Spera, Volume 1

It’s time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new comics. As usual, we’re focusing on graphic novels, collected volumes, and first issues so that I don’t have to come up with a new way to say, “Jeff Lemire’s Frankenstein is still awesome!” every month. And I’ll continue letting Tom and Carla do the heavy lifting in regards to DC and Marvel’s solicitations.

Also, please feel free to play along in the comments. Tell me what I missed that you’re looking forward to or – if you’re a comics creator – mention your own stuff.

Archaia

The Grave Doug Freshley – A lot of publishers are doing Weird Western comics lately and that’s just fine with me.

Spera, Volume 1 – I like the sound of this fairy tale in which a couple of princesses combine efforts to save their kingdoms. It’s not that I’m anti-prince, but that’s a cool, new way to do that story.

Avatar

Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island – Warren Ellis doing Steampunk sounds thrilling, but really all they had to say was “pirates.” I bet this is still really good though, even if you’re pickier than I am.

Boom!

Roger Langridge’s Snarked #1 – After a well-loved zero-issue, Langridge’s version of Wonderland gets its real, official start.

The Huntress #1

Dark Horse

Turok, Son of Stone, Volume 1: Aztlan – I never read any of the Valiant stuff, nor the original comics they were based on, but having rediscovered my interest in dinosaurs in the last few years, I gave the first issue of this a shot and enjoyed it.

DC

The Huntress #1 – How’s Levitz doing with his new Legion stuff? Can he still write? DC finally rebooted the Legion enough times to pound the fandom right out of me, so I haven’t been keeping up. I’m always curious about the Huntress though, because she seems like a character with a ton of potential. I’m drowning in the hype in this solicit (“Hot new miniseries!” “Largest price on her head in DC Universe history!” “Jaw-dropping events!” “Defines her life!” “Tie-in to upcoming Birds of Prey!”), but I’d like to read a good Huntress story and am hoping this qualifies.

The Shade #1 – This is probably as close as we’re going to get to a new James Robinson Starman series, but you know what? It’s really damn close. And it’s got some amazing artists scheduled for it like Darwyn Cooke, Javier Pulido, Jill Thompson, Frazer Irving, and Gene Ha.

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 1 tpb – Hey! Cheapskate edition! I hadn’t even dared to hope.

Showcase Presents: Batman, Volume 5 – I was getting all excited about the Tales of the Batman: Don Newton collection also coming out this month and was about to write something about how much I love Bronze Age Batman. Then I realized that that’s what this collects too, only cheaper and it’s slightly earlier stuff. Still, that Newton volume is in color, so I’ll probably want both books.

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 – Do you know what I like better than a Batman/Zatanna team-up? I don’t either.

Hark! A Vagrant

The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1 - Dammit, DC. You’re going to make me buy this again, aren’t you?

Drawn and Quarterly

Hark! A Vagrant – If I could only buy one thing this month, Kate Beaton’s collection would be it. I cannot wait to start loaning this out and sharing her stuff with my friends and family who don’t read webcomics.

Dynamite

Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris, Volume 1 – Colossus of Mars – Unlike the glut of Green Hornet comics, there seem to be solid reasons for each of Dynamite’s John Carter series to exist side-by-side. I’m eager to hear what Burroughs fans think of this one.

Sherlock Holmes: Year One – Ditto this and Holmes fans. Is it closer in tone to A Study in Scarlet or Young Sherlock Holmes?

First Second

Orcs, Volume 1: Forged for War - Orcs are my least-favorite Tolkien/D&D mythical race, but I trust First Second to change my mind about that. Dwarves better watch their backs if they don’t want to get bumped to the bottom of the list.

Humanoids

The Zombies That Ate the World, Volume 1: Bring Me Back My Head! – My Guy Davis collection is one step closer to being complete.

IDW

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1 – In spite of what I said about my Legion fandom earlier, this really does sound cool. Then again, I’m the guy who liked the Star Trek/X-Men crossovers.

Legion of Monsters #1

30 Days of Night #1 – Very excited about a 30 Days of Night ongoing. This means I probably need to catch up on the last couple of mini-series though.

Cold War #1 – Yes, I do believe I could get into a John Byrne spy series.

Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume 5 – Eep! I’m falling behind!

Kill Shakespeare, Volume 2: The Blast of War - The massive Fables-meets-the-Bard mini-series is all collected finally. Which means I get to read it now.

Marvel

Avengers 1959 #1 and 2 – See what I said about John Byrne’s Cold War, substitute Howard Chaykin for Byrne; add Namora and Kraven the Hunter.

Legion of Monsters #1 – Someone started a meme a while ago about what titles you’d want in a Marvel version of DC’s New 52. I’ve been giving that some thought and a couple of my wishes were a  comic about all of Marvel’s monster characters and another about Elsa Bloodstone. Marvel’s apparently reading my mind.

Moonstone

Return of the Monsters – I’m already pretty interested in Moonstone’s pulp characters: Black Bat, Phantom Detective, Domino Lady, and the Spider. But I’m hooked right through the cheek when they meet Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, a mummy, and a werewolf in a series of four, separate comics.

Airboy Presents The Airfighters - I’m a little confused about whether this has already been solicited before, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I haven’t read it yet and I want to.

Nordguard

NBM

Salvatore, Volume 2: An Eventful Crossfire – I do love a good anthropomorphic animal story. Blame Blacksad.

Scar

Madame Samurai, Volume 2 – The first volume of this was quiet and beautiful. Glad there’s a second.

Sofawolf

Nordguard – The blurb for this reads like a standard Northern adventure story about a team of sled dogs who have to brave a variety of dangers to save some miners. I dig Jack London and all, but I’ve seen that story before, usually on Disney. Then I looked at the cover and realized that the sled dogs are wearing parkas and carrying revolvers.

And that’s it for me. What did I leave out?

Uncanny X-Force #1

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Robot 6 crew has been enjoying on the comics front. Today our special guest is our friend Ron Richards, one of the co-founders of the popular comics website iFanboy.com. To see what Ron and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.

*****

Brigid Alverson

Scrooge and Santa

I got into the Christmas spirit a bit with Scrooge and Santa, by Matthew Wilson and Josh Kenfield. It’s a cute update of A Christmas Carol, with a cynical modern-day Scrooge who loves shiny gadgets almost as much as he hates Santa Claus. This is a kids’ comic with lots of humor and plenty of action. Scrooge kidnaps Santa and tries to take over Christmas, but the FBI and his sweetheart of an assistant thwart him at every turn. There are lots of goofy chase scenes, some magic, and plenty of in-jokes for fans of the original book as well as some other holiday classics. Kenfield’s art is expressive and dynamic — sometimes a bit too dynamic, as it was hard to follow what was going on in some of the action sequences — but overall it’s a fun holiday story.

In Doug TenNapel’s mind, the afterlife is sort of like Yugoslavia — seven different kingdoms, all set against one another and then reunited by a single conniving ruler. It’s a dreary place, filled with danger, and the ghosts keep escaping into the world of the living to get away from it. In Ghostopolis, the story is set in motion when a talented but washed-up ghost wrangler accidentally sends a young boy, Garth, into the afterlife before his time (Garth is dying but at the moment is very much alive). Of course it turns out that Garth has special powers, and soon a number of different parties are after him, each for their own reasons. The bare outline of the story — boy strays into forbidden kingdom and must get back home — is as old as the human race, but the world that TenNapel conjures up is original enough that it feels fresh anyway.

Chris Mautner

This week I read the first hardcover volume of Brightest Day which … well, to be honest, it left no impression on me whatsoever. It wasn’t awful enough to make me want to slag it, nor was it decent enough to make me want to admire it, even begrudgingly. Actually, I found myself rather bored by it, despite the presence of giant zombie sharks, dead baby birds and psychotic Martians that flay families alive while they’re playing Rock Band. The whole thing seems so concerned with set-up and continuity that the pace is rather slack, and I didn’t find enough reason to care about Boston Brand or any other of the cast’s plights I’ve talked before about my dislike for Ivan Reis’ over-rendered art before and that dislike continues here. Maybe everything picks up in Vol. 2, but at this point I’m not terribly inclined to find out. I didn’t hate the book — I couldn’t work up enough emotion to do that. All I felt was a bout of extreme indifference.

Tim O’Shea

Knight and Squire #3

I don’t know if Paul Cornell has enough material drive or interest to do a Knight & Squire ongoing, but three issues into this six-part miniseries and it is fast becoming one of my favorite monthly reads. Comics rarely make me genuinely laugh, this issue did. One-part comedy exploring Shakespeare’s take on King Richard III/one-part social commentary on the borderline absurdity that social media has the potential to be (in Knight & Squire’s world,Twitter is called Twunter [with a slogan of "Let Your Fingers Do the Talking"]). The story involves historical clones, including Richard III, who artist Jimmy Broxton has handle a gun, like a modern day posturing criminal in one scene, to great effect.

Some comics talk me to death in an effort to show the reader seemingly how smart the writer is. I am relieved to find that while Nick Spencer pours a great amount of story and details into every page, it’s not heavy handed. Quite the opposite in fact, the details draw me into THUNDER Agents #2 even more. As much as I enjoy Cafu’s pencils on this series, Chriscross handles many pages in this issue in a style that is a poor match for Cafu. After several pages of Chriscross almost cartoonish characterizations of face, it was jarring to go back to Cafu toward the end of this issue. It was so jarring I did not recognize the main character (compared to how he looked on Chriscross’ pages) until someone actually said the character’s name.

Paul Tobin’s all ages work on Marvel Adventures continues to captivate me. He’s written the best version of the Vision that I have read since Kurt Busiek last handled him. My only complaint? I wish Scott Koblish had been given enough time to draw the whole issue, as again I was distracted when the latter pages of the issue shifted to the different art style of Peter Nguyen. Fortunately, however, all the characters were still easily recognizable.

Ron Richards

The Thin Black Line

The Thin Black Line (TwoMorrows Publishing) – While not a comic book per se’, this is a book about a comic book creator. After reading the first two Fantastic Four Omnibuses and hearing about the work of Vinnie Colletta, I’ve been fascinated by the man and his work, so when TwoMorrows Publishing put out this book about Colletta, a retrospective of his career and investigation into his legacy as one of the most controversial inkers in the industry, I had to read it. I seriously couldn’t put this book down and read it cover to cover over 3 nights. I can’t say I can definitively say that Colletta is as bad, or deserving of the comments people have made about him, but now I definitely have greater insight to the man, his work and the controversy. I’m not saying it was okay to erase Kirby art so that he could inker faster, but now I get it. Any fan of the silver age and/or the craft of making comics has to read this.

Uncanny X-Force (Marvel Comics) – The standout for my vote for best new series of 2010 is the one I was most worried about once it was announced. The creative team of Remender and Opena are one of my favorites (if you haven’t read Fear Agent, stop reading this and go buy it now!) and the idea of them on an X-Book, as an X-Fan, got me super excited. But the fact that it was picking up the much maligned X-Force as black ops/death squad and was adding Deadpool and Fantomex, two of my most hated characters, to the team had me worried. But after just a few issues, I have to say, Remender and Opena pulled it off. This is easily the best book in the X-Universe right now and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #2

Cowboy Ninja Viking (Image Comics) – One of the most imaginative and creative ideas in a comic book that I’ve seen in a very long time, this espionage/action/thriller from AJ Lieberman and Riley Rossmo (of Proof fame) gets better and better. The idea of an assassin with 3 distinct personalities that take the form of a common archetype is brilliant, and the number of combinations and archetypes used has kept me engaged from issue #1. The inventive use of word balloons in the lettering is just an added bonus to the look of this book, which along with it’s unique use of color, makes this unlike any comic on the stands right now.

Glamourpuss (Aardvark-Vanaheim) – I don’t know if anyone else is still reading this besides me and 2 of my friends, but I never miss an issue of Glamourpuss by Dave Sim. Now to be honest, I could do without half the book, as Sim practices his photorealism art by replicating fashion photography and does wacky magazine/pop culture send ups. But the meat of Glamourpuss lies in the historical exploration and telling of some of the greats of comics and cartooning, like Alex Raymond and Stan Drake. Through his research in the photorealistic style of cartooning, Sim has uncovered and is telling an amazing behind the scenes story of comics in the 1940s and 1950s from both a process standpoint, as well as a historical view of the industry. Every issue is absolutely enthralling.

Hulk (Marvel Comics) – I have often gone on the record that I am not a Hulk fan. Despite growing up a Marvel Zombie, Hulk never really connected with me. I read Peter David’s run here and there, the Bruce Jones run as well as tried to pick it up here and there. But after getting caught up in Loeb’s Red Hulk run, I decided to give Jeff Parker and Gabe Hardman’s start on Hulk with issue #25, and I couldn’t have made a better decision. Easily one of the best, classic Marvel-esque comics being published right now. Hardman’s art is dynamic with a touch of retro to it, and Parker is telling some great stories, complete with dramatic cliffhanger at the end of every issue. This is how super hero comics should be done.

Justice League Generation Lost #10

Justice League: Generation Lost (DC Comics) – Speaking of super hero comics, we’ve been saying over at iFanboy.com that one of the best books DC puts out these days is Justice League: Generation Lost. Judd Winick has been telling issue after issue of what is some of the best Justice League stories in a while. Taking the remains of the old Justice League International characters, along with some new blood in the form of the modern takes on legacy characters like Blue Beetle, Winick has just delivered quality every 2 weeks. I could read Max Lord stories for hours and thanks to this book, I’m getting that along with some humor and most recently some awesome Cliff Chiang covers.

Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia) – As we get to the holidays, my go-to present in giving the gift of comics has been Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee. This book is unlike any other graphic novel you’ve ever read or seen. Truly a modern fairy tale, McCann has written a story that is totally all ages, that could be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. If you haven’t seen the art yet, are you in for a treat. Janet Lee’s first visual story telling work is amazing, and you have to read the bonus material to read about her process and how she went about making each page, each of which is an individual piece of art. This is the must read Graphic Novel of the 2010 Holiday Season if you ask me.

Artifacts (Top Cow) – There’s been a lot of hype about Artifacts recently and all of it is deserved. One of the challenges of Top Cow has been it’s accessibility of the characters and stories. Many people have a negative opinion based on past depictions and images of characters like Witchblade or the fact that they’ve been around for so long, it’s hard to pick up with the story. But with Artifacts, Ron Marz has been able to create an event book that is completely accessible to new readers, as well as enjoyable to anyone who’s been up on the Top Cow Universe. Every issue has read like an action flick and it has the promise to be one of the best contained series once it’s all said and done.

Wuvable Oaf (Goteblud Comics) – A local indie comic fave here in San Francisco, Wuvable Oaf is the excellent series written and drawn by SF native Ed Luce. Touching on all things that are cute and adorable, like kitties, and the fierce world of dating withing the gay scene, to the realities of music from Morrissey to Slayer, Wuvable Oaf has it all. Every issue is an event, and as evidenced by Ed Luce’s recent interview in legendary punk zine, Maximum Rocknroll, is on it’s way to becoming a cult classic. Do yourself a favor, if you have a good sense of humor and are open to something different, then seek out Wuvable Oaf, you’ll never be the same

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #4

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, where we give a great big hug to all the comics, graphic novels and what have you we’ve been reading lately.

Our special guest this week is Ben Morse, assistant editor of Marvel.com and one of the several contributors to the Cool Kids Table blog. He’s also written a few stories for Marvel as well.

To see what Ben and the Robot 6 crew have been reading recently, hit the link …

*****

Tim O’Shea

I missed out on last week’s WAYR jam session (dammit, a missed opportunity to team-up with Dirk Deppey [seriously, I love Deppey's writing, I sure as hell hope his recent pronouncements that we all write about a dying industry is premature...]). So first off, I have to address what I read the week before that still sticks to the inside of my head…If you are not reading Langridge & Samnee’s Thor: The Mighty Avenger you are missing out on a damn fine read. Langridge’s take on the Marvel universe is sheer delight–a Brian Braddock/Captain Britain oblivious to the fact his pals know his secret ID as well as Volstagg revealing his child-rearing philosophy (redefines “smothering the child” really). The visual comedy of this book is just one of its myriad assets.

Batgirl #14

Given the mercurial way DC editorial aborts series and creative teams, I have been pleased to see Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott still on Batgirl. Issue 14 is a great done-in-one team-up with Supergirl that sees them facing a legion of faux Draculas (favorite Dracula–the one riding a Segway). Miller writes a witty Batgirl, which is what brings me back every issue (and the fact that it’s not a $4 book).

But in the $4 department, my blind allegiance to any Karl Kesel-written stories continues. This week saw the launch of the Captain America: Patriot, featuring the tale of Jeff Mace in the post WW-II era. Folks seem to salivate when Mitch Breitweiser is on art duties, particularly when colored by Bettie Breitweiser (as she is credited in this first issue of the four-part miniseries). There’s a pulp vibrancy to the Breitweiser art team that meshes perfectly with Kesel’s script. Plus there’s an engaging supporting cast.

I really like the writing of Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey, but this returning arc is dragging on a little long. Yes, the four-part arc ended with last issue, but this new two-parter continues to leave the first arc unresolved to a large extent. But what truly annoys me about this issue in particular is the compositional approach of art team of Alvin Lee & Adriana Melo. There were two to three pages where the point of view for the reader appears to be as if we were small insects looking up at these giant women. I feel odd when the layout of a panel draws my eyes to stare at the crotches of the female characters, but that’s what happened a few times. Icky.

Legacies 5 leaves me asking one question. When do we convince Walt Simonson to do more Adam Strange stories (he draws a back up tale featuring Strange along with Tommy Tomorrow, Captain Comet, as well as Space Ranger and Cryll). The main story? George Perez drawing every DC character you can imagine (and given the 1980s Crisis timing of the narrative, it includes his take on a few Charlton characters…). Yes, buy the book.

Steve Rogers without his super soldier serum in issue 3 (of the four-issue mini) gives Brubaker a chance to get inside the heart of what drives Steve Rogers. Getting to see scrawny Rogers use his fighting skills allows both writer Brubaker and artist Eaglesham to shine. Rogers and a fire extinguisher prove to be a lethal weapon in one well choreographed scene. But what really makes the scene sing is Brubaker’s writing as he internal monologues “And I’m not an underdog you ever want to bet against…not if you know anything about me.” Extra kudos to Eaglesham for some quirky as hell visual moments with Machinesmith (at one point he lectures Cap with his back to Rogers, but his head facing the hero).

Sean T. Collins

Batman and Robin #14

An unusually superhero-heavy week for me. Click the links for full reviews…

Bound & Gagged, edited by Tom Neely (I Will Destroy You): A few dozen alternative and underground cartoonists try their hands at the one-panel gag cartoon format to varying effect.

Batman and Robin #14 by Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving (DC): The best single-issue Batman comic I’ve ever read, and a true tour-de-force by Irving.

Incredible Hulks #612-613 by Greg Pak, Scott Reed, Tom Raney, and Brian Ching (Marvel): I like the new “Giants Roam the Earth” era of the Hulk in theory, but in practice I had a hard time getting into it.

Chris Mautner

Here are some things I’ve been reading. Not terribly recently, but I did read them:

Boneyard Vol. 7 by Richard Moore. This is the final (for now) volume in Moore’s long running supernatural situation comedy. It doesn’t really end on a high or low note so much as it simply just ends, as so many of the previous volumes do (Moore obviously plans on returning to the series at some point) It’s engaging and witty enough to make me wonder why it hasn’t found a larger following, especially among the fantasy crowd. At the same time, it’s very formulaic. It plays with some of those cliches, true, especially in the horror/fantasy genre, but not so much that there’s any real surprises in store. It’s a agreeable series, with the occasional dollop of “good girl” art thrown in. That’s about the best I can say about it.

Fogtown

Fogtown by Andersen Gabrych and Brad Rader. One of the newer entries in the Vertigo’s Crime series. I wasn’t wowed by the initial two books in this series, and I’m even less impressed by this utterly rote story about a private eye uncovering a case that turns out to be personal and blah blah who cares. The one twist in the story is the detective is a closet homosexual in 50s America, so of course the story is set in San Francisco. Brad Rader’s figures are stiff and off-putting. Gabrych’s text is insipid and leaves open far too many gaping plot holes. The whole thing strikes me as amateurish work, and I’m kind of surprised Vertigo gave it the OK.

Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel. Man, I wish I liked this better than I did. The premise is pretty great — kid inadvertently travels to weird afterlife world, where different cities represent different views of the dead, i.e. there’s a city for mummies, one for spectres, etc. But TenNapel stumbles in his handling of the characters. They never break out of their assigned roles and become truly memorable or unique, and thus the book feels like one more all-ages adventure story that you’ve read a dozen times over, albeit one with strong Christian metaphors. There are some good jokes here, and I like TenNapel’s art, but the book will only pass the muster with young readers who haven’t read too many of these sorts of books.

Adventures in Cartooning Activity Book by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost. Man, I’m quite the hater today, aren’t I? Good thing I liked this kids’ book, a sequel to the first Adventures in Cartooning. Like the first book, this attempts to teach young readers some of the unique features of comics and encourage them to make their own. The back quarter of the book is a bit of a cheat as it’s just a bunch of empty squares for kids to create their own comics, and some of the activities have more to do with doodling in general than with making comics per se, but it’s still a good activity book for a rainy day.

Brigid Alverson

Temperance

I just finished Cathy Malkasian’s Temperance, and I’m not sure what to make of it. On one level, the story is easy to follow, and for big chunks of it, the narrative simply carried me along. On another level, though, I kept stopping and wondering what was really going on. Temperance is the story of a group of people who are led to believe they are at war with an unseen enemy. Every day Minerva, their leader, spins a fictional story of the battle their brave Pa (actually a cruel manipulator who has abandoned the group) is fighting. Malkasian weaves her story carefully, pulling the different narrative threads together in unexpected places, and while the parallels to the real world are clear, this is no simplistic fable. The story she tells is ultimately elliptical‹it makes sense, and yet something is missing, as if we missed a few sentence from the backstory. Malkasian’s art is incredibly expressive, and her characters are filled with vitality, which helps keep the story moving even when it’s not clear what exactly is going on.

Fraggle Rock is another allegorical tale of a closed society, but what a different world it is! Cheerful, guileless, and never terribly serious, the Fraggles, Doozers, and other inhabitants of Fraggle Rock are a delight to behold. I have never seen the show, but this anthology begins with introductions to the characters and their world, so I could jump right in. The stories are light-hearted, the characters are goofy, and the world of Fraggle Rock and Outer Space is well thought out. Everything about this anthology is first-rate — the writing, the art, the production values — and it struck me as being the sort of book that both adults and children could enjoy, each in their own way.

Ben Morse

Much thanks to JK Parkin and the rest of the Robot 6 crew for letting me participate here in one of my favorite features on one of my favorite blogs. I can only speculate how many other people had to say “no” in order for them to have to resort to me.

The Bronx is Burning

THE BRONX IS BURNING – I’ll attempt to seem a bit brighter right off the bat by coming out the gate with a “book without pictures” entry. I just got done with Jonathan Mahler’s novel about the summer of 1977 in New York City, which got adapted a couple years back into a mini-series on ESPN primarily due to its coverage of the Yankees’ World Series win. My boss spotted me reading this on the plane ride back from San Diego Comic-Con and said “That looks cool—whose book is it?” alluding to the fact that he doesn’t think I’m enough of a man to be reading a “sports book;” I do enjoy sports plenty and particularly reading about them, but this was about a far broader range of topics, including the ’77 NYC mayoral race, the “Son of Sam” killings, the city-wide blackout and subsequent looting, and more. I’d say that potpourri of subject matter was both Mahler’s greatest strength and weakness, as it certainly helps an ADD reader used to 22-page comic books that the focus keeps jumping around, and he does it well, but at the same time, it does suck when you’re getting really invested in the Reggie Jackson-Billy Martin feud and then get interrupted by 50 pages on how the police dealt with riots in Bushwick (which honestly was the weakest part of the book, somewhat surprisingly). Still, for a transplanted Bostonian like me, this was a well-written and compelling look at the city I’ve now worked in and lived under the shadow of for four years now, even though it has an unhappy ending (that would be the aforementioned Yankees World Series win).

JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST – I mentioned this on my own blog recently, but seriously what has impressed me most about Generation Lost is that somebody has found a way to make the Justice League International work in a role other than the one they fit 25 years ago. Like, so many fans—myself included—have fond memories of that classic Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis era where the JLI rode high as a kinda high-minded (at times) parody of the super hero team, but after that run came and went, they really had no place in a DC Universe that had moved on aside from limited comic relief or just cannon fodder to tug at the heartstrings of folks who really liked them. I dig that in Generation Lost, Judd Winick has recast them as almost Rodney Dangerfield heroes in the sense that they get no respect from anybody, but at the same time, they establish pretty much every issue that they’re more competent than anybody gives them credit for. I mean, they’re certainly not the JLA, and they’re self-aware and self-deprecating when it comes to that, but they’re not total buffoons either, so they’re working to prove that. I always like rooting for the underdogs, and that’s the situation we’ve got here, in a pretty cool slow-burn adventure that Winick’s unraveling. I also think a lot of the artists working on this book, particularly Aaron Lopresti and Joe Bennett, are certainly underrated, and Winick himself has always gotten so much flak, so this really is the little book that could, and I’m rooting for it.

X-FACTOR – I always knew that I was a fan of Peter David to some degree or another—in that I was always reading his stuff, his Hulk and Young Justice in particular—but it’s been a sort of “whoa” revelation for me over the past few years just how much of one I am. A lot of that has come from reading the early end of his Hulk run for the first time in trade, but also in that X-Factor has just really grown on me month after month to the point where it leaps to the top of my read list whenever it comes out (and working for Marvel, I get a pretty substantial stack of books each week, which makes them a more impressive thing I do declare). Like most of PAD’s work, X-Factor isn’t for everybody; he’s certainly earned his reputation as a guy who likes to really layer the series he’s working on with a real web of intersecting plots and sub-plots that play out over a long period and lots of in-jokes and continuity nods that I personally love but others may see as too inside baseball. Since we’re talking about what I read here though, PAD’s style is right up my alley as I’m a pretty comprehensive nerd who appreciates the hat tips to the past as well as a writer who is committed enough to a title that he knows he’ll be around to pay off something he sets up early on a couple years down the line. That aside though, X-Factor is just a great combination of smart and funny, where goofiness gets balanced with genuine emotion and big action nicely breaks up really well-constructed mysteries that are befitting of a book that is at the end of the day supposed to be super heroes as a detective agency. It’s a wonderful and diverse cast, too, from Madrox’s neurotic wannabe noir hero to Layla Miller’s obnoxiously omniscient troublemaker to the absolute joy Shatterstar has become as PAD seems determined to transform him from one-note warrior archetype into manic thrill-junkie. I particularly like when other more “traditional” Marvel heroes are drawn into X-Factor’s strange world, ala the Fantastic Four a few issues back, so the current arc wherein Hela is manipulating the group into subduing Pip the Troll and Thor’s right around the corner lands right in my sweet spot.

Daytripper #10

DAYTRIPPER – Stupidly forgot to get the final issue of this sucker the week it came out, then just grabbed it the other day, and was very much pleased as it ended nearly as strong as it began from my vantage. There are a lot of comics I enjoy and have a great time with and lots of praise for, but not as many that genuinely get me on an emotional level and Daytripper is the first one of those in awhile (maybe since a buddy lent me Blankets a couple years back). I think the best compliment I can give Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is that they set up a premise where you knew the end of the story every single issue, but not a month went by where I wasn’t hoping against hope that it was going to go another way this time around, because that’s how invested I got in these characters. It was just a great meditation on life, family, passion and so many other things and they put all that stuff into great focus with the lens of “this could all be taken away at any time” and certainly made me appreciate my own blessings more. It was also a pretty neat lesson on cultures I had no idea about, and maybe more than anything I’m always grateful for comics that “feel” like they’re smarter than me, but that I’m able to still understand and don’t feel talked down to by. A beautiful work from every standpoint, the visual certainly included, and one I hope people give a shot in collected form as I bet it will read great.

THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER – I’m really proud as a Marvel guy of plenty of the stuff we’re putting out across the line right now, but I’ve got to say that Thor: The Mighty Avenger has a special place in my heart. It’s so beautifully executed and I know every person working on the book has a genuine love and enthusiasm for what they’re doing, so that’s really cool to see and hear. What I’m most impressed by, though, is that despite the fact that Thor is a character who has kicked around the Marvel Universe for somewhere around 50 years now and has a boatload of history and prestige behind him, this truly is a completely new take and something I never would have come up with, and that’s just real cool and quite an accomplishment in its own right. Like, the trappings of Thor are all there, from the hammer to Asgard to his supporting cast, and that’s all gravy, because I love Thor, but the whole “stranger in a strange land” routine is much bigger than that, and it’s being done here in such an elegant way that I really believe will hit home for people of all ages. I genuinely feel for Thor as this dude—and he really feels more like a kid than a man, despite being able to thrown down with Mister Hyde and whatnot—who has been kicked out of his house by his dad, ripped away from his friends and all he knows and holds dear, and worst of all he has no idea why. That’s something I feel like we can all relate to, and for me it’s more compelling than trying to figure out how this jives with traditional takes on the character or the fight scenes or the guest stars, even though all that stuff is great too. We spoke with Roger Langridge on Marvel.com this week, and he talked about the book and in particular how he focuses a lot on Jane Foster because she’s our eyes here and how he’s trying to recapture that sense of how crazy it would be if a homeless thunder god showed up in your backyard, a feeling of wonder I think we don’t get to experience enough in super hero comics anymore, so I really love that he’s trying to restore it here. Chris Samnee’s art is so perfect here as well, as he grounds the wild over-the-top stuff going on in a way that synchs up perfectly with what Langridge is going for. You mix in the great array of cameos and co-stars lined up from Giant-Man to Captain Britain to Namor and beyond and you’ve truly got one of the best books around here, one again that I’m truly proud to be even a little associated with despite having contributed nothing aside from the occasional “nice work” in the hallways to editor Nate Cosby.

The Killer, Volume 1

The Killer, Volume 1
Written by Matz; Illustrated by Luc Jacamon
Archaia; $19.95

As single issues, The Killer was a gorgeous, entrancing reading experience. Or rather, I imagine that it was. That was my experience with the two or three issues I bought before deciding to wait for the collection. The trouble was a sporadic publishing schedule and a story that didn’t really encourage a serialized approach. Issues were intimately connected with each other and there wasn’t much in the way of recapping from issue to issue. It was obvious that this was going to read much better in larger chunks. And so it does.

The title character is a nameless assassin-for-hire who operates out of Paris. As the story opens he’s holed up in a hotel across the street from the home of his next target’s girlfriend. The problem is: his target hasn’t shown up for nine days and the Killer’s getting restless. As he continues to wait, he recalls past kills and how he got into this business. Through his narration he reveals an honest, non-hypocritical attitude about his life. He knows what he’s doing isn’t nice and he doesn’t apologize for it, but he thinks you’re the two-faced one if you condemn him for it.

Justification, complications, and James Bond after the break.

Stir-Crazy

In his experience, he’s no worse than any other human and he’ll quote you the research to prove it. He knows about the civilian police force that killed 38,000 Jews during WWII. He’ll remind you about the endless massacres and genocides that spread over human history like cancer. He’ll gladly direct your attention to the sweatshops that produce the expensive shoes your kids are showing off with at school. But most importantly, he’s certainly not running out of clients willing to pay him to murder their relatives and business associates.

He enjoys his work, but doesn’t relish it. He’s good at it and finds it an easy way to make money, but it’s not something he wants to do for the rest of his life. In fact, he’s already making plans to retire. He even has a nice beach house on the tropical coast of Venezuela. What’s remarkable about The Killer – besides the lush art, that is – is that it’s a character study first and a thriller second. Complications do arise from the Killer’s seemingly interminable waiting and the stir-craziness that results (he can’t even leave his room for fear of missing his target), but these would be standard crime-drama developments if not for how well the reader gets to know this man. I never sympathized with his career choice, but I learned to – if not like him – then at least feel sorry for him. This is just Volume One, but I hope eventually to see him achieve the quiet life that he wants in the wilds of South America.

Home

Matz and Jacamon solidify this hope by giving us a glimpse of it. I hope I’m not spoiling things too much by revealing that the Killer’s nine-day wait ends in sloppy results and he needs to leave Paris quickly. Not only because the police are now alerted to his existence, but also to recover from the tension and stress of the last week and a half. Unfortunately, the police are quicker than he suspects and one resourceful investigator trails the Killer to Venezuela where the adventure continues in the crocodile-infested jungle. You can discover what happens there for yourself, but it leads to other complications and so the story progresses, leading next to the Swiss alps.

There’s a real James Bond feel to the book, if Bond was more selfish in his motivations and didn’t quite trust M. But the focus on character echoes the best aspects of Ian Fleming’s novels and his ability to make me care about and respect a cold-blooded murderer. And the detail in Jacamon’s work reminds me not only of Fleming’s gift for description, but also of the movies’ ability to transport me all over the world.

Five out of five assassins on skis.

Schuss!

Fraggle Rock

Editor’s Note: One-time Robot 6 guest blogger Sam Humphries, who has a story in tomorrow’s Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock Special Edition Flip-Book, pays us a visit today to share some of his thoughts on Fraggle Rock. And if you’re in the L.A. area, be sure to stop by Meltdown Comics tomorrow to meet Sam.

I know what you’re thinking. Who is this guy to tell me which Fraggle Rock episodes will blow my mind? I mean, how presumptuous, right?

Dude, I know. I did not even grow up with Fraggle Rock. The Rock was on HBO and there was no HBO in the house. HBO showed boobies and Mama Humphries did not play like that. I am not that person who has held Fraggles in their hearts since their formative years.

But I did write a story for Archaia’s new Fraggle Rock comic anthology, illustrated by Jeremy “Eisner nominated for Bayou” Love. You can find our Fraggle tale in the Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock Special Edition Flip-Book, available at comic book stores everywhere, for FREE, on May 1st — otherwise known as Free Comic Book Day! Ah, the nice price.

If you’re near Los Angeles, come on down to Meltdown in Hollywood, where Jeremy and I will be signing copies of the free Fraggle book. Astoundingly, Red Fraggle herself will also be in attendance. Karen Prell, the OG puppeteer of Red on the Fraggle Rock show, will be there with the original Muppet, meeting fans, singing songs, and taking pictures as Red Fraggle.

So, watching Fraggle Rock for the first time as someone old enough to attend rated R films alone, I got to enjoy the series with eyes unclouded by nostalgia. And I realized: for a “kids” show, Fraggle Rock is a mind freak.

Emboldened by the success of the previous Muppet franchises, Jim Henson and company didn’t flinch from daring themselves to new heights of spectacular puppet feats. And when it came to the themes of the series, they didn’t hesitate to go deep — way deep. Compared to the groovy sunshine sessions of Sesame Street and the upbeat let’s-put-on-a-show enthusiasm of the Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock is the slightly moody teenage cousin of the bunch.

The result? A multi-layered head trip for all ages. Sure, there’s plenty of exuberant songs, bright colors, and cute foam creatures, but Gobo, Red, Wembly, Mokey, and Boober Fraggle spent most episodes exploring dark, complicated passageways of existence. It’s no surprise that Fraggle Rock has the most “cult” fanbase of the three series.

Whether you are new to the Rock or a big fan from way back, there’s plenty of crazy on this list to rock your world. Here, for your lid-flipping pleasure, are are Six Fraggle Rock Episodes That Will Blow Your Mind.

(And this is only from Season One! Maybe I’ll be back with more — if you can handle it.)

by Jeremy Love

1. The Preachification of Convincing John

Convincing John is one of my favorite Fraggles. He’s Jerry Lee Lewis as a revivalist minister with the voice of Jim Henson. Yet he has been banished to the fringes of Fraggle society because of a bizarre ability: his singing can compel any Fraggle to do anything says. Oh kay, not creepy at all…

This episode is straight out of the Rod Serling playbook with a rapidly deteriorating chain of unexpected consequences. But most disturbing is Convincing John, the Muppet with the power of musical mind control. Is he good? Evil? Secretly controlling all Fraggles without their knowledge? IS IT ALL A DREAM?

Watch instantly on Netflix.

2. The Thirty-Minute Work Week

Uncle Traveling Matt is a Fraggle who left the Rock to explore “outer space,” aka the mysterious world of humans. Each episode shows him exploring different facets of our wonderful civilization, such as ice, shopping malls, and litter.

The Uncle Matt adventure in this episode is on some next level business. The Fraggle pioneer rides on a roller coaster! But they don’t just strap some Uncle Traveling Matt dummy to the seat and film him from the ground.

No way. This is JIM HENSON’S FRAGGLE ROCK, not Lamb Chop. The camera gets right up in Matt’s screamin’ and hollerin’ face as the coaster roars along the track. An impressive feat, especially when you consider two factors. 1) This was the first Fraggle Rock episode ever filmed. 2) I can’t even recite my own birth date while riding a roller coaster, much less convincingly operate a Muppet while staying out of camera frame.

Watch on Netflix.

3. Marooned

Oh, you know, just another kid’s show devoting a whole episode to two characters trapped by a cave in, contemplating the effervescence of life as the seconds tick down to their inevitable death.

Day care stuff.

Watch instantly on Netflix.

4. The Minstrels

As leader of a troubadour troupe, Cantus visits the Rock with his magic flute and tells the Fraggles they must look within to find their own song. He’s a clever, riddle-weaving guru who challenges the Fraggles to dig deep within themselves for the keys to reality…the closest thing Grant Morrison may ever have to a Muppety fiction suit. Red is so befuddled she eventually steals Cantus’ flute, but that’s ok, because the kind of things The Invisibles drove me to do you can’t portray on a family show.

Cantus and Convincing John are the only two Fraggles voiced by Jim Henson himself, and they make for a fascinating contrast. One thing Cantus and Convincing John do have in common with their human alter ego: a love of music. Kick out the jams, Jim.

Watch instantly on Netflix.

5. Mokey’s Funeral

You know that old dream sequence where a character gets to witness their own funeral and hear all the inspiring things their loved ones say during the ceremony? And the testimony is so effusive and sincere that the protagonist comes away with a new love of life?

Well, perpetual hippie Mokey gets the same in this episode. Only, instead of a parade of affection, her funeral consists of a Brechtian dirge performed by Junior Gorg with all the grace of a pound of wet liver. Even more heartbreaking are Gobo and Red’s screams of anguish and their “no Fraggle left behind” courage.

So grim I updated my last will and testament to specifically prevent this from happening when I die.

Watch instantly on Netflix.

6. The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles

This is another great showcase of how Fraggle Rock pushed the technical envelope of puppetry. The regular crew of Fraggles search for the lost fortune of their species through the Rock, out in the Gorg’s garden and into their home. The difference in scale is impressive: Doozers are knee high to a Fraggle, who are knee high to a Gorg.

Henson and his ingenious crew utilized then-new technologies of blue screen, animatronics, and a variety of puppet techniques to move their main characters through a progression of relative size without losing their humanity. Er, Fragglality. Whatever.

Oh, and the end is quite beautiful, and I’m not going to say it changed film history forever, but…

Watch instantly on Netflix.

Jeremy Bastian

Cursed Pirate Girl

I also got to visit Lora Innes and finally pick up a copy of The Dreamer, one of the last few in existence, I’m told. I’ve been hearing all kinds of great things about that series, which really makes me happy as a fan of Colonial/Revolutionary War-era stories.

A blurry Lora Innes (sorry about that)

After that, though, it was off to the panels for the rest of the day, starting with Archaia’s presentation for it’s mature line (the kids’ line will get talked about this morning). Archaia’s President PJ Bickett opened the presentation with a brief discussion of the company’s new partnership with iVerse to distribute their books digitally. He was blunt about the need for the comics industry — publishers and the DM alike — to evolve. Smart retailers, he said, are already figuring out how and Archaia — though not planning to abandon print — is too. A representative of iVerse was also at the panel to talk about digital evolution and stress that digital’s ability to drive print sales is now a proven phenomenon. Archaia’s iPhone and iPad comics will be coming in a few weeks.

Next, some of Archaia’s creators had the opportunity to talk about their books. I was already familiar with some of them like Josh Fialkov’s Tumor and Tom Pinchuk’s Hybrid Bastards, but others were new to me (or needed pitching to get my attention). David Rodriguez talked about the creation of Starkweather: Immortal from its time at Arcana to the Piers Anthony anthology story that became a single issue and launched the new series. Someone described Jason Becker and Jon Rea’s Killing Pickman as “Dirty Harry versus the devil,” which drove me to pick up the first two issues at the Archaia booth later (they’ve been passing out free single-issue copies of several titles all weekend). The third and fourth issues will be published together soon in a double-sized book.

They also talked about the sci-fi series Critical Millenium and the English translation of Matz and Luc Jacamon’s Cyclops before getting into Lucid, a four-issue mini-series about magician-spies that they’re creating in association with Zachary Quinto’s production company.

Finally, they introduced a new effort called Black Label, which they stressed is not an imprint, but a way to distinguish their collaborations with Los Angeles partners from the traditional, creator-owned projects they’re known for. Roddenberry Productions’ Days Missing will become a Black Label title (I caught the tail end of a Days Missing panel, by the way, and I’m definitely picking that up today) as will Syndrome. But Archaia made clear that the point of Black Label isn’t to develop comics as potential movies. The point is to help people in other media cross over into comics for the sake of making great comics.

Before the panel closed, an audience member asked if Archaia planned to release softcover versions of their books. The reply was that they plan to focus solely on hardcovers as a way to stand out in the book market. The company’s Marketing Manager Mel Caylo wrapped things up by promising attendees a free hardcover if they went right away to the Archaia booth, so I picked the first volume of The Secret History Omnibus. I’m going to have a lot to read when I get home.

I hit two other panels in the afternoon: Women in Comics and one on Pulp Fiction. I’ll keep this short by saving Pulp Fiction for another post. The Women in Comics panel was encouraging though without being particularly surprising. The biggest thing I took away from it was the answer to the question posed by the panel’s title, “Do we really need a Women in Comics panel?” Apparently the answer is “yes,” but not for the same reason it was a couple of years ago. Rather than letting men know that women are a valid and valuable part of the comics community, this type of panel now serves as encouragement to women and girls that there’s room for them too. Positive change is happening, but the work’s not completely done. Also, the X-Men are an awesome entry point for women into comics.

I had a little break before my last panel of the day and spent some more time in the Exhibit Hall talking to people about the show. Surprisingly – to me, anyway – reactions were really mixed today. A lot of the artists are doing well, but I heard several complaints about slow business from creators and other exhibitors. It’ll be interesting to hear the attendance numbers (the one Reed employee I talked to wasn’t privy to that information), but it’s been disappointing for some of the folks trying to make money this weekend.

One exhibitor speculated that maybe the decline of Wizard World Chicago in recent years has affected Mid-Western attitudes about conventions in general. When I expressed hope that C2E2 could change that perception, he thought it possible, but also expressed impatience about letting it build. Especially at the prices he’s paying to be there.

I understand that impatience, but as an attendee I hope that exhibitors give it a chance. C2E2′s enormously wide aisles prevent the show from feeling crowded, but there seemed to be a lot of people there yesterday. Whether or not they were spending money is a whole other thing, but I’m already looking forward to next year.

I finished the day with the Moonstone panel, which I think I’ll save for the same post as the Pulp Fiction one because there’s a lot of crossover between the two. I remember how excited the panels on crime comics got me at Chicago Comic-Con last year and this is a similar feeling to that. There are lots of exciting things happening in the world of pulp, but that would make a great topic for the next Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs column.

Poison Ivy

There's a party in my tummy!

I'd read that Alpha Flight book

Fraggle Rock

On his blog, comics creator Neil Kleid lists several projects he’s working on, including a graphic novel called American Caesar from NBM and drawing a four-pager for a Harvey Pekar-edited anthology. He’s also writing a story for Archaia’s Fraggle Rock comic, and although he won’t be drawing it, he does share a couple of Fraggle sketches.

Awakening

Awakening creators, writer Nick Tapalansky and artist Alex Eckman-Lawn, are two storytellers eager to get the word out about the return of their project (which recently returned to the market from an 18-month hiatus as its publisher [sorted out business challenges [as explained here]). As announced in late September, Tapalansky and Eckman-Lawn are in the midst of a four-stop tour to generate support and interest in their Archaia hardcover horror book, Awakening. The tour opened on October 10 and in the course of this email interview, the details of the remaining dates are revealed (including this Staturday’s stop at Upstate Comics). The story “takes place in the once-peaceful city of Park Falls, where a series of gruesome murders and missing persons has put the town on edge, and Cynthia Ford, known as the town ‘crazy,’ finds retired police detective Derrick Peters and relates to him her belief about what’s going on. Her explanation: Zombies. Unable to ignore Cynthia’s information, though not sharing her beliefs, Derrick and others in the town explore the mystery as weeks turn to months and the death toll rises. Could Cynthia be right or has she finally gone insane?”

Tim O’Shea: During the 18-month publishing hiatus, was there ever any point you wanted to give up on the project or you always believed it would come back?

Nick Tapalansky: I don’t think we ever even considered giving up on it. Besides already having so much blood invested in it, the story is one which I’m really excited to tell since it’s been percolating in my mind for the last five years. It was just a matter of being patient and seeing how everything resolved itself at Archaia.

Alex Eckman-Lawn: No way! There were some scary days in there, but I don’t think we ever once discussed giving up on the book. It was always, “How can we make this happen?” and luckily for us, all we really had to do was wait it out.

O’Shea: What made you decide to stick with Archaia publishing the book?

Tapalansky: Mark Smylie. His passion for publishing exciting and idiosyncratic books is only just outweighed by his passion for painting ridiculously great orgies…er…comics. When we were just showing what little work we had done for the book back in 2006, just trying to get some feedback on the direction we were moving in, Mark keyed right into it. He gets what we’re doing and has been behind the book since day one.

Eckman-Lawn: Mark is a real doll. Beyond that, I just felt at home at Archaia. It’s a really nice community of creators who are all into making awesome books and helping each other out whenever they can.

O’Shea: While the book was on hiatus, did you take that time to revise some aspects of the story or the characters?

Eckman-Lawn: Indeed we did!

Tapalansky: I guess that was the silver lining, really. This is our first book and the extra time allowed us to decompress, review what we were doing, and firm up the conclusion of the series by giving me the time to write Volume Two. In turn we were able to make minor adjustments to the back end of Volume One which not only help support Volume Two but also solidify Volume One.

Eckman-Lawn: Yeah, it’s really great that we’re able to say with certainty that the book is actually BETTER because of the break. Nick made some adjustments that I’m behind 100% and I actually got to rework a couple pages to really make them sing. They’re little things, but they make a big difference to how Volume Two plays out.

O’Shea: In marketing the book, you recently wrote an open letter to retailers that included the following bit: “I know how hard it is to sell comics these days (or even books in general). It’s even harder to opt to stock a new title from an unknown creative team when you’ve got some guaranteed sellers you can put in its place. That’s actually why we shifted formats from floppy issues and hardcovers to just hardcovers – how could we ask you to order a fourth issue from a relatively little known book and put it on a shelf in place of, say a Marvel or DC book after we had an 18-month publication hiatus? It wouldn’t make sense.” Have you heard from retailers that ordered more copies of the project after reading your note?

Tapalansky: Yes! A lot of retailers wrote back, thanking me for giving them the PDF and some high-concept sales pitches for the book. After getting a chance to read the entire book and realizing which customers might dig it, they were much more inclined to take a chance on ordering the hardcover because they were able to speak to the product and share it with the folks in their shops who would really dig it.

The problem with the Previews format is that retailers are faced with making buying decisions for books based on a cover image and a 150-word (or less) blurb. Sometimes a creative team with clout is enough to inspire an order alongside that minimal info, but for a book like ours where we’re an unknown creative team and the book had already been solicited once before (prior to Archaia’s restructuring), that decision might not be so easy. It’s important for creators, especially folks like Alex and I who’re just starting out, to reach out to retailers with as much information as possible, like full PDF’s, promotional material, and anything else you can think of, just so they can have a chance to say “You know, I think I need this in my shop. There are at least three customers, maybe more, who I’m sure would pick this up if I show it to them.” They can’t do that just by looking at a cover and a paragraph, not for an unknown quantity.

So, if there are any shops out there reading this who didn’t see the open letter, drop me an email at Nick.Tapalansky@gmail.com with your shop info and I’ll get you, amongst other things, that open letter in its entirety and the full PDF of the book.

O’Shea: In raising the profile of Awakening upon its return, you’ve definitely taken advantage of technology. How did the trailer come about?

Tapalansky: That was something exciting which was in the works pre-restructuring at Archaia that was also put on hold until the book was primed for release post-shake up. Book trailers in general are becoming more common it seems, and the comic medium is where it really makes sense. We were thrilled when the new folks behind Archaia turned out to be, amongst other things, a marketing firm which had experience in animation. Alex’s pal and mine, Justin Crowell (www.SarasotaTheBand.com) composed the original music which helped bring Park Falls to eerie life, with the script for the trailer being written by yours truly.

Eckman-Lawn: It’s always cool to work with friends you respect, and especially in mediums you haven’t really tried before so this was two birds with one stone for me. Obviously all the work was done already on my end, but it was exciting to watch it all come together. At the risk of sounding a little arrogant, I think the trailer turned out pretty badass!

O’Shea: Could you define “existential horror” for me?

Tapalansky: I think existential horror is a more visceral form of the genre. It doesn’t beat you over the head with what’s happening, with over-the-top violence and gore, but instead gives you just enough to start questioning the world around the characters as it breaks down and, in turn, the world around yourself. It’s a kind of horror that stays with you, and not just in the shadows or when the sun goes down. It stays in your head.

Eckman-Lawn: It’s brain scares instead of cheap gore and shocks. Tapalansky’s trying to get inside all of you.

Tapalansky: Ha! Right into your MIND.

O’Shea: How has the book tour been so far?

Tapalansky: Our first stop was just this past weekend at Baltimore Comic-Con and it was a blast! We’ve been going to that show for the past three years, even last year when we didn’t have anything new because of the restructuring, and every year has just been better and better. We’ve made some great friends at that show and, hands down, is my favorite of the year. It was a no-brainer for us to kick off the tour there and give something special to everybody who always comes out to see us – the exclusive free print and the opportunity to sign up for online access on Halloween to the first chapter of Volume Two.

Eckman-Lawn: Baltimore really is a great show for us every year and this was no exception. To my surprise we had a few people show up with single issues to get signed. I was really happy to give away the prints and finally thank some of the people who have been with us since issue 1!

Tapalansky: The whole point of the tour was to give something back to the folks who’ve supported us so far while also giving some incentive to anybody who might’ve been on the fence. That’s why we’ve made sure that there’s something for everybody:

Do you already own a copy of Awakening Volume One but can’t make it to one of our four signing stops? Then hurry up and send a picture of you with the book to AwakeningComic@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009!

Are you waiting to try out the book but can’t make it to one of our four signing stops? Do you want to see some of what comes next so the wait for Volume Two isn’t as excruciating? Pick up the book at your local comic shop (and promote them by taking your photo with the book in front of the shop). Same deal, email a pic of you with the book to AwakeningComic@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009.

Everyone who emails a picture in by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009 is going to get an email from us at 12am, Halloween morning with an exclusive link and login info to read the entire first chapter of Volume Two!

Now, let’s say you’re near one of the three remaining signing stops listed below. If you come by and pick up a copy of the book, or bring your copy to be signed, not only will we take down your email so you get a link to the exclusive preview, but you’ll also get an exclusive, signed print created by Alex just for this Halloween tour! Mark these dates on your calenders:

Oct. 17, 1-5 p.m. [Nick Tapalansky only with special guest, Jackie Santiago]
Upstate Comics
Freedom Business Center
1097 Route 55
LaGrangeville, NY 12540
(845) 452- 3320

Oct. 24, 12-4 p.m.
Brave New Worlds Comics
45 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-6525

Oct. 28, 4-7 p.m.
Jim Hanley’s Universe (with special guest Mark Smylie! Others TBA…)
4 West 33rd St.
New York, NY 10001
(212) 268-7088

O’Shea: Zombies have increasingly become a popular go-to element in films and comics for years. In deciding to tap into zombies for your story, what approach did you take that you felt make it more unique than most storytellers?

Tapalansky: It was all about re-evaluating the standard conventions behind zombie stories. I began to pick and poke and prod pop culture zombie lore and look at it from different angles. What if things happened slower? So slowly even, that the very nature of the problem wouldn’t even come to light for the general populace of a small city until months after it began? How would the city handle it? How would certain types of people approach it? What was causing it? These initial questions ultimately led to a new take on the very concept of a zombie uprising – one which might not offer any kind of pattern or reason for spreading, where somebody walking down the street would simply fall down and minutes later get up again, now changed. What would happen if we explored all of these questions through a mystery/noir lens?

There’s a certain horror in not knowing what’s going on around you and it’s very different from the fight/flight horror that comes from exploring a mass uprising of undead. It’s a very real feeling we experience in life without something so fantastic as zombies involved. In a situation like this, where we explore the city of Park Falls over the course of a full year, our characters have time to think about what this might mean as they grapple with the headier concepts of science vs. religion, reconciling old shortcomings and mistakes, and trying to evolve and grow as you see your city and world decomposing slowly, all the while still fighting to understand the core of the problem and overcome it before it’s too late.

Eckman-Lawn: From day one Nick made it clear to me that he didn’t want this to be like any other zombie story and I think he’s delivering in spades. He’s being pretty fearless about breaking established rules and attacking concepts you aren’t used to seeing in zombie stories.

O’Shea: Alex, how did you develop your art style? Nick, what about Alex’s art made you want to work with him?

Eckman-Lawn: Man, I kind of wish I knew that myself. It’s hard to say how it all came together since I’ve been muddling through trying to figure things out as I go, but I wanted a solution that used drawing, photo and a lot of the heavy texture that I love in painting. I have to admit; a big “a-ha” moment for me was finding the more fine-art minded comic guys like Ashley Wood, Dave McKean, Bill Sienkiewicz. All the dudes you could probably guess I would love from looking at my work. Also, a big part of making pictures for me, and this is going to sound a little cheesy, is just conveying emotion through images, so I try pretty hard to capture something with every page. Every panel if I can.

Tapalansky: Alex’s art has a certain life to it, something tangible and emotional. Just looking at his illustration work at the time I was working on Awakening was enough to know that he would not only get it, but be able to bring it to life. He’s able to infuse every page with a creeping, bleeding sense of atmosphere and horror, whether it’s a character alone in an alley with shadows creeping all around or two characters talking out in the daylight.

O’Shea: Any final thoughts?

Tapalansky: Folks who want to follow us online and keep up with what we’re getting up to can find us at the following haunts:

Awakening on Twitter
Trailer for Awakening
Nick Tapalansky’s website
Alex Eckman-Lawn’s website

Alex Eckman-Lawn’s Blog

Eckman-Lawn: Thanks, this was fun. Come meet us, we’re even more charming in person.

Asterios Polyp

• Man, everyone and their Uncle Bob is reviewing David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp these days aren’t they? This week alone we’ve seen Brian Hibbs, Rob Clough, Douglas Wolk and the LA Times’ David Ulin.

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I’ll probably have my own review of the book up this Friday.

• The Groovy Age of Horror’s Curt Purcell has been spending a lot of time talking about Blackest Night, and, given that he’s not a regular fan, he has some interesting things to say about the crossover event. Rather than link to all the separate posts, I’ll just say start here and work your way back.

Oh, and while you’re at it, read his new review of Gilbert Hernandez’s Speak of the Devil.

• Johnny Bacardi likes Blackest Night quite a bit too.

• Speaking of the Hernandez brothers, are you confused about where to dive into their expansive magnum opus, Love and Rockets? The Onion’s AV Club is here to help.

• Nina Stone gives the new Mouse Guard collection her highest recommendation:

Oh, and if you are still trying to get your girlfriend or your mom or your wife to read comics and having no luck, give them this one. Trust me. They’ll be hooked.

If not, you should leave/abandon her, because she sucks.

• Noah Berlatsky looks at Greg Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman and doesn’t care for it, to put it mildly: “Who the fuck wants to read this crap? Whose idea of a hero is a NPR commentator in a swimsuit?”

• Moving to manga, Katherine Dacey declares Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo “one of Tezuka’s most accessible series, free of the historical and cultural baggage that can be an obstacle to enjoying his more ambitious, adult stories.”

• Johanna Draper Carlson, meanwhile, says of Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth, “if you’re looking for an approachable way to try Tezuka, demonstrating both his strengths and weaknesses, this affordable single volume is a good choice.”

• Elsewhere, David Welsh declares Kimi ni Todoke “is off to a wonderful start. It’s a great look at an offbeat kid trying to find happiness on her terms.”

• Finally, Tim Holder tries to find the perfect adjective for comics.

The very first Milestone comic will finally be collected, 17 years after its original publication. HARDWARE: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE will reprint Hardware #1-8, featuring the character’s origin, and first adventure. The Direct Market (comic book store) release date hasn’t been announced yet, but it tends to be about a month earlier than in the general market.

• In other news, Archaia announced plans to start a new $9.95 hardcover line of books, where one graphic novel will be released each quarter at that low price. The plan kicks off in August with the release of The Engineer: Konstrukt.

• Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson says the Norewegian artist Jason’s next project will be a repackaging of his previous books in the new Low Moon format. The first book, Almost Silent, will collect You Can’t Get There From Here, The Living and the Dead, Tell Me Something and Meow Baby! The next book, What I Did, will tentatively collect The Iron Wagon, Shhhhh and Hey Wait. Thompson also adds that Jason is working on a new graphic novel, Werewolves of Montpellier, which will be out in summer of 2010.

• Eddie Campbell has information about and sample art from his upcoming Alec Omnibus, entitled The Years Have Pants. Eddie Campbell is awesome, so you should check this out immediately.

• Finally I wanted to point out some upcoming titles from the “How to draw X” art publisher Watson-Guptill. In addition to their usual “how-to” series by Christopher Hart, the publisher is going to release a series of classic Spy vs. Spy books by the original creator Antonio Prohais. Anyone who grew up reading Mad magazine should herald these books arrival (there will be three of them) when they hit stores in early August.

On a separate note, the publisher will also be releasing The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics in September.

Snooker

• Cartoonist Ben Towle has announced the release of Snooker, a 64-page collection of his various minicomics. It’s available for $10 at this site.

• I mentioned awhile back that Charles Burns was the editor for this year’s edition of The Best American Comics series from HoughtonMifflin. It looks like Michael Kupperman is handling the cover chores on that book as well.

• In case you missed it: Archaia is partnering up with Henson Studios to make comics based on the Fraggle Rock, Labryinth and Mirrormask franchises.

• In case you missed it part II: Movie producer and comic book author Jeff Katz has started a new entertainment company, American Originals, that will publish comic books, among other things

• Broken Frontier reveals that Drawn and Quarterly will be publishing an English version of Brecht Evens’ The Wrong Place early next year.

• Save your mana points now: Wizards of the Coast will release their first ever Magic: The Gathering graphic novel, Path of the Planeswalker, in October.

• Hey, Osamu Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth is now on sale at Akadot Retail, though it looks like you might pay for the privilege of being a first-buyer.

• Wondering what’s up with the Graphic NYC book? The authors of the photo book of Big Apple cartoonists spill the beans on their publishing plans.

ASP

Archaia Studios Press today announced an agreement with Roddenberry Productions to publish Days Missing, a five-issue science fiction miniseries based on a concept by Roddenberry COO Trevor Roth.

According to ICv2.com, more details, including the creative team, are expected to be revealed later this month at WonderCon. The first issue of Days Missing will be released in July at Comic-Con International.

Roddenberry Productions is headed by producer Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr., son of the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and actress Majel Barrett.

Archaia Studios Press, publisher of such titles as Mouse Guard, Robotika and Artesia, was acquired in October by Chicago-based Kunoichi Inc.