Monthly Archive: March 2008

Day one at Wizard World LA and we’re in the Mike Wieringo room for the DC Nation Panel featuring DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio, VP of Sales Bob Wayne and writer Adam Beechen.

Getting right to it, DiDio introduced the other members of the panel and then, as is his style at events like these, launched right into the Q&A, taking question from the eager fans in attendance.

First question out of the gate was about the "New Gods" and their story. Specifically, the fan wanted to know about their deaths.

To answer, DiDio explained that the stories originally created by Jack Kirby during his DC period were great but subsequently some of the later writers were trying to hard to honor his creations and execute what they thought Kirby would want.

Consequently, according to DiDio, "the Fourth World and the DCU never really fit together harmoniously."

"And now you’re killing the New Gods off?" another fan chimed in.

"Yes, but they’ll get better," DiDio answered. "Death of the New Gods is about closure to that story."

Pushing further on the Fourth World questions, another fan asked about Batman’s potential involvement, citing rumors on the Internet to that effect.

"You can’t react to rumors," answered DiDio. "They’re often misinterpretations of information or personal agendas. The rumor involving Batman is a silly idea." (more…)

Over at ISB, Chris Sims has remixed panels from old Archie strips to the tune of William Shatner’s Pulp’s "Common People" with disturbing and, as always, hilarious results.

(Oh, and that loud noise you just heard was the sound of millions of British rock fans’ heads simultaneously exploding after reading the previous line of text.)

Feel like you’re missing a punchline somewhere? Here’s one video for you to watch, and here’s another.

Ask any longtime comics fan what they give someone "on the outside" to turn them on to the comics world, and they usually have a stock answer ready. Some go the Watchmen route, others go with Art Spiegelman’s Maus or, quite possibly, something more akin to Craig Thompson’s Blankets. Lately, Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man has been popping up quite often in these types of conversations.

Sometimes, though, your best bet in converting someone into a comics fan isn’t in proving the ability of comics to provide a window into serious emotional or political issues, or in giving them what amounts to a sneak peek at the next big comic-to-film adaptation. Sometimes, your best bet simply lies in showing someone that comics can still be fun — that a few panels of cartoon art can connect a reader with the more light-hearted moments in life without requiring any heavy, emotional investment.

That’s why Wes Molebash’s You’ll Have That has found its way into my list of first-time reader recommendations. The strip follows the life of a young, married couple as they work through the inherent trials and tribulations of starting a family, navigating a complicated social circle and learning their way around co-habitation. Molebash has been publishing YHT as a webcomic for more than four years now, and doing so on a five-days-a-week schedule for much of that time. The series is hosted by Viper Comics, who also publishes print collections of the series at regular intervals.

Recently, Molebash decided to try his hand with Zuda Comics, the new webcomics initiative by DC Comics. Creators submit sample strips to Zuda, and each month, editors select a set number to to host on the Zuda Comics site. Winners are chosen monthly based upon the strips’ popularity among readers, and the winning creators receive a year-long contract to continue their series. However, the program has been the focus of widespread criticism in the online world, especially among webcomic creators, due to the restrictions imposed by DC/Zuda on ownership of the strips and creators’ rights.

Molebash’s current submission to Zuda, The Litterbox Chronicles, about a pair of mischevious house cats, marks the first occasion in which an already well-established webcomic creator has participated in the Zuda competition. In this interview, he shares some thoughst on the Zuda experience thus far and discusses the future of You’ll Have That and the implications of the strip on his life.

COMICMIX: So, let’s get to it. You already have a very successful webcomic in You’ll Have That — so why go the Zuda route?

WES MOLEBASH: Well, the Zuda thing has been quite a hot topic with creators for a while…

CMix: … to put it lightly…

WM: I really struggled with the decision. I’ve been keeping my eye on Zuda ever since I first heard about DC doing this kind of thing, so I’ve read any article that I found on the Internet about it. I’ve read everyone’s opinion. And it seems like the majority of cartoonists seem to be against it. (more…)

From the adult-oriented Superf*ckers to the upcoming, kid-savvy Johnny Boo, James Kochalka isn’t one to shy away from testing the waters of a new audience or format in his comics work. Frequent ComicMix contributor Van Jensen spoke with Kochalka recently (as well as his son, Eli) for CBR News, and their conversation shed some light on the prolific cartoonist’s big plans for 2008, including the June release of Johnny Boo from Top Shelf Comics.

According to Kochalka, the simple, silly design of Johnny Boo‘s cast of characters is a prime example of his approach to a new story: He simply puts pencil to paper and eventually everything works itself out.

I start playing around with shapes until I get a collection of shapes that I feel can become a being on the page. If you get the right shapes together it just feels right. So that’s what I try to do. Doodle until the doodles come to life for me, then set them loose in a comic. If you’ve got some characters with some life to them, they start doing and saying what they want. That’s my favorite way to work. It’s a lot better than trying to force your characters along some kind of plot you have worked out in your mind ahead of time. The plot goes in much more surprising directions. I hope that also makes it more entertaining to read.

Read the full interview over on CBR.