2011 July
Chris Evans delivers Letterman’s superhero-themed top 10
Chris Evans, star of Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger, appeared last night on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman to deliver the list of “Top Ten Things Never Before Said by a Superhero.” I won’t ruin it for you, but I will say that Aquaman still can’t get any love, even with the impending DC relaunch.
Captain America: The First Avenger opens July 22 nationwide.
- July 15, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Graphicly to post free comics on G4′s Fresh Ink
Blair Butler reviews a stack of new comics every Friday on G4TV.com’s Fresh Ink Online, and now Graphicly is getting in on the act by providing one of those comics each week, for free, in an embedded comics reader.
They are starting with a demo of Criminal: The Last of the Innocent, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, but it’s not the whole comic, just a 5-page preview. Let’s hope the publishers aren’t too stingy with this and are willing to put up whole issues, as that would make the feature a lot more worthwhile.
- July 15, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Bankrupt Borders chain could be history by next week
Borders
Retailing | Borders Group, the second-largest bookstore chain in the United States, could be liquidated as early as next week if no other suitors step forward by Sunday evening, the deadline established by a federal bankruptcy court. A judge on Thursday approved the company’s motion to auction itself off after a proposal from private-equity firm Najafi Cos. fell apart over the objections of creditors. Borders, which once operated more than 1,000 stores, now has 399 locations and nearly 11,000 employees, including 400 at its Ann Arbor, Michigan, headquarters. [The Associated Press, The Detroit News]
Awards | The Young Adult Library Services Association has announced the 2012 “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” nominations, a list that includes Takio by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee, Axe Cop by Ethan and Malachai Nicolle, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden and many more. The final list will be announced in January at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting. [American Library Association]
- July 15, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
What does America smell like?
Kinda like this:
Captain America joins Iron Man in the Diesel line of cologne, just in time for his big blockbuster movie, Captain America: The First Avenger.
The limited edition fragrance is made of lemon, mandarin and coriander leaf; essential oils of landanum, violet leaves and rosemary; plus amber, leather and cedar — all essential ingredients of the Super Solider serum.
Cap is currently framing the Diesel site, which has various blog posts featuring the hero. Check out another look at the box art, drawn by Bryan Hitch, after the jump.
- July 15, 2011 @ 05:00 AM by JK Parkin
Grumpy Old Fan | For the Anti-Monitor, knowledge is power
Hey there -- you with the stars in your eyes...
I talk about Crisis On Infinite Earths a lot in this space, and justifiably so, given its place in DC history. However, I’ve never been entirely comfortable with its lead villain, and it starts with his name: The Anti-Monitor.
Now, I know he calls himself simply “The Monitor,” and I know (thanks to various recent DC events) that he’s actually the Monitor assigned to the Anti-Matter Universe. Still, he’s best known with the prefix — and again, the prefix is where the trouble begins.
See, Anti-M (so nicknamed by R.A. Jones, critic for the classic fanzine Amazing Heroes) isn’t the only villain defined as the evil counterpart of a familiar superhero. There’s the Reverse-Flash (and his Golden Age predecessor, the Rival), the Cyborg Superman, the Composite Superman, the Sinestro Corps, Black Adam, and probably some others buried deep in my Who’s Whos. Heck, I can think of three “anti-Batmen” right off: Cat-Man, the Wrath (parents fatally shot by Jim Gordon on the same night the Waynes were killed), and Prometheus (psychopathic-criminal parents also shot by cops).
Anyway, those villains all have the advantage of well-known opponents. The Anti-Monitor is the evil answer to … a guy DC readers barely knew.
- July 14, 2011 @ 05:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Hey kids, not-comics!: Art Baltazar and company’s Super-Pets can make anything kid-friendly
Here’s a quick review of DC’s Red Lantern Corps concept, introduced by Geoff Johns and company in 2007: Long ago, The Guardians of the Universe created an android army to police all of an existence, but a glitch in their programming caused them to commit genocide in “Sector 666,” killing all of the billions who lived there save five. These five formed a terrorist cell, and eventually one of them, named Atrocitus, killed the other four and used the power of his anger and need for revenge to form the Red Lantern Corps.
They wield the red energy of rage, and becoming a Red Lantern involves expelling all of the blood in the body, replacing the beating heart with the ring itself, and then pumping a sort of gory, acidic, liquid energy through the veins, which is often spit and vomited out as a weapon.
If you’ve only a passing familiarity with Green Lantern comics, the Red Lanterns are the characters you see puking blood on the covers.
So, perfect for little kids, right?
One might not think so, but artist Art Baltazar seems to have developed a knack for turning some of the modern DC Universe’s least all-ages concept into kid-friendly gold, as he demonstrates monthly in his Tiny Titans comic (Wherein Dr. Light is a science teacher, Deathstroke a elementary school principal and all the minor Titans characters brutally murdered in the pages of Teen Titans live in perfect harmony).
Baltazar gets his drawing hands on Red Lantern Dex-Starr, The Red Lantern who is also a house cat, in Super Hero Splash Down, one of the DC Super-Pets line of heavily-illustrated prose books for younger readers (Each are about 50 pages long, consist of three chapters, and have big, comic book sound effects embedded in the paragraphs, making for fun books to read aloud).
- July 14, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by J. Caleb Mozzocco
CCI apologizes for asking Matt Wayne to change his Dwayne McDuffie tribute
Dwayne McDuffie
This year’s Comic-Con International souvenir book will include tributes to comics and animation writer Dwayne McDuffie, who passed away in February. One creator whose contribution won’t be included, however, is Matt Wayne. The former Milestone editor and Justice League Unlimited story editor shared on the Dwayne McDuffie forums last week that he was approached to write a tribute, which the editors of the book asked him to change after seeing his final submission.
“I ran my tribute past Dwayne’s wife before I sent it, and she dubbed it ‘perfect,’” he wrote in his forum post. “But the people at Comic-Con asked me to change it, and I decided to just let it go. I’m worried that Dwayne is going to be the industry’s ‘proof’ that we’re all post-racial and chummy, now that they can’t be embarrassed into hiring him anymore, and I don’t want to contribute to that absurd but inevitable narrative.”
You can read Wayne’s entire tribute over on the forums.
David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for CCI, said that the book’s editors asked for the piece to be “celebratory” in nature, in keeping with other pieces in the book.
“As you know we held Dwayne McDuffie in high regard as he was a past recipient of our Inkpot award. Most recently we held a tribute panel for him at WonderCon. The changes requested were never meant to slight him or his family, and we really are truly sorry for the anguish this has caused,” Glanzer told Robot 6. “In the future we will try to prevent a similar situation as this from occurring by having a larger circle of people weigh in on any potential changes or edits to In Memoriam pieces.
“Again we offer our heart felt apology to Matt Wayne and the family and friends of Dwayne McDuffie.”
- July 14, 2011 @ 03:30 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC Wishlist | DC Direct, Graphitti Designs selling relaunch cover portfolios
Action Comics #1
DC Comics sent word today (and posted on The Source) that DC Direct and Graphitti Designs will sell limited edition portfolios featuring all of the first-issue covers from their September relaunch at the San Diego Comic Con. To get all of them, it sounds like you’ll be spending a lot of time at the Graphitti booth:
On Thursday through Sunday a different portfolio volume containing 13 covers will go on sale each day in the Graphitti Designs booth for $39.95. These portfolios will provide fans and attendees with something special to have their favorite DC Comics writer and artist to sign at Comic-Con. Only 520 copies of each volume will be available per day – be sure to get your copy before they sell out so you can collect all four!
Each piece of art is 9” x 12”. The list of what covers will come in each set can be found after the jump.
- July 14, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’11 | Dark Horse brings Joss Whedon, many more to Comic-Con
Dark Horse sent over their plans for the show, including their panel and signing schedules. Note that they have several ticketed signings, so if you want to get autographs from Gerard Way or Bruce Campbell, you’ll need to put some work in (and maybe have a little luck, too!)
Also, as you’ll see above, they’ve put together a handy “top ten” of Dark Horse-related things to do, buy and win at the show. And if you’re just wondering what sorts of free stuff they’ll have, I’ve included their “swag” list at the bottom.
Check out their schedule and swag list after the jump.
- July 14, 2011 @ 02:30 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’11 | BOOM!’s exclusives + booth schedule
BOOM! Studios sent out both their Comic-Con International exclusives and their booth/panel schedule yesterday. They include variant cover editions of Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, Planet of the Apes (with a movie cover) and Duck Tales. The Duck Tales cover, a “homage” to Nintendo Games, is very tongue-in-cheek, considering many have compared the Kaboom! logo to the Nintendo logo.
They’ll also have Mark Waid and Shannon Wheeler signing, respectively, Definitive Irredeemable Vol. 1 and I Thought You Would Be Funnier. And a lot of other creators. Check out their booth schedule after the jump.
- July 14, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
John Byrne working on new ‘period piece’ comic Cold War
Cold War
John Byrne, creator of Next Men, is working on his first all-new comic series in more than a decade, according to an Associated Press story.
Matt Moore reports that Byrne, who worked on Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, Amazing Spider-Man, Superman and many other titles back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, is writing and drawing a new “period piece” called Cold War. Published by IDW, the series stars former MI6 agent-turned-freelancer Michael Swann. The first issue involves Swann attempting to stop a British scientist from defecting to the Soviet Union.
“He operates on a freelance basis, and occasionally his former bosses call upon him to handle something that is perhaps a bit too messy for Her Majesty’s Government to be involved” with, Byrne told the Associated Press. “So he knows that when he is called upon, things have reached some dire straits. His response to this is usually very straightforward and brutal.”
Byrne shared a few more details on his forums: “Altho set in the early days of the Cold War, this is NOT going to be a history book. I am playing quite freely with the order in which things happened in the real world. And I will not be tying Swann’s exploits to any specific year or sequence of years. Those with an awareness of the history of this period may spot a few landmarks — one in most particular plays an important part as a sub-thread to my overall tale — but no reason to start checking the History Channel in order to be able to follow what’s going on in this series!”
- July 14, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Quote of the day | Tom Brevoort: DC is ‘the Charlie Sheen of comics’
[Reader question:] Unless you guys are going to announce something amazing within the next few moths, DC epicly won this year. Though, I always buy anything involving Spider-Man, so you will get more business there.
[Tom Brevoort:] Yes, they’ve epicly won their way down to being 25% of the market. if they keep winning at this rate, they’ll be out of business before long. They’re the Charlie Sheens of comics, winning their way to extinction.
–Marvel Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort on the Distinguished Competition, via his Formspring account. So that would make Marvel…Ashton Kutcher?
Okay, so that was a pretty solid smack from Brevoort Marvel’s crosstown (or round-the-block, as the case may be) rivals. But in other Formspring responses he’s a bit less catty and more comprehensive in his diagnosis of DC’s perceived problems. In one response, he advises DC to “stop trying to become what they think Marvel is” and play to their company’s and characters’ unique strengths, because “their interpretation of how our universe operates and how we plan out storylines and deal with our creative talent is so off-the-mark it’s laughable sometimes….[they should stop] trying to be a bad Marvel clone–because they’re not even getting bad Marvel right.”
In another response, he discusses DC’s recent $2.99 pricing initiative: “they got virtually no uptick on their sales, but cut a quarter of their profit margin away.” Brevoort argues that the audience for (his example) Booster Gold will buy Booster Gold comics regardless of cost, but cutting that cost won’t make a new audience for Booster Gold materialize either out of the non-comics-reading populace or from fans of other properties.
But to hear Brevoort tell it, he’s still pulling for the other publisher. “I want them to thrive and prosper,” he tells one questioner, positing a world where Marvel routinely beats a “a vibrant, healthy, competitive DC” as his ideal. This, he says, is why he thought “their reboot was a necessary step and a smart move overall”…but he adds the caveat that “I don’t think they’ve gone about putting it together in the smartest way possible.” Clearly, some of his initial support for/defense of/optimism about the DC relaunch has dimmed. Hence, perhaps, the talk of tiger blood…
- July 14, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
comiXology launches dedicated Bone, RASL apps
comiXology announced today via press release that Jeff Smith’s Bone and RASL are the latest comics to get their own dedicated applications for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. And to celebrate their release, the first issues of both will be free, with the other books on sale for 99 cents July 14-19.
“Bone is a modern day classic,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “We are proud to bring this multiple award-winning comic book into the digital environment for the enjoyment of fans of all ages.”
“comiXology is on the pulse of what readers want in the digital world,” said Jeff Smith, creator of BONE. “Based on popular demand, we couldn’t be more delighted to bring BONE to its community of loyal fans and now for the first time ever, on the iPad.”
Smith will host a live Q&A on Reddit today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern to discuss the new apps and his comics work with fans. You can check out the complete press release after the jump.
- July 14, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
New image of Two-Face from Batman: Arkham City
Two-Face from "Batman: Arkham City"
London’s Metro has unveiled a new render of Two-Face from Batman: Arkham City, the eagerly anticipated sequel to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s bestselling 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Developed by Rocksteady Studios, Arkham City is set inside the newly constructed fortified walls that have transformed part of Gotham’s slums into a sprawling maximum-security prison for the city’s gangsters, thugs and criminally insane. As earlier screenshots suggest, and Metro confirms, the disfigured Harvey Dent holds Catwoman hostage in Arkham City, and is prepared to execute her — something that players, as Batman, must stop.
Arkham City will be released Oct. 18 in North America and Oct. 21 in Europe.
- July 14, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Flannery O’Connor: Cartoonist
"Do you have any books the faculty doesn’t particularly recommend?”
You read that right. You may think of Flannery O’Connor as a writer of the sorts of books that are all words, but in her younger days she yearned to be a cartoonist—and she wasn’t half bad. Fantagraphics will publish Flannery O’Connor: The Cartoons in December, and Flavorwire has a sampling of her work, while The Guardian places her cartoon work in the context of her life and career.
O’Connor did both pen-and-ink drawings and linoleum cuts like the one above, and because it was done while she was in high school and college, most of it reflects that life. Her cartoons look a bit Thurbereseque, and in fact she used to submit them to the New Yorker, but without success. Ultimately she turned to prose instead, but as the Guardian article points out, the cartoons were notable in that they show that O’Connor took the outsider’s point of view from the beginning.
(via Peter Gutierrez, on Twitter)
- July 14, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson