Culture

Catching up on the last few days of links:

This interview with Scott Lobdell from ComicVine was sent to us with the idea that maybe he wasn't up on the news that Static was joining the Teen Titans, which was announced at MegaCon:

The latest news on the plethora of all the mega nerd events at the movies and on TV this Spring and much more.

Print isn't dead, it's just resting. As you may know CLiNT magazine is relaunching with a Volume 2.1 and a bunch of new strips, including the long-awaited "The Secret Service" by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. A joint venture between media magnate Millar and Titan Books, CLiNT is based on the old-fashioned concept of a slick magazine that includes text AND comics. It's sort of a brash mash-up of a lads mad and Judge Dredd, and it's definitely had some ups and downs on English newsstands, but has found an audience in comics shops, both in the UK and the US.

Although we get all the PR, we haven't been covering Vivid's Axel Braun directed series of porn parodies of geek-beloved franchises because, well, it's not really in our target demo. However a recent release backs up what we've been told by porn industry insiders for quite a while: these nerd-themed parodies are the only hot category in the original porn business as homemade sex tapes and VOD have changed the entire distribution model. As Braun told Die Screaming:

Painter/educator Jerry Moriarty was a seminal figure for the early days of RAW magazine, and a collection of his "Jack Survives" strips came out from Buenaventura a few years ago. He's just alerted us to his video channel on YouTube, which is mostly stories about his cat and videos of a family of pigeons...you know, sweet, everyday things that we should be reminded of more often. "I have only been at it for a month or two so it is not very professional and if I'm lucky it never will be," he writes.

Archie just can't stay out of the news! While a million moms may be marching against Riverdale, they are staging their own Occupy movement. Whose side is Reggie Mantle on? Archie Comics has provided us with the actual cover to ARCHIE #365, which comes out in July. Story by Alex Segura Jr. Art by Gisele Legace.

While you might have expected much outcry over the introduction of a gay character into the traditionalist world of Riverdale, reaction to Archie Comics's Kevin Keller has been overwhelmingly positive. But Archie has heedlessly kept hurtling down the highway, hellbent for tolerance, going further and further until it seemed inevitable they would rouse a bear somewhere: Kevin got his own series and even his own wedding issue, one of those flash forwards in which he marries a doctor who helped him recover from injuries sustained in the Iraq war. Well, let your faith in the bigotry of humanity be restored: a pressure group is threatening a boycott of Toys 'r' Us over carrying the offending comic.

By Todd Allen DC is being a big tease about Earth 2 again.  They've released Jim Lee's design sketch for the Earth 2 Batman. They also...

On the "authority" scale, the idea of New Yorker cover editor Françoise Mouly launching a blog about New Yorker covers and art would rank....very high. And so Blown Covers, which she describes as a personal blog. Although it's unafiliated with the New Yorker, she's holding weekly themed New Yorker cover contests and is "always on the lookout for good ideas and great artists." So yeah, this is an audition.

As cat people, we're not really sold on on the whole "dress your pets" humiliation tool; however, for those who like to dress their doggie, Marvel and Fetch are introducing a line of Marvel-themed pet attire called cool pets!. The line of toys, apparel, and accessories will be available at your local PetSmart.

The great and hilarious Emily Flake is doing a cartoonist's diary for TCJ, and the first episode includes much on the Freelancer's Dilemma (pants or no pants) as well as scenes where the cartoonist works on New Yorker submissions at the laundromat while hoping a little girl will come throw her giraffe at her. Yes, it's like that. BOOKMARK!