Briefs & Boxers! 05/12/10
o "Getting Jerked Around by Some Editor at a Big Publisher Is Almost Like a Palette [sic] Cleanser for the Real Shit That's on Deck" Joe Casey talks in detail about his recent experiences at DC Comics, without holding back. The interview, conducted by Tim Callahan, is a must-read if you're interested in the present state of creativity in U.S. mainstream comics. I've enjoyed Casey's work since he took over Cable in stealth mode back in, oh, 1997 or something. I remember a lot of Casey comics that didn't succeed, but not many that were boring. No matter what he does, Casey is one of a select few American mainstream comics writers that keep coming up with mad, cocky idea comics and just won't compromise, no matter how often they keep running into walls and have the rug pulled right out from under them. And I love him for it, because that's precisely why a failed Joe Casey comic is still a thousand times more interesting and rewarding than anything successful by, say, Geoff Johns. He also made a film recently, titled Hit Parade. o "Pat, It’s True That You Have What Can Be Considered a Controversial Past" I don't know Troy Brownfield, and I'm not aware of what's going on at Newsarama, so maybe there's a perfectly good reason why they chose to conduct and run this appallingly, offensively spineless piece on Canadian artist Pat Lee, formerly of Dreamwave Productions, the way they did.
Continue ReadingLost: Mother and Child Reunion
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet We’re sure there will be plenty of debate about “Across the Sea.” Let’s just get to it.
Continue ReadingViz layoff reactions
As word of the layoffs at Viz spread yesterday -- 60 people laid off and the entire New York branch closed -- the reaction around the industry, at least as expressed by Twitter and Facebook status updates -- was complete and utter shell shock. Viz personnel we contacted for confirmation were devastated. While the exact cause of the downsizing and the effects it will have on Viz's publishing plans are just emerging, a few manga reporters were commenting:
Continue ReadingSpanishInq website debuts
Spanish agent/translator David Macho Gomez has just launched his long-threatened website for his stable of artists, spanishinq.com. It's no secret that Spanish artists have made a huge impression in the American comics scene over the last decade or so, and thanks to this website you can peruse galleries of work by artists like
Continue ReadingArt Attack: Shalvey’s Roscoe
At Eclectic Micks , Declan Shalvey takes a crack at Roscoe from Night Owls by Peter and Bobby Timony ,
Continue ReadingVIDEO MOMENT: Bone test animation
Cartoon Brew showcases some just for fun test footage for a cartoon version of Bone by animator Andrew Kaiko. Amid Amidi takes the occasion to suggest that Bone would look better in 2D:
Continue ReadingMassive restructuring at Viz
PW is reporting that there has been massive layoffs at Viz Media -- up to 60 people or 40% of the workforce have been laid off. ... We are of course saddened by these departures and sincerely appreciate the hard work, passion and dedication of those that have moved on, but we feel confident that with these changes, VIZ Media will be more streamlined and able to withstand the climate of the economy at this time. With the American manga market already in flux, this has to be seen as a body blow to the category as Viz was consistently the best selling American comics publisher, dominating the best seller charts with such mega-hits as Naruto and One Piece. ... Sources tell PW that as many as 55 people were laid off at Viz’s San Francisco headquarters and it appears its small New York office, which had about 5 staffers, has been closed.
Continue ReadingDino: The Early years
Share this link on Facebook!TweetAlarming but true: IDW and Desperado are teaming to publish this account of Dean Haspiel’s early comics and life story. The tale will be penned by Graphic NYC’s Chris Irving and includes these thrilling chapters: * Buttons: Threat or Menace? * This Man, This Shirt * This Man, No Shirt * Naked Lambada the Kirby [...]
Continue ReadingFirst look at Peter Sarsgaard as Green Lantern villain
Some dude was walking by the Green Lantern movie set in new Orleans and totally got lucky with this photo of Peter Sarsgaard as villain Dr. Hector Hammond. In the comic, Hammond is one of those guy--with-a-giant-deformed-head--who-rides-around-in-a-chair types who are so prevalent these days, a problem caused by a run-in with a meteor back in the day.
Continue ReadingJerk-Net: Activated
This blog has been getting around lately -- links on Boing Boing, Reddit, Digg, Kottke, and so on -- with a corresponding increase in commenting. Without wanting to play Dean Wormer here, I am scrutinizing the comments a bit more closely, and personal attacks, trolling and general asshatery will not be tolerated. I will PARTICULARLY not tolerate jerkishness in obituary threads because they are often read by family members and believe me, you'll thank me later. ... And to all you lurkers out there, feel free to bust out if you are so moved.
Continue ReadingThe Frazetta Legacy
In regard to embodying his own dynamic artistic sensibilities, perhaps the only pop culture artist who could give Frank Frazetta a run for his money was Jack Kirby. These two poets of force and motion so intuitively understood the fantasies they were drawing that each established the style that would forever define their respective genres: the superhero in action for Kirby, the barbarian in action for Frazetta.
Continue ReadingThe Jonah Hex motion comic
Here's the trailer for the series, now available on iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand, Xbox Live / Zune Market Place and the PlayStation Network. More info here.
Continue ReadingFrank Frazetta 1928-2010
UPDATE: We are sad to confirm via Frazetta's agent Robert Pistella that the artist passed away this afternoon in a hospital near his home. The cause of death was a stroke. Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.
Continue Reading2010 Doug Wright Award winners
As the featured event of the 2010 Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), which is being held at the Toronto Reference Library, the evening also featured a moving tribute to pioneering Canadian cartoonist Martin Vaughn-James, who was posthumously inducted into The Giants of the North, The Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame, in a talk delivered by cartoonist Kate Beaton. The winners were decided by a jury comprised of Matt Forsythe (editor of Drawn.ca, winner of the 2009 Pigskin Peters Award for Ojingogo), Geoff Pevere (Toronto Star book critic; author of Mondo Canuck,) Fiona Smyth (artist; cartoonist) and Carl Wilson (editor/writer Globe and Mail, author of Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste). Speaking on behalf of the jury, Pevere praised the Best Book winner George Sprott as "a portrait of a character, of a country…a country that is no longer with us," adding that: ...Speaking for Wright Awards nominating committee, which chooses the annual Pigskin Peters Award, Matt Forsythe described Hot Potatoe as "a collection of seven years of work that is insulting and hilarious and sarcastic and sincere," and continued that it has "influenced a whole wave of comics and artists – myself included."
Continue ReadingThe IRON MAN 2 guide to fashion and diet
With IRON MAN @ blasting out with the widest opening in movie history -- it's sure to take over our lives like a big spreaeding fungus. Looking to it as a guide for life, one can only look to Mickey Rourke , who plays the villain Whiplash, as a fashion icon , as shown on Vulture with a slideshow of his looks over the ages. And as for diet, Gwyneth Paltrow shows us the way to look like she does, with a diet of a tablespoon of chicken for lunch and a halved almond sliver between meals to quash the munchies before tucking in to a hearty dinner of a handful of kale. The diet regime is augmented by 4 hour runs through volcanic rock flats while being chased by a rhino.
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