§ Nice art: Elsa Charretier drew and Matt Wilson colored this cover to IDW’s Star Wars Forces of Destiny, a story starring ROSE AND PAIGE TICO. That’s right, the heroic Tico sisters from Star Wars The Last Jedi get a prequel comic about them. So Cool.

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§ Nice Art: it’s the first day of winter. Let’s celebrate with a classic!

§ And a new one from Zandra Art:

§ March Merch! Nuff Said.

§ Tom Richmond turns out the lights for the end of Mad Magazine in New York, a truly historic day for NYC comics history. The Bill Morrison edited version is firing up in Burbank now.

§ I’m super excited about Event Horizon: 1985-87 in Comics a new column by Uncivilized Books publisher Tom Kaczynski about three epic years in comics history. the first column is but an intro but paints a vivid picture of what it was like to get into comics pre internet:

Since there was no internet to answer all my burning questions (or provide free scans of old comics), I had to hunt down the actual issues—some of which became scarce, or expensive collectors items beyond the reach of a poor immigrant kid like me. For over a decade I had a single issue of Watchmen. I didn’t dare to read it until I hunted down the whole series. The Dark Knight Returns was out of my price range. Mister X only existed as an ad in Yummy Fur. Imagining what these comics could be like had a charge similar to that first time I stumbled on a Marvel comic back in Poland. I knew I was in the presence of something special. They held promise of so much more. They were emanations from The Event, tantalizingly palpable yet distant and difficult to grasp.

I just hope that Tom’s busy duties as a publisher don’t make this the ONLY column. (nsert backseat editor side-eye.)

§ Speaking of Star Wars, Paste did a run down of Every Modern Marvel Star Wars Comic, Ranked, modern meaning 98% Marvel. This list made me want to read Star Wars comics, so, well done!

§ Here’s an excerpt from Hilary Chute’s new book Why Comics? which focuses on Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and the Dual History of Punk and Comics . I guess I’ve plugged this book before, but it’s a very solid intro the themes, history and and personalities behind modern comics.

§ BEST OFS: Gizmodo offers The 15 Best Comics of 2017, comics meaning “periodical comics” and SyFy offers Best Ongoing Genre Comics of 2017. There is only one comic in common, I believe.

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§ A new issue of PanelxPanel is available on Gumroad, this issue spotlighting the Black Bolt series by Ahmed and Ward. I was able to easily purchase this on Gumroad but not read it via the Gumroad library as the resolution was crap. Gumroad, get on that. Luckily I have fifty other ways to read the pdf and it looks like a solid read. I’ll be loading that on the old iPad for my long drive to where I’m Christmasing.

§ Ed Piskor talks to Chris Claremont about the Grand Design of the X-Men Legacy. Piskor’s questions are short, Claremont’s answers long.

Ed Piskor: I was thinking about how this conversation is a bookend in a way. I met you in January in France, and got to interview you at the Angouleme Comics Festival, which was fun. Here we are a year later. Creatively, what has kept you busy? Is there anything you can talk about?

Chris Claremont: Not really. A lot of things are in process. The difference between working in an environment such as Marvel and everywhere else, is that comics is an ongoing exercise in instant gratification. If one has a series, if one has a reputation, if one has a position, it’s simply a matter of getting the work out every month, every issue. Usually in a couple of months, bingo, it’s in the bookstores. You’re not producing work on spec, which means that you’re hitting deadline all the time. Whereas for virtually every other form of publishing, until you walk into a regular gig, like a book series or a TV series, you’re producing in hope. Bluntly, for most writers, novels take much longer. Mickey Spillane, for one, Nora Roberts for another, can produce a novel, apparently, instantly, which is breathtakingly cool, but ferociously intimidating for everyone else who are simple mortals.

§ Okay here’s an interesting news story about how ABC is using “comics” to make videos. I believe this format was once called “limited animation” but, okay, let’s update it.

ABC News has been experimenting with graphic novel journalism on digital platforms in a bid to reach wider audiences and cover previously reported stories in new ways.

The digital team at the news organisation works with journalists across ABC News to pick out stories that can be told creatively on digital platforms. Its most recent piece told the story of a man who is struggling with the loss of his daughter to a Korean cult called Providence.

The team released a comic-strip for mobile audiences on its website, made up of several illustrations depicting the storyline, as well as an animated video for social media which has received over 316,000 views so far.

 

§ Will Smith donned an orc mask to wander around a Brazilian comic con. It was to promote his Netflix movie Bright though so eventually he took off the mask and the crowd went wild. And here’s the video!

 

§ Here’s an article about harassment of cosplayers in Indonesia, and apparently it’s quite a problem.

Here in Indonesia, some of the worst harassment comes online, explained Pinky Lu Xun, an Indonesian cosplayer who has been active in the cosplay community since 2004. She told VICE that it was fairly common to see harassing comments on her Instagram page or sexually explicit messages in her inbox. She often opens her Instagram to see comments like “this person is just begging to be raped” or DMs where guys ask how much it costs to sleep with her. And it’s gotten worse in recent years, she said.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Forces of Destiny is a great little series. Nice to see, despite whatever the “super hardcore” fans have to say, that larger Star Wars universe is creating more diverse stories that can appeal to different groups.

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