JK Parkin
Indie creators to launch digital comics imprint at Heroes Con
Kill All Monsters
A group of comics creators have banned together under the name Artist Alley Comics and plan to launch several digital comics at Heroes Con in June.
The group includes our own Michael May and artist Jason Copland, who will relaunch their Kill All Monsters comic under the imprint. They join Rich Woodall (Johnny Raygun), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts, Impulse, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane), and Kelly Yates (Doctor Who, Amber Atoms), the three drivers of Artist Alley, along with Richard Case, Chris Kemple, Randy Green and Matt Talbot. They have a PDf sampler up of some of the titles, which looks like a fun mix of action-adventure, sci-fi and of course giant monsters. Watch for more details at the end of June.
- May 8, 2012 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Bryan Hitch provides the variant cover for Action Comics #10
DC’s The Source blog provides a look at the variant cover to Action Comics #10, featuring artwork by famed The Ultimates and America’s Got Powers artist Bryan Hitch, with colors by Paul Mounts.
Check it out after the jump.
- May 8, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Robot 6 Q&A | Cullen Bunn on the end and aftermath of The Fearless
Marvel’s big Fear Itself crossover event last year introduced readers to Odin’s brother, the Serpent, who along with the Red Skull’s daughter, Sin, used seven divine hammers to turn several Marvel heroes and villains into his agents on Earth. Spoiler’s alert: Marvel’s heroes win, but in the wake of the event came the question of what happened to all those hammers.
Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction, Chris Yost, Mark Bagley and Paul Pelletier answered that question in the pages of The Fearless, a miniseries that saw Sin and her boyfriend, Crossbones, in an Amazing Race-style adventure to find all the hammers. They were pitted against Valkyrie, a character ripe not only for an Asgardian-laced race against the forces of evil and some character development of her own. Over the course of the series, we learned a lot about the Valkyrie’s history, saw guest stars galore and even got a tease for a potential new series. Now that the miniseries has wrapped up, I chatted with Bunn about the comic, the characters he used and what he did with them. My thanks to him for taking the time to answer my questions.
JK: If I’m not mistaken, this was your first major project for Marvel since going “exclusive” with them. You’d done other stories for them and even other Fear Itself tie-ins, but is it safe to say this probably put you on the main stage of the Marvel Universe in a way you hadn’t experienced yet? Did you feel any pressure going into it because of the scope and the fact that it came out of a big Marvel event?
Cullen: Yeah, this was a big, intimidating undertaking. The Fearless featured most of the major Marvel superheroes in one way or another, and it spanned numerous locales. Luckily, I was working with a very supportive team who made me feel pretty comfortable going into this. They put a lot of trust in me with the series, and I didn’t want to let anyone down. Every time I sent some crazy note or suggestion for plot points, I expected them to yank me off the title, but they were pretty receptive to the idea of exploding sharks, a new team of Valkyrie, and Wolverine gutting Crossbones (among other things).
- May 8, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Francesco Francavilla goes really old school with ‘Avengers: Earth’s First Heroes’ drawings
Avengers, Earth's First Heroes
The Black Beetle artist Francesco Francavilla has a blog where he shares all sorts of cool pulp-inspired artwork each Sunday, and yesterday he happened to chose to pulp-ify a certain super-team that’s been making headlines all weekend. He’s got three pieces up featuring Hulk the Druid, Captain Amerigo, Thor and Iron Man — two that he did and one by artist Steve Gordon. Go check’em out.
- May 7, 2012 @ 02:20 PM by JK Parkin
Comic Couture | Dan Hipp goes headless at Threadless
If you are a fan of Dan Hipp’s work on Amazing Joy Buzzards, Gyakushu!, Ben 10 or his wonderful art blog, then you might want to know that Threadless recently turned the above image, “Zombie Survivalist,” into a T-shirt and a hoodie. No doubt it will sell out quickly, so head over there fast if you’d like to grab one for your very own.
- May 7, 2012 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Read the FULL issue of 12-Gauge Comics’ Anti / The Ride FCBD flipbook
If you missed out on Free Comic Book Day or didn’t get a chance to grab a copy of every release, we can help you out with at least one of this year’s offerings. Courtesy of our friends at 12-Gauge Comics, we’re pleased to present their entire FCBD comic right here.
Their flipbook contained two stories, the first being Anti, by Walking Dead and Aliens producer Gale Anne Hurd, Gotham City Sirens writer Peter Calloway and artist Daniel Hillyard. Here’s a description:
Legendary producer Gale Anne Hurd (AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, TERMINATOR, ALIENS) teams with 12-Gauge Comics to present the tale of Zachary, a faithless man forced to confront the reality that he’s the savior of the world. Chased by demons that have infiltrated earth disguised as humans, while grudgingly protected by demon-hunter Jordan, the journey for knowledge, survival and more begins here! Written by Peter Calloway (GOTHAM CITY SIRENS, BATMAN: JOKER’S ASYLUM) with a cover by industry legend Brian Stelfreeze (BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT), this special intro to ANTI #1 will not disappoint!
The first issue of Anti arrives in July and will cost a buck.
The second story is a continuation of 12-Gauge’s The Ride, this time by Nathan Edmondson of Grifter and Who Is Jake Ellis? fame, along with artist Paul Azaceta, who has worked on Amazing Spider-Man and Graveyard of Empires, among other titles. Here’s a description:
As an added bonus, the time is now for the highly anticipated return of THE RIDE in this special co-feature story! Writer Nathan Edmondson (Grifter, Who Is Jake Ellis?) and artist Paul Azaceta (The Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil) put the pedal to the metal when the acclaimed crime-anthology roars back into comic stores– leading directly into an all-new The Ride series!
Check out both stories after the jump.
- May 7, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading? with David Harper
Saga #3
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, where each week we detail what comics and other stuff have been on our reading piles. Our special guest today is David Harper, associate editor over at the recently redesigned Multiversity Comics.
To see what David and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
- May 6, 2012 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
Chain Reactions | DC Comics New 52 Second Wave
Earth 2
DC Comics released four of the six “New 52 Second Wave” titles this past week, making it hard to choose what to focus on this week … so I figured I wouldn’t. Instead, here are round-ups of reviews for all four titles: Earth 2 #1 by James Robinson, Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott and Alex Sinclair; Dial H #1 by China Miéville, Mateus Santolouco, Tany Horie and Richard Horie; World’s Finest #1 by Paul Levitz, George Pérez, Scott Koblish, Kevin Maguire, Hi-Fi and Rosemary Cheetham; and G.I. Combat #1 by J.T. Krul, Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ariel Olivetti and Dan Panosian.
Earth 2
Keith Callbeck, Comicosity: “The multiverse returns! To fanfare or dread, depending on how you feel about pre-Crisis DC. But this is not your parents’ Earth 2. Completely reimagined by James Robinson, the creator most responsible for bringing the JSA back to the DCU with his series Golden Age, this Earth 2 is a world recovering from war. The story feels like a really good Elseworlds book (which Golden Age was as well) and not a What If…? type tale, though that element exists.The heroes of Earth 2 have existed for much longer than the five years of Earth Prime. When the parademons attack, paralleling the first arc of Johns’ Justice League, it is a much more mature Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman there to battle them.”
- May 5, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Teaser: Image hits the road with Daniel/Cheggour’s Enormous
Image Comics sent over a coupe of teasers for Enormous, the upcoming “64-page treasury edition” one-shot by writer Tim Daniel and artist Mehdi Cheggour.
“…human beings tried doing something good, just and right. The results were far less than ideal,” Daniel told Comic Book Resources. “By the time we enter the world of “Enormous,” being at the bottom of the food-chain is something humans have been experiencing for a while. As a result, there is no consensus around how we’re going to survive as a species. There are a few human factions, each operating with a fairly distinct agenda. Mix in these beasts who barely recognize our existence, except as an occasional food source, and that is a recipe for extinction.”
Check out the solicitation text for the book and the two teaser images after the jump.
- May 4, 2012 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Skullkickers #14 shows us the way of the gun
One of the big mysteries of Skullkickers — besides the names of the two main characters, of course — is how a gun landed in a sword-and-sorcery comic. Issue 14, due out May 9, promises to reveal the secret behind the gun.
Courtesy of Image, we’re pleased to present some teaser pages, or, um, panels, actually, from the comic. According to Image’s Jennifer de Guzman, every page in the book is a spoiler, except for the few panels they’ve released. “We’re also going to be having some fun issuing an informal ‘No Spoilers’ challenge to reviewers since pretty much every image in comic but those we’re teasing with are spoilers,” she said.
Check ‘em out below.
- May 4, 2012 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Jim Lee’s ginormous gatefold image from DC’s Free Comic Book Day comic
Courtesy of DC Comics, here’s a look at that gatefold image that you can find inside their Free Comic Book Day comic tomorrow. In total, Lee will be illustrating five pages for the comic book’s interior, including this four-page gatefold that accompanies a new story by Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns.
Check out the four-page image in all its glory below.
- May 4, 2012 @ 09:02 AM by JK Parkin
Robot 6 Q&A | Ryan Ferrier brings ‘Rawr’-der to the court with Tiger Lawyer
Tiger Lawyer
“… we could use more books with talking tigers, am I right?”
– Joe Keatinge
If, like Joe, you think comics could use more talking tigers, then Ryan Ferrier has the comic for you. Tiger Lawyer, his self-published comic, is now available through his Big Cartel site as either a print or digital comic, and very soon, it’ll start appearing in Keatinge’s Hell Yeah comic.
Ferrier was kind enough to answer a few questions about Tiger Lawyer and his subpoena into the pages of Hell Yeah.
JK Parkin: I’m sure you’ve been asked about this a million times already, but the title, Tiger Lawyer, is the kind that elicits a chuckle and makes you wonder where the idea came from. So, where did the initial idea come from?
Ryan Ferrier: I really wish I had a cool story for this question, but alas it was one of those things that I’ve completely forgotten, though I’m fairly certain it stemmed from something I posted on Twitter last December, something silly. It was a tweet along the lines of Tiger Lawyer being my next comic, made entirely with sarcasm. I do remember gearing up to tackle a different script, and decided to actually write Tiger Lawyer–the script that would become the first short–one afternoon. I immediately posted the script online, and surprisingly, people dug it enough for me to actually make it.
- May 2, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Jonathan Case tops Stumptown Comic Arts Awards 2012 winners
Dear Creature
Jonathan Case, artist of Green River Killer and creator of Dear Creature, was the big winner this year at the Stumptown Comic Art Awards, taking home two of the awards’ unique trophies this past weekend during the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Ore.
Nominees in each category were chosen by a panel of judges consisting of comics industry professionals, journalists and retailers, and then voted on by the comics-reading public. This year’s winners are:
Best Artist
Jonathan Case, Green River Killer
Best Writer
Brandon Graham, Prophet
Best Cartoonist
Jaime Hernandez, Love and Rockets
Best Letterer
Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo: Fox Hunt
Best Colorist
Dave Stewart, Hellboy: House of the Living Dead; Chimichanga
Best Publication Design
Petrograd, Tyler Crook and Keith Wood
Best Anthology
Lies Grownups Told Me edited by Nomi Kane, Jen Vaughn, Caitlin M.
Best Small Press
Fugue #1 by Beth Hetland
Best New Talent
Jonathan Case, Dear Creature, Green River Killer
Reader’s Choice
Vic Boone by Shawn Aldridge, Geoffo Panda
- May 1, 2012 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
Australian Fashion Week launches with Kirby-inspired collection
Romance Was Born designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales helped kick off Australian Fashion Week not with a bang, but with a krackle, as they presented a line of clothing inspired by the comic book art of Jack Kirby.
Check out a video after the jump or head over to The Australian to see it (it embeds pretty small).
- April 30, 2012 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading? with Tim Seeley
Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today our special guest is Tim Seeley, whose work you may know from Hack/Slash, Bloodstrike, Witchblade, Colt Noble, the upcoming Ex Sanguine and Revival, and much more.
To see what Tim has been reading lately, click below.
- April 29, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin