Change
The Middle Ground #133 | Built on shifting sands
The first time I read Ales Kot and Morgan Jeske’s Change, I was distracted by all the things I didn’t like about it: the similarities to the stories that influenced it, the use of language at certain places, a knowing tone that seemed smug. I’d read, and disliked far more than I’d expected, Kot’s earlier Wild Children, and that had made me suspicious of Change even before I got to the first page, I think.
And then I re-read it.
Talking Comics with Tim | Ales Kot on Change
Change #1
By most accounts, 2012 has been a damn fine year for Image Comics. Ales Kot was one of the many independent creators involved in this success, given the July release of Wild Children (the writer’s graphic novel collaboration with Riley Rossmo). Wednesday sees the debut of his new Image miniseries (with artist Morgan Jeske) Change. In October, we offered a preview of the project, about “a struggling screenwriter/successful car thief, an obscenely wealthy astronaut and a dying cosmonaut on his way back to Earth”. After reading this interview, be sure to check out Comic Book Resource’s interview with Kot regarding his other upcoming Image projects, Zero and The Surface.
Tim O’Shea: What prompted you to open Issue 1 with quotes from electro duo Holy Ghost‘s 2011 song Do It Again and Sylvia Plath’s The Rival?
Ales Kot: The Holy Ghost quote alludes to separation, tuning things out, not paying attention, not seeing the full picture. The Plath quote is about the other, the shadow we all carry with us, the beauty and terror intertwined. Both quotes reflect some of the key themes of the comic.
Ales Kot and Morgan Jeske tease Change: ‘Time to go home’
Wild Children writer Ales Kot has provided Robot 6 with a teaser for his follow-up Change, a four-issue Image Comics miniseries about a struggling screenwriter/successful car thief, an obscenely wealthy astronaut and a dying cosmonaut on his way back to Earth — the only three people who can save Los Angeles from destructive forces that repeatedly find the city through time and swallow it whole.
Announced in July at Comic-Con International, Change teams Kot with artist Morgan Jeske, whose Tumblr is certainly worthwhile browsing.
Change #1 arrives Dec. 12.
SDCC ’12 | A roundup of news and announcements from Thursday
Sandman
Thursday may have started a bit slow in the news department, but it sure ended with a huge bang. Here’s a roundup of announcements that hit today from Comic-Con International in San Diego:
• Neil Gaiman announced via video that he will write a new Sandman miniseries that will detail what happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in The Sandman #1. J.H. Williams III will provide the art. “It was a story that we discussed telling for Sandman‘s 20th anniversary,” Gaiman said, “but the time got away from us. And now, with Sandman‘s 25th anniversary year coming up, I’m delighted, and nervous, that that story is finally going to be told.” The series will be published by Vertigo sometime next year.
• Mark Waid, Shane Davis and Max Brooks will team to create Shadow Walk, a graphic novel coming out next year from Legendary Comics.
• Legendary will also publish the Majestic Files by J. Michael Straczynski, which will feature art by Geoff Shaw and Matt Banning.
• Terry Moore will write a Strangers in Paradise prose novel to coincide with the comic’s 20th anniversary next year. He also plans to do an all-ages comic after Rachel Rising finishes in 30-40 issues.