Eric Stephenson

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hardee's old logo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of Image's new print ads

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Activity #2

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

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

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

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

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

Witchblade #151

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

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

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

New Men

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

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

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

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

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

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

Savage Dragon #177

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

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

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

Stephenson: Yes.

Parkin: What’s the status of Image United?

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

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

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

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

Saga

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

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

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

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

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

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

Future of the Left: Polymers are Forever

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

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

Hell Yeah

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Glory 23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keatinge: Absolutely not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Incal

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. JK Parkin is off in San Diego trying to get that Elvis Stormtrooper’s autograph, so I’ll be your host today. Our special guest this week is George O’Connor.

O’Connor is probably best known as the author of the ongoing Olympians series of graphic novels, which attempt to retell classic Greek myths (the latest, Hera, just came out from First Second). He’s also the author of such books as Journey Into Mowhawk Country and the children’s picture book Kapow, as well as the artist of Ball Peen Hammer, which was written by Adam Rapp.

To see what George and the rest of the Robot 6 crew have been reading …

Chris Mautner: Dustin Harbin is quickly becoming one of my favorite cartoonists, at least among the under-35 crowd. I love the amount of detail he throws into his drawings, even the tiny ones; his gift for caricature and goofy faces; and his genuine wit.

Thankfully, Koyama Press has two new books out from Harbin right now: The second volume of his Diary Comics, now published in a (perhaps more appropriate) mini-comic size; and Dharbin!, a collection of his first two self-published comics, most of which contain simple one or tw0-page jokes or stories. OK, so it’s not all entirely new material, but it is quite good. Harbin is a born raconteur, and he has a gift for making even simple events like hanging out with friends or working late at night seem special or revealing. Plus, he’s a really funny guy.

Daredevil #1

Tim O’Shea: How happy am I after reading Daredevil 1 by Mark Waid along with artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin? After finishing the issue I felt as hopeful and engaged as I did in the early 1980s after reading Walt Simonson’s Thor 337 (the first issue in his epic run). Now while I sincerely doubt that I will get a three-issue run from this creative team, I am hopeful that I will least get a year. It was interesting to see how both artists experiment with how to convey DD’s radar sense. Of the two styles, I find myself partial to RIvera’s approach. Also Riviera does nice little details to his story, such as when Murdoch is going through a metal detector and has to take off his trademark ”blind” glasses. And I have to quote and agree with Michael May from this week’s Food or Comics?, who wrote: “Mark Waid fills me with confidence about every Marvel or DC series he writes, but I’m just happy to see a superhero smiling”.

Hated seeing the six-issue Vertigo miniseries Cinderella: Fables are Forever, by writer Chris Roberson and artist Shawn McManus, end this week. Of the Fables (hell Vetigo) universe, CInderella has become my favorite character.

Judging by the female empowerment speech that Matthew Sturges gives Power Girl to say in  the opening of Power Girl 26, I find myself hoping that in the coming days of the new 52 DC Comics the writer finds himself an assignment. He’s a solid writer who should have been on one of the creative teams in the first place (instead of some of the questionable creators that garnered assignments instead).

Archie & Friends 156

Brigid Alverson: I have been reading a lot of Archie comics lately. I don’t think I would have picked up Jughead at all if it wasn’t for the much-praised Jughead #200, written by Robot Chicken creator Tom Root, but it’s actually one of the more interesting comics in the Archie line. In Jughead #207 and #208, written by Craig Boldman and illustrated by Rex Lindsey, Jughead actually leaves home after a blowup with his father. First he settles at Archie’s house (having discovered that he and Archie are distant cousins), then he moves to Ethel’s for a spell. I particularly liked the first story, as it showed a bit more depth than your typical Archie comic; the parents get involved in the situation, for instance, and Jughead shows a remarkable (for him) capacity for introspection. The story isn’t over yet, and I’m more than mildly curious to see what happens next.

Of course, it’s all in good fun, and so is Archie & Friends #156, which is set at Riverdale Comic Con. The script is by Archie Comics publicity director Alex Segura, who knows a thing or two about cons (he came to Archie from DC Comics), with pencils by longtime pro Bill Galvan. The whole gang shows up in costume, and they are followed by a mysterious but obnoxious robot as they sample the delights of the con and compete in a costume contest (with real-life movie producer JJ Abrams as the judge). It’s a very Archie plot, complete with an itching-powder double-cross (who carries itching powder any more?), but Segura and Galvan toss in some sly insider references, both verbal and visual (Archie dresses as Pureheart the Powerful, the gang heads to the MLJ Comics booth to see Dan Parent, and Archie is searching for a back issue of The Shield, a character he replaced in Pep Comics). Incorporating current pop culture into a comic is risky, but Segura and Galvan pull it off nicely.

Finally, let’s talk about Kevin Keller, who gets his own series next year. Kevin Keller #1 (actually Veronica #207) is scripted and penciled by Kevin creator Dan Parent, who gives the characters a smoother, simpler look than the traditional Archie style‹he eschews those two parallel lines across the bridge of the nose that are such an Archie trademark, for instance, and his Veronica doesn’t have bangs, which really changes her look. The basic conflict is a contest again (they seem to have a lot of those in Riverdale); this time, it’s Jughead versus Kevin in a pie-eating contest. The story includes a flashback into Kevin’s past as a nerdy kid with braces who rescues a friend from a mean trick, and it introduces Kevin’s father, Col. Tom Keller. Yes, Kevin is an army brat, and he wants to go into the service himself someday, which is just fine with everybody (well, Veronica worries that he will get wounded somehow, but Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell doesn’t merit a mention). We even get to see Kevin come out to his parents. But the place where the story really breaks new ground is with the pie-eating contest, because (spoiler alert!) Veronica has left the cream pies in an overheated car, a fact that Kevin and Jughead learn only after eating six apiece. I believe this is the first time anyone has ever vomited in an Archie comic, although of course we don’t see the actual act. Anyway, the comic has a lot of backstory and goes a long way toward establishing Kevin’s personality. If he has one flaw, it’s that everyone likes him too much (apart from the central-casting bullies in middle school). I’d like to see Reggie pull some pranks on him and Veronica give him the frosty treatment‹then we will really know he is one of the gang.

George O’Connor: Wow, thank god you’re asking me this while I’m actually reading some interesting things.

The Incal Classic Collection, by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Moebius.. I finally picked this up, because (A) I just don’t have enough Moebius in my collection and (B) a couple of my studiomates (cartoonists Jason Little and Joe Infurnari, to be specific) are huuuge fans of Jodorowsky and so I figured, hey, I really ought to check this guy out. Story-wise, I have to admit it’s not particularly gripping me. It reads easy enough, but the characters slip out of their humanity and into being these, I don’t know, super-evolved avatars a bit too often, and kind of fly around delivering exposition. That said, Jodorowsky does an even better job of pulling out crazy ideas that Grant Morrison, and the artwork by Moebius—wow.  If you too do not have enough artwork by Moebius, get some. He’s incredible. In this collection in particular I can see his influence on such masters as Dave Gibbons and P. Craig Russell.

The Mighty Thor Omnibus by Walter Simonson and Sal Buscema. Simonson’s run on the Mighty Thor was largely responsible for turning me into the comics fan (and pro) I am today. This absolute cinder block of a book has been sitting on my nightstand table for a month now as I slowly but surely wade through its contents, which is the entirety of Simonson’s 1980s run on the Mighty Thor book, as well as the Balder the Brave miniseries.  A lot of this I hadn’t read since high school, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up. The new coloring is actually quite nice too. My one complaint is the enormous dent it’s putting in my sternum as I read this thing.  Seriously, it must weigh 25 lbs.

Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White, by Taiyo Matsumoto. My girlfriend and I had seen the anime made from this previously and LOVED IT, so I finally got around to picking up the original Manga.  I’m actually lying a little bit when I said I’m reading this now—it would be more accurate to say I was reading it, but my girlfriend has now absconded with it and now she’s reading it. My impression: the story is very familiar to what I’ve seen in the anime, but there’s a rougher edge to the artwork by Matsumoto that I’m really digging. Strangely, publisher Viz Media opted to print this western-style, so the book is read from left to right., as opposed to traditional Japanese right  to left.  To accomplish this, Viz must have reversed all of the artwork, which, in my experience, must have distorted it somewhat. I’m going to have to track down a Japanese version one of these days just to see the art how Matsumoto intended.

Fear Itself by Matt Fraction, Stuart Immonen, and Wade von Grawbadger. Normally, I’m one of those guys who grumbles about crossover series like this, but I love Stuart Immonen’s work and had to pick this up. Now that I’m looking at them all together, I seem to be missing one of the issues, but writer Fraction does a very good job of moving the story along at all the points it needs to hit, and man, Immonen can draw.  Von Grawbadger is his best inker, and the whole team has created the perfect comic-book equivalent of a popcorn flick, at least so far. Sometimes these things fall apart in the climax, you know?

Finally, the last book I’m reading is a bit of a cheat, as I’m included in it, but I literally only drew one page. Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies, featuring the work of 31 different cartoonists and edited by Michel Fiffe, is an anthology book featuring twisted takes on Erik Larsen’s venerable Savage Dragon and his supporting cast. The contributors are almost exclusively “indie” cartoonists, and they each bring their own idiosyncratic takes to their short tales of the Dragonverse. Some standouts so far are Kat Roberts “2000 Light Years from Home”, Chris Sinderson’s “Vicious Circle Therapy Group” and the aforementioned Mr Fiffe’s “The Date”, featuring a rotting character with the awesome name of Abner Cadaver. My own contribution was part of a short story ‘jam’ written by Joe Keating, and featuring artwork by my studiomates Simon Fraser, Tim Hamilton, Mike Cavallaro, Joe Infurnari and Dean Haspiel, with bookends by Mr Larsen himself.

Savage Dragon #177

Never one to shy away from politics or controversy, Erik Larsen will bring Osama bin Laden back from the dead as an irradiated giant green monster in October’s Savage Dragon #177.

It seems that after the body of the al-Qaida founder was dropped into the ocean from the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, it came into contact with radiation, bringing the terrorist to life and transforming him into a literal monster — Godzilla-like, even — hellbent on destroying America. Unless Dragon’s children Malcolm and Angel can stop him.

“Radiation is the cure-all. You get some of that stuff and life is good. In the real world, you get diarrhea and your hair falls out. But in comics — boom! — you’re brought right back to life,” Larsen tells USA Today. “”There’s not really going to be anybody going, ‘Whoa, don’t hit him!’ He’s kind of a (jerk), let’s throw that out there.”

Savage Dragon has famously featured appearances by Hitler, former presidents George W. Bush and George Bush, candidate Barack Obama, President Obama, and even God and the Devil. But is five months a little too soon to bring back bin Laden? Larsen fully expects some criticism.

“It’s not like this is ancient history and we’re looking at pictures and most of the people are dead and gone,” he tells the newspaper. “This guy did evil crap recently.”

Fear Itself #1

Publishing | Marvel’s Fear Itself #1 topped Diamond Comic Distributors’ April charts with an estimated 128,595 copies, the highest monthly sales for a comic since X-Men #1 surpassed 140,000 copies nine months ago. Retail news and analysis site ICv2 sees the strong debut of that crossover and the performance of DC’s Flashpoint prequels as signs “that this summer’s big events may be able to reverse the downward sales trend in the first quarter of 2011.”

DC’s Fables, Vol. 15: Rose Red led the graphic novel category with about 11,600 copies, followed distantly by Dynamite’s The Boys, Vol. 8: Highland Laddie. [ICv2.com]

Retailing | The bankrupt Borders Group reportedly has been unable to find a buyer for its entire business, which could signal the end of the second-largest book chain in the United States. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in February, and is closing about one-third of its locations. [Detroit Free Press]

Publishing | IDW Publishing Senior Editor Andy Schmidt, who oversaw such licensed titles as G.I. Joe and The Transformers, is leaving the company to work for Hasbro. Schmidt, who was previously an associate editor at Marvel, came to IDW in 2008. [Bleeding Cool]

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | The three-week hiatus for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark did little to affect the musical’s box-office appeal: The $70 million production grossed $809,941 last week in just five preview performances. [The New York Times]

Conventions | Stacey Whittle wraps up last weekend’s Bristol International Comic & Small Press Expo. [SFX]

Creators | Erik Larsen looks toward the double-sized 175th issue of Savage Dragon, which he hesitates to call a “milestone”: “You tend to look toward the big round numbers — 100, 200. Passing up Kirby’s run on Fantastic Four was kind of the milestone for me when I got to 103. It was like, ‘OK, now we’re going!’” [USA Today]

Creators | Brian Heater wraps up a four-part interview with Peter Bagge. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Joe Casey discusses his six-issue Marvel miniseries Vengeance, which doesn’t tie in to the publisher’s big Fear Itself crossover: “I begged them to let us suck off the teat of the latest Marvel Monstrosity Event, but to no avail. I figured it’d help us sell at least two copies of this thing. … But since that ship has sailed, we’re just pressing onward with the usual, incredibly low expectations.” [MTV Geek]

Comics | Luke Plunkett looks back at DC’s Atari Force comics. [Kotaku]

Comics | “Why Aquaman is the best damn superhero in comic history.” [io9.com]

The collected Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies is scheduled to hit this July as an over-sized 144 page book, collecting all 12 back-up stories as well as some new material from the likes of Tom Scioli, Jim Rugg, Jasen Lex, Paul Maybury, Zack Soto and others.

If you missed it in singles, this collection is worth a flip through. You have to admire Larsen’s agreeance to allow Fiffe and his team of creators to do this liberal a take on his characters. It really allows each of them to play to their strengths, and wish more creator-owned cartoonists would consider giving over the reins of their characters like this.

Daytripper

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

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

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

*****

Brigid Alverson

Street Fighter Legends Vol.3: Ibuki TP

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

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

Chris Mautner

Twilight of the Assholes

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

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

Michael May

Bonnie Lass

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joe Keatinge

Corto Maltese: La Ballade de la Mer Salee

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Casanova: Luxuria

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

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

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

Savage Dragon #171

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

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

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

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

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

by Jim Rugg

This weekend’s HeroesCon will feature an art auction, and artist Jim Rugg is showing off his submission — featuring everyone from Lobo and Hellboy to the friggin’ Road Warriors — on his blog.

On an unrelated note, why the hell do I not have this convention in my travel plans every year?

Anaheim Convention Center

Conventions | A labor union that represents hotel workers embroiled in a fight with Disney hotels has warned organizers of Comic-Con International that if they move the convention to Anaheim, they could find their “future events caught in the middle of a bitter labor dispute that could jeopardize their success.” Unite Here Local 11 has been been in a standoff with Disney over the company’s proposal to increase the amount hotel workers contribute to health-insurance coverage to a level that would represent a week’s pay for employees who make $11 an hour. [LA Weekly]

Passings | Mark Evanier reports that Howard “Howie” Post, a mainstay of comics and animation, passed away last week, reportedly due to Alzheimer’s. He was 83. He wrote and illustrated funny-animal comics for DC beginning in the 1940s, and is often credited with helping to create Spooky, Hot Stuff the Little Devil and other characters for Harvey Comics. He worked for Marvel in the 1950s and again in the ’80s, drawing titles like Heathcliff and Strawberry Shortcake for the publisher’s Star kids line. Post also created the comic strip The Dropouts, which was syndicated from 1968 to 1981. [News from ME]

Publishing | CBR News Editor Kiel Phegley considers Hope Larson’s recent survey of female comics readers: “…  Just looking at how women have been introduced to comics so far, the idea that we’ve got one method that’s inadequate for what we’d all like to see in terms of readership expansion and another method (TV tie-ins) that’s either shrinking (anime) or being pushed more and more boy-centric (superhero ‘toons) is really disheartening and scary to me.” [The Cool Kids Table]

The Eagle Awards

Awards | Voting is open for the Eagle Awards, the annual British fan awards established in 1976. [The Eagle Awards]

Creators | Gary Tyrrell asks cartoonist Jess Fink why her work keeps getting stolen for use as T-shirt designs and the like: “Every time I get an email about some Cafe press store selling cookie loves milk rip-offs or a big name department store selling a trace or some shop in Hong Kong printing exact copies it just completely ruins my day. You don’t get paid an awful lot to make shirt designs so feeling like you are getting exploited is never fun. If it were just something similar someone made that they weren’t selling it would be a completely different story, but I know these places are making money off of something that is mine.” [Fleen]

Goats: Showcase Showdown

Creators | Brian Heater talks to Jonathan Rosenberg about the recent decision to place his long-running webcomic Goats on hiatus: “It’s very hard to get into a comic when there’s 13 years of backstory to catch up on. People get very intimidated. I love that stuff, and a lot of people have been telling me, ‘that’s what I loved about Goats.’ But for the majority of people, it’s very hard to wrap your head around that.” [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Brian Heater also chats briefly with Michel Fiffe about “Twisted Dragon Funnies,” the new monthly back-up feature in Savage Dragon from a dozen indie artists. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Judd Winick discusses his recent work with the DC Comics character Jason Todd. [Sequential Tar]

Creators | Todd McFarlane is profiled ahead of his appearance this weekend at Phoenix Comicon. [The Arizona Republic]

Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies

DC had Bizarro Comics, Marvel had Strange Tales, and now Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon has secured an alternative comics-style tribute of his very own. Starting with May’s Issue 160, Savage Dragon will run a series of “Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies” back-up strips by an array of indie cartoonists. The project is spearheaded by Act-I-Vate‘s Michel Fiffe, and the full line-up for the first year or so — including Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire, Hyeondo Park, Andrew Dimitt and more — can be found on the blog of contributor Chris Sinderson.

Fiffe’s press release is below:

Erik Larsen and I are proud to announce “Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies”, a monthly backup feature in the Savage Dragon title showcasing some of today’s rising indy stars and their alternative spin on the Dragonverse.

Erik Larsen’s character sandbox is vast and diverse enough to give way to all sorts of themes and genres. He’s given us a fantastic opportunity to tell compelling stories through his characters.

I’ve gathered some of my favorite new cartoonists to work on their own vision of the Dragon, and I really got a kick out of seeing their unique sensibilities. . Erik gave us complete freedom to express ourselves through these characters and as a result, we produced incredible stories while remaining faithful to the source material. We now have a solid year’s worth of back up stories and some very special guests stopping by soon to create even more Dragon comix!

In the spirit of Marvel’s “Strange Tales” and DC’s “Bizarro Comics”, the off-kilter stories in “Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies” are hilarious, adventurous, sometimes surreal, always highly personalized and gorgeous to look at. These short stories will be enjoyed by longtime Dragon fans, but they’re also great for brand new readers.

Savage Dragon by Joe Infurnari

Artist Joe Infurnari shares some artwork he did for a back-up story that’ll appear in an upcoming issue of Savage Dragon.

“It’s my contribution to a story written by Joe Keatinge and illustrated by Mike Cavallaro, Simon Fraser, Tim Hamilton, Dean Haspiel, George O’Connor and the man himself, Erik Larsen,” he says on his blog. “Fans will recognize Caveman Dragon and Dino Dragon featured prominently. Other incarnations will appear on other pages. It’s all part of a series of backups featuring indie cartoonists edited by comics scholar and genius, Michel Fiffe. Keep your eyes peeled!”

Savage Dragon #137

The back and forth continues about the appearance of Barack Obama in this week’s Amazing Spider-Man #583, which sports an alternate cover featuring the president-elect.

But this particular thread involves Savage Dragon creator Erik Larsen and Amazing Spider-Man editor Steve Wacker.

It began last week when Larsen posted on a message board that he feels “very betrayed” by Marvel because, in his eyes, the publisher duplicated elements from Savage Dragon #137 — namely, the incentive cover and the use of the “terrorist fist jab” — and used as a story element a shape-shifting villain masquerading as the president, which he’d done previously in an issue of his long-running series.

Then yesterday, Wacker responded with an email to Robot 6 countering Larsen’s assertions: “The idea that this was off-limits because the President-Elect had appeared on another comic cover (or that we wouldn’t have had this idea without Erik Larsen) is beyond preposterous.”

And now Larsen has fired back:

So — lemme get this straight — Steve Wacker from Marvel goes to CBR to say that Marvel never looks at CBR? How does that make sense in any reality? Of course Marvel was aware of the Dragon/Obama cover –  Quesada is very aware of Savage Dragon. Hell, he hired my creative team to work on Ash — he drew a pinup in my book — he drew a trading card with Dragon and me on it — he even had fan mail printed in my letters page.

I hear from Marvel employees all the time in regard to Savage Dragon. To deny that anybody at Marvel saw or heard about the Obama alternate cover on Savage Dragon is ridiculous. It was all over CBR and Newsarama and all over the web. Yes — presidents have appeared on the covers of Marvel comics before but never on an incentive cover and never as a publicity stunt. Typically, the appearance of a president on a cover doesn’t have any sales effect, positive or negative, so there’s do such a thing.

Obama is different. Obama is history in our life times. He’s Jackie Robinson. It makes sense for Marvel to do this. They could see how Obama’s appearance resulted in three printings of Savage Dragon and they could anticipate that an appearance on Spider-Man might bring them a lot of attention. It was a good move on their part and I don’t deny that. But — come on — would a simple acknowledgement that I did it first be so hard? And don’t you think that scooting it in under the wire in order to put a lie to the publicity I’d already received for having Obama’s first appearance as President in a comic book just a little bit underhanded?

Coincidences do happen. Four years ago, I did a story where an appearance-altering villain disguised himself as the president. If Steve Wacker didn’t read that it’s not inconceivable to me that he concocted a similar idea on his own. Stories of Presidents being replaced with evil duplicates or even robots aren’t unheard of — but don’t  insult my intelligence by claiming that Marvel never looks at Diamond’s Previews or CBR or Newsarama.

– Erik Larsen
Savage Dragon perpetrator
www.savagedragon.com
www.imagecomics.com

Savage Dragon #137

Most comic fans probably remember that President-Elect Barack Obama’s first comic book appearance didn’t come in this week’s Amazing Spider-Man #583. Last year IDW published their biography of Obama in October, and he appeared in Savage Dragon #137 last August.

It’s that second one that’s causing a stir over on the Comicon.com message boards, in a thread titled “The house of stolen ideas.” “Bendrix,” who started the thread, says that Marvel promotion ripped off The Savage Dragon’s “publicity stunt.”

A few pages in, creator Erik Larsen shows up in the thread to say he feels betrayed by Marvel:

As far as Marvel goes– I can’t help but feel very betrayed. They duplicated the incentive cover–and preempted my upcoming one–and even used the “terrorist fist jab.” Clearly those in the “house of ideas” looked at what I did and found inspiration.

I hear that they’re even doing a story similar to the one I did four years back, where an image-altering villain disguises himself as the President (in my story the Impostor replaced President Bush and took his place for a speech–in theirs the Chameleon, the shape-shifting villain, is going to spoil a speech being given by President-Elect Obama). The whole mess just feels really underhanded. I feel betrayed and, frankly, ripped off and in the real world–the one outside our funnybook bubble–Marvel will spin themselves as these great innovators who came up with this terrific publicity stunt–instead of the thieves they are.

And I know what they’re saying when they’re called on it–”Presidents have appeared in comics before” and “Erik didn’t create Barack Obama” and blah, blah, blah.

The thing that Marvel is attempting to do is to frame the argument. To say “we’ve featured presidents in the past–this is what we do–it’s part of a pattern.” But that’s a false argument. The “stunt” was an alternate cover featuring Obama– which was something no publisher had done with any president in the past and one that received a lot of press when I did it. If Marvel had done alternate covers with Bush and Clinton or any of the others– they could legitimately claim that they were following a pattern and doing what they’ve done in the past– but that wasn’t the case. And theirs is not simply the appearance of a president in a comic book but one on an alternate cover– and one concocted to try and get some of the same attention that got. I did not create Obama– I did, however, have a character endorse him, long before he was elected while Marvel played footsie with Stephen Colbert– a joke candidate.

Via Rich Watson