About a year ago, I wrote about The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West. A series of short stories inspired by Jewish folklore and set in the Old West, the book was charming, light and funny – a great way to introduce young children (and their grandparents) to graphic storytelling.

Now, artist/writer Steve Sheinkin has created a sequel, Rabbi Harvey Rides Again: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Folktales Let Loose in the Wild West. It’s an unusual book. There are plenty of disagreements, but no fighting. The most action takes place on a baseball field. The women can be differentiated from the men, not by their massive cleavage, but by their lack of beards … and occasional dresses.

So why do you want to read it? Or, more precisely, why do you want to read it if you are neither a young child nor a grandparent? What if you aren’t Jewish?

Don’t worry. Rabbi Harvey, although a rabbi, does not proselytize, nor does he spend much time in his synagogue. He’s the kind of rabbi Andy Griffin would play, if he played a rabbi instead of a sheriff in Mayberry. This isn’t surprising when one considers who created the show and its characters.

The art style is not in the least bit sophisticated. There isn’t a lot of detail in the drawing, nor perspective. Heads seem to be a bit large, and shoulders are small. Most people are about the same height. The effect is actually quite charming, working well with the gentle intelligence of the stories. (more…)

Friday, Day One at Wizard World Chicago and it’s the Marvel Ultimates Panel featuring Brian Bendis, C.B. Cebulski, editor Bill Rosemann and moderator Jim McCann. As Rick Marshall previously reported about the "Mondo Marvel" panel, this particular panel was also relatively light on earth-shattering announcements. It also had some technical problems at the beginning which prevented the slideshow from working. So, to start the panel off, Jim McCann dove right into it with a couple of announcements and then some Q&A while they waited for the slides.

First up, Rosemann announced, "No, we do not know when Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk will come out." Bendis also announced that Ultimate Spider-Man is "not cancelled," that "everything is connected" and that there will be an Ultimate Spider-Man Annual which will focus on Peter and MJ’s "physical relationship."

According to Bendis, "It was the hardest sell I ever had. I just thought that remembering my glory years of 15 and 16 that it’s an important issue. Not having dealt with it felt false to me. It’s gonna be drawn by David La Fuente."  The book is double-sized and will be out in October.

At that point, the kinks were finally worked out and the slides started. Fans of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe were then treated to several slides featuring, among other things, upcoming covers for issues of Ultimate Origins featuring Captain America, Magneto and Hulk as well as a few pages of the actual Cap origins issue itself. There was also an alternative Origins cover featuring "Cap’s butt" as drawn by Gabriel del Otto.

Also, slides from Ultimatum showing the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, Namor, and the Ultimates 3 cast of the Ultimates featuring Black Panther and Captain America next to each other on the slide. This slide highlights, according to Bendis, an "organic but massive disaster" which happens to the Ultimate Universe. The disaster will be seen in Ultimate Spider-Man.

Then, once the slides were done (which took about five minutes) it was back to the Q&A which, as you may expect, pretty much became the Brian Bendis show as the vast majority of the questions were directed to him. Some of the highlights of the Q&A follow but it started off with Bendis’s explanation of his thought process when the Ultimates universe was being created. (more…)

Marriage proposals happen a lot of ways these days, but leave it to Ian McConville of gaming webcomic Three Panel Soul to present the big question in the form of an 8-bit videogame he created on the sly. McConville offered up a few screenshots from the game, but won’t be posting a playable version online, because "it was made for an audience of one."

Congratulations to McConville and his special Player 2. (via Fleen)

One of the biggest news items of the week was the announcement by Diesel Sweeties creator Rich Stevens that he would be returning to web-only publication of his popular comic, ending print syndication of the series in mid-August. (more…)

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1961, Jackson “Butch” Guice started out drawing for fanzines and designing patches and emblems for a company in North Carolina.

In 1982 he ghosted some artwork for Pat Broderick on the Rom annual, and drew the first two issues of the independent comic book Southern Knights. Then Marvel editor Al Milgrom offered him a chance to draw Micronauts #48. Guice penciled Micronauts until its cancellation with #58 and did other titles for Marvel as well, including work on X-Men, Dazzler, The New Mutants, and X-Factor.

In 1987 Guice teamed with Mike Baron on several projects for First Comics (Badger, Nexus, and The Chronicles of Corum) and DC (including the second Flash series). Guce has continued to work for both Marvel and DC since, and also did books for Dark Horse, Valiant, CrossGen, and Acclaim.

In July 2007 he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, where he is currently drawing Captain America and Ultimate Origins.