By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/27/2007
A few more end-of-year comics wrap-ups in what passes for mainstream media:
§ Gary Brown at Cox News plays the curmudgeon with “In year of comics mediocrity, a shining dozen”
§ Natalie Nichols at LA City Beat
§ BONUS: The Latino edition of the NY Daily News talks to Tom Beland about the FF>
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/20/2007
§ Queenie Chan notes the 3rd volume of THE DREAMING is out and gives the closing credits along with a correction:
An apology and thanks to Katie Huang and Paul Aeria, who helped me with the toning for book 3, but unfortunately didn’t get their names in the credits because of a printing error. Nobody was at fault - there was some confusion with the 1 month delay in street date because of the SECRET on the last page. So I thank Paul and Katie here instead.
§ Brigid has an exhaustive list of NYAF 07 links.
ITEM! Brigid Alverson, Kai Ming Cha, Douglas Wolk and The Beat all have 12″ silver Powerbooks, and it’s pretty cute when we all get them out and start banging away.
§ Paul Levitz talks imprints at Newsarama and lets it slip that DC will be launching a NEW COMICS LINE NEXT YEAR. We’ve heard a bit about this, but we won’t spill the beans. Yet. Levitz also talks about the possibility of “event fatigue:”
PL: I don’t know if it’s “event fatigue” on the part of the readers, but like any trick, if you keep doing it over and over, you’re going to not do it well at some point, and the audience will get tired of seeing the same old trick and, if not get up and walk out, at least start shuffling in their seats. You’ve got to vary your game.
§ Recent and upcoming books of creator profiles — such as The Artist Within by Greg Peston, or Joel Meadow’s upcoming Studio Space– usually cover artists, so it’s interesting to see WRITER Tony Lee’s desk covered at CBR:
I live in a shared house in Birmingham, so the only non ‘shared’ area is my room. It’s easier to work here anyway, and is covered in memorabilia from comics and from my years travelling. I’ve pretty much stood on every continent bar one, and I’ve got a variety of things all over the place that echo that. It makes me feel comfortable to sit somewhere like this. And when I’m comfortable, I can write. Or at least surf the web, update Facebook and Livejournal and watch tentacle porn.
So without further adieu, welcome to my studio. Or, more accurately - welcome to Tony’s bedroom.
§ EW critics Jim Jensen and Ken Tucker pick surprisingly with-it comics best-of lists! Guess the mainstream media really is with us.
ITEM! Did you know that Frankie Laine had hits with both “Rawhide” and “Mule Train”? His real name was Francesco Paolo LoVecchio.
§ Flog reports a footnote to the legal matter that shall not be named :
Charles E. Petit, known to the Fantagraphics offices as the longtime lawyer of Harlan Ellison, has been disbarred. Petit was found guilty of poor ethics by defrauding the family of author John Steinbeck. His defense honestly seems to have been that he’s driven crazy by migraines that lead him to forget events that transpire at the time of the headaches and stuff like that.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/18/2007
§ ComixTalk has it’s annual roundtable on the state of webcomics up, including blatherings by some idiot.
§ Is a film about “Calvin and Hobbes” and its reclusive creator in the works? Well, is it????
§ The Comic Book Club– the live actionn comic book talk show–is profiled in the New York Times:
The heart of the show is the chemistry among the three men, all aspiring comedians, whether discussing the annual, a comic book series’s larger, bonus issue, traditionally published in the summer (Mr. Zalben: “I miss annuals. You don’t get them anymore. You used to expect them every year.” Mr. Tyler: “Hence the word annual.”) or their recollections of a particular fan who has attended nearly every show.
Mr. Zalben recalled the polite e-mail messages sent by the fan when he cannot attend. Mr. Tyler said: “He represents ‘the crowd’ to me. He checks up on us,” and offers questions for guests. Mr. LePage remembered the fan’s reaction to the show’s three-week hiatus in July and August. “He said, ‘I actually went out and got a girlfriend!’ He was not happy!”
Best Series: Teen Titans (DC)
Runner-up: Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)
Comeback of the Year: The Flash (Wally West) and family
Runners up: Angel (Angel: After the Fall)
From the outside, it is another two-story brick warehouse on Chicago’s West Side. Step inside, and visitors return to a certain back-of-the-comic-books kind of American childhood.
The secret is this: It’s the world capital of fake vomit, where it’s still made the old-fashioned American way, ladle by ladle, formed and coagulated for the next generation of pranksters and troublemakers.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/17/2007
§ Scott Dunbier has been blogging some stories of comic book culture and history over at his blog. This one has a twist. A sad twist.
§ Douglas Wolk’s top GNs of 2007 at Salon:
It has been a banner year for graphic novels, and although Salon reviewed some of the highlights (the conclusion of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s serial thriller “Death Note,” Brian Chippendale’s overwhelming experimental book “Ninja,” Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s long-awaited “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier”), there were plenty of other excellent new volumes of comics. This year also saw a mountain of fancy collections of vintage cartooning — following the success of the Seth-designed “Peanuts” reprints and art-object books like “Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays!” the earliest years of strips from “Dick Tracy” to “Mutt & Jeff” are turning up as deluxe hardcovers. Here are a dozen notable books that would look just fine under an appropriate tree.
§ Dave GIbbons visits the Watchmen set.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/14/2007
We are lazy and tired so here are other things for you to read:
§ Chris Butcher explains everything you need to know about yaoi — and most of us need to know a lot!
§ Related: Boston Edge on the Canadian habit of seizing gay comics at the border.
§ Can anyone help Andy Runton with his Leopard woes?
§ Franklin Harris examines copyright issues in LOEG: BLACK DOSSIER.
§ The Satchel Paige page celebrates the new graphic bio by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. Paige lived befoe the era of steroid! It’s good clean fun! Bonus: Site created by Andrew Arnold.
§ The Cinncinati Enquirer examines cartoon bands from the Archies to the Gorillaz.
§ John K. analyzes a Chuck Jones cartoon.
There have been many good interviews at Newsarama lately, sometimes hard to find because of the site’s chaotic, 2001-era front page.
§ A rare interview with Jules Feiffer:
F: I was a young man and had ambitions, so I was on the make, as everyone was. I was on the make for my career, I was on the make sexually, on the make in every possible way that everybody my age was also on the make. I was part of a generation; I identified with that generation, and I was curious about what made us all tick. I was also outraged by the politics of the time, the acquiescence to the oppressiveness of the times and the willingness of people to be censored, or to self-censor. And if you read the mass media or the mainstream magazines like the New Yorker you didn’t seem to notice anything going against the grain. Certainly you never saw it in cartoons, although there were some brilliant cartoonists, but they weren’t touching on the subjects.
§ Frederik Schodt discusses the importance of Tezuka:
FLS: It’s probably hard to find a direct analogy to Astro Boy, or Tetsuwan Atomu, in American culture. In the sense that Astro Boy helped kick start the manga and anime revolution in Japan, and is now an almost universally recognized character, I suppose he might be close to Mickey Mouse. Astro Boy is still widely visible in Japan, through merchandising of manga, anime, and licensed goods such as toys, stationary, and so forth. He is also used in the advertising of everything from bank securities to home security systems. And at sports events in most Japanese schools, the theme song to the original 1963 Astro Boy anime series is usually played to liven things up. Astro Boy is by no means a dead or moribund character. In 2009, as many already fans know, the Hong Kong and Hollywood-based company, Imagi, is also scheduled to bring out an all CG Astro Boy feature film.
NRAMA: You mentioned Gary Larson as an influence – did you ever see his animated special, Tales from the Far Side? That was also a case of taking a gag strip and doing it in animated form.
NG: I did see the cartoon, but I didn’t think it worked as well as the strips. Those cartoons were meant to be seen in frames, and they were more effective in that format. I think the strips have an endearing effect on you that animation doesn’t allow. I think animation gets you ready to see the next thing. Animation is like a perpetually-moving thing, so you’re always expecting something more, so when you’re confronted with a static image, there’s a violent push to appreciate what you’re given. That’s what I love about a lot of Far Sides. You’re confronted with an image, and you’re pushed to have a reaction to it. Animation rarely uses that, and can rarely be used for that, because of all the activity, all of the motion, which sets up the expectation that the comedy comes from that. That’s not what The Far Side was about.
BONUS: Vulture lists the 10 Best cinematical destructions of New York. WHy is it ALWAYS NEW YORK???
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/12/2007
So much to talk about, so many links in email.
§ The Walrus, a news and arts magazine based up in Toronto, has a new 4-page Julie Doucet strip, which is available for free as a PDF on their website. There’s also an interview with Doucet.
§ The Elephantmen: War Toys #1 | Trailer is online.
§ Lev Grossman at Time presents his Top 10 graphic novels, , an eclectic list led by…ACHEWOOD!
§ Brady Russell looks at innate artistic talent.
§ Ivan Brandon’s South American blog.
§ Girls! Girls! Girls! Val D’Orazio reports on NYAF for FoL
§ Renee Witterstaetter has a new dvd out featuring a candid conversation with Bill Sienkiewicz.
§ Virgin comics scripter Saurav Mohapatra joins groups blog The Comics Waiting Room.
§ Screenwriter Carl Ellsworth talks about adapting Y: The Last Man
:“We haven’t gone out of the way to reinvent a lot of the comic because it works so well. What we’re actually trying to do is give more of a foundation to the characters and what makes them tick. For example, the Daughters of the Amazon—we’re interested in exploring how that group doesn’t just spring up overnight,” Ellsworth said.
“In the comic book, we’re presented with an end-of-the-world scenario pretty darn quickly. It then becomes the adventures of Yorick and 355, but I would say that a movie version must have more of a sense of urgency and jeopardy. It’s not going to be a ‘Mad Max’ film. Where we want to start is what simply would the world be like if this “absurd” thing were to happen,” Ellsworth continued. “It’s actually going to have more of a haunting feel to it as Yorick our main character is attempting to get his bearings and what the immediate aftermath of the plague means.”
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/10/2007
§ Craig Thompson (Blankets) talks about his…..Grammy nomination???
§ The power of superheroes comes to rescue errant brands, says AdAge:
It sounds like the plot of a superhero story. On the hunt for an elusive target — young male consumers — media buyer Sharon Enright struggled to find the right ad venue for her client, Honda. A wrong move could mean money ill-spent. As it happens, Ms. Enright discovered a place largely untapped by the auto industry: comic books.
But formally appropriate or not, a reader versed in classic comic book cartooning will be apt to find it distractingly ugly. The style often gets in the way of the simple storytelling virtues that cartooning is best for. It’s sometimes difficult to tell from panel to panel exactly what’s going on. The graphic novel’s look, created as the book flap says with “a combination of photography, vector illustration, and digital painting” is very now - the sort of “now” that will almost certainly look dated and oh-so-2007 soon enough.
In the book’s afterword, the authors identify this as a “work of political satire” that strives to “get you thinking about some big questions concerning the media, the war in Iraq and American foreign policy.” That was all-too-obvious in this heavy-handed, though successfully gripping, work. They add that, “We also hope it makes you chuckle.” Unless, say, the suitcase-nuking of Bangalore is a knee-slapper, they misunderstand their own work’s tone.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/5/2007
§ We forgot to link to the Annie Award nominations. RATATOUILLE comes in with the most noms. MOREL OREL got several TV nods.
§ Speaking of animation, Cracked magazine is still around online and presents The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters. [h/t Cartoon Brew]
§ The parade of year end reveiws begins with COMIXTALK’s look back at the big stores of ‘07.
§ Maggie Thompson and Carolyn Kelly visit the OSU cartoons archives and help catalog it. With pictures.
§ Steve Lieber and Sara Ryan find old comics. With pictures.
§ Abby Denson has restarted her blog.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/4/2007
§ Geekanerd posts and analyzes panel-by-panel comparisons of the released Watchmen set stills to the original comics. Click for much interesting commentary.
§ Michael George’s muder trial has been set for February 26. The link has a detailed summary of the case thus far, including more info on witnesses, alibis etc.
§ Dylan Horrocks is blogging again:
§ The New York Times had a respectably sized section on comics as holiday gifts written by Douglas Wolk.
§ Marvel has teamed with the Elks! At least it wasn’t the Freemasons!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/2/2007
It’s a big catch-up, catch-all post of interesting things we missed while we were away. In no particular order:
Super-tastic retro-futuro art gallery of random Russian and Euro promo art:
This is the start of a new series, collection of the most inspiring & hard-to-find retro-futuristic graphics. We will try to stay away from the well-known American pulp & book cover illustrations and instead will focus on the artwork from rather unlikely sources: Soviet & Eastern Bloc “popular tech & science” magazines, German, Italian, British fantastic illustrations and promotional literature - all from the Golden Age of Retro-Future (from 1930s to 1970s).
§ Wildstorm Studios welcomes new member Livio Ramondelli, who, despite the name, hails from NoCal.
§ Webcomicker John Campbell presents what some have hailed as the greatest post ever on the internets.
§ So long, Gegory Zura! Happy trails — you were always great to work with. Welcome Jason T. Miles — you will forge a new legend!
§ The WSJ looks at the stagnating comics page by talking to many of the key players:
In fact, this isn’t exactly a bull market for the comics pages. In palmier times, when cities could comfortably support two or even three dailies, reps from the syndicate services would typically offer their wares to the largest newspaper. No sale, no problem. Surely the rag across the street would sign on the dotted line. “And if certain strips changed hands in a competitive market it would make a difference in your readership,” noted John Smyntek, syndicate editor at the Detroit Free Press. But in a one-paper town — and these days, most towns are one-paper towns — “there’s no compelling reason for an editor to buy a new strip immediately,” said Lisa Klem Wilson, general manager of United Media Syndication.
§ Anders Nilsen describes a recent skateboarding accident. Click on link for bloody picture.
This is me soon after a fall I took while skateboarding recently. I bashed in two of my front teeth pretty good. As luck would have it there happened to be an oral surgeon at the park with his son who was kind enough to take a look and pull my teeth back into place for me on the spot. Below is a picture of me about to land the same trick a couple of years ago.
§ At CBGExtra, Brent Frankenhoff has a rather amusing look at the Dabel Brothers’ history of untimely shipping.
§ Interesting Peanuts slideshow at Slate.
§ It’s not just Renee Montoya! The actual Dark Knight film has a big viral campaign going on right how as well. Catch up here.
§ Hank Azaria says George Takei is “creepy.”
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/20/2007
§ Todd Allen continues his dispassionate look at the current web comics scene, with ann examination of Marvel’s Online DCU, and just how Zuda and ComicsMix may actually make money. Always worth a read.
§ The Monkey Day site is petitioning web comics for support. What are you waiting for? How do we sign up?
A general call to arms for web comic support of Monkey Day is in progress. Any and all cartoonists are being asked to do their part in promoting monkeys in support of this upcoming Monkey Day. Not familar with Monkey Day? Go here for the Monkey Day FAQ. Read on for the comic submission details…
I drift and dream of this and that — at one point wandering backstreets of a large town synthesis of Wilmington, Brattleboro (VT) and Dover (NJ), my old Kubert School digs. Maia and Dan are having a BBQ with crocodiles and three people I don’t know, eating something wrapped in huge leaves; I wander down the street, and at one point cut through someone’s front room to get to the parallel street on the other side. From over a high 15-foot wooden fence, I hear a familiar voice, so I climb up and hang my arms over the top of the wall to chat. Marc Vargas, now thicker (as are we all) but dapper as ever, extols the merits of some new charcoal-based shower system; is he trying to sell me one?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/19/2007
§ Matt Tauber started a blog, and so far he visited Milton Caniff’s hometown, Hillsboro, OH, and has an on-site report, complete with pictures of buildings associated with Caniff, and this plaque.
§ NY Anime Festival update with new panelists etc etc.
§ Mark-Oliver Frisch interviews Dark Horses’ sales guy Dirk Wood:
You’ve got the direct market and the book market. The interesting thing to me is that there seems to be sort of a new model in the United States growing, which are direct market stores that are much more focused on the graphic novel than on the original pamphlet. And they’re expanding it by doing really interesting things like galleries, art shows. There’s kind of a third market developing. Like real hip, urban type comic shops. I think what’s happening is the direct market is actually in a growth period and has a chance to grow. It’s just changing.
§ John Fultz was very excited about his piece on THE FIRST KINGDOM, one of the very first books ever printed just for the direct sales market, so he sent everyone the link to the piece.
§ Over at Comics Waiting Room, Matt Maxwell explains why there haven’t been any new breakout characters lately:
Anyways, the thing is that as creators became more and more cognizant of the potential rewards that they were missing out on, the less creating was actually done (for the big two). I’m not criticizing this phenomena, simply observing it. As a creator-guy myself, I think that the creators who come up with the concept ought to see some kind of reward out of it when Stupendous Man gets put on lunchboxes or on a movie screen. And yes, the publisher, as the entity that helped get that character exposure, is entitled to a slice of that pie as well. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with the publisher taking an ownership stake or shutting the creators out of the equation altogether. Fair is fair, right?
So, we’re looking at a place where creators aren’t going to be rewarded for going all out and coming up with new characters, new places, new things. Add to that a generation or more of creators who are perfectly fine with this. Hell, they’re more than fine, because all they want to do is play with the toys already in the toybox. Those were the characters and villains that they loved as kids and they really haven’t grown out of that phase. Well, they have, kinda, because they like to see superguys ripping limbs off each other and the like. But some writers would be perfectly happy if all we ever got was Batman and the Joker over and over amen. Not to mention some of the fans.
§ The New Yorker boldly tests the effects of introduction of color to humor.
§ Mark Evanier recounts WGA strike history for The New Republic.
As a WGA member since ‘77, I’m presently on my fifth such strike–and I’m a novice compared to some. Last week, I picketed with a guy who’d walked off a job writing for Phil Silvers. One hates to think how many signs he’s carried. Why so many strikes? Some of it may be our very nature. Something about writing for a living may just make you feistier and more contentious and more demanding of respect … but if that’s it, it’s probably a small part. More likely, it’s luck o’ the draw–the timing of when our contracts come up for renegotiation–and maybe some strategizing on the part of the AMPTP. There’s a thing called pattern bargaining, a semi-inviolate concept that says that if one union makes a gain or eats a rollback, the other unions will gain or eat accordingly.
§ A nice piece on the Giant Robot Biennale at the Japanese American National Museum. If we were in LA we’d go to it!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/15/2007
§ The Times (UK) reviews Posy Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe and we learn much literary history along the way, including Thomas Hardy’s tragic encounter with an illustrator. Simmonds’ graphic novel is based on Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. The review is quite positive:
If there was a time when what Posy Simmonds seemed to offer was an “entertaining satire on the middle classes”, that limitation no longer applies. There is nothing in Hardy, you might say, which more grimly conveys the paralysis of lesser rural life than her pictures of Casey and Jody at the old bus shelter.
§ Ben Katchor, man of the musical theatre
§ Mysterious press release of the day: James. C. Shooter? Who is this young upstart?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/14/2007
§ In Brazil, a five-year-old boy dressed as Spider-man went into a burning building to rescue an even younger tot.
§ The Sun, the UK’s most tabloidy tabloid, titles a story about convicted killer Ronald Castree ““My husband the sex monster.”
§ In Italy, they think Spider-man is REAL.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/12/2007
¶ Defining moments in Post-Modernism: David Byrne goes to Ikea. (Via BoingBoing.)
¶ At ComicMix, Martha Thomases recalls a memorable dinner party involving the late Norman Mailer:
One night, we had a dinner party for the express purpose of introducing Mailer to Neil Gaiman. Neil, as was his habit, was so charming that Norman wanted to read Sandman. He liked the series enough to provide a cover blurb for the next trade paperback collection. Neil later reported that bookstore buyers told him that the Mailer quote persuaded them to stock graphic novels. And the rest, as they say, is history. Ancient Evenings is an awesome book. Start there.
Zhu’s mom is obviously proud of his perfect standard answer. “We bought a lot of informative books for him, which will expand his knowledge and improve his IQ,” she says.
After his mom went to the nearby aisle to get educational materials for him, Zhu says something completely different. “Actually, I prefer the ‘Harry Potter’ series and the Japanese manga ‘Slam-Dunk,’ but my mom would be upset if she heard this.”
Choreographer Serge Bennathan plays against expectation in Manga, a new duet on view at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. The work is titled after the wildly popular Japanese comic books, but there are no wide-eyed characters with keyhole mouths and no forwardly propulsive plot line either. There is, on the other hand, a set of quirky interactions between Toronto dancers Susie Burpee and Linnea Swan.
¶ Breaking news: Someday you may read manga on your cell phone!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/9/2007
§ Mangaka Rivkah on PBS:
The producer, Domenique Bellavia has her own blog and commentary on the show where you can reply and say how you liked it (or disliked it!) at http://www.docubloggers.org/?p=110
And I need to slow down when I speak. >_>; That’s about the rate my brain runs at.
§ Kevin Church examines CBG’s ratings system!
§ Behind the scenes at TV Guide’s Heroes covers.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/8/2007
§ Boy loses a grandfather… but gains a superhero
§ Whoops. Zuda honeymoon over.
§ Mark Evanier remembers Paul Norris and the Jungle Twins:
§ Marv Wolfman recalls his Disney Adventures days.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/5/2007
§ Maggie Thompson looks at SECRETS OF THE COMICS — from 1947.
§ Kazu Kibushi mourns the lost rides of Universal:
Last night, a bunch of us at the studio went to Universal Studios for their Halloween event, which was cheesy, but fun. I think the most horrific part of the evening, though, was seeing all of the parts from E.T. The Ride (now long gone…WHY?!) being cannibalized for use in some cheesy, cheap-scare horror mazes. I was really sad when I recognized the red VW bug from the forest, which they used for an accident scene in the Friday the 13th maze. I guess it’s fitting that it was surrounded by dead people. Rest in peace, E.T. The Ride. Anyway, check out Clio’s blog for a sketch of her experience. Also, I like this tiger.
§ What ever happened to Chester Brown’s graphic novel based on the works of Rene Girard?
§ The Huffington Post loves SHOOTING WAR:
Shooting War by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman is a clever book envisioning the world in 2011 — and it’s not any better. President McCain is still occupying Iraq, a mushroom cloud just rose over India and the network news is as news-less as ever. Enter 25-year-old Jimmy Burns, a 25-year-old New York City hipster with bad facial hair and a porn habit, who prompts the questions: what is journalism and what is journalist?
§ iFanboy looks at commercial webcomics with Zuda and ComicsMix.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/2/2007
§ The NY Daily News profiles…Jeffrey Brown?
But there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Brown’s comics. His sketchbook-style graphic novels are not all about parodies of eighties cartoons like “The Transformers.” His autobiographical works exhibit a raw, intimate look at his relationships through anecdotes from his everyday life.
§Brian Wood guest blogs at Blog@Newsarama from Lucca, Italy!:
I will just say that to say this is the best convention I could have imagined is an understatement. Lucca is a medieval walled city and the convention is literally everywhere - tents are set up in every main street, in every piazza, and in beautiful ancient churches and you stroll around as you please. It’s the most beautiful location ever, and combined with the European outlook on the art of comics and an espresso bar every 50 meters, I never want to leave. Even the worst of the cosplay feels elegant. 25,000 people visited the con today, and they are hoping for a total for the 4 days of over 100k. Lucca is the largest European con next to Angoulême.
§ Can comic books stop terrorism? Gee, we sure hope so!
§ Otaku begs Japan to take foreign-made manga seriously.
§ They’re making comic books in Scotland! Is there no end to the miracle of this so-called “universal language”?
§ Douglas Wolk is interviewed at kottke.org:
DW: “Comics culture” has always been a little bit tough for me to grapple with, partly because I’m looking at it from the inside. It’s a culture that’s immersed in comics and their history and economics and formal conventions, to the point where it can be difficult to read comics casually: you almost have to adopt (or work around) a certain cultural mode to pick up something with words and pictures and read it for pleasure, and that’s annoying. On the other hand, the culture of comics-readers does privilege deep knowledge, and in its eccentric way it’s deeply committed to being hospitable to newcomers; we care about this stuff a lot, and we like the feeling of being a community.
When you come up with those cartoons, do you get an image in your head first? What’s your starting point?
It really varies. Probably most of the time I have a more verbal idea, like something that’s funny, or something I’ve heard, or some funny thing that happened to me, gives me an idea for something else and that’s a verbal kind of thing. But sometimes I’m just doodling, and I’ll draw one of those end-of-the-world old men, and then suddenly I’ll see an idea for a cartoon once a picture is sort of there.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/30/2007
§ Murakami Gala– now that sounds fun! And Kanye was there!
§ Halloween stirs imagination in costume-loving Japan — the mind boggles.
A Halloween street party? “Ah, no, this is cos-play,” says 20-year-old Saori, referring to costume role-play, or the Japanese past-time of dressing up as their favourite animation movie character. “Halloween is different,” Saori says, giggling as she tugs at her hooded cape with cat ears. The cult around fancy dress, and Japan’s love of quirky festivals and eccentric trends in general, may go towards explaining why Halloween has turned from an obscure foreign celebration into a popular cultural event here.
§ Live action AKIRA film now possible?
§ CNet looks at Zuda:
Letting readers vote on the next comic get a year-long publishing contract is unique in the world of webcomics. Perazza and Dave McCullough, Zuda Comics’ tech guru, said that although they’re aiming for a wide range of genres, they’re not interested in presenting mismatched competitions. ‘’We’ll have filters and registration to screen stuff for mature readers. We wouldn’t match up a Sandmanesque series with a Scooby-Dooesque series,'’ said McCullough, pointing out that the audiences for Neil Gaiman’s hit graphic novel and the mystery-solving cartoon pooch shouldn’t be mixed.
§ The Boston Globe paints a picture of 24 Hour Comic Day:
The artists sketched in near silence. The group was a curious collection of the college-aged, the middle-aged, graduates and drop-outs, the professional and the counterculture, with one clear thing in common: They were working against the clock.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/29/2007
§ Over on his blog, Howard Cruse looks back at an 80s TV appearance:
Crumb and S. Clay Wilson being unavailable, it fell to me, a one-time flower-powered longhair who by 1984 had discovered the convenience of a shorter trim, to acquaint a mainstream television audience with what we dope-smoking, acid-tripping counterculture cartoonists of yore had brought forth once we applied our comix-creating impulses to the dispensation of outrageous sexual fantasies, religious transgression, political belligerence and, in my case, cockroach-infested parables on cosmic matters—all in “easy-to-read comic book form.”
Cartooning is not considered a “real” job in Brunei but those willing to take the leap of passion will find it rewarding.
§ Writer Clifford
Meth and artist by Rufus Dayglo, are running an original art contest to promote their new IDW mini-series SNAKED. Details here.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/24/2007
§ Tokyo officials say no to “Abnormal carnival.”.
§Shawn Williams reports on his 24 Hour Comics Day.
§ Three cultural phenomenon grafted together for the mega-event that must change our perceptions of reality itselfNaruto, Wii and competitive noodle eating:
On October 27th, the world’s hungriest competitive eaters will gather for the first-ever NARUTO™ Clash of Ninja™ Revolution World Ramen Noodle Eating Championship, the culmination of a multi-faceted launch event for the new Wii™ video game. Major League Eating have initiated a mandatory chopsticks rule for the competition, in keeping with the traditional method of consuming ramen.
§ Keith Giffen takes a look at comics book criticism sites.
§ Anurag Kashyap wants to make comic book movies and a thriller in Bhojpuri.
§ Director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) continues to explains the long, long tale of SOUTHLAND TALES:
Wired: You took Southland Tales to Comic-Con three times — but only this last year with a release date. That’s vindication.
Kelly: Man, was I glad to have a poster with me this time. I told the studio I couldn’t face Comic-Con again without an actual release date. I didn’t want to be the boy who cried wolf. I couldn’t stand feeling like people secretly thought that my movie was never going to come out, and yet I kept showing up, year after year, to promote it anyway.
§ Iain Jackson looks at Building A Superhero Universe; his rules inspire Brady Russell to do the same.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/22/2007
§ Some changes at the New York Comic-Con as Greg Topalian is promoted and BookExpo America director Lance Fensterman also takes over as NYCC show manager.
§ Amanda Fisher , owner of Muse Comics in Misssoula, Montana has been officially hired for the newly created role as ComicsPRO’s Communication Coordinator.
§ The writers of SUPERMAN RETURNS won’t return although Warners denies they are going for the “It never happened” version, ala HULK 2. One of the writers is working on a graphic novel!
§ Studio Tavicat has launched a new website.
§ Marvel editorial is having a moustache growing contest.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/22/2007
§ Writer Peter David recently portrayed Sancho Panza in a community theater presentations of MAN OF LA MANCHA. That’s him, above.
§ Lewis Shiner on Jack Jackson’s historical comics.
§ 70 SCAD students complete comic books in 24 hours
§ 24 Comic Day in Columbia, MO
§ Marjane Satrapi interviewed in the NY Times:
Are you suggesting that veiling and unveiling women are equally reductive?
I disagree. We have to look at ourselves here also. Why do all the women get plastic surgery? Why? Why? Why should we look like some freaks with big lips that look like an anus? What is so sexy about that? What is sexy about having something that looks like a goose anus?
§ Valerie D’Orazio reviews the entire Minx line :
The short, big-headed, huge-eyed spunky protagonist with the bobbed hair. Where have I read this before? Just about in every Minx book I read.
§ Brit visits New York in search of Spider-man. Didn’t he hear about the knishes?
§ Peanuts creator lonely, complex.
§ NY Times fashions music/comics Venn diagram.
§ Steve Niles’ picks for best cinematic vampires.
[quote] Oh noes , we’re not going THERE! [/quote]
Is there a link missing THERE?
[quote] PL: I don’t know if it’s “event fatigue” on the part of the readers, but like any trick, if you keep doing it over and over, you’re going to not do it well at some point, and the audience will get tired of seeing the same old trick and, if not get up and walk out, at least start shuffling in their seats. You’ve got to vary your game. [/quote]
Someone understands me! Yay!
Thanks for mentioning “The Dreaming” item, Heidi. I felt really bad about Paul and Katie (as did alot of folks at TOKYOPOP when we realised what happened), but I’m glad they got recognition for their work.