§ This iFanboy piece is of some interest to me because the term The Satisfying Chunk is one I used throughout the ’90s and I had nothing to do with this piece at all. So I will leave a little tiny something behind on this great green marble after all.
Also, The Satisfying Chunk formula remains of primary importance in the ongoing revival of the comics medium, although I think the Frappuccino Index is just as important these days.
§ Must read; Seth Kushner talks about what’s like to have a review of your book turn into a sermon; in this case Tim Marchman’s review of Leaping Tall Buildings, which turned into a scathing examination of contemporary comics:
I do agree with some things Marchman says but he often doesn’t make his points well. For example, I agree wholeheartedly there are not enough new ideas in superhero comics these days. We live in tough times and the “big two” [Marvel & DC Comics] produce only what sells. Period. In my lifetime, there have been very few new creations that have become part of the pop-culture lexicon…very few Supermen, Batmen and Spidermen. But, a few smart creators have managed to independently create a handful of characters who’ve made it past comics and onto t-shirts, toy aisles and movie screens. Mike Mignola did it with Hellboy, Frank Miller with Sin City’s Marv, Mike Allred with Madman and there are others. Every month independent-minded creators are trying their best to catch lightning in a bottle, like Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Steve Niles with the recently released comics anthology Creator Owned Heroes. Others have taken to publishing their signature creations for free on the web, like myself and my cohorts at TRIP CITY. Take a look at Dean Haspiel’s BILLY DOGMA, Jeffrey Burandt’s (with Aaron Bir) THOMAS THE HEADLESS BOY, Chris Miskiewicz’s (with Palle Schmidt) THOMAS ALSOP, Joe Infurnari’s TIME FUCKER and my SCHMUCK.
§ Cartoonist Isabella Bannerman is profiled:
Besides a family culture that encouraged laughter, Bannerman traces her knack for tickling funny bones to an unlikely source—a high-school English teacher who encouraged her to read Kafka and Sartre. “I probably wasn’t supposed to find Kafka funny,” she says. “But I did. To this day, my cartoons often focus on the petty frustrations of middle-class life. You constantly believe that you’ve followed all the rules. Then, when you’re about to reach your goal—you find that the rules have changed!” She pauses. “I guess I’m fortunate that I find that funny.”
§ Deb Vankin looks at this year’s Tr!ckster festivities at SDCC:
An expanded Tr!ckster will set up shop at Comic-Con again this year from July 11-14. The event will be nearly twice as big, with 40 creators added to last year’s lineup of 50, which included Mike Mignola (“Hellboy”), Dave Gibbons (“Watchmen“), Jim Mahfood (“Marijuana Man”), Mike Allred (“Madman”) and Jill Thompson (“Scary Godmother”). Scott Morse TR!CK2TER, “Armor” Programming will be streamlined, with an eye toward blowing out the most popular elements from last year, like storytelling workshops and life drawing classes. Even the new space – Wine Steals/Proper event complex, a few blocks from the convention center – is bigger with a full restaurant and several bars.
Offsites are getting bigger and bigger at the show. Storefronts offsite for people who can’t get on to the show floor are making the outside as interesting as the inside.
§ Tonner Dolls, which usually makes dishy Twilight and Lord of the Rings stuff, will have a Zombie Boy doll as a 2012 San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive. It’s based on a real person, Rick Genest, who you may have seen in a Lady Gaga video.
§ KC Carlson reviews Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero by Larry Tye, and his enthusiastic tale has us eager to crack open our own copy:
While based entirely in fact, Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero reads like an old Hollywood screenplay, full of heroes and villains and twists and turns. I thought I already knew a lot of this stuff. Boy, was I wrong. Tye gets into some real nooks and crannies of the Superman legend, both on the page (or screen) and off. I couldn’t put this book down, reading it straight through the night, not realizing the time. I had the feeling of reading the original comics when I was six years old again. And when I finished, I immediately went to the bookshelf, grabbed a Superman Archives, and started re-reading that.
§ Seth MacFarlane, the highest paid writer in TV history, was profiled at the New Yorker and the Cartoon Brew crew discusses it from the animation standpoint.
§ The last remaining fugitive from the Toyko subway sarin gas attacks of 1995 was arrested while hanging out at a comic books cafe.
§ Nick Gazin is back with a bunch of reviews, an interview with Brandon Graham and a new logo by Johnny Ryan, which we’ve edited here for propriety. Uncensored as you like it in the link!
§ Carlos Pacheco has had a street named after him in Getafe, Spain. Can Calle Marcos Martin and Avenida Ivan Reis be far behind?
§ To really dig into this 1987 interview with Alan Moore would require an entire day, but we’ll just note “deep magic from the dawn of time,” nod portentously, and move on.
§ One Direction, the current boy band sensation, is already getting a cartoon.
British-Irish boyband One Direction are getting animated with their own cartoon series. The teen sensations are already rumoured to be making their own 3D film, which will follow their antics on the road as they enjoy success across the globe. Now they are in talks to star in an animated show, The Adventurous Adventures Of One Direction, after a snippet of the cartoon gained six million hits on YouTube.com. Bandmember Liam Payne tells Britain’s The Sun, “We loved it and there might be some more cartoons with our voices in the future.”
The way you draw those turnarounds leaves me overwhelmed.
Wow, that new logo for Nick Gazin’s column encapsulates everything I despise in that little group I mockingly refer to as ‘Fanboys.’
I wouldn’t want to know or associate with people who find this funny in my daily life.
It’s not that I find it offensive, it’s just that I find it puerile and stupid.
Carlton, I suspect the motivation behind the illo is not much different than what you are feeling.
Well, it’s pretty much assured I’ll never check out either man’s work.
YAY for the Alan Moore interview!!!
>>>Seth MacFarlane, the highest paid writer in TV history…
That sentence makes it hard to carry on this mortal existence. The least funny and creatively bankrupt writer in the history of the medium is it highest paid. Oh, I’ll grant you he deserves a lot of credit for ripping off the Simpsons, stringing together some Z-grade pop-culture parodies and managing to convince a network and millions of adolescents and young adults that this stuff is clever and funny. (A demographic that, sadly, just doesn’t know any better apparently.)
Certainly just a couple of million is all that being a good salesman is worth, no? Nothing against him, of course – he seems like a nice guy and certainly has talent in the voice talent field. But… C’MON!!!!
I agree on using reviews for more than mere reviews. I think it’s a growing art unto itself, actually.
And the best line from the Moore interview:
“Some things you do whether they have any hope of practical success or not, just because you consider them to be right.”
AMEN.
Heidi, I used the term “Satisfying Chunk” in a conversation with a book publisher earlier this week, and thought of you. ‘Twas the exact right phrase for the concept. Your legacy endures.