Shawn Martinbrough
Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive ends in February
Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive #529
Even as Comic Book Resources reports the cancellation of Ghost Rider, a preview of Marvel’s February solicitations reveals Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive will end with Issue 529.
Spinning out of the publisher’s “Shadowland” event, the title launched in December 2010 as Black Panther: The Man Without Fear, picking up the issue numbering of the ending Daredevil as T’Challa became the new guardian of Hell’s Kitchen. The series was written by award-winning mystery author David Liss (A Conspiracy of Paper, The Ethical Assassin), joined by such artists as Francesco Francavilla, Shawn Martinbrough and Michael Avon Oeming.
The solicitation text for Issue 529 teases, “Kingpin vs. T’Challa in this status-quo changing series finale,” raising the possibility that Black Panther could relaunch, or revert to a previous title and numbering. However, October sales estimates place the series at about 18,000 copies, below Marvel’s traditional line of death, and less than the just-canceled X-23 and Ghost Rider.
Those titles join a rapidly growing list of recent Marvel cancellations that includes Alpha Flight, Victor Von Doom, Destroyers, Iron Man 2.0 and All-Winners Squad. In addition, PunisherMAX concludes in February with Issue 22.
Update (1:12 p.m. PT): Liss has commented on Twitter, writing, “Sadly the news is true. Our Black Panther run ends in February with #529. But keep reading until the end. It’s going to be a wild ride!”
- November 17, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
What Are You Reading? with Rik Offenberger
Green Lantern #3
Hey kids, it’s time once again for What Are You Reading?, a weekly look into the reading habits of your Robot 6 bloggers. This week our special guest is Rik Offenberger, comics journalist and public relations coordinator for Archie Comics.
To see what Rik and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
- November 13, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M.| Retailers on print vs. digital; Yang on comics, Christianity
Justice League #1
Retailing | Sacramento, Calif.-area retailers are relatively unconcerned about DC Comics’ newly launched digital initiative or an immediate threat to their bottom lines from digital comics. “I just see it as another way of kind of expanding the whole readership,” says Dave Downey, who runs World’s Best Comics. “If you missed an issue of Spider-Man, and you can’t find it anywhere, you can always go online and read it that way.” However, Kenny Russell of Big Brother Comics sees a time, “years off,” when that will all change: “It’s inevitable, and this is kind of the first step. In no time, iPads are going to be good enough, and it’s going to be easy enough, and it’s going to come out the same day where people are going to just read their comics on their iPads.” [Sacramento News & Review]
Comics | Gene Luen Yang explores the tangled history of comics and Christianity, both of which, he points out, were started by a bunch of Jewish guys who loved a good story. (Good-sized excerpt at the link; full article requires free registration.) [Sojourners]
- September 1, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
SDCC ’11 | Robert Kirkman spills the goods on Thief of Thieves
Thief of Thieves #1
Robert Kirkman has at last revealed details of Thief of Thieves, a collaboration with Morning Glories writer Nick Spencer first teased a year ago with the launch of the Skybound imprint.
The Walking Dead creator tells USA Today he’ll employ a writer’s room approach similar to what occurs with television series, with he and Spencer hammering out the overall plot, and a team of scribes trading off on story arcs. (It appears virtually identical to the model used by Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, on which Joss Whedon served as executive producer.)
Spencer will pen the first arc of Thief of Thieves, which follows an aging international art thief who decides to retire from the game and instead steal from other criminals. “He’s got this compulsion where he has to steal or he doesn’t feel like he’s living, but he doesn’t want to break the law anymore,” Kirkman tells the newspaper.
Shawn Martinbrough, known for his noirish approach on such titles as Luke Cage Noir, Angeltown and DMZ — he even wrote the book How to Drawn Noir Comics — will be the permanent artist. Kirkman will step in at some point to pen his own arc. However, he’s keeping the names of the other writers a secret; presumably at least some of them will be revealed this week at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Visit USA Today to see a preview of the first issue. Thief of Thieves debuts early next year from Kirkman’s new Image Comics imprint Skybound.
- July 19, 2011 @ 07:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: Shawn Martinbrough
Luke Cage Noir
I first took notice of Shawn Martinbrough‘s work during his and Greg Rucka’s run on DC’s Detective Comics back in the early 2000s. While his storytelling skills were great then, they’ve only improved over the years and can currently be appreciated in Marvel’s Luke Cage Noir miniseries, set in 1930s Harlem (Issue 2 was released on September 2; Issue 3 will be out on October 7). Actually, I’ve wanted to interview Martinbrough since 2007 when he wrote How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling, so we discussed that book before moving on to his current Marvel work, as well as his upcoming Studio Museum exhibit on Luke Cage.
Tim O’Shea: How did your How to Draw Noir Comics book come into being?
Shawn Martinbrough: My friend and colleague Joseph Illidge mentioned that I should pitch an art instruction book based on my art style. I approached Jackie Ching, an editor at Watson Guptill who was also a friend and colleague about the concept. She was very interested and suggested I create a proposal. I turned around a proposal for “How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling” within two weeks and shortly after it was approved by the higher ups.
- September 12, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Tim O'Shea