at the time, it wasn’t like we knew that this Irish kid O’Malley (who isn’t really Irish) would end up being the creator of Scott Pilgrim, so it didn’t feel all that monumental. It just felt like the most natural choice to be making. James had been showing Joe Nozemack and I Bryan’s webcomics, but none of the stories had quite clicked with us yet, but the style he was showing us was right in line with everything else we had been doing on the series. Who knew what that would get started?
- February 21, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
SM: Turn Off the Dark‘s silver lining: Tomer Hanuka’s Green Goblin
Spider-Man by Tomer Hanuka
The New Yorker’s John Lahr took in a showing of the big-budget, critically panned Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, and and his review can be found on the magazine’s website. But even if you think you’ve heard enough about the troubled production already, there’s a good reason to check this particular review out — the accompany illustration by artist Tomer Hanuka, featuring Spider-Man, Mary Jane and an awesome Green Goblin.
Hanuka details the process of creating it over on his own site. Can we elect him as the official artist for the comic adaptation?
- February 21, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Randy Queen, Andrea Brown Literary Agency to turn Darkchylde into novels
Darkchylde
Randy Queen’s Darkchylde continues its resurgence with the announcement via press release that the 15-year-old comic series will soon make the jump to the young adult section of the bookstore. Queen has signed with Andrea Brown Literary Agency to bring Darkchylde to teen readers.
“I’m elated Ariel’s Chylde’s journey to young adult bookshelves is in the very capable hands of Kelly Sonnack at Andrea Brown Literary Agency,” Queen said in the press release. “Their track record is considerable, and Kelly’s conviction, strategy, and personal enthusiasm ensures a bright trajectory.”
“When the sample pages for DARKCHYLDE came across my desk, I quickly realized this was something special,” Sonnack said. “For contemporary teen readers who haven’t been exposed to Ariel Chylde through Randy’s comics, I think they’ll find her hugely compelling. She’s a vivid, exciting new heroine who could refresh the current landscape of teen protagonists.”
I can easily see Darkchylde on shelves next to the likes of The Vampire Diaries or Twilight. A Darkchylde film, directed by Jon Carpenter, is currently in the works.
- February 21, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
Ben Hatke talks comics, does backflips
Zita the Spacegirl creator Ben Hatke is apparently pretty new to the publicity machine, as he actually was excited to do an author appearance in a bookstore—and he chronicles his adventures in this absolutely adorable comic strip at the website of First Second, his publisher. It’s a nice look at the experience through the eyes of the main attraction—and even better, one who is not jaded yet. Plus it shows off Hatke’s loose, fluid style, which gets tightened up a bit in his published work.
Here’s a preview of Zita the Spacegirl, which is kid-friendly but fun for adult readers as well.
- February 21, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson