2011 December
You’re invited: the Robot 6 third annual birthday bash
Batman: The Long Halloween #4
What do 20th Century Boys creator Naoki Urasawa, What It Is cartoonist Lynda Barry, former Lois Lane Kate Bosworth, the British Institution of Civil Engineers and Robot 6 have in common? We all share a birthday, Jan. 2!
And once again for our birthday, Jonah Weiland and the good folks at Comic Book Resources are letting us take over the CBR home page for our annual birthday bash. We’ve got a lot of good stuff lined up — interviews, previews, interviews, announcements, and hey, did I mention we had a bunch of interviews? — thanks to several of our friends in the comic industry. So much stuff, in fact, that we’re actually getting started a little bit early this year. We’ll kick things off at noon Jan. 1 and go for a few hours, take a break to get some food and sleep, then start up again the morning of Jan. 2.
So check back in with us between football quarters and movie marathons — comics are the perfect hangover cure. Happy New Year, and don’t forget to come back and see what we’ve got!
- December 31, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Shelf Porn Saturday | End-of-the-year shelves!
Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn! It’s been awhile since we had someone’s shelves to feature, and what a great way to end 2011 by posting someone’s collection.
Today’s shelves come to us from, simply, “The Dork,” who blogs regularly over at The Dork Review. “This is a collection of my stuff (minus the Yoda stuff; which is my wife’s) that I have been collecting since I was a kid,” he told me via email. He had previously posted it on his own site, and you can see that post right here.
If you would like to contribute some shelves, it’s easy — just send pictures and a brief description to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now, onto the shelves!
- December 31, 2011 @ 03:14 PM by JK Parkin
Chain Reactions | The Activity #1
The Activity #1
Image Comics released the first issue of The Activity a couple of weeks ago, by writer Nathan Edmondon and artist Mitch Gerads. The comic focuses on the U.S Army’s last secret special operations tribe, The Intelligence Support Activity, or Gray Fox. “Within Gray Fox is a team of elite men and women whose mission is flexible, whose technology is bleeding edge, and whose execution is precise and lethal. They are Team Omaha, and they serve The Activity.”
Edmondson has been making a name lately on espionage-fueled series like Grifter and Who Is Jake Ellis?, and with the second issue of The Activity due in a couple of weeks, I thought I’d go back and see what people thought of the first issue. Here are just a few of the reviews so far:
Brian Bannen, Unwinnable: “Buying a first issue of a new series can be a lot like gambling. Usually, you get a 50/50 chance of picking up a real stinker. The Activity, however, reads like Brian De Palma’s Mission Impossible. Nathan Edmondson (Olympus) pens the tale of an elite squad of military and civilian personnel, each with his or her own special talent. While their task still remains a secret, I enjoyed the spy-thriller feel Edmondson crafts and the uneasy resolution with which he leaves readers.”
- December 31, 2011 @ 10:05 AM by JK Parkin
Inside Henry Flint’s mind: A preview of his artbook Broadcast
Earlier this week on Food or Comics I talked about the then-upcoming Henry Flint artbook, Broadcast: The TV Doodles of Henry Flint, was coming out this week. Although my shop didn’t carry it and I’ve since ordered it from Amazon, the book’s publisher Markosia was kind enough to send us a few pages from the book to more fully understand it.
In case you’re unaware of Henry Flint’s work, let me run it down for you. Flint is a British artist who’s most frequently seen in the pages of the British comic anthology weekly 2000AD. For American audiences, you might remember him on two recent DC Series — 20006′s Omega Men or 2009′s The Haunted Tank relaunch. More recently he’s popped up doing the final issue of the Gears Of War comic series as well as an issue of Fear Itself: Fearsome Four.
For those expecting to see the measured lines that Henry Flint’s known for in his comics in this artbook, this isn’t it. Broadcast is a collection of art from him blowing off steam. As the book describes it, it’s “Henry Flint unplugged, off the leash, out of control.” It’s interesting to see what an artist will draw when he’s not doing it for work; it gives you a picture inside their mind and what comes out of their drawing hand. Here’s some samples from his art book:
- December 30, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Ken Penders releases new Julie-Su design
Last year, former Sonic the Hedgehog artist Ken Penders announced that he had retained the rights to all the characters and story lines he created while working on the comic (from issue #11 to #135), which is published by Archie Comics. Penders has sued the game companies Sega and Electronic Arts, claiming copyright infringement, and Archie Comics has sued Penders, asking the court to make a declaratory judgment on the rights question; that case is scheduled to go to court next month. It looks like a long shot, but if the court finds in Penders’s favor, Archie will be in a pickle, as they have not only reprinted those issues in digest form but also continued the storylines Penders originated, using the characters he now claims to own. (I reached out to the Archie Comics folks but they had no comment.)
In the meantime, Penders is keeping busy: He just revealed a redesign of Julie-Su, Lara-Su’s mother, for the graphic novel series he is working on, The Lara-Su Chronicles. It’s going to be an odd series, because even if the court decides that Penders should have the rights to the characters he created while working for Archie, they won’t give him the rights to Knuckles or Sonic, so the cast will be all supporting characters. On the other hand, it would be an interesting alternate universe for Sonic fans. Stay tuned!
- December 30, 2011 @ 12:25 PM by Brigid Alverson
Marvel, ESPN team up for Tebow time
NFL SuperPro v2.0
Although I’m not a big sports guy, I am aware of the cultural phenomenon that is Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow–mostly because of the Tebowing blog someone showed me some time back. And since the guy apparently already has a superhero name and a healing factor that rivals Wolverine, why not just go all the way and turn him into a Marvel superhero?
Marvel and ESPN, both part of Disney, have teamed up to create three pieces of art that ESPN’s SportsCenter and NFL studio programming will feature throughout the weekend, by comic artists Bong Dazo (above), Scott Koblish and Todd Nauck. The 144-second piece features a voice-over from NFL Sunday Countdown host Chris Berman. The video was up on YouTube, but has since been removed, but you can watch for it on ESPN this weekend.
- December 30, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics College | Jessica Abel
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.
This month we finally break Comics College’s glass ceiling (what took us so long anyway?) with an in-depth look at one of the many notable female cartoonists to come out of the alt-comix scene of the 1990s, Jessica Abel.
- December 30, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
The best of the best of the year lists
Infinite Kung Fu
With only a couple days left in 2011, here are a few more “best of 2011″ lists from the past few days:
• iFanboy has chosen DC Comics as their publisher of the year. They’ve also listed their best collections of the year, including Infinite Kung Fu, Mr. Murder is Dead, Bone 20th Anniversary Full Color Edition and the Walt Simonson Thor Omnibus.
• ComicsAlliance finished up their countdown of their top comics of the year, with Daredevil and Love and Rockets New Stories Volume 4 taking the top two positions.
• The A.V. Club has posted two separate lists–one focused on superhero and mainstream comics, the second on “graphic novels and art comics.” The mainstream list includes a separate “Best of” section that includes categories like best new characters, best one-shot and “best fix.”
• Kelly Thompson lists 13 “fantastic female creators” for 2011 on Jezebel, which is a companion piece to previous lists she’s done (i.e. no repeats). This year’s list includes Marjorie Liu, Carla Speed McNeil, Renae De Liz and Kelly Sue DeConnick, among others.
- December 30, 2011 @ 09:06 AM by JK Parkin
First look at Action Comics #5 — and the fate of Krypto
Wired’s GeekDad and Underwire blogs have an exclusive first look at Action Comics #5 which, as teased in the issue’s solicitation text, takes us back to doomed Krypton for some “keys facts about Superman’s past” — not the least of which is the apparent fate of Krypto. If you don’t want to know that last detail, you probably shouldn’t click the second link.
Action Comics #5, which features a main story by Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang, and a backup story by Sholly Fisch and ChrisCross, arrives Jan. 4.
- December 30, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | The done-right question
Green Lantern vol. 3 #19
Last week’s post discussed a couple of interrelated topics which I thought deserved a little more attention. One comes out of the idea that there can be a “Superman done right,” and the other deals with the development of a concept over time. Both of these are central to any fan of modern corporately-owned superhero comics, and in fact they inform much of our debates. However, they raise some thorny questions.
First off, the notion of “[character] done right” necessarily implies that the character can be “done wrong.” This is nothing new. Many fans might even say that the “wrong” examples far outnumber the “right” ones. For me, though, the problem comes when the “right” examples vary from the original conception of the character.
We can find examples of this in the various Green Lanterns. Writer John Broome, artist Gil Kane, and editor Julius Schwartz revitalized GL by making him an honest, fearless test pilot; but after a decade of straightforward adventures, Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams turned that on its ear. O’Neil and Adams also created Hal’s new deputy, John Stewart, a passionate architect dedicated to social justice. Nevertheless, for his role on the “Justice League” animated series, John became a hard-edged ex-Marine. This portrayal found its way into the comics, where it superseded John’s original (and somewhat lower-key) background.
- December 29, 2011 @ 02:20 PM by Tom Bondurant
Balloonless | Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes
There’s something deeply cynical bout Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes.
It’s not merely that it’s the latest of Chopra’s many Seven Spiritual Laws books, which began with the publication of 1994’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and include …for Parents, …of Yoga and …of Love.
Certainly it seems like a new coat of paint applied to a pre-written book in order to cash in on the emerging cultural popularity and importance of superheroes, and Chopra’s late career has intersected with superhero media of late thanks to his son Gotham Chopra’s involvement in the failed publisher Virgin Comics (now Liquid Comics) and some high-profile appearances at Comic-Con (including sharing panels with Grant Morrison). But Chopra doesn’t just repeat the same seven spiritual laws—for example, Superheroes and Success only share a single law; Superheroes and Yoga another—although ultimately the philosophies behind those laws, and the recommendations for fulfilling them, are the same.
No, more problematic is Chopra’s bluntly and repeatedly confessed ignorance of superheroes, at least of the comic book and movie variety he cites as examples to illustrate the laws (Batman, Storm, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and even The Beyonder are among them).
- December 29, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by J. Caleb Mozzocco
A very Vertigo Christmas from Phillip Bond
The above illustration is one artist Phillip Bond created an office party at DC for the floor that houses the Mad and Vertigo imprints. Encouraged to do it by his wife (and Vertigo editor) Shelly, this great piece of illustration is a mash-up of Rankin & Bass’ Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer with Mad’s Alfred E. Numan an a number of DC and Vertigo stalwarts. Shared with the world on Bond’s Flickr photostream, it’d make a great wallpaper for your computer. See if you can name all of the characters Bond drew.
- December 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Arrant
New Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors on the way
Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors does for super villains what Harry Potter did for magicians—throws them together into an elite boarding school and lets the dynamics of the schoolyard take over, with a bit of intervention from the adults. The first six-issue arc, published by Image, was very well received, and writer Mark Andrew Smith announced yesterday that the next six-issue series, Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors: The Battle of the Superhero Archives, has been written and the first three issues are drawn. Artist Matthew Weldon, who illustrated Smith’s The New Brighton Archeological Society, is taking over the art chores from Armand Villavert for this arc.
Smith isn’t letting any grass grow under his feet: “I’m starting writing on series three and hope that the third series can be drawn while the second one is being created,” he writes. It’s worth noting that Gladstone actually was published on a monthly schedule; the fact that Smith works with a generous buffer may have a lot to do with that.
- December 29, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Marvel prevails in lawsuit over rights to Ghost Rider
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a four-year-old lawsuit by Ghost Rider co-creator Gary Friedrich, who claimed the rights to Marvel’s fiery spirit of vengeance reverted to him in 2001.
Friedrich filed the lawsuit in April 2007, shortly after the release of Columbia Pictures’ Ghost Rider movie, accusing the studio, Marvel, Hasbro and other companies of copyright infringement, false advertising and unfair competition, among other counts. The film grossed $228 million worldwide; a sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, will be released in February.
The writer asserted he created Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider in 1968 and, three years later, agreed to publish the character through Magazine Management, which eventually became Marvel Entertainment. Under the agreement, the publisher held the copyright to the character’s origin story in 1972′s Marvel Spotlight #5, and to subsequent Ghost Rider works. However, Friedrich alleged the company never registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office and, pursuant to federal law, he regained the copyrights to Ghost Rider in 2001.
But The Associated Press reports that on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled Friedrich gave up ownership to the property when he endorsed checks that contained language relinquishing rights to Marvel’s predecessors. The judge said the writer signed over all claims to the character in 1971 and again in 1978 in exchange for the possibility of more freelance work for the publisher.
“Either of those contractual transfers would be sufficient to resolve the question of ownership,” Forrest wrote. “Together, they provide redundancy to the answer that leaves no doubt as to its correctness.”
“The law is clear that when an individual endorses a check subject to a condition, he accepts that condition,” the judge ruled, contending her finding made it unnecessary “travel down the rabbit hole” to determine whether Ghost Rider was work for hire.
- December 29, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Antarctic Press to stop selling Wimpy Kid parody
Diary of a Zombie Kid
Legal | Antarctic Press has agreed to stop selling Diary of a Zombie Kid and Diary of a Zombie Kid: Rotten Rules under the terms of a temporary restraining order issued Wednesday by a federal court. Wimpy Kid Inc. is suing Antarctic for trademark infringement, among other things, claiming that its Diary of a Wimpy Kid parodies are too close to the real thing. Antarctic CEO Joe Dunn signed the temporary restraining order, signifying that Antarctic agreed to it; the two companies are negotiating a settlement, according to court papers. One interesting tidbit: Diary of a Zombie Kid sold all of 850 copies in comics shops in August, while the first printing on the latest Wimpy Kid book was 6 million. [ICv2]
Retailing | The auction for the inventory of Arizona retail chain Atomic Comics announced last week has been moved to Jan. 10. [Sierra Auction Management]
Comics | Bayou Arcana is a new anthology of Southern Gothic horror comics with a gender twist: All the comics are written by men and illustrated by women. There are some pretty broad generalizations in this article — “There is a certain sensitivity that you find in women’s art that just does not appear in a lot of guys’ work,” says the project editor, James Pearson — but the project itself sounds interesting. [The Guardian]
- December 29, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin