Spider-Man 1602 #2

I've written a good deal at Robot 6 and elsewhere about comic-book cover art and design, but, unfortunately (for me at least), not so much in recent months. I hope "Comics, Covered" will remedy that, as each Saturday I select the six best covers -- the most striking, the most successfully executed, the most intriguing -- to grace the shelves that week.

This week's list is filled with three comics from Marvel, one from Image, one from DC's Wildstorm imprint and one that's technically not a comic at all.

To find out what made the cut, read on.

The Amazing Spider-Man #612, by Marko Djurdjevic

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane aside, I'm not sure I could tell you when I last bought a Spider-Man comic, or even which one it was. But Marko Djurdjevic's stunning cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #612 would call to me from the store shelf; I'd be compelled to buy it. The close-up of Spider-Man's mask doubles as an ominous blood-red sky, disrupted by a lightning bolt striking the Empire State Building. Even without the logo in the upper-left corner or the reflection in the mask's eye we know the story involves the classic supervillain Electro, whom I presume has become more deadly since ditching the goofy mask.

Underground #3, by Steve Lieber

For the covers of Underground, the Image Comics miniseries set in and around a cave in Kentucky, artist Steve Lieber smartly has been toying with negative space. But it's not until this third issue that he's really nailed it, using a mass of flying bats to form a background against which he sets the silhouette of protagonist Wesley Fischer. I also like that not all of the bats are in black, providing another layer of detail.

Nomad: Girl Without a World, by Rafael Albuquerque

Artist Rafael Albuquerque set out limiting himself to the colors of the American flag for this unlikely miniseries about the female Bucky from Marvel's mid-'90s Heroes Reborn experiment. Like Steve Lieber with Underground, I think Albuquerque finally hits upon the right combination of composition, color and subject in the third issue: There's drama, white space, and a pop-art element that can be viewed as a reference both to Captain America's shield and to Jim Steranko's legendary cover for Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #4. (Oh, okay, the red circles could just be a simple target, or comic-book shorthand for a telepathic attack. But I like my idea better.)

The Fir-Tree, by Lilli Carre

I find it difficult not to smile whenever I see Lilli Carre's art, even when it's for an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's depressing Christmas-themed fairy tale The Fir-Tree. There's something about her illustrations that reminds me of children's books from the 1940s and '50s -- the ones my grandmother shared with me when I was young. I love Carre's use of elongated, rubbery arms and her choice of this delightfully macabre scene for the cover (Andersen's story is told from the perspective of the little fir-tree, so his felling signals the beginning of his slow demise).

Spider-Man 1602 #2, by Michael Golden

Michael Golden crams (by my count) 20 figures into this illustration, giving the cover a sense of excitement and urgency. The artist masterfully drives the reader's eye to the lower-right corner, where young Peter Parquagh, at the mercy of these ruthless pirates, dangles precariously close to the water. I also like how the logo blends the familiar Spider-Man font and the "1602" wax seal.

Victorian Undead #1, by Tony Moore

Say what you will about the popularity of zombie fiction and the recent spate of genre mash-ups, but you can't deny that Tony Moore can draw the heck out of the undead. What's more, he can convey the high concept: With the deerstalker, the cloak and the pipe, there's little doubt that we're looking at the cheerful corpse of Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, however, someone at Wildstorm apparently wasn't content to allow the illustration to sell the first issue of Victorian Undead. So a Victorian-style font is paired with cliche horror scrawl and topped with blood splatter. And if that weren't enough, we're hit over the head with a B-movie poster burst shouting "Sherlock Holmes vs Zombies!"

It's a shame, too, because all of that clutter obscures the lovely period wallpaper and works against a wry and, despite all of the maggots and worms, understated illustration: Our decaying detective, seemingly oblivious to his state, could easily be sitting for a portrait. It might've been nice for the cover designer to have played it straight with the cover dress, avoiding the stereotypical horror trappings altogether. (In a case of perfect timing, Colleen AF Venable just addressed Victorian-inspired design on the First Second blog.)

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

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Vol. 2

For the past 30 or so years, Larry Gonick has been engaged in what has to easily be one of the most ambitious comics projects ever: The Cartoon History of the Universe. In four volumes (including Vol. 1 of The Cartoon History of the Modern World), Gonick has relentlessly relayed the history of planet Earth as we know it, from the big bang up to the the 1700s. That he's done so in such a consistently entertaining and downright funny fashion, is nothing short of remarkable, especially considering the plethora of dull, insipid nonfiction comics that have come out in the past few years.

Now, with the publication of the second volume of Cartoon History of the Modern World he's finally finished his magmum opus. I used the occasion as an opportunity to talk with Gonick over email about his new book -- which runs from the French Revolution to 9/11 -- and how it feels to finally be finished something that took up such a large chunk of his working life. Here's what he had to say:

How long exactly have you been working on this History of the Universe project? I know the first book was published around 1990, but you were serializing it as comic books long before that, correct?

On and off, since 1978. That's when the first Rip Off Press edition of #1 came out. But not full-time. I fitted quite a few science books in there too. Rip Off (best known as publishers of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) did nine 48-page comics, which ran through the first installment about ancient China. Even though I stopped doing the individual comics, I kept the 48-page volume structure, both as a discipline for myself (it helps structure the narrative), and I suppose because it still holds out the possibility of bringing them out as individual comics again.

Now that you've finally completed this lengthy project, how do you feel? Are you happy to be finally done or a little sorry that it's now over?

Proud and exhausted. It's a weird feeling, knowing that a "lifetime project" is done. Like, what's supposed to happen to the rest of the lifetime?

It seems as though one of the major themes of this final book is colonialism and imperialism and its effect on the modern world. Was that a conscious thread you deliberately brought to the fore or did it just claim dominance naturally as you worked on the book?

You are correct, it's a major theme, consciously chosen. It would be hard to imagine a history of the modern world without it. After all, before 1500 Europe was just one small end of one big continent. By 1750, Europe dominated the Americas and India. By 1850, China. By 1880, Africa. At the same time, European ideas, both political and economic, spread around the world. If that's not the story, what is? Then came decolonization, beginning with the American Revolution, and slowly making its way to all the protectorates and subject territories everywhere, with a final acceleration after World War II. Despite the loss of overt political power, though, western nations maintained economic sway over the Third World, and now, today, I think we're seeing even that eroded.

Can you talk a little about the research for this book and how it compared to past books in the History series? I would imagine, for example, that you had considerably more visual reference to go on than previously.

More visual references and more textual references — and on the Worldwide Web!!! It's so much easier to do research now than it used to be. I love Wikipedia so much, I want it to have my baby. Of course, the presence of this great mass of stuff just means I have to throw away more. People who are used to seeing book-long treatments of World War II may be disappointed that I whizzed through it in "only" 6 pages. But I was trying to keep something like the pace and level of detail of previous volumes. Just because something is recent doesn't mean it's bigger. It only looks that way because, well, because it's closer.

Apart from the issues of imperialism and colonialism, were there other themes that you wanted to explore in this final volume?

Well.... it's funny. When I organize the material, I'm not thinking so much about themes, at least not in any organized way. Mostly, I'm looking at narrative coherence and storytelling. However, I must have been thinking about something, because I gave so much space, for example, to slavery and its abolition. I think we can tease a couple of themes out of that topic.

One is the idea—and reality—of progress. Abolitionists, while they were often motivated by moral considerations, lived in a time when the society at large was receptive to their message. Somehow, the advance of science and technology, the wealth that came from factory production and overseas trade, and the development of enlightenment ideas about human nature—essentially sociable and good, not the victims of Original Sin—produced a government that saw abolition as good policy. I tried so show how these threads were woven together by describing the origins and progress of the abolition movement itself, along with an account of how Britain was able to afford to do it: by banning the trade to all nations, Britain was displaying its power on the open seas, and when slavery itself was outlawed in the British Empire, the profits from the opium trade with China were enough to buy off nearly every slave owner in the West Indies.

Progressive ideas also include what I called the "sciencey" ideas like Marxism, Freudian psychology, fascism, and free-trade classical liberalism.

Another theme would be the movements that appeared atavistic to people who considered themselves modern: "reversions" to ethnic nationalism and religious politics. Progressives never cease being surprised by that stuff, even though it never really went away.

What, if any, themes, other than the thread of human history, do you feel draw all these books together. Is there any overarching idea or issue that ties them all up in a neat bow?

Oh-boy. Something like what I just said: that ideas and material and social conditions are all balled up together. That nobility and self-interest are often fused. And above all, that those historical figures you read about in boring old history books were living, breathing, fools like the rest of us. I want to dispel what you might call the Historical Fallacy, which is to view past actors as if they knew what was coming next.

What was the toughest era or event to portray? I imagine there were plenty of times where, when faced with a particular event you thought "How am I going to draw that?"

No, drawing events is rarely hard. Comics is designed for drawing events. You have characters, setting, and action. It's making drawings to illustrate abstract ideas that's hard. My one-page account of Das Kapital, for example. I have to confess that though I think it goes some way towards doing the job, it could be better. Anyway, it was a challenge.

I know in my high school history classes as we got closer to modern times the faster and more generalized the lessons would become, usually because we were nearing the end of the semester. Were you at all concerned about covering too much ground too quickly, and if so, how did you attempt to compensate for that?

I wasn't so concerned about it (tho I probably could have used about 35-50 more pages), but I expected some complaints. That's because people are used to reading big fat books about recent events that loom large simply because they're close to us. (It's like perspective, isn't it?) I wanted to maintain something like the same pace that I'd used throughout the series: give ample space to selected topics, like the abolition of slavery—because it was just about historically unprecedented—and whiz by others with a summary. So I did World War II in six pages, which is actually a lot for a war in the Cartoon History, but it probably looks paltry to a modern reader.

In doing your research for this book, was there anything you came across that surprised you or challenged your preconceptions? Was there anything you weren't initially planning on putting in the book, but, upon discovering it said "Oh, that has to be included."

What preconceptions?

Either I'm so old that my world view is fossilized, in which case challenges bounce off like ping-pong balls, or else it's become so plastic and squishy that they sink in like a fly into a blob of tree sap. No, nothing major.

One thing that had always baffled me was why World War I should have started in the Balkans. No offense, Serbia, but who cares about Serbia? As usual, this mystery is cleared up once you include the Turks in your history (as traditional history rarely does enough). The Balkans were the Austrian/German link to Asia, and in particular I had no idea what a furor was raised by the prospect of a German-built railroad from Constantinople to Baghdad. In the end, of course, the railroad was built, and after World War I it became the famous Orient Express, but not in German hands!

Conversely, was there anything you wanted to get in the book but weren't able to due to space constraints?

Too many things to name.

Do you have a particular favorite character or period in this book? It's natural for cartoonists to be skeptical but I was wondering if there was anyone you felt was worth their reputation?

I enjoyed dusting off my Nixon. It had been a while. But he doesn't get much play here. Of the truly great, I'd have to put Gandhi at the top. The anti-slavery activist Granville Sharp was pretty amazing too. But I also like drawing characters with mixed motivations. Here Napoleon comes to mind. It was never hard drawing a panel with Napoleon in it! And Bolívar.

Now that you've finished this immense project, what are you doing for an encore? More history books?

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to spend the rest of my life, and working on The Cartoon Guide to Calculus during the breaks.

Does history present different sorts of challenges as opposed to doing a book on calculus or science? Are there different sorts of things you have to keep in mind depending upon what sort of nonfiction subject you're tackling?

Sure, there are differences. History comes naturally, because it's mostly stories. In science, the material has to made "storylike." In mathematics, as I'm discovering now, it's especially challenging because there's not much you can make into a character. At least in chemistry there are atoms and molecules! In math, there are mostly formulas and diagrams.

On the other hand, there are similarities too. I'm always trying to make everything as clear as possible.

What kind of reaction has your History series gotten outside of the comics world? Have librarians or teachers noticed it at all? What about historians? Or the general, noncomics reading public?

Very positive. As a matter of fact, there's a new school of history called Big History or New World History, some of whose practitioners hark back to the Cartoon History of the Universe as inspiration. As one history professor wrote (by email, today, in fact!), "you understood early that world history needs to start with the Big Bang." On my web site, you can find a partial list of academic institutions that have used my books. As for reactions from the public, it's hard to say whether any given fan reads other comics or not. I do know that some readers weren't comics fans originally, like, um, Jackie O, my editor at Doubleday.

When you started out doing this, no one was tackling nonfiction, let alone history, in comics. Now it seems like every publisher under the sun is coming out with a graphic novel biography or "how to" guide of some sort. What do you make of this surge of interest in these types of comics? Do you see your influence in any of them?

When Doubleday was considering whether to publish the first Cartoon History of the Universe collection back in about 1988, the sales department was extremely skeptical. Since then, I guess the industry has decided the medium has some potential! I don't know if my precise style is influencing many other cartoonists, but nonfiction comics do seem to be shouldering their way onto the shelf.

As an addendum to that, do you still get people who find your work a novelty ("gawsh, a comic that isn't about superheroes") or do you think we're finally past the whole "Comics as legitimate tool? Who'd have thought" phase?

Yes, there are still people like that. The reaction that always galls me is "These are great! why haven't I ever heard of you?!" Of course, it's a thrill to be admired, but I can't help feeling that there's something about my particular approach that bypasses those Serious Commentators who want their Literature Serious, even Morbidly Serious. Let's be frank. Why isn't somebody at, say, the New York Times saying, "This is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of comics"? Because (he said modestly) isn't it?

Looks like the Con War has opened a new front: Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus has purchased the New England Comic Con to add to his ever-growing slate of comics and pop-culture shows. According to a press release posted on the Wizard site, the Con's previous owners, Larry Harrison and Jerry Tournasm of retailer Harrison's Comics & Collectibles, will continue to work for the show.

The latest addition to a roster of Shamus/Wizard shows that includes Anaheim Comic Con, Toronto Comic Con, Big Apple Comic Con, and Wizard World Philadelphia, the Wizard World New England Comic Con, as it will apparently be called, is not to be confused with either the Boston Comic Con -- whose guests for its April 10-11 show next year include Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Eric Powell, and Bill Sienkiewicz at the top of a pretty impressive roster -- nor the previous Wizard World Boston show, held once (in 2005) before being canceled. Whether Shamus's latest attempt at a Boston event will engender the same sort of rivalry as his other cons have with such shows as Heroes Con, the Long Beach Comic Con, Fan Expo Canada, and Reed Exhibition's New York Comic Con and C2E2 remains to be seen.

More, undoubtedly, as it develops.

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 ...

*****

In Maps & Legends

Niki Smith and Michael Jasper, In Maps & Legends

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Niki: My name is Niki Smith, and I’m the artist for In Maps & Legends. I’m a freelance artist right now, just graduated last spring. I’ve had comics published in anthologies both in the US/UK and in Germany, and am currently working on developing some graphic novels of my own. One is out with editors and the other is still in script form, waiting to hear back from my agent. I also just had a coloring book published with Faber Castell.

Mike: And I'm Michael Jasper, the writer for the comic. I've published a couple novels and a pile of short stories in places like Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Writers of the Future and Paper Cities. This is my first comic script, and Niki handled my non-standard scriptwriting skills quite nicely. I'm finishing up a historical baseball novel set during World War I and plotting out a series of young-adult novels, the first of which is currently out on submission to various editors (this series would make a GREAT comic, too, I think). For the day job, I'm a technical writer for a software company.

JK: What's your strip about?

Niki: An artist who finds her map-making skills in surprisingly high demand…

Mike: What she said.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Niki: Zuda has a great sense of community that can be hard to build when webcomics are otherwise scattered across individual websites. The support behind the imprint is something I’ve admired since the launch.

Mike: I also liked the democratic feel of the site, with readers choosing the comic that gets to continue on. While the competition is a bit stress-inducing right now, it's been fun getting in touch with readers and following the reader feedback in the comments section.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Niki: We have a few places we plan on looking into, but if things don’t work out, we both have other projects that we can happily move on to. In Maps & Legends was originally one of Mike’s trunked novels and now it’s a full color comic! So you never know when there’s the potential for a drastic rebirth.

Mike: Agreed. I'm really itching to show people where we take Kait and her crew next, so the sooner the better!

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Niki: That’s tough. I’m an art girl at heart, so that definitely sways me. I love the line work in Brother of the Bronze Hammer and the painterly quality of the art in Little Earth People … I’d probably go with Bronze Hammer in the end.

Mike: I'm actually surprised Little Earth People isn't higher in the ratings, because the story's pretty original and unique, and the art knocked me out. And I do have a lot of love for Slam McCracken's hard-boiled style.

*****

Peabody & D'Gorath

Mark Penman, Peabody & D'Gorath

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Mark: Hi my name is Mark Penman, I'm a freelance illustrator and comic artist based in Manchester, England.
I've done bits and pieces of comic work, some self published stuff as well as some anthology stuff such as Pulpo done by the fine folks at entervoid.com.

When I'm not making comics, I like to go out and solve mysteries.

JK: What's your strip about?

Mark: My strip is about two antique hunters, Remington Peabody ( a reanimated skeleton) and Clancy D'Gorath (deamon bound by obligation to the British monarchy). They go around trying to proclaim esoteric artifacts to determine whether they are a threat to the nation or if they can be used as weapons.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Mark: It's 8/10ths liking and respecting what Zuda do ( I like that there's a nice mixed bag of comics and lots of fresh ideas they're willing to have on board) and 2/10ths being pretty computer illiterate so doubtless any webcomic site I did make would be atrocious.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Mark: I've been asked this by a few people and to be honest, I'm not totally sure. I have other ideas for comics that I'd like to try out, but I can't see me abandoning the characters, I always grow attached to the comics I create so Peabody & D'Gorath would still be kicking around in some form.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Mark: Hmm, probably In Maps and Legends. The arts solid and the story seems like it could go places

*****

Children of the Sewer

Benito Gallego, Children of the Sewer

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Benito: My name is Benito Gallego. I was born and live in Spain. Among other things I have been a long time collaborator artist for Sword, a Spanish fanzine turned into pro-magazine that includes articles, comics and pin-ups based upon Conan, the Hyborean age, and REH's characters and concepts. I have made pencils, inks and a cover illustration for Anthem and Captain Thunder & Blue Bolt, both series created by writer Roy Thomas and published by Heroic Publishing. I have also made a collaboration with new independant publisher A First Salvo and have contributed with a story (pencils and colors) to be published in Danger's Dozen #6. I have also made a collaboration with writer Brian Azzarello in order to produce the cover and a eight-page comic (pencils+inks+color) called "The Cowl" to serve as promotion for best-seller author Joseph Finder's new book: Vanished.

And when I don't do comics I'm a graphic designer at an advertisement company.

JK: What's your strip about?

Benito: Children of the Sewer is an epic odyssey through the mind of a serial killer in search of the light. Paradoxically, the way he will achieve this is by entering the dark closed sewers of the city and meeting an unknown race of human beings who are born, live, love, kill and die in the sewer. Among those weird people Edmond Ratt will find his place in a human society but truly not without finding his way awash with blood.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Benito: Mainly because Zuda is exposed to many people and I wanted to test the reaction and know what people think about my comic.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Benito: I have already written more than 50 pages of the strip, and I would love to continue developing it.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Benito: Probably Little Earth People is the story that I like the most next to mine.

*****

Slam McCracken

Greg Woronchak, Slam McCracken

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Greg: I'm Greg Woronchak from a small 'burb in Quebec, Canada. I started off in traditional animation (I've worked on Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat for PBS, and Tripping the Rift for SyFy, amoung others), eventually deciding to focus on freelance storyboarding. Animation work in town abruptly dried up, so I'm currently a freelance illustrator (www.comicspace.com/gwor) and independent comic artist (I've done work for Argo Comics, Modern Myth Press and 11 issues of Negafighters). I have a drawer filled with scraps of paper, sketches of ideas that just pop into my head; I finally decided recently to develop some of the stronger ones into webcomics (I'm a big fan of the format) and submitted Slam to Zuda. When not at my drawing board, I try to keep my two daughters amused and help out my lovely wife around the house.

JK: What's your strip about?

Greg: Slam is a hard boiled detective, literally . He's an egg who takes cases in a film noir inspired city, populated by common household items (his client in my Zuda submission is a toothbrush searching for her missing tube of paste husband). This weird idea came to me years ago when I doodled a quick cartoon of a detective egg standing over a chalk outlined popsicle stick on the ground (I was into The Far Side back then ). I figured the idea of a noir private eye could be a lot of fun, with potential for cute sight gags; I decided to use heavy cross-hatching to replace color, which creates a visually interesting look and mood. My goal was to create something quirky that all-ages could enjoy.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Greg: I would've needed al ot of help setting up my own site; I'm alot more comfortable with the creative side than technical or promotion. I felt that if Zuda would choose my strip to compete, it would provide nice exposure for my work, and I could network with folk who might like my particular style. As I've already said, I think the webcomic format has alot of potential for creativity and unique ideas, and Zuda is an extremely high-profile place to showcase one's work. I'm quite proud to have been chosen to compete this month.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Greg: I have a long story plotted out, so I'd love to continue it. The response has been great so far, and I think I could develop a fan base that may support a self-published version.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Greg: I find Brother of Bronze Hammer visually electrifying. The artwork compliments the story well, and I enjoy the overall look.

*****

Model Student

Joe Bowen, Model Student

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Joe: My name is Joe Bowen, and I'm currently a third year student at the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art in beautiful Dover, New Jersey. I totally love comics, and when I'm not drawing them, I'm reading them or reading about them or listening to podcasts about them or trying to get my girlfriend to listen to me talk about them. I also watch a lot of TV. If there's a show about teenagers, I'm probably into it. And finally, I like watching funny videos of pugs on YouTube.

JK: What's your strip about?

Joe: Model Student is about Kevin Burke, a tough-as-nails high school student at the prestigious Vendrell Academy, who is recruited by the headmaster to infiltrate the school's seedy underbelly. I tell people that Model Student is The OC meets The Shield. Essentially, Kevin is living the high school life I always wanted to live, with tons of drama and fighting.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Joe: I entered Model Student in the Zuda competition because I think the concept works well serialized in single pages. The high school drama combined with the undercover student aspect provides a lot of room for regular twists and surprises.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Joe: If Model Student doesn't make it through Zuda alive, I'll most likely adjust the format and submit it elsewhere, perhaps as a graphic novel. I have too many ideas for Kevin Burke to let them all go to waste.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Joe: The entry I keep going back to is Brother of Bronze Hammer. That artwork is just damn sexy.

*****

Molly and the Amazing Door Tree

Mark Murphy, Molly and the Amazing Door Tree

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Mark: I am a Dallas, Texas-based graphic designer. Over the last 15 years i have done comic book work for Caliber Press, NBM (the house of java series) and Slave Labor Graphics (last year's Tiki Joe Mysteries). When I'm not drawing comics I'm maintaining a full-time job as a in-house graphic designer for a medical company as well has spending time with my family. There's a lot of reading and guitar playing going on when i can fit it in as well.

JK: What's your strip about?

Mark: Molly and the Amazing Door Tree is about a seven year-old girl that finds a magical door into another world. Molly quickly finds that her destiny and the destiny of this magical realm are interwoven. Before she realizes it, Molly is embroiled in a quest to both save world of the door tree and make her way back home. This story is a departure for me stylistically. My previous work has dealt more with adult oriented issues such as coming-of-age stories and crime fiction. With Molly I made a deliberate effort to create a kids story that my two daughters would relate to.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Mark: I've been wanting to enter a story into Zuda ever since the competitions started. After working for years on Tiki Joe, the challenge of presenting a story within Zuda's 8 page format really appealed to me. I also new that Molly had to be in color and the best chance of making that happen was to take it on line. From the get-go, Molly was planned as a Zuda entry.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Mark: Not sure yet, but i would like to. It depends on the level of interest (from the voters as well as my own kids) and the time constraints i have to work with.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Mark: There is so much good art competing this month. I think my vote would have to go for either Children of The Sewer or Little Earth People.

*****

Big Ups

Christina Boyce and Justin King, Big Ups: A Space Adventure

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Christina: Hello, my name is Christina Boyce. Right now I live in Southern California, where I have been most of my life. I'm a media arts/animation student at the Art Institute of California, but I originally started school in Arizona. My list of comics isn't terribly big, mostly short ones that can be found here and there online. I do have a short one printed in an anthology, and hoping to have another one in the second installment! I would like to finish something a little bigger, and perhaps have my own little book printed in the near future, and perhaps a webcomic of my own.

Justin: I self-published a comic in 2008 called Physicist Roundtable. I also had my first real pro job earlier this year when I made a comic for a software company. They seem to have dropped off the face of the earth after they paid me, though, so I think I caused them to go bankrupt.

When I am not making comics, I am trying to publish other peoples comics. I started a small web and print publishing company called DAPshow, for which I have published one anthology (The Eternal Sad, which had comics from 30 artists around the world, including me and Christina), and I'm currently putting together the second volume of it which should be published in early 2010 along with a few other comics.

JK: What's your strip about?

Christina: The strip focuses on the continuing adventures of an alien explorer, and his companion/sidekick. Upsie, the main character, is an official explorer in the name of his home planet. His job is to find new things in space, and report back with his findings. He is very proud of his job, but he is rather new at it. Along the way he runs into another alien, a Nematoid named Neemu. They become pals, and Neemu joins Upsie on his travels. There may be some reoccurring things throughout, but for the most part it is a more episodic sort of thing. Different stories for different adventures they go on.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Christina: I personally know some dudes who have entered the competition, and have either done well, or have won. I thought it would be a cool thing to try, and I wanted to see if I could produce something that would get in. I'm pretty happy that I got in, as I was doubting myself for while.

Justin: I have thought about entering the Zuda competition a lot, but always had a hard time thinking of a story that would work in only eight pages and show the potential that it could go on for a lot more. So, when Christina approached me about coloring her comic, I thought it would be a great opportunity to be a part of Zuda and get some much needed experience in it's format. It has turned out to be all of that and more.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Christina: I think I may, actually! I've grown attached to my silly aliens, I have to say. I already have some adventures for them sitting around in my head.

Justin: If Christina ever wanted to continue working on it, I would be down for coloring it if she wanted.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Christina: Prolly Peabody & D'Gorath. Mark is a cool guy, and I've talked to him a couple times prior to the competition. I was actually pretty intimidated when I heard that he was gonna be competing against me, and I was right- his comic is pretty great!

Justin: I would vote for Mark's Peabody & D'Gorath. I might be a little biased because he is my friend and the cover artist of an anthology I am publishing soon, but his comic is very entertaining and has a lot of potential. I also really enjoy its atmosphere.

*****

Little Earth People character concepts

Joe Pekar and Chris Lewis, Little Earth People

JK: Please introduce yourself ... who are you, where are you from and have you done any other comics work? What do you do when you aren't making comics?

Joe: I'm Joe Pekar, from Orlando, Florida. I've done a few covers here and there, a couple Grimm Fairy Tales for Zenescope and some for BOOM! Studios Hexed. I also have my own book 'Brandi Bare' that may be coming out in some form one of these days (there are some preview pages of that book on my website: www.joepekar.com ). When I'm not making comics I'm usually drawing other stuff or dealing with my kids, trying to figure out who started the fighting or who broke what. you know, usual parenting stuff

Chris: I'm Chris Lewis, an Oregonian in Germany (the title of my next work?) working as a translator in an advertising agency. Little Earth People is actually the first story I ever wrote, but I'm hoping to get my next projects to the masses soon. Other interests include baby-raising, book-reading, wife-loving, and love, um...spreading.

JK: What's your strip about?

Joe: Well Chris will probably answer that better than me, in fact he's the writer, so he should do it anyway . To me, it was the story of trying to draw a boy that always needed to be looking at a tv screen on his wrist, and the trials and tribulations of laying out panels that way. but that's probably not what you were asking about...

Chris: It's about people watching people and the effects that this has on watcher and watched alike. For research I was watching as much reality TV as I could stomach and just wondering what could possibly possess these people (or their parents in the case of certain 16 year old birthday divas) to subject themselves to such public embarrassment. Then I got to wondering what effect it had on me, while at the same time asking myself if I really wanted to be a writer, reading a lot of Philip K. Dick and Oliver Sacks, and realizing my passion for meerkats.

JK: Why did you decide to enter your comic into the Zuda competition, rather than trying to publish it somewhere else or setting up your own site for it?

Joe: Actually, I saw a posting on a web forum about someone looking for an artist for a Zuda submission. At the time I was really looking for something to work on that was different than my usual drawing work ... pinup girls and stuff like that .  So I just decided to give it a shot. I sent Chris an email with some of my Brandi Bare pages, showing some sequential stuff. He seemed to like it enough and we were off. After hearing about his story, it seemed the total opposite end of the spectrum of what I usually draw so that got me hooked.

Chris: Because it's Zuda, man (insert a$$ kissing noises here)! Actually, I had a couple years between finishing Little Earth People and doing anything with it, and after completing two more stories, I realized that nothing is going to happen unless I get some great artists to draw these things. Apparently, dusty scripts in drawers don't attract big publishers...who knew? I thought online might be the way to go for a first attempt like this, and Zuda just seemed to be the place to be. There's an active community, intriguing talents, and a big pile of money for the winner. Zuda is my "'enry 'iggins, the somewhat-stern-taskmaster-but-he-really-likes-her-anyway-kind-of-thing guy," who has taught me how to write better.

JK: If you don't end up winning, do you plan to continue doing the strip?

Joe: Probably not. I mean it was fun to do, but it was a lot of work to get the pages done. I just wouldn't have the time to do it for fun.

Chris: Joe said it. I was going to ask him to finish the entire 4 issue story for fun (ie. free), but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. Like I said, the story is all there and ready to go, but I'll have to think about what to do with it if my dramatic "please vote so we can all see Joe draw more of Marsha's fabulous 'rackatoni' (user comment)" prayer isn't heard in time.

JK: If you weren't in this month's competition, who do you think you'd vote for?

Joe: Wait, we're allowed to vote for ourselves?! Actually, I really enjoyed the art style on Brother of the Bronze Hammer the most this month. so if i had to vote for someone else, it would be that one.

Chris: Joe stole my joke with this one. But I'm torn about how to use my vote. Should I vote for our story, loving the art and knowing where the craziness leads? Should I vote for the amazing art style on BOTBH? Or should I go vigilante and specifically use my pea-sized vote against one of the two dark-reigning titans? I'm conflicted.

"Shakedown" by Paul Pope

I have no idea what this was drawn for, but c'mon, like I'm not gonna post a Paul Pope picture of a naked girl rocking out on a strategically placed guitar.

Milk & Cheese #2, from SLG Publishing

Kramers Ergot 7, from Buenaventura Press

Unholster your credit cards, comics fans: Two publishers are currently holding nigh-irresistible sales in their webstores.

As we've reported, cartoonist Evan Dorkin notes that indie-comics stalwart SLG Publishing -- home of comics by Dorkin, Jhonen Vasquez, Jim Rugg, James Turner and more -- is slashing prices on its entire library by 40%. Meanwhile, art-comics trailblazer Buenaventura Press -- the outfit behind books by Johnny Ryan, Jerry Moriarty, Lisa Hannawalt, and Matt Furie, not to mention Kramers Ergot -- has announced that they're offering an across-the-board 20% off sale. Both sales are designed to help their respective publishers weather these still-nightmarish financial times, so not only would taking advantage of them help score you some sweet deals, it'd be a mitzvah as well.

But these prices aren't sticking around forever, so you've gotta act now. And if you're ;ooking for a guide to help you do so, The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon has recommendations for both the SLG and Buenaventura sales, as well as a smidge of analysis as to what it all means. Beyond "great deals," that is.

The Meanest Man in Town by Milt Stein

Bio-Diversity by Christopher Niemann

Camel ads

Valley of the Dangerous Dreams by Alberto Giolitti

Der Grosse Mordillo

Little Dynamite by Jack Cole

Minimidget

Blackest Night #7

Siege #2

They say nice guys finish last, but when event comics will finish is anybody's guess. The demands of a high-profile series around which entire shared universes revolve can play havoc with scheduling. Naturally, editors and publishers love to maintain the artistic quality and consistency (and sales levels) provided by the big-name writer-artist teams that tend to lend such books a sense of "this is a big deal." On the other hand, they need to get books out on time so that other series whose storylines depend upon what happens in the event can proceed as planned -- and so that they don't end up alienating retailers and readers. But these same readers and retailers can end up just as irritated if they get the sense that the creators are being rushed, or if fill-in artists aren't up to snuff. It's a tough row to hoe.

With his front-row seat for a variety of events this decade, including Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Civil War, and Secret Invasion, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort knows this better than anyone. So it was with an obvious mix of boldness and trepidation that he made the following prediction on his Twitter account:

It's height of hubris time: I'm willing to bet that SIEGE will wrap up before BLACKEST NIGHT does.

Siege, of course, is the apparent capstone in Marvel's years-long series of mega-events, reuniting Avengers mainstays Thor, Iron Man and Captain America as (I assume) they attempt to thwart HAMMER Director Norman Osborn's advances on Asgard. Launching in January for a four-issue run, it's written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Olivier Coipel, and its second issue is due out on Feb. 3.

Blackest Night is another years-in-the-making project, this one stemming from Geoff Johns's long-running "War of Light" storyline in Green Lantern and pitting the heroes of the DCU against power ring-resurrected versions of their allies and enemies who seek to wipe out all life. Written by Johns and drawn by Ivan Reis, this eight-issue series launched in July (with an additional #0 issue arriving on Free Comic Book Day a couple months earlier), and its seventh issue is slated for release on Feb. 24.

So can Siege sneak its final two issues in between Blackest Night #7 and 8? Seems tight, but anything can happen. Heck, just ask Brevoort himself, who's far from cocky about the prospects for his proposed wager. In that very same tweet, he says, "You'd think I'd've learned from REBORN," the Ed Brubaker/Bryan Hitch Captain America miniseries that's been transmogrified from five issues to a delay-plagued six. Still, Brevoort jokes that its final issue, due out Jan. 13, will still see the light of day before that of Flash: Rebirth, the similarly expanded and delay-prone series by Johns and Ethan Van Sciver whose sixth and final issue is currently scheduled for a Dec. 23 release. "I know their pain. And yet, I mock them anyway. Hubris," he later self-diagnoses.

Speaking of mockery, Brevoort responds to a pair of reader tweets with some good-natured jibes in at Marvel's own infamously unfinished Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target ("That already finished. You may be confused because the title was changed to Zack and Miri Make A Porno.") and The Twelve ("Hey, there are many issues of Brave & The Bold that have to be written."). Of course, as that last tweet indicates, the writers of those titles -- Kevin Smith and J. Michael Straczynski respectively -- have since largely decamped to DC, so the gags go both ways.

So which of the big events will end up finishing first -- the Green Lantern's or the Green Goblin's? Swing by in March to find out!

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.