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Cowboys & AliensIt’s the week before Christmas for many people, and we begin, unfortunately, on a sad note. Veteran industry colorist Adrienne Roy passed away this week. ComicMix has the details of her long-running career as a colorist for hundreds of DC’s Bronze Age comics. I did not know that she was once voted "Most Beautifully Tattooed Female." She was well-known and highly-regarded, so there are certain to be other remembrances - like this one by Mark Evanier - around the internets.

Cowboys: Robert Orci talks about the upcoming Cowboys & Aliens movie, and Harrison Ford: “I’m assuming Spielberg called in some kind of a favor, because we were shocked to hear that he was interested.”

Crime: Novelist and funnybook writer Gary Phillips chooses his favorite crime and mystery graphic novels of 2010 for The Rap Sheet. Yes, Darwyn Cooke’s Parker: The Outfit is in there, but so’s a bunch of other cool stuff I need to check out now.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Cowboys & Aliens, Jacques Tardi And Adrienne Roy


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Marvel MinimatesDo you have shelf upon shelf of collectible action figures based on obscure comic book characters? Are they arranged in alphabetical order, purchase order or by company?

Diamond Comic Distributors in Timonium, MD could be looking for a person just like you. They need a Marketing Supervisor but it's not for their regular comic book distribution business.

It's for their Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles division. So, you know, free sample toys now and then.

You’ll be involved in trade show planning and budgeting, expanding awareness of company brands, sales support functions, copywriting and contests and the ubiquitous “all other duties as assigned.”

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Diamond Comic Distributors


Kavalier & KlayMichael Chabon, who will always be a nerd favorite for his book The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay (and its spinoff Dark Horse comic book The Escapist), has gotten himself a new gig.

The Pulitzer Prize-winner will take over as the chairman of The MacDowell Colony's board of directors.

He replaces the outgoing chairman, Robert MacNeil, who’s been there since 1993. If that sounds surprising, it shouldn’t. Chabon is a nine-time MacDowell Colony Fellow.

But what is The MacDowell Colony, and doesn’t it sound like an M. Night Shyamalan movie? It’s an artist residency program that’s been going since 1907, headquartered on a “450-acre woodsy estate in Peterborough, N.H.”

Creative types can apply to go up there for a month at a time, give or take, and just devote themselves to their own creativity and see what pops out.

Lunch is delivered to your door, and you don’t have to interact with anyone until dinner. And the program is free if your application is accepted.

Click to continue reading Michael Chabon & The MacDowell Colony


Sym-Bionic TitanASIFA-Hollywood announced their nominations for the 38th Annual Annie Awards this past week.

The essential animation blog, Cartoon Brew, has a complete list of the nominations.

If you like controversy, be sure to read the comments, too!

A couple of people with comic book connections popped up on the list of nominees.

Stephen DeStefano, artist on Lucky In Love from Fantagraphics, is up for Character Design in a Television Production for his work on the Cartoon Network series Sym-Bionic Titan.

Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn’s Image Comic Firebreather, the Cartoon Network original movie that aired at the end of November, got itself two nominations. In the category Production Design in a Television Production, Barry Jackson is one of the nominees. In the category Directing in a Television Production, director Peter Chung was nominated as well.

Click to continue reading Annie Awards: 2010 Nominations


Green Lantern Plastic ManFrom New York to Burbank to San Diego, DC Comics continues to put their employment puzzle together.

They’ve just put up a huge list of jobs this week -- six of them, in fact. And some of them might be in your wheelhouse.

Publicity Manager (New York): You’ll be working in DC’s Marketing Department, executing “public relations projects" and providing “daily content for company news blogs.”

Executive Assistant #1 (New York): This one is for the DC Marketing department. “Move tomorrow’s 11 am to 10, change my flight from Burbank to San Diego, pick up Mrs. Executive some flowers when you’re getting my dry cleaning, scramble the PR team to spin our new crossover Final Crisis Women In Refrigerators, and order in some Pad Thai. It’s going to be a long night.”

Executive Assistant #2 (Burbank): You’ll be working for the DCE Sales Marketing and Business Development department. They’ll probably make you fight Executive Assistant #1, and then kiss.

 

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: DC Comics (6 Jobs!)


Hagar The HorribleIf you need to take a break from Christmas shopping and sit down in front of a warm computer and fill your body with the sweet, sweet taste of egg nog, here are some nice links to keep you company.

I love Christmas cards from cartoonists, and Hogan’s Alley has posted a whole pile of them from Dik Browne, creator of Hagar The Horrible and one of the greatest cartoonists, ever. As if that weren’t enough, there’s this: “Every year since 1936, the Newspaper Enterprise Association has syndicated a Christmas strip. In 1968, Jack Kent produced a daily-only King Aroo sequence, which we are thrilled to present here!”

Castle: If you like Nathan Fillion’s TV series, you’re not alone. Here’s what one loyal fan created.

Amazons: David E. Kelley talks about his Wonder Woman project. The bottom line: don’t get your hopes up.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Walking Dead, Castle and Wonder Woman


SalesmanDC Comics is hiring again for their New York office. This time they’re looking for a Direct Sales Representative for their Sales Department.

You’ll get to coordinate “all sales of DC comics and book format titles, MAD Magazine and DC Direct items to retailers through exclusive sales agent.”

You’ll also be developing sales plans, special promotions, sales forecasts and all that sales-based stuff as you work to get people to buy more DC comics.

Bonus: scheduled calls to retailers and attendance at various conventions to interact with consumers and the retail community.

You know what that means? Free room at Comic Con International.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: DC Comics Direct Sales


Planet Of The ApesOne of the many things that I love is Planet of the Apes. I’m not OCD about it and I don’t get bent out of shape when other creative people take the project and run with it. I just enjoy the idea of a planet where Apes have replaced people as the ruling elite and the Apes have all the advantages.

Ever since I first saw Charlton Heston running through a cornfield, pursued by Gorillas on horseback with guns, I’m been nuts for the Apes. Think about that for a second: Gorillas on horseback with guns. How can anyone not love that?

Here are my four favorite Apes-based projects:

(1) Planet of the Apes: The original and still the best. Heston found the perfect role for his Shakespearean-tragedy scenery chewing, some of the moments are truly horrifying, and Jerry Goldsmith’s score is haunting. I can’t wait for my own kids to be old enough to appreciate it.

Click to continue reading Planet Of The Apes: The Lexicon


Scooby Doo

DC Comics, the division of DC Comics that’s moved to Burbank, CA, is hiring again.

This time, they need an Associate Art Director for their Publishing-Digital department.

This new online venture of DC’s got a nice write-up from The Beat that’ll tell you who the players are.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: DC Comics Online


Gen 13 #1Wildstorm – the once-formidable imprint of DC Comics - is officially shutting down this month and that makes me sad.

I have friends who work there (many of whom I'm happy to say are staying on to work for the corporate parent), but I was also present at its fairly official formation.

I was sitting in Marc Silvestri's beachfront apartment in Malibu, attending a meeting of the Image founders while they were putting together what would become Image Comics. I was there as a representative of Malibu Comics along with Malibu Publisher Dave Olbrich and Editor-In-Chief Chris Ulm.

Image was represented by Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Jim Lee, and Whilce Portacio. Hank Kanalz was also there. He was Rob's co-writer on the soon-to-be published Youngblood #1, and years later eventually became the head of Wildstorm. (I have a photo of Hank videotaping the meeting so there's archival footage lurking somewhere.)

Dave and Rob had known each other for years, and if you corner Dave at a convention, he can tell you the story of how Malibu nearly published a version of Youngblood #1 years before the formation of Image, and before Rob started working for Marvel.

Image had scheduled several meetings at the beach that day and Malibu Comics was the first one. The publisher of Wizard, Gareb Shamus, would later drop by, as would Harold Anderson from Anderson News, the newsstand distributor.

Click to continue reading Wildstorm: Gen 13 #1 @ 299,000 Copies (1995)


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