Justice League #1

Publishing | Four months in, the DC Comics relaunch seems to be a success. The most recent sales figures show Justice League #1 selling more than 360,000 copies since August, and Batman #1 and Action Comics #1 selling more than 250,000. By contrast, Marvel’s strongest seller was Ultimate Spider-Man #160, which was in the 160,000-copy neighborhood. These figures seem to reflect sales in the direct market only; it would be interesting to see how many digital copies have been sold. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Awards | Nominations are open for this year’s Eagle Awards. [Eagle Awards]

Retailing | San Francisco retailer Brian Hibbs shares the top-selling graphic novels in his store for 2011, by units and by dollars. [Savage Critics]

Retailing | Christopher Butcher looks back on the events of the past year in the comics store he manages, Toronto’s The Beguiling. [The Beguiling blog]

Commentary | Mike Gold explains why the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a terrible idea. [ComicMix]

Comics | Enough with the best-of lists: Ron Richards presents his lovingly compiled list of the worst things in comics in 2011. His No. 1 point stands in stark contrast to The Hollywood Reporter piece: Overall, sales are dropping. [iFanboy]

Gingerbread Girl

Comics | Tom Spurgeon continues his holiday interview series, talking to Rina Piccolo, Steve Bissette, Colleen Coover, Todd DePastino and Robot 6′s own Chris Mautner. [The Comics Reporter]

Comics | The Houston Chronicle covers the arrival of its own local superhero, the Scarlet Spider. [Houston Chronicle]

Publishing | Jim Shooter recounts his time at Broadway Comics, as well as dealings he had with the World Wrestling Federation when Valiant had the rights to produce wrestling comics: “VALIANT, as you may know, was forced into a license to do WWF comics by my corrupt partner Steve Massarsky, who represented both Leisure Concepts International (the WWF’s licensing agency) and VALIANT. Can you say ‘conflict of interest?’ Massarsky made a ton of money personally by making a deal with himself with utter disregard for what made sense for VALIANT, and I was stuck with actually producing WWF comics.” [Jim Shooter]

Creators | Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner profile Legion of Super-Heroes writer and former DC Comics president and publisher Paul Levitz. [Graphic NYC]

Brilliant #1

Creators | This profile of Mark Bagley covers his entry into comics and his collaborations with Brian Michael Bendis on Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble and their own Brilliant. [Creative Loafing]

Creators | Ron Marz reports he raised $500 last month for Toys for Tots by selling signed comics to fans. [Messages from Marz]

Creators | Guest-blogging for Whitney Matheson, Grace Bello interviews Tony Millionaire. [Pop Candy]

Creators | Kurtis Wiebe discusses Green Wake, The Intrepids and his new series Peter Panzerfaust. [The Outhouse]

Craft | Colorist Matt Wilson explains how he went about coloring a page of Wonder Woman #4 that presented some challenges. [SeeEmWhyKay, via Blog@Newsarama]

Commentary | Filmmaker and blogger Becki Burrows interviews Paul Gravett, author of many books on comics and graphic novels, most recently, 1001 Comics to Read Before You Die. [Paul Gravett]

Commentary | David Uzumeri makes the case for why The Flash is “the most visually inventive book of the [DC Comics] relaunch”: “The first hint of this came when DC began promoting the first issue’s title page the promotional rounds, an absolutely gorgeous piece of work that integrated the design sense of the logo into not only the artwork but the actual storytelling. Manapul drew Barry Allen disarming an army of mysterious sci-fi marines in a breathtaking clockwise sequence that was immediately readable despite its complexity, guiding the eye in a circle across a sequence where the Flash basically hands all of these dudes their butts in a series of small panels within the letters of his own name. Then it kept getting better.” [ComicsAlliance]

Commentary | Sean Kleefeld examines the world view of One Piece and wonders if some of the folks at the Occupy protests were there because of Luffy and the Straw Hats. [Kleefeld on Comics]

Review | Rob Clough reads Seth’s The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists. [The Comics Journal]

The Emerald City Comicon has released the cover for the 2012 edition of their annual Monsters & Dames art book. Marvel cover artist Adi Granov provided the cover, seen above.

The 80-page book is limited to 1,150 copies and proceeds go to the Seattle Children’s Hospital. “We’ve created not only a unique collectible that spotlights our show’s amazing and diverse roster of artists, animators and illustrators,” said ECCC Convention Director Jim Demonakos in a press release, “but also something that allows us to give back to our local community by raising thousands of dollars each year for Seattle Children’s Hospital. It’s pretty special.”

The 2012 edition features contributions from Bill Sienkiewicz, Camilla D’Erricco, Louie Del Carmen, Kevin Nowlan, Tony Moore, Bruce Timm, Katie Cook, Francis Manapul & Agnes Garbowska, Mikeatron!, Scott Morse, Phil Noto, Mike Allred, Paul Guinan, Brandon Graham, Daniel Davis, Lar DeSouza, Marcus To, David Petersen, Moritat, Tony Parker, Dustin Nguyen, Jeremy Haun, Nat Jones and more. Several artists have posted their contributions online, including Ron Chan, Corey Lewis, Tom Fowler, Aaron McConnell and Randy Kintz.

Comic Creators for Freedom is sending out a call for artists to participate in its third annual fund-raising project, which will launch on Jan. 9. CCF is an organization of comics artists that raises money to fight child slavery and human trafficking through art; so far $15,000 has been raised for the cause. Participating creators send in a drawing of one of their female characters, and the drawings are combined into a single image, which is offered as a downloadable wallpaper to donors. Artists interested in participating should contact organizer Lora Innes by Dec. 31. The fund-raiser will run from Jan. 9 to Jan. 20, and the money raised will go to Love 146, an organization that fights human trafficking on a global scale, and Gracehaven, a home for victims.

The list of participants is already pretty impressive: In addition to Innes, the creator of The Dreamer, participating artists include Danielle Corsetto (Girls With Slingshots), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes), Scott Christian Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles) and Chris Watkins (Odori Park).

Want to know more? Check out this podcast at TGT Media, where Innes and Earthsong creator Crystal Yates explain what CCF is all about.

Justice League #3

Sales | The comic book market was up more than 19 percent in November when compared with the same period last year, with comics up 23 percent and graphic novels up 12 percent. So far this year the comics and graphics novel market is up 1.87 percent versus the first 11 months of 2010. If December cooperates, this could be the first up year for the market since 2008.

DC Comics was once again the top company in terms of market share. The company took six of the top 10 spots on Diamond’s Top 100 Comics list, with Justice League #3, Batman #3, Action Comics #3, Green Lantern #3 and Marvel’s Point One #1 making up the top five comics of the month. Batman: Noel took the No. 1 spot on the Top 100 Graphic Novels list. [The Comichron]

Publishing | IDW Publishing has promoted Chief Operating Officer Greg Goldstein to president, with a focus on new markets and acquisitions. He joined the company in 2008 from Upper Deck. [ICv2.com]

Creators | Ron Marz is selling signed copies of comics he wrote, with plans to use the money he makes to buy toys for his area Toys for Tots program. [Messages from Marz]

Creators | Darwyn Cooke is again hosting “12 Days of Christmas” art auctions to benefit the Hero Initiative. [Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog]

Frankenstein #4

Creators | Frankenstein writer Jeff Lemire says to expect a twist in Issue 7 of the DC Comics title: “You can’t sustain an on-going with monster battles. Monsters beating up monsters every month is really fun for like five or six issues, but it gets stale and formulaic to keep repeating it. The fun and interesting thing to do is to shift the tone around that time, halfway through the first year. We’ll still have the action and the adventure and the sci-fi concepts, but I’m going to focus a lot more on Frankenstein himself, his past, where he came from and how he became how he is. Build him up as a character and give some depth to him. I want to expand who this guy is and the role he plays in this larger New DC Universe. So I really needed to shift the tone in somewhat of a more serious direction. The readers need to know who Frank was and why he’s important and why they should care about him before going back to the big action stuff again.” [Paste Magazine]

Creators | The BBC’s Nick Higham talks to Art Spiegelman about Maus and MetaMaus inside Gosh Comics in London. Eddie Campbell then uses the location of the interview to have some fun. [BBC]

Digital comics | Johanna Draper Carlson reviews the iPad version of Jason Shiga’s choose-your-own-adventure tale Meanwhile: “Instead of having to be careful to visually follow the right path, the app handles all the mechanics for you, allowing you to focus on the art, story, and choices. Even when you’re reading in a sequence, you move from panel to panel via a yellow highlight, tapping whenever you’re ready to move on.” The iPad seems like the natural medium for this particular work. [Comics Worth Reading]

Digital comics | Artists Doug Hills, Joshua Hale Fialkov and Gabriel Hardman discuss how they deal with the challenge of presenting double-page spreads in digital comics. [Graphicly blog]

Exhibits | Curator Martin Brauen discusses an exhibit at New York’s Rubin Museum that features “the most complete collection of comics related to Tibet ever assembled.” [Salon]

Commentary | Comic Book Resources’ Kiel Phegley reviews a comic he found in a cereal box, General Mills Presents: Justice League #1: Unstoppable Forces. [The Cool Kids Table]

X-23 #20

Sales charts | Responding to an iFanboy article that speculates on what titles Marvel might cancel next, Men of War and Viking writer Ivan Brandon makes the case against sales charts and the subsequent analysis of them each month: “There’s an ongoing debate, for a bunch of years now. There are numbers that circulate every month, inaccurate numbers, people track them, people use that flawed ‘data’ to comment on what they see as the progress or decline on the list. A lot of comics professionals are against this, for a lot of reasons. In my case, for my books, the books I personally share copyright on … my reason is, and no offense to anyone out there: My income is none of your business. Just as your income is none of mine.”

Tom Spurgeon offers a counterpoint: “Sales information seems to me an obvious positive, not because it reveals the bank accounts of creators, but because what sells and to what extent is basic information about a marketplace, and the shape and potency of a marketplace seems to me a primary item of interest for anyone covering that marketplace. It’s foundational to our understanding of how things work and why. Certainly this information is already manipulated to brazen effect by companies with something to put over on customers; I have to imagine this would become worse under a system of no information at all being released.” [Ivan Brandon, The Comics Reporter]

Habibi

Awards | Craig Thompson’s Habibi is one of five finalists for the French comics organization L’Association Des Critiques De Bandes Dessinées’ annual Prix De La Critique. The winner will be announced Dec. 5. [The Comics Reporter]

Creators | Mike Mignola, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson and several other creators are selling illustrations of classic Universal Monsters on eBay to raise money for 6-year-old Aidan Reed, who was diagnosed last year with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [Newsarama]

Creators | Laura Sneddon profiles Watchmen and V for Vendetta writer Alan Moore, who talks about creating The Ballad of Halo Jones, one of the first non-superhero women to headline her own series: “There wasn’t a single – I mean, I was annoyed – there wasn’t a single girls’ comic in Britain … I thought, well if you do more stories that are aimed at women, you’ll get more women reading the comics. It would seem fairly simple and straightforward, but there was a lot of resistance.” [The Independent]

Eduardo Risso

Creators | Artist Eduardo Risso discusses his career and craft in along interview conducted by Michal Chudolinski at the International Festival of Comics and Games in Lodz, Poland. [Comics Bulletin]

Creators | Mike Costa talks about his work on Blackhawks and G.I. Joe: Cobra. [USA Today]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity explains Chobits, the CLAMP series about a world in which humans can own robots with personalities — persocoms: “Chobits is the strangest of beasts: a difficult, complex, thought-provoking T&A manga. Ultimately it chooses to have its cheesecake and eat it too, raising a host of challenging questions only to leave them unanswered so as not to spoil the romance.” [Anime News Network]

Digital | Remember when your mom threw out all your comics? Digital comics saved the day for one reader who accidentally destroyed her cousin’s comics collection. [Teleread]

Commentary | Rich Clabaugh looks at Fantagraphics’ first Carl Barks collection, “Lost in the Andes.” [Christian Science Monitor]

Comics | Bob Temuka looks at some forgotten superhero titles from the 1980s and 1990s. [The Tearoom of Despair]

Blogosphere | The Panelists, a blog devoted to analyzing individual comics panels, is disbanding. The writers, all of them well regarded in the comics community, are simply too busy doing other things. [The Panelists]

Nate Powell at the U.N.

Creators | Any Empire and Swallow Me Whole creator (and our special guest this weekend for What Are You Reading?) Nate Powell appeared at the United Nations earlier this month with several teen-fiction writers who contributed to What You Wish For, a benefit book to fund libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. Video of the event can now be found on the U.N. website. [Top Shelf]

Business | Details on the collaboration between Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment Inc. and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s Vuguru have emerged: The two companies will work on a YouTube channel called “Stan Lee’s YouTube World of Heroes.” The channel is one of the 100 online video channels announced by the Google-owned video site, which seeks to add “professional, high-quality programming” to its site. [Los Angeles Times]

Business | They might move slow and eat people, but MSNBC estimates that zombies are worth about $5 billion to the economy. [MSNBC]

Creators | In answering a question about how to break into the business, Glory and Hell Yeah writer Joe Keatinge shares advice from his long road to becoming a comics writer. [Joe Keatinge's Comics & Stories]

Creators | Writer J.M. DeMatteis shares a not-entirely-true-but-still-funny essay from the Hero Squared paperback that recounts how he and Keith Giffen began working together. [Creation Point]

WildPig

Conventions | Chris Eberle, owner and organizer of next weekend’s WildPig Comic Convention in Central New Jersey, is profiled. [My Central Jersey]

Conventions | Elizabeth Keenan covers the New York Comic Con panel “It Gets Better (With Comics!),” featuring writer Ivan Velez, Jr., manga creator Rica Takashima, Zan Christiansen of Prism Comics, and Marvel editor Daniel Ketchum talking about gay and lesbian characters in comics and their own work as gay creators and editors. [MTV Geek]

Conventions | The Long Beach Press-Telegram profiles this past weekend’s Long Beach Comic and Horro Con. [Long Beach Press-Telegram]

Commentary | The anonymity and distance provided by the internet make it easy to slam creators, but Josh Flanagan asks that reader think twice before dismissing a comic with a curt phrase (as he once did): “I’m not saying you have to like everything. Lord knows I don’t. But I can never get it out of my mind that there are people who made those comic book pages, and sooner or later, I’m going to run into them at a comic book convention, and have to look them in the eye. And if I’ve criticized their work, I need to feel like it was valid and respectful.” [iFanboy]

Commentary | Jonathan Liu reviews MK Reed and Jonathan Hill’s anti-censorship graphic novel Americus. [Wired's GeekDad]

Commentary | Richard Bruton critiques Erik Skillman and Jhomar Soriano’s noir graphic novel Liar’s Kiss. [The Forbidden Planet Blog Log]

Commentary | Rachel Cook counts down her personal ten best, from Tintin to Shortcomings. [The Guardian]

Women of Wonder Day

Returning this year “with a new name and an expanded mission,” the event formerly known as Wonder Woman Day is now Women of Wonder Day. This year the event will expand to a third location on Oct. 30 as a part of its mission to raise money for domestic violence programs.

The three events will occur at the following shops, where you can bid on art, meet creators and more:

• Excalibur Books in Portland, Ore. with special guests Joelle Jones, Kelly Sue DeConnick and more.
• Comic Fusion in Flemington, N.J. with Jamal Igle, J.K. Woodward and more.
• Heroes and Fantasies in San Antonio, Texas with Benn Dunn and more.

In addition, there’s an online component, and you can bid on artwork and other items on eBay — including the chance to appear in a Brian Michael Bendis comic book.

You can find the complete press release after the jump.

*****

Women Of Wonder Day 2011
October 30, 2011
www.WomenOfWonderDay.com

Returning for a SIXTH year with a new name and an expanded mission!
Images of the World’s Most Iconic Heroines Will Help Benefit Domestic Violence Prevention-Intervention Agencies in Oregon, New Jersey, and Texas!

Portland, Oregon, October 14, 2010 — In October 2006-2010, five annual Wonder Woman Day events raised over $110,000 for Domestic Violence programs in Portland, Oregon and Flemington, NJ. The five-year combination of auctions of over 1,100 original art pieces, plus collectibles, autograph signings, and photo opportunities garnered spectacular turnouts and four Portland Mayoral Proclamations!

This year, the event will take on a new name and an expanded mission! On October 30, 2011, the new Women of Wonder Day — again as a part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month — will take place, returning to Excalibur Books in Portland, Oregon, and Comic Fusion in Flemington, New Jersey, as well as at Heroes and Fantasies in San Antonio, Texas!

This year’s contributions for auction include not only artwork featuring heroines from the world of comics — Wonder Woman, She-Hulk, Storm, Michonne from Walking Dead, Leetah from ElfQuest — but also from the world of media as well, including Lisbeth Salander, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hermione Granger, and others! Plus, TV series such as Glee, Nikita, Big Bang Theory, Castle, and others have donated special items as well! And the all-ages events will include artists and writers signing autographs at each event, as well as costumed characters with whom you can take photos! And in Portland, white-hot writer Brian Michael Bendis is auctioning off a role in one of his upcoming comics!

Some key points:
• The website for Women of Wonder Day is WomenOfWonderDay.com
• Over 250 pieces of original artwork and collectibles will be auctioned between the three Women of Wonder Day events. All art is posted to view at the event and at WomenOfWonderDay.com
• Portland’s Mayor, Sam Adams, has officially declared October 30th to be “Women of Wonder Day ” in the City of Roses.
• Previous Wonder Woman Day events have raised a grand total of more than $110,000 to benefit survivors of domestic violence and their children. 100% of all proceeds went to the charities.
• October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
• Producing the annual event for the sixth year is best-selling author and DVD documentary director Andy Mangels, who is also the curator of the online Wonder Woman Museum, and one of the world’s top experts on super-heroines.

Details about the three events follow:

Excalibur Comics, 2444 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, October 30, 2011 – noon-6pm, FREE
An ALL AGES celebration and benefit for domestic violence prevention-intervention agencies! Proceeds of the event will benefit Bradley Angle, one of Portland’s leading domestic violence agencies. The free all-ages event will include local and national artists signing comics and special edition prints, as well as a silent auction of original art and collectibles. There will be costumed super-heroes, pirates, and science fiction characters on-site, raffles and prizes, and more.

Andy Mangels is chairing the Portland event, with Debbie Fagnant and Bradley Angle’s Rebecca Norman. “Women of Wonder Day is so special to our agency,” says Norman. “For the last six years, it’s not only been a key part of how we fund our domestic violence programs, but it’s also become a day that brings a different kind of energy and excitement into the work we do. Women of Wonder Day helps us reach out to an audience that might not know our services are available or might have wanted to get involved with charity work but never knew how. And the new format of the event just increases the potential to spread awareness–it means we’re going to be able to celebrate even more heroines, and involve even more fans!”

“In 2010 alone, more than 40 Oregonians lost their lives due to domestic violence, which brings the number of victims since the downturn of the economy to over 100. During Domestic Violence Awareness Month and on Women of Wonder Day, we remember that countless men, women, and children continue to live in unsafe situations and fighting for survival–and we celebrate everyone’s potential to be a hero. How can you be a hero? Tell a friend or family member who you believe might be experiencing domestic violence that they deserve to be safe and help them find resources like Bradley Angle; bid on one of the amazing pieces of original comic book art that we’re auctioning off on EBay and at Excalibur Comics during Women of Wonder Day; and bring your family to the event and talk to your kids about what healthy relationships look like. You can be a hero, too!”

Officially unveiled Tuesday on Comic Book Resources, The Secret Service is the duo’s long-simmering first-time collaboration, based on an idea by Millar, Gibbons and Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn (who holds the film rights to the project). More details will be revealed next month in CLiNT #12.

As he did with Kick-Ass, Nemesis and Superior, Millar is auctioning off the opportunity to name a character in The Secret Service — specifically, the villain — with the proceeds going to charity. This time the beneficiary is St. Bartholomew’s Primary School Pantomime Fund, established by Millar (a former student there) and Head Teacher Christine Boyle. The current bid on the eBay auction is $3,100, with mere hours to go.

The six-issue miniseries is set to debut in February.

Thor

The good folks at Portland’s Periscope Studios are holding a fundraiser for Sparkplug publisher Dylan Williams, who is dealing with a serious illness. Several of the artists who work out of Periscope, including Jonathan Case (who painted the showdown between Thor and Galactus you see above), Steve Lieber and Colleen Coover, have contributed artwork to an auction to benefit Williams.

You can find all the available pieces on Periscope’s eBay page.

Portland retailer Jason Leivian of Floating World Comics has announced that his store will be holding a benefit sale for Dylan Williams, the ailing head of independent publisher Sparkplug Comic Books. 100% of the proceeds generated at the store on Monday, August 29 and Tuesday, August 30 will be donated to pay for the medical care of the gravely ill Williams, who has no health insurance.

In addition, Leivian is organizing a benefit art show to raise additional money for Williams’s medical expenses, with a theme of Phillip K. Dick book covers. Leivian says he plans to post the contributing artists’ pieces on a dedicated blog, sell the originals on eBay, and sell prints of the contributions online, at retailers, and at cons like SPX and APE. Full details on this will be available Monday.

And remember, if you don’t live in Portland or aren’t in the market for original art, you can simply stop by Sparkplug’s online store and buy anything you like. (I suggested a few titles to start with the other day.)

The full press release on the benefit sale at Floating World is after the jump.

*****

Dylan Williams would never ask any of his friends to do a benefit like this. Not his style.

Sorry Dylan, I know you said no gifts, but your friends love you too much and you’re just going to have to accept this present.

A few days ago Tom Spurgeon and others sent out a call for people to support Dylan by buying Sparkplug Comic Books. When I heard how serious the situation was I felt shock and sadness. Felt a little helpless, then I think yesterday we all got the same idea at the same time. Gotta do something to help our friend. Jim Rugg emailed me last night about putting together an art fundraiser show which I’ll start organizing this weekend and I’ll have more info on Monday.

In the meantime we’re going to have a benefit sale at Floating World next Monday and Tuesday, August 29th – 30th.

We’re going to donate 100% of our proceeds from those two days to Dylan’s medical care (Dylan has no health insurance). We’ll have a special section of Sparkplug books for you to check out but the sale includes everything you buy on Monday and Tuesday.

Comics Express

A group of comic creators have gotten together to create a comic book specifically for the kids in Joplin, who lost their homes after the devastating tornado destroyed around 8,000 buildings in the Missouri town.

Carmen Morais, a former editor for Nickelodeon Magazine, has recruited several cartoonists, designers and editors to help create the comic, titled Comic Express. Contributors, who are donating their time to the project, include Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), Johnny Ryan (Prison Pit), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Mark Martin (Gnatrat) and many more. They’re using the site Indie GoGo to raise funds; the site works much like Kickstarter, where you contribute money and receive rewards based on the amount. Donations of $20 or more will receive the comic book, plus other goodies as the amount increases.

Although they’ve reached their goal to pay for the printing, you can still donate money and receive rewards; any money they raise over their target amount will go to the Joplin Public Schools’ Adopt-a-Classroom Fund to replace classroom supplies.

Artist Mitch Breitweiser and his wife, colorist Bettie Breitweiser, are raising money for Brittany Delarosa and her three kids, who recently lost their husband and father. The duo reached out to several comic creators to donate original artwork to be auctioned off or sold. Currently up for bid is the above piece by Chris Samnee, and they’re also selling pieces by Peter Krause, Andrea Furtrelle and (coming soon) Phil Hester.

Go here to check out all the artwork.

Japan Needs Heroes

Red Giant Entertainment has recruited several top names in the comics industry to contribute to Japan Needs Heroes, a graphic novel that aims to raise money for the Japan Society, a non-profit organization that has created a special disaster relief fund to aid victims of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan.

A press release that went out today from comiXology, which will distribute the book digitally when it is released, listed Stan Lee (who will provide the forward), Peter David, Ron Marz, Mike Deodato, Larry Hama, Jimmy Palmiotti, Elaine Lee, Amanda Conner, Howard Mackie and Brandon Peterson as contributors. You can find a list of additional creators on the book’s Kickstarter page, which Red Giant is using to fund the printing.

“My wife is from Japan,” said Benny R. Powell, CEO of Red Giant, “and her family still lives there. We hear daily reports of the fear and uncertainty they face. I realized we had to do something. Comics have a power to reach massive audiences and that’s a powerful thing. As more and more creators join our cause I believe we can raise a lot of money to help. This transcends any genre, medium, or publisher. This need is bigger than anything our world has ever faced, and we truly believe that together we can make a difference.”

Akira by Dustin Weaver

The artists associated with Periscope Studios regularly post some pretty awesome artwork on their sketch blog, to the point where you kinda have to wonder how they could make it even more awesome. Which they have.

Last week Dylan Meconis, Colleen Coover, Dustin Weaver and several more of their artists created pieces that they’re auctioning off on eBay to benefit Peace Winds Japan, an organization providing emergency relief efforts in the earthquake and tsunami-ravaged country.

“I had pretty much told myself that I wouldn’t be participating in many more Periscope sketch challenges for a while because I need to be focused on work,” Weaver wrote on his LiveJournal. “But when the idea of doing a Japan week was suggested I was immediately on board. There are probably a lot of artists who feel this way, but for me this is a chance to give a little back to a country that has given me so much. Many of my greatest artistic inspirations are Japanese.” Weaver’s piece, above, should look familiar to fans of Akira.

You can find all the pieces up for auction on the studio’s eBay page.

Superior #1

If the growing guest list isn’t enough to draw fans and media to the inaugural Kapow! Comic Con, Mark Millar & Co. are raising the stakes by setting their sights on two Guinness World Records that most probably didn’t know existed.

Millar and collaborator Leinil Yu have given permission for their Superior character to be used at the convention to help secure the records for Fastest Production of a Comic Book and Most Contributors to a Comic Book.

To do so, such attending creators as Paul Cornell, Andy Diggle, Dave Gibbons, Jock, Frank Quitely and John Romita Jr. will lend their time on April 9 to create a 20-page standalone comic. For the Fastest Production record, the entire issue — from concept to script to art to lettering — must be completed between 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. A Guinness World Records official will be on-hand to certify the requirements have been met.

The finished product will be printed and distributed through Marvel’s Icon imprint, with all royalties going to Yorkhill Children’s Foundation, which provides enhanced medical equipment and resources for sick children and babies treated by Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.

A Swamp Thing cover being auctioned off for Japan

As the drama in Japan continues, we are reminded that comics are everywhere. Tokyopop CEO Stu Levy has been ferrying food and supplies to the victims, charting his progress on Twitter as he goes.

On this side of the ocean, the response is less dramatic but no less heartfelt: Creative types are coming up with all sorts of benefits for Japan. Comics Alliance has a nice roundup of events and art sales, and Daniella Orihuela-Gruber and Michael Huang have set up Anime and Manga Bloggers For Japan, a site where blogger can direct their readers, with links to Doctors Without Borders and Shelterbox. The fan-run One PIece Podcast is planning a 24-hour podcast marathon this weekend that will feature many bloggers and voice actors and hopefully raise $25,000 for the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. At the Otaku USA site, editor Patrick Macias explains why he is endorsing the Japan Society Earthquake Relief Fund. Dane Ault, of Monkey Minion Press, is auctioning off an original Swamp Thing cover on eBay. And Pinguino Kolb updated me on the We Heart Japan art auction, which happens tomorrow at Meltdown Comics in LA, saying that they are flooded with art and expect lots of celebrities to stop by, so if you’re in LA right now, that’s the place to be—and if you’re not, stay tuned, because they expect to do several more fund-raisers later this month.

So far, there has been no news of any anime or manga creators being injured or killed in the disaster, but the industry has been disrupted by the physical damage. As noted below, the Tokyo Anime Fair has been cancelled. Anime News Network has two lists of delayed anime and manga releases, which they updated again today. The American publisher Manga University, which is located in Japan, escaped serious damage and is donating 10% of sales from their store to the Japanese Red Cross.

Finally, it seems as inevitable as Rule 34 that where there’s a disaster, someone will try to blame the victims. This time the culprit is Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, the guy behind the Youth Healthy Development Ordinance, which placed tight restrictions on racy manga. During a press conference yesterday, Isihara said

Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism. We need to use tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has rusted onto the mentality of Japanese over a long period of time.

I think (the disaster) is tembatsu (divine punishment), although I feel sorry for disaster victims.

Isihara later retracted his comments, but they inspired the normally staid retailer news site ICv2 to abandon its usual neutral voice and deliver a stinging reply:

To anyone watching the events in Japan from anywhere else in the world, who has seen the amazing cooperation of the Japanese people, who initiated rolling blackouts before they were even asked to do so, who have totally refrained from looting, and who have cooperated with and executed relief efforts in a truly heroic manner, the comments of Ishihara’s are simply dumbfounding.

Alex Simmons

Not yet, but they can make you laugh while you’re waiting for chemo.

Alex Simmons always has a couple of things going on. In addition to his work for Archie Comics (he wrote their big crossover event last year), he runs the annual Kids Comic Con in the Bronx, and last December he brought his Color of Comics traveling exhibit to Dakar, Senegal.

Now Simmons has found a new place for comics: a cancer center. Lenox Hill Hospital’s Institute for Comprehensive Breast Care, to be precise. As Simmons says in a press release sent out yesterday:

Breast cancer effects women of all ages and races, and unfortunately, uniformly inflicts terror in those that have to face the disease head- on. Quite often children find themselves facing that fear with their mothers, some times sitting in the waiting area while she meets with a doctor.

Hospitals, as anyone who has waited in one knows, can be kind of grim. Alex wants to give everyone something to smile about, so he’s planning a permanent exhibit of comics images on the walls of the center to cheer up the kids and their moms. He’s looking for artists who are willing to donate original comics art or digital images that can be blown up and put on the walls. Artists who are interested in participating can find his contact info through his website.

The event will take place at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood on Thursday. Yes, this Thursday: In less than a week, the two have pulled together donations from a number of local artists as well as the anime companies Bandai and Geneon, the anime streaming site Crunchyroll and the anime convention AM2. They are still looking for donations, though; if you are a Los Angeles-area artist and want to contribute framed sketches, paintings or digital art, contact information is on their website (or direct-message them via Twitter). Anime actors and cosplayers will also be there to mingle and sign autographs; check the Facebook page to see who’s coming.

“Japan has always been a huge inspiration for those working in anime and comics, and we’re doing this show as a way to give back to the community there,” Kolb said in an e-mail to Robot 6.

Proceeds will go to the Japan NGO Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund, which will work with Japan’s Give One initiative to relay the money directly to local charities that are helping with the relief efforts. And more events are in the offing; follow them on Twitter to get the latest news.

One of Takehiko Inoue's Smile drawings

Even as rescue operations continue and officials scramble to avert a nuclear disaster in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on Friday, some manga artists are reaching out to their fans with a message of hope.

Takehiko Inoue, the creator of Vagabond and Slam Dunk, has been posting pictures of ordinary Japanese people smiling with the Twitter hashtags #prayforjapan and #tsunami, as a sort of prayer. Shoujo manga creator Arina Tanemura (Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross) also drew one of her characters with a big smile. Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) posted a lively drawing with a message of support on the Shonen Jump website. And Itou Noizi, who illustrated the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, has drawn a picture of Haruhi in prayer.

A number of well-known creators, including Naoki Urasawa (Pluto, 20th Century Boys), Natsume Ono (House of Five Leaves) and Kanata Konami (Chi’s Sweet Home) have posted drawings and messages of encouragement at the website of Kodansha’s Morning magazine. Anime News Network has a full list of contributors in English.

Japanese-Canadian artist Nina Matsumoto (Yokaiden) is doing commissioned drawings of her characters for $25 each, with the proceeds to go to the Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

Super Shot

This is a really wonderful story … comic creator Ryan Dunlavey recently teamed up with 12-year-old Luke Robinson from Dickson, Tennessee to create a new comic called Super Shot that’s being distributed at area hospitals. Robinson, who has survived open-heart surgery and leukemia over the course of his short life, asked the Make-a-Wish Foundation for the opportunity to visit Marvel Comics and create his own comic.

“Luke created and designed the characters and came up with the story ideas – I wrote the script and drew the artwork under the supervision of then-Marvel Comics editor Nate Cosby,” Dunlavey said on his blog. “This past week the book was printed and distributed for free to hospitals in Luke’s hometown area of Tennessee – the story is an origin of Luke’s characters Super Shot and Dr. Shrink, who battle the Virus in a story that demonstrates that kids need not be afraid of doctors or medical care. This was all Luke’s vision and I was just lucky to be asked along for the ride.”

In addition to area hospitals, Robinson plans to debut the book at The Great Escape in Nashville later this month.