Comic Book Resources

The Fifth Color - Marvel Zombies Field Guide

Marvel, with its finger oh so close to the pulse of popular culture, let an idea fester in the minds of their bullpen, slowly creating a deadly infection through the titles of the Marvel Universe.  We can trace it from an original source, the strain of the disease that would later spread, to one man:  Mark Millar.

As much as I would love to chase him down with a bunch of dudes in HazMat suits, Mark Millar is our Patient Zero in the visual juggernaut that is 'Marvel Zombies'.  Who know where he got it from, the end of a bottle of alcohol, the late night viewing of one too many George Romero movies, some internet clicks and a savvy mind for a play on the not-so affectionate terms for the True Believers, but it is here and it's here to stay.  What Millar wrought, Kirkman forged and Arthur Suydam perfected, three men taking us on a wild ride since 2005 and it shows no sign of stopping.  As long as zombies entertain the pop culture brain, someone's going to want to eat those brains.

So, in no particular order, here are some simple signs and helpful tips to the wide multi-universal world of The House of Undead Ideas.
Continue Reading »

It's all fun and games until a zombie gets punched in the face

The Walking Dead #17

One man in Iowa isn't waiting passively for the zombie horde to strike first.

Officers in Iowa City responded at 1:17 a.m. Sunday to a report of an assault at a restaurant, where the victim said he was ordering food when a man approached him, accused him of being a zombie and then punched him in the eye. (First clue the guy probably wasn't a zombie: The Panchero's menu doesn't feature brainssss.)

When the victim tried to use his cell phone to call police, the assailant hit him again, breaking his nose, and then fled through the back door of the restaurant. (Second clue the guy probably wasn't a zombie: The shambling dead have difficulty operating mobile devices.)

The victim was transported to a local hospital and treated for his injuries. (Third clue the guy probably wasn't a zombie: Health-insurance providers consider death a pre-existing condition.)

Police are looking for the assailant, while Iowa City Area CrimeStoppers offer a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to his arrest.

ComicsLive | A guide to upcoming comic-related events

Welcome once again to ComicsLive, a guide to upcoming signings, conventions and other comic-related events. Information on submitting your event can be found at the bottom of this post.

Today

Cleveland | Claudio Sanchez of the band Coheed and Cambria and writer of Amory Wars and the upcoming Kill Audio will sign at Carol & John’s Comic Book Shop from 2 to 3 p.m.

Los Angeles | Nick Simmons will sign copies of Incarnate #1 at Golden Apple Comics from 1 to 3 p.m.

Ojai, Calif. | Opening reception for the Sergio Aragones art exhibit at the Ojai Valley Museum. This event is sold out, but the art exhibit runs through Oct. 4.

Orlando | The Mini MegaCon kicks off at 10 .m. and runs through Sunday. Guests include Darwyn Cooke, Jeff Parker, Chuck Dixon, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Dick Giordano and many more.

Pittsfield, Mass. | The Storefront Artist Project hosts Todd Dezago from noon to 2 p.m. for a class on "Story Structure and the Language of Comics," followed by a signing at 3p.m. by Howard Cruse.

San Francisco | The San Francisco Zine Fest kicks off at 11 a.m. and runs through tomorrow at the County Fair Building.

Continue Reading »

Edginton and Fabbri bring zombies to London in Victorian Undead

Victorian Undead

Wildstorm revealed yesterday what that zombie-fied Sherlock Holmes image from earlier this week was all about -- it's a new six-issue mini-series called Victorian Undead by writer Ian Edginton and artist Davide Fabbri. The story revolves around Holmes and Watson trying to figure out who is behind the zombie plague that's infected 1854 London. Watch for the first issue in November.

The Tony Moore cover from earlier this week is the main cover for the book, BTW; the one above, by Simon Coleby, is the variant.

Elementary, my dead Watson

Victorian Undead

Austin over at Wildstorm's The Bleed blog posted the above teaser image earlier today under the heading "Victorian Undead" featuring what appears to be a zombiefied version of Sherlock Holmes. Using my own detective skills, I've determined this is the variant cover for the first issue of a comic called Victorian Undead.

(OK, it was in the file name -- "victorian_undead1_varcov." Which could be a ruse. But what isn't a ruse is that Tony Moore drew the cover, and it's due in November.)

SDCC '09 | But who holds the record for the most fat Supermen in one place?

Guinness World Records was at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend presenting awards for various records achieved by comic books, TV shows and other activities you might associate with the con. Here's a complete rundown of what they presented:

DC's Paul Levitz and Guinness’ Craig Glenday

Longest Running Sitcom and Longest Running Animated TV Series - With over 443 episodes, The Simpsons is the longest running sitcom (by episode count) and longest running animated series. During its 20th season (2008-09), The Simpsons finally overtook the 435 episodes of former record holder The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-66).

Best-selling Comic (single edition) - Spider-Man No.1, first published in August 1990, is the Best-selling Comic (single edition). With an initial print run of 2.35 million, the record-breaking edition was sold with a variety of differently colored covers and several reprints were ordered to keep up with high public demand.

Longest Continuosly Published Comic Book - The longest running comic book is Detective Comics, which has been printed continuously by DC Comics in the USA since Issue #1 in March 1937. The comic introduced the character of Batman in Issue #27 in May 1939.

Most Successful Sci-fi TV Show - Doctor Who, the longest running sci-fi television show, is now the Most Successful Sci-fi Show on Television. Based on the length of the show's run and international sales data, the series about the adventures of the iconic Time Lord was presented with the new record at Comic-Con 2009 International.

Most Digital Effects in a TV Series - Farscape employed about 25 computer artists to create between 40 and 50 effects shot per episode. The effects team had just seven days to work on each episode, at a rate of 22 episodes per year.

Largest Gathering of Zombies - The record largest gathering of zombies was achieved by 3,894 participants in the 'Red White and Dead Zombie Party' in association with Night Zero on July 3, 2009 in Seattle, Washington. Ryan Reiter, Artistic Director for Freemont Outdoor Cinema Events.

Picture via The Source

Straight for the art | Fingerman's 'Pariah'

A Fingerman zombie

Over on his blog, Bob Fingerman says that he recently sold his second novel, a zombie thriller entitled Pariah, to Tor:

The interesting thing is that part of my deal with Tor is to provide the book with some original interior art (I might do the cover, too, but that is pending). My approach is not to do illustrations of any scenes or characters in the book. I prefer to let the readers picture that for themselves. Instead, one of the characters is an artist and he does studies of the undead to pass the time (no more TV or Internet, so one must pass the time doing something). The conceit of the accompanying art will be that these are his drawings. I don't want any of the art to be typical EC-tinged stuff. The approach is to do sensitive, objective drawings. The zombies didn't ask to be this way. They're not evil.

Sounds like an intriguing approach. Above is an example of what he's talking about. And Fingerman says he might post some rejected sketches from the project soon.

If zombies are the new vampires, then what are sea monsters?

The Zomibe Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks

Writing for Publishers Weekly, Stefan Dziemianowicz examines the lurching and lumbering rise of zombie fiction, from World War Z and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies.

Time magazine has even gone so far as to declare that "Zombies Are the New Vampires," which probably leaves fans of True Blood/The Southern Vampire Mysteries and Twilight scratching their heads (or sharpening their fangs).

So what's to blame for this most recent resurgence of the walking dead (lower-case)? As with so many cultural trends of the past several years, the bony finger points to 9/11 which, Dziemianowicz writes, transformed the zombie into "a monster for our time."

Of course, it's not all zombies, zombies, zombies (although some days it does seem that way). Quirk Books, the publisher behind the hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- the Jane Austen mashup -- already have moved on to a new menace: sea monsters.

Yesterday the company announced it will release Sense, Sensibility and Sea Monsters in September. Co-authored by Ben H. Winters, the next book in the series will include "a giant rampaging mutant lobster," "octopi with glittering tentacles" and, of course, pirates. (You can view a trailer for the book here.)

Continue Reading »

Six by 6 | Only the end of the world again

Uncanny X-Men #141

Earlier this month ABC News ran a special report called Earth 2100, which imagined a possible "worst case scenario" if the "perfect storm" of population growth, resource depletion and climate change converge, causing catastrophic effects to the planet. The report featured graphic novel-style sequences by Josh Neufeld, Sari Wilson, Joe Infurnari, George O’Connor, Tim Hamilton and Leland Purvis.

It wasn't the first time that comic book creators have taken a look at a possible future where everything has gone to hell, both scaring and depressing you with its bleak look at what might be in store for us. So in honor of the show, here are six of my favorite apocalyptic doomsday scenarios, as presented by comics past and present ...

1. Death by robots -- Geekanerd recently did a post on possible robot apocalypse scenarios and how to avoid them, using Battlestar Galactica, Terminator and The Matrix as examples. Another story that falls into that category is the classic Uncanny X-Men story "Days of Future Past." First introduced in issues #141 and 142, the storyline focused on a possible future where mutants have been hunted almost to extinction by the Sentinels, with the survivors being kept in internment camps. Giant robots = bad, bad things.

I remember reading these issues as a kid and being genuinely freaked out about the fate of the X-Men. It was bad enough finding out that Cyclops, Nightcrawler and many of the others were already dead, but to see Storm, Colossus and Wolverine meet their fates ... I took it as canon, actually, that one day the X-Men comic would end with a similar scene, once it caught up to the future those issues portrayed. Of course, I thought Jean Grey was really dead, too, so ...

Continue Reading »

Straight for the art | Last Resort preview

The Last Resort #1

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray have been tearing it up for the last few years on titles like Heroes for Hire and Jonah Hex, and now they have a new mini-series coming out from IDW, The Last Resort, that "pays homage to 1970’s disaster films and grindhouse classics with non-stop adrenalin, courtesy of flesh-eating bio waste victims and a bevy of sexy broads," per the press release.

If the first six pages are any indication, which feature art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, this should be a fun series. Check'em out here.

Kim Krizan talks about Zombies 2061

Kim Krizan

She's an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, an actress who has appeared in films such as Dazed and Confused and Waking Life, a former singer in an all-girl rock band, a creative writing teacher and an Anaïs Nin scholar. And now Kim Krizan can add "comic book writer" to her resume, having contributed three stories to BOOM! Studios' Zombie Tales anthology that are being collected into one volume.

I spoke with Krizan, who wrote the films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, about Zombie Tales 2061, which comes out in July.

JK: When you wrote the first short story that kicked off this trilogy, did you know you wanted to do more with it beyond that initial tale?

Krizan: I wasn't thinking of anything beyond the first story, but I just naturally create dramatic endings, so I guess "Spring 2061" lent itself to having a sequel and BOOM! asked me for one. I wrote another story and then Boom! asked for ANOTHER sequel, so I guess this could go on forever!

Continue Reading »

Who the heck are the Yuan Brothers?

Read BOOM! Or Else

So BOOM! sent out a press release yesterday saying that they'd gotten John and Matthew Yuan to be spokespeople for their books. So who the heck are the Yuan Brothers?

Apparently they aren't the winners of the BOOM! ARG and this is their prize, like I suspected. According to this Wired.com interview, they're supporting characters in Observe and Report, the Seth Rogen comedy that opened this weekend. Apparently the two former security guards collect comics and guns, and are readying for the upcoming zombie apocalypse, something I can definitely get behind. From the Wired.com interview:

Wired.com: Are you guys widely known as anti-zombie experts? Do you share tactics online, use Twitter to disseminate zombie-fighting tips or anything like that? Are you part of the larger anti-zombie community?

Matt Yuan: Our friends and family know us as anti-zombie experts, but we tend not to talk about it too much online.

John Yuan: When the dead rise, the power's going out. A plan on the internet doesn't do you much good then.

Matt Yuan: So we spread our plan verbally, face-to-face, with people we know we can trust.

John Yuan: Sort of like Johnny Appleseed, but with shotguns.

BOOM and Fox Atomic bring '28 Days Later' back to comics

At the Emerald City ComiCon this weekend, BOOM! Studios and Fox Atomic revealed the first comic coming out of their recently announced partnership -- and its a project Fox Atomic fans are more than likely familiar with.

28 Days Later , the popular horror movie and one of the comics Fox Atomic previously published on their own, will return to comics in July as part of the venture BOOM! and Fox Atomic announced at WonderCon earlier this year.

No creative teams have been announced, but it looks like at least one of the covers for the first issue will sport a wraparound cover by Sean Phillips:

28 Days Later

(Quick update: The second cover, shown after the jump, is by Tim Bradstreet).

Fox Atomic previously published 28 Days Later: The Aftermath in 2007, which was written by Steve Niles. The complete press release on the new book is available after the jump.

Continue Reading »

Zito and Trov on The Black Cherry Bombshells going analog

Black Cherry Bombshells promo art by Sheldon Vella

Back in March, Zuda’s monthly competition winner was a post-apocalyptic tale of biker chicks in Las Vegas fighting a cross-dressing Elvis. Scorched earth, water tower burned up to the ground, zombies runnin' all around … it was pure chaos and pure magic (heh). The first season of The Black Cherry Bombshells wrapped up last month, and I caught up with the writers, Johnny Zito and Tony Trov, to find out if we’d seen the last of the Bombshells. (Short answer: We haven’t).

Thanks to Johnny and Tony for taking the time to answer my questions. The artwork up top is by Sheldon Vella, creator of the Zuda strip SuperTron. Other art from the strip is by artist Sacha Borisich and colorist John Dallaire.

JK: Let's start with the news -- I understand that your The Black Cherry Bombshells webcomic is headed from the computer screen to the printed page, correct?

Johnny Zito: Heck yes. The Black Cherry Bombshells are going to print, along with a few other Zuda titles over the next two or three years.

Tony Trov: Bayou and High Moon are up first.  The Black Cherry Bombshells should follow in 2010ish, depending on scheduling.

Johnny: There are a few other titles set to go analog, but those creators can spill their good news themselves.

Continue Reading »