JK Parkin
Who are the Ravagers? (Really, I’m asking)
The Ravagers by Ian Churchill
DC Comics’ Source blog has been busy today, what with all the artist announcements and those Before Watchmen statues. And now they’re providing a look at The Ravagers, the new teen super team coming to the New 52 in May, courtesy of Howard Mackie and Ian Churchill.
The group includes Fairchild of Gen13 and, most recently, Superboy fame, along with Rose Wilson and, um … Timber Wolf’s younger brother? A Brood? Actually, they seem familiar, but admittedly Wildstorm characters are kind of my blind spot, and I’m guessing that’s possibly where they appeared before. So, tell me in the comments — who are the Ravagers? Do any of them look familiar?
- February 9, 2012 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Artist shuffle: Saiz moves to Resurrection Man, Dagnino moves to Suicide Squad [Updated]
Resurrection Man #9
DC Comics announced they’re reshuffling the deck a bit on the New 52, with Birds of Prey artist Jesus Saiz is moving to Resurrection Man and Resurrection Man artist Ferndando Dagnino moving to Suicide Squad. Both are effective with issue #9 of each series, which also happen to contain a crossover between the two titles.
“I’m going to miss Birds of Prey immensely, although it’s also true that I was dying to work on the Dark line of books,” Saiz told DC’s The Source. “There’s some very interesting stuff happening in these books, and I’ve always considered horror / creating dark settings are some of my stronger areas as an artist, and I really haven’t had many chances to flex those muscles working in this genre during my career. So…I think I’m really going to enjoy working on Resurrection Man! Crrrrazy fun!”
“Call me insensitive but I must admit I’ve really enjoyed killing Mitch twice or thrice per issue,” said Dagnino. “Nevertheless, it all falls into place knowing that he will be in Jesus’ hands now. This run on Resurrection Man has REALLY been loads of fun but now I must confess I am even more excited to take over the responsibility of dealing with such a thrilling cast of characters as the Suicide Squad. Harley…I’m coming!”
No word yet on who will be drawing Birds of Prey after Saiz, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out later today. The cover above, for Resurrection Man #9, is by Rafael Albuquerque.
Update: DC Comics has announced that Animal Man artist Travel Foreman is moving to Birds of Prey, and 1990s Animal Man artist Steve Pugh will return to draw the character in his current series.
“A big reason I love the Animal Man character so much is because of the work Steve did on the character back in the 90′s with Jamie Delano,” Animal Man writer Jeff Lemire posted on his blog. “In fact, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that I have been heavily influenced by a lot of the concepts Steve an Jamie created and represented them in my tenure on the book. So, to have Steve join colorist Lovern Kindzierski. letterer Jared K. Fletcher and I is a a dream come true for me. Steve is an incredibly talented illustrator as well as an extremely professional and reliable guy and with everything we have planned on Animal Man coming up, I know the Baker Family is in good hands!”
- February 9, 2012 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
Seth to illustrate new Lemony Snicket book series
Who Could That Be At This Hour?
Daniel Handler and Gregory Gallant are teaming up for a new children’s book series that kicks off this fall. That sentence may not mean a lot to you, unless you know that Handler is the real name of Lemony Snicket, the author of the mega-popular, best-selling A Series of Unfortunate Events children’s book series, and Gallant is better known as Seth, the Canadian cartoonist who created Wimbledon Green, George Sprott and Palookaville.
Who Could That Be at This Hour?, the first book in the “All the Wrong Questions” series, arrives in stores Oct. 23. Here’s a description of the book from its Barnes & Noble listing: “In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He began asking questions that shouldn’t have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not have been published, in four volumes that shouldn’t be read. This is the first volume.”
Publisher Little Brown plans a first printing of a million copies and has set up a teaser site to promote the book.
- February 8, 2012 @ 07:14 PM by JK Parkin
Scott McDaniel responds to Rozum’s comments on Static Shock
Static Shock #4
Last month former Static Shock writer John Rozum revealed his side of why he left the New 52 series after only a handful of issues. His reasons came down to creative differences with his editor and with artist Scott McDaniel–or, as Rozum said on his blog, “From the first issue on, I was essentially benched by Harvey Richards and artist/writer Scott McDaniel.”
Now McDaniel has posted his side of the story on his website, noting, “I have remained SILENT because I fear no good thing comes from this type of public display. However, John chose to bring this into the public square. He has forced me to speak openly about our experience together on Static Shock, to correct the public record before his grotesquely distorted account matures in people’s minds as the truth of what happened here.”
McDaniel’s post is lengthy, as he gives some context around the book’s origins, the pressure of following in the footsteps of Dwayne McDuffie and the original Milestone book and how a poll on CBR about the New 52 books from last summer indicated the potential challenges the book might have in the marketplace. He then shares his side of how the collaboration started and when it soured, going into detail on some of the plot points Rozum called out in his original posts on the subject.
As I said, it’s lengthy and a lot to digest, so I’ll refrain from cutting any more of it up to post here and encourage you to read it on its own. My takeaway from all this is that sometimes people just don’t work well together, even talented creators like Rozum and McDaniel. Hopefully both of them will have a better experience on their next projects (which I look forward to seeing). I do agree with Rozum’s previous statement about the potential for Static Shock to be a breakout comic for DC, so hopefully this doesn’t sour the publisher on revisiting the character.
- February 8, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading? with Simon Monk
The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week’s special guest is Simon Monk, an artist whose “Secret Identity” paintings we featured here on Robot 6 not too long ago. Monk is actually selling limited edition prints of his paintings on his website now, so go check them out.
To see what Simon and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
- February 5, 2012 @ 01:33 PM by JK Parkin
Shelf Porn Saturday | A prescription for awesomeness
Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn, where we give fans the opportunity to show us their collections, both big and small. And today we have one that falls into the former category, as Bryan Hodgson a soon-to-be pharmacist who shares his collection of graphic novels, statues, original art and more.
If you’d like to see your collection here, drop me a note at jkparkin@yahoo.com. Let’s make it happen!
And now let’s hear from Bryan …
- February 4, 2012 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Chain Reactions | Winter Soldier #1
Winter Soldier #1
This past week saw the release of Winter Soldier #1, as Ed Brubaker once again brings Bucky back with the help of Butch Guice, Bettie Breitweiser and Joe Caramagna. The ongoing series stars the former Captain America and Black Widow in kind of a Mr. and Mrs. Smith-like team-up book. An espionage thriller, the comic launches out of the revelation that the Russians created other Winter Soldier-like sleeper agents and features something I never thought would be a divisive plot point among readers–a gorilla with a machine gun. Isn’t that one of the universal truths in comics, that gorillas = awesome, and gorillas with machine guns = super awesome? Here are a few opinions on that, as well as the overall book itself …
Jesse Schedeen, IGN: “Darkness, espionage, and spycraft are all elements that essentially drained out of Brubaker’s Captain America series with the relaunch, to the detriment of that series. Luckily, these elements are all the prime focus of Winter Soldier. If you miss the grittier Captain America stories of 2005-2010, this book has exactly what you’re looking for.”
Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics: “…Winter Soldier is taking a mostly more-serious, grounded tone… but still reveling in all of the craziness that the Marvel Universe offers, like talking Communist gorillas, or cyborg Prime Ministers. I like that he’s taking established Marvel villains like the Red Ghost and his Super Apes and keeping their same spirit alive, but at the same time making them feel a bit more dangerous, for lack of a better word. The overall grounded feel for Winter Soldier doesn’t exclude the fantastic, it just makes them fit better into the book’s particular world view.”
- February 4, 2012 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Alex de Campi recruits Igor Kordey, Colleen Doran to help draw Ashes
Last month writer Alex de Campi’s Ashes, the sequel to the 2005 IDW series Smoke, hit a major pothole on the road to publication when de Campi and artist Jimmy Broxton split “over creative differences.” The writer offered refunds to anyone who contributed to the well-funded Kickstarter project and said she would look for a replacement artist.
Today de Campi posted an update that should make fans of Smoke happy–Smoke artist Igor Kordey “is coming back to do a 20-page flashback sequence that literally I know he will draw better than anyone else in the world (sorry, everyone else, but it’s true),” de Campi said on Kickstarter. She also said that A Distant Soil creator and Orbiter artist Colleen Doran has agreed to draw a sequence for the graphic novel as well.
De Campi said she decided to pursue multiple artists for the project while on a road trip from New York City to Mexico City. “I did a lot of thinking on I-81 about how to proceed with the book, and decided to go back to my original plan of having different artists draw different sections of the book,” she said. “Ashes breaks down really nicely into 20-50 page chunks (and a couple really small sections, 3 or 4 pages) based on location, time and secondary characters.”
She said she has reached out to “a ton” of other artists and will develop a new production and printing timeline once she’s nailed down artists for the entire book.
- February 4, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
The Variants wraps up its second season
The Variants, the humorous web video series set at Zeus Comics in Dallas, wrapped up its second season this week. The episode features the cast dealing with a potential investor and his attorney. “Can the Zeus employees handle their scrutiny, or will they throw each other under the idiot
bus in pursuit of vacation days and dental?” The episode also features appearances by Curt Franklin and Chris Haley of the webcomic Let’s Be Friends Again.
The episode wraps up a season that featured some fun moments, like the D&D episode and the guest appearance by Mark Waid. According to Zeus Comics’ Richard Neal, a third season is in the works for late summer/early fall. “There will be a couple of bigger cast and character announcements closer to the launch of the new season,” he said.
- February 3, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Now Read This | ‘Darkness’ by Boulet
from Darkness
This one has been making the rounds; I think I saw it first on Kate Beaton’s Tumblr, which I linked to earlier this week.
French cartoonist Boulet, who has worked on Dungeon with Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar, participated in a 24 Hour Comics event during the Angouleme Festival and came away with a delightful story called “Darkness,” which is kind of what it might be like to be roomies with Morpheus or Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance or the brooding elf from Dragon Age 2 or some other dark, mysterious, handsome stranger that can make the girls swoon just by the way he walks into the room. Boulet nails it perfectly and sticks the landing on a fun story.
- February 2, 2012 @ 04:03 PM by JK Parkin
Ryan Kelly teases a tasty new webcomic called Cocotte
Cocotte
Ryan Kelly, artist of Local and the upcoming Saucer Country, has posted a teaser on his blog for a new webcomic he’s doing with writer/chef Kat Vapid. Titled Cocotte, a word with a double meaning, Kelly describes it as a “frank, humorous, and often soul-crushing look into the world of cuisine and the professional kitchen environment, as well as a love letter to life in Minneapolis.” No word yet on when it launches, but we’ll keep you posted.
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- February 2, 2012 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Johnston and Hart heat up The Coldest City in May
The Coldest City
Wasteland writer Antony Johnston is teaming up with artist Sam Hart for a new Cold War-era graphic novel, The Coldest City. Due in May from Oni Press, the graphic novel is the first in a series of spy thrillers by the writer.
“I like working with shadows and mystery, whether it’s a horror story and there are literal monsters in the dark, or something grounded in real life where those monsters are people. Espionage is all about working with secrets and deciphering the unknown. In The Coldest City, the threat may be real, or it may not even exist at all. Finding the list is like chasing a phantom,” Johnston said in the press release, which also touted Oni’s history of espionage thrillers and historical fiction, from Queen & Country to the recent (and awesome) Petrograd.
The story is about British secret agent Lorraine Broughton, “an experienced MI6 officer whose assignments have taken her all over the world, but never to Berlin — making her an ideal candidate to infiltrate the city amidst the chaos right before the fall of the Iron Curtain.” She’s looking to recover a list of names of every covert officer from every intelligence agency operating in the city.
The black-and-white, hardcover graphic novel debuts in May 2012 and will retail for $19.99. A website for The Coldest City, with more information and sample scenes from the book, can be found at www.thecoldestcity.com.
- February 1, 2012 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Quote of the day #2 | Kate Beaton on pursuing new opportunities
“This is a funny job. Webcomics are often cited as the future of comics and the internet and I don’t know what else, but the fact that no one has retired from them yet means that I, at least, rest a little uneasy in these shoes sometimes if only for the lack of having a dependable compass by which to steer the ship. I just want to make the best decisions I can, so that I will be around longer, making drawings and comics and writing and other things that I hope people will enjoy. I’m not sure what will work out with these opportunities that have come my way, and I guess I can’t really say much about them, but I think I’d be a fool if I didn’t give them a try. So I am going to! Whatever I can let you know, I will.”
-Hark! A Vagrant creator Kate Beaton, explaining how the success of her webcomic and the subsequent print collection has brought a lot of offers her way, “from children’s books to television work,” which she plans to pursue. Which is good news for her, but the bad news is it means she won’t be updating her site with new comics as frequently. She has started a Tumblr where she’ll post sketches and other stuff in the meantime.
- February 1, 2012 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Ross Campbell to post sixth Wet Moon online before October release
Wet Moon Vol. 6
Wet Moon creator Ross Campbell has been posting pages from the sixth volume of his series of graphic novels online for awhile now, which isn’t due out from Oni Press until October. However, the always busy artist, whose work can also be found in Extreme’s Glory revival, Shadoweyes and his Mountain Girl minicomics, announced that he will begin syndicating pages from the book on the web. He also plans to post “other Wet Moon-related stuff” on the blog, like “maybe in-progress drawings, process notes, stuff about volume 7, maybe some History of Wet Moon type stuff like the pre-comic origins of the series …” Look for pages to start appearing Feb. 4.
- February 1, 2012 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Vertigo plans deluxe Death, new Ronald Wimberly OGN in late 2012
Prince of Cats
DC Comics unveiled their plans for collections, trades and original graphic novels yesterday for late 2012, both for the DC line (which included the Amethyst news) and for Vertigo. In addition to collections of ongoing titles like The Unwritten and the upcoming Saucer Country, the Vertigo list included a few items of note:
- Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland, which was supposed to be out last fall but was delayed until September 2012, has now been pushed back to November 2012.
- Just in time for Halloween is a deluxe edition that collects the various Death miniseries that Neil Gaiman wrote during his epic run on Sandman. It includes both The High Cost of Living and The Time of Your Life, as well as the Death-centric stories from Sandman #8 and #20. It also includes a bunch of shorter stories, like the Death tale from the 9/11 book DC put out and the infamous public service announcement piece about the proper way to put on a condom, starring Death, John Constantine and a banana.
- And in September Vertigo will release an new original graphic novel by Ronald Wimberly, who drew Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm and some other books for Vertigo. I’m not sure exactly what the book is about, but Wimberly has a Tumblr set up where he is posting art, like the piece up top.
- January 31, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin