Simpsons
Straight for the art | The battle of the century …
by Roger Cruz
Brazilian comic book artist Roger Cruz shares a watercolor painting of what should be a confrontation of epic proportions — Homer Simpson vs. Peter Griffin. It may not be Hulk vs. Thor, but if there’s food involved, watch out.
- December 13, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn! This week’s shelves were submitted by Richard John Marcej, a toymaker who shares his collection of some of his creations (as well as his comics and other stuff).
If you’d like to contribute to Shelf Porn, it’s easy — just send your photos and write-up to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now here is Richard …
- November 3, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: A publishing news roundup
Dragon Puncher
• The big news of the week is that Top Shelf has not only completely updated and streamlined their Web site, but has also unveiled a whole heckuva lot of new projects for the fall, 2011 and beyond, including new books by Jeff Lemire, Nate Powell, James Kochalka and Chris Eliopoulos. All in all it looks like an interesting line-up, containing a solid mix of all-ages and more adult-oriented material.
• Top Shelf isn’t the only one doing the Web site shuffle. Both Savage Critics and All About Comics have moved/updated their blogs,
• IcV2 offers some more information on Vertical’s plans to publish Osamu Tezuka’s Ayako in the fall.
• Tokyopop is planning to publish Neko Ramen, four-koma (or comic strip) about a cat that runs a noodle shop, and they’re posting sample strips to get folks all hot and bothered.. Look for it in stores in June.
• SLG will publish the debut graphic novel by one Diana Thung, titled Captain Long Ears. Check out our preview from earlier this year here.
• Here’s what the cover to the Essential Superman Encyclopedia will look like.
• And here’s what the cover to the next Zippy the Pinhead collection will look like.
- March 4, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Abrams’ 2010 spring catalog
Art in Time
Art book publisher Abrams jumped into the comics world with both feet last year with their new ComicsArts imprint. What do they have lined up for 2010? Poking around their Web site, I was able to figure out their plans, both via the imprint and their children’s line. They’ve slowed down their output a little but still have a rather impressive array of titles coming out. Fer instance:
- January 21, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Matt Groening’s music festival
Is it possible to make devil horns with a four-fingered hand? I guess we’ll find out when The Simpsons/Futurama/Life in Hell creator Matt Groening curates this May’s All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival in Minehead, England. The lineup, hand-selected by Groening himself in the usual ATP curated-festival fashion, includes such avant-rock notables as Iggy & the Stooges, Coco Rosie, Built to Spill, Panda Bear, Deerhunter, Daniel Johnston, the Residents, Boredoms, the Raincoats, Amadou and Mariam, and Shonen Knife.
This isn’t the first time ATP and Groening have hooked up: The animation and alt-weekly legend (and one-time music critic) also ran a 2003 festival in California that boasted performances from the Stooges, Sonic Youth, Spoon, the Shins, !!!, the Mars Volta, Mission of Burma, Modest Mouse and Cat Power. (You can buy a CD compilation from that show here.) He’s a hip dude, is what I’m saying.
(Via Pitchfork)
- January 7, 2010 @ 12:59 PM by Sean T. Collins
Vatican newspaper praises The Simpsons
The Simpsons got a somewhat unexpected gift under their tree this year … no, not another dog; L’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper of the Vatican, on Tuesday congratulated the show on its 20th anniversary in an article titled “Aristotle’s Virtues and Homer’s Doughnut.”
The article doesn’t appear to be online at the paper’s website, but the Associated Press reports the article praised the show’s “philosophical leanings as well as its stinging and often irreverent take on religion.”
“Religion, from the snore-evoking sermons of the Rev. Lovejoy to Homer’s face-to-face talks with God, appears so frequently on the show that it could be possible to come up with a ‘Simpsonian’ theology,” the article said. No doubt they were talking about segments like this:
- December 24, 2009 @ 09:15 AM by JK Parkin
If you look long enough, maybe you’ll find Stan Lee or Alan Moore
Simpsons 20th anniversary poster
The Hollywood Reporter shares this ginormous poster that Fox released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Simpsons, featuring everyone from Radioactive Man to Maggie’s nemesis, the kid with one eyebrow. You can find the full-size version here.
(I should add, I have no idea if Alan Moore, Stan Lee or any of the other comic folks who have appeared on the show are really there or not; I started to get a headache from looking it for so long and had to stop looking. So let me know if you find them!)
- December 17, 2009 @ 09:15 AM by JK Parkin
D’oh!: Marge Simpson poses for Playboy
Where's Nelson Muntz when you need him?
TMZ ruined a lot of people’s mornings today by revealing that The Simpsons‘ blue-haired matriarch Marge will appear on the cover of the November issue of Playboy. “Sexy cartoon lingerie” will feature in her non-nude pictorial, or whatever you’d call it, inside. That sound you heard is your childhood dying.
Link via Topless Robot, whose reaction–”I’m going to get a large glass of scotch now. I’m not sure whether I’m going to drink it or pour it in my eyes, but if a f*cking jet engine falls out of the sky on to me on the way, I won’t mind”–is typical of many Simpsons fans. (Go grab a copy of the awesome new Treehouse of Horror issue to cleanse the palate, gang.)
- October 9, 2009 @ 09:45 AM by Sean T. Collins
What Are You Reading?
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Well bust my buttons, if it isn’t time for another round of What Are You Reading, where we talk about all the comics, books and other reading matter we’re currently engrossed in. Our guest this week is High Moon co-creator and writer David Gallaher, who’s been blogging with us at Robot 6 all this past week.
David has quite a list of titles to pour over, so let’s get to it. Click on the link below to get started.
- October 4, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Own a little bit of Simpsons (comic book) history
Zettwoch's Simpsons cover
Hey kids, didya like that recent Simpsons Treehouse of Horror issue? You know, the one featuring folks like Kevin Huizenga, Dan Zettwoch and Jeffrey Brown? Well, now you can own a piece of it, as editor Sammy Harkham is selling off the original artwork. I blew all my spending cash at SPX last weekend, but perhaps you might have a couple extra hundred lying in your sofa somwhere. (found via Comics Comics)
- October 2, 2009 @ 09:19 AM by Chris Mautner
SDCC ’09 | But who holds the record for the most fat Supermen in one place?
Guinness World Records was at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend presenting awards for various records achieved by comic books, TV shows and other activities you might associate with the con. Here’s a complete rundown of what they presented:
DC's Paul Levitz and Guinness’ Craig Glenday
Longest Running Sitcom and Longest Running Animated TV Series – With over 443 episodes, The Simpsons is the longest running sitcom (by episode count) and longest running animated series. During its 20th season (2008-09), The Simpsons finally overtook the 435 episodes of former record holder The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-66).
Best-selling Comic (single edition) – Spider-Man No.1, first published in August 1990, is the Best-selling Comic (single edition). With an initial print run of 2.35 million, the record-breaking edition was sold with a variety of differently colored covers and several reprints were ordered to keep up with high public demand.
Longest Continuosly Published Comic Book – The longest running comic book is Detective Comics, which has been printed continuously by DC Comics in the USA since Issue #1 in March 1937. The comic introduced the character of Batman in Issue #27 in May 1939.
Most Successful Sci-fi TV Show – Doctor Who, the longest running sci-fi television show, is now the Most Successful Sci-fi Show on Television. Based on the length of the show’s run and international sales data, the series about the adventures of the iconic Time Lord was presented with the new record at Comic-Con 2009 International.
Most Digital Effects in a TV Series – Farscape employed about 25 computer artists to create between 40 and 50 effects shot per episode. The effects team had just seven days to work on each episode, at a rate of 22 episodes per year.
Largest Gathering of Zombies – The record largest gathering of zombies was achieved by 3,894 participants in the ‘Red White and Dead Zombie Party’ in association with Night Zero on July 3, 2009 in Seattle, Washington. Ryan Reiter, Artistic Director for Freemont Outdoor Cinema Events.
Picture via The Source
- July 27, 2009 @ 01:58 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’09 | Charity auctions, panels, hookups, scalping and more
Comic-Con
The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con kicks off with preview night on Wednesday, July 22 and runs through Sunday, July 26. If you are a publisher, creator, retailer or any other kind of exhibitor who would like to let folks know about any special plans you have for the show (panels, signing schedules, exclusives, debuts, etc.) drop me an email and I’ll run it here.
Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Things From Another World have teamed up to create a set of limited edition cards by various comic creators that will be handed out by various publishers, the CBLDF and TFAW. The original artwork for the cards will be auctioned off at the con, with proceeds going to the fund. Contributors include Mike Mignola, Phil Hester, Eric Powell, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon, Steve Lieber and many more.
Panels | Although the official programming schedule hasn’t been released yet, a few companies have started sharing their panels via press releases and such. Thursday at the con brings a panel on Disney animator Walt Stanchfield, who is profiled in a new book called Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes.
Also, FOX TV has released their schedule. They’ll have panels dedicated to the Simpsons, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show (a Family Guy spinoff), 24, Futurama and Bones. They’ll also have Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku on hand to introduce a never before seen episode of Dollhouse. And they’ll have a panel dedicated to their new show Glee, where they’ll show another episode. You can watch the first one on Hulu; it is hilarious.
Interestingly enough, the release doesn’t mention Fringe, but there will be a panel with several members of the cast.
- June 25, 2009 @ 08:58 AM by JK Parkin
Jeffrey Brown’s ‘Bad Milhouse’
Bad Milhouse
Jeffrey Brown, one of several creators contributing to Bongo’s Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror comic this year, shares some rough sketches of the first page of his story here and here. His story, “Bad Milhouse,” features Bart’s best friend in a story inspired by the TV movie Bad Ronald.
- June 19, 2009 @ 12:33 PM by JK Parkin
Kramers Ergot meets the Simpsons in this year’s Treehouse of Horror
©2009 Bongo Entertainment, Inc. The Simpsons © & ™Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
I somehow missed this in Tucker Stone’s report from MoCCA last week, but luckily Heidi over at the Beat caught it — Stone spoke with John Kerschbaum about his future projects, and the creator revealed that he’s working on this year’s Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror book for Bongo Comics.
Kerschbaum isn’t the only one working on the book, though; as you can see below in the solicitation copy that Bongo was kind enough to send us, they’ve recruited a Murderer’s Row of creators, including Jeffrey Brown, Kevin Huizenga, Matthew Thurber and many more, and it’s edited by Sammy Harkham of Kramers Ergot fame:
Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #15
Edited by Sammy Harkham
$4.99
48 pages/standard format/color/humor
UPC: 01511 (7-98342-02851-5)Guest edited by Sammy Harkham, the award-winning creator of the popular Kramers Ergot anthology, this year’s issue is a jam-packed with some of the most idiosyncratic (and weirdest) takes on “The Simpsons” universe ever. Among Halloween-inspired short strips by such visionary cartoonists as Jordan Crane (Uptight), C.F. (Powr Mastrs), Will Sweeney (Tales from Greenfuzz), Tim Hensley (MOME), and John Kerschbaum (Petey & Pussy), are four featured tales of inspired Simpsons lunacy: heralded artists Kevin Huizenga (Ganges, Or Else) and Matthew Thurber (1-800 Mice, Kramers Ergot) collaborate on a weird and wild story equal parts Lovecraftian eco-horror and Philip K. Dick identity comedy. Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change-Bots, Clumsy) does a creepy and suitably pathetic story featuring Milhouse in a “Bad Ronald”-inspired tale of murder and crawl space living. Harkham and Ted May (INJURY) pull out all the stops for a tragic monster tale of unrequited love, bad karaoke, and body snatching at Moe’s Bar. Ben Jones (Paper Rad) does the comic of his life with an epic tale of how bootleg candy being sold at the Kwik-E-Mart rapidly spirals out of control into an Invasion of The Body Snatchers-like nightmare of a Springfield filled with cheap bootleg versions of familiar characters. And nobody does squishy, sweaty, and gross like up and coming cartoonist Jon Vermilyea (MOME), who outdoes himself with “C.H.U.M.M.,” a C.H.U.D.-inspired parody featuring everybody’s favorite senior citizen, Hans Moleman!
With a cover by Dan Zettwoch, Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #15 is like nothing you’ve ever seen, and is sure to be one of the most talked about comics of the year by alternative comic readers and Simpsons fans of all ages!
This goes on my “must buy” list.
- June 17, 2009 @ 04:01 PM by JK Parkin