Yearly Archive: 2008

Fight Bribery With… Comics?

Fight Bribery With… Comics?

  • News
  • January 15, 2008

The Collective ManChina’s Communist ruling party plans to start off the Lunar New Year holiday by distributing comics depicting graft and various other forms of corruption in an effort to reduce crime in one of the nation’s most troubled provinces. 

According to the Associated Press:

"The pocket-size comic book, which includes caricatures depicting common forms of graft and bribery, will be distributed as a gift to 100,000 party members in the central province of Henan, Xinhua news agency said."

 

GrimJack gets furry

GrimJack gets furry

  • News
  • January 15, 2008

John Gaunt confers with Goethe, the Fat Man, over absinthe, rot gut, and a beautiful pussycat in today’s episode of GrimJack.  Written by John Ostrander, drawn by Timothy Truman, it’s a look into the freak side of Cynosure’s dark underbelly.

Webbed Comics

Cut Them Off At The Past, by Dennis O’Neil

Cut Them Off At The Past, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • January 15, 2008

And the Screen Writers Guild lurches into a tenth week and if there’s any end in sight, I haven’t heard about it.

Last time, I mentioned the Academy of Comic Book Arts and its failure to do any significant negotiating on behalf of its members. ACBA wasn’t the first attempt, though, to organize those glorious mavericks, the comic book community. In the 60s…

Wait! Better issue a warning before I go further. Do not regard anything that follows as gospel. (In fact, you might consider not regarding the Gospel as gospel, but let us not digress.) I have no reason not to believe what I’m about to tell you except one: About a year before he died, Arnold Drake, who was a busy comic book writer at the time we’ll be discussing, told me that the story I had wasn’t the whole story, or even necessarily accurate. I don’t know why I didn’t press him for further information, but I didn’t.

Okay, the story:

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Happy 144th birthday, Richard F. Outcault!

Happy 144th birthday, Richard F. Outcault!

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

Today in 1863, the very first Sunday comic artist was born.

Yes, we should all take pause today to acknowledge Richard Felton Outcault, who drew the world’s first color comic strip, "Origin of a New Species," in The New York World‘s Sunday edition.

His first regular strip was "Hogan’s Alley," but he later became known for Buster Brown and The Yellow Kid.  Where would we be without your first brave steps, Mr. Outcault? I’m not sure I would want to live in a Peanuts-less world, even if I were (perish the thought) ignorant to their very existence. We must all thank Outcault for paving the way. He died in 1928 having made his mark. In color.

Look to your loins!

Look to your loins!

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

In today’s brand new, full color Demons of Sherwood adventure, Robin of Locksley is pushed into greater heroic adventure.

Fires! Swordplay! Attacks and rescues!  All this, and more, as Robert Tinnell and Bo Hampton tell you what happened to Robin Hood, Maid Marian, the Merry Men and the rest of Sherwood recovered from their happily ever after.

Roger Avary arrested for manslaughter and DUI

Roger Avary arrested for manslaughter and DUI

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

This just in from AP:

Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and driving under the influence after a Ventura County car crash that killed a man and injured Avary’s wife, authorities said.

Avary, 42, was the driver in the single-car collision shortly after midnight Sunday in Ojai, said Capt. Ross Bonfiglio of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Killed in the accident was Andreas Zini, 34, a resident of Italy who was apparently visiting the couple. Firefighters cut Zini from the car with Jaws of Life, and he died several hours later at Ventura County Medical Center.

Avary’s wife Gretchen, 40, was ejected from the car and found in the road by deputies, Bonfiglio said. She was hospitalized in stable condition.

Avary was booked but later released on $50,000 bail, Bonfiglio said. He did not know whether Avary has hired an attorney.

Avary won an Academy Award along with Quentin Tarantino for writing "Pulp Fiction," and was also a co-writer of the recent epic "Beowulf." He and his wife live in Ojai, a popular artists’ colony and tourist destination 14 miles north of Ventura.

We’ll post more as we hear about it.

UPDATE: Neil Gaiman writes:

I just read the news about Roger Avary, and am mostly posting this because people have already started writing to let me know about it, and to stop that turning into a flood. (I still can’t access Blogger except via a sort of email work-around right now.)

 

According to the news reports (and I have no other information), Roger crashed his car yesterday. His wife Gretchen was thrown out of the car and is in hospital with serious injuries, and the passenger, an Italian friend of Roger’s called Andreas Zini, was killed. Roger has been arrested for suspicion of manslaughter and DUI, and released on bail.

 

And I’m worried about all of them. Worried about Gretchen and their kids, worried about the family of their poor friend, and worried about Roger (who, it’s probably worth mentioning, I’ve known well for over a decade, and who barely drinks).

Paris Review

Paris Review

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

Paris collects a four-issue mini-series set in that city in the early ‘50s, written by Andi Watson and illustrated by Simon Gane. Watson is fairly well-known these days as the writer-artist of such relationship-oriented comics as Slow News Day and Love Fights, but I haven’t heard of Gane before. (From a quick perusal of his blog I think that’s because he’s mostly worked in the UK and for music magazines.) Gane has a very ornate, ornamented, even rococo style, which is a good artistic choice for a historical comic – it clearly distances the action, and keeps it from feeling contemporary.

The story of Paris is pretty straightforward, and focuses on two young women from elsewhere living in that city. Juliet is an American, studying at the Academie de Stael by day and painting society portraits by night to pay her rent. Deborah is an English aristocrat chaperoned by her hideous aunt Miss Chapman.

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Editing Comics In The 21st Century, by Mike Gold

Editing Comics In The 21st Century, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

As you may know, as part of the ComicMix ruling triumvirate I spend my spare time editing comics published on, and soon by, ComicMix. It’s the most fun part of the job, and I really enjoy the catalytic experience. I’ve been editing for a million years, much of that time editing comics, and I try really hard not to get set in my ways. Having a short attention span helps.

So does working on the Internet. Case in point:

I’ve been working with John Ostrander and/or Timothy Truman since the week before fish crawled out of the ocean. It’s one of my happiest experiences; it’s great fun to work with talented people with whom you share culture, worldview and personal history. But I’m always concerned that creatively we’ll fall into a rut and take things for granted. So far, so good.

Our process (and this differs for each creative team as well as on each project) is simple. Either John or Tim comes up with an idea and we kick it around in an endless series of witty and self-referential e-mails. Eventually Tim decides he’s read enough. John and I continue for a bit just to make sure Tim didn’t change his mind (or maybe just to annoy him; I can’t tell anymore). Then John writes up a plot for the first chunk of story. Before the Internet, that would usually be a 22 – 24 page segment; now, it’s whatever John feels like. We kick it around a tiny bit, and Tim takes it away and draws whatever he feels like drawing. John dialogues it. At each step of the way, I make snarky notes and cultural references that would confound Dennis Miller. 

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Happy 51st birthday to the Frisbee!

Happy 51st birthday to the Frisbee!

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

Watch out, onlookers, what those naked athletes are throwing around was produced exactly 51 years ago today!

After all, Ultimate Frisbee wouldn’t be ultimate, heck, it just plain wouldn’t be without the plate-shaped plaything. The Frisbee was produced today way back when by Wham-O, inspired by the shape of a popcorn tin lid and using the name of a pie manufacturer (I wonder what Frisbee pie tasted like…)

Today, the Frisbee is best known for being chewed and slobbered on by hyperactive dogs, being thrown around on vacation, or competitively used in the game, Ultimate Frisbee (traditionally played by serious teams in the nude).

Thanks for all the good times, Wham-O.

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