Wildstorm
Grumpy Old Fan | We are family: DC solicits for February 2012
Because a Crisis On Infinite Earths homage would have been too predictable
At first I wasn’t especially excited about too much in DC’s February solicitations. However, the more I looked around, the more optimistic I became. Six months into the New 52, some connections are starting to gel, and their interactions (well, as far as what you can glean from the ad copy) seem more organic. As always, there were a few pleasant surprises in the collected editions, and some details from which to spin hopeful speculation.
But enough with the purple prose — let’s hit the books!
TO UNLIMITED AND BEYOND
The gee-whizziest news of the February solicitations has to be the digital-first format of Batman Beyond Unlimited. I have not been the quickest to adapt to digitally-conveyed comics, mostly because my personal technology level hasn’t caught up. However, I do read a number of webcomics, as well as newspaper strips online, and if the price were right, I’d gladly sample BBU’s features on my computer before picking up the print version. Having Dustin Nguyen and (yay!) Norm Breyfogle involved doesn’t hurt either.
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- November 17, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
What can we learn from Icons: The DC Comics and WildStorm Art of Jim Lee (aside from the fact that Jim Lee draws really well)?
If you’re a habitual reader of superhero comic books, or, worse still, a writer whose primary focus is the comic book medium and industry, chances are you’ve been thinking about DC Comics pretty much constantly this summer. It’s been hard not to, given the ambitious, controversial scope of the publisher’s upcoming relaunch, and the way they’ve managed to keep the conversation going by carefully doling out information about it at their own pace.
And, when you think about DC Comics these days, chances are you’re thinking of Jim Lee’s versions of the characters.
Beyond his current role as the company’s co-publisher, Lee’s become the company’s defining artist (ironically, perhaps, without actually working on a regular comic book series for quite some time). He’s the guy who draws the public face of the company’s stars.
Click on dccomics.com, and you’ll see Lee’s Justice League as the banner. Click to the company’s The Source blog, and you’ll see a Lee-drawn Trinity as the banner. Lee designed all of the characters for the publisher’s DC Universe Online video game. Lee redesigned much of the DC Universe for their upcoming relaunch (and quite radically so compared to the more modest DCUO designs). It was Lee who drew the company’s Google doodle a while back, and a great deal of DC-branded merchandise, from tennis shoes and to action figures, features Lee versions of the characters.
The pervasiveness of his visual influence extends to many of the artists chosen to work on the characters’ comic books, and the style in which they’re depicted—DC is too big a publisher to really have a house style, but there’s a loose majority style in which Lee’s influence is rather apparent.
So with visions of a high-collared Justice League dancing in my head as they usually do (Confession: I think about the Justice League the way some people you might encounter on a big-city street think about the CIA and mind control), I was at my local library the other day and noticed a big, huge, atlas-sized tome sitting on a cart, awaiting to be filed back where it belonged.
The cover featured a dramatically-lit Trinity, an outcropping of rock hiding their feet, standing above giant gold letters reading “ICONS” and “Jim Lee.” Picking it up—with an “Oof!” and the thought, I really need to start working out again—I saw that it was actually Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm art of Jim Lee.
Naturally I brought it home to pore over, thinking it might be some sort of Rosetta Stone to how Lee went from the guy who made Jeph Loeb’s totally random “Hush” story arc into something readable to becoming the guy who will define DC Comics for a generation (if the relaunch works out as they seem to hope it will, otherwise he might become known as the guy who made DC’s superheroes look silly for a few years in the 20-teens).
If nothing else, the book was about the size and weight of the Rosetta Stone.
- August 11, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by J. Caleb Mozzocco
The Grumpy Color | Carla and Tom dig into the DC relaunch, Part 2
[After three solid weeks of coverage, you’d think we here at Robot 6 would have run out of things to say about September’s all-new, mostly-different DC Universe.
[Okay, maybe we have -- but when fearless leader JK Parkin suggested that DC blogger Tom Bondurant and retailer/Marvel blogger Carla Hoffman could do a back-and-forth about it, we were happy to oblige. The following was conducted via email from June 17 through June 22.]
* * *
[When we left off yesterday, the question was whether long-established characters or relative newcomers were easier to sell.]
Carla: I know DC has said there will be new characters, but how do you think that’s going to go? Will these be the next Booster Gold or the latest Chase? (P.S.: I sort of remembered that last name so I just looked that up and I was right! There was a character called Chase! I started selling comics when Chase was on the stands!)
Now, as for what I’m going to emphasize to customers as they look up and shout “Save us!”… and I’m going to have to whisper “no” on this one, Tom. The whole point of this re-something is to let a new reader pick up a book with a fresh start and a feeling of confidence that they are beginning at the beginning. Now, if someone wanted to read a Superman issue before, well… where did one begin? That’s where your LCS should factor in; clerks should be there to help people find the book they’re looking for. Most times, one of us at Metro will have read something that a customer is looking for. In this way, we can ask what they like in general (‘What movies do you like?’, etc.) and then direct from there. Does this make sense?
- June 24, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Carla Hoffman
Quote of the day | Brian Wood on the WildStorm that could have been
The Authority
“Shortly before the decision was made known that DC was closing the Wildstorm imprint, I was asked to pitch a line-wide ‘new direction’ for Wildstorm… not a reboot, but just what would come next after the World’s End thing. A year’s worth of stories for three titles. I was so into it, and now the pitch sits in the vault with all the rest of its friends.”
–DMZ, Northlanders and DV8 writer Brian Wood, revealing what might have been if DC Comics hadn’t closed down its WildStorm imprint. Based on the three ongoing series that WildStorm was publishing before they were shuttered, the series Wood references are most likely The Authority, WildCATS and Gen13.
I guess the silver lining here is that DC does still own the characters, so there’s always a chance that we’ll see Authority and the rest again … and who better to revive them than the guy who revived DV8?
- May 3, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Bryan Fuller offers first look at Pushing Daisies comic
From "Pushing Daisies" #1
Almost immediately after ABC announced the cancellation of Pushing Daisies in November 2008, creator Bryan Fuller began talking about resurrecting the quirky comedy as a comic book. Over the next two and a half years since, he’s occasionally offered updates about the fate of the pie-maker who can bring things back to life, saying just last fall that the first issue “will hopefully be out in early 2011.”
Well, it’s early 2011, and there’s no first issue. But Fuller has offered, or rather tweeted, the next-best thing: a preview of the first page. He doesn’t indicate who the artist is, though.
There’s also no word yet as to when we’ll see the first issue, as Pushing Daisies had been destined for DC Comics’ recently closed WildStorm imprint.
Fuller has described the comic as a 12-issue series that ties up loose ends left by the show’s untimely demise as the characters deal with a flash flood that empties bodies from a nearby cemetery.
Check out the full page after the break.
- April 26, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
What are you reading?
Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1
Welcome to another round of What Are You Reading, where we all sit around the virtual coffeehouse and talk about the books we’re currently enjoying (or not as the case may be). Our guest this week is Wilfred Santiago, author of the soon to be released biography of Roberto Clemente, 21. Look for an interview with me and Santiago about his new book in the coming weeks. In the meantime, click on the link below to see what he and my fellow Robot 6ers are reading this week.
- March 13, 2011 @ 01:30 PM by Chris Mautner
Grumpy Old Fan | Boxing days
The Flash vol. 1 #227
What could be worse than a slide show about a stamp collection? Probably a blog post about a comic-book collection….
Among other things, the Vast Bondurant Comic-Book Library now includes over 11,000 single issues spread over 23 long boxes and 15 short boxes. My goal — which seems to recede in the distance the more I consider this project — is to separate all of the newer issues and shorter-run series from the old warhorses like Detective Comics and Fantastic Four. That means bringing the Gotham Centrals and Hourmans out of those big boxes with all the Green Lanterns and Incredible Hulks, into smaller boxes which won’t strain my aging vertebrae.
That scintillating introduction should tell you just how thrilling the past couple of days have been for me (not least because the project is far from over). This is the paper equivalent of defragmenting a hard drive, and it is not the most engaging of topics. Nevertheless, the process has forced me to examine how I use this library. After all, books are for reading, not for taking up space — and the way we read comic books, especially superhero comics, is changing dramatically.
- January 13, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
Comics A.M. | Adrienne Roy passes away; contract changes at DC?
Adrienne Roy
Passings | Prolific colorist Adrienne Roy, who was a fixture of DC Comics for more than two decades, passed away on Dec. 14 following a year-long battle with cancer. She was 57. Although Roy’s work appeared in countless DC titles, from Green Lantern and Superman to Warlord and Wonder Woman, she’s best known for her extensive runs on Batman, Detective Comics and The New Teen Titans. Mark Evanier notes that “Her long tenure on Batman (more than 600 issues of various comics featuring the character) meant that her credit appeared on more tales of the Caped Crusader than anyone else except for Bob Kane.” CBGExtra posts an obituary written by her husband Anthony Tollin. [News from ME]
Publishing | Rich Johnston reports on rumored contract changes at DC Comics that would affect all new creator-owned titles in the DC Universe and Vertigo imprints. [Bleeding Cool]
Publishing | Storm Lion, the Singapore-based multimedia studio behind the 2008 Radical Publishing miniseries Freedom Formula, has closed on the heels the summer layoff of 30 employees in Singapore and Los Angeles. The closing leaves a planned movie adaptation, to be produced by Bryan Singer, “in limbo.” [The Straits Times]
- December 20, 2010 @ 08:47 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Another One Piece sales record, another cartoonist layoff
One Piece, Vol. 6
Publishing | The 60th volume of Eiichiro Oda’s popular pirate manga One Piece sold more than 2 million copies in its first four days of release. It’s the first book to move more than 2 million copies in its first week of sales since the Japanese market survey company Oricon began reporting its charts in 2008. As we reported last week, this volume’s 3.4 million-copy first printing set a record, and propelled the series past the 200 million-copy mark. [Anime News Network]
Editorial cartoons | Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Matt Davies has been laid off by the Gannett-owned Journal News in White Plains, N.Y. [Comic Riffs]
Publishing | Abrams has made three comics-related promotions: Susan Van Metre to senior vice president and publisher, overseeing all comic arts books as well as Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books; Charles Kochman to editorial director of Abrams ComicArts; and Chad W. Beckerman to creative director, overseeing design for all comic arts books as well as Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books. [Abrams]
- November 11, 2010 @ 08:39 AM by Kevin Melrose
Busiek offers a glimpse at The Witchlands
The Witchlands
Here’s one I’ve personally been waiting for … writer Kurt Busiek previews his The Witchlands project over on his blog, offering a look at the cover by Zachary Baldus and some of the interior art by Conner Willumsen.
The project was first announced in San Diego in 2009 at the WildStorm panel and was originally titled Kurt Busiek’s American Gothic. With WildStorm going away, he told Heidi at The Beat that it will likely be coming from somewhere else within DC.
Be sure to click on over to his blog to see Willumsen’s interior art.
- October 27, 2010 @ 08:30 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Nook Color
Digital publishing | As expected, Barnes & Noble on Tuesday unveiled its Nook Color e-book reader, priced at $249. The 7-inch LCD touch tablet runs on the Android 2.1 operating system, and offers web browsing, audio and video playback, and basic games (CNET notes that Barnes & Noble is pushing the device as a “reader’s tablet”). The device ships on Nov. 19. [CNET, Salon, paidContent]
Internet | PayPal has announced its much-anticipated micropayments system, with Facebook and a number of other websites lining up behind it. PayPal describes the new product, available later this year, as an “in-context, frictionless payment solution that lets consumers pay for digital goods and content in as little as two clicks, without ever having to leave a publisher’s game, news, music, video or media site.” Scott McCloud is quick out of the gate with reaction: “This is so close, in almost every respect, to what we were asking for over a decade ago, it’s almost eerie. They’re even using the same language to describe it.” [TechCrunch]
- October 27, 2010 @ 07:54 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Jonny Rench
Passings | Colorist Jonny Rench, who worked on such DC Comics and WildStorm titles as The Authority, Gen13, Human Target and Ratchet & Clank, has passed away from a heart attack. He was 28. “He was an incredibly talented artist,” the WildStorm Twitter account states, “and also an amazing, kind, joyful man.” [Twitter]
Publishing | Fantagraphics Co-Publisher Kim Thompson reveals what was believed to be a sketchbook of early versions of several years’ worth of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat strips “is almost certainly the work of a very intense (perhaps contemporary with Herriman?) fan who diligently, even maniacally, copied each new strip into his sketchbook over a period of three years.” The publisher had planned to release the sketchbook but now, of course, won’t. Refunds will be issued on pre-orders. [FLOG!]
- October 18, 2010 @ 08:27 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC ’10 | DC promotes Hank Kanalz to senior VP-digital [Updated]
Hank Kanalz
Hank Kanalz, former vice president and general manager of WildStorm Productions, has been promoted to senior vice president-digital of DC Comics. He’ll oversee the new DC Digital Comics division, based in Burbank, Calif.
The news was announced this morning by DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee during the DC Nation Town Hall Panel at New York Comic Con.
The WildStorm imprint was closed last month as part of a restructuring of DC Entertainment that leaves the comics-publishing division in New York City while moving the company’s administrative and digital and multimedia functions to Burbank. Lee confirmed this morning that most of the WildStorm operations will be moved from La Jolla, Calif., to DC Digital Comics.
Kanalz joined WildStorm in 2004 from Warner Bros. Consumer Products, where he served as director of worldwide theme parks. Before that he was a line editor at Malibu Comics, and the writer of such titles as Ex-Mutants and Ultraforce.
Update: Comics Alliance reports that Kanalz also will oversee DC’s kids comics.
Update 2: DC has issued an official press release, which you can read after the break.
- October 10, 2010 @ 09:33 AM by Kevin Melrose
Jamie McKelvie’s Gen13
With news last week that DC Entertainment is shuttering the WildStorm imprint and mothballing its characters for a while, fans came out of the woodwork to extol their favorite issues, series and characters. Artists joined in, too, with renditions of popular WS characters, but I think this is my favorite so far:
Gen13 by Jamie McKelvie
Jamie McKelvie posted it on his Flickr page. No word if this is his final pass, or he’ll ink and color it.
- September 28, 2010 @ 01:15 PM by Chris Arrant
Talking Comics with Tim | Jeff Parker
Atlas 5
Any interview in which I can ask a question that prompts Jeff Parker to damn me is a good interview in my estimation (read on to find the “damn” moment, it’s a fun-loving damn). We initially conducted this interview before last week’s announced demise of Wildstorm, but I gave him a chance to adjust his response when discussing the likelihood of a second Mysterius miniseries. I’m sad to see Parker’s series Atlas come to an end this week with the release of Atlas 5. It’s not often that a writer gets to end a series on his own terms, and yet that’s what happened for Parker with Atlas. While the Atlas series takes its final lap, last week marked the start of Parker and artist Gabriel Hardman on the Hulk monthly (and I loved their first issue [25]). While this interview does not cover all of Parker’s Marvel work, we definitely work in a discussion of his Thunderbolts work.
Tim O’Shea: You ended the ATLAS series on your own terms. When you wrote the final scene of the last issue was it upsetting, or was it fine, as you realize you can always find ways to work aspects of these characters into future Marvel books?
Jeff Parker: No, I was actually pretty happy as I wrote it, because I felt this was one of the most “Atlasy” of all the stories. It did its own thing and was exciting and defied expectations, which is what that book should do. I can probably have them pop up in other things, but I really prefer them in their own corner of the Marvel Universe.
- September 27, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Tim O'Shea