Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | A committee recommended Monday that Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age, an anthology of comics about middle school edited by Ariel Schrag, should remain in the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School library in Dixfield, Maine, after the mother of a student challenged its appropriateness because of “objectionable sexual and language references.” The local school board will make a final ruling in January. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom sent a letter of support for the book prior to the hearing. A school board in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pulled the graphic novel from middle-school libraries in November 2009, but allowed teachers to continue to use it in class. [Sun Journal]

Digital | Charlie Sorrel looks at the iPad comic reader called, appropriately enough, Comic Reader. [Wired]

From "Foul Play"

Creators | Cartoonist Jack Davis looks back on his lengthy career, the influence of Harvey Kurtzman, and the dislike for his own Tales From the Crypt stories, like “Foul Play,” which became one of Frederic Werthem’s targets in Seduction of the Innocent: “I have a hang-up. I love horror. I love ghost stories, but when it comes to illustrating it for thousands and thousands of young people to see it, I don’t go along with it. I think that happened, and I didn’t know it was happening at the time. I just knew that I would go in and I’d get a check and pick up a script and go home and do it. I sat in a little room and did this horrible baseball story, and it made the Senate [hearings] and everywhere. People liked it but I didn’t. I said, ‘I can’t do that.’ To this day I love all the people at Mad, but Mad had changed. It’s not like it used to be. It has some very good artists but their philosophy is not mine.” [The A.V. Club]

Creators | Larry Gonick talks about his long career creating nonfiction comics and his latest magnum opus The Cartoon Guide to Calculus. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Brilliant! Tragic!

Creators | Jamie McKelvie’s illustration for Art Brut’s album Brilliant! Tragic! is among Paste Magazine‘s 50 Best Album Covers of 2011. [Paste]

Creators | Health Care Reform artist Nathan Schreiber is profiled by his hometown newspaper. [The Milford Daily News]

Craft | Kevin Huizenga shares one of the templates he uses for drawing a comics page: “I draw most of my comics — the Ganges stories, especially — with 4 rows. When I’m starting a new story I usually print a few of these out on copy paper and sketch on them. Sometimes I figure out a page pretty much exactly right the first time, but often it takes a few tries. Or I’ll just sketch scenes and characters in the boxes and not worry about where each panel is going to go until later. For a few years now I’ve worked this way and it’s become second nature.” [New Construction]

BLAMMO #6

Season’s Greetings and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what we’ve been reading lately. Today our special guests are Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows, editors of Devastator: The Quarterly Comedy Magazine for Humans. Their latest issue has a video game theme, with contributions from James Kochalka, Corey Lewis, Danny Hellman and many more. And if you head over to their website between now through Dec. 16, the code ROBOT6 gets you 20 percent off single issues.

To see what Amanda, Geoffrey and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.

*****

Michael May

Amulet

I’ve been wanting to read Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet for a while now and have finally gotten to the first volume. It begins a lot like so many other fantasy stories for young people: with a single parent taking her children to an old, secluded, family property because lack of money has driven them away from the city. There, the family’s dark history and a magic item or two involve the kids in an adventure to save their parent and possibly the world. It’s an old premise, but a powerful one. Every kid longs to discover that there’s something cool and powerful in their family history that will change their lives.

What separates the good versions of this story from the bad are the details and what happens once the secret is uncovered and the young heroes are engaged. In this case, Kibuishi unleashes his considerable imagination to plop his protagonists into a world of magic, robots, dark elves, and cephalopod monsters. It’s an exciting, visually impressive story with a great deal of heart.

Chris Mautner

Things I read recently:

Feynman

Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick — As the title suggests, this is a basic biography of the famed physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman. Ottaviani attempts to mimic the scientist’s wayward, anecdotal manner of speaking, which can take a bit of getting used to, but once you do, it’s a pretty smooth ride. Myrick’s loose, wobbly style fits Feynman’s loose, haphazard manner rather well. This is a pretty basic biography, aimed clearly at readers who may have heard Feynman’s name, but are unfamiliar with his life and work. In other words, it’s a starting point, and not for someone whose already read one of the many biographies about the man. This graphic novel won’t replace any of those books, either, but as a “basic intro” guide, it suits rather well.

The Adventures of Herge by Bocquet, Fromental and Stanislas — Another biography, this time about the famous cartoonist George Remi, i.e. Herge, the creator of Tintin. Rather than attempt to completely chronicle the artist’s life, the authors instead aim for a “significant snapshots” approach, dramatizing every two pages or so a particular event in artist’s development. A picture does emerge of the artist as a conflicted, driven, relatively genial fellow, but it remains a rather cursory glance in the Herge’s life. The book is really best suited for Tintin fans or fans of Stanislas’ art, which is lovely.

Carla Hoffman

Defenders

I don’t know, man. I just don’t know. Defenders #1 has all the elements a gal like me should love: Matt Fraction (FRACTION 3:16), slick and stylish artwork, Doctor Strange and an assortment of quality characters who deserve a place in a book of their own, rather than a guest star role in an event tie-in. Betty Banner is here (kind of), Danny Rand is back, and oh my Lord there are tiny out-of-frame comments on nearly every page!

And then… we have two awkward hook-ups from guys who should be above making such freshman choices (okay, maybe not Danny Rand), the continual “I hate myself and want to die” theme from people who seem to be wallowing in it, the Silver Surfer seems to have powers that contradict his appearances in Thor (Fraction should talk to the writer of that book and get things straight!) … I don’t know. I’ll give it three issues, but it seems to me like (yet another) Doctor Strange mini-series might have been a better idea.

X-Club #1 is a better first issue, strangely enough, probably because I am not expecting it to blow my tiny little brain. It’s giving me what I want, the same quality of faux-Ellis techno-sarcasm I got from the past “X-Club” outings from Simon Spurrier, the snickering humor and delightful dance of characters that normally just bring exposition in the regular X-titles. A shady corporation builds a sky elevator with the help of Utopia and then monsters. This won’t be Sandman, but it will be funny, and that’s a rare quality in comics.

Which is why I continue to buy Deadpool MAX. It also confuses me as it makes me laugh, bringing an uncomfortable humor that makes me wonder if I’m a terrible person for finding any of it funny. Remember reading a MAD Magazine as a kid and finding it so unlike anything else normally marketed for kids that there was almost a thrill to getting an issue? Yeah, it’s a little like that. Grab a copy of the Deadpool MAX X-Mas Special and hide it in a copy of Grant Morrison’s Supergods.

Brigid Alverson

Habibi

I’m sort of all over the place this week. I read Craig Thompson’s Habibi yesterday–I picked it up thinking I’ll just attack it in small bits and ended up reading the whole thing in two sittings. I can’t do it justice here, except to say that after all the discussions I was expecting it to be all literary and boring, and it wasn’t. There were things I liked and things I didn’t like, but the story kept pulling me along.

Everything else was on the light side, though. I picked up BOOM! Studios’ Peanuts graphic novel, Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, and while it’s very attractive, the opening sequence is basically a bunch of one-page gag strips, mostly about Linus and his blanket. I’m pretty sure some of them are old, because the gags seem very familiar, but at any rate, the structure makes for some disconnected storytelling. I’m hoping we get something closer to a linear story as the book goes on.

I’m also reading volume 17 of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. I’m always reading Black Jack, because Vertical puts out a volume every two months, and it’s one of my favorite comics to just relax and enjoy–I don’t feel like I have to analyze Black Jack or find a deeper meaning, it’s just short stories about a bad ass surgeon. He starts this volume by doing surgery on himself, which is a pretty tough act to follow, but this is the last volume that Vertical is putting out. It does include a nice extra: A list of every Black Jack story, in chronological order, along with the volume of the Vertical edition it appeared in. That makes for a nice project for obsessive Black Jack fans–to read all the stories in order–except that there are a few that, on Tezuka’s orders, were never collected in English or Japanese.

Tom Bondurant

Manhunter

I started picking up Marc Andreyko’s Manhunter only after its first cancellation, so this week I finally started from the beginning. Maybe it’s the collected-edition effect, but I am through the first two paperbacks and didn’t want to put either one down. Andreyko and penciller Jesus Saiz tell Kate Spencer’s story in compelling fashion, with snappy dialogue and expressive artwork, making her transition from prosecutor to vigilante seem natural and seamless. What’s more, these stories take place on the margins of Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis, but Andreyko integrates those events into his narrative pretty well too. The same goes for various references to DC history, like Hawkman’s past with the Shadow-Thief, Cameron Chase’s knowledge of Checkmate, and Superman’s relationship with the (then-late) Firestorm. I thought Manhunter was good already, but I didn’t know it was this good.

Mr. Mautner will be delighted to hear that I also got a chance to watch the “Ultimate Cut” of 2009′s Watchmen movie. This is the one which incorporates the “Black Freighter” sequences, and some other previously-deleted scenes as well. Anyway, it turned out to be more of the same: faithful to a fault, except when it’s cranked-up with Zack Snyder attitude. I still didn’t hate it, though. I just think it’s ironic that it tried too hard to be a big-budget Superhero Movie! instead of the more subdued work the comics depicted. Snyder’s Watchmen is like Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings–enough of an effort that you hope someone gets it right later on.

Tim O’Shea

Action Comics #4

Action Comics #4: Not sure which annoys me more: writer Grant Morrison having Superman enemy Sam Lane ask Superman to save his daughter, or the fact that this storyline is delayed until issue #7. On the first point, a case could be made that the guy who was holding Superman prisoner in issue #2, is a pragmatic military man who will use whatever resources he has (even an alien he does not trust) to save his beloved daughter. But still, the shift in Lane’s demeanor (going after Superman to seeking Superman’s aid) was made more jarring by the fact I swear that’s Lane’s only speaking line (and second appearance [the first is him running alongside Luthor in a panic) in all of issue #4. As for the delay of story, I am unsure if I am interested enough (yes, I know it’s Lord Grant Morrison and all, but still) to come back with issue #7.

Stormwatch #4: I bought Stormwatch because Paul Cornell was writing it. Am the only one annoyed that after settling in for a nice long run, I just found out he is leaving with issue #6? I do not know all of the behind the scenes machinations, Cornell may have taken the assignment to help out DC editorial as a favor, never intending to write past issue 6. Maybe he barely had anything he wanted to say after issue #6 and if he stayed on the book, issue #7 would have sucked. I kind of doubt it. Cornell is a good writer. So as much as I enjoyed this latest installment (what I loved about old Authority stories? The team’s ability to pull a victory or at least gain an upper hand in the midst of chaos, but typically a worldscale chaos, even)—this issue reminded me of the best of the Authority in that regard. The lack of leadership in the team is an intriguing aspect that gets some major play (and allows Cornell to do some great character bits) in this issue. Before I forget, artist Miguel Sepulveda continues to impress me.

X-Club

X-Club #1: I almost did not buy the first issue of this X-Men miniseries because I thought it was a rave book (I am only 90 percent kidding on that point). I have never read writer Simon Spurrier before–and know next to nothing about the characters, but there was a humor amidst the action (particularly with Dr. Nemesis) that I enjoyed the issue. I am not reading all of the X books, but I am starting to see a pattern of Cyclops (jackass) and Wolverine (golden boy). Not sure if it’s that way across the board, but I wonder how many longtime Cyclops fans are feeling alienated by this approach (more informed X-Men readers, feel free to chime in in the comments with any counterpoints/info you may have).

The Amazing Spider-Man #675: I generally opted out of Spider-Island, no matter how much fun people said the event was gonna be, the folks turning into monsters did not look like fun to me. So I was glad to get back to Spidey fighting garden variety crooks (or in this case the seeming murder of crooks). What really hooked me to buy this two-parter (which wrapped in this issue) was the art of Giuseppe Camuncoli, inked by the great Klaus Janson. Many of the current Spider-Man artists seemed to have a sketchy quirky style to drawing the lead character. In the case of Camuncoli and Janson though, I get an element of Jim Mooney or Gil Kane. What I always loved about 1970s Spidey comics was when Spidey leapt into action, some artists would draw the progression of his movement from point A to point B, and that’s another element that Camuncoli works into a few scenes. Did I mention Spidey even uses a new and improved Spidey signal light in this issue? Yeah, I am a kid comic reader at heart sometimes.

Hulk #45: Writer Jeff Parker continues to give me an enjoyable supporting cast with this comic. In this issue, Machine Man uses his head to fight a foe. No really, literally just his head. Some might accuse this issue of being light on action, as Parker tries to connect the dots of the plot to position more action in the next issue. And yet, artist Patrick Zircher’s layouts are so dynamic there’s an energy to them that made me not care that a great deal of the story was flashback/background info. In fact, if you had told me I would be dazzled by a two-page spread of a microcosm, I would have doubted you… until I read Hulk #45. Zircher is enjoying himself on this arc, no doubt. Folks that bailed this title in the Jeph Loeb era should revisit this book ASAP, as it’s a different and better title under Parker and company.

Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows

Hark! A Vagrant

Hark! A Vagrant – Kate Beaton signed her exquisite Drawn and Quarterly collection for us at a signing at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, and this week we’re revisiting all our favorite entries in her beloved webcomic. 80s Business Woman, Mystery Solving Teens, and of course, several AP classes’ worth of mocked historical figures, with equally funny margin notes accompanying the strips. Fun fact: every single guy we know wants to marry Miss Beaton. Good luck, gents!

BLAMMO #6 – First of all, it’s hard to argue against purchasing any comic with the title BLAMMO. Amanda found the latest comics collection from Denver cartoonist Noah Van Sciver at this year’s APE and it was a stand-out purchase from our yearly haul. Amanda liked the honest dialogue, artfully crude illustrations and realistic characters in the autobiographical strips. Geoffrey liked the comic called “Punks vs. Lizards,” in which a gang of 1980s British street punks murder a bunch of giant lizards and say things like, “anarchy and shit!” Van Sciver’s humor is versatile, offering something for everyone.

Club Wolverine #14 – Logan and his nightclub’s all-mutant staff continue to experience prejudice and pure ecstasy in mid-70s New York City. We love that writer Mort Bendis (not related to Brian Michael, though he keeps claiming otherwise) finally takes us into appropriately seedy territory as Mojo holds the club hostage for a swingin’ orgy, in honor of Dazzler’s new disco album, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Oh My. Wolverine, warning Mojo that the club doesn’t have a proper orgy license, says our favorite line yet in the series: “time to do the hustle on outta here, bub.”

Buffalo Speedway #3 – Admittedly, we picked up the first Buffalo Speedway book at Meltdown Comics on a whim because Geoffrey’s from Buffalo, New York and we thought a graphic novel series about a pizza delivery boy sounded like fun. Though the characters are actually from Texas, this series by Yehudi Mercado “delivers” the goods (Mmm… pizza puns). Charming characters, snappy dialogue and a fun story involving the busiest day ever in pizza delivery history — the day of O.J. Simpson’s Bronco chase — the final volume was satisfying to the last bite. (Mmm… additional pizza puns.)

Pogo

Pogo Vol. 1: Through The Wild Blue Wonder – Geoffrey has been eagerly anticipating this collection for years, making it the perfect early Christmas gift! Walt Kelly’s classic comic Pogo was an inspiration for many brilliant cartoonists like Berkeley Breathed and Jeff Smith, in addition to a comedy magazine called The Devastator, which we’ve never heard of. Kelly’s illustrations are masterful, with expressive characters who are warm and friendly. Pogo‘s deft social satire makes this collection about Pogo Possum and friends a must own for humor comics fans and people who just like good things in general. “We have met the enemy,” and he is not getting this for Christmas.

Alan Moore

Creators | Watchmen writer Alan Moore responds to recent comments made by The Dark Knight Returns creator Frank Miller: “I think that the Occupy movement is, in one sense, the public saying that they should be the ones to decide who’s too big to fail. It’s a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it. I’m sure if it had been a bunch of young, sociopathic vigilantes with Batman make-up on their faces, he’d be more in favour of it. We would definitely have to agree to differ on that one.”  [Honest Publishing]

Conventions | Tom Spurgeon files a lengthy report from the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, held Saturday in New York City. [The Comics Reporter]

Ashes

Creators | Uncanny X-Men writer Kieron Gillen comments on the use of sites like Kickstarter to fund comics projects through the lens of Alex de Campi and Jimmy Broxton’s Ashes: “I think that Kickstarter or – if you’re not a yank – Indie Go Go is the single biggest new thing to be considered by a working creative this year. And not just comic creatives. Digital is something people have been chewing over for years now – and I suspect it’s going to be next year when we see some more movement there – but this has surprised a lot of people, and lead to a cheerily wild-west vibe to it all. People running Kickstarters are still trying to work out how to do this thing, and balance all sorts of questions of personal moral integrity. And this is important to do, just because when you don’t, things go bad quickly and you’re risking tarring the very concept of kickstarter-esque funded projects.” [Kieron Gillen]

Creators | CNN profiles legendary MAD cartoonist Al Jaffee. [CNN]

Creators | Gerry Alanguilan talks about his graphic novel Elmer. [Philippine Daily Inquirer]

The Last Dragon

Creators | Rebecca Guay discusses her Dark Horse adaptation of Jane Yolen’s short story “The Last Dragon.” [Sequential Tart]

Creators | Box Brown discusses his career and approach to making comics, among other topics. [The Comics Reporter]

Comics | Deb Aoki previews some of the manga we can expect to see in the coming year. [About.com]

Marketing | Johanna Draper Carlson, always quick to call out bad marketing tactics, takes a Kickstarter creator to task for not responding well to criticism. The creator responds in the comments; you be the judge. [Comics Worth Reading]

Commentary | Chris Murphy looks back at “four incredible years” with Marvel’s Hercules. [ComicsAlliance]

Commentary | David Anderson looks at the first issue of John Byrne’s Cold War. [Spandexless]

Chris Claremont

Creators | Longtime Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont is donating his archives to Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The collection includes materials for all of his major writing projects over the past 40 years, notebooks with story ideas, drafts of short stories, plays, novels and comic books, and materials from his early training in the theater and his career as an actor. “We hope this is the first of more comics papers to come to the University,” said Karen Green, Columbia University’s ancient/medieval studies librarian and graphic novel librarian. “We want it to be a magnet for these kinds of archives in New York City, where the comics medium was born.” [Publishers Weekly]

Awards | USA Network and DC Comics’ Burn Notice webcomic has won a Media Vanguard Award from Advertising Age. [Advertising Age]

Creators | Michael Cavna talks to two comics creators with very different takes on Occupy Wall Street, sequential journalist Susie Cagle, who was arrested as part of the Occupy Oakland protests, and conservative editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler, who walks past the Occupy D.C. site every day and regards it as “quaint,” smelly, and out of step with the rest of the country.” [Comic Riffs]

Bleach, Vol. 49

Publishing | Viz Media prepares for its digital relaunch of Shonen Jump, which will feature near-simultaneous releases of Naruto, Bleach and four other series with their Japanese counterparts, by speeding up its digital releases of Bleach — and skipping ahead to the next story arc. [About.com]

Creators | Eight veteran MAD Magazine creators, including Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones and Jack Davis (whose work appeared in the very first issue) got together in Georgia recently to talk over old times. Jaffee and Aragones are still going strong, but Davis quit the magazine 20 years ago. He explained, “I like all the guys up there a lot, but I felt like it kind of got a little raunchy.” [The Associated Press]
Retailers | Ralph Gardner Jr., revisits St. Marks Comics after 20 years away and finds it still going strong. [The Wall Street Journal]

Habibi

Commentary | Jonathan Liu looks at Craig Thompson’s Habibi. [GeekDad]

Commentary | Just call them comics, says Dave Scheidt, who decries the blurring of the distinction between comics and graphic novels: “A graphic novel in the purest definition is a front to back story in which told in a single volume most usually self-contained, and not a collected edition of numerous single issues, even if they are apart of an ongoing story. If it were just released as volumes and never single issues, ding ding! Graphic novel.” [The Huffington Post]

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes

It’s time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new comics. As usual, we’re focusing on graphic novels, collected volumes and first issues so that I don’t have to come up with a new way to say, “ Mouse Guard is still awesome!” every month. And I’ll continue letting Tom and Carla do the heavy lifting in regards to DC and Marvel’s solicitations.

Also, please feel free to play along in the comments. Tell me what I missed that you’re looking forward to or – if you’re a comics creator – mention your own stuff.

Amulet

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes - With the Flight anthologies done, the all-ages version, Flight Explorer has morphed into this. I expect it to be as lovely as its predecessors and especially like the Mystery Box theme.

Archie

Jinx – J Torres and Rick Burchett’s graphic novel aimed at tween girls.

Kevin Keller, Volume 1 and Kevin Keller #1 – Archie collects the first appearances and mini-series of their major, gay character and also launches his ongoing series.

Ardden

Flash Gordon: Vengeance of Ming – The third volume in Ardden’s Flash Gordon series.

Ferals

Avatar

Ferals #1 – David Lapham writes werewolves.

Atmospherics, Color Edition – Warren Ellis and Ken Meyer’s re-mastered and newly painted story about a woman who’s either a disturbed witness to a UFO attack or a heroin-using serial killer.

Bongo

Simpsons Illustrated #1 – Bongo launches a Best Of series collecting material from various Simpsons titles.

Boom!

Steed and Mrs. Peel #1 – Reprinting Grant Morrison and Ian Gibson’s 1990 Eclipse Comics story of the other Avengers.

Peanuts #1 – Kicking off the regular, monthly series with new stories as well as reprints of Schulz’s Sunday strips.

Campfire

Jungle Book - Campfire’s artwork can often be perfunctory, but I like the whimsy of Amit Tayal’s cover for this one.

Cartoon Books

Bone: Quest for the Spark, Book 2 – The second installment in Tom Sniegoski’s series of novels set in Jeff Smith’s world (with illustrations by Smith himself).

Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand

Dark Horse

Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1 – Mike Mignola’s pulp hero returns for a five-issue mini-series.

The Monstermen and Other Scary Stories - I love Gary Gianni’s linework anyway, but I especially dug his Corpus Monstrum/Monstermen stories that appeared for a while as back-up features in Hellboy comics. This volume features Gianni’s tuxedo-wearing, medieval knight fighting zombie cowboys, squid pirates, abominable snowmen, and mustachioed skulls.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – War #1 – I’m pretty much done with the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but if you’re not or are curious about it, Dark Horse is billing this as a major jump-on point to the part that covers the ancient period of the Star Wars galaxy.

Compleat Terminal City - All fourteen issues of Dean Motter and Michael Lark’s retro-scifi/noir series.

Mighty Samson: Judgment - Probably as close as we’re going to get to a Thundarr the Barbarian comic.

King Conan: The Phoenix on the Sword #1 – This four-issue mini-series adapts Robert E Howard’s first Conan story.

Dark Horse Presents #8 – Features a BPRD eulogy for Hellboy and a new Tarzan story.

DC

Justice League #5 – Looks like the team’s finally together.

Frankenstein vs. OMAC

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #5 and OMAC #5 – As a faithful reader of Jeff Lemire’s Frankenstein, I”m actually kind of excited that this will give me some motivation to check out OMAC, which I’m hearing good things about.

Xombi - The biggest casualty (for me, anyway) of the New 52 gets its collection.

Drawn and Quarterly

Goliath - The David and Goliath story told from Goliath’s viewpoint through the filter of corporate bureaucracy and presented in a lovely, minimalist style.

Dynamite

The Lone Ranger #1 – I tried Dynamite’s first Lone Ranger series, was disappointed that it wanted to stretch the familiar origin story into a multi-issue arc, and immediately dropped it. Assuming that won’t be the case this time – and noticing that it’s written by Ande Parks, whose writing I’ve enjoyed very much on other things – I’m up for another try.

First Second

Olympians, Volume 4: Hades, Lord of the Dead – The latest in George O’Connor’s wonderfully exciting and insightful review of the the most important characters from Greek mythology. Hades has always been a favorite of mine, so I’m especially looking forward to this one.

Silence of Our Friends - “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Edmund Burke is supposed to have originated that quote, but it was driven home for me by Vicente Amorim’s 2008 film, Good about good Germans who were too afraid of the Nazis to assist their Jewish neighbors in WWII. But even that gave me some comfortable, historical and geographical distance from the people and events it was talking about. I expect that Silence of Our Friends, about the civil rights movement in the ’60s, will hit even closer to home.

The Sincerest Form of Parody

Fantagraphics

The Sincerest Form of Parody: The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics - I can’t decided if I’m more interested in the historical context of what folks were parodying in the ’50s or just looking at some cool Jack Davis and Kirby art that I’ve never seen before.

Hermes

The Phantom: The Complete Sundays, Volume 1: 1939-1943 – I like daily strips too, but Sunday comics are the best.

Humanoids

Whispers in the Walls – Guillermo del Toro’s co-writer from The Devil’s Backbone goes solo on this tale of horror at a Czechoslovakian children’s hospital in the late ’40s.

IDW

Infestation 2 #1 – Since I’m not a zombie fan, I passed up the first Infestation even while I was loving the idea of connecting all those weird, incongruous universes. This time around it’s Lovecraftian demons, which is not only a more appealing concept to me personally; it also makes a lot of sense from a dimension-crossing standpoint. That something exists tying 30 Days of Night and Dungeons and Dragons together with Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gives me all the joy I’ll ever need.

Danger Girl: The Danger-Sized Treasury Edition - I’ve been wanting to check out Danger Girl for a while now. This collects the first three stories to get me started.

Danger Girl: Revolver

Danger Girl: Revolver #1 – And here’s the new story.

Womanthology: Heroic - The controversial Kickstarter sensation comes to life.

Doctor Who #13 – Occasionally I have to break my rule about only mentioning new series. Josh Fialkov’s taking over Doctor Who for four issues to put the Doctor in 1941 Casablanca is one of those occasions. It starts here.

Steve Canyon, Volume 1: 1947-1948 - I read these stories when Checker published them and was eager for more. Unfortunately, Checker quit, but now Milton Caniff’s globe-trotting pilot is at IDW in a great-looking hardcover.

Image

Fatale #1 – Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ supernatural noir comic has everyone’s mouths watering, including mine. I’d buy it for the “Beauty” cover alone, though the “Beast” one looks cool too.

Prophet #21 – Two of my favorite artists, Brandon Graham and Simon Roy are collaborating on this, with a cover by Marian Churchland. That’s the exact opposite team of whatever I expected from a continuation of a Rob Liefeld book. Seriously: good on Liefeld. I’m also impressed that he’s not just starting the numbering over again with #1. Seems like that would be the obvious thing, especially with the book going in such a new direction, creatively, but it’s because it’s surprising and counter-intuitive that I like it. And it’s not even like he’s cashing in on a milestone issue-number. If my calculations are correct, he’s counting two mini-series (one, ten-issues; the other, nine), a one-shot, and an annual to get to 21. If this is what we can expect from the new Extreme, and apparently it is, my interest is piqued.

Whispers #1 – I find the Luna Brothers interesting enough that a new, supernatural thriller by one of them gets a check-out.

The Intrepids

The Intrepids, Volume 1 - Teens vs mad scientists (and a cyborg bear).

Marvel

Scarlet Spider #1 – The latest spin-off for the Spider-Man franchise.

Amazing Spider-Man #677 and Daredevil #8 – I like a couple of things about this crossover. First, like DC’s Frankenstein/OMAC one, it’s pretty unobtrusive. Second, Mark Waid’s writing both parts of it.

Alpha Flight #8 – SOB! I’ll miss you, Alpha Flight!

Wolverine and X-Men Alpha and Omega #1 – I’d usually feel ungenerous towards a mini-series spin-off of a comic that’s only four issues old, but Brian Wood is writing it and that bears looking into.

X-Men Legacy #260.1 – Christos Gage takes over from Mike Carey. I’m sad to see Carey go, but intrigued to see what Gage has planned. I hear good things about his Avengers Academy.

Daredevil by Mark Waid, Volume 1 - Waid and Paolo Rivera’s critically acclaimed run for trade-waiters.

Moonstone

The Big Book of Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Collects the first seven, long-out-of-print Moonstone Kolchak stories.

Oni

Possessions, Volume 3: Better House Trap - Sadly, it’s only recently that Ray Fawkes’ name has been on my radar. Now that it is, I want to check out his slapstick series about a possessed little girl trying to escape the loving, nurturing environment of the haunted house that traps her.

Wasteland

Wasteland #33 – Oni is celebrating Antony Johnston’s post-apocalyptic series’ going monthly with a $1 kick-off issue. I’ve fallen extremely behind in reading it, but it was one of my favorite comics at the time I decided to trade-wait it.

The Avalon Chronicles, Volume 1: Once in a Blue Moon – I’m a sucker for stories about young people who get transported to magical worlds where they discover things about themselves. Especially ones as nicely drawn as this one.

Papercutz

Monster Mess - Lewis Trondheim’s story of two kids who discover their ability to bring monsters to life (and have them fight each other) just by drawing them.

Putnam

Fangbone! Third-Grade Barbarian, Volumes 1 and 2 - It’s a cute enough concept, but Michael Rex’s art and Fangbone’s deadly serious expression on the covers are what sells it.

Russ Cochran

Sunday Funnies #1 – This is kind of brilliant. I’ll just let the publisher describe it:  ” A monthly, 32-page, full-size comic section containing historic Sunday pages from as far back as 1895, and including favorites such as Gasoline Alley, Little Nemo, Krazy Kat, and many other classic Sunday pages that you’ve probably never seen before. Each issue … will be a full-size 22″x16″ comic section, containing full page Sunday comics in full color. These pages are coming from the archives of Ohio State University, which, thanks to Bill Blackbeard, has the largest and most comprehensive collection of Sunday comics in existence. The retail price will be $10 and I will be selling subscriptions, 12 monthly issues for $100.” Should go well next to Wednesday Comics collections.

Bettie Page in Danger

SHH

Bettie Page in Danger #1 – Even more brilliant. A fumetti using real Bettie Page photos to tell a story about the pin-up queen’s career fighting zombies, mad scientists, and other naked ladies.

SLG

Sparko – This sounds a little like Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere with the Thames replacing London’s Underground. I don’t mean to make that sound like a bad thing. Coming from SLG and including a murder mystery, goth goblins, and a pickpocket named Belle, I trust that it’s not.

Tor

Girl Genius Omnibus, Volume 1: Agatha Awakens – The Hugo-winning, steampunk webcomic gets the deluxe hardcover treatment.

And that’s it for me. What did I miss?

Jim Lee's Spy vs. Spy custom toy

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Mad Magazine feature “Spy vs. Spy,” and to celebrate, the magazine created a blank “Spy vs. Spy” toy and asked various artists to customize it. They’ve been sharing them over on their blog since around the time of the San Diego Comic Con, and in New York this weekend they’re unveiling one by DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee.

You can find more of them on the Mad blog The Idiotical, or in person at the New York Comic Con.

Orchid

Comic-Con International in San Diego hasn’t officially started yet—tonight was Preview Night—but the news has been rolling in. So let’s take a look at today’s announcements

• Dark Horse announced three new projects earlier this evening. They will publish a comics adaptation of The Strain, the sci-fi/vampire trilogy by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. The comic will be written by David Lapham with art by Mike Huddleston.

• They also announced a series written by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello with art by Scott Hepburn. Orchid is about a 16-year-old prostitute in a dystopian future “becoming the Spartacus of whores.” Each issue will come with a music track by Morello.

• And finally on the Dark Horse front, they will publish comics set in the young vampire world of P.C. Cast’s House of Night novel series. It will be co-written by Kent Dallan with art by Joëlle Jones. You can see a trailer promoting all three new books on YouTube.

• IDW announced the Wally Wood Artist’s Edition, the third in a series that also includes Dave Stevens’ Complete Rocketeer and Walter Simonson’s The Mighty Thor Artist’s Edition.

• Archaia announced Cow Boy, an all-ages graphic novel created by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulos and featuring an impressive array of guest writers.

• 12-Gauge Comics will release a southern-friend anthology called Country Ass-Whuppin’ later this year to raise money for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in Alabama. Participants include Kody Chamberlain, Jason Aaron and more.

• DC Comics is doing a comic adaptation of the Uncharted video game series.

The Avengers poster

• The digital comics app Panelfly is relaunching as both a comics reader and a transmedia storytelling platform that will incorporate videos, blogs, and even Twitter.

• Marvel launched the official website for Joss Whedon’s The Avengers movie, although there isn’t much on it yet.

• Sony released the official trailer for the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man film.

• 1970s comic Captain Canuck has apparently been optioned for film.

• Walden Media has optioned the SLG title Rex Libris, created by James Turner.

• Activision revealed release dates for X-Men Destiny — Sept. 27 — and Spider-Man: Edge of Time — Oct. 4.

Spy vs. Spy by Peter Kuper

It’s the 50th anniversary of the Mad Magazine feature “Spy vs. Spy,” and to celebrate, the magazine created a blank “Spy vs. Spy” toy and asked various artists to customize it. They’ve been sharing them over on their blog, with plans to display them in the DC Comics booth this week at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Peter Kuper designed the one shown above; check out the rest on the Mad blog, the Idiotical.

Via Super Punch

You might be familiar with Rick Parker from his work on the Pekar Project, the Beavis and Butthead comics he did for MTV, or his comic Deadboy, but if you don’t have kids around the house, you might not know his most recent work, the parodies Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid, Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring, and Breaking Down, all done for NBM’s children’s comics imprint Papercutz.

If those all sound like updated Mad Magazine parodies, well, all I can say is check out the art. Like seminal Mad artist Will Elder, Parker likes to fill the backgrounds of his panels with lots of small, often hilarious details. (Finding the word “Potrzebie” in one of them convinced me that the similarity was intentional.) Like Mad, the humor in his books is juvenile and sophisticated at the same time.

I have seen Rick at cons, usually sitting at the Papercutz table sketching away, and at MoCCA I decided to say hi. My suspicions were immediately confirmed. “I saw Mad Magazine in 1957 or 1958, and it rocked my world,” he said, reeling off the names of Mad artists—Elder, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Wally Wood. “I modeled myself after Will Elder,” he said. “I wanted to do that in the present day. I was the artist for Beavis and Butthead, and I tried to put some funny stuff in there.”

He pointed out a panel in Harry Potty that featured a room full of crystal balls bearing assorted faces. One had the face of Mad publisher William Gaines, and another featured the face of his editor at Papercutz, Jim Salicrup. “I should give out little magnifying glasses with Harry Potty,” he said.

“One of the great things about comics is that people don’t move on until they are ready,” he said. “I want to be able to squeeze as much juice out of the lemon as possible. If people are going to spend time on something I have done, I want them to enjoy it.”

“I just want to make people laugh.”

Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1

Welcome to another round of What Are You Reading, where we all sit around the virtual coffeehouse and talk about the books we’re currently enjoying (or not as the case may be). Our guest this week is Wilfred Santiago, author of the soon to be released biography of Roberto Clemente, 21. Look for an interview with me and Santiago about his new book in the coming weeks. In the meantime, click on the link below to see what he and my fellow Robot 6ers are reading this week.

Turok #1

Michael May: Somehow Turok: Son of Stone #1 (the recent Dark Horse version) slipped down in my To Read pile and I just found it again. It boasts 48 pages on the front cover, but of course 10 of those are ads and another 16 are the reprint of the original Turok story from 1954. That still leaves 22 pages of original Turok story though and the whole package was only $3.50, so who’s complaining? Those 22 pages are packed with action as Turok and Andar not only meet, but run a tense, grueling race against pursuing Aztec warriors. And it’s fun to compare the modern version with the original and see what Jim Shooter has changed and what he’s kept the same.

In 1954, Turok and Andar are already hunting companions, but are in desperate need of water. An enormous, swirling colony of bats reveals a cave that Turok hopes has water in it, so they explore and discover an underground “land of the lost.” It’s no less tense than being chased by Aztecs, but not quite as thrilling. In 2010, a strange, possibly supernatural storm replaces the bat colony and appears to be responsible for sending both Turok’s group and the Aztecs back in time. What caused the storm is a mystery that I hope to see solved one day; almost as much as I want to read the resolution to the frying-pan-to-fire cliffhanger at the end of the issue. I’ll be looking forward to the collected edition.

Continuing to dig deeper into the To Read pile, I found a four-page mini-comic by Sigrid Ellis and Erika Moen (Bucko) called Plants vs. Zombies: Bedtime. The only thing I love more than the splash page of gourds, melons, flowers, and cattails defending a family from a zombie horde is that the Bedtime sub-title suggests the possibility of more like it. Also, there’s a great first page of a little boy’s room with toys scattered around (including a Millenium Falcon) and a poster on the wall for Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber’s Underground.

I also completed the first volume of Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea, mostly on the recommendations of Chris Mautner and Brigid. Like Chris, I feel a deep Miyazaki vibe, though I wouldn’t have been able to recognize it as that before re-reading his review. What I felt was the book’s ability to pull me into its world and make me feel like I was part of this seaside community and witnessing the strangeness there for myself. There’s one scene when the main character is floating in the ocean and looking down into the water below and you can actually feel how deep and endless the water is. It’s frightening and exhilarating at the same time. Just a wonderful book and I can’t wait to dig into volume two.

What else? I’m a big fan of James Baker’s Rocket Rabbit, so while I’m waiting for the collected edition of that, I’m enjoying some of his mini-comics work like Sephilina the Nauti Girl. From her tentacle-like hair, I thought at first that she might be a mermaid-like character, but in actuality she’s an alien in a charming and funny space pulp story. She’s a Squoid, a race of aliens so hideous that just looking at one puts intelligent beings into a coma. Fortunately for Sephilina, the Squoids are also shape-changers, so she’s able to transform into a cute space girl. Unfortunately, everyone knows what she is and avoids her like death in case she accidentally reverts to her true form. It’s a fun concept and Baker’s cartooning makes it pay off.

Justice League: Generation Lost #21

Tom Bondurant: Not that I am a great prognosticator, but I had a feeling that Justice League: Generation Lost #21 (written by Judd Winick, drawn by Aaron Lopresti) would turn out like it did. That feeling only grew stronger the deeper I went into the issue. You all know by now how much I’ve enjoyed JL:GL, and I thought this issue did a particularly good job of using character moments in conjunction with advancing the plot, and even building a little suspense.

I’ve also enjoyed Zatanna (written by Paul Dini), but issue #11 (drawn by Cliff Chiang) might be my favorite issue so far. Zatanna takes an especially bitter enemy back to the ol’ homestead in hopes of restoring him to his human form — an ineffectual human form, to be sure — but things don’t exactly go as planned, resulting in one of the creepiest cliffhangers I’ve seen in a while. In this regard Chang really sells the story, giving Zatanna’s ancestral home the appropriate airs of grandeur and mystery, making the magical battles exciting and unpredictable, and wrapping everything up with a sequence whose apparent banality makes it all the more horrifying. Can’t wait for issue #12.

Finally … well, last week I mentioned the Gen13 paperback, which reprints the introductory miniseries by Brandon Choi, Jim Lee, and J. Scott Campbell. I did not expect to have such a strong reaction to this book. I don’t have anything against the creators, and I’ve liked other things they’ve done. Regardless, I remember buying Gen13 out of curiosity lo, those many years ago, and it will be a long, long time before I take this book off the shelf again. Put simply, it hasn’t aged well. Campbell’s work isn’t as off-putting in its exaggerations as, say, Rob Liefeld’s, but it still takes some getting used to. The script reads like a laundry-list of teen-superhero tropes run through a military-conspiracy blender and distilled until only the most potent sugars remain. This book was garish, obvious, and overly familiar. I could practically feel the creators elbowing me in the ribs, daring me not to like it. Sorry, fellas — I’m sure Gen13 got better, and I know you all did – but I come from a land of well-made liquor; and this turned to vinegar long ago.

Empire State

Brigid Alverson: Jason Shiga’s Empire State is sweet, funny, and depressing all at once. It’s a sort-of love story that reminded me very much of what it was like to be in my 20s, and why I’m glad I’m not any more. It’s the story of a cigarette-smoking, wisecracking girl who moves to New York and a quiet, stay-at-home guy who follows her there. It doesn’t end up being the romance of the century, but there’s a lot to enjoy about this book, both Shiga’s sly humor and his dead-on portrayal of difficult emotional moments. His cartoony style helps keep the reader from getting too emotionally involved‹his characters are all rounded and slouching, and I wouldn’t have guessed that the male lead was Asian if it one of the characters hadn’t mentioned it. On the other hand, Shiga includes lots of details and gives his characters quirks and interests, which makes for a rich reading experience.

Page by Paige, by Laura Lee Gulledge is a YA graphic novel that walks a very fine line between preachy and surrealistic. It’s the story of a self-conscious, introverted high-school girl who has just moved from Virginia to New York. She confides her feelings to her sketchbook, and sometimes her internal monologue sounds like something out of a self-help book. What redeems it, though, are her surrealistic drawings of Paige’s states of mind‹a crowd reduced to bundles of paper dolls, a landscape scattered with banana peels, her family’s faces replaced by framed pictures. She has an uncanny knack for drawing what teenagers think. I do think the book would be better in color, though. Gulledge works in black and white with lots of toning and grays that get a bit lost on the page; color, even limited color, would really bring this book to life.

Captain America: The Korvac Saga #4

Tim O’Shea: Man, I was sad to recently read that Zatanna’s numbers continue to drop in sales. Plenty of books are dropping in numbers, but in my opinion Zatanna’s stories have improved over the months. Honestly I dropped the book a few months back, but because I like Paul Dini’s writing typically, I was willing to give it another go. And with this current arc featuring the art of Cliff Chiang, I’m over-the-moon happy with the book. Zatanna 10 ended with a plot twist that ensured me I’ll be back for issue 11. If you are not currently reading Zatanna, I’d loved to learn the reasons why not.

Ben McCool’s Captain America: The Korvac Saga overall was a tad uneven for my taste. That being said, with issue 4, McCool sets up a scenario where Cap has to make a choice that I would have never considered constructing in a Cap story. While I cannot recommend the miniseries to folks if it comes out in TPB, I do hope to see more writing for McCool down the road. I also hope artist Craig Rousseau gets more high profile work at Marvel in the near to long term.

Superboy 5: Jeff Lemire has surprised me by making Lori Luthor one of the most interesting cast members in Superboy. I expect she’ll eventually become the book’s villain, but for now I enjoy her presence in the book.

Hawkeye-Blindspot 2 (of 4): I never tire of Jim McCann’s encyclopedia-scale knowledge of Hawkeye history. And he jams this issue full of Hawkeye’s history, with Nick Dragotta & Brad Simpson delivering absolutely stellar flashback scenes.

Cinderella-Fables are Forever 2 (of 6): Artist Shawn McManus is known for drawing great monsters, but dang if his female characters are not equally exquisite. I doubt writer Chris Roberson and McManus would want the grind (and pressure) of an ongoing monthly, but damn if I would not read it. Roberson’s use of flashback (in this issue alone he takes us to 1943, 1983 and 1984 [in addition to present day action]) is another factor that pulls me into this miniseries. I never tire of this female Fable equivalent to James Bond.

Oishinbo

Wilfred Santiago: On my nightstand…

The complete TORPEDO volume one.
Good reprint by IDW. Not for everyone. Torpedo is a mean, slimy, nasty asshole. He is not too smart, he knows he is not and he has no scruples. In real life you don’t want to be near someone like Torpedo. If you don’t mind reading about this type of character then get this book now. In glorious black & white, Bernet has an amazing range with his brush and his synergy with Sanchez Abuli’s script is seamless, simply one of the best writer/artist teams. Alex Toth is an all-time favorite of mine and he did a couple of stories in this volume, but Bernet owns this series. You can smell the pee on the streets.

Dark Horse reprint- THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN volume 1
John Buscema’s* pencils are amazing. You could read one of his stories without word balloons and still get it. Simply put, his characters act. Interesting, the different but excellent interpretation of such strong line work through the inks of individual artist like Alfredo Alcala and Pablo Marco. This is so much more enjoyable if you block the narrator’s captions. No offense to who is ultimately responsible (Roy Thomas or Robert E. Howard?). Sometimes superfluous with redundant mood and scene descriptions, things that are clearly already rendered in the great art featured. Good stuff. (For more Buscema magic, check kids, Wolverine #1 – #16 (Vol.1)!)

MAD ABOUT THE MOVIES Mad Books
A collection of Mad Magazine movie parodies. I read these growing up; Mad was a staple of my reading diet ’till my late teens. Mort Drucker is an unequaled master at what he does, and the main reason for looking at this book. And don’t forget the deceiving simplicity of Sergio Aragones!

MY DEAREST FRIEND Letters of Abigail & John Adams Belknap Harvard
A fascinating book of correspondence between John Adams and his wife Abigail through the years. Revealing accounts of their relationship as intellectual equals, which it was at odds with the times. As its backdrop, a new nation is being built. Loving and sometimes heartbreaking. Great supplement if you enjoyed the HBO mini-series, John Adams.

OISHINBO: The Joy of Rice VIZ Media
Like food? Like manga? This is for you. Very rich, funny, engaging, serious at times. Delicious book all around.

Comiket 79 catalog

Conventions | Comiket 79, the winter installment of the self-published comic book fair held twice a year in Tokyo, set a turnstile attendance record last week with 520,000 people over three days. That’s just 20,000 less than the summer record — and the equivalent of about four Comic-Cons. [Anime News Network]

Legal | Archie Comics reportedly has threatened legal action against the in-production Indian film Boys Toh Boys Hain, which, according to this description, is “based on the lines of the celebrated [Archie] comic book but set in Delhi instead of Riverdale.” However, the director now claims that, “We never made any statement which suggested that the film is inspired from Archie comics. One of my actors may have said in an interview that the film has a feel similar to Archie, but never that the film is based on it.” The publisher was dealt a blow in an unrelated legal matter in September when India’s Delhi High Court refused to hear a complaint challenging the use of the name “Archies” by a Mumbai company. The court said it had no jurisdiction in the matter because Archie Comics doesn’t have an office in India. [Hindustan Times]

From "Troop 142"

Publishing | Secret Acres will publish a collected edition of Mike Dawson’s award-winning webcomic Troop 142 next fall. [press release, via The Beat]

Media | The Philadelphia Daily News has ended Jerome Maida’s weekly “Comics Guy” column after nearly five years. [Philadelphia Daily News]

Retailing | Carolyn Kellogg spotlights Secret Headquarters in Los Angeles. [Jacket Copy]

Blogosphere | Tom Spurgeon continues his excellent holiday interview series with blogger David Brothers and Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago. [The Comics Reporter]

Al Jaffee

Creators | Dan Lybarger talks to the legendary Al Jaffee about the new biography Al Jaffee’s Mad Life, the cartoonist’s childhood, working with Stan Lee, Fold-Ins and more. [The Huffington Post]

Best of the year | Ain’t It Cool News contributors look back at the year in Marvel and in DC Comics. [Ain't It Cool News]

Best of the year | David Harper considers the best, and the worst, of 2010. [Multiversity Comics]

Best of the year | Iann Robinson counts down the 20 biggest comic book moments of 2010. [Crave Online]

Best of the year | Brett Williams hands out awards for categories like “Best Unexpected Source of Enjoyment” and “Best Creator to Watch in 2011.” [PING!]

Lolicon

Legal | The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly is resurrecting a revised bill to tighten regulations on the sexual depictions of minors in manga, anime and video games. An earlier version of the controversial proposal was voted down in mid-June. The new bill removes vague defining terms like “nonexistent youth” and reportedly avoids references to “characters younger than 18,” increasing the likelihood that the proposed legislation will pass. [Anime News Network]

Retailing | As the small independent retail chain Joseph-Beth Booksellers files for bankruptcy protection, its president warns of even tougher times ahead for bookstores. “I think in the next three to five years, you’ll see half the bookstores in this country close,” Neil Van Uum says. [Lexington Herald-Leader, via ICv2.com]

Awards | The Webcomics List Awards is accepting nominations until Dec. 20. Winners will be announced on Jan. 31. [via Forbidden Planet International]

Conventions | A solid report from this year’s King Con, held Nov. 6-7 in Brooklyn, N.Y. [Secret Acres News]

L.A. Diary

Best of the year | Frank Santoro names his favorite comics of 2010, from Gabrielle Bell’s L.A. Diary to Daniel Clowes’ Wilson to Brandon Graham’s King City. [Comics Comics]

Creators | Sam Adams talks to Sergio Aragonés about his influences, his first exposure to Mad, his work process, Groo and more: “When I’m doing Groo, and suddenly there’s a double-page spread that takes a lot of cartoons, I have to do at least a page a day for Groo. So when my telephone rings, I put it aside and take this massive drawing and start adding things to it. After the conversation, I take the massive drawing and put it aside. So any breaks I take, I start adding things. So that page will take probably the whole month to draw. They say, “How can you do that?” They think of it as a one-pager or a two-pager. But it’s not true, that page took so long to draw because it’s not a regular page. It becomes natural.” [The A.V. Club]

Creators | Brian Heater continues his multi-part Q&A with Jaime Hernandez. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Jeff Greenfield profiles cartoonist Garry Trudeau as Doonesbury turns 40. [CBS Sunday Morning]

Fishtown

Creators | Kevin Colden discusses Fishtown, and the pitfalls he experienced serializing the comic online before collecting it in print: “I spent so much effort promoting the serialized version of the book, that by the time it hit print, I think it was old news and had worn out its welcome. Also, the book was released at the end of 2008, and the economy had just shit the bed. In my decidedly biased opinion, as a book with as much buzz as it had, that won the Xeric and later went on to garner an Eisner Award nomination (Best Reality-Based Work), it had all the makings of a massive hit. There may have been a lot of people reading it online, or borrowing copies, or reading library copies; I don’t actually know! That might be the big negative.” [Go Home Paddy]

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Chris Mautner talks to Jerry Robinson about his sale of Fred Ray’s original art for the cover of Superman #14. [Patriot-News]

Creators | Writer Brandon Montclare chats about Marvel’s Chaos War: Chaos King #1. [Cosmic Book News]

Comics | Douglas Wolk sifts through 33 years of Spider-Women and Spider-Girls. [Techland]

Chicken Fat

Gary VandenBergh is directing a documentary called Chicken Fat about MAD Magazine artist Will Elder, and he’s using the fund-raising site Kickstarter to get the $15,000 he needs to do it.

Specifically, he wants to raise funds to complete interviews with Hugh Hefner, Daniel Clowes, William Stout and Joe Dante about the man whose artistic “technique became the defining look of the early MAD and, subsequently, the visual style that defined a generation.” Like other Kickstarter efforts, he’s offering a range of prizes depending on how much you donate, from copies of the complete film on DVD to a credit in the film for high-dollar donations.

In addition to those named abovem the documentary will feature interviews with Maus/Raw creator Art Spiegelman, underground cartoonists Bill Griffith and Jay Lynch, actor and comedian Andy Kindler, MAD fold-in creator Al Jaffee, cartoonist Arnold Roth, artist Drew Friedman, MAD editor Nick Meglin and the late Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Gaines and Will Elder himself. If you’re interested in seeing this come to life, go check it out.

Al Jaffee’s Mad Life chronicles the octogenarian’s start as a child in Lithuania, his family’s escape from the Third Reich, and his heights working for Mad Magazine. The book, which will include 65 new illustrations be Jaffee, is scheduled to come out in October.

In addition to the book, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is raising funds by way of Kickstarter for an Al Jaffee exhibit curated by Danny Fingeroth and Arye Kaplan. See more on that here.

And hey, Jaffee has a Facebook page!

Comic-Con International

Like clockwork, Comic-Con organizers have released the schedule for the third day of the convention, Saturday, July 24.

Below you’ll find highlights of the comics-related programming, ranging from movie panels for Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern and Marvel’s Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger to Joe Quesada’s traditional “Cup O’ Joe” and “Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour vs. The Fans.”

The full programming schedule for Saturday can be found here.

10 to 11 a.m. Spotlight on Carla Speed McNeil — Comic-Con special guest Carla Speed McNeil is best known for her creator-owned title Finder. A few years back, Carla took new stories of Finder to the Internet, and the result was an Eisner Award  for best webcomic of 2008 and a new series of reprints from Dark Horse. Carla talks about her work and what’s next in this Spotlight panel. Room 3

10 to 11 a.m. The Black Panel 2010 — This year’s Black Panel will be one for the ages. The focus will be on empowerment, education, real-world networking, and finally but never last, fun. The panelists include entertainment attorney Darrel Miller, novelist Nnedi Okorafor, artist Denys Cowan and writer/producer/director Reggie Hudlin, with moderator Michael Davis. Once they answer life’s burning questions, they’ll chill with a salute and Q&A from the audience with actor/writer/director Bill Duke. As always, surprise guests who will rock your world. Room 5AB

10 to 11 a.m. Marvel Comics Writers Unite! — The third in Comic-Con’s series of “Year of the Writer/Comics Writers Unite!” panels focuses on Marvel Comics and includes Comic-Con special guests Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man), Matt Fraction (Invincible Iron Man, Thor) and Chris Claremont (X-Men Forever, X-Women) in a discussion with writer Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man, Irredeemable). Room 6DE

10 to 11 a.m. Mad about MAD! — MAD magazine has established itself as the original and most imitated and influential satirical publication across generations. This fall, MAD returns to TV screens with a new show for the next generation! MAD magazine editor John Ficarra, MAD art director Sam Viviano, legendary MAD artist Sergio Aragonés, current MAD artist Tom Richmond, MAD story editor/producer Kevin Shinick and your host, Warner Bros. Animation senior VP Peter Girardi offer a light-hearted look at the future of an American institution. Room 7AB

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. DC Talent Search 3 — DC’s editorial art director Mark Chiarello presents an informative orientation session that will explain how DC’s Talent Search works and discuss the different needs of DC Universe, Vertigo, WildStorm and MAD magazine publications. If you want to learn what DC Comics looks for in artists and how to improve your chances of becoming a working professional, this is the panel for you! To have your work reviewed, attendance at this orientation session is mandatory. (Please note: Not all attendees are guaranteed a one-on-one review.)  Room 4

Shonen Jump

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump Panel — Shonen Jump is the source of the world’s most popular manga, including Naruto, Bleach and more. In this exclusive panel, fans will get the latest manga and anime news, insider information and on-the-spot surprises. Special guest: Stan Lee, comics legend and co-creator of Ultimo! Room 9

11 a.m. to noon Spotlight on Jillian Tamaki — Comic-Con special guest Jillian Tamaki has taken both the illustration and comics worlds by storm. Her graphic novel Skim was a New York Times Best Book of the Year, and also was nominated for a Governor General Award and for three Eisner Awards. Her drawings can be found in the New York Times, Oprah, New Yorker and Esquire. Tamaki will discuss the process of Skim, collaborating with a writer, and the difference between comics and illustration. Room 3

11 a.m. to noon Comics in the Library — How are comics used in libraries? This panel discusses the variety of ways that libraries around the countries have begun to integrate comics into their collections and programming. Special attention is paid to the following subjects: comics for early readers; nonfiction comics, comics for adult readers. Presented by Francisca Goldsmith (Infopeople), Merideth Jenson-Benjamin (Glendale Public Library), JoAnn Jonas (San Diego County Library), Tuan Nguyen (Texas Maverick Graphic Novel List), Jill Patterson (OC Public Libraries) and comics creator Raina Telgemeier (Smile). Moderated by John Hogan (The Graphic Novel Reporter). Room 8

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Comic-Con How-To Session: Adam Hughes — Award-winning artist Adam Hughes will demonstrate sketching with grayscale Copic Markers. Adam is particularly known for his cover art, some of which has been recently published into a hardcover coffeetable book. Room 18

11 a.m. to noon Spirituality in Comics — How can comics help communicate timeless truths through new media to new audiences? Discuss the latest trends of spiritual themes in comics with moderator Scott Shuford of the Christian Comic Arts Society and panelists Holly Golightly (School Bites), K. J. Kolka (Cardinal Adventures) and Clint Johnson (Faithwalker). Santa Rosa Room, Marriott Hotel and Marina

Cup O' Joe

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Marvel: Cup O’ Joe — This is it, Mighty Marvel fans — the no-holds-barred, anything-goes, full-of-surprises panel you’ve waited for all year! Marvel’s EEK (editor-in-chief) and CCO Joe Quesada takes on all questions, shocks the audience with jaw-dropping announcements, and keeps you guessing with surprise guests. You never know who will show up, but you better be here, because this is the panel that everyone will be talking about! Room 6BCF

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Spotlight on Gerard Way — Comic-Con special guest Gerard Way, writer/creator of The Umbrella Academy, is joined by guests in a 60-minute deconstruction of the comic book industry, featuring helicopter rides and Jonesy the Human Ferret. Room 6DE

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Will Eisner, The Dreamer — Will Eisner played a central role in the first seven decades of comics history. Many times during his career, he reinvented sequential art and himself to overcome new challenges. He was a true dreamer, and these panelists hope to show you that side of him: Denis Kitchen (artist, author, publisher, and Will Eisner’s agent and longtime friend), Scott McCloud (artist, author, and theoretician about comics and sequential art), Dennis O’Neil  (comic book writer and editor for Marvel Comics and DC Comics), Paul Levitz  (writer, former president/publisher, DC Comics) and Michael Schumacher (bestselling author and Biographer with a new biography of Will Eisner due out this fall). This is your chance to learn more about the “Father of the Graphic Novel.” Room 4

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal — Author/designer Chip Kidd (Mythology, Bat-Manga, Rough Justice), author/producer Michael Uslan (Archie Marries…) and Charles Kochman (executive editor, Abrams ComicArts) celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Big Red Cheese in this panel and slideshow discussion celebrating Kidd’s upcoming fall release from Abrams ComicArts, Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Room 9

Green Lantern

11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Warner Bros.: Green Lantern, Sucker Punch, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Warner Bros. showcases three eagerly awaited upcoming new films in this Hall H presentation!

• Green Lantern — Get a first look at the upcoming sci-fi action adventure Green Lantern, directed by Martin Campbell. Green Lantern is an epic adventure that crosses galaxies to bring to life the legendary Silver Age superhero Hal Jordan, who is chosen by the ring itself to become the first human member of the Green Lantern Corps and take on the vast and powerful Parallax as it threatens to destroy the world. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, Peter Sarsgaard as Dr. Hector Hammond and Mark Strong as Sinestro.

• Sucker Punch — Fasten your seatbelt for a sneak peek at the dark action fantasy Sucker Punch, from director Zack Snyder, who previewed his films 300 and Watchmen at past Comic-Cons. A group of young girls escape the dark reality of their lives through their vivid imagination, which takes them to various fantasy locations in different realms. The ensemble cast features Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Carla Gugino, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung and Jon Hamm.

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Every saga has a final chapter. Kick off the year of Harry Potter with a first look at the coming screen adaptation of J. K. Rowling’s final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with a program created just for Comic-Con fans. One way. One hero. One destiny. Don’t miss it! Hall H

noon to 1 p.m. Spotlight on Peter Bagge — Comic-Con special guest Peter Bagge talks to Fantagraphics’ Jason T. Miles about his work, including the legendary Buddy Bradley stories in Hate and his new graphic novels, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. Room 3

noon to 1 p.m. IDW Publishing: Infestation 2011 — In 2011, IDW will infest the comics world in new and exciting — and potentially disturbing — ways. EIC/CCO Chris Ryall, editors Andy Schmidt and Scott Dunbier and creators offer a lively discussion of IDW’s upcoming titles, including at least two big and unexpected announcements, as well as the first hint of “Infestation,” IDW’s big 2011 event! Room 8

noon to 1 p.m. CBLDF Master Session: Terry Moore: Drawing Characters with Character — Learn what it takes to draw characters whose distinctive actions define them on the page. In Echo and Strangers in Paradise Terry Moore has established himself as a master for expressing a wide range of emotions through his characters. Bring your sketchbook and follow along as Moore shows you the secrets of how to make your characters “act” on the page in this CBLDF Master Session. The original art from this session will be auctioned off on Saturday night in the CBLDF’s Art Auction! Room 30CDE

12:30 to 1:45 p.m. DC Universe: Event Horizon — Ian Sattler, senior story editor, and your favorite writers and artists are here for the main event: The DC Universe! What lies ahead for your favorite heroes and series? Got a question for your favorite DCU creator? Come on by! There’s no greater gathering of top-tier creative talent! Room 6A

12:30 to 1:45 p.m. Quick Draw! — It’s just about the most fun you can have sitting down at Comic-Con! Host Mark Evanier keeps Sergio Aragonés, Scott Shaw! and this year’s guest artist and dinosaur expert William Stout on their toes as they draw — real quick! — whatever he tells them to draw! Room 6BCF

Brian Michael Bendis

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Spotlight on Brian Michael Bendis — The controversial Marvel writer and Comic-Con special guest Brian Michael Bendis turns his spotlight panel into a live taping of the popular Word Balloon Bendis tapes. Word Balloon podcast host John Suitress will moderate the panel and take questions from the audience, with nothing off limits. Bendis will also be giving away limited-edition variant covers of his new creator-owned series Scarlet. Room 6DE

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Stan Lee  @ BOOM! — Stan Lee and Mark Waid reveal the details behind Stan Lee’s new series at BOOM!, including two special mystery guests that will blow your mind. This is it, people. You wanted to know who is writing the other two books alongside Waid? Now you’ll know! Room 9

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Comics Across all Media — Paul Feig (creator of Freaks & Geeks), Chip Kidd  (Shazam!: The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal), Whitney Matheson (USA Today’s Pop Candy blog), Brad Meltzer (The Inner Circle) and Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight) are five superstars who make headlines in television, the graphic arts, journalism, novels and film. But they all have comics in common. As they reunite for another visit, join them for a discussion of all things nerd. It’ll be like a 21st century Breakfast Club — but with even better references. Moderated by audiobook star Scott Brick (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant). Room 24ABC

1 to 2 p.m. Spotlight on Gabrielle Bell — Join Comic-Con special guest Gabrielle Bell  (Cecil and Jordan in New York, Lucky). Gabrielle Bell has been featured in McSweeneys, Vice and the Believer. The title story of her most recent book, Cecil and Jordan in New York has been adapted for the screen by Michel Gondry in the triptych Tokyo!  She is currently serializing her Ignatz award-winning autobiographcal comics Lucky online. Gabrielle Bell will present a slideshow and discuss her work with Tom Spurgeon (www.thecomicsreporter) Room 3

1 to 2 p.m. CBLDF Master Session: Darick Robertson: Body Language in Sequential Storytelling — Bring your sketchbook and learn how to express action, attitude, and meaning through your characters’ body language in this CBLDF Master Session. In his work on The Boys, Transmetropolitan and Conan, Darick Robertson has had to express story through his drawings of a wide variety of characters. Follow along as he demonstrates how body language can add dimension to your sequential storytelling. The original art from this session will be auctioned off on Saturday night in the CBLDF’s Art Auction. Room 30CDE

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Comics Criticism — Comics are a staple of the arts and book review sections of everything from The New York Times and Publishers Weekly to a current golden age of published biography and history, such as Gerard Jones’s Men of Tomorrow, R. C. Harvey’s Meanwhile …, and David Michaelis’s Schulz and Peanuts. Some of the nation’s leading critics discuss the state of the art and the state of its journalism, 2010. Panelists include Gary Groth (The Comics Journal), Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics), Brian Doherty (Radicals for Capitalism), Ben Schwartz (editor, Best American Comics Criticism) and R. Fiore (Funnybook Roulette). Room 4

Top Cow

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Top Cow: “We Create” Multimedia — Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri (Pilot Season, X-Men/Dark Avengers), president Matt Hawkins (Alibi) and publisher Filip Sablik offer an exciting and lively multimedia presentation about Top Cow’s plans for 2010 and 2011 in comics, film, television, and much more. Be the first to hear announcements and updates on film projects including Witchblade, Magdalena, Alibi, Wanted and A-Team, plus announcements on new comic projects with creators including Ron Marz (Artifacts), Jeff Katz (American Original) and Phil Hester (The Darkness), along with surprise guests including directors, screenwriters, producers and more! Room 9

2 to 3 p.m. Tokyopop Panel — Tokyopop editorial staff, including senior editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, will announce new book publishing acquisitions and digital products, followed by a prize giveaway and Q&A session. Get the latest news about ongoing Tokyopop series, including updates to Hetalia and Priest. Room 3

2 to 3 p.m. Green Lantern: Emerald Empire — No evil shall escape this panel’s sight as the top creative teams on the Green Lantern books drop hints on upcoming stories and take on your questions! Led by group editor Eddie Berganza with Geoff Johns  (Green Lantern, The Flash), Tony Bedard (Green Lantern Corps), Joe Prado (Brightest Day) and Ivan Reis  (Brightest Day). Room 6A

2 to 3 p.m. Spotlight on Dave Dorman — Eisner Award-winning illustrator and Comic-Con special guest Dave Dorman is best known for his stunning depictions from the Star Wars universe. Dave talks about his paintings and his comics work, including the eagerly awaited sequel to his Steampunk graphic novel Rail — continuing stories set in his creator-owned universe, The Wasted Lands. Room 8

2 to 3 p.m. Spotlight on Milo Manara — Known the world over for his elegant and erotic art and storytelling techniques, Milo Manara  is a Comic-Con special guest for the very first time! Manara will talk about his long and varied career, which now includes a Marvel Comics book, X-Women, written by fellow special guest Chris Claremont. Room 25ABC

2 to 3 p.m. Writing Seminar with Marv Wolfman — Marv Wolfman (God of War, Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths), in this annual writing seminar, returns to basics as he discusses the building blocks of putting together a story, creating tension, and what the “three act structure” really means. There will also be time for a Q&A session. Room 30CDE

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Partners in Image Comics — Image Comics partners Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Marc Silvestri (Witchblade) and Jim Valentino (ShadowHawk) get together for a boisterous discussion of all things Image. Join the partners as they talk about ongoing and future projects, and become part of the discussion during a Q&A session. Room 9

Stan Lee

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Archie: Stan Lee Comics Debuts — Stan Lee, Andy Heyward and Jon Goldwater introduce an exciting new line of comics from the mind of comics legend Stan Lee. Stan will talk about Stan Lee’s Super Seven and all the other new titles coming from Stan Lee comics over the next year. Be the first to get in on this exciting new project from the one and only Stan Lee! Moderated by Rik Offenberger. Room 24ABC

3 to 4 p.m. Spotlight on Ray Bradbury — He was at the very first Comic-Con and we kind of think he’ll be at the very last one, too, far off in the future. Science fiction author Ray Bradbury is literally a national treasure. Ray talks with biographer Sam Weller and moderator writer/producer Arnold Kunert in his yearly visit with his fans at Comic-Con. Room 6DE

3 to 4 p.m. DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection: Jonah Hex, Green Arrow, and Beyond! — Warner Home Video, Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation roll out the next wave of DC Showcase animated shorts with the world premiere of Jonah Hex, an advance look at Green Arrow, and details regarding the upcoming compilation Blu-ray/DVD release anchored by Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam. Executive producer Bruce Timm (DC Universe Animated Original Movies), Jonah Hex voice Thomas Jane (Hung), producer Alan Burnett (The Batman), acclaimed comics writer and fiction author Joe Lansdale, and writer/producer Greg Weisman (Young Justice) present a peek at three never-before-seen shorts. Room 7AB

3 to 4 p.m. Comics Reprint Revolution — For comics fans, the vintage reprint revolution keeps getting bigger and better! Comics Reporter’s Tom Spurgeon talks with Craig Yoe  (Krazy Kat, Popeye, Jetta), Dean Mullaney (editor of Library of American Comics for IDW: Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Secret Agent Corrigan), Daniel Herman (Hermes Press: Buck Rogers, The Phantom), Gary Groth (Fantagraphics: Peanuts, Prince Valiant, Captain Easy), Peggy Burns (Drawn and Quarterly: John Stanley Library, Walt & Skeezix), Steve Saffel (Titan Books, Beetle Bailey, Simon & Kirby Library) and Charles Pelto (Classic Comics Press: Mary Perkins, On Stage, The Heart of Juliet Jones, Big Ben Bolt) about their publications reprinting some of the very best of comic books and comic strips. Room 8

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. International Comics and Graphic Novels — Comics are popular the world over and Comic-Con always includes an impressive gathering of worldwide talent. Journalist Tom Spurgeon talks with special guests Moto Hagio (Japan: Drunken Dreams), Émile Bravo (France: My Mommy is in America and she Met Buffalo Bill),  Milo Manara (Italy: Click!), and Kathryn and Stuart Immonen (Canada: Moving Pictures, Russian Olive to Red King) about graphic novels with a more international flavor. Room 4

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. DC Universe Online: The Next Legend Is You! — Superstars Jim Lee (Batman: Hush) and Mark Hamill (voice of The Joker, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: The Animated Series) join forces with the DC Universe Online development team to reveal the exciting backstory of this action MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game. Jim, Mark and key members of the development team from Sony Online Entertainment discuss how an earth-shattering chain of events will make you the key to the salvation or ruin of the DC Universe when the game launches this November. All attendees will receive a DCUO VIP Beta Key! Room 5AB

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Robert E. Howard in Comics: Then. Now. Always. — Robert E. Howard is seen as the grandfather of the sword and sorcery fiction genre. He’s created such classic characters as Kull the Conqueror, Red Sonya and Conan the Barbarian that have lived in comics for more than 40 years! Explore worlds of magic, bravery, and savage revenge as this panel delves in to Robert E. Howard’s timeless fiction in comics of the past, present and future. Room 24ABC

4 to 5 p.m. Comics After Paper — Some forward-thinking cartoonists are designing their work to be experienced on computers, e-readers, mobile phones and touchscreens. R. Stevens (Diesel Sweeties), Dylan Meconis (Family Man), Joshua Hale Fialkov (Tumor) and Robert Berry (Ulysses Seen), join moderator Douglas Wolk (Techland) to discuss making comics for new media. Room 3

4 to 5:30 p.m. Oddball Comics — As seen in the pages of Geek Monthly magazine, cartoonist Scott Shaw! (Captain Carrot and the Final Ark, Bart Simpson Comics, Simpsons Summer Shindig) brings back his ever-popular digital slide show featuring “the craziest comic books ever published!” See why Stan Lee said, “Wow, True Believers, I thought I’d seen it all, but Scott Shaw’s hysterically hilarious Oddball Comics is the wildest, wackiest exposé of some of the craziest comic books I’ve ever seen! Or, to put it mildly, Scott’s outrageous opuses are a blast!” Room 7AB

4 to 5 p.m. Taking Back the Knight: Batman in the 1970s and Beyond — The 1960s Batman TV show — fun as it was — left the public thinking the Caped Crusader was more of a clown than a crimefighter. In the 1970s, editor Julius Schwartz, along with writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams (mostly in collaboration with inker Dick Giordano), decided to take back the Knight to his darker origins. The resulting character became the template for the next three decades, a time span marked by Batman’s huge success in films and other media. Moderator Mark Evanier talks with Comic-Con special guests Dennis O’Neil  and Neal Adams about their rebirth of the Bat and with Paul Levitz  on how that re-creation took Batman to even greater heights. Room 8

Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6

4 to 5 p.m. Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour vs. The Fans — It’s been six years and six volumes spanning over 1,000 pages, and you’ve been there since the beginning! But there’s always been one burning question itching at the back of your brain that you thought would never be answered. Think no more! Ready your Q’s, mind your P’s, and join Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley for a battle royale as he quibbles the quips of his worst enemies … his fans!  Room 25ABC

4 to 5 p.m. Writing for Comics — Top comics writers Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers, Powers, Secret Invasion), Marc Guggenheim (Wolverine, Resurrection) and Peter David  (Incredible Hulk, X-Factor) offer a discussion and instructive tips on the art of writing for comics. Writers and editors speak about the process of writing and how the game is played. Want to know how stories come about and learn how to do it yourself. This is the place to start! Moderated by Comics Experience’s Andy Schmidt (X-Men, Annihilation). Room 30CDE

4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Marvel Animation: Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes — Enter the Avengers Mansion and become a part of the team! Celebrity voice talent introduce you to top-secret Avengers files, including never-before-seen footage and two full-length episodes from the all-new Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes animated series premiering on Disney XD this fall. The road to the Avengers starts here! Room 6DE

4:30 to 6 p.m. Remembering Shel Dorf — Shel Dorf, who passed away on November 9, 2009, took a group of young comics and science fiction fans and helped mold their ambitions and passions into Comic-Con back in 1970. Shel was a lover of all things pop culture, especially comics and movies, and he helped set the bar early on for Comic-Con to be an event that focuses on a variety of the popular arts. A panel of Shel’s friends — many of whom worked with him on the early Comic-Cons — gather to pay tribute to him, including moderator Mike Towry and Shel’s brother Michael Dorf, along with Richard Alf, William Clausen, George Clayton Johnson, Greg Koudoulian, Matt Lorentz, Clayton Moore, Mike Pasqua, David Scroggy and Phil Yeh. Room 5AB

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski — J. Michael Straczynski speaks (despite requests to the contrary) about his work on (and on and on) such comics as Superman (well, we guess it had to happen eventually) and Wonder Woman (at least they have the same fashion sense), his movies, including Shattered Union (shattered hopes that he wouldn’t show up), Forbidden Planet (is that still going on?), and more he will be announcing here for the first time. Get the inside skinny on the writer’s life from one of Hollywood’s most prolific and hardworking writers (because you always have to work twice as hard when you don’t know what you’re doing). (Bob, very funny, just remember to edit this back to normal before uploading it to the Comic-Con schedule.) Room 6A

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Disney Epic Mickey — Warren Spector (creative director, Junction Point — Disney Interactive Studios) and Peter David (award-winning comics writer and author of upcoming Disney Epic Mickey comics) share their insights about bringing the world and characters of the Disney Epic Mickey video game to life in two media — video games and comic books. Warren and Peter explore “Wasteland,” a world of forgotten, retired and rejected creative efforts from the Disney archives, and discuss the joy and challenges associated with writing for Mickey Mouse and his “brother,” Walt Disney’s first cartoon star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The panel includes discussion, gameplay demo featuring never-before-seen areas, concept art, previews of comic pages and Q&A. Room 9

4:30 to 6 p.m. Comic-Con How-To Session: Jason Kruse and Rob Worley — Artist/animator Jason Kruse and writer Rob Worley will cover the collaborative creative process for making comic books for young readers. The two recently collaborated on the Ape Entertainment comic Scratch9. Room 18

Complete Paradise Too

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Spotlight on Terry Moore — Terry Moore (Echo) has been a fan favorite since beginning his classic series Strangers in Paradise in 1993. His hit series Echo has won fan and critical acclaim and will wrap up in early 2011. Find out what’s next for Moore as he heads toward the Echo movie and the 20th anniversary of Strangers in Paradise. The Q&A is not to be missed! Room 26AB

4:45 to 5:45 p.m. Universal: Paul and Cowboys & Aliens — Universal presents two upcoming films in this exclusive Hall H presentation.

• Paul — Scheduled to appear for Universal Pictures’ sci-fi comedy-adventure Paul are a who’s who of film comedy. Director Greg Mottola (Superbad) will be joined by cast members Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), Kristen Wiig (Date Night), Bill Hader (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Jeffrey Tambor (The Hangover), Joe Lo Truglio (Role Models), Seth Rogen (The Green Hornet) and Sigourney Weaver (Baby Mama) as they discuss the movie about two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage to Comic-Con ultimately takes them to America’s UFO heartland. While there, they accidentally meet an alien who takes them on an insane road trip that alters their universe forever. Q&A session to follow.

• Cowboys & Aliens — Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man series) discusses what’s happening behind the scenes of Universal Pictures and DreamWorks’ action-thriller Cowboys & Aliens, based on Platinum Studios’ graphic novel. Currently shooting in New Mexico, Cowboys & Aliens stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford and takes audiences into the Old West, where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. Q&A session to follow. Hall H

5 to 6 p.m. Dark Shadows: The Classic Series, the Comic Books, and the Upcoming Film — Hermes Press celebrates Dark Shadows with a panel discussing the past, present, and future of the series. Join series stars Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins, via special video appearance), Lara Parker (Angelique), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans/Josette), with Jim Pierson (Dark Shadows) and Daniel Herman (publisher, Hermes Press) for a discussion and Q&A session. Room 3

5 to 6 p.m. Webcomics Lightning Round — The forces behind Webcomics.com, Scott Kurtz (PvP), Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade) and Brad Guigar (Evil Inc), present a primer on webcomics from all aspects: creative, technical and business. Each panelist will answer in thirty seconds or less, without repeating previous points, so expect a fast-paced tour of the subject from start to finish. Room 8

Hellboy: The Storm #1

5 to 6 p.m. Hellboy, The BPRD, and Beyond — As Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo near the end of their epic Hellboy trilogy (Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt and now The Storm), join them and long-suffering editor Scott Allie in a Q&A session covering the entire Hellboy universe, plus Mignola’s new series Baltimore: The Plague Ships. Room 25ABC

5 to 6 p.m. Building Your Art Portfolio — The most useful panel you’ll ever attend as an artist. Comics superstars Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon, Amazing Spider-Man), C. B. Cebulski (Marvel talent scout and manager), Scott Dunbier (special projects editor, IDW Publishing) and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Welcome to Hoxford, Choker) cut through everything else and get right to getting you work! They’ll cover what to include in tour portfolio, where to get good scripts to draw from, what not  to include, and how to handle a portfolio review in a professional manner (in other words, how to turn a negative into a positive!). Room 30CDE

5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Bill Everett: From Sub-Mariner to Daredevil — Bill Everett created the Sub-Mariner for Marvel Comics #1 back in 1939 and co-created Daredevil in 1964. Author Blake Bell and Bill’s daughter Wendy Everett celebrate the life of her late father, discussing the release of Bell’s latest book, Fire And Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics Room 9

5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Avatar Press and Max Brooks—  Max Brooks (World War Z) leads off the Avatar panel with one of his legendary Zombie Survival talks and a Q&A session. Then editor-in-chief William Christensen fills you in on all the upcoming Avatar projects with Mike Wolfer (Gravel, Wolfskin, Lady Death) and Jacen Burrows (Crossed, Neonomicon). Room 26AB

5:45 to 7:15 p.m. Gays in Comics: Year 23! — This all-star panel examines the rising diversity in the comics world today as the long-running “Gays in Comics” panel continues into its third decade at Comic-Con. As mainstream companies DC and Marvel continue to frontline gay characters such as Batwoman and Northstar and hire top-level gay or gay-friendly creators, independent publishers and creators are publishing unequivocal content spotlighting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered characters, to the cheers of the thousands of fans who are out of the comic book closet. Welcome a top-level panel of GLBT and straight creators, who will give amazing insights and glimpses of surprises to come! Joining founding moderator Andy Mangels, the USA Today best-selling author of Star Trek novels and Iron Man: Beneath The Armor, are Howard Cruse, creator of Stuck Rubber Baby and Barefootz, founder of Gay Comix, and godfather of the gay comic movement; Geoff Johns, writer of Green Lantern, Flash, Brightest Day and DC Entertainment’s chief creative officer; Marjorie M. Liu, the New York Times bestselling author and writer of Black Widow, X-23 and co-author of Dark Wolverine; Daniel Way, writer of Wolverine  and Deadpool and co-writer of Dark Wolverine; Jim McCann, writer of Hawkeye & Mockingbird, Dazzler and Return of the Dapper Men; Charles “Zan” Christensen, co-creator of Mark of Aeacus, founding member of PRISM Comics and new publisher of gay-themed Northwest Press; Dan Parent, writer and artist for Archie and Betty & Veronica and creator of Archie’s new gay character, Kevin Keller; and Tim Fish, creator of Cavalcade of Boys and writer/artist for X-Men: Nation X and Iron Man: Designed Intelligence! Plus, there’s always  a surprise or two! Afterward, stick around for the hour-long gay comics fan mixer/social, hosted by PRISM Comics, with prizes and surprise special guests! Room 6A

6 to 7 p.m. Roddenberry Presents — Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry (CEO, Roddenberry Productions), Trevor Roth (head of development, Days Missing) and Tory Mell  (production supervisor, Trek Nation) are taking the name that created Star Trek and bringing it to levels not seen since the original days of the genre-changing television show. Join them for some awesome discussions and a chance to win a free iPad! Also on the panel: Phil Hester (Days Missing, Green Arrow), Dave Marquez (Days Missing, Syndrome), Stephen Christie (Archaia Publishing) and Paul Morrissey (editor, Days Missing). Room 25ABC

Captain America: The First Avenger

6 to 7 p.m. Marvel Studios: Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger—  Producer Kevin Feige and special guests give you an inside look at the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hall H

6:15 to 7 p.m. Human Target Screening and Q&A — Based on the DC Comics title, Human Target is an action-packed thrill ride about a mysterious private contractor who will stop at nothing to keep his clients alive — even if it means literally becoming a “human target.” The series moves to a new night this fall — Fridays at 8pm ET/PT on FOX — and executive producer Matthew Miller (Chuck) joins series stars Mark Valley (Fringe), Chi McBride  (Pushing Daisies) and Jackie Earle Haley (A Nightmare on Elm Street) for a Q&A with fans and to screen a special video presentation. Human Target is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television. Human Target: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD Sept. 21. Room 6BCF

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. WildStorm: Storm Front — What’s new in the WildStorm Universe? VP/general manager Hank Kanalz  and senior editor Ben Abernathy bring you up to speed with this inside look into DC’s wildest imprint. Joining Hank and Ben will be Adam Beechen (WildCats), Kurt Busiek  (Astro City), Darick Robertson (Fringe: Tales From the Fringe), Tom Taylor (The Authority), Tim Seeley  (WildCats), Adam Archer (Ratchet and Clank), Cruddie Torian (Gen13) and others. Room 4

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Kickstart Your Comic! — Producing an independent comic requires not only a huge time commitment but also a sizable financial investment to cover the printing, promotion, and distribution costs incurred before your book even hits the shelves. Recently, some creators have discovered a new and effective way to raise start-up capital for their comics online. Since it’s founding in 2009, Kickstarter.com has been helping artists in all media find financial backing for their projects through user donations. Kickstarter advisor Andy Baio and comic creators Kody Chamberlain (Sweets), Steve Earnhart and Pat Loika (The Villain) and Steve Bryant (Athena Voltaire) discuss their highly successful Kickstarter campaigns and offer advice to help you fund your own comic through Kickstarter.com. Room 7AB

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Ghetto Comics One-on-One: Eric Clement and Chris Miller — Eric Clement and Chris Miller present the new animated series The Adventures of Captain Save a Hood and Peter Proper, based on the independent graphic novel series about two superheroes who have no superpowers. Eric and Chris preview their animated series, along with a Q&A session. Room 9

6:45 to 7:45 p.m. Fables Forum 2010 — The Fables Forum returns to San Diego! The Fables creative team will be on hand to answer your most pressing Fables questions. Featuring the creators behind Fables, Jack of Fables and Cinderella, this panel is sure to have plenty of surprises. Moderated by group editor Shelly Bond, with Bill Willingham (Fables), Steve Leialoha (Fables), Chris Roberson (Cinderella), Matthew Sturges (Jack of Fables), Chrissie Zullo (Cinderella) and others. Room 6DE

7 to 8 p.m. Halo-8 Comics and Illustrated Films — Art and cinema collide at Halo-8, where stories are created simultaneously as comic books and “illustrated films,” merging motion comics with 3D-CGI, intense voice performances, and cinematic storytelling. Following the breakthrough success of Godkiller, Halo-8 president Matt Pizzolo (writer/director, Godkiller) presents the studio’s bold new slate of comics and illustrated films, unveiling never-before-seen art and announcing new projects with fellow panelists, creators Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) and Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), producers Brian Giberson (Godkiller) and FJ DeSanto (The Spirit, upcoming The Shadow), Godkiller stars Danielle Harris (Halloween) and Justin Pierre (Motion City Soundtrack) and more special guests. A limited-edition mystery gift will be available exclusively to panel attendees. Room 8

7:15 to 8:15 p.m. Gays in Comics Mixer and Silent Auction — A reception hosted by PRISM Comics, the nonprofit organization that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered comics, creators, and readers. Mingle with comics fans and creators. Plus stay for the special drawing of a “Comics Gift Basket” and the silent auction of hot comics items! Room 6A

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. CBLDF Benefit Auction — This is it, the CBLDF’s biggest auction of the year! Support free speech and walk away with incredible original art! Highlights include original art by Arthur Adams, Paul Pope, Tara McPherson, Ben Templesmith, Jim Rugg, David Hine, Shaky Kane and many more. This auction includes highlights from auction initiatives by TFAW.com, Image Comics and SeenAllOver.com, as well as original art created at the CBLDF Master Sessions. Stop by CBLDF booth (#1920) for a complete auction list. All proceeds from this auction will benefit the First Amendment legal work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Room 3

7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Remembering Dick Giordano — Penciller, inker, editor, mentor. Dick Giordano, who passed away on March 27, was a lot of things to a lot of people. A panel of comic luminaries and friends gather to pay tribute to the man who left a huge impact on the world of comics. Moderator Mark Evanier talks to Neal Adams, Paul Levitz, Pat Bastienne, Bob Layton and Joe Rubinstein about this comic book renaissance man. Room 4
7:30 to 8:30 p.m. 12-Gauge Comics: Boondock Saints: The Comic Series! — Troy Duffy, the writer/director of the cult-hit films The Boondock Saints and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, takes you behind the scenes of his comic trilogy, In Nomine Patris. Find out what’s next for the McManus Brothers and Il Duce, as Duffy and comic series co-writer J.B. Love fill you in on their plans for the next exciting storyline. But that’s not all … get a sneak peek at the new Boondock Saints iPhone game with developer Terrence Myers, and as an extra-special treat, David Della Rocco (the beloved “Rocco” from the films) will be taking your questions during the Q&A session! Moderated by comic series producer Eben Matthews and 12-Gauge publisher Keven Gardner (The Ride). Room 9

7:30 to 8:30 p.m. After Hours with the Christian Comic Arts Society — Creators and fans alike are invited to attend an open meeting of the Christian Comic Arts Society for an informal time of Christian fellowship, networking, laughter and prayer. (Think of it as the social hour after church … just with comic books instead of coffee, cookies and punch.) Room 24ABC

8:30 to 10:30 p.m. With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story — With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story is a feature-length documentary on Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, Hulk and over 500 other comic book characters. Learn how Stan rose from his humble Brooklyn beginnings to co-creating many of the world’s most well known characters! Following the screening will be a brief panel with Stan “The Man” Lee himself, executive producers Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight) and Tom DeSanto (X-Men, Transformers), actor Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk TV show), illustrator Jim Lee (Marvel, DC), writer Paul Levitz  (former president and publisher of DC Comics), Jack Kirby biographer Mark Evanier, and the With Great Power producing team of Terry Dougas, Nikki Frakes and Will Hess. You won’t want to miss this one! Room 6BCF

Todd McFarlane

Legal | A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin, will hear arguments today regarding Neil Gaiman’s claim that Todd McFarlane owes him money for his copyright interests in three characters — Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany — that he says are derivatives of their earlier creations Medieval Spawn, Angela and Count Nicholas Cogliostro.

“Our view is McFarlane just took some of the characters Neil was a co-creator of and just gave them different names,” Gaiman’s attorney Allen Arntsen told The Associated Press. “It’s a matter of principle.” In court filings, McFarlane attorney James Alex Grimsley denied Gaiman has any rights to the three additional characters, claiming they’re not based on the earlier creations. [The Associated Press]

One Piece, Vol. 27

Legal | A 14-year-old in Nagoya, Japan, has been arrested for allegedly distributing  One Piece, Naruto and other manga on YouTube before the titles’ release dates. The teen is accused of photographing the books page by page and uploading them as slide shows between Dec. 22, 2009, and Feb. 9, 2010, then announcing on Twitter what he’d done. Police are investigating how the boy obtained the manga before release. [Anime News Network, TG Daily]

Legal | The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly has voted down a controversial proposal to tighten regulations on the sexual depictions of minors in manga, anime and video games. [The Mainichi Daily News]

Publishing | Ka-Ming Cha provides a snapshot of the U.S. manga market, with a focus on digital piracy. [Publishers Weekly]

Parker: The Hunter

Publishing | IDW Publishing has released Darwyn Cooke’s acclaimed adaptation of Parker: The Hunter as its first original graphic novel available on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. [Hero Complex]

Comic strips | The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has actually expanded its Sunday comics section. Among the additions is Deb Aoki’s Bento Box. [Star-Advertiser]

Awards | Tuesday is the deadline for comics professionals to vote online for the 2010 Eisner Awards. [Eisner Awards]

Conventions | Tirdad Derakhshani and Kelly Rowles report on this weekend’s Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con. [Philadelphia Comic Con]

Conventions | A video report from the second annual Cherry Capital Con in Traverse City, Michigan. [9&10News.com]

Conventions | This weekend’s Screaming Tiki Comics, Toy & Pop Culture Convention in Niles, Ohio, is spotlighted. [Valley24.com]

Lynda Barry

Conventions | The Alternative Press Expo, held Oct. 16-17 in San Francisco, has announced four special guests: Lynda Barry, Daniel Clowes, Rich Koslowski and Tony Millionaire. [Alternative Press Expo]

Creators | Rachel Cooke profiles Daniel Clowes. [Guardian]

Creators | Snow Wildsmith interviews Dave McDonald and Andy Runton. [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | College student and aspiring comics creator Jason Salas talks about his five-week summer internship at MAD Magazine. [Las Cruces Sun-News]

Politics | Japan’s new national policy minister, Satoshi Arai, said he regrets his now-defunct political organization reported comic-book purchases as official expenses. [The Mainichi Daily News]

Mad Archives Vol. 2

Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.

Today it’s time (long pat time actually) to take a look at one of the most influential and undisputed masters of the comics medium, Harvey Kurtzman.

Why he’s important

Quick. Off the top of your head, how many cartoonists do you know actively influenced popular culture. I’m not talking about starting a catchphrase or being popular enough to end up as a question in Trivial Pursuit. I’m talking about actually shaping and changing the way we regard our relationship with the entertainment we consume. The only one that comes to my mind is Kurtzman. As with Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce and the other satirists of the 1950s and early 60s, Kurtzman made it OK to question what we saw on television, the music we heard on the radio and what we read in the newspaper. He made it acceptable — even fun — to poke fun at cherished symbols. The main differences between Kurtzman and the other comics from that period is a) Kurtzman never got his just share of the credit; b) because he worked in the relatively “underground” market of comic books, his influence was more widespread and, arguably, longer lasting.

Where to start

Mad Archives Vol. 1

Kurtzman’s run on Mad seems the logical and obvious place to begin. Those early issues — at least the first 23, when Mad was published in comic book fashion (when is someone going to collect Kurtzman’s initial run on those first couple of magazine issues?) — have been printed and reprinted in various formats, but the easiest and most accessible (relatively speaking) is probably The Mad Archives series, of which DC has published two volumes of so far. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any plans for a third volume on the horizon, which means you may have to scrounge around to find any issues past #12. (Thankfully, DC published magazine-sized reprints of the complete series, which you might be able to find in better comic book shops across the country).

From there you should read

Equally regarded in stature to Mad are the two war books Kurtzman edited for EC: Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. The two series, though not without their faults, are in the end justly acclaimed for their humanism and adept storytelling and offer a telling glimpse in Kurtzman’s ability to work outside of his usual humor “vein.” Gemstone published some nice, fancy-shmancy hardcover versions of these two series (though some may balk at the computerized coloring). Sadly, as with Mad, Gemstone never got to finish Two-Fisted, but these remain the best and most accessible versions of these stories today. If you’re an anal completist, you can try to located Gemstone’s initial, oversize, black and white volumes that were released in the 1980s, but expect to pay several hundred bucks for them.

Humbug

Kurtzman left Mad and EC for the greener pastures of Hugh Hefner, only to have his attempt at a slick humor magazine, Trump, fall flat on its face after two issues due to a variety of unlucky financial reasons. Kurtzman tried again with Humbug, a self-published endeavor that he attempted by pooling resources with fellow former EC artists Will Elder and Jack Davis (sorta), as well as relative newcomers like Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth. The result was a little better than Trump, it lasted a full 11 issues before running aground, which Fantagraphics packaged together in a lovely two-volume slipcase that handsomely shows off the individual contributors talents as well as Kurtzman’s skills as an editor.

It was while working on his third magazine, Help! that Kurtzman and his longtime collaborator came up with Goodman Beaver, a Candide-ish goodfella that kept getting his noble values, intentions and efforts rubbed into his face, resulting in some of the pair’s best and sharpest satire. The late Kitchen Sink Press collected most of the Goodman tales in one softcover book, which is still pretty easy to find (just click on that last link) but sadly, the book is missing the excellent “Goodman versus Playboy,” due to a litigious (at the time) Archie Comics. You can download a .pdf version of that story right here though.

Further reading

Kurtzman had a lot of aborted projects after the failure of Humbug. One that actually made it through to the publication stage was Jungle Book, a paperback collection of four Mad-ish satirical tales he did in his loose, sketchy style. The book didn’t catch on, but it remains a rather funny skewering of movie and TV cliches nevertheless, and, like Goodman Beaver, can be found in hardbound volume (again, courtesy of Kitchen Sink) pretty easily.

Before he went to EC, Kurtzman did a series of very funny one-page gag strips under the title Hey Look. Their raucous slapstick and constant fourth-wall breaking remain delightful (and a good place for kids to be introduced to the cartoonist). Kitchen Sink collected the lot back in the early 1990s, but the book seems to be a bit hard to find now, as the used prices are rather high.

Ancillary material

Little Annie Fanny Vol. 1

After handling one failed project after another, Kurtzman, with Elder in tow, finally ended up back at Hefner and Playboy, where he did the ever so slightly saucy strip Little Annie Fanny from 1962 to 1988. It’s decidedly weak sauce compared to the above books, but worth checking out if  Dark Horse collected the comics in two paperback volumes, which you can grab in fancy hardcover form if you so desire.

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle and Comics Journal Library Vol. 7: Harvey Kurtzman both offer nice backgrounds of the beleaguered cartoonist. The former is a coffee-table type book that provides a well-thought out (if somewhat problematic) biography of the artist along with lots of never-before seen art. The latter is a collection of interviews with Kurtzman as well as essays taken from the Journal, along with lots of rarely-before seen art.

Avoid

While the notion of pairing Kurtzman up with famous comics artists like William Stout, Sergio Aragones and Robert Crumb seems ingenious, Harvey Kurtzman’s Strange Adventures fails to make the grade. Done long after Kurtzman’s prime, the book feels like a rehash of the kind of satire he used to do a lot better decades earlier.

Similar problems plague From Aargh to Zap, Kurtzman’s attempt to chronicle the history of the comic book in America, the biggest of which is it’s too thin and covers well-trod upon ground without offering much in the way of Kurtzman’s own unique perspective.

Next month: Art Spiegelman

MAD #503

MAD Magazine will shift from a quarterly to a bimonthly schedule beginning with June’s Issue 504, according to a letter sent to contributors by Editor John Ficarra.

“Bimonthly isn’t the same as monthly,” cartoonist and MAD contributor Tom Richmond wrote this morning, “but it beats quarterly by exactly 50%!”

The venerable humor magazine moved from a monthly to a quarterly schedule in April 2009 following massive cutbacks at parent company Warner Bros. that resulted in the elimination of 800 jobs worldwide, including positions at DC Comics. MAD Kids and MAD Classics were axed in the belt-tightening.

“I have no idea what’s behind the decision,” cartoonist Evan Dorkin wrote today on his blog, “but it’s welcome news, and I’m sure a number of the ‘gang of usual idiots’ will be pleased to have more assignments after a meager year’s run. As a smaller fish in the gang who mostly does occasional small spot illo gigs, I wasn’t really affected by the changeover. But I felt badly for the ‘usual gangsters’ who likely depended on the steadiness of the monthly schedule, losing eight issues of material had to hurt some people.”

Here’s a trailer for a new interview series with great cartoonists, with the famous Mad magazine artist talking shop. (via)

Somehow it just seems all the more horrifying once you add motion, doesn’t it?  (via)