Comic Book Resources

Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: A publishing news round-up

Polly and Her Pals

• IDW announced over the weekend that it will be collecting the Sunday strips from the Cliff Sterrett classic Polly and Her Pals. The first volume, encapsulating 1925-27, will be in stores this coming August.

The strip began in 1912, but it was in the 20s that Sterrett's art really took off. Influenced by the modernist art movements, he started incorporating abstract and surrealists motifs into his Sunday pages, and many historians and critics have compared this period favorably to strips like Krazy Kat.

Kitchen Sink attempted to publish these strips back in the 90s before going under but they were only able to get two volumes out the door. Having managed to find those books in a back issue bin years ago and devoured them several times since then, let me say this is fabulous news and I'm really looking forward to seeing this release.

• IDW also posted about their intention to publish a four-issue mini-series about the Weekly World News' Bat Boy, which I imagine will be quite different from Polly and Her Pals.

• Writer Clifford Meth reports on his blog that Marvel will be publishing The Invincible Gene Colan in February 2010. The 128 page book will feature art work by the master as well as appreciations by folks like Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman and John Romita Sr.

• Apparently Erik Larsen (and his Savage Dragon) is featured in the latest edition of McSweeney's newspaper. That's kinda cool.

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Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Shel Dorf with Warren Beatty in 1990

Passings | Sheldon "Shel" Dorf, who in 1970 co-founded the event that grew into Comic-Con International, passed away Nov. 3 in San Diego's Sharp Memorial Hospital from diabetes-related complications. He was 76.

A collector of comics and Dick Tracy memorabilia, Dorf had run Triple Fan Fest in his native Detroit. After he moved to San Diego in early 1970, he met Ken Krueger of Alert Books in Ocean Beach and the two, together with a group of teen-aged fans, organized first Golden State Comic Con, held Aug. 1-3, 1970, at the U.S. Grant Hotel. Dorf served as president, or chairman, of the convention until the mid-1980s, stepping away just as the annual event was becoming a national stage for pop culture.

Dorf reportedly struggled with diabetes for years, gradually losing mobility and vision. He entered Sharp Memorial Hospital in 2008 and never left. His brother Michael was with him when he died.

Mark Evanier, of course, has a nice tribute to Dorf peppered with memories dating back to before that first convention. There's also an extensive Shel Dorf Tribute website, and a memorial banner topping the Comic-Con International homepage. The photo above, of Dorf with Warren Beatty on the set of the 1990 Dick Tracy movie, is borrowed from Alan Light's Flickr stream. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

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Don't call it a comeback: Bluewater to collect classic Rock 'N' Roll Comics

Bluewater Productions, which has made headlines with its biographical comics series, is bringing Revolutionary Comics' Rock 'N' Roll Comics line back into print in the form of a series of graphic novels. The first one will be out in December.

Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, Revolutionary Comics published comic book biographies on everyone from Guns N' Roses to MC Hammer. Several of these comics resulted in lawsuits against the company, including the ones about New Kids on the Block, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue. In the NKOTB case, the judge ruled in Revolutionary's favor, saying the book was protected by the First Amendment. Other artists supported the line, and Pink Floyd even included the Pink Floyd Experience comics in their official Shine On box CD set.

The NKOTB suit and a threatened suit by Guns N' Roses brought the comics and the publisher, Todd Loren, a lot of publicity that translated into huge sales for the line. Per the press release from Bluewater, the comics regularly sold in the 50,000 range. I remember their first release, the GNR comic, having multiple printings as a result of all the attention it received.

Loren died in 1992, and in 2005 a documentary about his comics and his unsolved murder -- Unauthorized and Proud of It: Todd Loren's Rock 'n' Roll Comics -- was released.

Bluewater's graphic novels will include:

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After Meyer biography, Bluewater will conjure Rowling (and her unicorn)

Female Force: J.K. Rowling

Bluewater Productions isn't all about biographies of politicians, dead celebrities, dead politicians and presidential pets.

Just two months ago the publisher announced a comic detailing the life of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. And now comes news the Vancouver, Washington-based company is setting its sights on one of the biggest names in modern fiction: Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

Like the Meyer comic, the Rowling one-shot will be released under the "Female Force" banner, which has been home to biographies of such public figures as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin and Princess Diana.

It's unclear, though, whether, like Meyer's title, Rowling's will be narrated by a fictional character. (In Meyer's case, it's "the most famous vampire of them all." For Rowling, I vote for a house-elf.)

"She is a remarkable and multi-dimensional woman," writer Adam Gragg said in a press release. "Learning about who she is and how she struggled to become a success was a truly enlightening experience. Twelve publishers turned her down. If it weren’t for the daughter of a British publisher who liked Rowling’s first chapter of Philosopher’s Stone, we might never have met Harry Potter."

The comic's cover, as Rowling devotees are well aware, depicts a pivotal moment from the author's life previously only seen air-brushed on the side of a van: When an aged unicorn-physician tended to Rowling's dislocated shoulder.

Female Force: J.K. Rowling is set for release in December.

Ray Harryhausen and BlueWater Productions part ways (Updated)

Wrath of the Titans

Sources associated with Ray Harryhausen and BlueWater Productions confirmed that they are no longer collaborating on comics based on Harryhausen’s works. The partnership ended in May.

Darren G. Davis, head of Bluewater Productions, said that BlueWater chose not to renew the contracts.

According to Harryhausen’s representative, they have no plans to move the properties to another publisher.

BlueWater began publishing comics based on the works of the filmmaker in 2006, including Jason and the Argonauts, Wrath of the Titans and Sinbad, Rogue of Mars.

Thanks to CBR Executive Producer Jonah Weiland, who contributed to this post.

Update: In response to the above, Ray Harryhausen's representative contacted CBR again and said, "In fact, it was Ray Harryhausen, and Ray Harryhausen alone who decided, for reasons I cannot disclose, not to renew the contract. Saying otherwise is simply not true."

Bluewater stakes a claim to biography of Twilight author

Female Force: Stephenie Meyer

Yen Press isn't the only publisher getting in on the Twilight phenomenon.

Bluewater Productions, which has been churning out one political biography after another, is now turning its attention to Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.

The comic will be released in October under the company's "Female Force" banner, which has been home to biographies on such public figures as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin and Princess Diana.

"We chose Stephenie Meyer to be one of the subjects for Female Force because her voice is one for a new generation," Bluewater Publisher Darren G. Davis tells Diamond's PreviewsWorld. "Now people will find out the history of how she created this series, as well as her life story."

Billed as "the first-ever illustrated biography of the world-renowned author," the Meyer comic doesn't appear to be authorized by the 35-year-old novelist.

Also, I'm not sure what to make of the phrase, "witness her story being told by the most famous vampire of them all." Is the comic being narrated by Dracula? Edward Cullen?

Meyer released the first novel in her vampire-romance series in 2003. To date, the four-volume Twilight Saga has sold 53 million copies worldwide. A 2008 film adaptation grossed nearly $400 million worldwide. A sequel, New Moon, will open in theaters in November.

It was announced yesterday that Yen Press will adapt Twilight as a series of graphic novels, under the supervision of Meyer.