2011 March
A little bathroom reading
I think most of us can admit to reading comics while in the bathroom — whether it be today or as a furtive young child with the Sunday funnies — but this new product brings the idea to a whole new level.
London-based gift design company Spinning Hat has introduced the Comic Toilet Roll, a novelty item perfect for any comic store or Spencers. At $6.50 a roll it’s a bit pricey, but would supplant the off-used critical comment by Internet reviewers that a comic was so bad they could wipe their posterior with it.
- March 9, 2011 @ 01:45 PM by Chris Arrant
Knights in shining armor: The Outlaw Prince
The Outlaw Prince, due out in April from Dark Horse, looks like a treat for fans of knights, swords, and the Middle Ages in general. It’s based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel The Outlaw of Torn, and features a prince who is kidnapped, taken away from his royal family, and trained in swordsmanship, becoming the most feared man in all of Britain. The graphic novel is written by Rob Hughes, who apparently expanded on Burroughs’ original, and illustrated in a very classic, almost 1930s style by Thomas Yeates (pencils, inks, colors), Michael Kaluta (pencils), and Lori Almeida (colors). Hughes has an Outlaw Prince website up that features a generous preview, and it’s well worth a look; the art is old school but vivid and lively.
- March 9, 2011 @ 12:45 PM by Brigid Alverson
Roger Langridge’s Muppets comic in limbo
A page from a Muppets comic we may never see
On his blog, cartoonist Roger Langridge muses on the fate of the last Muppet Show comics he drew for BOOM! Studios. We learned a few weeks ago that Disney had moved the license for Pixar comics from BOOM!, which had been making them for two years, to Marvel, but the fate of The Muppet Show license was conspicuously not mentioned. From what Langridge says, though, it looks like BOOM! has lost that license as well, leaving Langridge’s last Muppets story arc, The Four Seasons, in limbo:
As far as I understand it, the unpublished work I’ve done for Boom isn’t technically Disney’s until it’s published, and obviously Boom can’t publish it without a license. So it’s in a kind of limbo right now. In the best of all possible worlds, I’d like to think that Boom and Marvel can come to some kind of arrangement whereby Marvel can eventually release the work.
He posted a few inked pages from the story to tide us over while the suits figure it all out. BOOM! Studios had no comment.
- March 9, 2011 @ 11:45 AM by Brigid Alverson
Francisco Francavilla’s 1930s-era Batman
Artist Francisco Francavilla has been tearing up the comics scene as of late. He’s balancing two ongoing gigs on the Big Two’s dark super-heroes — Batman in Detective Comics for DC and Black Panther: The Man Without Fear at Marvel — and still keeps up a healthy sideline of pin-ups, cover work and some great art online.
The above piece of art is concept art for a pitch Francavilla says he’s been working on some time. At this point it’s speculative as to if this will ever see the lite of day in a published comic, but we can all dream … can’t we?
- March 9, 2011 @ 10:45 AM by Chris Arrant
Francis Manapul helps Marvel PR maven Arune Singh propose
Comics really can bring people together. Take, for instance, the above art by Francis Manapul, who created it as a favor for a friend who was proposing to his girlfriend. That friend is none other than Arune Singh, Marvel’s director of communications.
“It’s really a sweet story,” Manapul explains on his DeviantArt blog, “as [Arune] put a picture book together of them and this was revealed on the last page of the book as he got down on one knee to propose. ”
At Singh’s direction, Manapul depicted him as Superboy and Arune’s fiancée Michelle as Wonder Girl. Although it might seem odd for a Marvel staffer to ask a DC-exclusive artist for help on popping the big question, at the end of the day there are many friendships across the stretches of the Big Two. And this isn’t the first time a comics fan — or comics professional — has used the powerful language of comic to pop the big question: Cartoonist Dave Roman famously did an elaborate comic strip to spring the surprise question to his now-wife Raina Telgemeier, and I recall Rob Liefeld doing the same in the mid-’90s as a back-up to one of his comics.
… and before you ask, she said yes. Congratulations, Arune — and congrats, Michelle!
- March 9, 2011 @ 09:45 AM by Chris Arrant
Wired UK reveals Angry Birds creator’s secret comic origin
Could an iPhone game sensation have its roots in comics?
Yes it can.
In an article in the April 2011 edition of Wired UK, reporter Tom Cheshire goes in depth with the founders and principal people behind Rovio, the company that created Angry Birds. The article describes how co-founder Mikael Hed wrote a webcomic series called August Jessor prior to Angry Birds’ success — and surprisingly, the archived webcomic is still online, although not updated since 2007. The company he founded with his cousin Rovio developed art for several game companies before they struck gold in 2010 Angry Birds.
And although the success of Angry Birds has taken away from any comics work as of late, the entrepreneurial company has plans for the concept to reach out to TV series, movies, cartoons … and even comics.
“Look at how Disney got started,” Hed says in the Wired UK article. “Steamboat Willie created Mickey Mouse, then they added more characters. You can see the same pattern today, but everything is happening much, much faster. Other brands used to build recognition over the course of decades. We’ve done it in one year.”
- March 9, 2011 @ 08:45 AM by Chris Arrant
Comics A.M. | Amazing Fantasy #15 brings $1.1M; CCI hotel blocks
Amazing Fantasy #15
Comics | A near-mint copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, the 1962 comic featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man, was purchased in a private sale on Monday for $1.1 million — short of the record $1.5 million paid in March 2010 for Action Comics #1. “The fact that a 1962 comic has sold for $1.1 million is a bit of a record-shattering event,” says Stephen Fishler, chief executive of ComicConnect.com. “That something that recent can sell for that much and be that valuable is awe-inspiring.” [The Associated Press]
Comic-Con | Hotel reservations for Comic-Con International open this morning at 9 PT. A preliminary list of hotels included in the Comic-Con block is available on the convention website. [Comic-Con International]
Comic-Con | ICv2 has announced it will host the its Comics, Media and Digital Conference on July 20, in conjunction with Comic-Con International. [ICv2]
- March 9, 2011 @ 07:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
Reports: Taymor leaving Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, producers shutting down musical for overhaul [Updated]
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Besieged director Julie Taymor will leave Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as producers prepare to shut down performances for two to three weeks to overhaul the $65 million musical, multiple sources report. However, The New York Times now contends she could remain in some capacity, “perhaps in name only,” following her rumored resignation Tuesday night.
The news follows two days of negotiations that were believed to center on the Tony Award-winning Taymor either working with an expanded creative team to retool production, or possibly exit the show she co-wrote and shepherded to Broadway. “Taymor is out. She’s left the building,” a source close to the production tells the New York Daily News.
The shutdown dates for Spider-Man, which was supposed to open March 15, are expected to cover late April and early May, The Times reports. However, a spokesman sticks by the line that “the opening night is still scheduled for March 15.” A shutdown would mean a loss of about $1.3 million a week — although still in previews, Spider-Man is one of the highest-grossing shows on Broadway — and push the production past the April 28 deadline for Tony Awards eligibility (apparently not a concern). Producers are now thought to be eyeing a June opening date, the show’s sixth.
- March 9, 2011 @ 06:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
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.
Batman, Inc. #3
Graeme McMillan
If I had $15 this week, the first $2.99 of it would go to Batman Inc. #3 (DC Comics), the much-delayed (it’s, what, two months late?) continuation of Grant Morrison’s latest Batman series. The first two-parter was great, so it’ll be nice to finally see what comes next. My Legion of Super-Heroes love also compels me to pick up Legion of Super-Villains #1 (DC, $4.99), an extra-sized oneshot tying into Paul Levitz’ ongoing Legion series, Fred Van Lente’s “comic book babylon” Comic Book Comics #5 ($3.95) and the first issue of Marvel’s CrossGen revival Sigil #1 ($2.99). I have never read a CrossGen book in my life, but I’m curious about the revival nonetheless.
If I had $30, I’d probably put Comic Book Comics back on the shelf and pick up the trade of Girl Comics (Marvel, $15.99) instead. I know, I know, I should’ve picked up the hardcover, but … I’m sorry? I suck?
Splurge-wise, it’s probably going to be New Mutants: Fall of The New Mutants Premiere HC (Marvel, $24.99). I was a fan of the original New Mutants series back in the day, and have heard great things about Zeb Wells’ revival from David Brothers online, so. .. why not? If it sucks, I’m sure he’d happily give me back my $25, right?
- March 8, 2011 @ 05:00 PM by Michael May
Exclusive preview and interview: Explore Yuichi Yokoyama’s Garden of unearthly delights
It’s always a good sign, and a rare blessing, when you close a comic and say to yourself, “Well, I’ve certainly never seen anything like that before.” Such was my reaction to Garden, the upcoming PictureBox graphic novel from acclaimed manga artist Yuichi Yokoyama (currently in Previews for a May 4 release; Diamond code MAR111221). Sure, this is the same guy who made guys throwing books at one another as exciting a fight scene as anything out of Kill Bill in his collection New Engineering. It’s the same guy who made a bunch of dudes taking a ride on the train as thrilling as Jack Kirby drawing someone hijacking the Moebius Chair and going on a joyride through Apokalips in his book Travel. But Garden takes Yokoyama’s unique combination of deadpan characters, robotically clean lines, zany costumes, epic sets and scenery, and hyper-caffeinated action to a whole new level. It’s like a magical mental amusement park.
The plot of Garden is pure simplicity: A crowd of would-be sightseers (all wearing costumes and headgear that make them look like a lost Kinnikuman toyline) sneak into a sprawling “garden” filled with inexplicable, incredible sights and structures, from a river of rubber balls and a forest filled with disassembled cars to mountains made of glass and a massive hallway filled with floating bubbles. The endlessly chatty characters slowly walk, climb, swing, float, and otherwise make their way through the environments and obstacles, constantly narrating as they go. (“Now what could this be?” “It’s a field of boulders.” “All the boulders have ladders on them.” “Let’s climb it.”) By explaining exactly what’s happening at all times, the little explorers make following Yokoyama’s often kaleidoscopic art a breeze, freeing you to simply marvel at the sheer scale and scope of his imagination (and chuckle at the the crazy stuff the characters encounter). The overall effect is like being strapped in for a ride through some Bizarro Disney World where every single attraction is as colossal and otherworldly as the big Spaceship Earth golfball, as fast as Space Mountain, and as dizzying as the Mad Tea Party.
Courtesy of PictureBox, Robot 6 is pleased to present this exclusive eight-page preview of Garden, and an interview with Yokoyama about the book, in which the cartoonist gives us some fascinating answers — about his love for the collision between the natural and artificial, his goal in including all that dialogue, and why size matters — and raises just as many compelling questions.
(Special thanks to Dan Nadel and Yu Marooka for their help in facilitating and translating this interview respectively.)
- March 8, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Eye candy overload!
I’ve got to hand it to Comics Alliance/Moviefone blogger (and CBR alumnus) Andy Khouri: Late last week, he assembled two absolutely stunning image galleries for his readers’ delectation. First up, over on CA, he put together the first of what he promises will be a his latest weekly look at the “Best Art Ever (This Week)”, an extensive selection of cool artwork — some old, some new, some fan, some pro — from around the Internet. Highlights in this week’s batch include the above Scott Pilgrim pin-up by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Wonder Woman and her invisible jet by Mike Allred, a steampunk version of The Lord of the Rings‘ Witch-King by Max Arkes, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Gilbert Hernandez (!!!!!!).
- March 8, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Savage Beauty‘s Mike Bullock on writing about Africa
Writer Mike Bullock attracted attention during his run on The Phantom by pitting the Ghost Who Walks against analogues of real-life villains like Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army to raise awareness about the situation in Uganda and its surrounding area. Bullock has carried that mission into his latest jungle-adventure comic Savage Beauty.
As a fan of jungle-adventure stories (in fact, I wrote a text piece for Savage Beauty #1 talking about my fondness for the genre), I was curious about the challenges involved in Bullock’s approach and in writing African-set adventure stories in general without resorting to clichés.
Savage Beauty #1 hits comics shops tomorrow.
Michael May: I want to ask you about some of the challenges in writing about Africa in adventure comics, but first, can you give me a sense of your own experience with the continent? What’s drawn you to it?
Mike Bullock: Prior to working on The Phantom at Moonstone I didn’t know much at all except what I’d seen in movies, TV, and the occasional magazine article. Then, it just so happened that my mother-in-law went to Uganda with Compassion International to visit a child she sponsored. Right after she returned, my father-in-law, wife, and I went out to lunch with another woman who had gone on the trip as well. She spent about an hour detailing the plight of the Night Commuters, the tyranny of Joseph Kony (the man originally credited with using children as soldiers) and the persecution of the Acholi people.
I’ve always had a heart for kids and listening to what Kony was (and still is) doing to the children of an entire culture made my blood boil. As these things go, it turned out one of my close friends had grown up with one of the guys who worked for Invisible Children. Before long I was elbows deep in their mission, doing whatever I could as a comic writer to help them and the Acholi people.
- March 8, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Michael May
Go there and back again with Sam Bosma’s Hobbit illustrations
The Great Goblin by Sam Bosma
The road goes ever on, and so does a very intriguing project that’s been cooking for over a year but to which I am just catching up now: Artist Sam Bosma is doing a suite of twelve illustrations based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic The Hobbit. Scroll through his extensive archive and you’ll find elves, trolls, giants, goblins, dwarves, eagles, wizards, Gollum and, of course, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, drawn in an absolutely sumptuous style.
Bosma often goes off-model in terms of hewing to Professor T’s descriptions from the books, but mostly in a rewarding fashion; I certainly never pictured the Elves wearing this high a hemline, but I’m not complaining. Bosma also posts exhaustive behind-the-scenes material on every drawing, walking you through his entire process from sketches and thumbnails through pencils and final Photoshop tweaks, which is a big part of the fun — check out the Mignolaverse influence on his sketches of Gollum, for example. If we get the Mirkwood spiders, Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies out of him, I’ll be a happy nerd indeed.
Check ‘em out, and if you dig ‘em, keep in mind that Bosma created the illustrations for the recently completed Picture Book Report project, which features similar illustration adaptations of great books by the likes of Lucy Knisley, Laura Park, Emily Carroll, Kali Ciesemier and many more. It’s like a bookshelf for your eyeballs. (Wait, that’s what a regular bookshelf is. Well, you know what I mean.)
(via Domatille Collardey)
- March 8, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Viz offers March markdowns on digital manga
Viz Media has put itself in the vanguard of manga publishers by being the first to offer its own iPad app. And Viz didn’t just launch it and forget it, either — the company has been aggressive about putting new series and volumes onto it. Throughout March, the publisher is offering the first volume of each series for free. That’s a great deal for readers — about 200 pages of story for the same price you would pay for a 32-page American comic — and it’s also smart on Viz’s part, because the thing about manga is that you can’t read just one. The publisher is gambling that those cheap first volumes will be the gateway drug for readers.
All the manga in the app are from the Shonen Jump, Shonen Jump Advanced, and Shojo Beat lines, teen-friendly titles that fall into familiar genres: Naruto, Vampire Knight, Bleach, as well as some newer and lesser-known titles such as Natsume’s Book of Friends and Captive Hearts.
When you think about it, this isn’t that different from what Viz does with its Shonen Sunday and SigIKKI imprints: It puts up chapters for free on the web, then takes them down when the print volume comes up — but leaves the first chapter of each volume up as a free sample.
- March 8, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Arnold Schwarzenegger eyeing comics role
Sure, you’ve got your Steampunk Sarah Palin and your Obama Meets Spider-Man comics, but Arnold Schwarzenegger played Conan before he hit the political arena, so it’s not too surprising that he’s working on becoming a comics character.
Now that his gig as governor of California is over, Schwarzenegger has been hinting broadly that he would like to return to movies. Actually, he didn’t just hint it, he tweeted it, although in an interview with Moviefone he allowed that a change of genre would be in order:
“Extreme fighting and shooting isn’t possible for me anymore,” the actor says. “In the future I’ll need to pick my roles according to my age. Clint Eastwood did it the same way….”
Comics, of course, present no such limitations. On Sunday, Schwarzenegger made an appearance at The Arnold Seminar (don’t ask), and an alert reporter from the fansite TheArnoldFans asked about reports that he was currently reviewing three scripts. Schwarzenegger’s reply:
- March 8, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson