Comic Book Resources

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

I believe we've reached the pre-Thanksgiving industry slowdown.

Green Arrow: Year One

Internet | A website called the Home of the Green Arrow, which supports the far-right British National Party in its "fight to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia," has co-opted Jock's art from the DC Comics miniseries Green Arrow: Year One for its banner. "This is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth," the artist wrote this morning on Twitter. He has contacted DC's legal department. [Jock's Twitter feed]

Art | Frank Frazetta's original cover painting for the 1967 Lancer paperback edition of Conan the Conqueror sold at auction last week for a reported $1 million. That's nearly four times the previous record price for the artist's work -- $251,000 -- paid in 2008 for the cover to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Escape on Venus. [Spectrum Fantastic Art, via Sci Fi Wire]

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

Black Dossier

Libraries | The library board in Jessamine County, Kentucky, heard public comment last night about acquisition and borrowing policies and the recent firings of two employees who kept a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier out of circulation. The hourlong meeting was marked by shouting, crying and the presentation of petitions, including one that called for the removal of two books and two DVDs -- Black Dossier among them -- from county library shelves. No action was taken by the board. [Lexington Herald-Leader]

Awards | A controversy emerged just a day before the National Book Awards ceremony as author/blogger Janice Harayda suggested that Kathi Appelt, a judge in the Young People''s category, should recuse herself because finalist David Small had illustrated her novel. In her response Appelt was cryptic, at best, saying that as committee deliberations are private, "I or any other judge might well have excused ourselves from voting on any particular book, if conflict of interest were an issue.” In the end, Small's celebrated graphic memoir Stiches didn't win last night; Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice did. [ArtsBeat, Jacket Copy]

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

Weekly Astro Boy Magazine

Publishing | Tezuka Productions and D-Arc Inc. has launched Weekly Astro Boy Magazine, a service that delivers manga by Osamu Tezuka to iPhones and iPods in the United States. Announced last month, it's the first English-language manga service for mobile devices.

If I'm reading the site correctly, the premier "edition" of Weekly Astro Boy Magazine offers the first volume of Astro Boy for free. Subsequent volumes of that title, and other Tezuka classics like Phoenix, Dororo, Black Jack and Buddha, cost 99 cents each, and are available in weekly installments. [Weekly Astro Boy Magazine]

Education | Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza, creators of the webcomic Least I Could Do, have established The Rayne Summers Webcomic Scholarship at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Named for the protagonist of their nearly seven-year-old comic, the scholarship will cover tuition for one student each year who is working toward a career in webcomics. [Least I Could Do, via The Daily Cartoonist]

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Straight for the art | Surf'n'turf Nazis must die

by D.C. Stuelpner

Namor, eat your heart out ... when the threat of Nazism spreads into the Seven Seas, D.C. Stuelpner shows who the right man is for the job.

Via

Straight for the art | My Grandmother's House, by Cassandra Diaz

From "My Grandmother's House," by Cassandra Diaz

Tor.com has posted a beautiful six-page comic by Cassandra Diaz called My Grandmother's House. Tor Art Director Irene Gallo describes it as "an ethereal, dreamy moment," which seems about right.

You can see more of Diaz's work on her website gallery and on her blog.

If this van's a-rockin', the spinner rack needs restockin'

I wonder: Will there ever be a movement to legitimize airbrushed van art in the same way that "graphic novels" have given comic books traction with the smart set? 'Cuz this ain't gonna help out in either department, but it sure is funny: Maxim lists the 12 Superheroes Who Should Be on '70s Vans, complete with Photoshopped visual evidence so convincing you can almost smell the newsprint and hear the Foghat.

My favorite's the Man-Wolf van (or is that the Van-Wolf?), but I also enjoyed the always welcome Thor/"Immigrant Song" gag and the description of Doctor Strange as "the lava lamp of superheroes." They're funny because they're true!

Process junkie alert: The Work in Progress blog

Batman by Kevin Nowlan

Batman by Kevin Nowlan

Batman by Kevin Nowlan

This is probably the best use of Flash I've seen in awhile ... the Work in Progress blog showcases Flash animations that detail the process of creating pages of comic art, from basic layouts and sketches to the finished colored art. It can be a bit mesmerizing to watch them, so be careful.

(Artwork above is from a Kevin Nowlan Batman page. Via)

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

Wolverine: Old Man Logan

Publishing | Comic sales to the direct market fell 14 percent in October, versus the same month a year ago, resulting in the biggest decline since May. Sales of the Top 100 graphic novels plummeted 30 percent -- again due to the brisk sales of Watchmen last fall -- combining for an overall decline of 17 percent.

As we reported last week, DC Comics had the top six bestselling comics for the first time in four decades, with the fourth issue of its event miniseries Blackest Night coming in at No. 1 with an estimated 137,169 copies. Marvel's Wolverine: Old Man Logan hardcover collection topped the graphic novel chart with an estimated 7,347 copies.

The retailer-focused news and analysis site ICv2.com notes that Marvel's $3.99 titles continue to slip, with the third issues of Ultimate Comics Avengers and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man each shedding about 5,000 copies from the previous issue. Of course, they weren't the only ones to slide: 19 of the top 25 comics saw drop-offs in what the website describes as "a bearish month." [ICv2.com]

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Brad Meltzer provides the first look at the cover to Buffy #32

From the cover to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" #32

On his blog, bestselling author and comics writer Brad Meltzer offers the first look at Georges Jeanty's cover for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #32 -- an homage to Action Comics #1, naturally -- the first issue in Meltzer's story arc. The issue is set for release in February.

Follow the link to see the full cover image.

Straight for the art | We're all mad here, Grodd ...

Gorillas!

Artist J. Bone teases an upcoming project he'll be drawing with a series of sketches of DC's various mad geniuses, including the Sivanas, Hugo Strange, Gorilla Grodd and Ultra-Humanite.

"These guys are all scientists in the DC Universe? No wonder it's all screwed up," he quips.

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

Green Lantern Corps #41

Publishing | Buoyed by its Blackest Night miniseries and tie-in books, DC Comics claimed the first six slots on Diamond Comic Distributors' Top 300 list of books sold to the direct market in October.

It's a rare occurrence, to be sure, but just how rare? Charts-watcher John Jackson Miller contends we have to travel back more than 40 years, to a time well before the direct market, to find when DC last had the six best-selling comics (as sold to retailers). Yes, 1968. The closest DC came in the direct-market era, according to Miller, was in April 1993, when the publisher held the top five positions.

But back to October 2009, when DC also narrowed the market gap with Marvel to the closest margin in some time: The competitors were separated by just 2.43 percent in unit share, and 2.68 percent in dollar share. [Diamond Comic Distributors, The Comics Chronicles]

Retailing | Borders Group announced Thursday it will close about 200 of its Waldenbooks, Borders Express and Borders Outlet stores in January. The retail chain has been steadily closing mall-based stores in its Waldenbooks Specialty Retail division since 2001. About 130 mall stores will remain once the downsizing is complete. [Publishers Weekly]

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Fall of the Hulks Alpha preview

from Fall of the Hulks Alpha

Marvel sent over some pages from their upcoming Fall of the Hulks storyline, which kicks off with an "Alpha" issue in December. You can see additional pages from it here (where you can also see the ad/homage to the original Fall of the Mutants ad that ran in various Marvel comics back in the 1980s).

The book is written by Jeff Parker with pencils by Paul Pelletier. The story revolves around the Leader, Mad Thinker, Egghead, M.O.D.O.K., Red Ghost and Doctor Doom putting their heads together to create some sort of battle plan that leads into the World War Hulks event. More details on that can be found here.

Check out additional pages after the jump ...

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

Marvel

Business | Marvel Entertainment's third-quarter profits plunged 60 percent because of a steep decline in film revenue and licensing sales for the period. The publishing division declined 6 percent, or $2 million, compared to the third quarter of 2008, which the company attributes to a drop in custom publishing offset by an increase in book-market revenue. [Bloomberg, Marvel.com]

Publishing | The list of nominees for the Young Adult Library Services Association's annual Great Graphic Novels for Teens is, as usual, diverse, with titles ranging from R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated and Jamaica Dyer's Weird Fishes to Naoki Urasawa's Pluto and Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards' 1985.

The nominations, divided into categories for fiction and nonfiction, are led by Marvel with 15 titles, DC Comics and its imprints with 13, Viz Media with 12 (but for 18 volumes), Dark Horse with eight and Del Rey and Yen Press with six each.

The final selections, chosen by an 11-person committee, will be presented in mid-January at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Boston. [YALSA]

Publishing | Marvel has hired Bon Alimagno, editorial director of Harris Publications, as its editorial talent coordinator, replacing Chris Allo, who left the company in September. [Bleeding Cool]

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Straight for the (horror) art | Alex Sheikman's Strangeways illustration

Part of an illustration by Alex Sheikman

For his one-a-day sketch series on his blog, Robotika creator Alex Sheikman drew a terrific illustration based on Strangeways, the Western-horror series by Matt Maxwell and Luis Guragna. The second graphic novel in the series, The Thirsty, is being serialized online right here at Robot 6.

To see the full illustration, visit Sheikman's blog.

Straight for the art | Steve Seeley's "The Creature"

Now here's a different kind of comic book art: In this case, the comic books are the canvas. Behold artist Steve Seeley's "The Creature," a series of paintings created atop multiple copies of UFO Flying Saucers #5, a Gold Key/Whitman comic from February 1975. (You can see the originals here and here.) Each painting reinterprets the original image, swapping its robot-alien creature for everything from monkey-octopus hybrids to the Easter Bunny. We've included a few of our faves above to give you an idea of what Seeley's up to, but there are 29 paintings in all dating back to 2004, so be sure to visit the full gallery at Seeley's site.

(Via Ryan "Agent M" Penagos.)