Aquaman #1

Digital comics | Geoff Johns explains how digital presentation made him re-evaluate his approach to writing Aquaman #1, as digital readers focus on stories panel by panel rather than page by page. He notes that they also spend more time on individual panels, taking in all the details before moving on: “It’s weird to go back and look at some of the old comics now. If you read something in this fashion you will notice stuff that you skipped over so quickly because your eye takes in the whole page instead of the panel individually. I think that’s probably one of the biggest advantages of digital.” Johns also reveals digital considerations have also led him to scale back on internal dialogue to “let the art and characters expressions speak for themselves.” [Variety]

Digital comics | On a related note, Shaun Huston ponders the challenges of making “comics as we know them” work on digital devices: “While there’s some latitude to read full pages on the iPad, and the Fire at 4.7” x 7.5” (or the Nooks) affords that option more realistically than the iPhone or similarly-sized devices, in all of these cases there will be situations where most readers will shift to Guided View in order to effectively see some particular detail on a page. For many, Guided View will be the primary choice, which is a qualitatively different experience than reading page-by-page. In fact, while in that mode, ‘the page’ arguably becomes irrelevant as panels are strung together into one linear sequence, rather than into a series of page-specific sequences.” [PopMatters]

Washington City Paper

Comic strips | Only nine months after returning syndicated comics to its pages, Washington City Paper has again eliminated them amid budget cuts. The alternative newspaper initially dropped comics in February 2009 in a bid to save money following the bankruptcy of parent company Creating Loafing. [DCist]

Publishing | Todd Allen catalogs retailer complaints about Marvel’s apparent long-running inability to keep its collection backlist available. “They’re a publisher that publishes their trade books like they’re periodicals” says says Eric Kirsammer, owner of Chicago Comics. “They don’t really have a backstock. I’ve been told by Marvel they don’t.” [Publishers Weekly]

Best of the year | Steve Higgins counts down the Top 10 graphic novels of 2011, and the best of DC’s New 52 titles. [Playback: STL]

Creators | Alan Corbett discusses his new graphic novel The Ghost of Shandon, set in 18th-century Cork, Ireland. [Cork Independent]

Comics | Houston news outlets make note of the debut of Marvel’s Scarlet Spider, which is set in the city. [Your Houston News, My Fox Houston]

Acclaimed artists Scott Morse and Skottie Young took their six-month-old sketchblog in a new dimension this morning with the debut of a not-yet-titled webcomic starring Asher and Spittle, anthropomorphic animals described as “our dynamic duo, our Laurel and Hardy, our Artoo and Threepio.”

“We’re creating these one page at a time with no outline to work from: we’re shooting from the hip,” Morse writes. “This could backfire and destroy comics and the internet itself … or succeed and make the internet a better place and comics the medium of choice for storytellers. Or at the very least make you smile twice weekly.”

Morse’s pages will update every Monday, while Young’s will appear every Friday.

Last month Scott Morse, Ted Mathot and many others announced Tr!ckster, a creator-focused event that will take place July 21-24 in San Diego. The event will feature an art gallery, retail space for participating creators and a series of symposia — “rigorous workshop events for focused creative individuals to add new ways of thinking to your work ethic.”

Creators like Skottie Young, Steve Niles, Mike Mignola, Jill Thompson, Mike Allred and many more will take about such topics as character design and development, art technique, visual storytelling and the creative process. They’ll run two a day July 21-24. While admission to Tr!ckster is free, you’ll need tickets to get into the symposia, which go on sale Monday. And since the event is at a wine bar, wine will be served during the sessions.

You can find a list of all the symposia after the jump, and come Monday you’ll be able to buy tickets on their website.

*****

SYMPOSIUM 1:
Thursday, 7/21/11, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
SKOTTIESCOTT: LIVE
Featuring storytellers SKOTTIE YOUNG and SCOTT MORSE
Character design and development is paramount to keeping readers involved in a visual story. Join Eisner Award winners SKOTTIE YOUNG and SCOTT MORSE, creators of the run-away hit daily blog SkottieScott.com as they tackle, dissect, analyze, and own a new way of thinking about shape, line, texture, and gesture. Every picture SHOULD tell a story, and many drawings and paintings will be created on the spot in a dynamic, intimate, involved environment with active audience participation.

PERFECT FOR: artists and aspiring artists in all fields; anyone looking to explore new media and technique/method; writers curious as to how character design can help generate story

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SYMPOSIUM 2:
Thursday, 7/21/11, 3:30PM to 5:30 PM
THE JUMP FROM PAGE TO SCREEN
Featuring creators MIKE MIGNOLA, DOUG TENNAPEL, CHRIS RYALL, and more TBA
Comics and film are separate mediums and we at TR!CKSTER openly accept and celebrate them as such. We create our comics with the intent to tell incredible, unique stories in a visual medium we enjoy. Often times, of course, these properties can grow into a new kind of life on screen, but is the integrity of the creator or the intent of the original story sacrificed for the cinematic experience? Join a unique, honest, no-holds-barred discussion of the realities of selling your work to the film community, how “development” works for creators of comics, and how to protect and promote your work, and yourself, as your intellectual property crosses media.

PERFECT FOR: writers and storytellers considering the migration of their work to other media

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SYMPOSIUM 3:
Friday, 7/22/11, 1:00PM to 3:00 PM
INVISIBLE INK: THE UNDERSTRUCTURE OF STORY with BRIAN McDONALD
Learn the secrets of Dickens, Steinbeck and Billy Wilder in this popular class taught by award-winning writer/director/producer Brian McDonald. This workshop is to the storyteller what an anatomy class is to the illustrator. You will learn how to construct a story from the ground up by examining classic films and stories. Like a mechanic listening for the knocks in an engine, you will learn how to look for clues that tell you where your own stories are misfiring. In addition, you will learn how to listen to and interpret the critique you get regarding your stories. Most people critique subjectively, not objectively, and you will learn to know the difference. You will begin to see stories in a way that most people are unfamiliar with and you will become a better storyteller because of it.

Topics covered include: The concept of ‘invisible ink’; What is story structure?; The seven steps to a better story; What is three-act structure?; The importance of the ‘set-up’; How to spot the armature or central idea of a story.

PERFECT FOR: writers and storytellers of all types, in film, prose, comics, and beyond, looking to hone their writing skills through intense discussion and analysis with a top working storyteller.
________________

“Writing stories is hard. They are stubborn by nature. No matter how many times you master one, the next story is obligated to conceal its faults with an entirely new disguise. Your only recourse is to keep writing, while concurrently increasing your understanding of this deceivingly simple, yet highly complex, organism we call story. Brian McDonald’s insightful book does just that. Somehow, Brian has found yet another fresh and objective way to analyze how great stories function, and emboldens you to face the challenge of scaling whatever story mountain looms before you. If I manage to reach the summit of my next story it will be in no small part due to having read ‘Invisible Ink’.”
– Andrew Stanton (co-writerToy Story 1 & 2, A Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc.,and Finding Nemo)

“Invisible Ink is a powerful tool for anyone who wants to become a better screenwriter. With elegance and precision, Brian McDonald uses his deep understanding of story and character to pass on essential truths about dramatic writing. Ignore him at your peril.”
-Jim Taylor (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Sideways and Election)

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SYMPOSIUM 4:
Friday, 7/22/11, 3:30PM to 5:30 PM
THE ART WORKSHOP
Featuring artists JILL THOMPSON, JIM MAHFOOD, and more TBA
Whether you work in single panel illustration, poster design, web design, or sequential storytelling, you more than likely juggle the concept of developing a “style” versus creating immortal visual art that communicates readily with an audience. Technique, theory, method, and madness will all be on display in an intimate workshop environment. Explore paint application and aesthetic, discuss ink and inking implements, and watch as original art is produced on the spot in a variety of styles and media.

PERFECT FOR: artists and aspiring artists in all fields; anyone looking to explore new media and technique/method

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SYMPOSIUM 5:
Saturday, 7/23/11, 1:00PM to 3:00 PM
BUILDING A CREATOR-OWNED CREATIVE TEAM
Featuring storytellers MIKE ALLRED, LARRY MARDER, GREG RUCKA, JAMIE S. RICH, and more TBA
Writing a story is hard enough, but finding the visual pairing to help express the story to its fullest can be pivotal in crafting your work. The right combination of exposition and dialogue with the perfect set of sequential images make for excellent, memorable storytelling in comics and children’s books. Join in with acclaimed writers and the artists they’ve worked with as they explore how the creative team, and the creative process, come to fruition.

PERFECT FOR: writers and artists hoping to make comics as a team.

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SYMPOSIUM 6:
Saturday, 7/23/11, 3:30PM to 5:30 PM
VISUAL STORYTELLING IN COMICS AND FILM
Featuring film and comics storytellers TED MATHOT, DEREK THOMPSON, JAMES BAKER, and more TBA
The comics and film mediums share much in common but are drastically different animals. Are comics ready-made storyboards? Do the dynamic visual languages of each share the same vocabulary? Join an intimate, creator-driven discussion workshop where both visual mediums are explored and dissected by an array of today’s top visual storytellers in the art of comics and story boarding.

PERFECT FOR: writers and storytellers working in comics hoping to also work in film, and vice-versa.

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SYMPOSIUM 7:
Sunday, 7/24/11, 1:00PM to 3:00 PM
WORLD-BUILDING and the IMMACULATE REALITY
Featuring film and comics storytellers TED MATHOT, DEREK THOMPSON, and more TBA
Fiction is a limitless landscape, ripe for painting with the varied colors of the imagination. Fiction is the realm of the impossible made possible. To do this effectively, writers, artists and storytellers present themselves with questions requiring unique answers. Not only must they know the lives and environments and politics of their central players, they must know what lurks behind the curtain, what lies beyond the horizon, and what awaits just off-screen. Even the most fantastical and surreal worlds must still be grounded in a reality that the audience can start from, can find footing on, and can then move from the familiar safety of…into the new worlds of story. This workshop will also dive into creating the worlds of character interaction: how player dynamics must be constructed effectively. In this, we’ll analyze the roles of archetypes including the “trickster” and how they effect the stories of their worlds.

PERFECT FOR: writers and storytellers of all types, in film, prose, comics, and beyond, looking to hone their writing skills through intense discussion and analysis with top working storytellers.

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SYMPOSIUM 8:
Sunday, 7/24/11, 3:30PM to 5:30 PM
BUILDING A SHORT STORY: CRIME AND TERROR: LIVE
Featuring STEVE NILES and SCOTT MORSE
The daunting task of creating a short story can boggle the mind of any creator. Finding a productive, inspired rhythm in a creative team is paramount to the economy and productivity of a comics project. Creators are inherently self-starters, but where and how you begin your creative process has plagued even the greatest minds. Where do you begin with an idea? At what point do you put it to paper? How do you begin to design the visual aesthetics of a story? What inspires not only the idea, but the urge to create? Join award-winning storytellers STEVE NILES and SCOTT MORSE as they create, from scratch and before an intimate, live audience, an original short story from start to finish, ready to deliver to a printer. Key shortcuts and secrets of page design, plot development, character, staging, dialogue, lettering, and more will be featured in real time as a 6 to 8 page story is executed for their new hardcover series CRIME AND TERROR.

PERFECT FOR: writers and storytellers producing comics, and those hoping to.

Mysterius the Unfathomable

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at the comics and other stuff we’ve been enjoying lately. Our special guests this week are Aaron Alexovich (Invader Zim, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Serenity Rose, Fables) and Drew Rausch (Sullengrey, The Dark Goodbye, Cthulhu Tales), the creative team behind the horror/comedy comic Eldritch!

To see what Aaron, Drew and the Robot 6 crew are reading, click below …

*****

Carla Hoffman

The Mighty Thor

Of course I read Mighty Thor #2! I nearly loved it as much as I loved Mighty Thor #1; the first issue had an amazing balance of the incredible and those who try and understand what credible is to begin with. Don’t get me wrong, as long as Mr. Fraction continues to add nouns to Colossuses (Colossi?), I will be there and ready with cash, but there was just something missing, some spark of life that the first issue captured so well that the second issue lacked. My guess? This was the bridge that get us to the chorus of issue #3.

I also read FF #3, and I fully admit to having a hard time calling the book “eff-eff” rather than the Fantastic Four. The contents of the issue are well aware of the HUGE name change and its impact on the characters within and the universe without. Everyone in that book is important, no one goes without a piece of dialogue or business that is essential to the overall arc of what Mr. Hickman is doing. We’re talking Brubakerian levels of wheels within wheels storytelling that is fantastic to see unfold with every page. Maybe that’s why I keep calling it the Fantastic Four….

Because there was some catastrophically disordered back issues, I read Batman #614 rather by accident. In this issue, Batman thinks long and hard about himself and the Joker and makes a hard decision about his responsibility as a the better man. Holy crap does Jim Lee draw the ever-loving heck out of this issue. Every panel is just gorgeous and jaw-dropping in weight and stature as Batman fights himself more than the Clown Prince of Crime on why he just doesn’t off this guy by right of vengeance. Sure, Mr. Loeb is a little wordy at times but the pacing and tone is pitch perfect on modern day Batman theme. This is great issue on its own merit and while the Hush storyline may have had a sour note to end on for some fans, you have to admit the artwork is a symphony of expression.

Brigid Alverson

It’s hot, it’s a Saturday, and I felt like just vegging out, so I pulled out IDW’s collection Felix the Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails, edited by Craig Yoe. It’s a very nice lazy-summer book, with just enough background on the cartoon to make you feel like an expert on Felix the Cat, who really had his heyday as an animated cartoon in the 1920s. Charles Lindbergh had a Felix decal on the side of The Spirit of St. Louis, and when NBC wanted to test the first television camera, in 1928, they focused it on a Felix statue rotating on a turntable. There! Feel smarter? The bulk of the book is given over to Felix comics from the 1940s and 1950s, drawn by Felix creator Otto Messmer and his follower Joe Oriolo. The comics aren’t particularly eye-catching in terms of the art, but the stories have a hallucinatory quality that makes them entertaining reading for kids of all ages, as vegetables seek their revenge on humans for eating them, or Felix’s rocket comes to rest on the crescent moon—and drops away when the moon wanes to a sliver. It was certainly a pleasant way to while away a Saturday afternoon.

And hey, what’s summer without Archie? The Archie folks have been publishing a lot of collected editions lately, and Jughead: Crowning Achievements is notable because it includes “Something Ventured, Something Gained,” by Robot Chicken creator Tom Root. Chris Reilly called it “the best Archie comic I have read in decades,” and it certainly is a great story. There’s also a story on the origins of Jughead’s hat. Again, not rocket science, but a good read for the first weekend of summer.

Michael May

Western Classics

I finished Eureka’s Western Classics anthology this week. It’s the 20th volume in their excellent Graphic Classics series and a worthy heir to the others. Though I love Western movies and TV shows, I’m not well read at all in Western novels and short stories except for some O Henry, so these were all new stories for me. In fact, except for Zane Grey and Robert E. Howard, I wasn’t even familiar with any of the authors.

I especially enjoyed Tim Lasiuta and Dan Spiegle’s adaptation of Clarence E. Mulfurd’s Hopalong Cassidy story, “The Holdup.” Thanks to some vague, childhood impressions of the character, I’d always dismissed Hopalong as a comedic sidekick, not a leading man. “The Holdup” corrected that notion.

Wila Cather’s “El Dorado” -– adapted by Rich Rainey and gorgeously illustrated by John Findley -– was another treat. It’s the story of an Eastern businessman who’s swindled into coming West, but refuses to leave until he gets back the money he invested in the ghost town he now calls home. Findley’s precisely detailed artwork is incredibly eye-catching, but it’s the emotional ride of wondering whether Colonel Bywaters is a stubborn fool or a hero to root for that makes the story special.

The book highlights the diversity of Western stories. There’s a horror story (Bret Harte’s “The Right Eye of the Commander,” adapted by David Hontiveros and Reno Maniquis), a romance (Gertrude Atherton’s “La Perdida,” adapted by Trina Robbins and Arnold Arre), and even an interesting treatise on faith (John G Neihardt’s “The Last Thundersong,” adapted by Rod Lott and Ryan Huna Smith). Even Zane Grey’s classic Riders of the Purple Sage (adapted by Tom Pomplun and Cynthia Martin) is a fantastic combination of romantic opera and Western pulps.

And for those who prefer their cowboys to be tough guys with six-guns, in addition to Hopalong Cassidy and some of Grey’s characters, Robert E. Howard’s “Knife River Prodigal” (adapted by Ben Avery and George Sellas) is exactly what the sheriff ordered.

I also started reading Charles Fulp and Craig Rousseau’s Uncouth Sleuth this week. I expected it to be an irreverent take on classic adventure pulp, but I wasn’t prepared for how irreverent. The main character is named Harry Johnson, so it’s my own fault for not realizing how far Fulp’s willing to take the sex gags, but “uncouth” doesn’t scratch the surface of Johnson’s behavior. It’s strong enough to be off-putting.

Still…Craig Rousseau. I’m a fan, so I’m going to let this sit for a couple of days and then come back to it better prepared.

Tom Bondurant

Green Lantern

Although its scheduling wasn’t optimal, I did enjoy reading this month’s three installments of “War of the Green Lanterns” in one sitting. (Green Lantern #66 was written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Doug Mahnke, GL Corps #60 was written by Tony Bedard and penciled by Tyler Kirkham, and GL: Emerald Warriors was written by Peter Tomasi and penciled by Fernando Pasarin.) It’s been a pretty decent crossover all around — Krona has captured all the various Lantern Corps’ patron entities and taken control of the Green Lantern Corps by putting Parallax into the Central Power Battery. Naturally, our four Earthling Lanterns are able to oppose him, mostly by donning the rings of other Corps. Thus, they get to do ring-slinging with a little bit of a twist, which is nice. What’s more, this arc gives everyone a turn in the spotlight, not just Hal. In fact (spoiler alert), Hal and Guy have to be rescued at one point by Kyle and John. Guy then plays an integral part in fixing the Central Battery, and Kyle gets to repair some lingering damage from when Guy was previously a Red Lantern.

Probably the most dramatic moment goes to John, though, who finds himself having to make an impossible choice. I’m not sure how I feel about this turn of events, but I have to say it didn’t feel as egregious or as gratuitous as I thought it would. On the other hand, having read John’s adventures off and on for a couple of decades now, I’m having a hard time reconciling these events with his past history. In the context of the story, it works, even if it’s by a slim margin. It’s also the kind of thing that I could see being reversed — maybe not soon, but eventually.

I have decided that this summer I will try to go through all of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four, in order to capture all the nuances and subplots which escaped me during the month-to-month experience. Accordingly, this week’s FF #4 (written by Jonathan Hickman, penciled by Barry Kitson) was both a good way to bring together two of Hickman’s plots (the Reeds and the Four Cities) while moving the overall story forward. I also appreciated Kitson’s work on this issue — obviously his storytelling skills are clear and precise, and he’s good with characters too — although I did have to work a little to follow his Spider-Man choreography. The issue ended on a clever cliffhanger, to boot.

Otherwise I still have a couple of books to read from this week, including the Strange Adventures special and Xombi #3, so I’d better get to those….

Tim O’Shea

Ruse

I was hoping for more out of Mark Waid’s Ruse (this week saw the release of issue #3 out of 4). I treasured his initial run on the original CrossGen series and was greatly enthused when Marvel tapped Waid on this for the miniseries revival. The appeal of the series to me was always Simon Archard’s assistant in name only/ partner in reality, Emma Bishop. Hell, the slogan for the miniseries is: “He’s the World’s Greatest Detective. She’s even better.” This miniseries has proven to me that she’s better at finding ways to sport her heaving bosoms in multiple scenes. While Emma is given moments where she is clearly a person of action, it is always beyond her control, frequently being set up by Simon. I guess in a sense, Bishop is Watson (always having to bail out her partner), but with a great pair of legs, as the reader is frequently reminded in some odd layout choices by artist Minck Oosterveer. Bishop is often left to react to plot events and have lines like “Who else could hide a trail this thoroughly?” I went in expecting too much of the miniseries, in the final analyses. But Waid has one more issue to surprise me and make the “She’s even better.” line accurate.

With the latest installments of Secret Warriors (#27) and FF (#4), I have come to the (already obvious to many) realization that Jonathan Hickman’s complex machinations are best read as collected trades, as opposed to individual issues. This issue of FF sports art by Barry Kitson–with his art looking like the Kitson I adore. It would appear that Kitson is inking himself, which is critical for him to look his best. In recent years while working at Marvel, there have been times he’s been inked by others and his art has suffered for it. I throw this question out to the readers (as our great readers always know more than me): “Is Kitson’s work pace/quality that he can only do arcs these days? Is that why he’s not got a permanent assignment on any series?”

As a person who considers Avengers Academy to be the best Avengers book that Marvel currently publishes, I was pleased to see series writer Christos Gage writing the two-issue guest arc on the Amazing Spider-Man (featuring his Avengers cast). For Spidey fans not reading AA, Gage concisely built a tale that capitalized on Peter’s love of teaching and meshed the series’ lead character effectively with the guest stars. One hopes he converted a few Spidey fans to check out AA. Extra points to Gage for writing a funny Spider-Man (essential when writing him, but some writers give the character lines that they think are funny, but often miss the mark)–writing comedy is hard.

Venom #3: Remender had my interest with the first two issues, but he (or the dictates of Marvel editorial) has brought Peter Parker/Spidey into the mix a little too early for my tastes. Also, the revelation of his identity to a villain is being played out too quickly as well. Then again, after weeks of harping about books with glacial pacing, I am grateful for the impressive amount of narrative ground that Remender has covered in three issues. But the aspect that really caught my attention was a letter run in this month’s letter column. The reader explains that as a kid he never read comics, but decided to pick up some for he and his girlfriend after seeing AMC’s Walking Dead. In a market of seemingly decreasing numbers, it’s good to see at least two folks picking up comics for the first time.

The Incredible Hulks #629: For a longtime reader like me, who has always been partial to the soap opera lives of Betty and Bruce Banner, this issue delivered exactly what I wanted. Plus I love any comic that sports Tom Grummett’s clean line art.

Aaron Alexovich

I seem to be reading mostly history books these days… Fatal Purity is a good one. It’s about Robespierre and the French Revolution, but the thing reads almost like a slasher movie. “Who will be The Terror’s next victim?” You can almost FEEL the Guillotine stalking all these characters, waiting for them to slip up and fall under the blade. Which every one of them does… No “Final Girl” in Fatal Purity. Age of Wonder is pretty interesting, too. It’s about science during the Romantic Era, and has a section on all the strange people and bizarre public experiments that inspired Frankenstein. This one guy named Aldini used to plug corpses up to voltaic batteries and make them do tricks for spectators. One corpse “laughed and walked,” it says. Good stuff!

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

As far as comics go, I’ve recently read Fantagraphics’ gorgeous new printing of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, which absolutely blew me away. I’m always impressed by people like Jacques Tardi, who can build these deep, rich worlds out of really loose, simple linework. It’s definitely not a skill I have. The book also has pterodactyls menacing early-1900′s Paris, so it’s pretty much required that I love it.

One of my favorite RECENT comics is Shadoweyes by Ross Campbell. The second volume just came out recently. It’s a superhero story, but not like any superhero story I’ve ever read. It’s dark and creepy and oddly emotional, fantastically well-drawn. Ross has this way of making bizarre things seem so down-to-earth and REAL, which of course just underlines their strangeness. Really recommend those books.

The last one I’ll mention is The Weird World of Eerie Publications. It’s a big, fat non-fiction hardcover about this fairly low-rent magazine publisher in the late 60′s/early 70′s that would redraw old pre-code horror comics with extra gore. (Warren Publishing’s cheapskate, disreputable cousin, in other words.) But what’s incredible about this book are the COVER reproductions… Every one of these Eerie pubs had a bold, garish, almost DELIRIOUSLY over-the-top cover. They’d have, like, robot Dracula and his hunchbacked Wolfman assistant surgically removing a fish-lady’s brain while, say, Mummy Devil kicks in the laboratory door in the background, bloody severed body parts in each hand. You feel INSANE just looking at these things. You’ve got to see this stuff to believe it.

Drew Rausch

I don’t get to go to the comic shop as often as I like, and when I do I end up grabbing trades, which then sit in a large pile (“no human being would stack books like this”) or a shelf ’til a moment in between drawing pages comes up. Still playing catch up, but here’s a couple recent ones:

Mysterius The Unfathomable by Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler: I have a soft spot for modern sorcerer tales. This one’s like taking the best things about Doctor Strange and Doctor Who and then have them illustrated in a Jack Davis-esque style. I really wish there more of these, sadly with Wildstorm going away, my hopes and dreams are once again extinguished.

Locke & Key

Locke & Key Vol 1 by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez: Was recommended this one a lot. I’m hoping it gets better in future installments. Either that or I missed something because I couldn’t get into it. It did a fine job of introducing the world and its rules, but I personally wanted it to be moodier. Gabriel Rodriguez can draw the heck out of some houses though, let me tell you.

Strange Science Fantasy by Scott Morse: Basically a collection of off the wall one shot stories that really capture the hey days of comics, the Jack Kirby pre-Stan Lee days. No frills, no mess, just FUN. I really dig Morse’s bold line art and color palette.

Secret Six: Unhinged by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott: My wife actually brought this one to my attention. Physically handing it to me after she was done, screaming “READ IT!” at me. I admit to it being a bit different than what I’m used to reading, but I was pleasantly surprised. The arc follows a group of DC bad guys (some of which I had to Google) on a mission to get a card forged by the devil, but the plot is almost secondary to Simone’s dialogue which was engaging, without being bogged down with tons of historical back story.

Tr!ckster

Last July, right before the San Diego Comic Con kicked off, a group of creators started planning an alternative to Comic Con International via Facebook and other channels.

“It appeared to us that a dramatic shift was taking place, a move away from individual artists, creators, and comics… There are a number of folks that have decided to bow out this year,” creator Ted Mathot, who creators comics like Rose & Isabel when he isn’t making movies for Pixar, told Brand X last year. He said they hoped to have an alternative to San Diego in 2011.

And now we know exactly what that is — Tr!ckster, a free event that will take place July 19-24 at the San Diego Wine and Culinary Center, which is across Harbor Drive from the San Diego Convention Center. The event will include retail space for creators to sell “creator-owned wares” like “small run and limited edition books, fine art prints, toys, clothing, and more;” a fine art gallery space; and a series of “focused, creator-driven demonstrations and discussions of method, process, and theory concerning the act of creating new, uniquely-voiced works of art.” Each Symposia will be a ticketed event and will feature creators like Mike Mignola, Mike Allred, Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, Skottie Young, Jim Mahfood, Scott Morse, Mathot, Derek Thompson, Greg Rucka, Craig Yoe and more. They plan to run two per day.

The group also plans to offer a $20, 48-page hardcover art book at the event, with illustrations by Mathot, Young, Doug TenNapel, Andy Kuhn, David Mack, Mike and Laura Allred, Mike Huddleston and many more, plus an eight-page story by Morse.

For more information on the event, visit their home page or Facebook page.

If you haven’t checked out Skottie Young and Scott Morse’s joint sketchblog lately, you’re missing some awesome stuff. One of the coolest things about it – besides just some damn good art – is observing their different approaches to the same subjects. For instance, Morse had a very whimsical take on the Spider-Man villains, but I thought that Young captured the magic of Harry Potter especially well. And though Morse is taking a brief break at the moment, it’s going to be tough to beat Young’s Star Wars drawings – including this homage to VW’s Li’l Vader – when he gets back.

It’s not a competition and I don’t mean to make it sound like it is; I just find it fascinating to watch how these two fantastic artists think differently about these various characters and series.

Green Goblin by Scott Morse

Comic creators Skottie Young and Scott Morse have teamed up to launch a brand-new sketch blog called SkottieScott where “you’ll get a daily(?!) punch in the face consisting of character sketches by everyone’s favorite comics makers.” They’ve been drawing Spider-Man’s villains over the past few days, so head over there to see the Green Goblin, Kraven, Mysterio and more.

Crime and Terror

Scott Morse (Strange Science Fantasy, Soulwind) and Steve Niles (30 Days of Night,Criminal Macabre) are teaming up on a new monthly series called Crime and Terror. Both writers announced the project on their respective blogs.

“It’s filled with episodes detailing the events in the life of a detective named Mike Fallon who’s going through some serious personal problems,” Morse said on his blog. “On top of THAT, we’ll be smacking you upside the head with a bunch of short, stand-alone stories: noir, horror, sci-fi, whatever we want. All drawn by me, some written by me, some by Steve. On top of THAT, we’ll be throwing in new prose stories with spot-illos by me. Seriously, monthly is the plan, and every month, you’ll cry with glee as you scream your face off.”

“I’m thrilled about this project,” Niles told me over email. “It’s sort of the ultimate DIY book, Scott and I are emailing each other back and forth with stories and ideas and we’re going straight to the comic page! Scott is incredible and fast and the excitement of see thing thing grow daily is amazing. I did a small Frankenstein book with Scott years ago but that was more of a case of my writing and him doing the art. This is immediate, and spontaneous and I’m loving the results.”

The Frankenstein story appeared in the IDW-published Big Book of Horror, which also included Niles’ collaborations with artists Ted McKeever and Richard Sala.

“Scott and I have known each other for years. I think we actually met at House of Secret, a comic store in Burbank where we all hang. Scott and I both have a huge love of pulp and the pre-hero monster books. Scott actually reads Tales to Astonish and books like that to his boys. I love that,” Niles said. “So we’re doing this. We have no idea where it will wind up, but we’re doing it.”

Morse, whose day job at Pixar keeps him pretty busy, also noted he’s working on another five-issue series for later this year called Ten Against the World, which he described as “hot rods and monsters, Rebel Without A Cause a’la pre-hero Kirby. Kinetic, insane, pure comic.”

by Joëlle Jones

Portland-based writer and editor Jamie S. Rich has one of the most popular and unique sketchbooks I’ve ran across, documenting the various looks and personae of actress Audrey Hepburn. Here’s what he had to say about it:

I was actually working my way through a miscellaneous sketchbook when the Audrey Hepburn one got started for me. Maryanne Snell, who I think was still working at Atlantis Fantasy World at the time, put together a bunch of Audrey drawings for my birthday and it turned out so well, there was no way I could let it end there. I’ve been pretty happy with the contributions over the years. If anything, I wish I could move a little faster at getting new ones, but I think going slow has meant that the people who have contributed have really put time into their drawings. The key to a great sketchbook is to make sure you lead with a couple of really great ones that will scare the living hell out of whoever comes next. No one wants to phone it in when they are going to be sitting alongside Mike Allred, David Mack, and Craig Thompson.

Part of the fun of the project is seeing what Audrey people are going to pick. Will they gravitate to a common movie or image, or will they find something more obscure? I’ve sometimes considered getting odd renditions of her, too. Like when Ross Campbell totally wussed out on me saying the assignment was too scary, I thought about maybe trying to convince him of doing Audrey as a zombie…but then, I don’t care all that much for zombies, so I decided against it. I think Ross is the only guy who said no. People should ridicule him for being such a big sissy, he can’t handle Audrey Hepburn.

Here’s a selection of some of my favorites from his collection — see the full collection so far on his Flickr page and find your own favorite.

Craig Thompson

Scott Morse

Jen Wang

You can buy this book for three bucks

Goodness gracious, look at all the terrific titles that are on sale for $3 over at Top Shelf Productions’ website. That’s some 70 in all, including books by Alan Moore, Jeffrey Brown, James Kochalka, Scott Morse, Liz Prince, and Renee French. Another 30-plus comics and graphic novels are also on sale for suitably impressive amounts — the complete Lost Girls from Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie and the complete Alec: The Years Have Pants by Eddie Campbell may be purchased for just $25 and $20 respectively, for pete’s sake. Top Shelf’s $3 Sale lasts through Friday, September 24th, so get ‘em while the gettin’s good!

Night of the Hunter, by Matt Kindt

Top-of-the-line DVD house the Criterion Collection is no stranger to comics. In addition to employing the likes of Adrian Tomine and Jaime Hernandez to draw covers for classic films from around the globe, they’ve also recently received rave reviews for their deluxe rerelease of Terry Zwigoff’s stranger-than-fiction documentary Crumb.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi by Scott Morse

Brute Force by Scott Morse

But Criterion’s Cartoonist Employment Program goes even further than that. Criterion’s Erik Skillman has commissioned several comics artists to create posters for its upcoming Criterion Cinema film festival during the All Tomorrow’s Parties New York music fest on September 3-5. (Of course, ATP itself has some comics bonafides — The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has curated two of their festivals.) That’s Matt Kindt of Super Spy, 3 Story, and Revolver fame doing Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter above; visit Scalped/Wolverine artist Jason Latour’s blog for his take on Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show, and scroll down to see Scott Morse‘s posters for Jacques Becker’s Touchez Pas au Grisbi and Jules Dassin’s Brute Force. Meanwhile, Jamie S. Rich notes (via Criterion Cast) that Scott Campbell will be providing art for the festival as well, specifically for Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider. The festival takes place September 3-5.

And while you’re at it, why not check out some comics-friendly features on the Criterion website, such as lists of Top Ten favorite Criterion Collection releases from cartoonists Mike Allred, Jaime Hernandez, and Seth, Omega the Unknown writer Jonathan Lethem, rock poster artist Frank Kozik, and animator Bill Plympton? Comics and movies: together at last!

I know, I know; that’s not exactly the most popular opinion to hold, never mind share on a website devoted to comics and the worship thereof, but we all know it’s true. I’m far from the only one who sees solicitations for months ahead, or lists of that week’s new releases, and has at least one “Seriously? There’s really enough of a market for that?” moment. It’s easiest to do when looking at, say, Marvel’s upcoming releases and counting what’re essentially seven monthly Avengers books (Adjectiveless, New, Secret, Academy, alternating bi-monthlies Children’s Crusade and Prime and, of course, New Ultimates and Ultimate Avengers, for those who were wondering about my math), but all it takes is one step inside the non-premier publishers section of Diamond’s Previews to realize that there’s a lot of noise hiding the signal in the world of indie publishers, as well.

Now, I know that I’ve touched a sore spot by mentioning the much-maligned Previews. I mean, I think we can all agree that it’s a blight on humanity, never mind just the comic book biz, right? There are times – Let’s call them “Every month when I see the new catalogue” – when the very thought of Previews is enough to drive me toward a deep depression and despair about that month’s state of comics, in that it almost seems designed to hide all manner of wonderful things contained within from all but the most dedicated of readers at times. But Previews, as badly designed as it may be, is pretty much the definition of a necessary evil when it comes to comic distribution: The industry needs a catalog of everything that’s being released. Retailers and readers need to know what is going to be available, in order to get excited and plan and save up for, as much as bitch and moan and roll our eyes.

The problem isn’t Previews itself, but the amount of books therein, really. Every single month, there is a lot of amazing work solicited in the “back half” of any given issue of Previews, but you have to work to find it amongst all of… well, everything else that’s in there. I know that I’m excited about the new Kevin Huizenga book that’s coming this summer, but it took me looking through solicits for Tarot and Zenescope and literally hundreds of other books I have no interest in to find out about it. That’s not necessarily a slam on those books – Somehow, I doubt there’s a large crossover between those eagerly awaiting the next issue of Return To Wonderland and fans of Scott Morse’s work, to go the reverse route – but an obvious complaint about a really, really obvious problem: Why hasn’t anyone come up with – or, perhaps, implemented – a way to make it easier for people to discover new things that they might enjoy reading without making it such an ordeal?

I think back to things like Warren Ellis’ Artbomb, which was pretty much a review website that operated as tastemaker, but also just the basic idea of organizing comics by genre instead of publisher – More work for Diamond, perhaps, but think of the benefit for readers – or something, anything, that makes each month’s releases seem less like a deluge without rhyme, reason or quality control. Complaining that there’s too many comics coming out doesn’t make sense; there’s no set number of comics allowed per month. But can’t someone do something that makes the back of the catalog less overwhelming every month to make it feel less unnecessarily crowded?

3X4

• AdHouse will distribute 3X4, by Scott Morse, Lou Romano, Don Shank and Nate Wragg, the guys behind Sex and Science and The Ancient Book of Myth and War. AdHouse describes the book as “a unique collection of paintings built around the simple aesthetic of the numbers 3 and 4. Be it shape, line, texture, or color, this collection dares to boldly add a new perspective to modern art.”
• Per Ross Campbell, the sixth edition of his popular Wet Moon series of graphic novels from Oni Press is now slated to come out next year. “I’ll be finished with the book on the same schedule, but Oni has restructured their workflow a bit so their turnaround/build time is longer now, making WM6 most likely a February 2011 release,” he wrote.
• Heidi at the Beat points out that this preview of the London Book Fair by Publishers Weekly reveals that Ben McCool and Billy Tucci are working on a graphic novel adaptation of the film Alexander Nevsky by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein.
• Jim Rugg will debut a new Rambo minicomic at this weekend’s SPACE event.
• Meathaus has scans of a Charles Burns minicomic called Free Shit “with preview art from an upcoming project of his.”
• Rami Efal has self-published Never Forget, Never Forgive, which was originally serialized on the webcomics collective site ACT-I-VATE. “It is a tragedy taking place in 16th century Japan and is a cross between Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood, Sophocles’ Antigone, and Lone Wolf and Cub,” according to the author.

Strange Science Fantasy

Last year Scott Morse shared a series of fun stories called “Strange Science Fantasy” on his blog. They were only up for a short time, and he went on to print them up to sell in San Diego. And now he reports on his blog that IDW Publishing will publish a six-issue Strange Science Fantasy series beginning in July.

“You heard it right, folks: STRANGE SCIENCE FANTASY will hit the stands properly with the help of the amazing IDW, this July through December! Six issues of retro-crazy pure comics storytelling, featuring the stories you’ve come to love here on the blog, CONTINUED! I promise, this will be unlike ANYTHING on the stands this year, and you have IDW to thank!” he wrote. “Oh, and PAUL POPE will be delivering one-page back-up features. PAUL POPE, people!”

The first issue will have an incentive alternate cover, pictured to the right.

Hellboy

Artist Scott Morse shares on his blog several commissions he did at APE last weekend, including this one of Hellboy.

The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend at The Concourse in San Francisco. The show runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Special guests include Jamaica Dyer, Phoebe Gloeckner, Dean Haspiel, Batton Lash, Lark Pien, Dash Shaw and Jeff Smith. I’ll be there covering the show, while Matt Maxwell will have a table to sell copies of Strangeways.

And over the next couple days, I’ll be posting what various companies and creators have planned for the show. If you’d like to be included, drop me the details on where you’ll be, what you’ll be selling and all that good stuff.

Exhibit A Press | Jackie Estrada dropped us a note about what Exhibit A Press (table 312) will have at the show, where special guest Batton Lash will be celebrating 30 years of Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre.

“He’ll be signing the limited-edition Supernatural Law Tales from the Vault Anniversary Special as well as comics and trades,” she writes. “We’ll also have Batton’s ‘monster cameos,’ one-of-a-kind hand-painted miniatures of everyone’s favorite monsters. Plus: new Graphitti Designs Supernatural Law T-shirt!”

More info at www.exhibitapress.com/pages/index.php

SLG Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman sent over an update on SLG’s plans for the show. “Jamaica Dyer will be a special guest, so we will have plenty of copies of her new book Weird Fishes,” she writes. “Jamaica will also be on the panel Personal Stories on Saturday at 5 p.m. with Dean Haspiel, Phoebe Glockner, and Dash Shaw. I’ll be moderating her spotlight panel on Sunday at 12 p.m.”

Things Undone

NBM | Ted Rall and Shane White will be at APE; Rall will have a few copies of The Year of Loving Dangerously, while White will sign copies of the recent release Things Undone (which is sitting on my dresser in my “to read” pile; I should read it before this weekend).

Top Shelf | Brett Warnock posts on his blog that Nate Powell, Grant Reynolds and Jeremy Tinder will be at their booth, along with himself and Leigh Walton. And as always, he’ll be at the Isotope party Saturday night.

Creators | Scott Morse will be on hand doing commissions and selling the last few remaining copies he has of The Ancient Book of Sex and Science.

Manga | Deb Aoki rounds up what various manga publishers are doing at the show.

The Shogunaut

Much like he did with “Dawn of the Gearheads,” Scott Morse is posting comics on his blog again. This time it’s the story of the Shogunaut, and it’s pretty awesome. Go check it out.

Ten Against the World by Scott Morse

As Chris goes through the 2009 catalogs of various publishers like Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly, I thought I’d share a few update on future projects that creators have mentioned on their blogs. First, over on his blog Red Window, Scott Morse says he’s working on a follow-up to The Ancient Book of Myth and War called The Ancient Book of Sex and Science. He’s also got another Magic Pickle book coming out in 2009, as well as what sounds like a gigantic bunch of awesomeness, a ’50s monster book called Ten Against the World:

*TEN AGAINST THE WORLD is in the works, I’m pleased to officially announce. It’s a 160 (or so) page Kirby/Toth-inspired monster comic set in the 1950′s, lots of comic book fun I’m certain Wertham would love. There’s a teaser above. It’s being produced entirely in Photoshop on my Cintique, no pencils, just straight digital black, white, and blue, as an experiment in economics and speed. I’m about 40 pages in at this point. Keep your eyes and ears open for this one, as it may actually hit initially in online installments.

Next, Alex Robinson’s Too Cool To Be Forgotten has been popping up on year-end best of lists here and there (Tim O’Shea had it on his), and over on his LiveJournal he talks about the project he’s just starting starring Santa Claus:

I seem to have finished my script for A Kidnapped Santa Claus. I say “seem” because I will undoubtedly fine tune it as I go.
This is the first time in my entire life I’ve scripted out an entire story from beginning to end, and I gotta say, I don’t know how you people do it. It was an ordeal! Trying to create scenes, just picturing them in my head, only with a keyboard and no visual component was a real challenge. Ideally, we’ll see this paying off with the drawing phase of the book going a lot faster (I hope so since my deadline is closer than I would like!) and hopefully it will all have been worth it.

Amazing Joy Buzzards

Artist Dan Hipp notes that the next Amazing Joy Buzzards book he’s doing with Mark Andrew Smith was due in 2008, but as you might have noticed hasn’t come out yet:

Originally solicited for last month, the deadline came and went, with the book unfinished. It was well on it’s way to completion, but life decided it was time to get in the way, and production on the book has slowed. All I can say is that it’s awesome, it will still be finished, but I can’t tell you when. Truly, I am sorry, as that book has a slice of me sewn into the binding, and it saddens me that I can’t get it to you sooner.

He also says he’s working on the third volume of Gyakushu!, the first two volumes of which were published by Tokyopop before their implosion. He says it’ll likely appear online first, but print copies will appear … in Italy.

Lastly, it isn’t exactly an unannounced project, but Neil Gaiman shares some really nice Andy Kubert artwork from their Batman two-parter over on his blog. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom …