Jeffrey Brown’s Darth Vader and son covers
Back when we interviewed Jeffrey Brown about his movie at Sundance, he mentioned an upcoming humor book called Darth Vader and Son that features gentle humor on the topic of Darth as dad to Luke.
Continue ReadingMr. Muscles delivers a lesson for us all
This is what Jerry Siegel did when he wasn't getting paid for co-creating Superman.
Continue ReadingBatman’s dimebag found on the streets of Philadelphia
Has Bruce Wayne been making a little extra dosh on the side? This urban culture found on the sidewalk shows times are tough for everyone. [h/t Brady Russell.]
Continue ReadingThe Art of Ramona Fradon announced from Dynamite
Well, here is a very worthy subject for an art book: Ramona Fradon, legendary Silver Age artist. Co-creator of Metamorpho and one of the defining artists on Aquaman, Fradon's career covers everything from Super Friends to Brenda Starr. Now she's the subject of a comprehensive art book from Dynamite that includes an interview conducted by Howard Chaykin. As you can see from the sample pages, it's a treasure trove of archival material.
Continue ReadingEast Coast animators paid less than West Coasters
Of late we've been much focused on the economics of creating comics as a career, and the challenges of such an undertaking. Animation is often viewed as the "money spout" for comics types—more competition, more exposure more money. But an investigation by animation writer Amid Amidi reveals a disquieting story about East Coast animators getting paid much less than their West Coast analogs, even when employed by two branches of the same company, Titmouse Animation. In fact, in the NY office, animators are being paid $400 a week to work on Disney's Motorcity cartoon. In LA, a similar job for the same company pays a union-scale $1,055 a week.
Continue ReadingStudio Coffee Run 2/3/12: Nonplayer adapted for the big screen, Kenny Powers’ brother will NOT be The Governor, Joe Sacco’s going Hollywood, etc.
A few tidbits of comics and nerd movie news to start off your weekend, including the latest on The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and more
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The Legal View: Costumes, Cars and Copyright
DC Comics recently prevailed in arguing that the Batmobile is subject to copyright. But was the issue ever really in doubt? Below the jump, we’ll take a closer look at how copyright protects comic book designs — and how Time Warner almost put all of DC's superheroes in the public domain.
Continue ReadingThe Daily Cross Hatch is on hiatus
February 1st has yet ANOTHER comics birthday—the indie comics-focused blog The Daily Cross Hatch was five years old this week. However, owner Brian Heater was back with less-happy news. Due to his heavy workload editing the massively popular Engadget blog, Daily Cross Hatch is on hiatus: This is the part where I explain what’s going on.
Continue ReadingNew funding strategy for comickers: borrow money from David Choe, the $200 million artist
David Choe, the eccentric and talented graffiti artist/painter who once flamed out as the artist on an X-Men spin-off, is now set to make about $200 million from the Facebook stock offering. It seems that back in the day Choe painted murals for Facebook's Palo Alto offices...and instead of taking a lump sum he asked for stock. As you may have heard, Facebook went public yesterday, and was quickly valued at $5 billion or so, making Choe's little decision one of the savviest moves ever by an art-type. “Always double down on 11. Always," Choe advises in a recent art book.
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Happy Birthday Image Comics
Wow, February 1 is a banner day in comics history. It is also the day that Image Comics was created—20 years ago. Via Facebook co-founder Jim Valentino shared a photo of the founders and one pal on that fateful day, from left to right Erik Larsen, Hank Kanalz, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. They'e all still in the game, all better off than they were 20 years ago. Collectively, they've changed the industry a time or two. It was also a day when people wore denim shirts. Ah, what a time...
Continue ReadingKate Beaton announces she’s taking some time off from her webcomics
Given that she was the Person of the Year for 2011, and enjoyed a bestseller with her Hark! A Vagrant collection, it's no surprise that Kate Beaton has been getting lots of offers lately, ranging from children's books to television work. Thus it will also come as no surprise that she's going to be spending less time on her webcomics to work on some of these opportunities:
Continue ReadingWomen in Refrigerators — 13 years later
It was 13 years ago that an "amateur" comics journalist named Gail Simone ran a survey about the phenomenon of "Women in Refrigerators" in comics. That site—currently housed here—used the moment of Kyle Rayner came home and found his girlfriend stuffed in the refrigerator as a lens for the entire phenomenon of female comics characters getting beaten, crippled, stabbed, mutilated, assaulted, and devalued. Luckily, since then, everything has been fixed!
Continue ReadingFund ZEGAS #2!
Speaking of ACT-I-VATE, charter member and Beat contributor Michel Fiffe is running a Rockethub campaign to fund issue two of his comic ZEGAS. I believe a few hours are left to contribute—the first issue was outstanding and the second will be a double-sized 44-page issue.
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