J.H. Williams III
From Batwoman to Blondie: J.H. Williams III
With fans chomping at the bit to see J.H. Williams III return in the new Batwoman series this September, you might get your fix first in your local record store iTunes. Last week it was announced that the California-based artist is working with legendary post-punk band Blondie for artwork on an upcoming album.
This matchmaking was done by San Francisco comic store owner James Sime of Isotope Comics. Sime is a regular on the Bay Area music scene, and finagled himself and Williams backstage at a recent Blondie show. Sime tells a heartwarming story on the Isotope blog of a impromptu moment of mutual admiration between Williams and the band members of Blondie. That chance meeting turned into business, as their full-on collaboration was announced for a deluxe edition of Blondie’s new album Panic Of Girls. No word yet on when this will see the light of day, but now you have one more reason to tune in to Blondie.
Go over to Williams’ own site to read his thoughts.
- June 14, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Arrant
DC reveals details about the relaunched Batman line
Ceçi n'est pas un Batman
DC spent the day rolling out announcements about the Batman books in anticipation of its line-wide September relaunch…with one conspicuous absence until the very end.
So, Bruce Wayne is reclaiming sole possession of the mantle of the Bat, while Batman and Detective Comics are swapping creators: Batman writer/artist Tony Daniel will be taking over Detective Comics, while ‘Tec writer Scott Snyder is taking over Batman with artist Greg Capullo of Spawn fame. Both books will star Bruce Wayne rather than his protege and stand-in Dick Grayson beneath the cape and cowl.
- June 6, 2011 @ 04:15 PM by Sean T. Collins
J.H. Williams III wants the funk for Static cover
Static Shock Special
Artist J.H. Williams III shares what I believe is a variant cover for the upcoming Static Shock Special DC is putting out as a homage to Dwayne McDuffie. At least, the solicitation for the title lists Derec Donovan as the cover artist.
At any rate, it’s a wonderful piece of art that Williams says was inspired by funk music.
“I wanted to try some different things in attitude,” Williams wrote on his blog. “The Milestone characters always had this unusual quality to them, which I think made them pretty cool. And some of them seemed to have this Funk aspect to them. Now when I say Funk, I’m referring to Funk Music. So I decided to see if I could bring that more forward in attitude for this cover. The result is pretty effective. It still has this iconic quality that the genre should have, but now it feels like Funk meets Superheroes to me. Resulting in something different than what I usually do.”
You can see the steps in his creative process, from rough sketch to the final version, over on his blog. The comic comes out in June.
- March 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Nicola Scott
Teen Titans 93
For longtime comic readers like myself, there’s nothing quite like when a team book introduces a new character to the mix. This Wednesday, artist Nicola Scott gets to bring Solstice, a character she designed, into the Teen Titans mix with the release of Teen Titans 93. In addition to discussing Solstice, Scott notes the shift in tone/sense of fun that series writer J.T. Krul has brought to the series; how she considers herself a character-driven artist; as well as the lessons learned from collaborating with the likes of writer Gail Simone/dealing in subtext (among other topics). At the end of the interview, she invites fans to suggest characters we’d like to see her draw in the future–be sure to chime in with your ideas in the comments section.
Tim O’Shea: Over at the Source, you expressed part of what appealed to working with J.T. Krul on Teen Titans. ” Character, tone, direction. He has blown me away.” What is it about Krul’s approach to character and tone that appealed to you?
Nicola Scott: Over the last couple of years the tone of the book seemed to have become quite dark, and seemed to be missing youthful energy and a sense of fun. The characters weren’t quite connecting in the way DC hoped for them to. Straight off the bat JT had them feel exactly like their regular selves. The comradery had returned too and that’s such an important ingredient with the Teen Titans. The script for the first issue was fun, a great recap of the characters and who they are to each other. There were some gags and some drama and it felt like young people with huge responsibility. Another ingredient that I think was important, was bringing it back to the core members. A couple of new additions is fine but when most of the cast is unrecognizable to outside readers, it’s hard to grow the audience.
- March 28, 2011 @ 03:06 PM by Tim O'Shea
UPDATED: Quote of the day: More Batman, Inc. delays? (Yanick Paquette says not that he knows of…)
The delays behind [Batman Inc.] are a combination of slowness on Grant and Yanick’s part. Yanick does all of his work on a digital pad and his art process requires a whole lot of lead time that Grant Morrison just doesn’t give him. On the Saturday morning, Grant had just e-mailed Yanick 12 pages of script for issue #5 when Yanick’s deadline for the art is in 1 week…so yeah, expect some more delays for issue 5 unless they get a fill-in artist.
—ComicBookDaily.com’s David Diep, reporting from this past weekend’s Wizard World Toronto convention, on what he learned about the future of DC’s flagship Bat-book, Batman Incorporated—presumably straight from artist and con guest Yanick Paquette himself.
A look at the solicit as posted on DC’s website shows that the book is scheduled for release on April 20. But the company still has it running with a J.H. Williams III cover that was actually used on issue #3 when it finally came out two weeks ago, likely because that issue was originally supposed to come out in January and thus had an “iconic” cover as part of that month’s line-wide cover gimmick, which was obviously no longer in effect. Issue #5 is now slated to run with the cover you see above, also by Williams…who is himself the co-writer/co-artist of the even more delay-plagued Batwoman. On the other hand, the company just signed the prodigiously talented artist Chris Burnham, who made a splash as the co-artist of the climactic Batman & Robin #16 and was already on board to draw Batman Incorporated #4, 6, and 7, to an exclusive contract. So there’s still some joy in Gotham after all.
UPDATE: In the comments below, Paquette himself steps in to clarify, saying that to the best of his knowledge DC hasn’t delayed issue #5 yet, Morrison’s been rock-steady schedule-wise recently, the Williams cover above has always been planned for this issue, and he himself is the one to blame for the schedule hiccups if blame someone we must. He also points out I coulda emailed him to ask him about this stuff, which: fair enough. (In all fairness to me, though, I never said the book was officially delayed, or that the cover above had been created for any other issue.)
(via Sequential)
- March 22, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
J.H. Williams comments on latest Batwoman delays
Batwoman #3
J.H. Williams III has commented on last week’s news that DC Comics is again postponing the debut of the eagerly anticipated Batwoman, saying, “This was not our choice, and as to why, I’m not at liberty to really discuss.”
The series, by Williams, W. Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder, previously had been set to premiere in February. However, in January the publisher rescheduled the first issue for April, the date that appeared in the sneak peek included in last week’s comics. But even as those books arrived in stores, the publisher was canceling solicitations for Batwoman #1-2.
“It’s a bit ironic that the release has been pushed back again considering that DC decided to show preview pages this same week,” Williams wrote Saturday on his blog, where he also previewed the cover for Issue 3.
He assured fans that “work is still commencing,” with the latest delay allowing the creators to complete more work: “The only real downside is that solicits were pulled on us twice, making readers heads spin, wish that didn’t happen, but it has, let’s just make the best of it. I’m fast approaching the middle of issue 3’s interior art, Haden and I’ve started working on script for issue 8, the first 5 covers are done, and Dave [Stewart] has had issue 2 in his hands for his special magic touch.”
DC has yet to announce a new release date for Batwoman #1.
- March 14, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC Comics postpones Batwoman debut again
Sneak peek of Batwoman #1
Even as DC Comics previewed Batwoman #1 on Wednesday, word circulated online that the publisher has again canceled orders for the first two issues for resolicitation at a later date.
The move, revealed Tuesday in an email to retailers and confirmed by Comics on the Green and The Launchpad, marks the second delay in as many months. The highly anticipated series, by J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder, previously had been set to debut in February. But in January, the publisher rescheduled the first issue for April — a date that appears in sneak peek included in this week’s DC titles.
Although Batwoman, which spins out of Williams and Greg Rucka’s acclaimed run on Detective Comics, was widely expected to debut last summer, Williams explained in January that was never the case.
“February had been decided on the launch date by the company with reservations about that from me,” he wrote on his blog. “I felt that was a bit too soon in a realistic look at work progression. One of the reasons for this was that I had been seriously committed to making appearances around the world over this past year. I think maybe 3 months or more of work loss occurred during that time. I kept trying to point this out whenever discussions about schedule came up. When first discussing the launch date earlier last year we had originally wanted April 2011, and now ironically that is what we have. Only after solicits stating otherwise, causing some unnecessary frustrations.”
- March 10, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Fellow creators and fans remember Dwayne McDuffie
I’m still in shock over the sudden, tragic death of comics writer, Milestone Media co-founder and animation producer Dwayne McDuffie, as I’m sure many of his fans, friends and fellow creators are. I’ve rounded up some thoughts and memories from some of those folks, as well as a few items of note about memorials and some of his work.
- If you’re attending the Emerald City Comicon March 4-6, they’ve announced a memorial panel remembering McDuffie that will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. in Room 4C1-2. Per writer Mark Waid, C2E2 is also planning to hold one.
- Both Heidi MacDonald and Rich Johnston posted pages featuring the parakeet metaphor that McDuffie first introduced in Hardware #1 — a scene that, for me personally, sparked one of those lengthy late-night discussions about society, racism, politics and a whole lot of other things with my older brother. As Heidi points out, McDuffie revisited it in both X-O Manowar and at the end of the Milestone Forever two-parter, basically bookending the life of the Milestone Universe.
- The Weekly Crisis, meanwhile, looks at a poignant page from McDuffie’s more recent Fantastic Four run.
- The good folks at the Project: Rooftop site have declared “McDuffie Week” at their site, and have put out the call for redesigns of Static. Dean Trippe writes: “Dwayne’s work in the field of comics and animation was near-universally respected. His knowledge and understanding of the DCU heroes in particular, always meant a lot to me. He worked for Marvel, DC, founded Milestone along with Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle, achieved more respect and admiration as a screenwriter for Justice League Unlimited and other DC animated projects, faithfully bringing the light of our heroes to the non-comics-reading public. Dwayne has left us far too soon, with too many wonderful stories left untold.”
- February 23, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
J.H. Williams III addresses Batwoman delay
Batwoman #1
As DC Comics’ solicitations confirmed yesterday, the much-anticipated debut of the Batwoman series has been moved from February to April — the date that writer-artist J.H. Williams III notes he originally wanted.
“Some think that this book was to launch last July,” the award-winning artist writes on his blog, “this was never the case, this was speculation on the part of some. The book was also never to launch in November either. The zero issue which came out at that time was never in the original plans, but was done as a bit of a reminder as requested by DC, and to set the stage, this of course took out time of the work already in progress. February had been decided on the launch date by the company with reservations about that from me. I felt that was a bit too soon in a realistic look at work progression. One of the reasons for this was that I had been seriously committed to making appearances around the world over this past year. I think maybe 3 months or more of work loss occurred during that time. I kept trying to point this out whenever discussions about schedule came up. When first discussing the launch date earlier last year we had originally wanted April 2011, and now ironically that is what we have. Only after solicits stating otherwise, causing some unnecessary frustrations.”
Williams, who’s collaborating on Batwoman with W. Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder, says his schedule was further complicated by the addition of the covers for the high-profile Batman Inc. (He’s since bowed out of that assignment, with the cover for Issue 5 being his last.)
“Even though there has been issues raised in the scheduling and plans being jumped the gun on, DC acknowledges for the greater good of the project we need more time,” he continues. “I’m glad that they saw this was a good idea, this will help maintain a certain standard that we’ve already set in place.”
Visit Williams’ blog for more of his comments, and to see his covers for Batman Inc. Batwoman #1 is set to debut on April 27, according to the DC Comics website (the solicitations released yesterday say April 6).
- January 21, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC Comics delays Batwoman #1 until April
Batwoman #1
DC Comics’ Batwoman will undergo another delay, with the publisher moving the series’ debut from February to April.
The news was revealed online yesterday by retailers The Lauchpad and Comics on the Green. “What a surprise,” the latter wrote on the store’s Twitter account. “… It’s a JH Williams book, of course it’s not going to be on time.”
A spokesman for DC, which previewed art from the first issue just two weeks ago, didn’t respond this morning to a request for comment.
The much-anticipated comic, by J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder, initially was scheduled to begin in July, but instead DC released a one-shot in November designed to serve as a primer for the ongoing series.
This delay is only the latest bump in the road for the new Batwoman — lesbian socialite Kate Kane — whose introduction in summer 2006 was met with a hail of mainstream-media coverage, perhaps far more than the publisher had anticipated. A long-rumored Batwoman series faced one setback after another until finally, in February 2009, it was confirmed that the long-awaited Batwoman comic by Greg Rucka and Williams would become an arc of Detective Comics, timed to coincide with the “death”-induced absence of Batman. Their tenure ended in December 2009, with Detective #860, followed by a three-issue arc by Rucka and Jock.
The same month their acclaimed “Elegy” arc ended, Rucka revealed he and Williams would continue the story in Batwoman. But in April, Rucka announced he was walking away from the character, and from DC Comics. Less than two weeks later, the publisher confirmed it was still committed to Batwoman, with Williams sharing writing duties with Blackman and art duties with Reeder.
(via DC Women Kicking Ass)
- January 19, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
What will the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ mean for Kate Kane?
From Detective Comics #859
I’d be lying if I said that, while following coverage this weekend of the Senate’s repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” I didn’t briefly wonder what this development would mean for Kate Kane, the new Batwoman.
After all, she’s the most notable (if not the only) comic-book superhero whose origin is tied to the law prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military: While a cadet at the United States Military Academy, Kate is discovered to be in a secret relationship with another female student. When confronted with the allegation, Kate chooses to resign from West Point rather than lie. The scene, depicted in Detective Comics #859 by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III, is a powerful one.
“Way back — waaaay back — when I knew I was going to be writing Kate, and I knew we’d be telling her origin story, I knew I would write this scene,” Rucka said in a well-timed post that appeared Sunday at DC Women Kicking Ass. “This was, in many ways, the first scene I wrote for Kate Kane, one I kept rewriting and rewriting in my mind until the time came to put it down on the page. I’d done a lot of research into West Point, and the Cadet’s Code of Honor had stuck with me, stuck with me all the more in the face of DADT. In my mind’s eye, even before ever seeing the Bat Symbol of encountering Batman, this was where Batwoman was born — in Kate’s need to serve something greater and to, at the same time, remain true to herself.”
Williams, who’s sharing writing and art duties on the new Batwoman series, commented this afternoon on the repeal, saying, “It’s just sad that this policy ever occurred in the first place. It was grotesque and shameful that we ever went there. And terrible that it took nearly two decades for the folly to be properly dealt with.”
“Now to figure out what this may mean for Kate Kane,” he continued, “we’ll need to acknowledge this in some way, but properly in the plot, much like the policy’s enforcement affected the plot for Batwoman’s origin. Like it informed her past, setting her on the path she now has, this new progress will have to inform her direction at some point in a significant way.”
As curious as I am about how Williams & Co. will address law’s repeal, I’m even more interested in how later writers — those a decade or more removed from the policy — will address the character’s past. The origins of Marvel’s character operate on a sliding scale, with someone like Tony Stark first being tied to the Korean War, then the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War and now (I think) the conflict in Afghanistan. But how will DC revise Batwoman’s history when “don’t ask, don’t tell” is just a relic of the shameful past?
- December 20, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
J.H. Williams III provides bookplate for new Greg Rucka novel
The Last Run by J.H. Williams III
If you’re a fan of Greg Rucka’s comics work, especially Queen & Country, you might already know that he has continued Tara Chace’s adventures in a series of novels, the latest of which comes out Oct. 26. And if you buy the book and mail in your receipt, you can get a really beautiful bookplate drawn by J.H. Williams III. Check out Rucka’s blog for details on how to get one.
- October 18, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
J.H. Williams III talks Batwoman, writing and ambitions
J.H. Williams III self-portrait
With his artwork on the Batwoman feature in Detective Comics, longtime artist J.H. Williams III cemented his position as one of the most forward-thinking illustrators in comics today. Following healthy attention this year at various awards ceremonies, DC Comics greenlit an ongoing Batwoman series and the chance for Williams to step up as both an artist and a writer. For Williams, it’s a longtime dream come true after furtive previous writing work on anthologies and miniseries, and a chance to fully embrace the process of creating comics — from the ground up.
Chris Arrant: Let’s start with an easy one – what are you working on today?
J.H. Williams III: I’m working on the tale end of Issue 1 of Batwoman, on the art side specifically. Then I’m going to put the finishing touches on a couple other scripts for the series.
Arrant: After [writer Greg Rucka's] departure, you were the natural choice to continue Kate’s story – especially given the intense nature of the creation of the character, as well as your own writing background. But this is undoubtedly your biggest writing gig yet – so what did you do to freshen up your skills on plotting and dialogue?
Williams: Well , the first thing I did was examine the direction of the series so far. There were certain plot elements Greg planned on following up on that I’m going to avoid in case he plans on returning and pursuing those. But besides that, it was just a matter of taking a look at the material and seeing what sort of angle we could take that might not be expected. At the same time, it needs to feel natural as to what came before it. It was a matter of doing brainstorming, figuring out what the series needed, a lot of invention, and plans for a creating a rogue’s gallery that Batwoman can call her own.
- September 27, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by Chris Arrant
Batwoman to debut in November with zero issue
Batwoman #0 variant by Amy Reeder
DC Comics’ much-anticipated, but somewhat delayed, Batwoman title will be teased in November with a zero issue before kicking off in February as an ongoing series.
According to the DC Universe blog, the Batwoman #0 one-shot is “an artistic collaboration” between J.H. Williams III and Amy Reeder, who will alternate story arcs on the monthly series. It’s co-written by Williams and W. Haden Blackman.
Officially announced in April, but unofficially revealed some four months earlier, Batwoman initially was set to debut last month. The series follows on the heels of the critically acclaimed “Elegy” storyline in Detective Comics by Williams and writer Greg Rucka.
“Batwoman #0 has been a great experience in that it’s a real combination of everyone’s efforts due to the nature of the story and how it’s constructed,” Williams tells The Source. “It has been a real pleasure. This special ‘bridge’ issue straddles between what came before and what is to come, but manages to be its own unique thing. Its unusual construction allows two threads of content to run simultaneously, building to a greater whole, hopefully creating an interesting reading experience.”
- August 13, 2010 @ 11:35 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | The value of bad comics
Batman #8
Last week I talked about rediscovering the ‘70s series Secret Society of Super-Villains. As you might have guessed, this was made possible largely by the Internet. Without it, I would have had to scour back-issue boxes at regional comics shops and/or at the occasional convention. After all, that’s what I grew up doing.
Regardless of where or how I bought those back issues, the fact remains that I bought them pretty much sight-unseen. Oh sure, I remembered random scenes from isolated issues, but basically my yen for SSoSV grew out of two things: its concept and its reputation. I knew what it aimed to be, and I figured if Gerry Conway wrote most of it, it couldn’t be all bad.*
What’s more (at the risk of being obvious) I had to track down these back issues because a collected version of Secret Society of Super-Villains is apparently still trapped in royalty-payment limbo. Not that I am especially bitter about that, mind you; because clearly I don’t mind reading the individual issues and they weren’t that hard to find.
- August 5, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Tom Bondurant