The Infinite #5

Rob Liefeld said on Twitter that after four issues, his collaboration with writer Robert Kirkman, The Infinite, “is over.”

“Unfortunately creative differences have sunk The Infinite. It’s over,” he said, noting in another post that he and Kirkman’s Skybound imprint disagreed on an inker Liefeld was using for half of issue #5.

“Artistically, I’ll continue to seek out talented collaborators to work with that keeps me energized for the next 25 years,” he said, adding, “For 10 years all my printed work was printed from my pencils. Now I’m re-discovering the appeal of working with a variety of inkers.”

The fifth issue was originally solicited for last October, then rescheduled for February. Solicitations and covers had been released through April’s issue #8.

Word about The Infinite ending follows the news that another Liefeld book, DC’s Hawk & Dove, is also coming to an end. But despite that, Liefeld still has a pretty full plate, as he will start working on three other DC Comics in May, and his Extreme Studios properties continue to relaunch from a variety of creators.

via Multiversity Comics

And the Liefeld-created Extreme Studios properties have returned to Image Comics, which is launching continuations of several of the books as part of an ambitious resurrection of Liefeld’s early-’90s characters.

And here’s the weird thing — the two aren’t connected.

Liefeld’s monthly book is DC’s current volume of Hawk and Dove*, a perennial lower-tier property conceived by artist Steve Ditko in the late 1960s. One of Liefeld’s first big breaks was a penciling gig on a Hawk and Dove series in the late ’80s, and DC has kept the characters around in one book or another almost ever since.

The Extreme Studios books are being published by Image, the company Liefeld helped found, and his characters were a part of its initial success.

I’m not complaining. Despite being square in the proper age demographic when Image was founded, I never cared for Liefeld’s design, rendering or storytelling — in fact, of the founders, Todd McFarlane’s was the only work Teenage Caleb enjoyed, and that was in part because of how much it reminded me of the Batman comics of the day.

By having people who aren’t in any way, shape or form Rob Liefeld, including creators whose art doesn’t seem noticeably inspired by Liefeld, work on the old Liefeld properties, the Image initiative seems less like nostalgia than some sort of exciting experiment.

Did people once embrace characters like Supreme, Glory and the members of Youngblood because they were created, written and drawn by Liefeld, or is there something in them that can exist and can flourish in different ways completely divorced from their creator?

What becomes of a Liefeld comic when you take Liefeld out of it?

(I fully realize, of course, that this isn’t a unique experiment, even if the specific parameters are. Creators with vastly different talents, styles and ambitions have been taking the creations of others in different directions almost as long as there have been comic books and, in fact, it’s become the hallmark and lifeblood of superhero comics since at least the Silver Age. I think it’s one of the more fun things about superhero comics, seeing how different artists draw Batman or write Captain America or whatever.)

I applaud Liefeld and the folks at Image for choosing such distinct, fresh and, um, talented talents as well, including King City’s writer/artist Brandon Graham as the writer of Prophet and Ross Campbell as the artist for Glory, the first of the new Extreme books I’ve taken a look at.

Glory was created in 1993 as a sort of bad-girl clone of Wonder Woman (or, to put it slightly more generously, as a bad-girl analogue of Wonder Woman). She was the warrior royalty of a tribe of Amazonians — not Amazons — who left her world to become a kick-ass superheroine on Earth.

She had the improbable, somewhat deformed extreme Barbie-doll body of Liefeld’s ladies of the ’90s:

That alone made the fact that Campbell would be drawing a book featuring her something worth paying attention to.

Campbell’s an incredible talent whose work I’ve been enthusiastic about ever since I encountered it in Tokyopop zombiepocalypse story The Abandoned. He’s also responsible for the drama Wet Moon and monster-superhero series Shadoweyes, and drew the book Water Baby for DC’s short-lived Minx imprint.

One particularly noteworthy aspect of his work is how good he is at drawing women, and the fact that his women come in all shapes and sizes, like real women. His female characters can be thin little waifs or zaftig plus-size gals, or, as in the case of his Mountain Girl, huge, hulking ladies that a college football team’s defensive line would have a hard time tackling. He also is particularly skilled at making his female characters look incredibly sexy — or charming, or repellent, depending on their character traits and role in the story — no matter what size or shape he’s drawing them in (particularly in his early work; he seems to have toned down the sexualization a bit of late).

So I was eager to see Campbell’s version of Liefeld’s Glory.

His is, no surprise, quite different from Liefeld’s. She’s built big, solid and muscular, something between the sort of woman R. Crumb grew famous for drawing and an Olympic athlete and a medieval castle wall. She has the same signifiers as before, including long white hair — colored so as to look luminescent, so there’s a sharp contrast between her and the white-haired Superman clone/analogue Supreme in the scene they share — and she still wears the same colors, although they are much less bathing suit-like and more ancient warrior-like (tracking a similar evolution of Wonder Woman’s garb from the ’90s through the post-Xena current Wonder Woman).

Campbell gives her a bit of a baby face, particularly in the scenes set when she was young (for her), but she’s an imposing figure; if Liefeld’s Glory looked like a Barbie doll, Campbell’s is closer to He-Man.

That she looks so different is fitting too in that it accentuates her alien-ness to the rest of the world, the “real” world the book is set in. Campbell ramped up the alien nature of the various monsters and demons as well (Glory is half-Amazonian, half-demon), so they are particularly grotesque, and detailed in their grotesquerie.

It can be exceptionally difficult to judge first issues given the tendency for comics to be created for arcs and storylines, so it’s the visuals of a first issue like Glory that stand out. On that end, not only is the new Glory a sucker punch in the face, it’s a knockout.

The story, written by Joe Keatinge, is packed quite full, including an origin story, a sort of on-the-fly recap of Glory’s history in the world, the introduction of several other characters and a suggestion of a new direction — complete with surprise cliffhanger.

Born of a union between the warring Amazonians and Demons, Glory is trained to be the ultimate warrior, a sort of deterrent to the two sides breaking their peace pact — if one does, she’ll kick all their asses.

Bored, she comes to earth during World War II to punch out tanks and tear Nazis apart like tissue paper, and sticks around as a superhero for a long time, before ultimately disappearing. A young woman haunted by dreams of Glory tries to track her down … or at least discover whatever became of her.

Keatinge doesn’t play down the Basically Wonder Woman, But More Hardcore aspects of the character — which is fine; Alan Moore had great success playing up the Basically Superman aspects of Supreme — and, oddly enough, before story’s end it seems to draw as much inspiration from Promethea as it does Wonder Woman. Or perhaps not so oddly — Moore briefly wrote Glory before going on to create Promethea with J.H. Williams III.

As I say, it’s still too early to tell where the story is going, but it starts in a very interesting, very different place, with Ross Campbell’s Rob Liefeld’s characters and concepts. In that respect, it’s already an incredibly interesting and — I’d say — successful experiment.

*This was written before today’s announcement that Hawk and Dove would be getting the ax, along with five other DC “New 52″ titles. Maybe Liefeld will be working on Extreme books for Image in the near future after all now …

Eric Stephenson

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Image Comics, the company formed by a group of artists who left the security of work-for-hire comics to create and own their own comics. It’s been 20 years of ups and downs, but one thing that has remained consistent is a focus on creator-owned work.

With 2011 in the history books and their big anniversary kicking off with the first Image Expo, a new ad campaign and high-profile series by big-name creators like Brian K. Vaughan, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer and many more, I thought it was a good time to chat with Publisher Eric Stephenson about the state of the company, the year that was, their upcoming plans and anything else he was willing to talk about. My thanks to Eric for taking the time to answer my questions.

JK Parkin: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview, Eric. Incidentally, another feature we’re running as a part of our anniversary bash is one where we asked various comic industry folks about what they’re looking forward to in 2012. I got one back yesterday where the answer was basically “everything from Image Comics.” I find that interesting, because there’s a lot of diversity in Image’s line and although I think you guys probably publish something for every kind of taste, I wouldn’t think that every title would appeal to every comic reader. And yet I also find myself checking out at least the first issue of everything you guys have done lately. So from your perspective, what’s the unifying factor (or factors) right now among your titles, if there is one?

Stephenson: I think the main thing is that we’re moving forward and creating new things. We’re not content to just recycle the same old ideas month in and month out and then market it all as brand new. If this was another publisher, we’d be debuting our latest spin-off of The Walking Dead in March, but instead, we’re launching a new series by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, a new series by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra, a new series by Joe Keatinge and Andre Szymanowicz, and so on. For 20 years, Image has put its faith in creative people, and it’s the power of their imagination that links all our titles together, now more than ever.

Parkin: Back in 2008, when you took your current job, you told CBR that one of your goals was “to make more people aware of some of the great comics Image is putting out, getting our books in front of more eyes.” From your perspective, are you meeting this goal? And what’s changed in this regard over the last three years?

Stephenson: I don’t know if you’re familiar with the fast food chain Hardee’s, but they’re a hamburger chain out in the Midwest and thereabouts. They were bought by the company that owns Carl’s Jr. here in California toward the end of the ’90s, but in the period leading up to that sale, they were kind of horrible. They developed a really bad reputation. After the takeover, they did some amusingly blunt ads that basically said, “We don’t suck anymore,” that attracted a bit of attention, but ultimately, the thing that turned their business around–and along with Carl’s Jr., they’re one of the top fast food chains in the country today–is that they started making better burgers. They stopped sucking, basically, and I think the message there is pretty simple: Quality never goes out of style.

Hardee's old logo

Using that as kind of a point of reference, I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying Image has produced its fair share of shit over the years. You win some, you lose some, right? Well, I think we got to a point a while back where the losses were outnumbering the wins, and regardless of whether it’s right or wrong, reputations are based on things like that. And that affects everything: How retailers order the books, how people perceive the books when they see them on the stands, how creators weigh their publishing options. I don’t think we were ever in as dire shape as Hardee’s, but our reputation had definitely suffered, and I think the main thing that’s changed over the last three years is that Image is perceived in a much different–and much better–light.

It’s an ongoing process, though. I don’t think the work of making readers and retailers more aware of what we do ever really ends, regardless of the level of success. For every great new series we launch, there’s always going to be someone pointing at one of our missteps from the past. It’s that old “fool me once” thing–some people, especially retailers, remain skeptical. It’s a trust issue, basically, and ultimately, the only way you earn that trust–or earn that trust back, if that’s the case–is to keep producing the best work possible. Things are looking good on that front.

Parkin: 2011 was an “up” year for you guys, in terms of overall sales, on top of an already strong 2010. Looking back, what factors do you think led to this success?

Stephenson: I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but I do think a lot of it has to do with not running on the spot. We’ve continued to move forward, you know? It hasn’t hurt that The Walking Dead is a tremendously successful television show, but let’s be clear–if we were just pushing out spin-offs of The Walking Dead and publishing a bunch of crap alongside that, our situation would be much different right now. We got a bit lucky in terms of the timing, I think. The Walking Dead show on AMC came at a time when we were actually ready to capitalize on it.

Parkin: As far as digital goes–I don’t think I can do an interview anymore without asking a “digital” question–I believe most, if not all, of your books are coming out digitally on the same day the print version hits comic shops. What kind of affect has going “same day digital” had on digital sales? Have print sales been affected? What plans do you have next year to get digital comics in particular in front of more people’s eyes?

Stephenson: Same day as print for digital has helped, definitely. There’s been no negative impact on print sales so far, at least nothing that’s particularly quantifiable anyway. Something I rail on about from time to time is that it’s not necessarily the same audience, and I think that’s kind of the beauty of it all. Having digital sales as an option broadens our reach. It broadens everybody’s reach.

I think people spend too much time hemming and hawing over format, really, and with that in mind, our plans for 2012 are less about just narrowing our focus on digital, and more on reaching out to more readers across the board. We’re going to do everything we can to raise awareness of Image in general, which serves the purpose of exposing more people to our comics, whether the format is digital or print.

One of Image's new print ads

Parkin: Speaking of raising Image’s profile, you sent over a sample from an upcoming ad campaign. Can you talk a little bit about the concept behind it? And where will it be appearing?

Stephenson: Yeah, that ad will start running online and in most of our comics this week. We’re doing one of these a week over the course of the year, each focusing on a different creator, and there will be some video components to the campaign as well.

The message is pretty simple: Our business thrives on creativity.

Everyone else throws their weight behind characters, behind IP. We put ours behind the people create those characters and develop that IP. The men and women who write and draw comics are Image’s–and this industry’s–most valuable resource. It takes a certain amount of bravery to create something of your own and share it with the world. We support those people, and we salute them.

Parkin: You guys put out a lot of new books in 2011 that shined the light on several new creators. Were there one or two projects you personally were particularly proud of in this regard?

Stephenson: The Strange Talent of Luther Strode is something I’m specifically proud of. I think Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore are doing great work with that, and it’s been a real pleasure to see that book do as well as it has. Witch Doctor is a similar story–Robert found Brandon and Lukas and they’ve done some amazing work on that book. I think it’s cool when someone kind of comes out of nowhere like that and just immediately start producing these great new comics. There’s also Kurtis Wiebe and Scott Kowalchuk on The Intrepids. That book flew a bit under the radar for a lot of people, I think, but Kurtis and Scott are both tremendous talents that I think people need to pay more attention to.

The Activity #2

Oh, and man – Nathan Edmondson! I really can’t say enough about Nathan. Nathan did a book for us with Christian Ward called Olympus a while back, but as good as that was, it didn’t quite prepare me for Who Is Jake Ellis? or The Activity. There’s more where that came from, and I really couldn’t be happier to have him here at Image.

Parkin: One Image book that had a lot of good buzz going this past year was Nonplayer #1, which came out early in the year and while initially under-ordered, seemed to do well in its second printing. Nate Simpson went on to win the Russ Manning Award at the Eisners this year. But then Simpson posted on his blog that he was involved in a bicycle accident that left him in a sling. Can you give us an update on how Nate is doing?

Stephenson: Well, Nate’s finally drawing again, which was welcome news to receive. The original plan was to get Nonplayer out twice a year, and I hope we’ll get back on that kind of schedule at some point in the future. It’s too early to say just yet, though, and really I’m just happy Nate wasn’t more seriously injured and that he’s on the mend. We should have the second issue out sometime around the middle of the year.

Parkin: It also seemed to be a good year for older Image properties as well. Witchblade hit its 150th issue, Walking Dead is on its way to issue #100 and was a constant on the New York Times bestseller list. I think you guys published, what, 15 issues of Spawn this past year? And Savage Dragon doesn’t seem to ever miss a beat. How do you keep the creative momentum going on long-running titles, and how do you get new readers to check them out?

Stephenson: It’s not always easy, especially with something like Savage Dragon. Erik and I actually talk about this a lot, because he’s been doing Savage Dragon for 20 years, and he is the sole creator. He writes it. He draws it. We can’t spike sales with a new writer. We can’t promote a new artist. It will always be Erik Larsen. No one other than Dave Sim has committed to the kind of undertaking Erik is engaged in with Savage Dragon, but longevity isn’t something that’s necessarily rewarded these days. Erik provides a unique comics reading experience with the book, though, and ultimately, I think that becomes a selling point of its own. Erik has his own sensibilities and there’s just no other comic like Savage Dragon.

Witchblade #151

On the other hand, we’ve got things like Witchblade or The Darkness, which is rapidly closing in on its 100th issue, and they do undergo changes in their creative teams. Tim Seeley is taking over Witchblade with #151 – I just got a printed copy of that today, actually – and I think people are really going to like what he’s doing with that. It’s a new beginning for the character and whether you’re a fan of Tim’s or a fan of the character, it’s great work. David Hine and Jeremy Haun take over The Darkness with issue #101 and that’s going to be a great jumping on point for that book, too. We could have relaunched that with a new number one, but you know – that’s been done before. It’s been done to death, in fact. There has never been a Darkness #101 before. There actually haven’t been a lot of #101s where independent comics are concerned. There’s like a handful and Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade and The Darkness are amongst them. I think that’s something to be proud of, frankly.

And you’re right, there were 15 issues of Spawn during 2011, and that’s something to be proud of, too. Todd and his team took that book from being months behind and got it back on track, and better yet, did so not only without sacrificing quality, but by upping their game. That book is currently the best it’s been in years and years, and I think it’s really cool that with everything else he does, Todd was able to kind of regroup and infuse the book with some new energy.

Parkin: Speaking of older properties, Extreme is back, and it’s where you got your start in the industry. Now that you’re seeing new kids playing in the sandbox you helped create back in the 1990s, is there any urge on your part to jump back in on the creative side and work on any of the titles?

New Men

Stephenson: Rob and I have talked a bit about adding New Men to the line-up, so that’s kind of a possibility, but I don’t know. We’d have to find the right artist, especially given that the previous artists on that title–first Jeff Matsuda, then Todd Nauck and then Chris Sprouse–were such amazing talents. I kind of think of Todd as the definitive New Men artist, because he and I worked really closely on the book and did all but what?–nine of the issues together. But he’s busy with a new project, and I don’t think he’s sitting around thinking of ways to eliminate all his free time by taking on another series. I always liked those characters, though, and under the right circumstances, it would be fun to revisit them. I’d have to have time, too, because I have a couple projects of my own that are moving along at a dreadfully slow pace. I have the first issue of a new series sitting here that is completely drawn, colored and lettered, but no one’s going to see a page of it until I’m certain it can come out regularly, and there are a lot of other factors involved in making that happen. My absolute first priority is Image Comics and whatever creative work I do comes well behind that.

Parkin: Looking at 2012, it’s the 20th anniversary of Image, and you’ve announced several new projects by big-name creators (like Fatale and Saga), as well as the Image Expo in Oakland this spring. What else does Image have planned to celebrate the big anniversary?

Stephenson: Our primary focus over 2012 is to publish great new comics. We got a little lucky in that we have some outstanding work by some truly brilliant writers and artists on tap for our anniversary, and I think that’s the best way to celebrate 20 years of creativity. We hit the ground running this week with Ed and Sean’s Fatale #1 and we’re just going to keep going from there. Every single one of our 2012 books is going to be worth watching.

We have a couple of fun retrospective things we’re doing–there’s going to be a series of tribute cover variants by a single artist. I know some people groan at the merest mention of variants, but these are done out of fun and they’ll make a nice little set when they’re all out. There will be a couple other things like that, but really, we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary by being at our all-time best.

Parkin: Do you have specific goals set out for Image to achieve in 2012? What do you think will be the biggest challenges for Image in 2012?

Stephenson: I think the biggest challenge is pretty much the same as it’s been the last few years, because I think we all know there are segments of this industry that take almost a strange kind of pride in complacency. There’s a growing aversion to new ideas that I find really puzzling, because this entire business was built on new ideas. It’s self-sabotaging, and it gets a bit depressing, really, because it reduces this business to… Have you seen Midnight In Paris? Owen Wilson’s character in that, he’s writing this novel about a guy who owns a nostalgia shop, a shop where people can kind of wallow in the ephemera of the past. If all we’re going to do as an industry or even as a readership is cling to the past, then that’s what the direct market will become: a dwindling handful of nostalgia shops catering to the narrow interests of a greying market that collects the same thing month in and month out, out of habit or misty-eyed sentimentality. Because that’s the crossroads we’re at: We can either move forward and support the kind of unbridled imagination that has fueled this industry since it began, or we keep rummaging about in the same old bag of tricks until it’s finally empty.

Savage Dragon #177

So that’s the challenge. And it’s a big challenge, but our goal at Image, going into 2012, is to remind everyone that creativity is the lifeblood of this industry. Creativity gave us Superman. It gave us Batman. It gave us The Spirit. The Fantastic Four. Spider-Man. Cerebus. Maus. Watchmen. Sandman. Sin City. Spawn. Savage Dragon. Hellboy. Bone. Stray Bullets. The Invisibles. Transmetropolitan. Y: The Last Man. The Walking Dead. Scott Pilgrim. The Umbrella Academy. Kick Ass. Every great success this industry has ever known is the result of creativity.

And creativity doesn’t come from playing it safe, and it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It starts with people, and over the course of the next year, Image Comics is going to shine a light on all the wonderful creative people we work with, because if creativity is the lifeblood of this industry, then creators are its heart. We’ve been behind the men and women who enrich our lives with the fruits of their imaginations for 20 years, and this year, it’s our mission to make that commitment clearer than ever.

Parkin: As far as projects go, we’ve heard about comics like Fatale, Saga and Thief of Thieves by big-name folks, but Image is also really good at finding unknown or new talent. Is there a particular project coming up in 2012 by someone we may not have heard about that has you particularly excited?

Stephenson: Yes.

Parkin: What’s the status of Image United?

Stephenson: Me sobbing uncontrollably in the bathtub? (laughs)

Seriously, it’s being worked on. Slower than we would all like, for sure, but it’s coming along. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that not finishing it sooner complicated things more than it should have. With six different artists all working on almost every page, once things started to run off the rails, we began running into scheduling conflicts that became more and more unavoidable. The good news–or the better than completely fucking terrible news, really–is that the fourth issue is very close to being finished. At this point, the goal is to complete the remaining three issues and release them monthly sometime in 2012.

Parkin: DC and Marvel seem to always be under the gun to produce books with female lead and/or female creators. How is Image doing on the female lead and female creators front?

Stephenson: That’s a tricky question, because there’s a very profound difference between Image and DC/Marvel and that’s that we don’t dictate who our creators are or what they do. If female creators don’t pitch projects to us, then we don’t have projects by female creators, and we don’t receive that many pitches from women. Blair Butler brought us Heart, though, and Emi Lenox did EmiTown here. Marian Churchland won a Russ Manning award for her graphic novel Beast, and she’s done some great work on Elephantmen. Half the staff here in the Image office are women.

Saga

You just noted that Witchblade recently hit #150–it’s the longest running independent comic with a female lead. Glory, Hack/Slash, Avengelyne and Shinku all feature female leads, and while I realize the politically incorrect satire of Bomb Queen may not be for everyone, the title character is definitely a woman. One of the biggest books we’re putting out this year is Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga, and one of the main characters in that is female. Alpha Girl seems pretty self-explanatory. Next month, we’re publishing more work by Emi, along with a new autobio book by Natalie Nourigat. Blair is putting together another project for us, and those are just the things I’m at liberty to discuss right now. Every now and then we’ll reach out to someone specific – I’d love it if we were working with Marjorie Liu, for instance, and getting Pia Guerra to do something here would be a dream come true, and the same goes for Chynna Clugston – but ultimately, it all comes down to when people are available and whether they actually have something they want to do.

Or to put it another way: If you’re a female writer or artist with an awesome creator-owned project you’d like to get off the ground, send me an email. Even if you’re just thinking about it and you have some questions about how Image works or whatever – send me an email. If I get eight killer proposals, then that’s eight new Image books by female talent. It’s that simple.

Parkin: Speaking of pitches, how many do you receive via email in a given week? And how many of the blind ones go on to become comics?

Stephenson: Dozens. I get dozens of proposals every week, but very few are accepted. In the 10 years I’ve been on staff at Image, I think we’ve accepted fewer than 10.

Parkin: On your personal blog, where you occasionally talk about Image and the industry and what not, you also spend a lot of time talking about music. As we move into the new year, what’s on your playlist right now?

Stephenson: You know, it’s a funny thing with my blog. When I first started it, I was really reluctant to focus too much on the industry or comics at all. I was mainly doing it for my own edification, just keeping a journal about things that caught my attention, but the comics stuff slowly crept in. It’s hard not to comment on certain things, whether it’s something I’m excited about or something that rubs me the wrong way. Usually, though, I’m waxing enthusiastic about the things I love, and a great deal of the time, that’s music. I’m pretty sure I would fade from existence without music, it’s such a vital part of my life.

Future of the Left: Polymers are Forever

Playlist-wise… I listen almost exclusively to vinyl at home, and I’m always on the hunt for more – I just picked up albums by Horace Silver, the Detroit Emeralds, Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Fairport Convention, David Bowie and the Swingle Singers, and then there was that big Smiths box set with all the remastered albums. There’s just so much great music out there, and it’s fun to kind of connect the dots between different things.

Probably the thing I’ve been listening to most frequently over the last couple weeks, though, is this EP by Future of the Left called Polymers Are Forever. That made me go back to the band that Future of the Left grew out of, Mclusky, and start listening to those albums again, which I hadn’t done in quite a while. Both bands are so loud and angry, but not necessarily in the way you might expect. A good touchstone might be Big Black, or maybe Shellac. There’s a lot of dark humor to their lyrics and that always appeals to me. They have a full album coming fairly soon called The Plot Against Common Sense and I’m looking forward to that. I’ve really been enjoying this album by a guy called Jonathan Wilson, too. It’s called Gentle Spirit and it has a very Laurel Canyon in the early ’70s kind of vibe about it, if you know what I mean. I have the same sort of outlook to music that I have towards comics, or anything, really–I like discovering new stuff. Like everyone, I have my old favorites, but there’s nothing quite like the experience of coming across something new.

Hell Yeah

I’ve been friendly with Joe Keatinge dating back to his days managing PR & marketing for Image Comics. When it was revealed back in October that Extreme Studios was relaunching the line–with Keatinge writing Glory (with Ross Campbell on art), I started generating questions for an interview. In addition to discussing Glory (which relaunches with Glory #23 on February 15, 2012), Keatinge opens up about Hell Yeah (Image), his creator-owned collaboration with artist/co-creator Andre Szymanowicz that premieres on March 7, 2012, as well as another upcoming 2012 project, Brutal, in collaboration with artist Frank Cho. My thanks to Keatinge for this email interview. After reading this piece, be sure to check out CBR’s Joe Keatinge coverage for more insight into the busy writer’s upcoming work.

Tim O’Shea: Did Rob Liefeld approach you to work on the Glory relaunch? Was Ross Campbell already committed to the project when you joined?

Joe Keatinge: While Rob was certainly involved with the process, I was actually approached by Image Comics Publisher and Extreme Editor, Eric Stephenson, almost a year ago now. At the time they had nailed down the idea of the line and I believe a couple of the other books may have had writers, but it was still in the very early stages. After that was the process of giving a quick pitch, which was virtually instantaneous to Eric asking if I wanted to do it, to developing a longer pitch, to Eric and I bringing Brandon Graham on board for Prophet, to discussing Glory with Brandon, to Brandon suggesting Ross Campbell, to seeing Ross’ amazing work and me asking him if he wanted to come on board. He did a few samples which blew away both Eric and Rob. We’ve been working on it ever since.

O’Shea: When writing do you try to play to Campbell’s strengths in his art, and if so, what would you say are some of his strengths?

Keatinge: As a general rule, I prefer to specifically write with the artist in mind. Meaning, I wouldn’t write the same Glory script I do for Ross for anyone else. I think it’s a fault of the writer not to take the artist’s strengths and interests into account. We’re a team, you know? It’s important we’re both having a good time. While I had an outline before Ross came on board, I certainly adjusted it to suit his strengths and interests. As far as what his strengths are – they’re pretty numerous. I’m extremely impressed with how versatile he is an artist. I highly admire how much enthusiasm he puts into a page. His design work alone amazes me. However, I think my favorite aspect are the power he brings to the characters. Look at Glory. She looks like she could legitimately break you in half. A lot of superheroes – both male and female – look like super models. You don’t buy they could devastate a tank. He really makes you believe it with Glory.

I don’t know if this necessarily counts as a general strength, but I do love the ease there is in working with Ross. While we have very different backgrounds in comics on a professional level, we gel together very well. He’s an ideal collaborator in every way. I’m extremely thankful for when that happens and have been lucky enough to have it happen on three concurrent books between him, Andre Szymanowicz on Hell Yeah and Frank Cho on Brutal.

O’Shea: Speaking of Campbell, the opening to the Glory preview has a cinematic vibe to it, in terms of framing. Was that something you detailed in the script, or was that an angle he brought to the mix?

Keatinge: I actually try to stay away from anything ‘cinematic’ in any comics I work on. While I think a lot of the early experimentation such as in Miller’s Daredevil or later on with ‘widescreen’ comics like Ellis & Hitch’s Authority and Millar & Hitch’s Ultimates was incredible, I also believe comics have gone too far down that rabbit hole more often than not. Frank Miller himself has even said he got into comics to make them more cinematic, yet has stayed in to make them less so. I’m with the latter. I think comics are a much stronger medium than film in many ways. I think there’s also much more potential left as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge movie fan. I go to the theater pretty much at least once a week. That said, comics are way better in general.

What I am trying to do with Glory is create a huge level of scope. I really want to take a fantasy epic and filter it through superheroes. My ideal situation is to stay on this book for a very, very long time. Hopefully Ross will be there with me the whole way. The first three issue spans centuries – well over a thousand years in total. It’s a big, big book with big, big plans. I know everyone says this about everything, but it’s my hope to achieve it here. The idea with Glory is she’s a weapon so destructive people confuse her with a god. That’s quite the impression. Superman doesn’t have that. People just think he’s a dude who can fly.

O’Shea: What was the overall appeal to working on the Extreme relaunch?

Keatinge: I grew up with the Extreme books. I was only in fifth grade when Image Comics launched. Youngblood had an especially massive impact on me. Every single interview with Rob psyched me up beyond belief. Youngblood #6 remains one of my favorite single issues ever. Then when Platt came on Prophet? The best. Bloodwulf’s debut in Darker Image? Blew my mind. As I got older my tastes changed a little, but the Extreme books did as well once Alan Moore was brought into the fold. His work on Supreme and even smaller tenures on Youngblood and Glory excited me even more.

Glory 23

It used to be that Marvel and DC were the big universes people wanted to grow up to work in and while I absolutely have a huge desire to do that, I think you’re going to be seeing more and more people coming into comics who grew up with that sort of passion for the Image Comics characters. I was able to work on Savage Dragon, I would be insanely stoked to get my hands on Spawn or The Darkness someday. Working in the Extreme universe is incredibly exciting for me. There’s a couple of cameos of other Extreme characters in our first issue of Glory and when I realized these stories ‘counted’, that they weren’t fan fic or whatever, I felt like a major life goal had been fulfilled. Now I just need to get married and have kids. I’ll be set.

O’Shea: Are you getting a chance to build Glory from the ground-up, or are you going to be capitalizing on past runs of the character to some extent?

Keatinge: They’re giving us an astounding level of freedom, but I feel it’s a little ridiculous to jump on an established character or series and not acknowledge their past. Otherwise you should just be making creator-owned comics. Furthermore, I think it’s lazy and disrespectful to the fans who loved the previous comics to go in and say, “hey, all that stuff you loved? DIDN’T HAPPEN.”

My approach to continuity in general is to try it like Rashomon. How Ross and I interpret past events may be different than another creative team, but it still happened whether it’s the original Duffy/Deodato run or Moore/Peterson. So, we definitely build on the past, but with an eye toward the future. I want to create a new audience just as much as I don’t want to alienate the old audience. My first issue is written with that kind of person in mind. If you have absolutely never read Glory - or, heck, a comic book at all – in your life you should be able to fully understand everything you need to jump on board.

O’Shea: In terms of collaborating with Frank Cho, do you think you would have been more intimidated to work with him had you not become friends with him prior to contemplating collaboration?

Keatinge: Probably. Going in I just viewed it as making comics with a buddy, but every once in a while I’m reminded he’s FRANK CHO, one of the most respected and admired artists in mainstream comics. That said, I am really grateful to be collaborating with him. While he’s a fantastic artist, having him as a co-writer has been basically a crash course in writing comics. Whenever he has changes to my stuff I initially want to argue, but I’m pretty sure virtually every time I’ve thought, ‘oh, hey, never mind. You are totally right.’ I hope between this, Guns & Dinos and a few other projects he has the general comics industry respects him even more as a writer than they do for his award-winning run on Liberty Meadows. He’s the real deal when it comes to writing.

O’Shea: I love how when you discuss this project at your Tumblr site, you wrote in part ” to have a superhero book I’m writing with a massively popular artist be announced to come out on [Image's] 20th anniversary feels like the culmination of my own 20th anniversary of my first having the dream of writing comics means everything to me.” Which are you enjoying more, writing superhero comics, or getting to launch such a major project at such an auspicious time in Image’s history?

Keatinge: Writing comics at all, really. I’m always more into the craft and the work than I am the hype of it, but it’s hard to resist on the 20th anniversary. That said, again, I try to keep my eye on the prize. Gotta focus on the writing.

O’Shea: In general, what is the biggest benefit to you, as a writer, to get to explore the superhero genre?

Keatinge: You can do ANYTHING. You can make any genre work within it. You can bend or otherwise completely devastate any law of science. There are no budget limitations. Anything goes.

It’s due to this I think there’s a lot of potential in the genre. Furthermore, I think what’s traditionally discussed, promoted and marketed as superhero comics is really just one gigantic sub-genre of something much larger. A lot of people scoff at the notion that superheroes being something adults would want to read. I think they’re nuts. They’re defining a genre by their most popular works, whereas I try to think more of potential than execution. Should X-Men be for all-ages? Yeah, probably, but if Image showed me anything it’s that I can create anything under any genre the way I want to do it. They went with superheroes at first, because that was what they were passionate about. Same goes for Andre and I with Hell Yeah.

O’Shea: Will you concede that when you say lines like “Hell Yeah is the direct result of almost thirty years of comics passion put into one book.”  that you may be putting some pressure on yourself?

Keatinge: Absolutely not.

I’ve been reading comics in many different forms in many different genres my whole life. Every life experience I’ve ever had somehow informs the work I’m doing today. It’s not hype, it’s fact.

Besides, I think pressure’s a good thing. Poor work comes out when you’re comfortable. I am extremely hard on myself with everything I do. A small part of it is psychological condition. Most of it is never wanting to be boring.

O’Shea: You were first introduced to Andre Szymanowicz while working on PopGun. But when did you realize he’d be a good fit for Hell Yeah?

Keatinge: Mark Andrew Smith and I were discussing different projects we wanted to do together. I believe I suggested James Stokoe for what became Sullivan’s Sluggers. He suggested Andre Szymanowicz. So, that’s what got us talking. However, what convinced me was hanging out with him one on one at a San Diego Comic Con a couple of years ago. Like I was saying with Ross and Frank, Andre and I just completely clicked. The show ended with us at the Hyatt bar, shaking hands to make this book happen. Sometimes you just know.

O’Shea: Branding-wise, how did you arrive on the name Hell Yeah?

Keatinge: It sure helps that I say the phrase all the time. The universe of Hell Yeah has been percolating in my head for a while. One of the first thing I thought of was superheroes being treated and named more like bands than typical super-teams. The first team name I thought was ‘The All-New All-Differents’, the second was ‘Hell Yeah For Justice.’ It struck me then that the name was the perfect embodiment of the book, especially since Hell Yeah For Justice is the group the series’ main character, Ben Day, will be hanging out with. So it was more organic, less market strategy. However, I will admit it makes for a pretty rad logo.

OMAC #7

Since the March solicitations kick off the back half of the New 52′s first year, it’s probably worth noting that the whole line remains unchanged: no “midseason replacements” like Justice Society, but no cancellations either. If I hear relieved sighs from OMAC and Men of War, certainly Dan DiDio and Jim Lee have to be pleased generally that they’ve gotten this far with the 52 intact.

Well, pleased or stubborn, I suppose. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

Ahem.  Away we go…!

HISTORY LESSONS

One of my pet peeves about the New-52 is the sense that it lacks a meaningful “history.” For at least the last few decades, a reader might not have known exactly what had happened or when, but s/he could tell that these characters hadn’t just fallen off the turnip truck. I say this because the solicits for Justice League #7 and Flash #7 both allude to their books’ untold backstories. With Justice League, we’ll learn about membership turnover and other details of the five years between the League’s debut and today. (To be sure, some of that has already been alluded to in the League’s previous present-day appearances, like JL Dark #1.)

Similarly, Flash features the return of Captain Cold and probably some other members of the Rogues’ Gallery, so I presume we’ll hear about their various dealings with the Scarlet Speedster. Now, I don’t expect either of these books to make explicit references to particular Silver Age stories, because I think DC still wants to avoid alienating new readers with (what may be to them) arcane Easter eggs. Regardless, it’s comforting to know that these characters are getting at least some of their history back. (I would like to see an organizational chart explaining the jurisdictions of the main League, the JLI, and JL Dark, though….)

THIS AND THAT

Between OMAC and the Challengers of the Unknown’s Ace turning into a giant monster, I hope Dan DiDio isn’t thinking that’s his new sweet spot. (That and Jack Kirby references, of course — OMAC #7 gives us the new Evil Factory.)

It may be the longtime fan in me, but it’s hard not to think DC has some line-wide crossover planned for the New-52′s first anniversary. (The cynic in me thinks that’s why nothing has been cancelled yet.) While I’m on the fence about such a move’s artistic merits, I applaud the crossovers between I, Vampire and Justice League Dark. Given the former’s setup, it makes perfect sense that the latter would be involved. It’d also be nice to see more acknowledgment that various insidious events are threatening the larger DC universe — the vampire war, the stealthy alien invasions of Grifter and Voodoo, and the hinted connections among Frankenstein and OMAC and Superboy, Teen Titans, and Legion Lost.

I’ve liked Chip Kidd’s design work, including his showcases of Batman memorabilia, so I’m curious to see how that translates into writing Batman: Death By Design. With his clean, uncomplicated approach, Dave Taylor is a good match for this project, because he’s versatile enough to handle what I expect will be a wide range of styles. He also did one of the World’s Finest miniseries about ten years ago, and he drew a pretty good Batman in that.

COMINGS AND GOINGS

New creative teams abound: Joe Harris comes in for Gail Simone as Firestorm’s co-writer, while co-writer Ethan Van Sciver draws issue #7 in place of Yildray Cinar. Ann Nocenti and Harvey Tolibao are your new Green Arrow writer and artist.  James Bonny joins Tony Daniel as Hawkman’s co-writer. Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens write, and Jurgens pencils, Superman. After Sterling Gates’ departure, Rob Liefeld flies solo on Hawk & Dove. Paul Jenkins takes over writing Stormwatch from Paul Cornell (who then becomes free to write his own Saucer Country series, which looks quite good); Marc Bernardin takes over writing Static Shock; and Tom DeFalco is the new Legion Lost writer.

Also, Gene Ha fills in for Jim Lee on Justice League #7.  Fine by me!

MINISERIES

DC Universe Online Legends wraps up in March with issue #26, and as late as it may be for me, I am somewhat tempted to check it out. Essentially it’s an alternate take on the pre-New-52 status quo, which makes me feel oddly nostalgic. (Also concluding in March are October’s trio of 6-issue miniseries, Huntress, My Greatest Adventure, and Legion: Secret Origin.)

A couple of weeks back I wondered if there weren’t a new Night Force in the works, and what do you know? March brings another Night Force miniseries, courtesy of co-creator Marv Wolfman and appropriately-moody artist Tom Mandrake. I’m a little surprised that the solicitation just assumes everyone knows about Wolfman and the late Gene Colan’s team of supernaturally-oriented investigators.

Okay, I like THUNDER Agents pretty well, and I’m planning on getting all of the new miniseries — but why start a two-part backup story featuring one of the more obscure Agents in the next-to-last issue of what may be your final miniseries?

COLLECTIONS

The first four New-52 collections are solicited here, although they come out in May. While I know it’s not unusual to have a small gap between the last issue collected and the current issue on the stands, I like that readers who want to jump aboard with the monthly issues need only find (at most) three single issues to get caught up.

Alternatively, it’s entirely possible to see the New-52 collections as cousins to the superhero line’s original graphic novels (e.g., Luthor, Joker, and the “Earth One” books), with these first four kicking off an every-six-months schedule. If I were completely new to the superhero line, or otherwise didn’t want to commit to the weekly grind, that could be a fairly reasonable schedule.

Having “lived through” the “No Man’s Land” storyline back in 1999, I’ve not been that eager to revisit it. Therefore, the timing of these new paperback editions must be right. “NML” may even read better in big collections; because as effective as it was to watch Gotham abandoned and rebuilt in real time over the course of a calendar year, the experience surely becomes more attractive if it goes by more quickly.

I’m also glad that DC will be reprinting all of the “Knightfall/KnightQuest/KnightsEnd” saga in hefty paperback form. Like “NML” (which obviously took its format from the earlier events), these stories were serialized a week or two at a time, and played out over about eighteen months. In light of Bane’s upcoming star turn, it’s much easier to understand why DC is reprinting “Knightfall” again, but these remain some pretty entertaining comics regardless. Similarly, the “Venom” arc from Legends of the Dark Knight laid the groundwork for Batman’s eventual nemesis, but it stood on its own for at least a couple of years as well.

Although I seem to be saying this a lot more than I expected to, thanks DC for continuing the Archives line, this time with a new Green Lantern Archives volume. I was glad to get the first six, and I’ll be glad to see no. 7. Similarly, I’m glad to see the second volume of Secret Society Of Super-Villains solicited. The uneven tale of miscreants (and Captain Comet) operating on the margins of the Multiverse remains, with all its flaws, a fine example of DC’s superhero books in the 1970s. Plus, if my chronology is correct, it wraps up with the JLA arc which helped inspire Identity Crisis.

Speaking of the Multiverse, don’t get me wrong — it’s great that DC is collecting All-Star Squadron, the ‘80s series featuring Earth-Two’s Golden Agers fighting the Axis and other wartime bad guys. However, I do wish it was coming out in color, like those ‘70s Justice Society paperbacks from a few years back. Regardless, if the solicitation is accurate as to the issues collected, SPASS vol. 1 should include the five-part JLA/JSA crossover which bounces from the ‘80s to World War II to the Cuban Missile Crisis and involves three parallel Earths. Never could keep that one straight….

Finally, my stat-nerd heart is warmed by the thought of a Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude collection, and I bet yours is too.

* * *

Well, that’s what jumped out at me this month. What looks good to you?

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes

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

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

Amulet

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

Archie

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

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

Ardden

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

Ferals

Avatar

Ferals #1 – David Lapham writes werewolves.

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

Bongo

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

Boom!

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

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

Campfire

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

Cartoon Books

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

Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand

Dark Horse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DC

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

Frankenstein vs. OMAC

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

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

Drawn and Quarterly

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

Dynamite

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

First Second

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

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

The Sincerest Form of Parody

Fantagraphics

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

Hermes

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

Humanoids

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

IDW

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

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

Danger Girl: Revolver

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

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

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

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

Image

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

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

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

The Intrepids

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

Marvel

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moonstone

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

Oni

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

Wasteland

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

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

Papercutz

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

Putnam

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

Russ Cochran

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

Bettie Page in Danger

SHH

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

SLG

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

Tor

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

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

Rub the Blood

One of the more interesting projects to pop up on Kickstarter lately is Rub the Blood, “an Art Comix tabloid that explores the lasting influence (for better or worse) of the Early 90′s Collector Boom comics of Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, etc. on today’s most fringe underground cartoonists.”

Co-edited by Pat Aulisio and Ian Harker, the project fittingly draws its name from a 1990s cover gimmick and features contributions from a variety of art comix pros. In addition to Aulisio and Harker, contributors include Josh Bayer, William Cardini, Victor Cayro, PB Kain, Keenan Marshall Keller, Peter Lazarski, Benjamin Marra, Jim Rugg, Thomas Toye and Mickey Z. Rub the Blood will debut at the 2011 Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Fest.

Aulisio and Harker were kind enough to share a few thoughts and details about the project and its inspiration with me; my thanks for their time.

JK: Where did the idea originate to put this anthology together?

Ian: It’s been something we’ve kicked around in various shapes and forms for a few years now. The joke was that one day Rob Liefeld will be just as adored among the art comix crowd as Fletcher Hanks is now.

Rub the Blood

Pat: Pretty much what Ian said, although I would add we were shooting around various ideas of some sort of tribute book involving “an art comic take on _____” and the idea of doing a tribute to the original Image Seven, and each person in the anthology would take on characters from each creator. It eventually ended up being just about Rob Liefeld and Extreme Studios mainly.

JK: Your Kickstarter page describes the project as “an Art Comix tabloid that explores the lasting influence (for better or worse) of the Early 90′s Collector Boom comics.” In your opinion, what are some of the “better” and “worse” elements of this particular era of comics?

Ian: Well, the collector’s boom thing inspired a lot of young artists from my generation. I was probably 12 years old when I saw the 501 Blues commercial with Rob Liefeld. The idea that a 16-year-old kid could draw comics professionally made the whole thing seem real. It was in a way the first dose of do-it-yourself ethos I ever had. These guys were all semi-naive artists creating their own characters; before that you only had the characters that were around for decades. I felt like I could be a part of it. Looking back, though, I think the boom was a net-negative for comics. It essentially killed the newsstand pipeline that brought new readers to comics and drove away a lot of skilled cartoonists who could actually tell a clear visual story. You don’t really get to choose what comics you come up on, though; I think those comics stay with you in one shape or form for the rest of your life. The first generation of underground cartoonists came up on EC and you can always see that influence in those guys. That’s what Rub the Blood is about, letting the demons run wild.

by Thomas Toye

Pat: Well, I was still in grade school at the time, and I vividly remember the X-Men Swimsuit Special, in particular the image of Psylocke with dinosaurs in the background done by Jim Lee, and me and my friends talking about having sex with all the women from X-Men in the 90s even though we had no idea how to have sex. So I guess you can say the oversexualization is a “worse” aspect of the collectors boom, but it’s true I can say those comics helped me discover sexuality and learn about the female anatomy (albeit incorrect) at a young age.

Another thing around the collector’s boom was trading cards. I collected the shit out of Marvel’s various card series of pin-ups of your favorite heroes, and learning about their history and stats on the back. I loved those and still have them all in a box rubberbanded together by series. You would get a trading card in the first issues of X-Force by Rob Liefeld and X-Men by Jim Lee.

And Wizard Magazine came out of the collector’s boom. Now they’re just a company of shitty comic conventions and no actual magazine. That’s where the infamous “Captain America with boobs” image Rob Liefeld drew was printed.

Rob Liefeld had a clothing line of oversized T-shirts with giant images of his comic covers.

Variant covers were also crazy then, too. I remember an issue of Gen13 had 13 variant covers, and the sad thing is you know there were people out there that bought 13 copies of the same comic because they thought it would be worth a ton of money in the future.

Stuff like this happened:

That original VHS was sold for like $29.95.

Swimsuit specials, trading cards, magazines based around comics, clothing lines, special edition variant covers, VHS specials … basically none of that shit would happen nowadays, which in the end is actually probably for the worst. I would take on any of those projects (we actually did make a VHS special, too!)

JK: And for those who don’t know, what’s the significance of the title, “Rub the Blood”?

Ian: It was the tagline on the cover of Bloodstrike #1. It was a gimmick cover that featured a dried-blood effect. I remember obsessing over this when I was a kid; I never really understood the damn thing.

Pat: Ian told me about this, and when we were just deciding to try to organize this, I was shopping for comics at a thrift store and found an unopened copy of it for 25 cents. The blood effect still worked! That’s when I knew we had to do this book for sure.

JK: How did you go about recruiting the creators who are working on the anthology?

Ian: Me and Pat have a lot of like-minded attitudes about comics. Pat’s philosophy on life is “Yeah Dude.” Rub the Blood is about the spirit of sitting at your mom’s kitchen table when you are 13 and drawing anatomy that you don’t understand. Like I said, there is a DIY ethos to that, and I think there is a spiritual kinship with the attitude of art-brut comix. Brian Chippendale has said in interviews that he never intended to draw like Gary Panter, he always wanted to draw like Jim Lee (I’m paraphrasing.)

Pat: Me and Ian have worked together on a variety of different things for a while now, and to have a curated anthology we do together was just a obvious step in our comic relationship. We have the same taste, and together we know enough awesome cartoonists. We came up with a dream list of people to get involved. For the most part, everyone that’s in the book we had some sort of pre-existing relationship with before. Except for Bald Eagles, I think Ian met him once, but we were both just big fans of his work and the insanity that he isn’t published more. We contacted him and since then, he’s been one of the most entertainingly insane cartoonists to work with and talk to. Love that guy!

JK: Have you guys already seen some of the contributions? If so, what can fans expect?

Ian: A lot of gnarly drawings and comics. Big boobs, pouches, big guns, shoulder pads. They just don’t look the way you’d expect.

Pat: Your new favorite comic ever.

Pat Aulisio and Josh Bayer's Conon

JK: Besides through Kickstarter, where else can folks buy the book?

Ian: People will have to wait and see. We’re kind of just working it on the convention circuit and seeing where it goes from there. If you really want one the best thing to do is pledge for a copy on Kickstarter. This thing is intended to be a one-off weirdo artifact more than anything else.

Pat: Each contributor will get a decent amount of copies, so you’ll have a variety of different artists to buy it from either on their websites or at art shows, conventions, etc. It’s almost better without wide distribution. It’s one of those things you have to go through an effort to get. But if you want to distribute our book go ahead and contact me! We can work something out!

JK: You’ve already hit your fundraising target on Kickstarter. What do you plan to do with any extra money above and beyond it?

Ian: We could go a few ways with it, but it’s definitely all going into the book itself. That could mean more copies, more pages, better format, maybe all of the above. 50 percent of our print run is going to the contributors either way. They did an awesome job.

Pat: It’s all going into making the book BETTER.

JK: What else have you been working on lately, or have planned to release over the next few months?

Bowman

Ian: Me and Pat will be co-editing the next issue of our newspaper-comic Secret Prison for the first quarter of 2012, and I’m also working in the embryonic stages of an even more preposterous project with Box Brown for late 2012 based on the groundbreaking manga Garo.

Pat: My new three-issue comic series-turn-graphic-novel, Bowman. The first issue is out in November from Retrofit Comics. I already started inking issue #2. It’s an epic life-spanning adventure of lost astronaut David Bowman. I’m also doing a long-form, snail-mail jam comic based around Conan the Barbarian and a talking duck with a Spider-Man mask with Josh Bayer titled The Unforgiving Blade of Conon. That is coming out the same time as Rub the Blood. Me and josh are doing a signing Friday, Dec. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Jim Hanley’s Universe in Manhattan. I also got a Xeric Grant comic I’m applying for to try to get the last of that opportunity. It’s a 32-page collection of various anthology work I’ve done the last year and a half.

A little history lesson: Extreme Studios was Liefeld’s imprint in the founding of Image Comics back in 1992, and the inaugural Image/Extreme title Youngblood #1 was a bestseller for the company. Liefeld went on to expand this Image imprint quickly with titles like Bloodstrike, Brigade and Supreme . Although the titles failed to stick to a monthly schedule, the sheer amount of new ideas coming out of Liefeld’s camp led Image to turn down some of them, so Liefeld began a separate side company called Maximum Press to harbor those. After Liefeld departed Image over a dispute with his co-founders, he merged his Image line (Extreme) with his non-Image company (Maximum) in what later became a completely independent entity, Awesome Entertainment.

Extreme, Maximum, Awesome. Get it? Good.

Liefeld became an early eye for talent, pulling future Image publisher Eric Stephenson out of fandom to work with him, and also bringing in a movie screenwriter named Jeph Loeb to become publisher of Awesome. Liefeld’s company expanded quickly, not only publishing his ideas but books from Ian Churchill, Loeb and Jeff Matsuda, as well as doing licensing comics like Battlestar Galactica at a time when licensed comics were considered bad taste in the industry. One of Liefeld’s most surprising and popular choices was bringing in writer Alan Moore, who had fled Marvel and DC Comics over issues with them.

Moore’s time at Awesome Entertainment redefined the publishing line, mixing the recognizable art of Liefeld and his associates with Moore’s assured writing when the writer was bar-none the top writer in comics. Moore was given the keys to reboot the entire universe and did just that with the miniseries Judgment Day, and went on to write the line’s flagship book Youngblood as well as Supreme. Moore had a prodigious output, with a number of his scripts and story ideas remaining unpublished to this day — hence the announced Supreme book by Moore, Erik Larsen and Cory Hamscher.

In the late 90s, Awesome Entertainment folded as the collector’s boom ground to a halt and much of what was published at that time remained out of print for the past decade. The real gems that the revitalized Extreme imprint at Image could take advantage of is Alan Moore’s body of work for the publisher, as well as Liefeld’s work on Youngblood and his reinvention of Fighting American, Stephen Platt’s Prophet and Keron Grant’s Century. It’ll be interesting to see how much time Liefeld spends on moving Extreme forward with new work as well as taking advantage of the immense catalog of work by top stars.

Rub The Blood is a unique anthology put together by Secret Prison editor Ian Harker and Yeah Dude Comics‘ Pat Aulisio, pulling together some of the most esoteric of Art Comix vets as well as more well-known creators like Jim Rugg (Afrodisiac) and Benjamin Marra (Night Business). The book’s title is a not-so-subtle homage to an early 1990s cover promotion for Rob Liefeld’s Bloodstrike #1 where the blood depicted on the cover had the feel of velvet. Rub The Blood will debut at the 2011 Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Fest in early December, and will presumably be available at subsequent conventions.

I intended to post this last week as the project was soliciting donations via Kickstarter, but by the time this post came up they’d already reached their $1,000 goal — with only 16 backers. It shows that although not everyone in comics remembers this era’s artwork fondly, those that do really do. Although they’ve reached their goal, you can still donate to increase the print run and be a part of this revival. Check out the Kickstarter site to donate and see the video, which includes a 90s era WWF background music track.

Image Comics has released a digital version of the Extreme Preview book that was available at the New York Comic Con last weekend, and thanks to the embed feature offered by Graphicly, you can read it right here. It can also be downloaded via ComiXology, Graphicly, iVerse and Diamond Digital.

The preview book offers a look at Brandon Graham and Simon Roy’s Prophet, Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell’s Glory; Alan Moore, Erik Larsen and Cory Hamscher’s Supreme; Tim Seeley and Francheco Gaston’s Bloodstrike; and John McLaughlin, Jon Malin and Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood. The first comic from the revived Extreme, Prophet #21, arrives Jan. 18.

From "Prophet"

King City creator Brandon Graham updates his blog with a seven-page preview of Prophet, his collaboration with Simon Roy and Richard Ballermann — part of the resurrection of the Extreme Studios line announced Friday at New York Comic Con. Graham, who’s handling the writing for the series, describes their take on the ’90s Image property as “Fucking future space Conan ish.”

“This is the first really collaborative comic I’ve done,” he writes. “This is the first time I’ve had to work out how to collaborate and try to make it carry the weight of my solo comics. So yeah, this is the first time I’ve cared about collaborating.”

Graham also teases a two-page spread from Multiple Warheads, and shows off some gorgeous images from Orc Stain creator James Stokoe.

My first thought when learning that there was going to be a revival of Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Comics line at Image was that I was an old, old man. We’d already reached the point where something so recent was old enough to have a nostalgia hook? And then I realized that we’re more than a decade since the last revamp of Prophet and almost as long since the last attempt at a Glory series.

Nonetheless, there’s something about the idea that feels… unexpected, at least. After all, the Extreme line hasn’t really been something that I’ve seen a lot of people crying out for a revival of, or even having particularly fond memories of. For my own part, for some reason, I always end up putting it alongside Jim Lee’s whole Wildstorm universe – which has suffered various fortunes in the last twenty or so years since its creation, almost all of which were in a downward direction – but without the highpoint of the turn of the century Warren Ellis/John Cassaday/Bryan Hitch/Mark Millar/Frank Quitely era. Instead, there was Alan Moore’s Supreme and Judgment Day, and then a couple of stillborn attempts to have Moore revamp the entire universe, both of which have been quickly pushed into relative obscurity (But, somehow, Moore’s efforts feel lesser than what Ellis and Millar et al did with the Wildstorm universe; perhaps because they didn’t impact the larger superhero publishers in the same way? Perhaps because they were so retrospective that they were almost parody?). There’s something about the Extreme characters that feel very much of their time, and of that time to be the past. They don’t seem contemporary, or forward thinking, and that’s what makes their revival so fascinating.

That… how to describe it? A lack of urgency? A lack of necessity? That feeling that the Extreme characters are relics without the kind of emotional connection or cultural impact that make them permanent, solidified ideas, is what makes the revival so appealing, as well; the idea of Brandon Graham writing a science fiction series influenced by Metabarons and European SF comics is incredibly exciting, just as I can look at the Glory preview images and, divorced from any idea of what Glory is supposed to be, think “Muscular woman punching tank. That’s kind of a cool image” without having any preconceptions about what I’m seeing. It’s telling that the one title I’m most hesitant to pick up is Youngblood, the one title I’ve read the most often; I’ve read enough takes on that idea to feel jaded about it coming back (Plus, I’m still harboring a grudge over the way that Rob Liefeld took over the book from Joe Casey a few years back and instantly vanished it, whether by accident or design).

It’s weird; I wanted to be snarky and mean about the revival. “Who wants to read about the Extreme characters?” and all that. But it’s that very thing, the fact that there’s not a ready-made audience out there, that ultimately wins me over. Add to that the fact that the revivals don’t seem to be slavish attempts to ape Liefeld or Extreme in their prime, and there’s a sense that, just maybe, this revival is as much based on love of the characters and a desire to push them somewhere else, and that’s… kind of great, really. I have no idea whether the actual comics will live up to my surprise enthusiasm and interest, but if nothing else, I’ll be picking up the first issues and hoping for the best.

Youngblood

Creators | With the announcement that Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios is back in business, former Extreme Studios employee and current Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson reflects on his time with the studio. “From 1992-1998, Extreme Studios was more or less my life. Youngblood, Supreme, Brigade, Bloodstrike, Team Youngblood, New Men, Prophet, Youngblood: Strikefile, Bloodpool, Glory… We put out a lot of comics, and for the most part everyone involved was incredibly young. Rob and I were amongst the oldest at 25. So many of the artists involved in various aspects of production were just out of their teens, and that made the work as frustrating as it was fun. But looking back, the main thing I remember about that time is Rob wanted to share his success with people who loved comics and wanted to make a living in the business as much as he had.” [It Sparkles!]

Webcomics | A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, who began serializing the comic online in 2009, notes “my bottom line is up significantly, and my online audience is ten times higher than when I started the five day a week online serialization of A Distant Soil 2.5 years ago.” She also shares advice she received when she started the endeavor that hasn’t worked for her. [A Distant Soil]

Tom Morello

Creators | Orchid writer and musician Tom Morello shares his thoughts on his new book, politics and social issues in comics, and the story in Action Comics #900 that featured Superman renouncing his citizenship, among other topics. [Vulture]

Creators | Speaking of politics in comics, Marzena Sowa talks to Hero Complex about her upcoming Vertigo graphic novel Marzi: “When I started to write Marzi, the first stories concerned my daily life in Poland: I wrote about my family, my neighbors. Then, progressively, political questions started to appear and I realized that the politics had so much space in my childhood life I hadn’t even imagined. Marzi is getting bigger, and her curiosity and will to understand the world is getting bigger too. She feels concerned by the world and she tries to understand it — understand why it doesn’t work correctly. At a certain point she starts to speak, she is not only a mute witness of what is happening in her country. She starts also to claim her own freedom; but for instance she is maybe too small to be heard by her parents, but she won’t give it up.” [Hero Complex]

Creators | The New York Times profiles the husband-and-wife cartooning duo Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. [The New York Times]

Creators | Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau discuss their work on Dynamite’s Bionic Man comic book. [TFAW]

Creators | Mark Waid talks about his work on Marvel’s recent revival of the CrossGen title Ruse. [Mulholland Books]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes talks about re-release of “The Death Ray” and his “drift toward more sympathetic figures” in his work: “I decided at a certain point that one of my goals is to find a way to connect with the characters no matter how awful they may seem or how hard they are to be around, to try to look at their humanity and find a way to love them by the end.” [Montreal Gazette]

Creators | Jonathan Liu catches up with Anya’s Ghost creator Vera Brosgol after sitting on a panel with her at Portland, Oregon’s Wordstock. [Wired]

Creators | Underground comics legend Robert Crumb shares his other “passion” — early 20th-century popular music. [BlogCritics]

Creators | Robin Furth discusses adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the comics medium, collaborating with Peter David, and Stephen King’s thoughts and involvement. [Biff Bam Pop! - part 1, part 2]

Comics | Saladin Ahmed looks at four of comics legend Jack Kirby’s “most ethnically adventurous creations” — The Thing, the Howling Commandos, Black Panther and The Black Racer. [tor.com]

Black Hood

Comics | The Beast Must Die at the Mindless Ones blog looks back at Mark Wheatley and Rick Burchett’s covers for Black Hood, from DC’s early 1990s !mpact line [Mindless Ones]

Commentary | Robot 6′s own Sean T. Collins reviews Brian Ralph’s Daybreak. [The Comics Journal]

Fandom | Looking for a Halloween costume? Found Item Clothing details 34 pop culture costumes you can make on your own, including Wonder Woman and Charlie Brown. [Found Item Clothing]

Robots | The Calgary Sun spotlights Phil Allen, who created a giant robot he hopes to sell to help pay for his wife’s liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis. “Science fiction has been talking about robots for 70 years and now I know why there aren’t any … It’s a huge undertaking when you decide to build one.” [Calgary Sun]

Hawk and Dove #1

“Yep, sometimes it gets personal. Case in point–the new Hawk and Dove launched a month back and to put it bluntly, it was the single worst reviewed comic book of my career. Think about that for a minute. The blogosphere came out with knives sharpened, grilling me on a spicket. This is one short month after The Infinite, a book I produce with Robert Kirkman had debuted to the best reviews of my career. What happened?? Well, I read a few of the reviews, the really hateful one’s and they were full of personal attacks and insults. Many, if not all, believed that Hawk and Dove was the first work I had done in over a decade and asked how I could still possibly be employed after all these years? I was drawing the third issue of a sold out comic book featuring characters that had not carried their own title in 20 years, do I let these attacks get to me? Sorry, I have no time and I have deadlines to meet, and arguing with any of these bloggers would accomplish nothing. DO NOT EVER send a negative comment or engage a negative review, its pointless and takes up valuable time. I advocate moving forward and servicing your fan base. Hawk and Dove has sold 50,000 copies to date, twice as much as my last Deadpool assignment. I should focus on the fans that enjoyed the work, not the dissenters who want to distract from it.”

–The oft-maligned artist Rob Liefeld, from a post on his blog titled “How To Beat The Haters.” The thorough post covers his thoughts on his early career, the birth of Image, Heroes Reborn, his three-year “retirement” from comics, reacting to message boards and much more.

Janelle Asselin

Publishing | DC Comics associate editor Janelle Asselin has left the company, reportedly for a job with Disney. She clarifies on Twitter that, contrary to a report, she wasn’t escorted from the building on Tuesday but, rather, left “at my leisure.” Asselin had been with DC since 2008, working primarily on Batman books like Batman and Robin, Batman: Streets of Gotham, Red Robin, Birds of Prey and the relaunched Batman, Batwoman, Detective Comics and Savage Hawkman. [Bleeding Cool]

Publishing | Longtime editor Betsy Mitchell is taking early retirement from her post as editor-in-chief of Del Rey, where she helped create Del Rey Manga. Tricia Pasternak, a former Del Rey Manga editor herself, has been promoted to editorial director. Del Rey was established as a science fiction prose imprint; the manga line was created in 2004 and was mostly shut down in 2010, when Kodansha began publishing its manga directly in the U.S. However, Del Rey still publishes a handful of manga and graphic novels, including xxxHolic, King of RPGs, and Deltora Quest. [Publishers Weekly]

Legal | In a twist that sounds like something out of a comic (or even an ad from an old comic), a witness in the Michael George trial testified he saw someone wearing an obviously fake beard outside George’s Clinton Township, Michigan, comics shop a few minutes before George’s first wife Barbara was murdered inside the store in 1990. [The Tribune Democrat]

Starfire

Comics | The latest critique of Starfire comes from Michelle Lee’s 7-year-old daughter, who was a big fan of the incarnations of the character in the Teen Titans comic and animated cartoon. She summarizes the whole problem with childlike simplicity: “Well, she’s not fighting anyone. And not talking to anyone really. She’s just almost naked and posing.” [io9.com]

Comics | Former superhero reader and current manga blogger Deb Aoki describes the Starfire/Catwoman controversy for her manga fanbase and discusses how shonen manga manage to provide good, even fanservice-laden, stories for men without alienating their female readers: “The fascinating and diverse female casts of Bleach and Naruto are a big part of these series’ appeal to both male and female readers. Yes, there are some busty babes in both series — but Soul Reaper Rangiku Matsumoto is a commanding officer in the Soul Society in Bleach, and Tsunade is a strong and dynamic Hokage (leader) of Naruto’s ninja village to name just a few.” [About.com]

Comics | Brian Truitt spotlights Marvel’s ABC television tie-in Castle: Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm, the just-released graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Lan Medina. [USA Today]

Wolverine and the X-Men #1

Comics | Writer Jason Aaron and editor Nick Lowe discuss the upcoming debut of Wolverine and the X-Men, which establishes Logan as headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. [The Associated Press]

Creators | Jonathan Callan has started a Facebook campaign to persuade the Animation Writers Caucus to give a Lifetime Achievement Award to the late Dwayne McDuffie. McDuffie’s wife Charlotte has posted there, asking that members of the Caucus nominate McDuffie via write-ins, as his name is not on the eligible list. [Facebook, via Blog@Newsarama]

Creators | Kate Beaton gives a pair of interviews about her popular webcomic Hark! A Vagrant!, which has received a printed collection from Drawn and Quarterly. [The L Magazine, io9.com]

Creators | Geoff Johns discusses DC’s relaunched Aquaman, which debuts today: “Everybody around has at least heard of Aquaman, and they’ve probably heard all the jokes — the same jokes Aquaman’s heard — and they have their opinion on Aquaman. Whether it’s good or bad, that’s what the book’s all about.” [USA Today]

Creators | For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, writer Jim Ottaviani was interviewed about his new graphic novel Feynman while riding on a teeter-totter with the interviewer. [HD Teeter Talk]

Comics | Caroline Small, the treasurer for Small Press Expo, meditates on the difficulty of bringing art-comics to a wider audience. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Americus

Censorship | The Good Comics for Kids bloggers, many of whom are librarians, discuss MK Reed and Jonathan Hill’s Americus, a graphic novel about religious fundamentalists challenging a YA fantasy novel in a small-town library. The discussion touches on the issues the book raises and the way those issues are portrayed in the graphic novel. [Good Comics for Kids]

Comics | Kristy Valenti takes a look at Rob Liefeld’s fashion sense: “From a fashion (and commercial) perspective, ideally, a superhero artist should create an iconic costume (for example, Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man kit, Gil Kane’s Green Lantern look, or even Power Girl’s indefatigable “boob window”); Liefeld’s costuming is more like a collection, with certain motifs he returns to.” Such as high-waisted pants, shoulder pads and French-cut bikinis. Call in the fashion police! [comiXology]

Comics | Daniel BT suspects that life is imitating art as DC’s latest effort matches all too closely a Cracked parody of superhero comics art from the 1970s. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Manga | Translator Tomo Kimura lists the top ten manga creators in Japan and the number of books they have sold, from a list compiled by Nikkei Entertainment magazine. All ten are published in the U.S. as well as Japan, and One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda tops the list with almost 55 million sold. [Tomo Kimura's Translation Notes]

Batman by Greg Capullo

The artists behind this September’s “New 52″ have taken to Twitter, thanks once again to David Macho, revealing a whole lot of art from the new books that are due next month. There are a couple of hash tags to follow over on Twitter … #52splash will show you pages of new stuff from Greg Capullo (above), Scott McDaniel and many others. And as Kiel noted last week, #thenewvillains hash tag that kicked off last week slowed down after last week’s push, but a few new posts have popped up today.

And speaking of villains, I don’t think anyone has shared artwork yet for the villain of the new Justice League title — who it turns out is one of DC’s biggest and baddest, Darkseid.

Check out more artwork after the jump, and watch the hash tags for more!

(Note: I’ll update as I can with additional art).

Animal Man by Travel Foreman

Kid Flash by Andrew Dalhouse

Firestorm by Yildiray Cinar

I, Vampire by Andrea Sorrentino

????? by Rob Liefeld

(Updated per Sterling Gates’ comment below)

Swan by Rob Liefeld

Static by Scott McDaniel and Jonathan Glapion

Birds of Prey by Jesus Saiz

Deathstroke by Joe Bennett, Art Thibert and Jason Wright

Nightwing by Eddy Barrows, JP Mayer and Rod Reis

Atomic Comics' Chandler, Arizona, location

Atomic Comics, the nationally known Arizona retail chain, abruptly closed all four locations on Sunday, shocking staff, customers and industry figures alike. Although the closing of the stores in Mesa, Phoenix, Chandler and Paradise Valley was initially announced last night by multiple employees and creators, owner Michael Malve confirmed the news this morning in an installment of his weekly newsletter titled “My Final Report.”

“As some of you may have already heard, after 25 years of running a successful business, sadly and much to my dismay, I have shut the doors of Atomic Comics,” Malve wrote. “The villain in this tragedy is the economy. I had hoped to be the superhero and triumph over the recession, but sadly the economic downturn of the past 5 years has proven to be unsustainable.”

In the newsletter, which can be read below, Malve revealed he’s filed for bankruptcy, and that he and his family are losing their home, ” as we had secured it against our leases which we obviously have to break.”

“I know there are many people out there facing very similar situations in these difficult times and now I can definitely empathize with them,” he continued. “I have always been and will forever be an extremely optimistic person and will look at this situation as an adventure. I have very high hopes for the next chapter of my life.”

Well regarded nationally for its in-store signings, innovative marketing and sheer size — it was believed to be among Diamond Comic Distributors’ largest accounts — Atomic gained international exposure last year when its name and logo were featured prominently in Kick-Ass, the film adaptation of the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. The chain began in 1988, when Malve opened Bubba’s Comic Store in Phoenix. A year later he moved to Mesa, renaming the business Atomic Comics.

Malve, a major supporter of The Hero Initiative, sent a weekly newsletter to colleagues, creators and publishers, breaking down sales at his four stores. Although Malve was forthright in the emails, grumbling about the state of the market, there apparently were few indications that he was on the brink of closing until he commented in his Aug. 17 report that, “I don’t know how I am going to afford September at this point.”

The news triggered immediate reactions from the likes of Jim Lee, Joe Quesada — “The best retailer I’ve ever met closed his doors” — Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Kevin Smith and Dan Slott.

However, it also led some to try to pinpoint a cause, and to sound the alarm. Controversial retailer Larry Doherty chimed in, “If Mike Malve has fallen we could ALL be doomed. His genius in retail is the high water mark,” later adding, “Print runs are REALLY low. Publishers that market digital to the SAME customer base just put Atomic Comics out of business.” Retailer and promoter Jimmy Jay replied, “if Atomic has fallen, it didn’t happen overnight. [...] Digital didn’t kill Atomic, that is simplification.”

But then Rob Liefeld weighed in, writing, “Atomic Comics is a cautionary tale of hype over commerce. [...] Hate that this will turn into a blight on the comics industry when it is isolated to a specific chain, not all encompassing. [...] Once again, terrible news about Atomic Comics. Confident the AZ. Comic scene will recover and Malve will rise again.”

Note: The article has been edited to reflect the content of Malve’s newsletter.

Read the full text of Malve’s “Final Report” below:

My Final Report

As some of you may have already heard, after 25 years of running a successful business, sadly and much to my dismay, I have shut the doors of Atomic Comics. The villain in this tragedy is the economy. I had hoped to be the superhero and triumph over the recession, but sadly the economic downturn of the past 5 years has proven to be unsustainable.

For over 20 years I ran a successful and debt free business, provided jobs for up to 60 employees at a time, with some working for me for 16 plus years!  I saw profits of up to 5 million during our best years. My wife recently bought me a copy of the book, “ONWARD” by Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. I could really identify with some of the problems Starbucks had faced. Some similarities were that during the best of times, Atomic Comics, like Starbucks, expanded into high profile locations, but when the economy went sour, low sales could not support the higher rent at these high visibility locations. The leases at these particular stores which had originally provided the consumers with greater visibility and more foot traffic to our wonderful world of comic books, the higher overhead proved to be too much for Atomic as we faced declining sales.

As Atomic was seeing such success, we opened our headquarters which housed our shipping and receiving department, home base for our web store and worldwide mail order operation. We closed the headquarters down in May of 2010. I think the catalyst for Atomics’ downfall, as some of you may remember, occurred in October of 2006, just as the recession was beginning,  when a 16 year old uninsured driver, drover her car through the window of our Mesa Superstore, our largest and greatest revenue producer. This in turn caused a flood as the water main had been hit. This caused such severe damage and loss that we had to shut down for over 5 months. The damages were so severe we lost close to a million dollars in product. The loss of revenue due to being closed all those months as we headed into retail’s busiest season was astronomical. What really stood out to me was how many of Atomics’ customers were lost as we rebuilt the store. It seemed as if half our customers never returned. The great mystery to me is what exactly happened to all those missing customers. I can only speculate that once you take away the habit of weekly buying-it is hard to jump back into it. Since there was not another comic shop in the immediate area, I can only assume customers found other means to obtain their comics, maybe they started driving great distances to hit up other stores, some possibly went the way of the internet and are now ordering their books online or perhaps even downloading their books illegally, or maybe even some stopped collecting comics altogether.

I have some great memories of my regular customers, seeing these people week in and week out. Some for as many as 25 years of not missing a beat as they picked up their books. Bringing the new readers into comics by doing various promotions and events was something I enjoyed a great deal and will truly miss. Hopefully the customers and fans I cultivated will find new a new place to call home and get their geek on. To all my fellow comic book retailers out there, I truly hope you do not succumb to the same fate, can see this recession thru, and continue to be successful and flourish. I will be here rooting for you!  With DC’s September release of the #1’s, Marvel’s makeover of key books and continual growth, and other publishers working hard with some amazing new and exciting content, there is hope on the horizon for the direct market! I have enjoyed sharing thoughts and ideas with all these other retailers. Much love and appreciation to you all.

I have been blessed since day one to be surrounded by so many incredible people. There is no way that Atomic would have lasted all these years without everyone’s effort and support. To all of my employees past and present, friends in the industry, and business contacts I have made over the years, I plan on staying in touch. If I made a list of all the many people who have helped and supported me over the years the list would be lengthy beyond belief! So I’ll keep it short. At Atomic I would like to thank Bill Mitchell, Dale Worthington, Julian Moraga, and Mike Ueber. I have had hundreds of great employees over the years that went above and beyond as they dedicated themselves to making Atomic Comics a very special place. Someone who has given me an incredible amount of support is Ryan Liebowitz from Golden Apple Comics. He and his family have bent over backwards providing me with ideas and words of encouragement to keep me going. Ironically, Ryan’s father, Bill Liebowitz was my good friend and mentor when I opened my first store 25 years ago. I would like to thank and give credit to Joe Quesada, Mark Waid, and Jim McLaughlin for inspiring me to write this weekly report over a decade ago. It was conceived at Megacon as we hung out talking about the industry. I had already been writing a very informal monthly report just checking in on sales with the guys at Wizard magazine, but I don’t believe anyone was receiving true and accurate sales numbers until this weekly report began. I had wanted to portray a candid-no holds barred account of what was and what wasn’t selling. Lastly, I want to give a shout out and thank everyone in the comic and entertainment industry for their continued support over the years.

Making the decision to file bankruptcy was very difficult and painful. I have had a very wide range of emotions.  My family and I are headed into uncharted waters which is very scary for my wife and I as well as our children. We are losing our home as we had secured it against our leases which we obviously have to break. I know there are many people out there facing very similar situations in these difficult times and now I can definitely empathize with them. I have always been and will forever be an extremely optimistic person and will look at this situation as an adventure. I have very high hopes for the next chapter of my life. I have the support of my wonderful wife, Andrea, my kids, Alexandra & Jack, many loving family members, and lots of great friends. My passion in life, second of course to my family, is the comic book industry, of which I hope to remain a part of in the years to come. I don’t plan on giving any public interviews and would like mine and my family’s privacy respected so we can work on rebuilding our lives.

Sincerely

Mike Malve

Atomic Comics name and logo in "Kick-Ass"

Atomic Comics name and logo in "Kick-Ass"

Update: Jhonen Vasquez shares his thoughts in our comments section: “Atomic was the first big signing I ever did, and the first I had done outside of California when I was first starting out. From the very moment I met the guy, Mike treated me not like the malformed horror most people see me as, but like a friend and a huge supporter of my work. Loved signing at Atomic then and for years on and I wish Mike and everyone from Atomic well.”

The Infinite

To help Beach Ball Comics celebrate their 25th anniversary, the shop will host The Infinite creators Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld on Wednesday. The duo will sign copies of the first issue with an exclusive cover created specifically for the Anaheim, Calif. retailer.

This is one of five covers that together form the image up top; Beach Ball’s special cover features the character in the middle, Bowen. Three additional retailers will each have one of the other covers, while the last one will be available on the Skybound website.

You can find more details on the event and the covers in the press release after the jump.

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IMAGE LEGENDS ROB LIEFELD AND ROBERT KIRKMAN SIGNING AN EXCLUSIVE COVER AT AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT EXCLUSIVELY

Anaheim, CA: Two comic book legends are teaming up for the first time in this summer’s The Infinite published by Kirkman’s new Image Comics imprint Skybound, and Anaheim, California legend Beach Ball Comics has brought them together to celebrate! Kicking off their 25th Anniversary festivities, Beach Ball has a very special exclusive cover making its debut at this event on Wednesday August 3rd.

“We’re always looking for ways to bring the excitement of comics to our fans. So, when this historic creator coupling was announced, we knew we had to do something to have them both at Beach Ball,” says Beach Ball Comics and CornerStoreComics proprietor Thomas Gaul. “We can’t wait to take our exclusive cover out of the box on Wednesday and see the fan reaction, to both the book and the legendary creators behind it.”

Among the covers released to comics shops on Wednesday, the Beach Ball Comics Variant stands out from the crowd. It features main character Bowen, and serves as the centerpiece of a five-cover spread by series artist Liefeld. The remaining four covers will be available from three of the top comics sellers in the country, with the final piece available from the Skybound website.

Beach Ball Comics can be found at 3024 West Ball Road (at the corner of Beach Blvd) in Anaheim, California. The line for this exclusive signing begins when the store opens at 11am. Rob and Robert are scheduled to begin signing sharply at 4pm. Supplies of this cover are limited, so fans are encouraged to get there early.

Beach Ball Comics was founded in the summer of 1986, making it the oldest surviving comic shop in Orange County. The current owners took over in late 2008 and set about reinvigorating both the shop and the comics business in Anaheim, garnering “Best of” awards from the OC Weekly and MyFoxLA within the first two years, as well as an Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award nomination.

Avengelyne

Rob Liefeld announced on his blog today that Avengelyne, a character published by his Maximum Press company back in the mid-1990s, will return in a monthly series later this summer from Image Comics.

The new series will be written by Liefeld and Mark Poulton (Koni Waves) and illustrated by Owen Gieni. Poulton previously wrote the character in an Avengelyne vs Koni Waves one-shot that Arcana published last year. Gieni has worked on several webcomics, including Sore Thumbs and Wicked Powered.

Avengelyne, an angel cast from Heaven who fought demons on Earth, appeared in several miniseries, one-shots, crossovers (including one with Glory, another Liefeld creation) and her own series from Maximum Press, and was later published by Avatar.

The Infinite

Robert Kirkman is re-teaming with Rob Liefeld, the artist he once described as “the modern-day equivalent of Jack Kirby,” for a science fiction adventure called The Infinite.

USA Today reports the series, which debuts in August from Kirkman’s Image imprint Skybound, centers on a soldier who travels back in time to recruit his 19-year-old self, and others, to help defeat a future world-conquering villain called The Infinite. “It’s a buddy movie with yourself,” Liefeld says.

The two previously worked together on Image United, and had planned to collaborate on a Killraven miniseries for Marvel (however, that project never materialized).

“We both like tech gear, James Cameron, Star Trek and Star Wars,” Liefeld tells the newspaper, “so it’s a big sci-fi fantasy epic, but it’s got a lot of heart.”