Current Transmissions
Test post
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
- February 28, 2011 @ 05:07 PM by admin
Talking Comics with Tim | Matt Howarth on The Downsized
The Downsized
Years ago, my first taste of independent comics came via Matt Howarth‘s Those Annoying Post Bros. And since then, I’ve always found myself attracted to Howarth’s visual style. So when my pal, AdHouse big chief Chris Pitzer, offered me a chance to email interview Howarth, regarding his new book The Downsized (set to be released in March) I was borderline giddy. This is an interview where I went in thinking I had done an adequate amount of research about Howarth’s career, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn there was a hell of a lot I did not know about. After reading the interview, be sure to check out the seven-page preview of the 80-page book (described as “A parent’s 50th wedding anniversary gives old friends a reason to reunite and take stock of their lives.“). My thanks to Howarth for tolerating some of my ignorance to make for a solid examination of his creative interests.
Tim O’Shea: My first question is not uniquely about The Downsized, per se–but rather your work as a whole. How did you come upon the way you draw people’s hairstyles? No one else (with the possible exception of Art Adams) draw hair in quite the unique way that you do (and I mean that as a compliment).
Matt Howarth: Years ago a friend remarked how weird my characters’ hair was, forcing me to analyze why. I’m afraid the reason is more a limitation on my part than any stylistic choice. I’ve never been very adept with a brush; technical pens are my preferred instrument because they afford me more control over the lines. So instead of inking hair with supple brush strokes, I resort to dotted lines. As far as the overall shape of my characters’ hairdos, I don’t perceive hair as a collection of strands but as a mass, not unlike a piece of cloth draped atop someone’s head. All rationalization aside, I’m afraid I draw hair the way I do because that’s just the way it comes out.
- February 28, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Happy birthday, Pokémon!
Anime News Network notes that yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the release of the first Pokémon game, Pokémon Red and Green. That game gave rise to a whole series of other games, as well as four anime series, numerous manga series, feature films, and even chapter books. (The chapter books presented a unique challenge for the authors, who had to somehow allow the Pokémon to express complex thoughts and emotions with a one-word vocabulary: their names.)
It also helped shape the manga industry as we know it today. A few years ago I talked to manga translator and scholar Matt Thorn, who was a freelance translator for Viz in their early days. Thorn described the atmosphere as “laid-back” and the company itself as having only three employees, including the president, Seiji Horibuchi. “For [parent company] Shogakukan, it was almost a vanity project,” he said. “They didn’t expect it to make money.”
And then Pokémon came along. Recalls Matt,
One day, I got a call from Shogakukan Productions. They said, “We’re going to try to promote Pokemon in the U.S., and we’d like you to help.” I said, “I’d love to, but I’m really busy these days, so I’m afraid I can’t. And to be honest, I don’t think Pokemon will fly in America.”
Despite Matt’s misgivings, of course, Pokémon went on to become a media phenomenon in the States, and Viz is now the largest manga publisher in the business, thanks at least in part to that initial burst of energy from Pikachu and his pals.
- February 28, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Bon voyage to the very first comics blogger
Neilalien, the pseudonymous/palindromic blogger behind the Doctor Strange-centric site of the same name, celebrated his eleventh anniversary of blogging on Friday. He did so by announcing he wouldn’t be blogging anymore, at least not for the immediate future and not with anywhere near the regularity and intensity he’d previously maintained if and when he returns.
To call this the end of an era would be a considerable understatement. Neilalien was the very first comics blogger, launching his blog on the unthinkable date of February 25, 2000 — long before most of us had even heard of blogging, much less started doing it ourselves. It was roughly another three years before enough comics readers started blogging about the medium and the industry, and engaging one another in the process, that the “comics blogosphere” could even be said to exist. Neilalien became a vital part of that community largely through remaining partially apart from it — quick to swipe at perceived groupthink, content to go his own way in terms of what he was reading and writing and why. While the heterodox linkblogging and no-holds-barred industry commentary of Dirk Deppey’s early ¡Journalista¡ blog for The Comics Journal helped link comics blogs to one another and make the existing comics-internet infrastructure of major news sites and message boards aware of the blogosphere as a source of news and commentary, Neilalien’s more personal approach led by example, if you will. Here was a guy who didn’t work in the biz and had no aspirations of doing so, a guy who just really liked Doctor Strange and wanted to get his thoughts on and discoveries about the character and his goings-on out there, a guy who in the process would champion worthwhile non-Doc comics everywhere from the Big Two to the tables at MoCCA, a guy whose blog was nothing more or less than what interested him and what he felt like saying about it. The model blogger, basically. And his carefully maintained anonymity — I’ve had lunch with the man and still don’t know his real name — lent him an aura of mystery in this put-it-all-out-there-for-all-to-see medium.
With Deppey (who incidentally was sort of Neilalien’s Baron Mordo) already gone and many other figures in the early comics blogosphere either dormant or enmeshed in other fields, Neilalien’s retirement leaves the scene nearly unrecognizable from what it once was. Major comics news sites, even corporately owned offshoots of major media conglomerates, have adopted the blog model (you’re looking at one such effort right now). And in today’s hit-obsessed climate, the idea that a site like Neilalien’s, blissfully unconcerned with anything that didn’t concern its creator, could have played a central role in the comics blogosphere is difficult to comprehend. That’s what makes his departure such a loss. And if nothing else, his passionately and frequently articulated conviction that there’s nothing wrong with Doctor Strange that smarter, better, more imaginative writing on the part of Marvel’s creators couldn’t cure will remain advice worth heeding, even if he’s no longer around to dole it out with the conclusion of each fresh Bendis New Avengers arc.
Vaya con Agamotto, my friend. I’ll miss you.
- February 28, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Black Swan, meet Red Hulk
SPOILER ALERT: This Hulk-themed parody of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan by the merry miscreants of Marvel Super Heroes: What The–?! contains no scenes of hot Hulk-on-Hulk action, and Bruce Banner does not attempt to activate his potential inner Red Hulk by feverishly masturbating without realizing that the Maestro is asleep in the corner of the room. That said, it’s a pretty damn funny video anyway, with the Hulk in the Natalie Portman role and the Red Hulk as her doppelganger and/or Mila Kunis. (Man, now that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.) I just keep mentally circling back to the Leader, who is somehow even sleazier than Vincent Cassell’s French-stereotype choreographer, telling the Hulk that the Red Hulk’s smashing is superior because “He’s not faking it!”, and cracking up all over again.
Click here to see the full version of the video, which also features a parody of 127 Hours with Deadpool as James Franco (I’m sure viewers of last night’s Oscar broadcast can only ruefully wish the Merc with a Mouth had replaced Franco there, too) and a True Grit riff starring M.O.D.O.K. as Jeff Bridges and Gremlin as Hailee Steinfeld. (Sometimes I love this job.)
- February 28, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
CBLDF, Cryptozoic to release comic censorship trading cards
Liberty Trading Cards
Cryptozoic Entertainment is working with The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund to create a set of 70 trading cards that chronicle the history of comic book censorship. The cards will be released in July, no doubt just in time for Comic-Con International in San Diego.
In addition to the base set, special sketch and autograph cards will also be available. Already signed on to participate are Geoff Johns, Neil Gaiman, Darwyn Cooke, Gail Simone, Mark Waid, Brian Azzarello, Paul Levitz, Denny O’Neil, Frank Quitely, Phil Hester and many more. You can see some of the sketch cards that have already been created on the CBLDF site.
“The generous response from the creative community has been overwhelming,” said CBLDF Board President Larry Marder. “The most impressive gesture has been how many creators are briefly lending CBLDF their Intellectual Property for this project only. Creators letting us borrow their characters for these artists to sketch include Jeff Smith, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, John Layman, Jim Valentino, Matt Wagner, Rob Liefeld, Stan Sakai, Eric Powell, Mike Richardson, and many others.”
You can find the complete press release after the jump.
- February 28, 2011 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
Oni Press teams with rapper Adam WarRock for Oni Press Mixtape
Oni Press Mixtape
Oni Press and nerdcore rapper Adam WarRock have teamed up to create The Oni Press Mixtape, which features musical tracks by WarRock inspired by Stumptown, Queen & Country, The Sixth Gun, Hopeless Savages and several other Oni titles.
In addition, it features “interlude” tracks with creators such as Greg Rucka, Cullen Bunn, Jen Van Meter and Jarrett Williams, who created the artwork for the album. It can be downloaded for free from Adam WarRock’s website. And if you’re in Seattle this weekend, Adam WarRock will perform tracks from his new album at Kracklefest during the Emerald City ComiCon. The concert also features Kirby Krackle and H2Awesome.
- February 28, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Another delay for Spider-Man? CCI hotel reservations
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Broadway | The New York Times reports the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark are considering delaying the $65 million musical for a sixth time, until as late as June, a move that would make the show ineligible for this year’s Tony Awards. Speculation about another possible postponement follows a wave of scathing reviews, reports that comics writer and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had been approached to rewrite the book, and the hiring of veteran conductor and musical supervisor Paul Bogaev to help improve the production. A spokesman for the show would only say that, “Opening night remains scheduled for March 15.” [ArtsBeat]
Comic-Con | Hotel reservations for Comic-Con International will open at 9 a.m. PT on March 9. A preliminary list of hotels included in the Comic-Con block is available on the convention website. [Comic-Con International]
- February 28, 2011 @ 08:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Shaun Tan nabs the Oscar for animated short
Australian creator Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novels have brought him considerable acclaim, including the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist, and the French edition of his graphic novel The Arrival won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book.
Now he has another award to add to his growing collection: The Lost Thing, co-directed by Tan and based on his book of the same name, won this year’s Oscar for Best Short Film (Animated). In an interview before the awards ceremony, Tan told School Library Journal’s Chelsey Philpot that Australian producer Sophie Bryne approached him after The Lost Thing won an award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and proposed making it into a short film. After a bit of persuasion, Tan agreed, and he started what would become a nine-year process: The film was begun in 2001 and finally finished in 2010.
And he’s already thinking ahead to the next film: Tan told SLJ that while he was in LA for the Oscar ceremony, he would be meeting with some people about making a feature-length film of another of his books, The Arrival.
- February 27, 2011 @ 10:05 PM by Brigid Alverson
What Are You Reading?
2000 AD Prog #1722
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Our special guest this week is Mark Kardwell, who can be found blogging regularly over at Bad Librarianship Now or rocking out with the Klams.
To find out what Mark and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …
- February 27, 2011 @ 04:47 PM by JK Parkin
Saturday Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, where we feature someone’s comic and toy-filled shelves. Today’s Shelf Porn comes from Jason Horn, creator of the webcomic Ninjasaur, which is about a dinosaur that’s also a ninja.
If you’d like to submit your Shelf Porn, please email some pictures and a write-up describing your shelves to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now let’s hear from Jason …
- February 26, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Introducing… the Astonishing A$$holes
As artist It’s always fun to see a dramatic new take on an existing character or concept. Some are official like the upcoming X-Men: First Class movie, or in-comics revamps like DC’s Blue Beetle or Marvel’s upcoming “Age of X” series. But with the freedom of the internet, any artist can get into the fray and crank off an off-the-wall take on their favorite character. You might have seem what Dean Trippe and I encourage over at ProjectRooftop.com, but this next batch of art is something entirely more extreme.
Over the last few months a ragtag group of illustrators, concept artists and 3d modelers have been doing some sketchjams with unique takes on different characters that have riled up the internet. From their “badass” Pixar characters to their brilliant revamp of two Nintendo stalwarts, this group has really let out their inner fanboys meet their outer art professionals. And now they’re taking on Marvel’s X-Men with… the Astonishing A$$holes.
Jorge Lacera explains, “our basic idea is taking the X-men and really fulfiling on the promise of teenage, punk, angsty super powered drama.”
- February 26, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Arrant
One Piece takes over train in Japan
In America we’ve seen manga take over the hearts and minds of a large portion of younger people, but it looks like the manga One Piece is taking it one step further on a train route to Akihabara. Japanator.com‘s Dale North posted pictures of this unique occurrence and talked about his experience, saying:
Right above my head, next to me, and all around this entire train were One Piece images. Every spot where advertising would usually be was filled with One Piece manga art, blown up to epic sizes. They were done in such a way that you couldn’t gather too much content from them, but at the same time, they were entertaining on their own. I walked my entire car and onto others, finding that the whole train was packed full of awesome One Piece art and happy onlookers.
North continues to say that the exterior of the train also had color One Piece artwork near each door, and the monitors inside the train played several “fun multiple choice One Piece quizzes.”
For more on this, see North’s full post at Japanator.com.
Let me just say this — NYC is home to many comic companies, as well as subway lines. Someone talk to the transit authority. Come on, Spider-man saved one of your trains in Spider-Man 2!
- February 26, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Chris Arrant
The Fifth Color | A bold new era with the passing of the last
There are two constants in this world: death & taxes. And because no one wants to watch the X-Men note their deductibles in a double-sized gate-fold covered extravaganza, we see a lot of death in comics. Much like origin stories, deaths are a reward to read because we are witness to moments of change and a new beginning in an old, familiar life.
By now I take it for granted that everyone knows who Spider-Man is. Pop culture has evolved in such a way that people can recognize a lot of obscure heroes that we normally reserved for the True Believer. But that doesn’t mean people know everything and, like I said, people are excited to be there when it first happened, or even just when the last thing happened.
Ratings go up when the last episode of a television show airs. No one ever asks me at my comic shop for the most recent volume of the Walking Dead when they are inspired by the new TV show, they want the first volume even though it will recap some information they’ve already seen. Marvel’s Point One program could be that entry point for curious readers who at least know the basics, but want to have that thrill of being there when it first happened, whatever that may be.
Then what? Yeah, we all want to be there when Peter slings his first web or when the puny Banner transforms into the brutish Hulk for the first time, but there’s always more to that story than just its beginning. You can’t just string a bunch of events together, over and over, starting something and never finishing it. Stories that highlight this brave new start have to go on after that moment and never be the same again. If you use a death to highlight a moment in your story, things simply can’t return to normal the next issue. These beginnings and endings have to matter for the reader to be enticed to the next issue. Sure, Stacy X died in an issue of the most recent incarnation of the New Warriors, but that death meant nothing to the greater comics stories at large, no one important took it to heart and most likely she’ll come back as a zombie or a movie cameo, and that moment will be empty.
Two books came out this week in a double whammy of mourning, teaching me at least a little about how to do these beginnings and endings right. I’d like to give these two issues a toast, to the future of these characters and the undiscovered country that awaits them both.
(WARNING: Hey everybody, people died in comics! If you don’t know who these people are or haven’t caught up on the Fantastic Four or Amazing Spider-Man, please go do so. These are pretty phenomenal books right now, and they will win you over with excellent storytelling and astounding artwork. If you already know who lives and dies, read on and let’s discover some country. Read on!)
- February 25, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Carla Hoffman
View a test film from abandoned Kavalier and Clay motion picture
Although it wasn’t a comic, the novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon took the comics world — and the New York Times bestseller’s list — by storm when it was released. The novel made Chabon an unofficial luminary in comics circles, and even promoted a spin-off comic series years later through Dark Horse. With all the success, there’s been a lot of talk of a possible film adaptation, with names such as Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman attached at times but so far nothing ever got beyond the planning stages.
Although we’ve got no finished film to see, artist Jamie Caliri has recently posted online a live action / animated sequence that producer Scott Rudin (No Country For Old Men, True Grit) commissioned from him in an effort to win funding for a full-length movie. Nothing came of it, but this well-done short film gives us a real taste of what could have been.
(Thanks to Katey Rich at CinemaBlend.com for the find!)
- February 25, 2011 @ 03:30 PM by Chris Arrant