Kibbles ‘n’ Bits 12/18/17: C.B. Cebulski issues a new statement

§ Nice art: Dark Horse will release a full collection of Evan Dorkin’s Milk and Cheese comics in May. This is what the 90s were all about, people.

Sometimes dairy is a dish best served spoiled. Over the years, Milk and Cheese has proven to be a comic book of idiotic genius from the devilish mind of Evan Dorkin(Beasts of Burden, The Eltingville Club) and Dark Horse is proud to announce the return of the Eisner Award-winning dairy duo in this trade paperback collection of Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad!

This affordable and comprehensive volume features every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2018 along with cover art, pin-ups, and the art from the 1995 Milk and Cheese trading card set. So sip from this carton of hate, nibble on this wedge of spite, and enjoy Dairy Products Gone Bad!

Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad TPB goes on sale May 2, 2018, and is available for preorder at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local comic shop. This lactastic volume retails at $19.99 for 240 pages of content.

§ The Atlantic’s Asher Elbein digs in to the CB Cebulski/Akira Yoshida story, which you may recall from here. While no new smoking guns, Elbein’s piece did shake loose a new statement from Cebulski himself.

I’m truly sorry for the pain, anger, and disappointment I caused over my poor choice of pseudonym. That was never my intention. Throughout my career in anime, manga, and comics, I’ve made it a point to listen and learn from my mistakes, which is exactly what I’ve been trying to do with this misstep. Building honest relationships with creators has always been important to me, and I’ve continued to do that in my new position. I’ve spoken with talent close to this issue, and have had candid and productive conversations about how we can improve the industry and build better stories, while being mindful of the voices behind them. My passion has always been about bringing the best talent from across the world to work on the best stories in the world, and I’m hopeful that fans and creators alike will join us in that continued mission.

I guess it’s best that Cebulski gets this out of the way before he starts his inevitable press tour for Marvel comics, which begins in, oh, six weeks or so when con season revs up again.

An oddity: one of the links in the story is something I wrote in 2005 here on the Beat:

“Marvel’s “manga initiatives” have been more dodgy so far, a legacy of the Go Go Jemas years – “girls” comics bedecked with behind Penthouse-esque Greg Horn covers, and at least one Occidental writer adopting a Japanese pseudonym to make a book seem more authentic. Over the years Marvel’s many attempts to cash in on manga-stylee have always been hampered by this kind of bait and switch, and they weren’t fooling anyone. (Yesterday’s press release about Mark Paniccia at Marvel hint he may be doing more manga style books, so this may be a genuine effort at last.)”

Sadly, I don’t remember what the heck I was talking about. Unless there was some OTHER “Occidental writer” posing as Asian, I guess even I had heard about Yoshida? I guess I’ve forgotten a lot of things.

§ Without Jim Starlin’s imagination, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be very different. He created or co-created Thanos and the Infinity gauntlet/stones, Gamora and much more. Ever since Thanos appeared in the last scene of the Avengers, Marvel has been getting on his good side by letting him write a series of Thanos graphic novel,s which have sold well. But the third and final one comes out next year:

“Thanos is the property of Marvel Entertainment,” Starlin continued, “and with the movies on the horizon, Big Purple is about to enter the rarified classification of being a cultural icon, a character bigger than the comic books, writers and artists that birthed him.” Clearly, Starlin is referring to the fact that, once Avengers: Infinity War hit theaters worldwide next May, a movie starring Thanos as the main antagonist, the character will take on a whole new life of his own for millions of people. “Marvel Editorial has made it clear they want fresh takes on the Titan, so who am I to argue with them?” Starlin added, recognizing that the character he created is bigger than himself. But before all is said and done, the writer still has a final, epic story left to tell. “It’s been fun, Big Guy. Go out and have an interesting and entertaining life after.”

 

§ Table applications for the 2018 MoCCA Arts Festival are open.

§ Paste has The 10 Best Kids Comics of 2017.

§ In the 70s people were skinny.

§ Jeet Heer says what we were all thinking: The Disney Deal Is a Disaster for Superhero Movies | New Republic

§ Surprise movie #1: an animated version of Raymond Brigg’s classic Ethel & Ernest’ is out now!

“There was nothing extraordinary about my mum and dad, nothing dramatic,” says Raymond Briggs during the brief live-action prologue to “Ethel & Ernest.” Truer words were never said, even if they’re among very few words not directly taken from the graphic-novel source in Roger Mainwood’s scrupulously faithful adaptation of that slender 1998 tome. This animated feature celebrates the kind of very ordinary, mostly happy shared marital life that “Up!” memorably encapsulated in its first few minutes before moving on to the more typical movie business of fantasy and adventure. The lack of conflict proves more conspicuous over the course of 95 screen minutes than it did over 103 pages one might easily whisk through in one-quarter that time. Still, there’s considerable nostalgic charm to the low-key tale, particularly for British audiences to whom Briggs (best known internationally for the 1978 children’s picture book “The Snowman”) is a beloved institution. In the U.S., the toon is getting a very limited theatrical release by Dada Films, opening Dec. 15.

§ Surprise #2, did you know that a movie was made from a comic published by Alterna called The Chair? And it was Roddy Piper’s last film role? Me neither. But it exists and it’s out on dvd/Blu-Ray:

The film adaptation of THE CHAIR, which stars Roddy Piper in his last feature film role, has been released to blu-ray and DVD combo pack. Based on the Alterna Comics graphic novel created and written by Peter Simeti with art by Kevin Christensen, THE CHAIR is a psychological horror thriller that focuses on a man that is struggling to escape a grisly fate on death row in this intense story of betrayal, revenge, and humanity’s horrifying capacity for evil.