Culture

In a wide-ranging interview over at The Comics Reporter, Ed Brubaker has confirmed he's exiting Captain America -- by his own choice -- and will be moving more of his attention to creator-owned projects, along with film/TV opportunities. This interview hits a lot of the topics that have been getting bandied about on The Beat this week.

Phil Jimenez saw something cool today. So he took a photo of it, as Phil Jimenez is wont to do.

Some tidbits for the weekend ahead, including Yahoo Screen's new motion comics offering, Liquid Comics, Amazing Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises clip round ups, and why animation showrunners like Seth Macfarlane are mad at the Emmys...

I'll make it short and sweet: creators have to create. Marvel and DC no longer allow them to do that, except within rigidly proscribed guidelines. And the Paolo Riveras of the world are going to have to move on. It might not be too long before the Big Two are just steppingstones to get your name out there for even bigger things.

Tim Hanley (he of Gender Crunching) has a great guest post up at DC Women Kicking Ass looking at The Women Behind Wonder Woman. Of course we all know about the men like William Marston and HG Peter, but there were several women involved in the early years as well, including Marston's two wives Elizabeth and Olive (above—yes the three of them lived together and it was a little odd), but also women who worked directly on the series, including the great editor Dorothy Roubicek Woolfolk and even a scripter:

This weekend the ALA (American Library Association) meeting takes place in Anaheim, and there's a big graphic novel presence. Graphic Novel Reporter has the complete rundown of four days of activity on the Graphic Novel Stage, the GN/Gaming pavilion, and even an artist's alley with creators such as Faith Erin Hicks, Tom Kaczynski & Gabrielle Bell, and the ubiquitous Dave Roman/Raina Telgemeier duo.

By Todd Allen Yesterday, DC announced their book line-up (HC/TPB) for Spring 2013.  OK, you're expecting a regular slate of New 52 collections.  But what...

Yes, the world is a little stunned by the announcement of Matt Groening quitting Life In Hell. It isn't like this hasn't been threatened though. Back in November of 2009, roughly two and a half years ago, the Chicago Humanities Festival had a panel on the declining market for Alt Weekly comics. Groening was there. Lynda Barry was there. Chris Ware was there. Jules Feiffer was even there. And back then, Groening was already talking about quitting.

Now this is sad and yet it is part of life. Matt Groening has announced that on June 15th he ended his long-running Life in Hell weekly comic strip, which has run in alternative newspapers for 32 years. Reprints will run until Friday, July 13th, (during SDCC) and then it will fade away. "I love the characters, I love doing it, but it was just time," he told USA Today. "Life in Hell prevented me from doing other projects, because every week I had to go back to the same drawing table. Quitting will open me up to new things, more animation, more stuff. I may just sit and stare into space."

It's time for comic-book fans to clean up their act and start dressing more appropriately, don't you think? Indochino have today kicked off what will hopefully be a new wave of classy fashions for superhero fans, so we can finally throw away our old 'Tony Stark Was Right' shirts.

Novelist Max Allan Collins is no stranger to the comics, with his ROAD TO PERDITION graphic novel being turned into an actual prestige movie, and his long-running Ms. Tree comic. His new novel is actually set in the world of comics with a comics section by long-time collaborator Terry Beatty.

You know how you're always reading about how great the first Comic-Con in San Diego was with everyone sitting around the pool at the El Cortez while throwing rubber duckies at Jack Kirby and Ray Bradbury? Well some of the surviving founders of SDCC have gotten together to put on an old-timey show called The San Diego Comic Fest, to be held October 19-21 at the San Diego Town & Country Resort and Convention Center. The guest list consists of some people who were actually at the first cons in the '70s, including George Clayton Johnson, Jackie Estrada, Mark Evanier, Murphy Anderson, Ron Turner, and Tim Powers.