How to use this Page

  [Recently Joe Casey conducted an email interview with a writer for a now deceased site. I expressed an interest in running it on the Beat, but was unable to contact the original writer despite repeated attempts. As its general internet principle that the interviewee owns the written answers, I agreed to run Joe’s answers, as he’s […]

Story:

Joe Casey

Art:

Paul Maybury

Letters:

Rus Wooton

Designer:

Sonia Harris

Flats:

Ricky Valenzuela

Publisher:

Image Comics

Their names are legend: the Glorious Knox! Greg Horn the Battlebjörn! Jhago the Irritator! Three warrior gods vacationing on Earth, just looking to get their drink on and have a good time! Join the drunken festivities with toastmasters JOE CASEY (SEX) and PAUL MAYBURY (SOVEREIGN). The new mythology begins now!

Joe Casey’s Valhalla Mad has been a long time coming. The author’s satirical look at Thor and the Warriors Three from Marvel certainly had a lot of potential when it was initially announced. Joining Casey for pencils in his exploration of myth is Paul Maybury. Knox, Greg, and Jhago return for a visit to Earth home to find things out of place and the innocence of the previous decades that they were used to almost completely eradicated.

The first thing really striking about this comic is how it is presented to the reader with production design that can be likened to that of an old book. The first page for readers to see after the opening the title adds more to the texture of the series looking like a frayed old manuscript — where thereafter the series reveals a credits page with beautifully aged font. Graphic designer Sonia Harris’ influence can really enjoyed by the reader. Maybury’s pencils are subtle and designed to seem ancient, the artist perfectly colors his own work — allowing his pencils to accentuated in just the right manner. Also, the Jack Kirby designs on the leads are wonderfully retro — and make me wish that the Odinson retained more of his classic look as well. Readers can tell that Maybury has a deep love of the King’s artwork, as this series doesn’t seem to be talking down to those older 60’s comics.

Casey’s flowery prose given to the three leads are presented in a poignant, but in an interesting manner that illustrates the author’s strong command on language. As the series goes on it will be interesting to take a look at how far the scribe has developed the mythology of Viken, the homeworld of the gods. One such example of fine mythology is how Knox and his people are returning to Earth, and happy to see the older members of the force that they had previously spent time with before. The different attitudes towards the three characters allows for a comparison of the different world of the 60’s comics that the trio likely originated from. Surprisingly, it takes the the trio of this comic quite a while before they are able to taste the mead of our world. However, the scene in which they do is justly audacious.

This first issue barely has a plot — being that there are a couple of people coming back to Earth to spend some time partying. With comics now being so driven by events and violence, spending a few moments getting to know who these characters are is pleasant. Also, seeing the people of Earth’s different reactions to these characters is quite profound. Not every bystander in this comic has the same thing to say about these people. Some remember Knox and company — and some do not. Next installment offers some teases of the plot kicking into gear and becoming more grand. For the time being, this comic should offer Thor fans some old-fashioned mead-induced fun. Maybury’s detailed and triumphant artwork paired with Casey’s love of wordplay transforms this first installment into a joyous celebration of the different kinds of places comics can take us.

It’s almost quitting time here in EDT so let’s leave the week with something FUN for a change.

Why just do a comic book based on a classically of it time TV show when you can reinvent it as an acid trip that bends time and
space? And hooray for licensors who let you get away with it. Miami Vice: Remix by Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood is anything but a dull TV show comic…it’s an audacious tale on tropes and icons, and a gem in the Lion Forge line-up.

Last month, the TV classic Miami Vice came back in a whole new way with the neo-noir, ultraviolet, action-packed Miami Vice: Remix. The first issue left readers cliff-hanging but never fear — the next installment of car chases, palm trees, and mutation-inducing designer drugs is here!

When we last left Crockett and Tubbs (still Miami’s coolest cops) they were in a sticky situation with some South Florida zombies high on Miami Bath Salts. Now they’re in hot pursuit of the dealer of this horrific nose candy, which leads them to punching cracked-out monsters in the face while zooming through Florida Turnpike traffic. Just another day at the office! But while one situation explodes, another simmers; someone who’s got serious beef with our $600-suit-wearing-heroes claims that Crockett’s got a serious debt to pay — and they’re here to collect!

Writer Joe Casey (Godland, Wildcats, Adventures of Superman) and artist Jim Mahfood (Tank Girl, Ultimate Spider-Man, Grrl Scouts) take their off-the-wall trip to South Beach to the next level with another high-energy, neon-soaked installment, in-stores next Wednesday.

Issue #2
Pub Date: April 22, 2015
Item Code: FEB150372

Issue #3
Pub Date: May 13, 2015
Item Code: MAR150456

Issue #4
Pub Date: June 17, 2015
Item Code: APR150489

With movies and TV shows based on comics unavoidable no matter where you turn, I’ve often wondered why there aren’t more indie movies based on indie comics. Part of the reason is that it’s just so darned hard to fund any indie movie any more. But it does happen. And if you had reminded me that Officer Downe, the one shot comic by Joe Casey and Chris Burnham was being actually made, with Slipnot’s main clown Shawn Crahan directing, I would have said “oh yeah, April Fools.” Not because it isn’t good source material but it sounds so darned unlikely.

But nope, the film is BEING MADE AS WE SPEAK, with filming underway in LA. Casey is co-creator/screenwriter/producer and his Man of Action cohorts (Steve Seagle, Duncan Rouleau and Joe Kelly) are producers via Man of Action Entertainment. Other producers include Skip Williamson (Underworld), Mark Neveldine (Crank), Cole Payne (Downloading Nancy) and Cory Brennan (Slipknot manager). Voltage Pictures is repping the film internationally. The cast includes Kim Coates as Officer Downe, Tyler Ross (Zombieland, American Milkshake) as Officer Gable, Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), Lauren Velez (Dexter) as Police Chief Berringer, and Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly) and Bruno Gunn (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) as Officers Carter and Fritch.

The film as with the comic, involves an LA cop who keeps dying and coming back on the streets to fight crime.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better group of actors here. They way they’re all bringing the thunder, we’re absolutely gonna melt brains with this flick,” said Casey in a statement.

Man of Action got a huge amount of notice as the creators of Big Hero Six, but they have also produced many many comics, as well as many many episodes of Spiderman, the Avengers and so on. And, oh yeah, created Ben 10 and Generator Rex. Casey himself has amassed quite a body of very quirky work, including Sex, Gødland, Butcher, Baker the Righteous Maker and Nixon’s Pals (also with Burnham). Add it all together and you’ll think, it’s about time someone made a movie based on a Joe Casey comic! If you’re looking for the Earth-One Mark Millar, he could be your guy.

Fellow MoA Joe Kelly’s I Kill Giants was recently put into production with Anders Walter directing. Lots of action with those Man of Actioners.

It’s Oscar Eve! I’ll toss out a few Oscar Predictions towards the bottom of today’s round-up, but let’s get to what’s making headlines today in the world of comics-based entertainment.

– In a piece about a possible future Gal Gadot project, Deadline has reported that the actress will begin filming Wonder Woman in the fall. If that’s indeed the case, the never quite made official release date of June 23rd, 2017 sounds pretty likely to be met for the Michelle MacLaren production.

– The official Daredevil Netflix series twitter feed teased out the following photo yesterday:

Be careful of the Murdock boys. They got the devil in them. #Daredevilpic.twitter.com/ycGOg5sQnz

— Daredevil (@Daredevil) February 20, 2015

The indication being that Daredevil’s father Jack Murdock fought The Absorbing Man at some point in the series’ history. Though, depending on the age that Creel is portrayed as, this could present a bit of a continuity issue since Creel appeared as an adversary of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team during the first few episodes of this current season. Perhaps his power keeps him from aging?

– Sons of Anarchy star Kim Coates has been cast as the lead in the upcoming feature film adaptation of Officer Downe, based on the Image comic by Joe Casey and Chris Burnham. Officer Downe will mark the directorial debut of Shawn Crahan aka Clown, co-founder of the metal act Slipknot, while Casey is penning the script.

– And finally, Supergirl now has a matriarchal figure for Melissa Benoist‘s Kara, as Nashville‘s Laura Benanti has signed on to play Alura Zor-El. Alura will be a recurring role in the series, offering her daughter guidance that echoes through space and time.

While Torsten will have a much better and comprehensive write-up on The Beat shortly, for whatever it’s worth, here are my Oscar predictions for tomorrow night in the major categories.:

Best Picture: Birdman

Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman

Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Best Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Adapted Screenplay: Damien Chazelle, Whiplash (no guts, no glory over here!)

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman

Best Editing: Sandra Adair, Boyhood

Leave it to Joe Casey. He’s a Pied Piper of the unusual, writing superheroes everywhere and dragging fresh art styles along with him (Sex at Image, Catalyst Comics at Dark Horse). This time it’s Dynamite’s Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #5 which features art by Nathan Fox and Connor Willumsen. Fox is of course a terrific illustrator, cartoonist and teacher. Willumsen is a wandering ronin of comics who every once in a while pops up with a mind boggling experimental comic.

And Joe Casey is just one of a kind. And what better crew to take on Jack Kirby’s twilight weirdness, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers?

On sale today!

Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #5
Joe Casey (w)
Nathan Fox, Connor Willumsen (a)
Nathan Fox (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99 • Teen+
FANS, ASK YOUR RETAILER FOR THE:
Nathan Fox “Virgin Art” retailer incentive cover
The crew of the Dreadnaught Tiger is within reach of their goal! But can they get to Captain Victory — either one of them — before they’re destroyed by the hostile environments they’re stuck in? Cosmic Armageddon is right around the corner!

Lion Forge Comics and IDW Publishing are teaming up to produce the Miami Vice Remix comic series. The story comes from the classic 80′s TV show.

Writer Joe Casey and artist Jim Mahfood will collaborate on this project together. The first issue will be released in February 2015.

Here’s more from the press release: “The comic follows the Metro-Dade Police Department detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs through modern-day Miami as they go undercover facing dangerous encounters with voodoo, zombies and Crockett’s mysterious past…Miami Vice Remix is the latest Lion Forge title crossing over from digital to hard copy through IDW. The comic joins licensed and celebrity titles Rampage Jackson: Street Soldier and Saved By The Bell, which also are based on hit NBC television series.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Lion Forge, the mostly digital but going to print comics company, picked up some nice 80s licenses like Punky Brewster and Miami Vice.

In the modern era of licensing, it isn’t about likenesses and wooden stories, but about reimagining things.

So Lion Forge hired Joe Casey and artist Jim Mahfood to do Miami Vice. Bringing Crockett and TUbbs to the modern day.

Since both Casey and Mahfood are certifiably bonkers*** this is awesome.

***That was a loving joke. Both are sane, responsible adults. Please do not sue me, Joe and Jim.

What have Image got to offer us? Y’know, on top of EVERYTHING ELSE they’ve been offering us this year? Here’s a look at the books announced tonight at their SDCC panel. I’ll throw some pictures at the bottom, but let’s just try and get a hang on just what’s being announced! They are announcing TONNES OF COMICS. I’ll re-update this with new pictures and info as soon as possible, folks.

So far we have:

Non-Humans - Whilce Portacio and Glen Brunswick

Nowhere Men – Eric Stephenson

Satellite Sam - Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin.

A murder mystery set in the world of children’s television.

Pretty Deadly - KellySue DeConnick and Emma Rios

A spaghetti western in classic style

Multiple Warheads – Brandon Graham

Saviour - James Robinson and J. Bone

About an alien invasion of earth by shapeshifters, and a stoner’s attempts to stop them

Sex - Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski

The Bounce – Joe Casey and David Messina

Lazarus – Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

Gritty sci-fi thriller set in a dystopian future

Reign – Chris Roberson and Paul Mayberry

Oliver – Darick Robertson and Gary Whitta

Point of Impact – Jay Faerber

Great Pacific – Joe Harris

In November the Beat participated in a campaign for the upcoming Image book Butcher Baker

Along the way we thought it would be cool to put some of it in sharable form. Casey obviously has quite a career to draw examples from: for the past decade plus he’s worked steadily at the big two while still putting out a sizable body of creator owned work from a variety of publishers. As part of the Man of Action

THE BEAT: So Joe, for a whole month we featured a series of bizarre, filthy and mysterious teasers that turned out to be in preparation for your new book BUTCHER BAKER with Mike Huddleston. What the hell ever gave you the idea for this kind of promo?


Joe Casey: Okay, look… we’ve all seen teaser campaigns before. We know ‘em, we love ‘em, we can’t get enough of ‘em… but I was kinda curious just how long one could be sustained. Turns out, a month of weekdays was just about the limit. But we had the material available, Image was down with the idea (and, in fact, Eric Stephenson had helped me hatch the initial plan), so I figured why the hell not? I think maybe I thought, on some unconscious level, it would reassure readers and retailers that we’ve been banking material way ahead of actually soliciting it… so that the book will come out when we say it’s gonna come out. But once I got into it, it morphed into something where I was simply having a good time with it.