If I Were In LA, I'd Go To This


 
posted 6:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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Bill Kitchen, 1928/1929-2007



Bill Kitchen, the longtime illustrator and cartoonist at the Miami Herald, passed away in his home last Wednesday after a short battle with pancreatic cancer, the family reported to local news media. Kitchen was 78.

During a 25 year run as a Herald staffer, Kitchen was best known as the paper's news story illustrator and the artist for the popular, consumer-oriented Action Line. A more rigorous editorial cartoonist career may have been out of the cards because of his right wing beliefs. Kitchen also worked for papers in Huntington, West Virginia and in Lakeland, Florida over his long career.

He was a high school dropout and a veteran of the Korean War. Bill Kitchen is survived by a wife, a son and a daughter.
 
posted 4:20 am PST | Permalink
 

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Missed It: Various News Updates

* charges against the creators of a cartoon cover for the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves have been reduced. Once facing jail time and fines, artist Guillermo and writer Manel Fontevilla now only face fines.

* this fairly scattered and I'm afraid ineffectual article from the Guardian's book blog weighs in on recent complaints about the sexism in many mainstream superhero comics. I'm never sure there's much to say about these kinds of things but acknowledge the awfulness and buy/complain accordingly. Deciding not to purchase stuff that upsets and even humiliates seems obvious to me. Therefore, it's not surprising that the mini-essay doesn't move the subject much past that stage, either. There's also some fascinating rhetorical work where the writer seems to want the punch of conflating superhero comics with all comics -- which allows you to downplay counter-examples outside the cape and cowl crowd -- but at the same time certainly knows comics are at least as widely defined as to include Joe Matt.

* South African booksellers aren't moving Tintin in the Congo to a different set of shelves, they're dumping it.

* The "at least three" comics previously announced as returning to the LA Daily News in response to fan outcries when they recently dumped ten features has become eight comics restored, Editor & Publisher reports.
 
posted 3:42 am PST | Permalink
 

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CR Commentary: CCI 2007 Wrapped



Here are my final thoughts about Comic-Con International 2007, July 26-29 with a July 25 Preview Night at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.

So How Were The Eisners?
1. Overall, I quite liked the Eisner Awards this year. The music makes such a difference getting people on and off the stage. Bill Morrison is a charming and low-key host. The presenters were consistently amusing with three of the pairings (the Reno 9-11 guys, Brian Posehn and some other fella, Jonathan Ross and Neil Gaiman) about as good as you're ever going to see. Jane Wiedlin was a hit with her natural target audience of males aged 35-40. Also, and I think this was huge, no one struck a sour or inappropriate note the entire time: no super-dour proclamations of doom, no self-serving or smarmy wisecracks, no stories of cartoonists borrowing money in a public washroom. What you heard from folks was mostly gratitude with a dash of perspective. Other than the fact that every single person that hit the stage should have kidded Paul Pope about his shirtless vest ensemble, the show itself went as well as could ever be expected.

2. Only one major no-show: Darwyn Cooke.

3. There were things I didn't like about the Eisners. There seemed to be more technical glitches this year, from things mis-identified on the overheads to broken equipment that needed adjusting to people not knowing how to pronounce names. It's still way too many awards. Europe has a more diverse industry and I think Angouleme sports fewer than 10 awards at their big ceremony. As always, I'm not sure the voting was inspired, even with the categories mostly split so as to prevent a lot of superheroes/vertigo vs. indy/alt battles. Are this year's winners really the greatest books and creators of comics' greatest era? Perhaps combining exhaustion from a number of awards and some sloppy voting habits, someone at our table pointed out that a lot of first choices as listed on the ballot won during the last hour, and in general.

4. There's one thing about the Eisners that continues to drive me batty over all other factors, though. It's a major pet peeve of mine that actual cartoonists and major industry figures like Hilda Terry and Michelle Urry, for example, respectively, can somehow fail to be honored with a memorial tribute, while people in related art forms (the kids' end of the pool, naturally) or active in the fan community are honored. There's something that seems selfish and maybe even self-loathing about that. Nothing will likely ever be as ridiculous as the year where a cartoonist's spouse was included (a lady I liked very, very much, by the way) and William Freakin' Steig was left out, but it continues, and it should stop right now.

5. But yeah: best ever. First time I was ever surprised by a presenter: Jonathan Ross. He killed, too. As one pro put it, "I have never uttered these words before but I will now: the Eisners were fun."

Pressing Issue: The Size of the Show
1. Although it didn't come out, the photo above is of a young woman holding up a sign looking for a ticket.

2. I think what the heck CCI plans to do to manage the crowds is the major issue heading into 2008. Other than praying that this latest cycle of geeky TV shows and movies works itself out, and that ain't going to happen anytime soon, there's going to have to be positive steps taken. I don't know if that means taking over some space somewhere nearby with tent cities like the Hilton lawn had going, moving the biggest TV and movie panels off site, or what. Something.

3. If there aren't steps taken, that means the Con just sort of hopes that none of the stresses of a swollen convention become fractures -- something violent that gets exacerbated by the elbow to elbow crowding, for example, or maybe just someone big falling on one of those bitty kids and really hurting them -- and that the stress of people trying to get tickets as they become desired by more people early into the year doesn't turn the whole six months before the show into that horrible Tuesday morning when the convention hotels go up for reservations.

4. It really feels awful on the floor. It's a new reality, and people deal, and a lot of people have no problem "editing" what the con is to them. At the same time, I remember walking around the floor used to be something a lot of people looked forward to. The con is already more Balkanized than it was just a few years ago, with crabby movie people suggesting a name change and comics people feeling isolated and left out of some things. I think that continues if people feel it's not worth the hassle to dabble, scope out things outside your particular interest and just kind of naturally enjoy the entire scene. The press of humanity isn't so bad at certain places on the floor, aka comic books, but that makes it doubly worse for those isolated booths out of their natural habitat, enduring tight crowds naturally disinterested in their work and keeping people from wanting to walk over. I think you may see another round of people dropping out because of general weariness, both publishers who find the whole weekend exhausting and people there to see related media who aren't willing to camp out for seats and are thus consistently turned away from the biggest TV show.

5. My solutions would include taking a cricket bat to anyone in costume who stops and poses, blocking the flow of traffic for 100 feet or whatever, and rousting squatters from every event in the biggest halls, but I'm sure there are more humane ways to approach these troubles. Every bit counts. For instance, anyone standing in front of their table to sell their goods is extending their booth space at the cost of people moving around in the aisles and therefore should be discouraged. There needs to be hands-on monitoring, though, and attention must be paid to the details.

6. Another thing that might be coordinated is an aggressive track of multiple art shows throughout the city, thus solving two problems: no art shows like the European festivals making SDCC seem extra-crass, and giving at least a few thousand people something to do as an option other than heading to the convention hall. I might spend a morning away seeing a group show or two somewhere if they were good. I bet a lot of people would now that might not have two or three years ago.

7. Is it crazy to suggest that the shrinking and perhaps even endangered Artist's Alley space go to people with more comics credits over those who are illustrators, those who are prepared to draw while at the show rather than using it as simply free booth space, and perhaps maybe those who pledge to do kids' work at a certain discount or even just at all? How about lifetime banning anyone who doesn't spend at least 2/3 of their time with that space manned? I think some of the traditional spaces can be made more vital with a higher entry point that emphasizes certain roles such spaces play at the con.

8. The on-site registration seems to have improved 400 percent since two years ago, even, and now seems able to handle large crowds as best as anyone could imagine. I also like the flow system used to clear panel rooms with some hallways being exit hallways and some being entrance hallways.

With So Many Things Not Comics, Name Three That Struck You
1. It's sort of weird to go to a San Diego Con and not see a single Star Trek person. There were so many Klingons running around in the mid-1990s you could fill a couple of dozen photos with an arbitrarily selected subset like blonde Klingons or kid Klingons or Klingons in wheelchairs. Now? Nothing.

2. The dressing up thing is perpetually odd, no matter how the individual cycles play themselves out or how we get inured to the fact of having a book show in the midst of a costume party. We should stop pretending that it's normal. It's not bad or anything, but one reason why people fixate on the costumes is that no other industry convention or arts festival features it. Is there any explanation for the explosion of costumed people at these things over the last decade more comprehensive than simply the rise of cosplay?

3. We had no problem parking mid-morning within five blocks of the convention center and only a minor one finding a seat at Sun Cafe on a Saturday morning. Go figure.

What Was Buying Comics at the Show Like?
1. What used to be a show that stressed more expensive collectible comic books, and then seemed in recent years to put a lot more emphasis on bargain comics, this year seemed totally dominated by discount comics in the $3-$7 range rather than $1 range. I don't know exactly why that is, but I'm not complaining. Has the non top-line Silver Age comics market collapsed recently or something?

2. It does make me slightly worried that retailers seem to be making new stabs every year at what will sell, which indicates a shallower level of commitment than might be healthy.

3. There seemed to be fewer straight-up comics retailers than ever before. This could be fewer exhibitors of that type, or exhibitors diversifying what they bring in so it appeared like fewer comics.

4. Also almost totally gone compared to what it used to be: off-major 1940s and 1950s comics (your Dells, your Standards), once a big attraction.

5. The more book publishers that enter into comics means more cartoonists will have books out with multiple publishers means dealers like Rory Root, Chuck Rozanski and Bud Plant will serve as that much more of a purchasing backbone for the con. I heard people invoke Stuart Ng's name this year more than the past five years combined.

What Did You Think of Programming?
1. I thought the comics-related programming was solid this year: there was a lot of it, spread across all four days, and the panels themselves seemed well attended. Like I wrote before the show, I would have liked to see an aggressive macro-industry panel or two, mostly because I think these issues are just as important to talk about when things seem slightly flush as they are when things seem abominable, but what the programmers chose to execute over the weekend they did so very well.

2. The thing that was best about the four or five panels I saw, and this could be luck, is that none of them had panel/audience connection problems. The panels with a lot of sophisticated talk up front seemed to garner sophisticated questions, while the more basic panels seemed to have an audience for that level of discourse, too.

Three People That Attendees Asked After and Then Made a Frowny Face When I Said, "No, I don't think they're coming."
1. Dean Haspiel
2. Patrick McDonnell
3. Adrian Tomine

The Five Comics Publishing Announcements I Can Remember Without Looking
1. Writer Grant Morrison and Artist JG Jones getting DC's Final Crisis assignment, meaning that very important event series for the periodicals-slipping publisher might be good in more than a "solid effort of its type" way. That's might be, mind you.

2. Paul Pope takes hist THB to First Second, which threw a big spotlight on that company heading into the rest of its first five years.

3. The crush of prose authors or just sort of vaguely famous people moving into comics via various deal structures, which 1) might be read by some as a slap in the face to some of the existing creators working certain areas, 2) practically guarantees a lot of clumsy, mediocre comics on the horizon, and 3) shows that it's still a concept with some PR and marketing legs.

4. Darwyn Cooke to leave The Spirit and DC Comics to work on a pair of original graphic novels; Jeff Smith courted as part of the creative replacement on the DC title.

5. Dark Horse's manga efforts expanding out of their favored genres and into a potential new format.

25 Things People Were Talking About On the Floor
1. Book deals, particularly swirling rumors about the size of certain advances.
2. Death of comic book comics as a viable platform for alt-comics people.
3. Douglas Wolk's new book Reading Comics.
4. The still unannounced Ellison-Fantagraphics lawsuit settlement.
5. Where the next Pickwick -- an alt-comics favorite bar now closed -- is going to be.
6. Moebius (I kid you not; I was in three separate conversations about Moebius, three more than in 2006, when he was in attendance).
7. The tricks creators use to get publishers to comp them a copy of a book they want.
8. Whether or not CR makes any money.
9. Leveraging whatever deal is out there to be leveraged; absolutely no one was saying, "I'm going to concentrate on ______ this year."
10. The Eisners.
11. The ongoing culture change at DC Comics and its emphasis on more sophisticated marketing.
12. Marvel Comics building a big DM sales lead on DC, and whether it's a big deal or not. (Weight of argument: it is.)
13. Whether there's a deep, rich pool of webcomics or a few aberrations that are actually good while a ton more exist hugged to the bosom of a forgiving arts sub-culture.
14. Whether webcomics will ever make serious money as a group.
15. Next year's Russ Manning Award front runner: Fletcher Hanks.
16. Old San Diego (stabbings, bums) vs. New San Diego (William Morris Agency parties, Starbucks)
17. The new wave of book publishers completely not getting a) conventions, b) what artists need to use and deal with the Direct Market
18. A seemingly sudden shift to a lot more companies buying people dinner.
19. Video, video, video coverage everywhere.
20. Some of the more kid-hostile elements of the show -- the endurance test aspects, the sexualized costumes -- as more of my friends consider bringing their kids and start to ponder the positives and negatives.
21. Mainstream press coverage reversion into "look at the freaks" mode.
22. The extravagance of newer boutique hotels like the Ivy and Hotel Solamar.
23. Special Guest Warren Ellis.
24. The trains blocking access to the convention center, and their exquisite sense of timing.
25. Twittering.

Next Up: July 24-27, 2008
Overall, I think CCI 2007 was a solid show, with the con showing a lot of depth and skill in programming, a lot of folks on hand showing their veteran con-going skills in dealing with some unpleasant crowding-type concerns, and the Eisner folks pulling off their best show ever. The attendance has to be as bad as it's ever going to get -- by definition, right? -- which is a relief, but the overall growth of the show and its attendant difficulties in terms of travel and lodging may cost the con some mid-list exhibitors among comics publishers and, perhaps, more retailers unless that group grasps onto a more solid foundation for what's going to sell. Like comics itself right now, the positive feelings about the convention outweigh the nagging suspicion that things may be rotting from the bottom up a bit. At least many of the problems facing the convention can be isolated and attempts to solve them may be pursued.

All that said? I had a real good time.

CCI is an advertiser here
 
posted 3:06 am PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 50th Birthday, Gary Barker!


 
posted 3:04 am PST | Permalink
 

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Welcome, Baby Neufeld!


 
posted 3:01 am PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
History
Manga as Expression of Cultural Power

Industry
Manga For iPhone
I Hate Your Cartoon
I Hate Your Cartoon
New DM Shop Opens
Snapshot of Philippines Industry
Your Science Idol Cartoon Contest Winner
Science Idol Contest Winner to Lunch With Toles

Interviews/Profiles
MWC: Ben Heine
Dallas News: Matt Groening
Recordnet.com: Joseph Young
Contra Costa Times: Minx Line

Not Comics
Simpsons Secret
Dave Itzkoff: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Another Editorial Cartoonist Starts Animating

Publishing
Warren Ellis to do Webcomic
Dave Lasky Needs to Draw This
Five New Filipino Comics Launch
First Sci Fi/Virgin Title Announced
Jenna Jameson Something or Other
Tokyopop Plans Second Star Trek Volume

Reviews
Don MacPherson: Various
Gilbert Bouchard: Various
Don MacPherson: Doktor Sleepless #1
Don MacPherson: BTVS Season Eight #1-4
Richard Krauss: King-Cat Comics & Stories #66
 

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CR Review: Full Color



Creator: Mark Haven Britt
Publishing Information: Image, soft cover, 176 pages, July 2007, $15.99
Ordering Numbers: 9781582408408 (ISBN13)

Mark Haven Britt's Xeric-sponsored graphic novel gets points for going in a completely different direction than the majority of today's original longer narratives. A blend of crime and relationship dramas, Full Color trades in a kind of heightened reality, a vividness of character type, that is more common to film and stage plays. Perhaps the best thing about it is that Britt ably captures that moment in a young person's life when things are starting to lock in and settle down, the hideousness of day to day living begins slapping you in the face hard enough to leave a mark, social interaction still has the mocha swirl look of one's college and post-college days, and, maybe for the first time, events have consequences.

Full Color also puts on display a curious blend of character worship that you most often see in film and TV. Nearly everyone turns out to be special in some slightly artificial and hard to believe way, like Britt fed his script pages through a Sorkintron. There are some pleasures in that. For instance, his most overtly larger than life character is a ex-Marine ass-kicking African-American female painter named Boom. As one can count the number of super-assertive cool female black protagonists in comics history on one healthy foot and another foot ravaged by frostbite, it's good to see one more. That doesn't make her a less ridiculously over the top character. Some characters, particularly minor ones, kind of blend into the background, or, given the spotlight, grate with overly precious set pieces, like a psychologist that rips one of her former patients in a way that feels like a staged guest appearance rather than organic to the plot.

Mostly, though, it might have been smart for Britt to scale back his book's ambition in terms of its visual approach. Some of the individual images are rich and even occasionally lovely, but many are muddy. The setting never comes alive in a consistent fashion. When Britt drops backgrounds to concentrate on one or two characters it somehow feels like the world has been cleared of all other humans. As you can see from the cover image, sometimes the characters lack heft and volume, and appear more like refrigerator magnets placed against a background than real-life human beings that exist within a world. Some effects designed to drag our eyes across two-page spreads fail miserably, and you have to stay extremely invested panel to panel to always keep up with the dialog flow and the visual narrative. Speaking of dialog, count me in on those that think typesetting one's text is almost always a bad idea. It's distracting visually, for one thing, it's sort of unlovely, and Britt punts the opportunity to use that tool to draw distinctions between his characters. Some of the word balloons here aren't even well-placed. If Britt's creative roles were characters in the comic, the writer would be one of the more assured ones, and the artist would be one of those that's in trouble and seeking help. To use the old saw, Britt the writer cash checks on which Britt the artist can't make good.

If Britt can avoid biting off more than he can chew and continues to improve his craft, I think he could be around a while. The other complaints, well, once you make a story about a bunch of friends, you usually stop making stories about a bunch of friends. It's a rite of passage no less problematic than that experienced by the characters in the book, and Britt is likely much better off getting his out of the way early.


 
posted 1:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Your 2007 San Diego Con Update



Notes and Observations About or Caused by Comic-Con International, Taking Place July 26-29 (With a July 25 Preview Night) in San Diego, California

******

1. With a weekend marked by sell-outs, it's safe to say this is the best-attended Comic-Con International ever.

2. The con is committed to San Diego and its convention center through 2012, and moving the show at any point now or then after such a long relationship with the city might cause way more problems than it solves. This puts directly on the table how the show will deal with the increased demand and all the cracks and pressures of swelling that come with it.

3. One of the pressures ready to make itself known: two publishers good enough to be in the Eisner nomination pool this year spoke on the floor out loud that this was likely a last year for them to exhibit.

4. Another one: complaints of panel access for press, which once I was tipped off were pretty easy to track down. Press has the same access privileges into convention panels as attendees, so if things fill up, they can't get in. Contributing causes may include a combination of increased pool coverage (a lot of the entertainment magazines went from one reporter to five or six) and general high attendance at a lot of panels. I would imagine of all the hassles that might face the show, this is one that will be most easily handled by an administrative effort or two.

5. Then again, maybe the pressure will be seen in more and more ultra-violence committed against press people. Holy crap.

6. I really liked this Chris Butcher update featuring a few graphs from Peter Birkemoe.

7. I guess some of the film people think they should re-name Comic-Con International to better reflect its status as a film festival not really called a film festival. I never see any of the film people, never go to those panels and never notice they're there unless I see someone at the hotel or slumming at a party, so I don't really have an opinion on this. It's not that I dislike film as much as I don't care for previews and hype, I don't care to scramble after movie passes when I can go experience it a few weeks later in a comfortable theater I didn't have to wait to get into, and if you take away the shiny celebrity-ness of the film-related panels, I'm not sure what you have left. To be honest, all the San Diego film-related panel reports I've ever read make them sound smarmy and kind of dim.

8. I'll probably always remember this year for the moment when my pal Jordan Raphael and I were walking in an upstairs hallway to take part in the comics media panel and some Hollywood-looking guy literally elbowed past us, bellowing in a gruff voice, "Sorry, fellas. I have a panel to be on." This was obvious, as the two seconds needed to go around us in the 40-foot empty hallway was apparently two seconds too many. "Out of the way, you shitbag comics people; movie guy coming through!"

9. Granted, I was walking like Fred Sanford.

10. The media panel was enjoyable. Positives included getting to meet Nisha Gopalan of Entertainment Weekly and see Graeme McMillan, who is currently sacrificing years of his life by diving into the deep end of mainstream American comic books at Savage Critics. Graeme's general, genial silence was noted by the final questioner, who asked: "Who are you, and what do you do?"

11. The negatives of the media panel were 1) a long digression into a topic in which my disinterest cannot be measured by physicists working in conjectural fashion, whether or not "nerd" is a word for meanies, and 2) moderator Douglas Wolk talk-blocking me on the best question of the night.

12. Sometimes I find it hard -- not working at a factory hard, but degree of difficulty in hitting the landing just right hard -- to be on panels where I feel like I have little in common with my fellow panelists. I always feel like when I'm making distinctions between myself and them it ends up sounding like I'm touting my ethical or strategic superiority instead of just opting out of an assumed term of commonality or suggesting a different path than the standard one.

13. In other words, it's hard to answer a question about what draws people to your site if you never look at your numbers; it's hard to say "I don't look at my numbers" without sounding like a massive, elitist tool. I don't care if I sound like a jerk, but it sometimes gets in the way of being understood.

14. Then again, it should probably be noted that as I don't make anything, I'm not on many panels. So it's like this is an ongoing source for major feelings of disenfranchisement.

15. I was surprised by a couple of notions floated on the media panel. The first one was Douglas Wolk's statement that conversational back and forths are the future of on-line coverage. I don't think anything's set in stone, and as I recall the appearance of blogging nuked a similar but then message board-driven notion when it made the rounds 10 years ago. Put into this category a related notion made by someone I forget that somehow twittering or observational quote gathering or other accrual methods or even video has become something with which traditional written media coverage will have to compete. Other than in the broadest ways possible, which I guess does have its own impact, I can't see how most things compete. I could be wrong, but I feel more in competition with not sucking than I do with podcasts, video or phone based technologies. I don't feel any compulsion to move into those areas except maybe someday as their own thing.

16. The other notion I found surprising was one floated that there is no *real* comics journalism on the Internet, which I think is an unfortunate argument. I'm a believer in noting the excesses of coverage tendencies that reveal themselves through on-line media, for sure. I just don't agree that the best standard on which to judge a score of developing media enterprises is whether or not they practice certain kinds of journalistic inquiry. At least not over how they practice the kinds of journalism in which they do engage. Not quite yet, anyway. If there is less corroborative journalism in three years time, I might consider this something to note.

17. On Saturday, fleeing the con, I ran into the writer Warren Ellis outside smoking. He was extremely gracious, and I was happy to see him. The debut prose novelist and longtime comics writer was flanked by one of his charming, funny Engine enforcers, Rachel Young. If I remember correctly, the notoriously convention-shy Ellis was cajoled into attendance by an enthusiastic publisher willing to make good on a list of not-ostentatious but still very specific demands.

18. Ellis was the subject of one of the bigger announcements of the mainstream comics side of the show, that he'll be taking over what is probably the mutant comics flagship title Astonishing X-Men when Joss Whedon leaves.

19. Ellis' blogging on the event (you may have to scroll down until you get into the thick of it) feels like a bunch of war dispatches from a far-away jungle, which all in all is rather appropriate, I think.

20. Fantagraphics' Fletcher Hanks book edited by Paul Karasik, I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets, not only sold out at San Diego, it sold out of its first print run, with a second print run of equal size on the way.

21. Karasik and the great Mark Newgarden are teaming up for an expansion of their How to Read Nancy essay.

22. First Second not only has books planned through 2009; it has a rough idea of what's coming out in 2011. So I guess they're going to be with us for quite some time. One book I hadn't heard about features the re-teaming of the It's a Bird... pairing Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen.

23. It was entertaining that if you asked any Man of Action studio member where the untalented member of their crew was instead of being at the booth, they know without asking that you're speaking of Joe Casey. Either Joe doesn't spend a lot of time at the table compared to the rest of the gang, or they don't like him much.

24. Speaking of Casey, I hadn't known his Godland co-author, the artist Tom Scioli, is young enough I bet he gets carded.

25. Saturday night I had dinner seated near a number of smart and interesting people, including Eddie and Callum Campbell. Father and son had a number of highly amusing travel stories, including one from several years back about Callum taking all of his 10-year-old pocket-filling junk out of his pockets at an airport, including some sort of metal weapon and a bunch of candy cigarettes stuffed into a discarded real cigarette container.

26. Along with a decline in traditional comics-industry parties due to exhaustion, lack of funds to compete in San Diego's downtown spaces and perhaps even a shift in creator personality types away from the aggressively social has come a proliferation of parties, cocktail gatherings and dinners by various larger publishers and Hollywood players. For instance, my understanding is that there were multiple parties/gatherings/dinners held by agencies, not just studios with people on-hand.

27. I didn't go to many parties, but I did hit the Zudacomics.com cocktail hour launch on my way to the Eisners. I met and quite liked John Cunningham from DC Comics, and was happy to meet and see a number of fellow writers. Dan Goldman was there, and almost Zen like in his convention-going state. I caught Tim Leong by the door and he seemed to be extremely happy about reaction to the first printed issue of Comic Foundry.

28. Gene Yang was still beaming about his graphic novel category Eisner win 24 hours later when I saw him in a restaurant Saturday night. Because of timing, that award was likely the last in a long series of honors and recognition for his American Born Chinese, and he mentioned how pleased he was to get that award from people he knew and/or whose work he knew and admired. Gene also had the same child in his lap he had during the previous evening carried up onto the Eisners stage, which saddled me with the vision of Gene carrying the kid everywhere, perhaps even drawing his next comic around him.

29. I'd have to check to see how things played out in the past, but it may be subtly significant that the last category at the Eisners was a graphic novel category as opposed to a best ongoing series one.

30. I think because of the overwhelming number of things to do, the moments after panels were a key meeting point for a lot of people targeting someone they wanted to find. The con -- I can't remember if it was for the first time -- split the hallways upstairs into exit and entrance hallways to help traffic flow, so there were a lot of groups of people outside just-completed panel doors talking throughout all four days.

31. There was also one memorable security guy with a scary, deep voice that kept on asking people to move closer to the wall. This man terrified me.

32. One subject on the lips of many comics folks: the proliferation of semi-sizable advances for book contracts, including some rumored ones that I would term jaw-droppers considering the perceived station within the field of the folks involved and the perceived profit potential of what they might create. One con panel was closed with the moderator suggesting a cartoonist might even have career problems getting another book because no future pay out would likely match the advance they had just received.

33. I was lucky to be asked to moderate a panel about archival comic strip collections, a growing and important segment of the comics industry. Here are some of the notions floated during that hour, and other observations.

* Tom Devlin spoke about how he designed D&Q's Moomin not like the Gasoline Alley and Peanuts to make the books a more comfortable object to be held by children.
* RC Harvey was like a 1960s TV panelist, making jokes and telling funny stories about working on his massive, beautiful book on Milton Caniff. All that was missing was few references to having dinner with Groucho Marx.
* Apparently, Harvey had done the first chunk of the book when Caniff was still alive, and the cartooning great gave the comics historian a funny note upon reading them that he couldn't wait to see how things turned out.
* Harvey also proclaimed that this new wave of reprint books came about because he told the publishers to make it happen. I never disagree with Mr. Harvey.
* Don Rosa and talented comedian/voice actor Tom Kenny were among those in attendance.
* Walt Kelly's daughter Carolyn noted that one of the things she really wanted when looking for the right publisher for this year's launching Complete Pogo series was to do the Sundays in black and white rather than in color so the beauty of her father's line work could be more fully captured for the ages.
* There was at least one potentially major slam from one panelist to another if you listened closely enough. I didn't; I had to be told later on!
* The future is likely to see the bigger companies negotiating an expected decline in interest in later books and publishers of all types and sizes exploring the deep catalog of the various syndicates projects in a more in and out fashion, like the Mary Perkins On Stage books (Classic Comics Press's Charles Pelto announced a two-volume Dondi effort at the panel I hadn't heard about) and D&Q's recent Clare Briggs book.
* Fantagraphics made public previously discussed plans to do a complete volume of the Bill Mauldin Willie and Joe cartoons.

34. A lot of folks seemed to have luck during their off hours accessing bars, restaurants and hotels just outside the main 4th to 6th avenue Gaslamp District main strip, especially places east.

35. As one of those whose computer skills failed them on the first day of hotel registration through the convention, I stayed at a strung-together group consisting of the Westin Horton Plaza, the Hilton Gaslamp and finally the Crowne Plaza Suites out on the Hotel Circle. I had a pleasant experience with all three. I had never stayed as close to the show as that Hilton place is, and that was kind of amazing.

36. Some numbered observations were so potent they were later redacted to protect the innocent!

37. Sales stories were all over the place in terms of what sold and how well, but what I heard from people in general suggested that Wednesday and Thursday sales may have improved; Friday through Sunday sales may have been down.

38. Strangest line where I still knew absolutely what they meant: "If I couldn't have my wife with me at these dinners, I would want Paul Karasik."

39. There needs to be some kind of booth location czar to stop things from happening like PictureBox, Inc. and Sunday Press not being in the more directly alternative/arts area. Such placement would have helped their sales and sales for the entire area. And maybe there could be a dedicated area for supplies and art improvement services the way there is for small press or toys? I often think those get overlooked by people when they're isolated between two publishers, for instance.

40. Speaking of which, holy crap are the Sunday Press actual-size Gasoline Alley books nice-looking.

41. Top Shelf has hired Leigh Walton to do marketing and PR.

42. ComicMix is apparently going to re-launch at some point in the near future.

43. Stan "The Man" Lee was hustled through the hall Beatles-style at one point Friday afternoon, which was weird in that the aggression between any interaction between group and the crowd seemed to emanate 100 percent from the people with Lee; none of the fans seemed particularly dying to get any closer to comics legend.

44. Frank Santoro says that the recently canceled Cold Heat will be completed and collected sooner rather than later. We shared some disbelief over positive coverage of that comic book reaching as far as Wizard.

45. One of my favorite stupid memories from this year's show will be watching Wizard's Kiel Phegley at a panel walk up and take pictures like some sort of journalistic super-pro: walk, walk, pause, click; walk, pause, click; walk, walk, walk, click.

46. One item that was among the most impressive in a look-what-we-did-to-prepare-for-the-show way was a Wolff & Byrd companion book to be sold only at conventions; it doesn't even have an ISBN. I hadn't realized that Lash started that book in 1979.

47. According to the super-glossy Tripwire Annual, which looks terrific and features an nice prose-portrait triptych of Simpsons interviews (Matt Groening, Bill Morrison, Ian Boothby), I am one of the 25 most powerful people in comics. Before you ask, I'm definitely the only one in the "Who the hell is that?" category on the list; it's not a quirky list, but minus me a very straight-forward one. Apparently my power, which has yet to express itself in any discernible manner, is somewhere in the same vicinity of those on either side of me on the alphabetical list: powerful millionaire movie director Bryan Singer and generation-defining cartoonist and designer Chris Ware. I am both flattered and sure to hide the magazine from my brothers who will make fun of me for three years if they find out about it. Also, if it weren't clear to us all before now, comics is clearly doomed.

48. The rumor of Monday as an additional show day has been vehemently denied by con officials.

49. I don't think a full Wednesday is likely, either, as that would involve having Tuesday to set up -- Preview Night could be called Sneak In An Extra Day Night, if you think about it.

50. Two other rumors I'm putting here so I can remember to track them down or look up someone else tracking them down: 1) the question of continued existence of Artists Alley on the floor of the show. It was cut down this year. I can't see this going away, but it's a prime candidate to be moved. 2) Cold Cut, now for sale, and its sponsorship of a kind of independent publishers' pavilion.

I'll have a summary comment section regarding this year's show up tomorrow, based in part on what gets written Monday by returning pros, fans and reporters. With the anticipatory coverage now extending weeks before the con, I don't want to drag things out on the other end. Additional coverage relating to the con itself should include an Eisners commentary piece that will also hopefully go up tomorrow, a collective memory that should go up tomorrow and run until the end of the week, and an interview with show executive David Glanzer or some other CCI heavy once they get settled back in and have a better grasp on their own information and do their initial rounds of chatting. There are of course tons of stuff for the site that were set up while at the show, but those should appear over the normal course of things around here.

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Five Things I Picked Up At The Show











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For coverage of general comics news outside the convention and for differing views of the convention itself, I recommend my peers at ComicMix.com, Publishers Weekly, Journalista, The Beat, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and The Pulse. Groups of photos from the show can be found here.
 
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CR Sunday Interview: Bart Beaty



*****

I've known Bart Beaty for about as long as I've worked in comics. I consider Dr. Beaty the best writer about European comics going, certainly the best in English. We worked together on his column "Euro-Comics For Beginners" at The Comics Journal, and I consider his "Conversational Euro-Comics" the crown jewel of this site.

ECFB was an important tool for many English-language readers in re-discovering European comics. This came as a new generation of creators began to surface and followed a period when a few writers in the USA had basically dismissed the continent as a land of kids books and pretty, genre-soaked entertainments. It's through Bart that I found out about many cartoonists I have since made a regular part of my comics reading: people like Fabrice Neaud, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Dupuy and Berberian, Joann Sfar, Thomas Ott, Blutch and Baru.

In his book Unpopular Culture, Beaty describes the rise of a new breed of author-driven comics within the greater European comics industries, and paints a compelling portrait of comics as cultural expression. Not only is Unpopular Culture authoritative in a lot of ways as the English-language description of the great period in European comics that is the last 15 or so years, but Bart's a funny and smart reader of comics in general. His throwaway observations are worth more than some people's entire columns, and for that analysis and the way Europe can be used as a mirror to learn things about North American comics, Unpopular Culture is one of the better books written about English-language comics currently on the stands. It's that good.

I know that there are a lot of potential problems taking this space to interview one of the site's columnists, but I really dig Bart's book and I thought an interview would be a good feature to run the Sunday of San Diego Con when I and many others are on the road.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy our conversation, and I thank Bart for taking the time.

*****

TOM SPURGEON: There's one thing I've always wanted to ask you. What does your comics collection look like?

BART BEATY: I have two collections. In my basement are about 7000 American pamphlet-sized comics which are the result of a quarter-century of reading these things. All the usual suspects for someone of my generation. Long collections of Daredevil, X-Men, and Amazing Spider-Man from when I was a kid, and Yummy Fur, Eightball and Love and Rockets from when I was in university.

Upstairs, in our dining room, I have two walls that are floor-to-ceiling covered in more contemporary comics. Two of those shelves are American material, five are French and one carries everything else: Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, German, and so on. All the comics that I can only sort of read, or, in the case of the Finnish comics, which I can't read at all. I've arranged all the work alphabetically by the artist, which seems to work in terms of being able to locate work quickly. I probably have about 1000 comics on those shelves, which were the basis for this book. I read 1000 but wrote on a small fraction of that.

SPURGEON: Would Unpopular Culture have happened outside of academia?

BEATY: I don't think that there is any chance at all that this book would have been written if I didn't have my day job at the University of Calgary. It's possible that a different book would have been written, but not one where I use the term "heteronomous principle of the marketplace" on multiple occasions.

The genesis of this book was a desire to take the writing that I was doing in The Comics Journal on European comic books to the next level, by tying it to larger theoretical issues that have informed my scholarly work more generally. It really came from a desire to marry my work life and the writing that I was doing as a hobby, but that necessitated writing in a more theoretically informed manner.

SPURGEON: For everything else that it offer, has academia been a fruitful platform for you when it comes to writing about European comics?

BEATY: I can't complain at all, really. This book was funded by a substantial three-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I'm incredibly grateful that SSHRC was positively disposed to the project and didn't simply say "Oh, comic books, that's not worth studying." SSHRC grants are extremely competitive, but I've never had any sense from them that they look down on comics. And their support really strengthened the book substantially by allowing me to spend six months in Europe over three summers, talking to artists and publishers, seeing stores and exhibitions, and buying books. Without that support, this would've been a very different book, and probably not nearly as interesting.

SPURGEON: How much has writing about European comics in commercial outlets -- such as they are -- changed the way your academic writing has developed?

BEATY: I think that writing in non-academic outlets has really made my academic writing a lot stronger. Writing is a skill that requires practice, and too many academics forget that. They write a dissertation, which is like running a marathon, but then they stop for a few years and find it hard to get back up to speed when it comes time to write a book. But if you ran a marathon and then didn't run again for three years, you're not going to do well in the next marathon, it's going to be a tough slog. So writing comics reviews and the columns that I write for Avenue Magazine in Calgary help keep me in shape, so to speak.

It also allows me to test a lot of ideas. There are bits in the Dupuy-Berberian section of Unpopular Culture, for example, that were developed first in The Comics Journal and other places that I've written about those guys. Same with the section on Trondheim, Comix 2000, and pretty much the entire chapter about the avant-garde seems like a re-purposed "Euro-Comics for Beginners" greatest hits collection. I'd say that my comments on Donjon in the book are almost verbatim the same as what I wrote about the series in TCJ.

SPURGEON: Do you have to switch voices?

BEATY: Very much. I try not to say "heteronomous" on Comics Reporter. The expectations are totally different. One requirement of my SSHRC grant was that I publish a book with a scholarly press. Those books are peer-reviewed, that is, they are read by experts in the field who provide the press anonymous feedback on the question of whether the scholarship is sound. Those reviews can render a completed book totally unpublishable if the referees declare the work not sufficiently sophisticated. So, in this book I'm writing first and foremost for my academic peers. That's very different than writing reviews of books where I'm trying to make an argument about whether someone should bother to read something or not.

As a critic/reviewer I sort of see myself as a tour-guide, pointing out the highlights in a sea European publishing, but as a scholar I see my role much more in terms of an analyst examining the larger social questions that the success or failure of some of these books bring to light. As an academic, I'm asking questions about what the success of Persepolis implies about immigration in contemporary France. As a critic I'm concerned with whether or not it's an interesting read.



SPURGEON: So what does the success of Persepolis say about the changing face of European immigration? And given the new levels of success she's likely to see because of the film, how do you see her as a phenomenon and as an artist?

BEATY: I walked right into that one! Glibly, I'd have to say that if Marjane Satrapi had not existed in real life at this point in time, the French would've had to invent her. So much recent discussion in France has been about French identity and new immigrant populations, particularly Muslim immigrants. These discussions have flared up around the riots of 2005, this year's presidential election, and, in 2004, around the decision in France to ban the wearing of veils in French schools. Satrapi, whose book talks extensively about the politics of the veil that she was forced to wear during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, was quickly caught up in the debate. She came out opposed to the veil but also opposed to the law that had been proposed by Jacques Chirac, a pretty nuanced position born out of her own experiences (a good article in The Guardian provides her position).

I think for a lot of French critics, Satrapi is the "good" middle-Eastern immigrant. She speaks French, is dedicated to a secular society, fits in nicely with notions of Frenchness (although she is still very critical of many aspects of French life). She's a model of integration. And her work touches on so many issues that are so important in France right now: identity, personal history, and so on.

I don't want to seem to suggest, however, that she only has this platform because of the politics of who she is. I think that the work has to have value for people to respond this strongly to it, and I think that she is an intelligent and important voice. That said, there are other intelligent voices out there in similar situations (I think immediately of Yvan Alagbe), who are far less well known, and I think that part of that disparity can be attributed to stylistic differences. Alagbe's work is less traditional than Satrapi's, and I think, in part, that accounts for the different ways that their work has been received.

SPURGEON: Would writing about comics have been different for you, do you think, if Mark Nevins had written the initial Journal column with you as we had intended?

BEATY: Mark's a really good writer, so he might have pushed me to raise my own game even higher. Actually, I owe a ton to Mark, and not just because he had to drop out of that Journal gig. Mark is the person who first invited me to Angouleme, and who introduced me to many of the artists that I now write about. All of those initial contacts came through him.

But it was really the Journal connection, which came through you as editor, that facilitated all of this. Having written on European comics for the better part of a decade at TCJ meant that when I went to research this book I wasn't just some Canadian academic pounding on publisher's doors across Europe, but was actually someone with a track record and a certain degree of name recognition within the world that I was writing about. The Comics Journal really opened a lot of doors for me, for which I am extremely grateful.



SPURGEON: Say you were talking to one of this site's readers who was flipping through the book and saw the weight it gave to Lewis Trondheim. How would you describe Trondheim's central importance to your conception of European comics?

BEATY: I didn't want to give Trondheim his own chapter when I started writing. I didn't want to give any artist that much attention, and set them apart like that. So I planned to talk about his work when I talked about L'Association, when I talked about autobiography, when I talked about experimental comics, when I talked about big series like Lapinot and Donjon. And then it didn't make sense to not give him a chapter. Basically, everything that I wanted to cover in the book I could do through Trondheim because he is so massively prolific and has worked in so many diverse styles. So he became a good case study to sum things up with.

My one regret about the book is that it went to press just before Trondheim won the Angouleme grand prize, since obviously that would have been the fitting coda -- Trondheim winning Angouleme but also leaving L'Association. Sadly, scholarly publishing is very slow, so I couldn't make those changes.

Having said that, Trondheim has been very central to shaping my way of thinking about this subject precisely because he balances the experimental and personal side that is emerging so forcefully now and the traditions of the album series that has dominated Franco-Belgian comics for generations. He really does exist in both worlds, which makes him fascinating. I can't think of a comparable American cartoonist who can do both things so fluidly. My book is really interested in the shift from the one style of comics to the other, so Trondheim is really apt because of that.

SPURGEON: How has the book been received by European academics? By European cartoonists?

BEATY: I'm pleased with the way that it has been received by most of the cartoonists that I've heard from. I've had some really interesting discussions about it, and no one has told me that I'm completely wrong. Yet. Maybe they're just waiting.

A lot of the complaints about the book have been of the "I can't believe you don't talk about Artist X" variety, which there's not much I can do. There's no effort in my book to be comprehensive about, say, Italian cartooning in the 1990s. It's just not the book that I wanted to write. This is really seven related essays about topics that arise from the small press revolution in Europe, not a complete checklist of all the authors and books involved.

SPURGEON: Has any reaction to the book surprised you?

BEATY: A number of French readers point out to me that this notion of the "small press" is an idea that is alien over there, it's just not a term that gets used but is something imported from an American context. I think my failure to define the term has caused a bit of a problem for some readers. That's not a surprise to me, per se, so much as a disappointment. I should have factored that into my thinking and added those sorts of definitions.

SPURGEON: Aside from Trondheim's symbolic ascension at Angouleme and his departure from L'Association, what are some other significant factors to have changed about the European comics landscape since you finalized the book manuscript?

BEATY: There are a few. Manga is something that I don't talk about much in the book, although that one I acknowledge in the book itself, and it has just gotten stronger and stronger. If I were writing this book today, I would've dealt with that more concretely, probably through a figure like Jiro Taniguchi, an artist that I positively adore.

The expansion of the number of books published each week, which is related to manga, is a constant fear for a lot of artists, and I don't think that the book really deals with the sense of doom that a lot of artists are feeling. If things collapse soon, people will look back and criticize me for being too naive in my belief that things are changing. It is always possible that a backlash is coming and that the pendulum will swing back, as it did in the 1980s after the creative expansion of the 1970s.

I think one of the things that has not changed, however, is the next generational shift. One thing that my book is really about is this giant wave of cartoonists who were in their 20s in the 1990s and who kicked down a lot of our assumptions about what comics were or could be. Now some of those people are passing into their 40s and suddenly they're thinking "comics is a young person's game" and wondering how they're going to pay the bills for their kids. So I think that some of the energy of the movement that I wrote about will naturally dissipate or be redirected elsewhere. But I haven't really gotten a strong sense that the next generation has arrived. There are great next generation cartoonists, to be sure, but I'm not sure that they are feeling the same need to overthrow the generation that preceded them. There's a certain lack of revolution in the air right now, largely because I think that the comics scene is very permissive. So you want to do a hand silk-screened comic printed on burlap sacks? Ok, that sounds good. There's very little that the market won't consider at the moment. It's tough to be a rebel when everyone is in an accommodating mood.

SPURGEON: The rise of art comics in North America is as much a story of developing an audience for such comics as it has been the creators that make them. How has the audience developed for works like the one you talk about in Unpopular Culture? Is there a significant audience now and where does it come from -- passionate readers of all kinds of comics, former exclusively mainstream album readers, where?

BEATY: I think that you're exactly right, it is about audiences. Sadly, I think that the answer to developing an audience is a very gradual and often painful process of trial and error. To go back for a moment to Satrapi, who has sold more than one million copies of Persepolis worldwide (four hundred thousand in France alone), her overnight success is hardly an overnight story. The foundation for her success was laid by autobiographical cartoonists like David B., whose followed in the footsteps of [Art] Spiegelman, who followed [R.] Crumb and Justin Green. It took 40 years to prepare the market for a blockbuster like this one. That's difficult work.

At the same time, one of the keys to the movement that I've been writing about is its commitment to what the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu calls "the long-term" approach. That is, initial sales might be small, but they're durable over time, they continue to sell and to sell. Over the course of years, those sales add up, and, if the work is good, it will be taught in schools and universities, and it will eventually become a classic (hopefully not before the artist is dead!). Bourdieu gives the example of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, which sold fewer than 200 copies when it was first published, but has now sold millions, while the bestsellers of 1952 may have sold a hundred thousand at the time, but where are they now?

That may be cold comfort for a cartoonist thinking "I need to pay my rent today," I know, but it is a proven model. Many of today's best-selling comic book writers and artists will have trouble finding work in 20 years when tastes change (ask yourself what some of the big name superhero creators of the 1970s are doing today), but at the same time a lot of cartoonists who aren't making what they'd like today will still be reaping the benefits of their early work for generations. It's not a guarantee, of course, there are tons of great artists who may never find the audience that you or I would think they deserve, but 20 years from now a lot more people will be reading Seth than will be reading Dean Motter. I think that for the generation of cartoonists that I'm writing about there is a real belief that quality will prevail in the end, and so they are fundamentally and unwaveringly committed to their visions of what comics should be.

SPURGEON: Can you talk a bit about the idea of conventions as a method of cultural organization? I thought that was really interesting. Can you further give a snapshot of what you feel are the differences in European and North American convention in terms of how each fosters or fails to foster art comics?

BEATY: It may be the case that I privilege conventions and festivals because that is where so much of my interaction with European comics takes place since I tend to try to time my travel with these sorts of events. At the same time, it is clear to me that these events really are the heart of so much of what happens in comics.

As many, many cartoonists have pointed out, comics is an isolating job, with conventions being one of the few places where artists get together and talk about their work, and talk with publishers and editors about upcoming work. I think that anyone who has spent anytime at a convention in the company of working cartoonists can come up with examples of deals that were struck over dinner or drinks. It's not really any different from a music festival, where two musicians might sit around jamming and then decide to contribute to one or the other's album. I was hoping to point out the important way that decisions about who is going to exhibit at which comics festivals has a really profound impact on how ideas move. When you bring an American cartoonist and a French cartoonist to a festival in Portugal, they're likely to start cross-pollinating ideas about what comics could look like.

As for North America, I inevitably get yelled at when I offer the opinion that there are things to learn from Europe on how to run a festival that will attract a public beyond the already committed readers of comics. In the U.S. most shows from San Diego to SPX are destinations for fans and people working in the industry, and they don't do a whole lot to make non-insiders feel particularly welcome. The one time I took my wife to San Diego she lost interest in about five minutes because it seemed like a lot of noise. To be fair, the one time that I took her to Angouleme she lost interest too, but it took a full day for that to happen because at least there were exhibitions to look at.

Angouleme and San Diego are both pretty hostile to art comics, obviously. But I think Haarlem or Luzerne or Bastia are much more supportive of art comics than are APE and SPX and MoCCA simply because they tend to place a greater emphasis precisely on the artistic rather than the commercial aspect of comics.



SPURGEON: I was interested when you talked about countries that don't have a commercial structure that anchors the art form, like Portugal. How are such countries' comic scenes different for that missing element?

BEATY: I was surprised when I first visited Lisbon about how much work there was going on. I left with a suitcase full of books by some outstanding cartoonists like Pedro Burgos, Filipe Abranches, Pedro Nora and literally dozens of others. I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard of so many of these people, other than a couple of books that had been published in French by Amok. But Portuguese is far from a dominant language in Europe, and they just seemed to be this tiny bastion of people putting out fascinating work that no one is really seeing. Like Hicksville, maybe.

I think that two things happen in the case of a small commercial infrastructure, either people reach out to other scenes around Europe and internationally, or they sort of turn in attach themselves to a local arts scene in the fine arts and gallery scene, or in the traditional book stores and hope to make breakthroughs there. I'm struck by the fact that Optimal Press, in Sweden, publishes so many books in the pocketbook format, but it was explained to me that this was important to get bookstores to simply put them on store shelves as if they were traditional books. And there are always people in these countries fighting the good fight. Lisbon has the Bedeteca, for example, and Stockholm has Serieteket, both are comics libraries. But it is an uphill fight, absolutely.

SPURGEON: For that matter, what differences between the French-language and North American comics scenes can be tied into what differences between their supporting commercial and distribution structures?

BEATY: I think that a big difference between France and the U.S. in terms of putting out really experimental and personal material has been the system of grants that exists in France. I remember having lunch with Charles Berberian and some American cartoonists at SPX a few years back, and the Americans were complaining about not being able to fund a project that sounded very interesting. Charles just said, "Well, why don't you get a grant?" And they asked from whom, and he said "Don't you have a Ministry of Culture?" I think he was stunned to learn that there isn't one. But if you look in the front of all those books from L'Asso, you always see a thanks to the Centre National du Livre, and those kinds of funding sources have really allowed a lot of work to happen that probably would not have otherwise.

Of course, in the past few years, there has been a real narrowing of the differences between Europe and North America, with the exception of the grants. The big difference used to be the tradition of serializing everything in the U.S., but now so many publishers have given that up in the pursuit of the bookstore market. This is a really important change and one that I think will allow a lot more interesting work to come out. I'm still surprised by how thorough the change has been. I haven't bought a single pamphlet sized comic since Cerebus ended, but I still bought three new books this week (Fletcher Hanks, Rutu Modan, and Paul Hornschemeier).

I think that the fear in both markets is that the bookstore thing might collapse. The biggest concern I hear these days is about display -- that a book might have only a week or two at the front of a store on display before it is displaced to the shelves, where people are less likely to find it. That's something that has to do with the massive scope of comics production at the moment, and it might not change until there is a contraction in the market. That might happen if the manga market constricts or collapses, but I don't see too much evidence that that is imminent.



SPURGEON: Can you talk a bit more about your take on European autobiography? Why is it that North America hasn't yielded as many significant autobiographical works since Maus as the French-language scene?

BEATY: I want it noted that you said that, so I don't hear from American autobiographers, of whom there are many, many great ones!

That said, I'm not always sure why Europe turned out so many great autobiographers in contrast to the U.S. I think that one of the differences is a greater level of self-reflection and less straight reportage. A lot of North American autobio material is very story driven, even among the greats (I'm thinking of Joe Matt or Joe Sacco). Whereas if you look at Epileptic or Fabrice Neaud's work, it is much more introspective and uses the medium in a more expressive manner. I don't think that is a function of these artists being European so much as it is that they set a very high standard for the form, and now subsequent artists feel a need to try to match their accomplishment.



SPURGEON: Is there a great small European scene that no one talks about?

BEATY: I'm really fascinated by the Finns, and I'm sad that every time I've hoped to visit Finland things haven't worked out. The couple of cartoonists that are sort of well known from there -- Matti Hagelberg, Pentti Otsamo, Jenni Rope, Kati Kovacs, Katja Tukiainen (and none of these are exactly household names in the US!) -- all impress me as having highly individual styles. Tukiainen does work that really floors me -- I buy her work even in editions that I can't read just to look at the images (fortunately she's starting to become more widely translated into languages I do read).

But there is also what seems to be a great deal of activity around a number of small-press anthologies there. Tommi Musturi, himself a really interesting cartoonist, edits Glomp, the latest issue of which could probably pass as Kramers Ergot #7 if you didn't know any better. Napa, which is edited by Rope and Jussi Karjalainen, is also always really high quality. There are probably half a dozen or more others that I'm slighting off the top of my head.

One thing that is great about this scene, though, is that they are out promoting themselves. No one reads Finnish, so they include subtitles in their comics. They get out to the festivals, so that I frequently see Johanna Rojola (who basically read me her new book, Tati Jaksaa Heilua, at Angouleme), Tommi Mutsuri, and Kaisa Leka around promoting their work, and that of their colleagues. And, of course, Ville Ranta seems poised to have a big breakthrough, having done a book (Celebritiz) with Trondheim, and a recent translation from Ca et La (Papa est un peu fatigue). I get the sense that there are more first-rate cartoonists in Finland than in Canada, but that they're sort of just up there doing their own thing.

SPURGEON: In your conclusion, you discuss JC Menu's theory of co-optation, the notion that the achievements of comics like L'Association's have been co-opted by bigger publishers and certain lines. Something I've never been able to understand is the mechanics of how this is supposed to work. In Menu's view, what does the existence of of French-language edition of Blankets really do to the L'asso books? What happens that is harmful? Is it a perception issue? Does he feel like people will develop worse taste for viewing this material as avant-garde? Does he feel like people will buy Thompson instead of Blutch? Why is the existence of work that he feels fall short of what the best comics do more harm than work that's completely absent of every value he holds?

BEATY: Voltaire's maxim that "better is the enemy of good" probably applies. That's a sentiment that Gary Groth has used a lot in The Comics Journal, and Menu is a lot like Gary in his rhetoric.

Without trying to put words into Menu's mouth, I think he sees the very real possibility that the big publishers could wipe out the movement that my book talks about. Here's the nightmare scenario: Big, well-financed publisher X comes along and says "Hmm. These small press guys get a lot of good reviews and critical acclaim, and some of them make some money. I bet we could sign them up and maybe have the next Persepolis on our hands." Certainly Big Company X (BCX) could probably outbid L'Asso for the talents of a lot of cartoonists. But will BCX sign up everyone? No. They would want the biggest names, the artists with the best chance of breaking through. That would leave L'Asso and the other small press publishers with all the real difficult material, and likely not enough revenue to survive. The success of Persepolis funds a lot of L'Asso's riskier material, just as the success of Peanuts funds a lot of what Fantagraphics can do. If Satrapi left, L'Asso would have a big problem, maybe even a fatal one. So there is that predatory sense of the big publishers coming after the most popular small press artists. I don't want to name names, but some of the figures I've heard have been really shocking. It's the same with, say, Pantheon in the U.S.

Many of your readers are probably thinking, "Well, tough, that's capitalism", but if you think that way then you probably don't fully understand the dynamics of this particular art scene. Menu's position is that if we allow the head of the avant-garde to be decapitated, that might be it for the art form. I'm not a big believer in the idea that we can just leave this up to the market. Most of the best books I've read in the past few years have been ones that may never a dime. It's precarious business putting out these books, so efforts to undermine that (as Menu thinks Casterman has done with Craig Thompson, for example) are going to be controversial.

SPURGEON: What effect has the authored comics movement had on the mainstream beyond those comics talked about by Menu? Has there been an insinuation of authored comics values into mainstream comics above and beyond those works which resemble the fruits of that movement?

BEATY: This is the other half of the co-optation movement, and something that I discuss with reference to Sfar, [Christophe] Blain and [Emmanuel] Guibert in the book, although Trondheim is a great example, and so are Dupuy-Berberian, David B., and others. In the mid-1990s the bigger publishers began recruiting some of the small press stars, many of those with fairly traditional graphic styles, to do traditional albums. This work was very different from the small press work -- there is a big gap between Epileptic and David B.'s westerns, for example -- but there are some common affinities, and it did change the face of French comics, to a degree. It didn't displace the best-sellers, the [Jean] Van Hammes and Zeps, but it added a new dimension to the mainstream in the same way that Nirvana moving from Sub Pop to David Geffen changed the face of mainstream music in the 1990s. Neither ended the pop formula, but each opened new avenues for exploration within the mainstream.

SPURGEON: Has there been a re-appreciation of any past comics or groups of comics?

BEATY: Actually, this is the topic of a paper that I recently wrote for an anthology that's being edited by Mark McKinney. L'Asso, Cornelius, and Fremok have all been very active recently in terms of reprinting older work, which I argue is their way of rewriting the history of comics so that it draws attention away from the best-selling works of the past and refocuses on a number of forgotten works that more closely resemble the material that is published by, respectively, L'Asso, Cornelius and Fremok.

It's interesting to me that Freon and L'Asso so clearly had artistic forefathers who they recruited into their fold, in Alex Barbier and Edmond Baudoin respectively. But L'Asso has really ratcheted up the reprints in recent years, with work by Gebe, Touis-Frydman, their recent book by Caro, several by Jean-Claude Forest. What is interesting about this tendency is the way that in reprinting forgotten work by, say, Forest (best known for Barbarella), L'Asso is able to suggest that there is an entire forgotten history of great artist-driven work that predated theirs, but which was ignored by the kind of commercial presses that Menu bemoans in Plates-bandes.

SPURGEON: What would you hope, ideally, in terms of who the book reaches?

BEATY: With scholarly books you sort of hope that you'll sell 300 copies! Actually, for the book there's a couple of audiences. I'd be really happy if it gets some attention from academics working in related fields who might not otherwise think of comics in this light. I was just at a film conference and talked with a couple of colleagues who do work on avant-garde cinema, and that led to a discussion of my work on avant-garde comics. They reacted like: "There are avant-garde comics? Who would have guessed?" So I hope to reach some of those people.

Otherwise, I would like to hope that the book is readable for people with an interest in comics generally who might not know much about the movement I talk about. In that sense I could have called it "Advanced Euro-Comics" and targeted at the readers of my column.



SPURGEON: What about your columns? If you could sit down with individual readers of this site and kind of make a case for what you hope they got from European comics, what would that be? An awareness of certain artists? A sense of the movement? An opportunity to look for more cartoonists they like? Is there an ideal reaction to your work?

BEATY: I worry with my columns that I come off as too much of a cheerleader because I rarely review books that I don't like. I do sort of view the columns like I'm a tour guide, pointing out highlights and things that people might want to take the time and go explore on their own. I'd like people to remember that there's a ton of work out there worth checking out. It's why I read material about manga, which is an area that I'm lacking in.

In terms of the ideal reaction, I think my ideal would be that a lot more of this work gets translated and is made available to people. When I started writing in the Journal, there was very little being translated. Now there's considerably more. All the credit for that goes to Gary and Kim, to Chris Oliveros, to Mark Siegel, to Terry Nantier and to all the other publishers who've taken the risk of putting this work out. Still, half the time when I go to write a column I want to start with the line: "For God's sake, someone publish this book in English!". I'm not one of those guys who liked Joann Sfar more before Sfar became well-known here. I want to proselytize for the artists that I like, and if that helps them in any small way create a market for their work, that's awesome. Certainly the biggest highlight of my critical career came when I was told by a publisher that one of my reviews directly led to the decision to translate a book that I love.

SPURGEON: I love the sound of your next couple of books. Can you talk about them a little bit, and what lies ahead on the research road?

BEATY: I'm on sabbatical for the rest of 2007, and I'm hoping to finish the manuscript of a book that I've been working on for a few years about the relationship between comics and the traditional fine arts, painting and sculpture in particular. This isn't really about cartoonists who paint, Alex Ross and the like, but about why it is that comics were excluded from art history for so long, and why they're being included now. What has changed that you see Crumb in the Carnegie Biennale? That we get a Masters of American Comics show? That Seth's work is collected by the Art Gallery of Ontario? I'm really interested in the sorts of institutional relationships that exist around comics and the fine arts in sites like auction houses, galleries, museums and the arts press. I want to call the book "What if Comics Were Art?" but my wife thinks that's too inflammatory.

After that I'm moving on to a new SSHRC-sponsored project about the relationship of comics and film. It's sort of the inverse of the current one, and looks at comics and the way that they are caught up in the entertainment complex. I don't really want to talk much about things like adaptation or formal issues, but am more interested in the relationship of, say, the Asterix comics to the films to the theme park outside of Paris. So the next two projects are basically comics and art, and then comics and entertainment. I've thought that after that I should do comics and literature, but by the time I'm done with these projects I might just have said everything that I want to say about this art form and it will be time to move on to something new.

*****

cover to Bart's book
Bart's publicity photo
photo of part of Bart's comics collection
from Marjane Satrapi
from Lewis Trondheim
from Jiro Taniguchi
from Pedro Nora
from Fabrice Neaud
from Jenni Rope
cover to Craig Thompson Casterman book
from Joann Sfar
from Katja Tukiainen (below)

*****

Unpopular Culture, Bart Beaty, University of Toronto Press, 320 pages, December 2006, $29.95

*****


 
posted 11:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Your 2007 San Diego Con Update



Notes and Observations About or Caused by Comic-Con International, Taking Place July 26-29 (With a July 25 Preview Night) in San Diego, California

******

1. I'm traveling this morning, so this report may be delayed until 1 PM ET or so, or, if necessary, blended into tomorrow's.

2. That doesn't mean I don't like you.

3. Even if I don't find a computer and get back on-line this morning, the rest of the site should be fully updated in the manner you've come to expect on Sundays, including a massive interview with Dr. Bart Beaty on his groundbreaking book covering the modern European comics scene, Unpopular Culture.

******

For coverage of general comics news outside the convention and for differing views of the convention itself, I recommend my peers at ComicMix.com, Publishers Weekly, Journalista, The Beat, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and The Pulse. Groups of photos from the show can be found here.
 
posted 11:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Five Link A Go Go

* go, look: video interview with Sylvain Despretz and Moebius

* go, look: Lorenzo Mattotti in Turin

* go, watch: Cromartie High School music video

* go, watch: Stan Sakai in Paris

* go, watch: Vaughn Bode video interviews
 
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Go, Look: Katja Tukainen


 
posted 10:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 60th Birthday, Baru!


 
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Happy 52nd Birthday, Dave Stevens!


 
posted 10:04 pm PST | Permalink
 

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First Thought Of The Day

New San Diego, same San Diego homeless.
 
posted 10:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Your 2007 San Diego Con Update



Notes and Observations About or Caused by Comic-Con International, Taking Place July 26-29 (With a July 25 Preview Night) in San Diego, California

******

1. Eisner Awards results with winners in bold can be found directly underneath this list. Short form: Jonathan Ross, Brian Posehn and the guys from Reno 9-11 are funnier than most comics people. Ed Brubaker and Paul Pop each win two; Bill Willingham is the king of comics. Neil Gaiman blushes when he kisses. I'll write a full report next week.

2. In addition to the fans and pros out there, there are several writers with an interest in comics on the convention floor.

* RC Harvey says his original Milton Caniff manuscript was perhaps 40 percent longer than what made it into his new book. Since the book is a size of a small dog, this is terrifying.
* Ben Schwartz and Brian Doherty were on hand. Doherty, of Reason fame, was there to interview Joe Matt at a spotlight panel.
* I met Ron Goulart yesterday; he has a book on good girl art coming out and was carrying that manuscript around.
* I always enjoy catching up with Alex Chun, who has been editing a series of Fantagraphics pin-up books in addition to his LA Times work.
* Marc Mason is apparently adding an advice columnist to his comics site.
* I'm pretty certain I met Rich Watson briefly; he does the GLYPHS site. He seemed very nice. I was probably acting like an ass.
* I saw George Khoury on Thursday evening as he was anticipating his Image Founders panel that took place Friday.

3. Retailer Lee Hester notes that in the last several years he's done better with his Comic-Con presence by diversifying the material at his booth. In addition to his discount comics rack, where I picked up some early '70s Marvel reprints at $2 a pop, Hester offered an array of merchandise and was one of the few retailers carrying this week's comics in addition to his other items. Something I hadn't known is that when Hester started retailing 25 years ago, he did so with almost no capital build-up beforehand.

4. One notion that I discussed with several retailers (well, four), none of whom was Lee Hester, is that the ability of stores to profit off of the current boom period has a lot to do with how the store was uniquely set up to enter into this specific historical moment in the first place. For instance, any store that has had to build inventory or needs to continually ramp up its inventory to keep pace with growing product lines has likely down worse than a store that was already over-carrying product.

5. Best new con hotel: The Ivy. Best new hotspot: Eden Rooftop. Best new breakfast: Cafe Chloe.

6. Your 2007 Friends of Lulu awards winnners:

* Women Cartoonist's Hall of Fame: Colleen Doran
* Lulu of the Year: Abby Denson
* Kim Yale Award for Best New Female Talent: Rachel Nabors
* Women of Distinction Award: Jennifer De Guzman
* Volunteers of the Year: MK Reed and Robin Enrico

7. Lee Hester was among those with a kid on-hand: Lee Hester IV, who was working the booth and taking in cash. Eddie Campbell's son was at the show with his for the first time in several years.

8. Ellen Forney showed up at the show for the first time in a long while. She spoke glowingly of teaching comics as a way to reignite her own interest in the form. Forney noticed as many had that there was a much more sedate feel at the show. One of her students a few years back was current Fantagraphics employee Adam Grano. Forney's next comics project is Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads, a 172-page hardbound collection from Fantagraphics coming out in early 2008.

9. One oddly affecting San Diego memory someone shared with me was from several years ago when a couple of small publisher employees climbed out on the fire escape in the middle of the night after an evening of big parties and watched skateboard kids ride up and down the city street from their vantage point high above.

10. One item of conversation has been how predictable and calcified the Direct Market has become, to the point that you can almost pinpoint performance for everything but the very top comics, and sometimes those as well. This was brought up to me in conversation twice by people with work at the opposite ends of that market.

11. Mark Waid will apparently become Editor-In-Chief at Boom! Studios, which seems to be an interesting and astute choice. Although he's best known as a writer, he has editorial experience as well, and I think I remember him doing some consulting work with the mainstream publishers, too.

12. Hooray for San Diego: both Eddie Campbell and Michael Martens lost important items for a period of time and both had them returned intact.

******

2007 Eisner Award Results
Winners In Bold

Best Short Story
* The Black Knight Glorps Again, by Don Rosa, in Uncle Scrooge #354 (Gemstone)
* Felix, by Gabrielle Bell, in Drawn & Quarterly Showcase 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)
* A Frog's Eye View, by Bill Willingham and James Jean, in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)
* Old Oak Trees, by Tony Cliff, in Flight 3 (Ballantine)
* Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man, by Stan Lee, Oliver Coipel, and Mark Morales, in Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man (Marvel)
* Willie: Portrait of a Groundskeeper, by Eric Powell, in Bart Simpsons's Treehouse of Horror #12 (Bongo)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
* Batman/The Spirit #1: "Crime Convention," by Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke (DC)
* A Late Freeze, by Danica Novgorodoff (Danica Novgorodoff)
* The Preposterous Adventures of Ironhide Tom, by Joel Priddy (AdHouse)
* Skyscrapers of the Midwest #3, by Joshua Cotter (AdHouse)
* They Found the Car, by Gipi (Fantagraphics)

Best Continuing Series
* All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)
* Captain America, by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting (Marvel)
* Daredevil, by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, and Stefano Gaudiano (Marvel)
* Naoki Urasawa's Monster, by Naoki Urusawa (Viz)
* The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image)
* Young Avengers, by Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, and various inkers (Marvel)

Best Limited Series
* Batman: Year 100, by Paul Pope (DC)
* The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M, by Frank Beddor, Liz Cavalier, and Ben Templesmith (Desperado/Image)
* The Other Side, by Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart (Vertigo/DC)
* Scarlet Traces: The Great Game, by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli (Dark Horse)
* Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident, by Tony Millionaire (Dark Horse)

Best New Series
* Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)
* East Coast Rising, by Becky Cloonan (Tokyopop)
* Gumby, by Bob Burden and Rick Geary (Wildcard)
* Jack of Fables, by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Tony Akins, and Andrew Pepoy (Vertigo/DC)
* The Lone Ranger, by Brett Matthews and Sergio Cariello (Dynamite)

Best Publication for a Younger Audience
* Chickenhare, by Chris Grine (Dark Horse)
* Drawing Comics Is Easy (Except When It's Hard), by Alexa Kitchen (Denis Kitchen Publishing)
* Gumby, by Bob Burden and Rick Geary (Wildcard)
* Moomin, by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
* To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, by Sienna Cherson and Mark Siegel (Simon & Schuster)

Best Humor Publication
* Flaming Carrot Comics, by Bob Burden (Desperado/Image)
* Onionhead Monster Attacks, by Paul Friedrich (Hellcar)
* Schizo #4, by Ivan Brunetti (Fantagraphics)
* Tales Designed to Thrizzle, by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics)
* Truth Serum, by Jon Adams (City Cyclops)

Best Anthology
* Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, by Bill Willingham and various (Vertigo/DC)
* Hotwire Comix and Capers #1, edited by Glenn Head (Fantagraphics)
* Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators, edited by Frederic Boilet (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
* Kramers Ergot 6, edited by Sammy Harkham (Buenaventura Press)
* Project: Romantic, edited by Chris Pitzer (AdHouse)

Best Digital Comic
* Bee, in Motel Art Improvement Service, by Jason Little
* Girl Genius, by Phil Foglio
* Minus, by Ryan Armand
* Phables, by Brad Guigar
* Sam and Max, by Steve Purcell
* Shooting War, by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman

Best Reality-Based Work
* Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)
* I Love Led Zeppelin, by Ellen Forney (Fantagraphics)
* Mom's Cancer, by Brian Fies (Abrams)
* Project X Challengers: Cup Noodle, by Tadashi Katoh (Digital Manga)
* Stagger Lee, by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix (Image)

Best Graphic Album--New
* American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang (First Second)
* Billy Hazelnuts, by Tony Millionaire (Fantagraphics)
* Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)
* Ninja, by Brian Chippendale (Gingko Press)
* Scrublands, by Joe Daly (Fantagraphics)
* The Ticking, by Renee French (Top Shelf)

Best Graphic Album--Reprint
* Absolute DC: The New Frontier, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)
* Castle Waiting, by Linda Medley (Fantagraphics)
* Mom's Cancer, by Brian Fies (Abrams)
* Shadowland, by Kim Deitch (Fantagraphics)
* Truth Serum, by Jon Adams (City Cyclops)

Best Archival Collection/Project--Strips
* The Complete Peanuts, 1959-1960, 1961-1962, by Charles Schulz (Fantagraphics)
* Mary Perkins On Stage, by Leonard Starr (Classic Comics Press)
* Moomin, by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
* Popeye: I Yam What I Yam, by E. C. Segar (Fantagraphics)
* Walt & Skeezix, vol. 2, by Frank King (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project--Comic Books
* Abandon the Old In Tokyo, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)
* Absolute Sandman, vol. 1, by Neil Gaiman and various (Vertigo/DC)
* Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969, by Dan Nadel (Abrams)
* The Eternals, by Jack Kirby (Marvel)
* Ode to Kirihito, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material
* A.L.I.E.E.E.N., by Lewis Trondheim (First Second)
* De:TALES, by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (Dark Horse)
* Hwy 115, by Matthias Lehmann (Fantagraphics)
* The Left Bank Gang, by Jason (Fantagraphics)
* Pizzeria Kamikaze, by Etgar Keret and Asaf Hanuka (Alternative)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material--Japan
* After School Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro (Go! Comi)
* Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (Digital Manga)
* Naoki Urasawa's Monster, by Naoki Urusawa (Viz)
* Old Boy, by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi (Dark Horse Manga)
* Walking Man, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

Best Writer
* Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil (Marvel); Criminal (Marvel Icon)
* Bob Burden, Gumby (Wildcard)\
* Ian Edginton, Scarlet Traces: The Great Game (Dark Horse)
* Grant Morrison, All Star Superman, Batman, 52, Seven Soldiers (DC)
* Bill Willingham, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

Best Writer/Artist
* Alison Bechdel, Fun Home (Houghton Mifflin)
* Renee French, The Ticking (Top Shelf)
* Gilbert Hernandez, Love and Rockets, New Tales of Old Palomar (Fantagraphics); Sloth (Vertigo/DC)
* Paul Pope, Batman: Year 100 (DC)
* Joann Sfar, Klezmer, Vampire Loves (First Second)

Best Writer/Artist--Humor
* Ivan Brunetti, Schizo (Fantagraphics)
* Lilli Carre, Tales of Woodsman Pete (Top Shelf)
* Michael Kupperman, Tales Designed to Thrizzle (Fantagraphics)
* Tony Millionaire, Billy Hazelnuts (Fantagraphics); Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident (Dark Horse)
* Lewis Trondheim, A.L.I.E.E.E.N. (First Second); Mr. I (NBM)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
* Mark Buckingham/Steve Leialoha, Fables (Vertigo/DC)
* Tony Harris/Tom Feister, Ex Machina (WildStorm/DC)
* Niko Henrichon, Pride of Baghdad (Vertigo/DC)
* Michael Lark/Stefano Gaudiano, Daredevil (Marvel)
* Sonny Liew, Wonderland (SLG)
* Steven McNiven/Dexter Vines, Civil War (Marvel)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
* Nicolas De Crecy, Glacial Period (NBM)
* Melinda Gebbie, Lost Girls (Top Shelf)
* Ben Templesmith, Fell (Image); The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M (Desperado/Image); Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (IDW)
* Jill Thompson, A Dog and His Boy in The Dark Horse Book of Monsters; Love Triangle in Sexy Chix (Dark Horse); Fair Division, in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)
* Brett Weldele, Southland Tales: Prequel Saga (Graphitti); Silent Ghost (Markosia)

Best Cover Artist
* John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); The Escapists (Dark Horse); The Lone Ranger (Dynamite)
* Tony Harris, Conan (Dark Horse); Ex Machina (WildStorm/DC)
* James Jean, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)
* Dave Johnson, 100 Bullets (Vertigo/DC); Zombie Tales, Cthulu Tales, Black Plague (Boom!)
* J. G. Jones, 52 (DC)

Best Coloring
* Kristian Donaldson, Supermarket (IDW)
* Hubert, The Left Bank Gang (Fantagraphics)
* Lark Pien, American Born Chinese (First Second)
* Dave Stewart, BPRD, Conan, The Escapists, Hellboy (Dark Horse); Action Comics, Batman/The Spirit, Superman (DC)
* Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #17 (ACME Novelty)

Best Lettering
* Ivan Brunetti, Schizo (Fantagraphics)
* Todd Klein, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall; Pride of Baghdad, Testament (Vertigo/DC); Fantastic Four: 1602, Eternals (Marvel); Lost Girls (Top Shelf)
* Clem Robins, BPRD, The Dark Horse Book of Monsters, Hellboy (Dark Horse); Loveless, 100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man (Vertigo/DC)
* Richard Sala, The Grave Robber's Daughter, Delphine (Fantagraphics)
* Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #17 (ACME Novelty)

Special Recognition
* Ross Campbell, Abandoned (Tokyopop); Wet Moon 2 (Oni)
* Svetlana Chmakova, Dramacon (Tokyopop)
* Hope Larson, Gray Horses (Oni)
* Dash Shaw, The Mother's Mouth (Alternative)
* Kasimir Strzepek, Mourning Star (Bodega)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
* Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)
* Comic Art 8, edited by Todd Hignite (Buenaventura Press)
* The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, Dirk Deppey, Michael Dean, and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
* The Comics Reporter, produced by Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael
* ¡Journalista!, produced by Dirk Deppey (Fantagraphics)

Best Comics-Related Book
* The Art of Brian Bolland, edited by Joe Pruett (Desperado/Image)
* Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress, edited by Harry Katz (Abrams)
* Dear John: The Alex Toth Doodle Book, by John Hitchcock (Octopus Press)
* In the Studio: Visits with Contemporary Cartoonists, by Todd Hignite (Yale University Press)
* Wally's World, by Steve Sarger and J. David Spurlock (Vanguard)

Best Publication Design
* Absolute DC: The New Frontier, designed by Darwyn Cooke (DC)
* Castle Waiting graphic novel, designed by Adam Grano (Fantagraphics)
* Lost Girls, designed by Matt Kindt and Brett Warnock (Top Shelf)
* Popeye: I Yam What I Yam, designed by Jacob Covey (Fantagraphics)
* The Ticking, designed by Jordan Crane (Top Shelf)

Hall of Fame
* Ross Andru & Mike Esposito
* Dick Ayers
* Bernard Baily
* Matt Baker
* Wayne Boring
* Creig Flessel
* Harold Gray
* Irwin Hasen
* Graham Ingels
* Joe Orlando
* Lily Renee (Peters) Phillips
* Bob Powell
* Gilbert Shelton
* Cliff Sterrett
(Judges' Choices: Robert Kanigher and Ogden Whitney)

Other Awards
Bill Finger Award: Gardner Fox, George Gladir
Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award: Neil Gaiman
Russ Manning Award: David Petersen
Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award: Earth-2

Honored During the Memorial Service: Will Eisner, Leah Adezio, Tom Artis, Jerry Bails, Joe Barbera, Don R. Christensen, Dave Cockrum, Arnold Drake, Daniel Robert Epstein, Joe Gill, Johnny Hart, Brant Parker, Drew Hayes, Jay Kennedy, Marty Nodell, Bob Oksner, and Marshall Rogers. I think.

******

For coverage of general comics news outside the convention and for differing views of the convention itself, I recommend my peers at ComicMix.com, Publishers Weekly, Journalista, The Beat, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and The Pulse. Groups of photos from the show can be found here.
 
posted 10:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 62nd Birthday, Jim Davis!


 
posted 10:08 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 47th Birthday, Jon J Muth!


 
posted 10:04 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 40th Birthday, Will Pfeifer!


 
posted 10:02 pm PST | Permalink
 

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CR Week In Review



The top comics-related news stories from July 21 to July 27, 2007:

1. Spain's high court orders creators to court to face charges regarding a satirical magazine cover featuring members of the royal family.

2. Comic-Con International, comics' biggest event, kicks off in San Diego.

3. IDT buys a controlling share of IDW.

Winner Of The Week
Bill Willingham

Loser Of The Week
This fella

Quote Of The Week
"Any fucker could be called Harvey." -- Jonathan Ross

this week's imagery comes from pioneering comic book house Centaur Publications
 
posted 10:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Your 2007 San Diego Con Update



Notes and Observations About or Caused by Comic-Con International, Taking Place July 26-29 (With a July 25 Preview Night) in San Diego, California

******

1. Friday single-day passes are sold out as the con increasingly fills. I had two people ask in my general vicinity why anyone would buy a Thursday-only pass, and I think the scarcity of passes later on would be the answer.

2. I don't get a sense from anyone I talk to that the con is an unbelievable burden or that survival is the main factor. Quite the opposite: this seems to be a a show populated by savvy old-timers. Also: not a ton of traffic at the comics end of the hall. Lots, but not unbelievably awful or anything.

3. I hadn't heard that Juliette has left Last Gasp again several months ago.

4. The Fletcher Hanks book I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets is Fantagraphics' top seller, and there was a line of people waiting for editor Paul Karasik during his signing.

5. The gentrification of downtown San Diego near complete in a very noticeable "wow, look at all the coffee shops way," a lot of stories of old-time San Diego are starting to leave people's lips. The most strange: one longtime con guest and his then-spouse witnessing a street person stabbing a block away. I think there's probably a Starbuck's there now. I did see 1-2 homeless people in the street the way there used dozens starting one block away from the Gaslamp; this time it was over at about 10th or 11th and Market.

6. Joel Meadows of Tripwire says his book of in-studio photographs from various cartoonists may see the light of day at Image. He's using the time to get a few more cartoonists in there, including hopefully Moebius.

7. The cartoonist Darwyn Cooke is wrapping up his Spirit run at issue #12 rather than a previously committed-to 24 issues I think from what he was saying because he won't have the same support team in place for a second year. His next project takes the cartoonist out of mainstream comics altogether -- two original graphic novels over the next two years. One is a fable-like science fiction story that should be readable by all ages; the other is a sex and violence romp with an ordinary-man protagonist and a lot of paranoia. The books haven't been sold to a publisher yet by Cooke's choice, and sounds like they may not be until considerable headway is made.

8. Cooke's panel had a long line for a comics spotlight event and was mostly packed. Guy Delisle's panel had about 50 people, which is twice what I've ever seen for a cartoonist of similar skill in that particular time slot. The questions from the audience were mostly about the political implication of his Pyongyang book, translated in the US by Drawn and Quarterly. I thought the most fascinating thing he said was how he was dedicated to his publisher despite their rejecting a new book he then took elsewhere. I can't imagine a North American cartoonist having the same attitude about a publisher that just rejected a book. Also it was interesting to hear him describe how he masked or did not portray a lot of the confidences between himself and some of the North Koreans with whom he interacted.

9. Jeff Smith's RASL preview cuts a startling profile tucked underneath arms on the convention floor.

10. Brendan Burford of King Features seems genuinely and particularly excited about the first strips he's rolling out. A new one from a New Zealand cartoonist comes out first, a few weeks after the show. That would be only the second non-North American cartoonist in King's long history. Burford split time over the weekend between Los Angeles and San Diego, and expressed a desire to one day try living in Canada.

******

For coverage of general comics news outside the convention and for differing views of the convention itself, I recommend my peers at ComicMix.com, Publishers Weekly, Journalista, The Beat, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and The Pulse. Groups of photos from the show can be found here.
 
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Jesse Marsh Born 100 Years Ago


 
posted 10:12 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 69th Birthday, Pierre Christin!


 
posted 10:08 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 67th Birthday, Ernie Chan!


 
posted 10:04 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
San Diego Special: Interviews at Daily Cross Hatch
Daily Cross Hatch: Joe Matt 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Joe Matt 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Jeff Smith 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Jeff Smith 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Will Vinton 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Will Vinton 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Ben Rosen 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Ben Rosen 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Patton Oswalt
Daily Cross Hatch: Nick Bertozzi 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Nick Bertozzi 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Aaron Renier 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Aaron Renier 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Jeremy Tinder 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Jeremy Tinder 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Dawud Anyabwile
Daily Cross Hatch: K. Thor Jensen 01
Daily Cross Hatch: K. Thor Jensen 02
Daily Cross Hatch: K. Thor Jensen 03
Daily Cross Hatch: Paige Braddock 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Paige Braddock 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Craig Thompson 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Craig Thompson 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Raina Telgemeier 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Raina Telgemeier 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Raina Telgemeier 03
Daily Cross Hatch: Shannon Wheeler 01
Daily Cross Hatch: Shannon Wheeler 02
Daily Cross Hatch: Shannon Wheeler 03
 

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Your 2007 San Diego Con Update



Notes and Observations About or Caused by Comic-Con International, Taking Place July 26-29 (With a July 25 Preview Night) in San Diego, California

******

1. Wearing your costume on Preview Night is hardcore; wearing your costume on the flight to San Diego is NERDCORE.

2. You know you've been coming to the same hotel for a lot of years when the Director of Security remembers your name.

3. I mean, it's bad enough that you remember it's the same Director of Security.

4. The limit for the pool at my hotel is 147 people. So: 147 is fine, 148 and the pool falls through the floor.

5. The big comics-related news so far is that Paul Pope is taking his much liked science fiction-y career-maker THB to First Second, who will release it in 2009. A few things pop out about that announcement. First, a projected 1200 or so pages seems to me to indicate a lot of comics yet to come in the promised ending. Second, First Second is planning things out until 2009, so I guess they must be okay. Third, it's going to be color, with the colorist First Second has been using on books like Laika, which I find interesting. Fourth, google around for the press release. Paul Pope is the only cartoonist in North America who could get away with comparing his own action science fiction epic to Akira and not make everyone hate him. I say that with admiration. An oversized duluxe edition to follow collecting all three planned books should be impressive.

6. The best comics I was handed last night were Livon Jihannian's funny mini-comics sketchbook Ordinary Fieldbook and that new booklet of Jordan Crane's postcards. I'm actually going to buy one of the Crane sets to keep as a book, it's so attractive.

7. If I overheard the people at the Fantagraphics right, Linda Medley has released an enormous amount of work over the last several months. (Kim Thompson wrote in to object to the word enormous to describe a comic coming out every six to eight weeks; I thought the word appropriate given the long interruptions in production in Medley's career and the general rate of production for alt-comic books right now.)

8. I saw and talked to Scott McCloud. I didn't see his family, which supports my theory that they left him on that tour back in October and Scott has been blogging in all of their voices since. Anyway, he had nice words for the webcartoonist R. Stevens, even dubbing him one of the more important and connected members of that entire community.

9. Jeff Smith's Art of Bone apparently had its genesis as an art catalog for a show that didn't happen. Now that it's come out as its own (and I think very impressive) hardcover, there will be a exhibition, and a separate art catalog. This kind of turn of events is not surprising if you follow Smith's career.

10. The booth I like best is the Image Central booth, weirdly enough, although most people on Preview Night seemed fascinated with a) wherever the freebies were, and b) the big box with Iron Man or whatever in it at the Marvel booth. Anyway, I liked the Image booth because of its ring of creators, which kind of emphasizes what that company's all about in a way the more elaborate and editor/PR people mazes of the other big companies kind of show what they're about.

11. Not comics: I spoke to a TV writer while I was in line. The thing she likes best about CCI? The TV people are happier and much less guarded than at TV-focused events. The thing she likes least? The physical difficulty in getting from one place to another.

12. The press and pro registration lines were so smooth I think we can start talking about them as a past hardship in the Old Man walking through the snow to get to school voice. Of course, we won't be exaggerating how much they sucked.

13. I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of stuff.

14. Elvis Road is beautiful if you lay it out from end to end, as Buenaventura Press has at their booth.

15. The cartoonist Jason Miles says he saw someone buy a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 in cash.

******

For coverage of general comics news outside the convention and for differing views of the convention itself, I recommend my peers at ComicMix.com, Publishers Weekly, Journalista, The Beat, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and The Pulse. Groups of photos from the show can be found here.
 
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Go, Bookmark: Chris Duffy's Blog


 
posted 10:12 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 37th Birthday, Jon Lewis!


 
posted 10:11 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Go, Bookmark: King Mini Blog


 
posted 10:08 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Go, Look: Yan Cong


 
posted 10:04 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
San Diego Special: Reviews From Chris Allen
Chris Allen: Exit Wounds
Chris Allen: JSA All-Stars
Chris Allen: Red Eye, Black Eye
Chris Allen: A Tim O'Neil Review
Chris Allen: The Fun Never Stops
Chris Allen: Two-Fisted Tales Vol. 1
Chris Allen: The Invaders Classic Vol. 1
Chris Allen: The Alex Toth Reader Vols. 1-2
Chris Allen: Thunderhead Underground Falls
Chris Allen: Scary Book Volume One: Reflections
 

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CR Review: The Architect



Creators: Mike Baron, Andie Tong
Publishing Information: Big Head Press, comic book, 80 pages, 2007, $9.95
Ordering Numbers: 9780974381442

The Architect puts a lie to one ongoing piece of conventional wisdom: that small presses should be forgiven lousy production values because they're small. In a sense, this book from Big Head Press is at least in the ball park with standard mainstream comics efforts: color, sturdy paper, and a cover of professional-enough standing that should cause second glances from its intended audience when placed on the comics shelf. It's nice to be reminded that a publisher can contribute something to the making comics beyond good intentions, a childhood desire to be involved in the comics industry and a vague desire to become a movie producer. That this story was first serialized on the Internet makes its slick look now that it's on paper even more of a rare thing. If nothing else, the overall appearance is an advertisement for the publisher that should go over well with future creators.

Unfortunately, the comic itself is as ordinary as any black and white comic on lousy paper, name your year. The Architect is a horror story drawing on elements of Frank Lloyd Wright's life, or at least the Wright we tend to see through the prism of fiction like Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. The borrowing proves clumsy; the figure at the story's center is even named Roark. I sometimes get a sense when I read comics from writers currently over 50 that they depend too much on a facile, broad take on non-mainstream culture that doesn't play as well as they think it does in our current cultural atmosphere of deep junk passions and an Internet that allows us to fake them. It's not cool or interesting for someone just to be doing a comic with Lloyd Wright's life and legacy as a springboard, not anymore, not the same way it might have once been amusing for Baron to bring Elvis's downward spiral into Nexus for little or no reason. Something of value has to be done with these references for us to appreciate their use.

Mike Baron and Andie Tong do a workmanlike job from a craft perspective, but The Architect never feels like anything other than a job. In fact, the mid-1990s DC mainstream look to Tong's art -- muscular and angular figures, mostly dropped or spare backgrounds, a dollop of manga influence -- blends with Baron's early 1980s-style anthology storytelling quirks (at one point the female lead actually vows to fight for her man) to create what's almost a summary statement on a certain kind of C-minus American comic book. It never for one second stops being a comic, if that makes any sense. It never loses the artificial feel that we're being marched through a story that's going to give us certain elements of soap opera and the fantastic. Unoriginal ones at that.

Tong and Baron each seem to embody tried and trues ways of working. Once upon a time, those modes fought for respect. That struggle and its flashes of passion is sorely missing from The Architect. The irony becomes obvious in that this is a book devoted in part to the notion of making excellent things that are one of a kind. It's also about a giant fungus, more memorable in its brief appearance -- even in its limited way -- than the ideas which ostensibly drive the graphic novel in its entirety.


 
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This Isn't A Library: New and Notable Releases to the Comics Direct Market



*****

Here are a few books that jump out at me from this week's probably mostly accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the following -- I might not buy any of the darn things -- but were I in a comic book shop I would likely pick them up and look at them, potentially resulting in mean words and hurt feelings.

*****

FEB070329 ALAN MOORE WILD WORLDS TP $24.99
Jack Kirby, Alan Moore and maybe Grant Morrison are the only superhero comics creators where I'll buy just about anything put out with their name on it, including collections of random material from a devoted work-for-hire period like this book of Moore's work at WildStorm. The notion of WildStorm as the best group of interconnected comics since the 1960s Marvels comes almost entirely from the work of writers like Moore, Joe Casey, Warren Ellis and Ed Brubaker on various titles once the imprint had been around for a few years.

APR070234 GON VOL 1 $5.99
I like the idea of miniature ass-kicking silent-manga dinosaur mega-star Gon more than I ever liked reading the little creature's comics, but I can't imagine I would walk past it on the shelf without taking a look.

APR070214 SHOWCASE PRESENTS MARTIAN MANHUNTER VOL 1 TP $16.99
I'm not one to response to price points all that frequently, but I have to admit I would probably be buying these DC reprints more frequently had they kept their original price of $9.99. This is material with which I'm not familiar, nor am I aware of any hidden but great work here. Still, I'd certainly make note of it.

APR071871 INVINCIBLE #44 $2.99
MAR071860 WALKING DEAD #39 (MR) $2.99
APR072301 IMMORTAL IRON FIST #7 $2.99
These are three action-adventure serial comics -- two with superheroes, one with zombies -- of the kind I would likely buy were I in the same city as a comic book shop and went there regularly. The first two are Robert Kirkman's Image Comics vehicles and the comics I hear most cited by mainstream cartoonists as desirable gigs in terms of their being creator-owned and selling well. The third is Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction re-imagining a minor 1970s kung-fu superhero by way of The Phantom, which is interesting in that you'd think more superhero comics would borrow from that obvious super-precursor. All three feature solid, evocative art.

MAY073448 ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #13 (MR) $3.50
I like Johnny Ryan's crude, funny comics as comic book more than in any other form.

MAY073458 LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #20 (MR) (NOTE PRICE) $7.99
An over-sized comic marking this great title's 25th anniversary in comics. This is the comic I would buy if I only had money to buy one comic, for a few weeks in either direction.

JUL062792 PULPHOPE ART OF PAUL POPE SC (MR) $29.95
This marriage of Pope's always-expressive art and AdHouse Books' smart and attractive production choices sounds like a winner.

JUN073751 SOUNDS OF YOUR NAME GN $20.00
This week's hidden gem is a huge compendium of early work from promising cartoonist Nate Powell first released I think almost two years ago and now out again with improved printing. I'm not sure how many of the qualities that struck me in Nate Powell's collection of recent work released this earlier this year was present in the older stuff, but I'm dying to find out. This is the one graphic novel I would buy this week were I forced to choose.

MAY073879 ALTER EGO #70 $6.95
MAY073880 BACK ISSUE #23 $6.95
APR074117 COMICS REVUE #255 $6.95
JUN073556 SQUA TRONT #12 $9.95
MAY073903 WRITE NOW #16 $6.95
Right around convention season, the various specialty and specific-focus comics magazine all seem to release new issues. One guesses this is to facilitate sales at cons, but it could just be that it's summer and it's time to get an issue out. Anyway, at some point I usually end up looking at a whole bunch of these in the store. Squa Tront making that list is kind of like Ted Hawkins popping up on American Idol, but I admit I'd likely look at it with the others in mind.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock.

If I didn't list your new comic, you're welcome to assume the worst of me, but it's likely I just missed it. I suck.
 
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I Still Miss Hal Foster



Gone 25 years today.
 
posted 3:24 am PST | Permalink
 

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Creators To Appear In Court Today As Spanish Cartoon Crisis Moves Forward

If you haven't read any of the articles about cartoonist Guillermo and writer Manuel Font de Vila appearing in court today for their cover for the magazine El Jueves, you might try Metabunker's fine write-up. You also might bookmark Daryl Cagle's web site and go there for updates, or one of the links recommended at Metabunker. The cover created by the pair showed two members of the Royal Family having sex as part of a commentary on the idleness of royalty and a new government payment to couples having children. It has not only caused alarm in free speech circles around the globe, but a lot of people in Spain are fairly stunned such an issue has come up in their country in this day and age.
 
posted 10:22 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 66th Birthday, S. Clay Wilson!


 
posted 10:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

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IDT Buys Into IDW: IDRKWIM

IDT Internet Mobile Group announced that it has purchased a controlling interest in mid-major comics publisher IDW. I don't really know what it means. If you read the press release, then it seems to indicate that IDT has an interest in IDW as a supplier of content for a previous mobile phone content provider purchase. If you read this analysis by Ray Cornwall, you find that he's sort of confused why that particular company is interested in that particular publisher, given that it sold its previous comics division and its core business seems unrelated. My guess is that it's a small enough purchase for IDT that it doesn't really have to boast a particularly noble or complicated or ambitious cause.

Perhaps a more interesting question is why IDW would want to be bought. My hunch is that the San Diego-based publisher has gotten to that point where a lot of what it wants to do next requires a certain level of investment that's near-impossible for a comics company of that type being able to count on from its comics revenue. They could have an interesting next few years.
 
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Happy 60th Birthday, Ted Benoit!


 
posted 10:16 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Links I Couldn't Place Anywhere Else

* the Washington Post profiles Peter Bagge's work at Reason.

* the cartoonist Ethan Persoff puts a 1970 anti-drug comic on-line, continuing his series of similarly odd comics postings.

* the French National Library's archival efforts have resulted in some very old magazine cartoons being placed on-line.

* as if in answer to a very odd and specifically-phrased prayer, a sub-site at Nickelodeon features nothing but all-ages Johnny Ryan gags.

* today's kids are reading Maus in preparation for the upcoming school year. When I was 18 years old, all the university gave me to read before I got there was a ten thousand page catalog telling me the various ways I wasn't going to be able to sue them. Art Spiegelman's work being used by a college campus made news a while back when his politically charged In the Shadow of No Towers was placed into a similar role.
 
posted 10:14 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 58th Birthday, Alex Wald!


 
posted 10:12 pm PST | Permalink
 

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CCI '07 Launches With Preview Night

Notes on Coverage
Scant hours from now folks will be hitting the pre-registration lines in San Diego's convention center to pick up passes for this year's Comic-Con International. Let the griping begin!

I'll be there as well, "covering" the show. I'm not sure these shows exist to be covered, and if they do, I couldn't do it all by myself. I will be providing notes on things I've heard or learned; they'll go up each morning. A wrap-up will come early next week, then an exit interview with some con official a few days after that about show issues. Since I'm going to the Eisner Awards to watch Eric Reynolds accept on Mr. Deppey's behalf, I'll likely do something on that experience as well.

Potential Story That Just Occurred to Me
I hope every pro from outside the country was able to get into the US for the show.

A Final Pair of Links
* Kelly Sue DeConnick points me towards this flickr group page set up to handle photos for 2007's show. So if you want to see a best-of photo array from this year's convention, bookmark that.

* I can't tell if J. Chris Campbell wrote to remind me that there is neat stuff to buy in San Diego, or to mock me for not being able to afford any of it. Perhaps both.

Worst San Diego Ever
Fantagraphics' Greg Zura saw yesterday's note that the under-35s need to get off their butts and make with a crazy party somewhere that we old guys can crash. He feels my pain. "Because there were no parties thrown by the under-35 crowd last year, I was forced to go to a movie theatre to watch Dupree and Me," Greg says.

Please See My Panels
I think they'll all be at least pretty good, and I'd love to see you.

Thursday
4:00-5:00 Spotlight on Guy Delisle -- Guy Delisle is the cartoonist behind the bestselling and critically acclaimed Drawn & Quarterly graphic novels Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea and Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China. In his first U.S. appearance, Delisle will be interviewed about his work by comicsreporter.com editor Tom Spurgeon. Room 3

Saturday
10:30-11:30 Meet the Press: Writing About Comics -- From blogs to books to magazines, the public conversation about comics is livelier -- and faster -- than it's ever been. Heidi MacDonald (Publishers Weekly), Nisha Gopalan (Entertainment Weekly), Tom Spurgeon (The Comics Reporter), Tom McLean (Variety), Graeme McMillan (The Savage Critics), and moderator Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics) discuss the state of the art of comics criticism. Room 3

1:30-2:30 Great American Comic Strips -- We're living in a Golden Age of comic strip reprints, and this panel discusses the many ongoing series of books devoted to this great American art form. Moderator Tom Spurgeon (Comicsreporter.com) talks to Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics Books (Peanuts, Krazy Kat, Popeye and the upcoming Pogo); Carolyn Kelly, daughter of Pogo creator Walt Kelly; Tom Devlin of Drawn and Quarterly (Walt and Skeezix, Moomin, Oh Skin-nay); Bruce Canwell of IDW (Terry and the Pirates, Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie); Steve Tippie, VP, marketing and licensing, Tribune Media Services; Charles Pelto of Classic Comics Press (Mary Perkins On Stage, Dondi); and noted comics historian and author R. C. Harvey (Meanwhile... A Biography of Milton Caniff, Creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon) about the sudden growth of high-quality chronological reprints and the art of the American comic strip. Room 4

Everybody please travel safely.
 
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Happy 55th Birthday, Chip Bok!


 
posted 10:08 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Not Comics: Keiji Nakazawa Featured in Hiroshima/Nagasaki Documentary

This link should take you to information on the forthcoming documentary White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which will premier a week from Monday. According to the PR stuffed in my mailbox, one of the survivors interviewed is Keiji Nakazawa, author of the comics memoir Barefoot Gen, a book series that details his own experiences during that time. I don't think Barefoot Gen has ever really been fully accepted in literary comics circles, but there are moments of Nakazawa's testimony in that book and in interviews that just stop me in my tracks every time I read them, such as a story about moving the remains of family members around in a bucket. I never want to carry anyone from my family in a bucket.
 
posted 10:06 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 50th Birthday, Ray Billingsley!


 
posted 10:04 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
Craft
Holy Crap, What a Gorgeous Page
More on Kings In Disguise's Underground Influence

Exhibits/Events
Portland Is Awesome
Eisner Awards Preview
Crime at the Comic-Con!
Handelsman Co-Chairing Charity Event

History
Retailer Walks Through '90s
Retailer Walks Through '90s 02
This Guy Loves Captain America

Industry
Manga Seized in Thailand
Yen Press Hires Ju-Youn Lee
James Vance on Manga Upload Arrests

Interviews/Profiles
Wizard: Mike Mignola
ICv2.com: Mark Siegel 01
ICv2.com: Mark Siegel 02
Walrus Comix: Simon Fraser
Sequential Tart: Tony Bedard
Blog@Newsarama: Simon Gane

Not Comics
Shinders Owner's Sad Story
Prediction for My Feet at SDCC
Alan David Doane For President!
Odd Hollywood Casting Riles Fans
Andi Watson Makes a Cut-Out Doll
Critic Eliminates Need to See Movie
Another Comic Book Culture-Related Movie
People I've Never Heard Of Provide Recipes

Publishing
WoW Comic on the Way
Yen Press Absorbs ICE Kunion
I'd Never Seen This Site Before
Panels From East Coast Rising Vol. 2
Dave Sim: Reworked Annie On Way?
Finally: Comics For 80-Year-Old Ladies
Karin Slaughter Imprint Launches at Oni
Brian Hibbs: Why Countdown Not Working

Reviews
Rob Clough: Spent
Abhay Khosla: Various
Greg McElhatton: Plain Janes
Patti Martinson: Reborn Vol. 2
Jeff Lester: Drifting Classroom Vol. 6
Don MacPherson: Green Lantern #124
Jiffy Burke: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Vol. 3
Jiffy Burke: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Vol. 4
 

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CR Review: The Black Diamond #1

Creators: Larry Young, Jon Proctor, Dennis Culver
Publishing Information: AiT/Planet Lar, comic book, 32 pages, 2007, $2.95
Ordering Numbers:

It struck me as I put it down that the new six-issue mini-series The Black Diamond would have been a fine addition to the Roger Corman's Cosmic Comics line. Run by Dark Horse and Fantagraphics veteran Robert Boyd for a brief period in the middle 1990s, RCCC boasted a number of titles based on or even serving as upgrades on some of the more popular Corman movies: Burial of the Rats, Caged Heat 3000, Death Race 2020, Rock 'n' Roll High School and Welcome to the Little Shop of Horrors. In fact, coming from Corman himself as a substitute for movies and potential breeding ground for sequels in other media, you could argue the company in significant ways contributed the "Season X" model that's proving popular right now. You probably wouldn't win the argument, but you could hang in there a while.

A standard comic book with color art and a movie tear-sheet style front cover, The Black Diamond copies the Corman company's comic book model of a B-movie plot serialized from issue to issue with a rotating cast of set-in-the-world-of back-ups filling out the page count (this issue's is by Dennis Culver). All The Black Diamond lacks is a movie for it to be based on, although a reader who cared to could probably fool someone that one exists. The plot of The Black Diamond involves a super-super highway built across the country that has become a kind of no-man's-land not just for aggressive drivers and car builders but for all sorts of crazy folks, as well as potentially acting as a haven for folks maybe not so crazy and merely out of step with the country's increasing conservatism. It's the kind of plot that makes for run-on sentences in reviews and an easy 10-minutes of forced exposition in your standard John Carpenter film or 1970s Andy Griffith TV movie. By this first issue's conclusion, we have a taste of the status quo and learn how our ostensible hero becomes personally motivated to leave the safer world and enter the wilder one. We don't get very far along in this first issue, which is sort of humorous given the speeding cars motif. Then again, these kinds of films usually built slowly as well.

Despite a love for action movies' way of looking at the world so deep and abiding he would happily give one a ride to the airport at 3:30 in the morning, Young showed in his Astronauts in Trouble work that he has the structure gene that a lot of mainstream American comic book writers would kill for. Everything he does feels sturdy, even when, as in this issue, he plays a bit around the edges of form and is dealing almost exclusively in cliches. Artist Jon Proctor offers up a style that's either photo referenced or apes the surface appearance of such art. It feels appropriately futuristic in a bleached, antiseptic way early on, and shows off the hardware to fine effect. It's not exactly a subtle set of tools when it comes to showing nuances of emotion, and some of the panels end up looking like outtakes from Our Gang shorts where Cuba Gooding Jr. is playing all the parts. The real problem becomes how those panels break the flow of the narrative. Comics panels that feel like stills from film can work if used smartly; comics that start to feel as these do like panels from another, better, comic book with more pages to let the story flow, those almost always fail. Although it's impossible to know how the series will progress, all the reader can see in the first issue of The Black Diamond are its limitations. We know what it's not. It could be a long drive.
 
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Creators Called to Spanish Court

The cartoonist Guillermo and the script writer for the offending El Jueves cover cartoon of two members of the Royal Family, a drawing that stunningly led to a judge asking the magazine be seized, will appear in court tomorrow. Strangely, the prosecutor has already decided he won't make it.

Related: El Jueves' apology cover made me laugh.
 
posted 12:14 am PST | Permalink
 

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Go, Look: Richard Cowdry Galleries


 
posted 12:12 am PST | Permalink
 

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Upload Manga, Go To Jail For Year

I'm not sure how I missed this, but one of the defendants arrested in Osaka in mid-May for uploading manga to a file-sharing site (are file-sharing places sites?) was convicted last month and faces a potential year in jail. Someone will undoubtedly come along and tell me why my reaction shouldn't be "yikes," because I tend to have news intuition straight from Bizarro World when it comes to manga, but my initial reaction is indeed in the yow/yikes neighborhood.

Speaking of manga, I assume this will drive a decent amount of conversation.
 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

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OTBP: Goodnight, Irene


 
posted 12:08 am PST | Permalink
 

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Go, Read: Nanda Sooben Article

A short profile of the South African cartoonist Nanda Sooben talks about his recent international awards, and as a bonus the photo accompanying the feature includes a dick joke. I also like the fact that newspapers in South Africa apparently still have sports cartoonists.
 
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Happy 72nd Birthday, Pat Oliphant!


 
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Five Stories to Watch, CCI 2007

Okay, it looks like this is more like two and a half stories and a bunch of nonsense, despite my best efforts. It's not like there won't be stories coming out of the show, but there's nothing that occurs to me in the imminent or likely categories. Anyhow:

1. Full House -- the show is bursting at the seams based on pre-registration alone. There are many ways a stuffed-to-the-gills show can split and rupture a bit, all of which are a possibility. The most interesting thing to me is that CCI has at least five more years in this facility, with no cap on the attendance demands in sight. The other thing is that someone, somewhere in the main hall will get no foot traffic despite the entire population of Fort Wayne, Indiana being in the building.

2. Image Isn't Everything -- with the founders panel and then its own publishing announcements featuring a crew of creators that's beginning to approach critical mass in terms of making the company an every-week factor in most comic shops, Image could actually see a nice PR boost coming out of the show.

3. Video -- there should be hours and hours and hours of video coverage coming out of the show.

4. Marvel Has a Booth -- this is worth noting because it reminds us that Marvel went for years without a booth. Marvel not having a booth because for a few years they couldn't afford one is funny; Marvel blowing off getting one for several years just to be butts is funny.

5. Industry Talk, RIP -- correct me if I'm wrong, but they don't have macro-industry talking heads panels anymore, do they? Oh, well. I guess the other question is whether or not backseat driving companies to fantasy maximize their sales figures counts as industry discussion in the first place. Because if it doesn't, this may be dead everywhere, not just San Diego. I always think if the Marvel Jack Kirby Art thing broke out in today's comics scene, 10 percent of the people going to the resulting panel would be for Jack, 15 percent would be for Marvel, and 75 percent would be there to scope out seats for the next hour's Battlestar Galactica panel.

(Bonus) Everyone Younger Than 35 Is Boring -- now that the alt-comics generation is old enough they go to dinner and then go back to their hotel rooms and straight to bed and then lie the next day that they only intended to take an hour nap, those of us living vicariously through young people are still waiting for the under-35s in attendance to throw one of those parties in a big house where metal objects are routinely tossed through windows, underage locals are hitting on toy company spokespeople and Glenn Danzig shows up out front in the Son of Satan's chariot being pulled by hookers. Instead, they seem to really like hotel bars and the kind of "hey you, I know you" socializing that kicks off the first hour of a class reunion. Go figure.

A few last links: Shannon Wheeler, the U-T over-quotes an idiot, the collectors' view, Floyd Norman remembers, Sergio Aragones' famous convention poster.
 
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Go, Look: Naji al-Ali Gallery



The BBC remembers the Palestinian cartoonist, shot critically in the face on a London street 20 years ago last Sunday, with a cartoon gallery.
 
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Quick hits
Craft
How to See Beyond Superheroes

Exhibits/Events
Paige Braddock at CAM
Thousand Pay Tribute to Fontanarrosa
Newsarama's SDCC 2007 Booth Breakdown

History
Robin Bougie Vs. Joe Chiappetta
Dad to Groening: You Can't Draw

Industry
I Hate Your Cartoon
Editorial: Borders Is Wrong on Tintin

Interviews/Profiles
Leader-Call: Russ Farris
Inkstuds: Joe Chiappetta
Newsarama: Joe Quesada
Steve Duin: Douglas Wolk
Kansas.com: Robert Luedke
Times Online: Matt Groening
The Olympian: Mike Swofford
delmarvanow.com: PLB Comics
First Coast News: John Graziano
San Diego Union-Tribune: Shannon Wheeler

Not Comics
Ted Rall v. Michelle Malkin
Clowes and Spiegelman Join Moore on The Simpsons

Publishing
Spock Lives!
RIP, Weekly World News
Anne Gibbons Joins Six Chix

Reviews
Don MacPherson: The Order #1
Jog: Notes For A War Story
 

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CR Review: Sardine In Outer Space, Vol. 4



Creators: Joann Sfar, Emmanuel Guibert
Publishing Information: First Second, soft cover, 112 pages, Fall 2007, $13.95
Ordering Numbers: 9781596431294 (ISBN13), 1596431296 (ISBN10)

From my perspective there's not too much to say about Sfar and Guibert's young-readers space adventure series; it's well-crafted, light entertainment and I would need the time machine they have in the story to regress to a point where I'm the intended audience. I look looking at them, though, and I'm always reminded of two things when I pick it up. First, if you're around little kids enough, you know how capricious they can be about the appeal or repulsion or relative scariness of an item with which they're asked to interact. I always smile a bit when I see these Sardine books, because the characters don't wear costumes outfits, they dress up to play with you. Second, it's interesting to me how well these books work as an assemblage of components. The words are funny and easy to parse, at least in the translations. Sfar's pictures are fun to look at it, and invite the reader to pay close attention and linger on their details. This isn't the combination of the two that we think of when we think of comics, but kind of a back and forth conversation that's controlled by the eyes of the reader. Perfect for kids. One forgets that as much as there's a way to read comics that scholars and critics might promote, a kind of propulsive synthesis of picture and words, kids are going to ignore those roles. They will treat the books themselves as an object with many points of entry.

The most memorable story in this fourth volume involves the kid pirates traveling into the future, with a resulting shift into adult bodies. Little Louie makes a grab at the older Sardine, explaining that ending up with her has always been his dream -- a dream no doubt influenced by the lack of available other potential future girlfriends, but a dream nonetheless. Sardine answers with a variation on "Not my problem," which is funny because it's so blunt but is kind of poignant in its own way, too. In a sense, it's not her problem because the series doesn't offer problems like that. What few problems Sardine has are external, and few of them can stand up to her application of ingenuity and force of will. I don't know if kids like the book, but unlike a lot of material that comes from established cartoonists seeking a younger audience, it's easy to imagine how a kid might have a bit of a crush on Sardine.


 
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LA Daily News' Strip Dump Update: Dropped Comics Are Coming Back

After a barrage of complaints, the LA Daily News has announced that some of the comic strips and feature dropped in a recent, unpopular move by the paper will be returning to the publication. This includes the features they say were most frequently mentioned by complainants: Mallard Fillmore, For Better or For Worse and Funky Winkerbean, which they say will return in a few days. The paper also invites readers to comment on Sunday comic strip moves, about which the blog posting fails to provide details.
 
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Go, Look: Otto Soglow Cartoons


 
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Missed It: Spain's High Court Orders the Seizure of El Jueves Issue

As reported widely last Friday afternoon after it broke on International wires, Judge Juan del Olmo of Spain's High Court ordered the seizure of the latest issue of the satirical, cartoon-heavy magazine El Jueves. At issue is a cartoon depicting Prince Felipe saying that sex was the closest thing he would do to working, commentary about royal idleness and the country's new policy of paying couples for each new baby. The reason given for the seizure is the perceived insult to the royal family, which if can be worked into a slandering charge carries a potential two-year prison sentence.

The court also called for the magazine to provide the name of the contributing cartoonist.

There's a short response on the front page of the magazine's site expressing incredulity at the situation, noting that not only have they lived by the principle of free expression, they've done hundreds of cartoons and even a book depicting the royal family for purposes of satire. What I'm hearing from readers is a similar general expression of disbelief, for the reasons above and also because Spain has been for the most part free of such censorship battles.
 
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Go, Bookmark: KAL Economist Blog


 
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Comics News Story Update Round-Up

* Editor & Publisher notes that the first two books in a partnership between Universal and self-publishing facilitator Lulu.com have become available. They are Circling Normal, A Book About Autism from Clear Blue Water's Karen Montague-Reyes, and Come Here Often? Bad Pickup Lines and Other Dating Atrocities from JC Duffy of The Fusco Brothers. The deal was announced in May.

* A blogger at the New York Times surveys the Tintin re-shelving solution and name-checks Dave Chappelle.

* Tom Bone details his experience at this year's AAEC conference interacting with Jyllands-Posten editor Flemming Rose and related panelists on the subject of the Danish Muhammed cartoons. Bone is skeptical about the necessity of the contest that started it all. I might dispute a couple of the facts -- the caricatures hit news sources quickly enough links to coverage ran here same-month -- but I appreciate Bone's genuine sifting through of the fact and explanations presented to him.
 
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Happy 60th Birthday, Mike Vosburg!


 
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Not Comics: Mitchell Brothers Article

Go here for a long piece in this weekend's San Francisco Chronicle about the famous porn impresarios Jim and Artie Mitchell, and how they interacted with a host of Bay Area artists. This includes cartoonists such as Dan O'Neill. Jim Mitchell recently died at the age of 63, some 16 years after he shot and killed his brother.

thanks, James Langdell
 
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Happy 45th Birthday, Kelley Jones!


 
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Today's Comic-Con Countdown Notes

* this is the last informal countdown-style update. I'll try to have some kind of ramp-up notes the next two days. Although the San Diego con doesn't officially begin until Thursday morning, I figure the thing starts when enough people to fill one of the bigger halls touch down at the airport. A quorum for a meeting of the World Nerd Parliament, if there was one. The day that happens would be Tuesday. So any countdown has to be over.

* as expected, the convention has announced a Saturday sell-out. This means that in addition to the four-day pass sell-out they won't be selling single-day passes for Saturday, either, and I wouldn't want to be a press person trying to register for that day and that day only, either. It's my understanding that there will likely be some pro registration taking place that day because there will be enough of an influx of LA-based professionals that have no idea the con is sold out that turning them away would be a train wreck.

* speaking of the press, which I just sort of did, I received my press pass confirmation via an e-mail on Thursday. My hunch is that it doesn't mean you're totally screwed if you don't have one yet. I might be slightly worried, though, and I would make doubly sure I had my credentials together when I hit the convention hall.

* did you know that Fanfare/Ponent Mon was going to be exhibiting? You would read if you read CR's comics-focused convention PR dump.

* if anyone wants to commentary on experiences had at the convention or photos or a Xerox of an arrest sheet or whatever rather than putting them up in some space of their own, I'll run just about anything I receive that's even halfway coherent under the First Person designation in the News section to your right. I'll run links, too, in a collective memory starting a day or two after the con. I imagine most people have a home for this stuff or a paying gig somewhere, but in case you have no on-line home or want a new credit on the resume, I'm here for you.

* this is the funniest link I've seen this month: someone bringing our attention to this week's liquor sales at Ralph's. It's not the most useless, either. Samuel Adams' Boston Lager would be a fine, sturdy room beer.

* Paul Pope recommends the Alex Toth documentary panel. I hope that everyone out there picks out at least one comics or comics-related panel to see.
 
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Go, Watch: MoCCA Video Interviews


 
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Not Comics: Erdogan's Party Re-Elected

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party won Turkey's election by a wide margin on Sunday, according to wire reports. Erdogan should be familiar to CR readers as the Prime Minister most likely to sue cartoonists and those that publish them for depicting him in a manner (or as a species) which he does not approve.
 
posted 3:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
Exhibits/Events
Comic Book Camp
How to Go To San Diego When You're Not Into It

History
More on Cheng Shifa

Industry
I Hate Your Comic
Mike Lester Picks Up His Award
Praise for Sargent's Lady Bird Tribute
How Big Was Marvel's June DM Victory?

Interviews/Profiles
Variety: Neil Gaiman
Comic Book Bin: Steve Niles
Globe and Mail: Douglas Wolk

Not Comics
Save the Chicken Man
MTV's Movie-Centric CCI Preview
Aussie PM Read American Comics

Publishing
Lucha Libre at Image
The Next Issue Project
Publisher That's New To Me
Crisis On Infinite Bill Hinds Strips
AnimeOnline Gone; May Re-Launch
Discussion of Forthcoming WoW Books
Another Funky Winkerbean Cancer Feature
Luna Brothers Announce Next Image Project

Reviews
AV Club: Various
Mark Evanier: Meanwhile...
Richard Krauss: Aprendiz #1
J. Bowers: Genshiken Vols. 6-7
Max Loh: Cromartie High School Vol. 1
Elizabeth Bolhafner: Essex County Vol. 1
Chris Allen: Black Diamond Detective Agency
 

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CR Sunday Interview: Adrian Tomine



******

I first became aware of Adrian Tomine when he was a mere 20 years old, the year the accomplished debut issue of his Optic Nerve was released by Drawn & Quarterly. I quickly discovered he had been around a few years by then, with a tremendously popular mini-comic bearing the same name as his comic book and a recurring strip in the Tower Records store magazine Pulse! Now just past its 11th issue, Optic Nerve has become one of the most popular comic books of its kind in industry history. That it continues to be published today in a form recognizable to someone buying its first issue, while other artists have concentrated on bookstore-friendly formats, and some have moved away from serial comics in any form, may make Optic Nerve a kind of last alt-comic standing. In addition to his comics, Tomine has placed a considerable amount of illustration work in magazines and on CD covers, most prominently and frequently at The New Yorker. He also edits the Yoshihiro Tatsumi book series at D&Q.

Tomine's latest story, serialized in Optic Nerves #9-11, is the longest he's ever attempted. It will be published as the graphic novel Shortcomings this Fall. Tomine plans to support the book with a tour. Among its many virtues, Shortcomings features dialog work to stand with anyone's in comics. Tomine has wiggled free from the precise and perhaps overly-measured line readings that characterized his early comics for more vibrant back and forths that emerge from character and mirror the potency and even inanity of real conversations.

This interview was coordinated for this weekend in part to remind fans, Direct Market retailers and booksellers that Shortcomings is on its way, and the cartoonist himself not far behind it in support, hopefully to a venue near you. Ask for it by name and appropriate code:

* Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine, Drawn & Quarterly, hard cover, 112 pages, ISBN: 9781897299166, Diamond Code: JUL073524, Diamond Code: $19.95.

I enjoyed talking with Adrian, and wish him the best of luck with this new book and all such projects in the future.

******



TOM SPURGEON: I've noticed that you begin a lot of your pages with a figure directing our eyes from a still point left towards the right, and end with firm stop of a character or line at the right side of the last panel. How much attention do you pay to page design, and what elements are important to you in creating a page?

ADRIAN TOMINE: That's an interesting observation. You might be picking up on something that I'm doing intuitively, or just by accident. I probably don't pay as much attention to the overall design of my pages as I should. I guess I have some vague aesthetic standards in the back of my head when I'm composing my pages, but for the most part, I think I'm focusing more on the content of the story. Someone like Chris Ware or Dan Clowes can make the design of a page actually accentuate or deepen the content without distracting from it, but obviously I'm not on that level, and I'd hate to run the risk of someone looking at one of my pages and immediately thinking, "Gee, what a clever page design! Now let me force myself to read it."



SPURGEON: Optic Nerve has a remarkable letters page. How do you select what runs?

TOMINE: As I'm working on an issue, I save any interesting mail I get in a binder, and then when I'm putting the issue together, I go through a surprisingly involved and considered process of picking and arranging the letters for print. My main criteria is "Will this be interesting to read?" I try to keep my own ego out of it as much as humanly possible, and just run with anything that seems intriguing or amusing.

SPURGEON: What percentage of material do you run?

TOMINE: I get a lot of mail that, for a variety of reasons, just isn't going to see print. Not to discourage the kind, polite letter writers out there, but I don't think anyone wants to see a letters page comprised entirely of articulate, effusive praise. Of course, I love getting letters like that personally, but it feels weird to flaunt them. In terms of percentages, I'd say I probably end up printing about one out of every fifty pieces of mail. Keep in mind that my comic comes out very infrequently, so I end up with a lot to choose from.

SPURGEON: How do you feel about the confessional tone in the kind of mail that you receive?

TOMINE: I'm consistently surprised and flattered by it.

SPURGEON: Why do you think you continue to run letters when so many people have moved away from it?

TOMINE: Here's one theory, and you'd probably have some insight on this: it might be that the comics letters page has been virtually wiped out by the internet. I've never published an email address, and I think that's sort of forced people to write me real letters, and that process generally requires a little more thought and effort on the part of the writer. I get the impression that once you start getting email feedback, the amount of dashed-off/inane/offensive responses increases exponentially. Also, I think there's probably a small gratification that can come from seeing one's letter in print and making a point publicly, and I guess some people get that same gratification from posting on message boards or writing online reviews. In any case, I'm very grateful that people still send me letters. The ritual of going to my p.o. box has been such a constant part of my life over the years that I'd be sad to see it go.



SPURGEON: I think your dialog work in Shortcomings fairly crackles. Have you ever made a point of studying film, stage or comics dialog?

TOMINE: Thanks, that means a lot to me. If by studying you mean like formally, at school or something, then no. But as a fan of books and movies, then, yes, quite a bit. I've always gravitated towards authors or filmmakers who put a real emphasis on dialog. Those are the kinds of things that I keep going back to, and discovering new things about. You hear it said of certain artists that they have a "natural gift" or an "ear" for dialog, and I wonder if that's true... like, does this stuff just come easily and naturally to them, or do they just work harder on it? Because in my case, I know that all the dialog is really thought out and revised and even kind of "performed" out loud. I sweat over it.

SPURGEON: How do you approach writing a comic in terms of working in dialog? Is it something you write in advance? Is it something for which you have a rough idea when you decide on visual elements?

TOMINE: I'm sure it varies depending on the project. Shortcomings is the most dialog-heavy thing I've ever done... the whole story pretty much depends on what the characters say (or don't say), so that was given top priority in the writing of it. That was one of the luxuries I enjoyed about doing a longer story: I didn't always feel the need to strip every conversation down to the most bare-bones, concise version, and my hope is that will give a little more veracity to the story. So the process involved a lot of back and forth between roughing out little thumbnails of the visuals, and then going back to my notebook or computer and refining the dialog, and then trying to make it all fit together.

SPURGEON: How much writing and rewriting are you allowed given the fact that you have a visual element with which to contend?

TOMINE: Even though I just referred to the greater freedom I had with this story, I was still somewhat constricted by the fact that the story was comprised of three chapters, each 32 pages in length. So I'd occasionally have to use a little brute force here and there to make something work, but I also trusted myself to make last minute changes, sometimes even as I was putting the lettering down in ink.

SPURGEON: Are you as dedicated as you seem to the serial comics format? Because you can argue that Optic Nerve is sort of the last of its kind -- the last successful, regularly published showcase comic minus a spine. Do you think you reach a different audience for having your work available in that way? Do you ever see a time when you might not have a comic book?

TOMINE: In general, I have a hard time with change... even when it's largely positive, like the way the comics industry has been evolving in the last few years. I'm thrilled to see big "graphic novel" sections in bookstores now, but at the same time, I still like comic books, and I like buying them at comic stores. I don't know if this process of serializing and collecting stories will always remain viable, but I'd like to try to stick it out as long as possible.

I know a lot of the changes that we're talking about here are dictated by economics, and especially by what the large bookstores deign to place on their shelves, but I really wish we were in a situation where the content of the comic could dictate its form more. It seems like right now, everything has to be published in book form, and I think that really changes how a work is received. Apparently it's not much of a price difference between printing books hardcover or soft-cover now, so now everything is a beautifully produced hardcover with a belly-band and a dust-jacket or whatever. And I know that for an artist, that's a virtually impossible-to-pass-up opportunity. Who wouldn't want their work to be so beautifully presented? That said, there've been some good comics recently that I think have actually been hindered a bit by their fancy presentation. Maybe that's just my own weird perception, but it played into how I wanted my previous book Scrapbook to be published. I thought the work inside was perfectly suited to a soft-cover production. I'm not trying to be falsely modest here... I honestly thought that if it came out as a deluxe hardcover coffee-table book, the content just wouldn't hold up.

I'm not sure of the numbers, but it almost seems like D&Q is publishing my pamphlets as a courtesy to me, kind of like the way some record labels will still put out a very limited pressing of a band's album on vinyl just to appease them. There was some talk of even just saving the third chapter of Shortcomings for the book collection, but it was important to me to stick with the serialization, and I felt like I owed it to the faithful readers who had bought the first two chapters. And then when Optic Nerve #11 was published, I got all this angry feedback about how the time between issues, especially with a continued story, was just unforgivable! I actually got a letter from a guy who informed me that he was removing Optic Nerve from his "saver list" at the comic store because of my lazy work ethic. I thought there were some people who still enjoyed serialized publication, even if it meant a wait between installments, but maybe I'm wrong.

SPURGEON: Do you do any work on your comics when they move from serial form into trade form?

TOMINE: There is some slight editing and re-touching that's done, but I try to force myself to not let it get out of hand. I know myself well enough to know that it's kind of a slippery slope from making a correction here and there to becoming such an insane perfectionist that the thing never gets published. But there actually is a lot of work involved in that process from comic to book form that is largely invisible. I do all the production and design on my books, so I end up wasting time on things that pretty much no one will ever notice or care about, like "What color should the head-band be?" And just for the record, that's a reference to a part of the book's binding, not my wardrobe selection.



SPURGEON: Do you read comics?

TOMINE:I still go to the comic store on a regular basis. I'm as big of a comics fan as I ever was, but it's a rare Wednesday that I end up buying more than one or two things.

SPURGEON: Are they any cartoonists you read now that you weren't reading five years ago?

TOMINE: Sure. Vanessa Davis, Jonathan Bennett, and Dan Zettwoch spring to mind. They're all relatively new artists (at least to me), and I'm really impressed by the work they've done already. I'm actually really impressed by the amount of new talent that's springing up in general, and the diversity of it. It really does seem like the improved status of comics in our society is attracting a wider range of talent than ever before.

SPURGEON: I ask this because you were so precocious in your development that cartoonists of interest that are around your age have kind of appeared behind you in a sense, after you'd been publishing a while.

TOMINE: Maybe, but I'm actually quite envious of the people who are just starting out now. It's a great time to be a new cartoonist, much better than even a few years ago. And not to impugn any of my books specifically, but I do think my "publishing career" began prematurely, and some of that stuff might've been better off relegated to the "practice run" file.



SPURGEON: Now that you've done high-profile illustration work for a while, is there a development curve in that field? It's such a commercial endeavor that I've always wondered how much room you're given to improve and develop or even shift styles; is there anything you think is different about the work you're doing in that area now than what you were doing five years ago?

TOMINE: One change that's happened in the last five years is that I've been lucky enough to develop a few really strong, comfortable working relationships, like with The New Yorker. So a lot of the confusion and worry and head-butting that can happen when you start working for someone new has kind of evaporated for the most part. I'm also fortunate enough that I can be a little more selective in terms of which commercial assignments I take on, so (at least for the time being), there's a much smaller chance that you'll see some illustration by me where you can just tell I was gritting my teeth to get that damn paycheck.

As far as shifting styles, it's much harder to pull this off in the illustration world than it is in the comics world, unfortunately. The first comics project I started working on after Shortcomings felt like a blank slate for me, and I took the opportunity to try some different things. Now, I'd be more apprehensive about trying that when the clock is ticking and I've got an assignment due for a client that's expecting a certain something from me.

SPURGEON: Has there been any effect on your art since moving to New York, either in terms of the proximity to certain opportunities or a different energy or feeling that might inform your work?

TOMINE: It's kind of hard to say, because I feel like I've gone through a lot of personal changes in conjunction with moving to New York. But on a very specific level, it really helped that I had moved to New York by the time I had to draw the part of Shortcomings that takes place here. When I plotted the story out years ago, I was living in Berkeley with no foreseeable changes on the horizon. So I figured I'd have to take a little research trip to NY to gather reference, and maybe even rely on some of my friends who lived there for help. And then, just in time, I ended up moving here! I'm sure that my work will be informed and affected by wherever I live to some degree, but the truth is that I stay home a lot, and when I'm sitting in my studio, I really could be anywhere.

In terms of illustration work, I can't say definitively, but I have this sneaking suspicion that the very thing that I'd been afraid of when I lived in California is true: it helps to be in New York. I don't even know why this would be the case in the era of email and FedEx, and maybe I'm wrong, but it does kind of seem that way.

SPURGEON: You expressed some trepidation when you first started Optic Nerve #9 about doing a 100-page story, and even kidded after completing the first third about it being just like one of your short stories, but slowed down. What is your perspective on the length and ambition of the work now that it's completed? Was that a comfortable length, do you feel you achieved what you wanted by doing a piece that long? For that matter, is it something you want to continue or something where we might see you go further?

TOMINE: I'll be honest: doing this story wasn't easy for me. I think maybe I should've refined or streamlined my drawing style a little bit for something of this length, because by the time I got to the third chapter, and I was trying to draw Brooklyn architecture in two-point perspective, I kind of wanted to blow my brains out. But now that's it's done and I have a printed version of the book here in front of me, I'm glad I did it. Doing a single book-length story has been a goal of mine for many years, so I feel really relieved that I've at least done one, regardless of what people make of it. I'm sure I'll embark on another long story eventually, but there's a lot of things I've learned from this book that will certainly inform how I approach the next one. It sounds kind of silly, but there's a tiny bit of existential terror in committing to a long comics story. I deeply admire the artists who have finished long stories, or are currently embroiled in them, but it does scare me to think of being halfway through some multi-year project and just running out of steam.



SPURGEON: I don't want to talk too much about any autobiographical factors in your work, and you've been fairly straightforward in the past that you've drawn on elements in your own life. Now that you're building a body of work, can you describe what kind of element you're drawn to that might turn into a story? Is it a character type, a situation, a relationship, an offhand comment... is there any continuity between works of that nature, or does your life inform your work from a variety of perspectives?

TOMINE: When I was first starting out, I took my inspiration from my very immediate surroundings, with not a lot in the way of processing. The most extreme case would be like, "I had to change a flat tire today and I hurt my back. I'll do a story about that!" Even when my work started to get a little more fictionalized, I was still drawing heavily on my own very recent personal experiences. And now I realize what a luxury that was. Especially after Shortcomings, I feel really self-conscious about what I choose for subject matter due to the fact that each new thing is basically viewed in relation to the things that came prior. One of my goals now is to trust my imagination and creativity a little more, and not always feel so dependent on first-hand experience for inspiration.

SPURGEON: Do you feel that sometimes people overemphasize your characters as mouthpieces for what you yourself believe to be true?

TOMINE: Definitely, especially with regards to this story. I've sensed that some readers have had a negative reaction to aspects of Shortcomings because they're assuming that the characters' views are my views. I have a lot of letters that angrily take me to task for things that these fictional characters said. I guess it's partially my fault for making the main character kind of look like me, but even still, I definitely misjudged how some readers would approach this story.

SPURGEON: Are you ever tempted to sound off in that way through your work?

TOMINE: It could be argued that, in a way, I do sound off through my work, but I don't think it's as simple as using characters as direct mouth-pieces for my opinions.

SPURGEON: I was struck re-reading the comics what a major and likable presence Alice is, almost to the point that she seems a co-lead at times in terms of what I took away from the story. Did you intend for her relationship with Ben to become kind of a through-line with which the contentious nature of his other relationships are compared? In other words, I'm kind of interested why you anchored the book with that friendship rather than making Ben a loner.

TOMINE: I'm glad you say that, because I agree that Alice is almost as much of a main character as Ben. She certainly seems to evolve more over the course of the book, and she's the one who ends up with a more conventionally happy ending. She was important to me because I wanted to show that there was at least one person in the world that Ben could get along with and be kind of likable around. I don't know if anyone would've stuck with the story if I made Ben a total loner! And on a practical level, it was necessary to have at least one relationship in which Ben could express his true feelings a little bit and just be honest, especially in a story with no thought balloons and no narration. I guess I've just known a lot real life Alices, so it was fun to try to get that character down on paper.

SPURGEON: I know that you do your own design work; is that a driving passion or just something you prefer to do? Do you have design influences? How did you settle on the snowball look, the hidden and obscured faces of Optic Nerve #9-11?

TOMINE:I've always been interested in design, and I feel like it's an integrated part of the cartooning process, not just some ancillary duty that I agree to take on. One of the things that I love about Drawn & Quarterly is that they are on the same page about this, and they really let me do whatever I want. I think if I had to hand over the design step of the process to the publisher, I wouldn't even want to do the book at all... it would just be too disheartening.



SPURGEON: Can you reflect on the experience of editing the Yoshihiro Tatsumi books with D&Q? I'm specifically interested if working that closely with that material has had any effect on the way you look at your own work, and if there was anything memorable about having him visit the United States last year.

TOMINE: The Tatsumi books have been one of the most fascinating and rewarding projects I've been involved with, and the fact that they even exist (aside from my involvement) is like the fulfillment of a long-held dream for me. As a fan of Tatsumi's work, and as someone who can't read Japanese, I've been wanting to read these stories since I was a teenager.

I'm not a good judge of whether or not working on the books has affected my own comics directly, but I do know that the process of editing them has forced me to think about the language of comics in a more objective and analytical way than ever before. At least for me personally, it's the kind of engagement that's nearly impossible to have with my own work, and it's very enlightening.

And when Tatsumi came to America last year, I think that was easily the greatest time I've ever had at the San Diego convention. Okay, maybe that's not saying much, but it was one of the highlights of my life, to be honest. It was pretty amazing to see the crowds of people lining up to meet him. I got the impression that it was a bit overwhelming for him, but also very gratifying to finally meet so many enthusiastic, genuine fans of his work. And on a more personal level, I just loved hanging out with him. I kept thinking that he was just like all my other cartoonists friends: very kind, polite, opinionated, and maybe a little bit uncomfortable being anywhere other than at the drawing board.

SPURGEON: After Shortcomings sees its release, what can we expect from you next?

TOMINE: The project I jumped into right after finishing Shortcomings was my contribution to the next Kramers Ergot, and that was the perfect thing for me. It's a self-contained short story, it's full color, and each page is huge. It's exactly what I wanted to do after working on Shortcomings for five years. It's a weird little story called "My Porno Doppelganger."

The next big chunk of my time is going to be taken up by the least creative aspect of being a cartoonist: promotion. I'll be spending a good portion of the Fall out on the road, doing signings and talks in conjunction with the release of Shortcomings. And then after that, I suppose it's back to Optic Nerve, which will almost certainly be something different than it was before.

*****

* cover to Shortcomings
* photo of Tomine by Peter Stanglmayr, provided by Drawn and Quarterly
* full page from Shortcomings (Optic Nerve #9)
* panel from Shortcomings (Optic Nerve #11)
* panel from Shortcomings (Optic Nerve #9)
* panel from Shortcomings (Optic Nerve #10)
* panel from Shortcomings (Optic Nerve #10)
* panel from Shortcomings (Optic Nerve #10)
* portrait of Batman provided by the artist
* art from New Yorker featuring In the Mood for Love
* art from New Yorker featuring Sean Penn
* image from Yoshihiro Tatsumi
* image from Yoshihiro Tatsumi
* (below) self-portrait, provided by Drawn and Quarterly
* (bottom) art from New Yorker featuring a bar scene in Chinatown

*****



*****

Shortcomings, collecting Optic Nerve #s 9-11, Drawn and Quarterly, hardcover, 1897299168 (ISBN10), 104 pages, September 2007, $19.95.

*****


 
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If I Were In NYC, I'd Go To This


 
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Five Link A Go Go

* go, look: Joann Sfar playing a ukelele

* go, look: Thomas Ott-inspired video

* go, look: Sfar video I'd not seen before

* go, look: showing of work from the illustrator-artist Yoann

* go, look: Sigur Ros video from (based on?) Enki Bilal movie
 
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Go, Look: Bunny Aken


 
posted 10:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 38th Birthday, Shawn Hoke!


 
posted 10:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

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First Thought of the Day

It doesn't count as San Diego anxiety if you know it's going to happen.
 
posted 10:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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If I Were In Harlem, I'd Go To This



And I would go to 135th between 7th and Lenox and I would visit Jerry Craft.
 
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CR Week In Review



The top comics-related news stories from July 14 to July 20, 2007:

1. Four protesters from last year's Danish Cartoons Controversy demonstrations in London sentenced to jail.

2. Twin Cities Newsstand mainstay turned collectibles retailer closes after decades of existence.

3. LA Daily News drops 10 comic strips.

Winner Of The Week
Marvel

Loser Of The Week
Tintin

Quote Of The Week
"I've seen the children of the future: they are morbidly obese and they are blowing each other constantly." -- Abhay Khosla

This week's imagery comes from pioneering comic book house Centaur Publications. I don't know, this may be the greatest cover I've ever seen.
 
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Happy 59th Birthday, Garry Trudeau!


 
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CR Review: Town Boy



Creator: Lat
Publishing Information: First Second, soft cover, 192 pages, July 2007, $16.95
Ordering Numbers: 9781596433311 (ISBN13), 1596433310 (ISBN10)

The follow-up to Lat's career-making, autobiographical Kampung Boy follows the young cartoonist through an extended period of adolescence. One of the more clever aspects of the book is that Lat shows the beginning and the end of the period in greater detail, mirroring the way memory captures those periods of uncertainty that bookend a moment in life more effectively than the great, routine expanse that makes up its bulk. So we get Lat's childhood as a cautious youth and a slack teenager, and we experience his first important out-of-the-household friendship at its genesis and when the pair separate, perhaps for good. It's a frequently lovely book, filled with striking pen and ink work and stuffed to the gills with Lat's broadly humorous and humane approach to character design. There are times when reading Town Boy feels like watching through a street fair after it rains, everyday existence altered by an event just enough to make everything stand out. You can get lost in the cityscapes. In fact, I recommend it.

Most people I know consider Town Boy a greater work than its predecessor, but for me the follow-up's narrative has an unfortunate tendency to substitute summary moments for a lot of the poignant specifics of Kampung Boy. The pace is quicker, and the cursory treatments of time and place fail to live up to the extended, offbeat reveries that Lat does so well. A marvelous scene in Town Boy's first quarter shows the protagonist visiting the home of a classmate. Watching the child settle into a bigger, better version of himself once returned to a familiar environment and seeing the children interact in the foreign but familiar staleness that is always someone's home when kids are left alone should remind anyone of all the first times they visited someone else's house. The by-the-books teenage slouching and pushier-than-they-need-to-be anecdotal sideshows can't compare. The encounter with the unattainable beauty that seems to serve as a climax offers up a few nice details (she's not haughty, just protected by her family) but not enough for it to transcend its general lack of insight and inauthentic feel. It's weird to be negative at all when a single sequence of Lat's work -- say the one where the teenagers rest against a grass background the moment right after the future became a little locked in and a bit scary, or a goofy monologue from a teacher seen through the students' eyes -- can be as wonderful as entire books from lesser cartoonists. In the end, I guess I prefer the smaller scope and more tender, circular experiences of the Kampung to the rush of firsts that arrive in Town.


 
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Friday Distraction: Massive Matt Groening Interview in LA Weekly


 
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If I Were In SF, I'd Go To This


 
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If I Were In LA, I'd Go To This


 
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If I Were In Berkeley, I'd Go To This


 
posted 6:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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Roberto Fontanarrosa, 1944-2007



The Argentinian cartoonist and author Roberto Fontanarrosa died of heart failure on Thursday, according to Rodrigo Baeza at Comics Commentary. Born in 1944, Fontanarrosa kicked off his career as part of a generation of satirical cartoonist that came of age in the 1970s. He is primarily known for two characters that became best-selling series anchors: Inodoro Pereyra and Boogie, el aceitoso. Fontanarrosa was widely prolific, working in a number of magazines, publishing collections of gag work, becoming a well known novelist and short-story writer particularly of football (soccer) stories, and even, as Baeza mentions, putting together the occasional stand-alone projects such as an anthology of shorts in different styles called Continuara, books that might have served as the entirety of other cartoonists' careers.

In his final months, Fontanarrosa suffered from a debilitating disease that in January of this year forced him to give up drawing. He continued to write for his ongoing features. Roberto Fontanarrosa was 62 years old.
 
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Tintin Re-Racked In Australia, Too

It looks like Border's re-racking program of Tintin in the Congo, instigated by a British commission's complaints that the depictions of African characters were unacceptably racist despite the contextual text provided at the beginning of the latest release, has gone international with preemptive re-shelvings of the book in Australia.

This kind of story makes me barf in my mouth a bit. I understand and sympathize with the notion that the book has unacceptably racist elements indicative of a time and a place we're better off now being past. But I don't understand why re-shelving it helps. It doesn't make the book's treatment of folks from Africa less racist, and it's adults who had the objections in the first place. I think kids can process material without slavishly copying it or seeing it as a ringing endorsement which should not be questioned. At least the kids I know can do this. They didn't get that way by being sealed in plastic until their critical faculties developed by magic. The book in question seems to me to have added value, because it allows kids to engage the idea of history being wrong. Maybe it's different when you have kids of your own, but it seems to me if you're going to expose your kids to books at all, sooner or later they're going to confront issues, circumstances and beliefs that are not a ringing endorsement of their own versions of these things. That was such a huge factor in the education I got through my own reading that I'm sad some kids will be denied this particular lesson.
 
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ICAF Launches Site, Changes Name




The International Comic Arts Festival is now the International Comic Arts Forum, and has a new web site to prove it. On the site is the first public announcement of panelists and guests for this Fall, including such luminaries as Kyle Baker and Lat.

thanks, Marc Singer
 
posted 3:20 am PST | Permalink
 

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Cartoonist Confesses to Not Graduating

This article on folks lying about their academic careers has a strange focus: the cartoonist Lee Hyeon-se, a college dropout that had lied about it in an early interview and kept the lie as part of his resume. I say strange because I can't imagine any advantage a cartoonist would gain by having people think they received a college degree over their being a drop-out or getting kicked out of the first grade or something. In fact, if St. Peter gives me a quiz on education levels of cartoonists after I kick the bucket, I'm likely going straight to hell. A cartoonist might as well have told a lie about whether or not they rode a horse. If you think about it, most lies about resume stuff -- even those that pop up in the American comics industry -- are there to press some sort of unfair career advantage. Does Korea have an active bias towards non college-educated artists or something?
 
posted 3:18 am PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 30th Anniversary, Lone Star!


 
posted 3:16 am PST | Permalink
 

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Your Danish Cartoons Hangover Update

* another book.

* I don't read opinion articles unless I'm compelled to, but is this piece by Alan Dershowitz what passes for American punditry these days? Sheesh. I'm including it here because of the notion floated that one's reaction to the Danish Cartoons Controversy might serve as a future political litmus test.

* this is the first article I've seen that suggests the British protesters sentenced to jail this week suffered special treatment according to the current political climate.
 
posted 3:14 am PST | Permalink
 

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Go, Download or Just Go, Look: Paul Pope Covers PDF Mag MGZN



thanks, Jeff Newelt
 
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E&P On NW Herald Post-Firing Ad

Editor & Publisher tracks the objections made to a media criticism article that was the subject of an earlier post here at this site, that spoke to the Northwest Herald running an add featuring a fired cartoonist's work. The letters from the principals are all there, so you can make up your own mind. The thing that's weird to me about it is that the paper seems to be claiming for itself a much lower burden of accuracy than it's affording the analysis in question. In general I don't see anything to suggest that media piece stepped out of the bounds of reasonable conduct, but it seems doubly clear that the NW Herald almost certainly did. Of course, you may disagree.
 
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Go, Read: Me, Myself & Daniel


 
posted 3:08 am PST | Permalink
 

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Today's Comic-Con Countdown Notes

* ladies and gentlemen, start your Airborne.

* if you don't follow message board threads, there are a couple pertaining to comics pros being in San Diego and what they'll be doing here and here.

* a classy downtown casino of a Comic-Con guide to this site's horrifying On-The-Strip monstrosity, Mark Evanier's The Official POVOnline Convention Guide has lots of good advice and is written in Mark's soothing, jocular tone. I read it before CCI to get in the mood the way some people read Charles Dickens before Christmas. OC Weekly has a guide, too. Since they're sort of local, I guess that makes them the Orleans.

* veteran con-goer Jeff Smith makes his plans.

* let the newspaper feature previews begin: Riverside, Phoenix, Orange County.

* SLG notes the focus of the LA Times dedicated web site covering the convention.

* speaking of the movies side of the show, Fox pulls out of their big presentation due to stuff not being ready or content concerns, depending on who's talking. The OC Weekly article notes that a preview of Batman Fights Heath Ledger or whatever it's called is being held for Wizard World Chicago. If that's for any reason other than it's not ready yet, that's kind of interesting.

* if you haven't been keeping up with this site's list of PR notices regarding the show, there have been a bunch of additional people writing in and it might be worth your time to scan it for publishers and creators that interest you.
 
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Happy 75th Birthday, Dick Giordano!


 
posted 3:04 am PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
Craft
Sean Phillips Inks
Mike Manley's Fake Cover
Another Eddie Campbell Cover
James Vance On Kings In Disguise's Underground Influence 2

Exhibits/Events
SDCC Preview
TCAF Postcards
Cartoonists on Garibaldi
Kyoto Manga Museum Exhibit
Bill Tidy Supports Charity Event

History
Writer Stunned Katzenjammer Kids Still Exist
No Such Thing As Mary Marvel Marching Society

Industry
Cancer in the Comics 01
Cancer in the Comics 02
Cancer in the Comics 03
Winner of Kodansha Contest From North America

Interviews/Profiles
Houston Chronicle on Buffy Comic
Newsarama: Alex Ross, Jim Kreuger

Not Comics
We Are All Bart Simpson
Weissman's Pretty Stickers
Those Masks Are Terrifying
Eddie Campbell on Norman Jewison
Comics Britannia Show Still On the Way
ICv2.com: Tatsunori Konno Interview 01
ICv2.com: Tatsunori Konno Interview 02

Publishing
Viz in 3Q '07
STY4 Coming
TCJ Raises Price
Goodbye, Bo Nanas

Reviews
Richard Bruton: Various
Steve Duin: Flight Vol. 4
David P. Welsh: Clubbing
Don MacPherson: Various
Steve Duin: The Art of Bone
Graeme McMillan: Countdown #41
Vichus Smith: Various Marvel Comics
Barb Fraze: Stories of the Saints Vol. 1
Johanna Draper Carlson: Flower of Live Vol. 3
Geoff Hoppe: Conan: The Beast King of Abombi and Other Stories
 

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CR Review: Three Comics

1-800-MICE #2
Creator: Matthew Thurber
Publishing Information: Picturebox Inc., comic book, 24 pages, 2007, $3.95
Ordering Numbers:

I'll admit right up front I don't understand what the hell is going of here a lot of the time, nor am I always aware on what basis I should be deciding if 1-800-MICE is any good or not. Usually with comics like this, the second in a series from Matthew Thurber and PictureBox, I concentrate on the pleasure I get from the drawing and try to find some surface sympathy with the story. That's possible here. Although there are several short stories that seem self-contained, a longer narrative deals with the quest of three chefs hired by the Shogun of Los Angeles to retrieve and kill (not necessarily in that order) a rogue member of the Shogun's staff, his former assistant Peace Punk. Peace Punk distracts the trio by directing them to a secret concert where getting a ticket involves renting a crappy apartment and working a minimum wage job. I feel ridiculous even expending the energy to describe the plot, though, because the way I'm reading the latest issue seems to have more to do with picking it up and reading random panels to see if any look cool -- which they do; Thurber's an imaginative artist with chops to spare whose stuff in the bulk of the comic looks looks like either a) Jessica (formerly Jeff) Johnson making art from Mat Brinkman's visual bible, or b) Brad Johnson working with an editor that makes him redraw half his page -- and if they make me laugh.

They made me laugh. I'm semi-helpless before crude comics hi-jinx and inspired nonsense, particularly when the writing can go toe to toe with the art like Thurber's can. Here's a Thurber line, from a supplicant before some sort of king: "Acknowledged, sir, this odd-looking bitch upsetteth my wood pulp bucket spilling a day's worth of mandible toil." Mandible Toil! Here's another, from a teenager in a cab. "I spent way too much time on the Internet today. It's fucking up my DNA." Or a third. "... Things have been quiet at Colostomy Studios ever since a firecracker blew out my eardrums on the Chinese New Year." Who the hell talks like that? Who the hell thinks like that? Why would I possibly desire to pay greater attention to this stuff and potentially ruin my enjoyment of looking at it sideways from 100 yards across the room? Enough reviewing already.

All-Flash #1
Creators: Mark Waid, Karl Kerschl, Ian Churchill, Manuel Garcie, Joe Bennett, Daniel Acuna, Joshua Middleton, Bill Sienkiewicz
Publishing Information: DC Comics, comic book, 32 pages, July 2007, $2.99
Ordering Numbers:

If the end of the last Flash series felt like a car wreck, than the first issue of the new series reminds me of a stop and walk through a mostly uninteresting roadside attraction. All Flash #1, and by the clunkiness of the title I suppose they're all out of Flash-related names now, reads like the kind of comic I must have read 8000 of between my childhood on the couch and my mid-20s in Seattle reading the DC box: a solidly crafted distraction from the outside world that works as unsophisticated action-adventure but also comments in some small way on the general heroism, decency and all-around humanity of its main character. It probably says something not very nice about mainstream comics right now that meeting aims this modest feels like a towering achievement.

The story by veteran hand Mark Waid marks the return of the Wally West Flash, whom I assume is more popular than the Bart Allen Flash whose death at the hands of a gaggle of super-villains drove the last series finale and fuels this debut. There's kind of a sturdy charm to the book. The action is clear, the motivations aren't too difficult to grasp on a first read, and the situation that presents itself seems to connect just enough with real life to provide a basis as to what's going on and why. It feels like one of those TV series where James Brooks or Joss Whedon returns to one of their babies and writes or directs an episode after a particularly troubled later-season run. While the comic is still gunked up with enough plot detritus to fill a personalized museum, Waid is enough of a pro to emphasize and stress things that ground the reader in the essential fantasy of decency and effectiveness that drives many superheroes over the long-term.

Where the comic gets a little strange is that Flash penalizes Bart Allen's killer not by taking him to jail or even losing his cool and hurting the villain but by thinking it through and then sentencing him to eternal torture of a kind far more demented than anything I've seen in a comic since the 1940s, when such moments were played as arch and fantastic. In fact, being frozen into place while one's mind still works is one of the classic nightmares, and it's a bit disturbing that this gets presented to the readers as a kind of "you asked for it" twist. I haven't witnessed a fate this blithely ugly in a mainstream comic book since the semi-famous Ms. Marvel mind control and rape scenario years ago in an Avengers, and the WTF quality of that particular maneuver was corrected relatively quickly and redirected for dramatic effect. I hope that's the case here. In fact, I hope it becomes a part of a future storyline, because if DC takes seriously the veneer of dramatic realism in which its modern comics trade, you can't have good guys torturing bad guys. Another, odder reason surfaces to hope the situation is further explored: it's just about the only thing of interest I took away from my reading.

Magic Hour #2
Creator: Alex Holden
Publishing Information: Self-Published, mini-comic, 16 pages, April 2007, $2.00
Ordering Numbers:

The thing I like best about Holden's delicate folding of fantastic elements into a story about urban teenagers is its pitch and the level of minutiae in which some of the extended scenes trade. On the one hand, the story in this second issue is about zombies and werewolves. On another, it's about teens dealing with boredom and self-confidence issues. On yet another (it's a monster book), it's about teenagers trying to steal cans of paint. The series' modest goals kind of let the level of craft on display off the hook. When I say "level of craft" I mean the more general impression that the power of its execution doesn't quite match the ambition Holden as a writer seems to have for the story. It could be that he draws well enough to do this story in a way that blows the doors off but hasn't figured out a style he enjoys, it could be that he's working more quickly than he needs to. When he finally settles into a groove, this could be a fun little book, a compelling cross between Stevie Weissman and early Ed Brubaker. As it is, it's your typically ragged, but somewhat affecting mini-comic. If you don't like it, at least you'll learn how to distract a store manager the next time it comes up.
 
posted 1:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Not Comics: Jay Stephens Harassed at US Border; Kept From Emmy Awards

My definition of comics news doesn't extend to news just because it happens to cartoonists, and this is really an animation industry story, but a lot of you may be interested in cartoonist Jay Stephens' disturbing odyssey at the US border, and how it's restricted his ability to work on his award-winning cartoons.

As a coward hailing from a long line of cowards, I don't actually mind the idea of rigorous border crossing requirements, the same way that if there was an American airline that searched every piece of luggage and did background checks on people and patted them down before getting on the planes I would gleefully wait the 3.5 hours to board. But as has often been the case this decade, the application of any policy requiring forethought, investment, willpower and consistency has been so capricious and weird and poorly communicated and feckless that it's more national disgrace than national face.

Also: Steve Bissette is really pissed off about this.
 
posted 4:35 am PST | Permalink
 

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Cheng Shifa, 1921-2007



Chinese painter Cheng Shifa, an esteemed artist in his country and internationally who spent a period of his life working in comics and continued to produce work published that way even after his more formal arts career took off, died Tuesday in Shanghai. He was 86. Shifa was considered a master of traditional arts, including landscapes, calligraphy and later in his life well-regarded portraits of working class existence.

After studying at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Art in the late 1930s with the support of relatives (his father having died when the artist was nine), Shifa began painting as a young man. He turned an eye towards comics in 1949 and fostered a relationship with the Chinese publisher Shanghai Art Publishing Agency in 1952. His series included Rulin Waishi (with Wu Jingzi), La Foret des Lettres, Peau Peinte, Kon Yiji, Cent Huit Tableaux d'apres la Veridique Histoire d'Ah (maybe his most famous work, published in 1963), Zhaoshutun and Nannuono, Ebing and Sangluo and Tenace jusqu'a la Victoire. The first book on that list won a prize at the Leipzig International Book Exhibition in 1959.

It looks like that Shifa's role may have been more that of an illustrator of stories rather than a cartoonist or even comics artist in the sense that we think of such things; I'm not completely able to tell, and it's not like a precise definition makes his artistic achievement any less than what it is. He is described in the Shanghai Daily piece as an "old kid" with a humble demeanor. He is survived by two sons.
 
posted 1:26 am PST | Permalink
 

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Glaad Cites Another Delonas Cartoon



The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has issued a call for action regarding the above cartoon from Sean Delonas, which ran in the New York Post on July 16. In the piece, the group describes what they find offensive and asks those reading to contact the publication and the cartoonist to voice their displeasure. At issue is a depiction of New Jersey's gay former governor Jim McGreevey as a prospective beauty queen, which the group terms as one in a number of "dehumanizing anti-gay stereotypes."

The group claims that twice in October 2006 Delonas made similar jokes at the expense of gay people, one equating gay marriage to a union of a man and a sheep, and one starring McGreevey and a sheep.
 
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Go, Look: City Pages Comics



thanks, Kevin Cannon
 
posted 1:20 am PST | Permalink
 

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BBC Profiles "Angry Men," Now Jailed

Although many might object to the characterization of the four men sentenced to jail in Britain yesterday for actions taken during protests in February 2006 triggered by the Danish Cartoons Controversy as "Angry Young Men," this BBC News piece about the four men is probably the most significant feature to arise since the news of the sentencing came out yesterday. For one thing, I didn't know there was a 60-person protest of the sentencing until reading the article. With the recent flash of terrorist activity in that country, and a general intolerance for the more out-there excesses of free speech in many European nations, it's hard to imagine there being much sympathy for anyone choosing to explore some of the potentially unfortunate elements of this case's outcome.
 
posted 1:18 am PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 57th Birthday, Richard Pini!


 
posted 1:16 am PST | Permalink
 

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Two Follow-Ups: Kudzu's End, Shinders

* Daily Cartoonist has picked up on the Reed Brennan Media Associates announcement indicating the late Doug Marlette's Kudzu will end in August (dailies 08/04; Sundays 08/26). RBMA does the production work on dozens and dozens of syndicated comic strips. Sometimes a cartoonist or those working in their name will have worked way ahead; I remember Andy Capp being something like 18 months ahead at the time of Reg Smythe's passing.

* An item on the closing of Twin Cities newsstand mainstay turned retailer and collectibles dealer Shinders at the business news and analysis site ICv2.com adds little of substance to what we already know about the lurid, recent back story. But it does offer up a killer photo. If you're old enough to remember buying comics on the newsstands, and it's something I did visiting Chicago as a little kid in the 1970s, it's interesting to think how one's orientation towards the experience of publicly available comics has changed now that we no longer see them. It has for me, anyway.
 
posted 1:14 am PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 55th Birthday, Bob Burden!


 
posted 1:12 am PST | Permalink
 

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Village Voice Starts Print-Only Comic

Michael Wartella, who cartoons as M. Wartella, wrote in to say that his reportorial comic Runnin' Scared will appear in the Village Voice as a print-only product, with no on-line version being produced. Mr. Wartella describes himself in his e-mail as an underground cartoonist, which I assume means he has an artistic affinity for those comics rather than the majority of his work is distributed through head shops. He also name drops Punch and Thomas Nast, which aren't bad names to be dropping. His site and beat (everyday life in NYC) are both attractive enough for me to want to see the feature. I hope it's good.
 
posted 1:10 am PST | Permalink
 

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Happy 48th Birthday, Luke McDonnell!


 
posted 1:08 am PST | Permalink
 

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Today's Comic-Con Countdown Notes

* The artist Jesse Hamm has a nice round-up of tips and suggestions here. For instance, I've never thought about making the fact you should empty your bag/backpack/purse at every opportunity a piece of formal advice, but it's a good one. Jesse and I agree on group dinners, too.

* The LA Times has a devoted on-line coverage section in support of the convention.

* Special guest and rare convention-goer Warren Ellis has posted his full schedule. I met Ellis the last time he went to San Diego and took a photo of him for my news files. He seemed so appalled by the place that in the photod he's actually leaning towards the nearest exit.

* I found this routine piece of pre-convention PR from manga giant Viz to be sort of interesting, because the announcement draws on a lot of different tracks from people that work with Viz in addition to the specific things Viz has planned.

* What is... The Toy Growers Cultyard? Read this post for the mystery, and its comments thread for the answer.
 
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Happy 46th Birthday, Terry LaBan!


 
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Glenet Finalizes Albin-Michel Deal

ActuaBD.com has a news brief up about Glenat finalizing its assumption of the Albin-Michel catalog, and why a deal didn't happen with Soleil. The piece notes this likely puts Glenat over the 20 percent market share point and that no one yet knows what this means for the title L'Echo des Savanes.
 
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ComicsPRO's First Position Paper Out



Let the advocacy begin. The retailer industry alliance group ComicsPRO has released its first position paper on industry policy, this time on the subject of variant covers. According to the release, 90 percent of that group's voting membership support the paper.
 
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Quick hits
Craft
Evan Dorkin TCAF Art
Marvel's Color Problem
Eddie Campbell Roughs
Eddie Campbell Roughs

Exhibits/Events
Licensing Expo Report
Exhibition Honors Didier Lefevre

History
Eww!
David Fitzsimmons on Slow Decline
Is It A Good or Bad Sign When Your Fans Ask This?

Industry
Gross
Comics to PSP
PWCW: Cold Cut For Sale
Weekly Japan Manga Ratings
Classic Moto Hagio Re-Released
LA Daily News Comics Drop Garners Attention

Interviews/Profiles
PWCW: Tom Beland
LSJ.com: Tom Flammer

Not Comics
Felix Arencibia, RIP
Book Market Expects Growth
Long Piece on the Mitchell Brothers
Exhibition Empire Built on the Funnies

Publishing
Giorgio Salati Launches Blog
Daily News Notices BTVS Season 8
James Vance on Manga Shakespeare
Fantagraphics: Special Edition of Palestine

Reviews
Tim Hodler: Various
Brian Heater: Macedonia
Don MacPherson: Levitation
Geoff Hoppe: Black Canary #2
Geoff Hoppe: Usagi Yojimbo #103
Todd Klein: Will Eisner's The Spirit
Zak Edwards: Ultimate X-Men #84
Chris Mautner: Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1
Andrew Farago: The Amazing Spider-Man Vs. The Prodigy
 

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CR Review: Ted May's Injury #1



Creators: Ted May, Jeff Wilson, Jason Robards
Publishing Information: Buenaventura Press, comic book, 32 pages, July 2007, $4.95
Ordering Numbers:

Reading Ted May's new comic book reminded me of following a favorite stand-up comedian into their brand-new television sitcom. There's so much of the established performance in the new work that it's hard to determine what its long-term value will be. In Injury #1, May provides sharply realized variations on work with which readers that have been following his career output should have great familiarity. There's the violent, abstracted superhero battle with funny insults of "Your Bleeding Face," the more standard but still funny take on a corner of real life experience in "Panama Red" and some gag strips where a fantasy figure receives absurd treatment including some awareness of the strip as a strip in the "Heracles" shorts. Only "Panama Red" feels like even a slight departure, probably because of the involvement of collaborator Jeff Wilson.

This isn't to say the features aren't solid, or funny, because they are. May's appealingly designed figures and general playful take on page design has only become sharper over the years. May's approach to humor focuses on observed stupidities and a deep appreciation of human pettiness, the way each person's grander vision of their own self fails miserably to match up against reality and the way people in general are quick to whine, kvetch and do crummy things as if an inner metronome compelled them to do so, with any positive behavior depicted climbing out of the same well of fecklessness and low standards almost as if by accident. There's a lovely twist in "Panama Red" where a high school student debases himself after some shitty behavior and instead of the expected beating those he's prostrated in front of laugh at him for being such a hilariously over-dramatic ass. While the comics here aren't as ragged or gloriously dumb or even as energetic as some of their similarly-themed predecessors, it's good to see May re-establish his view of the world in such a solid and amusing fashion. One hopes that Buenaventura Press can present May to a new audience that will appreciate being brought up to speed, and that this is finally the vehicle May settles into and pushes at the outer limits of talent, becoming the cartoonist his readers have seen in him for nearly a decade.


 
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This Isn't A Library: New and Notable Releases to the Comics Direct Market



*****

Here are a few books that jump out at me from this week's probably mostly accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the following -- I might not buy any of the darn things -- but were I in a comic book shop I would likely pick them up and look at them, potentially resulting in mean words and hurt feelings between me and my retailer.

*****

FEB070078 HARVEY COMICS CLASSICS VOL 1 CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST TP $19.95
I like the Casper animated cartoons. I think a dead kid wandering around asking people why they won't be his friend is funny, and I've found most kids connect to the rejection displayed in the original shorts with scary conviction. The comics don't work quite the same way, but I like the comics, too. I think a lot of people are curious to see what Dark Horse does production and art direction wise. I know I am.

MAR070068 LITTLE LULU VOL 16 A HANDY KID TP $10.95
A new release in a foundational series. It's a sign of the times that there's so many comics with which comics fans perhaps more easily connect that no one seems to talk about these.

APR070210 SHAZAM THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #4 (OF 4) $5.99
Barring a sudden, awful plot twist that screws the pooch, Jeff Smith concludes his re-working of the American comic book classic and retains all the class he had going in. We'll probably look back on this project and wonder at some of the peculiarities of its presentation and support, and the fact that no one thought those things odd at the time.

MAY070183 SPIRIT #8 $2.99
MAR071841 GODLAND #19 $2.99
MAY072109 CAPTAIN AMERICA #28 CWI $2.99
If I were going to a comic book shop every week and had a job managing a returns warehouse for QVC, Inc., I would probably be buying these serial adventure comics right now and reading them at lunch while my peers at the next table were talking NASCAR. I'll buy them eventually with the life I have now, too.

APR073468 FLIGHT VOL 4 GN $24.95
I'm way behind on Flight, but it always feels a little bit more like the summer convention season when you hear about one of these illustrator- and animator-driven anthologies coming out. Thank goodness some of the ridiculous rhetoric surrounding this series has faded away; they're good books, and quite lovely, and shouldn't have the burden of saving comics or developing the next generation of comics gods or whatever. Preview here.

APR073712 LOST COLONY BOOK 2 THE RED MENACE SC $16.95
The first volume of this First Second offering -- and this could be a re-solicit, so it might have been out for a while -- featured the oddest takes on coloring and page design that I think I've ever seen in a first book. It was like reading a movie shot through a kaleidoscope being swung around on the end of a rope. Just try keeping me away from at least checking out if Grady Klein continues down that same, mad path.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock.

If I didn't list your new comic, you're welcome to assume the worst of me, but it's likely I just missed it. I suck.
 
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If I Were In ABQ, I'd Go To This


 
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Britain's Convicted Danish Cartoons Controversy Protesters Sentenced

All over the wires at this very second (early morning MT in the US) is news that the four men convicted for various actions at protests instigated by the publication of Muhammed caricatures in a Denmark newspaper have been sentenced to jail for their crimes. Mizanur Rahman, Umran Javed and Abdul Muhid were convicted at separate trials, and received two sentences today: six years for soliciting murder and three years for stirring up race hate. The three years will be served concurrently with the six. Abdul Saleem was cleared of the soliciting murder charge but was sentenced to four years for a race hate charge.

The incident took place in London in February of 2006, and involved the man indicted playing a role in directing or exhorting the 300 protesters that showed up. Although there was some buzz early on that the trials, which kicked off in the second half of 2006 to much publicity, were an excuse for officials to cut off the head of an increasingly agitated and potentially troublesome young Muslim community through the largely indefensible excesses of rhetoric used at the protest, discussion along those lines has all but vanished since. The oldest of the four men is 32; the youngest 24.
 
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Actes Sud Absorbs Editions de l'An 2

There's always a chance I'm going to punt a key detail, but it looks to me this article indicates that Editions de l'An 2, Thierry Groensteen's eclectic line that had suspended operation at Angouleme this year, will be absorbed into Actes Sud, with the line keeping a significant amount of creative control. Among the books that should see publication in a timely manner are an art book featuring Jean-Claude Forest and a Fletcher Hanks anthology. Among the authors published by Editions de l'An 2 are Simone Lia, Olivier Schrauwen and Groensteen himself.
 
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I Hadn't Seen This Cover Yet


 
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Peru's President Backs Censorious Act

According to a press release alert from the attentive International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), Peruvian President Alan Garcia has come out in favor of an incident where art from the cartoonist-illustrator Piero Quijano was removed from an exhibition because they criticized military officials. The general line to come out of the show, which was state-sponsored, is that such speech shouldn't be given the support of being exhibited in a public space, but it's not censorship because otherwise the person is free to distribute their ideas. This seems more of a staked-out position you're gearing up to defend on a radio talk show than it is an effective articulation of an ostensibly free society's support of principle, but maybe that's just me.
 
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Go, Look: Bryan Lee O'Malley's Contribution to TCAF's FCBD Comic



Explained here.
 
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American Publisher Passes on German Kids' Book and Its Cartoon Nudity

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of days now but for some reason keep forgetting, so this may be considered a "Missed It" at this point: Spiegel Online has a nice summary article about American publisher Boyds Mills Press taking a pass on popular German author Rotraut Susanne Berner's Wimmel series. (Actually you might prefer the Independent write-up that remembers to include the name of the book series.) The reason: a pair of cartoon breasts and a microscopic cartoon penis as art in a museum.

This is interesting in that you can sort of see the publisher's point in this case. A children's book with incidental nudity would almost certainly cause some consternation given the lack of cartoon nudity in the ten billion other kids' books out this year. At the same time, it's kind of shameful to admit that this kind of innocuous thing -- the series is published in 13 countries, where I'm going to assume no one is running through the streets eating the flesh from people's faces -- could actually lead to criminal proceedings here. It's like that kid who can't invite other kids home to play after school because of some hard-ass, live-in relative.
 
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OTBP: Indie Spinner Rack Anthology


 
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Your 2007 Wizard Fan Award Nominees

This Wizard Fan Awards have announced their nominees for this year's ceremony, to be held at the Wizard World Chicago convention in August. The Wizard Fan Awards are highly focused awards. They are centered on American superhero comic books and those occasional outside elements of heroic fiction which fans of superhero comic books frequently adore.

I like them because they still give nominations out to the armless statue people, it's fun to see what alt-comic related project pops out of the awards' belly like that scene in Alien (and this year's party-crasher is... Art School Confidential?), and every so often there's something that makes an eyebrow arch, like the in-story murder of one of Marvel's half-dozen prominent African-American heroes making the Comics Greatest Moment category. Did anyone reading Civil War really think that moment was awesome? Was "greatest" redefined as "slightly depressing" without my realizing it? Would Wizard editors watch The Godfather and come away raving about Luca Brasi's death scene? I'm imagining kids sitting around when one of them reading the comic yells "Eat it, Black Goliath!" and they all high-five each other. That was like the 3,189th greatest moment in comics last year, between Glenn Ganges entering a room at #3188 and every panel from Blade #6 tied at #3190.

See? This post is a lot more fun to write than the one for the Harveys. Anyhow:

FAVORITE WRITER
Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man)
Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers)
Geoff Johns (Infinite Crisis)
Ed Brubaker (Captain America)
Joss Whedon (Astonishing X-Men)

FAVORITE PENCILER
Steve McNiven (Civil War, New Avengers)
Steve Epting (Captain America)
Phil Jimenez (Infinite Crisis)
John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men, Planetary)
Tony Daniel (Teen Titans)

FAVORITE INKER
Danny Miki (Moon Knight)
Andy Lanning (Infinite Crisis)
Stefano Gaudiano (Daredevil)
Mike Perkins (Captain America)
Dexter Vines (Civil War)

FAVORITE COVER ARTIST
J.G. Jones (52)
Simone Bianchi (Detective Comics)
Gabrielle Dell'Otto (Annihilation)
James Jean (Fables)
Arthur Suydam (Marvel Zombies)

FAVORITE COLORIST
Morry Hollowell (Civil War)
Laura Martin (Astonishing X-Men)
Bill Crabtree (Invincible)
Moose Baumann (Green Lantern)
Dave Stewart (B.P.R.D.)

FAVORITE LETTERER
Richard Starkings & Comicraft (New Avengers)
Nick J. Napolitano (Infinite Crisis)
Todd Klein (Fables)
Rus Wooten (Invincible)
Chris Eliopoulos (Civil War)

FAVORITE EDITOR
Steve Wacker (52)
Tom Brevoort (New Avengers)
Peter Tomasi (Batman)
Scott Allie (B.P.R.D.)
Axel Alonso (Amazing Spider-Man)

FAVORITE MALE HERO
Captain America (Captain America)
Ralph Dibny (52)
Daredevil (Daredevil)
Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man)
Luke Cage (New Avengers)

FAVORITE FEMALE HERO
She Hulk (She-Hulk)
Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman)
Ms. Marvel (Ms. Marvel)
Renee Montoya (52)
Black Canary (Birds of Prey)

FAVORITE VILLAIN
Superboy Prime (Infinite Crisis)
Lex Luthor (52)
Annihilus (Annihilation)
The Governor (The Walking Dead)
The Red King (Incredible Hulk)

FAVORITE SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Winter Soldier (Captain America)
The Question (52)
Foggy Nelson (Daredevil)
Jimmy Olsen (All-Star Superman)
Debbie Grayson (Invincible)

FAVORITE ONGOING SERIES
Captain America (Marvel)
The Walking Dead (Image)
Daredevil (Marvel)
52 (DC)
Runaways (Marvel)

FAVORITE MINISERIES
Infinite Crisis (DC)
B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame (Dark Horse)
Marvel Zombies (Marvel)
Nova (Marvel)
Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways (Marvel)

FAVORITE ONE-SHOT
Villains United Special (DC)
Annihilation Prologue (Marvel)
The Goon 25-Cent Issue (Dark Horse)
Winter Soldier: Winter Kills (Marvel)
Civil War: Casualties of War (Marvel)

FAVORITE PUBLISHER
Marvel
DC
Dark Horse
Image
Oni

FAVORITE COMIC MERCHANDISE
Hawkeye Statue (Bowen Designs)
MiniMates Galactus Statue (Diamond Select)
Dr. Doom Helmet & Hood (Limited by CAS)
Jennifer from Liberty Meadows Statue (CD Moore Studio)
Sexy Slave Leia Statue (Kotobukiya)

FAVORITE ACTION FIGURE LINE
Marvel Legends (Toy Biz)
DC Superheroes (Mattel)
Alex Ross' Justice (DC Direct)
Superman/Batman (DC Direct)
Marvel MiniMates (Diamond Select Toys)

FAVORITE COMIC MOVIE PROJECT
V for Vendetta (Warner Bros)
X-Men: The Last Stand (Fox)
Art School Confidential (Sony)
Superman Returns (Warner Bros)
Casino Royale (MGM)

BREAKOUT TALENT
Christos N. Gage (Union Jack)
Ed Benes (Justice League of America)
Ivan Reis (Green Lantern)
Daniel Acuña (Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters)
Greg Pak (The Incredible Hulk)

COMICS GREATEST MOMENT
Death of Superboy (Infinite Crisis #6)
Death of Roger the Homunculus (B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame #3)
Spider-Man unmasks (Civil War #2)
Clone Thor kills Goliath (Civil War #3)
Death of Booster Gold (52 #15)

FAVORITE TV SHOW
Lost (ABC)
Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
Heroes (NBC)
Smallville (The CW)
Justice League Unlimited (Cartoon Network)

FAVORITE DVD RELEASE
V for Vendetta (Warner Bros)
Superman Returns (Warner Bros)
X-Men: The Last Stand (Fox)
Ultimate Avengers II (Marvel)
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Warner Bros)

FAVORITE VIDEO GAME
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision)
Justice League Heroes (Warner Bros Interactive)
Superman Returns (EA Games)
Gears of War (Microsoft Game Studios)
The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
 
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Go, Look: Half Of Dorkin MAD Spread


 
posted 3:08 am PST | Permalink
 

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Today's Comic-Con Countdown Notes

* it's probably worth making a special point of the National Cartoonists Society panel (12:30 Saturday Room 4 -- Alcaraz, Breen, Cagle, Feinstein, Jantze, Kelley), and their booth number (1307), if only because some people forget that strip cartoonists are there. That sounds like I'm being mean, but they're a pretty low-key group -- even when Editor & Publisher runs an article dedicated to their panel.

* you know, that panel where all the Image founders are going to appear at the same time in the same place is going to be a tough seat.

* The writer and comics industry pundit Steven Grant has a long piece up on San Diego worth reading. I don't necessarily agree with all of his reasoning, but it's as well-argued as readers have come to expect.

* Here's an OTBP item that looks like it will be spread around a few tables during CCI instead of settling into one place: the documentary Independents: A Guide For The Creative Spirit, which boasts a nice interview line-up.
 
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Go, Read: Apocatastatis


 
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Quick hits
Craft
Eddie Campbell's Roughs
Scary-Ass Manga Peanuts
Comic Art Featuring Towns of Europe

Exhibits/Events
Photo Reportage From Annecy
International Manga Contest Trip Diary
Exhibit Highlights Manga's Influence in Australia

History
Joyce Carol Oates Loves MAD

Industry
I Hate Your Cartoon
I Hate Your Cartoon
Borders Moves Tintin in the Congo
Guy Gilchrist Has a Phone Deal, Too
Decline of Indian Newspaper Cartoonists
Tintin in the Congo Sales up 3800 Percent

Interviews/Profiles
Wizard: Matt Fraction
The Book Show: Jeet Heer
Newsarama: G. Willow Wilson
The Professor Blog: Pekka Alan Manninen
Collected Comics Library Podcast: Ralf Schulze
Good Brian Heater Summary Interview on Zuda

Not Comics
Scripps Killy Cincy Post
John Layman Joins Cryptic

Publishing
Mobile Comics Daily Launches
David Willis Kids Funky Winkerbean
Ennis Doing Frontier Comic For Avatar

Reviews
Jog: Rogan Gosh
Abhay Khosla: Various
Don MacPherson: Various
Don MacPherson: Full Color
Bill Sherman: Tek Jansen #1
Erik Pederson: Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1
Chris Mautner: Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1
 

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CR Review: Robot Dreams



Creator: Sara Varon
Publishing Information: First Second, softcover, 208 pages, August 2007, $16.95.
Ordering Numbers: 9781596431089 (ISBN 13); 1596431083 (ISBN10)

Sara Varon's Robot Dreams is one of the new breed of all-ages fables told in (mostly) anthropomorphic guise. A dog takes his robot friend to the beach in late summer. The robot becomes immobilized by the sun, and the dog, not quite sure what to do when this curious circumstance presents itself, abandons the robot. The bulk of the story is a back and forth between chapters featuring the dog trying and mostly failing to make new friends, and the robot's fate on the beach, where he mostly dreams of a kinder fate. It's a cute story, one that kids will appreciate for its surface value informed by the slight veneer of adult inscrutability, and one that adults will enjoy puzzling out, and for its at-times bleak sense of humor.

While Varon's designs are fun and her restrained, tasteful sense of color is soothing to the eye, the comics themselves lack a vibrancy that I think comes from an uncertain sense of pacing and staging. There are a few times where the eye expects characters to be in one place and they're suddenly in another that breaks the visual flow. The stories feel designed to illustrate their basic points rather than things that happened somewhere according to a world that has a life of its own. This is exacerbated by the fact that none of the scenes are truly surprising, even as accomplished as many of them are in terms of communicating levels of emotional distress and character shortcomings. Also, while the basic designs are superior, when they come alive the characters feel more like attractive stickers placed on a refrigerator in amusing tableaux than they do characters with a life and core of energy they call their own. This is a nice book, and a visually attractive one, but it's a comic that never transcends its initial impression to become something great.


 
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LA Daily News Drops 10 Comic Strips

According to its in-house opinion log, the Los Angeles Daily News recently dropped ten strip features, including the venerable Funky Winkerbean in the midst of its attention-grabbing cancer storyline. I can't find any original announcement, but the feature linked to on reader complaints lists most of the features dropped.

Semi-radical shifts like this seem to be a part of the general, looser attitude towards the once-notoriously conservative strip publishing world that many newspapers seem to engage in these days. And by bringing in the word conservative, I'm indicating there seems to be a greater chance for strips and even groups of strips to be picked up and/or dropped right now than there used to be.

Speaking of Los Angeles media and the comics world, the great Tim Cavanaugh writes an editorial I can't keep on the screen long enough to read because a part of it burns my eyes. I'm sure it's good, though, and funny, like almost everything Tim writes.

thanks, Alex Chun
 
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Twin Cities' Shinders Chain Closes

Shinders, a Minnesota newsstand chain that was a key retail presence and provider of comics in the 1980s Twin Cities comics community, becoming as well if not better known as a collectibles business, has closed down its eight remaining stores after an extended series of business setbacks and accusations of major, potentially criminal malfeasance by its current owner. As a longtime magazine seller whose heyday moving comics coincided with a growth period in retail locations that took place from late 1970s to the early 1990s, Shinders enjoyed what was likely a unique perspective on comics selling among a growing class of comics specialists coming from places like those dealing in back-issues at conventions and those making new comics sales part of their used book and collectible comics businesses.

thanks, Donnie Sticksel
 
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Your Danish Cartoons Hangover Update

With sentencing news in the case of Muslims convicted from crimes rising out of riots in London about the 2005 Danish newspaper Muhammed caricatures expected tomorrow, a piece of news I missed stands out today. Apparently, last week Denmark's Islamic Faith Community lost a libel case stemming from being accused of "treason" by going on tour in part to drum up international support for their position on those newspaper cartoons. It was determined that the term was used extensively in public debate, and was therefore not libelous.
 
posted 3:18 am PST | Permalink
 

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Giovanni Boselli, 1924-2007

Various European-focused web sites are reporting the passing of the Italian humor cartoonist, children's book and magazine illustrator and animator Giovanni Sforza Boselli. Boselli was born in Africa, in the then-Italian colony of Eritrea. His family moved to Italy when Boselli was 10, where he began his study of art. His entry at Lambiek.net has Boselli working for Il Giornalino in 1969 on the feature Susy La Rossa. Later efforts included Gec Sparaspar, Bellocchio e Leccamuffo and Il Signor Beniamino, a feature he also wrote. In the 1980s he drew Dodo & Coco for longtime client Il Giornalino.
 
posted 3:16 am PST | Permalink
 

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Missed It: Red Sonja v. Red Sonya

I don't have any commentary on this piece about a forthcoming hearing on claims by two companies surrounding the Red Sonja character, recently popular in comics again for a bunch of reasons some of which I probably don't want to explore. In fact, I had no idea there was a dispute out there, let alone that there was a character called Red Sonya that may or may not have informed Roy Thomas' long-ago insertion of a female foil for Conan into that character's popular 1970s funnybook. The notion that PR where you kind of let people maybe believe in something that might not be true is actionable is an interesting notion as well.
 
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OTBP: Mollusk #4


 
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Mort Walker Launches Free Magazine

Dave Astor has a nice article profiling Mort Walker's trial run at an ad-driven free magazine geared toward regional editions, a publication containing a great deal of comics and cartooning content in its editorial package, The Best of Times. This is interesting in and of itself, and for its reflection on Walker's entrepreneurial spirit, and for a couple of other reasons that might be harder to notice. One is that it's reminiscent of previous attempts to do a free comics-driven publication of this type or a tab to go into existing magazines, which is something that publishers always seemed to be talking about in the 1990s. Another is that the success of such a magazine is almost impossible to quantify from the outside in, because it depends on executing a thoughtfully conceived business model based on ad sales and budgeting more than any outside measure of health. All you can really do is wait to see if it continues to come out, and maybe track new hires and markets entered.
 
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I Miss Superheroes Smoking A Butt


 
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Go, Read: Array of Quality Features

For some reason, today was all about more significant than usual features:

* It should come as no surprise that Stan Sakai of the extremely well crafted and highly entertaining comics series Usagi Yojimbo makes extremely well crafted and highly entertaining con reports, too. His latest is on the recent seven-day Japan Expo in Paris.

* The Forbidden Planet International Blog has posted an engrossing interview with Ramallah-based cartoonist illustrator and cartoonist Katie Miranda.

* Two fairly major art-driven previews: 1) From Jeff Smith's The Art of Bone, which is interesting in that Smith isn't doing it himself, Bone doesn't have a ton of supplementary material, and I'm not really aware that Dark Horse has done a ton of such books. Smith talks about his personal reaction to seeing the book here. 2) From Flight Vol. 4, the latest in a series of books that have been the main mover in a mini-trend for animators and illustrators to kind of reach into comics and do some work there. That may seem pretty common now, but it's certainly something that didn't happen a whole lot of the time 10-15 years ago.

* Matthias Wivel posts a fine, unpublished 1999 article comparing and contrasting David Mazzucchelli's lauded "Big Man" short story with Alex Toth's 1975 Warren Publishing effort "Daddy and the Pie."
 
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Happy 90th Birthday, Gus Arriola!


 
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Today's Comic-Con Countdown Notes

* Interactive booth map found here (found on The Engine). Except for what appears to be a smaller artist's alley, and maybe a slight consolidation of toy people, it appears to my untrained eye to look much the same as last year's set-up. This makes a certain amount of sense given the continuity that's settled in in terms of who sets up at the show. For those of you who haven't been, note the links in the upper left-hand corner which will move you around the floor; the whole thing doesn't pop up at once.

* Also at The Engine: anecdotally at least, a fair number of rooms seem sort of open; NBM needs booth help; and the best way to drive to Phoenix.

* To provide some clarity on something I mentioned yesterday, I believe that press folks attending the show will likely receive their confirmations this week via e-mail.

* The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has a lot more information on their auction up. Press release here. Visually-driven preview here. The CBLDF counts on convention auctions to raise money for its work, including defending Georgia retailer Gordon Lee in his forthcoming trial, now slotted for mid-August.
 
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Quick hits
Craft
Sean Phillips' Pencils
Eddie Campbell's Roughs
Mike Manley Paints the Wolfman

Exhibits/Events
SLG CCI Sked on iPod
Schulz Museum Self-Examines

History
Tintin In The Congo Summary
Evan Dorkin Hectic Planet Drawings

Industry
Manga Bible NT Extreme
Challenges to Foreign Manga Artists
What It Takes To Be A Comic Shop Clerk
Chip Mosher to Marketing and Sales at Boom!

Interviews/Profiles
Comic Bloc: Mike Wieringo
Newsarama: Marc Bernardin
StarBulletin.com: Nate Creekmore

Not Comics
McDonnell Against Vertical Traps
New Shitty Nerd Behavior Standard-Bearers

Publishing
DHC's PBF Pre-Hype
Retail Collection Comics-Plus
Sun-Times Looks at Minx Line
Kodansha: One Canceled, One Planned

Reviews
Eric Olsen: Macedonia
Pauline Wong: Canon Vol. 1
Rob Clough: Comics Comics
Don MacPherson: King City, Vol. 1
Leroy Douresseaux: BTVS Season Eight #2
 

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CR Review: Tales From The Crypt #1



Creators: Kyle Baker, Rob Vollmar, Marc Bilgrey, Mr. Exes, Ortho, Tim Smith, Laurie E. Smith, Mark Lerer, Jim Salicrup, Rick Parker
Publishing Information: Papercutz, comic book, 44 pages, July 2007, $3.95
Ordering Numbers:

*****

Tales From The Crypt #20, EC Comics, 1950


Tales From The Crypt #1, Papercutz, 2007


*****

1950


2007


*****

1950


2007


*****

1950


2007


I'm not comparing art from the first issue of EC's re-titled, early-'50s Tales From the Crypt series and Papercutz' newly-licensed debut issue to be cruel. For all I know, many people might prefer the newer art. However, I think the art makes clear that the basic failure of the Tales From The Crypt #1 -- and I think it's a great, heaving collapse on all levels -- has as much to do with tone as it does with craft. I suspect that the line and therefore this book targets young readers, but there's a point at which if you're not going to give readers something scarier than a guy pointing a gun somewhere oddly off panel, a few vaguely threatening zombies and some animated action figures, why do a series of comics with this title in the first place? With so many options available to readers, even in horror directed at young folks, what about this laconically paced, unlovely, and magnificently cliched work should make anyone want to return?

You could build a house from discarded copies of uninspiring licensed comics, but this effort depresses more than usual in that Papercutz is an imprint of NBM. For all that I go back and forth on some of that company's individual titles, the traditionally admirable thing about NBM is that they've led with content -- translated European albums and their take on an American equivalent -- and then found as much of a market for their books as they can. I suppose in these times where we're actually starting to see the rise of comics industry-targeted marketing consultants that the Tales From the Crypt brand can be leveraged into some places other comics can't go and can be used to whip up press coverage other comics would have to buy. Hey, I might not be doing this review if the book were called Papercutz' Heebie-Jeebies. But wherever this comic goes and whoever buys it when it gets there, they'll be reading some really uninspired stories. The great EC-style twist here is that the dragged-out stories and at-best desultory art are more like the comics that served as the background against which that fabled line's attention to craft and basic storytelling values popped. Tales From the Crypt made my stomach churn, just for all the wrong reasons.
 
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If I Were in West Tisbury, I'd Go To This


 
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Missed It: British Danish Cartoons Protester Mizanur Rahman Guilty Again

According to this news source, the first of the British protesters found guilty for crimes stemming from their participation in 2006 London protests related to the publication of Muhammed caricatures in a Danish newspaper was recently found guilty of another crime: inciting murder. Mizanur Rahman was also convicted last November of inciting racial hatred; the jury failed to reach a verdict on inciting murder at that time. Rahman, Umran Javed, Abdul Saleem and Abdul Muhid are scheduled to be sentenced on their various related convictions this Wednesday.
 
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Go, Read: Doug Marlette Remembered



Several articles and features were posted over the weekend that may put into greater context the late editorial and strip cartoonist Doug Marlette and his various contributions to comics. Here are three I thought particularly insightful, and four featuring cartoonist reactions suggested to me by JP Trostle:

* a round-up of recent cartoons from his last editorial cartooning at the Tulsa World; click through the images for a slideshow

* a number of friends speak to the writer of this article about Marlette and the funeral services

* another report on those services

* Cullum Rogers in the alt-weekly The Independent

* the editorial cartooning community's response

* Ed William, Marlette's former editor at the Charlotte Observer

* Former Indy Editor John Yewell
 
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Go, Read: Far Arden, Chapter 10


 
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ICv2.com: June 2007 DM Estimates

The comics business news and analysis site ICv2.com offers their usual array of lists, estimates and analysis regarding the performance of comic books and graphic novels in the Direct Market of comic and hobby shops.

* Overview
* Analysis
* Top 300 Comic Books
* Top 100 Graphic Novels

I suppose the biggest news is that a market that folks suspected was primed to benefit event comics revealed itself as a market primed to benefit event comics, with the relatively minor line anchor World War Hulk posting significant sales and boosts to related comics. I suppose there could be something to the relative non-volatility of the Buffy and Dark Tower efforts, which are significant non-traditional action adventure titles doing well in that comics market. It's difficult to tell the difference between a book maintaining its level by continuing to appeal and one that stays in one place because it's straining against a restrictive ceiling, so any firm conclusions are probably best left off the table.

DC's current event build-up/event unto itself series, Countdown, continues its steady sales hemorrhage. Depending on how many books are out next month, it may fall out of the top 20 entirely. With Justice ending and whatever they're calling the Flash comic a risk not to hold its numbers of its snuff-comic predecessor, DC might have one of those gut-check months in July. On the other hand, their newest Fables book fairly crushed by DM standards. I note once again that Wolverine is the only X-Men book in the top 20, and as that group of books seems to be suffering from a combination of long-term narrative exhaustion and a loss of potency as some of its signature qualities seep into the general line, it's hard to imagine what a comeback strategy would even look like.

As always, as long as we're hearing about discrepancies between these numbers and what creators are reporting, it's best to take these lists not just as estimates, but as estimates of the broader trends only.
 
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Happy 37th Birthday, Pierre Wazem!


 
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Go, Bookmark: The Savage Critics

The Savage Critics web site owned and operated by Brian Hibbs out of his Comix Experience retail location has opened up its roster to bring in a number of prominent writers about comics.

Johanna Draper Carlson, Diana Kingston-Gabai, Abhay Khosla, Joe McCulloch and Douglas Wolk will join current SC regulars Hibbs, Graeme McMillan and Jeff Lester to make up what in his press release an effusive Brian Hibbs calls a "magnificent seven," a term more familiar to many people as "eight."

I kid because I love. They had me at "Khosla."
 
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OTBP: The Birds


 
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Today's Comic-Con Countdown Notes

* Too late to get a four-day pass, too early to start taking Airborne...

* In case you missed it, next week's Comic-Con International has reached its limit on four-day passes, and is in danger of running out of its three-day ticket package (skipping Saturday) and individual day attendance tickets before the show kicks off.

* Since five or six of you wrote in to ask specifically about press passes, I checked and the Con is indeed still processing its press pass requests, so there's no reason to think that just because you haven't heard word back yet that there's something wrong with your application. In fact, they're hoping to send out confirmations so that you receive them this week.

* Although I'm not really set up to best communicate to you everyone's schedules and hype, I have set up a clearinghouse post in the letters section for those notices I end up receiving, perhaps by accident. The two sort-of interesting notices in there right now are Justin Eisinger's that IDW is accepting applications for an editor's job at the convention (drop off your resumes; maybe get interviewed at the show), which could result in a tidal wave of resumes, and a anonymous announcement of a CBLDF benefit party on Thursday night at the Westgate backed in part by Scholastic, who used to (and perhaps still will) do a tasteful cocktail party that same evening.
 
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I Post Everything Fred Hembeck Asks



Even though I'm guessing everyone's already seen it.
 
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Quick hits
Exhibits/Events
AAEC Convention Report
Another Preview of NJ Exhibition

History
Superhero As Society's Mirror
One Talk Show Host's Collection
A Short History of Dark Horse Comics

Industry
Shop Expands
No Harry Potter Comics
Racism Charge Drives Demand
Comics Canadian Pricing Sometimes Ridiculous

Interviews/Profiles
Doug Marlette Appreciation
R. Crumb Article, If It Loads

Not Comics
Howdy, Thor!
Matt Richtel's Novel
Decorating With Comics
Catching Up With Rick and Ariel
Go, Look: CR Photographer Whit Spurgeon's New Video

Publishing
Next Raisin Pie Cover
Another Bible Comics Article
NY Post on Manga Shakespeare
DS Fails to Flower in Buck Owens Country
Chuck Austen = Harbinger of Things To Come

Reviews
Bob Weinberg: Macedonia
Richard Krauss: Ka-Whump! #2
Richard Krauss: Various Webcomics
How Rachel Cooke Learned to Love Comics
Bob Weinberg: Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus
 

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CR Sunday Interview: Graham Annable



*****

Graham Annable is one of those artists that comes along where you wish that the entire industry could shift a bit towards a business structure and an artistic landscape that better fit his talents. An animator and long-time comics fan, Annable is probably best known for the highly-stylized simplicity of his characters, these slouching, boxy stick-figures that the Portland resident marches through a series of horrors and physical traumas that are made inevitable by their own hubris. It's classic cartoons come to comics, in that way, a pared-down version of what the similarly under-appreciated Roger Langridge achieves.

I'm a fan of Annable's. I've enjoyed both his solo work like Grickle as well as the comics he does for the anthology Hickee. The third issue of the third volume of the latter book is the springboard for our short chat. Hickee is a very energetic anthology, and I think its greatest strength beyond the quality of its material is that there's a shared aesthetic between the cartoonists that seems to make the book bigger than the sum of its parts. I wish it came out every month.

*****

TOM SPURGEON: Graham, I don't know anything about you other than that you're a friendly guy and you make funny comics. Is there a short history you can give me of how you came to do comics? Were you a comics reader as a kid?

GRAHAM ANNABLE: I was definitely a huge comics reader as a kid. Big into Spider-Man. I definitely preferred the Marvel comics to DC as a young lad. I couldn't never figure out what the hell was going on with most DC characters. They were always meeting up with doppelgangers and reversing the time space continuum and whatnot. Too confusing for my simpleminded head. Marvel always seemed to have stuff that related to my tiny world view at the time.

I was also really into Peanuts and Archie comics. I hoarded tons of the paper digests that reprinted the Schulz strips and old Archies. I could never get enough of that stuff.



larger version of above available here

SPURGEON: Am I right that you work in animation? Can you tell me about the day job? How much time in a week, say, do you get to do comics?

ANNABLE: I spent 12 years as an animator in the games industry, most of it at LucasArts. I did both traditional hand drawn stuff and computer animation. I'm currently working as a story artist on the stop motion animated feature Coraline from Laika. It's pretty much my dream job in the animation industry. Working from written scripts and conversing with the director, I get to take the first step in translating the story from words into visuals. It's a wonderful and challenging process and I absolutely love doing it. It's also not a far cry from doing comic work, which is great. I feel like the story work has definitely sharpened my compositional and storytelling skills, which I hope translates into better comics.

The amount of time I spend on comic work really varies depending on what sorts of projects I have going on. If I had to give an average I'd say I spend about six to eight hours a week total on comics. That number spikes up when there's a specific deadline involved of course.

SPURGEON: This is a second volume of Hickee, right?

ANNABLE: [sighs] It's actually the third volume now.

SPURGEON: Really?

ANNABLE: It's a bit bizarre how it's come to be three volumes of Hickee material. It's due to us constantly changing the scope and format of the book early on. Jeff Mason first published a collection of our previously self-published Hickee comics into a trade paperback appropriately named Hickee #1. At the time I think we all thought it would be a one shot sort of a deal. But further down the road Jeff expressed desire in publishing Hickee on a semi-regular basis, so we re-introduced Hickee as a new series from Alternative Comics (Hickee vol.2 #1.) This particular comic was an odd size (it was based on the weird format we had self published the comics with) and ultimately it became problematic for comic shops for shelf placement. So, after much deliberation we decided to re-launch Hickee again in a standard size and format. Jeff felt it was a good idea to just start fresh and so Hickee vol.3 #1 was born.

All of these changes and #1s happened within the span of about two and half years which I'm sure has been incredibly bewildering to anyone outside of our little circle. I feel confident in saying that I don't see this latest format changing anytime soon. Who knows? We might even get up to issue #4 this time!



larger version of above available here

SPURGEON: How did you arrive at your stylized version of figure drawing? What is it about that style that you like best, that you think works best?

ANNABLE: I've got a pretty short attention span when it comes to visuals. I like to just get to the point and move on if possible. Drawing the acting and emoting of the characters is far and away the most satisfying part for me. I like the idea that I'm evolving a simple and direct enough style for myself that it becomes like hand writing. Instead of using words I'm communicating with my little grickle fellas and you can recognize the style instantly, like someone's writing.

SPURGEON: Is Hickee edited?

ANNABLE: Hickee is edited by me. And when I say editing, I mean I'm the person that gathers all the finished stories and assembles the book. I don't know if that's truly deserving of the title of editor, actually. Maybe organizer is a better term for what I do. As a group we always wanted to keep everyone's participation in the comic very loose and fun, with as little interference as possible. So I don't really mess with each artist's contribution much. If something feels wrong for the tone of the comic or there are some gross grammatical problems I'll definitely address it. But most of the time folks are pretty much policing themselves as they create their Hickee stories.

SPURGEON: Was that Anna Nicole Smith piece completed before or after she passed away? It's sort of impressive in its bile either way.

ANNABLE: I believe Vam created that after hearing the news. I find Vam to be impressive, so I'm not surprised his comics are, too.

SPURGEON: You mine a very specific kind of humor, based usually in out-sized, aberrant behavior that is recognized as such within the strip -- the fact that someone is chasing someone with a chainsaw is funny in part because there's a realization in the comic how horrible this is. What do you find funny about those moments of violence and cruelty?

ANNABLE: I always gravitated towards that type of humor my whole life and I suspect it's genetic. My mother, a very quiet, soft-spoken woman, always seemed to derive great humor from watching people in distress. And by people, I mean usually my father.

I grew up in Northern Ontario, Canada, and we used to get some pretty icy days there. One morning as my dad was preparing to go to work he slipped on the front door steps and slid across the driveway on his back and right under our car. My mother had witnessed the whole thing from the doorway and could not stop laughing as just my dad's head poked out from beneath the car. Thankfully my dad was unharmed by the incident. That kind of humor has always appealed to me most.

SPURGEON: Who might be an influence that hard to see in your work at an initial glance?

ANNABLE: I absolutely love Harvey Kurtzman. I wished he'd been able to create a dozen books like Jungle Book. I read an inordinate amount of E.C. Segar's Popeye growing up and I think that stuff seeped into my work, or at least I hope it did. Charles Schulz was another cartoonist that I read backwards and forwards and I'm certain is permanently lodged in my psyche. I guess those are all pretty standard influences for just about any cartoonist these days.



larger version of above available here

SPURGEON: Nathan Stapley's comics really stand out in this latest issue. Can you talk about one or two of your Hickee peers and what you appreciated about them?

ANNABLE: Nathan's sensibility never ceases to surprise me. He's a fine artist at heart and doesn't really read comics much at all, so his stuff feels straight from the gut to me. I love it. I'm really amazed by the motley crew of artists that form Hickee. Some are straight up illustrators, and others are animators, but our comic work is tied to the same wavelength of humor. We really crack each other up when we get together and draw and that's the vibe I've always wanted the Hickee comic to capture.



larger version of above available here

SPURGEON: I'm told that Jeff has over the last five years or so scaled back a bit on the books he releases. Has this had any impact on your ability to publish through him as often as you'd like? How is Jeff as a publisher generally?

ANNABLE: I'm not sure that Jeff's schedule has really impacted the Hickee comic much. We've always had a sort of sporadic existence with Alternative. Part of it is Jeff and part of it is us. The comic ebbs and flows as people's lives and work situations change. I moved up to Portland last year and started a new job, and that definitely put a crimp in my comics time (and subsequently Hickee's time). Other folks have gotten busy before and we've always played it by ear, working with Jeff to establish when the next best time would be for a new book. It's quite free-form, and it's been a mutually effective setup, I think.

That said, I would like to establish a slightly more regulated schedule for Hickee in the future to make it easier for fans of the comic. I know it can be frustrating waiting long periods of time between issues and never being sure when the next one is coming around the corner.

SPURGEON: How do you balance your interests between shorter stories like those in Hickee and the longer, stand-alone pieces that you do? What would you most like to be remembered for?

ANNABLE: For me the Hickee stories are an opportunity to try new things, both visually and thematically. I want to keep them slightly experimental, to test out ideas and make it fresh and fun. They're like doing exhilarating little sprints instead of a long marathon like the Grickle books are.

I suppose I'd like to be remembered as a cartoonist that was able to express pathos and/or humor effectively through an efficient, direct, style. And if not that, then at least a fellow that either disturbed or amused a few people with his doodles.

*****

Hickee Vol. 3 #3, Various, Alternative Comics, comic book, 32 pages, 9781891867958 (ISBN13), 1891867954 (ISBN10), APR07 3315 (Diamond), June 2007, $2.95

*****

front and back cover
page 4 - Razmig Mavlian
page 10 - Graham Annable
page 15 - Nathan Stapley
page 21 -- Joe White
page 27 (below) -- Scott Campbell

*****



larger version of above available here
 
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Five Link A Go Go

* go, look: Eddie Campbell on Bill Peet

* go, look: Chuck Norris as drawn by Steve Ditko

* go, listen: Silly Daddy theme song

* go, look: Ryan Iverson

* go, look: Dan Zettwoch draws on canvas shoes
 
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Go, Look: Ahko


 
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Happy 37th Birthday, Kelly Sue DeConnick!


 
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First Thought Of The Day

I always think it's nice of them in those Harry Potter movies when they say that Cedric Diggory was killed by Lord Voldemort, when he was actually killed by Timothy Spall's goofy character.

Also: God, could I please have a dollar for every "the boy who lived/the boy who died" turn of phrase we read/see/hear in the next two weeks, twice that for a headline? Thanks. You're aces.
 
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CR Week In Review



The top comics-related news stories from July 7 to July 13, 2007:

1. Stan Lee Media sues Stan Lee.

2. Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Marlette dies in an auto accident at age 57.

3. Cold Cut is apparently for sale.

Winner Of The Week
Slave Fetishists

Loser Of The Week
Stan Lee; the Stan Lee Media case against Stan doesn't seem as ridiculous as their $5 Billion suit against Marvel.

Quote Of The Week
"He is given an amazing wheelchair." -- Odd line of description from the Stan Lee Media case against Stan Lee.

this week's imagery comes from pioneering comic book house Centaur Publications
 
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Happy 80th Birthday, Mike Esposito!


 
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Happy 73rd Birthday, Gotlib!


 
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Happy 31st Birthday, Alex Cox!


 
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Happy 3rd Anniversary, Jog The Blog!


 
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CR Review: Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Worse


Creator: Edward Sorel
Publishing Information: Fantagraphics, softcover, 170 pages, June 2007, $18.95
Ordering Numbers: 9781560978589

For as much as Edward Sorel's cartooning has been kept mostly to the margins of a rightfully lauded career as an illustrator and portrait-maker, the comics in Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Worse prove remarkably consistent in their outlook and applied craft. Split into several areas of modern living, the bulk collected here by longtime fan and editor Gary Groth touch on political and cultural issues. Refreshingly, Sorel goes knives out for the hypocrisy of modern conservative politics and the presumption of truth inherent to the doctrines of the right and the left. A recurring theme to Just When You Thought... is that each side of American politics achieves the same results through slightly different means and emphases. If it seems Sorel spends more time pummeling the conservative side of the spectrum, well, it's been that kind of half century. It's easy to imagine Sorel as an otherwise placid student suddenly beating up the playground bully, and then when the laughing from the prone kid's rival gets a little too loud, Sorel grabbing bully #2 by the hair and giving him a few shots for good measure. You can even track Sorel's voice through the pages if you're so inclined, a generous and funny presence in the midst of so much venality.

Where the notion of variety makes its presence known is through Sorel's approach to the art: color and black and white, a style in each that favors dozens of thin line marks to achieve texture and two more that make use of solids, single drawings and sequential comics, borderless two-page spreads and rigidly structure tiers. They are all lovely, although I favor the thickly textured color pages. Format gets a workout, too. The book was selected from a wide variety of publications (about 50 additional publishable cartoons didn't make the cut), and we therefore see everything from first person reportage over multiple pages to single-drawing summary statements on periods from the past. I liked best some of the two-page spreads featuring a borderless, single scene against which a series of actions play out, and a genuinely sweet strip about the artist having lunch with his mother. Although the most significant impression remains not one or two strips but many, wave after wave of cartoons that could have been summary statements from four or five skilled illustrators, and the way they're all bound by Sorel's animating intelligence. It's not a perfect book: some of Sorel's jokes are more obvious than insightful, particularly on popular culture, and a few of his choices on the page don't always end up clear to the eye. The strengths win the day, however. I usually don't like sampler volumes, but Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Worse makes an eloquent and necessary case for Sorel as a formidable cartoonist.



 
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Friday Distraction: JB Handelsman



thanks, Brad Mackay
 
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If I Were In NYC, I'd Go To This


 
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Is This The Biggest Story in Comics?

After the period in which people died in riots and political protests related to a series of cartoons, and before a potential radical shift at media companies that could hasten certain depressing trends in editorial cartooning and newspaper strips, I would suggest the story of right now is the ongoing comics and graphic novel boom, and, particularly, the nature of that boom and extent to which it benefits not publishers, entertainment company board members, Hollywood agents, or even an editorial class, but creative and retail communities.

My basic thesis is that despite measurable gains in the specialty Direct Market, the emergence of a traditional book market and even signs of a rapidly developing on-line market, a lot of the celebrated growth isn't wholly reflected in a beneficial way where it deserves to go most: the creators who make the comics, and those on the front lines of putting them into people's hands.

Moreover, analyzing the boom becomes tricky because while things may look good on the surface, many of the markets serving comics seem to be suffering from complications arising out of long-term dysfunction in the way comics are made and distributed. This makes the problem infinitely more complicated. Say there was business reform; it could be that long-simmering trends or deeply ingrained ways of doing things could lock into place an unfair market once held together by more rigorously punitive structures. So while I'm not holding out hope for a revolution, I can and will continue to press for a more reserved, brutally honest appraisal of who benefits and to what extent, and ask that you join me. We can at least be honest about that.

It's not all bad news. Some good news, some even great. But I think overall things have changed less for the people for whom a Golden Age should matter most. It would be ironic in a horrible way if comics were to emerge from its first six or seven decades as a brutal, bottom-line industry into a fuller artistic and even commercial flowering only to serve its creative community less effectively than when junk was king, when original art was destroyed rather than returned and people publicly denied working in the field.

It looks like re-orders specialist Cold Cut being up for sale stirred some of the same feelings in people. Not only did a company that somehow survived the years 1994-2002 announce its intention to sell to someone else, but no one seemed particularly surprised they would do so. Industries that grow by percentage points year after year in multiple markets tend to provide more opportunities for established business, not potentially fewer. Flush industries don't glumly accept business leaving the field as a logical outcome.

Follow-Ups:

1) Retailer Chris Butcher recently thought out loud on some of these same issues. Click through the link here.

2) SLG's Dan Vado wrote to this site and forwarded an essay specifically on the subject of Cold Cut, which I'm reprinting below. I think his letter hints at some of the divides that have deepened despite the overall upswing in certain markets as well as the frustration many feel in trying to solve decades of stunted development from any one vantage point. Mr. Vado:

Hi Tom, I am probably going to post this on my blog, but feel free to put it wherever you might like as I may never get around to actually posting it.

This is more on the subject of your pondering about the industry and boom times more than it about Cold Cut. I have never seen the stratification of the industry as bad as it is right now. While, historically speaking, the business has always been dominated by the top two companies, there always seemed to be something of an audience left for everyone else. The comics business in general and the direct market in particular seems to have become a zero sum game, where gains on one side result in losses on another. One thing which I think is killing the direct market is a combination of non-returnability of unsold product and a dangerous reliance on pull-lists and the Diamond Previews. As it stands right now the retailer eats what he doesn't sell and has no incentive to take chances or even attempt to attract a wider and more diverse audience. The client base seems to be expected to always order out of this giant, ugly catalog two to three months in advance based on not much other than general listings and sample smaller than a postage stamp. We aren't really in a boom time, it's just that our standards of success have become lower as our expectations have been driven further and further into the dirt.

The one retailer who wonders about Cold Cut's lack of additions of new items to their catalog, well that guy needs to wake up and smell the rotting fruit because in this day and age of exclusives with Diamond where most promising new publishers give all of their business to Diamond BEFORE THEY EVEN PUT OUT A BOOK, well there just isn't much new of any real quality that will make it into Cold Cut's catalog.

While that sounds like a slam at Diamond, it's not, it's a slam at my fellow publishers. Cold Cut was taking a risk on doing reorders for lots of people and doing their best for a good number of publishers well before Diamond discovered the book trade and the need for exclusivity. Of course Diamond is going to ask for exclusives, why shouldn't they? But most publishers who jumped out of Cold Cut's catalog for a Diamond exclusive didn't even bother to ask about carving out a spot for Cold Cut. Diamond is SLG's bookstore distributor, and yet we still make our product available to Cold Cut. I insisted on that, same with Last Gasp. Why? Because Cold Cut and Last Gasp were instrumental in the success of many of our books like Milk & Cheese, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Lenore. Without Cold Cut, without the hard work put in by Mark, his former partners Tim and Cathy and all of the people who work for them, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac would have died on the vine. Cold Cut was the one keeping that book available to the direct market before Diamond even figured out that small press reorders were important and potentially profitable. I and all of our creators owe a lot to Cold Cut and I have this crazy thing about loyalty. Honestly, Cold Cut got screwed for what amounts to pennies.

Mark and everyone else at Cold Cut worked really hard for a lot of people who wound up turning their backs on the to get access to a sales channel that doesn't give a shit about what they do anymore than the direct market does. In all that I never read Mark go into any anti-Diamond screeds or call for lawsuits or anti-trust action. He and all his partners worked extra hard and showed nothing but class while dealing with an increasingly awful situation.

I have known Mark Thompson for almost 20 years, he is a class guy and I don't blame him one iota for wanting to bail on this shitty-ass business and devote his time to something better. If I were smarter and maybe had some skills which translate outside of this business, I might be following him out the door.

For now I think we'll leave it there.
 
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Happy 76th Birthday, Ernie Colon!


 
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Chicago Reader: The Old Sack and Brag

The Chicago Reader has posted an article with an interesting perspective on the firing of editorial cartoonists at papers across America. The Northwest Herald fired their award-winning editorial cartoonist Scott Nychay, and then featured him in a television ad designed to bring people to the publication. Whoops.
 
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Happy 65th Birthday, Mike Ploog!



CBG has a birth date in 1940
 
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Go, Read: Tezuka Cultural Award Primer

ComiPress is going to become a real favorite of mine if they keep running short, fact-filled, beginner's-style articles like this one on the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Awards. I particularly enjoyed the newspaper announcement reprinted. I'm not sure I ran a link to the latest version of these when they were announced; "Terpsichore" is certainly a handsome-looking word.
 
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Happy 65th Birthday, Tom Palmer!



actually, I'm not 100 percent sure that is Tom Palmer, so if anyone knows, please tell me
 
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CCI Sells Out of Four-Day Memberships

As they practically guaranteed would happen, Comic-Con International has sold out of its first sets of badges related to attendance at the show, which starts a week from Wednesday with a Preview Night. According to David Glanzer's press release, four-day memberships are no longer available. The release goes on to promise that other memberships, such as one-day badges for Friday and Saturday, may sell out before the show starts. So if you're planning on going, nail down your attendance right now.

One thing that should probably be natured is that because the Con negotiates the last attendance spots in a way to facilitate a number of different kinds of entry points into the con, the selling out of four-day passes indicates a sell-out of the allotment that fits into their overall strategy, not a sign that the convention is now right at this moment packed and bursting to the seams. Thus the other tickets' availability, and that you can get to all four days without having a four-day pass. Well, for now.

The interesting thing from a step-back-and-look perspective is that selling out of even some of the memberships before the show -- for the first time -- is pretty extraordinary given that it shows the con's continued growth and momentum. The convention has a likely five years or so left in its commitment to San Diego and their convention center. This makes me think that someone is cooking up a plan to release some of the attendance problems like a pressure valve, maybe through a second site, although I'm not particularly certain how that could be done. Or maybe we're due five years of sell-outs, earlier and earlier in the calendar year. Or maybe there will be an industry-wide scaledown, like with the video people. Or maybe there were will be a release of pressure from the Hollywood end of things as a certain type of fantasy film hits the down part of its popularity cycle. It should be fun to watch.

In other con news, the Comics Journal has released their publisher and creator appearance guide, if you want to find out what some of your favorite alt- and indy-comics entities will be up to at the show.
 
posted 3:02 am PST | Permalink
 

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Quick hits
Craft
Erik Larsen on Kirby's Art
Eddie Campbell on Catching Details

Exhibits/Events
Kids, They Love The Manga

History
Kevin Church on Comics' Greatest Panel

Industry
Trial Date For Gordon Lee
Marlette Funeral Tomorrow
Nichi Bei Times' Manga Suite
Latest Naruto to #53 on USA Today Chart

Interviews/Profiles
AnimeonDVD: Michael Gambos
The Brooklyn Paper: Brian Wood

Not Comics
Great Second Headline
E-Mailing With Tony Millionaire
Matt Madden Live From Semana Negra

Publishing
Jeff Lemire Launches Site
Hero Initiative Launches Blog
Coconino Summer Special Profiled
Fred Gallagher on Kodansha/Megatokyo Deal

Reviews
Alan David Doane: Alive
The 24-Hour Review-A-Thon
Mike Sterling's Video Review
Johanna Draper Carlson: The Plain Janes
Shaenon Garrity: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Nancy Gail: De: Tales Stories From Urban Brazil
Don MacPherson: Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #1
Graeme McMillan: Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #1
Bill Sherman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen

 

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CR Review: Apollo's Song



Creator: Osamu Tezuka
Publishing Information: Vertical, softcover, 544 pages, July 2007, $19.95
Ordering Numbers: 1932234667 (ISBN10), 9781932234664 (ISBN13)

The scene I like best in Apollo's Song is a throwaway sequence in one of the book's unstuck in time moments, when our "hero" Shogo Chikaishi finds himself in the role of a future human assassin plotting against a more-than-human, synthetic queen of Japan. He finds out through a conveniently-placed guide that most of humanity went extinct due to atmospheric pollution. However, instead of dryly providing that information in the course of a conversation, which certainly would have worked, master storyteller Osamu Tezuka has Shogo confront a previously busy city district and a ballpark now covered in gravestones. The tokens of the dead overwhelming the common space of the once-bustling living haunts far more effectively than you might think; you can almost feel the hard stone of the markers interfering with the basic function of movement and motion that previously defined those thriving places.

Apollo's Song tends towards grand, deliciously cartoony statements like this. In fact, the book starts out with a scene of thousands of naked men in a full sprint towards one woman as representative of sperm fertilizing an egg. There are other equally florid moments. An animal eats her young to protect them, a woman beats her child in a slinky negligee, the bombing of a concentration camp transport train concludes in a nature scene with trees made into logs littering the foreground, a robot hugs its master to death... The show-stopper is in one of the book's initial extended metaphorical reveries/fantasies/leaps in time, where Shogo discovers a secret animal sex grove on an Eden-like island. And while it's tempting to pick up this massive graphic novel and love it like a new parent loves their child for simply being the kind of book that offers as an important plot point a secret animal sex grove, I would downgrade Apollo's Song from the potent genre stew and periodic looking to the heavens that was Vertical's last Tezuka project, Ode to Kirihito. If that book was like a Sam Fuller film that cuffed and yanked the reader from moment to moment with superior displays of craft, this is more like some super-odd home movie touched by genius that no one really wants to talk about over coffee afterwards.

I've read that this manga, serialized over the course of 1970, comes from a period where sexual content suddenly became a part of the toolset for comics creators, one imagines as part of the overall cultural revolution that hit Japan just like it did most other countries starting in the late 1960s. Shogo Chikaishi is a young man with an unfortunate tendency to stomp on animals for their suggestions of caring and intimacy, a proclivity that left unchecked authorities believe will flower into severe adult misbehavior. He undergoes two courses of therapy: his modern-day doctor pursues an aggressive line of electroshock therapy that eventually drives him into running away and hiding out with a woman who trains him as a marathon runner but is actually a student of his doctor interested in getting at the roots of his problem, his inability to love. Meanwhile, a supernatural representation of love has cast him into a time-traveling or past lives/future lives odyssey where he falls in love with a person and loses that person, over and over again. The clever twist to the narrative is that the present-day narrative begins to conform to the pattern of the outlandish tableaux, and in fact we find that they're one and the same. The ending, with its certainty that Shogo's ordeal will continue, almost feels like the end of a TV pilot.

Where I don't think that the manga is as strong as some of Tezuka's other work is in the assumptions the author makes going in. On the one hand, Tezuka's certainty as to how the universe works give us wonderfully potent and assured epiphanies. On the other, these moments begin to feel as if they're oversimplifications of the life conditions they deign to explore. Great cartooning can't all by itself hammer something as complex as sex into the round hole represented by love through male/female intimacy, as the world view of Apollo's Song repeatedly suggests. That these impulses and emotions are reflected in the natural world feels kind of like a cheat because they're given expression through Tezuka's eerie, human-like animals. A lot of the more abstract ideas, such as the synthetic humans versus real humans comparisons, feel like metaphors selected to match a pre-existing assumption about meaning. There's no sense of exploration, no conception that these scenes are doing anything other than proving in heavy-handed fashion what Tezuka knows coming in.

This is exacerbated by an ending that comes fulls circle, a narrative choice that seems to willfully ignore any progress maintained or lessons learned in the 500 pages that come previous to it. That may be Tezuka's greater point, and there's something to be said about seeing this as less a book about the nature of love and more about how any exploration of love can be frustrated by an increasingly cold and modern world. In the end, I'm not sure he's earned the sweeping statement no matter how he wants to phrase it. When its heart reveals itself, Apollo's Song proves a bit more lecture than dialog, a ride around a cul-de-sac rather than a journey down a road. Even when it takes the form of masterfully evocative comics, I'm not sure anyone how much anyone wants to hear one man's sermon, on love or anything else.


 
posted 1:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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Cold Cut For Sale: The Other Side

One of the difficult things in working with a story like Cold Cut putting itself up for sale is that it's hard to really nail down the potential impact. Business like comics distributor run on assurances, and when they hit rocky times or consider a change in direction the assurances usually continue. Still, it has to be dismaying to hear that one of your business partners may is moving toward potentially going away. Simon Jones at Icarus has a publisher's reaction; Armando Milicevic looks at the retail perspective.

The thing that's odd about the story to me is that it seems to me line another downbeat comics story where no one is surprised by some crappy circumstance, and yet you look at Direct Market sales figures from 2002 and compare to them to now, or you just look at some ICv2.com year-end articles, or you spend some time talking to people, and it's clear that the DM is in a growth period. Shouldn't there be business opportunities in a growth period instead of wheezing, scale-downs and closures? What is it about the shape of that comics market where a boom period is felt more through articles claiming "This is a boom period!" than it is in the wallets of creators and retailers?
 
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Stripburger Puts Out International Call For Female Cartoonist Submissions


 
posted 3:18 am PST | Permalink
 

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What Daryl Cagle Asked Flemming Rose

When uber-popular comics and cartoons web host Daryl Cagle had the chance to meet Jyllands-Posten Editor Flemming Rose at the recent Association of American Editorial Cartoonists conference, he asked him about something that's been bothering many of us since the Danish Cartoons Controversy broke in Fall 2005: What the heck is the cartoon reprinted here, one of the infamous 12, trying to portray? According to Rose, the cartoon was the last one turned in, and was by the 80-year-old cartoonist Erik Abild Sorensen. It came in on an envelope, which leads to one of the best exchanges ever between Cagle and Rose. Anyway, it's a nice piece, and to reveal any more about it takes away from rather than adds to it.

That same cartoon led to the funniest mention in this article that analyzes all of the cartoons.
 
posted 3:14 am PST | Permalink
 

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Go, Look: I Like These Covers




 
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Catching Up on Stuff I've Missed

* This Comic Book Resources article notes that Marvel raised its prices for Canadians and for newsstands without telling anyone. Sticking it to the Canadians is hardly news, although there's some interesting friction that comes