Current Transmissions
SDCC Wishlist | IDW brings Anne Rice, Ashley Wood, Thor and more
Anne Rice Servant of the Bones
IDW Publishing has released a list of the items they’ll be selling at their booth at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, many of which are available for pre-order. The list includes advanced copies of Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones #1, several Ashley Wood books, Walter Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Baja ashcans, Locke & Key keys and much more. Check out the list below:
Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones
• Visitors to Comic-Con can purchase an exclusive advance copy of Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones #1 with a variant cover; only 400 copies of this exclusive issue will be available.
• Beginning in August, the first issue of Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones will tell of the demon Azriel, who sets out to find the murderer of a beautiful young woman in the streets of New York City, only to discover a far more sinister plot that could end the world. Once a human in ancient Babylon, Azriel is a spirit of rage and terror that gradually rediscovers his humanity through holy vengeance and spiritual love.
• Anne Rice will be signing at the IDW booth #2643 on Thursday July 21, 2011 during Comic-Con. With the purchase of a SERVANT OF THE BONES #1, fans will be able to have one additional item signed.
• ANNE RICE’S SERVANT OF THE BONES #1 (Comic-Con Edition $5.00, 32 pages, full color) will be available at the IDW booth #2643 during Comic-Con, while supplies last.
• ANNE RICE’S SERVANT OF THE BONES #1 ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in comic stores in August 2011.
Books vs. comics: Kazu Kibuishi on the problem of Flight
CBR’s Alex Dueben interviewed Flight editor Kazu Kibuishi about the release of the eighth and final volume in the much-acclaimed anthology series this week, and Kibuishi talked a bit about why he and his editor decided to bring it to an end:
While “Flight” continues to be very successful for an anthology, it doesn’t sell enough copies to be considered a hit in the mainstream book publishing world, and our sales numbers were not rising. My goal with the project was to reach new readers and bring them into comics, but I was seeing that we weren’t doing a good enough job of it. I think much of the blame can be placed on the size and price of the books. It’s just a bit much to ask someone who has never read the other “Flight” books to spend $27 on a paperback. So I realized that the time spent on the series could be better spent helping the artists begin working on their own books. We’ll revisit the project again, but it will probably show up in a different form.
As comics shift more and more into a graphic novel model, Kibuishi’s words are worth thinking about. Book publishers and comics publishers have different ways of doing things, and apparently the Flight books, as great as they are, didn’t fit neatly into either category. On the other hand, they launched a lot of artists who did go on to make successful graphic novels.
And there’s a bit of good news in the article: Flight 8 is the last volume of the numbered series, but Kibuishi is also working with editor Sheila Keenan on one more volume of the all-ages Flight Explorer anthology, and he will be applying the lessons learned to this new book.
Spend the month with Gabrielle Bell
Well, make that “Gabrielle Bell’s diary.” Actually, make it “Gabrielle Bell’s diary comics.” The Lucky cartoonist has taken on the challenge of posting a diary comic every day for the month of July — and not just a loosely-sketched strip three or four panels, mind you, but a full-fledged page drawn in her customary splotch-driven style. It’s actually a big month for Bell: Besides the diary project, she has an art show with cartoonist Lizz Hickey opening up at Brooklyn’s Desert Island comic shop on July 14, and a collection of her acclaimed San Diego Diary strips bowing next week from Uncivilized Books. Which events, I’m sure, will provide further fuel for the diary project. Down the recursive rabbit hole we go!
The Fifth Color | Vengeance is a State of Mind
The Marvel Universe sure does a lot of “venging,” don’t they? Avenge, revenge and now this new mini-series Vengeance by Joe Casey, Nick Dragotta and Brad Simpson.
Without getting into spoilers, I can tell you it’s a six issue mini-series for $3.99, and it’s a high concept for a high price. I can tell you that Brad Simpson is the colorist, gets third billing on the book and is pretty awesome. Likewise Nick Dragotta has an awesome name and an awesome website. Joe Casey is a Man of Action and has plenty of fantastic comics under his name. So by the creators alone, this book should be added to your pull list.
Or should it? Shakespeare and Michelangelo could make a really bad comic book, so why pick up anything on name alone? What is Vengeance about, really? It’s got Magneto on the cover; is it a mutant book? It’s got quote from someone about the generation gap; is it about kids? Is it about Ghost Rider?
From the solicitation, “When MAGNETO of the X-Men tries to rescue a young Mutant on the run, he accidentally kicks off a series of events that will shake the very Marvel Universe to it’s core! Who are the new TEEN BRIGADE?! Who are the Brotherhood and what do they want with the YOUNG MASTERS OF EVIL?! And how is the RED SKULL pulling the strings from beyond the grave? Joe Casey (AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST) joins Nick Dragotta (FANTASTIC FOUR) for some major acts of VENGEANCE!”
Aside from all the questions posed, we know that Magneto starts off something and that there’s gonna be some vengeance.
WARNING: Yeah, I’m going to tell you what Vengeance #1 is all about. The long and short of it is it’s a great book, so go get one, read it and let’s compare notes, shall we?
Robot Reviews | Captain Easy Vol. 2
Captain Easy Vol. 2
Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 2 (1936-1937)
by Roy Crane; edited by Rick Norwood
Fantagraphics Books, 156 pages, $39.99
Roy Crane may have been one of the progenitors of the adventure comic strip, but he stood quite apart from those who followed in his wake.
While the people who picked up his torch — folks like Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, Alex Raymond and the like — shared a fondness for the same genre trappings — exotic locales, tough guy leading men, crazy cliffhangers, bursts of fisticuffs and pretty girls — those artists were devotees of a highly illustrative, almost photo-realistic style. It was a style that quickly became one of the most predominant in the medium, at least where melodrama was concerned, as folks like Raymond influenced folks like Joe Kubert, Alex Toth and Neal Adams, who then influenced folks like George Perez and John Romita Jr. and so forth and so on, until we end up at Rob Liefeld on one end and Greg Land on the other.
But unlike all of those folk, Crane was a cartoonist of the big foot, “plop” pratfall school, less interested in perfectly capturing than in giving a guy a funny potato nose or having stars appear in circles around someone’s noggin after getting whacked upside the head with a bat or broom or even a walking cane. He was just as interested in a quick, and maybe even occasionally cheap, laugh as he was at chronicling the rip-roaring adventure stuff.
SDCC Wishlist | DC antes up with Wayne Casino poker chips
Wayne Casino Chips
Now these are a great idea. Have you been reading Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso? I read the first two issues last night and can’t wait for the next one.
Anyway, if you have read it, you know that Flashpoint Batman is Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father, and he owns a casino. To promote Flashpoint at their booth in San Diego this year, DC Comics will give away five different Wayne Casinos poker chips, with a different valued chip on each day:
$1 Chips (White) – Wednesday, July 20th
$5 Chips (Red) – Thursday, July 21st
$10 Chips (Blue) – Friday, July 22nd
$25 Chips (Green) – Saturday, July 23rd
$50 Chips (Orange) – Sunday, July 24th
$100 Chips (Black) – These will be given away at DC panels throughout the convention to attendees who ask the best questions!
Comic Industry Job Board
In the wide world of comics there’s always a needed for talented people — and not just for creating the comics. The comics you read everyday are supported by an immense infrastructure of editors, publishers, designers, distributors and retailers that make American comics what it is today. And despite the frail economy, the comics industry is always looking for employees.
We’ve compiled a list of all the openings in the comics industry for non-creative office positions and put it all into one place. It’s a good resource if you’re looking to work in comics, and also for armchair speculators seeing what companies are looking to do by seeing what positions they’re hiring for. We accumulated these by looking on publisher websites and job boards — if you know of a job not listed here, let us know!
Stuart Immonen comes to Chicago’s Challengers Comics tonight
He’s tearing up the Marvel U in Fear Itself, but now cartoonist Stuart Immonen is bringing his talents to Chicago’s Challengers Comics.From now until Aug. 8, Challenger’s art gallery will be exhibiting original art from Fear Itself as well as other work from Immonen’s ouvre. (say ‘Immonen’s ouvre’ three times fast).
Immonen has become an artist’s artist in recent years, providing aesthetically pleasing art that fits within the mainstream super-hero comics mold without sacrificing artistic flourishes and pure draftsman-like skill. From Legion of Super-Heroes to Superman to Nextwave, New Avengers and now Fear Itself he’s seen, and done it all… twice, probably.
Immonen will be on-hand tonight for an opening event from 7-9 p.m. Chicago time. They’ll also have an exclusive 11″ x 17 ” limited edition print that would look great at Robot 6 HQ (just sayin’).
Report: Archie Comics sues Co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit
Nancy Silberkleit
Archie Comics has filed a lawsuit against Co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit accusing her of bullying and sexually harassing employees, TMZ reports. The company is asking a judge for an injunction preventing Silberkleit from returning to its Mamaroneck, N.Y., headquarters and from representing the company at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Wife of the late Michael Silberkleit, son of Archie Comics co-founder Louis Silberkleit, Nancy Silberkleit was an art teacher who stepped into the co-CEO role in 2009 following the death of her husband. She shares the title with Jon Goldwater, son of company co-founder John L. Goldwater.
TMZ reports that the lawsuit, filed Thursday in New York, documents employee complaints of Silberkleit’s “offensive” behavior dating back to 2009. In one incident she allegedly interrupted a meeting and “pointed to each [attendee] and said, ‘PENIS, PENIS, PENIS, PENIS’ and then walked out.”
Archie Comics claims it hired an outside firm to investigate the allegations, and was advised to cut ties with Silberkleit.
With this ring, I say thee ‘Yay!’
Michelle and Arune
Most people’s engagement pictures probably consist of a loving couple holding hands in the park or maybe sharing a kiss on a bridge. Kind of like this.
But for the guy who popped the question with the help of a comic created by artist Francis Manapul, you might expect something a little different, which is what Arune Singh, director of marketing communications for Marvel, delivered. The photographer for the couple in question, Kyo Morishima, has posted a few of Singh with his fiance, Michelle, as they skip the park and head to a comic shop; instead of a bridge, they gaze lovingly under a Superman emblem on the steps at Midtown Comics. The photographer also apparently caught the couple’s first argument (above) … advantage: Michelle.
Once again, best of luck to the happy couple.
Comic-Con International announces Friday programming
Comic-Con International
Just like clockwork, Comic-Con International has released the schedule for the second day of the convention, one marked by tributes to Gene Colan and Frank Frazetta, spotlights on David Finch, Tony DeZuniga, Gary Alanguilan, Jeff Smith, Chester Brown, Dave Stewart, Ed Bennes and Dave Gibbons, the Aspen Comics, Oni Press and Radical Publishing panels, and a look at the state of the Hellboy Universe.
There’s also plenty of comics-to-screen action, with a viewing of the rejected Locke & Key television pilot (followed by a Q&A), The Walking Dead panel, presentations on The Amazing Spider-Man, The Adventures of Tintin, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Marvel Anime, and the premiere of the animated Batman: Year One.
Add to that a look at Marvel’s X-Men, DC panels devoted to the September relaunch, Superman and the Justice League, a discussion with Roman Dirge (conducted by Comic Book Resources’ Jonah Weiland), and — well, you’ll have to check out the rest for yourself. And it’s all topped off by the annual Eisner Awards ceremony.
To help you with your Comic-Con planning, we’ve highlighted the comics-specific programming below. To see the full Friday schedule, complete with television, film and video game content, visit the convention website.
Female comic creators unite for a cause in Womanthology
There’s anthologies. Then there’s Womanthology.
Designed to showcase the works of female comic creators “of every age and experience level,” the short stories in Womanthology center around the theme “Heroic.” In addition to comics, the book will also have interviews and “how-to” tutorials by female creators to encourage the next generation of talent. All proceeds from the book will be donated to the charity Global Giving Foundation.
To bring this all together, the women behind Womanthology are turning to Kickstarter.com to raise money to print the book. With a release date tentatively set for December 2011, the Kickstarter campaign has already generated $18,000 of its $25,000 goal with just under a month to go.
The list of contributors reads like a who’s who of comic creators, including the likes of Ann Nocenti, Camille d’Errico, Ming Doyle, Colleen Doran, June Brigman, Fiona Staples, Barbara Kesel, Gail Simone, Trina Robbins and more.
SDCC Wishlist | Gaze into the soulless eyes of Dark Phoenix
Dark Phoenix, from Tonner Dolls
Tonner Doll Company, the folks behind the DC Stars collection, has officially announced its 2011 Comic-Con International exclusive: a kind-of-cool — if you’re into high-priced collectible dolls, that is — kind-of-creepy limited-edition Dark Phoenix doll. How limited? Very, according to the manufacturer; just 150 pieces have been made.
That means, of course, that Dark Phoenix will be very expensive. Although Tonner’s press release doesn’t list a price — file under “If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it” — eBay already has the doll pegged at anywhere from $254.95 to (gulp) $349.99.
But, hey, isn’t she worth it? Just read this description: “In keeping with the fine detail and quality of Tonner’s other product lines, Dark Phoenix will boast hand-painted facial details, including mesmerizing mirrored eyes and fine quality variegated, rooted saran hair. She features a recently enhanced 16″ high-quality vinyl and hard plastic body with 13-points-of-articulation for dynamic poses. Dark Phoenix’s meticulously crafted costume consists of a searing red bodysuit with metallic ‘Phoenix’ emblem and attached gloves, thigh-high faux leather boots, and matching gold sash with a ‘Phoenix’ charm. A display stand is also included.”
I would’ve gone with “haunting, soulless eyes” rather than “mesmerizing mirrored eyes,” but I’m not really the target audience for this thing, “searing red bodysuit” or no. Tonner will be at Booth #4149 in the San Diego Convention Center, so start saving those pennies.
Robot 6 Q&A | Larry Young on the return of First Comics
Warp #1
Yesterday we learned by way of the San Diego Comic-Con Thursday panel schedule that First Comics, a hallmark of 1980s independent comic book publishing, is returning. According to the write-up for the panel:
First Comics: The First of the Great Independents Is Back with a Fury!— Legendary ’80s independent publishing powerhouse First Comics is returning when the world needs it most, not unlike the promised return of King Arthur. And the assembled Round Table of extraordinary comics creators are here to tell you how they will once again be rocking your world with comics entertainment from the cutting edge. Panelists include Ken F. Levin (Wanted, The Boys, First Comics co-founder and director), Joe Staton and Nick Cuti (E-Man), Bill Willingham (Fables), Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition), Brian Mullens (founder of DaQRi; QR director), Alex Wald (art director then and again), Susannah Carson (A Truth Universally Acknowledged; First Comics YA editor), and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (The Tarquin Engine, The Last Sane Cowboy). Moderated by Larry Young (The Black Diamond; First Comics director of production). Room 23ABC
As noted in the description, several on the panel were involved with First Comics back in the 1980s; others, like Willingham and Collins, were involved in making prominent independent comics at the time (Collins created Ms. Tree, published by Eclipse and other companies, while Willingham created Elementals, published by Comico). And there are new faces, like Goodbrey and Young. Goodbrey stated on his blog that his webcomic Necessary Monsters would be involved. And Young, publisher of AiT/Planet Lar, will serve as director of production for the returning company.
I caught up with Young, who answered a few questions about First’s return.
Brian Wood, Simon Coleby create Lord of the Rings game prologue
Screenshot from "The Lord of the Rings: War in the North"
As Tolkien fans watch for the next update from the set of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is gearing up for the fall release of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, the action RPG game set during the journey of the One Ring. Developed by Snowblind Studios, the game takes place in the great northern wastes of Middle-earth, where three heroes confront a growing army even as the Fellowship winds its way toward Mordor.
To encourage pre-orders through certain retailers, Warner Bros. Interactive is offering a digital comic produced by corporate sibling DC Comics, written by Northlanders creator Brian Wood and illustrated by Judge Dredd and The Authority artist Simon Coleby. Curiously, as IGN.com notes, gamers who pre-order through Toys ‘R’ Us will have access to both parts of the comic, while those who go through Amazon will only get Part 2.