Comic Book Resources

Blackest Night vs. Siege: Place your bets!

Blackest Night #7

Siege #2

They say nice guys finish last, but when event comics will finish is anybody's guess. The demands of a high-profile series around which entire shared universes revolve can play havoc with scheduling. Naturally, editors and publishers love to maintain the artistic quality and consistency (and sales levels) provided by the big-name writer-artist teams that tend to lend such books a sense of "this is a big deal." On the other hand, they need to get books out on time so that other series whose storylines depend upon what happens in the event can proceed as planned -- and so that they don't end up alienating retailers and readers. But these same readers and retailers can end up just as irritated if they get the sense that the creators are being rushed, or if fill-in artists aren't up to snuff. It's a tough row to hoe.

With his front-row seat for a variety of events this decade, including Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Civil War, and Secret Invasion, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort knows this better than anyone. So it was with an obvious mix of boldness and trepidation that he made the following prediction on his Twitter account:

It's height of hubris time: I'm willing to bet that SIEGE will wrap up before BLACKEST NIGHT does.

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The (boring?) business of The Brave and the Bold

Grumpy Old Fan

In a fractured, niche-oriented environment, it can be hard to justify one's existence, let alone one's relevance. When the tastes of your audience have changed, you are naturally prompted to change as well. Thus, MTV cultivates youth-oriented reality shows, VH-1 spotlights fading celebrities (and their desperate hangers-on), and The Weather Channel now plays meteorologically-minded movies like The Perfect Storm and The Wizard Of Oz.

To be sure, there must be scads of people who think AMC's shift towards showing Catwoman edited-for-TV is a step up from those all-weekend marathons of uncut Hitchcock films. Why shouldn't a channel try to keep as many eyes glued to it as possible? If you don't care what kind of elements Jim Cantore is braving, you can get your local radar instantly from the Internet. (And then you can watch Cantore highlights on YouTube.) Only those who remember how these channels began now lament what they have become -- and may envy their successes.

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Art teams for DC's Red Circle one-shots named

Hangman

DC Comics has revealed details about the Archie Heroes/Red Circle one-shots they'll release in August. We already know J. Michael Straczynski is writing them, but today they shared the art teams, as well as some new preview artwork from the books.

"Each book slides off the next, showing the interconnectedness of the world, how fate can launch a bank shot from one person to the next," JMS said.

So here's the rundown on the art teams:

• The Hangman: Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, whose work you can see to the right. Editor Joey Cavalieri says it's about "...a doctor who’s been spared the executioner’s noose (a circle of rope, get it?) only to be confronted with a choice that condemns him to roam around Earth forever, aiding everyone in his orbit."
• Inferno: Greg Scott, who worked on Marvel's newuniversal:1959 and BOOM!'s Galveston mini-series. It's about an amnesiac who can set things on fire.
• The Shield: Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens. "The Shield is the spearhead of a program meant to encompass America’s borders, but quickly becomes a link in a bigger chain," Cavalieri said.
• The Web: Roger Robinson and Hilary Barta; Robinson did the art for the Blue Beetle/Hardware team-up in DC's Brave and the Bold title. He also did these really cool game menu screens for a canceled Flash video game.

As previously reported, the one-shots will introduce these heroes to the regular DC Universe.

NYCC | We're having a party, everybody's swingin' ...

With the New York Comic Con coming up Feb. 6-8, we'll be collecting and posting information on the various things you can do and see while at the show. If you're a publisher, creator, retailer or otherwise exhibiting at the show, feel free to drop me an email with your booth schedule, any comics you might be debuting, giveaways or any other fun stuff you have planned for the show.

General information: Ticket info | Panels | Autographs | 2009 ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference | Blog

• Dave & Buster's Times Square has been named the official "con bar" for the New York Comic Con, and they'll host a party Thursday, Feb. 5 to help kick everything off. Guests include Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Mark Brooks and more. The part will include a raffle benefiting the Hero Initiative. More details on the party can be found here.

• Speaking of the Hero Initiative, I mentioned in a previous update that they're holding an art auction in New York. They're started previewing some of the art on their blog:

Captain Marvel

And if you aren't attending the show, they'll accept proxy bids. More details can be found on their website.

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