Seeking to ease the online process for purchasing badges, organizers this year are requiring prospective attendees to sign up for a free Comic-Con Member ID that they will use to log into the system once registration actually opens.

Having a Member ID doesn’t ensure your entry into Comic-Con; anyone with a valid and unique email address can get one. However, everyone — attendee, volunteer, professional or press — who intends to purchase or apply for a convention badge must first have a Member ID.

More information can be found on the Comic-Con website. You can sign up for a Member ID here; the video below will walk you through the process.

Richard Alf

Passings | Richard Alf, who as a teenager fronted the money for the first three years of San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con, the annual event that later became Comic-Con International, passed away Wednesday from pancreatic cancer. He was 59. Alf, who co-chaired the first convention in 1970 and became chairman the following year, later opened Comic Kingdom in North Slope, a business he sold by the end of the decade. [U-T San Diego, Mark Evanier]

Conventions | iFanboy, San Francisco’s Isotope Comics and Grant Morrison are teaming up for MorrisonCon, which will feature “A once in a lifetime opportunity to see Grant Morrison and 9 hand picked comic creator superstars, all together for one weekend, one time only.” They’ve released few details so far, but the website says it’ll occur next fall. [MorrisonCon]

Awards | Comic-Con International is now accepting submissions for the 2012 Eisner Awards, which will be presented in San Diego in July. The deadline for submitting materials for consideration is March 6. [CCI]

Legal | Former comics retailer Michael George, who was convicted of the 1990 murder of his first wife and given a life sentence in November, has asked the judge to acquit him or order a new trial. George’s lawyer filed documents last week that claim there was weak evidence and improper tactics during his second trial. They also plan to appeal the case. [WDIV]

Dragon Lady Comics

Retailing | Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics will close in early February after nearly 34 years in business, a move the store’s manager attributes to rising rent and slowing sales. [The Joe Shuster Awards, blogTO]

Creators | Brandon Graham delves into his process for Prophet, the upcoming Image Comics relaunch of the old Rob Liefeld property. [Warren Ellis]

Creators | Collaborators Shane Houghton and Matt Whitlock chat briefly about BOOM! Studios’ new Peanuts series. [LA Weekly]

Comics | Chad Nevett provides a supplemental reading list for the Joe Casey-written Vengeance, for anyone “wanting to know the background on various characters and concepts Joe Casey is using in that series.” [GraphiContent]

Susie Cagle

Legal | Cartoonist Susie Cagle, who was arrested last month while covering Occupy Oakland, says she has been cleared of all charges by the Oakland Police Department. The Society of Professional Journalists sent a letter to the Oakland police condemning the arrest, which ultimately assisted in getting the charges dropped. The letter called out the department’s crowd management policy, which says, “Even after a dispersal order has been given, clearly identified media shall be permitted to carry out their professional duties in any area where arrests are being made, unless their presence would unduly interfere with the enforcement action.” [Fishbowl LA]

Conventions | San Diego City Council approved a plan to have San Diego hotels pay for a $520 million convention center expansion. The plan moves to a second hearing in January and requires a vote of two-thirds of the hotels that cast ballots for approval. [NBC San Diego]

Retailing | Mesa, Arizona, comic store Evermore Nevermore has closed after a little more than two years. Co-owner Bob Leeper blames the recession and light evening traffic downtown. [The Arizona Republic]

Retailing | Duff Franco, owner of Earth 383 Comics & Games in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, has launched a campaign to save the store following a break-in that resulted in the loss of most of his gaming stock. He plans a gathering on Dec. 17 to solicit ideas from customers on how to keep the shop open. [The Daily Advance]

Marvel

Creators | Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso and Editor Jeanine Schaefer discuss female characters and creators at Marvel, with Alonso noting why it’s important for the publisher to hire creators from a variety of backgrounds: “In following the discourse about women and minorities in comics, the one thing I see brought up so often is the idea that people don’t see gender. ‘Oh, I don’t see gender,’ they say, ‘I just want good stories.’ There’s an idea that actively looking to hire women is counter-intuitive to good stories; the simplified version of this is ‘hire good writers, regardless of gender.’ Of course, I agree that the people we hire need to be good at this, first and foremost. But what this argument misses, in implying (and sometimes outright stating) that actively hiring people with different life-experiences is somehow creatively bereft, is that having a variety of viewpoints is the best way to not only tell better stories, but to grow your market, so that you can continue to tell those stories.” [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | The Comics Journal posts an interview with comics legend Jerry Robinson from 1994 about his life and career. The creator of the Joker, who passed away this week, is also remembered by Ty Templeton, Peter David and the Hero Initiative’s Jim McLauchlin. [The Comics Journal]

Organizations | Diamond Comic Distributors helped the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund raise almost $30,000 through a retailer membership drive. [CBLDF]

Conventions | WonderCon, scheduled for March 16-18 in Anaheim, California, has announced several additional special guests, including Jim Lee, Mark Waid, Art Adams and Joe Hill. [Comic-Con International]

Eisner Awards

Comic-Con International has announced the judging panel for the 2012 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, which includes Comic Book Resources and Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson.

The six-person committee will meet in San Diego in late March to select the nominees to appear on the Eisner ballot, which then will be voted on by comics industry professionals. The winners will be announced July 13 during an awards ceremony at Comic-Con.

Besides Alverson, who also writes MangaBlog and contributes to Publishers Weekly and MTV Geek, the judging panel includes: retailer Calum Johnston, owner of Strange Adventures: Comix & Curiosities in Nova Scotia; Jesse Karp, librarian at the LREI independent school in New York City and instructor of a graduate-level course on graphic novels at the Pratt Institute; veteran cartoonist Larry Marder, creator of Tales of the Beanworld, former executive director of Image Comics and former president of McFarlane Toys; author and educator Ben Saunders, professor of English at the University of Oregon; and Mary Sturhann, longtime secretary on the board of directors of Comic-Con International.

Marvel

Publishing | Heidi MacDonald and Tom Spurgeon offer commentary and context regarding last week’s layoffs by Marvel. [The Beat, Comics Reporter]

Conventions | San Diego City Council President Tony Young and Comic-Con International staff are working together on a “marquee event” at Balboa Park that around the time of Comic Con. While convention organizers are interested in a Balboa Park event, they don’t support Yong’s original proposal, a nationally televised parade that would kick off or end the con, saying that the logistics, traffic and crowding would be problematic. [Sign On San Diego]

Conventions | Ohio State University’s student newspaper covers this past weekend’s Mid-Ohio Con. [The Lantern]

Conventions | Digital Manga Publishing will take over the yaoi manga fan convention Yaoi-Con beginning next year and move it from the San Francisco area to Los Angeles. This is a big change for Yaoi-Con, which has been fan-run until now. [Anime News Network]

Xenoholics #1

Creators | Writer Joshua Williamson discusses his new Image title Xenoholics. [Biff Bam Pop]

Creators | Sequential Tart profiles iZombie writer Chris Roberson. [Sequential Tart]

Creators | Graphic Eye interviews Josceline Fenton, creator of the webcomic Hemlock. Never heard of her? You will — check out her art and you’ll see why. [Graphic Eye]

Analysis | Kailyn Kent places Craig Thompson’s Habibi in the context of melodrama in the latest addition to The Hooded Utilitarian’s ongoing critique. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Review | Bob Temuka goes on record as liking Frank Miller’s Holy Terror, and he explains why, with pictures. [The Tearoom of Despair]

Review | Kate Dacey reviews Gate 7, the latest manga by the Japanese collaborative CLAMP. Executive summary: Great art, weak story. [The Manga Critic]

Comics | Sean Kleefeld posts the Captain Marvel issue of Mighty Midget Comics, a series published by Fawcett in the early 1940s in which, for some reason, all issues were #11. [Kleefeld on Comics]

Big Questions

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly column where we successfully answer the question in the title. Our special guest this week is Janice Headley, events coordinator, publicist and “ambassador of awesome” for Fantagraphics.

To see what Janice and the Robot 6 crew have been reading this week, click the link below.

*****

Michael May

Justice Inc.

A while back I got interested in the old pulp character The Avenger and picked up everything my local comic shop had on him starting with DC’s Justice Inc. They only had a couple of issues, numbers 1 and 4, but I felt like I got a good indication for what the series was like. The first issue was an adaptation of a the first Avenger story from the pulps and since I’ve also read that it was pretty rough reading Denny O’Neil try to condense it into a single issue. Given that impossible task, he did a pretty good job of it though. Much better, say, than M Night Shyamalan’s trying to condense an entire season of Avatar: The Last Airbender into a two-hour film.

Justice Inc #4 is an original story (also by O’Neil) with some fun Kirby artwork and a couple of nice set pieces featuring a zeppelin and a fight on a bi-plane. It’s too bad the villain’s scheme is a sad scam in which he blows up his own passenger-filled planes for the insurance. If you’re going to kill massive amounts of innocent people, at least have the guts to try taking over the world or something.

In the “more recent, but still not exactly new” category, I saw the old DCU out with Supergirl #67. I’d pretty much given up reading comics in single issues, but was making an exception for Kelly Sue DeConnick’s brief, but extremely enjoyable run. I almost missed the significance of Supergirl’s asking a new friend not to forget about her in the last couple of pages. A sweet end to not only a fun story, but this entire version of the character. I hope to see Kelly Sue on more superhero stuff soon.

A couple of other periodical-issue exceptions I’ve been making have been Mystery Men and Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown. I just finished the fourth issue of Mystery Men and am loving the team as it’s finally coming together. I feel like they’re only just going to form in time for the climactic fifth issue and then I’ll have to say goodbye, but hopefully the series is doing well enough to warrant a sequel. I understand there’s already plans for a collected version.

As for Frankenstein, the third issue wrapped up the Flashpoint era of Frank’s story very nicely and – just as important – completely. According to friends who’ve been keeping up, that’s more than can be said of the rest of the comics in the event. Jeff Lemire and Andy Smith finish the story they began without making me buy anything else, while just teasing the New 52’s Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE enough to get me to want to check it out. It’s one of several comics I’ll be buying as single issues again thanks to the reboot.

Marvel’s also benefiting from my renewed interest in single-issue comics. As long as I’m reworking that format into my budget, I decided to check in on some favorite Marvel characters starting with Rogue in X-Men Legacy #254. Though it’s Part One of a story, it’s very much continued from whatever long epic space search the Legacy X-Men have been on for however long they’ve been on it. Part of the fun though was diving back into the X-Men feet first without trying to catch up ahead of time. That’s how I got into them in the ‘80s and it worked pretty well this time too. There are some new characters I don’t know, but I had Rogue, Gambit, and Magneto to lead me around and it was just fine. Also, the story about the team’s getting accidentally split up and searching a giant space station for Havok and Polaris while dealing with factions of warring aliens was pretty cool.

Carla Hoffman

Batwing #1

Let me first publicly apologize to DC Comics and everyone who worked on Batwing because I am more than willing to eat my hat on this: Batwing #1 is everything I have wanted from a detective comic and some things I didn’t. That issue was awesome, from the smooth, emotional artwork to the very casual but directed level of storytelling, to the costume design in action… they even changed the logo to look more clear and less I-broke-it-with-a-hammer. Within three pages, we know everything we need and no one stops the whole book to repeat origins or bother with long exposition. The supporting cast range from ‘hey, African Alfred!’ to a cop who could be better and is slowly being fostered by Batwing’s alter ego to strive for more than what little justice they can get. I expected absolutely nothing from this book and it worked its little comic book butt off making me invest in it. I’m going to make sure we sell out of Batwing by the end of the week because this feels more like a new fresh start than anything I’ve read yet in the reboot.

Back in my home country of Marvel comics, the third issue of Greg Rucka and little mentioned superstar Mark Checchetto’s run on Punisher came out this week also and man, if that isn’t a good story. Checcetto is becoming the name I want to spell because his artwork is both strangely apt and far too beautiful for Frank Castle. A street level crime story has a certain look to it, or so we have dubbed in modern comics: there’s going to be a lot of blacks, shadowed faces, newspaper clippings, narrow panels of just someone’s eyes, etc. Things you don’t look for but know will be there when someone says “There’s been a murder.” Not only does Checcetta’s art fit the bill with some moody dark pictures, violence and artistic representations of pain, but people’s faces are remarkably beatific. It’s something in the eyes I think, but Frank Castle is probably the best looking I’ve seen him ever. Best of all, it doesn’t take you out of the story; Greg Land’s art might remove you because you’re trying to figure out where he took that photo reference from, but Checcetto’s work seems organic. Like all this darkness has some light within it as well? Man, that sounds corny, but it’s the best analogy I got.

Tom Bondurant

Batman Annual #1

I’ve been enjoying the reprints in the DC Comics Classics Library: Batman Annuals Vol. 1, and specifically the first Batman Annual (Summer 1961). These stories were collected around the theme “1,001 Secrets Of Batman And Robin,” and by and large they’re well-crafted little tales shedding light on particular aspects of the Dynamic Duo’s methods. “How To Be The Batman” finds Robin re-educating his amnesiac mentor; “Untold Tales of the Bat-Signal” strings together vignettes about the signal’s role in various cases, “The Origin of the Bat-Cave” takes readers back to the pre-Gotham frontier times, etc. Nothing too complicated, and each like catnip to the Bat-fan hungry for whys and hows. I was surprised at how many of these stories I’d read years, if not decades ago — not in the ’50s, of course, but in previous reprint collections — and they hold up pretty well.

Otherwise, I’ve been re-reading the first several issues of American Flagg!, simply because it had been a while, and there’s never really a bad time for Flagg!. I just finished the second arc, “Southern Comfort,” which spans issues #4-6. Not that I think the series peaked early, but this has always been one of my favorite Flagg! arcs. It opens up the book’s scope beyond the Chicago Plexmall, it introduces a few significant supporting characters (and Flagg’s standard disguise, Pete Zarustica), and it kicks off with a nifty, almost standalone story about Flagg and his friends foiling a blimpjacking. Flagg! went on the road a few more times, including to Canada, England, and Russia, but none of those stories were quite as tight and fun as “Southern Comfort.”

Brigid Alverson

Americus

Although I had read the first few chapters of Americus in webcomic form, for an interview here at Robot 6 last year, when the finished copy arrived I read it in one sitting. The story that drives the book is about a religious fanatic’s attempt to have a series of fantasy novels removed from the library of a small town in Oklahoma, but I found that to be the least interesting part of the book. The “Christian” character seemed like a caricature taken from internet postings, rather than a real person with thoughts and emotions (and even doubts), and in a book filled with quirky, nuanced characters, her lack of depth is noticeable. What makes this a great book is Hill and Reed’s portrayal of their protagonist, Neil, a teenage boy making the awkward transition from middle school to high school and losing his best friend (who is shipped away to military school) at the same time. Neil starts out being the Mikey of Americus, Oklahoma — he hates everything, and not without reason‹but as the book moves along he finds more and more kindred spirits. The authors intersperse sequences from their fictitious fantasy novel into the story, switching the drawing style to differentiate them from everyday life. Despite its one flaw, this book is a great coming-of-age story with a (mostly) likable cast and a host of small subplots. The book issue is resolved neatly (and predictably), but some of the other stories look like they will continue beyond the boundaries of the book, and I’d love to see an Americus 2 that leaves controversy to the side and simply continues to tell the stories of these characters.

Shutterbox, by Rikki and Tavisha Simons, seems like the sort of book that the fundamentalists of Americus would try to ban. It’s a fantasy tale about a girl who travels in her dreams to an alternate universe that is the home of the muses who inspire humans. Megan, the likable everygirl heroine, is a sort of supernatural exchange student who arrives at Meridiah University in pajamas and bunny slippers and encounters elf-like creatures, a ghost in her camera, and several handsome young men who don’t seem to be telling the truth. It’s a good example of an American graphic novel that picks up on the styles and tropes of manga and reinterprets them to make something completely new. The first four volumes of the series were published by Tokyopop, and the Simonses are now self-publishing them, along with volume five and an eventual sixth volume, digitally.

Tim O’Shea

Batgirl

So my regular comic book store since 1977 (Book Nook, no link because it’s an established Atlanta store that has no interest in the Internet) sold out of many of the DC new 52 fairly quickly–and I had been unable to make it to the store on Wednesday. Hankering to check out the new Batgirl, I called nearby stores on Thursday around 6 PM. The first store did not even pick up the phone. I dialed twice just to make sure I had not misdialed (and checked their posted hours, they were open for another hour). And the phone rang off the hook. I am not naming the store because, hey everybody can have a bad night. The second store I called, Galactic Quest, answered the phone on the third ring–and quickly I found out they had a copy of Batgirl.

Galactic Quest strikes me as the kind of store that will win a lot of new customers from the new DC books (and having just celebrated its 20th year in business, it’s a known business in that part of town). The clerk who answered the phone was even more helpful when I got to the store (it was a 15 mile drive in rush hour traffic, so I was pushing my luck just getting there). She directed me to the new releases and when I expressed pleasure that they had a copy of Batgirl, she immediately (but not in a pushy manner) informed me of their pull policy, if I’d like to sign up. When I explained I had a regular store–she backed off on the sell, but was still very friendly. When I noted that Stormwatch had sold out she snagged me a copy from the back that had been set aside, “but not spoken for.” When I thanked her and admitted I was afraid I was not gonna make it before closing, she offered (mind you, to a first time customer): “Give me a call if you are going to be five minutes late, I can keep the store open for you.” That is customer service that keeps a store open for 20 years, folks.

On to the books, Action Comics #1 was a pleasant surprise for me. Based on the advance art, my expectations had been lowered (and fortunately Rags Morales delivered a solid visual tale). But really this is a story that benefits from the reboot. Rather than being about the iconic Superman, this was a street-level hero Superman–and I like it. I will be back for issue 2.

As for Batwing #1, I concur with Carla’s assessment. And I have a hard time liking a Judd Winick story these days typically, unless it involves Barry Ween.

Stormwatch #1: I bought this because Paul Cornell is writing it, plain and simple. Cornell was really trying to cover a lot of ground and introduce all of the cast (a thing that Justice League failed to do last week), so that did win me into coming back.

Batgirl #1: “Feeling a creep crumble under my feet,,,I didn’t even know how much I missed it.” That line may alienate some, but for me it’s the Gail Simone written line that hooked me.

Janice Headley

Where do I even start?!?!  I’m a voracious reader and, as anyone who’s ever met me at the Fantagraphics table at a comic-con can attest, an excited chatterbox when it comes to books I love!  So, I was thrilled to be invited to share my recent comix loves for Robot 6!

So, I recently finished reading the gorgeous Big Questions collection from Anders Nilsen.  I followed the series here and there during its decade-long run, but admittedly missed out on a few earlier issues, so I’m grateful to Drawn & Quarterly for this incredible 600+ page book.  Honestly, I wish there were 600+ more pages to read.

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow

When I finished Big Questions, I still wanted more from Anders.  I’d already read his Fanta titles, Monologues for the Coming Plague, and his Ignatz title The End, but for years I had shied away from his acclaimed memoir Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow.  Y’see, I cry… easily.  I cry at commercials, I cry at video games, I cry when I’m doing long division and I have a remainder left over.  Mike Baehr (Director of Marketing at Fantagraphics, and Director of Being My Husband) reluctantly pulled the book down from the high shelf, and handed it over to me with great concern.  And yeah.  Of course.  I cried.  Who didn’t???  But, god, I’m glad I finally got around to reading it, and it was the perfect companion to Big Questions, whose title page has the owl simply saying, ” You must live every day as though it might be your last.”  Um… sorry… there’s something in my eye…

And while I’m on a teary-eyed thread, Love & Rockets: New Stories 4 pretty much wrecked me.

On a more chipper note, I picked up some new work from Esther Pearl Watson at the San Diego Comic Con. Her Fun Chicken booth with her husband Mark Todd is always on my “must-visit” list at any convention. This time around, I picked up their collaborative comic Nubbin & Nutz, a hilarious and wacky adventure at the grocery store.

I also picked up another collaboration Esther did with Martha Rich, the 2008 mini-comic Beauty Across America, which documents a cross-country trip they took, interviewing people along the way about their feelings on what makes a woman “beautiful.”  I’m bewildered that I had never picked this mini-comic up before, because the topic of “society’s definition of beauty” is one I tackled myself in an old issue of my zine, copacetic.  Their findings were truly inspiring, and, well, beautiful!

The Wolf

I thought I had caught up with the Invincible Summer series by Nicole J. Georges when I picked up Issue #18 at the Stumptown Comics Fest earlier this year.  But, apparently, she just released Invincible Summer #20, a split with Clutch, so I clearly need to get on it.  Speaking of Stumptown, I’ve been loving the “Living Things” series that I picked up there from PDX publishers Little Otsu.  My favorites in this series of mini-art books include Lilli Carré’s and Jo Dery’s.

And speaking of art books, Tom Neely’s “painted novel” The Wolf is a stunner!  We passed around a copy excitedly behind the Fantagraphics booth at San Diego Comic Con, and we’re over the moon that the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery gets to host his signing on his upcoming book tour.  If you live in Seattle, please join us for that on September 24th!

The San Diego Comic-Con is the gift that keeps on giving, this time in the form of an interview with Love and Rockets co-creator Jaime Hernandez by CBR’s Kiel Phegley. Ask anyone who’s reading the series in its book-formatted New Stories incarnation — including this autumn’s #4, which picks up where last year’s massively acclaimed “Browntown”/”The Love Bunglers” storyline left off — and they’ll tell you: Jaime’s making some of the best work of his career, some 30 years after L&R made its debut. Unfortunately, that left him floundering when it came time to come up with a story for next year’s volume:

I almost blew my wad on these last two issues. I was so proud of it, and I wrapped up so many loose ends, and I was so proud of myself. And I said ‘Okay, now it’s time to do a new issue’…and I was blank. I swear, I was blank! I was actually looking out the window, looking for something, some kind of inspiration, you know? That happens to me once in a while, but this time — I mean, big! I was just wandering around, asking my wife, ‘Do you need me to go do something out in the back yard, or…?’ I just felt like the most useless human being. It’s what I always call the post-comic withdrawal, where after I’ve just gone BANG on one issue, after it’s done, I feel so useless. I need to do something, but it’s like nothing’s there. It always comes, but I can’t make it come. It’s an organic thing with me, where it comes when it comes. Luckily, it’s always come within the deadline.

Watch the entire fascinating interview, which reveals a lot about Jaime’s creative process and his desire to do comics outside his usual “Locas” world, above.

San Diego 2011 was all about playing the game, about recognizing that Comic Con isn’t gonna be what any of us wants or needs or cares about, it’s instead going to try to be a little bit of what everyone who comes there cares about. All the starfuckers just there to see someone who was on TV one time, all of the PR flacks looking for the next big thing or trying to sell us the next big thing, the toy makers, the funny t-shirt hawkers, the deep discounters, the booth-babes, and even the comics folks—this is the year we all just sucked it up and realized that we were all gonna be in this together, and it’s gonna be in the same old San Diego convention centre in the same old gaslamp, and we’re all just gonna get used to it. So we did. We’re all playing the game now.

–from retailer/blogger/TCAF organizer/Wallace Wells inspiration Chris Butcher’s excellent report on this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. It’s an entertaining blend of photo parade, personal anecdotes, and astute analysis of the comics presence at the show.

Butcher contrasts San Diego with other shows he’s worked at “where 100% of the audience was potentially interested in 100% of what I was selling,” as opposed to even a good year at San Diego, where most attendees are there for something other than buying comics, let alone the specific comics and comic art he was selling as booth manager for Street Fighter publisher UDON and representative of Toronto retailer The Beguiling’s original art sales wing. He also notes that no single book garnered “book of the show” accolades of the sort that previously greeted such works as Blankets, Kramers Ergot, and the one-volume Bone, and that even publishers with a killer suite of products and announcements walked away from the show playing second fiddle to the usual churn of Hollywood advance buzzmaking and Marvel and DC announcements (which were themselves fairly subdued this year).

But! Butcher says it was the best San Diego he’s been to in a while, which is reflective of what I’ve heard from most of the comics-centric attendees this year. Whether it’s due to Hollywood’s lowered expectations for the show and the consequently lessened obnoxiousness from that aspect of the show; the establishment of offshoot events dedicated specifically to comics; recalibrated expectations and/or wholesale retreat from the con by some of its more outspoken alternative-comics detractors; or simply renewed attention to its still-fine line-up of comics publishers, retailers, creators, and programming; the show went over better this year among comics folks than at any time in recent memory, lack of a “book of the show” be damned.

Miles Morales

Comics | In a post subtitled “Why the new biracial Spider-Man matters,” David Betancourt shares his reaction to the news that the new Ultimate Spider-Man is half-black, half-Latino: “The new Ultimate Spider-Man, who will have the almost impossible task of replacing the late Peter Parker (easily one of Marvel Comics most popular characters), took off his mask and revealed himself to be a young, half-black, half-Latino kid by the name of Miles Morales. When I read the news, I was beside myself, as if my brain couldn’t fully process the revelation. My friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was … just like me? This is a moment I never thought I’d see. But the moment has arrived, and I — the son of Puerto Rican man who passed his love of comics to me, and a black woman who once called me just to say she’d met Adam West — will never forget that day.”

The New Yorker, meanwhile, posts the opening on an essay from the year 2120 that looks back at the cultural significance of the new Spider-Man. [Comic Riffs, New Yorker]

Legal | Analysis of the Kirby estate/Marvel case continues, as both Modern Ideas and Copyhype look at the concept of “work for hire” in light of the ruling. [Modern Ideas, Copyhype]

Creators | Roger Langridge talks about his life as a comics creator and reader and his work on the Muppets comics, Thor: The Mighty Avenger, and his new creator-owned work Snarked! [Graphic Eye]

Comics | Responding to the USA Today article on Flashpoint #4, which features a brief appearance by President Obama, Bully looks back at several Obama “guest appearances” in comics from the past few years. [Comics Oughta Be Fun]

Howard the Duck

Creators | Former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter continues his remembrances of writer Steve Gerber, recounting Gerber’s lawsuit against Marvel over ownership of Howard the Duck, and Disney’s legal threats over Howard’s appearance. Shooter shares model sheets of the character that were provided by Disney artists to accentuate the differences between Howard and Donald Duck. [Jim Shooter]

Creators | Ian Burns talks to King City creator Brandon Graham about his early life, his influences and much, much more. [The Comics Journal]

Publishing | Clan Apis creator Jay Hosler notes the book that started as “a floppy comic about bees” is now in its sixth printing. [Drawing Flies]

Publishing | NBM/Papercutz publisher Terry Nantier predicts that preorders for the upcoming Ninjago graphic novel, based on LEGO’s ninja-themed toy line of the same name, could surpass 100,000 copies, putting it into Twilight territory. [ICv2]

Publishing | Noah Berlatsky sees the demise of Borders as presaging a grim future for manga in the United States. [The Washington Times]

Awards | Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch has been named an Oregon Spirit Book Award Middle Reader Honor Book by the Oregon Council of Teachers of English. [Abrams, via Comics Reporter]

Manga | Deb Aoki shares the best and worst manga as chosen by the participants on the Best and Worst Manga Panel at San Diego Comic-Con. [About.com]

Tr!ckster

Conventions | Chris Smits writes about his experience of Tr!ckster, the creator-owned comics alternative to SDCC: “So, throughout my time spent in San Diego for the con, Tr!ckster became my travel shampoo: I washed, rinsed, and then repeated. Justice can not be done to how incredible it was to have such a haven across the street from the convention center. Anytime I had an inkling of con fatigue or (more likely) a frustrating build up of rage, the realization that I could just walk over there was amazing.” [Creator-Owned Comics]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity pens an appreciation of her favorite CLAMP manga, Wish, “a breezy four-volume series that features all the things I love most about the team: simultaneously cute and elegant artwork, charming characters, tantalizingly chaste romance, a dash of homoeroticism, and a heaping helping of fangirl nerdiness.” [Anime News Network]

Analysis | In homage to Wally Wood’s “22 panels,” Daniel BT compiles a list of 22 manga panels that always work. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Comics | When Captain Israel met Foreskin Man. [Huffington Post]

Black Metal 2

As I was going through the folders I’d set up on my hard drive for my yearly trek to the San Diego Comic Con, seeing what needed to be cleaned out and what was still on my “to do” list, I realized I was sitting on a huge stockpile of art that Oni Press had given me after their panel on Friday. I’d asked Oni’s Cory Casoni for the artwork they showed from Rascal Raccoon, the new book they announced at the show, and he gave me everything they showed during their presentation.

And there was a lot of stuff. Granted, a lot of it you’ve probably seen before — Chris posted some preview art from Power Lunch last week, for instance, and they had a lot of pages from The Sixth Gun that came from various issues of its run — but I figured why not share it all? And this seemed the week to do it, since they showed a lot of pages from Phil Gelatt and Tyler Crook‘s Petrograd, which hits shops this week.

So, after the jump, you’ll find the covers for some upcoming books like the second Black Metal and Spell Checkers volumes, as well as pages from One Soul, Petrograd and many other Oni books. For more on the panel itself, I’ll direct you to John Scarff’s report over on CBR.

I’ll admit it, it’s a bit of a shock to see a Brian Ralph comic that isn’t about some deceptively adorable character adventuring their way through an impeccably rendered rubble-strewn environment. Then again, is surviving the San Diego Comic-Con really all that different? The Daybreak cartoonist and alumnus of the influential Fort Thunder collective is chronicling his experience at Comic-Con International 2011 in diary comics form for The Comics Journal all week long. Day one’s a doozy, a journey from misery to triumph and back to misery in the space of a few panels. Look out for the cameo appearance from Drawn and Quarterly’s staff supercouple Peggy Burns and Tom Devlin, who emerge as a sort of obscenity-spewing Statler & Waldorf.

from Flashpoint #4

Publishing | Popular comic-book guest star President Barack Obama will make a brief appearance in this week’s Flashpoint #4. DC Comics Executive Editor Eddie Berganza told USA Today that the inclusion of the actual President, rather than a fictional counterpart, signals that the danger is real — something that will get pushed as the publisher prepares for the September relaunch. [USA Today]

Publishing | Fantagraphics announced the lineup for the first volume of its EC archives series, which will collect Harvey Kurtzman’s war stories. [Fantagraphics blog]

Conventions | More than 31,000 anime and manga enthusiasts flocked to Baltimore over the weekend for Otakon, one of the biggest fan-oriented anime conventions. There were a few anime and manga licenses announced, but mainly it was a meet-and-greet for fans and publishers. [Anime News Network]

Creators | io9 chatted with Walt Simonson at the Comic-Con International about his legendary Thor run, from Frog Thor to designing Beta Ray Bill’s head: “Before I ever talked about Bill’s design, nobody ever said, ‘Bill’s a horse.’ Back in the day, nobody knew. I did this for two reasons. One, the monster quality –- in many cultures, skulls are an emblem of death. At the same time, Bill’s head is very roughly based on a horse’s skull. I was a geology student when I was younger, and I was familiar with skulls. Skulls have this quality of horror, but at the same time, horses are beautiful animals. The skull is the structure under the skin that gives the horse its look. In a way, the skull was representative of Bill’s true nature.” [io9]

Word War Hulk #1

Creators | Incredible Hulk writer Greg Pak reflects on his 10 favorite moments from his five-year run on the title. [MTV Geek]

Creators | The Apocalipstix writer Ray Fawkes discusses his latest Oni graphic novel One Soul. [The Star]

Creators | Creator Brian Ralph talks about the collected edition of Daybreak. [Giant Robot]

Creators | Chris Roberson talks about the upcoming Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover he’s writing for IDW: “When I was nine years old, there was nothing that commanded my attention more than Star Trek and the LSH, and the years since haven’t dampened my enthusiasm. This project is SO much in my wheelhouse that, when Chris Ryall first approached me about it a few months ago, I simply assumed that it was a prank that one of my friends was playing on me. It wasn’t until I was in a meeting with IDW CEO Ted Adams about another project, and asked him point blank, ‘This Star Trek/Legion thing is a prank, right?’ that I was finally convinced that it was really happening.” [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | Blankets creator Craig Thompson shares some youthful scribblings from a 70-foot-long scroll comic he did as a kid. [Doot Doot Garden Blog]

CBR's Jonah Weiland accepts the Eisner

Jamie Coville regularly attends a whole bunch of comic book conventions and records various panels (with the panelists’ permission), then posts them on the internet as podcasts. He’s now posted several from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, including the Dwayne McDuffie and Gene Colan tributes, several spotlight panels, the Eisner awards and the Indie Comics Marketing 101 panel (featuring Sam Humphries, Ben McCool, Chip Mosher, Laura Hudson and me!). He’s also got pictures from them posted on Picasa, which is where the above photo of our beloved leader comes from.

You’ll find the full list of available MP3s after the jump, or head over to Jamie’s site for his complete archive.

*****

Maggie Thompson Spotlight (48:46, 44.6mb)
Valerie Thompson interviews her mother about her early involvement with Sci-fi fandom and how that bridged into comic fandom. In particular she talks about starting up a network of comic fans back in the 1960s and how that lead to the starting of some key fanzines such as The Comic Buyers Guide and eventually The Comic Reader.

Roy Thomas Spotlight (53:37, 49mb)
Roy Thomas is interviewed by Mark Evanier about his career. Among the things they talked about are Roy’s editing style, Conan, Barry Windsor Smith, Star Wars, Mort Weisinger, Dracula, Alter Ego, Stan Lee and more.

Indie Comics Marketing Panel

Indie Comics Marketing 101 (54:03, 49.4mb)
On the panel is Sam Humphries, Laura Hudson, Ben McCool, J.K. Parkin and it’s moderated by Chip Mosher. They talk about Sam Humphries successful launch of Our Love is Real and Ben McCool’s cross country signing tour. Chip Mosher, Laura Hudson and J.K. Parkin with advise on how to market to comic book news sites.

The Black Panel – Dwayne McDuffie Tribute (1:19:39, 72.9mb)
Dwayne McDuffie was a very intelligent well loved writer, editor, producer of comic books and animation. He is best known for Milestone Media, Static Shock, Justice League Unlimited, Ben 10, Damage Control, Deathlok and more. He died suddenly earlier this year and this panel comprised of his friends and colleagues to talk about Dwayne. On the panel were the co-founders of Milestone Media Denys Cowan, Derrick Dingle and moderator Michael Davis. Also on was Peter David, Keith Knight, Reggie Hudlin, Phil LaMarr and Matt Wayne. They all talked about Dwayne’s intelligence, generosity and creativity. Towards the end they invited fans who’s had experiences with Dwayne to speak about them and a few people who are now professional writers spoke of how Dwayne took hours of his time to critique their work and how he helped them become the professional writers they are today.

Gene Colan Tribute (44:56, 41.1mb)
Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Dean Mullaney, Andrew Farago, Steve Leialoha, Glen David Gold and moderator Mark Evanier gather to talk about Silver Age artist Gene Colan who passed away earlier this year. The panelists talked about those that inked him, his drawing style, him working as Austin Adams at Marvel and more.

The Golden Age of Fanzines (1:14:35, 68.2mb)
On this panel are the pioneers of comic fanzines and organized fandom. Panelists include Maggie Thompson, Richard and Pat Lupoff, Richard Kyle, Paul Levitz, Roy Thomas, Jean Bailes and moderated by Bill Schelley. Each talk about how they started their fanzines started. A lot of the audience were fanzine publishers as well and they asked questions about other fanzines (Rocket Blast Comic Collector in particular) and thanked the group for doing fanzines and welcoming them into their world.

That 70′s Panel (45:24, 41.5mb)
Creators from the 70s gather to talk about their work at that time. Moderated by Mark Evanier, the panelist are Roy Thomas, Walter & Louise Simonson, Len Wein, Mike Royer and Joe Staton. Mark asked about their first work in comics, how long they felt the comic industry was going to last (many assumed it would be dead in 5 years), what career they might have pursued if the comic industry did collapse, their views on older artists that was still working, Warren Publishing (Jim Warren in particular), Star Wars, Manhunter and more.

ComicsPro: So You Want To Be A Comic Book Retailer? (1:21:24, 74.5mb)
Moderated by Joe Field, retailers Portlyn Polston, Jennifer Haines, Chris Brady and Diamond outside Sales Manager Dave Hawksworth give a brief rundown of their experience and answer questions from existing and aspiring retailers on starting up a comic store or improve a store. Among the topics covered are getting female readers, stocking back issues, digital comics, percentage of sales on comics vs trades and other topics.

50 Years of Comic Fandom (1:17:18, 70.7mb)
Roy Thomas, Bill Schelley, Maggie Thompson, Richard & Pat Lupoff, Richard Kyle and Jean Bailes talk to Mark Evanier about their start in organizing fandom. Richard (Dick) & Pat Lupoff and Bill Schelley receive inkpot awards from the Comic-con organization. They also talked about the reaction of sci-fi fandom towards comic fandom. The panelists reveal the first comic convention they’ve ever attended and the first fanzine they contributed to.

Is the Comic Book Doomed? (46:01, 42.1mb)
Douglas Wolk brings together a number of people in the industry to talk about the lifespan of the 32 page comic book. On the panel is Amanda Emmert (Retailer, ComicsPro), Laura Hudson (Media, Comic Alliance), Vijaya Iyer (Co-Publisher, Cartoon Books) and Mark Waid (Long time writer & editor). Emmert and Waid go back and forth about the viability of the monthly comic with Iyer discussing how Bone would be done if it were launched today. There is a bit of talk about why digital would replace the monthly as well.

CBLDF: 25 Years of Protecting Creativity (52:01, 47.6mb)
Charles Brownstein gives a history comic book censorship and the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund. He outlines the major cases the fund has been involved in over the years and their results. Charles mentions that there is a worrying trend of censors targeting readers instead of retailers and publishers, but wrapping up their objections as child pornography to tarnish the reputations of those who purchase the books of which they do not approve of.

Walter and Louise Simonson Spotlight (1:16:13, 69.7mb)
Scott Dunbier interviews Walter and Louise Simonson about their careers. Walter talks about drawing and eventually writing and in particular talk about the Alien adaptation Graphic Novel/Album with Archie Goodwin published by Heavy Metal. Louise talks about her time as editor of Warren Publishing and Marvel. She also talks about Power Pack. At the end of the panel one lucky fan wins an Artists Edition of Walt Simonson’s Thor.

Jack Kirby Tribute (1:04:15, 58.8mb)
The annual Jack Kirby Tribute panel has Walter Simonson, Erik Larsen, Mike Royer, Richard Kyle and UK Celebrity Jonathan Ross. Moderated by Mark Evanier, the group talk about Jack and his inkers. Among them was Vinnie Colletta, Mike Royer, Joe Sinnott and Steve Ditko. Jonathan talks about his love of Jack Kirby and his desire to do a documentary on him (talk of his documentary on Steve Ditko popped up). They also talk about his DC work and the redrawing of Superman. Several people made announcements of upcoming Jack Kirby work coming out, including a movie about the time Jack helped the CIA rescue American hostages in Iran.

The Philippine Invasion (41:16, 37.7mb)
Philippino artists Ernie Chan, Alex Nino, Tony DeZuniga and Gerry Alanguilan are interviewed by Mark Waid about their getting started at DC Comics. Nino talks about switching from DC to Marvel in order to get the “real” page rate for artists at the time. He also talks about the freedom they at DC because his work was more suited to horror, which wasn’t popular in their local comic market. They discuss how the comic industry reacted to the Philippino artists when they started. Gerry talks about his working for DC today. They also talked about Nestor Redondo and how he influenced all of them.

Richard and Pat Lupoff Spotlight (47:04, 43mb)
Moderated by Maggie Thompson, Richard and Pat Lupoff talk about their lives before getting in comic fandom. Pat reveals about how they met and became a couple. Richard (Dick) talks about his life prior to fanzines, being an Army Lieutenant and working for IBM. He also talks about the productions of the fanzines. How he met Otto Binder and also a great story about mystery writer Don Westlake gave him an essay to print in which he told off the science fiction editors that he had worked for previously. I should note that Donald Westlake is the writer of the Richard Stark’s Parker stories that Darywn Cooke is adapting for IDW.

Full 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (3:09:55, 173mb)
The 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards was held in the Indigo Room at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront on Friday, July 22nd.
Introduction by Masters of Ceremonies Bill Morrison. He was assisted by the lovely Kayre Morrison.
The welcome was done by Jackie Estrada, Eisner Awards Administrator.

Presenters included Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon, Joëlle Jones, Gerry Alanguilan, Jill Thompson, Phil LaMarr, Dave Gibbons & Jonathan Ross, Lance Henriksen, Anina Bennett & Paul Guinan, Glen David Gold & Patrick McDonnell, Ian Boothby, Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez, Greg Rucka and Walter & Louise Simonson.
The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award was presented by Chris Bailey. The Bill Finger Award was presented by Mark Evanier. The Spirit of Comics Retailer Award was presented by Joe Ferrara. The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award was presented by Ruth Clampett. Sergio Aragones presented the Hall of Fame and Maggie Thompson did the Memoriam.

The Winners can be found at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards page.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 3 Century #2

It’s time once again for another round of What Are You Reading?, kids. Today we welcome special guest Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, creator of Necessary Monsters, The Last Sane Cowboy and more.

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

*****

Chris Mautner

Dungeon Monstres

Dungeon Monstres Vol. 4: Night of the Ladykiller: This latest volume is much lighter in tone than the last Monstres volume, which carried a deep emotional weight as it showed how the choices of the lead characters had consequences that rippled throughout the fantasy world. Ladykiller is more of a goof, with vulture sorcerer Horus being accused of impregnating several women in the first tale, and the dim-bulb monster Grogro stumbling through a mission to a faraway land. Certainly in terms of storytelling capability, Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim have lost none of their edge, and the art by Vermot Desroches and Yoann is sumptuous to soak into, but I missed exploring the deeper undercurrents of the Dungeon universe. Consider this something of a palate-cleanser then.

Bad Island: This is the new book by Doug Tennapel, which should be out in August. It’s about a family that takes a boating vacation and (shades of Gilligan) ends up on an weird island full of strange and dangerous creatures. And, of course, through their ordeal, father, mother, son and daughter learn to bond and trust each other more than they did before and become a better, tighter family unit for their efforts. No surprises, but I did enjoy Bad Island more than Tennapel’s last book, Ghostopolis, which I felt rushed through its plot so quickly that it didn’t take enough time to build upon the interesting characters and fantasy world he had created. Bad Island‘s basic concept is simple enough that that I feel I can properly enjoy it’s frantic pace, and I think it will appeal rather well to its intended tween audience.

JK Parkin

Late

I came home from the San Diego Comic-Con with a whole bunch of new stuff, from an issue of Archie Comics written by my friend Alex Segura to a copy of Michael Kupperman’s Mark Twain Autobiography, 1910-2010. Unfortunately I went from the con right into some work-related stuff that kept me busy all week, so I haven’t had time to read much of my spoils.

One comic I did have the chance to read was a minicomic called Late by Joe Blablazo. Joe came to the “Indie Comics Marketing 101″ panel I was on and was kind enough to give me a copy of the book. It’s a wordless, surreal tale that’s beautifully drawn and showcases just one of several art styles he’s capable of doing (you can visit his website to see more of his stuff; unfortunately he just has one panel from Late up on the site. update: Joe has posted the whole story online!) Joe has a more superhero-y book on the way called Deathless, and I hope to see more from him in the future.

Tom Bondurant

It should surprise no one that I have been looking forward to the DC Retro-Active comics pretty much since they were announced. So far I’ve enjoyed reading them, even if they’ve been a mixed bag. This week’s titles included Superman by Martin Pasko, Eduardo Barreto, and Christian Duce; Justice League of America by Cary Bates and Gordon Purcell (and a couple of others whose names escape me); and Green Lantern by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. As it happens, GL is the only one of the three with a reunited creative team, and it turned out to be the weakest. It features Green Lantern and Green Arrow in a two-track story which only comes together when the heroes catch each other up at the end. There’s not much to catch up, either — GL helps a familiar-looking extraterrestrial after his spaceship crashes in unfriendly territory; and GA tracks a rival archer who’s back to prove himself. While there are twists which I won’t spoil, they are of the “because the doctor is his mother” variety. Still, Mike Grell turns in a really fine story, full of crowd-pleasing ring-slinging and marksmanship feats. Neither creator seems to have gone for a retro vibe in this issue, and that’s fine. However, O’Neil’s script is just flat; and even more so when compared to “No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!,” the historic (and, perhaps, histrionic) Green Lantern/Green Arrow kickoff from GL vol. 2 #76. I was hoping for something more obscure, which is to say something O’Neil and Grell did from the mid-’70s, but it’s hard to argue with such a classic tale.

Better is the Superman one-shot, although not necessarily because it feels more like a Superman comic from thirty-odd years ago. Barreto and Duce don’t seem to be channeling Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, who defined the Man of Steel’s look for decades. In fact, at times it was hard to spot elements of Barreto’s distinctive style. Still, like Swanderson, the result is light on frills, but easy to follow. Like the GL issue, Pasko’s script touches on period-specific elements: everyone works for WGBS-TV, the villains are identified mostly with the late ’70s and early ’80s, and Superman talks regularly with the Kandorians and the hot-pantsed Supergirl. While the plot’s ultimate resolution is hardly revolutionary, it’s executed with the sort of nervous energy you’d expect from a good sitcom. This too is typical of the ’70s Superman, and it’s not unwelcome at all. Besides, the reprint is “Superman Takes A Wife!,” the story which celebrated Action Comics‘ 40th anniversary by marrying the original (i.e., Earth-2) Supes and Lois.

Justice League

Perhaps most fun was the Justice League of America issue, which finds Adam Strange stranded once again in a place that doesn’t buy his stories of space adventure — only this time, it’s Earth-Prime, where he’s just a comic-book character. Fortunately, the Justice League knows just who to call to get Adam out of trouble — his editor, Julius Schwartz. (Naturally, Julie and Barry Allen have already gotten to know each other well, thanks to Barry’s many Earth-Prime visits.) There are a couple of obstacles in the way, of course; and it’s all part of Kanjar Ro’s plan to energize his cells to Superman-levels. Indeed, it risks being too familiar — but I have to say, it’s pretty cool to see Julie Schwartz as the JLA’s go-to guy, and in particular to see his reaction to meeting a couple of Leaguers for the first time. This is the kind of story which doesn’t take itself too seriously, but at the same time never loses its sense of wonder. Ironically, more mean-spirited is the reprint, one part of a JLA/JSA team-up involving a DC writer from Earth-Prime who goes bad. Pick up Crisis On Multiple Earths Vol. 4 for the whole story, I guess.

Back in the present, I thought Flashpoint: Project Superman #2 (by Scott Snyder and Gene Ha) did a good job fleshing out Flashpoint-Supes’ backstory. Along with info from the main miniseries and the Frankenstein mini, we’re getting to know the military’s various superhuman-weapon projects pretty well. As you might expect, Kal-El has had a pretty rough time of it in military custody, but he’s acquired an unlikely patron. This issue also plants the seeds for what I expect will be a pivotal relationship. In some ways it’s reminiscent of JMS’ and Gary Frank’s Supreme Power miniseries, which spent an inordinate amount of time showing its Superman-analogue straining to get out from under military control. Of necessity, though, it has to move faster, and thank goodness for that. Between the next issue of this miniseries, and Flashpoint itself, Kal-El looks to shake off that control pretty dramatically.

Finally, I recognize that not every comic I read is fit for the eyes of my (almost-) three-year-old daughter — but I was too engrossed in the harrowing Detective Comics #880 to notice her ambling over to my easy chair. “Who’s that?” she wondered innocently, looking at Jock’s nightmare-fuel portrait of the Joker.

I tried to play it off by showing the back cover. “That’s Green Lantern!”

She wasn’t fooled. “No, who’s that?”

Quickly I put the issue back in the stack and reached for something more innocuous (and not American Vampire– d’oh!). “Oh, that’s just the Joker. What do you want to eat?”

Michael May

Planet of the Apes

I got caught up with BOOM!’s Planet of the Apes this week (the fourth issue just came out). What a perfect marriage of words and art this series is. Carlos Magno has created a world I want to live in. Or would want to live in if not for all the damn dirty apes. It’s so rich and full with its quaint, European houses and stone bridges and medieval fashions. Of course, there are plots and wars being planned in those houses, the bridges are barricaded Les Miserables-style, and the fashions conceal all manner of weapons. Daryl Gregory has taken a beautiful place and filled it with intrigue and death. For which I’m very, very grateful.

I also went back and picked up Supergirl #66. I somehow missed it when it came out a couple of weeks ago, but really wanted to continue Kelly Sue DeConnick’s story about Supergirl undercover at a college on assignment for Lois Lane. It’s got secret tunnels, biomechanical rats, Supergirl trying to use her powers without blowing her cover, and Lois doing some Lois Laneing. Really fun stuff.

Tim O’Shea

FF #6

FF #6: Yeesh. Black Bolt speaks twice in a comic that used to be about Reed Richards and his pals. The first time he speaks, to convey the power of his spoken word a 2 pt type was used. OK maybe 4 pt type if I am lucky. But really, I could have dealt with 6 pt type and still gotten the effect letterer Claytion Cowles was going for. The second time he speaks loudly (which is saying something when it comes to old Bolty) he actually says: “I. am. awake!” Really. Did someone imply you were dozing on the job there, Blackie? Added bonus, nothing on the cover resembles anything that happens in the comic. A two-issue Black Bolt subplot has me asking: “If I were waiting for the trade, would this be a chunk of the book that would bore me to death?” (The answer is yes) I love the Inhumans as a concept, but Jonathan Hickman writing the Inhumans in an FF book is like reading a mixture of U.S. congressional and U.K. parliamentary proceedings: boring and nonsensical. And hey, Medusa really took the news Black Bolt now has multiple wives (one of them being a talking horse) in stride. A twisted part of me wishes Bolt had spoken at that point: “Wow.” I am leaning toward dropping this book from my monthly reading assignments.

Secret Warriors #28: Lest people think I dislike Hickman, let me quickly dispel that notion. This is the last issue of a book where I had a Nick Fury that entertained the hell out of me. And he ends the series with one of the best present day conversations between Steve Rogers and Nick. That alone made the issue a must read for me. And I love that A) Dum Dum Dugan gets to say the final words in the issue B) How Hickman leaves the Contessa subplot

Teen Titans #98: Yeesh again.How did Superboy-Prime come back? Don’t expect an explanation–he just appears in a pile of a rubble in the opening pages of this issue. Well that’s convenient and lame. Way to run toward issue 100, just to get to a milestone, DC…that means absolutely nothing. Faithful readers, please tell me anything that was memorable about this particular 100 issue run of this Titans incarnation. Off the top of my head, I can think of nothing.

Xombi #5: John Rozum has a whole lot to say through the characters in this issue. I mean a lot. (And it’s not overwhelming–plus there’s a whole discussion of the film Lost Horizon at one point). And Frazer Irving’s art is just exquisite. I hope there is some project in the DCNu for these two to collaborate again. But I really wonder if they’re not more suited for Vertigo.

Captain America and Bucky #620: One must assume there is a finite end to this particular series,but I could be wrong. In the meantime, Chris Samnee drawing 1940s era Captain America and Bucky stories? To quote Black Bolt: “I. Am. Awake.” Seriously though, beautiful art made even better by the colors of Bettie Breitweiser.

Avengers Academy #16: Stuck record time for long-time readers…Christos Gage continues to write the best Avengers book on the current market. The story he crafts with Veil in this issue has the reader feel a gamut of emotions with the character as you see the issue play out. And that’s just one-half, the opening half gives me more smart (albeit on the ropes) Hank Pym. I love me some smart Giant Man.

Brigid Alverson

Spontaneous

I started off this sultry week with the first two issues of Spontaneous. Joe Harris and Brett Weldele take one of the more bizarre true-mystery phenomena and wrap it into a pretty good story. The hero, Melvin, is fascinated by spontaneous human combustion for many reasons, and he has studied it so carefully that he can predict who will go up in flames next. An overbearing investigative reporter happens onto the scene as the fire claims its next victim in a mall food court, and she starts doing some research of her own. It’s a well told story, although the reporter is a bit much, and Wedele, whose luminous watercolor style made The Light such a beautiful comic, is the perfect artist for this book. I’m hooked.

A trip to the comics shop yesterday netted me a copy of Drew Weing’s Set to Sea. It’s pure indulgence, because I have already read the story online, but Fantagraphics’ small, almost jewel-like presentation is really beautiful. Weing tells his story one panel at a time, and each panel could be framed as a work of art in itself, so having it in a book, without the clutter of the web, is a worthy investment.

My biggest bargain at the comics store, though, was a vintage issue of Dark Horse’s Super Manga Blast for a quarter. With chapters of 3×3 Eyes, Club 9, and What’s Michael?, all flipped, in black and white, in a pamphlet comic, it’s a very different format for manga than the one I’m used to. With just a single chapter of each story, though, it’s more a curiosity than a good read, although it reminds me I want to check out Club 9.

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

You catch me on my return from Comic-Con, so I’m reading a mix of stuff I picked up at the show and things that were waiting for me at Chaos City when I got back.

League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1969: I read this through once on the plane back from San Diego. I’m re-reading it now with Jess Nevins’ annotations, just to appreciate the sheer lunatic everything-and-the-British-kitchen-sink-ness of it all. It’s Moore so it’s a great read of course, but the Century series does seem to be going to some rather bleak places as it progresses. Here’s hoping there’s a resurgence of Blazing-Kingdom-3D-wonderfullness before the sequence is complete.

The Boys

The Boys #56: Some fun moments this issue, but it’s only part one of “The Big Ride” so it’s mostly just positional play at this point. While The Boys wears a disguise of just-Garth-having-a-laugh-at-superheroes, its secret identity is a fascinating and carefully constructed story world that’s kept me coming back month after month. Something I noticed on flicking back through the book is how prominent Terror is this issue. I do hope this isn’t a precursor to something bad happening to him later in the arc. Please don’t kill the good wee doggie!

Paradigm Shift Part Three: Emergence I notice I am using too many hyphens in these reviews. Clearly, this must stop. This third part of Dirk Tiede’s brilliant Chicago werewolf police procedural manga (look! No hyphens!) finishes out the story’s first arc but still leaves me hungry for more. This book is tightly plotted and beautifully illustrated and is an absolute must for fans of any of the subjects I didn’t put hyphens between in the last sentence. How the series hasn’t been snapped up by a major publisher yet is beyond me. Grab a copy of all three volumes now so that you can say you read back in the day, before they made the motion picture and everybody got the tattoo.

The Sixth Gun Book One: Cold Dead Fingers: A bit of a stunt review this, as so far I’ve only had time to read the first six pages of the book. Sixth gun, six pages. See? Anyway, I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend at San Diego and, judging by these six pages, the recommendation was a good one. I’ve already got a good feeling about the mystic old west setting and been given a clear idea about what kind of a scoundrel we have for a protagonist. Worth a look I’d say and I’m definitely looking forward to page seven.

Arsenic Lullaby: 10 Year Omnibus: I first read Arsenic Lullaby at San Diego in 2002, and I think I’ve picked up a new something or other from them at every con since. I’m about halfway through reading this 10 Year Omnibus at the moment and so far it’s been great, filling out the gaps in my reading and reminding me of old favourites. It’s the darkest, blackest, sickest and funniest book I’ve read in a while. Well worth seeking out, if you can stomach a few zombie foetuses and watching the antics of a government-sponsored serial-baby-killer is your idea of a good time.

CBR and Comics Should Be Good contributor Sonia Harris’s report from the Love and Rockets spotlight panel — in which all three of Los Bros Hernandez, Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario, analyzed one another’s work with moderator Kristy Valenti of The Comics Journal — is pure L&R-nerd heaven for a whole bunch of reasons. But not least among them is the revelation that Gilbert will be returning to the streets of Palomar, the tiny fictional Latin American village in which the bulk of his acclaimed stories for the series were set for years, with next year’s Love and Rockets: New Stories #5 from Fantagraphics. It’s a welcome surprise — emphasis on surprise, given how Beto has talked about his Palomar-based material lately.

Gilbert left the village behind years ago, with the end of the first volume of Love and Rockets in 1996. Subsequent stories were set in the same world, but shifted to Los Angeles and largely centered on the American sisters of Palomar matriach Luba, who moved to the States along with several other Palomar characters. Since L&R Vol. 2 wrapped up in 2007, the bulk of Beto’s work has come in the form of “adaptations” of the Z-grade movies that Luba’s psychologist-turned-actress sister Fritz has starred in within the Palomar world. The resulting material has been much more genre-based than the naturalistic/magic-realist Palomar comics, and absolutely suffused with graphic sex and violence. The move has left critics divided, but Hernandez told our own Chris Mautner that he wouldn’t have it any other way: “The Fritz series frees me of any obligation to be a do-gooder cartoonist, something most regular L&R readers probably don’t want to hear. I felt straight jacketed with ‘Palomar’ and the like after a while, really. I have a lot more going on in my imagination than I’m expected to utilize.”

On the panel where he announced his return to the town, he was appropriately enough a bit more conciliatory about his older work. “People always compare my [current] stuff to the ‘Palomar’ stuff, but lately, my stories have been just a little colder edged because I’m more interested in that,” he said, later adding that creating the “Fritz-verse” of movie-based comics enabled him to go wild without stuffing too much weirdness into “Palomar” for it to work properly as a setting.

As for what, specifically, is in store for Palomar’s residents, Hernandez hinted that the story will involve the legacy mothers leave their daughters — which, if you know your Beto, is enough to make you very excited and very nervous.

I might still like to do the Atom. I think there’s something great to be done with the Atom that hasn’t been done yet…I like the idea of doing an Atom story where he can only shrink to a certain size for each episode. One of the things I felt didn’t work about the Atom was that he was up and down [in height] and could do anything. I thought it would be really good to do stories of a guy who has so much power to shrink that he does it for missions when he’s brought in. So it’s slightly more Indiana Jones, where this guy works as a professor during the day, but sometimes he’ll get a call from the President — “There’s monsters in the White House carpet” kinda stuff. — and he comes in and deals with that. But in another episode he might just shrink to six inches and be chased around a room by bad guys and cats and dogs, like Incredible Shrinking Man stuff. I thought there’s a sci-fi series in there, where each issue is him at a different scale. In some he could be trapped at a molecular scale, and in other ones he’s one inch and trapped in the garden.

–Action Comics and Supergods writer and superhero-revamper extraordinaire Grant Morrison in conversation with CBR’s Jonah Weiland, who asked him what B-list characters he’d still like to take a crack at. And hey, Morrison’s proven his proficiency with sprawling supporting-player revamps in the past with projects like Seven Soldiers (not to mention the upcoming Multiversity, which he says will have a similar focus on DC’s deep bench), so would it be out of the question for him to throw a Ryan Choi: Rebirth and Atom Incorporated into the mix? For now, I’ll file this with his much-discussed desire to write Wonder Woman under projects we’ll hopefully get to see one day.

Watch the entire video above for more Morrison commentary on the Lois & Clark marriage, Superman’s costume, Action Comics, New X-Men, Supergods, Sinatoro and more.

It was the shout heard ’round the world. In the opening minutes of DC’s very first daily “New 52″ panel at the San Diego Comic-Con last Thursday, when Co-Publisher Dan DiDio turned to the audience and asked what DC would have to do to change the minds of those skittish about the impending relaunch, one man yelled “Hire women!” The number of women creators working on the DC Universe, he added after audience applause, had dropped with the relaunch from 12% of the total to just 1% (i.e. Gail Simone, and Amy Reeder if you count the later Batwoman launch). DiDio’s response was to turn the question back on the questioner and ask him whom he thinks DC should hire. The move raised some eyebrows, to be sure, given that an audience member isn’t in the kind of position to assess all the professional comics talent available to be hired that the brass at a major publisher would be in. Still — and I’ll just quote myself here from another time this topic came up — “I think it behooves those of us who argue for the inclusion of non-white non-straight non-male people in a creative team or superhero team or panel or article or exhibit to have candidates ready to hand,” so turnabout is fair play, I suppose.

But when you actually hear the exchange, which you can do by clicking on this mp3 (right-click to save), things sure sound more heated than just a matter of tossing the question back to the audience. DiDio repeatedly asks the audience member what the statistics he cited mean to him, and his call for names of female creators DC should have hired sounds less like a request and more like a challenge, as he says “tell me right now” over the audience member’s seemingly struggling attempts to respond.

Now, DiDio is an ebullient panel presence who simply has a booming voice — witness his enthusiasm when another audience member suggests artist Nicola Scott as a potential woman creator: “You’re damn right we’d hire Nicola Scott!” — so some of this is just how he always sounds when commanding a room at a show. But it’s hard not to hear an edge to the way he says “Thank you, sir” to the questioner, and first-hand reports from the audience say the exchange was an awkward one. The audio adds a context to it that panel reports can’t convey.

I first heard the clip (after many, many reblogs) at Do You Fondue?, but its origin appears to be this lengthy DC Women Kicking Ass interview with Batgirl cosplayer Kyrax2 — an omnipresent figure at DC’s panels this year whose indefatigable focus on the number of women characters and creators at DC led to several uncomfortable moments with the panelists and audience members. “Batgirl” ended up interacting, on panels or in person, with a wide range of DC staff and talent, including DiDio, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Grant Morrison, Paul Cornell, and Gail Simone. Take her assessment of those interactions with the grains of salt necessary to season the recollections of a person with agenda when you read it, of course, but do read it. And for even fuller context, listen to the panels in their entirety at DC’s SDCC podcast site.

And while you’re at it, why not take a stab at answering DiDio’s question in the comments below. When it comes to women creators, who should DC be hiring?

Launching as a digital-first comics publisher, Madefire is intended to be a modern-day equivalent of the comics from Sharp’s childhood — “cheep, accessible entertainment,” as he’s told Bleeding Cool. Using the wide user base of smartphones, Madefire’s digital comics app hopes to touch into both the hardcore fan, the lapsed fan and the future fan with their line-up of titles.

In addition to his own project Captain Stone is Missing, Sharp has assembled a great line-up of creators for the effort,  including Mike Carey and Dave Kendall’s Houses of the Holy and a new series called Treatment written and drawn by Dave Gibbons (!!).

No word yet on when their first projects will be released, but I’ll be keeping my ears up looking for more information as its announced.

Superheroes are coming to the world of LEGO, as the Danish toy company signed deals with DC Comics and Marvel Entertainment this month that will allow their characters to be used in a LEGO Super Heroes line. Lego already has a Batman line, but the deal with DC gives them access to every character in the DC canon, including Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The Marvel line will focus on the Avengers, the X-Men and Spider-Man, and it will launch in May 2012, at the same time The Avengers movie opens. Both the Marvel and the DC line will include both minifigures and buildable figures.

Update: JK Parkin returns from Comic-Con with pictures from the LEGO booth! Check’em out after the jump.

*****

Kids love LEGOS!

Defenders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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