Yearly Archive: 2008

While Fables creator Bill Willingham is keeping mum about the details surrounding his next original graphic novel set in the Fables universe, he recently mentioned that the first half of the mysterious project was written in the shadow of another famous fantasy scribe: Rudyard Kipling.

According to ReadExpress.com:

"I wrote the first half of it … in the same room, on the same desk, that Kipling invented Mowgli and ‘The Jungle Book.’ I stayed at the Kipling mansion in Vermont, which might have been the two most wonderful weeks of my life," said Willingham. "I think the greatest problem of my time there was the time lost when I just sat there like a dumb idiot saying to myself, ‘Woah, look at where I am.’"

Willingham cautioned not to expect too much of that Kipling inspiration to bleed into the storyline, however.

"The book was outlined pretty rigidly before I got there, so I couldn’t really deviate much, but I definitely wrote one scene in there as a nod to where I was and what my circumstances were."

Willingham goes on to describe his storytelling approach toward many of the characters in his Fables universe, as well as his approach to creating stories with the full collection in mind rather than single issues.

Finally, the writer had this to say about his dealings with the movie industry and Fables‘ long-rumored turn on the big screen:

"My brushes with Hollywood have all been so completely surreal," he said. "I have no idea how anything, even the smallest possible thing, can get made in that town. There has been a growing realization that anything makes it to become a TV show or a movie is some sort of bizarre miracle. Boy, do those people love taking meetings!"

(via Journalista)

Comics just keep popping up in new and unexpected places. To wit: Financial publication Portfolio has posted a webcomic of sorts that explains the dramatic fall of investment firm Bear Stearns earlier this year amid the ongoing mortgage crisis.

For those who aren’t especially interested in economics, it’s about as exciting as watching CNBC (maybe a half-step above paint drying and grass growing). But, at the very least, Portfolio’s interactive viewer is quite nice.

Also, the comic doesn’t go into enough detail to explain what landed Bear Stearns in such hot water to begin with.

Oh, and here’s the uninformed and (largely) unintelligible take on comics from a blogger at Blogging Stocks:

Graphic novels are generally targeted toward a market the could best be described as anime freaks: junior high and high school kids who shop at Hot Topic, listen to bad music, and read graphic novels.

Let’s just chalk this up as the latest lesson that comics and finances are oil and water.

The 2008 Harvey Award nominations are out, and ComicMix is proud to have EZ Street nominated for “Best Online Comic.” Congratulations to Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley!

Sure, EZ Street is up against some tough competition — Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Penny Arcade, Perry Bible Fellowship, and The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo — but we think it will do okay.

This year’s Harvey Awards will be handed out at the Baltimore Comic-Con, held September 27-28, 2008.  Convention hours are Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM.  The ceremony and banquet for the 2008 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 27, hosted once again by Kyle Baker.

If you are a comics creative professional and would like to vote, you can download the .pdf Final Ballot or download .txt Final Ballot (for email) and send it to pjcjmc3 [at] sbcglobal.net. Final ballots are due to the Harvey Awards by Friday, August 15, 2008.  Full details for submission of completed ballots can be found on the final ballot.  Voting is open to anyone involved in a creative capacity within the comics field.  Those without Internet access may request that paper ballots be sent to them via mail or fax by calling the Baltimore Comic-Con (410-526-7410) or e-mailing baltimorecomicccon [at] yahoo.com.

The full list of nominees is after the jump. (more…)