Jim Zubkavich
… and I’ll look down and whisper, ‘Before Skullkickers’
After sending up recent superhero-comics trends with The Uncanny Skullkickers, Savage Skullkickers, Mighty Skullkickers, The All-New Secret Skullkickers and Dark Skullkickers — all pokes at Marvel titles — Jim Zubkavich and Edwin Huang set their sights on DC in August with “Before Skullkickers.” (You can see Image’s August solicitations at Comic Book Resources.)
Returning the series to its original numbering after a succession of No. 1 issues, Skullkickers #24 features four “Tavern Tales,” by Ron Marz, Lee Moder, Adam Warren, Tom Raney, Todd DeZago, Stjepan Seji, Zubkavich and Huang, that recount the early adventures of the books’ heroes. Hence, “Before Skullkickers.”Skullkickers #24 arrives Aug. 14.
Comics A.M. | Why aren’t there more Canadian superheroes?
The Vindicator
Superheroes | Writer Jim Zubkavich tackles the burning question of why there are so few Canadian superheroes: “We don’t have a long standing superhero tradition in this country. We don’t have a long-standing focal point character people recognize (I like Captain Canuck, but the average person on the street does not know who he is). We’re not a country galvanized by heavy-duty patriotic pride that lends itself to a Superman, Captain America or even a Batman. We don’t have the kind of rampant crime that ‘needs’ a heroic symbol to fight back against.” [Zub Tales]
Digital comics | The first issue of Mark Millar’s Jupiter’s Legacy sold more than 100,000 copies in stores, but was that because he refused to allow it to be sold in digital format the same day? Steve Bennett is doubtful, because so many people (including himself) didn’t realize until the last minute it would be print-only for now. [ICv2]
Comics A.M. | Siegel & Shuster heirs fight DC’s interference claim
Superman
Legal | In the aftermath of last month’s ruling that DC Comics retains full rights to Superman, the heirs of creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are urging federal judge to dismiss claims that their lawyer interfered with the publisher’s copyright to the character. DC sued attorney Marc Toberoff in May 2010, accusing him impeding a 1992 copyright agreement with the heirs by striking overriding deals with them in 2001 and 2003. The families insist the publisher filed its claims two years too late, as the statute of limitations expired in 2008. [Law360]
Webcomics | Malicious hackers hit the Blind Ferret servers last week, and they didn’t just wipe out the websites that host Least I Could Do, Girls with Slingshots and other high-profile webcomics — they also wiped out the backups. Gary Tyrell has the story and advises creators to have multiple backups in multiple locations. [Fleen]
Quote of the Day | ‘Be extremely careful in doing business there’
"Birds of Prey" #19, now written by Christy Marx
“Seeing lots of ‘that’s how it is in this business,’ stuff in regards to the day’s news. It really isn’t, and it certainly shouldn’t be. To be a little more direct: the way DC treats a lot of their freelancers is absolutely abhorrent. When it happened to me on SUPERGIRL, I didn’t say much, because I didn’t want to dwell on the negative. But when you see it happen to so many good people, and the damage it does to their careers, their incomes, etc… it’s just not okay. I don’t understand the need for it, & I wish it were otherwise. I love DC, love the characters, & I know I did some of my best work there. And I’m VERY happy for my friends who have been successful there. But I would tell any creator — especially newer, younger ones — to be extremely careful in doing business there.”
– Nick Spencer, who was abruptly removed from Supergirl in 2010, reacting to Monday’s news that DC Comics had replaced newly announced writers Robert Venditti and Jim Zubkavich on Constantine and Birds of Prey, respectively, before their first issues had debuted
DC creator shuffles: Stormwatch, Constantine, Birds of Prey, more
With the launch of Comic Book Resources’ new monthly feature with DC Comics Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras and Editorial Director Bobbie Chase arrives announcements of a slew of creative changes, including confirmation that Jim Starlin is the new writer of Stormwatch.
Best known for his work on Marvel’s cosmic titles, Starlin has been teasing since early December that he would take the reins on an existing DC series beginning in April. Yvel Guichet joins him as artist. Other creative shifts in April include:
• Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes will write the newly launching Constantine, taking over Robert Venditti with Issue 2. “Robert came to us with a fantastic pitch for Constantine,” Harras told CBR. “We really loved what Robert’s doing — he’s working on Demon Knights now, and he’s also working on another project for us that I really can’t go into which is a big deal for us. But at the end of the day, Robert and Dan [DiDio] and I spoke, and Constantine was, for him, one book too many. It was the one thing that we had to go, “If we want you to focus on this one project, maybe we should make a change on Constantine.”
Comics A.M. | Mary & Bryan Talbot win Costa; Tardi refuses top honor
Dotter of Her Father's Eyes
Awards | Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, by Mary and Bryan Talbot, has won the Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Awards) in the biography category, marking the first time a graphic novel has received the literary prize. “Just being shortlisted was amazing and hearing we’d won the category was stunning,” Mary Talbot said. “We’re delighted of course, both personally – it’s the first story I’ve had published – but also for the medium, I can’t believe a graphic novel has won.” [The Guardian]
Awards | Jacques Tardi, the acclaimed creator of West Coast Blues, It Was the War of the Trenches and the Adèle Blanc-Sec series, has refused France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur medal: “Being fiercely attached to my freedom of thought and creativity, I do not want to receive anything, neither from this government or from any other political power whatsoever. I am therefore refusing this medal with the greatest determination.” [AFP]
Looking Forward, Looking Back | Creators weigh in on 2012 and 2013 (Part 2)
Uncanny X-Force #1
It’s become an annual tradition during our birthday bash: No matter how much stuff we line up, people we interview, etc., there are still tons of people we like to hear from and include in our giant New Year’s/anniversary/birthday activities. So, as we have in past years, we have asked various comics folks what they liked in 2012 and what they are excited about for 2013.
Check out Part One, and keep reading to see more of what people shared with us, including details on their upcoming projects. Our thanks to everyone who responded this year. Also, thanks again to Tim O’Shea, Michael May and Chris Arrant, who helped collect responses.
SAM HUMPHRIES (The Ultimates, Sacrifice, Uncanny X-Force)
What was your favorite comic of 2012?
Two webcomics:
- Simon Hanselmann’s Megg and Mogg strips at http://girlmountain.tumblr.com. Hilarious, dark, and strange.
- SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jilian Tamaki at: http://mutantmagic.com/. Beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking.
After Skullkickers gets Uncanny, it will turn Savage
Skullkickers creators Jim Zubkavich and Edward Huang aren’t finished with their flirtation with adjectives just yet. After announcing last month that their Image Comics fantasy action-comedy will be re-branded in February as The Uncanny Skullkickers, complete with a new Issue 1, they’ve now revealed that March will see the release of … Savage Skullkickers #1.
“With over 180 issues released over the past 20 years, Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon is one of the most compelling and consistent creator-owned comics ever made,” Zubkavich said in a statement. “In order to commemorate Erik’s hard work and strident ‘no relaunching, no renumbering’ approach to his series, we thought we’d relaunch and renumber Skullkickers, stealing his precious ‘Savage’ adjective while we’re at it. Thanks, Erik!”
To help prevent headaches among collectors, Image will offer two covers: the regular Savage Skullkickers #1, and an “Issue 20 Variant” to “make sure your collector streak is unbroken.” You can see both below.
Comics A.M. | Canadian city learns to love Marvel’s ‘origin bomb’
From "Avengers" #1
Comics | Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, appears to be embracing its role in this week’s Avengers#1 as a target of an alien “origin bomb” that struck the city, changing its biosphere and altering billions of years of evolution in mere minutes. Tom Brevoort, Marvel’s senior vice present and executive editor, tells a local newspaper he’s unsure why Regina and Perth, Australia, were selected, but local retailer Chad Boudreau seems glad it happened. “We had no advanced notice of it,” he said. “It just happened that someone reading the comic saw it in there.” He expects strong sales at Comic Readers, with those who don’t typically follow comics buying the issue out of curiosity. [The Star Phoenix]
Comics A.M. | Woman shot following Walking Dead argument
The Walking Dead
Crime | Police say a Willston Park, New York, man shot his girlfriend in the back Monday following an argument about the AMC adaptation of The Walking Dead. Twenty-six-year-old Jared M. Gurman reportedly believed a military mishap could lead to the release of a virus, triggering a zombie apocalypse; Jessica Gelderman, 27, thought the idea was absurd. According to police, the argument escalated and even continued through text messages after Gelderman left the apartment to spend the night at her parents’ house. When Gelderman returned to try to smooth things over with her boyfriend, police allege he was sitting on the stairs with a .22-caliber rifle; a single round pierced her lung and diaphragm and shattered her ribs. Gurman was arrested when he took Gelderman to the hospital. She’s in stable condition with the bullet still in her body. [Newsday]
The Middle Ground #131 | The numbers game
For some reason, I keep reading and re-reading Jim Zubkavich’s breakdown of indie comic economics, as if at some point it’s actually going to make sense to me. It’s not that I don’t understand the math as he presents it, but more than my brain refuses to comprehend the scale of the unfairness of distribution of wealth when it comes to comic books.
In case you haven’t seen it, Zub’s breakdown for a $2.99 comic goes like this:
Kickstart My Art | Ryan North’s chooseable-path version of Hamlet
Ryan North’s (Dinosaur Comics, Adventure Time) Kickstarter for his illustrated prose book, To Be or Not To Be is way past being fully funded with 24 days still to go, so this isn’t a plea for action so much as it is a public service announcement. Because, dude …
North is putting together something that he can’t call Choose-Your-Own-Adventure for legal reasons, but totally is, only it’s for grown-ups, based on Hamlet, allows you to play as various characters including the ghost, and is illustrated by an insane line-up of artists like Kate Beaton, Chip Zdarsky, Chris Hastings, David Malki, Dustin Harbin, Jim Zubkavich, Kazu Kibuishi, Ray Fawkes, Vera Brosgol. … Seriously, I’m going to embarrass myself by leaving someone awesome out and the list is loooong. Check out the Kickstarter page for the full scoop.
$15 gets you a PDF copy, but $20 gets U.S. residents the PDF and a paperback copy too. Backers outside the U.S. are asked for a $30 pledge to cover shipping costs. And of course there are other goodies for pledging more.
With a wink, Image Comics announces … Uncanny Skullkickers #1
Riding the “Uncanny” wave of new Marvel titles — Uncanny Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Uncanny X-Force — Skullkickers creators Jim Zubkavich and Edward Huang have wryly announced the February arrival of … The Uncanny Skullkickers #1.
“A bold new direction!” the Image Comics solicitation promises. “A perfect jumping-on point! A newly added adjective! Our nineteeth issue, but also a new issue #1! It’s all here, people! Don’t make us use more exclamation marks!! P.S. Retailers: Rack this comic beside other ‘Uncanny’ comics you may have hanging around and sell a ton of copies. Do it.” The subsequently released teaser (above), parodies Marvel’s ubiquitous ads for its relaunched titles, with the “Join the Revolution” logo replaced by a box reading “YUP we went there.”
Image NOW! maybe? Hey, why not. “That’s how we roll … bandwagon-jumping bastards,” Zubkavich wrote this morning on Twitter, adding, “Wait until you see the variant cover.”
Speaking of covers: Note, too, that Chris Stevens’ cover (below) bears a striking similarity to those recently released by DC Comics for its Zero Month. The Uncanny Skullkickers #1 goes on sale Feb. 27.
Comics A.M. | This weekend, it’s Long Beach, Tucson & Rhode Island comic cons
Long Beach Comic Con
Conventions | Creators like Neal Adams, Tim Bradstreet, Howard Chaykin, Amanda Conner and Scott Lobdell will headline the Long Beach Comic & Horror Con, held Saturday and Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center. “I think most of our artists are thrilled to come back each year,” said Phil Lawrence, principal sales director for the event. “This is the earliest we sold out our Artists Alley and we have almost 190 tables. By focusing on the artists and giving them their due, they seem to keep coming back and signing up earlier — and they promote the show, which helps us out, too.” [Gazettes.com]
Conventions | Tucson Comic-Con may be small, but it puts comics — not other entertainment — front and center. [Arizona Daily Star]
Conventions | Also up this week: Rhode Island Comic Con, which doesn’t eschew the other media but boasts RISD alumnus Walt Simonson as the headline guest. [The Providence Phoenix]
Comics A.M. | Jack Kirby’s heirs appeal Marvel rights ruling
Jack Kirby
Legal | The lawyer for Jack Kirby’s heirs asked the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to overturn a 2011 ruling that Marvel owns the copyrights to the characters the late artist co-created for the publisher, arguing that a federal judge misinterpreted the law. Attorney Marc Toberoff, who also represents the heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in their fight against DC Comics, told a three-judge panel that a freelancer who gets paid only when a publisher likes his work is not, under copyright law, performing work for hire. Marvel countered that Stan Lee’s testimony established Kirby drew the contested works at the publisher’s behest; the Kirby family insists the lower court gave too much credence to Lee’s testimony. Kirby’s children filed 45 notices in 2009 in a bid to terminate their father’s assignment of copyright to characters ranging from the Fantastic Four and the Avengers to Thor and Iron Man under a provision of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act. However, in July 2011, a judge determined those comics created between 1958 and 1963 were work made for hire and therefore ineligible for copyright termination. [Law360.com]