Kibbles ‘n’ Bits: Locals call for Angouleme director to step down

NICE ART: Jillian Tamaki (Super Mutant Magic Academy, This One Summer) has completed a poster for the MTA, New York’s Subway system. That’s a segment of it above.

§ On the 10th, a coalition of French publishers met with the French Minister of Culture, and asked for a mediator to come in and untangle the mess which has turned the Angoulême comics festival into a laughing stock. In addition, a group of comics “indignés” or protesters, have written a very strongly worded letter demanding that Frank Bondoux step down. Bondoux is the president of 9e Art +, the company that runs the festival, and the utterer of many buffoonish excuses for what went on in 2016. He is also the Sepp Blatter of comics. Jean Mardikian, the co-founder of the festival, has also called for Bondoux to step down. It’s my understanding that Bondoux has a pretty essential role in running 9e Art +, so getting rid of him may not be that easy.

§ A year round Walking Dead Attraction is going to open at Universal Studios Hollywood.

According to AMC, visitors to the attraction will be able to follow in the survivors’ footsteps for a fully immersive journey, using both animatronics and live performers.

Once inside the attraction, visitors will be able to don soiled shirts while they engage in grim arguments over morals and ethics with surviving visitors, arguments that will end with the arrival of zombies and armed gunmen.

§ As always, the weekend brought a full slate of local news reports on comic-cons, and allied events.

¶ HOT Comic Con in Waco was a success, drawing “about 9,000 science fiction and fantasy fans from around Central Texas.” That was a big improvement from last year:

Attendance at the second, in September of last year, dropped to about 3,000. Organizers said that one, dubbed “Con of the Living Dead,” showed them there was scant market in this area for a horror-themed convention, and vendors and artists at that convention were offered reduced fees if they wanted to try again this spring.

¶ The Border Town Comic Con in Ontario did well, although the Argus Observer’s muscular firewall prevents me from learning much about it in this story.

Hundreds of comic book artists, costumed characters and memorabilia members poured into the Western Treasure Valley’s inaugural Comic Con at Four Rivers Cultural Center Saturday

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§ In Lexington, KY, the LexingtonToy and Comic Convention drew about 25,000 people, which was too many for the venue, the Lexington Convention Center.

“I think we’re outgrowing the space we have available,” he said, adding that the proposed expansion of the convention center would help with crowd control.
“A couple people were a little upset with waits in line, but if you got 20,000 people, there’s gonna be waits in line somewhere,” Phillips said.
Convention halls were filled Sunday with people waiting to meet, among others, three actors who played the title character in Doctor Who, Star Trek stars and actor Walton Goggins, Boyd Crowder himself, from the TV series Justified.

§ Comic shops are also profiled:
¶ Bent Wookee Comix in Johnstown, PA is praised for its “local comic book scene” that is “vibrant and even a little eclectic”. Once again, beware the fire wall.

¶ In Haverill, MA, The Comic Book Palace abides and starred in a documentary.

Since January 1993, O’Leary, 47, has owned The Comic Book Palace, a mecca for area comic book aficionados and the subject of a 2013 documentary he is hoping will soon become a multi-episode series through New York production company Olive Tree TV, which hopes to stream the series on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. Compiled and edited by local filmmaker Felipe “Phil” Jorge after several months of hanging around the shop, filming O’Leary’s interactions with customers, “Comic Book Palace: The Documentary” was a smash hit, and appeared in multiple local, national and international film festivals, winning several awards in the process.

§ Tim Hanley profiles Lois Lane, one of comics enduring characters, but one of its most inconsistent ones:

However, Lois’s history is one of constant contradiction. As a normal human woman in a world of superheroes written and drawn primarily by men, she’s been subject to unrelenting gender stereotypes that often undermined her image as a fearless reporter. Her story follows two competing models: that of an independent, progressive woman and that of a limiting concept of womanhood.

§ At Forbes, Mark Hughes made a list Ranking The Best (And Worst) DC Comics Superhero Movies Of All Time. The list includes Batman Forever but not Batman Returns, so like all lists, it is made to start arguments. His worst list is pretty spectacular ad nearly impossible to argue with, though.

. Steel
. Catwoman
. The Return of Swamp Thing (Lightyear Entertainment)
. Superman IV: The Quest For Peace
. Batman & Robin

An earlier piece ranks the top ten MCU movies, which is not hard because I think there have been 11.

§ This link to a Comic Artist Evolution study of Mike Deodato Jr was going around on Twitter over the weekend. This is a tumblr that takes an exhaustive look at the careers of various artists starting in chronological order. Some amazing stuff here.

Other artists the tumblr has covered include John Romita Jr.,Arthur Adams, Stuart Immonen, Bill Sienkiewicz and Kyle Baker. I only had time to take a quick look at the Kyle Baker entires, which only go up to the mid 90s. Damn, The Shadow was incredible, wasn’t it?

As was Instant Piano:

§ Not comics: Javier Grillo-Marxuach is producing the reboot of Xena, Warrior Princess, and things that were once only written of in fanfic are now going to be spoken of:

“Xena will be a very different show made for very different reasons,” Grillo-Marxuach wrote on a post on his Tumblr while addressing questions about The 100, where he is currently a co-executive producer. “There is no reason to bring back Xena if it is not there for the purpose of fully exploring a relationship that could only be shown subtextually in first-run syndication in the 1990s.”