Category: News

New ‘Prince Valiant’ and ‘Wash Tubbs/Captain Easy’ Reprints From Fantagraphics

In one item of news coming out of last weekend’s Book Expo America, publisher Fantagraphics will be offering new reprints of long-running comic strips Prince Valiant and both Wash Tubbs and its successor, Captain Easy.

According to iCv2:

Prince Valiant will be presented in an oversized color hardcover format, with two years per book, beginning in 2009.  This presentation will be of higher quality than the 50 trade paperbacks Fantagraphics published, which collected all of the strips with art or story by creator Hal Foster.  At two years per book, it will take 16-17 volumes just to reprint the full page strips with Foster art. 

As for the Roy Crane-created series Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, which Fantagraphics will begin reprinting in 2009:

Sundays will be printed in color; dailies in black and white.  Although the two strips ran an incredible 64 years, from 1924 to 1988, creator Roy Crane’s work ran only until 1943.  NBM released an 18-volume series collecting the Crane years from 1987 to 1992.

Manga Friday: Korean Road Trip!

The two books this week are actually manwha rather than manga, since they come from Korea and not Japan. Other than the reading direction, both of these books are more similar to their Japanese counterparts than to American comics, which I will demonstrate, viz:

Croquis Pop, Vol. 1
Story by KwangHyun Seo; Art by JinHo Ko
Yen Press, June 2008, $10.99

Da-Il is a young man who either wants to be a manwha artist more than anything in the world — because he told his now-dead mother that the only thing he wanted to do with his life was to make pictures that made her happy — or he fell into the job as a high school student because making comics "looked like fun." Or maybe both, since the story tells us both things and gives us no reason to disbelieve either of them.

Da-Il has just come to work for the manwha-ga Ho Go, who has just moved into a big house with his two other assistants, the punctilious senior assistant Ho-Suk Yang and the gorgeous and mysterious Hang-Chu. (Either in Korea in general, or just in this kind of manwha story, the staff of a particular story live with their boss.) But the hiring procedures are a bit lax, since Da-Il can barely draw. (more…)

Yes We Can…by Michael Davis

Yes We Can… unless we are stupid.

I’m always amazed at just how stupid, petty and small-minded some people can be. Remember the onslaught of bad press and savage criticism Barack Obama had to deal with because of Jeremiah Wright? The millions of TV news stories, the billions of You Tube hits, and the zillion chat room comments? Jeremiah Wright’s antics almost torpedoed Barack Obama’s shot at the Presidency. Rev. Wright’s sermons were broadcast recently but they were old sermons that someone found and put out for the entire world to see long after they were first spoken.

The furor had all but gone away making Rev. Wright’s recent TV news tour the worst possible moment for him to defend himself with regards to the Senator.

The title of Senator Obama’s book was The Audacity Of Hope. The Rev. Wright gave that title to the Senator. I hear that the Rev. Wright is writing a book; you think the title will be The Audacity Of A Dope?

Nah.

Rev. Wright has not made any other comments lately. I would like to think that he realized that there is something bigger out there than his attempt to get his side of the story out. I know a few people who know the man and from what I hear he’s a real decent and very smart guy. But we all have moments of bad judgment and I’m sure that was all it was, a bad judgment call. As I said we have all had those moments. I have had a few… thousand. (more…)

ComicMix Radio: Learn to Draw Comics the Kubert Way

For over three decades, Joe Kubert has been nurturing talent and helping them make their way into the world of comics. We talk to the master and see just how his teaching techniques have evolved over the last 30 years,  plus:

— Cable gets King-Sized and Thor goes after The Skrulls

— Disappointments for fans of Rescue Me and Torchwood

— Sign up now – to save Dollhouse?

Are you ready for Hellboy shoes? Really? Just  press the button!

 

 

 And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-4320240 or RSS!

 

new-reader-4177623

Online Comic Book Reader Gets a Redesign at ComicMix

new-reader-4177623Last Friday, with no fanfare, we released the first major upgrade to our ComicMix online comic book reader since we launched our free online comics last October. We have done small upgrades every month or two — like adding the ability to link straight to a specific page, remembering what zoom level you like and remembering that you always want two-page spreads. But this upgrade was significant.

First, we eliminated those little page number links at the top of the screen. We were only using about 30 pixels for that strip, but vertical space is already limited by all the toolbars and junk in your browsers, so why waste any more? Since computer screens are almost always wider than tall, we put the page navigation on the right — the same way that applications like Adobe Acrobat, Apple’s Preview app, Quark and Pagemaker do.

Do you need to click on those little page thumbnails to flip through our comics? Of course not.

(more…)

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for June 5, 2008

Quite a top-notch week in comics, all in all. We had another Secret Invasion entry and the debut of DC’s Trinity (I’ll be doing separate weekly reviews of that one), as well as strong outings from other series.

There seemed to be a viral outbreak of silliness, though, as a handful of comics pushed the goofy too far and suffered for it. Only a couple of outright stink bombs, which are helping me kick off a new section for these reviews: The Dregs. Now, the reviews…

Book of the Week: Secret Invasion #3 — First, let me say there continue to be some serious problems with Skrullapalooza ’08. The series is not even remotely self contained, so any casual fan is probably going to be quite lost, there are a few too many unclear moments (lost either in script or art), and the Skrull invasion force still looks like they were designed by Toys R’ Us.

That out of the way, this issue merits top billing for a few big reasons.

First, the story actually moves ahead after stagnating in the Savage Land. Second, there are some huh-yuge fights, and Leinil Yu takes a bellows and pumps them full of hot air. Third…

We need a big SPOILER WARNING for this. Third, we learn the biggest reveal in modern comics memory, that this colossal, inconsistent prick of Tony Stark who has embroiled the Marvel Universe isn’t really Tony Stark. Gasp. He’s a Skrull.

Runners Up:

Abe Sapien: The Drowning #5 — This series ends with a graceful if unsatisfying issue, filled with more sparsely worded craziness (giant flying eel?!?) and Abe continuing to wonder how he stacks up. "You aren’t Hellboy and you never will be," he tells himself. But, like Hellboy, he learns the crucial lesson that guns usually don’t stop supernatural forces.

The shining light of this series is artist Jason Alexander, who lends everything a perfect ephemeral, abstract air. The good news is he’s going to be doing more BPRD work.

Omega the Unknown #9 — Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple’s bizarre cerebral odyssey is nearly at an end, and this penultimate issue brings the Omega and robot forces to a head in a big way, with the world at stake. Still, things are never too heavy, and despite a dramatic death it ends up being the most rambunctious issue yet.

(more…)

Carly Monardo Needs Your Commissions

Artist Carly Monardo, who works as a colorist on the hit Cartoon Network series The Venture Bros. and is known around the webcomic scene for her work on posters and other art for popular series such as The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (coincidentally, the subject of this recent interview), recently put out a call for commissions and any freelance work fans can send her way.

From Monardo’s LJ site:

Man oh man…so I currently owe a shit ton of money in back taxes (damn you, 1099!!) for 2007. I set up a plan with the IRS, but interest is 6% compounded DAILY so I am, quite frankly, terrified.

I turn to you, internet, in the hopes that someone out there might have something for me…a freelance gig, a commission, an organ they want for cheap…seriously guys I’ll do it. I am making a pretty pathetic wage at my part-time job and I don’t start back on Venture Bros. again until the end of September. I’m super worried…this has set fire to my already wobbly financial house of cards.

 While it certainly isn’t news that an artist (no matter how talented) is having a rough time making ends meet, what is certainly worth pointing out is the support Monardo’s plea is receiving from around the InterWebs. Anders Loves Maria creator Rene Engström has even created a video plea that puts Sally Struthers to shame, while various other webcomic creators have echoed the sentiment on their own sites.

 

You can view Monardo’s website and commission info at: www.lasagnachildren.com/Carly/

 

(via Fleen)

Crossing the Line, by John Ostrander

I’ve been in this comics business for umpty-bum years now. Its not that I’m ashamed of the number; I just keep forgetting it. Ah, the joys of aging! It’s more than a quarter century since I started as a full-time writer; I know that. I’ve been a comic fan even longer. I’ve watched the occasional villain become… well, if not a hero, then something like one. Magneto, over in X-Men Land, for example. He’s gone from being the arch-enemy to our merry mutants to metamorphosing into an ally, to sometimes becoming their leader, and then back. Batman periodically gets darker until it’s hard to tell him apart from his foes.

Occasionally, this happens in real life.

Today, June 5, 2008, Ian Paisley steps down as First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Brief background, in case you don’t know: Northern Ireland is not a part of the Republic Of Ireland. It’s a constituent county of the United Kingdom and comprises the six counties that chose to remain a part of the U.K. when the Government of Ireland Act in 1920 created Home Rule in Ireland, formerly directly ruled by England. The Republic of Ireland, the South, with its capital of Dublin is (nominally, at least) largely Roman Catholic. Northern Ireland is largely Protestant but with a large Roman Catholic minority. In general, the Protestants regard themselves as English (they’re considered “Unionists”) while the Roman Catholics consider themselves Irish although, in fact, a citizen of Northern Ireland born before 2004 could claim citizenship in either or both the U.K. and Ireland. (more…)

‘The Incredible Hulk’ Xbox 360 Game Achievements Detailed

While I try to stay videogame platform neutral here at ComicMix, I’ll admit that I’m very, very excited to see the Xbox 360 achievement list for the upcoming videogame based on Incredible Hulk film.

If you’re not familiar with the Xbox 360 "achievements" system, it’s a method for giving gamers recognition for completing certain tasks in games. The accomplishment is recorded by the Xbox LIVE online service for fellow gamers to see. Basically, it’s Facebook for videogames. Hardcore gamers furiously try to get them all.

The digital bragging rights have proven very popular and similar schemes have been launched for PCs via the Steam network, while Sony announced a "Trophy" system coming soon for the PlayStation 3. (more…)

Happy Birthday: Weather Wizard

Mark Mardon was a petty career criminal whose capture was, ironically, the best thing that ever happened to him.

On his way to prison, Mardon escaped and fled to the home of his brother Clyde. Clyde was a scientist and had just created a wand that could control weather in its immediate vicinity.

The brothers fought over the device and Mark killed Clyde using the wand itself. With the device, Mardon became the Weather Wizard, a member of Flash’s Rogues Gallery. In later years Mardon died, went to Hell, came back as a soulless demon, and then was restored to full life.

He also internalized the wand’s powers, and can now control weather without any devices.

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