2011 April
Marvel to (re)publish Muppet show comics [UPDATED]
Marvel and parent company Disney are pulling the Muppet Show comics out of limbo—at least one of them. Marvel announced yesterday that it will publish Meet the Muppets, a 96-page Muppet Show comic written and illustrated by Roger Langridge, in a magazine format for $5.99. This is the first we have heard of Marvel publishing a Muppets comic, although it’s not too surprising, as they recently announced a new comics magazine based on their Pixar properties. BOOM! Studios had previously held the license for both the Pixar and the Muppets comics, and it looks like both magazines are reprints of that material. BOOM!’s version of Meet the Muppets was released two years ago as a graphic novel, although Marvel’s edition has a larger format (with fewer pages) and a lower price.
Langridge commented at Bleeding Cool,
I have to say this is the first I’ve heard of any of this, though I’m glad the material will continue to be out there and available.
At the time of the Pixar changeover, all the parties were curiously quiet about the Muppets license. Now that this book has been announced, perhaps we will hear about the fate of the unpublished Muppets comics, a four-comic series titled The Four Seasons, which are currently in limbo, with no announced plans from BOOM! or Marvel to publish them.
Update: When asked about the project, BOOM! sent the following response:
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the team at Marvel are a group I respect greatly and consider friends. It’s exciting to see them republish Harvey Award-winning BOOM! content from the incomparable Roger Langridge. Susan Butterworth and the entire Muppet Studios team are fantastic people, and they were a joy to work with. With any luck, Roger’s unpublished FOUR SEASONS arc will find success on their publishing schedule,” said BOOM! Studios founder and CEO Ross Richie.
- April 12, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | FF #1 breaks 100K; Nic Cage’s stolen Action #1 found
FF #1 -- Marko Djurdjevic variant
Publishing | On the heels of Monday’s direct-market overview for March, ICv2 has released its sales estimates for the month, placing the top-selling FF #1 at 114,472 copies — more than 37,500 ahead of the No. 2 title, Green Lantern #64. The retail news and analysis site notes that the relaunched FF #1, aided by variant covers, joins the Human Torch-killing Fantastic Four #587 as the only titles to sell more than 100,000 copies in the past six months.
While 11 of the Top 25 comics saw sales increases, if only slight, the graphic novel category looked decidedly more grim, with just the third volume of The Unwritten and Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn breaking the 4,000-copy mark. [ICv2.com]
Crime | Los Angeles police have recovered a copy of Action Comics #1 stolen from the home of actor Nicolas Cage in 2000. The 1938 comic, worth as much as $1.5 million, was discovered last month by an unidentified man who claims to have bought the contents of an abandoned San Fernando Valley storage locker. It’s now in an LAPD evidence safe while the department’s art details detectives try to track down the thieves, but Cage says he can’t wait to get the comic back. “It is divine providence that the comic was found and I am hopeful that the heirloom will be returned to my family,” he said in a statement. [Ventura County Star, Los Angeles Times]
- April 12, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Kickin’ the Gun #1: Bunn, Zubkavich on Skullkickers, Sixth Gun, process and more
Cullen Bunn and Jim Zubkavich
Many who have been following this blog know I’m a fan of both Image’s Skullkickers and Oni’s The Sixth Gun. So when I saw that the two creator-owned books were having a mini-crossover of sorts — or, to be more specific, an ad swap — I thought it might be fun to see if Skullkickers writer Jim “Zub” Zubkavich and The Sixth Gun‘ writer Cullen Bunn might be up for interviewing each other.
So the duo hit Skype and had a long conversation that covered many different topics — how they pitched their books, their writing process, how they work with their artists, finding time to write and much more. My thanks to both Cullen and Jim for doing this, with an extra tip of the hat to Jim for transcribing it. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the second part of the interview.
*****
Zub: So, let’s start right off with the big news. Did I hear correctly that you’re now writing full time? You quit your day job?
Cullen: I did. This is my third week as a full-time writer.
Zub: Awesome. What were you doing before that?
- April 11, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Fantagraphics’ Mome anthology ends this summer with Vol. 22
Fantagraphics’ flagship anthology is running up the white flag. Editor Eric Reynolds tells The Comics Reporter’s Tom Spurgeon that this summer’s double-sized 22nd installment of the quarterly alternative-comics anthology Mome will be the series’ final volume. Reynolds says that the decision to end the series has less to do with sales than with his own increasingly demanding duties as Fantagraphics’ Associate Publisher, and as a father. Click the link to read Spurgeon’s comprehensive take on the topic, tracing Mome‘s evolution from a young-cartoonists’ showcase whose young-cartoonist roster quickly decamped for other projects to a wide-ranging collection of comics from not just up-and-comers but also from big names at home (Gilbert Hernandez, Jim Woodring, Gilbert Shelton) and abroad (Louis Trondheim, David B., Killoffer) alike.
- April 11, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Talking Comics with Tim | Chris Roberson
Superman 710
Writer Chris Roberson is one of those folks that deserves to get more than one Eisner nomination, but alas he–oh wait yes he did. In all seriousness, this interview occurred before the Eisner nominations were announced last week. So while I congratulate Roberson for his nominations in the categories of Best Limited Series (along with Shawn McManus) for Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love and Best New Series (along with Mike Allred) for iZombie, the focus of the interview is mainly on Superman, while iZombie and the new Cinderella miniseries (Fables Are Forever) are discussed briefly. This Wednesday, April 13, marks the release of both Superman 710 and Cinderella: Fables Are Forever 3 (of 6), so we discuss his upcoming Superman and Cinderella issues (plus gaining a bit of insight into last month’s Lex Luthor’s 40 Cakes homage in Superman 709). To get greater context on Roberson’s upcoming work, be sure to also read CBR News’ recent Roberson coverage from late February and early March.
Tim O’Shea: The comics reading audience can prove to be a fickle lot, some readers thrive on minutiae, others do not. But there’s no doubt a lot of people recently got a kick (myself included) out of the Lex Luthor/40 cakes retcon in Superman 709. How did that idea come to pass (I know it was partially inspired by a tweet)?
Chris Roberson: It was really simple, actually. I’m a huge fan of the Super Dictionary, and have a copy of it on my shelf, but it hadn’t occurred to me that I might include anything from it until it was suggested to me. Once someone on Twitter first mentioned the idea (@loganjames, in fact), it seemed intuitively obvious in retrospect.
- April 11, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Icarus on Robot 6 pg 06
Icarus is a comic by Ryan Cody and is serialized here on Robot 6, with new pages every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.
These photos of The Diabolist in costume is the only time in Issue #1 that we see anyone in a costume. Icarus is an action/intrigue comic first and a superhero comic second. I love superhero comics after growing up with them and Icarus is my take on the Chris Claremont X-Men comics I grew up loving so much.
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 11, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Ryan Cody
Craig Thompson’s SPX flyer
Small Press Expo is still a few months away, but it’s never to early to start drumming up interest. That must be what the organizers had in mind when they released this year’s flyer, illustrated by none other than Craig Thompson, creator of the classic Blankets and the much-anticipated Habibi. Thompson will be a guest at the show, along Roz Chast, Chester Brown, Jim Woodring, and other artistic luminaries.
- April 11, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Infestation: Outbreak | Meet Cross
Cross
IDW has released the first of several teaser images for Infestation: Outbreak, the follow-up to the recent Infestation crossover series. The book is co-written by Chris Ryall and Tom Waltz, with art by David Messina. The series will feature covers by Messina and Davide Furno, with a special retailer incentive cover for issue #1 by Ben Templesmith. Look for it in June.
- April 11, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
These colors don’t run: SCAD students ‘patriotize’ colorful heroes
American Queen by Erin Gladstone
With the Black Panther set to become American Panther during the Fear Itself event, the students at the Savannah School of Art and Design decided to “patriotize” other “colorful” heroes, like Green Lantern and the White Queen. Head over to their blog to see American Widow, Omega American, siblings American Witch and Quickamerican, and many more.
(Thanks, Chris!)
- April 11, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Comics decline again; Village Voice to pay cartoonists
FF #1
Publishing | The direct market experienced another decline in March, with comics sales slipping 2.43 percent from the same month in 2010, and graphic novels plummeting 10.01 percent. For the first quarter of 2011, comics fell 8.57 percent while graphic novels dropped 7.24 percent, for a combined decline of 8.14 percent.
John Jackson Miller notes that DC Comics’ price rollback appears to be having an impact on the overall bottom line: “While unit sales for comics were up by less than 1% in March, led by FF #1, they were down 2.43% in dollar terms. The quarterly unit-to-dollar gap in periodicals was wider, with a sales loss of nearly 1% in units versus a 5% loss in dollar terms. In the past inflationary periods, we always saw the dollar category doing better than units. Now, the reverse is happening.” [ICv2.com]
Publishing | Following widespread criticism, The Village Voice Editor Tony Ortega acknowledges that not paying cartoonists who contributed to the paper’s Comics Issue “was not the best way to help out the cartooning industry.” So he’ll be paying the artists. [The Village Voice]
- April 11, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Marvel to reveal ‘Vengeance’ details later today
Marvel’s Agent M has released a few more teaser images for whatever “Vengeance” is, adding someone in a Captain America shirt, a woman who dresses just as patriotic and Egghead from the Young Masters.
What exactly “Vengeance” is, though, will be revealed later today, as Marvel will host a liveblog at 3 p.m. to announce the project.
Update: You can find more details on the series, which is by writer Joe Casey and artist Nick Dragotta, over on CBR.
- April 11, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Wilson
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly round-up of … well, what we’ve been reading lately.
Today our special guest is the legendary Gilbert Hernandez. Known best as the co-creator of Love & Rockets, his other works include Sloth, The Troublemakers, Chance in Hell and Yeah! with Peter Bagge (which is being collected by Fantagraphics)
To see what Gilbert and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.
- April 10, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Saturday Shelf Porn
Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn! Today’s shelves are courtesy of Kenny Mittleider, who shares his extensive toy collection.
If you’d like to submit your shelves, just send some pictures and a write-up to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
Now let’s hear from Kenny …
- April 9, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
A sad sign of the times
I’m going to miss my local Borders. It was pleasant, warm, and bright, with natural wood and comfy chairs. The manga section was in a sunny corner, and it was usually quiet, although it wasn’t unusual to have to maneuver around several kids who were sprawled on the floor reading the books (the tribe known in some quarters as “hobotaku”). The coffee was good, and I always bought three Lindt truffles on the way out—two milk chocolate ones, for my kids, and a peanut butter one for me.
This sign appeared in some other Borders, obviously one with a bitter attitude, and it has engendered quite a discussion over at Consumerist, where commenters are wondering whether it was referring to shoplifting or piracy. I would think it would be hard to shoplift manga, what with the little magnetic tags and all, except that I never saw anyone follow up when the alarm at the door went off. One person claiming to be a former Borders employee does say that “shrinkage” was highest in the manga section. That’s not too surprising, as manga has strong teen appeal and teens have little money but a great deal of creativity when it comes to getting what they want. Reading in the aisles, downloading from the internet, or tucking a volume into a pocket are just three paths to the same destination, and all of them spell doom for retailers (and publishers, for that matter).
And by the way, despite that sign, bargains are pretty hard to come by at Borders these days.
- April 9, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Fifth Color | Not your daddy’s comics
In the past few weeks, there have been a plethora of comic book conventions, each with their own unique announcements, promotions and exclusives. But rarely do you get the juicy gossip! These guys have their patter down so well that fans get what they came for, and no one slips up and calls anybody a whore in public (although we still hold out hope for a Frank Miller sighting next year). Marvel’s long-awaited return to San Francisco, home of the X-Men and Axel Alonso, was surprisingly polite and succinct. No major movie news, no grand proclamations, but still an exciting look forward to what lies ahead in 2011.
But you were kinda hoping somebody threw a chair.
Saturday at the Spotlight on Jason Aaron panel I heard something so ridiculous that I marched out of that room with my jaw on the floor. Sadly, Jason Aaron didn’t say it; in fact I would much rather be talking about him and his work. Aaron is a humble, talented and completely brilliant writer, but what EiC Axel Alonso said was far more controversial. Something that left Alonso and myself just stupefied.
Axel Alonso said in front of a very modest crowd at WonderCon that he works with people that think Marvel Comics should not make R-rated content. That there are some professionals in the industry that believe every comic should be PG rated or lower.
He didn’t understand it and neither do I.
- April 8, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by Carla Hoffman