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WEEKEND READING: Peter Gillis, Buck Rogers, Teen-Age Sex Club and Howard Nostrand
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
From our friends the mechanical men to missing comic book creators, a teenage sex club and a takedown of Buck Rogers, there’s lots of great stuff to keep you occupied until Monday morning.
PETER GILLIS: If you still recall your 1980s comic books enough to run a Jeopardy category on the subject, then you probably remember Peter Gillis who wrote for Marvel, DC and First Comics. You might’ve seen his work on Shattered (the first digital comic, with Michael Saenz), Warp, Strikeforce: Morituri (which he co-created with artist Brent Anderson), Micronauts: The New Voyages, Strange Tales, What If…?, The Defenders, The Eternals, Gammarauders and Tailgunner Jo (with Tom Artis). After that long-running stint in comics, he seems to have disappeared. Well, not for long – lots of missing people turn up on the internets and Gillis is no exception. He’s anxious to plunge back into writing and he’s got a website with something to free-read. As he puts it: “I’ve recently completed a fantasy novel, and am hard into the sequel. Since my literary agent had the bad taste to die, I’m seeking representation for it/them. In the meantime, I’ve written a short story set in the world of these novels, and decided in the interest of shameless self-promotion, to put the story up here for free download.”
ROBOTS: These mechanical freaks come in all sizes and shapes and all manner of deadliness. Friend or foe, they will one day rule us all. They’ve already taken over mail sorting, manufacturing and telephones.
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The great thing about comic books is that right there on the rack beside 70-year-old Batman and 47-year-old Spider-Man there can exist a comic that’s less-than-a-year-old and stars a butt-kickin’ luchador super-hero who happens to be (wait for it) a gorilla! Is this a great industry or what?
TAMAS JAKAB the artist and MIKE McGEE the writer are the creators behind El Gorgo! a new independent comic that debuted last year. The second issue is available as of February 20th and if you can’t find it at your local LCS (it’s not carried by Diamond), you can order it from the El Gorgo! website. But because we live in the modern age, you don’t have to order blind. Tamas and Mike have posted the complete first and second issues online for free-reading on the very sound internet principle that if you like it on the screen, you’ll love to hold it in your hands and slip it into its Mylar Snug.
In El Gorgo! #2, “Terror On Titan!,” the story takes place 10,000 years in the future as El Gorgo! and Nika face a new breed of Deep Ones. If you love the Kirby, if you love the Cosmic and if you’re thrilled by the idea of a Gorilla super-hero strong enough to kick a dinosaur in the face, this is the comic for you, and probably a couple of your friends as well. Read on, and see how Tamas and Mike do it…
TOM: First of all, who is El Gorgo?
Click to continue reading Q&A: Mike McGee & Tamas Jakab – El Gorgo!
This week’s episode was entitled “316”. The episode focuses on Jack and the other LOSTies who are off the island. A very good episode that gives us some more mysteries. Now one would say, but that’s just your typical “LOST” episode, but not this one. I felt the questions that arose in this episode were shocking and very surprising even for me as a regular “LOST” viewer. How long before we find out the answers to these new mysteries and what other mysteries lie ahead?
Spoilers….............
Click to continue reading LOST Review 2/18/09
WEBCOMICS WEDNESDAY: Karen Ellis, Barack Obama & Mark Ricketts
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Hey all, before we take a look at some webcomics, there’s a webcartoonist out there who could use a helping hand. KAREN ELLIS, who does the webcomic Planet Karen, recently lost everything she had in a fire that started in the apartment above her. She’s really got nothing except the desire to get drawing again and put her life back together. Supporters can head over to her website and make a PayPal contribution (label it “gift” not “donation”) and help her out. Times are tough and money’s tight, but we are all just one faulty light socket away from tragedy ourselves. Lea Hernandez, who lost her worldly goods in a fire a couple of years ago has a terrific post about things that can and should be done to help out others in a situation like this. Benefit book? Bad. Cash? Really good!
(h/t to the gang over @ Fleen)
BARACK OBAMA: Well, it had to happen. After appearing in both Spider-Man and Youngblood #8 (by Rob Liefeld), President Barack Obama is now the star of a once-a-week webcomic, President Awesome. This one’s by writer Dean Trippe (creator of Butterfly) and Evan Bryce. It’s too early to tell where this will go (the Weapon O one is funny because it feels so true), but it’s not too early to bookmark it and keep checking in. Once thing’s for certain, Bryce has no trouble drawing Mr. Obama.
(h/t to Heidi MacDonald @ The Beat)
MOOSE MOUNTAIN: If you’ve known Mark Ricketts through his graphic novels like Night Trippers and Crime Scene Forensics, you’ll see a different side of him on top of Moose Mountain. Moose Mountain is the tale of naïve, gullible Ranger Todd who patrols the woods around Moose Mountain National Park. Ricketts hit a milestone last month of 100 strips. He posts every Tuesday and Thursday, and yes, there are talking bears.
MASSACRE FOR BOYS: Jimmy Baker Animal Hatmaker runs up against an old Nazi nemesis at the London Zoo. And yes, Gorillas and animal headgear are involved. Written by Chris Denton and Illustrated by Steven Denton (the lads behind Walking Wounded) this isn’t an ongoing comic but it’s an offbeat, short read from a couple of guys who are outside the box.
That’s all for this week - more next time. And if you have a favorite webcomic, feel free to champion its cause in the comments. Otherwise, I’ll just have to spend hours and hours surfing, reading and searching for my new favorites!
(illustration from Planet Karen and © Karen Ellis)
DC Comics Review: Batman Confidential #26
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
In my previous reviews for “Batman: Confidential”, I’ve talked about how much I’ve enjoyed the previous storyline. The previous storyline dealt with Batman’s first effort to bring the Joker in for booking and it was great. I read the advanced solicitations for this issue a while back and how DC would be introducing the 1960s Batman television show villain King Tut into comic book continuity and I decided I had to check out how they would do it. Well, although the character is much different from the television show, I really enjoyed this first issue of the King Tut storyline.
In the television show, King Tut was a Egyptologist named Professor William Omaha McElroy who worked for Yale University. After hitting his head, the professor developed amnesia and began to believe that he was King Tut reincarnated. I think the reason DC didn’t go with a character similar to the television show was not because the character was so campy, but because DC kind of already has a character who acts like this in Maxie Zeus.
In this issue, King Tut is going around and killing people and he’s doing it while saying some riddles. This causes Batman to go visit The Riddler in Arkham Asylum to see if he is somehow connected or even behind these murders. The Riddler denies that he’s involved and he offers Batman is help to catch him. Batman of course turns him down as he doesn’t trust the Riddler.
Tut has killed two people already and the Riddler provides Batman with a clue to the next victim. Batman is too late and the victim is dead. Batman heads back to Arkham to confront the Riddler again about his possible involvement in these crimes, but he finds him missing from his cell.
This story is being written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir - the writers who wrote for Marvel Comics’ “New Mutants” and “New X-Men”. This team is very underrated and they write some good stuff. The art is provided by veterans Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan. It’s nice them getting some work. I don’t even remember the last book Garcia-Lopez worked on.
If you’re big a big Batman fan like I am, pick this up and have some fun.
This month’s issue of “Batman” is a big one. It’s part one of the two-part storyline, “Whatever Happened to Caped Crusader” which is written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Andy Kubert. This story is an homage to classic Alan Moore Superman story “Whatever Happend to the Man of Tomrrow?” Does Gaiman live up to the story? In my opinion no, but it’s still a pretty good story with fantastic artwork by Andy Kubert. DC has really dropped the ball in regards to the Kubert brothers. Both of them have not had long runs on books and have been regulated to short stints or covers. I hope this changes in 2009.
As for this story, it’s kind of like the stories that Grant Morrison has been telling over the past few months with “RIP” where it’s not your normal run of the mill Batman story and everything feels abstract or like a dream. The only difference here is I didn’t like what Grant Morrison was doing with his Batman stories, but I do like what Gaiman is doing here in the beginning of this story.
Click to continue reading DC Comic Review: Batman #686
Q&A: Ryan Alexander-Tanner on the Xeric, Television and William Ayers
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews,
RYAN ALEXANDER-TANNER is a Xeric Award winner, indie cartoonist, and self-publisher (Television). Now one of his next projects is sure to set tongues wagging. It’s a graphic novel in collaboration with William Ayers called To Teach: The Graphic Memoir and scheduled to be published in 2010 by Teachers College Press.
TOM: Let’s talk about your Xeric Grant first. What did you have to submit to get it?
RYAN: In order to get one you have to submit a finished - or at least close to finished - comic book. I had everything done except the cover when I submitted Television #1. You also have to get a really solid budget proposal together, which a lot of people understandably have a hard time with. I got some help from my great friend Alex Cahill - an earlier recipient of the Xeric - and Gary Grinde over at Morgan Printing - who is a friend to indie comics artists across the nation - and it really wasn’t too bad. That’s one of the great things about indie comics; it really is a small world so it’s pretty easy to reach out to people if you need some help. I would recommend to anyone who was applying for one to contact previous recipients for some sage advice.
Click to continue reading Q&A: Ryan Alexander-Tanner on the Xeric, Television and William Ayers
Craig Yoe has a knack for putting out great books – the second you hear the title of one of his books, you’ve just gotta have it. From BOODY: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers (which will be published by Fantagraphics Books on March 1) to Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings which was published last October by Last Gasp, you know that Yoe is dealing with fascinating lost, forgotten or secret aspects of comic book/comic strip/cartoon history. Yoe has the gift, yo.
His latest book is Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster, and the material inside is quite a find. You can read online about the financial difficulties Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster encountered once they sold Superman to DC Comics and pursued options to get a piece of the multi-million pie their creation was soon to become. But by the 1950s, artist Shuster needed money. He took a job doing fetish illustrations – bondage, S&M, you name it - for an under-the-counter magazine called Nights Of Horror. There’s a sneak preview available online which is probably NSFW.
The whole sordid enterprise involved not just Shuster and the magazine, but a murder trial and Fredric Wertham (author of Seduction Of The Innocent). Oh, what a tangled web Yoe has uncovered! And you know you’re in good hands. Yoe’s won the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, two Addys, the Mobius, and an Eisner Award and he’s got mad design skills as well.
The 160-page hardcover is scheduled for release on April 1 from Abrams ComicArts. Stan Lee wrote the introduction.
COMIC BOOK JOBS: NOW HIRING? DC Comics & Harry Abrams!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Nobody has to be told that it’s a crappy environment to be looking for a job. Books, newspapers, comic books – all parts of the print-related pie are dwindling faster than the Wookie-shaped cheesecake at a Star Wars-themed wedding. Here are two places that are looking for qualified comic book people. Okay, so it’s not writing and drawing, but they still look like fun gigs, if you pass the test. So study hard, whip that resume into shape and good luck!
DC COMICS, publisher of Superman, killer of Batman, and owner of Lesbian Batwoman, is looking for an “Executive Director, Publishing Operations.” Sounds like a nice suit-and-tie job with an expensive Manhattan haircut to match. But what’s that job entail? Lots of great items in the checklist of responsibilities, but the main one is: “Coordination of long term publishing plans and monitor costs/sales projections for project budgeting.” You’ll need a minimum of 7-years experience in the “comic book specialty market, mass market book or newsstand periodical sales” and the ever-elusive “management experience” to count those particular comic book budget beans. You can get more details here.
HARRY ABRAMS, the venerable artsy publisher of quality hardcovers, is looking for an “Editor, Abrams ComicArts.” This sounds like a sweet gig in one of the few potentially growing print segments: graphic novels. What do you get to do if you’re lucky to land this? You’ll “be responsible for editing and project managing titles acquired by the Executive Editor as well as acquiring individual titles for Abrams’s growing comic art and graphic novel list.” You’ll get to read a lot of comics and meet a lot of creative people, that’s what. But first, your qualifications: “10 years experience in an editorial capacity…keen understanding of the comic arts marketplace…established relationships in publishing and the comics market.” There’s more to it than that, but you can find out all the details about the job here.
If those sound like your dream jobs, what the heck are you waiting for?
(Artwork @ DC Comics, Inc.)
Charles Schulz passed away today nine years ago in February, 2000.
I’ve been wondering about how to tribute a man that has done so much for the world of cartoons, comic strips, art, and my own life.
Should I start out with the fact that he was born in Minnesota at the beginning of the roaring twenties? Because both the Midwest and jazz piano have been staples of Schulz’s work. And tributes usually begin with preliminary facts like these.
Or maybe an anecdote about how he got the name “Sparky”? Or how one of his most prized possessions was the “Combat Infantry Badge” he earned for his duty in World War II? Or that he was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame, because those events are more about the man that he was, but don’t show you the whole picture of who Charles Schulz was.
Whenever they tribute someone in an article they usually mention numbers and usually they’re pretty big numbers, and Charles Schulz is certainly no stranger to big numbers. “Peanuts” has appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers and 75 different countries at the time of his passing. When he attended school he skipped 2 and half grades, which is more than most of us ever did. But those numbers don’t really memorialize the man as I remember him.
And I’ve also seen writers talk about what has been left behind, or created, since the person’s passing. And I could rattle on about the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, along with countless “Peanuts” strips that will continue to grace newspapers worldwide.
While all of these things are true and make up pieces of Charles Schulz. I don’t think anything captures him more than the picture of snoopy lying atop his dog house and staring at the sky dreaming.
Click to continue reading We Miss You Charles Schulz
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