DC’s Advent Calendar of Writer Changes Continues: Next Up, Men of War
DC sure is coming on steady with these writer changes. On Wednesday, you had Paul Cornell off Stormwatch (though DC really only announced Paul Jenkins writing a 2-parter, Cornell was the one announcing he was off). On Tuesday, you had Joe Harris replacing Gail Simone as Firestorm co-writer. On Monday, you had Tom DeFalco replacing Fabian Niceiza on Legion Lost. Are we seeing a pattern pattern here?
Continue ReadingWonderCon announces new guests
WonderCon has added a bunch of new guests to their lineup including Arthur Adams, Ernest Cline, Joe Hill, Richard Kadrey, Mark Waid, Marv Wolfman, Jim Lee, and Richard Starkings. They join Sergio Aragones, Fiona Staples, Steve Niles, and others you can see in the above link. WonderCon will be held for the first time in Anaheim next year, but it promises to be the same kind of star-studded show as usual. WonderCon will be held March 16-18, 2012.
Continue ReadingRIP: Jerry Robinson — UPDATED
Batman artist, creator rights activist and creator of the Joker Jerry Robinson passed away in his sleep last night. He was 89. Like many Golden Agers, Robinson started young: At age 17 he became an assistant in Bob Kane's Batman shop where he co-created Robin. He also provided the majority of visuals and background for The Joker. Eventually moving into editorial cartooning, Robinson had a long, distinguished career as an artist and educator. In the 70s he helped spearhead the movement to get Siegel and Shuster compensation for creating Superman; he also traveled to Uruguay and the Soviet Union to help free jailed cartoonists. He was President of both the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) and the National Cartoonists Society (NCS).
Continue ReadingPREVIEW: IDW to publish Skippy
Okay you can mark off one more from the list of great comic strips without a deluxe reprint series: Percy Crosby's Skippy is getting the Library of American Comics treatment. The whimsical childhood strip was immensely popular in its day -- the film version starring Jackie Coogan was nominated for four Academy Awards -- but Crosby eventually ran into severe personal problems and spent the last years of his life in a mental hospital. Despite Crosby's sad story, the strip remains a much loved gem that influenced the great kid strips like Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, and Cul de Sac. Library of American Comics Series co-editor Dean Mullaney sent along a swell preview of the first volume, which is due next summer.
Continue ReadingValiant to relaunch in May with some old favorites
The Valiant comics relaunch has been brewing for a while, with some hires and much consultation, but they've just let the cat out of the bag -- their new line is expected to launch next May, with a Free Comic Book Day preview leading the way. The preview will feature X-O MANOWAR, BLOODSHOT, HARBINGER, and probably some other Valiant favorites. The creatives teams haven't been announced but the preview over is by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic. Valiant has also hired Hunter Gorinson as Marketing & Communications Manager and Atom Freeman as Senior Sales Representative in addition to Warren Simon as Executive Editor, so they're putting together a pretty good team.
Continue ReadingSan Diego city council okays convention center expansion
Oh yeah! Your feet are going to hurt even more if the San Diego CityCouncil has its way. The controversial plan to expand the convention center was okayed by the city council, 6 to 2. Although everyone agrees that a bigger convention center would allow even more lucrative convention business every year -- and room for an additional 3,000 Slave Leias at Comic-Con -- what is still in dispute is who will pay. The present plan calls for hotels with more than 30 rooms to fund the bond over a period of several years. Of course, these costs will probably be passed along to guests.
Continue ReadingThe X-Men vs. The Avengers: A Review (Yes, I’ve Read the Whole Thing)
You may have witnessed some out of control hyperbole about Marvel's recently announced Avengers Vs. X-Men. My personal favorite, courtesy of Newsarama's recap: Pre-taped words from all five writers. "There's never been an Avengers vs. X-Men super-blowout, so it's like, we have to do it," Bendis says. Never been one? Seems like I own copies of something answering that description...
Continue ReadingT.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 – Let’s Look at the Relaunch
When DC announced the 52 relaunch, there were a handful of titles I was concerned about: Xombi, Legion of Super-Heroes, Jonah Hex and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. As it turns out, the only one I got burned on was the criminally under-appreciated Xombi. Last week, the new volume of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents came out. The first question is: "Did the last series count or is this a total reboot?"
Continue ReadingMust read: Best American Comics 2011 Notable list now online
Best American Comics series editors Matt Madden and Jessica Abel have just posted the Notable Comics of 2011 list, those comics that did not make the contents of this year's Alison Bechdel-edited book, but are still worthy of notice. The listing includes covers, links and more information:
Continue ReadingNice art: Victor Ambrus
That should really be F*&K Yeah! Victor Ambrus -- one of the liveliest and most versatile kids book illustrators of the last 40 years. At age 75 he's appeared on TIME TEAM as the archaeological illustrator who reimagines how people lived in the past. And draws stegosauruses. The Ambrus website does not have all the tons of meaty illustrations one might hope for, but it is still worthy of exploration.
Continue ReadingPlatinum pays contractors in stock instead of cash
What is Platinum up to now that COWBOYS & ALIENS finally came out? Well, according to this call with shareholders, lots of COWBOYS & ALIENS merchandising and licensing...meaning it has now taken the place of MEN IN BLACK in the SCott Rosenberg bio. But new stuff is coming! And in a cost-cutting measure they have hired a company to rep them -- but instead of paying cash they pay stock. Elsewhere, it's a LOT of cost-cutting -- not a bad idea given the huge losses they have been reporting.
Continue ReadingCyanide and Happiness in development at Comedy Central
Among the lists of Twitter-base comedies, roast spin-offs and other hapless men in a hostile world of supermarkets and doorknob comedies,Comedy Central announced one deal based on a webcomic, namely CYANIDE AND HAPPINESS, the generally amusing stick-figure theater comic by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Matt Melvin and Dave McElfatrick, all of whom will exec produce. The show is described as "a half-hour animated show featuring the twisted humor of a world populated by glorified stick figures." The CYANIDE crew has already been producing shorts and an iPhone app, so this is just anther step in their world conquest.
Continue ReadingNancy Silberkleit still helping the children with comics
When last we saw Archie Comics co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit, she was being slapped with a restraining order by Archie Comics and accused of some rather odd behavior. The widow of former Archie owner Michael Silberkleit, Nancy was accused of harassing Archie employees by yelling out words for genitalia at meetings and other odd stuff. Whatever the state of these internal affairs, Silberkleit is still out there using comics to teach children to read, according to a recent story about her visiting various elementary schools:
Continue ReadingCasting a Paul: Jenkins replaces Cornell on Stormwatch
Oh that old New 52 gang...the memories. But it's breaking up so fast. Over on Twitter writer Paul Cornell confirmed that he was off STORMWATCH with issue #6, but I'll be staying on Demon Knights and Saucer Country, but #6 is my last issue of Stormwatch. Thanks, everyone, and good luck to Paul Jenkins. The new STORMWATCH writer is Paul Jenkins, but he's only been confirmed for two issues.
Continue ReadingClowes and Beaton make Time’s Top 10 Fiction list
Time is rolling out its top 10 lists and two graphic books made the 'Top 10 Fiction Books list: THE DEATH RAY by Daniel Clowes and HARK! A VAGRANT by Kate Beaton, both published by Drawn & Quarterly. (To see the individual listings you'll need to go through the annoying, hit making slideshow format.) Confirming the nerd-friendly tenor of the list, A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R. R. Martin topped the list, although more traditional literary tomes were at other spots. Comics-mole Lev Grossman penned the entries for the books. It was only a few years ago that Alison Bechdel's FUN HOME topped theTime list, and announced that graphic novels were just books with ideas and themes, too.
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