§ Chris Arrant is blogging for Robot 6 and doing some fine interviews that aren’t just promo puff about project XYZ. Brian Wood, looking at his work, mid-career:
Wood: It’s funny, I wrapped up DV8 this past May. I have some pitches into Wildstorm, and plan on seeing what there might be for me in the DCU. But as you know, Chris, I’ve spent a lot of time and blood and sweat and tears creating a creator-owned career without doing company-owned work to support it. This is a very rare thing, and I don’t mind saying I’m proud of it. It has its ups and downs, and I also don’t mind admitting every time I see some rookie writer get an A-list book at Marvel or DC after just a single well-received original book I don’t wonder if I’m missing out on something. But I tend to believe that I’m happier as things are now than if I chased after that work.
§ Yesterday Arrant chatted with Hope Larson, who recently revealed the first piece of art for her comics adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time (Meg Murray, above) and talks about the “magical girl” project she’s been hinting about for a while:
I watched a ton of Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth and read a bunch of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld as inspiration. I’ve been fascinated by girls’ books and silly genre stuff for a long time, and I collect antique girls’ series–the Marjorie Dean books, the Radio Girls book — and I’ve wanted to play with a longer story for a while. Partly that’s because it’s a different type of storytelling than what you get when you sit down and write one complete story, and partly it’s because people often tell me they wish my stories were longer. (Mercury is 240 pages long, and I hear on a regular basis that people want more of that story.) And another reason I want to do a series is because I’m hoping it will enable me to get books out more quickly and more regularly. Keep things rolling.
§ After a long hiatus , an internet jibe prompts Brian Hibbs to finally post to The Savage Critic again. Given that fact that its all-star lineup of critics have mostly moved on to other things — folks like Joe McCulloch, Douglas Wolk and David Uzumeri are busy on other blogs — it’s understandable that TSC has grown quiet of late, but it should stick around if just for the podcasts and Abhay — not to mention Brian. Please!
§ Speaking of podcasts, Brian Heater and Sarah Morean of the Daily Cross Hatch and former Rocketship owner/part time cartoonist Alex Cox have launched one, and it is bound to be worth a listen.
§ The new issue of The Believer has a comics section edited by Alvin Buenaventura , former publisher of the art comix landmark Buenaventura Press, andcontain many fine, fine cartooners, like Charles Burns, Johnathan Bennett and Matt Furie.
§ The Fantagraphics blog begins a series of pieces about cartoonists doing album covers and kicks off with Gilbert Hernandez and Kristen Hersh talking about their various collaborations, including the cover of Limbo:
Janice: So, the expression on his face… How would you describe his emotional state?
Gilbert: Oh jeez, boy. Y’know, I never considered that. I just drew a guy who’s seen a lot of life. That’s pretty much it.
And, my favorite was Gilbert. When we lived in and made records in L.A., I remember reading Heartbreak Soup over and over again, and having that get me through the terrible recording of The Real Ramona, which was a nightmare to record, personally and professionally. It was sort-of an interesting nightmare, but still. L.A. plus nightmare does not equal a happy girl. Heartbreak Soup somehow embraced the hell and the heat, and yet spun it in this beautiful, gutsy fashion that I think allowed my record The Real Ramona to not suffer the affects of the horrible recording process that it was. And I was always grateful to Beto for that.
§ Also at Flog, Anne Ishii interviewing Johnny Ryan about Detroit Metal City, the popular satirical heavy metal manga:
AI: What do you think is more offensive: Krauser’s casual threats to “rape filthy sows,” or the thought of the lead singer of a popular metal band being a virgin?
JR: I feel like I’m one of the regular members of the DMC audience, in that no matter what pathetic thing Krauser does it must have some super-malevolent purpose. So, that said, the reason he’s a virgin is because he’s far too evil to engage in sex with a human woman.
§ Finishing up our FBI linkage, here’s Shaenon T. Garrity on Shary Flenniken
§ This piece by Chris Sims about a ’90s card set spotlighting future stars is full of shocking revelations about the past and future.
§ One more for the podcasts: Marvel’s Joe Quesada celebrates his 10-year-anniversary with an interview and a cool painting by Alex Maleev.
