2011 May
Comic Strips to Comic Flicks: Stan Lee Movies They Haven’t Made (yet)
In recent years, we’ve seen a boatload of comic books and graphic novels make their way to the silver screen, from “big two” stalwarts like Spider-Man and Batman to independent titles like Scott Pilgrim and 30 Days Of Night. Among the various adaptations, translations and remakes, there’s one guy that has carved out a niche to become the godfather of comic books and movies: Stan Lee.
At the tender age of 17, Stan Lee began a long and fruitful career at Marvel Comics (then known as Timely). Lee went from assistant to editor to editor-in-chief and later publisher and icon. And all through those years he wrote — diligently, prodigiously and prophetically, it seems. During that time he co-created the enduring comic icons of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, Doctor Strange and a host of others. Although he’s best known for his creations during the 1960s and 70s, Lee continues to this day to create new characters through his own ventures and partnerships through other companies.
With such a broad and diverse landscape of concepts he’s created and co-created over the years, even after the recent comic book movie successes with his name on them, there’s a mountain of material up for grabs.
- May 5, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Arrant
Three webcomics I found in Artists Alley
John Y. at the Boots and Pup table
One of the reasons I go to comic cons is to wander the Artists Alley in search of good comics I never heard of before. I came back from Boston Comic Con with a big stack of postcards, print comics, and jotted notes, so the three comics here are just the beginning of the deluge.
Boots and Pup has been around for a while, but creator John Y. told me that he was moving to a six-day-a-week schedule this week. That’s a brave statement, because the comic has been on hiatus since 2007, but John tells me he has a two-month buffer already in place. The comic is colorful, simply drawn, and kid-friendly yet witty enough for older readers to appreciate.
At the Agreeable Comics table, Kevin Church was pushing Lydia, which is a spinoff of another webcomic, The Rack. “You can read it on its own,” he said, and indeed, I read the print comic on the way home from the con and found myself laughing out loud. It’s workplace humor with a wry twist, illustrated by Max Riffner in a nice, expressive yet simple style in black and white.
Finally, I stopped off at Jason Viola’s table to tell him how much I liked his comic Herman the Manatee, in which Herman, a manatee, bumps his head on a boat in every single episode. (In the second series, Herman does move on to other things.) Jason gave me a carefully crafted minicomic of another story, Who Is Amy Amoeba? (language NSFW), the story of an amoeba who can’t stop dividing, and suffers multiple identity crises because of it. It’s a very clever idea, well executed and simply drawn, and well worth a visit, as are all of Jason’s comics.
- May 5, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies collection coming in July
After a stellar run as the back-up story in Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon, the Michel Fiffe-edited series Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies is making its way toward the bookshelf with a collection that boasts some amazing extras.
The collected Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies is scheduled to hit this July as an over-sized 144 page book, collecting all 12 back-up stories as well as some new material from the likes of Tom Scioli, Jim Rugg, Jasen Lex, Paul Maybury, Zack Soto and others.
If you missed it in singles, this collection is worth a flip through. You have to admire Larsen’s agreeance to allow Fiffe and his team of creators to do this liberal a take on his characters. It really allows each of them to play to their strengths, and wish more creator-owned cartoonists would consider giving over the reins of their characters like this.
- May 5, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Arrant
Comics A.M. | Minnesota GOP leader apologizes to Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Politics | Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean has apologized for calling Neil Gaiman a “pencil-necked little weasel,” but contends the author and comics writer should return the $45,000 fee he received in May 2010 for speaking at the Stillwater, Minn., library (Gaiman donated the money, minus agents fees, to charity). Dean’s original remarks were made during a discussion of how the state’s tax-generated Legacy funds for the arts are spent. He was quoted as saying that Gaiman, “who I hate,” is a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.”
Now, however, the Republican lawmaker has dialed back the rhetoric while standing by his underlying criticism. “My mom is staying with us right now,” he tells Minnesota Public Radio. My wife’s out of town, and she was very angry this morning and always taught me to not be a name caller. And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.”
Gaiman, who responded to Dean’s initial comments early Wednesday on Twitter, has since expanded on his remarks on his website, writing in part, “I don’t like the idea that a politician is telling people that charging a market wage for their services is stealing.” [Minnesota Public Radio, Underwire]
Comics | A psychologist has been brought in to a Houston elementary school after a group of fourth-graders created a comic book allegedly depicting them holding a gun to the head of one of their classmates. [My Fox Houston]
- May 5, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Your Wednesday Sequence 9 | Moebius
Upon A Star (1985), page 37. Moebius.
Of all the reams of beautiful comics made by the legendary French cartoonist Jean “Moebius” Giraud, I think this page is my personal favorite. Moebius is one of the rare artists whose work becomes more and more interesting the further it goes from story content and straight depictive drawing. His renditions of the human figure are flawless, and he’s one of the best designers comics have ever had, but his art reaches its greatest intensity and elegance when it’s at its simplest, presenting not futurist vistas or eye-popping creatures, but elemental forces, strong and simple. Crystals, still skies, light projections; these transcendent subjects, not much suited to instigating story action but perfect for mesmerized contemplation, have inspired Moebius’s most transcendent drawings.
Moebius’s art always feels like it’s straining at the barriers of reality, negotiating the points where the way things really look meet the fundamental, cryptic forms to which his pen is best suited. He’s a storyteller whose most potent skill is abstraction, and that’s why this sequence is such a perfect example of his work. It’s got every facet of his drawing style prominently displayed: shimmering auras, softly psychedelic colors, smooth, laser-sculpted forms, an ebullient sense of movement, a thin, clean line whose delicacy is matched only by its immediacy. Style itself becomes subject here. It’s at least as easy to focus on the virtuosic level of craft Moebius brings to this page as it is the actual content, which is hermetic and mysterious, perhaps even downright incomprehensible.
- May 4, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Matt Seneca
Second season of The Variants kicks off today
The second season of The Variants, the humorous web series set at Zeus Comics in Dallas, kicks off today. It picks up with what the employees have been doing since the store was seized by the IRS at the end of last season.
“Oh the places our crew will go to make a buck,” said Chris Williams of Zeus Comics. “Our story continues after the shop closes, the crew have to make their own way in the world — to varying degrees of success. Keli’s peddling comics to little girls, Richard manning a bath house, and Barry waiting tables at ‘The Vertical Smile.’ I know, it’s hammy for sure!”
The first season of The Variants will be released on DVD later this month.
- May 4, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Morrison, Gaiman and Smith help fight Parkinson’s Disease
Grant Morrison
Los Angeles-based photographer Allan Amato has a unique project coming out meant to bring new attention to Parkinson’s disease. It’s a traveling gallery show and photo book about individuals with the disease, and he’s enlisted some comic book icons to help out.
Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith are among a host of notable stars that jumped in to help support Amato’s “Illuminate Parkinsons” campaign to shed new light on the condition. Initially inspired by the photographer’s best friend Becky, this unique project will hit the road in the fall with shows in L.A., Edinburgh and Berlin. To help fund this event, they’ve started a Kickstarter campaign.
- May 4, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Darwyn Cooke cooking up a return to DC Comics?
During a panel at last weekend’s Boston Comic Con, Darwyn Cooke let slip the first details of a new project that will send comic readers reeling. According to iFanboy‘s Josh Flanagan, Cooke said that the cartoonist is working on a secret project that will “be the biggest thing I’ve ever done at DC.”
For the past few years Cooke has been working mostly on the adaptations of Donald Westlake’s Richard Parker series of novels for IDW, but this news has people reviewing Cooke’s biggest project to date at DC and wondering what could eclipse it like the artist stated. That previous project would be 2004′s DC: The New Frontier, a six-issue miniseries telling a silver age story of the Justice League in a manner akin to the seminal 1980s film The Right Stuff. That series, collected numerous times and eventually adapted into an animated movie, garnered Cooke numerous awards, including an Eisner for “Best Limited Series.”
As for what the project could be, speculation is rampant. Me personally, I’d love to see him spearhead a “New Frontier” line of comics with him, J. Bone, Evan Shaner, Dean Trippe and others. Let’s wait and see what Darwyn Cooke has to offer!
For more of Cooke’s future plans, including details of a creator-owned digital comic he’s working on, check out our own Brigid Alverson’s interview with him from the Boston Comic Con.
- May 4, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Icarus on Robot 6 pg 17
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
- May 4, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Ryan Cody
Help artist Chris Wozniak, who lost his home in a tornado
Chris and Debra Wozniak
Friends of comic artist Chris Wozniak and his wife Debra have set up a Facebook page and PayPal account in support of the couple, who lost their home in a tornado that hit Tuscaloosa, Ala. on April 27.
“Their house was destroyed beyond words,” The Facebook page reads. “By the Grace of God, Chris some how made it out with his two dogs and is at a Red Cross Rescue Center. Debra was at work and also at a center.”
Wozniak has worked on several books for Marvel and DC in the 1980s and 90s, including Excalibur, Star Trek and the Spectre. More recently he worked on his own comics, including Bitter Midgets and the Marauders from Galaxy X.
- May 4, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Minnesota politician blasts Neil Gaiman as ‘pencil-necked little weasel’
Neil Gaiman
Although the national spotlight is no longer on the controversial budget battle in Minnesota, the political climate remains heated.
As evidence, look no further than this Star-Tribune report about efforts by House Republicans to force arts and culture groups like Minnesota Public Radio — no surprise — and the Minnesota Zoo to compete for grants rather than receive special appropriations from the state’s Legacy Fund, which is generated through sales and use tax
Explaining why the state funding for the arts is undergoing scrutiny, House Majority Leader Matt Dean singled out $45,000 in Legacy money paid to author and comics writer Neil Gaiman for a four-hour appearance at a Stillwater public library in May 2010.
Dean is quoted as saying that Gaiman, “who I hate,” was a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.”
- May 4, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC Comics releases full cover for Search for Swamp Thing
Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing
Although they previously teased it with two characters blacked out, DC Comics has now released the full covers (plural) for the first issue of Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing.
The above cover by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes’ is the book’s final cover, with John Constantine and Zatanna appearing where big blobs of black once dwelled. And after the jump is J.G. Jones’ variant cover, featuring Batman, Swamp Thing and Constantine.
- May 4, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Stuart Immonen
Centifolia II
This weekend marks Toronto Comics Art Festival 2011 (TCAF), where among the many great storytellers appearing, Stuart Immonen celebrates his “return to his eclectic collection of work” with the premiere of Centifolia II (and the return of the out-of-print Centifolia I). To mark the debut/return of Centifolia, I contacted Immonen for this hellaciously enjoyable interview. This exchange was a blast for me, particularly given that Immonen indulged numerous follow-up questions in our email exchanges. A great many storytellers are immensely funny people, but I genuinely think Immonen possesses a rare wit and wealth of knowledge that reveals itself not only in this interview, but more importantly, it informs his work. I wish I was attending TCAF, for numerous reasons, but the fact that “there will even be a limited (100) slipcase edition [available at TCAF] that includes a special S&N print and custom slipcase design” is the ultimate “damn I wish I was going” talking point for me. Need more convincing how great these books are? AdHouse’s Chris Pitzer (the publisher of Immonen’s Centifolia) offers consumers nine-page previews of Volume I and Volume II for everyone’s enjoyment.
Tim O’Shea: When one hears that the book is culled from your sketchbooks, it might seem a bit misleading. Not every sketchbook sports pages with fully designed logos (“9 Nuts and Why I Hate Them” for example).
Stuart Immonen: Well, I think that’s probably due to the term “sketchbook” being more often used to describe a collection of finished pinup drawings and not so much actual sketching– i.e. ideas in development, visual note-taking, idle doodling and so on. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the former– I love being able to enjoy and study the completed work of my favourite artists, but I’m also interested in process; the journey of how an artist gets to the final piece, and that’s what Centifolia tries to be.
Some of my most well-thumbed artist’s books fall into this category: Tardi’s Chiures De Gomme, Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Datebooks, Ashley Wood’s Sencilla Fanta… even Dupuy and Berberian’s Maybe Later qualifies.So… I’m interested in pulling back the curtain and showing readers a little of how I work.
- May 4, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Tim O'Shea
Too hot for Kindle? Amazon pulls yaoi from Kindle store
Yaoi manga is a niche genre, but like all niche genres, it has a devoted following. Yaoi readers gobble up the books like romance fans read Harlequin novels, which is not surprising as they are basically the same thing, except that yaoi 1) is manga, 2) is a love story between two men, and 3) often includes lots of sex.
It’s hard to know whether number 2 or 3 above is responsible, but Amazon has instructed at least one publisher to remove its yaoi books from the Kindle store, while allowing considerably more explicit male-female titles to remain. Digital Manga Publishing, which puts out several lines of yaoi, ranging from the fairly tame June imprint to the pretty steamy 801, posted this notice on its blog yesterday:
Recently Amazon has become more strict in enforcing their content requirements for ebooks. Several DMP books that have been available online since 2009 are getting the axe, beginning with our 801 Media titles like Weekend Lovers and King of Debt. However, in the last few days the issue has spread to the June imprint by Amazon’s refusal of The Selfish Demon King, and the removal of The Color of Love from the Kindle store. We fear that Amazon may target more of our books for removal so we’re warning all Amazon Kindle store users that providing you with our content may become more difficult in the future. However, if you purchase our ebooks before Amazon decides to remove it from their store you will still be able to access the book from your account.
All the books mentioned are already gone from the Kindle store, and several are missing from Amazon’s print book selection as well.
(Warning: NSFW image below.)
- May 4, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Free Comic Book Day; how Rise of Arsenal won PRISM Award
Free Comic Book Day: Captain America-Thor
Retailing | Following a week in which much of the comics coverage was fixated on Action Comics #900 and Superman’s apparent renunciation of his U.S. citizenship, mainstream media outlets are now shifting their four-color focus to the 10th annual Free Comic Book Day, which will be held Saturday at more than 2,000 stores worldwide. You can see a list of notable creator appearances at the FCBD website, but here’s a rundown of some event previews: FCBD press release, Wired’s GeekDad blog, Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog, Phoenix New Times, The Marietta (Ohio) Times, The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia), The Daily Athanaeum (West Virginia University) and TribLocal (Evanston, Ill.). [Free Comic Book Day]
Awards | Rich Johnston asks a PRISM executive how DC Comics’ widely reviled miniseries Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal rated the group’s award honoring “the accurate depiction of substance abuse and mental illness.” “Obviously our criteria is a bit different from that of reviewers,” said Larry Deutchman, PRISM’s executive vice president of marketing and industry relations. [Bleeding Cool]
- May 4, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose