Carrying on in the tradition of other group sketchblogs like Comic Twart and SkottieScott, this quintet of artists are banding together to tackle a different topic each week. For this fivesome, they’re focusing on independent comic books and authors with their inaugural week to cover Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo’s Tellos.

Seeing the art already on display, it’s creating fond memories for Tellos and Wieringo, and dreaming up what these five guys could cover next. Might I suggest Xenozoic Tales?

The Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 3

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading? Today our special guest is John Jackson Miller, writer of Star Wars: Knight Errant and Mass Effect comics for Dark Horse and various Star Wars prose novels. He’s also the curator of The Comics Chronicles research website. His next comics series, Star Wars: Knight Errant, Deluge, starts in August.

To see what John and the Robot 6 crew are reading, click below.

*****

Tim O’Shea

Marvel Adventures #14

Marvel Adventures #14: This story by writer Todd Dezago and the art team of Ron Lim and Scott Koblish reminds me why I love all ages books. A standalone story rarely occurs in monthly comics these days (unless a filler issue is required)–and the set-up needed for multiple issue arcs (and ultimately TPBs) prevents stories from being all-out action like this one. I mean, in Journey Into Mystery #623 (also released this week), I literally had to read one page 4/6 of a page devoted to a bird waiting for the next plot point to occur. I imagine there will be a great deal of padding like this as long as the Fear Itself event plays out. Anyways back to Lim’s art, it’s far simpler (for the younger audience), but I found it refreshing in this Spidey/Thor team-up (a quirky combo in and of itself). At the outset of the story, the creators credited Gerry Conway and Ross Andru for inspiring the story. I may be mistaken but Lim’s layout even seems to carry an extra level of kineticism (much in the vein of Andru’s style).

Free Comic Book Day: Captain America/Thor: It breaks my heart to read this Roger Langridge/Chris Samnee tale..,because it’s so straightforward and delightful. And I’m still wondering why the hell the Langridge/Samnee series underperformed so badly–because it was just as solid as this tale. Extra points to Langridge for working in a Fighting American joke (as well as avoiding the whole “heroes meet/heroes fight/heroes clear up the confusion” cliche. I’ve praised Samnee’s art enough in the past, but this issue it really struck me how great he is at distinctive facial reactions.

Flashpoint #1: This was more enjoyable when it was called Elseworlds. One highlight in this rather uninspired read: Barry Allen drives a car. Extra bonus, he has to borrow his mom’s car, because apparently he’s paid so poorly in this alternate universe he does not own one.

Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #4: How accurate is the 1985 flashback in this month’s issue? A character is wearing an unstructured jacket (thanks to Miami Vice, a 1985 mainstay), so my hat’s off to artist Shawn McManus. Later in the story, there’s a 1986 flashback in which writer Chris Roberson has a chance to work with Snow White and Cinderella’s character dynamics (and how frustrating Cinderella’s cover story could prove). In that same scene, Roberson makes Vertigo history (I am fairly certain) and works in a 1980s Cheers sitcom reference.

Superman #711: Such is the way of media trends: all the outlets that covered that odd “Superman considers renouncing his US citizenship” in Action 900 seem to have missed out on Superman’s speech in tribute to the American Way at the end of Superman #711. (Sidebar: DC and 7-Eleven missed out on some sort of Slurpee cross-promotion giveaway with this issue’s number). Roberson’s run (which he has confirmed on Twitter ends with 714) will only turn out to be seven issues, but it has benefited by being graced with the overall JMS isolated storyline mandate. What I mean is that the story has not had to work in Blackest Day, Doomsday or Flashpoint. It’s just Superman on this Grounded quest. Much was made of Nick Spencer’s recent writing of Jimmy Olsen, but Roberson in essence writes a damn fine Olsen/Superman team-up in this one. And while the overall tale is tied to the Grounded arc, this issue has a slight done-in-one vibe.

Chris Mautner

Flashpoint #1

Flashpoint #1 — I had promised myself I would never delve into another mega-superhero crossover again after going through the drudgery that was Secret Invasion, but having read the first issue of Flashpoint (provided to me by the good people at DC) I may have to rethink my vow. I’m a sucker for the alternate universe/”what if” type stories anyway, but I thought it was a pretty solid introduction. You can see where a good number of the pieces are going to fit in the narrative — The Flash is clearly going to have to make a choice between setting things right and living in a world where his mother is still alive — but I really liked the way Kubert and Johns set this up. I liked that I didn’t have to work too hard to remember who The Outsider was or Shade, just simple, broad introductions that let you know as briefly as possible where everyone stood. I thought Batman’s narration was a bit too purple, and the expository dialogue was stilted at times (especially among the Captain Thunder crew). Also, wouldn’t be this Batman be … really old? At least too old to do the things he’s doing? Those are relatively minor caveats though. I’ve been wooed by solid first issues before only to be swiftly let down, but for now I’m tentatively anticipating the second issue, albeit with crossed fingers.

The Heavy Hand by C. Cilla — A deeply off-kilter graphic novel about a middle-aged schlub who leaves his podunk town to try to get a job with an eccentric professor who is doing something unseemly in a cave. Surreal, nonsensical things happen in between and during his adventures. Then they all go to a party and things really get weird. The likely comparison would be Jim Woodring I suppose, but Cilla seems to be dealing with different demons. Not bad, but the pacing feels slack in parts and just a wee bit too random at times.

JK Parkin

Invincible #70

I recently got caught up on Invincible; I’ve always been a trade or two behind on it, but since it’s being released day-and-date on Image’s iPad app, I figured why not download everything I was missing. I’ve read through the two recent “wars” — the alternate reality Invincible attack, and the Viltrumite war. You can tell the creators are just having a ton of fun with this one, from the big world-altering plots to the character development between Mark, his dad, Eve and my favorite character, his little brother Oliver.

I mentioned earlier this week how much I liked Flashpoint #1. A little background: Barry Allen was never my Flash, not really. I was never a fan or reader of the comic until Wally West took up the mantle. I thought Barry’s death was handled well in Crisis, and he became, to me, one of those characters whose death brought out the best in another character — kind of like an Uncle Ben or a Bucky.

But looking at Flashpoint #1, the Barry Allen plot line was actually my favorite part of the book. I mean, yeah, it’s the main plot line, as we’re introduced to this alternate universe , from his initial discovery that everything is wonky to the parts with his mom and Iris, to the absolutely wonderful traffic jam scene to his confrontation with Batman at the end of the comic. That last page was obviously going for the Big! Shocking! Moment!, but I think it worked in the context of the story, as it really nailed down the “Everything is messed up and I gotta fix this” plot involving Barry. Like Chris, I’m hoping subsequent issues live up to this one.

Finally, I also recently finished the novel The Passage by Justin Cronin. It’s an epic, decade-spanning novel about the vampire apocalypse — with the vampires here being a far cry from what you’d find in Twilight or even American Vampire. They’re monstrous, barely human creatures created in a lab by the government, with mind control powers that lead to things going horribly wrong. The novel is basically broken into two halves, with the first taking place a few years in the future as we learn the back story of this world and the second taking place about 100 years later, as the last remnants of humanity struggles to survive in a vampire world. Excellent, excellent novel that really draws you into the lives of the characters in both time periods.

Tom Bondurant

Batman Inc. #6

Batman Incorporated #6 (written by Grant Morrison, drawn by Chris Burnham) was great fun from start to finish, showing off the “Incorporated” concept in all its versatile forms. I’m hoping Chris Burnham stays on the title for a good long time. His work has echoes of recent Morrison collaborators (and Bat-artists) Frank Quitely and
Cameron Stewart, plus a little Kevin Maguire and Linda Medley to boot; but with an energy all its own. As Justice League International revitalized DC’s signature super-team, so this book is transforming “Batman” from a singular avenging figure into something much more pernicious: an idea. “We’d have to invent him,” indeed.

Speaking of ideas, part of the reason I enjoy the Fantastic Four is their honored spot in the Marvel U’s hierarchy. As such, I always looked forward to their team-ups with other heroes — but especially with Spider-Man, since he has unique relationships with each of them. He’s Johnny’s contemporary (which makes Sue something of a big sister), he shares Reed’s intellectual curiosity, and he and Ben have both felt like outsiders, monstrous or not. Nevertheless, I haven’t really warmed to the Future Foundation’s role in these past couple of issues of Amazing Spider-Man. They’re not bad stories, but I found myself drawn more to the subplot with Carlie than to the FF’s switched-around powers or the secrets of the Sinister Six. Meanwhile, I don’t mind Spidey’s role in FF, because he’s supposed to be part of that book; and I liked when the Avengers showed up earlier in “Big Time.” I guess it’s similar to what Carla talked about a couple of weeks back — my idea of Spidey hasn’t quite expanded to include his being a regular part of Marvel’s first family.

Jesus Saiz picked a heck of a story for his debut as Birds Of Prey‘s regular artist (in this week’s #12, expertly written as always by Gail Simone). While Huntress and the Question team up, the rest of the team goes undercover in what seems like perfunctory caper style. By the end of the issue, however, things have gotten extremely bad, and the worst part is, the Birds have no clue. It reminded me of the end of The Blair Witch Project, in that same it’s-too-late-BANG!-it’s-over sense. (It helps that the setting’s almost the same.) Saiz is a good fit for the book — closer to Nicola Scott’s style than Ed Benes’, but more earthy, and with a good eye for storytelling. It’s more of a subdued feel, which suits this book better than something over-the-top like Secret Six. Ironically, though, this particular issue has a very Secret Six-ish vibe, and I suspect the next one will too….

Brigid Alverson

Bat Boy

I’m a Weekly World News fan from way back‹back when space aliens were endorsing Bill Clinton’s run for president, some guy was frying an egg on his bald head, and the talking carp was telling us to read our Bibles (there were actually two talking carps, and the second one only told us to read our Old Testaments, because he was Jewish … but I digress). So I was tickled pink by IDW’s collection of Peter Bagge’s Bat Boy comics. Based on an actual character that was regularly covered in the paper, Bat Boy was a four-panel strip that picked up on the paper’s obsessions and ran amok with them. In the first sequence, prophetically, Bat Boy kills Osama Bin Laden, but not quite the way it happened in real life. Columnist Ed Anger (“I’m madder than a canary in a blender!”) pops up in these strips, which makes me very happy. I can’t say I exactly miss the WWN — the quality deteriorated quite a bit toward the end‹but these strips bring back some good times.

Still following up on creators I met at Boston Comic Con two weeks ago, this week I checked out Gabriel Dunston’s A Funny Thing Happened Today. It’s a slice-of-life webcomic that follows Dunston’s personal life pretty closely, from big events like having a baby and putting his dog to sleep to little things like losing his toothpaste or the baby farting. The art is competent, and the format is all over the place–strips, pages, photo comics–but the writing makes it a lot of fun to read. By the time I had read all the strips I felt like I really knew Gabriel and his whole family, and that they were the kind of people I would enjoy knowing. One criticism, though: It seems like every blog entry is an apology for posting late or missing a post. While this adds a certain verisimilitude, given the events of his life in the past year and a half, it also gets tiresome, and it’s not very relevant if you are reading through the archives. Other than that, though, it’s a fun read, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

John Jackson Miller

Star Trek

My “new” comics reading stack is so tall it’s no longer able to defy gravity, so a lot of what read right when it comes in is limited to the other Dark Horse Star Wars comics that I need for my own writing. But consistent with my work on The Comics Chronicles website I do enjoy digging through older comics — reading some for the first time, and others with new eyes.

For example, I just finished the first several years of Marvel’s Doctor Strange title (the one that came after Strange Tales) as it appeared in The Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 3. I’d read some of this before but it was fascinating as a writer to watch four greats of the game, Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman, Jim Starlin, and Roger Stern writing the same storyline in succession. Strange, by its nature, was a relatively title to make course-corrections to; it was amusing, for example, to watch Englehart send Clea into a love affair with Benjamin Franklin (!) and to see Wolfman make sure that it never happened. Also, reading it now and knowing it was one of Marvel’s few bimonthlies at the time, the back burner was truly the back burner, plotwise. Doctor Strange invites some house guests one issue, goes off on an interdimensional fandango, and we suddenly remember the guests are still in the Sanctum something like a year later in real time!

I also picked up at C2E2 the complete Marvel run of Star Trek — the first one, right after The Motion Picture. Having adapted a movie for comics myself, I did not envy Wolfman and Dave Cockrum their job of cramming the movie adapt into three issues, but it was interesting to see moments in the comics version that were cut from the script, such as Kirk saving Spock from being mummified in crystal by V’Ger.

In prose, I recently read Then Everything Changed, the new book by Jeff Greenfield, late of CBS — in-depth counterfactual histories of what would have happened if John F. Kennedy had been assassinated before taking office, if Robert F. Kennedy hadn’t been killed, and if Gerald Ford had won reelection. It differs from a lot of “What If” histories in that Greenfield was part of RFK’s campaign, so there’s a “you are there” feel to it. Greenfield wrote an interesting novel some years back, The People’s Choice, that used as its springboard some of the really crazy outcomes that are possible in presidential elections because of the rules embedded in the electoral college. I enjoy stories where strange-but-true minutiae like that can have an outsize bearing on events — I tried to insert some of those moments during my Iron Man as Secretary of Defense storyline a few years ago.

Hoping to get started on the to-read stack before it buries another piece of furniture!

Perhapanauts creators Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau have kicked off a new webcomics feature on the Perhapanauts website. Kicking off today is a new “What if?” style story, titled “Saints & Sinners,” featuring characters from the book by Rich Woodall and Jason Copland. And they’re looking for more stories in a similar vein.

Dezago posted earlier this week that “Tales from the Perhaps” will feature “alternate reality versions of our characters, not the characters themselves. por exemplo; put them in different time periods, different worlds, different story genres. a western, a horror movie, a space opera.”

In addition, they also plan to a series of webcomics called “Strange Tales of the Perhaps,” which he said are “a lot looser and wackier. the sky’s the limit and the weirder, the better! these are our versions of the bizarro comics and the strange tales stories.”

You can find the complete submission guidelines on the site.

Over on the Perhapanauts blog, writer Todd Dezago just wrapped up a “Classic Comics Cover Challenge,” where he asked various artists to redesign classic covers to include characters from the Image Comics series. The artists who participated chose some good ones, including Uncanny X-Men #141 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, but my favorite has to be the one above, featuring Mike Wieringo’s cover to Fantastic Four #524, which was redrawn by Dezago’s half-brother Christian Leaf.

Mike Ploog's Perhapanauts cover

With the Halloween-themed fun we’re having this week at Robot 666 (aka Robot 6)–it seemed like the perfect time to talk to Todd Dezago about the recently released Perhapanauts Halloween Spooktacular One-Shot (featuring stories drawn by the likes of Craig Rousseau, Rich Woodall and Fred Hembeck). Normally in an interview with Dezago, I would characterize him as one of the nicest folks in comics. But in the spirit of the Halloween season, I instead choose to characterize him as the most paranormal-fascinated person in comics. In addition to the one shot (with three stories in it)–we discuss other spooky topics like volleyball and iTunes. You are warned!

Tim O’Shea: Is it apt to say that Halloween is about your favorite time of the year, given your affinity for the paranormal?

Todd Dezago: Oh, Halloween definitely holds a special place in my heart, both for memories of Halloweens past and for the spooky, scary, creepy haunted element!

And I love that we were able to put together this fun and, hopefully, frightening anthology featuring very different artists on very different stories!

O’Shea: What’s the story behind the blog’s PERHAPANAUTS SCARY HALLOWEEN CONTEST?

Dezago: Craig and I have a very loyal following on the Perhapa-Blog–our Perhapa-Family–and it’s always a treat to get a chance to see them bringing their talents and creativity to the stage! The Perhapanauts Scary Halloween Contest is a chance for others to play with our team, to write or draw or do a comic page or two with the characters and show everyone else their stuff! And we have some very talented friends!

O’Shea: Do folks have to be regular Perhapanauts readers to enjoy this Halloween issue or can folks new to the characters enjoy it just as much?

Dezago: No, I think you can jump right in and don’t need to know anything about the team or the characters or the continuity to enjoy this. Hopefully, if you’re not familiar with The Perhapanauts, this issue will pique your curiosity enough to swing by the website and check them out.

O’Shea: Were there certain story shifts you were able to take with the characters in this Halloween setting that you would not normally attempt in the regular book’s continuity?

Dezago: Just doing separate stories apart from the continuity was refreshing. I’ve been so focused on the story arcs so much, building to finally be able to tell these kind of separate, solo, or side-stories–case files–that I now feel that the stories can finally take off from there! It’s more liberating! And more fun!

O’Shea: In terms of art, is this the first time you’ve worked with Fred Hembeck? Also how did the Mike Ploog cover come about?

Dezago: Fred and I have been friends for, like, forever! We’d played volleyball together for years and always wanted to work on some things together! This was our first chance to actually do a story together and, even though we’re pals, it was just so exciting to see him bring his own brand of magic and squiggly knees to the ‘Haps!

My pal, Roger Ash, hooked me up with Mike Ploog while he was interviewing Mike for his Modern Masters book. When Roger suggested we ask Mike for a cover, Craig and I were floored at the prospect, both of us being such huge fans of Mike’s work–Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Abadazad, The Stardust Kid…Mike was so very nice to talk with and exceeded our expectations with his wonderful cover!

O’Shea: How many comic pros do you play volleyball with?

Dezago: Back in the late 90s/early 2Ks, I played volleyball with a legendary group of comic book artists and writers every Tuesday night in the town of Woodstock. I had been at a small comics convention in Kingston and had been befriended by Ron Marz, Fred Hembeck, and Terry Austin and invited to join the group. When I got there I was stunned to see heroes like Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson were part of the gang too! We’d always play hard for a few hours and then go out and have dinner! It was great fun–fast-paced games and good times! I still play every Monday night with Jim, but the rest have all been scattered around the country now.

O’Shea: Other than this issue, of course, care to rank your favorite Halloween comic stories?

Dezago: Well, I’ve gotta go to that early 70s Batman story that was based, I’ve heard, mostly on a trip that a bunch of the young DC writers and artists (Bernie, Len Wein, Glynis Oliver, Denny O’Neil, I think…) took to Vermont for the Rutland Halloween Parade. It’s one of Denny and Neal’s stories–the one with the guy that dresses like the Grim Reaper–and it’s just so dark and moody! I also just love Keith Giffen and Ben Roman’s “i luv halloween” book that came out a couple years ago from Tokyo Pop. It’s both fun and creepy!

O’Shea: What’s the biggest challenge of orchestrating a project like this–with three different stories for one issue?

Dezago: Ha! It should have been a lot easier than it was! I initially had hoped to have this issue out last Halloween and thought it was gonna happen. But it ended up conflicting with our own schedule and continuity, so we pushed it to this year. The coordination was, in many ways, easier as we had three different artists working at once–it just meant having to shepherd each one along at it’s own rate. It all went relatively smoothly and, now that we’re shifting to a mini-series schedule, Craig and I intend to get the books out faster by bringing in more great artists for more great side-stories!

O’Shea: How long has the Perhapanauts been available through iTunes–and what’s response been like for the app?

Dezago: The Haps app (as Craig and I call it here in the Perhapa-Studios… : ) has been available for a few weeks now and we really haven’t heard about numbers on downloads and such. We’re just thrilled to have it out there and hope people will pick it up and show their friends! It–and Tellos–both look absolutely fantastic on the app and, as the issues play out, hopefully we can get more and more people showing their friends.

O’Shea: Unlike some creators, you seem to encourage folks to do fan fiction with the Perhapanauts-why?

Dezago: Our whole plan for the Perhapanauts from square one was to create a team of characters and a paradigm where we could tell really any kind of story we wanted. And, after 14 issues or so, we’ve finally maneuvered things to be able to do just that. In our last story arc, the Perhapanauts became the guardians of the Perhaps, our version of the nexus of all time and space and the doorway to every conceivable alternate reality, what if or elseworld. You wanna story where the Perhapanauts are in the old west…? We can do that! You wanna see the team visit medieval times…? That can happen! They have access to EVERYTHING! And so should YOU. We love to see other people’s versions of our gang and read other people’s stories to see where their imaginations want to take the Perhapanauts! It’s fun!

O’Shea: What’s ahead for the Perhapanauts series?

Dezago: We have a one-shot coming out in February or March called “Molly’s Story” which tells the tale of how our ghost became a ghost, written by Scott Weinstein and me and art by Jason Copland. It looks great! And then, a few months later, we’ll be kicking off the first official miniseries and the next story arc, The Perhapanauts: Fourshadowing, which will be both a great jumping on point and the revelation of quite a few of our long-standing mysteries. And that will be quickly followed by a three part anthology series called Tales From the Perhaps, full of fun short tales of this reality and beyond.

Katelyn Rae Rochelle

While the actual recognition ceremony for the first recipient of “The Ringo”: The Mike Wieringo Scholarship Award was on Saturday night (prior to the HeroesCon Annual Art Auction), Matt Wieringo posted the full scoop on his personal blog on Tuesday. The recipient of the $1,100 award is Katelyn Rae Rochelle, a Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) student who hopes to pursue a career in comic books after graduation. To quote Matt from his announcement: “Remember that name. I think you’ll be hearing it a lot in a couple years.”

Rochelle attended HeroesCon on Saturday and spent some time with one of her instructors, Tom Lyle, at the SCAD booth. She also hung out with Matt and his wife Suzanne. When asked about her genre preference, Rochelle expressed an interest in working in horror–potentially something with werewolves. According to Matt: “We took her around to meet a few of Mike’s friends who offered her some free, friendly advice. Todd Dezago, being Todd Dezago, teased her at every opportunity.”

When reached for comment, Dezago denied Matt’s vicious allegations. In all seriousness, Dezago said of Rochelle: “She was a good sport and is a very talented young artist. I loved the work that she sent in as samples and think that, as Matt says, we’ll be seeing more of her in the future.”

“Though Matt and Suzanne and I were friends before, Mike’s death certainly brought us closer and I can’t think of two nicer, more caring, or generous people,” Dezago said. “Their desire to create the scholarship in Mike’s name, and all the very hard work they’ve put into it, is such a wonderful tribute to his memory and, hopefully, a chance for some struggling students to get a leg up as they rocket toward their artistic futures.”

Matt conceded in the official announcement that the selection process was more challenging than he had expected it to be. “We assumed we’d get the portfolios from the three finalists and one would stand out above all others immediately and that would be that,” Matt admitted. “But this was not meant to be. I guess the finalists wouldn’t have been finalists if there wasn’t something there and the decision was very difficult, almost heart-breaking.”

The criteria for the $1,100 award is detailed at the SCAD website: “The recipient of this scholarship must be a full-time undergraduate student studying sequential art. All applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and demonstrate financial need. Finalists will be expected to submit a portfolio. This scholarship is renewable up to three times as long as the recipient continues to meet established criteria.”

Future plans for the scholarship fund include developing a website, according to Matt. Robot 6 will provide a link to the new website once it is live.