Tagged: comics

Viz Looking for New Properties

  • News
  • July 15, 2008

12901vizmedia_logo-lg-1795549Manga publisher Viz Media will be looking to take on new projects, and even possibly some non-Manga content, according to ICv2.

In a Q&A with Marc Weidenbaum and Eric Searleman, editor in chief and vice president respectively, ICv2 finds out more detail about these changes, and how they tie into Viz’s announced talent search at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Are you looking for manga-style properties?

If by "manga" you mean what is generally considered manga in the United States (fantasy and romance aimed at teenagers), then no. If by "manga" you mean what is meant by manga in Japan (a broad range of comics that emphasize serial storytelling, cliffhangers, reader feedback, a supportive editorial process, and a rich creator voice), then yes we are.

The story also addresses the difficulty in selling any non-Japanese content in the Japanese comics market:

Japan remains the toughest market for material from other countries to crack. But even that may be changing, as the U.S. subsidiary of the two largest manga companies in Japan begins its search for original comics. Viz Media’s Marc Weidenbaum, VP Original Publishing, and Eric Searleman, Senior Editor, the execs handling the search for original content answered in the affirmative when we asked whether there is American material that would sell well in Japan. “Certainly,” they said. “Both countries have their own rich, indigenous graphic-storytelling cultures. There are bridges yet to be built.”

(via Blog@)

SLG Editor: Enough Women in Refrigerators

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

slave-labor-graphics-logo-p-2430465For all the discussion about the role of women in comics — as creators and characters — apparently more needs to be said, at least judging from the submissions that come in to publisher Slave Labor Graphics.

SLG editor Jennifer de Guzman goes off in a new journal entry, deriding the material she’s seeing cross her desk.

Indie and alt comics are still much-dominated by male creators, and in these men’s minds, women serve as plot devices that aid in a male development’s character. The women are damaged and victimized and usually odd — like that hot, fucked-up chick in Fight Club, brah! — and I’m tired of them. Just in this month, only a week old now, I have seen women who have been lured into porn, women who are hookers who teach young men lessons about life, women who were raped by stepfathers, women who are bi-polar and suicidal, women who are naive and long-suffering girlfriends of scumbags, and women who seem pretty cool and normal and then get kidnapped in order for the male protagonists to have something to do by saving her. Women who are never the protagonist.

Guys, STOP IT. The cumulative effect of these crazy/victimized/damaged women submissions — almost every other envelope I’ve opened — has got me wanting to punch someone. And you know where that will lead me: In trouble with the law, I’ll slip into the underbelly of society, start a nasty meth habit, turn to prostitution and then have to be saved by the man who has always loved me. Don’t let it happen to me. You can be a hero.

(via Journalista)

‘X-Files’ Comic Preview at EW

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

9999_400x600-6040641The new X-Files movie comes out July 25, and that week also sees the debut of a tie-in comic book series from WildStorm.

Entertainment Weekly has a preview of X-Files #0, from series co-producer and co-writer Frank Spotnitz. Check that out right here.

The truth? It’ll be out there in theaters when The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens July 25. But thanks to Frank Spotnitz, the franchise’s coproducer and cowriter, it’ll also be available in comic-book form two days earlier, when DC’s The X-Files #0 hits stores. While the film takes place after the TV series’ end, Spotnitz’s title (illustrated by Iron Man: Hypervelocity‘s Brian Denham) is fully ensconced in buzzy season 5, with Special Agent Dana Scully’s cancer in attack mode, and her FBI partner, Fox Mulder, initially on the lam, probing Scully’s illness as well as surreptitious alien types.

Issue #0 is a story Spotnitz always wanted to tell, but never had a chance to. And it will, in fact, springboard into a few original comics miniseries set throughout seasons 2 and 5 of the show. Also, these tales will feature a familiar evil force. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. To jump-start the X-Files’ long-awaited resurrection, DC and Spotnitz have given EW.com this exclusive first look at pages from The X-Files #0.

A funny little side note: DC posted a news item about this on its home page, right here. But if you click the link, you’re taken to this wholly unrelated site.

Looks like Grant Morrison’s insiduous usurpation of DC is much farther along than we’d thought.

Animated ‘Invincible’ on the Way, Sort Of

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

While Robert Kirkman is still working away on the screenplay for the movie adaptation of Invincible, his superhero is headed toward screens in another way. Very small screens, that is.

According to a story in the New York Times, David Gale, the executive VP of MTV New Media, is developing along with Gain Enterprises a somewhat animated version of Invincible. It’ll appear on iTunes, cell phones and MTV2.

The process starts with digital scans of the actual comic book pages. They are turned into an audio-visual experience through a process called Bomb-xx developed by Gain. In the end, the formerly two-dimensional comic book suddenly pulses with music, while word balloons pop up and fill in as actors recite the dialogue and panels zoom in and out and pivot in all directions. The frenetic energy is not unlike that of an MTV video.

Of all the comics to “animate,” why start with Invincible? “When you’re looking for a movie property or television property, first and foremost you look for a great story,” Mr. Gale said. “It’s a single creator following a great story arc.”

First six episodes will be previewed at Comic-Con International.

Could Gisele and Friends Make Comics Too Cool?

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

Writing in the Scotsman (which has become one heck of a paper for comics coverage, if only for regular appearances of Mark Millar’s nonsense), Stephen McGinty reflects on more than 20 years of buying comics in Glasgow, and he looks forward to the medium’s potential oversaturation.

Flicking through this month’s edition of Vogue (the American edition, much classier), I came upon the pictures from a recent fashion bash in New York which was styled on a superhero theme and had supermodels and fashion writers extolling the virtues of their favourite comic-book character. When Anna Wintour starts regaling us about superheroes it’s time for the backlash to begin. The comic book should never be too cool. It’s at its best when mocked and derided and will only topple off any pedestal on to which it is raised. The brilliance of the spotlight focused on comics will lead to burn-out. Comics thrive best in the shadows to which, I hope, they will soon return.

In case you’re curious about the event, which was a superhero-themed ball at the Met, the New York Times covered it well. Here’s a classic exchange (and one that makes me think supermodels being interested in superheroes isn’t all bad:

Then Gisele Bündchen (in Versace), passed by, saying, “I want to take that Wonder Woman costume down and wear it right now, but it would probably be too revealing.” Her escort, Tom Brady (in Tom Ford), quickly commented, “I want her to wear the Wonder Woman outfit.”

Zombie: ‘Werewolf Women of the SS’ Comic Coming

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

l_f7d551d6b0f7c0cdf13985b802522f07-1546089After the Grindhouse doubleheader films came out in theater, one of the big questions was whether any of the movie trailers for fake films would lead to real movies.

There’s no Machete on the way yet, but at least one of the properties will be expanded. Just not into a movie.

Cinematical reports that Werewolf Women of the SS, Rob Zombie’s contributed trailer, will be made into a comic book series. Zombie broke the news himself on his MySpace page:

Werewolf Women of the SS is back! This time it’s back as a comic book series! The wacky exploits of Commandant Hess, Lt. Boorman, Von Strasser Eva and Gretchen Krupp, Fu Manchu and even Hiltler will be coming you way. Everything you ever wanted to know about Project Pure Wolf but were afraid to ask!

No word on a publisher yet. Zombie previously worked with Dark Horse on The Nail and IDW on Bigfoot.

Review: ‘The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2’ by Chris Ware

The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2: 1995-2002
By Chris Ware
Drawn & Quarterly, December 2007, $39.95

In typical Chris Ware fashion, this is an attractively (and extensively) packaged book – so much so, in fact, that what this book precisely is isn’t immediately clear. Is it some kind of notebook, journal, or calendar, perhaps? No, it’s Ware’s sketchbook, or perhaps selected pages from that sketchbook, from the years in the title.

Drawn & Quarterly published the first volume of the “[[[ACME Novelty Date Book]]]” in 2003, which included sketchbook pages from 1986 through 1995. That book covered most of Ware’s twenties, starting when he was in college in Austin, Texas and following him forward as he developed the early ACME characters and themes. That first book also had a wide variety of materials; Ware was young and trying out different art styles, but he’d mostly settled down into his current mode by 1995.

So Vol. 2, as Ware mentions himself partway through it, is mostly made up of three kinds of entries: drawings from life, journal entries, and some short comics strips (mostly autobiographical). There are also some sketches and ideas for [[[ACME Novelty Library]]], and the occasional joke or reference to older comics, but, mostly, it’s those big three.

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bbv11a-5671197

Comics’ Greatest Enigma, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

bbv11a-5671197If you’re interested in comics creators, it’s been a good couple months for biographies. First, we had Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King Of Comics (Abrams, $40.00); now we’ve got Blake Bell’s Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko(Fantagraphics, $39.99). We’ve covered Mark’s book extensively, and our very own Rick Marshall did a swell interview last March.

My column today is not really a review of Blake’s book; it’s a blather about comics’ greatest enigma. Blake is the ultimate Ditko historian, and his book (and website, Ditko Looked Up) reflects his passion. It’s well-written, well-researched, and wonderously designed by Adam Grano. If you’re into Ditko or comics history, it’s a must-have. Kudos to Blake; that’s my review.

Steve Ditko is another matter. I can’t say he’s been denied his rightful place in history – his is always the third name in the phrase “Marvel Comics as we know them was created by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and together they brought comic books kicking and screaming to an adult audience.” If he gets short-shrift, it’s because Steve refuses all interview requests, convention appearances, and celebrity signings. He says he prefers to let his work speak for itself, and I’m sure that’s true. He’s also very shy and has no problem with one-on-one (or two-on-one) conversations in his studio, at the publishing houses, or in restaurants. That’s his prerogative.

On the other hand, he’s a public figure – even inadvertently. This makes him subject of many an article, long-winded editorial (like this), and Blake’s book. I’m told he’s not happy with the attention focused on him from Strange and Stranger; having known Ditko. I’m not surprised. Maybe a little disappointed, but again, that’s his prerogative.

I think from the commercial perspective Steve Ditko’s role in the success of Marvel Comics and its transcendence to the college-student market has been severely underrated. It was The Amazing Spider-Man that put Marvel on the map and in the college bookstores. It was Spider-Man that became the first comic book character to achieve icon status since Superman, Batman and arguably Wonder Woman. That’s the first in a generation. And, maybe, the last to date.

As the 1960s progressed Steve became more and more political, embracing the values of a form of Objectivism so fundamentalist that it even scared its founder, Ayn Rand, who asked Ditko to print a note saying his work reflected his values and not necessarily hers. Objectivism, for the Google-challenged, is the philosophy that holds “there is no greater moral goal than achieving happiness. But one cannot achieve happiness by wish or whim. Happiness requires that one live by objective principles, including moral integrity and respect for the rights of others. Politically, Objectivists advocate laissez-faire capitalism. Under capitalism, a strictly limited government protects each person’s rights to life, liberty, and property and forbids that anyone initiate force against anyone else.” (Excerpted from The Atlas Society).

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Comic-Con 2008 Programming

comic_con_logo-4267202Half of the four-day schedule for San Diego’s Comic-Con International 2008 is up and running.

Here’s Thursday. Here’s Sunday.

Obviously, much cool stuff to choose from. Too much cool stuff, in fact. Makes me almost not sad that I won’t make it this year (watch out 2009!).

While we’re on the subject, Variety has a retrospective of the early days of Comic-Con, when film people had little idea how to relate to comics fans.

Although it was more than 30 years ago, for example, I keenly recall a preview of the 1978 feature “Superman,” where the studio rep described the campy villain Lex Luthor, played by Gene Hackman, as a real-estate mogul, not a master criminal. He was practically hooted off the stage.

Gradually, the studios started to wise up, hiring publicists specifically trained to handle Comic-Con’s savvy but easily riled audience. When Ridley Scott’s space-horror film “Alien” was showcased — using little more than a slide show of surrealist H.R. Giger’s jaw-dropping conceptual art — the crowd was blown away.

The Origin of Image Comics?

  • News
  • July 12, 2008

Part of me really just wants to post the image here and leave it at that, but there probably should be some explanation. Over at the San Diego Reader, former Rock n’ Roll Comics co-creator Jay Allen Sanford has put together an illustrated history of the "The Birth of Image Comics" as part of a recurring feature spotlighting some of the local comics talent in the run-up to San Diego Comic-Con. Seen below is Sanford’s interpretation of the reaction from Stan Lee when Rob Liefeld decided to break from Marvel.

See? The explanation wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the illustration now, was it?

Also in this edition of the Reader’s "Local Comic Publishers History" lesson:

  • The Birth of Image Comics
  • Pacific Comics: The inside story of a legendary local comic book company (including a history of indie comics and the Creator’s Rights revolution)
  • RIP Dave Stevens, famous former neighbor who created the Rocketeer
  • Don’t Fear the Funnies: A history of censorship in comics
  • The New Kids On The Block VS Revolutionary Comics – illustrated by Superman/Supergirl artist Stuart Immonen

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