2011 May
Teenage Satan: It’s all in the family
Darwyn Cooke was one of the headliners at Boston Comic Con this weekend, but he wasn’t the only Cooke in the convention center. Wife Marsha and niece Candis dropped in on his panel to announce a project of their own: Teenage Satan, a digital comic they are creating along with artist Stephanie Buscema (granddaughter of John). The trailer above was animated by Darwyn Cooke, who worked in animation before turning his hand to comics.
The comic, which includes games and music, is a lighthearted, teen-friendly cartoon about an “emo sparkle Satan.” Teenage Satan is the son of Lucifer and his wife, Jezebel, and because this is hell, he is making his father’s life miserable—wait, that sounds like real life! Actually, we know it’s hell because he is making his father miserable by wanting to be good. Lucifer and Jezebel have been homeschooling their little devil, but when he hits ninth grade they decide to send him to high school. So with no prior experience with human interaction, Teenage Satan suddenly has to deal with all the travails of high school, including being bullied and having a crush on a girl who only has eyes for another.
Teenage Satan can be accessed as an app, via the website, or “through one of our distribution partners,” Marsha Cooke said, which presumably means a digital distributor such as comiXology, iVerse, or Graphicly. It will launch in September and will update daily with a mix of comics, games (such as 666 sudoku) and other content. Interestingly, the comic has an end date—December 22, 2012.
The inspiration for Teenage Satan came at Dragon Con, Marsha Cooke said: “We were walking through Dragon Con, and there were kids with their phones, and I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe they are playing Angry Birds with phones at a comic con.’”
- May 2, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Wonder Woman! Now the jam is ready for you!
Tell me which is more awesome: That this year’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo will have a roller derby? That its theme is superheroes vs. zombies? That it’s taking place at the site of the X-Men’s first battle with Alpha Flight? Or that Dean Reeves’ poster for the event features Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman getting ready to knock the block off an undead rollergirl?
- May 2, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Michael May
iVerse brings graphic novels to Nook Color
iVerse, which provides the platform for the Comics+, IDW, and Archie iPad apps, has added another platform with the announcement that it has made Nook Color apps for six graphic novels: Dead Space: Salvage, Star Trek: The Official Movie Adaptation, and Parker: The Hunter from IDW, and Archie Marries…, The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats, and Archie All-Stars: Vol. 1 – Veronica’s Passport from Archie Comics.
Just like Graphicly, which announced its own set of Nook Color apps earlier this week, iVerse is releasing each graphic novel as a single app. Nook Color apps don’t seem to allow for in-app buying (I can’t check this as I don’t have an actual Nook), but this also fits the basic idea of the Nook, which is designed to be an e-reader first and foremost. Single-book apps, rather than generic comics apps, make more sense in the Nook ecosystem, as does the notion of buying a complete graphic novel rather than a series of single-issue comics.
What’s next? With two of the three major digital comics publishers making Nook Color apps, can comiXology be far behind? We checked in with comiXology CEO David Steinberger, who gave us something that sounded like a definite “maybe”:
We don’t pre-announce our plans, but we’ve stated that we’ll be on every platform that comics look great on and has a good market size. The nook may fit that requirement.
It’s not clear how the apps differ from the graphic novels already available through the Nook Store, except perhaps to expand the offerings. iOS apps started as single-issue apps as well, so maybe in-app buying is in the future.
- May 2, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Duncan wins LA Times Book Prize; Wizard World returns to LA
Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One
Awards | Adam Hines has won the graphic novel category in the 31st annual Los Angeles Times Book Prize for his debut book Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One. The other nominees were Dash Shaw’s Bodyworld, Karl Stevens’ The Lodger, Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know, Book II, and Jim Woodring’s Weathercraft. [press release]
Conventions | More than two years after canceling its Los Angeles convention, Wizard World announced it will return to the city Sept. 24-25 with Los Angeles Comic Con, to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Big Apple Comic Con, which previously had been scheduled for those dates, will be moved to the spring. [press release]
Publishing | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson talks with Viz Media Vice President Alvin Lu about the expansion of the publisher’s iPad app to include iPhone and iPod Touch. [Publishers Weekly]
- May 2, 2011 @ 07:08 AM by Kevin Melrose
What Are You Reading?
Gingerbread Girl
Hello and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Our special guest today is Emily Stackhouse, creator of the award-winning minicomic Brazilianoir and her latest, Miner’s Mutiny.
To see what Emily and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
- May 1, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin