Comic Book Resources

Everyone's A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces

• Andrew Rilstone's 60-page zine on Watchmen, Who Sent the Sentinels, has been garnering quite a bit of attention, mainly because of passages like this:

Who Sent the Sentinels

I've never stopped being surprised that something as geeky as Watchmen is so popular with people who are not geeks. How can a book which so full of superhero in-jokes be so much admired by people who have never read a superhero story -- by people who purport to dislike superhero stories -- by people who sometimes end up denying that Watchmen has got superheroes in it... Maybe Watchmen manages to generate its ironic double-vision internally: the text itself tells you both what superheroes are meant to be like, and what these superheroes are actually like, and it would do so even if there had never been another superhero comic in the world... Or maybe the people who were so enthusiastic about Watchmen were unaware of the idea of superheros, and read the story simply as a story - with an un-ironic single vision.

In which case they'd be reading a different comic to me and it wouldn't be surprising if they assessed it differently.

I've barely had a chance to do more than scrape the surface of this thing but I like what I've perused so far.

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More photos of the Silk Spectre action figure

Silk Spectre

Earlier this month, Hot Toys sent out a teaser image of their upcoming Silk Spectre action figure based on the Watchmen movie. The company has stated the figure will be approximately 30cm (12 inches) tall and sport 26 points of articulation. Ten new photos are now available on Hot Toy's website. No release date has been announced yet.

Hot Toys announce Silk Spectre figure

In their June newsletter, Hong Kong manufacturer Hot Toys introduced the Silk Spectre figure. Based on the Watchmen movie, the figure has Malin Akerman's likeness and a trench coat in 1/6 scale. Calling it a "teaser", Hot Toys promises more images in the near future. No word yet if Sideshow Toys will be distributing this figure for other markets, but the likelihood is high.

Who Watches the Mr. Men?

Who Watches the Mr. Men?

Artist Steven Anderson's Flickr account has a bunch of fun drawings of various comic characters drawn in the style of Roger Hargreaves' Mr. Men and Little Miss series. Characters from Batman, Watchmen, X-Men and Fantastic Four get the treatment, and he even includes a Mr. Men riff on the Marvel Comics logo.

Via Super Punch

Fully baked superheroes

Here are a couple of posts to help ruin your dinner, as my mom always liked to say ... first, Thom Zahler shares some cookies his brother brought over for his birthday:

Watchcookie

I've never heard of the restaurant where he bought them, called Eat 'n Park, but they specialize in smiley cookies, apparently. Zahler's brother had them add the red, which transformed them from regular smiley-face cookies to comic book icons.

And next, retailer and blogger Matt Price shares a whole bunch of comic-themed sheet cakes his wife made, featuring everyone from the Wonder Twins and Captain America to Mr. Spock and Booster Gold:

Booster Gold

I shouldn't be looking at cookies and cakes before lunch ... now I need a snack.

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Templar, Book 3

Awards | Steven Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune has won this year's Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. This is Breen's second Pulitzer; his first came in 1998 while at the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey. The other two finalists were Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press and Matt Wuerker of Politico. [The Associated Press, The Pulitzer Prizes]

Conventions | Stumptown Comics Fest announced the recipients of the 2009 Trophy Awards, led by Templar, Arizona, creator Spike with wins in three categories: Outstanding Art, Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Webcomic. Also, Matt Maxwell posts his report from last weekend's convention. [Stumptown Comics Fest]

TMNT, Book 1

Publishing | The New York Times marks the 25th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by talking with co-creator Peter Laird about the black-and-white comic that became a multimedia juggernaut. “We were looking to do comic books successfully enough that we did not have to work at Pizza Hut,” Laird says of the comic he created with Kevin Eastman.

A 25th-anniversary celebration kicks off this week in New York City, and then continues in a nationwide tour. [City Room]

Merchandising | Marvel Entertainment is partnering with Walgreens for a massive direct-to-retail merchandising program that will bring products featuring the company's superheroes to more than 6,000 drugstores. Marvel characters will grace everything from toys and posters to automotive accessories and pet products to novelty candy and snow globes at Walgreens beginning next spring. [Brandweek]

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Everyone's A Critic: A roundup of comic-related reviews and thinkpieces

Earth X

• Having offered what may become the definitive critical take on Kingdom Come, Tim O'Neil looks at Alex Ross' follow-up project, Earth X:

So, if Kingdom Come is about the reassertion of classically Juedo-Christian concepts of morality as filtered through fifty-and-sixty-year-old superhero comics, what's the take-away for Earth X? Essentially, the story is about what happens when the superheroes begin to realize just how much their lives have been influenced by the interference of amoral space gods - down to the very ideas of morality and ethicality.

• I don't mean to keep linking to The Hooded Utilitarian, but they have a new contributor, "Kinukitty," who will be doing a regular column on yaoi and BL-themed manga. She kicks things off with a look at Aya Kanno's Blank Slate:

The boy on the cover is pretty. So pretty. All the major characters are pretty. Cool, angsty-looking pretty boys with big guns. Did I mention that they're pretty? They really are. I'm not sure who's who all the time. I'm not always sure what's happening. Don't misunderstand – we're not talking about confusion that rips space and time. We're talking about a series of brow-furrowing, minor WTF moments that end with a quiet snort of "Oh, I don't care anyway."

• While you're there I also recommend checking out Tom Crippen's essay on Rorschach.

• Speaking of manga, David Welsh examines Mari Okazaki's Suppli at the Comics Reporter. Also at CR, Bart Beaty praises New Wanted by Laurent Cilluffo.

• Rob Clough looks at the work of emerging artist Juliacks: "It can be a bit daunting to engage these sorts of comics; they demand that you accept them on their own terms or not at all. They can be difficult to begin and adjust to as a reader. Of course, once a reader has locked into this style, the stories become impossible to put down."

What Are You Reading?

Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. This week I'm pleased to announce that our special guest star is Dash Shaw, who wowed the critics last year with his doorstop family drama Bottomless Belly Button and was just nominated for an Eisner for his recently completed Webcomic Bodyworld (soon to be published in book form by Pantheon).

To see what Shaw and the rest of us are reading, click on the link below.

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Coffee company serves up a Watchmen lawsuit

Nite Owl Coffee

The Watchmen movie is just a lightning rod for litigation, isn't it?

This time, though, it's not another movie studio suing Warner Bros., but a coffee company.

Eriq Gardner reports that Virginia-based beverage company Massimo Zanetti has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros., DC Comics and Organic Coffee Cartel, accusing them of trademark infringement in one of the movie's scenes.

Massimo Zanetti thinks the label of Veidt Industries' Nite Owl Dark Roast, shown briefly when tenants rescued from a fire are given coffee in the Owl Ship, closely resembles the design of its own Chock Full O' Nuts brand.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against further exploitation of the mark -- Organic Coffee Cartel, owned by Watchmen: Portrait photographer Clay Enos, produced a limited run of the fictional brand -- and a share of the movie's profits.

Last one of these for awhile, I swear

From Daniel Spottswood's Watchmen review

No doubt you're as tired of smartass Watchmen reviews as I am, but I couldn't let Daniel Spottswood's very funny comic-strip review of the film sneak by without providing a link.

Dark Tower unseats Watchmen on New York Times list

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

Marvel's adaptation of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born finally loosens Watchmen's hold on The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List, taking the top hardcover spot.

I'm not sure what triggered the comic-book take on Stephen King's fantasy epic to spring to the top of the list more than a year after its release. Am I missing something?

Meanwhile, the Watchmen collection slips three places to No. 4 on that chart, but retains the lead position in the paperback category. Writer Alan Moore also claims the seventh hardcover slot with Batman: The Killing Joke, and Nos. 4 and 10 in paperbacks with V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1.

The 22nd volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket holds the top position on the manga chart for the second week in a row, followed by Naruto, Naruto, Naruto ... and more Naruto.

The hardcover and softcover categories hold a few surprises, though: The first volume of DC's all-ages series Tiny Titans debuts at No. 8 on the paperback list, while IDW Publishing sees strong performances from some of its licensed collections -- namely two Angel hardcovers (at Nos. 2 and 3) and a Transformers trade paperback (at No. 3).

And then there's the hefty third volume of the Ted McKeever Library from Image Comics, which debuts at No. 5 in hardcovers.

The Times lists are compiled using an arcane formula that includes sales data from hundreds of retail outlets, including independent booksellers, book chains, online stores and direct-market shops.

Collect This Now! Miracleman

Miracleman #13

Like JK, the recent discovery of the third issue of Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz's Big Numbers put me in mind of another much ballyhooed, but equally hard to find Moore series, Miracleman.

Of course, as with Flex Mentallo, there's little chance this series will ever see print, at least for the nonce. Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane and a host of other lesser mortals have been arguing in court and other areas over who owns the character for over a decade now, and resolution seems as distant as the Orion belt.

The fact that the original Eclipse Comics trades and pamphlets are either a) tough to find or b) very expensive only makes the absence of a new collection only more irksome, as Miracleman still holds up remarkably well, despite having to constantly live in the shadow of its bigger and more popular brother, Watchmen.

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Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Fruits Basket, Vol. 22

Passings | Cartoonist Anne Thorburn Cleveland, author of the 1955 collection It's Better With Your Shoes Off, died last month in Oregon. She was 92. [The Comics Reporter]

Sales charts | Watchmen slips five places to No. 10 in its 36th week on USA Today's bestseller list as the 22nd volume of Tayaka Natsuki’s Fruits Basket debuts at No. 40. Meanwhile, the second wave of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto onslaught continues its slide off the chart, with Vol. 41 dropping 47 places to No. 102, Vol. 40 plummeting 78 spots to No. 129, and Vol. 39 falling 71 places to No. 145. [USA Today]

Conventions | Planet Comicon is being held this weekend in Overland Park, Kansas. Guests include Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Michael Golden, Jeremy Haun, Phil Hester, Bruce Jones, B. Clay Moore, Tony Moore, Jai Nitz, Ande Parks, Eric Shanower and Mark Texeira. [The Kansas City Star]

Conventions | Fearing, in part, the loss of Comic-Con International, a San Diego city task force is considering an expansion of the 600,000-square-foot convention center. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Comics | Christopher Butcher has announced the full lineup for the Comics Festival 2009 offering for Free Comic Book Day. Contributors include Kate Beaton, Scott Chantler, Emmanuel Guibert, Faith Erin Hicks, Ryan North, Steve Rolston, Kean Soo and Chip Zdarsky. [Comics 212]

Creators | Jeff Lemire gives a tour of his workspace. [Jeff Lemire's blog]

Creators | Writer B. Clay Moore is featured in a brief profile. [Ink]

Creators | A list of "50 ubergeeks worth following on Twitter" includes a handful of comics folks. [TechRepublic]

Fandom | This little rant about the apparent difficulty of finding "adult comics" somehow lumps Vertigo titles with Bondage Fairies and the Eros Comix stable. [Comic Book Movie]

Here's another Watchmen video

Look's like today's my day to post videos. Anyway, Thirteen's SundayArts program has a nice piece on the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art and their current the Art of Watchmen exhibit, presented to you by curators Ellen S. Abramowitz and Peter Sanderson.

Someday they'll look up from their desktops and shout 'Save Us'

In the video below, Dave Gibbons shows you how he made a digital image of Rorschach using his computer, Manga Studio and a Wacom Cintiq tablet. Now let's see you try this at home. (via)