2011 December
Top Cow extends voting for Pilot Season due to website crash
Last weekend I posted about Top Cow’s website crashing in the final days of voting for this year’s Pilot Season prospects, and today we have the good news that the publisher is back online and extending voting through the end of the year. In a press release, Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik explained that the site was simply overwhelmed with more votes than the publisher anticipated.
“The number and velocity of votes completely exceeded our expectations, and this is the sort of high class problem you don’t mind solving,” Sablik explained. “All of us at Top Cow are eager to see which Pilot Season competitor emerges victorious.”
According to the press release, TopCow.com has been restored and moved over to a more substantial server with increased capacity for traffic. The first round of voting has been extended through Dec. 31 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, with the top four vote-getters going on to a second round, and the top two from that to go to a final round. Stay tuned for more news on the contest as it develops.
- December 28, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Chris Arrant
CM Punk, Jill Thompson and Marvel tag-teaming in 2012?
CM Punk
CM Punk is currently on top of the wrestling world; he’s not only the current WWE champion, but he’s also one of the WWE’s most popular and most talented performers, both on the microphone and in the ring. So where do you go when you’ve conquered the squared circle? Movies? TV? Disneyland? In Punk’s case, it might be comics.
Punk is no stranger to comics, as he talks about them on Twitter and was the subject of one of Marvel’s Fightin’ Fanboys segments. He also sometimes quotes the Thing’s “It’s clobberin’ time!” on his way to the ring. Earlier today a series of tweets took the idea of Punk actually writing comics right to the top of Marvel Comics, ending with Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso saying, “…let’s make it happen.”
- December 28, 2011 @ 02:56 PM by JK Parkin
Female Superheroes: Batgirl
I have to think of a better title for this project than “Female Superheroes.” That doesn’t describe very well what I’m hoping to do. I explained the experiment’s concept last week, but the gist of it is to take a close look at superhero comics named after female characters and determine which are worth supporting and which aren’t. First up: Gail Simone and Ardian Syaf’s Batgirl.
I grew up on Adam West Batman reruns, so I expect certain things from Batgirl. She needs to be smart, she needs to be brave, and she needs to brighten up the joint whenever she’s around. Batgirl as I learned her isn’t driven by a dark quest for justice; she fights crime partly because it’s fun; mostly because it’s just the right thing to do. Because I learned her that way, it’s been difficult for me to get interested in the post-Barbara Gordon versions of the character.
I know some of you are already getting ready to tell me about Stephanie Brown, but I do know about her and you’re right. My problem is that I never gave her a chance after Cassandra Cain. I liked Cass as a character, especially when Dylan Horrocks was writing her series, but she never felt like Batgirl to me. Her darkness made her interesting (though I’d argue no more interesting than Barbara Gordon), but it also made me uneasy about her using that name. She was alright as a Batgirl, but she was going to have to lighten up considerably before she could be the Batgirl.
Stephanie Brown had her own obstacles when she stepped into the role, what with being killed in an extremely controversial way and then made the poster-child for proper treatment of female superheroes. I’m not saying that she shouldn’t have been the symbol of that campaign; I’m just saying that the justifiable frustration around how she was treated leaked into my reading of her as a character. It was aces that she was getting to be the new Batgirl – good for her – but though it was a great move for Stephanie, I didn’t want to read about another Batgirl who had that much baggage.
You see where I’m going with this.
- December 28, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Michael May
CLiNT teases prelude to Millar and Yu’s Supercrooks
CLiNT magazine has unveiled a jittery, Se7en-esque trailer teasing a prelude to Supercrooks, the upcoming supervillain-heist project from Mark Millar, Leinil Francis Yu and Nacho Vigalondo. CLiNT #15, which includes the exclusive lead-in story, goes on sale March 28.
- December 28, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Amala’s Blade: Steampunk, pirates, and the Dalai Lama
The mythic world of Steve Horton and Michael Dialynas’s Amala’s Blade is divided into two warring groups: Modifiers, who use technology to improve their bodies and eliminate defects, and Purifiers, who eschew such modification. Amala, a young girl, is chosen to become the new leader of their country and to bring the two tribes together, but when strangers arrive at her house to bring the news, she flees into the night and joins a band of assassins instead.
Amala’s Blade will run as a three-part series in Dark Horse Presents, starting with issue #9 (on sale in February). The series kicks off with a battle of wits and weapons between Amala and a pirate captain. I was intrigued by the premise, so I asked Horton and Dialynas to explain where they got the idea for Amala and where they are hoping to take it; Dialynas also shared some of the concept art.
Robot 6: Let’s start with the elevator pitch: What is Amala’s Blade about, and how is it different from all other adventure/steampunk comics?
Steve: Amala’s Blade is about a girl picked at age 8 as a spiritual leader, raised by the state to stop civil war between two halves of the same country. She runs away instead, is kidnapped, and ignites 20 years of war. Recruited into a sword orphan cult instead, she’s trained as an assassin, and now she’s the sole surviving member. Making her way as a killer for the unscrupulous Vizier, her past is catching up with her in a hurry. To be honest, there aren’t a whole lot of adventure/steampunk books out there, and there’s certainly nothing at all like Amala. I wanted to do it because it was different, fun, and had exactly the right artist in Michael Dialynas.
Continue Reading »
- December 28, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
BOOM! lines up awesome team for Adventure Time
A few months ago, I picked up Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline’s minicomic The Potter’s Pet and was really impressed — it’s a cleverly written, beautifully drawn, handsomely produced little comic. I have been a fan of Lamb’s work since I discovered his (unfortunately incomplete) webcomic Kitty Hawk years ago; Paroline’s work was new to me, but her lively lines quickly made me a convert.
So I was delighted to see that they will be handling the art for BOOM! Studios’ Adventure Time comics, which are based on the animated Cartoon Network series.
Everyone else seems to be excited about the concept here, but we don’t watch a lot of Cartoon Network in our house and, to be honest, I have never seen the show. It’s the creators who have me interested in this series, which is the opposite of how things used to work with licensed comics. When I was a kid, the Disney comics I read all looked alike, and they weren’t signed because the Disney folks wanted me to think that they all flowed from Walt Disney’s magic pen. More and more, though, creators are putting their own stamp on licensed comics and becoming an important part of the package. Think of Roger Langridge’s run on The Muppet Show comics, or Dan Hipp’s reinvention of Ben 10. What’s more, licensed projects give artists a chance to work on their skills and bring in a regular paycheck without the risks of creator-owned work. If you want to see the up-and-coming artists of the next decade, check out BOOM!’s Pixar and Muppets comics or Archaia’s Fraggle Rock anthologies.
Lamb and Paroline have honed their craft working on BOOM!’s Muppet comics: Paroline was the artist and Lamb the colorist for Muppet Snow White, which is apparently out of print, and Paroline actually drew the Muppet Show #0 comic. From what I have seen, Adventure Time will be worth picking up for their art alone.
- December 28, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Drunken Incredible Hulk arrested for dealing drugs
Drunk Hulk
Crime | A drunken Coventry, England, man was arrested for selling drugs outside a nightclub while dressed as the Incredible Hulk. According to the article, “Police were alerted by his costume which was based on the TV and film character who becomes green and superhuman when angry.” [Coventry Telegraph]
Creators | Dinosaur Comics creator Ryan North discusses his work on BOOM!’s upcoming Adventure Time comic. [ComicsAlliance]
Creators | Colleen Doran posts some character designs she worked up years ago for a never-completed animation project written by Warren Ellis; she admits to using Star Trek actor George Takei as the model for the main character. [A Distant Soil]
- December 28, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
The Middle Ground #83 | Five of my favorites
“Best Of”s are always a problem for me; I get plagued by the knowledge that I know that I’m going to forget something really important – The list of important things that I’ve forgotten in my life is both embarrassingly long and just plain embarrassing, trust me – as well as the fact that I’ve just not managed to read all the good stuff released this year. How can I claim that something is one of the Best 10 Whatevers of the year if there’s another something I suspect may be even better, if only I could finally get around to making time for it?
And yet… ’tis the season, isn’t it? With 2011 just days from crawling out the backdoor, ashamed at its behavior and hoping that no-one will think too ill of it in future, this is the point where everyone looks back and picks their favorite things of the past twelve months. “Favorites” is a far more accurate term; less definitive, true, and less likely to get hits because of that, but it’s more true to say “I liked these the most” than “These are objectively the greatest,” isn’t it? And so, in no particular order and with the warning that I will inevitably have forgotten something important and wonderful, five of my favorite books of 2011: Continue Reading »
- December 27, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by Graeme McMillan
Food or Comics? | Char-broiled Chase
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
DMZ #72
Chris Arrant
If I had $15, I’d reverently pick up the big release of the week: the final issue of DMZ, #72 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99). Wood and Burchielli have done something special here, and I easily see the series taking its place next to Preacher and Transmet as Vertigo (and mature comic) staples. Next up I’d get a dose of a new Vertigo series, Spaceman #3 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99); Azzarello and Risso definitely zigged when most thought they would zag, and in this shaking off of the long shadow of 100 Bullets they’ve created something decidedly unique and spellbinding. Next up I’d get another DC book, this time All Star Western #4 (DC, $3.99); I’ve really enjoyed Palmiotti and Gray taking Jonah Hex into the big city here and opening up the world and heroes of these tumbleweed times, and I’m excited for the new back-up featuring a literal firebrand of a female. Finally, my last book on a $15 budget would be Avengers: Children’s Crusade #8 (Marvel, $3.99); I could write a whole article on how the schedule’s affected this book, but despite all that what we’ve got is a great story. Despite all the delays, I’m apprehensive about the final issue because it’ll probably be the last we’ll see of Allan Heinberg in the Marvel U for a long time.
If I had $30, I’d thank the yuletime gods and pick up the vibrant new issue of Haunt, #20 (Image, $2.99). I don’t know what’s in the water at Image, but they’ve orchestrated a series of recent inspired and left-field revamps of their books: Casey/Fox on Haunt, the upcoming Keatinge/Campbell on Glory, Graham/Roy on Prophet. Next up I’d get Top Cow’s Artifacts #12 (Image/Top Cow, $3.99); I admit coming onto this series late, but thanks to a plush assignment I was able to tear through the past two years of Top Cow comics and found I really enjoyed their current event book. After I read and re-read that book, I’d get a double-shot of Marvel with Captain America & Bucky #625 (Marvel, $2.99) and FF #13 (Marvel, $2.99); love what the writers are doing here, but the recent choices by editors for their new artists have made both these books even more enticing for me. Juan Bobillo drawing Hickman’s scripts on FF especially gives it a creepy vibe I’d love to see more of. Speaking of art, my final pick for this final week of the year would be the artistic tour de force of Flash #4 (DC, $2.99); Manapul and Buccellato are really showing their stuff, providing story to enable Manapul to do some of the most dynamic and heart-wrenching work of his career. In the back of my mind I’m worried what happens when Manapul needs a break from drawing: much like finding an appropriate artist for J.H. Williams 3 to rotate with on Batwoman, a suitable second for The Flash will be hard to come by.
My splurge this week is the under-the-radar collection Broadcast TV: Doodles of Henry Flint (Markosia, $19.99). I’d buy an art book by Henry Flint on face value alone, but from the limited previews I’ve seen of the book online it’s something far, far more unique. These are off-hand doodles Flint’s done in his spare time over the past five years, but I’m not talking about quick sketches: “doodles” as in ornate mind-benders where Flint literally doodled his heart out. Once I get this in my merry hands, I’ll be going over it with a fine tooth comb, magnifying glass and anything else I can find.
- December 27, 2011 @ 04:26 PM by Michael May
Kevin Eastman auctions off his studio to benefit the Hero Initiative
If buying an entire comic shop on eBay is out of your price range, this might be more your speed: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman is auctioning off his art studio, with some of the proceeds going to benefit the Hero Initiative.
Technically it’s not his whole studio, as that’s attached to his house, but it is all of the contents contained therein. That includes his drawing table and chair, 600 DVDs, original art, action figures, rare T-shirts and a whole bunch more. Check out the video up top to see him give a tour of the studio. Eastman will also make an appearance at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles on Jan. 4 to count down the end of the auction.
Right now the bidding is at just over $4,000, with eight days still to go.
- December 27, 2011 @ 03:18 PM by JK Parkin
Tom Brevoort revisits the Marvel Age of Comics
Jim Steranko's "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." Christmas card
Tom Brevoort, Marvel’s senior vice president of publishing, has begun digging into his archives for The Marvel Age of Comics, his new Tumblr blog devoted to “rarities and original art from the formative days of Marvel.” It launched just yesterday, and there’s already some terrific images, including a page of original art from 1941′s Captain America Comics #6, John Byrne’s character sheet for Kitty Pryde and, above, Jim Steranko’s Christmas card from when he was working on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- December 27, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Notes from across the pond
The U.K. comics scene has been heating up of late, and we can only hope that 2012 will see a British Invasion of the comics variety. The BBC has coverage of the latest development: The launch of The Phoenix, a weekly children’s comic published by David Fickling (whose David Fickling Books is an imprint of Random House). The name is apt: The Phoenix is a reprise of an earlier attempt, The DFC, which garnered a lot of praise but shut down after 43 issues. The Phoenix is launching with a nice lineup of stories and talent, including Neill Cameron, Simone Lia, Gary Northfield and Jamie Smart (who draws Desperate Dan for the long-running weekly The Dandy). Unfortunately, it’s print-only and not available digitally, so most U.S. readers won’t get to see it just yet.
Meanwhile, Strip Magazine, a monthly comic dedicated to serialized action tales, has released its second issue. Unlike The Phoenix, Strip is available digitally as an iPad app, which means we Yanks can read it, too. (I think the high point of my year was learning that The Beano and The Dandy are now available as iPad apps.)
If you’re not quite ready to let go of Christmas yet (hey, it’s supposed to be 12 days!), check out the classic British Christmas comics that Lew Stringer (another talented artist) has posted at his blog. It’s a fascinating look back in time. Dandy artist Andy Fanton posts a more modern Christmas comic (very much in the Dandy style) at his blog.
And finally, we had the U.S. release last week of Nelson, the collaborative graphic novel by 54 creators, each of whom contributed a chapter about one day in the life of a young woman. The contributors include Roger Langridge, Duncan Fegredo, Warren Pleece, Posy Simmonds and Darryl Cunningham, and publisher Blank Slate is donating the proceeds from the sale of the book to the homelessness charity Shelter.
- December 27, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
L.A.’s Golden Apple Comics for sale on eBay
Golden Apple Comics
The owners of Golden Apple Comics have decided to exit the comics retail business and have put the Los Angeles-based comic shop up on eBay for $679,000.
According to the listing, owner Sharon Liebowitz is nearing retirement and wishes to divest herself for personal reasons. Her son, Ryan, general manager of the store, “is excited about the prospects of continuing his career that he put on hold in 2005 to run the family business.”
The sale includes the company logo and website, their customer database, various physical assets like computers and furniture, and more than $300,000 in existing inventory and collectibles. As a bonus, the shop is located right across the street from the world-famous (and awesome) Pink’s Hot Dog Stand, and the new owner will have great upstairs neighbors.
Check out the listing for more information. The details on what’s for sale are in an image, and if it won’t load for you on eBay, you can find it here.
- December 27, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Xeric winner rewrites history
Seamus Heffernan’s Freedom explores what life would be like in Boston if the upstart colonists lost the American Revolution. The main character, Adam Farr, is a teenage apprentice who ends up caught between the British army and the insurgents who haven’t given up the dream of liberty, as Heffernan explains to J.L. Bell in a fascinating five-part interview at Bell’s history blog, Boston 1775.
Heffernan tells Bell that he got the idea during a discussion of heroes in 2005, at the height of the War on Terror. Later on, he explains further:
- December 27, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Filling void left by Atomic Comics bankruptcy
Atomic Comics
Retailing | In the wake of the August closing of the Atomic Comics chain, Mesa, Arizona-area retailers are searching for ways to diversify in an attempt to keep their own stores afloat. Mike Banks, owner of Samurai Comics, has even opened a new location next to Atomic’s former flagship store to serve customers who suddenly found themselves without a comics shop. [East Valley Tribune]
Creators | Mike Mignola talks about his plans for next year’s Hellboy in Hell: “It’s a personal story about him, but with huge ramifications for the structure of Hell. I’m trying to get Hellboy free of the giant, Beast-of-the-Apocalypse storyline. That story has to get bigger before it can be put away. This first arc is the culmination of all the prophecy crap I’ve been trotting out throughout the years. We put a lot of things to bed.” Mignola also discusses his plans for B.P.R.D. and why he can’t watch the pilot of The Amazing Screw-On Head. [io9]
Creators | Tom Spurgeon continues his holiday interview series with a lengthy chat with Jeff Parker that spans his early comics-reading experiences, the influence of his artistic background on his writing, and his career at Marvel. [The Comics Reporter]
- December 27, 2011 @ 07:15 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin