Comic Book Resources

Straight for the art | Can you find the throwing star?

Usagi Hidden Pictures

I remember as a kid one of the highlights -- ok, the only highlight -- of going to the doctor's office was getting to read issues of Highlight magazine in the waiting room. My favorite feature, besides "Goofus and Gallant," was "Hidden Pictures," where you had to find all the hidden items in a picture. Now Stan Sakai has taken a page from the magazine -- page 14, to be exact -- and made a Hidden Pictures featuring Usagi Yojimbo. Tip: Always check the clouds and tree leaves first ... click on the link to go check out the full image

Zudist Colony: Talking to November's Zuda contestants

Every month since late 2007, Zuda Comics hosts a competition between webcomics, with the winner becoming a regular strip on the site. In Zudist Colony, I interview the contestants via email, asking each of them the same five questions, which hopefully gives you a little more insight into the strips and the creators themselves.

So here we go ...

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Straight for the art | Mark Chiarello's Josh Gibson print

Josh Gibson

DC art director Mark Chiarello shares a print he did of baseball player Josh Gibson for the Josh Gibson Foundation. The organization will sell them as a fundraiser, starting in a few weeks.

Straight for the art | Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA

Tim Burton's Joker

MTV.com has pictures from the Tim Burton Museum Of Modern Art Exhibition going on in New York, which includes artwork the director created for his Batman movies and his never-made take on Superman. You can also read their related article here.

Limited edition Usagi Yojimbo shirts arrive in L.A., San Francisco this weekend

Usagi Yojimbo T-shirt

Dark Horse Comics has teamed up with clothing label The Hundreds to release two limited edition T-shirts featuring new Usagi Yojimbo art from Stan Sakai. The shirts are limited to 200 of each design and will be released this Saturday at the Hundreds locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In addition, Sakai will be at the Hundreds location in L.A. from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. to sign copies of Usagi. The first 25 people will receive a signed copy of the recently released Usagi Yojimbo graphic novel, Yokai.

“I am always excited to hear stories of the impact of Usagi on other creative individuals, especially those working outside of comics,” Sakai said in a press release. “I hope that this collaboration exposes a whole new group of people to Usagi, and comics in general. I'm grateful to have had the chance to work on this project with Bobby and everyone at The Hundreds.”

“Much of what I do today, as creative director for the Hundreds, stems from poring over Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo art as a youth,” said The Hundreds co-founder Bobby Kim. “To this day, it was one of the most influential comic books in my life, and so it was an honor to work with Stan on two exclusive pieces of art for The Hundreds. To any fan of The Hundreds, it is important to acknowledge and appreciate Usagi Yojimbo’s inspiration to the brand.” You can read more of this thoughts on Usagi on the Hundreds' blog.

More T-shirt images and a flyer for the events can be found after the jump ...

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'The music that will rock your eyes'

The Kids of Widney High

The Kids of Widney High are a group of students with developmental and physical challenges from J. P. Widney High School, a special education center in Los Angeles, Calif., who write and perform original songs, appear in movies like The Ringer and, according to a press release I received today, also write comics.

Per the release, The Kids of Widney High: Beyond the Sky’s the Limit is written entirely by members of the band and illustrated by Chuck B.B., Jim Mahfood, Rafael Navarro, Rikki Niehaus, Neal Von Flue, Robbi Rodriguez and Chris Brandt.

“The comic book medium provided a new way for the members of the band to not only communicate some of their challenges and frustrations, but many of their triumphs and fantasies as well,” said editor/publisher Mike Wellman. “All of the dialogue spoken by the characters in the book was drawn directly from quotes recorded during story sessions and really captures the spirit of the band. It was a very unique way to tie a story together!”

The book's in the current issue of Diamond's Previews catalog and will be published by Atomic Basement Entertainment. Kids of Widney High member Tony Whitfield proudly says that the comic is “the music that will rock your eyes!”

Robot 6 Q&A | Andi Ewington on Forty-Five

Forty-Five

If you found out your kid was possibly going to be born with super powers, you'd probably want to do a little research into what exactly that meant. For fictional journalist James Stanley, that means conducting 45 different interviews about super powers and how they've changed the lives of the people who have them.

This December Com.X is publishing an illustrated book that collects those 45 interviews called, naturally Forty-Five. Written by Andi Ewington, each interview includes an accompanying page of art illustrated by a different artist, with no "predetermined brief" given -- just the written page as guidance. Artists for the project include Jock, Fiona Staples, Liam Sharp, Dan Brereton and many more.

My thanks to Andi, who was kind enough to share some additional details on the book.

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Straight for the art | Mock Inglourious Basterds comics

Inglourious Basterds #1

These have been making the rounds the last couple of days ... CHUD posts a series of faux Inglourious Basterds comic book covers they found on Harry Knowles' Twitter feed that look like they were created in the 1970s. Cool stuff; go check out the rest of them.

Update: The covers were created by Martin Duhovic.

This week brings aliens, zombies, celebrities and lemons

This week seems to be a bit quieter than the last few. Don't get me wrong; there's still plenty of stuff out there to draw you into the comic shop, but looking at the Diamond list wasn't quite like drinking from the proverbial fire hose this time around.

On the first issue front, Wildstorm kicks off a new Sherlock Holmes mini called Victorian Undead, while Marvel has an Inhumans mini tying into their Realm of Kings event. Red 5 has Drone (which I think came out last week, didn't it? At least at my local shop), BOOM! has a Farscape ongoing and a mini called Nola, and IDW has a tie-in for the upcoming Legion movie ... which isn't about Saturn Girl, but about angels. There's also a Dr. Horrible one-shot from Dark Horse, a new creative team on Thunderbolts and, I believe, the last of the List books from Marvel ... this one featuring Spider-Man. Oh, and country star Trace Adkins gets his own comic. Hey, if it worked for Tori Amos and Gerard Way, why not?

Looking at the stuff with a spine, Dark Horse brings Alien Legion back into print, DC's Battle for the Cowl and Marvel's Destroyer get collected, and AdHouse releases what's already being named one of the year's best books.

And there's much, much more ... click on the link below to see what Chris, Kevin and I have to say about this week's releases.

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Kubert's Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 coming in May

Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965

Kevin linked to this New York Times profile on comics legend Joe Kubert earlier today. While the article is focused mainly on Kubert's original art being sold, it also mentions a new Kubert project coming next May -- Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965.

What's interesting is how this is being published. The Times said it is a Vertigo book, but actually it'll be published by "The Joe Kubert Library," according to all three of DC's blogs. EDIT: This isn't the first time the imprint has been used.

Here are some details on the project from those blogs:

DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 tells the story of a team of Special Forces soldiers who were on what was to be a simple assistance and observation mission in the village of Dong Xoai that suddenly turned deadly. Written as an original graphic novel with text and illustrations, DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 is based on extensive first hand information from the surviving members of the Special Forces group involved.

Hit-Maker? Not so much

Face Thief

Here's a blast from the past ... Brian Hughes looks back at Marvel Comics' Superstars of Tomorrow event that ran through their 1993 annuals. While a few of the characters went on to bigger roles (like Captain Marvel's son, Genis, who sported the name Legacy back then) others like Bantam, Tracer, Hit-Maker, Face Thief and Devourer never made much of an impact. Individual trading cards spotlighting the new characters were bagged with each annual, meaning you had to buy two copies if you wanted one in mint condition.

Hughes also shares some pages from Marvel:Year in Review '93, which included a humorous look at the stunt written by Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich, as they poke fun at each character and suggest a few that didn't make it in. Ah, the 1990s ...

Marvel's Heroic Age begins here

...or, rather, over on the new Techland blog. Just in case it wasn't clear what happens after Dark Reign and Siege, this teaser image posted on Time.com's newest blog should give you an idea:

Vertigo previews Daytripper, Other Lives

Other Lives

It's a good day for previews over at the official Vertigo blog, Graphic Content. Pamela Mullins has posted some pages from Peter Bagge's Other Lives, which is due from the publisher next year. She also shares more preview pages from Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon's Daytripper, which comes out in December. And lastly, check out the cover to Joe the Barbarian #2.

Wes Anderson discusses possible Fantastic Mr. Fox spin-off comic

I've been hearing a lot of good things about Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, the animated movie about fox and his family fighting evil farmers. I haven't seen it yet, but apparently there's a comic called WhiteCape in one of the scenes that Anderson is considering turning into a real comic.

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Straight for the art | Surf'n'turf Nazis must die

by D.C. Stuelpner

Namor, eat your heart out ... when the threat of Nazism spreads into the Seven Seas, D.C. Stuelpner shows who the right man is for the job.

Via