Legal

Legal | Defense testimony began in the Michael George trial  Monday after the judge denied a motion by the defense to order an acquittal. George’s daughter Tracie testified that she remembers her father sleeping on the couch in his mother’s house the night in 1990 when his first wife Barbara was shot and killed in their Clinton Township, Michigan, comic store. Another defense witness, Douglas Kenyon, told the jury he saw a “suspicious person” in the store that evening and that Barbara George, who waited on him, seemed nervous. [Detroit Free Press]

Conventions | Last weekend’s Alternative Press Expo inspired Deb Aoki to offer a burst of suggestions on Twitter as to how it could be made better. Heidi MacDonald collected the tweets into a single post, and the commenters add some worthwhile points (including not scheduling it opposite the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which attracts much of the same audience and is free). [Deb Aoki's Twitter, The Beat]

Awards | Ian Culbard’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness won the British Fantasy Award for best comic/graphic novel, presented Saturday by the British Fantasy Society. [The British Fantasy Society]

Action Comics #2

Creators | Ahead of the release of Action Comics #2, Grant Morrison talks more about his vision of a younger, brasher Superman: “Definitely, we needed to see a Superman who could be beat up a little bit and could suffer a little bit more like us, rather than the character who could juggle planets. That was a definite decision, and also to bring him to a dead standstill. I wanted the speeding bullet that brings him to a dead stop, so that we could start the second issue with Superman in chains. He’s trapped, he can’t move and it’s about getting him out of that situation.” [USA Today]

Creators | Michael Cavna chats with Art Spiegelman about MetaMaus, the new book and DVD package marking the 25th anniversary of Maus. [The Washington Post]

Habibi

Creators | Craig Thompson talks at length about his new graphic novel Habibi: “I hate using the terms East and West because they are purely imaginative boundaries. But in the Western world, at least, art is placed on this pedestal. There’s so much ego tied up in the artistic process. In contemporary art, in fine arts, it’s more common for the artist to be more of an overseer, where they come up with the concept, but then they dictate all the actual labor to a bunch of unnamed assistants. And that’s always really offensive to me. We cartoonists in general have a more modest approach to our work where it’s just got to be us alone in our studio for hours and hours. You can’t fake comics really, or actually you probably could, but not in the old-fashioned alternative comics world. Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, there’s all these artisans and craftsmen who work meticulously and have a lot more skill, but do it without the monetary reward and the egotistical reward. So I did want to pay tribute to those people. But even that sounds a little pretentious, because I was still just working with the very malleable form of ink on paper. I’m not carving wood or laying tile-work or doing something much more complex.” [The Millions]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes chats briefly about The Death-Ray. [io9.com]

Creators | Carolyn Supinka interviews creators Anders Nilsen [Big Questions] and Marc Bell (Pure Pajamas), who are both touring the East Coast to promote their latest work. [The Tartan]

Creators | Brian Heater wraps up his four-part interview with Tom Neely. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | The student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin profiles Paul Maybury. [The Daily Texan]

Creators | Because he can’t draw, blogger Matthew J. Brady documents 24-hour Comics Day in a fumetti based on the events at Challengers Comics in Chicago. [Warren Peace Sings the Blues]

Codename Sailor V

Manga | With the new release of Sailor Moon and its prequel, Codename Sailor V, fresh on the stands, Thalia Sutton explains why Sailor Moon is important and how this release is different from all those that came before. [Suvudu]

Manga | For those curious to see manga in its native habitat, Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at Kodansha’s seinen (young men’s) manga magazine Afternoon, the home of Genshiken, Blade of the Immortal and Oh! My Goddess. [Three Steps Over Japan]

Comics | Francoise Mouly’s Toon Books will publish children’s graphic novels using the art of French illustrator Claude Ponti (Tromboline & Foulbazar) but adding a new storyline for English-language readers. The first book, Chick and Chickie in Twin Stories, is due out in February. [ICv2]

Review | Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at the first two volumes of Dark Horse’s Archie Archives, noting that the stories get a lot stronger once Veronica enters the picture. The books have no extras — the first volume lacks even a table of contents — and she recommends dipping in from time to time rather than sitting down and reading all the stories at once. [Comics Worth Reading]

Scene | Frank Santoro presents a comics-eye-view of Pittsburgh, with a writeup on the local comics scene by Ed Piskor, some art by local comics creators, and links to lots of other Steel City comics goodness. [The Comics Journal]

Webcomics | And speaking of Ed Piskor, he wrapped up Wizzywig recently and has jumped right in with a new webcomic Deleterious Pedigree. [Wizzywig Comics]

But now we know.

Jumping from Fantagraphics to New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly’s Toon books, Johnson is passing off the art chores in favor of writing for artist Trade Loeffler, who drew the Zig & Wiki series for the publisher as well. Details are non-existent on the book itself, but now we know what to look for.

Although it’s been six years since Johnson’s last major book, he’s kept busy doing magazine illustrations and short comics for a variety of outlets including Marvel’s Strange Tales anthology, The New York Times and The Believer.

Little Mouse Gets Ready, and he teaches French as well!

Toon Books, the early-reader comics imprint helmed by Francoise Mouly, is relaunching three of its iPhone apps: Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons, by Agnes Rosensteihl; Jack and the Box, by Art Spiegelman, and Little Mouse Gets Ready, by Jeff Smith. Yes, you can get comics by the creators of Maus and Bone for free! All are worth a look on their own merits, and they also make an excellent distraction should you find yourself in the company of bored, fidgety children.

Of course, the free app is just the start—as soon as you open it up, you get the option to purchase an audio version in English or a variety of other languages.

I looked over the Little Mouse app, and it looked good, although the automated page turns are a little disconcerting. (You can turn that off from the start menu but not once you are reading the book.) All three books were originally published in a landscape format so they fit nicely on the screen, and the resolution is good even when blown up to double size for the iPad. And compared to $12.95 for the hardcovers, the free app is a steal.

To paraphrase Mary McCarthy, every word in Françoise Mouly’s interview with CBR’s Alex Dueben is fascinating, including “and” and “the.” It’s a marvelously insightful look at nearly every aspect of the legendary RAW, New Yorker, and Toon Books editor’s multifaceted career: The status of Toon Books, the challenges of producing educational books for children that are also fun to look at and read, her personal history with comics, the importance and legacy of her and husband Art Spiegelman’s seminal alternative-comics magazine RAW‘s production values, the shift among underground/alternative cartoonists’ careers from character-focused (a la Zippy, Jimbo, and Adele Blanc-sec) to creator-focused, her duties and work style as The New Yorker‘s art editor, working with visual artists from across the comics and illustration spectrum, her dream of an increased presence of actual comics in the magazine, R. Crumb’s apparent New Yorker beef, Toon Books’ upcoming slate…pure gold from one of comics’ most influential figures.

Here’s a sample:

[Dueben:] …I know that you studied architecture in school. Were you a comics fan as a child?

[Mouly:] I’m not the only would-be architect that gravitated towards comics. There are a lot of architects in comics, especially in Europe. The two disciplines have a lot in common in terms of organizing information in a visual way and the back and forth between form and function. That mental gymnastics that you have to do between how it looks and how it works. As a kid, I was a comics fan, and so was everybody else I knew. I grew up in France. Everybody read comics.

[...]

Why did I switch from architecture to comics? Specifically, because when I was studying architecture, one of the things that endlessly frustrated me was the disconnect between the architect’s vision and what he or she can actually accomplish. Architectural school is an eight year course of training. You are told to envision a school, a museum and apartment complex, a city even. Nobody answered my query, which was, this has nothing to do with what we’ll be doing as a functioning architect. We’re not just going to sit there and make cities. It really bothered me that the practical aspect of being an architect, ninety-eight percent would have consisted of sitting in somebody else’s office and drafting. And not necessarily drafting anything that exciting.

I kept struggling with this, and when I discovered graphic arts and book making, a lightbulb went off. This is my field. With book making, I can actually conceive of something and design it and edit it and get it drawn and do all of the steps, and then I can print. I actually fell into this by buying a printing press and printing my own little books. That’s how “RAW” was born, because of that urge of wanting to make something that I envisioned and being able to give it shape. I’m still high on that ability of, “This doesn’t exist, but I can make it happen.”

Dueben notes in his introduction to the interview that when asked questions about herself rather than her colleagues and collaborators, Mouly appears almost disinterested. I guarantee you you won’t be. Read the whole thing.

H Day

There’s a horrific beauty to the art of Renée French. With her most recent work, H Day (published by Picturebox and set to ship on October 15), the beauty is built on pain, given that the book’s creation was partially fueled by French’s struggles with migraines. The last graphic novel that both challenged and engaged me in such a manner as H Day did is likely Joshua Cotter‘s Driven by Lemons. I’ve been interviewing French for a number of years, and I never tire of discussing her craft with her. Back when I last interviewed her, we briefly discussed a (then upcoming) project, Towcester Lodge, and I was glad to find out the fate of that project (as well as how H Day grew out of that creative effort). French is one of the special guests at this weekend’s APE 2010. My thanks to French for her time, and to Robot6 6′s own Sean T. Collins as well as Picturebox’s Dan Nadel for helping make the interview happen.

Tim O’Shea: How early in the development of H Day did you realize the bed scenes would play such a pivotal part?

Renée French: I’d been doing line drawings and diagrams of the inside of heads, sort of diagrams of the pain that comes with a migraine, and once I decided to try to draw the stuff I visualize when I’ve got a headache, (the city drawings) the diagrams progressed into the sequence that is in the book (the bed drawings). How confusing is that?

O’Shea: Am I correct in thinking the “bed” pages are drawn in a different style/medium?

French: Everything in the book is drawn with a .3mm mechanical pencil using 2B graphite, including the bed scenes, but they are in very different style from the drawings on the city side of the book. The line drawings are meant to relate over to the tonal drawings and back and forth visually even though the narratives are paced differently. There are a lot of different ways to read it.

O’Shea: Did you hesitate at having narrative constants throughout the tale (the lead character stands for the early stages of the book, appearing in almost every other page, with the action happening around the character’s head, while the rest of the body maintains the same pose).

French: Well, a migraine whites out pretty much everything except for your head. I mean, your head becomes the center of everything. Those lead character drawings represent the real-ish physical world of the person with a migraine.

O’Shea: Have you battled migraines all your life?

French: I’m not sure how old I was when I had my first one but I’m guessing, 12. They run in my family.

O’Shea: It’s been around three years since your last graphic novel (2007′s micrographica), and yet you’ve maintained a blog since 2008. Did having the blog to maintain your presence in the market lessen the urgency to publish again?

French: I hadn’t thought of it that way, the blog I mean. It’s more of a compulsion at this point. Sparkplug published my book, Edison Steelhead’s Lost Portfolio in 2008 which wasn’t a graphic novel, so I haven’t done a storybook since 2007 but I have been writing the whole time. So it seems like I haven’t been away from storytelling.

O’Shea: How did H Day land at Picturebox, instead of one of your previous publishers?

French: A few years ago I’d started a project that involved both drawings and photographs, called Towcester Lodge, and I took it to Dan because it felt like a Picturebox book. And that book, after making me crazy, lead to this book.

O’Shea: What’s the status on Towcester Lodge?

French: I filled two notebooks cover to cover with dialogue and story and drawings for Towcester Lodge and then one day a friend came over and we did a timeline of the story on a roll of tracing paper. It took all day. Totally ridiculous. And then I unrolled the timeline and no kidding it went down the hall and hit the far end of the house and there was still more to go. I realized it would take me like 10 years to finish a book like that, and I didn’t feel I could spend that much time on that book. so it’s in my closet now. Maybe it’ll end up in some other form but as an illustrated book I don’t know…nuts.

I started H Day as a sort of response to that overly detailed, backstory-heavy work in progress.

O’Shea: I found it curious that in terms of the “thank you” for the book, you emulated the title “H Day” by referring to everyone as first initial and then last name (“r ayuyang, e baek, a baumgold…).. Did you consider listing yourself as “r french” for this project?

French: Yeah, no, but I like how the thank yous look.

O’Shea: There are no words in H Day (except for identifying the different stages to the story). Did you ever consider adding words at any point, or was the plan for this always to be mostly a silent book?

French: No, seriously after the Towcester Lodge thing, I was pretty disgusted with words. I mean, I love silent storytelling so it’s not a stretch there are no words in the book but it was a deliberate move to start a story with the images, instead of writing it down first.

O’Shea: Should we keep an eye on your blog for an idea of your next project?

French: The next book project is a TOON book for Françoise Mouly. It’s in very very early stages so it doesn’t have a title yet or anything. I’ve got a group show at Meltdown in LA coming up in November and a solo show in NYC at Baumgold Gallery in early December. The blog marches on day after day for now.

Maus Vol. 1

Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.

Today we’ll be traipsing through the body of work of one of the most significant (if not exactly prolific) American cartoonists of this modern age, Art Spiegelman.

Why he’s important

Even if his pen never touched paper again, Spiegelman would have his name etched in comics history until the sun swallows the Earth for Maus, his memoir/biography concerning his father’s harrowing time spent first hiding from the Nazis in Poland and then suffering in the Auschwitz concentration camp. It’s a complete tour de force from start to finish and one of the few unanimously agreed-upon entries to enter the modern comics canon.

Thankfully he has continued to make and champion comics, however, producing work that, if not equal in stature to Maus (and what really could be?), are often thought-provoking and invigorating nevertheless. A constant cheerleader for the medium, he has (along with his wife, Francoise Mouly) has fought the good fight to get comics to lose their red-headed stepchild status, both by trumpeting a variety of important cartoonists in anthologies like Raw magazine (which he edited with Mouly), and as a critic, scholar and speaker.

Where to start

The Complete Maus

Well duh. There’s a reason Maus won that Pulitzer Prize and all those accolades. Even in the almost twenty years since its completion, the book remains an astounding accomplishment, a thoughtful, emotional examination of both the Holocaust and Spiegelman’s relationship with his difficult father. It seamlessly blends straightforward narrative with an almost avant-garde visual style (its key conceit being that the Jews are drawn as mice, the Germans as cats). For many newcomers, young and old, Maus often serves as their starting point into the world of comics.

If you can find a copy, and you can play Hypercard files on your computer (and if you do, isn’t it time to get a new computer?) you should also try to find The Complete Maus CD-Rom, a nice addendum of notes, photos and assorted research materials used to make the book. (The rumor is a DVD version is in the making.)

From there you should read

The recently re-released Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist As a Young %@*$! provides a glimpse into Spiegelman’s early (sort of) years, and highlights his more  formalist, experimental side. It’s smart, genre-defying stuff, and those who love seeing the boundaries of the medium get prodded, poked and pushed will especially enjoy what’s on display here. Look closely enough, and you can see many of the techniques that he’d later employ in Maus. Originally printed in the late ’70s, Pantheon re-released the book in 2008, along with a new, lengthy introduction from the author that sheds some more light on the material and his own personal make-up.

Breakdowns

After Maus, Spiegelman’s other “big” work is arguably In the Shadow of No Towers, his response to 9/11. It’s a series of one-page, landscape formatted essays that combine Spiegelman’s interests in the visual underpinnings of the medium and autobiography. Visually, the book is a wonder, full of panels that zig-zag. criss-cross and tumble around one another  in an attempt to convey the inner chaos the author felt immediately after the attacks. Thematically and textually, the book is a little weaker, which is not helped by the fact that Spiegelman’s strips end at the halfway point and the rest of the book is padded out with a collection of early 20th century comic strips. Still, while Shadow has its faults (and certainly its fair share of critics), it remains, I think, the most logical next step for those interested in exploring his work.

Further reading

Comix, Essays, Graphics and Scraps: From Maus to Now is a nice collection of the artist’s work during the 1990s (and before), featuring a variety of illustration and little-seen comics work, including his striking covers for the New Yorker magazine. The book’s out of print and a bit hard to find, but it’s worth tracking down.

In the Shadow of No Towers

Spiegelman has also written two children’s books, Open Me, I’m a Dog and Jack and the Box (the latter done for Mouly’s line of young reader comics, Toon Books). Kids will likely enjoy both, though of the two I probably prefer Dog.

You can also see some more of his all-ages work in the Little Lit series of books he edited with Mouly Big Fat Little Lit offers a nice “greatest hits” collection of the anthologies, though really all of the three initial books are enjoyable.

Ancillary material

Spiegelman is equally well regarded for his work as an editor, particularly on Raw magazine. I could write a dozen other posts about that anthology’s significance and influence, but suffice it to say that if you want to discover its wonders for yourself, track down a copy of Read Yourself Raw, which collects the first three issues, and/or the three chunky volumes of the Penguin series that followed afterward.

Those looking for more “behind the scenes” type work should check out Be a Nose! a trilogy of sketchbooks from the 70s, 80s and 00s, published by the McSweeney’s folk.

For those interested in Speigelman’s scholarly side, check out Jack Cole and Plastic Man, a loving tribute to the Golden Age cartoonist, ably and somewhat frenetically designed by Chip Kidd.

Finally, there’s Art Spiegelman: Conversations, which, as the title suggests, compiles various interviews he did over the years in one fat book.

Avoid

Unsure of what to tackle after completing Maus, Spiegelman set his sites on illustrating Joseph Moncure March’s poem, The Wild Party. The illustrations (this is a strictly no-comics affair) are decent, but somewhat bland and obvious. To my mind this is the weakest entry in his bibliography.

Unless, of course, we’re talking about The Narrative Corpse, an interesting but decidedly lackluster comix jam experiment Spiegelman edited, that had cartoonists from all walks of life and genres (Mort Walker, S. Clay Wilson, Will Eisner, etc.) penning three panels of an incomprehensible and ultimately rather dull story of a stick-like figure. It’s the sort of thing that sounds fascinating in concept but quickly falls apart when reality intrudes.

Next month: Eddie Campbell

IDW's Transformers app

Publishing | BusinessWeek looks at how companies like Marvel, Panelfly, ComiXology and Graphic.ly are promoting comics apps for Apple’s just-released iPad, and notes that a cautious DC Comics is still “assessing that tablet and other devices.” It’s a general overview, touching upon the “Is it a game-changer?” theme, but it offers one tidbit I don’t recall seeing previously: Apple takes 30 percent of sales, leaving publishers with — in the words of Panelfly’s Wade Slitkin — “the lion’s share” of revenues from comics purchased through iPhone apps.

The magazine also reports that Apple may have sold as many as 700,000 iPads in the debut weekend, more than double early estimates. In other iPad news: The Marvel Comics App, officially announced on Friday, is ranked at No. 14 on the list of free apps offered through Apple’s iTunes store. And on Saturday, IDW Publishing announced its entry into the iPad arena with four free apps. [BusinessWeek]

Legal | Bestselling Japanese author Manabu Miyazaki, son of a yakuza boss, last week sued police in Fukuoka prefecture for asking stores to remove underworld comics and magazines from their shelves. The police request was meant to enforce an ordinance designed to curtail the influence of the crime syndicates. [New Straits Times]

From "Zig and Wikki"

Publishing | Francoise Mouly discusses kids’ comics and two years of TOON Books: “In kindergarten, both boys and girls are reading. Then there’s a point between first and second grade where girls keep reading things like The Babysitter’s Club and books that have a lot to do with the relationships between the characters. But boys drop precipitously somewhere around second grade because there’s nothing for them to read, because they’re not interested in those types of books. There’s a gap right there. That gap is actually fillable by comics. Take Captain Underpants, for example. Boys become interested in that kind of gross-out storytelling, but it’s discouraged. Teachers have said to me, it’s not that boys don’t read; it’s that they don’t read what we think they should be reading.” [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Publishing | Laura Cameron looks at romance publisher Harlequin’s success in the Japanese market. [Canadian Business]

Retailing | It’s probably worth pointing out that while the Barnes & Noble location in Hoboken, New Jersey, closed last week, comics/jewelry store Traders of Babylon remains. [The Jersey Journal]

Retailing | Andrew Knittle marks the 12th anniversary of Norman, Oklahoma’s Speeding Bullet Comics, the store owned by Annette and Matt Price. [The Norman Transcript]

Internet | Less than two months after its acquisition by digital-comics company Graphic.ly, iFanboy has announced a content expansion that includes John Siuntres’s popular “Word Balloon” podcast, and the addition of such writers as Matt Adler, David Brothers and Molly McIsaac. [iFanboy.com]

The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book

Best of 2009 | Tom Spurgeon lists the best releases from last year. [The Comics Reporter]

Creators | Penny Arcade creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik continue their interview tour in support of The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition. [USA Today, Speakeasy]

Creators | Writer Scott Snyder chats about Vertigo’s American Vampire and Marvel’s Iron Man Noir. [Verbicide, USA Today]

Creators | Marc-Oliver Frisch posts his interview with writer Robert Kirkman from the German edition of The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: “I have a rule on killing characters … I do it without thinking. I kind of like that … it seems more real to me. If I ever kept a character around because I thought it would be good for the story, I’d feel like I was cheating. That’s not how death works. It’s supposed to be quick and sudden and disruptive. So I try to keep that in mind.” [Comiks Debris]

Kill Shakespeare #1

Creators | Collaborators Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col discuss their new IDW Publishing series Kill Shakespeare, which debuted over the weekend at WonderCon. “We think the most entertaining feature of our concept is seeing what happens when these notable heroes and villains are thrown together into the same world,” Del Col said. “We’re very intrigued by the recent trend of literary mashups, from Fables to Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. It’s a great sign, akin to sampling and mixing in the musical world.” [Underwire]

Creators | Writer Rick Remender talks about The Last Days of American Crime, the end of Fear Agent and more. [Multiversity Comics]

Creators | Chad Collier interviews Terminator 2029 writer Zack Whedon during his Saturday signing at Golden Apple Comics. [Department H]

Creators | Brian Heater wraps up his four-part Q&A with Bill Ayers. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

R. Sikoryak's Strand bag

Get it? I said “totes” and it’s a tote bag contest! Oh, I slay myself.

Ahem. Anyway, The Strand Bookstore has teamed up with Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Toon Books and the School of Visual Arts to offer the Strand Tote Bag Design Contest. All this month, until March 31, aspiring artists are encouraged to send in their design for famed New York book shop’s next “artist tote bag.  Judges for the contest include  previous bag designers Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine, R. Sikoryak, Françoise Mouly and Steven Heller.

The prizes are pretty impressive. The grand prize winner not only gets to see their art printed on the store’s bag, but also gets: an afternoon with Mouly; D&Q’s complete set of books from 2009; $450 worth of recent Fantagraphics books; a complete set of Toon Books; and more.

Second prize nets you a class at SVA, a collection of signed D&Q books; more comics from TB and Fanta, and a $100 coffee gift card. Third prize is the same, but less so.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tempted to enter by just drawing a couple of stick figures.

Rules and details for the contest can be found at that fifth link. A look at past Strand tote bags can be found here.

Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker
by Geoffrey Hayes
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95

This is my favorite of the Benny and Penny books so far. It isn’t that I’ve disliked the previous two books in the brother/sister series as much as this new entry, about an unruly cousin that comes over to play, seems a bit more lively and playful, both in the layouts and in the art itself, which has a frenetic and loose — but never sloppy — quality. It’s a pretty energetic and fast-paced book, even by young reader standards. You sense Hayes had a lot of fun putting this together and his good humor is infectious. Obviously it’s not going to challenge anyone over the age of seven, but I’d easily recommend it for it’s intended audience.

Panel from 'Zig and Wikki'

Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework
by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler
Toon Books, 40 pages, $12.95.

If nothing else, this book introduced me to Loeffler’s work and I’m grateful for that. He’s got a clean, simple style I really like, with thick black outlines for his characters and a minimum of detail to keep the panels from becoming overly busy. His work is ideal for the children’s market.

This was Toon Books first entry into nonfiction, and it’s a toe-dipping affair, with the two title alien characters landing on Earth and attempting to capture an animal for their science project, learning a few interesting facts along the way. Spiegelman does a good job with the interplay between the Zig and Wikki, and the story moves along nicely enough, but the facts themselves seem to be presented in a rather haphazard fashion. As happy as I was to learn about the food chain, or that a frog eats its shedded skin, or that raccoons have five fingers on their hands, I think I would have preferred something a little more focused. Maybe there’s more present than I’m seeing and that the book’s goals of teaching simple animal facts are consistent with the curriculum goals of that particular grade level, but I think next time I’d like a narrower topic and a good deal more detail.

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!

Three graphic novels were honored at the Youth Media Awards, presented this morning during the American Library Association’s midwinter conference in Boston.

Geoffrey Hayes’ Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!, published by TOON Books, received the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award, which recognizes authors and illustrators of books for beginning readers. Jeff Smith’s Little Mouse Gets Ready, also from TOON, was one of four Geisel Honor Books.

David Small’s Stitches: A Memoir, released by W.W. Norton & Company, earned an Alex Award, given each year to 10 adult books that appeal to young-adult readers (ages 12 to 18).

Panel from 'Zig and Wikki'

Speaking of kids comics, Toon Books has a few news items worth noting. First of all, the company has upgraded their Web site, adding a number of interactive features, including Toon Readers, which features creators like Jeff Smith reading their books aloud as you virtually flip through the pages; and Cartoon Maker, which lets you build your own comic using the Benny and Penny characters.  (via)

Next, the company has announced their two new titles for Spring 2010. They are: Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler, the first book in their line to incorporate science facts into a story; and Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker by Geoffrey Hayes, the third book in the B&P line.

They’ve also got stuff for teachers, including lesson plans and a guide on how to have a class re-enact some of the books, as the video below demonstrates.

Little Mouse Doll

As part of their ongoing promotion of Jeff Smith’s first children’s book, Little Mouse Gets Ready, publisher Toon Books has made an exclusive plush doll, created by dollmaker Sabrina Cho. It retails for $75 and comes with a certificate of authenticity and a copy of the book signed by Jeff Smith. Also: It’s too cute for words.

Found via Comics Worth Reading

Yaoi Press

Legal | Yaoi Press Publisher Yamila Abraham was arrested Monday in Las Vegas on federal fraud charges related to online sales of an “herbal” alternative to recreational street drugs. Authorities claim the product contained no herbal supplements and was actually composed of dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DXM), the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough suppressants. The charges date from 2005 and 2006, when Abraham operated the mail-order website Pleasureherbs.com.

If convicted, Abraham, 34, could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the seven counts of mail fraud, up to one year in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of misbranding a drug, and up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of introducing goods in domestic commerce by means of false statement. She also could be forced to forfeit property from the proceeds of the crime up to $186,680 and any equipment used to make the drugs.

On the Yaoi Press blog, Abraham asked for everyone to “please keep a cool head, and have faith. This situation is not going to end Yaoi Press. Don’t believe the hype.” She stressed that she will continue to appear at conventions, including this weekend’s OtakuMex in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [Las Vegas Sun]

Disney and Marvel

Business | A Disney regulatory filing lays out a timeline of discussions and negotiations for its proposed $4-billion purchase of Marvel that dates back to February, when Disney CEO Bob Iger first mentioned the idea to Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel. The documents, filed Tuesday, also disclose how much top executives at both companies will receive because of their stock options. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, which advised Marvel on the deal, will draw a $20-million fee from the comics company. [Los Angeles Times]

Business | Disney Channel President Rich Ross appears to be the frontrunner to replace Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, who abruptly left the company on Friday. [Los Angeles Times, Deadline Hollywood]

The Toon Treasury

Publishing | Brigid Alverson talks with Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly about assembling The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics. “Our ideal audience is a kid walking into a library or opening a Christmas present and having this wealth of materials he can dive into, the way Uncle Scrooge dives into his money,” Mouly said. [PW Comics Week]

Publishing | Viz Media Editor Nick Mamatas discusses the publisher’s new Haikasoru line of Japanese horror, science fiction and fantasy novels. [Omnivoracious]

Retailing | Mike Musgrove reports on the closing of Big Monkey Comics in Washington, D.C., which owner Scipio Garling attributes to the economy. However, some of the store’s competitors aren’t so sure. “It’s a sad thing to see it go,” says Matt Klokel, co-owner of Fantom Comics. “But to blame the economy alone is doing a disservice to the remaining comic book stores. He seems to be saying that comic books are dead and it’s just a matter of time before all comic book stores are closed. We have new customers coming in all the time.” [The Washington Post]

Conventions | Brian Heater compiles a list of comics set to debut this weekend at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Scalped #35

Creators | Writer Jason Aaron announced he has extended his contract with Vertigo for Scalped for another 12 issues, taking the series up through No. 48: “Just seeing that number got me all excited, thinking about a fiftieth issue, thinking of how far the series had come, despite the odds being stacked against it. Makes me wanna say ‘thank you’ once again to all the people out here who pick this book up, whether in issues or trades, to all the people who blog about it, to the retailers who hand-sell it, to all the people who bring their friends to see me at cons and talk them into buying the book. You people are awesome. Scalped wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for you all going the extra mile.” [Jason Aaron's blog]

Creators | Collaborators David Tischman and Philip Bond discuss their Wildstorm miniseries Red Herring. [PW Comics Week]

Creators | Jim Lee chats briefly about his involvement with the DC Universe Online game. [Game Informer]

Creators | Artist Brett Weldele talks to a local TV news station about The Surrogates comic and movie. [Montana's News Station]

Internet | Tucker Stone breaks down “the entirety of the comic Internet cycle” into three specific categories. [ComiXology]

Music | Don’t expect that graphic novel from singer Aimee Mann anytime soon. [LA Snark]

The Photographer

We have a very special edition of What Are You Reading this week, as our guests are none other than the legendary Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly. Spiegelman, you know, no doubt, as the author of such acclaimed books as Maus, Breakdowns and In the Shadow of No Towers, while his wife Mouly was co-creator and editor of Raw Magazine, art editor at the New Yorker and is spearheading the new Toon Books line of children’s comics.

To see what’s currently in their reading stack, just click on the link below …

The Rack: Year One

Matthew Maxwell: THE RACK: YEAR ONE (MOSTLY)
Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie
I follow THE RACK on a semi-daily basis, mostly when my will is weak at those moments that Church and Birdie spam on their Twitter streams. I used to just read it for the occasional funny; the strip cut out of the paper and put on the fridge at the office, where you nod sagely and understand the person who was actually motivated to put it there a little better because of it. But there’s more than just the funny in THE RACK. Partly because it’s about stuff that I’m immersed in on a daily basis (though I only get into actual comic stores once a month or so), but my experience in stores combined with the storytelling in the strip complement each other, giving the characters life beyond the pages. That’s a fairly rare thing in comics, at least the daily comic strip. These characters actually read like they have internal lives and aren’t just doing things for the funny (‘cept maybe Aaron, stupid like a fox on a good day). Having all the strips together in one volume makes for a pretty satisfying read, maybe even surprisingly so. Makes me want a second collection, it does.

MACHINE MAN (1984)
Tom De Falco, Herb Trimpe and Barry Windsor-Smith
I won’t lie. I got this for the art. I paid all of three dollars for it at a booth at SDCC this year, and it took me a good two hours to read. Not because the story was enthralling and deep and full of surprises. It wasn’t. The story itself was pretty straightforward, not particularly inspired and unintentionally funny (the view of 2020 from 1984 is pretty sedate, specially when you consider that something as mind-warping as NEUROMANCER had come out a year or so before). But the artwork, good god, man. The artwork is nothing short of stunning, and lifts this otherwise bland Marvel mini-series into the realm of must-have. The (now) vintage advertising made for an interesting side-dish. Well worth comparing ad buys from 80s comics to those we have today, and not just for camp humor value, but for seeing the change in demographics and audience expectation. But really, just look at the artwork. Smith’s fine linework sings out for attention and earns every second of it.

Avengers: Kree-Skull War

Tom Bondurant: I read the Kree-Skrull War paperback, and it seemed to me to be a crossover which didn’t actually cross over into any other titles. Much of it apparently picks up from the recently-cancelled Captain Marvel title, with Mar-Vell, Rick Jones, and even a pre-Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers playing significant roles. Both the Kree and the Skrulls first appeared in Fantastic Four, so it helped further that I had read the Lee/Kirby FF not too long ago. Avengers writer Roy Thomas also mentioned a connection between the Kree and the Inhumans (again, more FF alumnae), which not only lets him incorporate the latter, but also check up on a little boy Black Bolt has befriended.

All of this tends to delay the Avengers actually getting into space to fight the Skrulls. Indeed, it tends to obscure the storyline’s central conceit, namely that the Earth is situated strategically (and, but for the Avengers, helplessly) between intergalactic powers. Revealing that the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence was behind much of it (and endowed Rick Jones with the wish-fulfilling ability to stop it) doesn’t help either.

To be sure, it’s never dull, especially under the guiding pencils of the Buscema brothers and Neal Adams and Tom Palmer’s always-reliable inks. At nine issues (one double-sized), the Kree-Skrull War probably
enchanted its original readers as the months went by and the stakes increased. Heck, it encouraged me to pick up the next Essential Avengers volume.

Doom Patrol #2

Tim O’Shea: First, another son cameo. He is reading the latest Marvel Adventures Team-Up (Hulk and Tigra) and is impressed with the classic ads they are running to celebrate 70 years. Upon seeing the ad where one could buy a Darling Pet Monkey for $18.95, prompting him to say: “That’s a pretty cheap monkey!”

It seems that the jury is still out on if Wednesday Comics is regarded to be a success or not. For me, it is a success. I enjoy the small moments of these tales. For instance, the lines of dialogue (mostly ignored asides) that Gaiman gives Java are hilarious. But for this issue my favorite small moment is Kyle Baker’s Hawkman distracting a T-Rex (who admittedly does not understand a word he’s saying) by taunting him with the boast of “Bet you wish you could touch your nose.” and then proceeding to touch his nose. Some people might find that lame, but the sight of Hawkman touching his nose (right before getting whammed with the T-Rex’s tail) just cracks me up. I’m easy like that.

In issue 2 of Giffen’s Doom Patrol, I’m quickly realizing that Giffen may be attempting to tap into Grant Morrison’s style of absurdist Doom Patrol tales (as opposed to Arnold Drake’s equally, yet different definitive approach). As much as I’m entertained by the lead story, I’m enjoying the Metal Men tale immensely more-mostly because of the new more piss-and-vinegar upgrade that has occurred to Tina in the current incarnation. I’m fearful that I will quickly tire of the bickering aspect of the Metal Men stories (the frequent backbone of the J.M. Matteis incarnantion of the Justice League), but maybe I should stop predicting negatives when they’re not even there.

Another effective small moment occurred in Ed Brubaker’s The Marvels Project (set in 1939), where Dr. Thomas (The Angel) Halloway observes (unseen) the police at the murder scene of the costumed adventurer, The Phantom Bullet. Halloway overhears one cop, looking at the dead hero, say: “Almost feel sorry for him runnin’ around in that outfit was bad enough..but dyin’ in it? That’s just plain embarrassin’…” With that, Halloway’s narration/internal monologue/whatever observes: “The police didn’t appreciate us. Any of us. At best we were an insult to them…At worst, we were like The Torch…A hazard.” It’s interesting to see Brubaker inject a modicum of realism (the cops’ attitude/reaction) in this Golden Age tale. Admittedly in a tale of superheroes, realism is not a common feature, but it is feasible. And I appreciate Brubaker’s nuanced approach in this story.

Chris Mautner: This week I started reading Prison Pit Vol. 1 and … I … it … um … the thing is … it’s …. wow.

Kitty Hawk

Brigid Alverson: I have been reading Kitty Hawk off and on since it started, but lately I drifted off into other things. I picked it up again this week and read through from the beginning. The premise of the strip is what got me interested—it’s about a female aviator in the 1930s who is at home with a socket wrench and capable of taking out the bad guys in a second, but also has family issues and a sort-of boyfriend. Each chapter is a story in itself but is also building toward a larger story, and lately, as the ensemble goes hunting for some mysterious buried artifact, it’s taking a turn toward Indiana Jones territory. The art is pleasant but not slick; Kitty’s head sometimes seems too large for her body, but the figures are generally well drawn, as are the airplanes, and I like the single-color palette. The archives are still fairly short, so this is a good time to start reading—you can be up to speed in half an hour.

Sarah Ellerton’s Phoenix Requiem is just the opposite of Kitty Hawk — it’s slow-moving but beautifully drawn. It’s set in Victorian times in some fictional but vaguely European land. The story revolves around
Anya, an independent young woman who is assitant to the local doctor, and Jonas, the mysterious young man who is found lying in the snow near her village. With the doctor away, Anya treats Jonas and of course gets drawn into the mystery. There are supernatural overtones and some sort of horrid disease — I haven’t gotten far enough into it yet for any big reveals. The comic is rated PG-13 for horror elements, but so far it seems like a kids’ comic, partly because the characters all look young. Ellerton’s art is full-color and very slick, almost like animation art, and one of the things I like about this comic is that it is very atmospheric—I really get drawn in to her created world — so it’s good, not very demanding, escapist reading.

Upside Down World of Gustave Verbeek

Art Spiegelman: When I was at the Strand last night I picked up a book that had come highly recommended by Charles Burns called The Photographer. It’s here, my jury is out yet. I’m not recommending it yet, but it’s definitely what I’m reading.

I also got and can’t wait to dive into Pete Maresca’s Gustave Verbeek book, it’s so beautiful and wonderful. It’s the Upside Down World of Gustave Verbeek published by Sunday Press. I just got it in the mail yesterday. It’s beautiful. It has information about somebody I’ve never been able to find much out about. He’s a mysteriously obscure artist.

I’m still working my way happily through the Little Orphan Annie volumes. I think they’re amazing. There’s relatively little from the younger end of the spectrum. Francoise put a book called Aya under my pile because she liked it. I’m looking forward to reading the Blechman book that just came out, Talking Lines. I have that on the pile here but I haven’t opened it yet.

The current stack in my studio also includes Bob Sikoryak’s Masterpiece Comics, Trina Robbins Brinkley Girls and A Molotu’s Abstract Comics.

Prose at the top of my stack: David Foster Wallace’s Consider the Lobster.

And on my iphone (Stanza app ) Charles Willeford’s Wild Wives and Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons

Francoise Mouly: I’m actually re-reading Chris Ware. Specifically the latest three or four volumes of Acme Novelty Library, just because I’m going to work with him. We’re working on something he’s going to be doing for the New Yorker. It’s a treat to be able to go back in that world.

Little Mouse Gets Ready
by Jeff Smith
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.

Children’s comics don’t get more basic than this. Little Mouse wants to go play in the barn with his brothers and sisters, but first he has to get dressed. He does so step by step showing readers important things like how to button your shirt (and illustrating a narrative sequence of events). Then there’s a punchline and rimshot, the end.

Smith’s art is lush and spry here. I especially liked Little Mouse’s Warner Brothers-style reaction at the end. There’s no denying it’s a cute book, made by an extremely talented guy. But this is really a book for preschoolers and those just learning to read. If you know someone like that, then Little Mouse will make a great gift. But older Bone fan, even those still in elementary school, aren’t going to get too much out of this, beyond a chuckle or two at the end.

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians
by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Knopf, 96 pages each, $5.99 each.

This is another superhero/super-spy parody, along the lines of Word Girl, but with a whole K-12 cafeteria theme. For example, our hero has a spatula that doubles as a helicopter blade, she throws chicken nugget bombs, she wields fish stick nunchucks, and so on and so forth.

Even by kid standards, it all feels a little shallow. The jokes basically stay on that lunch-derived level and never build on each other in a satisfying way. The characters are all rather generic and Krosoczka’s art work is rather bare-bones as well. I think kids will like it — it’s certainly not offensive or dull — but I don’t think it’s going to hang around in their imaginations the way good children’s literature is supposed to. Even by second grade, they’ve seen this kind of thing before.

Knights of the Lunch Table: The Dragon Players
by Frank Cammuso
Scholastic, 128 pages, $9.99.

Combining King Arthur mythology with middle school angst is a recipe for disaster (witness, or better yet don’t, Tokyopop’s Avalon High) but Cammuso manages to make the whole enterprise work. Part of the reason is he isn’t a slave to the source material but just takes what he needs and mushes it into a school setting until it fits. It doesn’t hurt that he has a fun, rubbery, big-nose art style that plays up the comedy.

This time, Artie and his friends somewhat unwittingly enter into a robot joust contest, a feat which finds them double-dealing with basement-dwelling nerds, infiltrating junkyards and trying to avoid bullies and detention. There’s no real surprises here, and the whole “don’t cheat” moral comes out of a thousand ABC Afterschool specials, but Knights has nevertheless proven to be an engaging, witty series that’s growing on me with every new volume.

From 'Luke on the Loose'

Luke on the Loose
by Harry Bliss
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.

This is my favorite title in the Toon Books line so far. Bliss, best known for his contribution to the New Yorker as well as children’s books like Diary of a Worm, delivers a great manic energy to this story of a boy who wanders away from his dad and ends up chasing pigeons all across New York City. I liked how the backgrounds where filled with Mad Magazine-like nonsense bits like having Tintin and Olive Oyl as aghast onlookers or the dog walker who was keeps getting pulled around the park. I liked Luke’s father’s nonchalance at losing his son and how his dialogue was frequently summed up as “boring dad talk.” I liked how Bliss uses long, horizontal panels to denote both setting and motion, as in an amusing sequence where Luke runs roughshod through an outdoor restaurant, interrupting a proposal in the process. Basically it’s speedy pace and refuse to take itself seriously or offer any sort of moral works in its favor and I think kids will get a few good belly laughs out of Luke’s adventures. I know I did.

From 'Benny and Penny in the Big No-No"

Benny and Penny in The Big No-No!
by Geoffrey Hayes
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.

This is more traditional storybook fare, done in a classic watercolor, “cute animals” style that comes complete with a heartwarming moral about the importance of not jumping to conclusions. To wit: Benny and Penny have learned there’s a new kid who moved in next door, but don’t know anything abut him or her. When Benny can’t find his pail he immediately assumes the new neighbor took it and he and his sister trespass in an attempt to get it back. Trouble ensues, but is speedily resolved with lots of “I’m sorry’s” and “let’s be friends” to go around.

What I like about the Benny and Penny books is that they resemble actual kids, not just in their speech and demeanor but in the way they interact with each other. They’re very recognizable siblings which will no doubt appeal to a lot of young readers with similar family structures. No-No doesn’t offer an adult “in” the way Luke does with his manic, silly behavior, but perhaps Hayes is just more focused on his core audience’s concerns.

Little Mouse Gets Ready

Lots of revelations about upcoming books have come out in the past week. Let’s see if we can hit the highlights.

Jeff Smith has been rather busy lately. In addition to his ongoing series RASL and wrapping up the color version of Bone for Scholastic, he is currently working on a children’s book for Francoise Mouly’s Toon Books line, which will be published in the fall. Here’s the details:

Little Mouse by Jeff Smith
ISBN: 978-1-935179-01-6
Price: $12.95
Hardcover, 9×6, 32 pages
Release date: September 7, 2008
Synopsis: There’s lots to do before Little mouse is ready to go visit the barn. Will he master all the intricacies of getting dressed, from
snaps and buttons to Velcro and tail holes?

Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Jeff Smith and his determined Little Mouse reveal all the smallest pleasures of this daily task.

* A little bird over at Houghton Mifflin told me that Charles Burns is going to be the guest editor for the 2009 Best American Comics book.

* News that should make Dave Sim very happy: IDW plans to reprint Alex Raymond’s Rip Kirby comic strip.

* Scott Morse announced the upcoming release of the art book The Ancient Book of Sex and Science, a sequel of sorts to The Ancient Book of Myth and War,  over at his blog.

* Publisher’s Weekly reported the other day that Dark Horse will be publishing a graphic novel written by best-selling children’s author Jane Yolen.

* Blot author Tom Neely says he’s working on a new graphic novel entitled Wolf with Aaron Turner and shares a teaser image.

Neely's Wolf

Yipe.

The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, has won the prestigious Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature.

The award was announced this morning at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Denver.

Eleanor Davis’ Stinky, from Toon Books, received a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor for beginning-reader books.

Gaiman responded to the news on his blog and, more candidly, on Twitter: “About to drink second cup of tea without Marmalade this morning. Also, I just won the Newbury Medal for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.”

He quickly followed that comment with this slighly less subdued one: “Newbery, not Newbury. Also FUCK!!!! I won the FUCKING NEWBERY THIS IS SO FUCKING AWESOME. I thank you.”

Released in September in the U.S. by HarperCollins, the young-adult fantasy centers on a boy who takes refuge in a cemetery after the murder of his parents. There, he’s adopted and befriended by ghosts.

Davis’ Stinky is about a monster who is terrified of people, and concocts crazy plans to scare a kid away from his swamp.

Luke on the Loose

I wanted to point out two things. First, Deb Aoki has a more complete round-up of Viz’s early line-up. Second, Douglas Wolk has done an impressive job running down the big-ticket books of the year over at Savage Critic.

Moving on we turn to Toon Books, the new children’s graphic novel company from Francoise Mouly. They have two books planned for the first half of the year:

Benny and Penny

Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss. The popular New Yorker cartoonist and children’s illustrator (Diary of A Worm) makes his graphic novel debut in this story about a boy who, while following some pigeons, ends up taking a rather unconventional tour of New York City. $12.95 hardcover, April 6.

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No by Geoffrey Hayes. Hayes’ cute mice siblings return for another outing. This time the pair go snooping in their mysterious new neighbor’s backyard. Will they find a monster or a friend? Maybe a monster friend! $12.95, hardcover, May 5.