Comic Book Resources

comiXology brings BOOM!'s Irredeemable to the iPhone

Irredeemable

comiXology and BOOM! announced today that the first four issues of the Mark Waid-written Irredeemable is now available via comiXology's iPhone application. The individual issues can be downloaded for $1.99, and there's also a free preview available as well.

Irredeemable is the first BOOM! book available via comiXology's application. BOOM!'s Farscape, Eureka and Hexed comics are all available from iVerse.

Talking Comics with Tim: Mark Waid

The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh

Any regular readers of What Are You Reading? likely know how much I enjoy Mark Waid's writing. So when Waid made himself available for a brief email interview regarding BOOM!'s The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh, the first issue of which goes on sale tomorrow, I jumped at the chance. As I found out in this interview, Waid and I share a love of research. My thanks to Waid for the interview, and please be sure to check out CBR's five-page preview of issue 1 here. As detailed at the preview: "Back by popular demand, Mark Waid brings another installment of the world’s greatest detective! With only six months to live, Catherine Allingham’s condition is terminal. But nothing will stop her from trying to solve even more mysteries. It’s international suspense and hair-raising macabre as time runs out for our detective."

Tim O'Shea: It was years ago and in a different corporate universe, but as a fan of your run on Ruse, I have to ask--is Catherine Allingham a creative descendant of Emma Bishop to some extent?

Mark Waid: Ha! Man, someday, I've really got to go into hypnotherapy and see if someone can help me remember which prototypical Sarcastic Genius became the template for my scientists and investigators. Actually, Emma's more tender than Catherine. Catherine has no time for tenderness.

O'Shea: What was the appeal to mixing a spiritual quest with scientific exploration?

Waid: The appeal was in making an attempt to use science to answer (or at least approach) the great metaphysical mysteries. Detective fiction is full of excellent gumshoes who can tell you whodunnit. I wanted to get more into the impossible questions; a detective's only as interesting as the challenges she faces.

Continue Reading »

Mark Waid no longer evil?

Remember when Mark Waid was evil? Good times ...

Well, it turns out maybe Mark Waid is no longer as evil as we were led to believe:

Mark Waid Was Evil

I saw the above ad on Kevin Church's blog, which links to this page. Last time it was an ad campaign for Irredeemable ... I wonder if this new campaign is somehow tied to that book or if it's for a new title entirely.

This weekend, it's the D23 Expo in Anaheim

D23 Expo

Disney's D23 Expo kicks off today at the Anaheim Convention Center. The four-day event brings together all the various aspects of the Disney company -- from theme parks to movies to TV to yes, even comics -- under one roof, for panels, screenings, autograph signings and of course the opportunity to buy some Disney stuff. The complete schedule can be found here.

As I first mentioned back in June, BOOM! Studios, which publishes licensed comics based on several Disney properties, will be there and will have two booths at the show. Mark Waid, BOOM!'s editor-in-chief and writer of The Incredibles comic, will be at BOOM!'s display booth in the Disney Consumer Products area (#2209-41) Friday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Grace Randolph and Amy Mebberson, who also have worked on some of the titles, will be there throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. BOOM! will also have a booth in the Collector's Forum area, #430, where they'll be selling many of their Disney titles.

Other guests at the show include Tim Burton, Robert Zemeckis, Nicholas Cage, Courteney Cox, John Lasseter and many more. Panels will focus on upcoming films like The Princess and the Frog, Tron: Legacy, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, among others. And no, there's no mention of anything Marvel-related, nor would I expect there to be considering the deal isn't final. Maybe next year, though.

My wife's a huge Disney fan -- this is kind of like her Comic-Con -- so we'll be there Friday through Sunday. I plan to post pictures on the CBR Live blog throughout the day, God and iPhone willing, and will likely blog about it when I get a chance. So check back this weekend for updates.

Talking Comics with Tim: Michael J. Hayde

Flights of Fantasy

When Mark Waid concedes someone knows more than he does on a subject (in this case the 1940s ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN radio program), it gets my attention. Both at his BOOM! blog, as well as a review at Amazon, Waid wrote in praise of Michael J. Hayde's 536-page book, Flights of Fantasy: The Unauthorized but True Story of Radio & TV's Adventures of Superman. So I tracked Hayde (a self-described "writer and researcher of radio & television history") down to discuss his book in an email interview. In the interview, we also discuss his upcoming interview (tomorrow [August 28] at 11:30 PM [EST]) with Howard Margolin for Margolin's show Destinies: The Voice of Science Fiction over WUSB-FM.

Tim O'Shea: How satisfying was it when Mark Waid (popular comics writer and current EIC of BOOM Comics) wrote: "I’m as big a fan and student of the 1940s ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN radio program as anyone alive, and I thought I was the expert. I was wrong. Added bonus: I learned GOBS from Flights of Fantasy about the 1950s television show...The book is well-written, well put-together, detailed without being mind-numbing (YMMV), and a testament to stupendous research."

Michael J. Hayde: That was a HUGE thrill! I didn’t know Mark personally, but people who did were plugging the book simply because he liked it. He wrote in his review for Amazon.com that he’d been researching the “Superman” radio show for 30 years. That’s about 27 years more than me. That I was able to uncover things he didn’t know doesn’t speak badly about his research, but about the sorry state of accessible information about the radio show. Very little material was available, so some bad guesses were made by a few historians and authors over the years. Anthony Tollin, the historian for Radio Spirits, tried to correct some of these myths in the booklets that accompanied the audio box sets back in the late 1990’s, but they didn’t reach a wide audience. Just last year, a radio-themed book mentioned a “limited regional run” of “Superman” radio shows during 1939. That’s a myth. The four episodes that have been cited as “evidence” of such a run were audition recordings that never aired. Superman’s radio debut was during the week of February 12, 1940, period.

Continue Reading »

Talking Comics with Tim: Phil Hester

The Anchor

Writer Phil Hester is clearly enthused about his new creator-owned collaboration with artist Brian Churilla on BOOM's The Anchor. Not all creators are game to discuss the mechanics of the craft, and I was pleased when Hester was game. In addition to mechanics, we get to discuss the series ([Pre-Order at Your Local Comic Shop by August 25, 2009 {Today}; Diamond order code: AUG090716] set to launch in October).  As detailed at the BOOM! site: "THE ANCHOR. Holy warrior, unholy war. Freak of nature, beast of burden, hulking outcast, medieval prize fighter, Viking raider... God's leg-breaker. One thousand years ago a hulking outcast sought refuge in the crumbling ruins of an ancient monastery and offered in return the one thing he had to give - his fists. Transformed into an immortal warrior monk standing at the gates of Hell itself to keep our world free from its invading armies, The Anchor is mysteriously tricked into centuries of slumber. But today, this holy warrior rises to battle all the unholy monsters unleashed during his slumber." Be sure to also check out this preview of issue 1.

Tim O'Shea: What attracted you to working with BOOM! on this project, as opposed to pitching it to other companies?

Phil Hester: In all honesty, we pitched it a lot of places at once, and though other publishers made us offers BOOM! was the only place that saw our pitch and said "yes" without reservations. Also, they have a good reputation with retailers and fans, and among pros they're known as a publisher that will hustle their collective ass off to get your book in front of eyes.

Continue Reading »

SDCC '09 | Mark Waid will save us all

You remember the whole Mark Waid is Evil? thing, right?

BOOM!'s last slide

Well, at Comic-Con today, their last slide at their panel teased what appears to be another Mark Waid project of some sort. "Mark Waid is incorruptible." I figured the guy who wrote Incredibles couldn't be all bad.

SDCC '09 | BOOM! Studios exclusives, plus signing and panel schedule

BOOM! Studios has several SDCC exclusives this year, including hardcover collections of their recent Incredibles, Muppet Show, Cars and Farscape limited series. They'll also have a preview book of their upcoming Kill Audio comic by Claudio Sanchez. And signing at their booth during the con will be Sanchez, Mark Waid, Muppet Show writer/artist Roger Langridge, Farscape creator Rockne S. O’Bannon, Eureka’s Andrew Cosby and Ed Quinn and many more.

Check out their full schedule after the jump.

Continue Reading »

Mark Waid not only evil, but also cheap

Irredeemable #5

BOOM! Studios announced yesterday that the first Irredeemable trade, which collects issues 1-4 of the superhero-turned-villain series by Mark Waid and Peter Krause, will retail for $9.99. In addition, issue #5 will cost 99 cents.

"That means you can get caught up on the whole series for just $11 bucks," the press release said. Both books will ship on the same day.

Irredeemable #5 will ship with three covers in a 50/25/25 split by Gene Ha (right), Dennis Calero and Dan Panosian. Irredeemable Volume 1 TPB features a variation of the cover art by John Cassaday for the first issue of the series and reprints the afterword by Grant Morrison that appeared in issue #1.

Check out the other two covers for issue 5 and the trade cover after the jump.

Continue Reading »

Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

DMZ on Google Maps

Internet | Brian Wood uses Google Maps to highlight key locations from his Vertigo series DMZ.

Social media | Twitter, apparently, has taken the place of message boards as the preferred arena for fights between comic pros and gossip columnists.

Last Friday, an online dust-up occurred between comics writer Mark Waid and former All the Rage columnist Rich Johnston. You can read their respective takes on it here and here.

It was certainly a lot easier to follow the back-and-forth flames in the old days of message boards. Kids and their crazy newfangled internet tools ...

Digital comics | And now a look at the gentler side of Twitter ... also on Friday, Johnston interviewed Ryan Penagos, aka Agent_M, about Marvel.com and Marvel's Digital Comics Initiative. The interview took place on Twitter.

Internet | The New York Times talks to artists who were recently invited by Google to contribute artwork that would be used on their web browser, Google Chrome. Google asked them to do it for exposure rather than pay. (via)

Straight for the art | Mark Waid on the perfect cover

The Spirit #29

Comics writer and BOOM! Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid tells us why Paul Rivoche's cover for The Spirit #29 is "hands down, the best cover I’ve seen on a comic for a while, maybe all year." It's an interesting post about what makes a cover work, from the storytelling elements to the color choices.

The team-up you've been waiting for: Clayfish, Lil' Atom and Young Darkseid

The Revenge of Young Darkseid

Brian Hughes at Again with the Comics points out that the Elseworlds 80-Page Giant pulping incident is 10 years old -- my, how time flies. All but a few thousand copies were destroyed because of a "Superman's Babysitter" story by Kyle Baker that had the infant of steel surviving all sorts of mishaps a normal baby wouldn't. That story was later included in DC's Bizarro Comics anthology. It went on to win an Eisner.

In honor of the anniversary of the pulped comic, he's posted one of the book's features -- the "Hall of Silver Age Elseworlds," which features one-page previews from Silver Age Elseworld comics that never were, by Mark Waid and Ty Templeton. It's funny stuff; go check them out.

Via Comics Alliance

Mark Waid on, well, everything

Ka-Zar #1

Ain't It Cool News has a lengthy and engrossing interview with Mark Waid up. I only intended to skim it and come back to it later, but I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting. It covers everything from his early memories of reading comics to his current role as BOOM! editor-in-chief, and hits on maybe every major title he's worked on in between. Even his run on Ka-Zar, which I really enjoyed.

It's also very candid; if you ever wanted to know Waid's take on the "suburban" Fantastic Four/Bill Jemas debacle, working with Alex Ross on Kingdom Come or how things worked at CrossGen, it's in there. As is his take on the biggest challenge of 52:

BM: 52 was a series that featured multiple writers on the same weekly title, of which you were one. Was that a difficult challenge?

MW: Oh, it was an unbelievable challenge. But there is not one ounce of PR or fabrication in the statement, "We loved it because all four writers respected one another immensely." Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and I viewed one another as peers, each able to bring something unique to the process. But under the coordination of editor Steve Wacker (and later, Michael Siglain), we had two or three big in-person summits, participated in big conference calls each week, and kept in constant contact with one another throughout.

The biggest challenge was actually, wisely, kept from us by Steve. EIC Dan Didio, who first championed the concept, hated what we were doing. H-A-T-E-D 52. Would storm up and down the halls telling everyone how much he hated it. And Steve, God bless him, kept us out of the loop on that particular drama. Siglain, having less seniority, was less able to do so, and there's one issue of 52 near the end that was written almost totally by Dan and Keith Giffen because none of the writers could plot it to Dan's satisfaction. Which was and is his prerogative as EIC, but man, there's little more demoralizing than taking the ball down to the one-yard line and then being benched by the guy who kept referring to COUNTDOWN as "52 done right."

Talking Comics with Tim: Peter Krause

Irredeemable #1

This Wednesday marks the return of Peter Krause to monthly comics as the artist on BOOM! Studios' Irredeemable. The series is described by BOOM! as daring to "ask the question: what if the world's greatest hero decided to become the world's greatest villain? A 'twilight of the superheroes'-style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!" Many people, including myself, fondly remember Krause's great run on the 1990s DC series, The Power of Shazam. My thanks to Krause for this email interview regarding his return to monthly fun, as well as BOOM!'s Chip Mosher for facilitating the interview.

Tim O'Shea: This marks the first ongoing title you've done since Power of Shazam--but you've been a busy and happily employed artist outside of comics all these years. How has your non-comics work served to help improve your artistic skills overall and are there certain chances you're now willing to take--or visual experiments you want to try now that you never would have considered earlier in your career?

Peter Krause: Wow…what a great opening question. I suppose there are some chances I’d be willing to take, but I’m not sure if I can point to the non-comics work specifically as the reason. After a time, I think you get a bit more comfortable in your own skin, and you’re not chasing the artistic flavor of the month. You can be a bit more confident in the decisions you make.

Continue Reading »

Incredibles #1, Muppet Show #1 sell out, second printings planned

The Muppet Show

BOOM! Studios sent out a press release tonight saying both The Incredibles: Family Matters #1 and The Muppet Show Comic Book #1 have sold out from Diamond Comics. According to the release, "tremendous re-order activity just prior to both comics release ensured a sell out before either comic hit stands this Wednesday."

Second printings of both books should be available by the end of April.

"I've never seen anything like this. Sure, with the current economic climate, we are definitely printing more conservatively than years before, but even so, the velocity of late in the game re-order activity for these books have been totally out of this world," said Chip Mosher, BOOM!'s marketing and sales director, in the release. "Those re-orders ate up all the leftover stock at Diamond and then some. Not in our wildest dreams could we predict that we would effectively be sold out the day before these books hit the stands. Once we saw what was happening, we went into overdrive to get second prints of both books rolling into Diamond."

Earlier today BOOM! announced a newsstand distribution deal with Kable Distribution Services, while yesterday they launched a new website to promote their Disney/Pixar titles under the BOOM! Kids imprint.