2011 June
Robot 6 presents Icarus #2, page 10
Icarus is a comic by Ryan Cody
and is serialized here on Robot 6, with new pages every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Comments welcome.
After page 20 on Issue#1, this page is the next biggest reveal in the series so far. It gives not-so-subtle clues about Riley’s plan.
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 forViper 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
- June 6, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Ryan Cody
HeroesCon Recap: Photo Essay/Day 3
After Saturday’s set of photos, I tried to get around and photograph a few more folks at the closing day of HeroesCon 2011.
Carla Speed McNeil
- June 6, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Tim O'Shea
Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson to reteam for The Massive
The Massive
DMZ and Northlanders writer Brian Wood has confirmed he’ll reunite with Supermarket collaborator Kristian Donaldson for his next project The Massive.
Following up on an item that appeared Sunday on Bleeding Cool, Wood posted the above image with a quote from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: “The globe began with sea … who knows if it will not end with it?”
“Consider this a proof-of-concept type thing and NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT,” he wrote this morning on his blog. “It’s just: here’s the title, here’s the artist, here’s an image. The real news will come in the next few months.” Although Wood didn’t say what publisher will release The Massive, his not-an-announcement comes only days after he revealed his exclusive agreement has lapsed with DC Comics.
- June 6, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics return to the newsstand—at a premium
Comics on the newsstand at Barnes & Noble (from Indignant Online)
Comics-and-More blogger Dave Ferraro, who works at a Barnes & Noble, remarked last week that the bookstore chain has moved comics from the Games section to the newsstand and greatly expanded the selection, from about 10 to about 60, mostly Marvel, DC, and Archie. Todd Allen spotted some in the wild (including a very non-mainstream comic), and Rich Johnston has another example.
I’m not sure this is as much of a novelty as people think: The Borders near me always had a large selection of comics on its newsstand—mostly Marvel, DC, and Archie—and while they were set off in a corner, they were very visible and the selection was good. Since my store is gone, along with hundreds of other Borders stores, B&N may simply be picking up on an unfilled niche.
Todd makes an interesting observation:
The Marvel titles were all marked “Newsstand” and priced $3.99, with the exception of Incredible Hulks. That one went for a massive $4.99. That means some $2.99 titles jacked up $1 for newsstand and some $3.99 titles staying steady. I have no immediate explanation for the Incredible Hulks price.
- June 6, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Alterna Comics raising funds to avoid bankruptcy
Peter Simeti, the president and publisher of Alterna Comics, sent out a mass e-mail this weekend saying “Alterna has had a rough two years” and directing readers to the company’s fund-raising page at Indie GoGo. It sounds like they have a cash flow problem:
Sales don’t come in quick enough (book distribution takes up to 6 months to pay us) and we end up accumulating over $4,000 worth of interest ever year, even though we’ve maintained a small profit for the past 3 years, that profit has been quickly eaten up by the bills we have. The worst part is, our company debt is around $28,000 – which isn’t even a lot for most small companies. But due to the fact that we can’t even make new books to spur new income – the debt has become stifling and will eventually take its toll on us within 1 to 2 years.
So unless they can raise some money pronto, they are going to go into a death spiral of debt. The amount they are trying to raise seems laughably small—$1,000, much less than most Kickstarter drives—but apparently that will keep the wolf from the door for a while. Interestingly, the lowest level of the drive consists simply of buying their books—you fork over $10, you get a $10 book as a “reward”—although a few of the listed books cost more than $10 and at least one costs less. Of course, the indie page cuts out the distributor and thus the distributor’s cut and the time lag in payment. This really goes to Simeti’s point: Alterna’s books are selling well, they just can’t get paid for them, and in a way, the Indie GoGo page is just a direct sales channel that will get a bit of juice from the added publicity of Simeti’s plea. What’s more, it’s a sales channel with some good incentives, as the rewards escalate quickly, and you can get some original art for short money. A plea for funds isn’t really a marketing plan, but maybe this is just what Alterna needs—to sell fewer books through Diamond and Amazon and more on their own.
- June 6, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
What Are You Reading?
Any Empire
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Robert Stanley Martin.
Robert writes for his blog Pol Culture, and is a contributing writer to The Hooded Utilitarian. He is a past contributor to The Comics Journal, and his essays on R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated and Eddie Campbell’s Alec: The Years Have Pants are featured in the soon-to-be-released The Comics Journal #301.
To see what Robert and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click on through …
- June 5, 2011 @ 03:07 PM by JK Parkin
HeroesCon Recap: Photo Essay
Rather than try to write a summary of my HeroesCon 2011 experience, I have opted this year to share as many photos as possible. My camera was out-of-commission yesterday so all photos were taken during the second day of the show (Saturday).
Jeff Parker and friends
- June 4, 2011 @ 11:47 PM by Tim O'Shea
Anti-Defamation League calls Foreskin Man comic ‘deeply offensive’
I’d almost forgotten about ole’ Foreskin Man. About a year ago, the hooded champion debuted. Written and created by Matthew Hess, president of an anti-circumcision organization, the comic stars “intactivist” Miles Hastwick, who fights super villains like Dr. Mutilator and, in the second issue, Monster Mohel:
- June 4, 2011 @ 02:44 PM by JK Parkin
Saturday Shelf Porn
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, where we help fans show off their stuff. Today’s submission comes from Harold Yoingco from the Philippines.
If you’d like to have your collection featured here, email me a write-up and some pictures at jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now here’s Harold …
- June 4, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
The Fifth Color | Azazel, the devil you don’t know
I can't get this out of my head...
Everyone has a a particular favorite in the X-Men. I mean, there’s so many to choose from! The list of Marvel’s merry mutants goes on and on, so it’s not surprising that someone’s a fan of that one guy from issue #86, third from the left (his name was Vindaloo). You may not be able to stand Meggan from Excalibur, but trust me. Someone has a livejournal devoted to her. Super fans dress up like Jubilee and campaigned to get her back in the X-books. Through staff dedication and fan outcry, we have two volumes of the Essential Dazzler. I am certain there is a comic convention by-law where for every so many people, there has to be a question posed for the return of an obscure X-Men character. Bring back Chrome! There are an amazing amount of X-characters contained in the Marvel Universe (despite Wanda’s wishes) and all of them are facets to the unique jewel of the X-titles.
So, who’s the guy who asked for Azazel?
I didn’t think he had a fan club. I didn’t think people wanted to remember the unbelievable “The Draco” storyline he came from. And now, he’s in a movie? Why? Out of all the characters who have had better origins, purposes and basic character design, why in Cerebro’s name did they pick a cheesy self-styled Satan for one of their antagonists?
WARNING: We are spoiler free!
- June 3, 2011 @ 02:30 PM by Carla Hoffman
Will Archie relaunch their classic characters as well?
The big news of the week is that DC is planning a massive relaunch of its characters. Is something similar in the works at Archie Comics?
Before you scoff, take a look at Archie & Friends Night at the Comic Shop, which came out in trade paperback form last month. (There’s a short preview at the link.) The plot is simplicity itself: A meteor hits Pep Comics, the local comics shop, and somehow this causes a ton of vintage comics characters to come to life, escape from their pages, and wreak havoc all over Riverdale. If this were one or two characters, it might work, but with about 30 or so, it just ends up as a jumble, with the regular cast interacting with a different character in every panel.
What is interesting about this book, however, is that all the characters once appeared in actual comics published by MLJ Comics, which later became Archie Comics, in the 1940s and 1950s. The back of the book includes a guide to the “MLJ Universe,” and what a universe it is! The Archie brass have already reached into their IP vault and brushed the cobwebs off some of their old characters: They relaunched Li’l Jinx as the teenaged Jinx, they plan to give hard-boiled detective Sam Hill his own graphic novel line, and they occasionally sneak Cosmo the Merry Martian into a cover. Could more be on the way?
The difference between MLJ and DC, of course, is that the MLJ characters have been out of the public eye for a while, and some of them look their age. Still, here are a few of the characters I’d like to see come back to life, along with suggestions about how to do it.
- June 3, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Robot 6 presents Icarus #2, page 9
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 forViper 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
- June 3, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Ryan Cody
Chris Ware creates movie poster for award-winning Thai film
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Chris Ware fans take note — the comics creator/designer has created a poster for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, a 2010 Thai film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul that won the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
The poster is for sale from Mondo Tees; it’s $75 and limited to 400.
- June 3, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Turtle power helps fight stains, odor-causing residues
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Andrew Degraff
Even superheroes have to do their laundry, and no one understands the power of Febreze quite like the sewer-dwelling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Artist Andrew Degraff created the piece for “Shell-Shock – A TMNT Art Show and Tribute,” which opens today at Brave New Worlds in Philadelphia.
- June 3, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Klein, Rude team up to offer ‘Hope’
Hope
Designer and letterer Todd Klein continues his artistic trek through the alphabet — skipping “G,” but he says he’ll get back to it — with another awesome art print, this time teaming up with Nexus creator Steve Rude to offer one titled “Hope.”
“I’ve been a fan of Steve Rude’s work since discovering NEXUS in the early 1980s, and I’ve worked with Steve as a letterer several times, most recently on his self-published issues of NEXUS, which was challenging but also a thrill to do,” Klein said in a post that details the creation of the print (you can find part 2 of the process here). “Steve’s work has always seemed to me to have a classical feel in the figure work, so I thought he might enjoy depicting Pandora and Hope. I asked Steve, above, when we met in San Diego, and though he was hesitant at first, he was intrigued by the subject, and finally agreed to do a print with me.”
Rude joins an impressive list of creators who have teamed with Klein to create prints — Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Alex Ross, J.H. Williams III, Mark Buckingham and Bill Willingham. All the prints, including the new one, can be purchased on his site.
- June 3, 2011 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin