The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist

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 we don’t have to come up with a new way to say, “Batwoman is still awesome!” every month. And we’ll continue letting Tom and Carla do the heavy lifting in regards to DC and Marvel’s solicitations.

One cool change this month and for the foreseeable future: I’m joined by Graeme McMillan who’ll also be pointing out his favorites.

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

Abrams Comicarts

The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist – I admit, I tend to run hot and cold on Clowes’ output, but I’m a sucker for coffee-table career retrospectives, so the idea of taking 224 pages to look back at his career to date (with, of course, the traditional little-seen artwork and commentary) seems like a must-look at the very least. [Graeme]

Abstract Studios

Rachel Rising, Volume 1: The Shadow of Death – Terry Moore’s latest series gets its first collection and I love the premise of a woman’s waking up in a shallow grave with no memory of how she got there and needing to figure out who tried to kill to her. [Michael]

Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom

Arcana

Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom – I don’t know enough about Lovecraft, but man I love me some undersea kingdoms. [Michael]

Archaia

Cow Boy – As much as I don’t want to stick writer Nate Cosby in an all-ages box, I’m eager to read his and Chris Eliopoulos’ story of a kid bounty hunter trying to bring in his family of outlaws. [Michael]

If nothing else, Nate Cosby’s Twitter feed made me curious about checking out his western collaboration with Eliopoulos, but finding out that Roger Langridge and Colleen Coover were also contributing pushed me over the edge. [Graeme]

I’m Not A Plastic Bag – Color me skeptical but hopeful about Rachel Hope Allison’s ecological debut, even if that title makes me a little nervous. [Graeme]

Archie

Archie #631 – Picks up on that story where Archie and Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats hook up. Look, Archie’s going nowhere with either Betty or Veronica, so I’m rooting for the furry. [Michael]

Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 #1 – At first, finding out that this comic was actually by Tony Blake and Alex Saviuk without Lee was a letdown; until I found out that the comic is actually about Stan Lee, which pushes it into the “This will either be horrendous or bizarrely enjoyable” category. [Graeme]

I’m not sure that I’ve ever unreservedly enjoyed a comic that Stan Lee wrote, much less just came up with the idea for, but I love his persona and putting him in the comic with some superheroes is so crazy it just might work. [Michael]

Crossed: Badlands #1

Avatar Press

Crossed: Badlands #1 and 2 – I’m definitely not a horror fan, but the idea of Garth Ennis’ writing an ongoing biweekly series feels like it’s as good a lure to get me to pick this up as anything else. (I think the plan is to have creators alternate on arcs, with Si Spurrier and David Lapham as part of the alternate writers on the book. That’s a pretty impressive line-up.) [Graeme]

Boom!

Exile on the Planet of the Apes #1 – I’m all for another Planet of the Apes comic from Boom!. [Michael]

More Apes by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman (art by Marc Laming)? This can only be a good thing. [Graeme]

Supurbia #1 – I feel like we’ve seen a few of these “what if superheroes and reality shows were mashed together?” series, but here’s the first of four issues of another one written by former Marvel staffer Grace Randolph. [Graeme]

Kitchen Sink Press: The First 25 Years – Remember what I said about being a sucker for coffee table retrospectives above? That goes double for this one, which has the added benefits of being both cheap (only $15!) and having contributions from Alan Moore and other creators from Denis Kitchen’s vast address book. [Graeme]

Dark Horse

BPRD: Hell on Earth – The Pickens County Horror #1 – I’m all for new BPRD comics, but it’s getting more and more difficult to keep track of everything. Still, I’ll buy a Scott Allie Mignolaverse story any day. [Michael]

Abe Sapien, Volume 2: The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories

Abe Sapien, Volume 2: The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories - Abe’s my favorite BPRD character, so I feel like this the way I do the previous item: grateful, but also a little saturated. [Michael]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, Volume 1 – The first ten issues – or two trades, if that’s how your brain works – of the Joss Whedon-led series get an oversized hardcover edition. [Graeme]

Channel Zero – Brian Wood’s breakthrough book comes back into print with this collection of the original series, the Becky Cloonan-illustrated follow-up and material from the awesome Public Domain design book. Jonathan Hickman fans, you should really pick this up. [Graeme]

Manara Erotica, Vol. 1: Click! and Other Stories – Yes, it’s comic porn. But unlike Lost Girls, this is actually sexy comic porn. [Graeme]

Ragemoor #1 – If they hadn’t got me with Richard Corben, they certainly would have with “living castle nurtured on pagan blood.” [Michael]

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Volume 2 – The Promise, Part 2 – Yikes, what a title. I’m still missing Avatar: The Last Airbender though, so this is welcome. [Michael]

Empowered, Volume 7 – Why haven’t I started reading this critical darling yet? I do not know. [Michael]

DC

Batman: Death by Design - Chip Kidd’s writing a Batman book and it’s a real-live, honest-to-goodness superhero adventure. What’s more awesome is that the concept of design plays a large role in the story in the form of a massive reconstruction project in Gotham City. [Michael]

Saucer Country #1

Saucer Country #1 – Paul Cornell + Ryan Kelly + saucer aliens = SOLD. [Michael]

Fairest #1 – Bill Willingham launches a new series about the women of Fables and makes me even less interested in everyone else’s modern updates of fairy tales. [Michael]

New Deadwardians #1 – The solicit opens, “Another vampire/zombie comic? Really, Vertigo?” My sentiments exactly and yet, this one’s illustrated by INJ Culbard whose work I’ve loved on the Sherlock Holmes adaptations he’s done with Ian Edginton. [Michael]

Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1 – It would be redundant to mention that the cover to this is both “striking” and “by Rafael Grampá,” so I’ll just mention the concept, which is also eye-catching. It’s the story of a grad student who also happens to be heir to the Voodoo Queenship of the most haunted city in America, and someone is killing off the royal family. Vertigo was created for stuff like this. [Michael]

Dynamite

Bionic Woman #1 – I had the deepest crush on Jaime Sommers as an 11-year-old. My current crush on Paul Tobin’s writing is slightly less deep, but still significant enough to make me want to read this. [Michael]

I’ve been following Dynamite’s Bionic Man series and surprising myself by digging the hell out’ve it; seeing that this spin-off is being written by the insanely-underrated Paul Tobin was all I needed to convince me to read this. [Graeme]

George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 – For the fantasy fan (or HBO subscriber) in your life, here’s the first quarter of Dynamite’s adaptation of the not-so-cult-anymore novel. [Graeme]

Vampirella: The Red Room #1

Vampirella: The Red Room #1: On the one hand, it’s “monster vs. human cage matches.” On the other, it’s written by Dan Brereton, so it’s probably going to be good fun… [Graeme]

Fantagraphics

Angelman – I’ve not read much by Austrian cartoonist Nicolas Mahler, but I think I’m won over just by the idea of his new book, which satirizes not just superheroes, but the business behind them. [Graeme]

Interiorae – Lovely, lovely art by Gabriella Giandelli in this collection of his Ignatz series. (It’s also in full-color, unlike the original serialization, which is another win.) [Graeme]

I don’t know why it’s taken this long for Fantagraphics to collect the comics that got their cool Ignatz format a few years ago, but I’ll shut up and be grateful. I greatly enjoyed Giandelli’s creepy tale of an apartment building, its residents, the large rabbit who roams its halls, and the creature the rabbit seems to serve. What’s also exciting though is that this means Richard Sala’s Delphine will get a collection too. [Michael]

Humanoids

Monsieur Jean: The Singles Theory – So, so excited for this new book by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian, making its English language debut in this edition. [Graeme]

IDW

Berkeley Breathed’s Outland: The Complete Collection Sunday Comics, 1989-1995 – The star of this collection of Breathed’s Bloom County follow-up isn’t the title strip, but the reprints of his early, college-era work that’ll accompany them. [Graeme]

Funny Stuff

Funny Stuff By Frank Frazetta – It makes me a bad nerd to admit that I don’t think I’ve ever seen Frazetta’s legendary early comics work, so I’m pretty excited for this oversized hardcover collection, especially to see just how much he… homaged other, more famous strips. [Graeme]

Rocketeer Adventures 2 #1 – Featuring work by Stan Sakai, Bill Sienkiewicz, Marc Guggenheim, Peter David, and Sandy Plunkett. Plus covers and pin-ups by Dave Stevens, Darwyn Cooke, and Art Adams. [Michael]

The first series of anthology tributes to Dave Stevens and his retro creation worked so much more than I’d expected, so I’m definitely up for a second go-’round. [Graeme]

Smoke And Mirrors #1: Mike Costa’s been winning me over every month with his Cobra series, so I’m looking forward to this creator-owned book he’s co-writing about a stage magician who gets trapped in a world where magic has taken the place of science. [Graeme]

Star Trek, Volume 1 – Dear all fellow Trekkies/Trekkers/whatever you want to call yourselves: If you liked the original TV show and also the JJ Abrams movie reboot, you owe it to yourself to check out this monthly series, so grab this collection of the first issues and dig in. [Graeme]

Will Eisner’s The Spirit: Artist’s Edition – Of all the IDW “Artists Edition” books to date, this is the one that just feels like a must-have. Eisner’s Spirit pages as they appeared on his drafting table? I cannot wait to see these. [Graeme]

IDW probably explained the “Artist’s Edition” concept before and I just wasn’t paying attention, but I am now and I finally get why it’s cool to have COLOR scans of original-size black-and-white art so you can see blue pencils, art corrections, editorial notes, and stuff like that. Especially for someone as legendary as Will Eisner.  [Michael]

Saga

Image

Saga #1 – New Brian K. Vaughan. Does anything else need to be said? Oh, alright: FIona Staples on art. Seriously, you guys. [Graeme]

I’d buy a Fiona Staple fantasy epic anyway. That Brian K Vaughan is writing it makes me sigh like a Belieber. [Michael]

Hell Yeah #1: There’s something weirdly fitting about reading a series about the generation who’s grown up with super-heroes that’s created by someone like Joe Keatinge, who’s been around in comics for a long time, and Andre Szymanowicz’ art looks good as well… [Graeme]

The Manhattan Projects #1 – Jonathan Hickman returns to indie roots with the true story behind the atomic bomb. Turns out, Oppenheimer created this rocket ship, but forgot to shield it against cosmic rays… [Graeme]

Mad scientists! By Jonathan Hickman! [Michael]

’68, Volume 1: Better Run Through the Jungle – Mark Kidwell, Nat Jones, and Jay Fotos’ Vietnam War/zombie series is collected. [Michael]

The Walking Dead: Cutting Room Floor – I’m very, very curious about this collection of Robert Kirkman’s handwritten notes about the creation of his hit series. It sounds like a joke, doesn’t it? But it could very well be awesome… [Graeme]

Marvel

Avengers Academy #27 – Guest-starring the Runaways, ya’ll! And Bruiser’s totally punching Mettle cross-eyed on the cover. [Michael]

Savage Beauty

Moonstone

Savage Beauty Limited Edition Hardcover – I’m really curious to see how Mike Bullock’s contemporary, political jungle-girl story turns out. [Michael]

Oni

The Coldest City - If Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy taught me anything, it’s that I’m really not done with Cold War spy stories just yet. This one’s set in Berlin, which is even cooler. [Michael]

I’ve already read this one in galley format, and it is really, really good for those who like the spy stuff (Queen and Country fans, it’s written by Antony Johnston, so you know that it’s great; the art by Sam Hart follows Steve Yeowell’s lead from his early Zenith days, and for those who know my love for that series, there are few higher compliments I can offer). [Graeme]

The Secret History of DB Cooper #1 – Beyond “colorful weirdness and conspiracy-laden Americana,” I have no idea what to expect from Brian Churilla’s new series, and that just makes me look forward to it all the more. [Graeme]

I can’t wait to find out once and for all if Mr James is Doobie Keebler. [Michael]

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures

Red 5

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures #1 – Eep! An Atomic Robo anthology! Great news for a series whose back-up stories have always been just as entertaining as its lead feature. [Michael]

Atomic Robo returns with an all-new ongoing series?!? Surely this means that Christmas is either not over, or coming early or… well, you know what I mean. Good stuff. [Graeme]

Top Shelf

Blue – I’ve never heard of Pat Grant, the creator of this OGN, but Craig Thompson calls him “the Australian Mark Twain,” which is good enough for me. [Graeme]

Zenescope

The Jungle Book #1: Zenescope get around to “updating” the classic and well-loved story, which is more than likely going to mean adding more cleavage than you would’ve thought appropriate. Welcome to the year 20BOOB, everyone. [Graeme]

Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | An editorial in the Lewiston, Maine, newspaper praises a local school board’s decision last week to leave the 2007 comics anthology Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age in the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School library following a parent’s complaints about “objectionable sexual and language references”: “American culture can be graphically sexual and explicitly foul and it’s important that young people learn how to navigate that world in a responsible way. The best possible way, of course, is for parents to steer their children through that process, but not every parent does and many children are left adrift. So, the next-better place to learn is the school library, where a responsible adult can help educate children about their hormone-charged emerging feelings in a confusingly sensual culture.” [Sun Journal]

Business | Wizard magazine founder Gareb Shamus, who resigned earlier this month as president and chief executive officer of Wizard World Inc., will sell most of his shares in the company to his successor, who’s expected to be named next month. [Bleeding Cool]

Creators | The Korean American Experience asks, “Why Are There So Many Good Asian American Cartoonists?” and highlights the work of Jason Shiga, Gene Yang, Derek Kirk Kim, Hellen Jo and more. [Korean American Experience]

Art by Sharon Moody

Creators | Author and comics writer Scott Edelman takes issue with paintings by Sharon Moody that depict photo-realistic images of comic books. (Honestly, when I first saw the images, I thought someone was just tacking a comic to the wall and calling it art). The paintings don’t credit the creators of the comics. “You might ask, but what’s wrong with this? Aren’t these just still-life paintings like any other? Aren’t there many trompe l’oeil paintings that can pass for photographs? Why should an artist be allowed to paint a bowl of fruit but not a comic book? My issue is this—an apple, once you set aside either a Higher Power or human hybridization (depending on your belief system), has no creator, but the pages of art apparently reproduced here line for line do. What’s going on here is at the very least a collaboration with Kirby, Buscema, Novick, and others without those artists’ permission, and at the very most … well … I’ll let others decide whether they want to go there.” [Bleeding Cool]

Alex de Campi

Creators | Laura Sneddon chats with Alex de Campi about her Kickstarter-funded project Ashes, and women in comics: “The only reason the majors don’t have more women creators is they expect the creators to be in their face begging for jobs. Most women creators just don’t care that much (and also the female way of working socially is different), so they’re all sitting on their piles Eisner nominations and critically-acclaimed indie books waiting to be asked to dance by DC and Marvel … but DC and Marvel are too busy doing keg stands with the freshmen boys.” [comicbookGRRRL]

Creators | Paul Gravett translates a paper he presented for a conference on war and totalitarianism in comics, contrasting Joe Sacco’s Palestine with his Footnotes in Gaza, completed 16 years later and under very different circumstances. [Paul Gravett]

Creators | John Allison discusses the event that sparked his webcomic Bad Machinery, his frustrations about the strip’s progress, and more. [12 Books in 12 Months]

Creators | Sean Kleefeld interviews Frank Page, creator of the long-running webcomic Bob the Squirrel. Page recently announced in the comic, which is based on his life, that he is considering ending the strip. “I think it was a combination of everything… the early mornings, the volume of work, my looking back on 3000+ strips and wondering what the next 3000+ would look like… I’ve made it very clear that I haven’t decided one way or another if the strip will end. Bob has become my best friend, he’s very real to me. And, after reading the considerable amount of emails I’ve received, he’s real to a lot of other people as well. How do you say goodbye to your best friend? Would you be any better off doing something else?” He still hasn’t made up his mind, though. [MTV Geek]

Digital comics | Margaret O’Connell gives the online manga site JManga a thorough test drive and finds it promising but a bit clunky. [Sequential Tart]

Commentary | Bill Kartalopoulos writes a lengthy, thoughtful essay on Daniel Clowes’ The Death-Ray. [Brooklyn Rail]

Awards | Clay Bennett, the editorial cartoonist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has won the 2011 Lurie UN Award, which is given by the UN Correspondents Association and the UN Society of Writers to promote excellence in political cartooning. Hit the link to see the winning cartoon, an M.C. Escher-like take on the Mideast peace talks, read how Bennett came up with the idea. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Can you find the acclaimed comics creators behind The Death-Ray and The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists in this photograph by Adrian Tomine from their trip to the Miami Book Fair? Just be patient and keep searching — I’m sure you’ll see them in there eventually!

Move over, Ana Alexandrino’s photo of Killoffer — there’s a new sheriff of Awesome Pictures of Cartoonists-Town.

Stan Lee

Awards | The Visual Effects Society has named Stan Lee as the recipient of the VES 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors individuals whose “lifetime body of work has made a significant and lasting contribution to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry by way of artistry, invention and/or groundbreaking work.” Previous recipients include George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ray Harryhausen and James Cameron. The award will be presented Feb. 7 at the 10th annual VES Awards. [press release]

Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund reports it raised $12,500 last weekend at New York Comic Con. [CBLDF]

Awards | Comic-Con International has opened nominations for the The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, which awarded to “an individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large.” [CCI]

Publishing | Archaia founder, and now chief creative officer, Mark Smylie is profiled by a local newspaper: “I don’t know what I did in another life to wind up publishing Mouse Guard, but yeah, David [Petersen] basically brought us lightning in a bottle.” [NorthJersey.com]

Greg Rucka

Conventions | Greg Rucka talks about his experiences at New York Comic Con and GeekGirlCon in Seattle: “One of the most extraordinary things about the show, for me, was its atmosphere. A contrasted with the hungry – almost desperate – feel of the floor at NYCC this past weekend, GGC felt practically like a family gathering, and I suppose, in a way, it was just that. The fact is, women remain under-represented and poorly served in so many realms of geek culture; having a convention that speaks to that lack, that attempts to address it, is more than a worthy goal; it may well be a holy one. I was glad to attend, I was honored to be a guest, and I am sincerely proud to have attended.” [Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether]

Conventions | Fans attending the Wizard World Mid-Ohio Con this weekend will have the opportunity to see the holder of the Guinness World Record for “largest comic book” — the Huge Glass Comic Book, a 500-pound glass comic. Each of its 12 pages is four feet high and three feet wide, all laser etched on quarter inch glass. [Convention Scene]

Retailers | Vaneta Rogers rounds up reactions from retailers to the second month of DC’s New 52. [Newsarama]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes continues his interview tour in support of Drawn & Quarterly’s hardcover release of The Death-Ray. [The A.V. Club, NOW Magazine]

Creators | Alex Ross discusses his work for Dynamite Entertainment, including Kirby: Genesis, Bionic Man and more. [TFAW]

Creators | Brandon Easton talks about his upcoming vampire graphic novel Shadowlaw. [Wired]

Comics | Here’s a perspective we don’t see too often: Martha Cornog interviews DC Comics Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras about how New 52 will play out in libraries — how they will collect the series, how they will tie it in to earlier books, etc. [Library Journal]

Comics | Warren Ellis recalls “the first comic I ever loved,” a science fiction anthology called Countdown. [Warren Ellis]

The Drops of God, Vol. 1

Manga | Sean Gaffney reads the first volume of Drops of God, a manga about wine tasting that has gotten a lot of press and has actually boosted sales of the featured wines in France and Japan. [A Case Suitable for Treatment]

Business | Alan Evans has a great consumer piece on print-on-demand services, in which he gets the price for a hypothetical comic and directly compares prices and services offered. [The Paper Wings Community, via Sean Kleefeld]

Reviews | Greg McElhatton reviews Any Empire, the new graphic novel from Swallow Me Whole creator Nate Powell. [Read About Comics]

Reviews | Rob McMonigal reviews Tragic Relief 12: Drag Bandits, by Betsy Swardlick and Colleen Frakes, the second release from the new indy-comics publisher Retrofit. [Panel Patter]

Youngblood

Creators | With the announcement that Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios is back in business, former Extreme Studios employee and current Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson reflects on his time with the studio. “From 1992-1998, Extreme Studios was more or less my life. Youngblood, Supreme, Brigade, Bloodstrike, Team Youngblood, New Men, Prophet, Youngblood: Strikefile, Bloodpool, Glory… We put out a lot of comics, and for the most part everyone involved was incredibly young. Rob and I were amongst the oldest at 25. So many of the artists involved in various aspects of production were just out of their teens, and that made the work as frustrating as it was fun. But looking back, the main thing I remember about that time is Rob wanted to share his success with people who loved comics and wanted to make a living in the business as much as he had.” [It Sparkles!]

Webcomics | A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, who began serializing the comic online in 2009, notes “my bottom line is up significantly, and my online audience is ten times higher than when I started the five day a week online serialization of A Distant Soil 2.5 years ago.” She also shares advice she received when she started the endeavor that hasn’t worked for her. [A Distant Soil]

Tom Morello

Creators | Orchid writer and musician Tom Morello shares his thoughts on his new book, politics and social issues in comics, and the story in Action Comics #900 that featured Superman renouncing his citizenship, among other topics. [Vulture]

Creators | Speaking of politics in comics, Marzena Sowa talks to Hero Complex about her upcoming Vertigo graphic novel Marzi: “When I started to write Marzi, the first stories concerned my daily life in Poland: I wrote about my family, my neighbors. Then, progressively, political questions started to appear and I realized that the politics had so much space in my childhood life I hadn’t even imagined. Marzi is getting bigger, and her curiosity and will to understand the world is getting bigger too. She feels concerned by the world and she tries to understand it — understand why it doesn’t work correctly. At a certain point she starts to speak, she is not only a mute witness of what is happening in her country. She starts also to claim her own freedom; but for instance she is maybe too small to be heard by her parents, but she won’t give it up.” [Hero Complex]

Creators | The New York Times profiles the husband-and-wife cartooning duo Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. [The New York Times]

Creators | Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau discuss their work on Dynamite’s Bionic Man comic book. [TFAW]

Creators | Mark Waid talks about his work on Marvel’s recent revival of the CrossGen title Ruse. [Mulholland Books]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes talks about re-release of “The Death Ray” and his “drift toward more sympathetic figures” in his work: “I decided at a certain point that one of my goals is to find a way to connect with the characters no matter how awful they may seem or how hard they are to be around, to try to look at their humanity and find a way to love them by the end.” [Montreal Gazette]

Creators | Jonathan Liu catches up with Anya’s Ghost creator Vera Brosgol after sitting on a panel with her at Portland, Oregon’s Wordstock. [Wired]

Creators | Underground comics legend Robert Crumb shares his other “passion” — early 20th-century popular music. [BlogCritics]

Creators | Robin Furth discusses adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the comics medium, collaborating with Peter David, and Stephen King’s thoughts and involvement. [Biff Bam Pop! - part 1, part 2]

Comics | Saladin Ahmed looks at four of comics legend Jack Kirby’s “most ethnically adventurous creations” — The Thing, the Howling Commandos, Black Panther and The Black Racer. [tor.com]

Black Hood

Comics | The Beast Must Die at the Mindless Ones blog looks back at Mark Wheatley and Rick Burchett’s covers for Black Hood, from DC’s early 1990s !mpact line [Mindless Ones]

Commentary | Robot 6′s own Sean T. Collins reviews Brian Ralph’s Daybreak. [The Comics Journal]

Fandom | Looking for a Halloween costume? Found Item Clothing details 34 pop culture costumes you can make on your own, including Wonder Woman and Charlie Brown. [Found Item Clothing]

Robots | The Calgary Sun spotlights Phil Allen, who created a giant robot he hopes to sell to help pay for his wife’s liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis. “Science fiction has been talking about robots for 70 years and now I know why there aren’t any … It’s a huge undertaking when you decide to build one.” [Calgary Sun]

Batwoman #2

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, I’d first grab hold of my favorite of DC’s New 52, Batwoman #2 (DC, $2.99). J.H. Williams III has successfully kept up to the immense expectations he accumulated following his run with Greg Rucka, and the artwork seems to benefit even more by J.H.’s input into the story as co-writer. Next I’d dig down for two of my regular pulls, Northlanders #45 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99) and Uncanny X-Force #16 (Marvel, $3.99). For my final pick, I’d have to miss a bunch of other titles for the chance to get the CBLDF Liberty Annual 2011 #4 (Image, $4.99). I love the anthology format, and having that plus the good cause plus the a-list talent makes it a must get; seriously, can you imagine one comic book containing new work by Frank Quitely, Williams, Mark Waid, J. Michael Straczynski, Matt Wagner AND Craig Thompson? BELIEVE IT!

If I had $30, I’d return to my LCS for the one-two Jonathan Hickman punch of SHIELD #3 (Marvel, $2.99) and FF #10 ($2.99). After that, I’d get the coda to Schism, X-Men: Regenesis #1 (Marvel, $3.99) and top it off with Who Is Jake Ellis? #5 (Marvel, $2.99). This book is like a great cult movie; impeccable craftsmanship, but in a genre that the entire mainstream couldn’t get behind. Regardless, I’m looking forward to what Tonci and Nathan do next.

For my splurge, I’d lay it all on the line for Black Metal Vol. 2 graphic novel (Oni, $11.99). I’ve always thought metal meets sorcery is an ideal combination (so much so I did a comic about it once), and this Rick Spears/Chuck BB joint does it for me. I have high hopes for this book, and also to see Rick Spears do more work in comics.

Graeme McMillan

X-Men: Regenesis #1

If I had $15 this week and a compulsion to spend it on comics, I’d be thankful for the existence of The Shade #1 (DC, $2.99), which I’ve been looking forward to since it was first announced a long, long time ago; I missed out on James Robinson’s Starman the first time around–I picked it up through the highly-recommended Omnibus collections–but this slight return promises to be worth reading. I’m also curious about X-Men: Regenesis #1 (Marvel, $3.99); I thought that Schism‘s ending was very flat, and I’m wondering if Kieron Gillen can sell the new status quo in a more convincing fashion. Rounding out the haul, some second issues of New 52 books that I enjoyed the first time around: Superboy #2 and Batwoman #2 (Both DC, $2.99).

If I had $30, I’d pick up a few more second issues of New 52 books: I enjoyed both Demon Knights and Batman and Robin‘s first issues, and was on the fence about Mister Terrific, but find myself curious enough to want to see what happens next in all of them (All DC, $2.99). I’m also curious enough to pick up the first issue of Dark Horse’s Orchid; I’m not a Rage Against The Machine fan at all, but for $1, how much could it hurt? Finally, the CBLDF’s Liberty Annual 2011 is released this week (Image, $4.99), and that’s always worth supporting.

In terms of splurging, there’s a strong nostalgic pull from IDW’s Transformers Classics UK Vol. 1 collection ($29.99), but I think I’ll go back to another old favorite, and pick up the 17th volume (!) of 20th Century Boys (Viz, $12.99), instead.

Chris Mautner

Pope Hats #2

If I had $15: There’s a new issue of Glamourpuss, so that’s a must buy — can’t miss out on Sim’s continued tenuous attempts to explain how Margaret Mitchell led to Alex Raymond’s death. There’s also the second issue of Pope Hats by Ethan Riley, an amazing looking comic that could well up on a number of “best of” lists come the end of the year, methinks.

If I had $30: There’s a lot of great stuff out this week, so with $30 I’d have to put those two comics away for now and get one of two new books from Fantagraphics — either Gahan Wilson’s Nuts or The Cabbie by Italian cartoonist Marti. I’ve raved about Nuts before–it’s a piercingly accurate look at the pain and perils involved in growing up. Cabbie, on the other hand, is a uber-violent Dick Tracy homage by way of Taxi Driver.

Also out this week is Drawn and Quarterly’s new hardcover edition of Dan Clowes’ Death Ray, easily one of the finest comics of the past 10 years. I already own a copy, but if you haven’t read this story yet then it should be your immediate pick for the week, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Splurge: Oh jeez, so many books I want. Since I’m splurging I’ll grab the fifth volume of the Complete Bloom County, the 12th volume of the Complete Dick Tracy, the third volume of John Stanley’s Nancy, and Seth’s latest book, The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists, which looks simply swell. I’d also pick up Alan Moore: Conversations from University of Mississippi, a collection of interviews with the great bearded one, including one I did with him back in 2006 when Lost Girls came out.

Brigid Alverson

20th Century Boys

If I had just $15, that would be OK because vol. 17 of 20th Century Boys, which is my must-buy comic of the month, is only $12.99. This series is long, but Naoki Urasawa’s unforgettable characters and twisted-yet-logical plot keep it from sagging. Then I’d beg, borrow, or steal one more dollar (or shop somewhere that gives discounts) so I can pick up Veronica #209 ($2.99), from Archie Comics, because despite the title it is actually the third issue of Kevin Keller’s miniseries.

If I had $30, I would add in Jimmy Gownley’s latest Amelia Rules graphic novel, The Meaning of Life and Other Stuff ($10.99). Amelia Rules is a children’s comic, but Gownley’s sophisticated storytelling makes it a joy to read at any age. That leaves enough for one more comic; I’ll make it issue #5 of Who is Jake Ellis?, which wraps up this stylish spy series.

Splurge: That’s easy: the third volume of Dark Horse’s Archie Archives ($49.99), pricy but filled with fascinating comics from the World War II era that would otherwise never see the light of day.

Michael May

Shade #1

With only $15, I’d start with a couple of favorites: Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #2 ($2.99) and Alpha Flight #5 ($2.99). Frankenstein’s still new (even counting the Flashpoint issues, which I do), but it’s a solid book with a fantastic concept. And I especially can’t wait for Alpha Flight after the last-page reveal of #4. I only predicted that about two seconds before turning the page with hands that were literally shaking from giddiness. It’s hard to say that I’m enjoying Van Lente, Pak and Eaglesham’s run more than Byrne’s because they’re building on his foundation, but yeah … I’m enjoying it more. Next I’d add Shade #1 ($2.99). I didn’t stick with Robinson’s Starman long enough and lived to regret it, so I don’t want to make that mistake again. And the artist rotation sounds too good to be true. I’m also into Mike Carey’s X-Men, partly because, so far, I haven’t had to buy a bunch of other comics to enjoy it. X-Men Legacy #257 ($2.99) also goes to the register. I’d top off the tank with All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 ($2.99), because I love a Batman/Zatanna team-up.

If I had $30, I’d add a couple more single-issues to the stack. Marvel’s too-expensive, but fun-sounding Legion of Monsters #1 ($3.99) and the extremely cool, but in-reality-I’m-trade-waiting-it Super Dinosaur #5 ($2.99). And finally, I’d grab Little Jackie Lantern ($7.99), a Halloween board book published by IDW and illustrated by my friend Jessica Hickman who has a knack for combining cute and spooky in just the right amount.

I’m tempted to declare Clive Barker’s Abarat: Absolute Midnight hardcover ($24.99) as my splurge item, simply because I’ve been waiting so very, very long for it. But even though it’s being released through Diamond this week, it’s not comics, so my real pick is Archaia’s Immortals: Gods and Heroes anthology ($19.95). It’s tied into a movie that I don’t particularly care about, but I love mythology and the talent on this — Jock, Brian Clevinger, Francesco Francavilla, Ben McCool, Ron Marz, Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray, etc. — is awesome.

I learned to blend in to the wallpaper so I was barely there. I found myself very often in the company of girls who were talking very freely and would say, ‘Oh, I forgot he was there!’ So I felt like I had this inner sense that they were closer to me and my friends than I could ever imagine.

—Ghost World author Daniel Clowes, responding to an audience question on how he captured the voices of 16-year-old girls so well in his landmark graphic novel. Being invisible to the opposite sex has its benefits after all.

For more from Clowes and his fellow alternative comics titan Adrian Tomine, check out CBR’s report on the pair’s APE panel, from writer Karl Kiely.

Persepolis

Crime | About 50 protestors were arrested in Tunisia for an attempted arson attack on the offices of Nessma TV after it screened Persepolis, the animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s celebrated autobiographical graphic novel. The protesters claimed the animated movie offends Islam. All political parties in Tunisia, including the country’s main Islamic party Al-Nahada, have condemned the attack and expressed their solidarity for freedom of the press. [Variety]

Digital comics | Warren Ellis looks at the current options and sees webcomics as a broadcast, out there for free and bringing in new readers through notifications, links and solidarity, whereas digital comics services like comiXology (or even Marvel’s subscription) service are closed systems, more like a shop with comics on the shelves. That makes a difference in building an audience and also in the pacing of the comics, because webcomics can better accommodate the more decompressed storytelling that Ellis prefers. Lots of interesting nuggets among the ramblings. [Warren Ellis]

Sales charts | John Jackson Miller offers additional analysis on the “September to Remember” sales charts. [Comichron]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes chats briefly about The Death-Ray, superheroes, and growing up in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. [Patch.com]

Creators | Brian Heater talks to Dave Roman about his work on Astronaut Academy and Teen Boat, both of which started as mini-comics and are now full-length graphic novels, and his life as a full-time comics creator. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Publishing | Christopher Irving takes the long view in his career-spanning interview with DC’s Dan DiDio—and they don’t talk about the New 52 at all, because the interview was done a month before the reboot was announced. Photographer Seth Kushner gives DiDio the Graphic NYC treatment, posing him with DC props and shooting him with strong light and deep shadows, as is his way. [Graphic NYC]

Commentary | Charles Solomon looks at Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki: “But Mizuki uses the disparate visuals more skillfully. The black-and-white drawings allow the reader’s eye to follow the characters from their simplified settings to the horribly detailed action scenes. The result is a unified vision that keeps all the action within a single world. Onward is an important book that once again demonstrates power of the graphic novel to depict serious issues.” [Hero Complex]

Birds of Prey #1

Commentary | In advance of Duane Swierczynski’s work on Birds of Prey, Corrina Lawson tracked down two of Swierczynski’s novels to see if he’d be a “good fit” for the title. “By the time I finished the books, I was convinced enough of his writing talent to read Birds of Prey #1,” she said. [GeekDad]

Digital comics | Two months after the launch of the online manga site JManga, which is backed by 39 Japanese publishers, Deb Aoki issues a report card, giving them high marks for customer service (and pricing during the current sale) but taking off points for putting up covers for manga they don’t actually offer on the site. [About.com]

Reviews | Paul Montgomery reviews MetaMaus, the book about the making of Art Spiegelman’s Maus: “Memoirs of the Holocaust carry an unparalleled dramatic weight, but what sets Maus apart is that is not simply a survivor’s tale, but a meta-fictional treatise on the responsibility assumed by an individual as chronicler and son. Art tells Vladek’s story, and that of many. But he also relates his own experiences with guilt, rage and acceptance over a complicated paternal relationship and the manner in which he immortalized past experiences.” [iFanboy]

Comics | The death of Steve Jobs last week causes Daniel BT to remember when he first heard of the Apple visionary: In comics, of course, specifically the Calvin and Jobs parodies that ran in MAD Magazine in 1995. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Reviews | Nick Chidgey reviews Laddertop, a manga-style graphic novel by Orson Scott Card and his daughter that is in a similar vein to Ender’s Game, and finds it wanting. [Spandexless]

Legal

Legal | Defense testimony began in the Michael George trial  Monday after the judge denied a motion by the defense to order an acquittal. George’s daughter Tracie testified that she remembers her father sleeping on the couch in his mother’s house the night in 1990 when his first wife Barbara was shot and killed in their Clinton Township, Michigan, comic store. Another defense witness, Douglas Kenyon, told the jury he saw a “suspicious person” in the store that evening and that Barbara George, who waited on him, seemed nervous. [Detroit Free Press]

Conventions | Last weekend’s Alternative Press Expo inspired Deb Aoki to offer a burst of suggestions on Twitter as to how it could be made better. Heidi MacDonald collected the tweets into a single post, and the commenters add some worthwhile points (including not scheduling it opposite the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which attracts much of the same audience and is free). [Deb Aoki's Twitter, The Beat]

Awards | Ian Culbard’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness won the British Fantasy Award for best comic/graphic novel, presented Saturday by the British Fantasy Society. [The British Fantasy Society]

Action Comics #2

Creators | Ahead of the release of Action Comics #2, Grant Morrison talks more about his vision of a younger, brasher Superman: “Definitely, we needed to see a Superman who could be beat up a little bit and could suffer a little bit more like us, rather than the character who could juggle planets. That was a definite decision, and also to bring him to a dead standstill. I wanted the speeding bullet that brings him to a dead stop, so that we could start the second issue with Superman in chains. He’s trapped, he can’t move and it’s about getting him out of that situation.” [USA Today]

Creators | Michael Cavna chats with Art Spiegelman about MetaMaus, the new book and DVD package marking the 25th anniversary of Maus. [The Washington Post]

Habibi

Creators | Craig Thompson talks at length about his new graphic novel Habibi: “I hate using the terms East and West because they are purely imaginative boundaries. But in the Western world, at least, art is placed on this pedestal. There’s so much ego tied up in the artistic process. In contemporary art, in fine arts, it’s more common for the artist to be more of an overseer, where they come up with the concept, but then they dictate all the actual labor to a bunch of unnamed assistants. And that’s always really offensive to me. We cartoonists in general have a more modest approach to our work where it’s just got to be us alone in our studio for hours and hours. You can’t fake comics really, or actually you probably could, but not in the old-fashioned alternative comics world. Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, there’s all these artisans and craftsmen who work meticulously and have a lot more skill, but do it without the monetary reward and the egotistical reward. So I did want to pay tribute to those people. But even that sounds a little pretentious, because I was still just working with the very malleable form of ink on paper. I’m not carving wood or laying tile-work or doing something much more complex.” [The Millions]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes chats briefly about The Death-Ray. [io9.com]

Creators | Carolyn Supinka interviews creators Anders Nilsen [Big Questions] and Marc Bell (Pure Pajamas), who are both touring the East Coast to promote their latest work. [The Tartan]

Creators | Brian Heater wraps up his four-part interview with Tom Neely. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | The student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin profiles Paul Maybury. [The Daily Texan]

Creators | Because he can’t draw, blogger Matthew J. Brady documents 24-hour Comics Day in a fumetti based on the events at Challengers Comics in Chicago. [Warren Peace Sings the Blues]

Codename Sailor V

Manga | With the new release of Sailor Moon and its prequel, Codename Sailor V, fresh on the stands, Thalia Sutton explains why Sailor Moon is important and how this release is different from all those that came before. [Suvudu]

Manga | For those curious to see manga in its native habitat, Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at Kodansha’s seinen (young men’s) manga magazine Afternoon, the home of Genshiken, Blade of the Immortal and Oh! My Goddess. [Three Steps Over Japan]

Comics | Francoise Mouly’s Toon Books will publish children’s graphic novels using the art of French illustrator Claude Ponti (Tromboline & Foulbazar) but adding a new storyline for English-language readers. The first book, Chick and Chickie in Twin Stories, is due out in February. [ICv2]

Review | Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at the first two volumes of Dark Horse’s Archie Archives, noting that the stories get a lot stronger once Veronica enters the picture. The books have no extras — the first volume lacks even a table of contents — and she recommends dipping in from time to time rather than sitting down and reading all the stories at once. [Comics Worth Reading]

Scene | Frank Santoro presents a comics-eye-view of Pittsburgh, with a writeup on the local comics scene by Ed Piskor, some art by local comics creators, and links to lots of other Steel City comics goodness. [The Comics Journal]

Webcomics | And speaking of Ed Piskor, he wrapped up Wizzywig recently and has jumped right in with a new webcomic Deleterious Pedigree. [Wizzywig Comics]

The Death Ray

Apart from all the “new 52″ brouhaha, one of the more interesting and talked about bits of online  was Michael Fiffe’s essay on the delineations between mainstream (i.e. superhero) comics and the alt/indie comics scene. Spinning off of his essay, I thought it would be fun to list my own favorite super-styled tales by folks who usually don’t do that type of material, some of which Fiffe talked about in his essay.

Note: For the purposes of this article I’m deliberately avoiding any of the officially sanctioned productions from the Big Two, namely Strange Tales and Bizarro Comics, just to make it a wee bit harder.

1. The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes. Clowes’ rare dip into super-genre waters involves Andy, a withdrawn and awkward teen being raised by his grandfather who discovers his late scientist dad gave him the ability of super-strength whenever he smokes a cigarette, as well as a special gun that helps … get rid of unwanted things and people. Unable to find a good use for his newfound powers — his attempts at heroics fall flat on their face — things quickly spiral out of control. Yes, to some extent the book is a comment on the superhero genre’s inability to deal with or examine real life issues, but Clowes is not drawing on snark here; Death Ray is a haunting character study of a young man whose inner demons drive him to do horrible things. Easily Dan Clowes best, richest work to date, Drawn & Quarterly is releasing a spiffy new hardcover edition of the book this fall, so there’s really no excuse not to check it out.

Panel from 'The Ti-Girls'

2. The Ti-Girls by Jaime Hernandez. The Hernandez brothers have never kept their love for classic superhero stories a secret, so it really wasn’t that much of a surprise when Jaime opted to mark the debut issue of Love and Rockets New Stories in 2008 with The Ti-Girls, about a an older all-female superhero team that reunites to stop a newly superpowered Penny Century from running amok due as she tries to find her lost children. The plot’s a bit convoluted, but there’s no question Hernandez has a knack for delineating kick-ass fight scenes. Ti-Girls isn’t just an example of how alt-cartoonists can enliven the genre, it’s an example of how poorly the Big Two handle female characters in general.

Destroy!!

3. Destroy by Scott McCloud. McCloud’s oversize smash-em-up, done after completing Zot! in 1986, is the most obvious parody of the bunch on this list, but it’s a fun parody, winking with affection at the sheer ludicrousness of most superhero battles. One long fight scene from beginning to end, Destroy is nothing more or less than two overpowered musclemen laying complete waste to New York City. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy I don’t know what will.

4. The Amazing Life of Onion Jack by Joel Priddy. AdHouse’s Project Superior anthology — a thick book of superhero tales by alt-cartoonists — was successful enough that publisher Chris Pitzer briefly attempted to spin it off into a pamphlet series. That in turn led to Priddy contributing this story for AdHouse’s 2004 Free Comic Book Day, turning in what ended up being the best of the bunch. Jack is a charming, minimalist tale about a WWII-era superhero who really would prefer to be a fine chef, but keeps getting pulled into battle. Each page chronicles a different era in the hero’s life, which really plays nicely to Priddy’s spot-on comedic timing. Though the original issuemight be hard to find, the story, thankfully is also included in the 2006 edition of The Best American Comics.

5. Batman by Josh Simmons. Simmons is one of the pre-eminent horror cartoonists working in the field today, and in this unofficial “tribute” he applies all his creepy skills to the Dark Knight. Batman’s been portrayed as borderline psychotic in some past DC books, but never to the extent he is here, as his war on crime seems to have driven him completely insane, to the point where he’s sleeping on dirty roofs and preying on helpless junkies. Even Catwoman has lost interest in the poor slob. It’s an unsettling in the best sense of the word that never comes off as a simple “superheroes are dumb” screed.

6. High School Analogy by Ron Rege Jr. Not every story in the seminal Coober Skeber #2 (i.e. “the Marvel Benefit Issue”) was gold, but it contained enough stellar work (and more significantly, introduced readers to the Fort Thunder crowd) to be fondly remembered and highly influential. One of the highlights — arguably the best story in the entire anthology — was Ron Rege Jr’s take on Spider-Man. Drawing heavily on Ditko and Lee’s original stories, Rege plays up Peter Parker’s angst and isolation with a slightly modern spin (“I’m on edge every day when I come to this fucking place,” Parker thinks about school at one point), to really capture the sort of inner turmoil a lot of teen-agers go through. In a way, Rege got what Lee and Ditko were doing better than some of the artists and writers that followed the duo in the “real” Spider-Man books.

Daniel Clowes

Daniel Clowes has won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for graphic literature, honoring an outstanding body of work that includes Ghost World, Eightball, David Boring, Wilson and Mr. Wonderful.

Presented by the California-based PEN Center USA, a nonprofit association dedicated to protecting the rights of writers and stimulating interest in the written word, the awards have since 1982 recognized literary excellence in categories ranging from fiction and children’s literature to journalism and graphic literature. Winners receive a $1,000 cash prize.

This is only the second year for the graphic literature category. Matt Fraction received the first award in 2010.

Ultimate Spider-Man #160

Publishing | Arune Singh, Marvel’s director of communications, addresses how Marvel works with media outlets to break major storyline news and in many cases spoil the story, like Ultimate Spider-Man dying. Their goal is to hopefully bring lapsed or non-fans into stores: “When we line up this kind of mainstream media coverage, it’s offering the promise of breaking this big news to the outlet. It’s with the knowledge that they’ll be the ones making the headlines, being referenced by other sites and getting the attention. But if we wait till the story breaks or the Wednesday books go on-sale, someone else is going to buy the issue early in the morning and break the news. Is it possible that mainstream outlets will still pick up on the news then? Yes, it’s possible. But the only way to guarantee that big, sweeping placement worldwide — as you’ve seen with the Death of Spider-Man — is to break it before anyone has a chance. And that kind of placement is, as I mentioned above, what will get us attention from outside the industry.” [ComicsAlliance]

Retailing | Toronto retailer Chris Butcher worries about how well the two late Green Lantern movie prequel comics — one shipping this week, one shipping in August — will sell so long after the film’s release. He also discusses the lateness of the final issue of the War of the Green Lanterns crossover, which won’t come out until after the epilogue story in this week’s Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #11. [Comics212]

Business | David Maisel, the former chairman of Marvel Studios who stepped down after the Disney merger, will serve as a special adviser to Rovio, the company behind the hit game Angry Birds. He will also serve as executive producer of future Angry Birds films. Surely an Angry Birds comic is being worked on somewhere. [Business Wire]

from Mister Wonderful

Best of 2011 | Already? Yes, already. Amazon.com names its best graphic novels of the year so far. Topping the list is Daniel Clowes’ Mister Wonderful, followed by The Cardboard Valise, iZombie Vol. 1: Dead to the World, the Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus and Anya’s Ghost. [Amazon.com]

Comics | PopGun editor Joe Keatinge shares his love for Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean “Moebius” Giraud’s The Incal: “Incal’s a comic which definitely deserved the prestigious format. Moebius’ linework always benefits from having a larger format, but the sheer scope of Incal warrants as large a presentation as possible. It’s not a small story – it begins with detective John Difool making a run-in with a giant monster who bestows him with the titular Incal, which eventually leads him to become something of a messianic figure. That all just barely scratches the first twenty-two pages. Throughout the entire saga, you’re faced with sprawling metropolises without an end, alien assassins, genetically spliced creatures, religious crusades and flying cars aplenty.” [Broken Frontier]

Batwing #1

Retailing | Retailer Ron Cacace from Fallout Shelter Comics in New Jersey discusses the DC relaunch: “From a retailer’s perspective, it’s easy to get excited about the possibilities that 52 #1 issues can bring. It’s also easy to get completely terrified. My initial reaction was that there would be no way to accurately order all of these comics and not risk taking a huge loss. I could easily assume that most of the people buying titles such as Green Lantern and Scott Snyder’s Detective Comics will stick around for the new issues as these books will remain relatively untouched. (Snyder will move over to Batman, but the creative team on Green Lantern remains the same.) But how should I order a title such as Blackhawks or Batwing? These aren’t characters with a built-in fan base or a previous title that I can judge my orders against.” [The Weekly Crisis]

Digital comics | David Brothers argues that digital comics should be sold as complete stories, not single issues. [ComicsAlliance]

Comics | Evan Hughes dives into the story of Harold von Braunhut, the man behind those sea monkey ads that used to run in the back of comics. [The Awl]

Creators | Becky Cloonan’s newest project isn’t a comic, apparently but an illustrated edition of Dracula. [Ink and Thunder]

Conventions | The artist site deviantART will sponsor the Artists Alley at Comic-Con International in San Diego this year, and they are offering two “scholarships” to pay all the expenses of the con for a webcomics artist and a traditional artist. [deviantART]

The Death-Ray

Daniel Clowes’ Death-Ray is not only getting the hardcover treatment this fall, he’s also getting three dimensions.

The creator’s site announced this weekend that the Oakland Toy Corp has designed a Death-Ray “action doll” that will be sold on Press Pop’s website beginning June 9. The 12″ doll is limited to 200 sets, costs $105 and comes with “the Ray Gun to erase all the people you would rather not see.” It will come in a box designed by Clowes.

Neil Gaiman

Politics | Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean has apologized for calling Neil Gaiman a “pencil-necked little weasel,” but contends the author and comics writer should return the $45,000 fee he received in May 2010 for speaking at the Stillwater, Minn., library (Gaiman donated the money, minus agents fees, to charity). Dean’s original remarks were made during a discussion of how the state’s tax-generated Legacy funds for the arts are spent. He was quoted as saying that Gaiman, “who I hate,” is a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.”

Now, however, the Republican lawmaker has dialed back the rhetoric while standing by his underlying criticism. “My mom is staying with us right now,” he tells Minnesota Public Radio. My wife’s out of town, and she was very angry this morning and always taught me to not be a name caller. And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.”

Gaiman, who responded to Dean’s initial comments early Wednesday on Twitter, has since expanded on his remarks on his website, writing in part, “I don’t like the idea that a politician is telling people that charging a market wage for their services is stealing.” [Minnesota Public Radio, Underwire]

Comics | A psychologist has been brought in to a Houston elementary school after a group of fourth-graders created a comic book allegedly depicting them holding a gun to the head of one of their classmates. [My Fox Houston]

Flashpoint #1

Publishing | Brian Truitt previews DC Comics’ upcoming Flashpoint event. “Naturally, everything we’re trying to do is to sell as many comics as possible because that’s the business we’re in,” says Co-Publisher Dan DiDio. “Creatively what it does is it gives us a chance to freshen the pot and think of something. We’re telling continuous fiction, so it’s important for us to continue moving on in that fashion.” [USA Today]

Conventions | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson wraps up last weekend’s Boston Comic Con, which saw attendance increase from 4,100 in 2010 to about 6,000 this year. [Publishers Weekly]

Creators | Dan Clowes talks about his latest graphic novel Mr. Wonderful. [Speakeasy]

Creators | Scott Christiansen profiles illustrator Brad Rader, whose graphic novel Fogtown is nominated for a Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Award. [Anchorage Press]

Creators | Laura Lyall spotlights Scott Forbes (Forgetless, 27). [Here]

Creators | The National Post’s literary blog continues its mini-profiles of creators attending this weekend’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Dave Kellett, Coffee Spoons Comics, Gabby Schulz, Jordan Shiveley, Meghan Murphy, Niki Smith, Jess Fink and R. Sikoryak. [The Afterword]

Gingerbread Girl

Hello and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Our special guest today is Emily Stackhouse, creator of the award-winning minicomic Brazilianoir and her latest, Miner’s Mutiny.

To see what Emily and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.

*****

Tom Bondurant

Showcase Presents Green Lantern

Back at the end of the year, I got all superior about DC’s solicitation of Showcase Presents Green Lantern Volume 5, because apparently it didn’t include all the GL backup stories from The Flash, back when Green Lantern itself had been canceled (gasp!) following the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams run. Therefore, when SCPGL #5 came out this week, I was pleasantly surprised to see those backups finally collected. So thanks, DC, for that!

I’d read those short stories before, but I’d forgotten that they start out with Hal Jordan unemployed and literally living out of his car. Talk about your “trek across America” — he’s sleeping in the woods, cooking Green Arrow’s chili recipe over a campfire and fighting aliens almost on the side. In fact, one story (“The Powerless Power Ring,” by O’Neil and Adams) finds Hal’s ring going goofy, apparently because he put the wrong mushrooms into the chili. Another, “Yellow Is A Dirty Little Color” (by O’Neil and Dick Giordano) loses a certain plot point in the black-and-white reprint, but it’s still a lightweight little puzzle which alert readers will probably figure out before Hal does. Eventually, the backups will shift to an extended outer-space serial, Mike Grell will come aboard as penciller, and the groundwork will be laid for 1976′s Green Lantern revival — but for now, it’s nice to see Hal in a more offbeat setting.

Some of the best superhero-comics news I’ve read in a while came at the end of Justice League: Generation Lost #24 (written by Judd Winick, penciled by Aaron Lopresti, inked by Matt Ryan), when the follow-up ongoing series was announced. JL:GL has been tremendously entertaining pretty much since it started, but I really
did not expect these characters to continue as a team after this miniseries. JL:GL sets up the conflict between the new JLI and its familiar enemy pretty well, too, with the bad guys essentially adopting a concern-troll posture. That should give the ongoing series a nice political/satirical edge (not that DC needs any more political edge these days…). Even with this dangling plot thread, and with a big nod to Wonder Woman‘s altered timeline, JL:GL worked nicely as a standalone superhero adventure. Winick and his rotating roster of artists did a great job keeping the stakes high and bringing the characters to life, and I hope that spirit continues into the regular series.

Tim O’Shea

FF #2

FF #2: Worth the read for a scene where Invisible Woman steps between Doom and Thing, in a manner of speaking. It’s crazy that Dragon Man is actually becoming my favorite supporting cast member. Sidebar: Have we just forgotten that whole “Ben can become human” plot element now that it got Johnny killed?

Action Comics #900: Positives: Cornell’s use of the character of Death in this issue. Negatives: snippets of Gary Frank drawing his version of Superman (or as I like to call it “constipated Christopher Reeve”; seriously why do people like Frank’s version of Superman, it creeps the hell out of me). In general, though, I have never enjoyed the Doomsday character and I long for a day the character is forgotten. While the Lex Luthor aspect of the story was a satisfying conclusion, the rest of the milestone issue smacked of useless filler, especially the Richard Donner co-written piece.

Secret Avengers #12 and #12.1: This book has seem to lost its way to a certain extent, and it appears that Brubaker has no interest himself in seeing the story to its end, given that he’s leaving the book. Brubaker wrote 12, then Nick Spencer wrote 12.1–and if 12.1 is a harbinger of what’s ahead for the book, I actually consider this a good jumping off point. I will revisit the book when Warren Ellis takes over the book.

The Incredible Hulks #627: I think I would enjoy an ongoing series with Bruce Banner as a James Bond-type hero, as shown in this issue. It’s interesting to see writer Greg Pak focus on the “inventive genius” aspect of the lead character.

Captain America #617: An interesting issue that reminded me of the old Marvel Triple Action reprints that were done back in the 1970s, given that you’re given a Winter Soldier narrative, a Black Widow/Sharon Carter team-up and a focus on Steve Rogers (guest starring Henry Gyrich). Bonus points to Marvel for getting Chris Samnee to draw the Steve Rogers leg of the issue.

Brigid Alverson

Literature! Unsuccessfully Competing Against TV Since 1953

I took the opportunity to download Dave Kellett’s Literature! Unsuccessfully Competing Against TV Since 1953, a compilation of strips from his webcomic Sheldon, after he offered it for free download to encourage Eisner voters to read it. It’s up for Best Humor Publication, and it certainly is a worthy contender. Sheldon is one of the most consistently funny gag comics on the web, and it’s funny in a smart, often sarcastic way without ever being mean. This e-book is particularly funny, and I laughed out loud, literally, at a number of the strips. My one complaint is that there seem to be a lot of Lord of the Rings jokes, but I suppose the fault is really mine for not having read it. And this is the only place outside of my immediate family circle where I have seen anyone poke fun at T.S. Eliot. (Let alone bring the Hulk into it.) If I were an Eisner judge, I’d give it the nod based on that alone.

I have been slowly catching up on all the awesome comics I picked up at MoCCA, and this week I settled down with a slim, self-published volume titled The Hookah Girl and Other Stories by Marguerite Dabaie. It’s a memoir of growing up as a Palestinian Christian, within the immigrant community in the U.S., as well as a meditation on all the contradictions and labels that come with that identity. Dabaie starts the first volume with a set of paper dolls that embody each of those stereotypes‹Muslim girl in full hijab, suicide bomber with vest full of explosives, I-Dream-of-Jeannie seductress, starving artist. The stories touch on things that are familiar to immigrants in general — scary relatives, peculiar customs, native foods‹but there is also an interesting comic about Leila Khaled that presents her as an interestingly complex individual. This book left me wanting to see more, and I hope there is a full-length graphic novel in the works. If there isn’t, there should be.

Emily Stackhouse

For the last, longer than I care to mention, I’ve been reading the Marion Zimmer Bradley Arthurian novel The Mists of Avalon. Started out great, but boy, is it dragging on! This is all very disconcerting because I just got back from Portland’s Stumptown Comics Fest and came home with quite a loot! I’ve only just barely been able to crack into the overwhelming stack of comics on my nightstand. Here’s what I HAVE been able to squeeze in and thoroughly enjoyed…

The Yellow Zine

Yellow Zine by Roman Muradov
This guy is definitely one to watch out for. This is a small collection of his current (beautifully drawn) strips. This little book is everything I love about a zine-style book. Honest, heartfelt, disturbing and endearing. I love when a self published work is able to speak great big truths while simultaneously saying, but don’t take any of this TOO seriously.

Glamazonia The Uncanny Super-Tranny by Justin Hall
I LOVE Glam! This is a book I picked up from Stumptown and only now was able to sink my teeth into. This is a collection of Glamzonia’s outlandish stories written by Justin Hall and drawn by a handful of Bay Area artists. I love how San Francisco this book is. I love how absurd and raunchy it is. I love the pink interior pages. I love the underlining social message of it all. Yes, it is time for a Tranny Super heroine! Fabulous.

Mister Wonderful by Daniel Clowes
In terms of Dan Clowes recent work, I enjoyed Ice Haven and Wilson more than Mr. Wonderful. Which isn’t to say I did not enjoy it, I did, very much. However, it seemed very straight forward and reality based as opposed to some of my favorites of his (Like a Velvet Glove..) which tend to be very meandering and odd, to say the least. Mister Wonderful is odd though in its earnestness. Truthfully, I’m a bit disarmed by it.

GingerbreadGirl by Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin
I was lucky enough to booth right next to these two at Stumptown. This book was truly the star of the entire convention. I’m pretty sure they sold out all their stock and for good reason! This book is fantastic. It’s the kind of book any comic fan would pick up and have to buy simply for the design alone. The story is bizarre, the artwork is gorgeous, I cannot wait to continue reading this book!

Martian Confederacy vol. 2 From Mars With Love by Jason McNamara and Paige Braddock
These two have done it again. This is such a great follow up to the fun and adventurous vol. 1. Jason McNamara’s storytelling is always an inspiration, and Paige Braddock’s artwork is the kind of seemingly effortless style that drive artists mad with frustration. It’s a sci-fi love story, so I’m happy with that, but it’s also a totally engrossing page turner. Fun and excitement on every page!

Dark Horse Presents #1

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, the first pick this week would be the relaunched Dark Horse Presents #1 (Dark Horse, $7.99). As a reader of the title in all its previous incarnations, I have a love for the format but also a desire to see them improve on it; editor Mike Richardson seems to have the right mix of big names and up-and-comers to make this work. Second up would be DMZ #64 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99), and this issue is the final issue in the “Free States Rising” arc and the first real sit-down between Matty and Zee in ages. Third would be Rick Remender’s covert ops squad Uncanny X-Force #8 (Marvel, $3.99). At first glance I question why I like this so much, but when I think about it, it becomes easy: I enjoy Remender’s storytelling, the artists they’ve had and the fearless nature to dig up some classic concepts from early 90s X-Men comics and general Marvel U stuff.

If I found $30 in my pocket instead of $15, I’d double back and pick up a pair of Invincibles: Invincible #79 (Image, $2.99) and Invincible Iron Man #503 (Marvel, $3.99). I really enjoy what these two teams are doing: carving out long expanding story-arcs that can only happen with long-term teams like these two have been fortunate enough to have. Third would be Jason Aaron and Daniel Acuna’s Wolverine #8 (Marvel, $3.99); although Daniel Acuna is known as a more glossy artist akin to Ed McGuinness meets Alex Ross, I think he really bucks that with the story arc he’s working on here. Lastly would be Avengers #12 (Marvel, $3.99) -– it really blows my mind that Bendis and Romita can do such a throw-back classic Avengers story and still keep the high sales going. I’m not complaining -– I love these stories as much as I love Avengers comics of lore, but they never sold this well.

For my splurge, I’d get the 2000 AD Pack Mar 2011 ($25). These are originally sold weekly in the UK, but for U.S. distribution Diamond has them sold in monthly bundles like this. I’m not a regular reader of the progs, but I like to drop in from time to time and… well, this is one of those times.

Graeme McMillan

Legion of the Damned

Weirdly enough, if I had $15 this week, I still wouldn’t be able to get the two comics I really want this week. Let’s make that happen by stealing a dollar from the Schroedinger’s Cat me that has $30 for a second so that I can grab both Dark Horse Presents #1 (Dark Horse, $7.99), the new take on the classic anthology, and DC Comics Presents Legion Of Super-Heroes: Legion Of The Damned #1 (DC, $7.99), the collection of the “Zombies In Future Space!” storyline from a few years ago that launched the Abnett/Lanning/Oliver Coipel-era of the franchise; I read the latter part of that run, but have always been curious about the never-before-collected opening. Now is my chance!

If I had $30, I’d wonder why another me stole a dollar earlier on, but I’d move on and pick up the first issue of Matt Sturges’ new Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life (IDW, $3.99) to get myself in the mood for this weekend’s return of the show to BBC America (Seriously, I cannot wait) and a couple of Marvel oddities: Spectacular Spider-Man #1000 (Marvel, $4.99) — a home for unused inventory stories, perhaps, but I like Spider-Man and anniversary issues, even fake ones like this — and the Marvel Backlist Reading Chronology #1 (Marvel, $1.99), in which Marvel apparently admits that its backlist needs a score card to keep straight.

Splurgewise, there’s some good material out there (Martian Confederacy Vol. 2? The new Dan Clowes, “Mister Wonderful”?), but my heart belongs to the new Astro City collection, Shining Stars (DC, $24.99). I was a latecomer to Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s love letter to superheroes and superhero comics, but that doesn’t mean I love the series any the less. I’m really looking forward to this one.

Chris Mautner

Tubby

If I had $15:

I’d also grab a dollar from Graeme’s alternate universe self and pick up a copy of Tubby Vol. 3: The Frog Boy ($15.99). Taking money from a theoretical version of Mr. McMillan may seem unfair, but I’m pretty ruthless when it comes to getting my hands on some John Stanley.

If I had $30:

Dan Clowes’ Mister Wonderful ($19.99), the collected version of the lovelorn misanthrope story he did for The New York Times, looks pretty nifty and was the talk of MoCCA, so that would probably be my first pick. I’d also at least flip through the latest volume of 20th Century Boys ($12.99), The Klondike, Zach Worton’s debut graphic novel about the Yukon gold rush back in the early part of the 20th century ($24.95), and Girl and Gorilla ($10.99), Maddy Flores’ book about … well, it’s there in the title, isn’t it? Actually, I’d probably just nab more cash from Earth-2 Graeme, since he’s apparently rather flush with cash in that universe.

Splurge:

It’s not a splurge for me since I already own them, but if you want to dip your toe into Robert Crumb waters, Fantagraphics has new editions of Vol. 13 and 15 ($19.99 each) in their Complete Crumb line. Both feature some really great works by the master. As for myself, I normally wouldn’t splurge on something like Archie: Seven Decades of America’s Favorite Teenager ($49.99), but since Graeme’s footing the bill, I’ll indulge.

JK Parkin

Fables #104

Unfortunately I have some bad news for Earth-1 and Earth-2 Graeme, assuming they were both interested in Legion Of Super-Heroes: Legion Of The Damned #1 … per an email this morning from one of the retailers where I get my comics, apparently the chapters were printed in the wrong order and it won’t be out until May 11.

With my own $15 I’d first grab the new Robert Kirkman/Jason Howard all ages title about a boy genius and his best friend, Super Dinosaur #1 ($2.99). I’d follow it up with Fables #104 ($2.99), which continues the Super Fables storyline. Greg Pak is having a lot of fun with the de-powered Silver Surfer, and I’m having fun reading it, so I’d grab issue #3 ($2.99). And lastly, two current favorites, Legion of Super-Heroes #12 and Zatanna #12, both $2.99, would round it out, leaving me just a few pennies to donate to Earth-2 Graeme, who likely could use some financial help after all the money that’s “disappeared” from his wallet lately.

If I had $30, I’d also get Amity Blamity ($10.95), the new graphic novel by Mike White. That leaves room for one more book, so I figure why not try out 68 #1, the new zombie comic from Mark Kidwell and Jay Fotos.

Splurgewise, there’s lots to choose from; I’d probably get both The Martian Confederacy: From Mars With Love ($15) and the Mr. Wonderful collection ($19.95).

Michael May

Sigil #2

If I had $15:

I’d start with the Marvel Backlist Reading Chronology ($1.99) because it’s cheap, because I’m the kind of nerd who enjoys reading things in order (though I suppose that describes most of us), and because when I switched from periodical issues to collected editions, I did so haphazardly without a real plan. That means that I’ve missed a lot of stuff I’d like to read and appreciate Marvel’s coming up with an aid to help me correct that. It would be nicer if it was free, since it’s essentially a catalog, but I’m not going to gripe about paying $2 for almost 100 pages of reading suggestions.

Next I’d get Sigil #2 ($2.99), which re-introduces El Cazador to comics readers and Skaar: King of the Savage Land #2 ($2.99) for obvious reasons. Switching over to Image, I’d also add Super Dinosaur #1 ($2.99) to see if it’s more than just a fun concept and ’68 #1 ($3.99) because I enjoyed the Viet Nam/Night of the Living Dead-prequel one-shot and think there’s enough there to explore that world some more.

If I had $30:

I’d add Amity Blamity, Volume 1 ($10.95) because it’s about a little girl who – with her pet pig – has to save her moonshining uncle from genetic mutation at the hands of “strange forest critters.” It’s probably wrong that the most attractive part of the story for me is the idea of the girl and her pig as ‘shine-runners. I’d read it just for that. Lurkers in the woods are bonus.

Splurge:

Like Graeme and Chris, I’m looking forward to Dark Horse Presents #1 ($7.99), but the price tag makes it a splurge item for me. I don’t think it’s over-priced – $8 for 80 pages is a good deal – but the extra pages and color print aren’t necessary. I’d rather have the old format. Still, that’s an impressive line-up of creators and the DHP name sets a high bar for expectations of quality, so I imagine that I’ll regret it if I leave the store without this.

from Mister Wonderful by Daniel Clowes

Part one-crazy-night comedy of errors, part Curb Your Enthusiasm-style comedy of discomfort, part heartwarming second-chance romance, part cartooning master class, Daniel Clowes’s new book Mister Wonderful packs a lot of delights in between its long covers. The book began life as a weekly strip in The New York Times Magazine‘s “Funny Pages” section before Clowes reformatted, edited, and expanded it for its new incarnation from his frequent publisher Pantheon. Now the misadventures of Marshall, a middle-aged divorcé with a penchant for second-guessing pretty much every word out of his own mouth, and his fateful blind date can sit comfortably on your bookshelf instead of lying in your recycling bin after the weekend’s over. And the added bonus to any new Clowes comic, of course, is new Clowes interviews.

Over on the CBR mothership, Clowes spoke with Alex Dueben, who elicited from the cartoonist a provocative take on the much-lamented demise of the alternative comic-book series (a la Clowes’s own Eightball):

Do you ever see yourself going back to “Eightball?” If not doing it the same way, then doing something like what Seth did last year when he returned to “Palookaville?”

No. I think the great thing about those early comics, “Eightball” and “Yummy Fur” and all that, was it was the pre-Internet days. We had letters pages and we were a fulcrum for this community. You felt a certain responsibility to mediate that. There’s no necessity for that at all anymore. If I was going to do a comic, I wouldn’t put in a letters page. There’s no point to it. Beyond that kind of thing, I don’t know. If I were going to do a bunch of short little comics, I might consider doing another issue, but it would never be the same as those early comics. It would have to be a whole new thing.

Most people tend to focus on the alternative comic book as a format superseded by book-formatted collections and graphic novels, but the community aspect of those series — the way letters pages and notes from the artists would lead readers to similar books and similar people who read them — was a powerful enticement in its own right, meaning that the Internet probably had as much to do with the format’s obsolescence as did perfectbound hardcovers.

Meanwhile, yours truly interviewed Clowes for The Comics Journal’s website. Here he explains the origin of Mister Wonderful, the idea for which came to him spontaneously in the middle of the phone call during which an editor for The New York Times Magazine offered him the gig the strip would eventually be created for:

We were talking about the “Funny Pages” section—I had wondered how popular it could possibly be, since nobody I knew was really talking about it. It seemed like all the cartoonists who were in it and the friends of the cartoonists who were in it were talking about it, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that was making the rounds, where everybody was talking about the latest serial fiction piece that was running in there. She said, “Yeah, people are a little confused by it.” She was very careful in the way she spoke, and she said something like, “We’d really love it if you could consider the audience.”

I remember thinking, “Oh, she means, ‘Try to make this one mainstream in a way that will appeal to the New York Times reader.’” Off the top of my head, as a joke, I said, “I should just do a romance story.” I was making a joke—like, a Sandra Bullock movie! A totally formulaic Harlequin-romance kind of a story.

And she laughed, like, “Don’t do that.” [Laughter]

But then, as she was talking during the rest of the phone call, we were going over all this other stuff, I was talking without even listening to what I was saying. I was actually thinking, “That’s a great idea! I could do a romance story!” I immediately thought, “I should try to think of who would be the ultimate, quintessential New York Times Magazine reader—a schlubby, middle-aged guy, the kind of guy I would see reading the New York Times on Sunday morning at a café in Oakland—and make him the hero of this romance.”

Borders

Retailing | A bankruptcy judge is expected to hear arguments today from the bankrupt Borders Group, which is seeking to pay $8.3 million in bonuses in a bid to retain key corporate personnel. The struggling bookseller says that 47 executives and director-level employees have quit since the company declared bankruptcy on Feb. 16 — two dozen just this month — leaving only 15 people in senior management positions. In a court filing last week, U.S. bankruptcy trustee Tracy Hope Davis objected to the bonus proposal, characterizing it as “a disguised retention plan for insiders, which also provides for discriminatory bonuses for non-insiders.” [The Detroit News]

Publishing | Todd Allen looks at sales estimates for the first issues in Marvel’s “Point One” initiative, which featured self-contained stories designed to serve as a jumping-on point for new or lapsed readers: “With the sole exception of Hulk, retailers ordered less copies of the ‘jump on’ issue, than the regular series.  If you figure people picking up the title would also pick up the ‘.1′ introductory issue, this is a flaming disaster and there aren’t going to be a lot of these comics finding their way into the hands of new readers.  It smack of very low buy-in from the retail community.” [Indignant Online]

Conventions | Heidi MacDonald wraps up last weekend’s MoCCA Festival. [Publishers Weekly]

Comic-Con | The deadline for contributions to the 2011 Comic-Con Souvenir Book is April 29. [Comic-Con]

Retailing | Michael Waddell spotlights Memphis, Tenn.-area retailers Comics and Collectibles and Comic Cellar Cards, Comics & Games. [Memphis Daily News]

Daniel Clowes

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Sean T. Collins talks at length with Daniel Clowes about his new book Mister Wonderful. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | This Q&A with Lynda Barry covers a fascinating range of topics, from nervousness and figure skating to brain function and how art works. [The Boston Phoenix]

Creators | Mike Carey discusses his Vertigo series The Unwritten. [The Associated Press]

Creators | Jeffrey Brown chats about The Incredible Change-Bots, and the possibility of more installments: “I think there will be a third and possibly final book, although I don’t want to rule anything out. I still haven’t done any kind of parody or tribute to my other favorite toy growing up which is G.I. Joe. I had a bunch of ideas for a G.I. Joe parody and as I was finishing the second book and then doing some of the drawings and things for the compilation of odds and ends. I realized that I could very easily fold the G.I. Joe parody into the third Change Bots book. So it won’t be too specifically G.I. Joe, but there will be a third book where the Change Bots are now living on Earth and fighting with each other and humans as well. I haven’t quite figured out all the details yet. It would be down the road a couple of years before I get to that.” [Topless Robot]

Creators | Jesse Schedeen looks at the essential comics of Stuart Immonen. [IGN.com]

Creators | Eva Volin interviews Alexis Fajardo at WonderCon. [Good Comics for Kids]

Comics | Ben Morse compares and contrasts Marvel’s Thunderbolts and DC’s Suicide Squad. [The Cool Kids Table]

Wilson

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly round-up of … well, what we’ve been reading lately.

Today our special guest is the legendary Gilbert Hernandez. Known best as the co-creator of Love & Rockets, his other works include Sloth, The Troublemakers, Chance in Hell and Yeah! with Peter Bagge (which is being collected by Fantagraphics)

To see what Gilbert and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.

*****

Tom Bondurant

This week I started Essential Iron Man vol. 1, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it (I’ve already gotten Vol. 2, an impressive chunk o’ book) — but wow do the writers love the word “transistor.” Everything in the golden-trashcan suit is transistor-powered. Heck, everything Tony Stark owns is transistor-powered. I’m waiting for the Smurfs to show up and say, “dude, you’re getting way too much use out of that one word.”

Finals Crisis: Rogues' Revenge

I also caught up with Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, the 2008 miniseries which reunited everyone’s favorite Flash foes with writer Geoff Johns and artist Scott Kolins. Originally I skipped the miniseries because Johns and Kolins’ Rogue work never really grabbed me, but this time the paperback was pretty inexpensive. Besides, I figured it would probably play into future Johns-written Flash stories. Essentially, the Rogues kill their way out of a situation they killed their way into. These aren’t particularly likable crooks, like in Secret Six or Suicide Squad, and Johns and Kolins don’t apologize for them. Rogues’ Revenge is a decent noir story, so I suppose it’s a credit to Johns and Kolins that they’ve remade the Rogues from hallmarks of the shiny Silver Age into noir protagonists. It’s a brutal little tale, told bluntly and efficiently, but it didn’t do much to change my feelings. The Rogue spotlights were never my favorite issues, and this was a three-issue version of those one-issue flashbacks, offering some background on the larger Flash arc. Not a bad digression, but I still prefer the good guys.

Finally, speaking of spotlights, Batman Beyond #4 (written by Adam Beechen, penciled by Eduardo Pansica, inked by Eber Ferreira) looks mostly at Terry’s friend Maxine, ace hacker and all-around source of support. Of course, by the end of the issue she’s asked to make a choice which will surely have devastating consequences not just
for her, but for Batman and his allies. Another devastating development comes after Nightwing’s secret identity is revealed, and Terry has to go old-school to mitigate the damage. Pansica and Ferreira’s styles are certainly different from Ryan Benjamin’s usual work on the series, but in this case it makes sense. When Nightwing appears, he looks like something out of the Chuck Dixon era. I really enjoyed this issue, and I think Beechen has a good handle on these characters and their world. It’s a nice hybrid of DC-Animated continuity and extrapolations from the current Bat-books. However, it’s turning into its own thing, which looks like it’ll be a lot of fun to follow.

Michael May

Black Widow: Deadly Origin

I read the Black Widow: Deadly Origin collection by Paul Cornell, Tom Raney and John Paul Leon. As much as I like Black Widow, I’m not that familiar with the intricate details of her long continuity outside of general knowledge like “she used to be a bad guy and dated Daredevil and Hawkeye for a while.” Cornell’s put all that together in a way that makes sense without letting the massive history bog the story down. Deadly Origin isn’t just an exercise in continuity-cleaning, it’s an action-packed spy story (complete with a killer, Bond-esque teaser opening) that also has something interesting to say about Black Widow and the people in her life. I’ve been interested in Cornell for a while, but I think this is the first thing of his that I’ve read so far. It certainly won’t be the last.

Art-wise, I enjoyed both John Paul Leon’s flashback sequences and Tom Raney’s drawings in the modern-day adventure. I’ve been a big fan of Leon’s since his Milestone days and Raney’s got a great knack for facial expressions (among other things) that very much sells the emotionally draining journey that Black Widow travels in this story.

Gilbert Hernandez

The new comics I always enjoy are by R. Crumb, Dan Clowes, Richard Sala and Charles Burns. I haven’t seen Burns’ and Sala’s new books yet but I did read The Bible by Crumb, which I found tedious only because of the subject matter and Wilson by Clowes. That was hard to get through because the protagonist is so supremely hateful. Well executed, though. Except for Sala, those other guy’s comics only come out every five years or so, so I’m usually looking at reprint collections for my fix. I look forward to the complete Dick Tracy and whatever nutty 1940′s/50′s stuff Fantagraphics and IDW put out. No new mainstream stuff.

Courtesy of the minty fresh new DanielClowes.com website comes this unused illustration of the notoriously lachrymose right-wing TV and radio host, whose nightly journey into madness can be seen on the Fox News Channel. Wilson and Mister Wonderful author Clowes was commissioned to draw the portrait for a New York Times Magazine profile on Beck when it seemed he wouldn’t be willing to sit for a photograph, but apparently cooler heads prevailed and/or Beck found a break in his busy schedule of rooting for the massacre of unarmed Arab protesters, and an agreement with the dreaded liberal media behemoth was reached after all. Oh well, the Times‘ loss is our gain. Get the full story of the illo, and lots more besides, at DanielClowes.com.