Comics

There are some well-sourced rumblings out there that DC is ending its First Wave line. The First Wave books centered around several pulp heroes, including Doc Savage, The Spirit, the Blackhawks, and Rima the Jungle Girl. The reason isn't entirely clear, but the stand alone DOC SAVAGE and SPIRIT books were selling below 10K copies, which is well into the danger zone on today's comics.

Just to forestall a heart attack by Mike Richardson, I'll spoil the answer right here: YES. The reason the question even came up is some dissension following Dark Horse's win in the Diamond Awards for "Best Manga Publisher," which, given the wide ranging publisher programs of Viz, Yen and TokyoPop was surprising, to say the least, as Johanna explained:

What is the great Italian cartoonist up to?

The history of pop art in one lesson.

Graphic.ly has just released their app for Android phones, opening their comics to an audience of 22 million, according to the PR which you can read below.

Continuing its rollout of their revamped Kaboom! kids comics line, BOOM! is teasing a new series by Roger Langridge called SNARKED as part of the line. Peanuts AND Roger Langridge? This is looking better and better.

This spring's Xeric Grant winners have been announced. Founded by Peter Laird, the Xeric is presented to worthy cartoonists to provide them with funds to print their projects. A total of $31,158 was awarded for seven comic book projects.  The Foundation has awarded in excess of $2.4 million to comic book creators and nonprofit organizations since its first grant cycle in September 1992.  

What a difference two letters make; just by adding a syllable, BOOM! has made its kid's line even more kid friendly, as the graphic above suggests. Although the Pixar license has gone back to Disney/Marvel, BOOM! is still publishing classic Disney materials, including Barks and Rosa, and the successful Disney Afternoon line, which just added DuckTales, and now, according to this image, is adding Peanuts to its lineup.

The Dutch Ale House in Saugerties, NY will showcase the original works of legendary Marvel artist Joe Sinnott for the next two months.

The new THE MIGHTY THOR #1 by Fraction and Coipel will have several variant covers, including one by Walt Simonson himself. The book goes on sale 4/27.

In case the bare listing hadn't entranced you, check out the rest of the art in the Henry & Glenn Forever! art show opening tonight in LA. The works are based on Tom Neely's comic imagining a domestic sitcom starring Henry Rollins and Glen Danzig. Above art by Kiyoshi Nakazawa.

I haven't written adequately about the "Cartoon Polymaths" show currently up at Parsons, the NYC art school that teaches design and illustration. It is a concise but museum-level show about cartooning and cartoonists that really sets a new standard for how these subjects can be covered. Aside from showing movies and puppets and small Marischal-designed houses, it also has its own NEON SIGN. Wow. Curator Bill Kartalopoulos really outdid himself and got Parsons' taleted design crew on board with a fantastic installation. Anyway, if you haven't gone yet, tonight is the night to see a talk with pioneering artist Richard McGuire, who was multi-media before it was in fashion. Deets below.