Comics

Matt Fraction and Gabrial Bá's stylish espionage thriller Casanova is coming back this July from Icon, Marvel's creator-owned imprint, after a long hiatus. Previously published in a limited palette at Image, this newly remastered version is now in full color. Marvel sent out some preview pages of the this morning and it looks a-okay.

Listen up. I know the shit you've been saying behind my back. You think I'm stupid. You think I'm immature. You think I'm a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I'm Comic Sans, and I'm the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

Via pr, a new initiative between publisher Dark Horse, electronics giant Toshiba, and newspaper USA Today called DH:HD (Dark Horse: High-Def), but it's not quite clear what it is. It will bring comics to multiple platforms -- desktop, digital and doorstep -- and be like Wednesday Comics (which ran a Superman page in the online USA Today after a print launch) and will be viewable on Toshiba's giant HD TVs. It will also involve Dark Horse top properties. Hm. The program kicked off today with a feature on Janet and Alex Evanovich's new graphic novel, TROUBLEMAKER, which appears to be a digital comic with some kind of Flash interface looming over a profile of the Evanovii. Okay then! PR below:

“What's different [about META 4],” McKeever said, “is the lack of a specific central theme or category. In the past, I would find myself wanting to do a ‘political drama’ or an ‘apocalyptic horror’ tale. But here, I am allowing myself to weave through [different] subjects, and pull into it whatever is needed based on that given scenario. The challenge is to make it all work.”The key to that, he said, lies with the characters. “[They] have to be designed in such a way that they come across as subtly ‘real’ and yet malleable enough to show extreme emotions when called for,” McKeever said.<

From various sources, great artists who like to do things their way, and have earned the right to do so. Plus, is it okay for R. Crumb to use the work of other, lesser cartoonists as scrap for his own work?

Sean T Collins rounded up reactions from creators and fellow publishers on the closure of Buenaventura Press, and it's all sad, sad sad. WE've heard bits and pieces of the story behind the story, and that's all sad too. Some of it can be pieced together with some googling, but we'll respect Alvin's wishes for privacy at this time and just reiterate out hope that he can continue to find a way to contribute to this golden age of comics art.

Dealer Robert Beerbohm appears to have found a copy of a French comic book from either 1844 or 1856, called The History of Mr. Tuberculus.

The Rogue Taxidermy Show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery Past Shows. Above: "Turkelaeopteryx (aka Squirkey)" by Sarina Brewer.

Sandlin's recent art show in Berlin is online and awesome.

No "Tomorrow" as LIttle Orphan Annie ends today.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is in interesting entry in the world of long-form cinematic Batman stories for a few different reasons. First, it manages to do what the Tim Burton movies were unable to — make Bruce Wayne/Batman the protagonist of his own story. Second, it’s primarily a detective story as opposed to an action story. Third, at least half of the story is told in flashback, a parallel-action setup ambitious for an animated movie thought of as primarily for kids. Lastly, the story it tells is rather emotional and internal — Bruce/Batman broods a lot in this movie, even by his own standards. The action sequences feel perfunctory and tacked-on. The two that come to mind — a truck chase and the explosive finale — are poorly motivated and don’t advance the plot in any meaningful way.

Universal has released individual posters for the seven evil Exes that Scott PIlgrim must battle in the upcoming Scott Pilgrim Vs the Worls movie. In case you don't know them it's Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel, Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram, Mae Whitman as Roxy Richter, Shota and Keita Saito as Kyle Katayanagi and Jason Schwartzman as the Gideon Gordon Graves. Rating: Awesome.