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Universities Taking Up Graphic Novels

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

persepolis_cover_big-8717525A couple of stories came out today in university newspapers revealing the continued growth of interest in comic books and graphic novels is beginning to manifest on campuses.

At Louisiana State University, officials selected Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis as the summer reading book for incoming freshmen. The Daily Reveille covers the story:

“It’s a very different choice from what we’ve done in the past,” said Sarah Liggett, English professor and Student Reading Program committee chairperson. “It’s a focus on the Middle East, which is certainly very much in the news today, and it’s the first summer reading selection to be created by a woman. You see not only what she felt in the words, but you see it in the pictures.”

From the responses in the article, it sounds like the choice is going over much better than at Ithaca College, where the student paper’s editorial board berated the choice of Persepolis on grounds that it wasn’t intellectual.

In other news, Emerson College is considering adding a comics/graphic novel program, according to the student paper there. For now, the college has added some new comics-related courses, which aren’t for credit but instead offer certificates for those who pass the courses. Andy Fish is the instructor.

[Fish] is currently working on a DC comic project illustrating the graphic novel “BATMAN 1939” and his own comic “The Boy Who Wished He Could Fly.”

“Who knows if walking among the student body, or hanging out in the Dunkin Donuts on the corner is the next Frank Miller or Will Eisner?,” Fish said. “Graphic novels have been gaining respect among the squares, and I think it is great that Emerson is offering this program, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.”

Review: ‘Jenny Finn’ and ‘The Stardust Kid’

Boom! Studios has made a name for itself as a comic book version of the Spike TV network, but this week the publisher released two new collections that step away from that formula.

jenny-finn_tpb-1-2427366The first, Jenny Finn: Doom Messiah ($14.99) is a collection of the three original Jenny Finn issues and the all new fourth and concluding chapter. The book is written by Mike Mignola and is his truest channeling of Lovecraft yet. In fact, the story closely echoes one of Lovecraft’s stories (I forget the name) about a fishing town being invaded by mysterious sea creatures.

That’s not to say the story isn’t original – it’s more elaborate and bizarre, with typical Mignola flourishes, like the constant appearance of fish that mutter, "Doom."

The narrative is simple enough – an average Joe finds himself mired in otherworldly terror and tries to fight (and think) his way out of it – but the plot never falls into stereotype and every few pages brings a new surprise.

Troy Nixey served as artist on the first three issues and perfectly captures the ethereal horror of Mignola’s script (and, thankfully, doesn’t ape Mignola’s artistic style). Farel Dalrymple illustrated the fourth chapter, and while I love his work, this probably isn’t the best project for him.

That bit of criticism aside, Jenny Finn is a great piece of haunted fun. And I forgot the best part: plenty of tentacles.

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Marvel Releases ‘Secret Invasion’ Primers Online

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

In its continuing efforts to get readers pumped up for Secret Invasion, Marvel Comics has released two new stories  as digital comics.

From the official press release:

First up from Marvel is the Secret Invasion Saga, which is filled with the history of the Skrulls from their first appearance up to their current Infiltration. Loaded with clues, this is the best primer available for the biggest event in comics this year.

Next, from the creative team behind Secret Invasion, Brian Bendis and Leinil Yu, comes the Secret Invasion Prologue, in which one key member of the Marvel Universe was replaced by a Skrull, an infiltration that will lead to the downfall of S.W.O.R.D.

The Secret Invasion Saga comic was available in printed form if you happened to be at Wizard World LA a couple weeks ago. If you missed it there and still need to know what’s happening in the Marvel Universe before the invasion begins, having these two comics available online in digital form is a cool resource that can tell you all you need to know.

The invasion begins Wednesday April, 2 with the release of Secret Invasion #1.

Michael A. Stackpole Is An Asteroid

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

Science fiction, role-playing game, and comics author Michael A. Stackpole (Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron) has just found out that an asteroid has been named after him. Stackpole reports:

On March 23, 2001, David Healy and Jeff Medkeff discovered an asteroid about a mile in diameter, in the asteroid belt on the Mars side of the solar system. It was designated 165612.

Until today.

Now that asteroid is officially known as Stackpole. The International Astronomical Union approved the designation on March 21.

I am completely blown away. I can remember looking at images of the moon or Mars and seeing features named after famous people. I never figured my name might be up there somewhere. As Phil Plait so aptly notes in the post referenced below, this is a slice of immortality that goes beyond writing books.

If you click on this link, you can see a 3D render map, thanks to JPL, of where Stackpole orbits.

Manga Friday: A Random Walk

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

 This week finds me in near Old-Mother-Hubbard mode, with just a few random old things. But let’s run through them, just because they’re here, and maybe the Manga Gods will smile on us for next week…

Priest, Vol. 1
Min-Woo Hyung
Tokyopop, 2003, $9.99

From the evidence – the creator’s name, and the fact that this reads left-to-right – I deduce that this series is manwha rather than manga, and comes from Korea. (If I’m wrong, someone will let me know.)

In a time and place that’s supposed to be the late 19th century American West – but contains guns from at least fifty years later – the half-doomed ex-priest Ivan Isaacs battles the undead servants of the fallen Archangel Temozarela, with the fate of the whole world at stake.

(Yes, Temozarela. He must be in one of the footnotes to the Bible, since he’s not one of the “Big Three” Archangels. Question for discussion: Is what Eastern comics creators have done to Christianity in their stories equal to, less than, or greater than what Westerners have done to Buddhism and Shintoism? And does the Western infestation of ninjas have any part in this discussion?)

Oh, and our priest hero does this, in this first volume at least, on a train. Badass only begins to cover it. Ivan sold half of his soul to Belial for the power to battle Temozarela’s forces – there might be some political war in hell going on in the background, but that’s not explained in this volume.

What Ivan does is 1) to pump several metric tons of silver bullets into marauding hordes of zombie-like creatures, though, sadly, usually not until they’ve already killed most of the other people in the vicinity and 2) to bemoan his fate and to proclaim loudly that he is still alive and so Belial hasn’t captured him yet.

The odd thing about Priest is that, with its scratchy, blocky art style, overarching gloom, and marauding undead, it feels and looks very much like an independent comic of the mid-’90s; Hyung’s style only looks manga now and then, generally with his female characters. Sure, the big sound effects in Korean characters are a tip-off, but otherwise this looks a lot like a book Slave Labor would have at least thought about publishing in 1996.

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Black Ice: The Return!

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

Black Ice, the action-adventure fantasy by Mike Baron and Nick Runge, returns today with a brand-new chapter.

Neil Kofsky drove his motorbike through an inter-dimensional portal and right onto a battleship that flies through the air.  After dueling with a Prince with an attitude, Neil finds himself (and everyone else on board) attacked by an enemy he doesn’t know and doesn’t understand.  And now ….

Credits: Bob Pinaha (Letterer), Matt Webb (Colorist), Mike Baron (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Nick Runge (Artist)

More: Black Ice

 

Photo Gallery: Anime Boston 2008

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

ComicMix reader (and aspiring anime/manga artist) Heather recently sent me a gallery of photos from Anime Boston 2008, heralded as "The Northeast’s Largest Anime Convention." The three-day convention was held held last weekend at Hynes Convention Center.

As anyone who’s attended enough anime, comics or pop culture-related conventions over the last few years will no doubt agree, the anime/manga crowd rarely phones it in when it comes to costumes. Sure, there are always a few kids who slap on a metal-plated Naruto headband and call themselves cosplayers, but by and large, the average anime fan’s costume looks like the product of some serious time and effort.

So, with that in mind, I’ve posted some of the photos she sent me after the jump. Consider it a salute to the cosplayers at Anime Boston ’08 and anime fans everywhere. Heck, I have trouble buttoning my shirt correctly most days — I can’t even imagine crafting some of the outfits in these photos. (more…)

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The Story Of O 2 (kinda), by Michael Davis

  • Uncategorized
  • March 28, 2008

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In my ever increasing attempt to break the mold, I am giving my fateful readers not one but one and a half columns today!

Last week’s The Story of O about a young man I mentored who attacked me with horrible career ending voice mail and text messages resulted in a wee bit of a stir. That article received a LOT of interest and some people have called me and asked me where ‘O’ and I stand now.

Well O still does not grasp the impact of what he did. His last text told me that he pitied me. Yep, I tried to help him and it did not work out so I’m the bad guy…pity. Well, I am done dealing with it. I realize that some people just don’t get it when you try and help them so I’m done.

Pity.

Hey, wait! My birthday is coming up! I think I’ll give myself a pity party on the grounds of my VAST estate I built on the back of former students I mentored who I have never taken a dime from.

Mike Gold was my comics’ mentor when I started doing work for DC. I lost a HUGE job because DC did not like the work I was doing. Mike was the person who helped me get that job. I remember vividly getting the call that I was off the project because of what I did.

I walked into Mike’s office and called him all sort of names. I also turned Mike’s desk over then took out a Mac 10 and set my sites on him and then the rest of DC editorial for the first comic book company blood bath in history. Mike ducked under his desk as I fired my first shots barely missing his head.

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Simone & Ajax: A Beautiful Girl, a Dinosaur, a Duck and a Pope

  • News
  • March 27, 2008

In today’s brand-new full-color episode of Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck, by Andrew Pepoy, our heroes find themselves in la belle France, hot on the heels of the thief or thieves who stole the legendary Maltese Duck.

What tortures will they face on their quest to find it? And what’s with the crazy hats?

Credits:Andrew Pepoy (Artist), Andrew Pepoy (Letterer), Andrew Pepoy (Writer), Jason Millet (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor-In-Chief)

More: The Adventures of Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck

 

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Happy Birthday: Mon-El

  • News
  • March 27, 2008

Lar Gand was born on the planet Daxam and, as a young man, took to exploring the galaxy. He was unlucky enough to land on Krypton just before the planet exploded, but Jor-El warned him away in time. Jor-El also provided Lar Gand with a map to a safe planet he’d already selected for his own infant son—a planet called Earth.

Lar Gand went into suspended animation for the journey, and upon arriving he encountered Jor-El’s now-teenage son Kal-El, also known as Superboy. The two hit it off immediately. Lar Gand was suffering amnesia from his trip and his Daxamite powers, plus the map from Jor-El, convinced Kal-El that Lar Gand was his brother.

He gave his newfound sibling the name Mon-El, since they met on a Monday. Unfortunately, Daxamites find lead even more poisonous than Kryptonians find kryptonite, and when Mon-El was accidentally exposed to lead he regained his memories but almost lost his life. Superboy placed his friend in the Phantom Zone to save him until they could find a cure.

In the 30th Century, Saturn Girl finally created a temporary antidote, which Brainiac 5 later modified to become permanent, and Lar Gand left the Zone and joined the Legion of Super-Heroes. He became one of their greatest members, and led the Legion several times.

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