2011 March
What Are You Reading?
Here at Hogwarts
Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly discussion about the comics we here at Robot 6 have been checking out lately. Today’s special guest is Lauren Davis, who blogs about webcomics at Storming the Tower and io9, and is the editor of the San Francisco comics anthology The Comic Book Guide to the Mission.
To see what Lauren and the Robot 6 gang have been reading lately, click below …
- March 20, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
C2E2 | Saturday: Panelpalooza
The question that I raised yesterday about whether TV and movies were going to steal C2E2′s focus from comics turned out to be a non-issue. Concern – and maybe this was just me – was born from a couple of things: the catch-all “Entertainment” is right there in the name and there were several movie/TV appearance announcements in a row that I guess put fears in my head. But it was clear even yesterday from the exhibitor layout that the core of the show is all about the comics. I still haven’t explored the entire floor, but I’ve yet to stumble across the media autograph area.
Phil Hester signs Firebreather posters for fans
I did start and end my day with media panels, but they both had deep comics connections. First was Cartoon Network’s presentation of the Firebreather DVD with Phil Hester. As Hester put it: “It’s Saturday morning; we should be watching cartoons!” I saw the movie when it aired in November, but it was especially impressive in Blu-Ray on the big screen. And it was cool to hear Hester answer questions about his experience having his comic translated into film by Aeon Flux‘s Peter Chung. We also learned that Firebreather screenwriter James Krieg is currently developing a Green Lantern series for Cartoon Network.
Though it was a thoroughly enjoyable start to the day, I could tell early on that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up the panel schedule I’d planned for myself. Sitting in panel rooms all day long without even seeing the convention floor didn’t have a lot of appeal, so I started trimming things. My schedule was a mess anyway with a lot of overlapping panels and difficult choices. This was true last night too. I went to Dirk Manning’s writing panel because I know and like Dirk, but I had to make a choice between it and another writing panel. That’s a weird head-to-head line-up and there were more like it today. Several small press publishers had to compete for attendees and my next panel after Firebreather was a choice between ComiXology’s digital-focused State of the Comicsphere and a discussion between Mark Waid and Matt Fraction on Script Writing and Comics in the Digital Age. Of course, I didn’t realize it yet, but the digital conversation at C2E2 was something that involved far more than just those two panels.
- March 19, 2011 @ 10:47 PM by Michael May
C2E2 | Fawkes’ One Soul coming from Oni in July
One Soul
Oni Press today announced at C2E2 what they’re calling “the most ambitious book Oni Press has ever published” — a new graphic novel called One Soul by cartoonist Ray Fawkes. Due in July, the book is made up entirely of double-page spreads split into 18 panels, with each panel featuring one character’s life.
“They’re all very different,” Fawkes said in a press release, about the characters in the book. “You could read them separately, read their lives one panel at a time, but when you put them together and see their differences and their common points, you catch a glimpse of a greater scope. The characters, through their frustrations and triumphs, are asking and answering big questions and, in a way, in cartooning One Soul, I’m trying to do the same for myself.”
Fawkes’ previous work includes the all-ages Possessions, as well as Spookshow, The Apocalipstix and Mnemovore.
The 176-page over-sized hardcover has an added bonus — it’ll feature a design by Super Spy/Revolver creator Matt Kindt. Check out the complete press release and some preview pages from the book after the jump.
- March 19, 2011 @ 03:02 PM by JK Parkin
C2E2 | Food AND Comics at C2E2
Oni Food Court
Decisions be damned, Oni Press has taken over the food court at C2E2. The Sixth Gun writer Cullen Bunn tweeted the above picture yesterday of the menu at the Carvery, which features references to such Oni series as Sixth Gun, Ghost Projekt and even Super Pro K.O.. Per Oni, they worked with the food court and Reed, the company that runs C2E2, to set it up.
I hear the Scott Pilgrim Sandwich was taken off the menu because, as we all know, bread makes you fat.
- March 19, 2011 @ 11:50 AM by JK Parkin
C2E2 | A walk down Artist’s Alley
Archie artist and writer Dan Parent shows off some of his drawings
The first thing I did when I got to C2E2 was head to Artist Alley to see who was there. It’s always fascinating to see big-name talent rubbing shoulders with creators who haven’t been discovered yet. Here’s a quick look at some of the tables that caught my eye today.
Continue Reading »
- March 19, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
C2E2 | Friday on the floor
Waiting to get in.
My big question heading into the show this year was, “How much is it going to feel like a comics convention?” With Chris “Thor” Hemsworth and much of the cast of Chuck being around this weekend, would C2E2 start to feel like San Diego or – God forbid – Wizard World Chicago from a couple of years ago with movies and TV taking over the center of attention?
It’s only Friday, but so far so really damn good.
After last year’s C2E2, I had high expectations for the convention this year and everything got off to a great start. Press registration went smoothly again and some of the Artist Alley creators who hadn’t attended last year told me how impressed they were with the professionalism and just general niceness of the staff they’d worked with.
One major difference though is that the convention’s in a different part of McCormick Place this year. Instead of the impressive Lakeside Center with it’s unbelievable view of Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago, it’s in the West Building. Still a very nice space with lush carpeting and plenty of room, just not as jaw-droppingly grand as last year. I’m not sure why that is, but one artist brought it to my attention that the setting sun through the giant picture-windows last year could sometimes make it difficult to see and interact with fans. So whatever the rationale for moving, there are positive and negative things about both spaces.
- March 18, 2011 @ 09:34 PM by Michael May
C2E2 | Terry Moore is here!
Terry Moore just announced his new series, Rachel Rising, yesterday, so he was getting a bit of attention at his booth. I asked him how far ahead he has written the story, and he said, “I have plotted out through the first trade. I have a really good feel for her and for the setting of the town, but I’m still think of new things. It’s like when you prepare for a tennis match, and things start happening after you start playing.”
- March 18, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Kodansha to bring Sailor Moon back to the United States
Kodansha Comics stole a bit of thunder from C2E2 today with the announcement that they are bringing a classic manga series back to the U.S. market: Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon.
Speculation has been bubbling around the manga world for a while that Kodansha would bring back Sailor Moon, which was originally published in the United States by Tokyopop (then known as Mixx) but has been out of print for years. A magical-girl story about teenage girls who transform into superheroines to fight evil, Sailor Moon was the first successful shoujo manga and anime in the U.S. and helped pave the way for the manga revolution that followed. Sailor Moon is one of those books people get sentimental about—for a lot of readers and creators, especially women, it was their first comic. It looks like Kodansha is going for those older readers, as they are describing their release as a “deluxe edition,” rather than keeping them cheap for teenagers—who would probably find it laughably dated. Kids are cruel that way.
Kodansha plans to launch the new edition in September and publish a volume every two months. They will also be publishing the prequel, Codename: Sailor V, which has not been previously licensed in the U.S. They original series will follow the sequence of the 2003 Japanese re-release but collapse it from 18 volumes into 12 for the main story arc plus two more volumes of short stories. It sounds like they are doing a new translation, and the books will have new cover art and freshly retouched interior art.
Click for a look at the cover of Codename: Sailor V.
Continue Reading »
- March 18, 2011 @ 02:15 PM by Brigid Alverson
Watch a live performance of Courtney Crumrin
COURTNEY CRUMRIN live w/ Ted Naifeh & This Can’t End Well from theisotope on Vimeo.
Here’s another one that came out of San Francisco’s Noise Pop event last month — Courtney Crumrin creator Ted Naifeh and indie musicians This Can’t End Well did a live performance of Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things.
“Performed before a truly packed house for San Francisco’s beloved indie music festival, Noise Pop, and truly a shining moment for the first-ever Noise Pop Culture Club,” said Isotope Comics owner James Sime on the store’s blog. “I think you will all really enjoy watching it and seeing what Ted and his merry band of fabulous musicians, actors and sound effectians brought to wow us with.”
- March 18, 2011 @ 01:42 PM by JK Parkin
Robot reviews: The Arctic Marauder
The Arctic Marauder
The Arctic Marauder
by Jacques Tardi
Fantagraphics Books, 64 pages, $16.99
Based on what’s been translated in English so far, it seems as though are two kinds of Jacques Tardi books. The first is the dark, grim and gritty type, best represented by books like the wonderful but harrowing It Was the War of the Trenches and the steely-eyed noir West Coast Blues. The second is what I’d dub (rather awkwardly, because I can’t for the moment find better terminology) his goofier, more tongue in cheek style, best seen in the Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec series (and, to a certain extent, the satirical You Are There).
The Arctic Marauder, Fantagraphics’ latest entry in their Tardi line, easily fits in the second category. It’s a wickedly sly take on classic turn-of-the-century pulp adventures that nevertheless manages to both tweak and evoke those stories. It is, in short, a blast to read.
- March 18, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
CBLDF issues advisory on border searches and comics
As we noted late last year, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has been tracking trends in both the United States and abroad that show customs authorities searching and in some cases seizing computers and other electronic devices that had adult comics material stored on them. Today the CBLDF released an advisory prepared by their legal counsel, Robert Corn-Revere, titled “Legal Hazards of Crossing International Borders with Comic Book Art.”
“Most people do not know that their constitutional rights are not guaranteed, even from U.S. Customs agents, when they cross international borders,” Corn-Revere said. “Their books, papers, laptop computers, and even cell phones are subject to routine search and possible seizure by the government, even without any suspicion of criminal activity. This is important to know in an age when many people carry with them a great deal of highly personal information in electronic form.”
The document offers an overview on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement policies and how border searches lack traditional legal protection. It also offers suggestions on avoiding intrusive searches. The CBLDF Advisory is available as a Word document and a PDF file.
- March 18, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Kapow! Comic Con takes aim at Guinness World Records
Superior #1
If the growing guest list isn’t enough to draw fans and media to the inaugural Kapow! Comic Con, Mark Millar & Co. are raising the stakes by setting their sights on two Guinness World Records that most probably didn’t know existed.
Millar and collaborator Leinil Yu have given permission for their Superior character to be used at the convention to help secure the records for Fastest Production of a Comic Book and Most Contributors to a Comic Book.
To do so, such attending creators as Paul Cornell, Andy Diggle, Dave Gibbons, Jock, Frank Quitely and John Romita Jr. will lend their time on April 9 to create a 20-page standalone comic. For the Fastest Production record, the entire issue — from concept to script to art to lettering — must be completed between 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. A Guinness World Records official will be on-hand to certify the requirements have been met.
The finished product will be printed and distributed through Marvel’s Icon imprint, with all royalties going to Yorkhill Children’s Foundation, which provides enhanced medical equipment and resources for sick children and babies treated by Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.
- March 18, 2011 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
C2E2 | The Flash comes to an end in May
The Flash #12
DC Comics announced this morning that The Flash will end with May ‘s Issue 12, a result of its upcoming Flashpoint crossover. Curiously, a 13th issue is solicited for June.
Debuting in April 2010 on the heels of The Flash: Rebirth, the relaunched title teamed writer Geoff Johns with artist Francis Manapul, re-established Barry Allen as the Fastest Man Alive and built toward Flashpoint. So perhaps it was inevitable that the series would end as DC’s big Flash-centric event gears up.
The solicitation text gives little clue as to what to expect from the finale — other than it’s probably not good for Barry: “‘The Road to Flashpoint’ concludes as everything Barry Allen knows and cares about is lost. What is the Flashpoint? Find out in the upcoming Flashpoint #1!”
The Flash #12 arrives in stores on May 11, the same day as Flashpoint #1.
Expect more details to emerge this weekend from Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.
- March 18, 2011 @ 09:56 AM by Kevin Melrose
Pre-orders for Bone Full Color One Volume edition begin today
Bone Pewter Figures
Earlier this month Jeff Smith announced details on the three different versions of the Bone 20th Anniversary Full Color One Volume Edition that are coming out later this year. And starting today, Jeff Smith’s Boneville website is now taking orders for the two box set editions that can either be shipped to your home or picked up at various conventions later this year.
The Bone: 20th Anniversary Full Color One Volume Collector’s Box Set includes a hardcover collection of the series, a signed art print, pewter figures of the three Bone cousins (see above), a miniature facsimile of Bone #1, a new essay by Smith, an expanded cover gallery of the Bone comic books and graphic novels, an illustrated 20-year timeline, a copy of the DVD The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, BONE, and the Changing Face of Comics and a 22k gold-plated coin. It will come in a red box, is limited to 2,000 copies and will cost $350. There’s also a $1,000 edition that’s limited to 50 copies and includes original art by Smith instead of the signed art print.
Both of these will be available this summer, starting at the San Diego Comic Con. Fans can also pre-order and pick them up at the Baltimore Comicon, Fan Expo Canada and the New York Comicon. The $350 box set can also be ordered through your local comic shop (Diamond code MAR111015).
- March 18, 2011 @ 09:45 AM by JK Parkin
Incredible Change-Bots take aim at C2E2
Bew! Bew! Bew!
The second volume of Jeffrey Brown’s Incredible Change-Bots debuts at the C2E2 comics convention this weekend, where the creator will be in attendance. Over on his blog, Brown also reveals a piece of art titled “Bew! Bew! Bew!” that will be featured in a Change-bots art show at the Scott Eder Gallery in May. The gallery has a table at the con, where the artwork will be displayed.
And if that’s not enough, Brown also recently announced a new Change-Bots fan club offer, which you can either take advantage of on the web or at C2E2 this weekend. You can find Brown at the Top Shelf booth (#810).
- March 18, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin