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.

The Defenders #1

This week Marvel’s “non-team” returned to the comic book page, as Matt Fraction, Terry and Rachel Dodson, and Sonia Oback brought the Defenders back with a mix of new and old members. Joining mainstays Dr. Strange, Namor and Silver Surfer are the Red She-Hulk, a.k.a. Betty Banner, who was once married to a Defender, and a character Fraction helped revitalize not that long ago in the pages of his own book, Iron Fist. The team is brought together with the help of the Hulk to deal with a leftover plot element from Fear Itself.

So what did folks think of this latest incarnation of the Defenders? Here’s a sampling of opinions on the first issue:

Jim Mroczkowski, iFanboy: “The Defenders #1 is a good read, make no mistake. It is a deceptively meaty tome; it doesn’t drag– or even pause, really– but readers may find themselves repeatedly checking the page count because it seems impossible that the book could be just a standard thirty-two pager. While DC’s new Justice League is three issues in and should just about manage to get everyone from the cover of #1 into the book by this time next year, The Defenders somehow manages to introduce every character, give the reader a vignette revealing something about each of them and where they are in their lives at the moment, introduce the threat in as straightforward a manner as you’ve seen since Marvel Two-in-One was cancelled, and get the entire band together with half a dozen pages to spare. Never mind reading it; I wanted to diagram it and teach it in a writing class.”

Jim Middleton, Weekly Comic Book Review: “Part of the strength of the Defenders has always been that it is composed of characters you don’t expect to find on a team at all, much less with each other. Fraction seems to understand this, and after delivering a very effective opening that establishes the Big Bad and shows us what it can do, he slows down to let this issue be about who our heroes are and why they wind up together.”

Chris Sims, ComicsAlliance: “The Defenders have always been in one of the weirder spots in comics. On paper, they should be the team for the Marvel Universe. Historically, the core group has always been Hulk, Dr. Strange, the Silver Surfer, and for those of you keeping score at home, that’s the strongest thing on the planet, the most powerful sorcerer in the dimension, a guy who controls the fundamental forces of the cosmos, and a dude who spent the 40s beating up Nazis, the ’50s being a hobo, and the ’60s beating up the Fantastic Four by himself.

“Honestly, why the hell would you call up the team that included an ex-carny with a bow and arrow when those guys were your other option?”

Cal Cleary, read/RANT: “Fraction makes a lot of… interesting decisions in this issue. I can honestly say, I’m not really sure how I feel about most of them. The two page introduction chronicling the horrible chain of mystic nightmares afflicting the world has become shorthand for ‘there’s a crack in the fabric of reality’, but the bigger issue with the sequence is that it doesn’t play into the issue in any way. The introduction of Doctor Strange, in which he sleeps with a grad student (who then hates him for some unexplained reason) is bizarre and offputting, and the issue has a constant scroll of running text at the bottom of the pages, sometimes reminding you to turn the page, sometimes advertising upcoming books, sometimes just telling you that “everyone you love dies”. Finally, the dialogue is often extraordinarily clunky, with only a couple characters really finding a coherent, interesting voice.”

Alex Zalben, MTV Geek: “As a point of fact, if I have one large problem with this book, it’s the sex factor… There’s a reference to molestation on the first page that seems wholly unnecessary and off-putting, as well as the two post-coital scenes that – yes – do illuminate points about the inner lives of the characters in question, but could have been done in other ways. Okay, the Iron Fist one I’m fine with, that’s just what he does, but still… Also, in a panel that seems destined to be passed around the Internet forever, Namor’s introduction includes a shot of him from behind that looks for all the world like he’s wearing ass-less chaps. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be scale armor, but I spent a lot of time studying that panel, just to be sure. Yeah, that’s it.”

Jason Clyma, Broken Frontier: “Terry Dodson’s art is more than sufficient for Fraction’s story. The highlight of Defenders #1 is King Namor’s triumphant ascent from the blood stained Aegean Sea, clad in armor and wielding his sword. With most of the story being composed of standard character introductions and talking-head scenes, however, Dodson does not have much room to stretch his artistic muscles. This is sure to change in the future, but as of now, Dodson feels rather limited.”

Kelly Thompson, Comic Book Resources: “Terry and Rachel Dodsons’ art is very strong, much better than some of their recent “X-Men” work, which was beautiful because, well, it’s the Dodsons, though it never quite felt like it was the absolute best they could do. “Defenders,” on the other hand, feels much closer to their best with the perfect amount of detail, exceptional character design, strong expression work, clear storytelling, solid pacing and a confidence that perfectly matches Fraction’s script. It’s obvious in these pages that the Dodsons can deliver whatever sublime treats Fraction might dream up, and that the characters will always look exactly like they should. Those basics are increasingly rare in modern comics, and deserve to be appreciated. Sonia Oback delivers beautiful colors throughout, adding significantly to the overall feeling of the book by tinting each character introduction with a different, subtle shade of color. It’s smart and well considered, and though many readers may not even notice it, the sub-conscious effect is nice.”

David Pepose, Newsarama: “For Matt Fraction diehards, I think you’re going to be very surprised at the tone and content that Defenders has to offer, which I’ll be the first to say reads very little like much of what he’s written in the past. In that regard, props to him for stretching himself, even if it does feel like he’s goofing off a bit. But considering this book was also billed as one that would explain the connective tissue of the Marvel Universe, there’s surprisingly little exposition for any new readers who want to get on board with this high-potential cast of characters. It’s a very loose style of writing, which may bug people who want their logic tight and their themes prevalent. For me, it’s the moving target of the tone and the lack of justification of membership that keeps me from truly digging Defenders — but there’s some potential here. That’s obvious. And now that the introduction is out of the way, I’m hoping that Matt Fraction and the Dodsons will make it clearer what kind of book they want this to be.”

Dark Horse Digital

Digital | Retailer Brian Hibbs responds to recent comments around the price of digital comics, commenting on how “channel migration” could effect comic retailers: “The concern of the comics retailer isn’t that there IS digital — fuck, I’m totally all for a mechanism to drive a potentially wide segment of customers to the medium of comics itself. How can that NOT help me? But, rather, that enough customers will ‘change channels’ (of purchase), so as to make segments of work unprofitible to carry. I’ve been pretty straight with you — most periodicals are but marginally profitible; most books are largely unprofitible. That we have stellar, break out, oh-my-god-it’s-like-printing-money successes like WALKING DEAD or BONE or SANDMAN doesn’t mean that this is the way all books can follow. Quite the opposite in fact! So what this means is that even losing a TINY portion of the readership through Channel Migration could potentially have dire effects. Seriously, if I lost just 10% of my customers, I’m done. And what we also know is that when physical stores close, most of that readership for comics UTTERLY VANISHES. The gist of this is that losing 10% of sales to migration could mean that the other 80% of that stores’ sales are COMPLETELY LOST.” [The Savage Critics]

Comics | Classic Sunday funnies character Joe Palooka has been resurrected, but this time his sport is Mixed Martial Arts, not boxing. Boxing announcer Joe Antonacci grew up reading the classic comic and when he learned the trademark was available, he acquired it, then hired a stable of writers and artists to turn it into an action-adventure comic about MMA. You can see some samples at Palooka.com. [Sherdog]

Creators | Comics Alliance has another preview of Sacrifice, due out next week from writer Sam Humphries (Our Love Is Real) and artist Dalton Rose, along with a Q&A with Humphries. [Comics Alliance]

Stephen Colbert

Comics | Comedian and television personality Stephen Colbert recommends Mush! Sled Dogs with Issues, the new First Second graphic novel by Glenn Eichler, who writes for The Colbert Report, and artist Joe Infurnari. (If you watch the full episode on his site, you can see it around the 20-minute mark, right after the Black Keys play). [The Colbert Report]

Creators | Sarah Glidden (How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less) chats with Mike Dawson about process and other topics in the latest Talkie Hutt podcast. [The Comics Journal]

Review | Cow Boy, by Chris Eliopoulos and Nate Cosby may look like a kids’ comic, but Ali Colluccio finds it offers plenty for readers of all ages to appreciate. [iFanboy]

Review | David Anderson thinks Robert Berry and Josh Levitas have done a great job of adding visuals to James Joyce’s classic Ulysses in their webcomic Ulysses “Seen,” but it’s probably best for most readers to read the book and the comic in tandem. [Spandexless]

Libraries | Young Adult Librarian Robin Brenner did a survey of her library colleagues to see what sort of graphic novel collections they had. Amazingly, almost 87% had a children’s graphic novel collection and over 83% had a teen graphic novel area. Only 64% had adult graphic novels in a separate collection, although some interfile them with prose books. She also looks at the reasons librarians give for not having a separate graphic novel collection as well as what factors (budget, content, poor bindings, availability) limit the books they acquire. [No Flying, No Tights]

For God and Country

Criticism | Dave Seliger finds GQ‘s comic-book rendition of the death of Osama bin Laden, written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Nathan Fox, to be in extremely bad taste: “Is this really how the whole bin Laden saga needs to be remembered? As a bloody double tap to the head with ‘pok’ and ‘pak’ sound effects? I think the military handled the end quite well, with an unpublicized ceremony and burial at sea. It didn’t need a comic book rendition in a ‘gentlemen’s’ magazine.” [Core77]

Events | The third Comics and Medicine Conference is coming to Toronto next July, and they are currently accepting proposals for papers and workshops. [Comics 212]

Awards | Dave Brown, political cartoonist for the UK newspaper The Independent, has been named Political Cartoonist of the Year by the Cartoon Art Trust. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Snark | Alan David Doane applauds Dark Horse for promoting its watermark so vigorously, by plastering it prominently all over its electronic review copies. [Trouble With Comics]

“Fear, that’s terrible for kids to see, and all the violence, it’s just too negative for them,” she explained. I looked at the poster, wondering if there actually was something terrible on it but no, no gore, sexual situations or excessive violence. She actually had a problem with the title. I told her the title came from the quote that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, an appeal for strength. How every kid faces a fear at one time or another and why not show them how super-heroes handle theirs? “After all,” I told her, “… you know the good guys win.”

She thought about it and we talked about fear and being strong. In the end, I hadn’t changed her mind entirely but she did admit that saying the whole store was negative was probably a bit rude. The young customer bought something he liked and everyone went home happy. If a robot had carried in a cupcake for me, it would have been the perfect day.

But then again, nothing in this world is perfect, not even my unflinching adoration for one of Marvel’s finest architects (FRACTION 3:16!). But if you boil Fear Itself down to its base elements, you will find jewels of the human spirit expressed in the Mighty Marvel Manner. It may not be the best event book, but I’m starting to think that the core of Fear Itself is one of the most important stories you can read for inspiration.

(WARNING: We will be talking about Fear Itself, including this week’s cataclysmic issue #7, grab your copies and read along)

In an article talking about Doomwar, I said that event book essentials included: 1) a major villain, 2) a global threat, 3) assorted heroes unified to fight numbers 1 and 2, and the most important 4) the human element. When galactic threats bear down on the planet Earth, someone has to stand, look at the sky and shout ‘Holy cats, that’s a Terrible Thing!’ Heroes don’t often get this chance, as they are too busy being heroic and fighting the good fight to get in a word of astonishment at their own activities. Fear Itself is unique in that not only does the common man express his hopes and fears at what is quite possibly the end of the world, but the heroes express the weight of their down fears as they take on impossible odds. From gods to men, they all stare own adversity, face their own fears and dig deep to find the strength to keep going.

a dark father's love

Even when they’re not human. Odin tells Thor over and over that he doesn’t have to fight this mortal battle, and that he would see Midgard razed to ashes because, “A world is nothing for your son.” In a similar fatherly gesture, when Skaldi laments that their victory will cause the Serpent’s death, he tells her that when he falls, she will carry on in his name. “This is all for you, darling. This was always just for you.” Even our villain does not fear death and his own defeat, because he is giving his daughter the world in his absence. One man would see it burn, the other would serve it up on a silver platter, both for their children. Come on, that’s kinda cool.

Two human men demand not miracles, but tools and some level of accountability, from Odin himself. Tony gives up something of his own dignity by drinking at the doorstep of the All-father so that he could get the God’s attention, to arm his friends so that they may fight their own battle. When Captain America brings back the battered body of Thor before the final fight, he demands that Odin do his own duty. As much as Odin may want to burn the world to save his son, destiny demands otherwise. All of his efforts and machinations to escape his (and his son’s) fate come to nothing. By the end of the final story, Odin has not only lost Thor, but Asgard has become his tomb as he stands guard over the broken body of the Serpent until the end of time, his brother’s keeper at last.

There is a moment after all they’ve seen, and the oppressive weight of inevitable defeat is on their shoulders that Spider-Man bends to his own fears and leaves the front line. He is worried for his family, for his friends, and as terrifying as the end of everything is, one wants to be with the ones they love. I can’t fault the man, these are some impossible odds! He eventually finds Aunt May and she asks about her nephew Peter. There is some sideways dialogue possibly alluding to the idea that Aunt May knows exactly who Spider-Man is, but once she is assured that her nephew is fine, she tells Spider-Man to keep protecting him and others. “You have a great responsibility, you know, and it wouldn’t be right, me keeping you here away from it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he tells her, and swings back out to continue the good fight.

Parallel to this, there is an everyman threaded through Fear Itself, a homeowner in Broxton who also runs back to his family to check on his wife and child. As they huddle together, this everyman makes his choice and heads back out to do what he can. “If this… if this is the end…? I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Later, Captain America has fallen in the midst of battle, and it’s this guy who helps him to his feet. And thus for the bravery of a balding middle aged man in the midst of costumed adventurers, do we understand the point of this seven issue series.

Fear can be many things. You can be afraid of spiders, afraid of heights, afraid of flying Nazis in powered armor. You can be afraid of losing your son, of losing your job, afraid of the end of the world, but those fears are incremental in comparison to what you do about them. Fears say less about a man than his strengths of character, and if there is anything I think kids should be learning about today, it’s that.

Batman #2

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 mostly grab the second issues of some DC stuff I enjoyed last month: Batman ($2.99), Birds of Prey ($2.99), and especially Wonder Woman ($2.99). No Justice League for me though. Unlike Action Comics, I didn’t enjoy the first issue enough that I can rationalize paying $4 for it. Instead, I’ll grab Avengers 1959 #2 ($2.99) and Red 5′s Bonnie Lass #2 ($2.95), both of which had strong first issues.

If I had $30, I’d have to put back Bonnie Lass and wait for the collection in order to afford Jonathan Case’s atomic-sea-monster-love-story Dear Creature ($15.99).

If I had some splurge money, I’d likely grab the first issues of the 30 Days of Night ongoing ($3.99) and John Byrne’s Cold War ($3.99) as well as Dark Horse Presents #5 ($7.99). And if I had lots of extra money, I’d take First Second’s Nursery Rhyme Comics ($18.99) and Orcs, Volume 1: Forged for War ($17.99) too. I’ve already read Nursery Rhyme Comics and it’s wonderful; I’m curious to see if Orcs can redeem those creatures from the ennui I feel about them from growing up with Tolkien and D&D. If it was anybody but First Second publishing it, I don’t think I’d give it a chance.

Graeme McMillan

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1

If I had $15 this week, the first thing I’d make a run for in the store would be Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1 (IDW, $3.99), Chris Roberson and Jeffrey Moy’s mash-up of two of my favorite SF series and something I have been embarrassingly looking forward to since its original announcement. I’m also finding myself obsessed with Fear Itself #7 (Marvel, $4.99), for slightly different reasons; after a year in which the climaxes of both Flashpoint and Schism underwhelmed, I just want Fear Itself to go out with a bang. Talking of underwhelming, I wasn’t completely on board with the first issue of DC’s new Justice League, but I’ll be picking up #2 (DC, $3.99) to see what happens next nonetheless, and seeing if things improve.

If I had $30, I’d continue my Legion of Super-Heroes love with DC Comics Presents Superboy’s Legion #1 (DC, $7.99), the latter a collection of an Alan Davis/Mark Farmer Elseworlds series that I’ve never read. I’d round out my purchases with another DC $7.99 reprint book – I have money left from the original $15, honest – and grab Vertigo Resurrected: The Eaters (DC, $7.99), which brings a Peter Milligan horror story from the early ’90s back into print for the first time in far, far too long.

If I were going to splurge this week, I could be persuaded to grab Marvel’s 15-Love TP ($14.99), based upon surprisingly good reviews of the mini. I admit, “tennis manga done by American and European creators” doesn’t sound like a great idea to me, but some of those reviews really sold it to me.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15: Butcher Baker, Candlestickmaker #4, the latest issue of the last of The Boys spin-off mini-series would be my first grab. I might also pick up the fourth issue of the newspaper anthology Pood, which, with this issue, features the work of Joe Staton.

If I had $30: Well, I’ve been long intrigued to read Alan Moore’s Neonomicon, especially since it generated such controversy and outright hatred. Now that it’s been collected in trade paperback it seems like I have a golden opportunity.

Nursery Rhyme Comics

On the complete other end of the spectrum I feel obliged to point out that First Second’s Nursery Rhyme Comics anthology, which we highlighted via a series of interviews with contributors on the blog last week, is also out in stores. Even if you don’t have young children at home, it’s a pretty boss book.

Splurge: Let’s see, there’s Vol. 16 of Tezuka’s Black Jack (and it’s always nice to see that’s continuing along) as well as MetaMaus, the “DVD features” companion to Art Spiegelman’s Maus that comes with an actual DVD and (I think) is thicker than the work it references.

But if you really want to splurge, you gotta go for The Metabarons Ultimate Collectors Slipcase edition. $130 gets you all of Alexandro Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez’s trippy, multi-generational sci-fi epic. Get it for the Eurocomic nerd in your life.

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, my first purchase would be Jason Aaron’s Wolverine #17 (Marvel, $3.99). Re-teaming with his original Wolverine collaborator Ron Garney, this one is billed as a post-Schism tale but the shadows of the last story arc of the title itself cast longer on the series to me. Next up would be Wonder Woman #2 (DC, $2.99), because I’m really interested to see Azzarello explore the mythological worldview that Diana inhabits. Lastly would be the de facto anthology of record in comics currently, Dark Horse Presents #5 (Dark Horse, $7.99). This issue promises a short by Eric Powell about a suicidal space robot, so what’s not to love.

Fear Itself #7

If I had $30, I’d double-back and get the finale of Fear Itself #7 (Marvel, $4.99). Although the writing hasn’t lived up to my expectations compared to previous events or previous work by Matt Fraction, I still enjoy Stuart Immonen’s work here and am interested to see what he pulls out for the final issue. After that I’d get the under-the-radar OGN by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Juan Santacruz – Book Smart (Kickstart, $8.99). This is out of the poorly publicized line of titles that the film company Kickstart is doing in comics, but the stories are strong as is the creators involved.

If I could splurge, I’d splurge all over the Metabarons Ultimate Collection Slip Case (Humanoids, $129.95). Sure I have most of these in earlier editions, but by adding this to my bookshelf I can give away those older ones and spread the love. That’s validation, right? You’ll back me up with my wife when I spent $130 on comics I already have, right? Right?

Ed Kramer

Legal | Edward Kramer, co-founder of the 25-year-old Dragon*Con held each Labor Day in Atlanta, was arrested Tuesday and charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment of a child after police allegedly found him in a Connecticut motel room with a 14-year-old boy. Kramer, who was first charged 11 years ago with child molestation and aggravated child molestation, never went to court after his lawyers argued that Kramer was physically incompetent to stand trial, due to a degenerative spinal condition and chronic pain. Kramer was under house arrest until 2008, when a judge ruled that he could travel, although conditions of his bond stipulated that he report his whereabouts on a weekly basis to the district attorney’s office and that he have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. On Wednesday a judge signed an order revoking Kramer’s bond, and the district attorney said Kramer will be extradited back to Georgia.

Pat Henry, current chairman of Dragon*Con, posted a statement on the convention’s website: “Edward Kramer resigned from the Dragon Con Convention in the year 2000 after being indicted on felony charges in Gwinnett County. He has not had any role in Dragon Con planning or activities since that time. Since 2000 the convention has been managed by three of the other founders. These men have been involved with the convention since the beginning. They are chairman Pat Henry, and board members Dave Cody and Robert Dennis. In these eleven years the convention attendance has grown from less than 10,000 to over 46,000 this past Labor Day.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

Legal | Attorneys presented their opening arguments in Michael George’s murder trial, as the prosecution claimed the former comic store owner “wanted to get rid of his overweight wife and get something better.” They also said he “dreamed of a ‘McDonalds-like’ comic store empire while he kept a secret apartment and engaged in salacious affairs behind his wife’s back,” according to The Detroit News. The defense claims George was at his mother’s house in 1990 when his first wife Barbara was shot and killed in their comic store in Clinton Township, Michigan. [The Detroit News]

Conventions | Heidi MacDonald takes a look at the SEC filings for Wizard World Inc., noting that revenue from conventions was up almost $1 million in 2010, when the company put on eight conventions, from 2009, when it only ran three. [The Beat]

Casanova

Creators | Matt Fraction discusses his work on Casanova, which he calls his “difficult child”: “It’s the one that requires the most thought and work. It made my bones in some places. I wanted it to be as good as I thought I was, if that doesn’t sound too egomaniacal. I went back and reread all of [Casanova] to date and was humbled by the experience, because I didn’t think it was that good. [laughs] So there’s the added pressure of putting your money where your mouth is, trying to live up to whatever reputation I and the book had. I’d start over, constantly trying to push up my game and push up the book’s game. I don’t know that it was successful, but it reached a point where I felt like, today, this is what I am able to love.” [Suicide Girls]

Creators | Stan Lee has canceled an appearance at ExactTarget’s online marketer convention in Indianapolis today due to illness. [Indystar]

Creators | Charles Soule discusses his music-inspired Image series 27. [Biff Bam Pop]

Comics | Christian Sager notes that while superheroes might dominate Diamond’s sales charts, non-superhero books dominate awards like the Harveys and Eisners. He talks to Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, Adam P. Knave and D.J. Kirkbride about their Harvey-winning books. [CNN Geek Out]

Kevin Keller

Comics | Fox News looks at the upcoming same-sex marriage of Archie Comics’ character Kevin Keller. [Fox News]

Comics | In light of DC’s New 52 relaunch, Sabotage Times looks back at Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes proposal, which featured “darker future versions” of DC characters. [Sabotage Times]

Science | Researchers are working on what they call an “Iron Man suit” that would allow people with spinal-cord injuries to walk. The spinal-cord research center ICORD is working on computerized robotic pants that help rehabilitate patients with damaged spinal cords by mimicking the natural motion of the legs. The article notes it could be 20 to 40 years before an Iron Man suit becomes reality — and that it’s unlikely it would allow users to fly, at least not at first. [Vancouver Sun]

Casanova: Avaritia

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.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

I’m very excited to read Casanova: Avaritia ($4.99), the first new Casanova storyline in what seems like a dog’s age. There’s something about this series that seems to bring out Fraction’s best, perhaps it’s the mere fact he’s working with Fabio Moon and (this time around) Gabriel Ba allows him to rise to the occasion. That and The Boys #58 ($3.99) will probably round out my initial purchases.

If I had $30:

I’m curious about Seymour Chwast’s adaptation of The Canterbury Tales ($20), given that his adaptation of Dante’s Inferno garnered some attention, but in reality, I’m saving my money to get Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot ($18.99), the latest Jacques Tardi book from Fantagraphics, another hard boiled (and ultra-violent) noir in the same vein as West Coast Blues, which is not terribly surprising considering its the same writer, Jean-Patrick Manchette.

I should also point out that the final volume of Mome is out this week and easily the best volume of an already excellent series, featuring stellar work by folks like Eleanor Davis, Josh Simmons, Chuck Forsam, Tim Hensley and more. A steal at $20.

Splurge:

My splurge of the week is easily Cats, Dogs, Men, Women & Clowns: The Lost Art of William Steig. Though he remains a popular children’s author, thanks largely to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Shrek, Steig is often overlooked by cartoonists, which is a mighty shame. This book collects over 450 never-before-published cartoons, along with anecdotes from Steig’s widow.

Graeme McMillan

Action Comics #1

If I had $15 this week, there would be no way I could avoid the New 52 hitting stores with its first full wave, picking up Action Comics #1, Batgirl #1 and Stormwatch #1 (Each DC Comics, $2.99) with something between eager anticipation and fear of disappointment. That would also describe my feelings about Casanova: Avaritia #1 (Marvel, $4.99), Matt Fraction’s return to the series that made me a fan, after many projects of his that have had the opposite effect.

If I had $30, the DC mania would continue with Animal Man #1 and OMAC #1 (Both DC Comics, $2.99), two reboots of one-time favorite series that have one creator getting me excited, and one making me nervous. More nervous-making than exciting, I find myself drawn toward Rich Veitch’s The Big Lie #1 (Image, $3.99), which is already finding itself described as a “truther” book, but… Veitch can be worth reading when he’s got his satirical hat on, so I’ll probably pick it up.

Splurgewise, my Kirby-love is mixing with the same love of gimmickry that makes the OMAC revival fascinating as soon as I see the hardcover collection of Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine (Marvel Comics, $34.99), the Erik Larsen-led attempt to imagine how Kirby would’ve continued on the FF if he hadn’t left the book back in 1970 (Other artists include Bruce Timm, who does a mean Kirby homage, Keith Giffen, Bill Wray and Steve Rude). I’ve never read it, but the weirdness alone seems like a siren song, drawing me in…!

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d dig into some New 52 series that have my attention. I’m picking up Action Comics #1 ($3.99) to see if Grant Morrison really has something new to say about Superman: The Early Days, but I’ve seen that time period covered so often that I’m skeptical. He needs to grab me with this issue to get me to buy the next. I’m more excited about Batgirl #1 ($2.99) and Static Shock #1 ($2.99), series about two characters I know I like by writers I love. Finally, I’d add The Spider #2 ($3.99) from Moonstone because the first issue was awesome.

Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1

If I had $30, I’d add some issues that I’ll end up buying in collected editions anyway later on. Like Chris and Graeme, I’m excited for new Casanova with Avaritia #1 ($4.99). And of course I want the new Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1 ($3.50). I’d round off the pile with bear-riding cowboy Reed Gunther #4 ($2.99).

I’m waffling between three different splurge items this week. First Second’s Bake Sale ($16.99) looks wonderful (and delicious), but my son and I just started reading Amulet, Volume 1 and found it nearly impossible to put down, bedtime be damned. That makes Amulet, Volume 4: The Last Council ($10.99) very tempting even though we’ve got a couple of volumes to catch up on first. I think though that my mad money would go to the new edition of Astro City: Life in the Big City ($17.99), because I haven’t read that story since it came out in single issues and I’ve been wanting to reacquaint myself with Astro City for a few years now.

JK Parkin

New Avengers Annual #1

I was thinking it would be really easy just to say I was going to try all the relaunched DC titles coming out this week, but that would cost me more than $40, which is outside my spending limit. And besides, the first issue I’m most excited about this week isn’t even published by DC — it’s New Avengers Annual #1 ($4.99), featuring the stunning debut of the Revengers! This is sort of the perfect storm for me, as I’ve always loved Marvel’s annuals, I’ve got a soft spot for Wonder Man and I enjoy seeing old C- and D-grade characters get a makeover. That leaves me $10, which I’d spend on three of the new DC titles — Swamp Thing #1 ($2.99), Animal Man #1 ($2.99) and Static Shock #1 ($2.99).

If I had $30, I’d add a few more New 52 titles to the pile — Hawk and Dove #1 ($2.99), Batwing #1 ($2,99) and Stormwatch #1 ($2.99). I’d round it out with Punisher #3 ($2.99) and Morning Glories #12 ($2.99). Because, y’know, man can not live on relaunched titles alone …

There’s a lot to choose from this week, both on the comic front and the splurge front. For my splurge, I’d be hard-pressed to pick between Americus ($14.99) by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill, and The Hidden by Richard Sala ($19.99).

Little Island Comics

Retailers | Little Island Comics — “the first kids comic book store in North America–maybe even the world” — opens its doors today in Toronto. The store is owned and operated by The Beguiling, and is located around the corner from the flagship store. The store will hold an official grand opening in a few weeks. [The Comics Reporter]

Publishing | DC Comics co-publisher and Justice League artist Jim Lee discusses his work on DC’s flagship title, which came out in digital form last Wednesday, the same day it hit comic shops. “It’s also setting records digitally. I can’t give numbers, but on the first day it set a record for us,” Lee tells Heidi MacDonald.

That leads Tom Spurgeon to throw a flag on the play: “… it looks like DC won’t be releasing its New 52 digital numbers but will feel confident in making claims on their behalf. It also looks like comics sites will then repeat this claim as news, perhaps qualified by source or as a claim but still putting that information out there. This should stop. I think DC has a really dubious history with using the hidden portions of their numbers to PR advantage — call it the ‘I have a girlfriend in Canada’ of sales analysis. My take is that this practice has intensified slightly ever since the numbers have become smaller and therefore more crucial. When in the 1990s sales on mainstream comics dipped to the point where people questioned the profitability of certain issues of certain titles, perhaps leading to a line of analysis about mainstream publishers making books at a loss for market share advantages or to knock other comics from the limited stand space, we were sometimes assured that there were sales elsewhere we didn’t know about that pushed certain comics over this projected threshold.” [Salon, The Comics Reporter]

Justice League

Comics | Glen Weldon explains DC’s New 52 relaunch to the rest of the world. [NPR's Monkey See blog]

Comics | Not interested in this New 52 thing, even after reading Weldon’s explanation? Relax, there’s plenty more out there: The writers at Sequential Tart recommend 52 non-DC comics coming out in September. Looks like it will be a good month! [Sequential Tart]

Comics | KC Carlson discusses the guidelines for first issues, including the need for a good issue #1 to be self-contained: “A first issue that is Part 1 of 6 is, by definition, no longer a first issue. It’s a first chapter of a potentially great collection/graphic novel. Your first issue should be both widely accessible and a satisfactory read. A complete story is the best way of achieving that.” [Comics Worth Reading]

Comics | In his latest What’s Wrong With You? column, Josh Flanagan delivers beatings all round — to creators, for not doing a professional-quality job on creator-owned comics, and to readers, for sticking to the Big Two and not wandering further afield. Good discussion, with suggestions for good creator-owned comics, in the comments. [iFanboy]

Casanova

Creators | Martyn Pedler delivers a great Matt Fraction interview for fans of Casanova, in which Fraction discusses process, the autobiographical nature of the book and his dislike of “the addicted and tortured artist cliché”: “I loathe it. It is monstrous. It has killed my friends. I knew people who are dead now because they believed that without being fucked up they couldn’t create, couldn’t express themselves, couldn’t live. This cult of bullshit that surrounds these dead kids — and make no mistake, Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, they were children. I think about what I knew at twenty-seven and I didn’t know fucking anything. I’ve gained the wisdom to realize I know nothing about wisdom. We just went through all this stuff again with Amy Winehouse. It’s one of the worst fictions of pop culture. It’s worse than Kangaroo Jack. It’s monstrous bullshit and it kills people.” [Bookslut]

Creators | Blankets creator Craig Thompson is all over the place these days; in this story, he talks about his newest graphic novel, Habibi, and how writing and drawing it over the past seven years intertwined with events in his real life: “I started working on Habibi after a devastating breakup; at the point of the reunion of the characters in the book, I felt I was starting to make progress in the relationships in my life. I went from a little “emo boy” to much more of an adult in a relationship over the course of working on Habibi.” [Library Journal]

Detective Comics #1

Creators | Tony Daniel discusses his run on DC’s relaunched Detective Comics. [USA Today]

Creators | Ian Brill announced that after three years as an editor at BOOM! Studios, he’s left the company to pursue a career as a writer. [Brill Building]

Conventions | Ferret Press publisher Dara Naraghi explains why he won’t be attending Mid-Ohio-Con, which is now owned by Wizard World. [PANEL, Via]

History | Noel Murray traces the history of the newspaper comic strip, its precipitous rise in popularity, and the reasons why the medium is in trouble today, with plenty of examples. [AV Club]

Webcomics | Delos reviews Sarab, a webcomic by Arien Artemis in which the readers are allowed to vote on which of two paths the protagonist will follow. It’s like choose-your-own-adventure but with shared decision-making. [Art Patient]

Reviews | Tucker Stone looks back at Darko Macan’s Cable work. [Factual Opinion]

Reviews | Charles Hatfield reviews The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1969. [The Comics Journal]

Defenders

As is typical, Sunday was a bit slower in terms of announcements at the San Diego Comic-Con, but there were some on the last day of the show:

• At the Fear Itself panel, Marvel made several announcements, including a new Defenders series by Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson. The team includes Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Namor, Red She-Hulk and Silver Surfer.

• Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri will chronicle the adventures of Bruce Banner and his alter ego starting in October, when Incredible Hulk #1 hits the stands.

• Much like Siege begot the Heroic Age, Fear Itself will bring Battle Scars, a post-event branding for the Marvel Universe titles. Several Shattered Heroes one-shots will be released, focusing on how Fear Itself impacts various Marvel heroes.

• Marvel confirmed the launch of The Fearless, a bi-weekly series by Matt Fraction, Chris Yost, Cullen Bunn, Mark Bagley and Paul Pelletier.

• DC Comics released a gallery of character designs and sketches for the New 52 launch.

• Comic-Con International released the full list of Inkpot Awards recipients from this year’s show. The list includes Steven Spielberg, Alan Davis, Chester Brown and many more.

October will see the debut of The Fearless, “an event that shows readers what’s in store for their favorite characters in the wake of the Fear Itself event. Anyone that enjoyed Fear Itself should be interested in finding out how Captain America, the Avengers, and other characters from all across the Marvel Universe deal with the aftermath.”

Although further details haven’t been publicly released by Marvel or Diamond Comic Distributors, Newsarama reports that the twice-monthly series will be written by Matt Fracion, Cullen Bunn and Chris Yost, and illustrated by Mark Bagley and Paul Pelletier. The website also confirms the October launch of Incredible Hulk, by Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri.

Stay tuned to Comic Book Resources for more information as details surface from Comic-Con.

Vengeance #1

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. We’re coming a little late today due to a power outage in my neck of the woods — due to a blackout, not because I spent the money for the electric bill on Flashpoint or Fear Itself tie-ins.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, my first pick off the shelf would be Vengeance #1 (Marvel, $3.99); I love Joe Casey, and especially when he’s given a long leash and room to play in a big universe. Seeing Nick Dragotta drawing this is an added bonus. Next up would be comics’ dueling summer blockbusters, Flashpoint #3 (DC, $3.99) and Fear Itself #4 (Marvel, $3.99). After that, I’d get the excellent Flashpoint: Batman, Knight of Vengeance #2 (DC, $2.99); when Azzarello is on the ball he’s great to read, and this seems to be that.

If I had $30, I’d double back and get Toby Cypress’ Rodd Racer (Image, $7.99); I’m spoiled in that Toby sent me an advance preview of this, which only made me want to read it more. Next up would be Uncanny X-Men #540 (Marvel, $3.99); I really feel Kieron Gillen has already got a firmer grasp on the characters here than Matt Fraction did in the length of his run. I hope Gillen’s given some time to really explore things outside the big-event crossover seasons to come. If Chris Claremont can do those epic baseball issues, I want Gillen to do some music equivalent –who knows, maybe Wolverine saw the Ramones at CBGB’s. Last up would be Jonah Hex #69 (DC, $2.99); seeing Jeff Lemire joining Palmiotti and Gray is a mind-bender.

For the splurge, it’s an easy pick — Flight Vol. 8 ($27). Kazu and company really pioneered a new frontier in comics, continuing on from the trailblazing nature of Jeff Smith with Bone. I hope the end of Flight doesn’t diminish the creative output from the creators shown in these issues going forward in comics.

Graeme McMillan

Flashpoint #3

If I had $15 in this first week of July, I’d put more than half of it towards keeping up with the Big Two’s big summer events, with both Flashpoint #3 (DC, $3.99) and Fear Itself #4 (Marvel, $3.99) out this week. I’ve been enjoying the former much more than the latter, but I admit: I’m expecting a turnaround from the death at the end of FI #3 that I am, in a weird way, hooked to find out how quickly it happens. Marvel gets another $3.99 of my money with the first issue of Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta’s Vengeance, because I’m curious to see what pop thrills Casey has cooked up for his latest journey into the Marvel Universe’s little-seen underside.

If I had $30, the first thing I’d add to my list would be the first issue of Elric: The Balance Lost (BOOM!, $3.99); I’ve never gotten into Moorcock’s fantasy character and always kind of regretted that. With Chris Roberson writing this new series, I feel like I might finally have my “in.” If nothing else, Roberson’s writing will make the whole thing enjoyable, even if Elric himself turns out to be not for me. A couple of Flashpoint tie-ins would also make the cut: Flashpoint: Secret Seven #2 and Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #2 (Both DC, $2.99) had strong enough first issues that I’ll likely pick up their follow-ups. Also potentially making the “Huh, I liked the first one enough, so maybe…?” pile: Wolverine and Black Cat: Claws 2 #1 (Marvel, $3.99). I surprised myself by enjoying the first series of Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Joe Linser’s team-up book a few years ago, so the follow-up might be worth picking up.

If I’m splurging this week, I’m going back to my nostalgiaplace: Roy Thomas’ Infinity Inc. begins what I hope is a long run of collections with DC’s Infinity Inc.: The Generations Saga hardcover ($39.99), and I’m enough of a sucker of both Thomas’ 1980s DC work and Earth-2 stories in general that this is pretty close to a must-have for me.

Brigid Alverson

Flight Vol. 8

If I had $15, I’d be a sad girl indeed, because the book I most want this week costs more than that. However, I’d go to the comics store and flip through vol. 1 of Monster Hunter Orage ($10.99), a new adventure manga (based on the Monster Hunter game, but only loosely) by Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima, and vol. 3 of Oresama Teacher ($9.99), and pick whichever one I liked better — I’m kind of on the fence here. Then I’d pick up Robert Bloch’s That Hellbound Train #2 and go home to read my comics and sulk.

If I had $30, the world becomes a brighter place, because now I can afford the first volume of Wandering Son ($19.99), Shimura Takakao’s quiet, sensitive story of a boy who wishes he was a girl and a girl who has already started dressing like a boy. Fantagraphics has produced this in a beautiful hardbound edition as part of their lit-manga line, and it’s a must-have.

My splurge item would definitely be the eighth volume of the Flight anthology. It’s the last, and I’m afraid it will have run out of steam, but I’m still willing to give it a chance.

JK Parkin

Red Skull #1

If I had $15, like Graeme, I’d start with the latest issues of the two big summer crossovers, Flashpoint #3 (DC, $3.99) and Fear Itself #4 (Marvel, $3.99). Unlike Graeme, I’d probably say Fear Itself is edging out Flashpoint for me, but it’s pretty close. I’d also grab Secret Six #35 (DC, $2.99), the unfortunately penultimate issue. And I’d round it out with Chew #19 (Image, $2.99), because, well, it’s Chew.

If I had $30, I’d also get Jonah Hex #69 (DC, $2.99); this series has had a plethora of great and visually interesting artists, and Lemire’s a great addition to the list. I’d also pick up Red Skull #1 (Marvel, $2.99) if for no other reason than it gives me an excuse to show off David Aja’s awesome cover in this post. I’d also get Batman Beyond #7 (DC, $2.99). Heroes for Hire #9 (Marvel, $2.99) has an eclectic cast, so let’s grab that one, and then round it all out with The Boys #56 (Dynamite, $3.99).

For my splurge item, I’d go with the 27 collection (Image, $16.99), by by writer Charles Soule and artist Renzo Podesta. I understand it’ll get a second series, which should be good news for fans of the book.

Mysterius the Unfathomable

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at the comics and other stuff we’ve been enjoying lately. Our special guests this week are Aaron Alexovich (Invader Zim, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Serenity Rose, Fables) and Drew Rausch (Sullengrey, The Dark Goodbye, Cthulhu Tales), the creative team behind the horror/comedy comic Eldritch!

To see what Aaron, Drew and the Robot 6 crew are reading, click below …

*****

Carla Hoffman

The Mighty Thor

Of course I read Mighty Thor #2! I nearly loved it as much as I loved Mighty Thor #1; the first issue had an amazing balance of the incredible and those who try and understand what credible is to begin with. Don’t get me wrong, as long as Mr. Fraction continues to add nouns to Colossuses (Colossi?), I will be there and ready with cash, but there was just something missing, some spark of life that the first issue captured so well that the second issue lacked. My guess? This was the bridge that get us to the chorus of issue #3.

I also read FF #3, and I fully admit to having a hard time calling the book “eff-eff” rather than the Fantastic Four. The contents of the issue are well aware of the HUGE name change and its impact on the characters within and the universe without. Everyone in that book is important, no one goes without a piece of dialogue or business that is essential to the overall arc of what Mr. Hickman is doing. We’re talking Brubakerian levels of wheels within wheels storytelling that is fantastic to see unfold with every page. Maybe that’s why I keep calling it the Fantastic Four….

Because there was some catastrophically disordered back issues, I read Batman #614 rather by accident. In this issue, Batman thinks long and hard about himself and the Joker and makes a hard decision about his responsibility as a the better man. Holy crap does Jim Lee draw the ever-loving heck out of this issue. Every panel is just gorgeous and jaw-dropping in weight and stature as Batman fights himself more than the Clown Prince of Crime on why he just doesn’t off this guy by right of vengeance. Sure, Mr. Loeb is a little wordy at times but the pacing and tone is pitch perfect on modern day Batman theme. This is great issue on its own merit and while the Hush storyline may have had a sour note to end on for some fans, you have to admit the artwork is a symphony of expression.

Brigid Alverson

It’s hot, it’s a Saturday, and I felt like just vegging out, so I pulled out IDW’s collection Felix the Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails, edited by Craig Yoe. It’s a very nice lazy-summer book, with just enough background on the cartoon to make you feel like an expert on Felix the Cat, who really had his heyday as an animated cartoon in the 1920s. Charles Lindbergh had a Felix decal on the side of The Spirit of St. Louis, and when NBC wanted to test the first television camera, in 1928, they focused it on a Felix statue rotating on a turntable. There! Feel smarter? The bulk of the book is given over to Felix comics from the 1940s and 1950s, drawn by Felix creator Otto Messmer and his follower Joe Oriolo. The comics aren’t particularly eye-catching in terms of the art, but the stories have a hallucinatory quality that makes them entertaining reading for kids of all ages, as vegetables seek their revenge on humans for eating them, or Felix’s rocket comes to rest on the crescent moon—and drops away when the moon wanes to a sliver. It was certainly a pleasant way to while away a Saturday afternoon.

And hey, what’s summer without Archie? The Archie folks have been publishing a lot of collected editions lately, and Jughead: Crowning Achievements is notable because it includes “Something Ventured, Something Gained,” by Robot Chicken creator Tom Root. Chris Reilly called it “the best Archie comic I have read in decades,” and it certainly is a great story. There’s also a story on the origins of Jughead’s hat. Again, not rocket science, but a good read for the first weekend of summer.

Michael May

Western Classics

I finished Eureka’s Western Classics anthology this week. It’s the 20th volume in their excellent Graphic Classics series and a worthy heir to the others. Though I love Western movies and TV shows, I’m not well read at all in Western novels and short stories except for some O Henry, so these were all new stories for me. In fact, except for Zane Grey and Robert E. Howard, I wasn’t even familiar with any of the authors.

I especially enjoyed Tim Lasiuta and Dan Spiegle’s adaptation of Clarence E. Mulfurd’s Hopalong Cassidy story, “The Holdup.” Thanks to some vague, childhood impressions of the character, I’d always dismissed Hopalong as a comedic sidekick, not a leading man. “The Holdup” corrected that notion.

Wila Cather’s “El Dorado” -– adapted by Rich Rainey and gorgeously illustrated by John Findley -– was another treat. It’s the story of an Eastern businessman who’s swindled into coming West, but refuses to leave until he gets back the money he invested in the ghost town he now calls home. Findley’s precisely detailed artwork is incredibly eye-catching, but it’s the emotional ride of wondering whether Colonel Bywaters is a stubborn fool or a hero to root for that makes the story special.

The book highlights the diversity of Western stories. There’s a horror story (Bret Harte’s “The Right Eye of the Commander,” adapted by David Hontiveros and Reno Maniquis), a romance (Gertrude Atherton’s “La Perdida,” adapted by Trina Robbins and Arnold Arre), and even an interesting treatise on faith (John G Neihardt’s “The Last Thundersong,” adapted by Rod Lott and Ryan Huna Smith). Even Zane Grey’s classic Riders of the Purple Sage (adapted by Tom Pomplun and Cynthia Martin) is a fantastic combination of romantic opera and Western pulps.

And for those who prefer their cowboys to be tough guys with six-guns, in addition to Hopalong Cassidy and some of Grey’s characters, Robert E. Howard’s “Knife River Prodigal” (adapted by Ben Avery and George Sellas) is exactly what the sheriff ordered.

I also started reading Charles Fulp and Craig Rousseau’s Uncouth Sleuth this week. I expected it to be an irreverent take on classic adventure pulp, but I wasn’t prepared for how irreverent. The main character is named Harry Johnson, so it’s my own fault for not realizing how far Fulp’s willing to take the sex gags, but “uncouth” doesn’t scratch the surface of Johnson’s behavior. It’s strong enough to be off-putting.

Still…Craig Rousseau. I’m a fan, so I’m going to let this sit for a couple of days and then come back to it better prepared.

Tom Bondurant

Green Lantern

Although its scheduling wasn’t optimal, I did enjoy reading this month’s three installments of “War of the Green Lanterns” in one sitting. (Green Lantern #66 was written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Doug Mahnke, GL Corps #60 was written by Tony Bedard and penciled by Tyler Kirkham, and GL: Emerald Warriors was written by Peter Tomasi and penciled by Fernando Pasarin.) It’s been a pretty decent crossover all around — Krona has captured all the various Lantern Corps’ patron entities and taken control of the Green Lantern Corps by putting Parallax into the Central Power Battery. Naturally, our four Earthling Lanterns are able to oppose him, mostly by donning the rings of other Corps. Thus, they get to do ring-slinging with a little bit of a twist, which is nice. What’s more, this arc gives everyone a turn in the spotlight, not just Hal. In fact (spoiler alert), Hal and Guy have to be rescued at one point by Kyle and John. Guy then plays an integral part in fixing the Central Battery, and Kyle gets to repair some lingering damage from when Guy was previously a Red Lantern.

Probably the most dramatic moment goes to John, though, who finds himself having to make an impossible choice. I’m not sure how I feel about this turn of events, but I have to say it didn’t feel as egregious or as gratuitous as I thought it would. On the other hand, having read John’s adventures off and on for a couple of decades now, I’m having a hard time reconciling these events with his past history. In the context of the story, it works, even if it’s by a slim margin. It’s also the kind of thing that I could see being reversed — maybe not soon, but eventually.

I have decided that this summer I will try to go through all of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four, in order to capture all the nuances and subplots which escaped me during the month-to-month experience. Accordingly, this week’s FF #4 (written by Jonathan Hickman, penciled by Barry Kitson) was both a good way to bring together two of Hickman’s plots (the Reeds and the Four Cities) while moving the overall story forward. I also appreciated Kitson’s work on this issue — obviously his storytelling skills are clear and precise, and he’s good with characters too — although I did have to work a little to follow his Spider-Man choreography. The issue ended on a clever cliffhanger, to boot.

Otherwise I still have a couple of books to read from this week, including the Strange Adventures special and Xombi #3, so I’d better get to those….

Tim O’Shea

Ruse

I was hoping for more out of Mark Waid’s Ruse (this week saw the release of issue #3 out of 4). I treasured his initial run on the original CrossGen series and was greatly enthused when Marvel tapped Waid on this for the miniseries revival. The appeal of the series to me was always Simon Archard’s assistant in name only/ partner in reality, Emma Bishop. Hell, the slogan for the miniseries is: “He’s the World’s Greatest Detective. She’s even better.” This miniseries has proven to me that she’s better at finding ways to sport her heaving bosoms in multiple scenes. While Emma is given moments where she is clearly a person of action, it is always beyond her control, frequently being set up by Simon. I guess in a sense, Bishop is Watson (always having to bail out her partner), but with a great pair of legs, as the reader is frequently reminded in some odd layout choices by artist Minck Oosterveer. Bishop is often left to react to plot events and have lines like “Who else could hide a trail this thoroughly?” I went in expecting too much of the miniseries, in the final analyses. But Waid has one more issue to surprise me and make the “She’s even better.” line accurate.

With the latest installments of Secret Warriors (#27) and FF (#4), I have come to the (already obvious to many) realization that Jonathan Hickman’s complex machinations are best read as collected trades, as opposed to individual issues. This issue of FF sports art by Barry Kitson–with his art looking like the Kitson I adore. It would appear that Kitson is inking himself, which is critical for him to look his best. In recent years while working at Marvel, there have been times he’s been inked by others and his art has suffered for it. I throw this question out to the readers (as our great readers always know more than me): “Is Kitson’s work pace/quality that he can only do arcs these days? Is that why he’s not got a permanent assignment on any series?”

As a person who considers Avengers Academy to be the best Avengers book that Marvel currently publishes, I was pleased to see series writer Christos Gage writing the two-issue guest arc on the Amazing Spider-Man (featuring his Avengers cast). For Spidey fans not reading AA, Gage concisely built a tale that capitalized on Peter’s love of teaching and meshed the series’ lead character effectively with the guest stars. One hopes he converted a few Spidey fans to check out AA. Extra points to Gage for writing a funny Spider-Man (essential when writing him, but some writers give the character lines that they think are funny, but often miss the mark)–writing comedy is hard.

Venom #3: Remender had my interest with the first two issues, but he (or the dictates of Marvel editorial) has brought Peter Parker/Spidey into the mix a little too early for my tastes. Also, the revelation of his identity to a villain is being played out too quickly as well. Then again, after weeks of harping about books with glacial pacing, I am grateful for the impressive amount of narrative ground that Remender has covered in three issues. But the aspect that really caught my attention was a letter run in this month’s letter column. The reader explains that as a kid he never read comics, but decided to pick up some for he and his girlfriend after seeing AMC’s Walking Dead. In a market of seemingly decreasing numbers, it’s good to see at least two folks picking up comics for the first time.

The Incredible Hulks #629: For a longtime reader like me, who has always been partial to the soap opera lives of Betty and Bruce Banner, this issue delivered exactly what I wanted. Plus I love any comic that sports Tom Grummett’s clean line art.

Aaron Alexovich

I seem to be reading mostly history books these days… Fatal Purity is a good one. It’s about Robespierre and the French Revolution, but the thing reads almost like a slasher movie. “Who will be The Terror’s next victim?” You can almost FEEL the Guillotine stalking all these characters, waiting for them to slip up and fall under the blade. Which every one of them does… No “Final Girl” in Fatal Purity. Age of Wonder is pretty interesting, too. It’s about science during the Romantic Era, and has a section on all the strange people and bizarre public experiments that inspired Frankenstein. This one guy named Aldini used to plug corpses up to voltaic batteries and make them do tricks for spectators. One corpse “laughed and walked,” it says. Good stuff!

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

As far as comics go, I’ve recently read Fantagraphics’ gorgeous new printing of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, which absolutely blew me away. I’m always impressed by people like Jacques Tardi, who can build these deep, rich worlds out of really loose, simple linework. It’s definitely not a skill I have. The book also has pterodactyls menacing early-1900′s Paris, so it’s pretty much required that I love it.

One of my favorite RECENT comics is Shadoweyes by Ross Campbell. The second volume just came out recently. It’s a superhero story, but not like any superhero story I’ve ever read. It’s dark and creepy and oddly emotional, fantastically well-drawn. Ross has this way of making bizarre things seem so down-to-earth and REAL, which of course just underlines their strangeness. Really recommend those books.

The last one I’ll mention is The Weird World of Eerie Publications. It’s a big, fat non-fiction hardcover about this fairly low-rent magazine publisher in the late 60′s/early 70′s that would redraw old pre-code horror comics with extra gore. (Warren Publishing’s cheapskate, disreputable cousin, in other words.) But what’s incredible about this book are the COVER reproductions… Every one of these Eerie pubs had a bold, garish, almost DELIRIOUSLY over-the-top cover. They’d have, like, robot Dracula and his hunchbacked Wolfman assistant surgically removing a fish-lady’s brain while, say, Mummy Devil kicks in the laboratory door in the background, bloody severed body parts in each hand. You feel INSANE just looking at these things. You’ve got to see this stuff to believe it.

Drew Rausch

I don’t get to go to the comic shop as often as I like, and when I do I end up grabbing trades, which then sit in a large pile (“no human being would stack books like this”) or a shelf ’til a moment in between drawing pages comes up. Still playing catch up, but here’s a couple recent ones:

Mysterius The Unfathomable by Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler: I have a soft spot for modern sorcerer tales. This one’s like taking the best things about Doctor Strange and Doctor Who and then have them illustrated in a Jack Davis-esque style. I really wish there more of these, sadly with Wildstorm going away, my hopes and dreams are once again extinguished.

Locke & Key

Locke & Key Vol 1 by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez: Was recommended this one a lot. I’m hoping it gets better in future installments. Either that or I missed something because I couldn’t get into it. It did a fine job of introducing the world and its rules, but I personally wanted it to be moodier. Gabriel Rodriguez can draw the heck out of some houses though, let me tell you.

Strange Science Fantasy by Scott Morse: Basically a collection of off the wall one shot stories that really capture the hey days of comics, the Jack Kirby pre-Stan Lee days. No frills, no mess, just FUN. I really dig Morse’s bold line art and color palette.

Secret Six: Unhinged by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott: My wife actually brought this one to my attention. Physically handing it to me after she was done, screaming “READ IT!” at me. I admit to it being a bit different than what I’m used to reading, but I was pleasantly surprised. The arc follows a group of DC bad guys (some of which I had to Google) on a mission to get a card forged by the devil, but the plot is almost secondary to Simone’s dialogue which was engaging, without being bogged down with tons of historical back story.

Amazon Kindle

E-books | Amazon announced it will allow Kindle users to read e-books from more than 11,000 libraries, marking a reversal of the company’s policy. Previously library users who borrowed e-books could read them on Barnes & Noble’s Nook, the Sony Reader and other devices, but not the Kindle. “We’re excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries,” Jay Marine, Amazon’s director of Kindle, said in a statement. The Kindle Library Lending will debut later this year. [The New York Times, press release]

Publishing | Several DC Comics staff members laid off as part of the sweeping corporate restructuring — among them, editors Mike Carlin and Pornsak Pichetshote — have been hired by DC Entertainment’s newly formed Burbank-based Creative Affairs division, which operates alongside Creative Services. [Bleeding Cool]

Legal | Japanese police have arrested a 25-year-old man suspected of using Share file-sharing software to upload about 28,000 manga and anime files without the copyright holders’ permission. [Anime News Network]

Tokyopop

Publishing | Sam Humphries and J. Caleb Mozzocco join in the reflection on the closing of Tokyopop’s U.S. publishing operations. [Comics Alliance, Every Day Is Like Wednesday]

Publishing | IDW Publishing is auctioning all 83 variants of Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1, with the proceeds going to AmeriCares to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. [IDW Publishing]

Retailing | Borders Group, which is closing 226 superstores, is paying a dozen consultants more than $500 an hour to guide the company through the bankruptcy process. [AnnArbor.com]

Retailing | Kevin Czap tours Cleveland’s comic stores. [Comix Cube]

Far Arden

Creators | Far Arden creator Kevin Cannon has been dubbed the best cartoonist in Minneapolis. [City Pages, via Top Shelf]

Creators | Matt Fraction talks about the new Mighty Thor series: “Is he a superhero, is he a god? Is it a little g or a big G and what does that mean? Is my god better than your god, and does Jesus live somewhere? It’s also fun to refer to big Gs and then cut to Galactus.” [USA Today]

Creators | Jonathan Valelly spotlights Chester Brown and the official book launch for Paying For It. [Xtra]

Creators | Cowboys & Aliens co-writer Andrew Foley discusses the upcoming movie adaptation. [Edmonton Sun]

Borders

Retailing | The struggling Borders Group, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Feb. 16, has reversed its January decision to close the distribution center in LaVergne, Tenn. The bookseller will instead shut down its warehouse in Carlisle, Penn., leaving the facility in Tennessee and another in California. [Nashville Business Journal, via ICv2.com]

Legal | A handful of publishers address what effect Tokyo’s revised ordinance further restricting the sale of sexually explicit manga to minors might have on the industry. “This ordinance could attack the creativity of genuine authors, not just attacking perverted comics,” says Pascal Lafine of Tonkam, a French publisher of manga. [The Mainichi Daily News]

Publishing | David Itzkoff profiles Marvel, tracing the company’s route from mid-1990s bankruptcy to its current place at the top of a struggling industry. [The New York Times]

Publishing | Jonathan Hickman, Scott Snyder and Nick Spencer talk about digital comics, television and movie adaptations and a changing industry. “We got to get our digital shit together. We haven’t yet, we’re very poor in that area, just because we’re in the beginning,” Hickman says. “Nobody gets it right. Once we get that started, we won’t have the distribution choke that we have right now in the direct market. Things will get more interesting. I don’t see any way we don’t expand in the next 10 years.” [Daily Trojan]

Fear Itself #1

Publishing | Matt Fraction and Tom Brevoort discuss Marvel’s next big event Fear Itself. [USA Today]

Creators | Michael Cavna spotlights Ferris State University student John Vestevich, winner of this year’s Charles M. Schulz Award for best college cartoonist. [The Washington Post]

Events | Peter B. Lord reports on the inaugural New England Comic Arts in the Classroom Conference, held Saturday at Rhode Island College in Providence. [Providence Journal]

Comics | Toby Walne examines the enduring popularity of Tintin, from an investment standpoint. [This is Money]

Comics | The A.V. Club crew runs down 13 comic-book characters with convoluted origins and confusing identities. [The A.V. Club]

Comics | Ben Gilbert looks back at Who’s Who in the DC Universe and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. [Panels on Pages]

C2E2

Conventions | Early estimates place attendance three-day attendance at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo at 34,000, up from 27,500 at last year’s inaugural event. “Last year was disappointing,” said Eric Thornton, manager of Chicago Comics. “But now you definitely see this starting to take hold.” [Chicago Tribune]

Retailing | Borders Group has announced it will close an additional 28 stores, bringing the total to 228. The bookseller, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Feb. 16, had used the possibility of as many as 75 closings as leverage to negotiate lease concessions. This latest wave will bring the chain’s remaining store total to about 400. [Media Decoder]

Publishers | Chicago-based publisher Archaia, which expects sales of $11 million this year, has raised capital from a group of investors with local connections. [Crain's Chicago Business, via ICv2.com]

Chris Onstad

Creators | Chris Onstad discusses burnout and Achewood‘s hiatus: “Whenever I cracked my knuckles and attempted to start a fresh strip with an idea that had popped into my head that day, I’d get halfway through it and realize I’d already done that particular gag, say, six years ago. Frustrating. Had I run through everything that my finite brain knew to talk about? Couldn’t be … I’d boasted in earlier times that a good writer could write his way out of anything. What a cocksure young man I was. Maybe it’s time to recharge.” [Achewood Premium Updates, via The Webcomic Overlook]

Creators | Several creators, including Garth Ennis, Matt Fraction, Gene Ha and Jill Thompson, talk about the first comic book they really loved. [The A.V. Club Chicago]

Joe Sacco

Creators | Vit Wagner briefly profiles Joe Sacco: “The term ‘graphic novels’ is a way of making adults feel like they’re not buying a comic book. I call them comic books. And I call myself a cartoonist, who is working in the field of journalism.” [Toronto Star]

Creators | Ted Naifeh chats about Courtney Crumrin Tales, Polly and the Pirates and his other upcoming projects. [Sequential Tart]

Creators | Mike Rhode talks with David Malki, whose Wondermark appears on Washington City Paper‘s newly reborn comics page: “The future of comics will be a single giant Garfield panel that everyone can type their own name into, and it will follow them around their house reading the newspaper to them while they eat breakfast, and read the sports scores to them in the car. Later, at work, it will follow us everywhere, even into meetings, and project itself looming onto the wall of the bathroom stall, reading random articles from Wikipedia out loud. It will be inescapable.” [Washington City Paper]

Phil Hester signs Firebreather posters for fans

I did start and end my day with media panels, but they both had deep comics connections. First was Cartoon Network’s presentation of the Firebreather DVD with Phil Hester. As Hester put it: “It’s Saturday morning; we should be watching cartoons!” I saw the movie when it aired in November, but it was especially impressive in Blu-Ray on the big screen. And it was cool to hear Hester answer questions about his experience having his comic translated into film by Aeon Flux‘s Peter Chung. We also learned that Firebreather screenwriter James Krieg is currently developing a Green Lantern series for Cartoon Network.

Though it was a thoroughly enjoyable start to the day, I could tell early on that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up the panel schedule I’d planned for myself. Sitting in panel rooms all day long without even seeing the convention floor didn’t have a lot of appeal, so I started trimming things. My schedule was a mess anyway with a lot of overlapping panels and difficult choices. This was true last night too. I went to Dirk Manning’s writing panel because I know and like Dirk, but I had to make a choice between it and another writing panel. That’s a weird head-to-head line-up and there were more like it today. Several small press publishers had to compete for attendees and my next panel after Firebreather was a choice between ComiXology’s digital-focused State of the Comicsphere and a discussion between Mark Waid and Matt Fraction on Script Writing and Comics in the Digital Age. Of course, I didn’t realize it yet, but the digital conversation at C2E2 was something that involved far more than just those two panels.

Matt Fraction and Mark Waid

I’m getting ahead of myself though. Knowing that Brigid Alverson was going to cover the ComiXology panel, I chose Waid and Fraction’s. They had a lively, entertaining panel that was primarily a Q&A between the two of them (each representing a different generation or school of comics writing) about how they approach their processes. In the end, there wasn’t a lot of difference between the two, but they arrived at them through different means and influences. It was especially fascinating to hear Fraction talk about his nervousness over the upcoming prospect of writing a Marvel-Style script for the first time and then Waid to offer advice about pitfalls to avoid. They also discussed the difference in pacing between the Bronze Age comics they grew up on, the extended plotlines of the ’80s, and the extremely decompressed stories of today. And things are about to change again thanks to digital.

Waid’s currently spending a lot of time thinking about digital comics and how they’re different from print comics. Digital isn’t as simple as replicating print comics for the computer or mobile screen. According to Waid, digital comics are to print as TV was to radio drama. When TV was first invented, no one understood its potential and shows were very dialog-focused in imitation of radio. It wasn’t until folks like Milton Berle came along and integrated old Vaudevillian elements that people realized what TV could really do. The same is true of digital comics. There are some cool things that digital comics can do that print can’t, but it’s going to take some serious thinking and experimentation for people to figure out what those are. Though I’m pretty sure they aren’t motion comics.

When I tweeted about this later, Comics Bulletin asked if the collectability issue came up. How do digital comics affect that aspect of the comics experience? That it didn’t come up answers the question, I think. This ties into something that Archaia said later at their panel, but concerns over comics collecting have been absent from the conversation for a while now. The easy accessibility to older comics via archives and collected volumes has pretty much done that in, right? Tell me in the comments if I’m wrong, but I don’t hear readers talking about comics that way anymore.

Archaia's Mel Caylo, Mark Smylie, and Stephen Christy

The Archaia panel was next and illustrated another interesting difference in the way panels were conducted over the weekend. Rather than just talking about their upcoming releases, Archaia offered an interactive discussion with the audience about producing graphic novels. In a similar way, IDW’s panel focused on digital comics (there’s that theme again) and Moonstone’s panel tomorrow will focus on jungle comics.

But back to Archaia, they haven’t abandoned single-issue periodicals yet, but it’s no secret that they’re mostly focused on bookstores. They also support digital comics, but don’t see digital as competition to print because Archaia publishes attractive, hardcover volumes that aren’t just packages of content, but objects of art in themselves. Their comments reinforce the notion that it’s not the comics industry that’s in trouble. As an industry, comics are doing very well thank you. What’s in trouble is one particular market (the direct one). A more diverse audience than ever before is reading more comics than ever before. They’re just doing it in ways and forming habits that are different from what the traditional US comics industry is used to. They’re not going to comics stores, but are buying graphic novels and collections on Amazon and in bookstores, or reading digitally on phones and iPads.

The Archaia guys said something else that shared a sentiment of Mark Waid and Matt Fraction in the previous panel. That’s the idea that comics are a visual medium, as much as writers would like to think otherwise. Archaia talked about it in reference to submissions: a submission with art is much easier to judge than one without. Waid and Fraction weren’t just being self-deprecating when they suggested that their role is much less important to the final product than the artist’s. As a writer, that hurts to hear, but I get what they’re saying. Comics are telling stories with pictures. A strong writer can improve the experience, but the overall effect is made or broken with the art.

After Archaia’s panel, I stuck around for Oni’s. This was a more traditional panel focused on coming attractions, but as Brigid reported earlier, there’s some very exciting stuff coming up in Ray Fawkes’ One Soul. During the panel, someone asked about Oni’s digital plans (they’re one of the few publishers who don’t currently offer digital versions of their books). Marketing Director Cory Casoni’s response was that the current lack of digital content is intentional, the result of wanting to research the format and do it right. But in the same answer, he also said that 2012 (Oni’s 15th anniversary) will be a big year for the company. Make of that what you will.

The Middleman's Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Natalie Morales, Matt Keeslar, Brit Morgan, Mary Pat Gleason, and Jake Smollett

Natalie Morales

My final panel of the day was the reunion of the cast of The Middleman. I was getting panel-fatigued by then and almost didn’t go, but I’m glad I changed my mind. Comics writer and showrunner Javier Grillo-Marxuach led the spirited, funny Q&A session with Natalie Morales (Wendy Watson), Matt Keeslar (The Middleman), Brit Morgan (Lacey Thornfield), Mary Pat Gleason (Ida), and Jake Smollett (Noser). Going into the audience “Donahue-style” Grillo-Marxuach took questions and asked some of his own. I’d forgotten how much I’d loved that show and missed it, but the affection that its creator and cast still had for it – and their memories of favorite scenes, lines, and events – brought it all back. The big takeaway from the panel was that absolutely no ill will exists toward ABC Family or fate in general for bringing the show to its too-soon conclusion. Had things worked out any differently, Grillo-Marxuach contends that they couldn’t have made the show they did. It was a perfect storm that led to their being able to create 12 episodes that were exactly the way they wanted. They’d rather have that than 100 episodes where only a percentage of them worked the right way. It was a wonderfully upbeat end to a long day, even though it was for a TV show.

Natalie Morales, Matt Keeslar, Brit Morgan, and Mary Pat Gleason

Javier Grillo-Marxuach works the crowd

But though the day was long, it was also fascinating and good. I’m not the only one who thought so. I talked to several artists and exhibitors about their experiences and the almost universal response was that everyone had had a great couple of days. Even people who were less than thrilled with the perceived attendance of last year’s show were pleased with the business they’ve done so far this year. Tomorrow’s another day, but with some free time for visiting in the morning and interesting panels in the afternoon, I’m expecting an awesome conclusion to a great show. I’ll be surprised if I hear differently from anyone else.

Saturday crowds

Moonstone's booth

Black Canary

G'Nort

Kingpin

Firefly crew

Ghost

Two Jokers and a Harley

Commander Bly and Catwoman

Colonials

Mike Richardson

Publishing | In a wide-ranging interview with retail news and analysis site ICv2, Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson discusses the state of the market, the potential impact of Borders’ bankruptcy, digital comics, the decline in manga sales, the success of Troublemaker and more. Of particular note is Richardson’s confirmation that Apple’s stricter enforcement of a prohibition on in-app purchases outside the iTunes store was behind the delay of the planned January launch of Dark Horse’s digital comics program. He also says that Frank Miller is working on the third issue of his 300 prequel Xerxes, which is expected to be “roughly six issues, but he hasn’t exactly decided yet.” [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson provides an overview of recent changes to BOOM! Studios’ kids’ line, from the loss of the Pixar licenses to a new imprint name — changed from BOOM! Kids to kaboom! — to the announcement this week of a Peanuts original graphic novel. “BOOM Kids! was designed to publish children’s comics — kaboom! is designed to be a true all-ages imprint, and for that reason Peanuts is the perfect launch title, the sort of material that adults and kids read alike,” CEO Ross Ritchie said. “Roger Langridge’s Snarked! is along these lines, as is Space Warped and Word Girl.  I put the Word Girl announcement on my wall on Facebook and immediately there were a zillion adults commenting, ‘My child loves this show but I’m buying this comic book for myself!’  The title mix will be broader for kaboom! than it was for BOOM Kids!” [Publishers Weekly]

Publishing | Atish Patel offers a snapshot of India’s “new wave of graphic novelists,” from creators like Adhiraj Singh and Sarnath Banerjee to publishers like Vimanika Comics and Campfire. [Reuters]

Matt Fraction

Creators | Tom Spurgeon kicks off an interview with Matt Fraction about Casanova: “There’s nothing about Casanova that goes easily or well, on any conceivable level. For whatever reason, it has this sort of light whiff of curse about it that just takes longer to produce. It is the hardest thing I write. It took me literally a year to produce the first script. That wasn’t a year of working on it all day every day, but I started October of 2009 and finished October 2010 on the first issue of the third series. For whatever reason, it’s the book where we go crazy.” [Marvel.com]

Creators | Brian Truitt spotlights The Flash artist Francis Manapul, who talks about collaborating with writer Geoff Johns: “”It just feels like with every new script I get, we’re continually getting closer to almost having the same brain in how we like to tell the story. Honestly, after I finish this book, If I’m not working with Geoff, I don’t even know who I’d want to work with. I’d probably just write a story for myself.” [USA Today]

The New Brighton Archeological Society

Creators | Writer Mark Andrew Smith chats about using Kickstarter to fund a sequel to his all-ages book The New Brighton Archeological Society, and the challenges of creator-owned work: “The creative part comes easily. I think that the biggest challenge is the stress of putting so much work into a project and getting high hopes, only to see that work be for nothing. With each new book we put in energy and so much work, and think, ‘Okay, this is going to be it. We’re going to get to where we can turn this into a career’ and it never happens. We’ll work on a book sometimes for three years and it will come out and only 2,000 or 3,000 people will read it. Doing creator owned comics is a very Sisyphean task and you get your hopes up just to get knocked back down each time to where you started from with only a printed book to hold in your hands. I think that’s very hard to take on an emotional level. You’ve got to do your best to soldier on, keep a good outlook, and not let those things bother you.” [GeekDad]

Creators | Alex Robinson talks briefly about nostalgia, television and movie adaptations, and his Fantastic Four contribution to Marvel’s Strange Tales anthology: “A friend of mine pointed out, though, that the story takes place when Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, and Ben Grimm were all in college, so I don’t even have any superhero things in it. I got a chance to do superheroes, and I fell back on a bunch of people sitting around talking about their feelings. Maybe no matter what, I can’t shake that inclination. ” [The A.V. Club]

Creators | Ethan Nicolle talks about Axe Cop, his collaboration with his 6-year-old brother Malachi. [io9.com]

Creators | Shanghai artist Liu Chong, who uses the pen name L-Dart, discusses breaking into Japan’s competitive manga market with Killin-ji. [Reuters]

Pop culture | William Hollingsworth looks at the influence of Japan’s kawaii (“cute”) culture in England. [The Japan Times]

2000 AD Prog #1722

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Our special guest this week is Mark Kardwell, who can be found blogging regularly over at Bad Librarianship Now or rocking out with the Klams.

To find out what Mark and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …

*****

Carla Hoffman

This was a good week for comics, at least for me. I’ve been reading Amazing Spider-Man and feel like they turned on the THX sound system in the story and artwork. The last couple issues have been dramatic and full of characterization and depth that I am going to wave my Spider-Man flag high, despite haters hating and fans who can’t let go of the past missing out on some truly beautiful storytelling.

Fantastic Four #588

I also liked Fantastic Four #588 and have indeed enjoyed the “Four” storyline leading up to this historic moment (PS: Marvel, don’t make me look like a fool by believing in you and rebooting the Fantastic Four in six months with a brand new #1). But I think you know all this and me waxing poetic on the above might get a little redundant.

Also redundant is my great and glowing adoration for Matt Fraction’s Thor, a fierce and powerful admiration that you can see from the blackest of infinite space. Thor #620 came out on Wednesday and my heart was full by reading the first sentence on the page. There is so much glory to this great and sweeping divine epic that Fraction weaves so well with the dreamlike and fantastic art of Pasqual Ferry, I know when I pick an issue, I am receiving the finest nectar of the Marvel gods. Nothing is going to sway me from my true and perfect trust that Asgardian Blood Colossus magic is older than the nine hills. That battle will be joined, and heroes will be be born and raised in a blood and bone brilliance of myth and power.

Now, all of the above might be telling as to why I did not enjoy Morning Glories vol. 1. Being rather cool and popular, not to mention well received, that doesn’t normally hit my pull list, I bought the extremely well presented first TP for a song and was looking forward to it. I read my way into this web of intrigue and social experimentation with the sharpest young minds on the planet with healthy helping of mystery and suspense to propel me through the book. And promptly get me struck about three-fourths of the way through. Keep in mind I never watched Lost either, so maybe it’s me. Maybe I prefer to have my protagonists to shout the the heavens in a rage that ecplises the moon against foes from another realm of thought rather that fight the system against an administration that can kill with a casual thought and some spectral presence in the basement. But on the other hand, I rather love Sweet Tooth, Jeff Lemire’s mysterious tale of a deer child and the complete unknowns he lives in, so maybe it’s not me. Maybe the high school setting? The lack of fantasy? The rather cheapness of death presented by hollow and stereotypical children in a cartoonishly oppressive environment? Disappointment wanes in the face Thor and a promised blade that could slice through time and space itself. Somethings are just not for me and others seem tailor-made.

It is a good week for comics.

Brigid Alverson

I idly picked up Julia Wertz‘s Drinking at the Movies this weekend and quickly fell into it. I read it once before, and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Drinking at the Movies is an autobiographical comic about the author’s move from San Francisco to Brooklyn, told in single-page vignettes about different aspects of her life—her friends, her drinking, her terrible jobs. It’s absolutely the opposite of the self-indulgent indy comic; Wertz takes a clear-eyed look at her own failings but she makes you laugh when she describes them. She has been posting pages from it at her website, and they’re well worth a look. This was one of the best books of 2010, and it’s criminal that it didn’t get more attention.

Manga-wise, I’m reading Countdown 7 Days on Digital Manga’s eManga website. It’s set in the grey area between life and death, and it features just a handful of characters—Hanasuke, a young man who has just died but wants to go back to life, Mitamura, a cold-blooded teacher who is disliked by everyone for his emotionlessness, and Tsuru, a crazy girl who goes on a field trip to the world of the living and then escapes. Mitamura and Hanasuke team up to find Tsuru, but the clock is ticking—if they don’t locate her within seven days, she becomes an evil spirit. This is a fairly standard plot but it’s handled in a unique way, with real attention to the emotional conflicts of the characters and a polished, linear style, so it’s better than your average afterlife manga.

Mark Kardwell

There’s something of a rebirth going on in comics publishing kicking off in the UK at the moment, at both periodical and graphic novel levels. I’ve been reading three stalwarts of the UK’s comics industry, 2000AD, The Dandy and Doctor Who Magazine. All three are magazines which, at one time or another, I probably thought I’d never read again.

2000AD remains like a religion for UK comics readers and creators. And, like Catholicism, even those lapsed from reading it still harbour strong opinions about it. I do occasionally see the odd sycophant online saying that 2000AD has never been better, but that’s far from the truth. It’s hardly the creative hothouse it was during the Steve McManus-era, and it probably isn’t even as consistent as it was under the recent Andy Diggle-era, but it is still damned good, a national treasure, current-Tharg Matt Smith is capable of pleasing me greatly with some inspired commissioning choices, and (like Diggle) has proven adept at enticing classic 2000AD creators back into the fold.

Speaking of national treasures, The Dandy is probably the classic UK comic for all sorts of reasons (even if Eric Clapton was reading its stablemate The Beano on the front cover of that Bluesbreakers LP). It is also most people over here’s first regularly read comic, and it’s also the first comic people have the experience of growing out of. In the last few months, however, it has staged a rather miraculous turnaround in fortunes. For decades creatively moribund, rehashing the styles and creations of artists either deceased or long departed (US readers: think if DC still published Superman by an endless line of uncredited Al Plastino ghosts), it has recently been re-energised by the hiring of a new generation of web cartoonists (Jamie Smart, Nigel Auchterlounie, Andy Fanton, amongst others), often producing new career-highs as they in turn are re-energised by the prospect of a whole new (and considerably younger) audience. I’d hate to jinx the magic that’s going on over there right now, but in many ways, I’d compare what is going on over there to when Kurtzman was running Help! In the Sixties, bringing lots of underground artists to prominence.

Doctor Who Magazine proudly announced itself on its latest front cover as “the world’s number one top-selling sci-fi monthly magazine”, and this isn’t terribly surprising. As any fule know, print magazines are dying on their ass, and the DWM is lucky in these times to be piggy-backing on the seemingly unfailing success of the reborn Doctor Who franchise. This success means that it is an extraordinary forum for comics, and the magazine has a hell of a history with the artform. It has published work over the years by the biggest and best creators of the last three decades (from Alan Moore and Grant Morrison to Dave Gibbons and Mick McMahon), and has tempted me back to buying it regularly for the first time in about twenty years by featuring work by creators of the calibre of Roger Langridge, Rob Davis and Dan McDaid. Whoever (arf!) is commissioning work over there is a man of good taste.

On a non-UK-tip, I got a big box of stuff from my regular comic shop recently, and the stand-out was easily the Daytripper trade paperback. I’ll just add my voice to the chorus of pundits raving about it. It held my interest on so many levels: a book about death that succeeds in being positively life-affirming (probably why I kept thinking about the Flaming Lips as I was reading it); a grown-up work in a market that steadfastly refuses to grow up; a great book about writing by two men commonly regarded as artists; and a work I’d recommend (like Asterios Polyp) to anyone who derisively thinks the term “graphic novel” usually applies to books that barely qualify as novelistic.

Daytripper

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, where we talk about what comics and other stuff we’ve been reading lately.

Today’s special guest is Joe Keatinge, writer and co-creator of the upcoming Image comic Brutal with Frank Cho. He’s also the writer of the final “Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies” installment in April’s Savage Dragon #171, drawn by Savage Dragon creator Erik Larsen, Billy Dogma’s Dean Haspiel, Nikolai Dante’s Simon Fraser, Parade (With Fireworks)’s Mike Cavallaro, The Transmigration of Ultra Lad’s Joe Infurnari, Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation’s Tim Hamilton and Olympians’ George O’Connor. He’s also executive editor of the PopGun anthology, he’s got an ongoing series coming soon that he can’t say anything else about and with his fellow studio members at Tranquility Base, regularly beats up on 13 year olds at laser tag.

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

*****

Brigid Alverson

Street Fighter Legends Vol.3: Ibuki TP

I don’t play video games, so I’m not at all familiar with Capcomm’s Street Fighter series, but for some reason I picked up Udon’s Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki, and it’s really, really good. Oh, here’s the reason: Jim Zubkavich’s writing and Omar Dogan’s art. Zubkavich gives the characters a lot of personality and weaves a storyline I can care about, in between the martial arts battles, of course, and Dogan has created a teenage heroine that girls can enjoy. She’s powerful, cute, and comfortably dressed; her costume has some odd cut-outs, but at least she doesn’t go about her business in high heels. Ibuki is a ninja-in-training, but she is not sure she wants to make the commitment to that life, so although she lives in a secret ninja village, and takes lessons from a master, she also goes to an ordinary high school and has friends and even a cell phone. There’s ordinary high school drama—the good friend, the aggressive new girl, the exotic even newer girl—wrapped around the fight scenes to give them meaning. Zubkavich was nominated for a Joe Shuster award for the writing on this book, and it’s well deserved. This is good stuff.

All shoujo manga readers know that Japanese high schools operate on a strict hierarchy, in which the smartest and most popular boys and girls are labeled as such and worshiped by the other students. Masami Tsuda has a lot of fun turning that notion upside down in Eensy Weensy Monster, but the basic premise of the book also has a grain of emotional truth to it: Liking a guy can stir up strong feelings, and sometimes those feelings come out as hate rather than love. Nanoha, the heroine, is a very ordinary girl who happens to be good friends with the tw alpha girls in her school. When a new student, Hazuki, comes to the school, the other girls immediately dub him “the prince” because of his good looks. Hazuki is also shallow and self-centered, and his mere presence causes Nanoha to boil over with a rage so intense, she describes it as a little monster that lives inside her and occasionally takes over. But when Nanoha tells Hazuki off, he takes it to heart and decides to become a better person—with Nanoha as his teacher. Tsuda, the creator of Kare Kano, handles the story deftly and manages to make Hazuki a sympathetic, if somewhat dim character. I also like it that the series is only two volumes long, so rather than dragging things out, Tsuda tells her story and then winds it up.

Chris Mautner

Twilight of the Assholes

Tim Kreider is a great caricaturist, as his latest collection of cartoons, Twilight of the Assholes, attests. He has a real knack for portraying the unsightly physical traits of modern Americans– the rolls of fat, the paunchy stomachs, the jowls, flabby arms and chinless faces — that make up more of the current populace than we’d care to admit (myself included). Plus, he’s got a nice, razor-sharp wit that really cuts to the absurdity of a particular stance or issue, and he isn’t afraid to get nasty or break a taboo to make his point, which can be refreshing.

All that being said, Kreider does a number of things throughout Twilight that annoy me intensely, like his inexplicable and utterly unnecessary need to write a lengthy essay underscoring, underlining and over explaining each and every cartoon — he’s a capable writer, but I got the joke the first time thanks, I don’t need to have it laid bare in prose form. Then there’s the way he constantly inserts himself and his friends in every cartoon in an oh-so-cute, self-depricating fashion that over time suggests there’s more self-aggrandizement going on than first glance would suggest. Eventually it all starts to undercut the meat of the book — i.e., the cartoons — and I found myself going from being irked to delighted with Twilight in an almost rapid ping-pong fashion. Kreider’s talented and funny enough that I want to recommend this book to others, but find it hard to do so when he keeps getting in the way of his work.

Michael May

Bonnie Lass

Red 5’s inaugural digital-first comic Bonnie Lass is surprising in a couple of ways. For one thing, it’s bawdier and sillier than the other Red 5 books I’ve read. Bonnie Lass isn’t just a description of the main character, it’s also her name. So, as you can tell from the pun, the humor is pretty low-brow. There are jokes about Bonnie’s breast size and plenty of physical slapstick; not really what I’m used to from the company that publishes Atomic Robo and Neozoic.

But just as I was ready to write it off as a disappointing gag-book, it clicked in with an exciting action sequence and finished the first issue with an interesting villain. It also revealed that the story doesn’t just take place in a fantastic version of seventeenth-century Earth. It’s an amalgamation of that and Westerns with a bit of Film Noir and some modern technology thrown into the mix as well. The result is a light-hearted adventure story that owes as much to Indiana Jones as Pirates of the Caribbean. Which, now that I think of it, is exactly the kind of thing that Red 5 publishes.

My son and I read Jake Parker’s Missile Mouse: Rescue of Tanium3 for bedtime a couple of nights this week. We’d read and liked Parker’s short Missile Mouse story in Flight Explorer, but I wasn’t sure how well the concept would stretch out to a full-length graphic novel. Would it feel too thin? Not at all, it turns out. In fact, Missile Mouse was made for the longer format and Parker’s turned out an exciting, cinematic space pulp with some deep – though not too heavy – emotional resonance. As soon as I finish typing this, I’m ordering the first volume, The Star Crusher.

A few years ago, I read the first couple of issues of the original Abyss mini-series before deciding to trade-wait the rest of it. It was good, funny stuff, so when I got the chance this week to read the first issue of the second mini-series, Family Issues, I took a shot.

I might should’ve waited until I caught up on the first story, because I have questions about some of the relationships in the new one. Kevin Rubio does a good job of making sure new readers aren’t totally lost. I especially liked one Editor’s Note that read, “This little piece of exposition is for all you people who didn’t get the first series. Go buy it in trade paperback now! We can always use the sales.” That’s the kind of wall-breaking/meta-commentary/whathaveyou that I enjoyed about the earlier issues I read.

I had questions about what was going on (why does Magic Man and his family wear Nazi “SS” lightning-bolts on their costumes?), but I’ve read enough superhero comics to recognize and understand the general plot. Young Eric Hoffman’s dad was a super villain and now Eric’s trying to make restitution for that by using his father’s name to fight crime instead of commit it. Naturally, the more established heroes are distrustful, causing Eric to feel alienated, which in turn makes him question his mission.

The comic’s a nice discussion of what it takes to be a superhero. Its answers aren’t exactly groundbreaking, but maybe they’re not meant to be. The book’s got a light, comedic touch that almost touches parody, but the emotions are real enough that – while funny – it never becomes a joke.

And it’s got a great, soap-opera cliffhanger that even an Abyss n00b like me can understand and look forward to seeing played out.

Joe Keatinge

Corto Maltese: La Ballade de la Mer Salee

I’m still catching up from being at the Angouleme Festival de la Bande Dessinee and just recently got a change to check out the wares I picked up. I suppose with these books I’m doing more looking than reading since I can’t read a lick of French, but I don’t really care. They’re all fine looks, so to speak.

Favorites include Casterman’s massive edition of Corto Maltese: La Ballade de la Mer Salee, which came out through NBM many a year ago and is supposedly on its way back in the US from Universe, both under the name The Ballad of Salt Sea. Corto Maltese is one of my favorite comics of all time a, as Bleeding Cool put it, “Tinin for adults.” Great, deep philosophical adventure comics featuring the original comics swashbuckler. Of course, I can’t read this edition, but the sheer size of the book (rivaling DC’s Wednesday Comics hardcover) makes it all worth it. Author Hugo Pratt is a artistic god, even with an earlier work.

The giant hardcover train kept coming with the Soleil edition of Claire Wendling’s Daises, first put out by my favorite comics importer, Stuart Ng Books. If you’re not aware of Wendling’s work, you really owe it to yourself to track it down. Stuart actually has a fair number of her books and sketchbooks in stock. She’s more or less the greatest comics artist and designer most folks probably aren’t aware of. Just ask any legendary artist into her work, including dudes like Mike Mignola, and they’ll most likely tell you every line she puts down makes them envious.

Another Soleil find was Yaxin: Le Faune Gabriel by Dimitri Vey and Man Arenas and again, it’s a gorgeous giant hardcover, this time a fantasy narrative about a young satyr. I think. Like I said before, I can’t read a word of it, but the book’s gorgeous. It’s easily some of the best fantasy illustration I’ve seen since Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith, Bernie Wrightson and Jeff Jones formed The Studio.

It was also a good year to be a Jean “Moebius” Giraud fan as I picked up two massive tomes, Moebius Transforme (the 300+ page catalogue for exposition at Paris’ la Foundation Cartier) and Moebius Oeuvres (the 400+ page compilation of pretty much every single comic he did in Heavy Metal’s European predecessor, Metal Hurlant). Giraud is the reason for so much in comics in terms of style, storytelling and, jeeze, pretty much everything. Sadly, with the exception of Humanoids’ recent reprints (we’ll get to those in a sec), his work is largely out of print. If you’re looking for a good overview of his work, these two books will do it for you. If they’re too rich for your blood, I also recommend his recent Arzak Vol. 1: L’Arpenteur from Glenat. It’s an especially amazing book considering the guy is into his seventies and doing the best work of his and just about anyone else’s careers.

Finally on the international front, I want to mention two publications about comics, Signs: International Journal for the History of Early Comics and Sequential Art and Beaux Arts Magazine. Signs is a publication delving into the very early works of comics from an academic standpoint with all subjects more or less from the pre-1930s. Thankfully it’s in English. While he version I have is actually a supplement to the second issue, so it’s much shorter, I found the entire thing completely enthralling. Considering I’ve read comics my whole life and have never seen 90 percent of the works they’re covering it makes their work all the more impressive. Beaux Arts is more of a traditional magazine, with each issue covering a different topic thoroughly, including very in-depth articles and reprints of choice work. I was able to grab two issues, the first about American comics (which covered its entire history, from the earliest days when Gaines was putting out Famous Funnies all to the most contemporary works and included reprints of Amazing Fantasy #15, among others) and the second was about sexuality in comics with a cover feature on Milo Manara and reprints of comics by folks like Happy Sex’s Zep. Unfortunately, it was in French. I still remain impressed.

I’ve also been catching up on the latest American comics either released while I was gone or just after. The stack was pretty massive, but I’ll narrow it down to the following books.

Casanova: Luxuria

Daytripper by Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba, Vertigo and Casanova by Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba and Matt Fraction, Icon: I’ve had an absolute blast rereading Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba’s Daytripper, now that it’s collected in one volume. I’m not sure why, but even though I loved it on its first read, I am loving it more the second time around. I have a feeling it’s going to be a book I read over and over with some regularity. Strangely enough, I’m having the same experience with their Icon published collaboration with writer Matt Fraction, Casanova. The series was a personal favorite when coming out through Image, when I read the single issues multiple times, then the Luxuria hardcover, then the Luxuria trade. Now that it’s been remastered through Icon, I’ve picked up and reread the singles multiple times over and have since done the same with the new Luxuria trade. I’m ecstatically awaiting the third volume. With Casanova once again coming out on regular basis, it may be back to being my most anticipated read of the month.

Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian, Olympian Publishing: Speaking of rereading stuff I’m excited about, I was very stoked to see the collection of Cursed Pirate Girl. I’ve picked up every single issue released, including the zero issue, but I wanted something easier to give out to my non-comics fans. It seems like the perfect book for anyone raised on John R. Neil, Little Nemo in Slumberland or, hell, fantastic stories in general, which is almost everyone on Earth. I think Gerard Way’s pull quote put it best, “[Cursed Pirate Girl] looks like something from 1892, but is totally ahead of its time.” Olympian also continues to impress from a production stand point. The paper, reprint and cover quality is astounding right down to the hand pressed logo. I’m extremely happy to finally put this on the shelf.

Nonplayer by Nate Simpson, Image Comics: I’ve been lucky enough to know cartoonist Nate Simpson during the majority of Nonplayer’s development (previously known as Project Waldo). However, despite seeing his process and almost every page as they’ve been drawn, the moment I sat down and read a print out of the book, I was seriously knocked on my ass like I had never seen a single line before. This dude’s comics debut is ridiculous and puts many a veteran cartoonist to shame. It’s one of those books I don’t want to describe too much, as I’d rather you experience it, but if my word’s not good enough for you know I showed a copy to that Jean “Moebius” Giraud dude during Angouleme and after saying it was “Very cool! Beautiful!” he asked me to keep it. That’s pretty much the greatest comics endorsement of all time.

Savage Dragon #171

Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen, Image Comics: The sales figures on this book often convince me the entire comic book industry is drunk. Not in a jovial drunk way, but like a making-bad-decisions-to-everyone’s-detriment way. I’ll admit a certain level of bias due to the triple threat of once being the book’s promo guy, having a story in an upcoming issue and Erik being a buddy. On the other hand, I’ve been reading every issue as soon as they hit stands since 1992. In fact, the latest storyline is easily the most ballsiest and innovative yet. If everyone I’ve read complain about how boring some superhero comics can be gave this series a shot, it would be a Top Ten book and I think they would be pretty satisfied. I mean, seriously, dude made his 18-year lead character the main villain of the series, then killed him out of nowhere. Where else do you see that happening? Furthermore, by the hand of the character’s creator, who has drawn every. single. issue? Nowhere.

Everything Humanoids Is Doing: Speaking of being confused by the comics’ industry, I don’t get how the new iteration of Humanoids US isn’t getting more positive attention. I’ve been a fan of their material over the years and while I’ve been critical of past incarnations, this one has been a fan’s dream come true. It’s the first time I’ve felt their material was packaged correctly, branded correctly and in the case of the Incal Classic Edition, colored correctly (well, correct colors restored anyway). Yet somehow ‘new to the US’ works such as John Cassady’s complete I Am Legion and Milo Manara’s Pandora’s Eyes as well as classics brought back from the Out-Of-Print grave including Moebius/Jodorwsky joints like Madwoman of the Sacred Heart and the aforementioned Incal Classic Edition seemed to fall under the radar. These folks brought Moebius back in print after an almost 15-year hiatus. How are we not all focusing on this? Seems like that alone should have been publishing event of last year, but it barely seemed to get noticed. I’m having a hard time getting why that is.

Emitown by Emi Lenox: This is pretty much my favorite web comic. Despite the fact its been getting a huge push after the Image Comics compilation, I still wanted to mention it since it’s really hard to make autobio interesting. Yet a new cartoonist like Lenox does so in a fresh, new light. Good times, that Emitown. A very impressive work by a new talent I’m way excited for.

I’ve also been trying to get back to speed with my Not Comics reading, including The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson, the second book in the Millennium trilogy just about everybody who digs mystery novels is reading. I really loved Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but I’ll admit to this one dragging a bit for me. However, in its defense I haven’t had as much time as I should to devote to it and will admit it really picks up about halfway through.

Finally, I feel the need to mention I pretty much always have a copy of Empire magazine with me. It’s the only mag I head down to my local newsstand (more often than not one of the downtown Portland Rich’s Cigar Stores) whenever I know it’s out. Comics will always be my first love, but movies is the one thing I don’t have a lot of interest in pursuing creatively and enjoy purely as a fan. Empire is the best movie magazine out there. Not maybe, not sort of, not almost – it completely and utterly is the most fun I have as a fan. The articles and interviews are always unique, in-depth and very well written without getting on the pretentious side. I really wish American comics currently had an equivalent.

The Sixth Gun

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is Jim Zubkavich, writer of the Image Comics series Skullkickers and a project manager at UDON Entertainment.

To see what Jim and the Robot 6 crew are reading, click the link below.

*****

Sean T. Collins

A Game of Thrones

This is a bit of cheat, because I didn’t read the books in question over the past week; instead I polished off one YA fantasy favorite, Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising Sequence, and started revisiting another, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles. But with the HBO adaptation Game of Thrones on the way and some of my friends asking what the fuss is all about, I penned a spoiler-free run-down of why you should read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series — fantasy books I think just about anyone will find enthralling. If you’ve heard of the books but aren’t sure if they’re worth taking the plunge, give the post a read and see what you think.

And oh yeah, comics — click the links for full reviews!

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics): This long-awaited collection of stories from shoujo manga pioneer Hagio is a thing of unearthly beauty and surprising guts.

FUC* **U, *SS**LE by Johnny Ryan (Fantagraphics): The fourth and final Blecky Yuckerella gag-strip collection by the cartoonist now best known as the force behind the action-horror sensation Prison Pit makes me regret there won’t ever be a fifth.

Monster, edited by Paul Lyons (available through PictureBox): The big Fort Thunder reunion anthology looks great — with contributions by Brian Chippendale and Mat Brinkman and a killer cover by editor Paul Lyons, how could it not — but it’s not necessarily a document of how vital the legendary underground comics collective’s work, and that of their Providence peers and heirs, can be.

Carla Hoffman

"Do you think this 'A' on my head stands for 'AVAILABLE FOR $2.99'?!?"

I read Ultimate Captain America #1 and I just want to go cook outdoors and change a tire. Maybe even spit. Jason Aaron writes these amazingly gritty, masculine books that brook no quarter and punch you in the face. Here, Captain America is a blatant American special forces operative facing down a man in a mask and international terrorism! I didn’t want to read another Captain America book because Brubaker’s been the gold standard and, let’s face it, the Ultimates line hasn’t been a smash hit like they used to. So that’s why I’m only getting to it now… and now I have to read the whole thing. There’s just something about the way Aaron presents a story that is so realistic, but yet not too real. Like a Tarantino film without all the artsy hoopla, maybe? I don’t know, but he’s certainly in a class all his own.

I also read Tiny Titans #36 because that’s how I roll. I may be a Marvel Zombie, but boy howdy do I love the Tiny Titans. Normally, it’s the first book I read the week it comes out and keeps me in giggles the whole month through. In this issue, people eat hot dogs and there’s a girl dinosaur. YEAH! Man, it is so refreshing, fun and unique that it makes reading books where people get their throats slit open enjoyable again. You can’t eat meat and potatoes all the time, sometimes you need a little candy.

Lastly but certainly not least..ly, I read Thor #619 slowly and lovingly. Every page was basked in and dialogue bubbles were read out loud in as big and booming a voice I could muster. And if I couldn’t do it, I’d get the Mister to read aloud some dialogue because this is the kind of story you have to narrate. Or at least share it with someone. I know Mr. Fraction’s new run may not be for everyone and with Journey Into Mystery coming up, this might seem like a vote of no confidence in his run. Personally, I don’t care. I don’t care if the internet hates this book and wants to form an angry mob about it. Sometimes, a book is written just for me. Sure, I do love sharing comics I like with as many people as possible (BLOODCOLOSSUS!!), but Pasqual Ferry’s art is so beautiful, dreamy and wide-scope and Matt Fraction’s voice for the Norse gods is so booming and mythic, I honestly don’t care if people don’t enjoy it anymore. I’m enjoying it enough for the whole Nine Worlds.

Chris Mautner

Dawn Land

Will Davis’ Dawn Land is an odd, interesting graphic novel that deals with a topic and culture rarely covered in comics. Adapted from a novel by Joseph Bruchac, it’s a story set in North America long before the Europeans’ arrival, about a young hunter — literally called Young Hunter — who goes on a lengthy quest to stop a tribe of giants that have been ravaging the countryside (and also happened to kill his parents) armed only with a super-special secret weapon that I wouldn’t dream of revealing. Obviously there’s a good deal of archetypical mythmaking on display here, enough to give the book a familiar air, despite being set in an unfamiliar (to me anyway) time and place. The book is at its best when it delves into the specifics of early Native American culture and mythos. Davis’ black and white, charcoal washes keep the story moving at a decent clip, but also give the book a subdued quality that I’m not sure jibes with the material that well. For all that’s at stake for the Young Hunter, Dawn Land feels like a strangely quiet and overly calm book. Still, for those who have an interest in or are curious about the subject matter, it’s worth checking out.

Tom Bondurant

Somehow I missed seeing that Chris Roberson and Jesus Merino’s Superman/Batman arc was only two issues. Not only was I expecting it to go past this week’s issue #80, I was hoping it would too. Call me a slave to nostalgia, but setting the bulk of the issue in the early ’80s, when Robin/Dick was still leading the pre-”Judas Contract” Teen Titans and Batman hadn’t quite gotten so scowly, really pushed a lot of familiar buttons. The climax, featuring World’s Finest teams from across the millennia, was similarly effective.

Amazing Spider-Man #652

I’ve also been picking up the “Big Time” issues of Amazing Spider-Man, in part because I like Dan Slott and because the book seems to have gotten past all of that “diabolical annulment” baggage. This week’s issue #652 kicked off a new arc (featuring the Spider-Slayer) with a new artist (Stefano Caselli). I like the fact that Slott has filled out the supporting cast with a lot of appealing characters, but this time the issue felt a little crowded. For example, I didn’t recognize Glory Grant until much later than I probably should have. Anyway, I do like the balance the book has struck between character moments and superheroics, and I thought the climactic scenes of Spidey trying to save John Jameson were very well-executed.

Finally, I was quite impressed with the debut of Supergirl‘s new creative team in this week’s issue #60. I know this was co-writer Nick Spencer’s only issue, but I’m optimistic that co-writer James Peaty is up to handling the book by himself. New artist Bernard Chang turned in a typically good issue, managing character elements (mostly
involving the new villain) and action sequences equally well. I thought Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle did a great job of “normalizing” Supergirl, after years of the book trying to figure out what it was going to be, and I’m hopeful that Peaty and Chang can build on that. This issue was a very promising start; and if it’s any indication, Supergirl‘s future could be very bright.

Brigid Alverson

Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches is pretty brutal. Almost everyone in the book dies, but before they die, Tardi gives you just enough of their story to make them seem human. Then boom, they get blown away right before your eyes. His clear-eyed view of the cruelties of war is also brutal, from the discomfort and indignity of life in the trenches to the truly grotesque, such as a man falling elbow-deep into the entrails of a corpse, to the morally repugnant, such as an officer killing his own men because they fail to do the impossible. It’s one thing to read about the brutality of trench warfare, another entirely to experience it in the way Tardi details it here. This wasn’t an easy read‹I alternated between anger and horror the whole time — but it was a good one.

Much easier, and ironically, less grim, is The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics. Despite the cheesy sounding title, this book really delivers the goods, and the fact that the publisher kept the price down by printing the whole thing in black and white doesn’t hurt it a bit. Editor Paul Gravett really knows his comics, and he provides a bit of context for each of the 25 short stories in this book. Many of the stories are classics — there’s a Will Eisner Spirit story, a tightly written con-artist story by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and one of the original Secret Agent X-9 stories by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. And he includes a nice selection of comics from other countries as well, including one illustrated by Tardi. I picked up this book on a whim at Barnes & Noble and just a quick flip through it convinced me that I was going to like it — and I do. At $17.95 for 480 pages, it’s as easy on the wallet as it is on the eyes.

Jim Zubkavich

I just finished reading the newly released first volume of The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. This supernatural Western odyssey is fresh and exciting with a richly textured mythology all its own. With each chapter you can see the synergy between writer and artist getting stronger as they build up an impressive cast of rogues and wild west freaks. I’m excited to see where the story progresses from here and am glad that Oni Press is continuing to broaden their offerings across so many genres and styles.

My good friend Jim Demonakos just sent me the advance proof for The Silence of Our Friends, a graphic novel he co-wrote with Mark Long that’s illustrated by Nate Powell. It’s coming out early 2012 from First Second and I was thrilled to get an advance look at it. Let me be first out of the gate to say that this book is going to knock people out with its quality and emotion. It’s a reflection on race in America during the late 60’s that grips you from start to finish. Even with the natural biases that come from looking at work from a friend I could not have been more pleased with it. I foresee this book getting quite a bit of mainstream attention and praise.

Absolute Sandman

Although I’d purchased them quite a while ago, I finally had a chance to sit down and read Absolute Sandman. Having the series remastered in such a fantastic archival format is a real treat. It’s not like anyone needs my recommendation to check it out, but it really is a tent post of quality and depth in this industry. Anyone who considers themselves a comic fan that hasn’t read Sandman has a hole in their understanding of the medium about as big as these books.

Back on the Image home front, Chris Yost and Scott Wegener’s Killer of Demons landed in my read pile over the holidays. It has one of those high concepts that’s easy to pitch yet still has layers worth of depth underneath it – an office drone has visions of demons and may be a slayer of evil destined to save us all, or he’s just a delusional psychotic justifying mass murder. As ugly and morbid as that sounds, Scott’s wonderfully expressive artwork and Chris’ snappy sarcastic script keep it rolling with black-hearted humour. Given the right exposure I could easily see it being another Chew or Preacher.