2011 April
Comics College | Joe Sacco
Safe Area Gorazde: Special Edition
Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.
This month we’re examining the bibliography of one of the more interesting and significant cartoonists to come out of the alt-comix movement of the 1980s and ’90s, Joe Sacco.
- April 30, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Five minutes with Rick Parker
You might be familiar with Rick Parker from his work on the Pekar Project, the Beavis and Butthead comics he did for MTV, or his comic Deadboy, but if you don’t have kids around the house, you might not know his most recent work, the parodies Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid, Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring, and Breaking Down, all done for NBM’s children’s comics imprint Papercutz.
If those all sound like updated Mad Magazine parodies, well, all I can say is check out the art. Like seminal Mad artist Will Elder, Parker likes to fill the backgrounds of his panels with lots of small, often hilarious details. (Finding the word “Potrzebie” in one of them convinced me that the similarity was intentional.) Like Mad, the humor in his books is juvenile and sophisticated at the same time.
I have seen Rick at cons, usually sitting at the Papercutz table sketching away, and at MoCCA I decided to say hi. My suspicions were immediately confirmed. “I saw Mad Magazine in 1957 or 1958, and it rocked my world,” he said, reeling off the names of Mad artists—Elder, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Wally Wood. “I modeled myself after Will Elder,” he said. “I wanted to do that in the present day. I was the artist for Beavis and Butthead, and I tried to put some funny stuff in there.”
He pointed out a panel in Harry Potty that featured a room full of crystal balls bearing assorted faces. One had the face of Mad publisher William Gaines, and another featured the face of his editor at Papercutz, Jim Salicrup. “I should give out little magnifying glasses with Harry Potty,” he said.
“One of the great things about comics is that people don’t move on until they are ready,” he said. “I want to be able to squeeze as much juice out of the lemon as possible. If people are going to spend time on something I have done, I want them to enjoy it.”
“I just want to make people laugh.”
- April 30, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Fifth Color | Another Day, Another Spider-Man
Last Saturday, I was nearly beside myself in grief as a long time fan and comics aficionado completely struck Amazing Spider-Man from his comics pull list at the comic shop where I work. This is someone who used to get two copies of every book, even when it came out three times a month. Someone I certainly respect, as we had whiled away moments at the store talking comics, character and storytelling. A fan who knows what he likes and is adamant about what he doesn’t.
Amazing Spider-Man had crossed a line that he would not follow. Holding up a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #657 (give the man a break, it had been awhile since he’d dropped by), he simply stated he was done. He declared that Stan and Jack would have said everything that needed to be said in three panels regarding Johnny Storm’s demise and that the issue had dragged it out too long. Keep in mind, he didn’t even read the Fantastic Four, so just 28 pages dedicated to a classic character’s death had taken it over the line. He thought the costume was stupid and that there had been too many changes to Spidey’s look.
But most importantly, the thing that got me thinking was his downcast declaration of “Spider-Man shouldn’t be on the Fantastic Four.” And you know? He was right. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t help but agree. I fully admit I hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye with this particular Spider-Fan (sorry, but Brubaker’s Captain America was pretty brilliant), but he has just the right way of holding true to the tenants of comic book storytelling. And he was most certainly right.
Spider-Man should not nor ever be a member of the Fantastic Four. Should he even be a member of the FF?
- April 29, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by Carla Hoffman
Kevin Keller — Archie’s openly gay Army brat
Kevin Keller #2
For decades, Archie Comics was viewed as somewhat out of step with society, as changes were slow in arriving to staid but friendly Riverdale, if they arrived at all. But in the past year or so, the winds seemed to abruptly shift, signaled first by an interracial kiss — a company first — between Archie Andrews and Valerie Brown, and then by the introduction of Kevin Keller, Riverdale’s first openly gay resident.
The kiss, while groundbreaking for Archie, raised few eyebrows. Kevin, however, became a target for those decrying the alleged loss of “yet another safe haven for kid’s entertainment.” But Archie Comics didn’t shrink from the criticism, and instead gave the character his own miniseries.
It’s with August’s second issue that Archie Comics is perhaps its boldest yet. In a story by cartoonist Dan Parent, Veronica helps Kevin’s family plan a birthday party for his father. It’s a simple enough premise in which Veronica learns more about Kevin while he comes to realize that, of all the places he’s lived — he’s a military brat — Riverdale has come to feel like home.
However, it’s the cover that (obviously) stands out the most: Against a backdrop of the Stars & Stripes, openly gay Kevin Keller embraces his father, a three-star general, and proclaims, “Dad, you’re my hero!”
It’s a nice moment of love and acceptance between father and son that’s difficult not to view in a larger context, that of the heated and prolonged debate over gays and lesbians serving in the military, and the recent repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Do Archie Comics and Parent intend the cover as political or cultural commentary? Oh, I certainly hope so. They’ll undoubtedly be accused of that and (sadly) more, so they might as well embrace it.
Kevin Keller #2 goes on sale Aug. 10 in comic stores and Aug. 16 on newsstands.
- April 29, 2011 @ 04:06 PM by Kevin Melrose
Internet explodes over Superman renouncing America
It was quite the week for DC Comics, as John Constantine’s returned to the DCU proper, a new Justice League International series was announced at the end of Generation Lost and an “Earth-shaking twist” happened to Doomsday. But it was a short story in the back of Action Comics #900 that really set the Internet on fire this week. Spoiler haters beware …
- April 29, 2011 @ 02:17 PM by JK Parkin
Q&A: Lauren Davis on The Comic Book Guide the Mission
The Comic Book Guide to the Mission
If there’s any neighborhood out there that deserves its own comic book, it would have to be The Mission in San Francisco, home to awesome tacos and burritos, back-alley murals and Mission San Francisco de Asís, the oldest building in the city. And now there is one — The Comic Book Guide the Mission, a guide to the San Francisco neighborhood that features stories by Mario Hernandez, Shaenon K. Garrity, Jamaica Dyer, Mike White and many more. I spoke with Lauren Davis, who edited and published the anthology.
JK: What is about The Mission that inspired you to put this guide together?
Lauren: In a lot of ways, the Mission represents a lot of what San Francisco is to me: It has a rich history, but it’s changing rapidly (and not, in everyone’s opinions, for the better). It’s easy enough to have a good time if you stick to the major thoroughfares, but has its share of secret spots. And it’s the sort of place that can easily make you feel like an anthropologist or an outsider. It’s a place I selfishly wanted to learn more about and see through other peoples’ eyes.
JK: Are all the creators involved from SF? How did you go about recruiting them?
Lauren: With the exception of Ariel Schrag, who grew up in Berkeley and has since moved away, all of the contributors live in the Bay Area.
- April 29, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Icarus on Robot 6 pg 15
Icarus is a comic by Ryan Cody and is serialized here on Robot 6, with new pages every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Comments welcome.
Ryan Cody is the creator, artist, writer, & colorist of ICARUS, a bi-monthly super-powered adventure/espionage book published through Super 75 Comics. Ryan’s past projects include illustrating the graphic novel VILLAINS for Viper
Comics as well as contributing to the Eisner-Award winning anthology, Popgun Vol.3, from Image comics. ICARUS #1 is currently available as both a .99 digital download and in print. For more information or to order a print copy of ICARUS, please visit www.super75comics.com
- April 29, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Ryan Cody
Your video of the day | Toronto Comic Arts Festival
Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Pencil it In from Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Vimeo.
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, or TCAF, is coming up May 7-8, and to promote it some friends of the organizers have created this nifty video featuring many of Toronto’s talented comics folks — Chester Brown, Michael Comeau, Steve Charles Manale, Vicki Nerino, Michael Cho, Michael DeForge, Seth, Fiona Smyth and Britt Wilson.
- April 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Tokyopop may go, but Hetalia lives on in digital form
The news that Tokyopop is shutting down seems to have taken many fans by surprise. On Wednesday, the www.tokyopop.com URL started redirecting to their Facebook page, which now features a long string of surprised and dismayed comments from readers mourning the demise of their favorite site.
Meanwhile, on Twitter, manga blogger Deb Aoki wondered aloud what would happen to Hetalia: Axis Powers, the only Tokyopop manga that is currently being carried by a digital service—it’s on comiXology.
I asked comiXology CEO David Steinberger if users who had already bought Hetalia would still have access to it after Tokyopop closes. His answer:
Yes, forever, in fact. Even if we were to stop selling Hetalia (and there’s no reason at the moment to think we will), users will continue to be able to re-download it from the My Comics area of the apps and comics.comixology.com. We will continue to allow people who bought Hetalia to re-download it.
One of my questions was whether this will continue to be the case if another publisher takes over Hetalia’s license (which seems likely), but David said his answer covered all my questions, so I assume that means another publisher can’t take away your access to the earlier edition. And he made it clear in a subsequent e-mail that they will continue to sell Hetalia after Tokyopop closes its doors, although he couldn’t say more than that. (Remember that Tokyopop is actually two companies, and only the book publishing half is shutting down; the digital Hetalia may be handled by Tokyopop Media, LLC.)
This is interesting, and somewhat reassuring, because one of the fundamental questions of digital comics is to what extent the purchaser actually owns the comic. Amazon actually removed a bootleg edition of George Orwell’s 1984 from the Kindles of people who had downloaded it, and comiXology once locked a Marvel comic that was accidentally released a week early. For more on this topic, check out David Brothers’ excellent essay about ownership of digital comics.
But you can relax, because Hetalia is safe for now.
- April 29, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Bloggers get their say with Team Cul de Sac zine
Alice, the Team Cul de Sac cheerleader
Team Cul de Sac is that rare combination of a worthy cause and total awesomeness. Founded by the friends of Cul de Sac creator Richard Thompson, who has Parkinson’s Disease, it is a fund-raiser for Parkinson’s research in which famous artists make Cul de Sac fanart, and it just made news recently when Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson contributed a painting.
Now the writers are going to get their turn as well. Enter the Team Cul de Sac zine, with Craig Fischer at the helm. Here, I’ll let him say it:
To that end, I’m cobbling together a big, fat, old-school zine to raise money for the Team. I’ve asked an armada of bloggers, critics and fans (and maybe a cartoonist or two) to each write a short essay answering the following questions: what is your favorite comic (comic book, comic strip, graphic novel, whatever), and why? The Team zine will be a compilation of these essays, an explosion of wildly divergent opinions, and an ideal shopping list to take with you as you plunge into an unfamiliar longbox or used book store.
And he has a stellar lineup: Derik Badman, Noah Berlatsky, Shaenon Garrity, Sean Kleefeld, Joe McCulloch, Chris Schweizer, Tom Spurgeon, and our own Chris Mautner. The zine will premiere at Heroes Con, where it will sell for $5 a copy, with every penny going to the cause. After that, it will be available through the mail and at other cons.
- April 29, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Grumpy Old Fan | Kiss this Day goodbye, the sweetness and the sorrow
Ivan Reis' small-cast variant cover for Brightest Day #0
Once dead, twelve heroes and villains were resurrected by a white light expelled from deep within the center of the Earth. The reason behind their rebirth remains a mystery. But it will not be a mystery for long. This is the Brightest Day.
So reads the mission statement which began each issue of the year-long, twice-monthly, just-concluded Brightest Day miniseries (written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, drawn by various artists). One might therefore be forgiven for thinking that BD would have used this premise to mold those characters into an imperfect ensemble, in order to explore collectively what “life after death” meant in a superhero context.
Instead, BD farmed out almost half its potential cast to other titles, thereby transforming itself (rather quickly) into a multi-headed Rebirth-style rejuvenation. From there it reintroduced readers to Aquaman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Firestorm, J’Onn J’Onzz, and Deadman, and used them in turn to reintroduce … well, you probably know by now, but let’s wait a while to talk about that.
- April 28, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
North, Malki, Bennardo preparing second Machine of Death
Machines of Death 2
Webcomics creators Ryan North and David Malki, along with writer Matthew Bennardo, spearheaded a prose anthology called Machine of Death, where each short story centered on a machine that told you when you would die. In addition to short stories by a variety of authors, it also included illustrations by folks like Kate Beaton, Kazu Kibuishi, Jeffrey Brown, Roger Langridge, Karl Kershl, Cameron Stewart and many more.
After being rejected by several publishers, they self-published the book last year and took the No. 1 best sellers spot on Amazon, beating out new books that week by Keith Richards, the Barefoot Contessa and Glenn Beck, among others.
And now they’re planning a sequel, for which they are now accepting submissions. The submissions process is fairly open. Per the submissions guidelines:
- April 28, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Crogan’s Maquette: Chris Schweizer on comics preproduction
Cartoonist Chris Schweizer (the Crogan Adventures series) is also a professor at the Atlanta branch of the Savannah College of Art and Design and that combination can result in some cool things. Like this Crogan maquette he sculpted as an example for a character-design class.
Schweizer talks about the benefits of this kind of exercise when creating characters for a comic, but is also mindful of the dangers:
I spend a LOT of time on preproduction, but it’s a means to an end. Never, ever, ever let it be the end. It’s self-indulgent, and benefits you nothing. ALWAYS make sure your concept work is leading to stories. Otherwise you’re just playing with yourself.
- April 28, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Michael May
Pretty Woman in six panels
One of the many reasons that The Daily Crosshatch should be part of every comics fans Internet reading is Sarah Morean’s Lunch Break posts in which she rounds up a few, quick webcomics for the day. There’s always something fun in there that I’d never discover another way, like the above cartoon by Tom Gauld.
- April 28, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by Michael May
This weekend, it’s Boston Comic Con
Boston Comic Con isn’t one of your better-known cons, like SDCC or NYCC—heck, I live just north of Boston and I never heard of it until last year—but if you’re in the area, this year’s show looks like a pretty good bet, with guests like Darwyn Cooke, Frank Quitely, and Joe Kubert.
Right off the bat, BCC is better than 90 percent of comic cons because it is not in some sterile, isolated convention center. You know how you have to walk a mile from the Javits to get a reasonably priced sandwich? No problem here; the Hynes Convention Center is conveniently attached to a mall, and it’s located in the heart of the Back Bay, which is chock full of great little restaurants, funky boutiques, and bars with atmosphere. I used to live in the neighborhood, and it’s still one of my favorite places to go. When you’re at the Hynes, you know you’re in Boston.
Another nice thing about a small con is that conflicting panel times won’t drive you crazy; the panel schedule (warning: PDF) has only one strand, so if you want to see Stan Sakai, Darwyn Cooke, and Terry Moore speak, you don’t have to be in three places at once. Just stay in your seat.
And there will be interesting things to see and to buy! Sam Costello will be debuting the latest volume of his Split Lip horror comic, complete with a back cover blurb from me! Anthony del Col and Andy Belanger, two of the creators of Kill Shakespeare, will be there with an “exclusive digital promotion” as well as the news that they just got some financing to develop a film script based on the property. The Artists Alley lineup includes Thom Zahler (Love and Capes), Tak Toyoshima (Secret Asian Man) and a panoply of Boston-area talent. I just hope the show doesn’t get too successful, or they’ll move it to Boston’s own sterile, out-of-the-way convention center and it will lose much of its charm.
- April 28, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson