robot 6
Guest blogger this week: Chris Arrant
I’m going to be out of town for most of this coming week, so comics journalist Chris Arrant has agreed to lend a hand here at Robot 6 while I’m out.
You probably know Chris from his comic book journalism work for Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and various print magazines for Marvel, or from his comic book writing, which includes Female Force: Princess Diana, Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo and 24Seven, Vol. 2. He also used to blog with us a few years back, when we were still The Great Curve. So welcome back, Chris!
Thanks to Chris in advance for helping us out; I look forward to reading his contributions all week!
- August 30, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Small Press Expo announces 2010 programming
The Small Press Expo, or SPX, has announced programming for their show on Saturday, Sept. 11-12 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, Md.
You can find the complete schedule after the jump, but I wanted to point out two panels that feature our own Chris Mautner:
Spotlight: James Sturm
1:30 | White Flint Amphitheater
James Sturm is the author of several comics and graphic novels including The Golem’s Mighty Swing, Unstable Molecules, James Sturm’s America, and Market Day. He is also the founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies, a unique two-year degree granting institution dedicated to cartooning. In this spotlight presentation, Sturm will discuss his work and answer questions from moderator Chris Mautner.Critics’ Panel: How We Judge
3:00 | Brookside Conference Room
The accessibility of online publishing alongside traditional media has enabled a diversity of critical voices who are addressing the broad spectrum of comics being published today. A diverse group of critics will discuss the disparate bases for their own critical opinions, and the extent to which they regard different kinds of work in different ways. Join moderator Bill Kartalopoulos for a discussion with Johanna Draper Carlson (Comics Worth Reading), Gary Groth (The Comics Journal), Tim Hodler (Comics Comics), Chris Mautner (Robot 6), Joe McCulloch (Jog the Blog/Comics Comics), Ken Parille (Blog Flume), and Caroline Small (The Hooded Utilitarian).
- August 27, 2010 @ 01:41 PM by JK Parkin
Hey, look who is on Facebook
Friend up the Robot
The good folks over at CBR proper, who set up their own Facebook page not too long ago, have set one up for us as well. If you’re on Facebook, head over there and click on the “Like” link to befriend the robot and follow our feed. And don’t forget you can follow us on Twitter, if you prefer … we’re easy.
- June 16, 2010 @ 05:10 PM by JK Parkin
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
This week Shelf Porn and our ongoing “Robot Sixth Gun” features collide, as The Sixth Gun writer Cullen Bunn shares his inner sanctum with us. If you’d like to show off your shelves here, drop me an email and we’ll make it happen.
Now let’s hear from Cullen …
- June 2, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by JK Parkin
Robot Sixth Gun | Read the first issue of Oni’s The Sixth Gun right here
The Sixth Gun
Last weekend Oni Press released the first issue of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s new ongoing series The Sixth Gun as one of their Free Comic Book Day offerings. If you missed it last Saturday, never fear — you’ll have the opportunity to buy it (with a new cover) on the same day that issue #2 is due in stores in July. And even better, courtesy of our friends at Oni, you can also read it right here on Robot 6 for free!
Here’s a description of the book: “During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. The Sixth Gun – the most dangerous of the weapons – has vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Villains thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing anyone in their path. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunslinger with a shadowy past, stands in their way.”
But wait, he said, there’s more! As we’ve been anticipating The Sixth Gun for awhile now, we’ve invited the creators to guest blog with us here at “Robot Sixth Gun” over the next few weeks as we get closer to the release of the second issue. We’ve got a lot of cool stuff lined up, from Cullen and Brian helping us out with stuff like Shelf Porn and What are you reading?, to interviews and some secret surprise Sixth Gun stuff.
Check out the full issue after the jump, where you’ll also find a press release about the reissue and an order form you can take to your retailer to reserve the reissue and the second issue. Or you can download it as a PDF.
- May 7, 2010 @ 04:45 PM by JK Parkin
I’d totally buy a Kate McMillan & The Super Apes spinoff series
CBR posted a preview of one of Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offerings earlier this week, which features a tale by Paul Tobin and Craig Rousseau starring Iron Man, Nova and a brand-new Marvel U. character named … Kate McMillan:
Iron Man, Kate and Nova
As it turns out, “Kate McMillan” is also the name of our own Graeme McMillan’s wife. Coincidence? It turns out no, it isn’t. “Kate McMillan is a supporting character-cum-heroine in Paul Tobin’s FCBD book from Marvel,” Graeme said. “I saw the script way back when, Douglas Wolk showed me the finished comic on Saturday. It’s hilarious, if only because it really kind of looks like her. I have to ask Paul if he sent the artist reference.”
I knew she was a great web designer, but I had no idea Kate was the keeper of the Super Apes when they weren’t out causing trouble. The things you learn in comics …
- April 30, 2010 @ 11:15 AM by JK Parkin
A few quick notes about the site
I wanted to share a few quick notes about Robot 6, some of which are kinda overdue …
- First up, a HUGE welcome back to Graeme McMillan, who rejoined our merry band last week with the debut of his new column, The Middle Ground. Graeme used to blog with us when we were at Newsarama, and we’re excited to have him back.
- I should also mention that both Graeme and Kevin Melrose are also blogging regularly at our new sister blog, Spinoff Online. The two of them, along with regular CBR contributors Josh Wigler and Jeffrey Renaud, are posting over there about movies, Dr. Who, Lost and other stuff along those lines. So go check it out.
- And congrats to Matt Maxwell, who wrapped up the online serialization of Strangeways: The Thirsty earlier this month. Although the regular comic has ended, you’ll still see Matt pop up every once in awhile with news about the print release and in our weekly What are you reading? feature.
- And finally, we recently took a look at our comments guidelines and made some updates based on some recent issues that have popped up. Take a look at them if you have any questions about why a comment was deleted.
- April 27, 2010 @ 11:59 AM by JK Parkin
Send us your MoCCA plans!
MoCCA Art Festival 2010
The ninth annual MoCCA Art Festival will take place this weekend at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan, featuring special guests Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, Paul Pope, Dash Shaw, Jaime Hernandez, Gabrielle Bell, Hope Larson, Alex Robinson, Gahan Wilson and more … and the “and more” is where you come in.
Are you a creator, publisher, or area retailer with big MoCCA plans? Are there book debuts, signings, panels, special guests, parties, tie-in events you want the readers of Robot 6 to hear about? If so, let us know! Just email brigid@mangablog.net and we’ll take care of the rest.
See you at the show!
- April 6, 2010 @ 07:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
A couple of quick notes …
- First off, a bit of sad news for us here at Robot 6 … Melissa Krause, who does her Your Mileage May Vary column on Saturdays, is leaving us. Melissa is currently in her last semester at law school, where things are getting hectic, and something had to give. We wish her the best as she wraps up that chapter in her life and hope that once she’s done she’ll be able to return.
- Second, you may have noticed there were no Unbound or Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs columns this week. Or, at least, so far this week … both Brigid Alverson and Michael May’s columns are moving to the weekends. Look for Brigid’s today and Michael’s tomorrow morning.
- And last, we want to send our best wishes to Tom Bondurant and his family this week, who left town unexpectedly earlier this week due to a family illness. Tom and Grumpy Old Fan will no doubt be back next week.
- February 27, 2010 @ 07:50 AM by JK Parkin
The Fantasy Lantern Draft begins!
Blackest Breakfast by Jeremy Wojchihosky
One of my pet theories about superhero comics is that the best of them don’t hesitate to tap into what I call “inner-eight-year-old gold” — those simple, magical ideas that made playing with your Secret Wars or Super Friends action figures so much fun. (I, for one, made Iron Man and Magneto arch-enemies. I mean, c’mon, it’s right there!)
One of my favorite such goldmines is the opposite-number villain, those baddies who share a hero’s basic look and power set but change the color scheme and otherwise stand as a mean-spirited mirror image. That’s why I’ve loved Geoff Johns’s Green Lantern run ever since he introduced the Sinestro Corps, and why that love has only gotten stronger as a whole rainbow of Lanterns has been introduced for Blackest Night and beyond. And like a kid playing with his toys, I can’t help but daydream about which other characters it’d be cool to draft into the War of Light.
Looks like I’m not the only one. Over at his blog The Cool Kids Table, Ben Morse has selected a rainbow of Marvel characters he thinks are fit to wield the various multi-hued Power Rings floating around the DCU right now. If he had his way, you’d have a very different Red Hulk on your hands from the one Jeph Loeb concocted, while Clint Barton would look more like Green Arrow than ever and Storm would be making Love rain o’er everyone. This isn’t the first time he’s done a Lantern Draft, either: Like any DC fan worth his salt, he came up with his own personal picks for the roles currently filled in Blackest Night by Mera, Lex Luthor, Scarecrow, Ganthet, the Flash, the Atom, and Wonder Woman. Click the links to see his full rosters.
- January 28, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
The Robot 6 First Anniversary Spectacular! A Round-Up
Robot 6 and Friends by Guy Davis and Dave Stewart
How did you spend your New Year’s holiday weekend? Gorging on football? Partying with family and friends? Sleeping off a wicked hangover? We here at Robot 6 celebrated in our own special way. You see, while January 1st marked the start of a new year and a new decade, January 2nd was our first anniversary. And thanks to all our friends in the comics industry — not to mention Comic Book Resources head honcho Jonah Weiland, who handed us the reins to the CBR homepage on Saturday — we rang it in in style.
Just in case you were out gallivanting for the last few days, here’s a round-up of all the fresh content we posted during the long holiday weekend. Consider it our way of saying thank you to you, the Robot 6 readers, without whom none of this would be possible!
* In a two-part series, we crowned The 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade. Here’s part one; here’s part two. The list includes superheroes, manga, webcomics, classics, alternative comics, Eurocomics, autobio, political cartoons — the whole gamut of our art form in this momentous decade. And judging from our Robot-to-Robot transmissions, these are the R6 crew’s favorite posts in a long long time. Click to see what made the cut and why.
- January 4, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 6 anniversary card #2: Robot 6 by Guy Davis and Dave Stewart
Robot 6 and Friends by Guy Davis and Dave Stewart
Earlier I shared some anniversary greetings from AppleGeek artist Hawk and Dark Horse, and now here’s a second piece of artwork that Dark Horse sent over. This one has left several Robot 6 posters drooling. It’s by Guy Davis (The Marquis, B.P.R.D., Sandman Mystery Theatre, Baker Street) and Dave Stewart (Hellboy, Umbrella Academy, B.P.R.D., Conan, DC: The New Frontier) and it looks absolutely fantastic.
Does this mean we’re part of the Hellboy universe now? Because that would be pretty cool. Special thanks to Guy, Dave and Dark Horse’s Jim Gibbons for making our first anniversary just a little more special.
BONUS: Check out Guy’s preliminary pencils and inks of the piece after the jump …
- January 2, 2010 @ 02:52 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways teaser: “Red Hands”
Strangeways
Matt Maxwell, writer of the comic Strangeways that we’ve been serializing here all year, provides a bit of glimpse into the past and future of the series with this teaser image from a story called “Red Hands.”
Matt explains the image:
From the final chapter of The Thirsty, which tells the tale of Raphael Guzman de Medina,also known as the terror of Drytown and Cedar Creek. “Red Hands” tells the story of how he went from being a simple merchant’s son to a monster, driven by his own thirsts and his inability to keep them in check.
Oh, and in Strangeways, vampires don’t run from the church. Instead, they burn churches down.
Look for “Red Hands” to begin after the fifth chapter of “The Thirsty” wraps up this spring.
The art is by Luis Guragna, better known as the main artist from Strangeways: Murder Moon, from Matt Maxwell’s script. Get caught up on Strangeways right here.
- January 2, 2010 @ 01:56 PM by JK Parkin
Robot 6 anniversary card #1: AppleGeeks artist Mohammad F. Haque
Robot 6 by Mohammad F. Haque
AppleGeeks artist Mohammad F. Haque (a.k.a. “Hawk”) and Dark Horse Comics sent us over this anniversary greeting. Hawk created this really awesome piece featuring the robot in our logo. Hey, he has a body now! We really can take over the world … and if he’s built with Mac parts, we shouldn’t have to worry about him crashing all the time.
If you haven’t checked out AppleGeeks, which is about a bunch of folks that are pretty wild about their Macs, you can read it for free on the web or check out the two collected editions that Dark Horse has released. It isn’t just computer humor … there are robots, robot dinosaurs and five-year-old girls who want to take over the world!
(Much gratitude: Jim Gibbons and Hawk!)
- January 2, 2010 @ 09:04 AM by JK Parkin
Robot 6: The year of living dangerously
A few weeks ago Jonah Weiland, the owner/proprietor/executive producer/big kahuna of Comic Book Resources, sent me an email asking what I thought we should do for Robot 6′s first anniversary.
First anniversary? I thought. And no, I didn’t mean that in a “Wow, it’s already been a year?” kind of way. I mean that in a “Wow, it’s only been a year?”
The sheer amount of news, announcements and change that’s been rolling out over the past 365 days has been exciting and sometimes even a bit overwhelming. Companies were bought, people stepped down, legends died, titles were canceled, projects were announced, cons went to war, comics exploded onto electronic devices, new sites were launched … I mean, damn. I took a week off at the end of summer and came back to find out Marvel had been bought by Disney. I went back to Texas a few weeks ago to visit family and came back to find that DC had announced about 10,000 new projects (OK, I may be exaggerating there). I’m afraid to go anywhere now because I might miss what happens next.
It’s been a pretty good year to be a blogger. There’s been plenty to talk about.
So yeah, it was only a year ago today that we officially kicked off the new blog here at CBR. And it feels like we’ve been running at full speed ever since. If you think we’re slowing down today, well … think again. Y’see, Jonah and I did come to an agreement on what we should do for the blog’s first anniversary — due to a brief and atypical lapse in judgment on his part (I feel like I should add a Mwahahahaha! here), he’s letting us take over the CBR home page for the day. And what a day we have planned. Stick around, and you’ll see some cool, exclusive stuff sent to us by several of our friends around in the industry. Expect a couple of interviews, and maybe a special feature or three. Heck, we have so much stuff, it may be more than just one day can possibly contain, so we may have to spill some of it over into tomorrow (don’t tell Jonah).
It’s been a great year here at Robot 6 in our new digs at CBR, and I have a few miles worth of names I should probably thank. But I’m afraid if I start now it’s the only thing we’ll get to today. So to everyone who ever submitted a tip or link, or sent us your Shelf Porn, or talked with Tim, or sent us a review copy, or bought an ad, or clicked on an ad, or guest blogged, or told me how much you dig Comics A.M., or supported our auctions for Carla and Lance, or emailed me a press release, or gave me a press pass to a con, or let me look through your sketchbook, or linked to something we did, or retweeted one of our posts, or just made comics better, or … well, you get the idea …THANK YOU! None of us are in this alone.
Thanks to the folks who contribute to Robot 6 on a regular basis — I love you all. Thanks to the folks at CBR who keep the place up and running. And thanks to you, our readers, whether you’ve been here since we kicked off a year ago or this is your first time to visit the site.
Happy New Year, everyone! As always, stay tuned for much, much more …
- January 2, 2010 @ 12:03 AM by JK Parkin