§ Frequent Beat postee Comics Comics is having a fund-raising drive and you really need to support them if you love discernment about comics. Some of the groovy stuff they have on sale:
First up, check out our eBay store. We are still offering many of the same great items from before (though note that some have already sold—you have to move fast!): Paintings and drawings from Dash Shaw and Frank Santoro! Rare prints from Ben Jones and Paper Rad! An incredible one-of-a-kind Profanity Hill pledge pack from Jason T. Miles! Original Frank King comic strips! Drawings from Matthew Thurber! And various pledge packs of PictureBox books and comics!
Comics Comics
We see some of this loot is still available so go have a look-see.
§ The LA Times interviews TIm Hensley on WALLY GROPIUS, his recently released and much admired graphic novel, and he explains why he won’t be riding the Wally Gropius, the character, train into the sunset
Some people get into a mode. They create a character, plug that character into different situations. They keep using that character. For me, it’s more like an exercise of trying to put a bunch of different pieces together than this character feels like a part of my life. That’s why it’s good to have a throwaway idea of a character like a millionaire. This isn’t my life’s work; it’s trying to put something coherent together. It’s like coming home and trying to put a ship in a bottle every night after work. I pretty much have days when I just think it’s awful and days when I think it’s good. I’m definitely proud that I was able to finish it and relieved that it’s done. Having finished this and starting to work on another, it’s like, “Oh boy. It’s going to be tough.”
§ The book world doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing any more, either.
§ Dean Haspiel shared his favorite DC cover. And it is a doozy.
§ Medicom is making a Captain Action Bearbrick. It is cute, but it also tickles us to see a 1968 action figure adapted to a 2010’s style collector-art-toy. The nerd space reinvents itself, the wheel turns.
§ To celebrate Lost ending week — or maybe Celebrity Apprentice winding up — Tom Spurgeon posted his 10 favorite endings in comics, and readers suggested many more excellent ones. I always liked the Terry and the Pirates one best, too.
§ Brian Hibbsfinds himself torn between loathing and detesting JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE RISE OF ARSENAL #3, and can’t decide if it’s the end of civilization or merely the superhero genre. To be fair, it does sound horrid, but the description paints it as a must read, featuring kinky amputee sex, and Batman hitting something with a dead cat(?). To assuage your longing for this classic bad comic, here is a brief preview.
§ San Diego Mayor Jerry Sandersfinally has something nice to say about Comic-Con:
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders wasn’t impressed with the Los Angeles pitch, and said, “We think they’ll be here from now on. It’s a uniquely San Diego event.”
Sanders said San Diego has tradition and experience on its side.
“I also think ‘ease of putting it on,’ you know, how to do it here. You’ve got the schematic down,” Sanders said.
§ In Melbourne, AU they are attempting to gather more than 1092 people dressed up as superheroes at once to prove that the end of civilization and superheroes are somehow fatally intertwined.
§ The mother of missing-and-feared dead writer Stephen Perry’s son is talking to the press.
§ CBR interviews Kurt Hassler about the Twilight graphic novel, and among other things, he mentions that the controversial lettering was the artist’s choice, and he also comments on the current state of manga:
Kurt Hassler: The manga market is definitely strong. It has seen some contraction over the past two years – I look largely at the problems publishers have been having with illegal scanlations over the past few years as probably the major contributor to that at the moment – but the business is still strong. If you look at Bookscan sales, last year I think manga made up about 60% of the total graphic novel sales per Bookscan, so it’s not like this is going away. But there are definitely some issues that publishers need to address to keep the business moving forward.
§ We neglected to mention that TOON Books has begun a blog for emerging readersm and it includes a Penny and Penny strip by Geoffrey Hayes which is so cute that it will wash the memory of THE RISE OF ARSENAL right out of your mind.
§ Animator John K was a huge fan of cartoonist Howie Post, who died last week, and he has an amazing collection of art to show you why.
Howie was a real cartoonist. He knew (like the rest of us) that all men are ugly and goofy, but that women were beautiful.
Cartoon Brew talks about Post’s animation work and Mark Evanier has more.
DC, what-?
I…
*sigh*
“He knew (like the rest of us) that all men are ugly and goofy, but that women were beautiful.”
Oh, fuck off.
Hahahahaha. I’m with Joe.
Whatever his stance may be.
Can’t they just leave Speedy alone? Poor guy.
I love freebasing heroin, impotent amputees and domestic violence. But for some reason I just could not get into ROA #3.
I’m just upset that DC didn’t give us free bags of heroin with Rise of Arsenal #3.
Ralph, I’m pretty sure that’s the only way to actually make someone want to buy a Titans book these days.
Wondering what Titan they’re going to just hate on next, thinking Beast-Boy will become a coke addict.
I thought the best page in that comic was when Batman catches Roy when he’s about to bugger a dead cat – no really…
(well not really but it *looks* like that)..
Wow, that was pretty vile.
I haven’t touched any of the Arsenal books but just reading the review turned my stomach. Worse, after flipping through the Previews catalog yesterday, I couldn’t believe DC had an ad for the new Green Arrow issue with an image of Ollie with an arrow through his forehead.
DC really does stand for Disgusting Comics.
BTW, does any of the executives up at DC Comics bathe?
Because their material is more offensive than body odor; a bus terminal bathroom where none of the toilets flush ‘causing crap to just overflow all over the floor.
That’s the image I get when I think of the DC and the shit coming out of their office.
My advice to Brett would be to stay off the internet. And away from any television set. Or popular culture really.
Because if you think a guy with an arrow through his head is vile then surely you must be Amish. Perhaps this is your first encounter in the civilized world. To which I say “welcome friend. I’m glad you made it!”
But it may be in your best interest to avoid all interaction with media of any kind.
My advice for Christian would be to get a grip on comparing ‘reality’ as depicted in really bad DC comics with what actually happens in real life, or in other media. Because the two generally haven’t been equivalent in quality in quite some time, and it’s ridiculous to claim otherwise.
LOL WUT?
What are you even talking about?
He read a third-person review about a schlocky book about freebasing heroin and dead children and equated it to feces running through the hallways of DC Corporate.
All I’m sayin is if you can’t handle a little freebasing here and there stay out of the kitchen.
The kitchen being in this case society as a whole.
Yeah, maybe I should just lock myself away from society because as a civilized human being, I’m actually turned off by the sight of an arrow sticking out of the forehead of a hero on the cover of a comic published by a company who is currently branding their new direction as a ‘Brightest Day.’
And I apologize for comparing the output coming from the offices of DC Comics as crap. Who am I to say what’s tasty to flies?
PS Chrisian, putting an arrow into a guy’s head isn’t very civilized. But thinking it is then using it in a sentance, well that’s the very defination of oxymoronic.
“putting an arrow into a guy’s head isn’t very civilized.”
Unless you’re Steve Martin.
Is there any chance someone could call out the writer of the ‘Arsenal’ mini for a ‘please explain’ interview? I’m generally curious as to what he’s trying to comunicate with this story…
My theory: Someone read The Dark Knight Returns and saw that Green Arrow is missing an arm. So they decide to do to Olllie what they did to Robin.
But… Ollie is too big to futz with, so they take Red Arrow. He’s a former heroine junkie. He’s fathered a child out of wedlock with a villainess (who has aslo fathered a child with Catman). So they take his arm. So they kill his sweet innocent child. So they infect him with nanites. So they make the prothesis a painful apparatus which must be attached and removed directly into his bicep. So they make him angry. So he becomes an addict again.
My prediction: Red Arrow becomes the new Bane. He kills villains just like Ollie, venting his rage.
If handled correctly (yes, a big IF), Roy comes through this ordeal like Job, redeemed.
Meanwhile, Gail Simone handled Bane’s addiction much better in Secret Six.
Read JLA: Arse-nal and DC should embrace the badness. And they say DC doesn’t do comedy anymore. They need to run with it. Get all Ed Wood.
Denny O’Neil’s stories of Roy and Ollie going through crises in the early 1970s may seem hokey now, but he really succeeded in making me care about Roy kicking his drug habit, and Ollie coming to grips with how terrible it is to take another human life. Those stories made me want to read more about these characters.
The recent events undoing that character progression? They have the exact opposite effect.
That book was so painful, I was the one needing drugs.