2011 December
Chain Reactions | The Strain #1
The Strain #1
This week saw the release of the $1 first issue of The Strain from Dark Horse Comics, an adaptation of the trilogy of novels by director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) and novelist Chuck Hogan (The Town, Prince of Thieves). Stray Bullets creator David Lapham joins artist Mike Huddleston (Butcher Baker Righteous Maker, The Homeland Directive) in adapting the vampires-meets-Contagion story into comics form.
Here’s a sampling of what folks are saying about the first issue:
Rocco Sansone, Review Fix: “The Strain: Volume 1 does follow the original novel closely with the introducing all the main characters, the plane with everyone dead and the prologue with the old lady telling the tale of Jusef Sardu. Sometimes adapting a novel into comic form can be tricky and Dark Horse has managed to pull off the prologue and the first chapter in a good way.”
Big Tim, Giant Fire Breathing Robot: “The Strain #1 primarily focuses on a Boeing 777 at JFK International Airport that sits silently on the runway. Before long, fearing a terrorist attack, the Center for Disease Control calls in our hero, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, and his team of expert biologists. What does this potential terrorist attack have to do with an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem? Well, I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Taking the reigns of The Strain and translating it to comics, is Eisner Award-winning writer David Lapham, and judging by the first issue, he has captured the twisted mystery of del Toro’s imagination, firmly planted in the urban fantasy setting.”
- December 17, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Stan Lee’s Super Seven gets a new name and a release date
Mighty 7
It’s been almost two years since A Squared Entertainment and Archie Comics announced they were teaming up with Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to create a comic called Super Seven — not to be confused with the cartoon of the same name or the toy company with a similar name that filed suit for trademark infringement.
Now it looks like the project is finally going to see the light of day, although with a different name, as Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 is showing up on the Previews World site. The story involves seven aliens landing on Earth who are taught to be superheroes by Stan Lee himself. Alex Saviuk is penciling the book and drew both of its covers (You can find the variant cover for the book after the jump).
Look for it in March.
- December 17, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
The Tick’s 100th issue to guest-star Invincible
Although the TV show and classic, classic cartoon series may be gone, The Tick comic series is still going strong. It’s 100th issue comes out in March, and according to Diamond’s Previews World website, it will feature a guest appearance by Invincible and his girlfriend, Atom Eve.
The pair of heroes are transported to The Tick’s universe to help him battle Chairface Chippendale and a “mysterious and menacing new villain who makes even Chairface look like an ordinary umbrella stand.” The 48-page issue will also include a 20-page recap of The Tick’s career.
- December 16, 2011 @ 05:00 PM by JK Parkin
Dynamite’s Bionic Woman coming in March
Bionic Woman #1
Following their comic-book adaptation of Kevin Smith’s unused Bionic Man script, Dynamite will publish a Bionic Woman comic by writer Paul Tobin and artist Leno Carvalho.
Here’s the description from Diamond’s Previews World site:
Paris is the city of love? Not anymore… not since Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman, came to town hot on the trail of the Mission, a collection of insanely high-priced surgeons who’ve been murdering OSI’s bionic prototypes in order to provide new life for billionaire patients. But while the Bionic Woman is hunting the Mission, their #1 hunter is after her! Can Jaime pick up the pieces of her past while protecting her life in the present, or will the city of love turn its back, and its bullets, on the Bionic Woman? Acclaimed writer Paul Tobin brings you a tale of baguettes, bullets, and bionic badass!
The first issue comes out in March.
- December 16, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by JK Parkin
Robot reviews | Batman: Noel
Batman: Noel
Batman: Noel
by Lee Bermejo
DC Comics, 112 pages, $22.99
Let’s get this out of the way first: The very idea of grafting Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol story template onto the Batman universe is an inherently terrible one. Batman and Scrooge are two completely different archetypes. They have very little in common, and their character arcs go in wildly opposite directions. To do this sort of thing right, you’d have to first turn Batman into a real jackass — which I imagine DC would be reluctant to do — so that his eventual redemption at the end is all the more striking and heartwarming. That in turn raises the question of whether contemporary readers want a Batman who sees the good in everyone and spends more time helping widows and orphans than fighting crime.
Still, you can’t say this sort of juxtaposition is surprising. A Christmas Carol has been adapted in just about every medium hundreds of times, and just about every popular TV show or multimedia character has attempted a variation on it (I fondly remember the Family Ties rendition, for instance). Honestly, the only shocking thing is that it took DC this long to try something like this (and with that I await the reply of some knowledgeable fellow in the comments section to tell me that, yes indeed, DC’s done this sort of thing several times before).
- December 16, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Chris Mautner
The Fifth Color | The Impenetrable Wall of Comics
See? Even they're confused...
You’d be surprised by how many people don’t know how comics “work.” Really. Moms and aunts mostly, but a few granddads slide in or brothers or other assorted family simply don’t know or choose not to know. Mind you, it’s a little tragic to say that how comics work is unfathomable to anyone who, I don’ know, has functioning sight and understands how to read. You would think that the average Christmas shopper would be able to figure this out, but I stand before you as a retail clerk from a local comic shop and can announce with some shame that “how comics work” is apparently one of the mysteries of the universe.
With this in mind, it’s a little easier to understand how pop culture has accepted our sequential art and storytelling style. Comic book movies and TV shows (as we’ve gotten them in the new millennium) traditionally start at the beginning. People want to be there as our hero dons a mask for the first time or witness the tragedy of Uncle Ben’s death with them, any moment in which mortal man becomes …well, super. The idea that the new Amazing Spider-Man movie could bear the words “The Untold Origin” seems ludicrous since I’m pretty sure this is an origin well explored. But here we are anticipating a new story that’s the same story promising new information on what we already know.
Why? Because comic books are an impenetrable wall that no mere mortal can scale. Despite the fact that the tools are simple, despite the fact that basic characters and story concepts are now known around the world by the mass market, comics remain confusing. To the general public, the common knowledge may be there, but understanding lives underground with the Morlocks and Mole Men.
- December 16, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Carla Hoffman
Chris Schweizer shows his True Grit
Chris Schweizer just read True Grit, and as often happens with Chris, it has inspired him to pick up his drawing materials and start doing his own version. Check out the character sketches at his LiveJournal, and stay tuned for more: He just saw Sherlock Holmes …
- December 16, 2011 @ 02:15 PM by Brigid Alverson
D’Errico and Weibe team for Sky Pirates of Neo Terra webcomic
A couple of years ago, Image published Sky Pirates of Neo Terra, a fantasy-adventure miniseries based on the upcoming Nintendo DS game of the same name, and featuring gorgeous art by Camilla d’Errico (Nightmares & Fairy Tales, Burn). Now, with the impending debut of the game for Facebook and Apple devices, Day 21 Studios is launching a Sky Pirates of Neo Terra webcomic by d’Errico and Green Wake writer Kurtis J. Weibe.
The comic kicks off this weekend, with new installments appearing every other Friday telling side stories of characters in the Neo Terra world that weren’t explored in the Image comic.
“It’s in the stories that we don’t read or see in the main plot that characters can often come alive,” d’Errico said, “and in these snapshots we pull back the curtains to really get to know who they are.”
Day 21 is also giving away original pages of d’Errico’s art on the Sky Pirates Facebook page. You can see pages from the comic below:
- December 16, 2011 @ 01:15 PM by Kevin Melrose
Larry, Curly and Moe come to Papercutz
Nyuk nyuk nyuk! Papercutz, NBM Publishing’s all-ages graphic novel line, is launching a Three Stooges graphic novel by two veteran Archie creators, writer George Gladir and artist Stan Goldberg.
Gladir is the co-creator (with Dan DeCarlo) of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and was head writer for the best of the MAD Magazine clones Cracked, as well as one of the writers of Archie’s own version of MAD-type satire, Archie’s Madhouse, so he should feel right at home at Papercutz, whose line includes some very MAD-like parodies. The Three Stooges graphic novel Bed Bugged is a followup to the Three Stooges movie coming from the Farrelly Brothers this April.
But wait — there’s more! Papercutz is also planning to collect some classic Three Stooges comics, written by Norman Maurer and illustrated by Pate Alvarado, in a best-of format. Maurer joined the Three Stooges team when he married Moe’s daughter Joan (who will pen a foreword for the collection) and wrote several comics about the trio, some of which were illustrated by Joe Kubert. Maurer later became the Stooges’ manager and was a writer, director and producer for their movies in the 1960s.
If that whets your appetite, check out this bibliography of Three Stooges comics from days gone by.
- December 16, 2011 @ 12:16 PM by Brigid Alverson
USA Today selects best ‘graphic novels’ of 2011
Infinite Kung Fu
USA Today writers-about-comics David Colton, John Geddes and Brian Truitt have assembled a year-end rundown of graphic novels, webcomics and comic-book collections that’s part best-of list, part holiday gift guide. The books, in no apparent order, are:
• Flashpoint, by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert (DC Comics)
• Habibi, by Craig Thompson (Pantheon)
• Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads, by Kirk Demarais (Insight Editions)
• Bob Powell’s Terror, by Craig Yoe (IDW Publishing)
• The Death-Ray, by Daniel Clowes (Drawn and Quarterly)
• xkcd, by Randall Munroe
• Infinite Kung Fu, by Kagan McLeod (Top Shelf)
• Walter Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition (IDW Publishing)
• Who is Jake Ellis? Vol. 1, by Nathan Edmondson and Tonci Zonjic(Image Comics)
• The New 52 collection (DC Comics)
• An Elegy for Amelia Johnson, by Andrew Rostan, Dave Valeza and Kate Kasenow (Archaia)
• Hark! A Vagrant, by Kate Beaton (Drawn and Quarterly)
• The Homeland Directive, by Robert Venditti and Mike Huddleston (Top • Shelf)
• One Soul, by Ray Fawkes (Oni Press)
• Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case (Dark Horse)
Visit the USA Today website to read what they have to say about each entry.
- December 16, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Watch a holiday tribute to Calvin & Hobbes and Bill Watterson
If the season has you missing Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes — particularly, Calvin’s scenes of snowman carnage — you’re not alone. Jim Frommeyer and Teague Chrystie have created a wonderful short film called “A Very Calvin & Hobbes Christmas” that pays homage to those fondly remembered strips and delivers a touching message to their creator. For the curious, Frommeyer even walks us through the process.
- December 16, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Quote of the day | Louis CK and ‘the death of comic shops’
Louis CK
“Louis CK is described as a hero for circumventing the entertainment industry. If he made comics he’d be called THE DEATH OF COMIC SHOPS.”
– Girl & Boy creator Andrew Tunney, commenting on the experiment by comedian Louis CK to make his new standup special available for download for just $5, forgoing traditional distribution channels.
Within three days, the special had been downloaded more than 110,000 times, amounting to a profit of about $200,000 for the comedian. “This is less than I would have been paid by a large company to simply perform the show and let them sell it to you,” CK acknowledges, “but they would have charged you about $20 for the video. They would have given you an encrypted and regionally restricted video of limited value, and they would have owned your private information for their own use. They would have withheld international availability indefinitely. This way, you only paid $5, you can use the video any way you want, and you can watch it in Dublin, whatever the city is in Belgium, or Dubai. I got paid nice, and I still own the video (as do you). You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again.”
- December 16, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Wizard tries to ‘reach out’; Image Expo adds creators
Wizard
Conventions | Wizard’s executive chairman Mike Mathews tells Heidi MacDonald that after the resignation of former CEO Gareb Shamus, the company wants to be “a Switzerland of entertainment” and mend fences with members of the industry: “Gareb is one of these types of personalities who has taken strong positions over the years with various people in the industry and brands. And that kind of hurt us because of where we are trying to go — we’re trying to be a Switzerland of entertainment and we want to try to try to reach out to brands.” MacDonald notes the company is offering a $100 credit toward Wizard conventions to former Wizard subscribers whose subscriptions abruptly ended when the magazine was shut down. A new CEO is expected to be named early next month. [The Beat]
Conventions | Image Comics announced several more guests for the Image Expo, scheduled for Feb. 24-26 in Oakland, California. The lineup now includes Blair Butler, John Layman, Rob Guillory, Nick Spencer, Joshua Fialkov, Joe Keatinge, Jim McCann and Jim Zubkavich, among many others. [press release]
Organizations | The Associação da Luta Contra o Cancer is running an awareness campaign in Mozambique featuring images drawn by artist Maisa Chaves of Wonder Woman, Catwoman, She-Hulk and Storm checking their breasts for lumps. [Daily Mail]
- December 16, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Grumpy Old Fan | A full bracket for DC’s March solicits
OMAC #7
Since the March solicitations kick off the back half of the New 52′s first year, it’s probably worth noting that the whole line remains unchanged: no “midseason replacements” like Justice Society, but no cancellations either. If I hear relieved sighs from OMAC and Men of War, certainly Dan DiDio and Jim Lee have to be pleased generally that they’ve gotten this far with the 52 intact.
Well, pleased or stubborn, I suppose. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.
Ahem. Away we go…!
HISTORY LESSONS
One of my pet peeves about the New-52 is the sense that it lacks a meaningful “history.” For at least the last few decades, a reader might not have known exactly what had happened or when, but s/he could tell that these characters hadn’t just fallen off the turnip truck. I say this because the solicits for Justice League #7 and Flash #7 both allude to their books’ untold backstories. With Justice League, we’ll learn about membership turnover and other details of the five years between the League’s debut and today. (To be sure, some of that has already been alluded to in the League’s previous present-day appearances, like JL Dark #1.)
- December 15, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Quote of the day | Tom Neely: “I’m not marketing my semi-pornographic book to teenage girls.”
[KRISTY] VALENTI: I think there is a wolf cycle going on right now in indy comics; there was that werewolf anthology they put out at CCS.
[TOM] NEELY: I haven’t seen it.
VALENTI: I don’t know if it was the whole vampire-werewolf-zombie cycle or —
NEELY: I have no idea. I have specifically avoided reading most comics while working on The Wolf. Except for a few exceptions from friends, but I didn’t want to be influenced by anything contemporary or any external ideas. But I was very conscious of Twilight and all that stuff happening around me. And my mom was always like, “Oh, I think your book is gonna do really well, because everybody’s into werewolves and scary stuff.” And I’m like, “Mom …” And she’s like, “You should market this to the Twilight…” And I was like, “I’m not marketing my semi-pornographic book to teenage girls.”
[Valenti laughs.] That will get me arrested [chuckles].
It’s just a coincidence. It wasn’t any specific attempt to tap into that market, I was just off doing my own werewolf thing in my cave. And apparently there’s other stuff going on too — I didn’t even realize Jason did a werewolf story until somebody told me that the other day. So I haven’t really kept up with anybody [chuckles]. That’s what’s nice about finishing it, is now I’m getting to read all these books that I’ve avoided for the last five years. And someone else brought up that there’s a lot more sex in indy comics right now too. And I was unaware of that as well. Maybe there’s just something in the collective unconscious that’s leading us down that path. But it wasn’t any conscious attempt at being a part of that. I’m largely unaware; I guess there is a lot of it.
—Cartoonist and painter Tom Neely on pop culture and alternative comics’ mutual season of the wolf, in conversation with The Comics Journal‘s Kristy Valenti. He’s right — altcomix really are having a bit of a sexy time right now, and horror has gone hand in hand with that, for whatever reason. It’s interesting to think that even some of the artists responsible for this don’t realize it until they emerge from the trees enough to get a good look at the forest.
Valenti’s life- and career-spanning interview with Neely is a must-read, and not just because of insights like these into Neely’s wordless psycho-sexual-surreal-semiautobiographical graphic novel The Wolf, one of the year’s best comics. It paints a compelling portrait of how a restless and idiosyncratic artist can maintain a balance between pursuing his vision and the need to work with others — peers, publishers, day-job providers — to do so. His revelations about his failure to come to terms with Top Shelf for publishing his breakout book The Blot, the pros and cons of working as an animator for Disney, and his interaction with the alternative-comics scenes in Los Angeles and Portland all make for reading that’s both depressing and instructive. Check it out.
- December 15, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins