Comic Book Resources

Robot reviews: hodge-podge time

Cold Heat 7/8

Cold Heat 7/8
by Ben Jones and Frank Santoro
PictureBox Inc., 48 pages, $20.

This may be my favorite issue in the series so far, and I'm not sure I can easily articulate why. It's hard at times for me to talk about this series without coming up with empty, awkward phrases and stumbling cliches. There's something about hitting the time travel/memory wipe/reset plot button that appeals to me though, as protagonist Castle finds herself back at home and romancing a overly eager British music critic, though little has actually changed and dangerous aliens and evildoers are still lurking about.

Hitting that button must appeal greatly to Jones and Santoro as well, as they seem to be firing on all cylinders here. There's an ever so slight shift in tone that brings plot and dialogue a little farther up center than it had been before, though little of the series' sublime weirdness has been abandoned. Santoro offers some of his best compositions yet here; there's more than a few pages here that are quite striking. I like how he tries to think of the page as an entire unit and not a collection of separate tiny panels that tell a story. Too few contemporary cartoonists, indie or otherwise, follow that example. I also like how he uses overlapping lines to suggest a character's inner emotional state or provide different perspectives of the same scene. Meanwhile, Jones continues to show off his gift for hilarious, idiosyncratic dialogue. Twenty dollars may seem like a high price point (it's due to a limited print run) but you know what they say about no good comic being too expensive? It's true here.

Reviews of Dungeon and more after the jump.

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Thin wallets, fat bookshelves | A publishing news roundup

The Original Johnson

• IDW has announced the street dates for a couple of publishing ventures recently, including the their two Archie collections. The Best of Dan DeCarlo Vol. 1 will hit stores in May, while The Classic Newspaper Comics Vol. 1 will arrive in June.

More notably, the company also announced they would be collecting and releasing Trevor Von Eeden's The Original Johnson, about the life of boxer Jack Johnson, in December. In his recent interview with The Comics Journal, Von Eeden had discussed contract disputes he had been having with co-publisher ComicMix about the work so it's nice to book being completed and in print form.

• According to a press release that seems to be going around town, Fantagraphics and Supermen! editor (and former Fanta employee) Greg Sadowski will be working together on a series of seven collections of Golden Age comics. They are: Setting The Standard: Alex Toth at Standard Comics 1952-54, The Road To Plastic Man: The Golden Age Comics of Jack Cole 1937-41, Away From Home: EC Artists at Other Companies, Creeping Death From Neptune: Basil Wolverton’s Sci-Fi and Horror Comics 1938-55 and The Comic Book Frankenstein: The Monster According to Dick Briefer. That's a pretty amazing line-up. I'm especially excited for that Briefer book.

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What Are You Reading?

Map of My Heart

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Pull up a chair and sit down, won't you? Our guest this week is Bill Kartalopoulos, who teaches classes about comics and illustration at Parsons, is a contributing editor for Print Magazine, and a comics reviewer for Publishers Weekly. But he's probably best known as the Programming Coordinator for the SPX convention in Bethesda, MD.

Bill and everyone else has quite a number of books by their bedside table this week, so we'll get right to it. Be a dear and click on the link below, won't you?

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Congratulations to Lauren Weinstein and Tim Hodler

The Goddess of War cartoonist and Comics Comics editor and critic are now the proud parents of a bouncing baby girl, Ramona Salley Hodler. Congrats to the whole family and here's hoping you get some sleep in the days ahead.

What Are You Reading?

Ninja

Welcome to What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is Sean T. Collins, who should be no stranger to most of you as he's been guestblogging with us all week while JK Parkin was on vacation.

To find out what Sean and the rest of us have been reading this week, just click on the link below ...

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The Cold Heat Universe continues to expand

"Cold Heat" art by Jon Vermilyea, from Mome Vol. 16

For a title that was originally rejected for inclusion in the Previews catalog by Diamond on the grounds that its format was "unpopular with collectors and retailers," Frank Santoro and Ben Jones's psychedelic sci-fi action-adventure teen-angst punk-rock extravaganza Cold Heat sure is generating enough prequels, sequels and spin-offs to satisfy even the most dedicated fan of front-of-Previews mega-events.

At the Cold Heat Comics blog, co-creator Frank Santoro reveals that the upcoming Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, will see the release of three new CH titles, featuring the continuing adventures of sword-wielding teenage heroine Castle, resurrected rock god Joel Cannon, and their cosmic alien allies and evil government enemies. First up is Cold Heat 7/8, an omnibus edition of the PictureBox-published series' next two issues. Next is Fantagraphics' ongoing anthology series Mome Vol. 16, which like Vol. 14 will include a Cold Heat prequel story — two, actually, one of them featuring art by Jon Vermilyea. (A preview of the Santoro/BJ contribution, and the rest of the issue, can be found here.) And finally, another Cold Heat Special is on the way, the latest in a series of limited-run comics made by Santoro in collaboration with such artists as Dash Shaw, Jim Rugg, Lane Milburn, and Ryan Cecil Smith.

Cold Heat has been at the crest a new wave of unabashed alternative genre comics, including C.F.'s Powr Mastrs, Kazimir Strzepek's The Mourning Star, Brian Ralph's Daybreak, and Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit. Readers who like their science-fiction slugfests thought-provoking as well as pulse-pounding would do well to check it out.

iPictureBox?

PictureBox Inc.

It's not exactly Mickey Mouse buying Spider-Man, but it's fascinating news nonetheless: Indie publisher PictureBox Inc. will be selling digital versions of its comics and graphic novels through the iPhone comics app Panelfly. Available titles include C.F.'s Powr Mastrs Vols. 1 & 2, Frank Santoro's Storeyville, Lauren Weinstein's The Goddess of War #1, and Yuichi Yokoyama's Travel. Panelfly's other publishers include indie outfits NBM and SLG.

That even PictureBox — the artiest of the artcomix publishers, known for envelope-pushing material, extremely high production values, and a publishing line that straddles the comics and fine-art worlds — is going digital says a whole lot about the industry's perceived need to get a foot in that particular door, not to mention about PictureBox's willingness to seek out an audience outside of the traditional art/alt/underground comics venues.

Brian Chippendale is now blogging

Ignore the profane name under the "about me" section. The owner and operator of the new Marvelous Coma blog is none other than Brian Chippendale, artist behind such noteworthy avant-garde comics as Maggots and Ninja. What, you may well ask, would a creator of such idiosyncratic, highly acclaimed work want to talk about on the Internet? How about ... Daredevil!

Daredevil #100

DD #100 volume 1 is a set up issue. an origin issue. and even a reflection of period stereotypes. It has virtually nothing in common with DD #500 except the presence of the red costume. In #100, written by Steve Gerber and illustrated by the one and only Gene Colan(the work, inked by Tartaglione, is not Genes best), DD is the wise cracking pre-Frank Miller version. This era of DD gave the hero, and the comic, the ability to stretch out of character, to veer off the dark dirty city streets into flights of fantasy. It allows DD to joke about the world. A virtue virtually gone in current DD characterization. Issue #100 acts as an origin summary, as DD recounts a few bits of his history to a Rolling Stone reporter, until a mass hallucination hits the Rolling Stone office and the streets of San Fransisco. This is 1973 Marvel Comics.

(found via the Beat)

Everyone's A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces

Asterios Polyp

• Another day, another stellar review for David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp. This time it's Dan Kois for New York magazine, who calls the book "a great graphic novel" and "a masterpiece."

• Got some time to kill? Then you might want to check out this lengthy series of posts critiquing the entire 28-volume run of the seminal samurai manga Lone Wolf and Cub. (found via Spurgeon)

• Frank Santoro dubs Mat Brinkman's Multiforce "terrifyingly good and an indispensable record of possibly the most important serialized comics of the post-Ware era."

• Jog declares Daisuke Igarashi's Children of the Sea "a fairly lovely production."

• Johanna Draper Carlson calls Posey Simmonds's Gemma Bovery "engrossing, even watching people make stupid wrong decisions, it’s a page-turner."

• Brian Heater thinks Fred Chao's Johnny Hiro is "a rollicking love letter to boundary-less pop-culture, which, by the end, has embraced everything from Night Court to Brand Nubian."

• Sandy Bilus uses Hellboy Vol. 6 Strange Places to look at how colorist Dave Stewart uses specific palettes to strong effect.

• Rob Clough reads Everyone Is Stupid Except for Me and wonders if Peter Bagge isn't a modern-day Mencken.

Robot reviews: More potpourri

Wrapped-Up Foxtrot

Wrapped-Up FoxTrot
by Bill Amend
Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99

Here's my basic problem with FoxTrot: I can't stand the family. Not a one of them. They all come across as a bunch of unlikeable clods to me, each one too invested in their own personal tics and desperate obsessions to show any interest in each other. Really, they seem more interested in making each other miserable, especially the bratty youngest child, Jason, who would have been thrown to the lions years ago by any real-life family. Of course, without him we'd miss all those obvious and occasionally desperate attempt to reference contemporary pop culture. "Hey, they're making a Star Trek movie! Let's make a strip about it!" "Here's a joke about World of Warcraft! You know, lots of people play that!" People complain about the saccharine sweetness of The Family Circus, but their are times I prefer that to the insufferable smart-alec attitudes of the Fox family.

This new Treasury collects the last of the daily strips as well as some Sundays. It's certainly readable. It didn't make me want to claw my eyes out the way, say Snuffy Smith does, but still, that's a real annoying family.

More reviews after the link ...

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Everyone's A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces

Boody Rogers

• Let's begin by directing your attention to the comments section of this post on the Comics Comics blog regarding my recent interview with Dan Nadel. It devolves into a conversation over Nadel's earlier comments about Fantagraphics' recent Boody Rogers book, edited by Craig Yoe. Nadel disliked the book for a number of reasons, which Tom Spurgeon had felt was inappropriate for him to discuss in public, since Nadel had written and edited a book that featured Rogers' art, Art Out of Time, and thus, was suffered from a conflict of interest of sorts.

Anyway, Nadel, Rob Clough, Tim Hodler, Jeet Heer, Spurgeon and even Gary Groth (!) hash the whole matter out here, though little is resolved by the end. I haven't read the Rogers collection yet, so it's hard for me to gauge the accuracy of Nadel's comments. Spurgeon makes some good points, but I'm not 100 percent convinced they are that germane to Nadel's original post. Still, it's an interesting discussion nevertheless.

• Speaking of that Boody Rogers book, John Mitchell didn't care much for the book either, though for different reasons, labeling it a "patience tester."

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Is the ship sinking? A short conversation with Dan Nadel

Image from Powr Masters 3

With the economy still taking a tumble, many small comic book and graphic novel publishers are looking at alternative ways to get their titles out to the public. One of the more intriguing options was announced last month by author and PictureBox publisher Dan Nadel. Basically, in order to ensure that Powr Masters Vol. 3 by CF and Brian Chippendale's If-n-Oof got printed and published, he asked fans and interested readers to pre-order the books. Those who did got the opportunity to recieve a silkscreen print or even a full-color drawing, depending upon how much money they gave.

It's an interesting subscription-based model that we haven't seen a lot of in the comics industry but may increasingly in the future due to Diamond's raising the minimum order bar. I talked to Dan Nadel over the phone and he graciously discussed what prompted the idea and whether he plans on attempting similar plans for future titles. He also provided a glimpse into some of the books he's currently working on, including a sneak preview of  the sequel to his justly acclaimed Art Out of Time.

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Send Us Your Shelf Porn!

Hello and welcome once again to Send Us Your Shelf Porn, the only Internet comics column where you, the reader, have the chance to be King (or Queen) Geek for a day! Wouldn't you like to be King (or Queen) Geek for a day? Sure you would! So send me photos of your comics collection, be it large or small, along with any commentary/explanations you see fit to give, to cmautnerATcomcastDOTnet and I'll post them here so everyone can go "Man, I always wanted that book. Howcum he has that book and I don't? Life is so unfair."

This week our special guest is Ryan Kirk of San Antonio, Texas, who has managed to accumulate quite an impressive array of books. Take it away Ryan!

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PictureBox goes the pre-order plea route

Powr Masters 3

Dan Nadel posted a press release at Comics Comics yesterday that, in addition to announcing two upcoming books from PictureBox -- Powr Masters 3 by CF and If n Oof by Brian Chippendale -- asked fans to ensure these books got printed by ordering them now:

These two books are among the best graphic novels of our time, but they need your support. Like a lot of publishers, PictureBox is looking for new ways to navigate the current terrain. To that end, we are attempting to raise the money for these books ahead of time. It’s all an experiment these days.

So we are looking to you, as a community of readers, to help make these books a reality. Everyone that orders advance copies of one or both of these books (up until August 1) will receive the book itself and a signed silkscreen print upon the books’ releases. Everyone that orders in advance by June 20, 2009 will have their names hand-lettered in the book with their corresponding level of support (see below). We need about 400 of you per book to step up and help make this a reality. Let’s come together as a community.

Nadel has PDF previews up at the site, and he's also offering an interesting, PBS-style tiered system of support, where, say, $45 nets you both books and the prints, but $150 nets you the books, the prints and a full color drawing by one of the artists.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the response to this idea will be. The ability to gain two prints by ordering ahead certainly is tantalizing, although now I'm suddenly worried that PictureBox is in worse financial shape than I had previously thought.

You can read Nadel's full press release after the jump:

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Picturebox, Broken Frontier stake more Web claim

A Yuichi Yokoyama print available at PictureBox Gallery

It seems like new comic sites are bustin' out all over the place this week. The other day it was Katherine Darcy's new Manga Critic, now PictureBox has unveiled a new site. I'll let publisher Dan Nadel describe it:

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