Comic Book Resources

Vertigo extends 'Joe the Barbarian' to eight issues

Joe the Barbarian

Vertigo announced on their blog yesterday that they've more than doubled the length of the upcoming Joe the Barbarian mini-series by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy. What was originally going to be a three issue series will now run eight issues. You can also check out some additional preview pages by clicking on the link above.

Morrison has described the comic as "Home Alone meets Lord of the Rings," with the titular character entering a dream state in which his toys come to life. It begins in January.

Morrison and Barker's 'mental meltdown'

Meltdown Comics has posted video from the discussion between comics writer Grant Morrison and novelist Clive Barker that occurred back at the beginning of July. The video is broken into six different YouTube clips, and they've also included a full transcript.

Via The Beat

SDCC '09 | Quote of the day

Grant Morrison

"I don't care about geeks, you know? Geeks shouldn't be given power. When geeks get power, you get Hitler. There's a lot of weird and angry geeks out there. But what (a comic book movie) does is it opens up comics as a medium. It stops being geekish. There's comic books for everyone. There's comic books for women, there's comic books for kids, there's comic books for teenage Goths. That is the important thing that movies are doing."

-- Grant Morrison, in a roundtable discussion about Comic-Con and the geeks inheriting Hollywood

Morrison fascinated by 'contradictions and complexities' of Wonder Woman

Final Crisis #5

In the past six months Grant Morrison has moved from apologizing for his treatment of Wonder Woman in Final Crisis to hinting at a "different project" that might examine the themes surrounding the Amazonian princess.

Now he reveals she's the iconic DC Comics character he'd most like to work with next.

"I’ve become fascinated by all the contradictions and complexities in the character over the years," Morrison tells the A.V. Club in a broad-ranging Q&A, "and would love to do an All-Star Superman-style take that would clarify and redefine what she stands for, and what she’s capable of as a character."

In his appearance with author Clive Barker earlier this month at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood, Morrison said, "These extremely weird, dark elements of Wonder Woman haven’t been adequately dealt with. Wonder Woman remains a really bizarre, untouchable character. She should represent women in the same way Superman represents men.”

A first (official) look at Morrison and Murphy's Joe the Barbarian

From "Joe the Barbarian," by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy

We caught a brief glimpse early last month of Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy's upcoming collaboration Joe the Barbarian, but now Vertigo offers the first official preview of the three-issue miniseries, which debuts in January.

Morrison has described the comic as "Home Alone meets Lord of the Rings," with the titular character entering a dream state in which his toys come to life.

Video: Becky Cloonan and a double shot of Grant Morrison

As a part of Sub-T Independent Week on MTV (Sub-T being an abbreviation for Subterranean, one of their programs), MTV talks to Becky Cloonan in part 1 in a series:

Meanwhile, MTV's Splash Page kicks off a series of interviews where Percy Carey talks to Grant Morrison:

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What Are You Reading?

Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?

Welcome to What Are You Reading, where we talk about stuff, but mostly books, especially comic books. Our guest this week is our fellow CBR blogger Brian Cronin, whom most of you no doubt know via the excellent blog Comics Should Be Good and author of the new book Was Superman Was A Spy: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed!

To discover what Brian and the rest of the crew are reading, simply click on the link below.

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ComicsLive | A guide to next week's comic-related events

Welcome to ComicsLive, a guide to upcoming signings, conventions and more. This type of information can sometimes get lost in the archives when it's posted a few weeks or months ahead of time, so we'll be consolidating them into one weekly calendar-esque post every Friday and running reminders at the bottom of Kevin's Comics A.M. posts on the day of the event. Hopefully this will ensure the information is easier to find when you need it.

If you'd like to submit an event for inclusion, please email them directly to me. Please include the venue, city and state, start time, event details and any related websites where we can send folks for more information. Virtual events, like online creator chats, are also welcome.

Today, June 26

Toronto | Pulp Fiction, an art exhibit featuring the works of Marc Bell, Amy Lockhart, Peter Thompson, Seth Scriver and many more Canadian cartoonists, opens at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. The exhibit kicks off with an opening party tonight at 7 p.m. and runs through Aug. 23. More details can be found here.

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Shades of Gray(son): Rounding up June's Bat-books

Grumpy Old Fan

So there I was in the spring of 1988, a college freshman buying snacks at the local convenience store, when I saw Amazing Spider-Man #300 sitting on the magazine shelf. I knew artist Todd McFarlane had helped make the book pretty popular, and I had fond memories of writer David Michelinie from his earlier work on Iron Man and Avengers. Accordingly, I stuck with ASM through the end of McFarlane's run (in #325), and never gave much thought to Spidey's two other regular titles. Spectacular Spider-Man and Web Of Spider-Man might have been great reads, but for whatever reason, I just wanted the "headliners," Michelinie and McFarlane.

I suspect the same is true these days with the Batman line. Yesterday's releases of Detective Comics #854 and Gotham City Sirens #1 close out the first month of the Big Batman Relaunch. The Grant Morrison-written Batman And Robin (drawn initially by Frank Quitely) has drawn the most attention, with much of the rest going to Detective's Batwoman lead (written by Greg Rucka, drawn by JH Williams III). Each of these high-profile creative teams has been charged with producing new-reader-friendly stories, and thereby building an enduring foundation of loyal consumers.

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Six by 6 | Six comics that made us cry

Tom Strong #36

This week Chris Mautner suggested we share our softer sides and each talk about three comics that broke down our tough-guy exteriors and made us openly weep as we turned the pages. It's a risky venture, to be sure; to some members of our audience, this will destroy the "manly man" image we've worked so hard to build up on the blog, but for others, it will show there's more to who we are than just bad jokes and Shelf Porn.

So here they are -- six comics that made us cry. After reading our selections, be sure to grab a tissue and tell us what comics made you cry as well.

1. "We're brothers, Tom"

I always thought Tom Strong was the weakest of Alan Moore's ABC line (in fact I said so rather openly in issue #231 of The Comics Journal). Oh sure, there were lots of colorful dialogue and zany plots, but I felt the series was sorely lacking in gravitas. The characters seemed too thinly sketched to me and I couldn't find myself forming enough of an emotional commitment to them to care about what happened to them. It kept hinting that there was a lot more going on under the surface, but that's all it would do, hint.

That was until the final issue, no. 36, where, during the "end of the world as we know it" created by Promethea, Tom is confronted by the ghost of his arch-enemy Paul Saveen, who reveals that he is, in fact, Tom's half-brother. What follows is one of the most tender scenes I've ever read in a superhero book ("Jesus Paul" Tom says, breaking down "We tried to kill each other.") When, two pages later, Tom introduces Saveen to a passerby with a simple "This is my brother. This is my brother Paul" well, I just lose it. --Chris Mautner

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Everyone's A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces

Boody Rogers

• Let's begin by directing your attention to the comments section of this post on the Comics Comics blog regarding my recent interview with Dan Nadel. It devolves into a conversation over Nadel's earlier comments about Fantagraphics' recent Boody Rogers book, edited by Craig Yoe. Nadel disliked the book for a number of reasons, which Tom Spurgeon had felt was inappropriate for him to discuss in public, since Nadel had written and edited a book that featured Rogers' art, Art Out of Time, and thus, was suffered from a conflict of interest of sorts.

Anyway, Nadel, Rob Clough, Tim Hodler, Jeet Heer, Spurgeon and even Gary Groth (!) hash the whole matter out here, though little is resolved by the end. I haven't read the Rogers collection yet, so it's hard for me to gauge the accuracy of Nadel's comments. Spurgeon makes some good points, but I'm not 100 percent convinced they are that germane to Nadel's original post. Still, it's an interesting discussion nevertheless.

• Speaking of that Boody Rogers book, John Mitchell didn't care much for the book either, though for different reasons, labeling it a "patience tester."

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Looks like Batman and Robin are getting a little competition

Batman and Robin #4 cover

DC Comics has released the cover art to Batman and Robin #4, the new series by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely that took the world by storm this week with the release of its first issue. The cover shows the new (dynamic?) duo who appeared on a preview image at the end of the first issue. Since I'm always wrong when I start guessing who might be under the mask, I'll leave that to you guys ...

Robot reviews: Batman and Robin #1

Batman and Robin #1

Batman and Robin #1
by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
DC Comics, 32 pages, $2.99.

See, this is how it should have been from the start.

Much was made when Grant Morrison took over the writing reins for Batman, though few ultimately found merit in the confusing and at times even dull slog through canon and character that the book turned into (though, of course, the series does still have its fans. I also understand there are people who collect milk bottles).

Batman and Robin chucks all the excess baggage that hampered Batman R.I.P. -- the elbow in the ribs riffing on classic tales of yesteryear, the need to make an important statement about the character, Tony Daniel -- fills up the gas tank to its flying Batmobile with rocket fuel and proceeds to floor that puppy out of the cave with nary a glance backward. The result is a streamlined, but no less surreal or smart, tale that's one of the most satisfying superhero reads I've had so far this year. This is a really fun comic book.

Now, I haven't been following Battle for the Cowl at all, so I have no idea what has or hasn't been revealed up until this point and thus will probably unleash all manner of spoilers without meaning to. You've been warned.

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Grant Morrison, and the 'really simple high concept' behind Batman and Robin

From J.G. Jones' variant cover for "Batman and Robin" #1

After a certain point, Grant Morrison's marathon of interviews covering Final Crisis, "Batman R.I.P." and, now, Batman and Robin bleeds together, like clips from a Hollywood press junket played endlessly on cable news.

So I sometimes have trouble figuring out what anecdotes are new, and which ones are Morrison chestnuts (not that it matters much, as they're all entertaining). I'm fairly sure, though, that this interview with IGN.com covers new territory, as it's the first since Batman: Battle for the Cowl wrapped up last week, and the identities of the new Batman and Robin were (officially) revealed.

Although the entire Q&A is worth reading, I found two quotes of particular interest:

On the accessibility of Batman and Robin: "... I kind of thought, while starting up Batman and Robin, that it was a really simple high concept. The guy who used to be Robin is now Batman, and Batman's evil son is now Robin. You can explain that to any person on the street and they're going to get it. It was that simple. Everyone can understand that Robin has now grown up to be Batman. Having just heard our advance orders for the first printing are the highest DC's had in the last few years, it's important for me to keep this material accessible -- and everyone knows Dick Grayson"

On the recipe for a great Batman villain: "A gimmick. Creepiness. A distinctive look. Basically, you just have to pick something -- like I did with the Club of Villains characters -- you look at something that works in the Batman mythos, like the evil clown, obviously. You can play with different version of that, so we had the killer mime in the Club of Villains. Or you can have another take on it, like you can play up the grinning death mask aspect and do a 'Mexican Day of the Dead' villain. You kind of evolve those themes into new forms. Batman fights people who dress or behave like animals -- Catwoman, Killer Croc, Penguin, Man-Bat -- sometimes, so you can create your own lizard girls or serpent ladies or guys like my upcoming Flamingo. Then there are the 'game' or 'puzzle' villains like the Joker, and the Riddler, and there are the 'Dick Tracy'-style 'face' villains like Two-Face, No-Face, etc. Like I said, there's a set of ingredients that you can play around with to create a Batman villain."

Batman and Robin #1 goes on sale June 3.

Have I mentioned the upcoming Grant Morrison documentary yet?

'cause apparently they're makin' one.