Franco Aureliani
Aw yeah, the Tiny Titans SDCC-exclusive boxed set
This should lift the spirits of readers still mourning the end of DC Comics’ Tiny Titans: Cool Toy Review and Fwoosh have the first looks at Mattel’s Comic-Con International-exclusive boxed set featuring five figures — Robin, Raven, Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy — based on the character designs from the Eisner Award-winning series by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani. As you can see from the image above, the package is actually a Sidekick City Elementary bus driven by principal Slade Wilson and bearing the slogan “Convention or Bust.” On the back is a comic strip by Baltazar and Aureliani depicting the five pint-sized heroes, including a cosplaying Beast Boy, at the convention.
Check out more images below, and at Cool Toy Review and Fwoosh. The set will be available at the Mattel booth at Comic-Con for $20, and at MattyCollector.com later.
Art Baltazar’s character designs for Superman Family Adventures
Ahead of the debut next week of The Superman Family Adventures, the new all-ages series from Tiny Titans creators Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, DC Comics has unveiled Baltazar’s adorable character designs for the entire cast, from Superman, Supergirl and Lois Lane to Krypto, Streaky and the Phantom Zone villains. Announced in May 2011, The Superman Family Adventures replaces Tiny Titans on DC’s all-ages roster. Here’s the solicitation text for the first issue, which goes on sale May 30:
Superman’s closest allies take the stage like you have never seen before, from the Eisner Award-winning team of Art Baltazar and Franco (TINY TITANS)!
• Don’t miss the action-packed, history-making, super adventure awesomeness!!
• Classic Superman elements reinterpreted for all ages with the humor that only the creative team of TINY TITANS can bring!
Check out the rest of the character designs below.
Comics A.M. | The Avengers, comics and the evolution of storytelling
The Avengers #1
Comics | With the success of The Avengers film, Kendall Whitehouse discusses the narrative techniques comics have “explored and exploited,” including “multi-issue story arcs, crossovers, team-ups, reboots and multiple title tie-ins,” noting they not only help sell more comics but also have blazed the trail for complex stories: “The story has now become a world unto its own that allows the reader to explore whichever dimensions are of the greatest interest. Follow the events from the perspective of Iron Man or Thor. Or just peruse the core series and ignore the supplementary story elements. The series presents a nearly unbounded narrative universe for the reader to experience. It is easy to interpret this with a cynical eye as nothing more than a series of cheap marketing tactics designed to pump sales. And yet, when well executed, something larger emerges.” [Knowledge@Wharton Today]
Retailing | Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day also served as the grand opening for Aw Yeah Comics, a store in Skokie, Illinois, owned (as the name suggests) by Tiny Titans creators Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani and retail veteran Marc Hammond. [Skokie Review, Time Out Chicago]
C2E2 | From Detroit to Chicago, and back again
[Editor's note: Doug Zawisza, who regularly writes reviews for Comic Book Resources, joins us for a look at his one-day con experience at C2E2 this past Friday.]
The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo opened its doors for the 2012 edition at 1:00 in the afternoon on Friday the 13th. I decided to tempt fate, spit in the eye of superstition and join a trio of friends from my local comic shop to make the four-hour trek between Detroit and Chicago, take in the sights to see at C2E2 and return home, all in one day. That’s right: I was silly enough to think a whirlwind visit to Chicago would be a good idea.
We hit the road around eight o’clock and with a pair of stops on the way to coincide with the wonderfully easy traffic all the way into the great state of Illinois, we made it to McCormick place by 11:15 Chicago time. Coming in from the south side of the convention center, we mingled with Chicago White Sox traffic (oddly enough, the Detroit Tigers were in town to play the Sox) and managed to find parking at McCormick after driving through the shipping area of the parking facility.
First look at the cover to Superman Family Adventures #1
DC Comics has revealed the cover to the first issue of Superman Family Adventures, the new all-ages title by the former Tiny Titans team of Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani.
“Superman is here! And he’s bringing his family!!! AW YEAH!” said Baltazar on The Source. “Working on Superman Family Adventures is truly a highlight to my career. Everything you know about the Superman mythos is here in this comic. You will see Bizarro, Parasite, Brainiac, Metallo and yes, even Lex Luthor! Writing and drawing bad guys is really cool! We had bad guys in TINY TITANS, but this time, they fight the heroes! ACTION! ADVENTURE! HUMOR! BIG GORILLAS! GIANT ROBOTS! LOIS! JIMMY! PERRY! and…SUPER PETS!!!! Whaaaa? Yep, that’s a true story right there! SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES is gonna rock! Aw yeah Krypton!”
“SUPERMAN!!! Are you kidding me? SUPERMAN!!!” Franco said. “Ask any comic creator and this will be the number one guy they want to work on!! I’m definitely excited to be able to work with my good friend Art Baltazar on the all-new Superman Family Adventures. The book is going to be filled with amazing adventures, stories and humor featuring the entire cast of the Superman family – Lois, Jimmy, Supergirl, Superboy and even a few surprises you haven’t seen in a while like Fuzzy The Krypto Mouse. You should come along because this is going to be a fun ride!”
The comic comes out May 30. Check out the full cover after the jump.
Comics A.M. | More on Occupy Comics; New 52′s relative rankings
Occupy Comics
Comics | Matt Pizzolo discusses the Occupy Comics project, which raised more than $28,000 on Kickstarter: “The way the money is allocated is actually through the individual contributors. The artists and writers are all paid a proportional share of the revenue based on the number of pages they provide versus the total number of pages in the book, but all of the artists and writers are agreeing to donate that money to the protesters. Most contributors want to donate as a group to get the most bang for their buck, but they don’t have to — anyone can just take their share and hand it to the protesters at their local park if they want.” [The Morton Report]
Comics | Todd Allen compares the relative positions of DC’s New 52 titles in November with their September rankings; the November orders reflect the adjustments retailers made after seeing how the different titles sold in September. The results: Animal Man shot up by 10 slots, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men sank by eight, but most titles only moved a few notches up or down. [The Beat]
Baltazar, Aureliani’s Superman Family Adventures coming next May; Tiny Titans ends with #50 [UPDATED]
DC Nation 2012 Free Comic Book Day Super Sampler
Along with the rest of the “Silver” comic books coming on Free Comic Book Day next year, DC Comics announced the DC Nation 2012 Free Comic Book Day Super Sampler, which will feature comics based on their animated series Green Lantern, Young Justice and a new series called Superman Family Adventures. Today on the Source, DC announced the creative team for that book–the Tiny Titans team of Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani are working on the monthly Superman Family Adventures, which kicks off next May.
“I have been sitting on the edge of my seat, biting my tongue about Superman Family Adventures since Thursday, July 21 at approximately 4 p.m., when Art and Franco came to see me at SDCC and showed me the proposal for this series,” said series editor Kristy Quinn. “Whew. Now, at least, you’re all stuck waiting with me—I was getting lonely sitting at my desk with all this cool stuff I couldn’t share!”
Update: Issue #50 of Tiny Titans will be the final issue, as noted in today’s solicitations. Baltazar and Aureliani have been the creative team on Tiny Titans since DC started publishing it in 2008.