Announced on its own website TopCow.com, the California-based publisher is offering a subscription to its three core ongoing series — Witchblade, The Darkness and Artifacts – along with a surprise comic with a variant cover each month. This service is available for $15/month ($10 a month plus postage) for either 6- or 12-month increments, and would be shipped USPS First Class each month in one bundle to ensure no damage to the books.

When asked about the availability to add in mini-series and special one shots like Pilot Season to the package, Top Cow’s Filip Sablik said it’s in the works.

“We haven’t worked out the details,” the publisher explained,” but if the customer wants to order other items in a month and have them ship with their subscription, assuming they fit in the envelope, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

It’s an interesting prospect, and who knows — maybe we could see other publishers pick up on the idea.

“The number and velocity of votes completely exceeded our expectations, and this is the sort of high class problem you don’t mind solving,” Sablik explained. “All of us at Top Cow are eager to see which Pilot Season competitor emerges victorious.”

According to the press release, TopCow.com has been restored and moved over to a more substantial server with increased capacity for traffic. The first round of voting has been extended through Dec. 31 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, with the top four vote-getters going on to a second round, and the top two from that to go to a final round. Stay tuned for more news on the contest as it develops.

Assuming the window for voting re-opens, people will have a chance to vote for one of seven books released this year in Top Cow’s unique event.This year’s line-up was its most diverse yet in terms of story and creators, spanning sci-fi to dramatic with even some comedic moments. The seven titles are The Test, The Beauty, City of Refuge, Fleshdigger, Theory of Everything, Misdirection, Anonymous and Seraph.

Robot 6 reached out to Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik for comment, but have not heard back at the time of publication.

UPDATE: On Monday, Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik contacted Robot 6 to explain TopCow.com’s website crashing.

“Topcow.com did go down to due to our bandwidth being exceeded several times in the last week,” Sablik explains. “We’ve increased our bandwidth several times with our current host, but the intensity of voting activity exceeded even our increased bandwidth capabilities. We are currently in the process of migrating topcow.com to a new server which should provide a more stable solution to the problem. We should have an update on when the site will be back up shortly and once the site is live, we will be extending the first round of voting to compensate for the time the lost.”

Although Top Cow hasn’t revealed just how many votes it’s received yet, during the inaugural 2007 Pilot Season, they received 4.1 million votes.

“It’s just another example of how Pilot Season really engages comic fans and we’re thrilled at the passion fans are demonstrating trying to get their favorite Pilot Season title into the top 4 spots for the second round of voting. Even if it has caused some technical difficulties!”

Robot 6 will update you when TopCow.com comes back online and voting resumes.

Blackest Friday

ComiXology has a bunch of digital comics for 99 cents today. DC Comics is holding a Blackest Friday sale, allowing you to buy each issue of the Blackest Night crossover for 99 cents each. Marvel has Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four issues on sale for 99 cents, while IDW has their Star Trek comics on sale.

Dark Horse is running a pretty amazing digital comics sale for Black Friday only: A megabundle of all the single-issue Star Wars comics available in their digital comics store, over 130 issues altogether, for $100. That’s 3,274 pages of Star Wars comics, in case you’re counting, and it’s $166 less than you would pay if you bought them all separately.

They have also figured out how to run a doorbuster special digitally: On Cyber Monday (Nov. 28), the first 500 customers through their checkout will get a 50% discount. There’s a $20 minimum, and the deal runs for 24 hours beginning at midnight PST on Nov. 28; you’ll also need a coupon code, which is provided at the link.

Khepri Comics is putting comics on sale and helping to save the cheetahs, with different sales all weekend and into Cyber Monday:

Fri 25 Nov – Black Friday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF HARDCOVERS with coupon CHEETAH40FRI
Sat 26 Nov – Small Biz Saturday – Enjoy 50% OFF SELF-PUBLISHED with coupon CHEETAH50SAT
Sun 27 Nov – Adjectiveless Sunday – Enjoy 40% OFF CREATOR-OWNED with coupon CHEETAH40SUN
Mon 28 Nov – Cyber Monday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF EVERYTHING with coupon CHEETAH40MON

Midtown Comics has comics, graphic novels and statues on sale.

Things from Another World has steep discounts going right now for selected items, plus $10, $5 and $1 doorbusters.

Chuck BB is holding a Black Metal Black Friday Super Brutal Blind Art Sale, where you can buy pages from Black Metal and get a sketch for $50.

Top Cow will have stuff in their online store discounted all weekend …

…as will Aspen Comics.

Jeff Smith’s Boneville site is holding a signature sale through mid-December, where every book ordered will be signed by Smith.

Fantagraphics minicomics

Don’t forget about Fantagraphics special mini-comics offer through their online store.

Mimoco has all their designer flash drives for 25 percent off, which include drives based on Batman, Green Lantern, Star Wars and more.

Threadless is holding a $10 T-shirt sale this weekend, so you can get those cool robot shirts by Ethan Nicolle, Becky Cloonan, JR Goldberg and Jhonen Vasquez for cheap.

MattyCollector has a ton of action figures on sale, including some of their past San Diego Comic Con exclusives and several Justice League Unlimited packs. Plus, the Rockers!

For more deals and bargains, check out the lists at The Beat and ComicsAlliance. And if you’ve seen any that I’ve missed, please post them in our comments section. Happy shopping!

Charles Christensen and Mark Brill

Creators | Out magazine has included writer Charles “Zan” Christensen and artist Mark Brill in its 17th annual “Out 100″ list highlighting the 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of the year. Christensen and Brill are the creators of The Power Within, an anti-bullying comic book published by Northwest Press. “Inspired, or rather upset, by Tyler Clementi’s tragic death last year, the pair set out to create an empowering story of an eighth-grader picked on for being gay,” the magazine writes. Northwest Press has distributed over 700 free copies of the book to more than 50 gay-straight alliances, schools, churches, community centers and other youth organizations. [Out]

Creators | Uncanny X-Men writer Kieron Gillen considers the accessibility of the relaunched comic in light of reviews he’s read around the web, particularly the fact that some people were thrown by the X-Men living in San Francisco: “Of course, I can see the reason why it’s thrown the people … they know the X-Men live in a mansion in Westchester. That they’re not living in Westchester is the problem. It’s not about giving the information to read the story that’s there. It’s about correcting pre-existing assumptions. In other words, it’s not a problem about being accessible to new readers – because a genuinely new reader would accept the fact the X-Men live on Utopia in the same way that they except that Bilbo lives in the Shire – but rather a problem with the readers being old readers. They feel lost not because of the story on the page, but the gap between the old story in their heads and the story on the page, and wanting to know what connects the two.” [Kieron Gillen]

Charlaine Harris

Creators | Charlaine Harris discusses Cemetery Girl, her upcoming graphic novel with co-writer Christopher Golden. [FEARnet]

Creators | Writer Christos Gage and artist Rebekah Isaacs talk about their work on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff title Angel and Faith. [TFAW]

Creators | Chicago Bears linebacker-turned-comics writer Lance Briggs discusses Seraph, his entry, with co-writer Phil Hester, into this year’s Top Cow Pilot Season. [USA Today]

Commentary | David Uzumeri provides a “primer” on what he calls the “Geoff Johns Literalism Method”: “What is it that Geoff Johns does so well when it comes to revitalizing characters? It’s very simple: reduce the character or team into a single core idea and rebuild every aspect of the mythology around that idea. I’ve termed this “Johnsian Literalism,” and it’s an approach that’s becoming more widely used. A character’s location, family, friends and villains should all reflect or refract an aspect of that core idea — a crystalline, fractal concept that extends itself into every narrative tendril of every story. In order to see how Johnsian Literalism has been applied throughout the course of Johns’s work, let’s examine how it has functioned his most successful franchises and speculate about the formative influences that helped him develop this distinctive approach.” [ComicsAlliance]

Jay Kennedy

Education | Applications are now being accepted for the Jay Kennedy Scholarship, named for the deceased King Features editor. The scholarship offers $5,000 to students at a four-year college in the United States, Canada or Mexico who will be a junior or senior during the 2012-2013 academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship. [Cartoonist Foundation]

Education | Fiction Fix, the literary magazine of the University of Florida, is looking for comic submissions for its spring 2012 issue. [Fiction Fix]

Commentary | Don MacPherson reviews the first collection of Faith Erin Hick’s comic strip/webcomic The Adventures of Superhero Girl. [Eye on Comics]

Comics | Bully points out the similarities between the origins of the Rawhide Kid and Spider-Man. [Comics Oughta Be Fun]

Comics | Is Wolverine part of the 1 percent? [Ecocomics]

Comics | The French graphic novel Triangle Rose (“Pink Triangle”) may be the first to depict the gay experience before and during the Holocaust, telling the fictional tale of a Berliner who experiences increasing persecution and is finally sent to a concentration camp. [Care2, via Sean Kleefeld]

The inaugural Pilot Season grouping saw a-list talent putting new spins on Top Cow heroes, from Jason Aaron on Ripclaw to Joe Casey on Velocity and more. After a competitive voting process that tallied over 4.1 million votes, Velocity (by Casey & Kevin Maguire) and Cyblade (by Joshua Hale Fialkov & Rick Mays) won out over three other contenders. The Cyblade team did a four-issue series in the fall of 2008, but shake-ups on the Velocity side led its original creators to bow out over disagreements with the publisher. Top Cow exclusive creators Ron Marz and Kenneth Rocafort took over, and the finished product came out over two years later.

In 2008, Top Cow switched up the contest to allow both company-owned characters as well as creator-owned affairs. This year’s contest had two clear winners in Twilight Guardian (by Troy Hickman and Reza) and Genius (by Marc Bernardin, Adam Freeman & Afua Richardson), who each claimed over a quarter of the total votes, beating out the likes of Jonathan Hickman, Jeremy Haun and others. Twilight Guardian got its own series beginning last year, with Genius still in a holding pattern for a full series debut. Despite not winning the contest, Fialkov & Haun’s Alibi received considerable Hollywood attention and Top Cow said at the time that even some of the losers in the Pilot Season contest could see life again in comics.

In 2009, Top Cow shook up the contest big-time when Robert Kirkman and Marc Silvestri came together to pioneer five unique one-shots that would vie for a shot at a full miniseries commitment. Four one-shots came out at a steady clip over the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, with one-stand out — Hardcore — being delayed indefinitely with still no word some 16 months after its original solicited release date. This delay has delayed the voting for the entire batch of Pilot Season books, leaving readers with a big question mark on if they’ll ever read Hardcore and ever get to vote on the 2009 Pilot Season books.

Learning a lesson from its previous year, Top Cow’s 2010 Pilot Season titles were released over five consecutive weeks in the fall of 2010, featuring a host of Top Cow regulars and even a few staffers. In the end, the heist comic 39 Minutes (by William Harms and Jerry Lando) won the contest, with plans for a full-length series announced for 2011.

Despite some hiccups and snafus, Top Cow’s Pilot Season remains an invigorating concept allowing creators to throw a story at the wall and see what readers decide will stick. I’m looking forward to the 2011 titles and what comes next in the 2012 iteration!

The surprise about reading all of the comics Top Cow sent over as a result of my admission of blind prejudice wasn’t that they weren’t as bad as I’d lazily expected — I was actually expecting that, to be honest — but that I ended with realizing that I was going to have to go out and catch up on the collections of one series in particular… and it was the one I’d been expecting to like the least.

Here’s what I received last week from Top Cow: the first six issues of Artifacts, the first two trades of Ron Marz’ Witchblade run, the Velocity mini-series that has just finished, some issues of Magdalena and the first of Phil Hester’s The Darkness collections. I read them in pretty much entirely the wrong order, I admit; I started with Artifacts, convincing myself that, if anything had a chance of hooking the cynical newbie, it’d be the crossover event book. And I was… almost right. Artifacts is the Blackest Night of the Top Cow line – an event growing out of long-running mythology, and bogged down by that same mythology; there’s a basic concept that’s easy to understand, but it was drowned for me by scenes of “Here is [Character X] who I will frown at because of things in the past we won’t explain. Now, break for the next part of the plot!” and, with the fifth issue, the addition of Whilce Portacio as artist (Sorry, everyone; I’m just not a fan, and find his art genuinely difficult to read at times).

Much more successful for me were Velocity and The Darkness. Both had clear story arcs, smart and self-aware dialogue and were relatively self-contained (and both, also, had art that for the most part was easy on the eye without being too… overly-stylized, I guess, would be a way of putting it – Although Michael Broussard is channeling Marc Silvestri to an almost illegal degree at times in The Darkness). Magdalena, too, was similarly… fun, I guess might be the way to put it, but for some reason didn’t click as readily with me as a concept.

However, Witchblade… I never, ever in a million years, would have thought that Witchblade would be the title that I fell in love with, but I really did. It wasn’t a pow-zam moment, but cumulative – Something about reading Marz slowly but surely rebooting the series, changing not only the cast, the costume (which, really, barely appears – It’s abandoned, thankfully, for the most part) but even the genre of the series over the first two trades was surprisingly effective, and very enjoyable. It’s Marz doing for Witchblade what Alan Moore did for Swamp Thing, in a way – Less revelatory, perhaps, because we’ve seen such wholesale revamps before as Moore’s influence has spread, but nonetheless, impressive and improving the series so, so much.

(For the curious, Marz moves the series from Bad Girl Superheroics to, essentially, supernatural crime. There’s definitely a mainstream TV/movie vibe to everything, but that’s not a bad thing – It’s well done and far more interesting to read than even the mythology-filled Artifacts, say.)

I was genuinely surprised when, finishing the second trade, I realized that I wanted to read more. It wasn’t just a sense of “Well, that didn’t suck”; I was curious to see whether Marz could keep up the quality as the series continued, where he was going with the plots, and what some of the slow-burning plots were leading to (Partially, of course, I knew; Artifacts is essentially Witchblade but a few years ahead). It’s honestly the best outcome from this whole “I Don’t Read Top Cow Comics/Yeah Well You Suck/Okay I’ll Read Them” experience, and the one I didn’t expect: Not only that I’d see the error of my prejudiced ways, but that I’d like one of the things I’d read so much that I’ll look forwards to reading the next installments. And it was Witchblade! Seriously, that was not something I would’ve predicted way back when…

Nice book... but where is it?

Barnes & Noble’s unveiled its app store for the Nook Color e-reader, yesterday, edging the $249 device even closer to being an alternative to the iPad. And Graphicly was right there at the launch with three graphic novel apps Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, Wanted, and Irredeemable.

This is not Graphicly’s fault, but the Nook Color app store is not very well organized; they have cute headings like “Explore” and “Organize” but not “Comics” or even “Read.” Plugging the titles in to the search engine gave mixed results: The Mouse Guard app turned up alongside listings for the physical books. Clicking on the title brought me straight back to the generic Nook Apps page. I couldn’t find Wanted or Irredeemable at all. Maybe if I had a Nook it would be easier, but the website should be as well organized as the built-in app store.

The bottom line is this: It’s great that Nook is getting into apps, and it’s great that Graphicly was there on Day One. But if no one can find your books, no one can buy them, and unless Barnes & Noble comes up with a better way to feature content than this—vague categories and no complete listing of all the apps—they aren’t going to move many comics.

Wowio was a pioneer in digital comics back in the olden days, when they offered free, ad-supported digital comics. The company has been through a lot of changes since then, and the comics aren’t free any more, although they do offer a free download every month (usually a pretty good one) to readers who “like” them on Facebook. And unlike other digital distributors, they offer books in PDF and ePub format, so they are portable and can be moved from one device to another. (In other words, you can actually own these digital comics.)

Spacedog Entertainment developed comics and graphic novels that were then published by other publishers and shopped around for film development. Their properties include The Covenant and Proximity Effect (published by Top Cow), The Gift (Image), and Helen Killer (Arcana).

Now Wowio has acquired Spacedog and is relaunching it as a graphic novel imprint, starting with four previously published titles: Helen Killer, Fiction Clemens, Death Comes to Dillinger, and M.I.T.H. The comics are priced at 99 cents each, and the plan is to publish an issue a week, starting in April, and to expand the line to include other Spacedog properties, including those mentioned above.

Of course, comics can’t just be comics any more, so part of the plan is to expand these properties into other media:

As part of its strategy to provide original digital entertainment, WOWIO will also produce exclusive new material based on the Spacedog Entertainment library for distribution across its family of sites, including eBook outlet WOWIO, social comics community DrunkDuck and pop culture video destination PopGalaxy. Original offerings will include bonus content, and the development of new formats incorporating video, prose and other blended media elements.

“The Spacedog library provides us with exciting new material to develop into digital and traditional entertainment properties,” said Linda Engelsiepen, WOWIO’s VP of Content Development. “This is the first step of many that will help us further generate audience awareness around Spacedog’s titles and build a strong platform to grow them into franchises.”

That’s a lot of words, but the concept is still pretty vague, and Wowio’s track record is mixed at best. On the other hand, they are offering 99-cent, platform-independent, almost DRM-free digital downloads, so if they just stick to comics, they might be on to something there.

So, I’m a complete snob when it comes to comics. I shouldn’t be, I know this; comics are comics, and there’s no such thing as a bad idea, only ideas badly executed (Case in point: DC’s Animal Man shouldn’t have been the wonder it was under Grant Morrison’s pen, if judged purely on the “man with the animal powers discovers animal rights” high concept behind it). And yet, there are comics that I just can’t quite bring myself to read.

It’s the front page of CBR that brought this to mind, I should admit: I was looking this afternoon at what stories were on the site today, saw the link to Ron Marz talking about his plans for Top Cow’s books and had a response that was pretty much the definition of turning my metaphorical nose up in something approaching disgust. It’s an entirely unfair response, of course. For one thing, I’ve liked some of Marz’ work in the past, and for the much more important and pertinent other thing, I can’t think of a Top Cow book that I’ve even read since the first issue of Paul Dini’s Madame Mirage back in… what, 2007? So that’s four years of uninformed prejudice guiding my nose turning, instead of just reading the article.

Weirdly, it’s ridiculously unearned prejudice. I’ve read Marz talk about what he’s doing with Witchblade and Artifacts and everything before, and thought that it sounded ambitious and potentially entertaining, if somewhat offputtingly filled with backstory and mythology that I’ve never read. In other words, what he’s doing is something that I might actually enjoy reading, if only this random, mysterious prejudice wasn’t in my way. So where does it come from?

I’m tempted to say that it’s all to do with the art – The T&A aspect, sure (There’s a time and a place for good cheesecake, but the Top Cow cliche girls aren’t my idea of good cheesecake, all anger and artificiality where I want something smarter, more coy), but more than that, the idea of a line filled on the aesthetics and lessons of Marc Silvestri, an artist whose style overwhelmed his substance back when I was a kid and who hasn’t fully recovered even yet. This is where my true comics snobbery lies; there are artists, and art movements, that I just can’t read – I try, but it defeats me every time (See: 1990s X-Men comics) – and a lot of the early Image books fall into that camp. Even more than mythologies so large I could never learn them if I read everything for a year are less frightening to me than struggling through art filled with lines like static and impossible anatomy.

Thing is, I don’t know that the books today really look like that any more. I could, of course, just pick up a couple of issues and see, but… Well. I’m a comic snob, even if I wish I wasn’t. I wish I wasn’t, but nonetheless: There are comics I can’t quite bring myself to read.

Update: Thanks to the power of Twitter, I shall be receiving a package of Top Cow books from Ron Marz himself, and reading them. Will my prejudice be revealed to be as ridiculous as I tried to point out above? Will I find some new favorite comics? Stay tuned for the next column…

An early drawing of Lois Lane by Joe Shuster, who used Joanne Siegel as a model

Passings | As Comic Book Resources reported, Joanne Siegel, wife of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and the model for Lois Lane, passed away Monday in California. She was 93. Although news of her death first circulated online via Brad Meltzer’s Twitter account, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Michael Sangiacomo had the first official report, only hours after he wrote about the installation of signs bearing the honorary street names “Joe Shuster Lane” and “Lois Lane” in the Cleveland neighborhood where Siegel and Shuster created the Man of Steel. CBR’s Kiel Phegley spoke with Meltzer, who met Joanne Siegel while researching his novel The Book of Lies. Heidi MacDonald, meanwhile, has reaction from Bradley Ricca, who’s working on a documentary about the Siegel family. The Hollywood Reporter and The Superman Super Site also have obituaries. More will certainly appear throughout the day. [Comic Book Resources]

Publishing | Acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Dykes to Watch Out For) has been named the guest editor of the 2011 edition of The Best American Comics, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. [Shelf Life]

Publishing | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson spotlights the “quiet revolution” at Archie Comics that finds the publisher expanding into graphic novels and digital delivery, further diversifying its characters and tackling more topical issues. [Publishers Weekly]

Comic Relief

Retailing | Comic Relief, the famed Berkeley, Calif., store that’s struggled since the death of founder Rory Root, closed Monday. The inventory and fixtures have been purchased by Jack Rems, founder and owner of Dark Carnival Books. There are plans to open a new store, but it won’t be called Comic Relief. [The Beat]

Broadway | Despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has seen a 3 percent increase in ticket sales, grossing $1.33 million in the past week. It’s the second-highest grossing show on Broadway, behind the long-running Wicked. [Arts Beat]

Creators | Sean Michael Robinson begins a three-part interview with Cerebus collaborator Gerhard. [TCJ.com]

Mike Mignola

Creators | Mike Mignola discusses the setting and architecture of the Hellboy universe: “I have never done a story in a shopping mall because, even if I’m not drawing it myself, I don’t want to see somebody draw a shopping mall. In the Hellboy world, and in other things I’ve done, those places almost don’t exist. When I do Eastern Europe — and I’ve been to Eastern Europe, and I’ve seen the shopping malls and the god-awful housing projects and things, and there are horror stories that take place in there, I have no doubt—but I gravitate toward the classic, clichéd, spooky places, whether they truly exist in this world or not.” [BLDGBLOG, via The Comics Reporter]

Creators | Brian Truitt talks to Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik and collaborator/longtime friend John Mahoney about the upcoming miniseries Last Mortal. [USA Today]

Comics | Douglas Wolk recommends five comic-book collections to read as an introduction to Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. [Techland]

At the same time, the central Image office –- called aptly enough “Image Central” –- announced a change in its own marketing department, with 10-month hire Betsy Gomez heading out and Image Administrative Assistant Sarah deLaine taking the role of public relations and marketing coordinator. Although the initial reaction to this story has been minimal, further talk around the virtual water cooler among journalists, professionals and industry watchers see two things revealed in this – the downsizing of Top Cow’s office in order to maximize profits, but secondarily – and maybe more importantly – is the state of publicity and marketing for the third-largest comics publisher in America. As a journalist covering comics for Robot 6 and other outlets, I’m without a doubt more acutely aware of any changes in the publicity desk; they’re the point-of-contact for journalists big and small, from Comic Book Resources to USA Today. But I’m also aware from my own background working as a publicist and marketing professional outside the comics industry.

In an interview with Heidi MacDonald at the Beat, Top Cow President Matt Hawkins said these measures were taken to “focus on creative issues” and to free the company up to “do what we really want to do.” Speaking very bluntly, Hawkins said specifically that this move was also a “proactive move to ensure that [Top Cow] will be around in 5 years.” Hawkins went on to say he expects more consolidations like this one, and even the failure of some comics publishers in a few years.

Since its inception in 1992, Image Comics has always operated as an ad hoc assemblage of little fiefdoms, or studios, with independent creators working directly with Image’s central office. In terms of resources spent on marketing and publicity for Image’s books, the publisher had one person devoted to publicizing its entire line, with some of the studios hiring their own. Jim Lee’s Wildstorm and Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios were some of the first to have their own marketing desks, and Jim Lee’s Shadowline employed a defacto editor/publicist Kris Simon until recently. In 2010, newly installed Image partner Robert Kirkman hired his own marketing firm to handle his titles, and established his own studio, Skybound, soon after.

But creators and studios without their own marketing person looked to Image Central’s PR/marketing desk to get the word out. Akin to the DIY nature of Image and creator-owned comics, many creators found that acting as their own publicist help supplement the limited resources available from Image Central. Although Image is the third-largest American comics publisher, it has a relatively small staff due to it being almost exclusively creator-owned comics managed by those independent creators. But just how small?

“Given that there are a grand total of ELEVEN people working here, I think we do an admirable job – Dark Horse has over 100 employees. IDW has something like 30,” said Stephenson in an online conversation with Dan Panosian when the latter brought up the limited marketing available to creators at Image. “Could we be better at certain things? Certainly, but we do a lot for a small staff.”

Although the publishers almost certainly make money in other areas besides selling comics through Diamond, the fact that Image has an office staff 1/10th the size of its nearest trailing competitor, Dark Horse, is eye-opening.

Robot 6 asked Stephenson about the consolidation between Image and Top Cow, and the longtime Image employee said it’s been long in the works.

“This is actually something Matt Hawkins and I have been discussing for some time now,” said Stephenson, who worked in the late 1990s with Hawkins at Rob Liefeld’s company. “I think we’ve all felt for a while that there were ways to streamline operations and it was just a matter of figuring out how to coordinate our efforts. This could have happened at any point over the last couple years, really, but I think it’s happening when it is because Matt and Marc Silvestri were pleased with how things have been going at Image Central and thought acting on all our talks now would be a good way to reaffirm their support.”

Looking at the state of Image’s PR department, it’s been described by an anonymous colleague to be the “Siege Perilous;” no, not the artifact in Uncanny X-Men, but the vacant seat at King Arthur’s round table reserved for the person that successfully obtained the Holy Grail. According to legend, the Siege Perilous was so strictly reserved that to sit in it unjustly proved fatal. Going back to 2001, eight individuals have held the position in the past ten years, with each serving an average of 16 months. Since 2000, the position has been filled by Anthony Bozzi, Eric Stephenson, B. Clay Moore, Jim Demonakos, Mark Haven Britt, Joe Keatinge, Betzy Gomez and now Sarah deLaine.

“I think the changes maybe seem more frequent than they actually are,” said Stephenson in reply to these facts. “Two of the people you just listed –- Joe Keatinge and myself -– handled the position for a combined six out of the last 10 years. We had a couple people between us – a span of three years – and now there’s one between Joe and Sarah. How long someone stays in the position really depends on the individual. For all we know, Sarah could wind up handling Image’s marketing for longer than all of us combined. It’s up to her, really.”

As Stephenson said, the longest-serving person in the position was Joe Keatinge, who held the position for nearly four years and who worked at Image for over two years before that in other positions. Second-longest is Stephenson, who rose through the ranks after serving as marketing director to become the publisher in 2008.

In fact, the top positions at both Image and Top Cow are held by former marketing men; in addition to Stephenson, Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik held the role at his company for 15 months prior to his promotion and Top Cow President Matt Hawkins held that role before that.

“There isn’t necessarily a direct correlation between Filip and I working in marketing before moving up to our current positions,” Stephenson explains. “I don’t think it occurred to either of us this is where we’d wind up back when we were interviewing for our respective marketing jobs. For the most part, I think it just comes down to our mutual willingness to help out in whatever way possible.”

That “willingness,” as Stephenson puts it, may be more important than ever as these harsh economic times impact comics. With January 2011’s comic sales showing a steep decline from previous months, it seems the play-of-the-day is refocusing, retrenchment and finding ways to make a profit not only by selling more but spending less.

Echoes

Echoes co-creators Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rahsan Ekedal‘s first printing of the opening issue for the five-issue Minotaur Press/Top Cow miniseries sold out. So when I found out that Robot 6 was fortunate enough to get to re-run the first issue in one-page installments starting today, I wasted no time in contacting Fialkov for an email interview. Here’s the basic premise of the miniseries: “Brian Cohn was learning to deal with the Schizophrenia inherited from his father. Supportive wife, new baby on the way, drugs to control the voices. But when on his father’s deathbed, he learns that he also inherited the trophies of his father’s career as a serial killer. Will his madness send him further down into the crawlspace of his father’s mind?” My thanks to Fialkov for the interview–and be sure to read Echoes right here at Robot 6.

Tim O’Shea: Minotaur Press was revived partially to publish this series, how flattering is it to be part of the imprint’s return?

Joshua Hale Fialkov: It’s pretty cool. I’ve been looking for places to do what I do for a long time, and I’ve always gotten the impression that there weren’t a lot of options. For Top Cow to more or less reopen a place that’s focused very specifically on the type of books that I do, that virtually no other publisher does, is just an amazing opportunity.

O’Shea: How surprised were you to land this project at a Top Cow imprint, considering you admit: “They know that what I do is quite different from what they do, but, they also believe in my writing and Rahsan’s art, and our combined storytelling to take a huge chance on our book.

Fialkov: Filip’s core principal since coming to Top Cow has been that quality wins out. Finding great creators and trusting them to execute the job you hire them for is the key to success. I think in his wake at the company, you’ve seen that. Whether it’s Ron Marz and Phil Hester on their flagship books, or young up and comers like Rob Levin and Bryan Edward Hill, or even some of the amazing talent that’s passed through the doors like Jason Aaron and Jonathan Hickman. So, y’know, being a part of that, and having already had some success with them (Alibi both the comic and the movie, and Cyblade winning Pilot Season) was certainly a feather in my cap.

O’Shea: Almost at the start of the series, the lead character’s father dies. And yet, would you agree that even in death Brian Cohn’s father is a major character in the series?

Fialkov: Oh yeah, their relationship is the central one in the book. And, maybe it says a lot about me, but, I think for most every man, the relationship with their fathers is a huge part of their lives. As a man, that’s your example, what you aspire to, or, y’know, the opposte. Even if your father was an absentee father, that sends a whole nother message to you. For Brian, he’s a lot like an abused puppy, so desperate and hopeful for some sort of respect or love from the man who’s done nothing but kick him when he’s down.

Plus, y’know, there’s that whole hallucinatory yelling thing, that leaves Brian’s pop very much in the forefront of his life.

O’Shea: Echoes deals with topics like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia, the latter medical condition heavily shapes the way that some scenes are portrayed. How did you and artist Rahsan Ekedal arrive on how to approach some scenes, particularly when Brian is hallucinating?

Fialkov: I played with it quite a bit in my last book, TUMOR, and with that book we made a point of clearly delineating between real and imagined. In retrospect, I wondered if that was cheating. If by having it so clearly explained, I’m underestimating my audience. So, I wanted that blending to be much more subtle this time out. And, the fact that what Brian is hallucinating is just as ghastly and gross as real life means that having the dreams stylistically shift jars you out of reality a bit. It, I worry, would put too fine a point on the question of what is real and what is in his head.

O’Shea: Is this the first time you’ve collaborated with Ekedal, how did the two of you team up for this project?

Fialkov: We worked together a few years ago on a book called The Cleaners for Dark Horse, and then again last year on an issue of The Crazies comic that tied in to the movie. We were introduced through our Dark Horse editor, Shawna Gore. Unfortunately, that book wasn’t really much of a collaboration as the guy I wrote it with was really the driving force behind that book, and consequently, Rahsan and I didn’t have much contact. But, I saw so much potential in his work, and really felt like we could learn a lot from each other, so, after it was clear there wouldn’t be any new Cleaners for a while, I stole him away for my own nefarious uses.

O’Shea: The series is edited by Filip Sablik & Phil Smith, can you talk about how they helped to improve the story through their respective editing?

Fialkov: To go back to what I said before, the guys really believe in getting out of the way of talent. Where they came into really make a difference was in making sure that what we’re doing was actually clear and concise. When you’re doing subjective story-telling like this and spend so much time dealing with detail, having some guys who can look at the big picture and say, “this is unclear,” or “this is what I thought you meant here…” is immensely helpful.

O’Shea: Your father, who is a forensic psychiatrist, has provided some inspiration of the elements you deal with in many of your stories. Is he amazed or bemused by how you’ve taken the knowledge you’ve gained from his work?

Fialkov: He mostly tsks and shakes his head at my liberties with reality.

Heh. Actually, he seems to really like it. I get phone calls and e-mails with story ideas and books to check out periodically. Ironically, considering the concept of the book, it’s been a way for my father and I to bond and get to know each other better. It’s actually been nice.

O’Shea: Without spoiling anything, there are some major reveals in the course of the story. How did you decide about the pacing of the reveals, allowing them to build suspense and yet reease some of the tension with shocks and surprises?

Fialkov: I’m a stauch believer that the two most important pages in a monthly comic are pages 1 and 22. Everything in between is in service of those two pages. I spend more time writing those two pages than the rest of the comic, honestly. Polishing and adjusting and just making sure that they’re absolutely perfect. With a suspense book like this, those pages need to be even more ramped up, because the whole book is edge of your seat, tension wise, and the last page needs to be an explosion of that, enough that you remember it for thirty days till you see the next one on the shelf.

O’Shea: Did you hold out hope that the first printing of issue 1 would sell out, or did you intentionally lower your expectations to avoid potential disappointment?

Fialkov: Oh man, I’ve been doing this long enough to keep my expectations low. I’ll never forget the week that my first creator owned series came out. Elk’s Run had been getting huge reviews leading up to it’s release, and we had a bunch of great press, and then, the week we got our intiial orders in we’d gotten a HUGE review in Entertainment Weekly. The orders for issue 1? Around 800 copies. But, here’s the thing… the orders for issue 2? They went up. For issue 3? Up. Issue 4? Up. Issue 5? I have no idea, cause the publisher went bankrupt.

So, I’ve learned a couple of things over the years, one, is to keep your expectations low, and the other is that if you do good work people will appreciate it and your audience will grow.

O’Shea: Dolls play a major part in the story, when and how did you come up with that prop idea?

Fialkov: I’d had the idea of using the dolls for something for a long while. I think I’d come across it while doing research for a vodou based book that never happened, that there were these higher end voodoo dolls that were made from flesh and bone of various animals, and that in some of the dark magic you’d use the bodies of your enemies. That really stuck in my craw as just about the grossest way to die/to kill somebody.

They’re just such a ghastly item, and as I’ve said before, I can’t wait for a fan to make a home made replica.

O’Shea: Echoes is a five-issue miniseries. If response is strong enough, do you have an interest in exploring the Echoes universe more?

Fialkov: Oh yeah, I have a sequel/continuation that’s been in my mind from the jump. The hope is for the first mini to come out as a trade and sell enough that I convince the powers that be to let us go on volume 2. Of course, getting to the trade still rests on folks picking up the singles, so, y’know, suppor the book if you want more.

O’Shea: Now that you’re done answering my questions, anything you’d like to say or ask to the Robot 6 readers?

Fialkov: Just to give an indie book a chance. Everybody spends so much energy bitching about what they don’t like about comics, how about turning away from the stuff that makes you angry, and instead trying something that’ll make you piss your pants.

More info and all that good stuff at http://www.echoesthecomic.com or on twitter @EchoesComic

Echoes #1

If you’re a fan of horror comics or just good comics in general, then you’ll like this. Courtesy of our friends at Top Cow, starting today we will serialize the first issue of Echoes by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Rahsan Ekedal. In addition, each page will include creator commentary from Fialkov.

You can check it out at http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/echoescomic. The cover and first page with commentary on both are up now, with new pages arriving every day.

And of course, if you decide you’d prefer to read it in print, a second printing of Echoes #1, as well as Echoes #2, can be found in stores now. The third issue arrives Feb. 23. For more information, visit http://www.echoesthecomic.com or follow on Twitter @echoescomic. We’ll have an interview with Fialkov a little later this afternoon, and you can check out the official press release after the jump.

*****

ECHOES DAILY DOSE OF HORROR
Top Cow and CBR Present Echoes Daily, Including Creator Commentary

BERKELEY, CA Feb. 7, 2011 – In anticipation of the third issue of ECHOES, a disturbing horror noir by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Rahsan Ekedal, Comic Book Resources and Robot 6 will be releasing one page per day of ECHOES #1 alongside fresh new creator commentary by Fialkov.This 5 issue miniseries published by Minotaur Press, an imprint of Top Cow, and Image Comics has been described by USA Today as having, “honest-to-goodness creepiness” at its heart.

Jonah Weiland of Comic Book Resources stated, “I’m very pleased Top Cow has allowed CBR & ROBOT 6 this opportunity to serialize the first issue of ECHOES online. ECHOES is an engaging and creepy story, the kind that sticks in your head well after you’ve read it. It’s an example of the incredible creativity that exists in the comics medium that deserves greater exposure and we’re happy to do our part.”

Fialkov also looks forward to this opportunity to provide some of the real behind the scenes story of ECHOES to the fans. He added, “As a comics creator working outside the mainstream, I’ve had to fight for every reader. Getting a chance to show off all of that hard work to the huge audience of CBR is thrilling beyond words. It’s a sign of support that every creator dreams of. ”

Monday, February 7th, 2011, readers will not only get an opportunity to enjoy ECHOES #1 for free, but will also get an opportunity to go behind the scenes each day with Fialkov at http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/echoescomic/ to explore the team’s creative process, including behind the scene details, alongside each of Ekedal’s expertly illustrated grayscale pages.

ECHOES #3 (DEC100530), a 32-page black and white horror comic for $3.99 will be in stores on February 23, 2011. Both Echoes #1 2nd Printing and Echoes #2 are both available for immediate reorder. For more information, visit http://www.echoesthecomic.com or follow on Twitter @echoescomic.

ABOUT COMIC BOOK RESOURCES
Comic Book Resources (http://www.comicbookresources.com), online since 1996 and located in Los Angeles, CA, is the leading comic book destination site, with daily news, commentary by industry professionals and the most active comics community online. Comic Book Resources is visited by over 4 million visitors (Google Analytics) every month.

ABOUT TOP COW PRODUCTIONS INC.
Top Cow Productions, Inc. (www.topcow.com), a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, who also co-founded Image Comics earlier that same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades. Its flagship franchise, WITCHBLADE, was TNT’s #1 original film of 2000 and the subsequent TV series was released on DVD on July 29, 2008. WITCHBLADE is also the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga by Studio GONZO in 2006. Top Cow’s other flagship property, THE DARKNESS, was developed into a major next-generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and achieved platinum sales status. WANTED, an Eisner-nominated miniseries published by Top Cow from 2003-2005, is now a major motion picture from Universal Pictures starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. Virtually all of Top Cow’s other properties are in development as feature films, live-action television, animation or video games. Top Cow has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die-cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games and roleplaying games.

We Are All Lost

The folks at Top Cow sent over a teaser, above, for a new series debuting in April. Beyond that, they didn’t offer any additional details, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see what they have in store.

Deadpool Team-Up #886

Hello and welcome to a special “birthday bash” edition of our weekly “What Are You Reading” feature, where the Robot 6 crew talks about what books we’ve read recently. Usually we invite a special guest to share what they’ve been reading, but since today isn’t just an ordinary day for us, we thought we’d invite a whole bunch of special guests to help us out — our friends and colleagues from Comic Book Resources, Spinoff and Comics Should Be Good!

To see what everyone has been reading, click below …

*****

Brigid Alverson

Fables Deluxe Edition Hardcover, Vol. 1

I’m trying to catch up on some of the books I missed during the long stretch of my life when I was away from comics, so this week I picked up the first volume of Fables. I like the idea a lot—taking the characters of fairy tales and children’s literature and putting them into adult situations—and the stories are interesting enough to keep me reading. The art bothers me a lot, though. The character designs are fine, but the different elements of each panel don’t work together to create a coherent space. Snow White’s office for example, is in a vast room filled with all sorts of clutter—a flying ship, a toppled column, a suit of armor—but it’s as if every piece was drawn separately and then pasted down, like a Coloforms kit. It’s not as obvious in other parts of the book, but that early scene made me aware of it. Also the characters in this first novel don’t wander far from standard stereotypes—the icy executive woman, the bad boy, the slut, and of course Prince Charming. That’s the cost of using fairy tales as your source material, but I hope the characters develop a bit more complexity. Anyway, it’s a very witty take on the topic and the stories are fun to follow, so I’ll be sticking with it.

Manga-wise, I read the first chapter of Mizuki, a shoujo manga that Digital is publishing on their eManga site. It’s a pretty standard story about a girl who transforms into a devil to fight ghosts; as she is in high school, she tries very hard not to transform because her friends are frightened and revolted by her other form (they don’t know it’s her) and she doesn’t want to scare off the guy she has a crush on. That’s a pretty transparent metaphor for teenage life, and I can see why a book like this would have some appeal for the young-adult crowd. The art is not very distinctive but it is nicely done; I’ll be sticking around for chapter 2 of this one.

Sean T. Collins

Oh, sweet Christmas break! I did a ton of cramming to be properly equipped for doing Best of 2010 lists and now I can kick back and catch up on my prose reading. Right now I’m working my way through an old favorite fantasy series, Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising Sequence. Re-reading it for the first time in years, I’m struck by how much of it is basically info-dumping, yet somehow its tale of the eternal, Arthurian conflict between the Dark and the Light in Britain and Wales still feels immediate and epic.

But there have been plenty of comics on the docket as well. Click the links below for full reviews!

H Day

* H Day by Renee French (PictureBox): French’s elliptical, silent tone poem about her struggle with migraines and ants is a fantastic showcase of her considerable gifts as a crafter of images.

* I Want You #2 by Lisa Hanwalt (Pigeon Press): Body horror, gross-out humor, and insanely detailed drawings of horses and birds and stuff. It’s quite a combo.

* Boy’s Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press): Another uproarious installment of Matt Furie’s chronicle of the unrepentant dude-dom.

* Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines (AdHouse): Despite its rapturous reception elsewhere and my sympathies for its subject matter of animal rights, I found this graphic novel a classic case of reach exceeding grasp.

* The Wrong Place by Brecht Evens (Drawn & Quarterly): Evens uses color like you’ve rarely seen elsewhere to tell the tale of two friends, one a livewire and one a wallflower, and their shared social scene.

* Big Questions #15 by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly): The decade-in-the-making conclusion to Nilsen’s haunting series about a flock of birds who were tragically ill-equipped to deal with the incursion of humanity into their world offers no big answers.

Timothy Callahan

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, by J. W. Rinzler
I’ll admit that the combination of the leaden prequels and video-gamish Clone Wars theatrical release nearly killed my interest in anything Star Wars-related. But I used to be a total Star Wars geek, even going so far as to submit a Star Wars RPG adventure to West End Games in the mid-1990s, though my adventure was rejected because it (a) wasn’t very good, and (b) had what the editor called an “inappropriate title” for something in the Star Wars line. The title? “Attack of the Energy Beasts,” a purposely goofy classic sci-fi homage. I guess, when the second prequel title was announced, years later, that editor probably realized his mistake. Or he said to himself, “Yeah, Lucas doesn’t get it, either.”

Anyway, Rinzler’s massive “Making of…” tomes are the kinds of things that can rekindle interest in that far, far away galaxy. This book focuses on Episode V, of course, and it not only has fascinating behind-the-scenes photographs, and a compelling overview of the struggle to make the movie at a time when no sequel had ever made as much as the original film (Godfather II only did half as well as the original, for example, and that was the best sequel ever made), it also has a great sequence which transcribes a day in the directing life of Irvin Kershner, based on a recording of that day’s events leading up to the famous Han Solo in carbonite scene. Kerhner was wearing a mic all day for another “Making of…” project being completed at the time, and the transcription of the on-set script revision and fragile egos of the performers is a clear look at what really happened when the cameras weren’t looking. The whole book is a pretty great, and engrossing, read.

Captain America #613 by Ed Brubaker, Butch Guice, and Friends
I read ten to twenty new comics every week, so why single out this one? Because sometimes I forget how good Brubaker’s Captain America can be, and this was a particularly good reminder of what has been one of the best mainstream superhero comics of the past five years. From Guice’s chiseled artwork (best embellished by Stefano Gaudiano) to the sometimes dynamic vividly nightmarish layouts to the rapid cross-cutting between Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and the daughter of the Red Skull, this looks to be a comic that’s back on track after a year of slightly disappointing issues (though by the high standards of Brubaker’s Captain America, even weaker installments are better than most). I liked this one a lot.

The Art of Jim Starlin, by Jim Starlin
Quite early in my comic book reading days, I picked up a copy of Dreadstar and Company #2, which reprinted the second issue of the Epic Comics series focusing on Dreadstar’s blind female compatriot, Willow. It was a shocking issue back then, and rereading the entire Dreadstar saga these days, trying to follow along with CBR’s Chad Nevett in “Dreadstar December,” has reminded me how much I’ve always enjoyed Jim Starlin’s work. I’ve been devouring his other comics, and I have an essay on Gilgamesh II that I keep promising to write.

Jim Starlin’s art book, which features highlights from his career and a lengthy retrospective written by himself, is a good primer on the man’s career and it’s also a good reminder of all the projects he’s tacked over the years. It doesn’t go into nearly enough detail about the conflicts he’s had with various publishers (he frustratingly hints at juicy stories of poor treatment by the Big Two, but politely declines to name names or provide specific blow-by-blow accounts), but it does show Starlin to be a man who has always been ahead of the curve, trying to do his own thing in an industry that wants bland conformity.

Timothy Callahan writes the regular column When Words Collide, as well as reviews for Comic Book Resources. He does a lot of other stuff online, too, even talking about comics on the Splash Page podcast with CBR’s Chad Nevett.

Josh Wigler

Morning Glories #2

It’s probably no accident that the books I’m enjoying the most these days are coming from Image Comics, given the fact that I’ve covered the Image beat on CBR for the better part of two years now. But that’s just the state of things, I guess — it’s a good time to be a comics fan, and an especially great time for Image’s creative output.

The two books at the top of my buy pile every month are Chew and Morning Glories, and not just because I’m running monthly columns on them (though that certainly doesn’t hurt). With Chew, John Layman and Rob Guillory are constantly evolving the story of FDA agent Tony Chu in exciting new directions, almost effortlessly taking the series from its initial premise of a guy who gleans psychic impressions from the things he eats to it’s current end-of-the-world-by-fiery-alien-sky-writing status quo. There’s no telling where the book is going to go next, which is exactly why I love it so much.

Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma’s Morning Glories is entering the new year in great shape as well, with the first arc officially concluded in last month’s breathtaking fifth issue. Having already read this month’s installment a couple of weeks early, I can already tell you that Morning Glories is off to an excellent start in 2011. I can also say with no bullshit that this series is one of the most consistent edge-of-your-seat reads you’ll find anywhere in comics today. If you’re not picking Morning Glories up already, do yourself a favor and dive in while it’s still early — trust me, you don’t want to miss this boat.

Some other current favorites include:

- Artifacts … the best event series of 2010, trucking strong into 2011 thanks to Ron Marz and the enormously talented people at Top Cow.

- Orc Stain … I’m pretty sure James Stokoe couldn’t make a bad comic if he tried, certainly not when crafting the disturbingly detailed world that “Orc Stain” inhabits.

- Proof … recently relaunched with a new number one, but it’s the same hairy Sasquatch you know and love.

- The Walking Dead … as the world wakes up and smells the coffee thanks to the hit AMC series, the rest of us already know how amazing this series is thanks to the increasingly devastating monthlies. After eighty issues, Kirkman is still at the top of his game and showing no signs of slowing down.

That’s barely scratching the surface of what I’ve been reading and loving lately, and judging by what’s on the horizon in 2011, the new year should be an equally crowded one. Here’s hoping, at least!

In addition to covering Image for CBR, Josh also can be found blogging regularly for Spinoff. He also writes for MTV and ComicsAlliance.

Ryan K Lindsay

Franken-Castle

Franken-Castle
It’s a concept nearly everyone scoffed at and while many enjoyed it just as many would never admit that it was fun. I missed the boat but that only means I get to enjoy it in one big HC instead. While the end of the tale may have lost its way, the start of this strange monster filled romp by Remender and Moore was one of my picks for comic of the year. A shame not enough agreed with me and it missed out on a mention on the CBR Top 100. I absolutely loved the art and the writing here and while it wasn’t really the Punisher I kind of dug that about it. It wasn’t afraid to try something new and completely succeed in totally new ways.

I can only imagine what a youth would make of Franken-Castle if s/he found it squirreled away at home (which is the optimal way for every generation to discover comics). The sensational art by Tony Moore is something indeed and matched with Rick Remender cutting loose in a way that the Big Two just don’t do enough is the sort of mind-expanding four colour drug that every formative stage should be exposed to. This is comics the way I always imagine them through the magical and misty lens of the golden years of my youth. There should be more titles out there like this.

Secret Dead Men
I love Duane Swierczynski. I’ll just come out and say it, I think he’s a damn fun writer. I really liked his Immortal Iron Fist Run and I would have loved to see him do just a bit more on Black Widow. But the man also writes novels and very good ones so I’m slowly catching up on them all. I recently finished The Wheelman, which is a stellar heist story, and I’m now elbows deep in Secret Dead Men, which is about a sort of wandering PI who collects souls and stores them in his brain. It’s the sort of zany idea that must be read to be believed, and once you’ve read enough Swierczynski you will become a believer. I have no doubt.

Proof
John Prufrock is a very cool character. A Bigfoot (perhaps the Bigfoot) who works for a shadowy government agency tracking down other cryptids. It’s a perfect high concept but shocking in that the execution is actually better than you think it might be. There’s erudition to the words, and beauty in the art, and a certain spirit between the panels that just makes you fall completely into the world created. This is a title you can get lost in.

I initially picked this title up in trades but I’ve switched to floppies for the new relaunch and I’m glad I did. The latest issue was a whole barrel of cool and I’m so very glad I don’t have to wait months between my Proof fixes. This comic deserves to be read by more people so become the next one and pick up a trade, or the latest #1 issue, today. You won’t regret it.

Ryan K Lindsay is a weekly reviewer at CBR. He is also a staff writer for comic news and reviews site The Weekly Crisis. He also runs a comic scripting challenge site called thoughtballoons where each week a character is picked and every member of the site must write a one page script about that character (and play-at-home scripts are encouraged in the comments). He’s also been known to throw a think piece up at Gestalt Mash and is hoping one day to have his many comic pitches drawn by people with pencils.

Greg McElhatton

All Clear

All Clear by Connie Willis: I’ve been a fan of Connie Willis’s writings ever since I first picked up a copy of Doomsday Book, back in the day. The second half of what was supposed to be a single novel (but so big it got split into Blackout and All Clear), it feels like it’s the final word on her time travel novels. A book about World War II is rarely cheerful, but this one pulls your heartstrings with both despair and hope. It’s a book I was a little unsure of early on, but it comes together beautifully for a strong conclusion.

Justice League International Vol. 1-4 by Keith Giffen, J.M DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, Ty Templeton: I have a confession to make–aside from the odd issue here and there, I’ve read almost none of the “classic” Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire JLI. I recently went on a binge and read all four collections to date, and unsurprisingly I loved them. Sure, I could’ve done without the inevitable line-wide crossover every five or six issues, and the rotating door of cast members is a little hard to keep track of at times, but it’s still a lot of fun. Looking forward to picking up Volume 5 shortly!

Voodoo Heart by Scott Snyder: I’m about halfway through this collection of short stories, and if there was any doubt that Snyder’s adept at multiple genres (he’s already proven that by writing both American Vampire and Detective Comics with completely different voices), this should seal it. The opening story (“Blue Heron”) about a man chasing a zeppelin across the country to catch the love of his life will hook you, and three stories later the quality hasn’t dipped. Really looking forward to sitting down with the rest before long.

Greg McElhatton writes reviews for CBR and Read About Comics, and also has a fun personal blog.

Kiel Phegley

X'ed Out

Over the past few weeks, my reading has been divided up on two very specific categories. First up, I’ve been going back over a ton of great comics while working on CBR’s top 100 of the year list. Aside from some of the books I wrote up for the countdown including Brandon Graham’s King City, Hope Larson’s Mercury and Mike Dawson’s Troop 142, I’ve been going back over the big books of the year like Wilson an X’Ed Out as well as some killer stuff that didn’t quite make my top ten or the top 100 including Jason Lutes’ latest issue of Berlin and Kathryn and Stuart Immonen’s Moving Pictures. And in case you’re wondering, my #1 book of the year was totally Love & Rockets New Stories #3. That one has been banging around my brain box since the moment I first picked it up. We live in an age of wonders.

The other stack of stuff I’ve been tearing through are a slew of novels I have to read for my upcoming residency as an MFA student at Hamline University. My program is in Writing for Children and Young Adults, so my required list is a metric ton of middle grade and YA prose with a few picture books thrown in. I’ve read Jack Gantos’ Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key, Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Deborah Heiligman Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith. Most importantly for the comic folks out there, I’ve been asked to re-read Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese because, get this, Yang will be at Hamline next week while I’m in my first residency to give us students a workshop in writing and graphic novels and what not. How rad is that?

Kiel Phegley is the news editor for Comic Book Resources, and one of the folks I should probably thank more often for all the help he gives us. Check out his interview with The Comics Reporter.

Brian Cronin

The last five comic books that I read were Deadpool Team-Up #886, a well-told action story by Shane McCarthy and Nick Dragotta featuring Iron Fist. Dragotta’s art was fantastic and McCarthy had a lot of funny dialogue.

Secret Warriors #23

Secret Warriors #23 was the rare issue that gives you an extreme amount of singular character development while still moving the over-arching plot along. Great job by Jonathan Hickman, and it is awesome that Alessandro Vitti is going to finish out this series on art.

Justice Society of America #46 was an intriguing look at the idea of a superhero team devoting itself entirely to one city and not letting ANY crime occur. Meanwhile, Marc Guggenheim and artist Scott Kolins do strong work in establishing the mysterious villains in the comic as a formidable and scary threat to the cast of this book. One drawback in the issue to me was a scene featuring Obsidian that did not ring true to me.

Hulk #28 was another entertaining issue by the impressive duo of Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman. Hardman has not had a bad issue yet, and Parker gives him a lot of really cool stuff to draw in this issue (and the previous issues, as well).

Finally, Flash #8, by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, was an effectively eerie look at the origin (or should I say originS) of the Reverse-Flash. Seeing him cruelly change time around himself makes him a rather terrifyingly disturbing creature.

That’s my list!

Brian Cronin runs our sister blog, Comics Should Be Good! and was part of The Great Curve team way back in the day, before we were ever Robot 6. He’s also an author.

Alex Dueben

Apollo’s Angels

Apollo’s Angels by Jennifer Homans. Writing about comics and art has its challenges, but it’s a cakewalk compared to writing about dance. For centuries, the only real record we have of dance has been through writing. The facility with language required by good dance writers is part of what I love about the genre (sometimes more than dance itself) and as I think and write more about the history of comics I know that Homans’ cultural analysis and history of ballet is something that’s going to stick in my head for some time to come. This is the gold standard of arts writing.

Berlin: City of Stones and Berlin: City of Smoke. I’ve been meaning to reread the first volume and read the second one of Jason Lutes’ epic series ever since I picked it up months ago but I wanted to read through it all in one sitting and finally got a chance this week. I can’t help but feel that like Love and Rockets, the problem isn’t that we love the series any less or that the quality has dropped – it’s better than it’s ever been – the problem is that we’ve run out of adjectives to describe it. There’s nothing new to say. How many times can we say it’s a brilliant piece of work and one of the greatest comic series ever?

Bad Machinery: A Feral Flag Will Fly. I picked up this limited edition book of the beginning strips of John Allison’s new comic at Webcomics Weekend and hadn’t gotten around to reading it. Part of the problem with buying the books of webcomics is that I’ve already them, which means they drop to the bottom of the pile quickly. The truth is that I love Bad Machinery. I think it’s Allison’s best work. And it was great to OD on the comic for an afternoon without staring at the screen.

The Butterfly Mosque. G. Willow Wilson is best known to comic fans for her graphic novel Cairo and the series Air. This new memoir will likely change all that. It’s a beautiful book that I can’t recommend highly enough, detailing Wilson’s conversion to Islam and her time in Cairo, falling in love and her young married life. Wilson conveys the culture she found herself a part of and the essential separateness that one feels in a culture unlike that which one is born and raised in. Through it all there is a greater understanding and love.

Alex Dueben writes about the kinds of comics that I know Sean and Chris dig for CBR.

Sonia Harris

The Essential Moon Knight

The Essential Moon Knight Vol 1 & 2
by Doug Moench, Bill Sienkiewicz and others
Love Bill Sienkiewicz, I have ever since New Mutants and then Elektra Assassin. Because of his genre-altering work , I thought it would be interesting to see how his style evolved. This book definitely show his early work, you can see the change and watch him move towards something more communicative. Still, his line is always characteristic, easy to spot even when he’s trying to hide his inherent craziness. To be honest, I’m not reading the words, I’m just in it for the art. I might go back and read them if I get stuck in bed sick one day or something, but there isn’t a lot of draw.

http://www.freakangels.com/
by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
I tried reading this online when it started, but the short episodes meant that I couldn’t really get into it. Then I forgot about it for a few months and came back with plenty of story unfolded. Elis writing a screwed-up, post-apocalyptic London is very compelling, especially with a dysfunctional, neo Village of the Damned (but nice, sort of) angle. Duffield’s art is quite lovely, and it’s become one of the few comics that I don’t mind reading online. Having said that, it does look good in print – the colors sort of do slightly better things in print – but knowing that it is up online, how can I wait all those extra weeks for the book?

Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
by David Lynch
A funny little, chunky, blue book. Although I read sequentially, it would be a great book to dive into at any point for inspiration, a sort of random divination kind of a thing, to set the mood for a project or day. David Lynch talks gently about his creative process and the role transcendental meditation plays in that (which may or may not be your cup of tea, but I think it is interesting, regardless.) He’s very candid, talks openly of his feelings about major projects, which is really interesting to me. He discusses about how some films are made, what it means to him, and what he intends in making them… It’s nice, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of his films. The book is less dry than that, more an aspirational piece for the creative mind.

Sonia Harris writes for Comics Should Be Good every wednesday and sometimes writes convention coverage for CBR.

James Hunt

Hopeless Savages: Greatest Hits

1. Hopeless Savages: Greatest Hits – Jen Van Meter, Christine Norrie et al.
Many of my favourite creators have admitted being influenced by Hopeless Savages, so when the omnibus edition came out recently, I took that as my “now or never” moment to see it for myself. Working through the book, I’m not sure I’ve been entirely won over by the “punk family” premise, but the characters are lovingly-crafted and it’s easy to see why it had such an impact on those who read it.

2. Generation Hope – Kieron Gillen, Salvador Espin.
With its central theme of teenagers accepting themselves as mutants, Generation Hope feels more like the X-Men than any other X-Book does right now. I’ve loved Gillen’s work ever since the days of the original Phonogram series, and this is no exception. The market might feel a little over-saturated with mutant titles, but this had an incredibly strong launch, and it’s a series that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in 2010.

3. The Fabric of the Cosmos – Brian Greene.
Sometimes it’s good to get away from fiction and be reminded that actually, the universe we live in is strange enough even without superpowers and cosmic beings. I figure if I can understand DC continuity, quantum physics shouldn’t be much harder to grasp, and Greene’s informative yet approachable style keeps me from feeling overwhelmed by the hard maths – just when you think it’s getting a bit too complicated, out come The Simpsons references.

James Hunt reviews comics for Comic Book Resources.

Greg Hatcher

Well, to be honest, what I’m reading is usually listed right there in the column every week. But today we have….

Crossovers: The Secret Chronology of the World, volumes one and two, by Win Eckert. This is kind of the ultimate continuity-geek book, working out the chronology of every single literary crossover ever, including comics. It might be a little uber-nerdy for some folks but I’m pretty nerdy and I think it’s great fun. I’m a Wold Newton guy from way back, I bought Philip Jose Farmer’s biography of Doc Savage new off the stands back in the seventies, so this is totally my thing.

Coils, by Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny. Picked this up on a whim not too long ago, on one of our bookscouting road trips. A man discovers that his memories are false computer implants… when he tries to discover the truth his fiancee is kidnapped and the chase is on. Sort of a cross between The Bourne Identity and Total Recall.

The Liberty Project by Kurt Busiek and James Fry, collecting their short-lived comics series from Eclipse way back when. I remember this series fondly from the 1980s and it’s nice that it’s back in print again.

Greg Hatcher can be found writing every week for Comics Should Be Good!

Shaun Manning

20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys vol. 12

I’ll admit that I thought 20th Century Boys went off the rails a bit when the “New Book of Prophecy” was introduced, but volume 12 reveals a bit more about the origins of this second deadly tome and ties together a lot of really fascinating threads. Urasawa is utterly brilliant, managing to string out the big reveal of the Friend’s identity for a full twelve volumes and keep things interesting at every step of the way.

Doctor Who #1

I got a preview copy of the new IDW series starring the Eleventh Doctor, and this standalone issue was a hell of a lot of fun. Basically, the TARDIS is infected with every spam email Rory has ever received and brings to life the various charlatans and con men embodied in each. The 419 man is a special treat. My only gripe is that it drives me nuts when recognizable entities like Facebook are tweaked just to avoid naming them directly, and there was a bit of this.

Shaun Manning covers Dark Horse, BOOM! and a lot of other comic news on CBR.

Chad Nevett

Invisible

I got some really cool books for Christmas and have been reading those, prose and comics alike. On Wednesday, I had a bunch of time to kill and wound up reading all of Invisible by Paul Auster in the process. It’s not dissimilar to his other books with a narrative within the narrative presented to us by a friend of the original author. I find Auster’s prose engaging and it always makes me want to write. It’s writing that requires you to be active and read between the lines. He’s also a writer I love just for the fact he’s almost at the point where he’s releasing one novel each year.

I arrived home from the holidays to find a shipment of comics I bought, including Jack Cross #1-4 by Warren Ellis and Gary Erskine. It’s one of the rare recent Ellis-penned minis that I hadn’t read and I missed getting a copy of the recent DC reprint. It fits nicely into his larger body of work with his interest in intelligence work. The protagonist is an interesting fellow with his idealism and pacifism in the ‘real’ world, but his utter brutality when he’s called on to do a job. It’s a cynical book, but definitely one for the Ellis fans.

And, finally, just today, while at work, I read Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke (on lunch and during breaks, of course). I picked this up during the week with a gift card and loved it. Much more of a COMIC adaptation of the prose than The Hunter was. Cooke is more playful and inventive here, willing to change up styles and storytelling approaches when it suits him, not just during the heist scenes. It’s a shame we’ll have to wait until 2012 for more.

Chad Nevett talks about comics in several different places around the web — at his personal blog GraphiContent, at Comics Should Be Good!, as a reviewer for Comic Book Resources and on the Splash Page podcast, with Mr. Callahan. He also writes about wrestling for 411mania.

Emitown

Graeme McMillan

It’s a weird week for new releases, with everyone but Marvel taking it easy and pulling back on massive hauls in order to give our wallets a nice holiday break (unless you’re a Marvel completest, in which case, yowza. Look out). That said, if I had $15, I’d put it towards the special 200th issue of What If? ($4.99), the first issue of event tie-in Chaos War: X-Men ($3.99) because I’m curious how Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson handle Marvel’s version of Blackest Night, and the second issue of Scott Snyder and Jock’s Detective Comics run (#872, $3.99), because I was really happily surprised by how much I enjoyed the first.

If I had $30, I’d put Chaos War and What If? back on the shelf, and get Emitown ($24.99) instead. I’ve heard really great things about this print collection of Emi Lenox’s autobio webcomic, and I like the idea of seeing 2011 in by discovering a new cartoonist to love.

Splurging, I’d go back to Marvel, with the brand new Ka-Zar collection by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert ($19.99). I missed out on this series back in the 1990s, but as a fan of both fish-out-of-water stories and Mark Waid stories, something tells me that this might be right up my street.

Crickets

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

I picked up a copy of this at the Brooklyn show but if you weren’t there, then the third issue of Sammy Harkham’s Crickets ($8) is easily the pick of the week, at least as far as I’m concerned. Harkham has seemingly abandoned, at least for now, his tale of wandering golems and invulnerable men for two self-contained pieces, each with a decided literary bent (the first one is rather cheekily titled “The New Yorker.”). Both tales show a slight movement towards more introspective, character building work, with the second tale “Blood of the Virgin,” offering a nice homage of sorts to the late 1960s and early ’70s era of Roger Corman-style cheapie b-films, or at least how they were produced. Definitely one of the nicer surprises at the Brooklyn show this month and highly recommended.

If I had $30:

I’m extremely curious to check out Bigfoot ($20), Pascal Girard’s graphic novel about a sensitive teen who becomes an unwanted celebrity thanks to an embarrassing YouTube video. I really liked Pascal’s last book, Nicolas, a memoir about his younger brother who died at an early age, and am anxious to see what he’ll do with more fictional material.

Splurge:

There’s not much that’s splurge-worthy this week, but I’ll at least check out Drew Friedman’s Sideshow Freaks ($19.95), a collection of color caricatures of human oddities, courtesy of Blast Books.

Echoes

Michael May

If I had $15:

Like Graeme and Chris said, there’s not a whole lot going on this week, but I’d spend my money on the new Hellboy (The Sleeping and the Dead #1; $3.50) and Josh Fialkov’s new book, Echoes #1 ($2.99). Fialkov describes his story as “a dark horror book that asks whether you can inherit murder” and “about the darkest, scariest thing I’ve ever done.” Bold words coming from the writer of Elk’s Run.

If I had $30:

I’d add Dark Horse’s John Carter of Mars: Weird Worlds collection ($14.99), their reprinting of DC’s John Carter stories from the ’70s featuring the work of guys like Marv Wolfman, Howard Chaykin, Gray Morrow, and Joe Orlando.

Splurge:

Sometimes I regret having to pick based on a budget. Like this week when two of the books I want most count as splurge items. There’s no way I’m missing the new Atlas collection though, The Return of the Three Dimensional Man ($16.99) or Marvel’s reprint of Mark Waid and Andy Kubert’s Ka-Zar ($19.99). I was a fool in the ’90s for not picking up that series. I’m also cautiously curious about Markosia’s The Young Sherlock Holmes Adventures ($15.95). That one’s going to require a flip-through before buying though.

Uncanny X-Force #1

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Robot 6 crew has been enjoying on the comics front. Today our special guest is our friend Ron Richards, one of the co-founders of the popular comics website iFanboy.com. To see what Ron and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.

*****

Brigid Alverson

Scrooge and Santa

I got into the Christmas spirit a bit with Scrooge and Santa, by Matthew Wilson and Josh Kenfield. It’s a cute update of A Christmas Carol, with a cynical modern-day Scrooge who loves shiny gadgets almost as much as he hates Santa Claus. This is a kids’ comic with lots of humor and plenty of action. Scrooge kidnaps Santa and tries to take over Christmas, but the FBI and his sweetheart of an assistant thwart him at every turn. There are lots of goofy chase scenes, some magic, and plenty of in-jokes for fans of the original book as well as some other holiday classics. Kenfield’s art is expressive and dynamic — sometimes a bit too dynamic, as it was hard to follow what was going on in some of the action sequences — but overall it’s a fun holiday story.

In Doug TenNapel’s mind, the afterlife is sort of like Yugoslavia — seven different kingdoms, all set against one another and then reunited by a single conniving ruler. It’s a dreary place, filled with danger, and the ghosts keep escaping into the world of the living to get away from it. In Ghostopolis, the story is set in motion when a talented but washed-up ghost wrangler accidentally sends a young boy, Garth, into the afterlife before his time (Garth is dying but at the moment is very much alive). Of course it turns out that Garth has special powers, and soon a number of different parties are after him, each for their own reasons. The bare outline of the story — boy strays into forbidden kingdom and must get back home — is as old as the human race, but the world that TenNapel conjures up is original enough that it feels fresh anyway.

Chris Mautner

This week I read the first hardcover volume of Brightest Day which … well, to be honest, it left no impression on me whatsoever. It wasn’t awful enough to make me want to slag it, nor was it decent enough to make me want to admire it, even begrudgingly. Actually, I found myself rather bored by it, despite the presence of giant zombie sharks, dead baby birds and psychotic Martians that flay families alive while they’re playing Rock Band. The whole thing seems so concerned with set-up and continuity that the pace is rather slack, and I didn’t find enough reason to care about Boston Brand or any other of the cast’s plights I’ve talked before about my dislike for Ivan Reis’ over-rendered art before and that dislike continues here. Maybe everything picks up in Vol. 2, but at this point I’m not terribly inclined to find out. I didn’t hate the book — I couldn’t work up enough emotion to do that. All I felt was a bout of extreme indifference.

Tim O’Shea

Knight and Squire #3

I don’t know if Paul Cornell has enough material drive or interest to do a Knight & Squire ongoing, but three issues into this six-part miniseries and it is fast becoming one of my favorite monthly reads. Comics rarely make me genuinely laugh, this issue did. One-part comedy exploring Shakespeare’s take on King Richard III/one-part social commentary on the borderline absurdity that social media has the potential to be (in Knight & Squire’s world,Twitter is called Twunter [with a slogan of "Let Your Fingers Do the Talking"]). The story involves historical clones, including Richard III, who artist Jimmy Broxton has handle a gun, like a modern day posturing criminal in one scene, to great effect.

Some comics talk me to death in an effort to show the reader seemingly how smart the writer is. I am relieved to find that while Nick Spencer pours a great amount of story and details into every page, it’s not heavy handed. Quite the opposite in fact, the details draw me into THUNDER Agents #2 even more. As much as I enjoy Cafu’s pencils on this series, Chriscross handles many pages in this issue in a style that is a poor match for Cafu. After several pages of Chriscross almost cartoonish characterizations of face, it was jarring to go back to Cafu toward the end of this issue. It was so jarring I did not recognize the main character (compared to how he looked on Chriscross’ pages) until someone actually said the character’s name.

Paul Tobin’s all ages work on Marvel Adventures continues to captivate me. He’s written the best version of the Vision that I have read since Kurt Busiek last handled him. My only complaint? I wish Scott Koblish had been given enough time to draw the whole issue, as again I was distracted when the latter pages of the issue shifted to the different art style of Peter Nguyen. Fortunately, however, all the characters were still easily recognizable.

Ron Richards

The Thin Black Line

The Thin Black Line (TwoMorrows Publishing) – While not a comic book per se’, this is a book about a comic book creator. After reading the first two Fantastic Four Omnibuses and hearing about the work of Vinnie Colletta, I’ve been fascinated by the man and his work, so when TwoMorrows Publishing put out this book about Colletta, a retrospective of his career and investigation into his legacy as one of the most controversial inkers in the industry, I had to read it. I seriously couldn’t put this book down and read it cover to cover over 3 nights. I can’t say I can definitively say that Colletta is as bad, or deserving of the comments people have made about him, but now I definitely have greater insight to the man, his work and the controversy. I’m not saying it was okay to erase Kirby art so that he could inker faster, but now I get it. Any fan of the silver age and/or the craft of making comics has to read this.

Uncanny X-Force (Marvel Comics) – The standout for my vote for best new series of 2010 is the one I was most worried about once it was announced. The creative team of Remender and Opena are one of my favorites (if you haven’t read Fear Agent, stop reading this and go buy it now!) and the idea of them on an X-Book, as an X-Fan, got me super excited. But the fact that it was picking up the much maligned X-Force as black ops/death squad and was adding Deadpool and Fantomex, two of my most hated characters, to the team had me worried. But after just a few issues, I have to say, Remender and Opena pulled it off. This is easily the best book in the X-Universe right now and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #2

Cowboy Ninja Viking (Image Comics) – One of the most imaginative and creative ideas in a comic book that I’ve seen in a very long time, this espionage/action/thriller from AJ Lieberman and Riley Rossmo (of Proof fame) gets better and better. The idea of an assassin with 3 distinct personalities that take the form of a common archetype is brilliant, and the number of combinations and archetypes used has kept me engaged from issue #1. The inventive use of word balloons in the lettering is just an added bonus to the look of this book, which along with it’s unique use of color, makes this unlike any comic on the stands right now.

Glamourpuss (Aardvark-Vanaheim) – I don’t know if anyone else is still reading this besides me and 2 of my friends, but I never miss an issue of Glamourpuss by Dave Sim. Now to be honest, I could do without half the book, as Sim practices his photorealism art by replicating fashion photography and does wacky magazine/pop culture send ups. But the meat of Glamourpuss lies in the historical exploration and telling of some of the greats of comics and cartooning, like Alex Raymond and Stan Drake. Through his research in the photorealistic style of cartooning, Sim has uncovered and is telling an amazing behind the scenes story of comics in the 1940s and 1950s from both a process standpoint, as well as a historical view of the industry. Every issue is absolutely enthralling.

Hulk (Marvel Comics) – I have often gone on the record that I am not a Hulk fan. Despite growing up a Marvel Zombie, Hulk never really connected with me. I read Peter David’s run here and there, the Bruce Jones run as well as tried to pick it up here and there. But after getting caught up in Loeb’s Red Hulk run, I decided to give Jeff Parker and Gabe Hardman’s start on Hulk with issue #25, and I couldn’t have made a better decision. Easily one of the best, classic Marvel-esque comics being published right now. Hardman’s art is dynamic with a touch of retro to it, and Parker is telling some great stories, complete with dramatic cliffhanger at the end of every issue. This is how super hero comics should be done.

Justice League Generation Lost #10

Justice League: Generation Lost (DC Comics) – Speaking of super hero comics, we’ve been saying over at iFanboy.com that one of the best books DC puts out these days is Justice League: Generation Lost. Judd Winick has been telling issue after issue of what is some of the best Justice League stories in a while. Taking the remains of the old Justice League International characters, along with some new blood in the form of the modern takes on legacy characters like Blue Beetle, Winick has just delivered quality every 2 weeks. I could read Max Lord stories for hours and thanks to this book, I’m getting that along with some humor and most recently some awesome Cliff Chiang covers.

Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia) – As we get to the holidays, my go-to present in giving the gift of comics has been Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee. This book is unlike any other graphic novel you’ve ever read or seen. Truly a modern fairy tale, McCann has written a story that is totally all ages, that could be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. If you haven’t seen the art yet, are you in for a treat. Janet Lee’s first visual story telling work is amazing, and you have to read the bonus material to read about her process and how she went about making each page, each of which is an individual piece of art. This is the must read Graphic Novel of the 2010 Holiday Season if you ask me.

Artifacts (Top Cow) – There’s been a lot of hype about Artifacts recently and all of it is deserved. One of the challenges of Top Cow has been it’s accessibility of the characters and stories. Many people have a negative opinion based on past depictions and images of characters like Witchblade or the fact that they’ve been around for so long, it’s hard to pick up with the story. But with Artifacts, Ron Marz has been able to create an event book that is completely accessible to new readers, as well as enjoyable to anyone who’s been up on the Top Cow Universe. Every issue has read like an action flick and it has the promise to be one of the best contained series once it’s all said and done.

Wuvable Oaf (Goteblud Comics) – A local indie comic fave here in San Francisco, Wuvable Oaf is the excellent series written and drawn by SF native Ed Luce. Touching on all things that are cute and adorable, like kitties, and the fierce world of dating withing the gay scene, to the realities of music from Morrissey to Slayer, Wuvable Oaf has it all. Every issue is an event, and as evidenced by Ed Luce’s recent interview in legendary punk zine, Maximum Rocknroll, is on it’s way to becoming a cult classic. Do yourself a favor, if you have a good sense of humor and are open to something different, then seek out Wuvable Oaf, you’ll never be the same

Top Cow Holiday Special

Last week Jingle Belle creator Paul Dini said on Twitter that the previously solicited Jingle Belle special for this year was canceled, but the content would be combined with the Top Cow Holiday Special.

“Low preorders necessitated the Jing titles to be combined into the Top Cow special,” he later told an inquiring fan. “Ironically preorders shot up after that.”

According to Top Cow, the two former single issues, along with a lot of other material, will now be one graphic novel.

“Jingle Belle and the Top Cow Holiday Special (both single issues) were combined this year and will appear as the Top Cow Holiday Special OGN,” said Top Cow’s Christine Dinh. “It’ll be a flip book of both new issues.”

The graphic novel will arrive in stores Dec. 22, just in time for Christmas. Dinh said the 96-page OGN will retail at $12.99 and will include the content from The Top Cow Holiday Special #1, Jingle Belle: Grounded #1, the previously released Jingle Belle: Santa Claus vs Frankenstein, a 4-page preview of Marc Silvestri’s new project September Mourning and additional bonus material. You can check out a preview of some of the Jingle Belle artwork here.

Artifacts #5

Top Cow has tapped Whilce Portacio to draw the second arc of their 13-issue event series Artifacts. The creator of Wetworks will follow Michael Broussard, the artist on the first four issues.

The 13-issue series, which will be drawn by four different art teams, weaves together storylines from several Top Cow books, including Witchblade, The Darkness and Angelus. The story revolves around 13 mystical artifacts that, when brought together, would bring about mankind’s destruction. A mysterious figure aims to do just that.

“This arc was specially set up for me,” he told USA Today. “I like doing tech stuff, but I also like doing dark and moody. In this case, that moodiness revolves around supernatural stuff and that’s right up my alley. This was a chance for me to artistically examine technology versus spirituality.”

Another artist will take over the book with issue nine, and “a special guest artist” will draw the last issue. The series is written by Ron Marz.