Comics Media

Sequart Research & Literacy Organization is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting comic books as a legitimate artform that has published studies on various topics including Batman, the X-Men, and Grant Morrison. Now they are promoting "A Year of Ellis" including several books -Shot in the Face:  A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan and Voyage in Noise:  Warren Ellis and the Demise of Western Civilization -- as well as the movie Warren Ellis:  Captured Ghosts. However. first up is a study of PLANETARY -- the multi-dimensional pastiche on genre fiction by Ellis and artist John Cassaday -- called strong>Keeping the World Strange: A Planetary Guide. Details on the contents have just been released:

"On a November day in 1957 I found myself standing in front of Miss Grosier’s first grade class in Hillcrest Elementary School in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, trying to think of a really good word. She had us play this game in which each kid had to offer up a word to the class, and for every classmate who couldn’t spell your word, you got a point--provided, of course, that you could spell the word. Whoever got the most points received the coveted gold star."

As long rumored, the much maligned Comics Journal website has re-launched with a new editorial team: Dan Nadel and Tim Hodler, founders of the Comics Comics website and zine, will bring their view of contemporary comics to the hallowed brand of TCJ.com. Hodler started things off with an editorial which, amazingly, did not talk about how crappy websites are; insead it laid out a pretty exciting vision for the new site:

This site is divided into several sections which will continue to grow over the days and weeks and months to come: Feature articles, including lengthy interviews, investigative journalism, and long-form critical and historical essays; regular columns on a variety of subjects; a steady stream of book reviews; thorough and easily navigated event listings; an ever-growing archive of The Comics Journal‘s thirty-plus years as a print magazine (by the end of 2011, each and every issue will be online)—this will be available in full to magazine subscribers only; and of course this daily blog, which will be a catch-all for short items, selective link-blogging, and a forum for guest voices and bad jokes.

The long awaited Wizard World Digital magazine has debuted, and it's basically a pdf that you can read on your computer or iWhatever.

Major changes, the Twiter brain drain affects one cartoonist, and farewell to an original.

While running around Toy Fair, we ran into Wizard's Gareb Shamus, who told us that the new Wizard World Digital will launch February 23 as a free app for iPads, iPhones, and online. It will be ad supported. He stressed that the new incarnation of the magazine will take advantage of all the things you can do on the internet.

E-i-C Laura Hudson tweeted that the HuffPo/AOL alliance was yet to have any effect on AOL's comics blog, Comics Alliance, it seems that now AOL is sending out PR about sub-site achievements. Congrats to the Krew!

In as unstable job market as we have today, three men have decided to give their art their full time attention, their all. Writer and artist of Let's Be Friends Again!, Curt Franklin and Chris Haley respectively started their witty webcomic on the print comic world and what it means to really be friends in 2008. Eugene Ahn aka nerd rapper Adam WarRock quit his career as an attorney in 2010 in order to follow his heart and let his mouth fly. Today they announced the joining of their two ventures into LBFA!, Inc.

Well, someone had to do it: Sean T. Collins delves deep into Google cache and old wounds to give a critical look at the legacy of Dirk Deppey and ¡Journalista!. Like pretty much everyone we talk to, Collins feels that the recent ¡Journalista! as found on the revamped TCJ.com was not as effective as the earlier one. And Collins points out that Deppey himself had much to answer for in the woeful rollout of TCJ.com:

Ever since their autumnal launch of Law and the Multiverse, James Daily and Ryan Davidson, two stalwart attorneys licensed to practice law in Missouri...

It is impossible not to feel that this Kanye + Comics blog unites the voice for our times with some kick-ass comics panels.

In the ever proliferating world of highly focused Tumblrs about comics, how can one not adore A Nice Cup of Comics which features people having a nice hot cuppa? Above, Wolverine Tea Party by Mike Maihack; below, Cap from TRUTH: RED, WHITE, AND BLACK #7 by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker.