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daily journal
Watchmen 2: Electric Boogaloo Today parts of the Intertubes are all aflutter about the rumor that DC is seriously considering publishing some sequel or prequel books based on Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbon's monumental Watchmen novel. Most comic book fans shudder at the thought. It would be like making Citizen Kane 2. It's a sentiment that I share.  My problem with that argument is that with DK2, you had the same creative talent taking on the characters and settings that they crafted the first time around. Miller wrote and drew the first series. He was back to play in the same sandbox in 2001. There is no way in hell Alan Moore would touch a project like this, let alone even acknowledge its existence. His hatred of DC is legendary and well documented. And I would expect Dave Gibbons to fall in line behind Alan Moore – though not for the same reasons. So without Moore and Gibbons DC will have different talent coming in to play with a landmark piece of comic literature. I don’t see that going well. Memories of the dismal Scarlet come to mind. DC would serve themselves best to leave well enough alone. Watchmen has become their biggest selling graphic novel because of Moore’s and Gibbon’s perfect creative synergy in a standalone piece of literature that has not been diluted with spin-offs and sequels. The books remains powerful for its superb storytelling technique, provocative themes, and memorable characters. Hopefully DC will leave it that way. posted by Brendan | 7:29 PM | permanent link
SMILE Trailer Raina Telgemeier is a fantastically talented artist best known for her work on the Baby-sitter Club comic adaptations. Her new book, out now, is called SMILE and is auto-biographical in nature. The book is a memoir of her teen years, which start our badly when she trips and seriously damages her two front teeth. I've been ready nothing but great things about the books leading up to its release, and today I saw this trailer for the book. All said, it looks like a fun and interesting read. I hope to find a copy of it sometime soon. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 1:11 PM | permanent link Quest vs Venture The battle we've all been waiting for.  posted by Brendan | 12:58 PM | permanent link
Axe Cop Axe Cop is an online comic by Malachai and Ethan Nicolle. The comic stars Axe Cop, a police officer who vanquishes evil by using a fireman's axe to chop the bad guy's head off, and his partner, a half-man/half-avocado who used to be a half-man/half-dinosaur who used to be a cop who used a flute for a weapon. Yes, it's as crazy-cool as it seems.  Best part. It's written by a 5 year-old boy. Ethan Nicolle is an Eisner Award nominated comic book creator. Malachai is his 5 year-old little brother. Malachai comes up with the beautifully bizarre Axe Cop stories and Ethan brings them to life in pencil and ink. Go read the stories. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 1:46 PM | permanent link
Batman by Ted Naifeh I'm totally digging Ted Naifeh's sketches of Batman and related characters. Not sure if he's trying to audition for DC in a plan for them to throw a Batman story his way, but I enjoy the perks of getting to see how he sees the character.  Labels: art, Batman, Comics, DC posted by Brendan | 7:21 PM | permanent link
Zorro by Chris Samnee A group of comic book artists launched a blog, Comic Twart, this week based around this basic premise: one member of the group will suggest a character to draw and then everyone else has to draw and post there artwork. There is a lot of great artistic talent involved and I'm kinda excited to see what sort of work we see over the next few weeks. The inaugural subject is Zorro. I found Chris Samnee's entry to be my favorite.  Just working with blacks and whites, his Zorro artwork has an level of energy that I can't remember since Frank Miller's first Sin City story. I pretty much liked all the Zorro entries, by Samnee's stood out. posted by Brendan | 5:23 PM | permanent link
Happy 75th Birthday, DC Comics 75 years ago today, on January 11, 1935, New Fun #1 went on sale. The comic was published by the company that would come to call themselves DC Comics and provide its readers some memorable characters and stories.  I'm just glad they've hung around this long to publish fun and innovative stories starring some of the most interesting characters in literature. posted by Brendan | 8:04 AM | permanent link
Civil War Adventures Here's something I want to add to my reading list: Civil War Adventures  I'm not familiar with Kwapisz's art, but the samples on the website look good. Chuck Dixon is one of the best comic book writers in the business. I think it is impossible for him to not craft a compelling and entertaining story. With Dixon's writing and the amount of historical research that will be going into these comics, I expect the books from History Graphics Press to be a great read. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on one. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:42 PM | permanent link
Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty Kevin Huizenga drew these fictional nemeses for the Famous Fictional Villains show in St. Louis.  posted by Brendan | 5:01 PM | permanent link
More Halloween Comics Even though I'm not much of a Halloween fan, I still enjoy the themed artwork/comics the holiday can inspire. Following on yesterday's post on Chris Ware's Halloween cover for The New Yorker, today I've got a splendarific comic from Cul de Sac creator Richard Thompson.  I can so relate to what goes on in this comic. via [The Beat]. posted by Brendan | 4:56 PM | permanent link
Chris Ware Covers Halloween Chris Ware did a wonderful cover for this week's issue of The New Yorker  He also contributed a comic inside that is equally well done. posted by Brendan | 4:49 PM | permanent link
Almost Like Someone Was Planning It I was re-watching the Tim Burton directed Batman Returns last week when a thought occurred to me. If you look at the arch of Batman films that have been released since 1989’s Batman (also directed by Burton) through last year’s Christopher Nolan helmed The Dark Knight, they follow the same evolution in character depiction that the Batman comics have moved through over the years.  When the Batman character debuted in 1939 in Detective Comics #27, he was partially modeled after the pulp heroes and vigilantes that were popular of the day. Bob Kane and Bill Finger drew inspiration from The Shadow and The Spider, characters who hunted criminals as much as they protected the innocent. Like these pulp heroes, Batman was sinister and brooding, and not at all averse to letting the bad guy die. In these early Batman comics, Batman wouldn’t purposely kill the villain outright, but at the same time he wouldn’t try and save the villain. This characterization of Batman is similar to what you see in the Batman films directed by Tim Burton – Batman and Batman Returns. Batman is a defender of good, but he drifts into amoral territory when it comes to handling the villains. This most notably happens in the second film, Batman Returns. In that film, Batman is seen using the jet exhaust from the Batmobile to set a fire-breathing thug aflame, makes no attempt to prevent the Penguin from crashing through a roof window and dropping to his ultimate death, and even attaches a ticking time bomb to a muscle-bound heavy before tossing him into a tunnel just prior to explosion.  Just like the arrival of Dr. Wertham and his cronies dramatically changed the comic book landscape in the 1950s, the arrival of director Joel Schumacher to the Bat-franchise dramatically changed the caped crusader on the silver screen in the middle 1990s. To try and protect itself from the comic book witch hunts of the 1950s, DC comics made Batman friendlier and less threatening. The colors became brighter, the stories became tamer, and there was certainly no killing – by anyone, villain or hero. The new nice-nice version of Batman hit its zenith in the mid 1960’s with the arrival of the uber-campfest of the Batman television show; which the comic books instantly set out to emulate. What started out as a happier, less threatening Batman ended up with day-glow backgrounds and a “chummy” Dynamic Duo that was more slap-stick than sinister.  Batman & Robin, Schumacher’s second Bat-film, is the modern day interpretation of the campy 1960’s Batman television show – but without any of the sense of fun. Over the top sets, ridiculous storylines, and general silliness abound. The only thing missing was the onscreen “Biffs” and “Pows” for when Batman and Robin smacked the bad guys.  This brings us to the third and modern era of Batman. Christopher Nolan comes along to breathe new life into the Batman movie franchise, and calls upon for inspiration from the comics the resurrected Batman from his campy comic book persona. Artist Neal Adams and writer Denny O’Neil reasserted Batman’s grittier, pulp hero roots when they started spinning Batman stories for DC Comics in the mid-1970’s; and Frank Miller further refined the character as a noir, street-level hero with his work on Batman in two works: Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. These comic creators, along with other working in the 70’s and 80’s, not only redefined Batman, but also introduced the idea that superheroes could be used to tell sophisticated, multi-layered stories.  The Dark Knight came this close to being nominated for an Academy Award for outstanding movie of the year. The amount of critical praise lauded on the film demonstrated that now critics and audiences are ready to accept superheroes as more than just kid stuff, much the same way Frank Miller’s Return of the Dark Knight did in 1986.  I know the popular thought is to have Christopher Nolan back to make a third Batman film. However, I think Warner Brothers should stick with the pattern that they have, for one reason or another, fallen into. Namely, a director gets two shots at the Dark Knight and then moves on. Burton had his two, Schumacher had two, and now Nolan has completed his pair of Batman movies. These three directors have, knowingly or not, traced in broad strokes the development arch of the Batman character over the last 70 years. Time to let a new director put his or her interpretation on film. Either draw inspiration from other in-between periods of Batman’s history or create something new. Labels: Batman, Comics, movies posted by Brendan | 10:19 PM | permanent link
Google Does ComicCon ComicCon, the annual orgy of all things pop culture, started today in San Diego and Google is getting in on the action. This is today’s Google logo, designed by Jim Lee and starring the heroes of DC Comics:  Google also released a bunch of new iGoogle themes drawing inspiration from comics. Everything from Batman to Ziggy, with some alternative comics and manga thrown in for good measure. I tried out the Pearls Before Swine theme for my iGoogle page, but I just can't get into that sort of embellishment on my personalized pages. I already have plenty of content on these pages – news, weather, email, quotes of the day – I don't need a bunch of images crowding things up. It's neat idea. Just not for me. Here's a real close look at the Jim Lee-design logo posted by Brendan | 6:42 PM | permanent link
Gordon Meets the New Batman  Commissioner James Gordon has always been my favorite supporting character in Batman's universe. Tough, principled, and the second smartest lawman in Gotham after Batman.Ever since they shook things up with Batman and put Richard Grayson in the cape and cowl with a new kid as Robin, I have been anxious to see how Commissioner Gordon would react. From the preview art from Batman & Robin #2 over at IGN, Grant Morrison is giving us that first scene and it's obvious Gordon is immediately clued in that things are different - yet the same. I can't wait to see how Morrison handles this relationship between Gordon and the new Batman. posted by Brendan | 9:20 PM | permanent link
Pure Evil It's been a while since we took a swing at the legal profession. Here's a nice one from today's Last Kiss.  posted by Brendan | 9:27 AM | permanent link
Getting Pulled Back In Don’t tell Heather, but I am being strongly tempted to end my moratorium on buying monthly comics. In January 2008 I stopped purchasing comics on a monthly basis cold turkey. The decision was driven almost entirely on concerns over budget. I’ve continued buying graphic novel or trade paperback collections, but mostly I’ve been digging into my collection of old single issues for my comic book reading fix each month. Since the switch in buying habits I haven’t felt like I was missing anything by not stopping in a comic shop each month. Until now.  Three days ago Batman & Robin #1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely hit the stands. Morrison is a comic writing phenom. Quitely is an extraordinary artist. Together they have made some of the best comics of the last ten years.A lot has been going on with Batman over the last year, and although I haven’t been reading the books I have been able to follow along with events more or less thanks to a splattering of blogs. In short: as a result of his actions to save the universe, Bruce Wayne has been thrown back in time – literary – but is believed to be dead by the general public (long story). Dick Grayson (aka Nightwing, aka the first Robin) has taken up the Mantel of the Bat and is now operating as Gotham City’s new nocturnal protector in Bruce’s absence. Joining him as the newest Robin is Damien, Bruce Wayne’s and Talia al Ghul’s love-child (an even longer story). Batman & Robin marks the beginning of this new Dynamic Duo. My anticipation over this new book – the concept, the characters, the creators – was so great I had run out to pick up a copy. The experience of reading it met my every expectation. Batman & Robin #1 is fresh, exciting, big-idea filled, and dynamic – everything that I want from a superhero comic. Best yet, Morrison and Quitely left me pumped up to read the next chapter. They perfectly launched a new series. And if a stellar comic was enough, then they teased me with this:  Sure I could wait for these individual issues to be collected into trade paperbacks, but who wants to wait for DC to collect what looks like will be all sorts of fantastically trippy Batman and Robin stories? Not I. Plus, there are two more books headed to shops this June that have me almost as excited as Batman & Robin.  There is Red Robin, which will feature Tim Drake, the last Robin before Damian, on his quest to try and bring Bruce Wayne back from . . . wherever the hell he is. That book looks great.Plus, Greg Rucka takes over the writing chores for Detective Comics, but now the book will star Batwoman. Rucka is a favorite writer of mine who excels at writing strong, interesting female characters. This new Batwoman is completely his creation, and along with the gorgeous artwork of JH Williams, should make ‘Tec a fantastic read. Something I definitely wanted to check out. Again, I’m sure I could wait for those two books to be collected and queue them up in my graphic novel budget. But if I’m already making my way to the comic shop to pick up Batman & Robin each month, I could just as easily start picking up Red Robin and ‘Tec. Hmmm. . . . Labels: Batman, Comics, Review posted by Brendan | 8:51 AM | permanent link
5 Things I Think I'm attending an email conference for the third year in a row, and this time I finally decided to stay at the hotel associated with the conference center. The hotel is a posh-posh resort run by Marriott. They charge $16 for 24 hours of internet access. The hotel I stayed at the last two years – which was five minute drive away – gave me Wi-Fi Internet access for free and was nearly hundred dollars cheaper per night. This is last time I stay at this resort.  [via]  I can't wait for this to open and get Ian, Emma, and Zoe up there. It will be a blast.  Check out his blog. Labels: 5 Things I Think, Chicago, Comics, Rant posted by Brendan | 10:32 PM | permanent link
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez is the Man  I know I've mentioned it here a number of different times on this blog - comic artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez is one of the all-time greatest comic book artists ever. There is nothing that the man cannot draw, and what he does draw has a classic elegance that few other artists can achieve.While clearing out some bookmarks I rediscovered this page - a smorgasbord of Garcia-Lopez artwork. I could spend all day pouring over the artwork on that page. There is so much to see and enjoy. There can never be too much Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez art. posted by Brendan | 8:32 AM | permanent link
Happy St. Patrick's Day In the past I posted pictures of Guinness or video of Muppets singing Danny Boy. This year I highlight a recently discovered blog for Irish comics artists called "Eclectic Micks". They've hardly been at it a month, so there isn't a whole lot to look at yet. Hopefully they will keep with it. From what little samples I've seen, a few of the artists I really like. One of artists I like in particular is Declan Shalvey, who happens to share the same first name as my nephew. Here's is Declan's rendition of Father Jack from Father Ted, a popular comedy TV series out of Ireland.  Happy St. Patrick's Day. Labels: Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 10:43 PM | permanent link
Ladrönn's Commissoner Jim Gordon Mexican artist Ladrönn is contributing cover art to some of the one-shots the DC is publishing surrounding the next Batman story event "Battle for the Cowl." I'm a fan of Ladrönn's work, particularly the work he's done on the Hip Flask series. I think his cover for Batman: Battle for the Cowl - Commissioner Gordon is fantastic. It captures much of what I love about the character of Jim Gordon just in body language - tough, determined, principled, uncompromising.  Labels: art, Batman, Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 8:50 AM | permanent link
This Is Fun  It's the Iron Man Armored Popper game. And it's a great way to waste time. Labels: Comics, game, iron man posted by Brendan | 10:55 PM | permanent link
Watchmen Stuff For the most part I have been ignoring all the build up to the Watchmen movie release today. I've been quietly re-reading the book at home and waiting for the reviews to roll in. Don't know if it was done to capitalize on or mock the hype surrounding the opening of the Watchmen movie, but all week PVP has been doing a parody of the Watchmen called Ombudsmen using syndicated newspaper comic strip characters. I thought the concept was clever and well executed; especially how Scott Kurtz adapted the main storyline to fit his parody. His casting was also spot-on. It’s a funny read. Worth your time.  As for the film - the reviews for the film have been mixed. The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips hated it. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Roger Ebert loved it. Everyone else seems to falling into one of those two camps. Personally, I am ambivalent to the movie. I love the book immensely. It’s one of my top five favorite comics and I’ve always shared Watchmen writer Alan Moore’s assertion that the book cannot be made into a movie. Plus, I was less than enthralled with Watchmen director Zack Synder’s uninspired film interpretation of Frank Miller’s 300. None the less, it would be interesting to see for myself how things turned out. Labels: comic strips, Comics, DC, movies posted by Brendan | 4:31 PM | permanent link
Comic Book Movie News I’m always a little wary of announcements that comic book properties are being adapted into films – especially when the comics in question are superhero books. It’s not much a stretch to take something like History of Violence or Road to Perdition and translate that compelling story to film that will be accepted and generally appreciated. Make your story about a grown man dressing up like a bat and film makers can start flaying all about. Sometimes the result is an an enjoyable film, other times were left with a train wreck of cinema. Luckily, the quality and sophistication of films based on superhero comics seems to be trending in the right direction. More solid storytelling and less train wreck. Hopefully that will continue. Of all the new projects announced by Warner Brother (DC Comics) and Marvel, these are the ones that I are grabbing my initial interest  GREEN LANTERN (release: December 17, 2010) – Green Lantern has always been one of my favorite DC heroes. There will be a direct to DVD animated film starring GL later this year that I am anxious to see, but a live-action flick could be a lot of fun also. I really believe that depending on how Warner Brothers decides to handle Green Lantern in his feature film debut, GL could be Warner’s Iron Man – a character driven sci-fi adventure with a broad appeal. SUICIDE SQUAD (no release set) – WB announced that they’re developing a script based on this DC Comics series that would bring together villains and fallen-heroes for Government-sanctioned missions so dangerous that it may kill them, but that’s it so far. Why I like the idea of this film being made is that it would probably compel DC Comics to start release collections of John Ostrander’s excellent run of the series. (They haven't done that to date) I really don’t care if the movie is any good if the end result is I can pick up some quality comics.Damn. 9 movies. Again, you have to admire Marvel’s ambitious approach to adapting their stable of characters to the silver screen. They lock up Sam Jackson because they plan on creating all of these movies and wanting to build some continuity of character across properties. I really wish DC Comics/WB could pull together a comprehensive plan like that. Labels: Comics, DC, iron man, movies posted by Brendan | 10:30 PM | permanent link
Blondie and Dagwood: Classic This week a number of comic book blogs I read posted articles listing their favorite (or least favorite) comic book couples to celebrate Valentine's Day. J. Caleeb at Newsarama was the only poster who not only identified one of the truly great comic couples, but provides an excellent rationale for their greatness.
So true. So true. Happy Valentine's Day Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 9:09 AM | permanent link
What's In Oklahoma? I've never had much of an interest in visiting Oklahoma. Until now.  Nine years ago Kevin Stark convinced the Pauls Valley City Council that not only did the town needed a tourist attraction, but that the perfect attraction would be a toy and action figure museum. Wired has a nice little photo essay about it all. It's really more of a huge, massive collection than a museum. But its cool none the less. I mean, check out the DC heroes display  Maybe I'll have to find my way to Pauls Valley City, OK some time soon. posted by Brendan | 4:54 PM | permanent link
Jim Lee's Dark Knight Alex Sinclair - longtime colorist for most of Jim Lee's comic book work - posted a piece of Jim's art that he had colored over at the gelatometti blog. It's Jim's interpretation of Batman as he appears in last summer's The Dark Knight film.  Jim Lee is one of my favorite comic book artists, and I love the work he does with Batman. It's been a while since I prettied up my blog with some of his artwork, and I thought this was the perfect time to end the drought. Labels: Batman, Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 11:03 PM | permanent link
There Can't Be One Batman Ian Freer, writing on the Empire magazine blog, makes the argument that Adam West is a better Batman over Christian Bale.  If I was going to pick the best on-screen version of Batman, I'd go with Michael Keaton. I've always been partial to how Keaton balances the two sides of Bruce Wayne and Batman, while giving each the right mix of the other side. His Bruce has just enough darkness and edginess for us to remind us that Batman lurks nearby, and his Batman flashes a little of the human Bruce side at just the right times. But that isn't my contention with Mr. Freer's post. It's where he asks, ". . . what is the definitive interpretation of Batman?" Freer argues that the concept of Batman, when boiled down to its essence, is a silly concept. A man dressed as bat solving crimes. Therefore only Adam West's campy 1960's Batman can ever really capture the true Cape Crusader. But if the longevity of the character was contingent upon the strength of his essence as defined by Freer, then I can't imagine Batman lasting nearly 70 years. There isn't a whole lot to go on with that sort of character. A go-go dancing, shark-repellent using campy Batman came and went, yet the character continues to be used and enjoyed. Freer went wrong in his distillation. The core of Batman isn't a man dressing up like a bat to solve crimes. The core of Batman is the story of one man standing up to try and make sense and bring order to a world that doesn't always make sense. He just happens to do that by dressing up like a Bat to solve crimes most times (there are alternative Batman stories where Bruce never makes it into a "Batman" suit exactly, but he's still true to his character.)  How the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman is told can take many forms. As crime drama, as in The Dark Knight. As an action story, like in Batman Forever. Or as campy satire of modern culture, which is where the 60's television show decided to use the character.Comics have mined Batman for even more types of stories- horror, sci-fi, mystery, historical drama, the list is extensive. For almost 70 years Batman has been interpreted in countless different ways by countless different people. What's great about all these variations is that through all of them I can see the same theme - one man tying to make sense out of his world. Batman is an attempt to answer order to a world that presents chaos. That's what makes Batman such a wonderful character and such an enduring character in literature, he can be whatever you need him to be. It's also what makes the Joker the perfect foil to the character of Batman. So instead of trying to pick one version over another as the canonical version, I prefer to appreciate all the different flavors and enjoy the bounty of stories that spring forth. Labels: Batman, Comics, movies, TV posted by Brendan | 11:41 AM | permanent link
Painting With a Video Game I think it is wonderful how the Internet has given people greater access to artists around the world - and also provided a way for those artists to share how they create their art. Take for example, Sean Phillips. I have been a fan of his art since seeing his work on Sleeper, and have followed him ever since. On his blog he is always providing peek at works-in-progress or sharing sample artwork, and I love getting that inside view of the artist.  I was catching up with posts on hos blog the other day and found this piece (at right) from the middle of October. It seemed like a rather simple - but good - painting of a nude until I read that he had done the painting on his Nintendo DS.The same little machine that my son Ian plays Pokemon and Indiana Jones on Phillips used to create a piece of art. It blew my mind. What's even more remarkable is the video he posted showing him creating this piece on his DS. The video is time-lapsed, so it plays quickly, but I can't help but marvel at how he is able to pull together little swatches and blobs of color into the final piece of art. Even without knowing that he was painting this on a Nintendo DS, the ability to start with blocks of color and then layer and shade your way to picture of something is a skill I am envious of. I'd post the video of Sean painting on the DS if I could. If you want to see it you'll have to go to his website. Labels: art, Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 3:14 PM | permanent link
Happy Halloween Comic book fans will appreciate this Halloween-themed illustration by Adam Koford  I'm off to take the kids trick-or-treating, to be followed up by dad-mooching-candy-from-his-kids.Maybe this holiday isn't so bad after all. Labels: Comics, Halloween, Illustration posted by Brendan | 2:43 PM | permanent link
Why I Like Comics It's not the only reason, but Richard Thompson's Cul De Sac strip makes clear one of the reasons I prefer spending my time and money on comics.  I love The Dark Knight, but I'll always prefer my Batman stories in comic form over film. Like Petey Otterloop says in the strip, movies are passive and comics are active - from an audience involvement point of view. When you watch a movie you are completely at the mercy of the director and editor as far as how quickly or slowly you experience the story. If you want to dwell on a scene longer you don't have the option. The director is going to move things along as he/she sees fit. However in comics you can spend five minutes absorbing the details of one panel - one scene - before moving on to the rest of the story. And you have the option to stop mid-story and go back to earlier scenes if you want to. It's your decision. Comics are a wonderful interactive medium for experiencing a story. I can't imagine ever giving that up. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 1:06 PM | permanent link
Somber Thoughts The tanking U.S. stock market has me a little spooked, but not in a panic. I'm young, and as long as I don't lose my job, I figure there is still plenty of time for me to ride things out as far as Heather and my investments are concerned. However, in all the stories and analysis that I've read concerning the market meltdown, one reoccurring point that is made is how devastating this week's crash could be on retirees or soon to be retirees who still had money wrapped up in stocks. Which of course led me to consider my mom's and dad's situation. Both in their early 60's, I wonder how or if this market collapse is going to alter their retirement plans. Then I saw this editorial cartoon as part of a collection by John McCutcheon, the "Dean of American Cartoonist", and it only strengthened that concern.  It is interesting how even with so much attention made to learn from history so that the same "bad" things aren't repeated, we still find a way to muddle into "bad" situations that are eerily like events of the past. While I think we've learned too much to end up in another Depression like America experienced in the 1930's, we do seem headed for some sort of recession/depression unlike anything we had since then. posted by Brendan | 8:50 PM | permanent link
Batman and Iron Man What I found most funny about today's PVP is that I was think this very same thing the just other day.  Tony Stark/Iron Man is Bruce Wayne/Batman but without all the emotional baggage.Still think Batman's cooler though. Labels: Batman, Comics, iron man posted by Brendan | 11:26 PM | permanent link
What's Fun About Comics? Chris Giarrusso. The guy's work is pure, unadulterated fun. You might think, looking at his comics, that his work could become trite and gimmicky; but that isn't the case. Giarrusso keeps his comics fresh and always delivers the funny.  I wish he wasn't so exclusive to Marvel. I'd love to see what he would do with the DC stable of characters. His website is fantastic, too. Even the homepage animation navigation makes me laugh. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:23 PM | permanent link
Incognito I've been a huge fan of the pairing of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips since I discovered their work on Sleeper. Their collaboration on Criminal has been just as fantastic. Now I read that they will be debuting a new series called Incognito this November.  The preview solicitation: What if you were an ex-super villain hiding out in Witness Protection… but all you could think about were the days when the rules didn’t apply to you? Could you stand the toil of an average life after years of leaving destruction in your wake? And what if you couldn’t stand it? What would you do then?More crime noir written from the bad guy's point of view. I love it. Just like I am doing with Criminal; even though the story will be serialized in a monthly comic book, I'll wait for the collections to be published to pick up and read. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:19 PM | permanent link
The Greatest American Hero Returns  About a month or so back I read about the plan to produce a comic book based on the 1980’s TV show The Greatest American Hero. I was going to write something about this little news nugget because my dad, brother and I were big fans of the show back when it originally aired. The Greatest American Hero was one of the first TV shows (or any sort of pop media for that matter) that I remember sharing an interest in with my Dad.Even though the comic was being co-written by William Katt (a.k.a. the actor who portrayed the "Greatest American Hero"), I opted not to write about the comic. Ultimately the idea of a comic based on the show generated marginal interest in me. Therefore the news was not worthy of a post. But now I read that Stephen J. Cannell, the creator of The Greatest American Hero (and nearly half of all shows produced from 1975-1990), confirmed that there will be a featured film made based on the property. Apparently the recent boom in superhero movies and Disney’s less than spectacular summer 2008 box office take, has the House of Mouse moving more quickly on this project. That’s something to write about. A movie and a comic. The Greatest American Hero is experiencing a renaissance. According to Cannell, Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Kulp will all be in the movie, but I have to imagine that Katt won’t be suiting up in the red pajamas again. I’m sure the story will have some new schlep taking on the role of the Greatest American Hero. Regardless, I hope they keep the fun tone that the original series had on TV and preserve the premise of the show: regular Joe is given alien-crafted super suit, but loses the instructions and has to figure things out on his own. Hilarity ensues. Labels: 80's, Comics, movies, TV posted by Brendan | 1:56 PM | permanent link
Google Chrome You'd probably think the last thing we need is another web browser, but you might be wrong. Between Microsoft's inferior but popular Internet Explorer, the technically superior Firefox, and the third-party candidate Opera (not to mention all the little custom browsers), everyone should be covered when it comes to their web browsing needs. But that hasn't stopped Internet uber-company Google from developing and launching their own browser: Chrome. It's set to be released sometime today as a Beta for Windows machines, and was built from scratch from the bottom up to make the most of what the Internet has to offer today - not 1998 when the browsers wars started. One of the more interesting points of this browser project is that Google brought in comic creator / theorist Scott McCloud to create a comic explaining / demystifying what it is that the Google engineers did when putting together Chrome.  The browser isn't out yet, but when it does launch I will be installing it. Google has produced some amazing web applications over the last few years, and after reading through this comic I am excited about giving their web browser a try. They might actually win me away from Firefox. posted by Brendan | 1:04 PM | permanent link
Sugary Serials  Not sure when (or how) I will find the free time to do so, but if I can, I want to spend some of it reading through the different comic offerings at Sugary Serials. That site looks like a lot of fun. Especially The Adventures of The Araknid Kid. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 11:44 PM | permanent link
Atomic Bombshells Cliff Chiang, comic artist supreme, is slowly releasing a series of 6 pinups inspired by the works of good-girl pinup artists like Elvgren and Vargas. His first was of Teela from the Masters Of The Universe series, and he's since posted portraits of Poison Ivy of Batman fame and Supergirl, to name a few.  The portraits look great. Chiang does a perfect job of capturing women in a cheesecakey pose but without objectify them. Labels: 80's, Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 5:12 PM | permanent link
Random Cool Things About a week ago Heather hinted to me that I seemed to be posting a lot about Batman. So I tried to ease up on Batman-themed posts for awhile. However, as the buzz for The Dark Knight hits a fever pitch in the coming week, I imagine I'm going to find all sorts of Batman related stuff I want to write about. So lets ease back into things by sandwiching some Batman stuff between some Star Wars stuff and see how that goes. (Maybe Heather won't notice) - - - -  Pottery Barn Kids might be doing the selling, but I know who the real target of the Star Wars vintage sheets that hit the market in a little over a week - me.Or rather, adults like me who still love Star Wars. On July 25 Pottery Barn Kids will begin offering Star Wars-themed bedding just like was offered when I was a kid. I never got a full set of Star Wars sheets - I only had a pillow case - but now I can finally realize my dream of having my whole bed done up in Star Wars linens. Not only will they be making the sheets in Twin bed sizes, but also in Full and Queen. Heather, we're buying them the day they hit the stores. - - - -  The Dark Knight doesn't open for another two weeks in England, as opposed to next Friday here in the States, so British movie mag Empire has fourteen days to countdown to the film. Hence their new feature debuting today: The Dark Knight FortnightIt's fourteen days of Batman stuff. It kicks-off today with the 10 Essential Batman Comics. (I've read all but one) Empire did a great job with their celebration of all things Indiana Jones in advance of the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I just didn't discover it until it was nearly over. I expect nothing less with their feature for Batman. Plus this time I'm getting in on the ground floor. - - - - This week Empire also takes a stab at listing the 50 greatest comic book characters. I haven't read them all, but I did jump to see their top five. As expected, they've end up with Superman and Batman in the #1 and #2 slots respectively. As it should be. But then Empire puts John Constantine, Hellblazer, in the #3 spot. What? Empire rounds out the top five with Wolverine at #4 and drop Spider-Man all the way to #5. Whether Spidey should come before or after Wolverine can be debated till sunrise. But Constantine at #3? That I don't understand. This is a character who started out as a supporting character in Swamp Thing, built up a strong cult following in a solo title, and managed to be turned into a movie starring Keanu Reeves, but in the pantheon of great superheroes I don't see how this guy deserves to even be in the top 30. Sure, he's an interesting character, but greater than Spider-Man? I don't think so. - - - - And let's finish it off with another Star Wars item This fall Hasbro is releasing a new version of the Millennium Falcon. Not only will the newly designed toy have more electronic lights and sounds and come with Han Solo and Chewbacca figures, the size of the ship will be 30% larger than the version every kid aged 7 - 17 back in 1980 so desperately wanted to find under the tree Christmas morning.  I want one.Labels: 80's, Batman, Comics, movies, Star Wars posted by Brendan | 10:28 PM | permanent link
Time To Discharge Beetle Bailey As the commentators at The Comics Curmudgeon point out – what sort of military marching band includes a harp and a violin?  I know Mort Walker is a legend in the business and does plenty for the preservation of comic history; but when he lets his kids churn out nonsensical crap like this using his name, then it’s time to close the studio. He is better than that and the comic strip medium deserves better.posted by Brendan | 8:46 PM | permanent link
Nude Dudes Comic creator Chip Zdarsky spent a week at a nudist colony with writer Ben Kaplan. While Ben wrote a story about the experience, Chip presented his version of what it was like to spent a week naked with your co-worker as a comic.  I thought it was pretty funny. posted by Brendan | 10:40 PM | permanent link
Little Paper Time Capsules One of the unintended benefits of digging out comics to read that have been in your collection for over fifteen years – the ads. The old print ads are little windows back in time to what was popular when the comic was originally published. Like this beauty that I uncovered while reading Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #27 from December 1991.  Damon Wayans acting tough. Bruce Willis with real hair on his head. 1991 was a strange time indeed. They don’t make action films like that anymore.And did you know Halle Berry was in The Last Boy Scout? Now I only saw the movie once, but I still didn’t remember her. I only recall something about Wayans’ character tossing a football 100 yards to diffuse a bomb or something. posted by Brendan | 9:51 PM | permanent link
Who is the Best Super Hero?  The RedEye, a Chicago newspaper for people too lazy to read actual news articles written by professional journalists, is having a Best Superhero Tourney.The competition begins with 32 comic book heroes and in the end there will be only one; the best hero as voted on by visitors to the RedEye’s website. Each week different heroes go head-to-head in voting, with the winner moving up in his/her bracket. It's sorta like the NCAA basketball tourney, but without Dick Vitale. The RedEye techno-wizards didn’t make voting very easy, but at least the editors managed to get someone to write a an endorsement for each hero. I voted in the first round and will try to see things through to the end. My prediction: Batman wins it all. Batman always win. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:30 PM | permanent link
Happy Independence Day In the past I've posted patriotic images or inspirational quotes. This year I've decided to go with something more in line with my personal sensibilities: a pretty girl in a bikini and an angry cartoon duck  Hope you had a happy Fourth of July. [learn about the art] Labels: Comics, General, Illustration posted by Brendan | 2:02 PM | permanent link
Magic Trixie  Magic Trixie is the latest creation from Jill Thompson, she of Scary Godmother fame.Magic is a first grader who happens to be a witch, and is surround by a wonderfully eccentric cast of family and friends. Thompson's artwork looks fantastic, as usual, and her past work on Scary Godmother leads me to believe the Magic Trixie books are going to be something special. Thompson's deal to write/draw the Magic Trixie books was announced way back in 2006 and I'm glad to see them making their way to books stores this summer. I can't wait to pick up one or two of these books for Emma and Zoe. I think Magic Trixie will be a big hit. The books: Magic Trixie Magic Trixie Sleeps Over The blog: Magic Trixie posted by Brendan | 10:59 AM | permanent link
'Compulsory Reading,’ by Alison Bechdel Comic writer/artist Alison Bechdel created this funny four page comic for the 1,000th issue of Entertainment Weekly. I think avid readers and college English majors (like myself) will appreciate the humor the most.  posted by Brendan | 10:49 PM | permanent link
It Wasn't Worth It Wizard World Chicago was this weekend up in Rosemont, IL. Though I never had any plans or interest in attending part of the three day comic book and pop culture convention, when I saw that Toon Tumbler would be giving away these glasses as a promotional item I almost reconsidered. Almost.  Having a glass adorned with that great Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez artwork would be fantastic - especially considering it's of DC's Big Three. But the change at owning one cup not worth enduring the shlock-fest that is a Wizard-run convention. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 11:30 PM | permanent link
Why Heather Makes Sure Ian Gets to the Library Every Monday Otherwise, something like this would eventually happen.  posted by Brendan | 9:03 PM | permanent link
ANOTHER Reason I Need an iPhone  This Reuters article points out that reading comics on personal electronic devices like cell phones has been growing in popularity with the rise of larger screens, faster connections, and more comic material being digitized.Although I’ve read that the iPhone isn’t hailed as the Second Coming in Japan like it is here in the States – the Japanese already expect their cell phones to do five times as many things as the iPhone currently does and they don’t mind stumbling through an interface five times more complex than the iPhone – I can’t help but think that the Japanese will take to the iPhone intuitive touch-screen manipulation of data for reading comics on their mobile device. I know I certainly could get used to reading the newest issue of Batman on my iPhone – if I had one. posted by Brendan | 11:24 PM | permanent link
Batman Notices Everything One of the things that I think is so great about Batman - he notices everything  [via] Labels: Batman, Comics, DC, oddities posted by Brendan | 1:38 PM | permanent link
He's Pulling a What? The meaning behind slang terminology can change over time. Nowhere is that more apparent when you consider this card from the 1941 Blondie comic playing card deck.  After you pull you mind out of the gutter I just dragged it into, bounce over for a look at the artwork for the whole set of cards. There is some pretty neat cartoons there. posted by Brendan | 11:04 PM | permanent link
Bad Yeti  I thought it was funny, and really enjoyed Jessica McLeod's simple but playful artwork. Read it Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:00 PM | permanent link
Reviews, Reviews, Reviews Once, it was my intention to write a review of something every Friday. In my head I put together a loose writing schedule that went something along the lines of Monday - sports, Wednesday - family stuff, and Friday – reviews. Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekends were freebie days; times when I could just post goofy photos or previews of comics or movies that I found interesting. I haven’t kept to that schedule as well as I would have liked, but I am always trying to recalibrate my habits to fit that sort of writing regiment in. So let’s play a little catch-up on the reviews (on a Monday no less) with a scatter shot of capsule comments on some of the movies and books I have experienced over the last month or so.  Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Knowing almost nothing about the stage production, earlier film versions, or even the story, my interest in seeing this film sprung solely from two names: Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Separately these two create wonderful work. Together, the film art is extraordinary.I enjoyed the songs and lyrics considerably, and the performances were all top notch (with the exception of Helena Bonham Carter, who didn’t seem to have the same singing chops of the other actors). I thought Depp did exceptionally well with his singing. He successfully reinvented himself as an actor who portrayed his character through song, in contrast to Ms. Carter, who appeared more like an actor who would sing from time to time. There is a big difference when you are performing in a musical, and Depp nails it. As is customary with a Burton film, the production design – the sets, the costumes, the make-up – was pitch perfect in creating the creepy world of Sweeny Todd. Highly recommended if you don’t mind a lot of singing in your movies. - - - - - - - The Fifth Elephant, by Terry Pratchett – For Christmas, my mom gave me this book and gave Heather Hogfather, also by Pratchett. Both books are from his Discworld series of fantasy/humor novels. Apparently my mother had read a novel by Pratchett and really enjoyed it. I don’t know if either of the books she gave to us was the one she read, but no matter. A few years back I had read Good Omens, a collaborative effort between Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett about the bungling of Armageddon, so I had someone what of an idea of what to expect. True to form, The Fifth Elephant is dense with British humor – which means I either laugh heartily at the jokes or feel stupid for not understanding the jokes. (Sometimes I think British humor can be too subtle for its own good.) It took a while for me to find the groove of the narrative and the many characters and subplots, but once Pratchett stopped jumping around from location to location, storyline to storyline and spent more than 20 contiguous pages focusing on the main plot and characters, the book settled down for me and was quite entertaining. I particularly liked the main character, Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. He is equal parts introspective idealist and bruising realist, which makes any scene he appears in crackle with anticipation of how he will respond. Terry Pratchett said of the character, “He fears he may be a bad person because he knows what he thinks rather than just what he says and does. He chokes off those little reactions and impulses, but he knows what they are. So he tries to act like a good person, often in situations where the map is unclear”, which I think gets to the root of the character’s appeal for me. Unfortunately Pratchett has written 36 Discworld novels (which this book is number 24) and Commander Vines only appears as the main character in 6 of those books (not counting The Fifth Elephant). On the other hand, maybe that’s a good thing. Instead of hunting down thirty-five other books to read, I’d only have to find six other ones if I wanted to explore more of Vines’ adventures. - - - - - -  3:10 to Yuma – Just saw this movie this past weekend. It popped up for Heather in the library reserve lottery. We might have to wait a bit to see films when we reserve them through our library, but it sure makes things more fun. We never know when the movies in our queue will sudden become ready for pick-up.3:10 to Yuma is a solid old fashioned Western movie; light on action overall, but with a slow-cooking morality play story that delivers the big shoot-out to close the movie out. Christian Bale is good, Russell Crowe is good – hell, all of the performances were top notch in this film. The more I contemplate the film, the more I consider it one I might like to add to my home collection of DVDs. Highly recommended - - - - - - Superman / Batman: Saga of the Super Sons, by Bob Haney (writer) and Dick Dillin (artist) – Bob Haney wrote almost every sort of comic story imaginable during his time at DC Comics, and is credited with creating the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, Metamorpho, and few other the publisher’s lasting characters. He is known for his fantastically warped story ideas (Batman dies and the Atom shrinks down to enter Batman’s brain and reanimate him) and his bizarre dialogue. By far his grooviest creation was Bruce Wayne, Jr. and Clark Kent, Jr. – the Super Sons. They were Batman’s and Superman’s sons (we never learn or see who their mothers are) who wanted to strike out and make a name for themselves outside of their famous fathers’ shadows.  The stories are quintessential Haney with everything from Superman flying faster than the speed of light to create a parallel version of the existing world so Bruce Jr. and Clark Jr. can practice being superheroes in a controlled environment, to Bruce Jr. and Clark Jr. imprisoning their famous fathers on the charge of being heroes simply because their dads crave the public’s attention, to Superman faking his own death so he convince Clark Jr. that he shouldn’t give up the “family business” of superhero-ing. The man could not write a boring story.All through-out the stories we are treated to classic Haney dialogue and over-the-top late-1960’s slang while Bruce Jr. and Clark Jr. travel across America on Bruce Jr.’s orange motorcycle. It’s one goofy, warped story after another and it’s pure bliss. Saga of the Super Sons was great fun to read, but I don’t think it would appeal to anyone who wasn’t already a comic book fan and didn’t enjoyed some kitschy/campy super heroics in the same vein of the 1960’s Batman T.V. show. - - - - - - Enchanted – we reserved it from the library because both Emma and Ian asked Heather to, but in the end I think Heather and I enjoyed this film more than the kids did. The story is thin, but the performances from the leads are earnest and fun. Disney shows that they aren’t afraid to poke fun at themselves, even creating parody Disney songs that are as strong as any they have created in the past.  Amy Adams wonderfully creates the live-action personification of a Disney princess. The bubbly personality, wide-eyed innocence, helium-stretched voice – she delivers them all. Plus, the makers of the film loaded up the movie with subtle riffs on scenes from previous Disney movies. So for a movie trivia buff, the film is a treasure hunt to find the little references to Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and more.The kids didn’t necessarily get all the jokes, but they enjoyed the story and the music. Heather and I enjoyed it as well. Enchanted is a quality family movie that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the adults (or kids) watching it. - - - - - - The Red Blot – A couple months ago I got another Shadow 2-for book - two novels in one book. The first story is The Red Blot. A mysterious criminal mastermind seems to have found a way to allude not only the New York City police, but the Shadow as well, as he stages crimes progressively more daring then the previous one. His calling card is a piece of paper with a red blot of ink on it. The story isn’t anything particularly new to the Shadow mythology. I’ve read similar sorts of plot setups. What made this one unique is that Walter Gibson was able to keep me fooled on the identify of the Red Blot until the end. Besides stopping the bad guy, there were two mysteries to the story: who was the mole within the police department tipping off the Red Blot and who was the Red Blot. It was painfully obvious that the police mole was Detective Hembroke, who from the very beginning of the story has the stink of a character being set up for a fall later on, but Grant successfully provided enough misdirection and red herrings to keep the identity of the Red Blot hidden until the very end. I appreciated that. It made reading this Shadow story just a little more enjoyable. Labels: Books, Comics, DC, movies, Pulps, Review posted by Brendan | 11:21 PM | permanent link
Fun With Lego Julian Fong, a software engineer for Pixar, recreates the cover of Action Comics #1 using Lego.  I think it’s fantastic Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 8:32 AM | permanent link
Corporate Synergy The May 26 issue of Sports Illustrated will feature a cover drawn by Mark Bagley, with Karl Story on inks and color from Alex Sinclair.  The cover promotes Tom Verducci’s article exploring the topsy-turvy 2008 MLB season. Both DC Comics and Sports Illustrated are owned by Time Warner posted by Brendan | 9:40 PM | permanent link
Cliff Chang's Vision of the DC Universe About ten years ago comic artist Cliff Chang worked up some characters sheets for an idea he had for a new comic. Basically a mix of DC, anime, and kaiju, Chang imagined a world where a group of Japanese heroes took inspiration from their Western counterparts and created their own crime-fighting alter egos. His new version of the Flash is a little too Speed Racer/Racer X for me, but I love his idea for Superman – a giant robot controlled by a young boy via his wristwatch.  I have always loved Chang’s work. While I doubt this project will ever be produced now, it sure would have been fun to see what the finished product might have been.Labels: Comics, DC, Illustration posted by Brendan | 9:23 PM | permanent link
Old Superheroes Italian illustrator Donald Soffritti imagines what superheroes will look like when they get older. Lots of fun ones to look at. Of course, I'm supplying an aged Batman and Robin.  Funny stuff.Labels: Batman, Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 1:25 PM | permanent link
Superheros and Fashions  Fashion doesn't interest me, unless Heidi Klum is somehow involved, but I couldn't help notice (and read) some of the stories that popped up this week covering the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy exhibit.From what I've read, the installation was intended to present one thing but ended up being about something completely different. Because I really don't care too much about fashion, I didn't bother to pay close attention to those parts of the reports. What I did learn, however, is it looks like designers took inspiration from superhero costumes and created fashion. Ehh. What did grab my interset was the 12 foot high statues of DC Comic's big three - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman - that was created and placed at the entrance to the exhibit. According to Paul Levitz, DC Comics President and Publisher, the statues were based on art from artist Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, the man who has defined the DC Comics style guide for years.  12 foot, three-dimensional versions of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez artwork. Now that I would enjoy seeing.Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:59 PM | permanent link
Are Comics Serious Literature? I forgot where I found this, but I thought the writer/artist found the perfect venue for ending the debate on whether comics should be considered serious literature - two cowboys fighting.  Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 4:51 PM | permanent link
Halo and Sprocket, Vol.2  A number of years ago I discovered Halo and Sprocket, a very funny comic created by Kerry Callen. After four memorable issues, it was collected into a trade paperback and then . . . nothing. No more Halo and Sprocket.I was disapointed that the series seemed to end, but then figured Callen had told the stories he wanted to tell with Halo, Sprocket and Katie - the angel, robot, and young women who share an apartment together and through which Callen explores philosophy, logic, faith, and the oddities of everyday life. So I was very suprised to learn that a second volume of Halo and Sprocket, called Natural Creatures is slated to hit stores this July. Kerry supplies a short preview on his newly created blog. From what I read, Kerry still delivers a funny story. I can't wait to pick up Halo and Sprocket: Natural Creatures Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:49 PM | permanent link
TOON Books I think this is a fantastic idea.  Art Spiegelman's wife, Francoise Mouly - an accomplished artist in her own right and art editor for the New Yorker magazine- has started a new imprint called TOON Books that aims to published comics uniquely tailored to young readers.TOON Books are the first high-quality comics designed for children ages four and up. Each book in the collection is just right for reading to the youngest child but perhaps more remarkable: this is the first collection ever designed to offer newly-emerging readers comics they can read themselves. Each TOON book has been vetted by educators to ensure that the language and the narratives will nurture young minds. Our books feature original stories and characters created by veteran children’s book authors, renowned cartoonists and new talents, all applying their extraordinary skills to fascinate young children with clearly told tales that will welcome them to the magic of reading.Studies over the last few years have shown that not only can comic books help increase literacy rates, comics are a superb gateway drug for getting kids interested in reading in general.  All the computers and cutting edge teaching techniques are great, but if child (and by extension, an adult) doesn't enjoy or at least appreciate the benefits of reading, their educational advancement is doomed to stall. It's why Heather and I have always read all sorts of books with our kids daily, and it's why I am always quick to share comics with Ian, Emma, and Zoe. I applaud TOON books' efforts and hope they are able to get copies of their books into the hands of children and their parents.Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 1:01 PM | permanent link
Rediscovering Breyfogle One of the benefits of not buying any new monthly comics is that it frees me up to spend time re-visiting my comic collection. I started buying/reading/collecting comics regularly in 1991, in the aftermath of Tim Burton's Batman movie blockbuster, the debut of the Flash television show, and reading a copy of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns that my brother inexplicably brought home on day. I stopped my regular visits to the comic shop this past January. That's seventeen years of continual comic book buying spanning dozens of different titles. Not an extraordinary feat by no means, but it does provide me with plenty to read through.  I've started my trip back through my collection by going to the very earliest Batman comics that I own. I have some older comics from the 60's and 70's, and few from the 80's which I've read over the last few months, but I am just now getting to the issues of Detective Comics and Batman that I was buying December/January of my senior year of high school. This means I'm re-discovering how much I enjoyed the artwork of Jim Aparo and Norm Breyfogle on the Batman titles.Yesterday I finished reading Batman #464, the final part of a three part story title "Spirit Of The Beast" by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. Grant and Breyfogle were a hugely popular creative team on Batman in the late 1908's to mid 1990s. They started out on ‘Tec, moved to Batman, and eventually launched a new Batman title, Shadow of the Bat, before going to separate projects. "Spirit Of The Beast" showcases Grant's propensity for creating interesting characters, his use of mythology/philosophy/mysticism in his storylines, and a Batman character who is driven but still mentally balanced. What starts out as a routine investigation into a robbery/murder quickly takes Batman out of Gotham and into the desert outside of Las Vegas. On the trail of stolen American Indian shaman artifacts, he finds an ancient blind shaman named Black Wolf and the dog that helps him. Eventually Batman is wrapped up in an Indian conflict hundreds of years old and which threatens to kill dozens of innocent people in the present.  The story moves quickly and efficiently, with just the right mix of action, detective work, character moments, and comedy relief. On paper the "Spirit Of The Beast" is simply a solid, Batman tale from start to finish. That I appreciate every time. What makes the story more than just a good story is Norm Breyfogle's dynamic pencils.Breyfogle always brought buckets of energy to his work on Batman. There are no stilted staging of scenes or lackluster layouts. A Breyfogle page is a page in motion. Even when it's just a shot of Batman with arm raised commanding some ne'er-do-wells to give up, the page crackles with excitement. His Batman can be demonic looking at time, but in a stylized way that still retains his humanity. And Breyfogle's art certainly doesn't demonize the character. On the contrary, I think Breyfogle's depiction gets at the essence of why Bruce Wayne chose the Bat as inspiration for his costume – to strike fear into the cowardly lot of criminals he would fight against every night. When appropriate for the story, Breyfogle draws the Batman how the criminals probably see him – as threatening force of vengeance. A demonic deliverer of justice. I had forgotten that reading a comic drawn by Norm Breyfogle means never being bored. Now that I'm back at the beginning of my comic collection, I'm a little more excited about moving forward through time with the books. There is plenty more Breyfogle to be found and I'm anxious to read those issues again. Labels: Batman, Comics, Review posted by Brendan | 4:44 PM | permanent link
Kiskaloo With so many great comics online, I’m wondering if I ever need to go back to a comic book store or open a newspaper Comic section again. My most recent find is Kiskaloo, by Chris Sanders. Chris Sanders is an illustrator/animator who worked at Disney for many years, culminating in his work as writer/director/animator/all around idea guy for the Lilo & Stitch film. Taking a look at his site and his influence on that film is obvious. Kiskaloo is a (relatively) weekly comic about Sesi and her pet cat (who has no name as of yet). It is wonderfully drawn, quirky strip in the same vein of Calvin & Hobbes.  You should really check it out.Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:30 PM | permanent link
Aw, Frankie I know these are just production stills and a whole lot will happen post-production to visually bring things together, but I don't know if I like what I'm seeing. This doesn't look like The Spirit movie Will Eisner would have made.  Just because it worked for Sin City, doesn't mean it will work for The Spirit.posted by Brendan | 9:57 PM | permanent link
Today's Get Fuzzy  "Dilbert & Sullivan" made me laugh. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 9:50 PM | permanent link
John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes  Nina Matsumoto (aka Space Coyote) created this wonderful print of John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, drawing inspiration from fictional characters who shared the same names as the French Reformation theologian and English political philosopher. You can order copies of it too. (hint, hint) Labels: Comics, Illustration posted by Brendan | 9:34 PM | permanent link "Dick" Tracy  As a kid I was a fan of Dick Tracy. Loved reading it. Of course that was back when Max Allan Collins had taken over the writing chores from series creator Chester Gould. Collins and artist Rick Fletcher told some fantastic Dick Tracy stories. Now the strip is written and illustrated by Dick Locher. Maybe Locher can win a Pulitzer for his editorial cartooning, but his Dick Tracy comics are for crap – both story and artwork.However, The Comic Curmudgeon featured today’s Dick Tracy strip in its daily roasting of everything bad about newspaper comic strips and I this final panel made me laugh out loud. And don’t bother asking what Dick Tracy is doing in the panel that I inlcuded in this post. Anything you can imagine will be infinitely more entertaining than anything Locher has written in the last two years. posted by Brendan | 9:27 PM | permanent link
EW Lists the 20-Worst Comic Book Movies  Entertainment Weekly lists out what they think are the 20 worst adaptations of comic books into movies.Running through the list, I have to agree with them on most entries. I haven’t seen them all, but knowing the characters and the plots I can’t imagine how some of those films could be watchable. (Brenda Starr? – wow.) I do take exception with the inclusion of The Phantom on the list though. That is a film I really enjoy watching and which, I think, does a very good job at capturing the pulp adventure tone of Lee Falk’s original Phantom comic strips. Even if you think the movie is more Indiana Jones than Phantom, I think it is unfair to lump this flick in with the likes of Batman & Robin, Supergirl, and Howard the Duck. And I was surprised they put Barbarella in their list of 20. Barbarella? I thought that was a campy romp that never even aspired to be anything more than a late-night cult film. It seems silly to spend time rating it as a bad comic book movie because I don’t think it ever tried to be anything more than what it is – a vehicle for a guy to film his (then)wife having sex in space. posted by Brendan | 8:35 AM | permanent link
American Flagg! Finally  Like the run of Miracleman written by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman and Steve Rude’s Nexus, Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! is one of those comic books series from the mid-80’s that I’ve always wanted to read. However, as seems to be symptomatic of these books, they having been traditionally horribly difficult to find. The original print runs were small and because of legal problems and bankruptcies, trade collections are difficult or slow to come by. Until now, only Nexus was readily available through some great looking (and expensive) archive editions from Dark Horse.That should finally change this fall. Chaykin’s American Flagg! is finally finding its way into a trade collection. It was first announced back in 2004, but the re-publishing process has taken considerably longer than expected because none of the original artwork was still available. None the less, Chaykin has gotten the first 12 issues in order and will have them published in a single hardcover book, or for those looking to save a little money - two softcover editions. Considering all the accolades and praise I’ve heard of the series, and my interest in Chaykin’s work, this looks like an good book to be looking for this upcoming winter. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:11 PM | permanent link
My Life In A Cube The jokes aren’t always laugh-out-loud funny, but something about Shane Johnson’s daily reflection on toiling away in a cube somewhere resonates with me more than anything Scott Adams ever created.  Plus, I love his use of something from the office as the canvas for each day’s cartoon. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:16 PM | permanent link Batman: The Killing Joke - Remastered DC Comics recently released a new Special Edition of Alan Moore’s and Brian Bolland’s influential Batman: The Killing Joke. Considered one of the finest superhero-starring comic stories ever told and probably the most emotionally powerful Batman story ever written, it is also one of my all-time favorite books of any kind. Obviously I already own a copy and hadn’t given the re-lease much thought. Until, that is, I saw some scans PopCultureShock provided showing the difference between the original artwork and the re-colored artwork Brian Bolland supplied for the Special Edition.
posted by Brendan | 10:01 PM | permanent link
All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder #11 The response to the series by writer Frank Miller and artist Jim Lee has been all over the spectrum from insipid crap to inspired genius. I read the first four issues or so before dropping the book because of budget reasons and a desire to own it collected together anyway. From what few issues I did read, I’m inclined to believe the latter opinion of the title. The first nine issues will be published in a hardbound collection this June and I can’t wait to pick it up. Here is the cover artwork for issue #11, also slated for a June release. I think it looks fantastic.  Good times. posted by Brendan | 10:50 PM | permanent link
Tom Sawyer Adaptation I’ve never heard of Tim Mucci or Rad Sechrist before, but this adaptation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer that they collaborated on looks wonderful. Make to check out the preview pages.  Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 10:27 PM | permanent link
Superheroes Meet Classical Art Photoshop jockies take a turn at blending superheroes into classical pieces of art. It’s mostly Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man, but some other characters show up as well. My two favorites:   Labels: Batman, Comics, DC, Illustration posted by Brendan | 9:45 PM | permanent link
FreakAngels FreakAngels debuted online four weeks ago. I held off from linking to it immediately until the series unfolded a bit and I could get a feel for what writer Warren Ellis and artist Paul Duffield were doing. Ellis made me a fan with his work on The Authority and Planetary, but I’ve also found that I Ellis name on the cover doesn’t guarantee I’ll enjoy the product inside. Sometimes I find his writing too clever for its own good. That doesn’t seem to be the case with FreakAngels. The concept is tops and so far the story and characters are warped enough to make things interesting but not so bizarre that it makes the material absurd or too dense too enjoy (complaints I’ve had with some of Ellis’ other work). Plus, I really dig Duffield's artwork.  My only complaint is that each weekly installment is too short. Things just seem to get going when suddenly it’s all over for another week. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 6:38 PM | permanent link
Quick Hits The photo collage he provides helps prove his funny, but I believe accurate, observation. This woman might be a little too unhinged to serve in the top office.    Now that Apple has announced that they are licensing Exchange ActiveSync from Microsoft so that they can build it into the iPhone for release this summer - thus making the iPhone infinitely more appealing to companies around the globe, do you think I there's a chance I will be able to convince the powers at be where I work that I need this uber-gadget?Yeah, I don't think so either.  Labels: Apple, Comics, Illustration, Politics posted by Brendan | 8:32 AM | permanent link
Watchmen Fever - Catch It!  So all the Interwebs are a flutter today because Zack Snyder, director of next year's Watchmen movie, published photos of some of the main characters on the movie's production blog. That's one of them there on the right. You can see more at the Watchmen movie website.I am a big fan of Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons' comic masterpiece. I consider it one of the top five best comics I have ever read. However, I do not share the excitement over this movie adaptation that I am finding online. With any movie adaptation of a comic book or novel, I approach the new project with trepidation. The original work was conceived and executed in the particular medium that the artist best fits the story they wanted to tell. The eventual success of that comic or novel then succeeds because of that perfect match of artistic impression and medium of delivery. However, I am even more wary of a Watchmen film because of the director, Zack Snyder. Snyder was the man who brought Frank Miller's 300 to the silver screen. It was triumphed as a faithful adaptation of Miller's comic mainly because of how true the images on film matched the images in Miller's book. But it was because of the practical scene by scene recreation that I found the movie version of 300 so underwhelming. (In a previous post I go into more detail about why I thought 300 failed as a movie adaptation.)  So now Snyder is tackling another comic book property and boldly claiming that he is taking every measure possible to capture the look of Gibbons' art and design. To me that says another soulless adaptation of a comic book to film which is all about the imagery and lacking on story.The film isn't set to open for another twelve months, so I'm sure there will be lots of more stories and lots of more photos that will be released between then and now to help keep the fan base in a slow simmer. But I'll pass on the hype. I'll stick with the source material. posted by Brendan | 9:20 PM | permanent link
Something Magical I really like where creator Alexis Frederick-Frost goes with his thoughts on the nature of comics over at the First Second blog.  Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 1:11 PM | permanent link Skyscrapers of the Midwest  Skyscrapers of the Midwest, by Joshua W. Cotter, is one of those comics that has skirted the peripheral of my comic book vision for a number of years. I knew the book was out there winning awards and garnering pages of praise from critics, but I had never hunted down an issue despite the fact that book sounded like something I might enjoy.As one critic described the series: “A varied collection of short and really short stories primarily featuring young anthropomorphic cats experiencing some of the worst moments of childhood - the kid not picked for a game of kickball; something's wrong with grandma; the dark side of day camp - Cotter beautifully communicated the raw emotion and vivid imagination of childhood, both in his words and his woodcut-style art.” Now Ad House, the publisher of Skyscrapers, is making it nearly impossible for me to ignore this book anymore. They have collected all four issues of the series into a hardbound book that will be published this summer. 288 pages of quality comics priced at $19.95 (and I’m sure Amazon.com will discount it). That's a deal and a half. I recall one of the reviews I read likened Cotter’s work in Skyscrapers to having your heart ripped from your chest, worked over a bit, and put back in place – but leaving you wanting more. A read through the nine page preview that Ad House posted provides an excellent example of what that reviewer meant and why I will buying a copy of Skyscrapers of the Midwest for my comic collection. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:46 PM | permanent link
Happy Birthday, Superman!  February 29th is Superman's birthday.Or at least at one time DC Comics claimed this to be true. The Superman Homepage has a thorough essay on the history surrounding Superman's birthday. How's it's changed over the years, and whether there actually is an actual "date" for a fictional character's birth. Personally, I like the idea of Superman's birthday being February 29th. It just seems . . . fun. What can't be debated or changed is the fact that the Superman character is 70 years-old this year. Action Comics #1 debuted back in the Spring of 1938 and kicked off the super hero comic book craze. I haven't seen or heard about any special celebrations planned by DC Comics to mark the main hero's 70th anniversary. Maybe they are holding out for the 75th anniversary in a few years. How to celebrate the Man of Steel's birthday? Watch a Superman movie. Take in some episodes of either the artistically moody Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940's or the wonderful Superman: The Animated Series from the 1990's. Or you could read probably the best (and to my knowledge only) Superman birthday story, Alan Moore's "For The Man Who Has Everything."  Bully recaps Moore's superb Superman tale as part of Man of Steel birthday celebration, but to really appreciate the magnificence of the story you should really search the full comic out. Though, in pinch you could watch the adapation J.M. DeMatteis provided for the animated series Justice League Unlimited. Update: According to the DC Universe Calendar (who knew?), February 29th is also Captain Marvel's birthday. Hopefully The Big Red Cheese doesn't mind sharing his birthday with the Man of Steel  Then again, Captain Marvel sold more comics in the 1940's than Superman, but DC Comics had better lawyers than Fawcett Comics - hence Superman became the enduring super-powered icon in America. So maybe there is a little resentment between these two. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:02 PM | permanent link
Justice League a Go Before the writers strike, there were all sorts of stories and rumors swirling about a planned Justice League movie from Warner Brothers in 2009. But when the strike dragged on longer than expected, Warner put the project on hold, putting a 2009 release date in jeopardy.  However, yesterday WB announced that production on the film is now pushing ahead. The script is being polished up and the cast is in training to bring to life the finest heroes of the DC universe. Variety gives a short list of the cast: Adam Brody, cast as the Flash, is the biggest star in the superhero lineup. Rapper Common nabbed the Green Lantern role; other roles went to lesser-known thesps such as Armie Hammer Jr. (Batman) and Megan Gale (Wonder Woman).An interesting mix of actors, to say the least. Ms. Gale certainly looks the part of Wonder Woman, but from what I can find, she has no substantial acting experience. And the rest of the names are actors who have some chops, but nothing to really get excited about. So right now Warner's big summer blockbusting Justice League movie looks like a B-movie to me. Maybe the cast will evolve into something a little more meaty over the next few months. There's time to wait and see. As much as I enjoy seeing DC Comics properties brought to life on the big screen, I also don't want to suffer through crap. posted by Brendan | 12:15 PM | permanent link
Garfield Sans Garfield This has been turning up on a number of different blogs I read. The more I look at them, the more disturbing they become. The Garfield Minus Garfield blog is taking Garfield comics, erasing said cat, and posting the results.  Just taking Garfield's comments out of the strip actually made the strip amusing. Removing the cat all together and the result is a depressing look at a lonely, sad little man. posted by Brendan | 9:02 AM | permanent link
Good Question Arthur, the duck, presents an interesting question in today's Sheldon.  Click through for the rest of the strip and more funny, but the answer is rather boring. posted by Brendan | 8:38 AM | permanent link
Wish I'd Gone to Pirate Camp  Read Wondermark Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 8:43 AM | permanent link
Optical Allusions Preview  I guess it's comic preview day.Besides Three Shadows, I also found a few pages of a new comic called Optical Allusions. Created by Jay Hosler, Phd., the book is about "the adventures of Wrinkles, the anthropomorphic brain as he takes a fantastic adventure and, in the process, learns about not only how our eyes work, but also about the power of natural selection and evolution." One of Hosler's earlier works, The Sandwalk Adventures, has been on my "to read" list for years, but I've never searched out a copy. I think I will be adding Optical Allusions to that list as well. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:30 PM | permanent link Three Shadows Preview New York Magazine has an excerpt from French comics artist Cyril Pedrosa book, Three Shadows. Take a read. It looks like an interesting story with wonderful artwork.  Three Shadows will be published by First Second this April. You can find another excerpt from the comic on the First Second website. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:19 PM | permanent link
We Need a Extreme Double Mega-Visionary Now When it comes to what sort of candidate for President this country needs, today's Wondermark hits the nail on the head.  posted by Brendan | 8:32 AM | permanent link
Review: Bane of the Demon Batman: Bane of the Demon is a four-issue mini-series originally published in 1998. The series was written with usual bombast style by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by one of my favorite Batman pencilers, Graham Nolan.  Now the only time Batman shows up is on the cover to the fourth issue, but because the story stars two of Batman’s biggest foes: Ra’s al Ghul and Bane, Bat’s get’s his name in the title. No problem. Ra’s is my favorite Batman villain to read about, and in the hands of the men who created the character, Bane can be interesting as well.Quick Batman comic book history lesson: back in the mid-to-late 1990’s, the Batman books jumped from one big event story to another. It started with "Knighfall", where the villain, Bane, broke Batman's back, and led up to "No Man's Land", which chronicled Gotham City being sealed off by the Federal government only to have the city re-opened on January 1, 2000. Two of the event stories that occured during that time were called "Contagion", which had Gotham City being over-run by a horrific plague, and "Legacy", which featured Ra’s al Ghul’s attempt to wipe out the majority of the world’s population. Bane of the Demon served to tie together some minor storylines between events in Contagion and Legacy. Problem was that the "Contagion" and "Legacy" storylines played out in 1996. Bane of the Demon wasn’t published until 1998. (Don’t know what happened in the editor’s office to create that publishing gaff.)  The plot is straight forward. While trying to determine who his father was; Bane crosses paths with Talia, daughter of Ra’s al Ghul. Talia captures Bane and brings him before her father, who recognizes the advantages of having someone with the skill and power of Bane within his organization. There are some attempts at double-crosses, plenty of action, a little hint at sex, and in the end Bane emerges as Ra’s right-hand man and personal bodyguard.I still remember enough about "Contagion" and "Legacy" to pick up on the plot points this mini-series was intended to tie together, and frankly I really don’t see the necessity in publishing a story to explain these minor points. I’d rather just take the four issues as their own story and not as some continuity tool. The story is still fun to read if you’ve never heard of "Contagion" and "Legacy." The book is classic Dixon. Each issue opens with an action sequence already in progress. That is followed by some character building scenes, another big action sequence, and it all leads up to a cliffhanger. While it may see formulaic, Dixon works the formula with great skill. He had been employing this formula before Bane of the Demon, and he still uses it today. The formula flat out works as a way to structure an adventure comic. And as long as he is accompanied by an equally skilled artist, the reader is treated to a solid and fulfilling 22 pages of entertainment.  Luckily for us, the artist paired up with Dixon on Bane of the Demon is Graham Nolan. I can’t recall right now, but Nolan may have been on his way out of the Bat books around 1998. (He’s currently the artist for The Phantom and Rex Morgan comic strips) Nolan’s art is clean and classic in presentation. His work is very much in the same style as artists like Eduardo Barreto and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. What I particularly enjoyed about Nolan’s run on Detective Comics back in the 90’s was his depiction of Batman. Nolan’s Batman had a physical presence that was powerful without being bulky. When Nolan draws Batman, he puts the "knight" in the Dark Knight. His Batman is power and confident.As I mentioned early, there is no Batman in the pages of Bane of the Demon, but that really doesn’t matter. Nolan does a wonderful job with all of the other characters to provide a fitting visual compliment to Dixon’s story. The action sequences are skillfully choreographed, the panel constructions are done for the best dramatic effect, and his Talia looks like a woman men would gladly die for. Bane of the Demon is not great art, but it is great pop art. A fun, fast-past adventure story told and illustrated with skill and flair. Can’t wait to see what other comics are waiting for me in the basement. Labels: Batman, Comics, Review posted by Brendan | 4:30 PM | permanent link
Some Alex Ross Comic Cover Art After initially loving Alex Ross' work, I had cooled on his style over the last few years. He seemed to be cranking out the same old photo-realistic paintings for comc covers and (few) interiors. But with the cover artwork for April's Batman #676 and Superman #675 Alex appears to have put a little more "art" into his artwork. He seems less concerned with depicting the heroes as the might actual exist in the real word, but rather conveying an essence of the character.
Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:55 PM | permanent link
Farmer's Daughter It was an actual humor comic book series from the mid-1950's.  I saw it here today and the premise and the art made me laugh.posted by Brendan | 10:17 PM | permanent link
A Post About a Bunch of Random Things Related to Comics You should go read it. Because of the comics size, it takes a while to load in. But after it does, the experience of reading is worth the wait. It starts with a man thinking about a key and the comic ends up 44 panels later is insane. Read it.  The photo above is of the interior to The Secret Headquarters, a comic book shop in Los Angeles, CA. First up: the box of The Shadow comics I bought on eBay two or three years ago. I purchased 40+ comics for around $15. The lot is made up mostly of The Shadow Strikes - a late 80's / early 90's incarnation of the character published by DC Comics, with a few other odd DC Shadow comics thrown in. About a year ago I read the 4-issue The Shadow mini-series from 1985 written and drawn by Howard Chaykin that came in the lot. Instead of leaving the character in the 1930's, Chaykin moved the Shadow into contemporary times. I absolutely hated the comic. I like Chaykin, but his modern Shadow did not work. The Shadow, like Soc Savage or The Phantom, are really characters of the time they were created in - reflections of that moment in history really - and should be left in that time period when new stories are written for the characters. Luckliy I only paid about $1.50 for the entire 4-issue story.  But that brings me back to The Shadow Strikes. It was launched in 1989 by DC Comics and featured Gerard Jones handling the writing chores and Eduardo Barreto illustrating (and, coincidentily, Anthony Tollin on colors, who is now the man behind all the great Shadow and Doc Savage reprints through his Nostalgia Ventures publishing company) great adventure stories of the Shadow set in the late 1930's.I've only read a few of issues of The Shadow Strikes. While I have enjoyed Gerard Jones stories, what has struck me is how perfect Eduardo Barreto's style is suited for The Shadow. I've seen Barreto's work before in other comics and always enjoyed it, but his character design, linework, and backgrounds perfectly capture the Shadow's world of the 1930's. He has a simple, classic approach to his art that just seems to click with crime and noir type stories. When I learned that Barreto's had illustrated the first few The Shadow Strikes that I had read, I did a quick flip through the remaining issues that had come in the lot I bought. It looks like Barreto was able to remain consistently on the title, which means I'm in store for some great looking Shadow comics for a while. posted by Brendan | 12:24 PM | permanent link
Ain't It The Truth  posted by Brendan | 9:28 AM | permanent link
Review: Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality  Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality, by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang, was originally published in serial format as a back-up story part in DC Comics’ eight-issue Tales of the Unexpected miniseries. It stars Doctor 13, a character who hasn’t been seen much since the old Phantom Stranger comics of the 1970’s, who is devote skeptic and paranormal investigator. By way of some extraordinary means (i.e. plot devices), Doctor 13 is thrown together with a collection of the DC Comics’ most obscure characters in order to thwart the destruction of their universe.Doctor 13 is joined by his daughter, Traci, Captain Fear, leader of a ghost flying pirate ship, Genius Jones, a kid who has read every book in existence, Anthro, a cave-boy who speaks modern French, I…Vampire, a very ‘80s vampire, Infectious Lass, a minor member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the ghost of General J.E.B. Stuart from the “Haunted Tank” stories of the ‘60s, and the leader of the Primate Patrol, a talking Nazi gorilla. As motley a crew as I’ve ever encountered in comics. One its surface, Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality, is a fun adventure comic making the most of its eccentric cast of characters. The story moves as quickly as the one-liners and goofy situations. There is no drippy melodrama and hang-wringing angst. Azzarello and Chiang are having too much fun reveling in the fun you can have with a character who’s only superpower is to make other people sick (Infectious Lass) or an over-sexed pirate ghost. For these creators, the story is at first a celebration of the bizarre and goofy in comic books. However, as the involvement of the mysterious antagonists to the tale, the Architects, is revealed, the story develops a second – and decidedly more meta-fictional – level. The Architects appear and state that they need to re-build the fictional universe Doctor 13 and his crew inhabit so that their universe can remain relevant and interesting, and only contain those characters deemed worthy or necessary for achieving this newly architected relevancy. This motive is a clear analogy for the superhero comic book publishers’ practice of re-inventing their comic book universe every decade or so. They eliminate characters that the editorial team believes are no longer needed and re-start keystone characters (i.e. Superman, Batman, etc) to keep them “fresh” and in line with the newly imagined Universe.  With the arrival of the Architects (reported to represent comic writers Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid), Doctor 13 and his bunch become the conduit for Azzarello and Chiang to provide their editorial on these universe re-writing events and editorial-driven character deaths. Team Doctor 13’s (if you will) fight against the Architects is a plea to leave these oddball characters alone. Just because a character might not fit in the newly constructed universe (and how a character like Infectious Lass is beyond me) doesn’t mean they have to be killed off. Just leave them alone, and when their time for a story comes along they will be ready.Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality was one of my favorite comic book reads of 2007, mostly because I could appreciate and enjoy the story on both levels. Azzarello handles the team cleverly and writes some laugh-out-loud scenes. Chiang’s artwork is clean and expressive. It was fun from start to finish. However, I have to wonder if a non-comic book aficionado would enjoy the book as much as I. The third act is fairly over-whelmed with the struggle against the Architects, their re-working of reality, and the analogies to how the comic book industry is run. But I could be wrong. Someone not familiar with DC’s and Marvel’s love of the reality re-writing event stories just might not take the metaphor of the Architects as deep as DC/Marvel reader would. They would understand the struggle for existence against the threat of non-existence, even in a fictional aspect. In the end, highly recommended. posted by Brendan | 4:45 PM | permanent link Reign of the Superman in 30 Seconds Chris's Invincible Super-Blog held the second annual 30 Second Recap contest, and announced the winner yesterday night. The 30 Second Recap contest asks anyone willing to give it a shot to create a comic strip recap of a famous comic book storyline that can be read in 30-seconds or less. This year's winner is Tom Foss of the Fortress of Soliloquy who did a totally awesome re-telling of the Reign of the Supermen story (the epic which followed the Death of Superman storyline in the comics).  You may have to be a comic book geek to appreciate the humor, so trust me when I tell you that Foss did an excellent job. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:16 PM | permanent link
Teen Titan: Year One Cover This is the cover to the upcoming third issue of Teen Titans: Year One. This, plus the preview of the first issue I saw and some interviews with the creators I read mean I adds up to me anxiously waiting for DC to collect this mini-series into a trade.  Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 11:23 AM | permanent link
Changing Comic Book Habits There are a number of reasons (though mostly because of money and time) that I’ve decided to stop buying monthly comic books starting in January 2008. It was decision I came to after a lot of thought and consideration, and it’s a course I plan to stick to for at least the next two years. I will still buy graphic novels and trade paperback collections, but the elimination of the monthly published titles that I currently buy (of which there are about 10) will dramatically alter my comic reading habits. I plan to dig into my fifteen plus year stash of old issues and rediscover the books I’ve collected. It might even give me some inspiration for writing. Actually, I kinda hope that reading through these old books do provide some inspiration. Otherwise I’ll have to reconsider why I am hanging on to these back issues of comics.  In the meantime, I expect the first few months of my abstinence to be difficult. First I’ll have to break myself of the habitual desire to stop in at the comic book shop every two or three weeks. Then I’ll have to grow used to not having crisp new comics always sitting on the table next to the chair in our bedroom. Finally, I’ll have to learn patience when I read about great new books like the ones Red 5 Comics are turning out.Thanks to a post in today’s Comics Should Be Good blog, I discovered Atomic Robo, a comic starring the Nikola-Tesla-built robot who has adventured his way through the years and now heads up the Action Science League to battle all sorts of crazy threats. Besides the glowing write-up, CSBG provides some scans of the interior of the comic, all of which had me sold on the book before I visited the Red 5 Comics website to learn more.  On the Red 5 Comics website I learned about Midknight, which is a book about a husband-wife crime fighting team who also has a three-year-old daughter at home along with regular jobs. I love the artwork I saw on display at the Red 5 website, and the reviews that I found spoke strongly about the series. Midkinght looks like another comic that would be perfect for my monthly comic pull-list, along with Atomic Robo.If I was still going to have a pull-list in 2008. So now comes my first test in patience. The cover of Atomic Robo indicates that the series is a limited 6 issue run. So hopefully Red 5 will collect the series in a trade paperback after the six issues are published. At which time it would move to the top of my list of trades to pick up. Midknight appears to have an open ended run, but maybe Red 5 will collect a first story arc into a trade. At which point I will be all over the book. Labels: Comics posted by Brendan | 12:34 PM | permanent link
Christmas Comic Cover 2007 - December 25  Santa Claus Funnies Today is Christmas! And check out the other comic book advent calendars: Polite Dissent, Comics Should Be Good, and Yet Another Comics Blog  Merry ChristmasLabels: Christmas, Comic Advent Calendar 2007, Comics posted by Brendan | 10:07 AM | permanent link
Christmas Comic Cover 2007 - December 24  Christmas with the Superheroes Christmas is tomorrow! And check out the other comic book advent calendars: Polite Dissent, Comics Should Be Good, and Yet Another Comics Blog Merry ChristmasLabels: Christmas, Comic Advent Calendar 2007, Comics posted by Brendan | 7:58 AM | permanent link
Christmas Comic Cover 2007 - December 23  Sugar and Spice #38 2 days Until Christmas! And check out the other comic book advent calendars: Polite Dissent, Comics Should Be Good, and Yet Another Comics Blog Merry ChristmasLabels: Christmas, Comic Advent Calendar 2007, Comics posted by Brendan | 9:46 AM | permanent link
Christmas Comic Cover 2007 - December 22  The Spirit #12 3 days Until Christmas! And check out the other comic book advent calendars: Polite Dissent, Comics Should Be Good, and Yet Another Comics Blog Merry ChristmasLabels: Christmas, Comic Advent Calendar 2007, Comics posted by Brendan | 8:45 AM | permanent link |
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