2011 April
Icarus pg 03
Icarus is a comic by Ryan Cody and is serialized here on Robot 6, with new pages every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.
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 4, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Ryan Cody
Don’t let Death win
Artist Joëlle Jones (You Have Killed Me, Spell Checkers) shares a wonderful commission she recently did, featuring Madame Xanadu and Death playing cards outside Xanadu’s brownstone. If I learned anything from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, it’s to never let Death win …
Jones is taking orders for additional commissions for the upcoming Stumptown convention in Portland. Click on the link above for details.
- April 4, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Finding the squares: Tintin snaps to the grid
In his latest post at The Comics Journal, Frank Santoro engages in a little bit of compositional analysis, explaining how an artist determines where the eye will fall, and what are the static and dynamic areas of the page, using a page from a Tintin comic, King Otokar’s Sceptre, to demonstrate the ideas in action. In this case, the components of the drawn comic line up so neatly with Santoro’s diagram that it’s hard to believe Herge wasn’t doing it deliberately.
I’m usually suspicious of after-the-fact dissections, because it’s easy to look at a completed work and see things the artist may not have put in deliberately. But Santoro says that Herge was probably aware of the technique, but that for some artists it just comes naturally, like playing music by ear. And just as the artist may use it unconsciously, the reader probably isn’t aware of it, observing only that some pages are more attractive or compelling than others. It’s useful to be reminded that such swift impressions are often born of painstaking planning. Sometimes you have to work hard to make it look easy.
- April 4, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Jeffrey Brown illustrates storytelling
When the editors of the Graphic NYC blog asked Incredible Change-Bots creator Jeffrey Brown to discuss his influences, they had an essay in mind, but after working on the idea for some time, Brown came back with something different: A comic.
In the charming I’m Really Good at Playing, Brown uses his interactions with his son Oscar to make some points about creating comics, some obvious—his comics are inspired by childhood love of both comics and action figures, in which good and evil were clearly demarcated and good always triumphed at the last minute—and some subtle, like the way his wife can’t impersonate a shark as well as he can. As an extra bonus, he provided a diagram of his initial thoughts and how he turned them into panels of the comic, and he goes through all the steps at his blog.
- April 4, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
DC Comics unveils decade-specific logos for Retro-Active
"Retro-Active" 1980s logo
Following DC Comics’ announcement at WonderCon of its Retro-Active one-shots bringing together writers and artists from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, the publisher has unveiled the decade-specific logos for the three series.
Debuting in July, each issue of Retro-Active will feature 26 pages of new content plus 20 pages classic stories reprinted from that era, spotlighting such characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and the Justice League of America.
Although DC has yet to announce all of the artists involved, the writers include Dennis O’Neil, Cary Bates, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, William Messner-Loebs, Mike W. Barr, Louise Simonson (with Jon Bogdanove on ’90s Superman), and Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (with Kevin Maguire on ’90s Justice League).
“The way [DC Comics] put it was, look at your run back when you were doing Justice League International, find a moment there and tell an untold story,” Giffen told Comic Book Resources. “It’s one last blow-out. It’s one last hoorah for the characters.”
Check out the other two Retro-Active logos below.
- April 4, 2011 @ 06:49 AM by Kevin Melrose
Captain Mysterio flies high at Wrestlemania
Rey Mysterio
The WWE’s annual Wrestlemania event brings a lot of questions every year. Who will win the title? Will the Undertaker’s streak be broken? Will Mean Gene appear in another inane sketch? But my favorite in recent years has become … what superhero will Rey Mysterio dress as this year?
And he didn’t let me down. In the past, the masked luchador has worn outfits inspired by the Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Joker, Flash, Iron Man and the movie Avatar. This year he put on the red, white and blue in an outfit that paid tribute to Captain America. Announcer Michael Cole even made reference to the fact that he could have used a shield in his match against Cody Rhodes. (Note: spoilers at the link for Wrestlemania).
And speaking of Rhodes, his recent storyline is very reminiscent of a super villain: “Once chosen as the most handsome Superstar by the Divas, the vain egoist underwent a jarring personality change when Rey Mysterio busted his perfect features with his knee brace while performing the 619. Now hating the disfigured freak he saw in the mirror, the second-generation competitor donned a mask to hide his shame and went on a brutal warpath, destroying opponents and viciously attacking Mysterio on multiple occasions.” You can see more pictures of the duo on the WWE home page.
- April 3, 2011 @ 08:44 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Stumptown
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week’s guest is Alex Segura, executive director of publicity and marketing at Archie Comics. But we’ll always know him as the guy who founded The Great Curve, the blog that would one day morph into Robot 6.
To see what Alex and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below …
- April 3, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
There’s always room for … Hellboy?
Jell-Oboy, by D4N13L
For fans of Mike Mignola, and of gelatin desserts, RIPT Apparel has premiered this “Jell-Oboy” shirt design by Bolivian artist Daniel, aka D4N13L, the guy behind “Undefined Age Martial Artist Tortoises,” “The Scarlet Caped Super Green Aquarrow Man’s Emblem,” “LadyPool” and other comic book-themed tees. The design’s available as adult and kids T-shirts, hoodies and onesies.
- April 3, 2011 @ 01:25 PM by Kevin Melrose
WonderCon | Oni Press to release Petrograd this August
Petrograd
This is one we’ve been excited about for awhile now … at their WonderCon panel yesterday, Oni Press announced that Petrograd, Phil Gelatt and Tyler Crook’s graphic novel about the murder of Gregorii Rasputin, arrives in stores Aug. 3.
I first spoke to Gelatt about the project back in 2009, when it was announced at the San Diego Comic Con.
“The root of the idea came from some reading I was doing, a few years ago at this point, about the Russian revolution,” Gelatt told me back then. “And I encountered this strange rumor that has been floating around since Rasputin’s death that there were British spies involved in the assassination and that the British government had a stake in this man’s death for various reasons. It’s a rumor that’s been around since 1917 but more recently some forensic evidence has made it seem that this might actually be what happened. So the potential in that idea really grabbed me and stuck with me. What the hell were the British doing assassinating a Russian holy man? Who was this British agent charged with this monumental task? How the hell would any of that actually work?”
You may know Gelatt from the pair of Labour Days books he did with Rick Lacy for Oni; Crooks, meanwhile, is the recently announced replacement for Guy Davis on the B.P.R.D. comics. He’s also drawing issue #14 of The Sixth Gun.
The $29.99 two-color hardcover comes in at 274 pages. Check out a gallery of preview pages after the jump.
- April 3, 2011 @ 11:34 AM by JK Parkin
WonderCon | Carla Hoffman is the new Batgirl
Robot 6′s Carla Hoffman sports this season’s hottest Bat fashion at WonderCon this weekend. I believe she bought it off Etsy, right Carla?
- April 2, 2011 @ 04:24 PM by JK Parkin
WonderCon | New Buffy co-writer on working with Whedon and more
Buffy by Jo Chen
When Joss Whedon returns to Buffy the Vampire Slayer later this year for “season nine” of the TV show-turned-comic book, he’s bringing on a new co-writer to work on the book — Andrew Chambliss, a former Dollhouse television writer (and current Dollhouse comic writer).
Chambliss, whose television work also includes Vampire Diaries and Heroes, wasn’t at yesterday’s panel to talk about the announcements, but the Buffyfest blog does have up an interview where he talks about both of his comic projects, his work on the Dollhouse TV show and which character he’s looking forward to writing in Buffy Season Nine.
“It may seem the obvious choice, but I’m going to have to say Buffy,” he told Buffyfest. “Going into season 9, she’s in a really interesting place – she always thought she was going to die saving the world, but now that she actually survived, she has to face her real life (don’t worry, they’ll still be lots of slaying). And at the same time, she’s watching her friends move on with their lives, and has to deal with the fact that the Scooby Gang might not be there to help her like they used to be.”
Buffy Season Nine kicks off in September, one month after the debut of Angel & Faith.
- April 2, 2011 @ 10:17 AM by JK Parkin
WonderCon | Cooke creating new story for Parker: The Martini Edition
Walt Simonson’s Thor isn’t the only comic getting an oversized hardcover from IDW. The company announced at WonderCon Friday that both of Darwyn Cooke’s graphic novel adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker novels, The Hunter and The Outfit, will be collected into an oversized hardcover edition with an additional 65 pages of content.
Parker: The Martini Edition will come in a slipcase with additional commentary, sketches and a new eight-page Parker story.
“The first two Parker graphic novels have been met with such overwhelming praise,” said series editor Scott Dunbier. “It’s almost been an embarrassment of riches. With this Martini Edition we’re really trying to up the bar and give the fans something extra special—I think we’ll succeed!”
The book is due in July. You can find the release after the jump.
- April 2, 2011 @ 08:29 AM by JK Parkin
WonderCon | IDW to publish … Thor?
Thor #337
I promise this isn’t my last-minute attempt at an April Fool’s joke. IDW announced today that they will publish Walter Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition, the first in a series of Artist’s Editions featuring comics form Marvel.
The oversized hardcover collection will include Thor #337-340, Simonson’s classic arc that saw the debut of Beta Ray Bill, as well as Thor #360-363, which saw Thor battle Hela and the death of the Executioner. The book will debut at the San Diego Comic Con this July.
“I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to be able to do a book like this,” said IDW Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier. “Each page is shot from Walter Simonson’s original art and printed same size—really just too cool. Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for being so enthusiastic about this project from the start!”
You can find the entire press release after the jump.
- April 1, 2011 @ 10:34 PM by JK Parkin
Tokyopop to reboot website… again
An advance look at the new, simpler Tokyopop website
Tokyopop sent out an e-mail blast the other day telling readers that they are removing all fan-generated content from their site and warning them to take their stuff or it will be thrown out. This marks the end of an era of sorts, the conclusion of a failed experiment in social networking.
Before July 2006, the biggest complaint I had about Tokyopop’s website was that the type in the drop-down menus was too small. Then one day the old, boring website, on which you could find anything you were looking for just by clicking on the obvious link, disappeared and was replaced with piles and piles of … stuff. The idea behind the website was to create a kind of MySpace for manga fans, one that would supposedly be a safe space for younger readers to chat about manga. What they ended up with was exactly what you always get when you open a website to user content and don’t moderate it at all: Plagiarized fanart, pissing matches, porn, and blog posts like this:
OMG i hate all orthadanits!!! i got a retanier for 2 weeks and i put it in and i just spent the last 2 houres trying to get it off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its stuck!! hows dose this happen??? please if anyone reads this and knows how to remove a stuck retanier then please HELP!!!
That was actually featured front and center on their main page, until it was replaced by something equally inane.
Continue Reading »
- April 1, 2011 @ 07:01 PM by Brigid Alverson
WC11 | Ivan Reis and Joe Prado to draw Aquaman
Brightest Day #20, by Ivan Reis
The newly announced Aquaman series will re-team Geoff Johns with Brightest Day artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, the writer revealed today at WonderCon 2011 in San Francisco.
“I don’t think you can get much better in comics,” Johns said during the DC Nation panel. “Everything the do elevates the characters they work on, and we hope to do the same for Aquaman.”
Announced last weekend during MegaCon, the new Aquaman will mark the seventh series for the 70-year-old character. Although he was left dead with the cancellation of Sword of Atlantis in 2007, the sea king was resurrected during Blackest Night before going on to play a central role in the current Brightest Day series.
Johns has insisted that Aquaman is one of DC Comics’ A-list characters, telling Comic Book Resources in December that, “He’s got to be showcased like that, and he’s got to kick ass like Green Lantern or Batman or the entire Justice League.”
Aquaman #1 is expected to debut later this year.
- April 1, 2011 @ 03:14 PM by Kevin Melrose