2011 May
First look at art from Jim Henson’s The Storyteller anthology
Nate Cosby has posted some artwork by Jennifer Meyer, Colleen Coover, Tom Fowler, and Roger Langridge from Archaia’s upcoming Jim Henson Storyteller anthology. (That’s the Langridge piece, above.) For a bit more on the project, check out Cosby’s Wondercon interview with our own Tim O’Shea.
- May 13, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Castle graphic novel by Bendis, DeConnick, Medina on the way
Publishers try to keep new projects under wraps, but there’s a whole cottage industry out there of folks who look through the Amazon listings for new books. The latest one, spotted by Albert Ching of Blog@Newsarama: A listing for Castle: Deadly Storm, by Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Lan Medina. Albert goes out on a fairly short limb and guesses that this is a graphic novel (Medina is listed as the illustrator) based on the ABC series Castle, and indeed, the Hachette Book Group International catalog confirms this—check out page 65. Quick plot summary: This “adaptation” of Derrick Storm’s first novel adventure takes our hero from the gritty world of the private eye all the way to the globe-hopping intrigue of the CIA.” The book is hardcover, 112 pages, full color priced at $19.99 (already discounted to $13.59 on Amazon) and published by Marvel.
Manga blogger Lissa Pattillo has spotted a few more finds on Amazon.ca (Lissa is Canadian, so all prices are in Canadian dollars, but it looks like the U.S. prices are almost the same): a Fullmetal Alchemist box set that includes all 27 volumes of the manga, a novel, and other extras, all for $219 (discounted to $137.93) and due out in November, and an omnibus edition of Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo, 880 pages of Tezuka goodness for $29.95 $23.32.
- May 13, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark returns ‘almost a brand-new show’
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark returned last night from a three-week hiatus “virtually unrecognizable” from the troubled musical savaged by critics in February.
That assessment comes courtesy of the production’s most vocal detractor, the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, who quotes lead producer Michael Cohl as saying, “It’s almost a brand-new show.”
Indeed, it certainly looks that way. As anticipated, Arachne, the eight-legged villainess created by former director Julie Taymor, has been reduced to a minor role (she previously dominated the second act). Both the “utterly superfluous” Geek Chorus — a group of four comic fans that provided much of the show’s exposition — and the Furies — Arachne’s minions who performed the widely panned “Deeply Furious” shoe-shopping number — have been cut entirely.
With Arachne diminished, Patrick Page’s Green Goblin is given a more prominent role. Previously, the classic villain was killed off in the first act, only to make a confusing return in Act II. Now, Entertainment Weekly says, his climactic battle with Spider-Man is, appropriately enough, the show’s finale. He’s also given the only new song, “Freak Like Me”; most of the other musical numbers have been reworked.
Characters like Uncle Ben, Aunt May and Norman Osborn’s wife Emily, who had been little more than footnotes in the $70-million production, have been given upgrades as well.
In short, as Riedel writes, the show now “hews more closely to Spidey’s original comic-book sensibilities.”
However, the overhaul, spearheaded by new director Philip William McKinley, Taymor’s co-writer Glen Berger and script doctor (and comics scribe) Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, creates a tangled web of credits.
Critics are invited to attend preview performances June 9-11, ahead of the show’s scheduled June 14 opening night. You can view the new trailer for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark below.
- May 13, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | Road to nowhere, highway to Hell
Flashpoint #1
Even at 34 pages, the first issue of Flashpoint feels like it’s missing something.
This is not exactly a surprise. The very premise of Flashpoint is that lots of things are missing, including Superman, the Justice League, and a generally-peaceful world. Mainly, the world of Flashpoint is short on hope — and so is issue #1.
To be sure, while the story itself is fairly bleak, it’s told in compelling fashion by writer Geoff Johns, penciller Andy Kubert, inker Sandra Hope, and colorist Alex Sinclair. Barry Allen wakes up in a world that would have made George Bailey jump off that bridge without a second thought, and by the end of Flashpoint #1 he has little reason to think his old life will ever return. Nevertheless, under Geoff Johns, Barry has literally become an avatar of hope, unironically intoning the Blue Lantern motto “all will be well.” Never mind the reset button implied in most alternate-reality scenarios — by itself, Johns’ history with the character all but promises Barry’s ultimate triumph. If Flashpoint lives up to that promise, and subsequent issues have as much excitement as this first issue has nihilism, it could be one of the great big-event miniseries.
That’s a big “if,” though. The first issue necessarily comes with a good bit of exposition, and Flashpoint risks its readers being lost in a myriad of apocalyptic scenarios and changed characters. Flashpoint might also become nothing more than a framework for all those tie-in miniseries and one-shots. However, Johns wisely keeps the focus on Barry and just a couple of significant allies. Maintaining that focus is the key to this miniseries, and it’ll be the measure of Flashpoint’s success.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
- May 12, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Is Marvel cutting pages from $2.99 books?
Marvel
If you thought some of your recent Marvel Comics purchases seemed a little slimmer than usual in terms of story pages, you aren’t alone. On Wednesday, David Uzumeri at ComicsAlliance noted that several recent Marvel titles priced at $2.99 shipped with 20 pages of story, versus the usual 22, including FF #2, Incredible Hulks #627, Herc #2 and Heroes for Hire #6, among others. It doesn’t seem to be every $2.99 title, Uzumeri notes, as some, like Avengers Academy, are still #2.99 for 22 pages.
The change seems to mirror what DC Comics has done across the board on its comics — offer 20 pages of story for $2.99. DC’s announcement came during the New York Comic Con last October and was followed by comments from Marvel executives that noted the decrease in page counts would be detrimental to creators who get paid by the page.
But Rich Johnston, who noted Marvel would be experimenting with less pages in its $2.99 books back in January, said that “creators won’t lose money on a reduced page count, as Marvel intend to increase twenty page books to thirteen issues or more a year if the creative team can manage it.” Many Marvel books already ship multiple times per month; it seems pretty standard for Hulk and Incredible Hulks, and FF and New Mutants seem to be following suit as well in July … and that’s not even counting the extra issue a year through Marvel’s “Point 1″ initiative.
Marvel hasn’t publicly commented on it just yet, but watch CBR’s Talk to the Hat column tomorrow to see if that changes.
- May 12, 2011 @ 02:13 PM by JK Parkin
In Belgium, no one can hear you scream
The indispensable Dan Hipp has created a series of fake Tintin covers mashing the classic character together with movies like Alien, Star Wars, and Tron. And this isn’t even the coolest thing on his blog.
- May 12, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Michael May
Read a huge chunk of Infinite Kung Fu for free
Kagan McLeod began publishing single issues of his martial arts/horror extravaganza Infinite Kung Fu way back in 2000, but as he told JK Parkin in an interview last summer, he hasn’t given up on it. He’s been hard at work and all 464 pages of the epic are coming out from Top Shelf in July.
For anyone who read those single issues, this is great news. But what’s even better is that Top Shelf 2.0 has more than half the book posted right now for free. Whether you’re already a fan or yet to be converted, that’s a hell of a lot of awesome.
- May 12, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by Michael May
Defunct publisher not really looking for handouts
This is not the Go! Comi site
Manga fans have fond memories of Go! Comi, a manga publisher that produced some interesting and high-quality series during its brief lifetime: You Higuri’s Cantarella, the story of the cursed, but incredibly hot, Borgia family; After School Nightmare, a gender-bender tale that was nominated for an Eisner Award; and the beautifully drawn, sensitively written Song of the Hanging Sky. They also published entertaining trash like Train + Train that was simply fun to read. We liked Go! Comi.
Did we like them enough that we would donate money to help them get started again? As Kevin noted earlier, some enterprising scammer apparently thinks so: The Go! Comi web domain expired last year, and it looks like someone has picked it up and launched a fake Go! Comi website, complete with an appeal for donations so they can relaunch. Continue Reading »
- May 12, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Mimobot creating Green Lantern flash drives
Mimobot announced in January that they’d picked up the license to create collectible flash drives based on DC properties, starting with various Batman characters.
The latest issue of Previews reveals the second DC property they plan to feature — Green Lantern, who you may have heard has a big-screen adaptation coming out this summer. Above is Hal Jordan, and after the jump you can find drives featuring Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar-Re.
Update: Mimobot has a Green lantern page up now on their site.
- May 12, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Gotham Guardians forums in Batman Inc. look kind of familiar
Artist Chris Burnham seems to be having some fun with the comic book internet in this week’s Batman Inc. #6. Not only did ComicsAlliance contributor Chris Sims’ corpse make a cameo, but so did, apparently, Comic Book Resources’ community forums:
- May 12, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Udon drops the floppy for oversized graphic novels
Toronto-based publisher Udon Entertainment, best known for comics based on Capcom games like Street Fighter, is launching a new line of original graphic novels—and dropping the monthly-comic format.
The line is launching with the first volume of RandomVeus, an original graphic novel by Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz, who has honed his skills working on Udon’s Street Fighter graphic novels. Here’s the publisher’s brief description, which I could not possibly improve upon:
Created by Jeffrey ‘Chamba’ Cruz and co-writer Leonard Bermingham, RandomVeus stars bouffant-sporting hero Raimundo and the team of One-Dimensional Couriers as they deliver mysterious packages to every corner of the wild world known as the RandomVeus! Octopus ninjas, jazz-playing demons, buxom lady-pirates, cyborg gorillas, samurai mushrooms, and one giant furry squid monster are all on tap in this zaniest of zany adventures!
That certainly seems to have a lot of crowd-pleasers, but don’t go looking for a monthly fix: Udon will be publishing these original stories strictly as graphic novels in an amply sized 8″ x 11″ format, and they plan to move in that direction with their game-based comics as well.
“We want to give our artists’ stories the best presentation possible right out the gate, so our focus is shifting to this deluxe format for our releases, dropping the monthly ‘floppy’ comic entirely,” says UDON managing editor Matt Moylan. “While comic book sales are down all over the industry, UDON continues to do very well with our trade paperbacks and art books. We’re taking the best of both by producing full length graphic novels at the same oversized dimensions that readers of our art books and ‘Ultimate Edition’ collections have come to enjoy.”
- May 12, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Mike Hawthorne’s Raisy Crazy strip featured in regional magazine
In Central Pennsylvania
After drawing everything from romance to spy-thriller, high school football and Conan, Mike Hawthorne might finally be getting the popularity he deserves … thanks to a little help from his son.
Hawthorne’s webcomic series Raising Crazy recently raised the eyebrows of regional magazine In Central Pennsylvania, which put the Hawthorne boys on the front cover. Raising Crazy documents Mike’s own struggles raising a capricious little child and the things he and his son learn along the way. Robot 6 profiled the strip back in March, but this mainstream publicity — and the cute photo that came with it — made it a must post item.
- May 12, 2011 @ 09:30 AM by Chris Arrant
Paul Dini, Joe Quinones working on Zatanna/Black Canary team-up
Paul Dini has a long history with DC’s resident magic woman Zatanna, and it looks like a long-gestating project will see him team the character with Black Canary. The girl-centric comics blog DC Women Kicking Ass picked up this scoop while walking the floor of the Boston Comic Con from none other than the artist himself, Joe Quinones.
Titled Bloodspell, the book is set to debut in 2012. The blogger recounted the plot as told to them by Quinones, saying “The book begins with a back story where an 11 year old Zatanna meets a 16 year old Dinah Lance. And the two don’t get off to a good start on this trip to Mt. Everest.” Here’s two pages from the project that Quinones had on display at the con.
- May 12, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Arrant
Ron Perazza resigns from DC Entertainment
Ron Perazza, right, with Kwanza Johnson
Ron Perazza, who was promoted in December to the new position of DC Entertainment’s vice president of online, has confirmed his resignation from the company.
Bleeding Cool broke the news this morning, reporting that Perazza gave notice a couple of weeks ago after changing his mind about moving this summer from New York to Burbank, Calif., where DC Online will be based. He’ll remain with DC through mid-August.
Previously DC Comics’ vice president of creative services, Perazza is best known for his role in overseeing the company’s online initiatives, including the defunct Zuda imprint.
His promotion came as part of a massive corporate restructuring that, when completed later this year, will see the shift of DC’s administration, multimedia and digital-content operations to Burbank while leaving the publishing division in New York City. As many as 80 employees were expected to be relocated or fired as part of the reorganization, while others were elevated to new positions.
- May 12, 2011 @ 07:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Batman busted; Go! Comi web domain used in scam
Mark Wayne Williams is ... Batman
Crime | Police in Petoskey, Michigan, arrested a 31-year-old man early Wednesday morning after he allegedly climbed to the roof of a downtown hardware store dressed as Batman. Mark Wayne Williams of Harbor Springs — yes, his middle name is Wayne — has been charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace and possession of dangerous weapons, as he reportedly carried a folding steel baton, weighted (sand-filled) gloves, and a can of chemical irritant spray.
Williams said at his arraignment that he didn’t realize the items were illegal, but didn’t offer an explanation as to why he was hanging off the roof of Meyer Ace Hardware dressed as the Dark Knight. The incident apparently isn’t Williams’ first encounter with police: The city’s public safety director said he had previously dressed as the Crow, but didn’t give any further details. [Petoskey News]
Crime | The expired website domain of defunct manga publisher Go! Comi is being used in a scam by an unknown party to solicit donations under the guise of resurrecting the company. “It is not real,” Audry Taylor, Go! Comi’s former creative director, warned last night on Twitter. “Do not donate. Gonna my lawyers on them.” [Anime News Network]
- May 12, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose