World Comics

Tony DeZuniga, co-creator of Jonah Hex and The Black Orchid, has passed away at age 71. He suffered a stroke in April and had been battling a series of health problems since then. DeZuniga was a seminal figure in the "Filipino Invasion" of the '70s and '80s which saw artists like Nestor Redondo, Alex Nino, and Alfredo Alcala entering the US market. He helped introduce many of the artists to US editors and then served as an agent for several years. Like most of the artists in this wave, DeZuniga was an impeccable draftsman who could draw just about anything. He's best remembered for his contributions to the barbarians and Westerns of the day, but he also drew romance, adventure, superhero, horror....like we said, he could draw anything.

This past weekend (April 20-21) I took part in the first-ever Middle East Film and Comic-Con (MEFCC), held in Dubai. I attended mainly to promote my IDW Publishing series Kill Shakespeare (along with my co-creator Conor McCreery) but I also went in a quest to answer a question I’ve been wondering: how big is the comic book culture in the Middle East? The answer is: quite big. And it’s growing.

Legendary Filipino creator Tony DeZuniga recently had a severe stroke, and he is currently in critical condition. And his family does not have health insurance—yeah, this stuff happens in the Philippines, too. HIs wife Tina wrote of the details in the link below.

Nicolas de Crécy is one of the greatest artists currently working in comics, and his book THE CELESTIAL BIBENDUM is spectacular proof of that. An English language edition goes on sale tomorrow in the UK from Knockabout, but probably some copies will be slipping into the US. You can also order a deluxe edition from TFAW for $55.96. Pricey but beautiful.

The internet is crossing international lines! Or at least it is with 2000 AD, the essential UK anthology, which will soon be available digitally only 2 days after it hits UK newsstands. Not quite day and date but better than the two weeks it takes physical copies to get to the US. Copies can be purchased at 2000 AD's own store; subscriptions can be purchased via Clickwheel. In addition, 2000 AD publisher Rebellion is working on their own digital comics platform for later this year.

André Franquin's Marsupilami is a very popular character in the Franco-Comics belt. Marsu is a funny cat monkey with a long tail who lives in the jungle. Cat monkey. Sold. He's also known for his funny cry of "Houba!" which is what cat monkeys say instead of "Wooah!"

Lew Stringer debunks the idea that Beano and The Dandy invented the speech balloon with a look at some older comics., like this 1917 cover of Picture Fun No. 428, which uses word balloons AND the then-current wads and wads of text, as originated in The Yellow Kid.

Publisher Rizzoli has responded to complaints lodged here and at the Big Planet blog about production shortcomings in the new edition of Hugo Pratt's The Ballad of the Salt Sea.

When word got out last year that Rizzoli US was planning a new edition of CORTO MALTESE, hearts of Eurocomix fans soared. The signature work of comic grand master Hugo Pratt, the CORTO books are a colorful, romantic, languidly nostalgic series of grand adventures told with some of the greatest chiaroscuro art in comics. Although the CORTO MALTESE books have been sporadically available here in the US (in the past from both NBM Harvill Press), the usual translation from the French was thought to be pretty poor, and the rights to put out a new edition seemed to be in total limbo. Thus the news of a new edition from a respected art dealer with a new translation by a respected writer sounded like a dream come true. But, instead, it's been another huge mistake that just adds to the curse of CORTO in English.

The comics world lost one of its greatest visionaries with the passing this morning of the French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. One of the most influential artists of the last 40 years, Moebius died at his Paris home after a long illness at age 73.

A Finnish girls finds a Moomin figure at the flea market and builds it a cute little house, or "Muumitalot."

It's 2000AD's 35th birthday—which seems kind of young, as its brand is so ubiquitous in UK comics—and they will be releasing a bunch of GNs this year by the likes of Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, John Wagner, Pat Mills, and Ian Edginton, and artwork from Brian Bolland, Chris Weston, Steve Dillon, Dave Gibbons, and D’Israeli: