Marian Churchland
Once Upon a Time Machine preview art
The Once Upon a Time Machine anthology (featuring futuristic versions of classic fairy tales and legends) made our picks for what we’re most looking forward to in August, so it’s exciting to see some preview art start to appear. That’s Farel Dalrymple’s wraparound cover above. Below is a sample of Marian Churchland and Brandon Graham’s version of “The Little Mermaid” (courtesy of Graham). The anthology also has a Facebook page where other contributors are sharing snippets of their work.
UPDATE: Once Upon a Time Machine editor Andrew Carl sent us the final art for the anthology’s cover and we’ve updated the image. As Andrew explains, “It’s really only the painted details/colors that are different (and improved), but if nothing else it would certainly make Farel happier to see the complete piece that he’s proud of online.” We’re happy to oblige. The high res image is stunning and lets you see Dalrymple’s painting in close-up detail. Incidentally, this is the first time the final cover has been shared in public.
Comics A.M. | CBLDF names deputy director; Alimagno leaves Marvel
CBLDF
Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has named Alex Cox as its deputy director, responsible for oversight of the organization’s home office and fundraising program. Cox, who came to the CBLDF in 2010, previously served as development manager. [CBLDF]
Publishing | Marvel Talent Coordinator Bon Alimagno is leaving the publisher for a position at San Francisco-based software company The Apollo Group. Previously editor of Harris Comics, Alimagno handled freelance scheduling at Marvel, working with David Bogart, the publisher’s senior vice president of business affairs and talent management. [The Beat]
Graphic novels | The Texas Library Association posts its 2012 Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List of recommendations for tweens and teens. [Texas Library Association]
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Alpha Flight
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Michael May
If I had $15, I’d start with Alpha Flight #1 ($3.99). I had mostly positive feelings about the prequel issue with the only negatives being a mixture of “that doesn’t look like Sasquatch” and some anxiety born from being used to disappointment from Alpha Flight books. Neither of which has anything to do with the people creating the next eight issues, so I’m looking forward to this in a way that I haven’t since John Byrne left the book. Next I’d grab Flashpoint: Grodd of War #1 ($2.99), because an all-out Gorilla Grodd comic sounds awesome. And then I’d give Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths #1 ($3.99) a shot to see how well IDW can manage two Godzilla comics at a time. They certainly managed the first one well. Finally, I’d pick up Mickey Mouse #309 ($3.99) because it’s a globe-trotting adventure with a ton of guest-stars, including my favorite: The Phantom Blot.
One cartoonist’s dream of video games
What do you get when you give a creative person too much free time? Sometimes it’s playing too many video games, while other times you might get an off-the-wall idea. Sometimes you might get both.
As an exercise, cartoonist Marian Churchland (Elephantmen, Beast, Madame Xanadu) is serializing her thoughts (and art!) on designing a video game — a video game with one goal in mind, to “please and amuse Marian.” Inspired by her recent time spent playing Final Fantasy XIV, this dream video game project is going under the title of The Crossing.
Here’s how Marian describes it:
The Crossing is an interim world, where the great heroes of earth arrive when they die, and through which they may pass in order to attempt to reach the land of the Gods. This will make more sense at length, and in a later post I’ll scribble the map over with more detailed locations, but for now I’ll keep it simple.
You might think of it as a world of gates. All the most bloodied heroes and warlords from human mythology arrive through those gates, and eventually they make their way (or not) to the farthest and most perilous gate, the crossing point to godhood.
Although only a week into the project, Churchland has posted maps, the game’s races and even items to find. Although no actual video game is expected to materialize, the idea of a cartoonist thinking in this way — world-building a story — is very interesting and evocative. Visit her blog for more details.