2011 November
Chain Reactions | Fantastic Four #600
Fantastic Four #600
(Please note: Clicking on just about any of the links in this post will take you directly to spoilers for Fantastic Four #600.)
This week saw Marvel revert back to the original numbering for their flagship title, Fantastic Four, as they released the 600th issue of the “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.” The $7.99, 96-page comic contains five stories, all written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by a variety of artists, including Steve Epting, Rick Magyar, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ming Doyle, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan and Farel Dalrymple.
And just like they’ve done in the past, Marvel spoiled one of the plot points from the book in order to get mainstream media attention. One of the plot points, anyway; when Hickman was asked on Twitter about a particular article that contained a major spoiler, he replied, “… I haven’t read that article, so I’m not sure ‘which’ spoiler is being spoiled.” Yep, this comic book is just packed.
Here’s a sampling of what folks have been saying about Fantastic Four #600:
- November 26, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics College | Grant Morrison
Absolute All-Star Superman
Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.
Strap yourself in, kids, because this is going to be a big one, as we run through the lengthy and considerable career of one of mainstream comics’ biggest stars, Grant Morrison.
- November 26, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Mike Mignola’s ‘Year of Monsters’ variant covers kick off in January
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror #1 variant
As announced last summer at the San Diego Comic Con, Dark Horse has released the schedule for Mike Mignola’s 2012 “Year of Monsters” variant cover program. The variant covers, which feature Mignola drawing classic monsters, will be available to retailers who order five or more copies of the standard cover.
“Mike Mignola got into the comics business with the simple goal of drawing monsters for a living,” said Scott Allie, Dark Horse managing editor, in a press release. “Mike celebrates 2012 by pitting his greatest characters against his favorite monsters on these special covers, unrelated to the stories inside.”
The schedule for the first half of the year can be found below, which shows that at some of the covers will appear on the just-announced B.P.R.D. titles. Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1 arrives in stores on Jan. 11.
January—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1
February—B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1
March—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror #1
April—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #4
May—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Transformation of J. H. O’Donnell
June—Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy #1
- November 25, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Greg Guillemin’s art deco superhero poster set
Reinventing movie posters has become a cottage industry for artists and designers, and artist Greg Guillemin is putting an art deco spin on some of superheroes’ finest. Over on his Behance gallery Guillemin has poster renditions for Batman, Spider-Man, Green Hornet, Silver Surfer, Iron Man and even a Cyclops poster. Here’s three of them:
Guillemin is a designer based in France who has also dabbled in comics. Check out his website for examples of his design and comics work.
- November 25, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Toast the New 52 at Isotope Comics Dec. 3 with a JH Williams III-designed glass
Isotope Comics in San Francisco will host DC Comics’ traveling New 52 Art Tour in December, as all month long they’ll display six 11×17 sets of artwork (from script to inks to the final full-color production pages), along with every page from Batwoman #3.
And to kick it off, they’re planning a pair of events to kick it off on Saturday, Dec. 3. During the day they’ll host an all-ages autograph signing with Batwoman‘s JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman, followed that night by an afterparty with both creators, Batwoman-themed cocktails and special highball glasses designed by Williams. The afterparty is a ticketed event, and you buy tickets here.
You can find an image of the glass after the jump.
- November 25, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
Freakangels artist Paul Duffield prepares followup series, The Firelight Isle
After over three years and six volumes of comics, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield‘s Freakangels became one of the highest-profile webcomics to come from a traditional comics industry creator. But while Ellis was an established veteran, artist Paul Duffield was a newcomer who took to the project with aplomb. Now that the series reached its conclusion earlier this year, news of what the artist would do next has been something conspicuously absent… until now.
Duffield is returning to the field of webcomics with his own series, The Firelight Isle,which follows two teens (and lifelong friends) who live in a fantastical world of magic and mythology. Unlike FreakAngels which was financed by Avatar Press, The Firelight Isle is a labor of love for Duffield, and he’s set-up a fundraising campaign for it at IndieGoGo.
The artist plans to commit one day a week to produce the comic, resulting in a weekly update but not of the size of the work-for-hire FreakAngels output of six pages per week. Duffield isn’t formally launching the project for several months, but has set up a development blog to follow his process.
- November 25, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Achewood is back!
Chris Onstad put his critically acclaimed webcomic Achewood on hiatus earlier this year, citing the need to recharge his creative batteries and take a fresh look at the comic.
Fortunately, “indefinite” turns out not to mean “infinite,” and Achewood is back, with a new strip that was posted on Wednesday and a gentle reminder that tips are always welcome to keep the comic going. There is no commentary with the comic, but Onstad says “The hiatus has ended!” at the top of the page, so it’s safe to assume he will be posting regularly now.
(Via Storming the Tower)
- November 25, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
By Blackest (Friday) Night, no bargain shall escape my sight …
If you’re like me, instead of heading out to the mall to face the hectic Black Friday crowds (some of whom are apparently armed with pepper spray), you’re sitting at home nursing a turkey hangover and looking for good deals on the internet. Here are a few places you may want to check out for your gift-giving or personal shopping needs, and if you’re up for adventuring outdoors, Bleeding Cool has a great roundup of shops holding sales today.
Blackest Friday
ComiXology has a bunch of digital comics for 99 cents today. DC Comics is holding a Blackest Friday sale, allowing you to buy each issue of the Blackest Night crossover for 99 cents each. Marvel has Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four issues on sale for 99 cents, while IDW has their Star Trek comics on sale.
- November 25, 2011 @ 10:10 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Occupy Miami diary, Bill Mantlo followup
Occupy Miami
Creators | Sarah Glidden, creator of How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, chronicles her time at Occupy Miami Nov. 15-21 in a sketchbook. [Cartoon Movement]
Creators | Corey Blake follows up on the Bill Mantlo story published by LIfeHealthPro, including some clarifications of issues raised in the story and additional details on various fundraisers over the years to help pay for Mantlo’s care. [Corey Blake]
Creators | Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society Podcast interviews Skullkickers writer Jim Zubkavich about piracy and the Stop Online Piracy Act. [Berkman Center for Internet & Society Podcast]
- November 25, 2011 @ 08:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Sharknife V2: Double Z due from Oni Press in February
Sharknife V2: Double Z
The long-delayed followup to 2005′s Sharknife by Corey Lewis looks like it’ll finally hit comic shops early next year, according to Oni Press’ solicitations for next February. The solicitation text for Sharknife V2: Double Z says:
Caesar is just a busboy at the an Asian seafood restaurant, until that is, he eats one of the Guandong Factory’s famous magic fortune cookies — then he’s transformed into the astounding warrior, Sharknife, defender of delicacies and destroyer of dessert-interrupting monsters! It’s big action, big monsters, and big attitude in this big sequel from the Rey!
Lewis had noted on his blog in September that the book was done, and he is already working on his next project. In addition to the new volume, Oni will also release a new edition of the first volume in February with a new cover and some new material, a “Bonus Stage with Karate Ray.”
- November 25, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Grumpy Old Fan | Cornucopia 2012: Predicting the next wave
The Brave And The Bold #1, all-new for 1955
Since the end of 2011 is right around the corner, it’s as good a time as any to look forward to what DC may bring us in the next year. The fun part is, the (relatively) eclectic New-52 relaunch has made these sorts of predictions a little less accurate. Nevertheless, I think DC remains a fairly conservative publisher overall, at least in terms of the kinds of comics in its superhero-centric main line, so we can make some educated guesses. The fact that all but one of the New 52 featured well-established characters (and the 52nd was Batwing, buoyed by Batman Incorporated) doesn’t exactly hurt either.
* * *
Accordingly, we start with two of DC’s most prolific titles which haven’t yet been reintroduced in the New-52 context: Adventure Comics and World’s Finest Comics (or, as you might know it, Superman/Batman). Both were on the pre-relaunch roster, but neither appears likely to make a comeback. Pre-relaunch, Adventure had become the second Legion of Super-Heroes title, following a brief run of Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul Superboy stories. The New 52 has since filled both roles, both with Legion Lost and the Legion: Secret Origins miniseries, and with the revamped Superboy. Adventure could come back as an anthology, but the New 52 already has the ongoing DC Universe Presents and the miniseries My Greatest Adventure for spotlights and new-character tryouts. As for Superman/Batman, changes to the Man of Steel’s overall outlook may include this relationship. Put simply, I don’t see the New-52 Superman teaming up with the (same old?) Batman on a regular monthly basis — at least, not right now.
- November 23, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Your Wedesday Sequence 33 | Victor Moscoso
“Pablo Ferro Films” (1967). Victor Moscoso.
There’s always some education to be had from looking at comics by artists who are better known for their work in other media. Victor Moscoso is one of two members of hippie-era San Francisco’s legendary Zap Comix collective whose work on rock concert posters is arguably more notorious and influential than his comics. (Rick Griffin accompanies him in this category.) That isn’t to say, however, that Moscoso’s comics have wielded anything less than a tremendous influence over the past few decades, despite the fact that they remain somewhat under-discussed. Moscoso brought color printing to the medium’s underground, did work in Zap that anticipates the most adventurous of today’s experimental comics, and brought a cubist-inflected fine art sensibility to his pages that echoes in the work of cartoonists from Gary Panter to Art Spiegelman.
- November 23, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Matt Seneca
Dark Horse announces two Free Comic Book Day flipbooks for 2012
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dark Horse Comics has announced two flip books for next year’s Free Comic Book Day, scheduled for May 5, featuring four of their licensed titles — The Guild, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars and Serenity.
The first comic will feature a Buffy the Vampire Slayer tale that sees the title character finding it hard to take a vacation from “all things that go bump in the night,” paired with a Guild tale which features the group of gamers heading to the beach. The second title features a Han Solo and Chewbacca tale where the two have a falling out over one of their customers, paired with a Serenity tale.
You can find additional art after the jump.
- November 23, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Oliver Twist meets Occupy Wall Street in Bowery Boys
After posting last week about New York’s SVA magazine Ink, I discovered a unique project by one of the artists, Ian Bertram, and writer Cory Levine called Bowery Boys. Described by the authors as a coming of age story about four young men growing up in mid-19th century lower Manhattan, the creators are currently shopping it around to various comic publishers.
“I had recently read an article about how 19th century New York lacked a public sanitation system and garbage would be piled literally chest-high in the streets, and it led me to pitch Ian on a story set against an urban backdrop of the filth and congestion of lower Manhattan in that era,” Levine told CBR. “My thought was that the richness of his line work would really bring the setting to life, and the detail with which he draws would pave the way for the readers to immerse themselves in a period piece.”
Although Bowery Boys was written before Occupy Wall Street existed, it’s inspired by the very same elements even though the setting is over a hundred years apart.
“Bowery Boys definitely tries to tap into the cultural/political zeitgeist, and without affirming or dismissing the OWS movement specifically, it certainly acknowledges that an increasingly loud racket or rabble is demanding our attention and there is merit to that noise.”
Here’s a look at the cover and the first five pages of the series, although the duo plans to have it colored before publication.
- November 23, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Comic Couture | Mighty Fine releases expanded line of comic shirts for women
In the halcyon days when I was a young comics fan, getting a comics-themed T-shirt was hard to do; you might find a stray shirt in your local Spencers or might order a shirt by mail from Graffiti Designs, but even then your selection was small — and essentially non-existent if you were a woman. But with the advent of cheap t-shirt printing and the internet, that’s not a problem for today’s comic fans.
Earlier this week, T-shirt makers Mighty Fine expanded their line of women’s shirts with a number of unique designs, such as the Phoenix seen at right. These classic designs, plus some inspired by art nouveau Alphonse Mucha and 1980s fashion artist Patrick Nagel, make this the perfect place to buy gifts for the geek girl in your life.
- November 23, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Arrant