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If You’re Not There, You Just Won’t Get It, Part 3, by Michael Davis

  • News
  • August 22, 2008

 

This is part three of my Milestone Media story I began two weeks ago. If you are reading this segment first, please read the other two installments, not so much for background but so I don’t look like a complete moron.

On a faithful day I walked into a Milestone meeting and was met with a pointed finger and this statement directed at me.  “I cannot work with this man.”

Now there are those in the industry who see me as overrated, lucky or a con artist.  That’s partly because my public persona is over the top. I tend not to explain a lot about how I do stuff, I just do it. I have never been one to share information about details on certain aspects of my business. Let me try and clarify what that means: if you invite me to a party and I say no, that’s all you are getting. You are not getting a detailed description why I’m not going or what else I may be doing or instead of going to your party. To me no just means no. It does not mean that you are a bad person, it does not mean I am. It just means no. Look; I just don’t pay attention or care about what or why anyone does anything.

I never ask personal questions when I get a no. I don’t care why you make a decision; it’s your decision. I have no right to expect an explanation from you unless it affects me in some way that matters to me. I was that way in 1991. I’m still that way in 2008 but I’m less hardcore about it.

So when a Milestone member pointed his finger at me and said “I cannot work with this man.” My first reaction was anger. I knew what I was doing to build Milestone and resented the fact that I was being put on the spot with this bullshit. I thought at the time it was all motivated by my personality, and some of it was. In retrospect I realize another part of the issue with me at the time was my methods and how I did things.  The meeting went on for a while and became heated.

Wait a sec.

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Behind the Scenes With “Stan’s Soapbox”

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

stansoapbox-00-6645624Just about a week ago, it was announced that the ol’ "Stan’s Soapbox" columns that ran in Marvel Comics from 1967 to 1980 will be collected in an upcoming paperback published by (and benefiting) The Hero Initiative, the very worthwhile organization that is also the "first-ever federally chartered not-for- profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need."

In true form, Stan "The Man" had this to say about the collection:

"Wow! What a kick it is for me to see all my old Soapbox columns printed in one great volume!," said Stan Lee. "Reading them now is like taking a trip back through the history of Marvel in those great ol’ days when the fans and I would rap about how our batty Bullpen was exploding with new heroes, new villains and more far-out, fun-filled, fantastic new ideas than you could shake a radioactive spider at! And, best of all, every Stan’s Soapbox book sold means more money for the great Hero Initiative cause. No wonder I’m so proud of this book and the cause that it serves! Heck, I might even buy two copies!"

While the 144-page collection is scheduled for a November 2008 release and sporting a $14.99 price tag, as well as commentary from Marvel luminaries like Joe Quesada, Kevin Feige and Roy Thomas, there’s one thing the collection won’t include: the original typed copy straight from the desk of Marvel’s Main Man himself. Lucky for us, former Marvel Comics Assistant Editor Scott Edelman recently posted a scan of one of those aforementioned drafts — as well as some thoughts on how he ended up with them.

One of my duties as an Assistant Editor at Marvel Comics in the mid-’70s was to write all of the text for each Bullpen Bulletins page except for Stan’s Soapbox. (Thanks for the opportunity to channel my childhood idol, Len!)

Which meant that Stan would hand me a yellow sheet of paper each month on which he had typed out his musings, complete with edits in the form of crossed-out clauses and handwritten additions. I’d hand both his text and mine (for the rest of the page) to a different Stan, Stanley Aaron, the typesetter who would make it all look pretty so it could then be pasted up for print.

Even without the drafts, the Stan’s Soapbox collection looks like a great opportunity to get all sorts of nostalgic about comics days gone by. I’ve posted the full press release after the jump, with more information about the project. (Oh, and we’re told that’s not the final cover art.)

(via The Beat)

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Bryan Lee O’Malley and Hope Larson on “Bear Creek Apartments”

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

bearcreek-00-2002423Celebrated comics couple Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim) and Hope Larson (Chiggers) returned the focus of their considerable talents to the webcomics pool this week with Bear Creek Apartments, a new, original collaboration between the two creators. They announced the project this week on their website, radiomaru.com, and the comic was subsequently flooded with traffic — forcing O’Malley to break it down from a single page to a series of linked pages.

For the art geeks, the pair also provided the following details about their tools of the trade for Bear Creek:

The art is done with pen, watercolor, crayon, and some CG elements (mostly lighting effects). The lettering was done with ComiCraft’s "Monologous" font.

You can see the full comic now at the link I’ve provided above, but be sure to read it through to the end. There’s a twist there that caught me by surprise… so you’ll want to beat the spoilers, too.

ComicMix Radio: Doctor Who Hits The Tables

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

Between now and this year’s Christmas Special, you might be blessed with a Doctor Who RPG, the first in over 15 years. We’ve got the details, plus:

  • Voltron shuffles toward the screen
  • A big month in the comic stores for Secret Invasion and Batman
  • John McCain said what about D&D?

And we turn you on to a free web comic that probably sounds like the things you and your friends always talk about. Find out when you Press the Button!

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-7379053 or RSS!

 

 

Review: “Air” by G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker

  • Uncategorized
  • August 21, 2008

air1-1599894There’s something so unabashedly original about writer G. Willow Wilson that it’s nearly impossible to not enjoy her comics projects, like last year’s graphic novel [[[Cairo]]] and this week’s new series [[[Air]]].

Wilson brings an entirely new voice and outlook to comics, keeping relevant to contemporary culture while digging into issues like terrorism, nationalism and identity. In Air, the focus is on Blythe, a stewardess who has the unfortunate disposition of being afraid of heights.

While a lesser writer might use that gimmick as a crutch, Wilson allows it to simply exist as one aspect of a fully realized world. The focus from the first stunning page (M.K. Perker deserves a lot of credit here) is on the shadowy forces hijacking Blythe’s airplane, and a world of intrigue opens up chaotically.

For such a structured writer (Wilson’s end note on writing is worth a read), she lets the reins go slack a little too much in this issue, with its convoluted narrative and repetitive settings.

With nearly every scene being set in an airport or airplane, it’s difficult to follow the issue’s chronology, though that has the likely intended effect of establishing how confused Blythe is.

Vertigo allowed me to read the first arc of the story, and it takes about that long to gain a sturdy footing in this new world Wilson has created. But it’s an endlessly fun and inventive ride, and by the sixth issue Air appears on the verge of becoming the next great Vertigo book.

If nothing else, it’s deeply ambitious and delightfully new. Of course, I might be biased, as Wilson is a fellow journalist turned comics person.

Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van’s blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.

Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.

Watching the Train Wreck of “Final Crisis”

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

9672_400x600-4073908I may as well just get this out of the way up front: in my opinion, Final Crisis #3 is one of the worst comic books I’ve ever read.

Coming into this event season, I had high hopes for DC to regain some of the Infinite Crisis magic, but after three issues (sorry for the delay, but I was away from comic shops and the Internet) the latest and likely not last Crisis has clearly entered the realm of train wreck.

And yet many comics critics posted some largely favorable reviews. "I can’t wait to see what happens next!" said one not atypical reviewer.

Throughout many reviews, the critics looked at writer Grant Morrison’s approach of stringing together flashes of disparate stories into making a larger narrative and praised how new and challenging it is. There didn’t seem to be a single bizarre element he used that couldn’t elicit a glowing remark.

When reading those comments, I immediately recalled this quite-good essay by B.R. Myers on The Atlantic Monthly Web site. Writing about contemporary literary fiction, Myers complains that today’s writers have become obsessed with style at the expense of substance.

We are supposed to have entered a golden age for fiction, he writes, and yet readers don’t pick up literary fiction en masse, or much at all. Myers offers a simple explanation: the books are all self-absorbed fluff, and the nuts and bolts of telling a story have been left by the wayside.

Which brings us back to Final Crisis.

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Interview: “Gears of War” Writer Josh Ortega

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

Gears of War is one of the bona fide hits of this generation of high-end videogames. When you want to show your friends (or justify the cost to your significant other) the difference between your Xbox 360 and your last game system, this is the disc you pop in.

Taking place on the planet Sera, Gears of War tells the story of how the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COGs) had just ended a world war when subterranean monsters emerged from the ground. Called the Locusts, the monsters have guns and weapons that rival the COG’s arsenal. The plot centers on the experiences of Marcus Fenix, a military prisoner released to join a war that is not going well.

Veteran comic writer Josh Ortega (Necromancer, Frequencies) was brought onboard by developer Epic Games to work on the story and deepen the Gears universe. He’s become an integral part of the Gears of War 2 team and DC Comics has announced that he’ll be writing the Gears of War comic for their WildStorm imprint. He took a few moments to let us know how the war effort was going.

COMICMIX: For our readers who are not up on all things COG and Locust, can you tell us in your own words whom you are and your involvement in building up the Gears of War universe?

JOSH ORTEGA: I’m the lead writer for Gears of War 2, I write the comic book for DC/WildStorm, and I also consult on the Gears of War franchise. I work closely with Mike Capps (Epic President), Cliff Bleszinski (Design Director), Rod Fergusson (Senior Producer), and the crew at Epic Games to make sure everything that I write fits in with what’s going on in the rest of the Gears universe, and vice-versa.

CMix: Why is the story set on the planet Sera? Why not Earth? Is this some sort of past, future, or just an unrelated world with humans on it?

JO: Setting it on a different planet allows for a lot of storytelling freedom. If it was set on Earth, many people would draw parallels where there weren’t any, and by the same token, certain parallels that we do want to draw might feel a bit forced or obvious if we set the story on our own planet.

It also allows us to have freaky creatures like the Locust, which, to the best of my knowledge, do not actually exist on Earth.

 

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Cory Doctorow and DJ Spooky at CBLDF Mashup

  • Uncategorized
  • August 21, 2008

docspookyinvite-00-5607153While I tend to leave comics-related event promotion in far more capable hands, I couldn’t help but hype this happening that’s kicking off tonight in New York City. Online culture journalist, Internet freedom advocate and BoingBoing.net editor Cory Doctorow (who also happens to have authored IDW’s Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now comic) will be discussing life, the grid and everything with none other than writer/artist/musician Paul Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky) with proceeds from the event benefitting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

For online culture geeks like myself, it’s pretty much a must-see discussion that blends comics, ‘Net culture and entertainment, and it all goes toward a pretty respectable cause.

Here’s the info dump from the the CBLDF website:

Cory Doctorow will read and discuss the issues behind his bestselling young adult novel, Little Brother. Addressing internet and government security, censorship, and civil liberties in a post-9/11 near-future atmosphere, Little Brother tackles timely issues while telling a story that’s smart, funny, and jam-packed-with-pop culture nuggets. Doctorow "hopes it’ll inspire you to use technology to make yourself more free." Doctorow is the former European Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group that works to keep cyberspace free. IDW recently published Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now a collection of comics based on his cyberpunkiest Sci-fi short stories.

DJ Spooky joins Doctorow to present concepts from Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture, his new book / literary mixtape collecting writing by artists and thinkers including Brian Eno, Jonathan Lethem, Saul Williams, Steve Reich, Moby, Chuck D, and more. "Young artists regard sound as a language they may freely sample to construct new compositions," says DJ Spooky, who, in addition to his own recordings, has collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yoko Ono, Kronos Quartet, Kool Keith, Killa Priest from Wu-Tang Clan, and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth. He also composed and recorded the score for film Slam, starring poet Saul Williams. In 2006, Miller was given access to the vaults of the classic reggae label Trojan Records, producing the compilations In Fine Style, DJ Spooky Presents 50,0000 Volts of Trojan Records!!! and Creation Rebel. Prior to the Trojan works, Miller released Drums of Death, featuring Dave Lombardo of Slayer, Chuck D., & Vernon Reid. He traveled to Antarctica in December 2007 to gather sonic and visual materials for his next large scale work Terra Nova: The Antarctic Suite.

The event begins at 7:30 PM tonight (August 21) at the Helen Mills Theater on 137-139 West 26th Street, NYC. Tickets for this benefit are available now at www.cbldf.org for $20.

If you’re down for the after-party thing, DJ Spooky will also be spinning "a rare small-venue set" at Sutra Lounge on 16 1st Ave at 1st Street. This event benefits the CBLDF, too, and is free if you attend the mashup but will cost you $10 otherwise.

Framing The Question, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

There’s a lot of buzz on the Internet this last week stemming from new Image partner Robert Kirkman’s video-taped manifesto calling for … well, I’m not exactly certain what he called for. A subsequent article/interview on Newsarama said it was “a call to arms for fellow creators to focus solely on their original stories, instead of the licensed work from the big two comic book companies, Marvel and DC.” Although he is also quoted later in the article as saying, “I want everyone to understand, I’m not saying no one should aspire to write for Marvel and DC characters … I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be the pinnacle of a comic book career.”

The article adds: “While Kirkman sees contemporary creators who try to do both creator owned works, and books for the big two, he believes they’re hurting their opportunity to succeed with their original stories.” It then quotes Kirkman further: “You can’t put your feet on both sides of the fence you have to take that plunge … if I’m doing Invincible and I’m also writing Spider-Man, and I’m giving fans a choice to try my unknown book, or Spider-Man who they know, they’re going to choose Spider-Man.”

OR … maybe some of those fans try Invincible because they really like what the writer is doing on Spider-Man. The savvy ones follow the talent – whether it’s the writer or the artist. The majority, however, are reading Spider-Man because it’s Spider-Man and it doesn’t matter if a hundred monkeys are typing it – unless the monkeys do something really dumb with it like use a Mephisto ex machina to get rid of a pesky marriage or bring out a clone or something. Stoopid monkey!

The point is … more readers get exposed to the writer as a result of his work on Spider-Man. A fair question to ask is – did the sales go up on Kirkman’s own creator owned books after he started writing the webby wallcrawler at Marvel? If not, then he had no benefit from doing it. If they have gone up, however, then at least part of the reason will be his stint at Marvel.           

As I understand it, Kirkman wants to re-energize/save the comics’ industry. If all the established talent left DC and Marvel, he thinks the two companies would have to “re-focus the majority of their titles to the teen audience.” The established creators would then work on creator owned books, revitalizing the industry. (more…)

Star Trek Comics Go ‘Round and ‘Round

  • News
  • August 20, 2008

According to CBS Consumer Products, the entire Star Trek comic book oeuvre from 1967 through 2002 will be released on a single DVD-ROM disc this September 1st.

The disc, produced by Graphic Imaging Technology, will contain everything published by Gold Key, Marvel, DC, and Malibu. This includes work by Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Dave Cockrum, Tom Sutton, Mike W. Barr, George Pérez, Tony Isabella, Peter David, Robert Greenberger… pretty close to a Who’s Who of comics creators of the past couple decades.

IDW and ToykoPop are the current Trek comics publishers, but their works are not included on this disc. It will be available at big-box electronics stores and wherever better DVD-ROMs are sold.

 

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