MariFran O’Neil, wife of columnist, comics sensei, and dear friend Denny O’Neill, is recovering from a stroke she suffered late last week. She’s out of the hospital, in a rehabilitation facility, and we have no doubt that she’ll be out and teaching her students very soon.
ComicMix sends best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Comics Links
R. Sikoryak’s Dostoyevsky Comics, an adaptation of Crime and Punishment staring a Dick Sprang Batman and originally published in Drawn & Quarterly #3 in 2000, has been posted on the web.
Amazon Daily interviews Nick Abadzis, author of Laika.
The New York Times Magazine last weekend started its serialization of Dan Clowes’s comic Mister Wonderful, in its “Funny Pages” section.
The Baltimore Sun profiles cartoonist Emily Flake.
AnimationInsider interviews manga expert and popularizer Fred Schodt.
The Fresno Bee talks to local broadcaster Dale Berry, who creates graphic novels in his spare time.
New York Magazine has a ten-page excerpt from Gipi’s Notes for a War Story.
Publishers Weekly chatted with David Michaelis about his upcoming biography of Charles Schulz, Schulz and Peanuts.
Publishers Weekly has a preview of Legend of the Dark Crystal, Col. 1: The Garthim Wars.
PW also interviews Jonathan Hickman, author of The Nightly News.
Comic Book Resources chats with Mark Guggenheim about his Oni Press series Resurrection.
To celebrate the publication of their collection Dr. Thirteen: Architecture and Morality, creators Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chang have done thirteen separate interviews, all published the same day. Links to all of them are on Cliff Chang’s blog.
South Carolina’s The State rounds up recent reader reaction to Tom Batuik’s deeply depressing current storyline in Funky Winkerbean. [via Comics Reporter]
Journalista! takes aim at comics’ poster-boy for getting out of the house more often, Dave Sim. (And what is Sim doing these days? Didn’t Cerebus end several years ago now?)
A truck ran into Oni Press’s wall/window, but everyone there is fine.
Wizard interviews Gerald Way, who writes Umbrella Academy (and also has a band or something).
Eye on Comics wonders what happened to the promised Adam Hughes All Star Wonder Woman.
Arowette’s Diary presents the Dan Didio Advisory & Warning System. Is your comic at risk of Rape, Death, or Emo?
The Icarus Comics blog notes that some manga categories (for adults, even!) previously little known here are starting to come out in the US market. The possibly not-so-good news is that they’re having to be in Diamond’s “Adult” section since they actually have sexual content.
Comics Reviews
Bookgasm reviews The Architect, by Mike Baron and Andie Tong.
Los Angeles City Beat reviews Tom Neely’s The Blot.
Hannibal Tatu lists this week’s “buy pile” for Comic Book Resources.
Comics Reporter reviews Al Hirschfeld’s 1951 book Show Business Is No Business.
The Daily Cross Hatch reviews Shannon Wheeler’s Screw Heaven, When I Die I’m Going to Mars.
For me, it seemed like this week was all about returning home. The news about GrimJack appearing here on ComicMix was broken… well, here on ComicMix. And DC published the first issue of my new Suicide Squad miniseries (Elayne also has a stake in this since her husband, Robin Riggs, is providing wonderful inks over Javi Pina’s pencils for the series). This is my first new issue of Squad in – well, in a long long time.
It’s interesting coming back to a series after a lengthy absence. When I began scripting GrimJack: Killer Instinct a while back, my concern was – would I get Gaunt’s voice right after so long? Not to worry – it was right there – as was Amanda Waller’s over on Squad.
I’ll be writing more about GrimJack as we get closer to the publication date. (October 2, if you’ve forgotten and, by the way, you’ll be able to see it here on ComicMix for free. Always bears repeating.) Today I’m going to talk instead about one other book with which I was closely connected and which, after a lot of thought, I don’t think I’d want to return to on a regular basis.
The Spectre.
Tom Mandrake and I had a longish run on that series which some people at the time said couldn’t be done. For those of you who don’t know the character, he was created in the late 1930s by Jerry Siegel – co-creator of Superman – and Bernard Baily. Jim Steranko once said the Spectre had the toughest origin in comics – he had to die to get his powers. The Spectre was also the strongest character in the DCU – perhaps in all comics. Only God was stronger and He?She had better be eating His/Her Wheaties.
The concept: the Spectre was Plainclothes Police Detective Jim Corrigan who ran afoul of some gangsters and was dumped into an oil can of cement and dumped in the river. At the gates of Heaven, Corrigan just can’t let it go. The Voice (aka God) lets Corrigan return as a crime fighting ghost who can take an almost human form. His powers were magical – almost divine – and he meted out big time justice. Never more so in a series of stories by Mike Fleischer and Jim Aparo. The vengeance meted out was often horrific.
The Spectre then went through a bunch of different permutations depending on who was writing him when Tom Mandrake and I got him. We had just come off a stint on Firestorm together and were looking for another project and both of us loved the potential of the Spectre. We had very clear ideas of what we should and should not do with him.
While we be on the topic of pirates, we note with pride that Zoe Saldana, the saucy wench who played the pirate Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl has been shanghaied into playing the role of Lieutenant Uhura in the upcoming Starrr… ahem, Star Trek movie. This be accordin’ to the stinkin’ landlubbers over at SciFi.com.
Clearly, a fine and outstanding choice — note that there already be photos of her next to a Cingular logo with a new cell phone, so the endorsement doubloons will be filling her treasure chest for many tides to come.
(Tip o’ the tricorner hat to Lisa Sullivan.)
Hey, you’ll never guess what Marvel’s doing next year!
Go on, guess!
Did I hear you say "ummmm… it can’t be as easy as another mind-numbing, universe-shaking mega-character crossover, can it?" Of course it can. DC and Marvel have but one thought: between them: "hey, let’s do another mind-numbing, universe-shaking mega-character crossover! The fans love it!"
Sadly, this one comes on the heels of that rarest of all superhero comics events: a mind-numbing, universe-shaking mega-character crossover that actually worked. Mostly. Tony Isabella had a nice review of Civil War, and he says it at his own site.
Oh, this new thing is called Secret Invasion; Bendis is writing it; it seems to have something to do with Spider-Woman mating with Iron Man to create a bunch of radioactively charged exoskeleton robo-bugs that enter your comic book collection and rewrite the continuity-du-jour.
This one’s unique, though. It’s got a TRAILER! Well, at least that’s what Marvel’s calling it. It’s really just PowerPoint with public domain music, but it’ll only take a minute out of your life.
Not counting the NFL trailer that is attached to it.
Related: You might be a Skrull if…
Shiver me timbers, it be that time of the season again — that hallowed day where we be talking like scurvy bilgerats, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!
Truth be told, mateys, we’ve been a bit busy here to celebrate it, what with us be planning our broadside against the 32-page monthly paper comic that’ll be commencing in a fortnight. The only Gold we’ve been chasing has been the editor in chief. Tis a pity, it is. If only we had something that screamed "pirate!" but tied in with our launch, something… something…
Arr, that be the stuff! Mister Grell, hoist the flag over the Jolly Roger!
Wednesdays at ComicMix will mean EZ Street, the new graphic story from writer Robert Tinnell and artist (and co-writer_ Mark Wheatley. It’s the story of brothers Scott and Todd Fletcher. They have a dream – they want to tell stories. Fabulous stories about heroes and adventure. They decide to create a comic book because, as young boys growing up on Ezelle Street in Pittsburgh, it’s what they can do. Scott, 14, writes the script and Todd, 12, draws the pictures about an amazing superhero, Lone Justice.
Fast-forward twenty odd years, and the brothers, older and more practical, have jobs. Todd is a graphic designer, and Scott tries to make movies in Hollywood. They want more from their lives. They resurrect their character and find that, by combining the imagination of youth with the skills earned by maturity, they can create magic.
A story about the love of stories, about ambition and dreams and fantasy, EZ Street is an involving look at the creative process, the dynamic of families, the true meaning of friendship and the quest for a really good comic.
Mark Wheatley is an award-winning creator of radically different comic books. Noted for comics with heart and integrity, he’s won the Inkpot, Mucker, Gem and Speakeasy awards and his projects have been nominated for the Harvey award and the Ignatz award. His work has been repeatedly included in the annual Spectrum selection of fantastic art and has appeared in private gallery shows. You can also find some of his original work in the permanent collection of Library of Congress.
His comic book creations include Mars, Breathtaker, Black Hood, Prince Nightmare, Hammer of the Gods, Blood of the Innocent, Radical Dreamer, Frankenstein Mobster, Miles the Monster and Titanic Tales. He’s also worked with established characters such as Tarzan the Warrior, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Argus, The Spider, and Jonny Quest; Dr. Strange for Marvel, and The Flash for DC.
Mark established the highly respected Insight Studios in 1978 as a home base for a team of talented comic creators. Insight Studios is the subject of an "insightful" coffee table style art book; IS ART: the Art of Insight Studios. In 2006 Mark was a guest lecturer on Storytelling in the Arts at the Library of Congress.
West Virginia-born Robert Tinnell has worked in the film industry for twenty years as a writer, producer, and director. Starting as a production assistant for legendary filmmaker George Romero, Tinnell used his on-set experience to gain valuable insight into the world of feature filmmaking. Starting at the age of twenty-three, he produced several independent films including South of Reno and the iconic Surf Nazis Must Die. In 1995, Tinnell traveled to Canada where he wrote and directed the ACE-nominated film Kids of the Round Table. A Disney Channel-favorite, Kids led Robert on a six-year-run with Melenny Productions. Over this period Tinnell directed Frankenstein and Me with Burt Reynolds and Louise Fletcher, Airspeed with Joe Mantegna, and Believe starring Ben Gazzara and Elisha Cuthbert)for Lions Gate.
Comics Links
Scripps News talked to Mike Carey about his “real” novels, like The Devil You Know, and his graphic novels, like Re-Gifters.
Comic Book Resources interviews Amy Kim Ganter, who creates American Manga.
ICv2 interviews Marvel publisher Dan Buckley.
The Daily Cross Hatch interviews Paul Karasik, who edited the Fletcher Hanks collection I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets, among other things.
Comicon interviews Alex Robinson.
Comics Reviews
Bookgasm reviews the collection of the Alan Moore-plotted, old-British-character-filled Albion miniseries.
Augie De Bliecks, Jr.’s Pipeline column at Comic Book Resources looks at the new Marvel Comics Presents #1, the JLA Wedding Special, and other things.
Comics Reporter digs up Lynn Johnston’s 1992 “For Better or For Worse” collection Things Are Looking Up…
Brad Curran of Comics Should Be Good adores Scott Pilgrim.
From The Savage Critics:
Graeme McMillan cocks a snoot at Booster Gold #2 and other fine comics
and also looks at the first issue of the new Suicide Squad series.
Do you want to show the world how much Doctor Who has inspired you? Do you need reminders of your favorite show on your mantelpiece?
This is your lucky day. The fine folks at Entropy House have a knitting pattern for Daleks. If you follow their instructions, you’ll be the proud owner of one of these things, pictured at right.
These are made with wool and wool blend yarn. Personally, I think they’d be especially wonderful in cashmere.
(Martha Thomases is ComicMix‘s Special Knitting Correspondent)
A few months ago, Google’s map section came out with a new feature called Street View, which had a number of people up in arms. "They’re spying on us!" came the cry. "It’s creepy and inappropriate! Our privacy is being violated by having cameras in public streets capturing possibly embarrassing moments for posterity!"
I’d lay odds that many of these advocates are the same people upset about the restrictions on their rights to, say, film or photograph things on public property in some cities. It reminds me of a line Peter Stone wrote for Ben Franklin in 1776: "…rebellion is always legal in the first person — such as ‘our’ rebellion. It is only in the third person — ‘their’ rebellion — that it is illegal." Google Street Views is "their" invasion, filming in NYC is "our" right.
But what can you expect? We live in a society that increasingly blurs the dividing line between the public and the private. My Mom uses a phrase to describe the kinds of romance novel plots she likes to read: "the ones that stop at the bedroom door." I feel the same way about most entertainment I prefer, as well as about most of real life. I’m not one of those people who believes that public displays of affection are somehow ickier if they’re between members of the same sex; I’m one of those people who believes that most overt public displays of affection are equally icky and belong behind a closed bedroom door.
Of course, I’m clearly in the minority here. I recognize that we’re a culture obsessed with having it both ways. We raise up a storm of protest at violations of our privacy by others, especially government authorities — "keep your laws off my body!" — and at the same time reserve the right to self-violate. (more…)
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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