2011 December
Alan Moore and David Lloyd lend their talents to Occupy Comics
Alan Moore, who characterized the Occupy movement as “a completely justified howl of moral outrage,” has joined his V for Vendetta collaborator David Lloyd and more than 50 other creators for Occupy Comics, an anthology project inspired by the protests.
“It’s fair to say that Alan Moore and David Lloyd are unofficial godfathers of the current protest movement,” Occupy Comics organizer Matt Pizzolo told Wired.com. “It’s really amazing to see two creatives whose work was inspiring to street protesters join a creative project that is inspired by the street protesters. It’s a pretty virtuous cycle.”
Moore will contribute a long-form prose piece, possibly with illustrations, exploring the movement’s principles, “corporate control of the comics industry and the superhero paradigm itself.”
The project, being funded through Kickstarter, is described as “a time capsule of the passions and emotions driving the movement.” It will begin as single-issue comics, followed by a hardcover collection; a making-of documentary is also being produced by Patrick Meaney, director of Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods and Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts. With three days left in its fundraising campaign, Occupy Comics has raised $15,892, surpassing its $10,000 goal.
- December 6, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
New Angry Birds levels bring an Angry Birds Christmas webcomic
Although I fell off the Angry Birds bandwagon some time ago, based on the number of Halloween costumes I saw and all the Angry Birds merchandise on my nephew’s Christmas wishlist, the game still has a lot of devoted fans. Rovio, the game’s creators, have released another round of holiday-themed levels this month, and with them come a new Angry Birds webcomic, featuring holiday-stressed birds trying to find the missing Mighty Eagle. There are five strips up now, with more to come.
- December 6, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Corinna Sara Bechko & Gabriel Hardman
Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes
Several months back when I had the opportunity to interview Gabriel Hardman, there was one aspect of our discussion that I hoped I’d get to explore more, as the chance presented itself. That aspect was the Hardman’s potential collaboration on future projects with his wife, writer Corinna Sara Bechko. So, lo and behold, once the first issue of Bechko and Hardman’s Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes (BOOM! Studios) hit the stands, I convinced the creative team of Bechko and Hardman to do an email interview. In addition to the five-page preview of issue 2 that BOOM! Studios provided to CBR, it also was kind enough to give Robot 6 previews of pages 6 and 7 from the upcoming issue (which is coming out this Wednesday, December 7). To learn more about the creators’ approach on this project, please be sure to also read CBR’s August interview with them.
Tim O’Shea: Recently Corinna, you wrote: “Spending the last several months immersed in Apes has been a bit of a dream come true for both Gabriel and me.” What is it about full Ape immersion (so to speak) that’s so enjoyable for both of you?
Corinna Sara Bechko: I’ve always been drawn to post-apocalyptic fiction, and this is no exception. We’re both big fans and feel so lucky to contribute a little corner to the Apes universe. Plus, the folks at BOOM! and FOX have been an absolute joy to work with.
Gabriel Hardman: And it’s just fun to spend time inventing an original story that still fits neatly into an established world that we have a lot of affection for. I’ve always been frustrated with licensed books that can’t capture the feel of the original material. Immersing yourself in that world is necessary to make it authentic both in the writing and the art. Obviously when writing we’re trying hard not to directly contradict the established Apes continuity. When drawing the book, I think about it like I’m directing and production designing a lost Apes sequel. I’m not going to draw a prop that is out of place on that set.
- December 5, 2011 @ 05:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Archaia to publish new Labyrinth graphic novel
Archaia has been doing a nice job of preserving Jim Henson’s legacy in comics form, with their well produced Fraggle Rock anthologies and the upcoming graphic novel A Tale of Sand, which is based on an unproduced screenplay by Henson and his co-writer Jerry Juhl. Now editor Tim Beedle has news of another Henson project that will hit the shelves in 2012: A new Labyrinth graphic novel, written by Ted Naifeh (of Courtney Crumrin fame) and Adrianne Ambrose (Fangs for Nothing, Confessions of a Virgin Sacrifice) and illustrated by Cory Godbey (who has contributed to the Fraggle Rock comics). Beedle was the editor of the Return to Labyrinth graphic novels that Tokyopop published a few years ago, as well as Archaia’s Fraggle Rock comics, so he has plenty of hands-on experience with Henson’s work.
Archaia’s 2012 Free Comic Book Day giveaway is already getting the most buzz of any Gold Sponsor books, as it’s a 48-page hardcover filled with new comics, but this should seal the deal: The book will include a Labyrinth story by Naifeh and Godbey.
- December 5, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Emily Carroll’s His Face All Red and Other Stories headed to boookstores via Simon & Schuster
Webcomics wunderkind Emily Carroll is taking her deliciously dark comics to dead tree. According to Publishers Weekly, Simon & Schuster’s Margaret K. McElderry Books will be publishing His Face All Red and Other Stories, a book-length collection from the celebrated (mostly) horror-comic creator. The book will also be released in the UK through Faber & Faber and in Italy through Stile Libro.
As a big fan of Carroll’s vibrant colors, exquisite pacing, and genuinely creepy, genuinely bleak stories of murder and monstrousness, I’m really looking forward to this one. I’m doubly curious to see how her existing stories, which frequently make use of the “infinite canvas” of the web in terms of layout, translate to the printed page.
Carroll, might I remind you, had never drawn a comic prior to May 2010. So, y’know, holy smokes.
- December 5, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
A quick Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival photo diary
The main entrance to the Festival
Photo time once again! I had a marvelous time this past Saturday at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival and thought I’d share some pictures I snapped of the proceedings during my brief time there. Click on the jump link to see the whole shebang.
- December 5, 2011 @ 02:30 PM by Chris Mautner
‘It’s coming’ on Wednesday, apparently
It's still coming
After two months of teases, it looks like we may get some payoff on the “It’s coming” images that Marvel started running around the New York Comic-Con. The company has scheduled a live event this Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern to hopefully announce the project.
Since October, Marvel has run Phoenix-themed teaser images, with several of their top creators tied to it — Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Olivier Coipel, John Romiat Jr. and Adam Kubert. And in the recent Point One comic, the Phoenix entity popped up in the Nova story, which led to Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso confirming that it’s part of a “Marvel Universe event.”
“The Phoenix is the spirit of destruction and rebirth,” Alonso told CBR’s Kiel Phegley during a discussion about Point One. “It razes worlds to grow something new. It’s bad news if you happen to be part of that ecosystem; good news if you’re the next stage. And, as everyone knows, the Phoenix is nothing without a host. So, the question emerges: If the Phoenix is headed somewhere, where is that? And if it needs a host, who is that host? Because we all know what happened the last time it found a host!”
You can check out the panel from the Nova story featuring the big ol’ flaming bird after the jump.
Edit: It looks like “It’s coming” on Tuesday, rather than Wednesday, and “It” is a round-robin story featuring the X-Men fighting the Avengers. CBR has more.
- December 5, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
The Geof Darrow Superman cover that never was…will be
Remember that unpublished cover Geof Darrow drew for J. Michael Straczynski’s “Grounded” arc on Superman that we posted the other day? Remember Darrow saying to Inkstuds’ Robin McConnell that it never ran as a cover and that “it’ll never see the light of day” despite his “really nice guy” editor’s assurances to the contrary? Good news, Darrow fans: Both Darrow and DC confirm that the finished cover will appear in Superman: Grounded Vol. 2, on sale this Wednesday, Dec. 7. The crazy cat lady will get her time in the sun at last!
- December 5, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Ilias Kyriazis brings us 52 inches of merry marching DC characters
Comic artist Ilias Kyriazis, creator of the comics Blood Opera and Manifesto in his home country of Greece and, on this side of the Atlantic, Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression and Falling for Lionheart from IDW, has posted a 52-inch (heh) drawing of his 30 favorite DC Comics characters. And there’s a lot of fun stuff going on as the heroes and villains march forward … you have the Flash running in the background to make it to his #7 spot; meanwhile, #10 Alfred Pennyworth has a plate of Oreos and unfortunately found himself wedged between Martian Manhunter and Blue Beetle. And #19 Guy Gardner doesn’t miss the opportunity for a sneak attack on #2 Batman. It’s fun stuff; go check it out.
- December 5, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Darwyn Cooke on Watchmen 2: ‘Ah, get out, man’
From "Watchmen"
For a while now, Bleeding Cool has repeatedly linked Eisner Award winner Darwyn Cooke with the hotly rumored Watchmen 2 from DC Comics, driving the world’s Twitterati into a Walter Kovacs-like frenzy.
But if that’s the case, Mr. Cooke is unaware of his connection.
When I spoke with the Canadian cartoonist in a recent interview about his artwork for an upcoming issue of James Robinson’s The Shade, I asked Cooke point blank if he would be working on Watchmen 2.
Cooke responded, succinctly, “Ah, get out, man. That’s like three years old.”
Now if DC Comics was planning Watchmen 2, the publisher would not want the sure-fire hit to be announced as a throwaway line during an interview for an unrelated series, so Cooke easily could have been smoking out CBR News with a red herring.
And his answer did lean toward the question being “old” news and not “no” news, so DC Comics may very well be prepping a sequel to the groundbreaking maxi-series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It just doesn’t appear that Cooke will be playing a role.
Which is too bad, because Cooke writing, drawing or even thinking about the characters from Watchmen, especially The Comedian, would qualify as about as pitch-perfect as you could get in terms of a creator getting on board a project that would certainly come with equal parts praise and ire, if and when it is ever announced.
- December 5, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Jeffrey Renaud
Commissioner Gordon can’t shake Batman in SNL short
Emmy nominee Steve Buscemi has played a corrupt politician on Boardwalk Empire, a small-time crook in Fargo, a naive bowler in The Big Lebowski, and an offbeat private investigator on 30 Rock. Now add to that Gotham City police commissioner.
Hosting Saturday Night Live over the weekend, Buscemi starred as James Gordon opposite Andy Samberg’s Batman in a digital short about a lurky Caped Crusader with serious boundary issues. Check out the video, complete with a cameo by Aquaman, below.
- December 5, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Liquid Comics launches Graphic India
Liquid Comics (formerly Virgin Comics) launched a new digital comics initiative last week called Graphic India. (Note: The site doesn’t work properly in Safari.)
Graphic India intends to be India’s premiere graphic novel platform and community, leveraging Liquid’s large library of high quality content created by Indian creators, while also aggressively commissioning and showcasing numerous original stories by India’s greatest new visionaries.
It’s a smart move, as India has a burgeoning comics market; Archie Comics recently set up an office there. The Graphic India website features an array of online comics, interviews, and feature articles, as well as a graphic novel competition designed to flush out new talent and, the Indian media site MediaNama speculates, rounding up a whole lot of intellectual property that can be leveraged in different directions:
According to a report from Livemint, all the writers of 20 specially commissioned graphic novels will be given contracts but the copyright for these novels will remain with Liquid Comics. We hence assume that the company will probably use the digital rights of these graphic novels to create additional revenue channels like digital movie rights, mobile rights and so on.
Indian creators who are contemplating signing those contracts would be well advised to Google “Tokyopop global manga” before continuing. Still, with titles like Mumbai Macguffin and Ramayan 3392AD, this site looks like it has some promise.
- December 5, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Gareb Shamus resigns from Wizard World
Gareb Shamus
Gareb Shamus, divisive founder of the once-influential Wizard magazine, has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Wizard World Inc.
The publicly traded company announced the move in documents filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “The resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices,” Shamus wrote in his two-sentence letter of resignation.
Michael Mathews, the former CEO of interclick inc. who joined Wizard World in March as chairman, will oversee the day-to-day operations of the company until Shamus’ replacement can be found.
Shamus founded Wizard: The Guide to Comics in 1991, overseeing the rise of a magazine whose prosperity was inextricably tied to the speculator boom it helped fuel with its price guides, creator hot lists and enthusiastic coverage of new publishers like Image Comics and Valiant. By 1997, Wizard Entertainment had added Inquest Gamer and ToyFare magazines and extended its reach with the purchase of Chicago Comicon, later rebranded Wizard World Chicago, setting the company on its long, and occasionally rough, path to becoming a major organizer of regional conventions (earlier this year Wizard World briefly trumpeted 12 cities before slashing that number to eight).
However, the following decade wasn’t as kind to Wizard or the comics industry, with the magazine seeing its circulation dwindle to about 17,000 copies by December 2010. A month later, Shamus abruptly announced the closing of Wizard and ToyFare, the company’s last remaining magazines, and the subsequent launch of an online magazine, a move he later characterized as “the smartest business decision I’ve made in years.”
But about two weeks ago, the digital magazine that Shamus had boasted reached “millions of people” apparently disappeared from the Internet, just about the time that its founder launched a blog on the Wizard World site. Now that, too, is gone. His new Twitter account remains — although he hasn’t written an update since Nov. 28.
Wizard World hopes to have Shamus’ successor in place by Jan. 15.
- December 5, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Alan Moore responds to Frank Miller’s Occupy remarks
Alan Moore
Creators | Watchmen writer Alan Moore responds to recent comments made by The Dark Knight Returns creator Frank Miller: “I think that the Occupy movement is, in one sense, the public saying that they should be the ones to decide who’s too big to fail. It’s a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it. I’m sure if it had been a bunch of young, sociopathic vigilantes with Batman make-up on their faces, he’d be more in favour of it. We would definitely have to agree to differ on that one.” [Honest Publishing]
Conventions | Tom Spurgeon files a lengthy report from the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, held Saturday in New York City. [The Comics Reporter]
- December 5, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
What Are You Reading? with Andy Burns
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Our special guest today is Andy Burns, editor-in-chief of the pop culture site Biff Bam Pop!, which is doing a holiday gift guide with giveaways through Dec. 24. You can follow them on Twitter for more information.
To see what Andy and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …
- December 4, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin