By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 2/18/2016
Is April Fool’s Day to be renamed Harley Quinn Day? Maybe after the HARLEY QUINN AND THE SUICIDE SQUAD APRIL FOOL’S SPECIAL #1 comes out on April 6th, The cover by Jim Lee is being unveiled today at ComicsPRO. The interiors are by writer Rob Williams with art by Lee, Scott Williams and Sean “Cheeks” Galloway. […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 2/2/2016
What does Rebirth mean for DC's financial futures?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/18/2016
What’s that? It’s the sound of DC getting ready to publish another comic book featuring Harley Quinn. This new comic is a mini-series with writing duties from Frank Tieri (Catwoman) and Jimmy Palmiotti (mastermind of the main Harley Quinn comic book.) The interior art is drawn by Mauricet (a Belgian artist known for The Crossovers) […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/7/2016
Our resident sales analyst David Carter looks into DKIII's BIG debut!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/30/2015
Every Wednesday, I talk about comics with Brandon Montclare, writer of the hit Image series Rocket Girl and co-writer of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series. We gab about what we’re reading now, what books we consider classics (Brandon loves Dark Knight Strikes Again…), and the hottest gossip of the industry. Occasionally, the inimitable artist Amy Reeder (Rocket Girl, Batwoman) stops by. Check out our full […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/27/2015
This is one of those links that is to promote a website -- in this case Wholesale Halloween Costumes -- but the tutorials are cool enough to deserve a link. We all know Mad Max will be a big Halloween and cosplay favorite this year, and here';s who to make yourself a War Boy or Immortan Joe -- I guess to be a Sexy Furiosa all you need is some black eyeliner. The Joe costume is especially clever ..."you won't believe how they made his teeth!" I'm a total loser when it comes to crafting costumes -- I like dressing up but fabricating is far beyond my ken or skills, so I'm always impressed with anyone who can figure this stuff out.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/27/2015
Another day, another battle for cult favorite titles launched in the DC You initiative. How do they do this time?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/16/2015
Harley Quinn #17
By Harper W. Harris
Down in the bustle of the DC booth, I got a chance to talk with Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Chad Hardin, the team behind the ever popular Harley Quinn series, as well as newer books Harley Quinn and Power Girl and Starfire.
Harper W. Harris: When you wrote issue #12 of Harley Quinn, did you always plan on expanding that story into its own series or story?
Amanda Conner: Jimmy did.
Harley Quinn and Power Girl #2, out 7/22
Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah, when we writing it, I said, it would be great if we could just make it a couple weeks later when they came out of the ring, and if this team up does okay, maybe they’ll let us tell that story. And it did do okay–it did better than okay! So when we pitched it to Dan [Didio], we said, well, we’d like to take what happened during those two weeks, how Power Girl got in a wedding dress, why these three eyed cats, and make it into six issues. He said, “If you can figure out all that, then go for it.” So we did. And we had Stephane Roux that wanted to draw it–we got lucky getting Stephane, so it all came together. It was sort of not a plan, but I left the door open in case something happened.
HH: What has it been like to return to Power Girl, a character that you had such a big impact on several years ago?
AC: We actually love Power Girl so much, and we miss working on that character, so we just said lets put Power Girl and Harley together, why not!
HH: They’re a good pairing so far! So speaking of Harley Quinn, the character has obviously gotten immensely popular in the last year or so. Has that level of fan involvement or popularity changed the way you view the character or the way you aim to tell her story?
AC: Not really–I mean we always loved the character. We wanted to make her the truest Harley that we knew how. I think it’s just resonated with a lot of people, because they feel like it’s very Harley-ish. I think that might be one of the reasons people love it so much, she feels like Harley. She’s wacky, she’s crazy, a little homicidal, but lovable.
JP: We like to say it’s because of Chad’s artwork too that’s sucking everybody into the book. I mean we got lucky–again a lot of things were just timing. The timing was right for the book, the tone that we thought may or may not work actually worked. It’s always a hit or miss when you’re going to change things up a little bit. We got lucky this time, I could tell you about the 40 other times we didn’t get lucky, but that would take up a whole other interview. We’re happy this worked out!
HH: Yeah, I think a big part of its success is the fresh, funny approach to a superhero story. What is your process in writing it as a comedy? Is there a lot of throwing out ideas, sketching them out, then seeing visually a way to make the situation funnier or add a new joke?
JP: We don’t really write it so much as a comedy as this is the story, and then we find the funny, absurd moments in it. All superhero comic books could easily be done like this with everything they do, everything from the capes to how ridiculous it is, if they can do all this, then why aren’t they doing that situations. So with Harley we actually try to lay out the story very grounded, like a regular comic format, this is what’s happening. As a matter of fact, as absurd as it is sometimes, she’s actually more based in the real world than some other characters because she goes through the motions: she’s on the street, she goes from this place to that place–there’s no jump to scenery, she has to get somewhere. We have whole scenes with car services and cabs–
Chad Hardin: Or she’s at work, or eating.
JP: She’s trying to do three jobs…it’s actually really grounded. But in that, it’s sort of like our own lives, right? There are these absurd moments that we see every day and we giggle and then we forget about. With Harley we have these absurd moments and we take it to a hyper sense of reality. And then we hand it over to Chad.
CH: Whenever they hand me the script, it’s like, how can I make this…more. You know, take the football across the goal line so to speak.
AC: And you always do!
JP: We like to think of it, whether it’s perceived that way or not, as a very grounded in reality story. We could be completely wrong and be just getting by on what we think, but that’s how we see it.
AC: You can have a very grounded story, but when Harley gets involved, everything just goes upside-down.
CH: She’s the touch of chaos that spins the universe into this chaotic motion, and that’s where the absurdity comes in.
From Harley Quinn #12, which led to the Harley Quinn and Power Girl mini-series
JP: I also think it’s why people like the book. It’s one of the few books–we know the procedure of a superhero book is that it’s going to have the fight and then the cliffhanger–with Harley, you actually have no idea what’s going to happen on the next page. We throw random things–like all the sudden there are 800 birds on her–like we just go randomly in places and it should be that way, because that’s how her brain acts, so it shouldn’t be so linear in that way. It seems to work and we’re always happy when we get Chad’s pages back and we’re all laughing at things that we didn’t even write that are in the background. We’re like, that’s a really good working team when everybody’s putting their best into it. And with Alex Sinclair on colors, it’s one of the most fun books I’ve ever worked on.
HH: You guys definitely have an awesome team going, a great collaboration. Chad, how is the process different drawing for writers that are very talented artists in their own right?
CH: I don’t know how to explain this so much, but it is different in that it’s the most challenging book I’ve ever been on, but I don’t know why. It just is. But I think it’s because I don’t dare dial anything in.
AC: We know where he lives.
CH: Everything’s got to be perfect, perfect, perfect. We’re crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s. But I think the fans really respond to that.
JP: I harass him once in a while.
CH: If Jimmy doesn’t like something, I can tell immediately. He’ll give me like a one word note, like “cool” or “awesome”–if I don’t get that, I’m like, okay, something’s wrong.
JP: Like, “Staten Island has more trees.” He drew a scene, and he doesn’t know Staten Island, it has more trees.
AC: There is no island off the coast.
CH: Oops! I actually did go to New York, I walked around Coney Island and took a million pictures. But off the coast, I have no idea. Across the Brooklyn Bridge, I have no idea.
JP: We’re dealing with a real city, there are 4 million people in Brooklyn that might have something to say if we completely turn everything away.
HH: You can’t really fake that geography.
JP: Yeah. Even with the scatapult on the roof, Amanda kind of figures out where it is using Google Maps, where it would go over buildings.
CH: We have a map of the building, the floors. I know which way it faces, we’re pretty anal about it.
AC: Oh, we’re so anal about it–I downloaded all these apps so I can know what degrees it needs to be pointed at to hit any J Train that might be going over the Williamsburg Bridge–Oh no that’s the L Train, nevermind!
Starfire #3, out 8/12
HH: I wanted to talk about Starfire–how did you get attracted to that character?
AC: They asked us to write it. [Laughs]
JP: They ask, how do you feel about Starfire, I’m not sure how I feel about Starfire. Amanda definitely has more history with her.
AC: I read all the Wolfman Perez Teen Titans, so I liked the character a lot. And I’ve seen her go through a lot different incarnations.
JP: They sent us the New 52 trades, and we read those, and I was like, okay, that’s that, but we also like the cartoon a lot. We laugh our asses off at the cartoon. There’s got to be a way we can make this work for us, in order for us to have interest in writing it. Dan said, alright, then pitch how you would want to do it and we’ll see if it works with what we’re thinking. We pitched the book you have. We said it’s a new town and she doesn’t want to be a superhero so much, like a new start. And they went for it. I think they had confidence with us doing Harley that maybe we could handle that. I don’t think we would’ve been offered it if we weren’t doing Harley. I don’t think it would’ve been a book they would have come to us with, so we hard to earn that book.
Harley Quinn #17, Starfire #2, and Harley Quinn and Power Girl #1 are all in stores now, with new issues coming soon!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/9/2015
By Nick Eskey
DC Collectibles has another exciting line up for this upcoming year. We’ll be seeing much in the way of artist inspired work: from action figures, to statues. For the high-end collector, comic inspired artwork is typically high on the priority list. And what other company produces such detailed pieces from beloved franchises such as DC?
Jim Fletcher, showing off his action figure graveyard jacket.
Interesting bag view.
Kevin Kiniry, playing fortune teller with the DC Tarot Cards.
This year’s DC Collectibles sneak peak is a fun atmosphere, with DC’s Jim Fletcher in full action figure regalia, and DC’s Kevin Kiniry sporting a turban and reading tarot cards. The tarot cards are actually the “Just League Tarot Cards,” designed by Sara Richard, and releasing this November for $24.95.
Bronzed Batman Statue.
DC’s statue franchises have done very well for the company. It’s no surprise that they’ll eventually decide to bronze one of the best loved super heroes. This “Bronzed Batman Statue” captures the awesomeness of the caped crusader in mid flourish. No date yet on this beauty.
Batman.
Superman.
Armored Batman.
Coming in the way of the DC movies, we have three wonderful pieces inspired by the upcoming film “Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice” and sculpted by the artist James Marsano. Each of these resin statues look true to life, as much as a comic book can be of course. Batman and Superman will retail for $150 apiece and are dated for January 2016, whereas the Armored Batman will be released March 2016 and is yet to be priced.
Cheetah.
Killer Frost.
The best selling DC Comics Bombshells will be seeing some additions to their lineup that were designed by Ant Lucia. A short skirted “Cheetah” will be making her debut, as well as this snow bunny version of “Killer Frost.” Each will retail for $124.95, with Cheetah releasing in March and Killer Frost in June respectably.
Kryto, Hoppy, Streaky, and Dex-Starr.
DC Super-Pets will introduce a line of soft plush dolls that feature super powered pets. “Krypto, Hoppy, Dex-Starr, and Streaky” all range from 6 to 9 inches, and were designed by Art Baltazar. Dex-Starr and Streaky will be available this November, where Krypto and Hoppy will be March 2016. No price has been set on them yet.
One of Batman’s signature “toys” is of course the “Batmobile.” This version of his iconic vehicle is from the Batman the Animated Series. A number of figures will be releasing from the same show, but this Batmobile is the best thing by far. It measures at 24 inches long, with independently moving wheels. To add to the cool factor, the headlights, breaks, and engine all light up as well. It releases this October for $99.95.
Man-Bat, Azrael, and Professor Pyg.
The biggest additions this year however will be coming from DC’s action figures. Following with the “Batman Arkham Knight” video game by Rocksteady, DC was showing off their “Man-Bat, Azrael, and Professor Pyg.” These figures were all designed by Rocksteady, and offer over 20 points of articulation. will all be out February 2016 and retail for $25 a piece.
Firestorm, Green Lantern, The Joker
Another line coming to stores will be DC Comics Icons. Designed by Ian Reis, the series will include: “Firestorm” from the “Justice League”, “The Joker” from the “Death In the Family” comic story arc, and “Green Lantern John Stewart” from “Mosaic.” Each one also features over 20 points of articulation, as well as interchangeable accessories. They will be releasing May 2016 for $25 apiece.
Harley Quinn, Super Girl, and Adam Strange.
Superman, Lex Luthor, and Batman.
Exciting things are also coming from their designer line. From Darwyn Cooke, we’ll be seeing his versions of “Batman, Supergirl (complete with Krypto and Streaky), Harlequinn (with mallet accessory), and Adam Strange (with Raygun).” And artist Lee Bernejo will be coming out with his designs of “Batman (with Batarang and interchangeable hands), Green Lantern (with Lantern and interchangeable hands), Superman (with interchangeable hands) and Lex Luthor (with briefcase and interchangeable hands).” Each one will retail for $25, with Cooke’s line coming out June 2016, and Bernejo’s in April 2016.
But the most exciting toy will be “DC Comics Blueline Edition Batman.” Designed by the much sought after Jim Lee, this limited edition figure looks like a black and white sketching. Each package comes with either a signed sketch of Batman, the Joker, or Harley Quinn. Unfortunately, this baby is a Comic-Con exclusive. If you happen to be at the convention, it retails for $300.
I’m super excited over the level of collectibles coming out over the next twelve months. For those who’ll be able to get their hands on them, I’m as equally jealous.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/12/2015
It’s that time again! Just like last week, I picked up every issue DC Comics put out of their current “DC You” initiative, and I’m here to present my scattered and unorganized thoughts in a few sentences. Again, none of these should be construed as reviews really, it’s just a quick glimpse at one fan’s thoughts on the newly evolving line of comics from his long-time favorite publisher.
Also, just a point of clarification, I bought all of these with my own money. Not one comp copy was involved in the writing of this piece, if that sort of thing means anything to you.
Batman #41: I’m not fully sold on the Jim Gordon as Batman take yet, but this new arc continues the rather fun zaniness that’s been part and parcel of the Scott Snyder–Greg Capullo run since “Zero Year”, and Capullo continues to be one of the best artists at the Big Two. His work pops in a way that so few superhero illustrators can manage, and he just keeps getting better. I also can’t say enough about FCO Plascencia‘s colors. The new status quo is intriguing enough, and I look forward to seeing how it spills over into books like Batgirl, Grayson and Detective Comics (see below).
Verdict: Already on my pull and staying there
Batman/Superman #21: I love Greg Pak‘s work on Action Comics, so it vexes me a bit when I can’t seem to reconcile the great work he does there and the fairly pedestrian stuff he cranks out for this title. The new shift for Superman, which inevitably is the character this title has focused on in greater detail, hasn’t really done much to refresh a series that can’t escape a feeling of staleness and bland superheroics. Being envisioned by the house-stylings of Ardian Syaf doesn’t help either.
Verdict: Stopping here
Catwoman #41: I missed the boat on early issues of the critically acclaimed, but fairly under-read (and promoted), Genevieve Valentine Catwoman run. I think I may have assumed too much to think that I could just jump on-board here. It’s really well written, you can tell Valentine has a pretty elegant control of prose, but I’ll be damned if I knew what the heck was actually going on. I found it difficult to keep up with who each character was, and what purpose they served in Selina’s world, though in ensemble-based crime fiction, I sometimes bump into that barrier. I’m maybe intrigued enough to try again, with the hope that familiarity will breed some affection, but I can’t say I’d recommend it for the first timer.
Verdict: On the fence
Constantine: The Hellblazer #1: Riley Rossmo can do no wrong, and the Dante‘s Inferno-inspired spread found within is the kind of panel layout that will always grab my attention. This is a really fun reintroduction to the John Constantine that we used to see back in the Vertigo days, rather than the New 52 superhero that had populated books like Justice League Dark and the previous Constantine title. I like this more arrogant and amorous John, and the fact that DC is putting out a book that pushes their general boundaries of content within the main line is nice to see. It’s a bit over-written, with its themes hammering you over the head (especially in a secondary character’s denouement), but I’m mostly sold provided that one big flaw is rectified in subsequent months
Verdict: Going onto the pull-list
Detective Comics #41: I really like Francis Manapul and Brian Buccelatto as an art team, frankly as far as “cape comics” go, there are few better. As writers though, I’ve had more trouble with their output. Their angle on the Jim Gordon as Batman take is solid enough: a book about Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya will always grab my attention in some form or fashion. But I’m not sure I found enough here to really hook me between a few iffy narrative conceits and some dialogue that didn’t quite land with me. Additionally, while I think Fernando Blanco does a decent enough Michael Lark, I’d be more excited about this title if Manapul was penciling it himself still.
Verdict: Stopping here
Earth 2: Society #1: I had hopes that perhaps with a fresh start, Daniel Wilson might be able to employ something worthwhile into the literal new world that the Earth 2 characters are now inhabiting. How wrong I was, as this was basically unreadable. I liked the Johnny Sorrow appearance at least, but it was basically negated by Terry Sloane sprouting mechanical wings.
Verdict: Stopping here
Gotham Academy #7: I can’t even begin to pretend like I’m not in the tank for this book. I love it, and even when it has fill-in artists like Mingjue Helen Chen, the title is able to uphold its cinematic qualities. Chen’s work here reminds me a good deal of Irish animator Tomm Moore, and her gorgeous cartooning provides a perfect spotlight for secondary character “Maps” and the meet cute that occurs between her and Damian Wayne. There are a couple of spatial hitches where I was bit disoriented as to what was happening in a panel or two, but otherwise, this is a pretty great all-ages adventure.
Verdict: Already on my pull and staying there
Harley Quinn #17: Maybe it’s The Naked Gun fan in me, but I always laugh at a good beaver joke, and this one had me guffawing a bit. I hadn’t read an issue of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti‘s take on Harley since its debut issue and this month’s offering had me wondering why I hadn’t. It was humorous, zinged with energy, and Chad Hardin‘s art looked way more suited to the material than I remember it. I thought the Gang of Harleys was a pretty fun idea too.
Verdict: In for the next issue
Red Hood/Arsenal #1: The idea of a “buddy comedy” comic book isn’t a bad one, it works well for titles like Archer & Armstrong, and in theory Jason and Roy should be diametrically opposed enough that it should make for some solid hinjix. Unfortunately, with Scott Lobdell at the helm, you may as well dash those hopes. It’s funny, looking at Denis Medri‘s art, I could see a fairly effective intro tale being weaved here if someone else wrote the dialogue. But Lobdell’s attempts to give an edge to every character voice makes them all sound like the same person. It’s better than Earth 2: Society, because I could at least tell what’s going on, but it reads like a comic that Poochie from The Simpsons would write.
Verdict: Stopping here
All-Star Section Eight #1: Yeah, this was pretty awesome. I never read Hitman, I should probably get on that (it’s 99 cents a pop on Comixology right now after all), but I thought what Garth Ennis and John McCrea were up to here was hilarious. It’s a bit “inside baseball” in the way a good Ambush Bug comic might be, particularly in its shoutouts to the 90’s “Bloodline” event and the various iconic Batman poses being used to pretty great effect, but it’s all presented in a way that shouldn’t detract from a new-comers enjoyment much. I mean, who doesn’t find a Batman that’s too cheap to pay a $3 ATM fee endearing? Yeah, Hitman, I need to read it.
Verdict: Going onto the pull-list
Starfire #1: I think I may have liked this better than even Harley Quinn this week, perhaps because I was entering at ground zero, but I have some affection for well done “fish out of water” stories and this is a particularly good one. There’s a great deal of damage control that needed to be done with Kori in the New 52, and I’m confident Conner and Palmiotti are well on their way to rectifying those issues. It’s Starfire getting into hijinx in a trailer part in Key West. This is my kind of jam, and I’m really appreciating the story-telling corner that this team is building for themselves.
Verdict: Going onto the pull-list
New Suicide Squad #9 – It’s hard to separate the real world inspiration for this story from the potential of the narrative. On paper, the idea of a group of supervillains going undercover into a bigger hive of evil-doers to take them down is attention grabbing enough (and as a big fan of COPRA, I’m primed to love a Suicide Squad story), but the parallels between this League of Assassins splinter group and the real-world ISIS rubs me the wrong way, and fairly bland sub-Rags Morales like linework pretty much put my interest in this book out of its misery.
Verdict: Stopping here
This week’s must-reads: Batman, Constantine: The Hellblazer, Gotham Academy, All-Star Section Eight, Starfire
Next week: Sonny Liew draws Doctor Fate, Martian Manhunter gets a solo series, the Batgirl spin-off Black Canary takes flight, and I try to reconcile mentally why I’m buying anything from the current Wonder Woman run.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 2/18/2015
Abraham Riesman continues his excellent series of “hero histories” with a look at Harley Quinn who has become perhaps THE stand out mainstream character of the current comics era. (I’ll have aphoto gallery opf Harley toys from Toy Fair in a bit.) (Deadpool vs Harley Quinn, I’m saying it until it happens.) And she’s had a strange history, with most of her development taking place outside of comics, from her origin in Batman: The Animated Series to her Arkham Asylum re imagination.
Over the next seven years, Dini, Timm, and Sorkin built Harley into one of the most memorable Batman characters of all time. That was no small trick, given that the Batman mythos was already more than 50 years old and had featured the same general cast of archetypes for decades. It was made all the more remarkable by the fact that she didn’t even exist in the mainstream Batman comics of the time — it was all happening on a kids’ TV show and its spinoff products. And even though children were the target audience, Harley’s story lines were provocative in ways no other Batman tales had been.
Anyway, the current Conner/Palmiotti version is also discussed as well as the many various feminist interpretations of Harley. It’s a good piece about a complex character. What do YOU think makes Harley so popular?
PS: Also the success of Harley means everyone can acknowledge what we’ve been saying all along: Amanda Conner is a great cartoonist!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/29/2015
Fandom-inspired fashion certainly isn’t going anywhere; gone are the days of unisex, potato-sack tees as companies like WeLoveFine, Hot Topic and other retailers capitalize on the craze. The latest launch from Hot Topic is one of the most fandom-specific ones I’ve seen. It actually all revolves around a single character: Harley Quinn. And we have some to give away!
Some of these offerings are basically straight-up cosplay fodder, like the Harley suspender leggings and dress:
Others aim at slightly more subtle/everyday approach, like an argyle cardigan or mesh-sleeve top:
The collaboration from Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Hot Topic, dubbed Harleen, is available now at a fairly reasonable price point (mostly the $20 – $30 range).
Also, if you’re one of those quizzie types, they’ve launched an app to hook you up with your ideal comics-related companion. While I’m not 100% convinced that the Joker is the right man for me, it’s only a few questions long and comes with a coupon for the gear at the end.
PLUS: Giveaway! You can win a Joker and Harley Quinn Mesh Girls Pullover Top! To enter, tweet “I have mad love for Harley Quinn, @hottopic and @comicsbeat” Prize supplied by Hot Topic, and winner selected in a random drawing. The contest will end Monday, February 2 at noon est. Tweet away!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/29/2015
Fandom-inspired fashion certainly isn’t going anywhere; gone are the days of unisex, potato-sack tees as companies like WeLoveFine, Hot Topic and other retailers capitalize on the craze. The latest launch from Hot Topic is one of the most fandom-specific ones I’ve seen. It actually all revolves around a single character: Harley Quinn. And we have some to give away!
Some of these offerings are basically straight-up cosplay fodder, like the Harley suspender leggings and dress:
Others aim at slightly more subtle/everyday approach, like an argyle cardigan or mesh-sleeve top:
The collaboration from Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Hot Topic, dubbed Harleen, is available now at a fairly reasonable price point (mostly the $20 – $30 range).
Also, if you’re one of those quizzie types, they’ve launched an app to hook you up with your ideal comics-related companion. While I’m not 100% convinced that the Joker is the right man for me, it’s only a few questions long and comes with a coupon for the gear at the end.
PLUS: Giveaway! You can win a Joker and Harley Quinn Mesh Girls Pullover Top! To enter, tweet “I have mad love for Harley Quinn, @hottopic and @comicsbeat” Prize supplied by Hot Topic, and winner selected in a random drawing. The contest will end Monday, February 2 at noon est. Tweet away!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/17/2014
February’s variant cover theme fro DC Comics will be Harley Quinn, and that should come as zero surprise. It worked for Marvel with Deadpool, a similarly anarchic fourth-wall busting character. In fact if Marvel and DC were to do a crossover, I think Deadpool vs Harley would be the Batman vs Spider-man of the day.
In addition, Harley’s new, Suicide-Girls-inspired look has definitely caught on, supplanting the sturdily iconic Bruce Timm designed onesie. I don’t know who did the redesign for the New 52, but I think it may have been the most successful of the new looks
And here are the variants for February, which are a heck of a lot of fun. Maybe that’s why people like Harley Quinn? I have to admit my favorite of the bunch is the Amanda Conner Flash cover because…cheetahs.
ACTION COMICS #39 by Nicola Scott & Danny Miki and Jeremy Cox
AQUAMAN #39 by Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts
BATGIRL #39 by Cliff Chiang
BATMAN #39 by Jill Thompson and CV Painting
BATMAN & ROBIN #39 by Emanuela Lupacchino and Tomeu Morey
BATMAN/SUPERMAN #19 by J.G. Jones and Alex Sinclair
CATWOMAN #39 by Jim Balent
DETECTIVE COMICS #39 by Dave Johnson
THE FLASH #39 by Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts
HARLEY QUINN #15 by Marco D’Alfonso
GRAYSON #7 by Dan Panosian
GREEN LANTERN #39 by Mike McKone and Dave McCaig
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #39 by Jason Pearson
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #9 by Mikel Janin and CVDL
JUSTICE LEAGUE #39 by Dustin Nguyen and CV Painting
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #39 by Joe Quinones
TEEN TITANS #7 by Sean Galloway
SINESTRO #10 by Ian Bertram and Matt Hollingsworth
SUPERGIRL #39 by Joe Benitez and Peter Steigerwald
SUPERMAN #39 by Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts
SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #16 by Francis Manapul and CVDL
WONDER WOMAN #39 by Phil Jiminez and Hi–Fi
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/19/2014
Everyone should “Listen to JImmy” Palmiotti that is. The veteran writer, artist editor and publisher is one of the most knowledgeable comics people out there. With his collaborators from Paperfilms, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner, he’s made a small publishing enterprise out of kickstarting a series of graphic novels based on the European album format. The seventh, Sex and Violence Vol. II is ending in a few days and we advise you to get in on the Amanda Conner/Dave Johnson action as soon as possible — the books will not be sold in any other way. We talked to Palmiotti a few months ago when he was Kickstarting the SF tale Denver and got his overall thoughts on using Kickstarter as a platform. This time out we talk about the storytelling process,finding artists and also find out how Harley Quinn, which he co-writes with Amanda Conner, has become one of DC’s bestselling titles, with a huge female fan base.
The Beat: Sex and Violence is billed as stories of “crime, lust, and redemption.” Are these stories that you carried around for a while or did you sit down to think of them just for this volume?
Photo by Seth Kushner
Palmiotti: I can’t speak for Justin, but I have had the FILTER story idea for a while and was at one point going to pitch it as a series, but never got around to it. I reworked it so it can be enjoyed as a single story with a beginning and an end. The other short story was something I came up with and thought it might fit perfectly into the book. A lot of the time story ideas hit me and I keep files on them, waiting for the right time or opportunity to place them. I have another story that I want to do and hope we can get to a volume 3 of this series.
The Beat: I know Justin Gray wrote one of the stories, but can you tell us a little about each of the three stories, and what interested you enough in your two to tell the tale?
Palmiotti: Justin’s is called RED DOG ARMY and its based on actual history. Hitler launched a full-scale invasion on Russia called Operation Barabossa, and Stalin, reacting to this, authorized a special unit to train dogs as anti-tank weapons, sort of a suicide dog squad. It’s a real interesting setting to tell a story and beautifully illustrated by Rafa Garres whom we worked a number of time with on Jonah Hex. The next story is called DADDY ISSUES and is about a mother and daughter living in a trailer park dealing with the men in their lives. Its got a very tales from the crypt feel but works perfectly here. Romina Moranelli illustrated it and it’s just beautiful. The last story is called FILTER and it’s a look back on a killer’s life and the things he has done to get to where he is today. It’s dark and cruel and will stay with you for a while, I think. Vanesa R. Del Ray illustrates that story, an art student I met a couple of years ago that is making a name for herself all over now. All three stories work together pretty nicely.
The Beat: Your two stories sounds like they have fairly unsympathetic protagonists, which I know can be a challenge. How do you make dark characters like this compelling enough for the reader to want to follow along?
Palmiotti: Well, with Daddy Issues, you sort of understand what they are going through, but in the end, these are killers and you should be scared to be around them. With Filter, I set out to give the reader an understanding of how someone goes from bad to worse. The interesting aspect of the story is there is a level or redemption to the character that makes him a bit more sympathetic. I think the trick is to humanize the situation into something we can relate to so we understand the extreme reaction the character takes. Honestly, all of these characters are scary on their own level.
The Beat: How do you find artists for these? You’ve said it’s like casting, and as a sometimes editor, I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes you think of an element of a comics story and an artist just pops into your head with just the qualities that will make it work. Do you keep a physical or mental folder of artists you want to work with?
Palmiotti: I actually meet most of them at conventions. They come by and show me their work and I can feel the enthusiasm. I keep a file and also give them my contact and hope they follow through and we chat again. The people that I end up working with are the ones that stay after me and keep sending their latest samples. I try to stay up as well on who is new and exciting in the field best I can. I buy just about every new book that comes out, which my local retailer, Emerald City loves. The casting thing is a perfect way of explaining what I do for each story, It’s one of the most important parts of the job. I always say the Marvel Knights gig was all about casting the right people with the right characters. The magic happens after that.
The Beat: Do you ever write a story for a specific artist?
Palmiotti: All of the time. All three of the stories in Sex and Violence are catered to the artist. I may have an idea, but once I know who the artist is going to be, I change it to fit their style. In the case of All Star Western and Jonah Hex, we always wrote for the artist. I think that’s how we got their best work. Issue 34 of All Star was made for Darwyn Cooke and once we knew G.I.Zombie was going to be Scott Hampton, the book took a creepier, grounded tone. I didn’t want to fight against his style. I also think the work is better for it.
The Beat: I talked with you a few months ago for your Denver Kickstarter and it sounds like you really have crowdfunding down to a science. Were there any tweaks to the model this time?
Palmiotti: Yes, I did a few after the Denver Campaign. The first thing I did is stop offering the expensive packages overseas because we felt the price was too high to ask for the shipping and to be honest, a lot of the packages got lost or damaged pretty bad. The next thing was limit the prints because we felt there wasn’t as big a need for them this time, and last, since this is a follow up of a series of books, we went back to press and reprinted the first book with two brand new covers by Amanda Conner and Dave Johnson, knowing a lot of people did not get the first one that might be backing the new one.
The Beat: Your Kickstarter books seem to have a very European feel to them and not just because you often use foreign artists. Is that part of the inspiration for these books?
Palmiotti: It’s based on my love of European comics and artists. I grew up on Heavy Metal and with that steady diet; it was bound to have its influence. I also like to make the books mature audience books, again, a very European thing. I feel I do a ton of all ages work for the mainstream, so we get to unleash ourselves here and do whatever works for the story.
The Beat: On another note, Harley Quinn has been a huge hit for DC and for the Paperfilms crew. I saw you talking recently about the fact that it has a lot of women readers. I know it’s all still anecdotal for DC but this audience seems to be one that is really growing quickly. Can you talk about your own experiences with that?
Palmiotti: Amanda and I have had a very busy year of conventions and signings and the thing we noticed from working on the Harley book is that the majority of the people coming up to us are females of all ages. We have only had this happen once before and it was for the Painkiller Jane series. The cool thing about this group is that we’ve had a large percentage telling us it’s the first comic book they ever bought and thanking us for not weighing down the title with continuity. They say they love that they can just pick up an issue and enjoy it without going broke or feeling left out and confused because they haven’t bought 15 other books. It’s something I am always aware of on all my books because I’m one of those people that, if I feel lost picking up a book, I never go back to it again.
What we are learning is that the traditional idea of done–in-one stories not selling in comics just doesn’t apply to the new audience buying the books, and believe me, most of that new audience are female. I think the problem right now is we have some people running the companies that just aren’t going out and trying new comics or interacting with the next wave of readers and keep pushing things the traditional way they did years ago. The retailers themselves are seeing this happening daily now and I feel it’s the reason Image comics will continue to grow and eventually outsell the big two, unless they start thinking outside the box and just make superheroes a PART of their publishing plan and not the entire thing and start looking at the different ways a superhero type of book can be done. Harley is one example , Hawkeye is another . The traditional graphics people associate comics with have been changing for years now and the market is embracing different looks and styles that are outside the house style and its pretty cool to see.
The thing that keeps me interested in comics is the prospect of new ideas, new voices and especially new methods of applied technology and connecting with the audience. It’s what keeps the Paperfilms crew and I trying new things all the time. As an example, we had a soundtrack scored on our last book DENVER and people loved it. That and the fact that people can go to Paperfilms.com and get digital downloads of our books, prints of Amanda’s work and copies directly from us is the next big for creators these days. That thing is the connection between the creator and the fan; something bigger companies have no real interest in promoting. This is also happening in all media. Things are changing fast, and for me, all for the better.
The Beat: You’ve made your Kickstarters a real cottage industry, What are your plans going forward? How many a year do you foresee doing and how long are you going to keep at it?
Palmiotti: I will keep making Kickstarters for as long as we have an audience for them. The people that back our Kickstarters are a lot of repeat customers and we are growing that fan base with every project. Our plans going forward are to do more of them and take on less work that we just do to pay the bills. Kickstarter has been a huge learning experience for us in so many ways. Each project teaches us what the audience wants from us. We look at the hard numbers, the comments and all the interaction and fine tune each and every new project to be able to connect better with the fans. We have only a few days left on SEX AND VIOLENCE VOL. 2 and after this, we have another book ready to roll that is a western graphic novel, something you would think we had enough of…but this one is different in a number of ways and we are super excited to announce it in a few weeks.
By: Andy Yates,
on 8/13/2014
Artist Amanda Conner has been working in comics since the late 80′s. She’s been in the top tier of mainstream comics creators for a long time now, but with DC Comics’ recent New 52 reboot, Amanda Conner got the chance to relaunch the new Harley Quinn series, and has in the process solidified herself as one of the greats, while also redefining one of today’s most popular characters.
Conner developed her drawing skills at The Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey, one of the first technical schools for sequential art founded by comics legend Joe Kubert. She met her future husband, and current collaborator on Harley Quinn, writer/inker Jimmy Palmiotti, in the early 90′s when he was an editor at Marvel.. The couple was also responsible for a recent popular run on DC Comics’ Power Girl. Throughout her career, she’s worked with some of comics’ top creators, including Warren Ellis, Peter David, Garth Ennis, and Darwyn Cooke.
Her work has also been featured in The New York Times, MAD Magazine, and Revolver.
You can follow Amanda Conner on Twitter here.
For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/11/2013
We head into week two of Villains Month, with thirteen more titles out this week. Ranging from Harley Quinn and The Riddler through to Mongul and Black Manta, a theme seems to emerge this week – DON’T EVER GO INTO SPACE!
Follow the jump for every issue reviewed, from my least-favourite through to my favourite.
One thing that you should note is that some of the comics take place as part of Forever Evil – the Batman and Flash comics, it seems – whilst the Green Lantern/Superman issues are more general. So some issues follow on immediately from the first issue of the event, whilst others are more general stories. Keep that in mind as you buy the comics – they’ll all make sense, but some will be directly following on from the main story whilst others are unconnected origin stories.
Solomon Grundy
Matt Kindt (w), Aaron Lopresti (a), Art Thibert (i), Travis Lanham (l), Michael Atiyeh (c), Anthony Marques, Mike Cotton (e)
It feels like there’s a big missing section from this comic somewhere, which would help tie the two stories together. This is an origin story interweaved with a scene of Grundy causing chaos in the modern day, but the end of the comic leaves readers with a whole load of questions. The issue starts with the character crash-landing on Earth from outer space…. the origin sequence ends with Grundy being created, a hundred years ago, on Earth. So how did he end up in outer space, so he can subsequently crash back to Earth? No idea.
It’s a massively melodramatic story as well, veering almost immediately into complete manic camp – especially in the origin sequence, which is the craziest thing I’ve seen in a long time. It’s almost parody of itself. This is a bad comic, but at the same time? Enjoyable BECAUSE it’s so bad.
Brainiac
Tony Bedard (w), Pascal Alixe (a), Hi-Fi (c), John J. Hill (l), Rickey Purdin (e)
There’s a lot of horror in space this week, and Tony Bedard’s Brainiac story – although not really capturing the character’s intelligence – offers another imminent threat. Crucially though, I simply didn’t find any of what happened to be particularly interesting. Hi-Fi’s colours have picked a strange palette which makes every page into a fuzzy blur, like we’re watching an out-of-focus tv channel. Their decision muffles Pascal Alixe’s artwork significantly, and also seems to cause some real problems for the narrative. It’s quite hard to tell how some of the images relate to each other due to the colouring, especially when panels move around within a fixed space.
The story isn’t all that interesting either, explaining the duller parts of Brainiac without telling us anything about the cool bits – why don’t we get to find out the point of the pink disks he attaches to his head halfway through? What do those do, then?
Lobo
Marguerite Bennett (w), Ben Oliver, Cliff Richards (a), Daniel Brown (c), Sal Ciprano (l), Rickey Purdin (e)
I didn’t understand the ‘controversy’ about this issue, but the story itself doesn’t really help endear this new character to readers. Despite Simon Bisley’s Lobo on the front cover, the character doesn’t make an appearance anywhere in the story. This is, instead, about a younger, sleeker Lobo who speaks in the same way (Bennett’s script absolutely nails the dialogue) but doesn’t really get much of a chance to shock the reader. The story is slow and doesn’t go anywhere, and the whole point of Lobo, surely, is that he does outrageous and over-the-top things – this issue doesn’t give readers any of that craziness.
It’s not a bad comic, but it’s nowhere near as dynamic and enjoyable ridiculous as a Lobo story should be.
Zod
Greg Pak (w), Ken Lashley (a), Steve Wands (l), Pete Pantazis (c), Anthony Marques (e)
There’s a miniseries hidden inside an issue here, with Zod a character who has a lengthy backstory which struggles to be crammed inside a single issue. The main concern with this issue is that Pak simply can’t get the whole story into this issue, leaving us with an issue which leaps around in time and sequencing almost as random, leaving readers slightly confused as to what’s happening. Ken Lashley’s artwork manages to do some heroic efforts in this regard, however, establishing the alien world Zod surrounds himself in as a really bizarre, weird place to live in.
Lashley seems to be the perfect fit for an outer-space story, as he manages to design around five different outfits for Zod (like I say, the story races through time like a dervish) which all seem appropriate to his place in Krypton’s society and his role as a constant outsider to it. If this had been expanded into a longer piece of work, it could have made for an interesting tale. As it is, this is a story which is constantly rushing forward, and the reader falls behind sooner rather than later.
Trigon
Marv Wolfman (w), Cafu (a), Jason Wright (c), Steve Wands (l), Anthony Marques, Mike Cotton (e)
Marv Wolfman returns to a character he co-created and gives him an utterly horrific backstory and motivation which I presume will be setting up some future storyline in Teen Titans. This wasn’t a bad issue by any means – almost every issue this week seemed fine, at the very least – but it is a bit reliant on the central shock value of the character’s actions. If you strip out the villainy, I’m not sure I really felt a true sense of what the character’s ambitions are beyond ‘be horrible’.
Cafu and Jason Wright offer some brilliantly realised artwork, however – Wright’s colouring is especially fantastic, and ensures that this isn’t an issue which looks as grimy and dirty as it reads. There’s a brightness and vibrancy in the colouring which takes the character and makes him seem more impressive and powerful. The secondary characters are all muted, leaving Trigon the brightest character on each page.
Harley Quinn
Matt Kindt (w), Neil Googe (a), Wil Quintana (c), Taylor Esposito (l), Harvey Richards, Will Moss (e)
Remember how Harley Quinn is a terrible person wrapped up in a sweet and adorable harlequin bow? Matt Kindt’s issue reminds you that within that candy coating beats an evil, evil person. Struggling a little to connect the two halves of her personality to each, Kindt’s script eventually resorts to having the two narratives in her head shout at each other – which actually seems to fit her pretty well. This is a madcap issue, running at a very quick speed thanks to Neil Googe’s utterly wonderful artwork.
Googe steals the issue, in fact, emphasising the utter horror of Harley’s power fantasies during a particularly grim, extended joke sequence in which she acquires her new costume. There’s an overwhelming presence of character on the pages of the issue and it’s very good fun, even if it is rather aimlessly. The final page is a mega disappointment in that regard – it puts her back to square one for the New 52.
Mr Freeze
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray (w), Jason Masters (a), Dave McCaig (c), Jared K. Fletcher (l), Darren Shan, Rachel Gluckstern (e)
Mr Freeze has gone through an interesting development during the New 52, in that Scott Snyder invalidated the whole ‘dead wife tragedy’ aspect in the character. With Nora now a distant memory, Palmiotti and Gray are left with the task of finding a new thing for the character to fixate on. That they magae to do so may well be the greatest triumph of the New 52 thus far.
The character was so heavily motivated by a need to protect his wife that a more straightforward villainous agenda feels beneath him, but the creative team here do their very best to work on the character and make this new aspect work. Their tactic is to make him so amoral and unfeeling as to be completely unpredictable, and McCaig’s colours assist this greatly. The bright red goggles, the only dynamic feature of Freeze, hide his eyes for the entire issue – a very effective tactic. It’s a solid issue.
Mongul
Jim Starlin (w), Howard Porter (a), Hi-Fi (c), Carlos M. Mangual (l), Kyle Andrukiewicz, Joey Cavalieri (e)
An excellent reimagining for the character which realises the original design doesn’t really need to be changed. The last I saw of Mongul, he had one eye and was terrorising the Green Lantern Corps. Here, though, the New 52 reimagines him as a military genius, living on a massive spaceship the size of a planet and defeating every force in his wya.
Starlin writes the issue as a celebratory monologue from the character, as he takes his latest defeated foe for a tour round his house and gloats about how easy victory is for him. On a character level, we now have a great sense of what Mongul is like and how his mind works. Starlin’s script is tight, but still allows the character to show himself off repeatedly; aided by some of the best art I’ve seen from Howard Porter, whose style usually puts me off.
Reverse Flash
Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato (w), Scott Hepburn (a), Buccellato (c), Carlos M. Mangual (l), Harvey Richards, Will Moss (e)
It wasn’t until the last page that I realised this wasn’t an issue DRAWN by Manapul, but was instead the work of Scott Hepburn. Coloured by Buccellato, Hepburn hurls himself wholly into this issue, producing some dynamic and wonderful pages with a zip and pace only Manapul himself could match. For the most part, this is an issue featuring the Reverse Flash as a regular person, and the pages reflect that with a blocky style. But whenever he transforms? Suddenly the pages explode apart with zagged borders and fractured panels.
It’s a fantastic showcase for Hepburn. As far as story – this is okay. It gets the idea across of the main character, but in doing so it accidentally breaks one of the supporting characters. By establishing Reverse Flash as a sympathetic figure, it has to make his sister – Iris, perhaps you’ve heard of her – seem rather cruel. I didn’t buy that, particularly. As this is, however, essentially an advert/prelude to the next big arc on The Flash, perhaps the team will be able to sort that out later.
Court of Owls
James Tynion IV (w), Jorge Lucas (a), Dave McCaig (c), Steve Wands (l), Katie Kubert (e)
A paranoia thriller of a one-shot, here James Tynion IV lets loose with the conspiracy angle of the Court of Owls and manages to just-about put their ship back on water. Which is a strange metaphor to use, but I’ve written ten reviews about villains already and my mind hurts. The Court of Owls were an interesting idea which didn’t quite hit the target during Scott Snyder’s original story, but here Tynion manages to get the concept together and make it seem plausible that they would exist.
Jorge Lucas and Dave McCaig nail the issue, absolutely. Coupled with the disturbing white-on-black lettering from Wands, the issue manages to create an investing and fascinating tonal style which gives the concept of a secret society in Gotham a feeling of realism. There is one panel where Lucas misses this mark and creates an unintentionally funny moment, but overall this is an engaging issue.
Black Manta
Geoff Johns, Tony Bedard (w), Claude St. Aubin (a,/i), Blond (c), Carlos M. Mangual, Taylor Esposito (l), Kate Stewart, Brian Cunningham (e)
The most interesting aspect of Forever Evil is undoubtedly that several of the villains seem to have immediate plans to overthrow the Society of Super Villains and go their own way. This is once more the case with Black Manta, and the character seems primed for an interesting future following this issue.
Following Geoff Johns’ plot, Tony Bedard quickly sketches the basics of the character’s personality despite the book being heavily connected to Forever Evil. At least half the issue is working through the events of Forever Evil #1 from Manta’s perspective, expanding his role and motivations within a narrative we’ve already seen unfold. As a result, this is an issue which requires the reader to have seen the main event in order to get the most out of it. But, if you have, what follows is a surprisingly effective character issue.
The bulk of this story is based around the enmity between Black Manta and Aquaman, which makes one scene towards the end particularly effective – where Manta has the choice between two objects, and picks one over the other. It may be a little slight, but Black Manta is a quick and fun piece of the Forever Evil storyline, and shines a spotlight on a character who has seen significant growth over the last year.
Killer Frost
Sterling Gates (w), Derlis Santacruz (a), Brett Smith (c), Dave Sharpe (l), Kate Stewart, Brian Cunningham (e)
Killer Frost is a proper done-in-one horror story which then trails into the DC Universe right at the end, and is all the better for it. If Villains Month is proving anything, it’s that a lot of American writers struggle to create a proper done-in-one issue. Killer Frost – and the final issue of this month – are perhaps the two best exceptions to that rule, thus far. Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz take a note right out of Whiteout and The Thing, by stranding the central character in an Arctic Colony where people are acting suspiciously.
The majority of the issue is spent with her before she becomes a super-powered villainess, and as a result we get a real feel of her and her motivations, making her a sympathetic protagonist. When things go wrong, we get to experience John Carpenter-in-reverse, with Santacruz offering some exceptional suspense work which shows just enough of the violence to get the concept across – without ever showing so much that the comic feels gratuitous.
And when the issue moves into the DC Universe proper, Gates reconnects the character with her most well-known opponent, but adds a new wrinkle to their enmity which again serves her brilliantly. I knew nothing of the character before – now I’m excited to see where she moves next.
Riddler
Scott Snyder, Ray Fawkes (w), Jeremy Haun (a), John Rausch (c), Taylor Esposito (l), Katie Kubert (e)
The Riddler finally gets a showstopping sense of definition at DC, as Scott Snyder and Ray Fawkes take the character and evolve him into a fully-formed, unpredictable theorist. Creating several rather clever riddles (I only guessed two out of five) and leaving them on the first page of the issue, readers are then asked to work out how these five riddles are going to allow the character to complete his goal of breaking into Wayne Tower.
This is gripping stuff, with Haun’s artwork methodically detailing the character’s movements and body language. There’s a moment where the character plays golf halfway through the issue which is a brilliantly quirky detail, and demonstrates just what makes him so fun to root for. There’s a playfulness in this violent and mentally ill supergenius, and Fawkes’ script allows the character several interesting new tics and ideas. Riddler comes off as evil, but in a way which suits his high intelligence levels – he’s a bag of tics and fears and arrogance, shaken up and then let loose into the world.
Taylor Esposito’s lettering is a great asset to the story also. If the reveal of each riddle weren’t placed as perfectly as Esposito places them here, the issue would fall flat, regardless of the great script, art, and colouring. Esposito carefully works out how to set up each page, creating a seamless reading experience for the reader. It’s really a tremendous issue. I’m biased because I have a previous love for the character… but this issue took everything I like about him and made it sing.
Here are the numbers:
* four books directly follow from Forever Evil – including all the Batman books, aside from The Court of Owls.
* eight have no connection to Forever Evil whatsoever
* there is no origin story for Lobo or The Riddler
* Batman created by Bob Kane, Court of Owls created by Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo, Aquaman created by Paul Norris, Mongul created by Len Win/Jim Starlin, Harley Quinn created by Paul Dini/Bruce Timm, Superman created by Jerry Siegel/Joe Shuster, Lobo created by Roger Slifer/Keith Giffen, Trigon created by Marv Wolfman/George Perez
By: Kevin Levell,
on 10/30/2009
I am lucky enough to once again have a piece of my work thrust into the spotlight over on the fantastic Scotch Corner. Appearing tomorrow will be my version of the Joker. Here is the work in progress for it.
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By: Kevin Levell,
on 7/20/2009
Well, I'm gonna post this here in full now.
I was very pleased with how she turned out in the end. Thanks for all the kind comments.
By: Kevin Levell,
on 7/19/2009
As previously blogged...
She's up on Scotch Corner... Go, have a look!
By: Kevin Levell,
on 7/18/2009
I've finished my submission for Scotch Corner and I've had word from Graeme that he'll post it up in tomorrow's guest spot. I probably won't be able to make a posting tomorrow so here is a bit of a teaser...
...and this is a pattern I created for an aborted project that involved a flying carpet. In the Harley Quinn pin-up, I've used the pattern as the pattern on the back of the card, and I have to say, I think it's far more effective as that than it ever felt as a magic carpet design.
I always think of Weaveworld when I think of magic carpets, and I am sure I recall thinking about that book when I was designing this pattern circa 1999 - now that's recycling for you!
By: Kevin Levell,
on 7/16/2009
I'm honoured to have been invited by Graeme Neil Reid to contribute to Scotch Corner. Scotch Corner is a collection of (top) Scottish professional artists, and although the only thing even remotely scotch about me is a penchant for 12 year malts, I am chuffed that I'll be in such illustrious company. Just as soon as I work up the sketch below to a finished standard, I'll send it to Graeme, with thanks for his continued support!
Batman villainess, Harley Quinn - does she need any explanation or reasoning? I'm gonna do a clichéd 'joker card' background that she's just shot/blasted her way through, hence the 'bow/curtsy' and hopefully it'll work. I've slapped some rough colour down and she's looking sexy enough... I have some other stuff to muddle through today and thoughts before I get back to it later (most likely tomorrow) would be most appreciated.
In other news, my refreshed website is up and ready for critiques. There are some errors I've already found and there are some things that can't be revealed just yet... but please pop along and let me know what you think. Thanks to Phil for plugging it already on his blog too!
Catwoman getting a new creative team due to low sales, and immediately losing ~30% of sales seems like some weird karma thing. I assume it’ll be cancelled at Rebirth.
Man, those are some ugly numbers on some of these books. The trend towards a 20% loss without a freely order variant is pretty distressing also. Really hope DC can turn this around….
I always feel weird, asking myself who are those people buying comics only for their cover? Are they aliens? What do they do with it? Do they eat food? Do they ever read the comics they purchased?
This might be more work than you want to do, but, damn, I’m starting to itch for asterixes next to books with FOVs so that you cn glance at the list and understand the context….
I wish you hadn’t written all of that nuts pre-speculation — it was really unfocused and almost certainly wrong in many many ways.
-B
“I always feel weird, asking myself who are those people buying comics only for their cover?”
It’s more likely that some people are buying more than one copy.
Like in the 90’s? Yuk! It would be really interesting to know the proportion beetween one and the other. I do think there is probably actual readers buying multiple issues -if so, why do they prefer to buy a copy with a different cover of a comics they already pruchased instead of somethign else to read, when the current market is offering so many nice differents reading experience?. But I’m pretty sure there is also a proportion of people buying an issue only for the variant, which would explian how very low selling titles see sometimes such a big jump whenever they play the variant card. It seems that there is a core number of buyers buying variant, no matter the title, but depending on the variant subject popularity.
Contrarily to the 90’s ugly trends, current variants seem to rely solely on art, no gimmicky shenanigans, therefore rest of the shoulders of the artist’s fame and the low print run. I’d be curious to see how the back issue market treats those. Might be a decent investment, in our uncertain times. I think Bleeding Cool has some kind of column tracking that kind or bargain/profit opportunity, every now and then for hot items. Does someone know if one ever provided some kind of statistics on recent variants?
Couple things on the FOV:
I haven’t historically gotten variants, but about a year ago Discount Comic Book Service began offering a package where if you bought all of the FOV for a given month you got them at a bigger discount. Since I was getting most of the titles anyway, I started getting those. Thus I discovered a couple things.
One is that owning the variant is great an all, but there’s this bit of weirdness of having this book and not having any way to know, from the book itself, what the “real” cover looks like. I’m actually kinda happy that the coloring-book covers are just on top of the regular covers, rather than replacing them. So in that context, I can kinda see someone buying both versions, to be able to own both covers.
Also, while I don’t follow it closely, it does seem that the FOV are increasing in value. I use ComicBase, which has its own price guide-type info, and I run a little report regularly to see which books are currently valued over cover price. The FOVs generally end up on that list. So despite the fact that they are as available as the regular books, there’s still some sort of aftermarket demand.
Worth noting I am not comparing the FOV guide value to the non-FOV version of the same books, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the FOV’s that are going up.
Is that for freely orderable ones, or all variants?
Why do people buy variants? I’ve never understood it. Do they actually appreciate in value?