The Comics Reporter

February 28, 2013

Go, Look: Ronald Searle's Ireland

posted 8:05 am PST | Permalink

Go, Read: Alan Gardner Talks To Jimmy Margulies, Newly Laid-Off From The Record

Here. Margulies had been working for years at The Record in Hackensack, and is a solid, well-liked, widely-syndicated cartoonist with all the usual magazine and paper-of-record placement credits. He's won the Fischetti and the Barryman, and recently appeared on the NRA blacklist. I'm pretty certain I've seen a book or two of his, as well.

I appreciate Gardner doing those interviews. It looks like Margulies will continue to work for the publication as their needs warrant.

posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Gay Manga Tumblr

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The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Cons, Shows, Events

By Tom Spurgeon

* ECCC is closing in. Hope to see you there. Basically my only advice for ECCC boils down to 1) work the comics room, because the strength is in the number and quality of comics pros exhibiting in the main funnybook hall there, 2) do a little research on Seattle and find things to do like have dinner in a nice restaurant or do some shopping in one of the fine downtown boutiques or watch them toss fish around or perhaps start a heroin habit (first taste is usually free). See you over there.

* by the way, I was in three Seattle comics shops yesterday and all three took more than five phone calls from people asking after tickets, which are very, very scarce and limited. So it's officially a thing.

* MoCCA Festival has announced a festival prize of sorts, with an all-star jury. I encourage everyone exhibiting to engage Gary Groth in long conversations about sports. Actually, I'm probably going to write about this again next week. This looks like the kind of thing where people are going to have major problems with it; I just can't immediately suss out exactly what those are. We have a lot of damn awards right now.

* I'm going to do a stand-alone piece on this tomorrow but in case today is better for you to go do this: Eisner Hall Of Fame voting ends on Monday. You should vote here. Russ Manning nominees are also be accepted. I encourage people to vote for everything where they're eligible to vote and to submit for everything that they're eligible to receive.

* the MSU Comics Forum event begins today. Nick Bertozzi is on-hand. Man, when comics people first got on-line it was various chat rooms, Usenet and that MSU comics index.

* Art Spiegelman went to Vancouver and David Lester took notes.

* finally, here's a nice report on John Cuneo's work as recently exhibited.

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If I Were In East Lansing, I'd Go To This

posted 4:30 am PST | Permalink

Not Comics: Henry Justice Ford

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Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Sean T. Collins on Ant Comic.

* not comics: always happy for a solid veteran like Steven Grant to enjoy increased exposure via a film adaptation, and Grant's an interesting guy generally.

* Greg McElhatton reviews that new Batman comic where they kill that little boy.

* Tessa Miller profiles Ryan North. Brigid Alverson talks to Calista Brill and Colleen AF Venable. Michael Cavna profiles Stephan Pastis.

* here's a piece at Hooded Utilitarian on bailing out of mainstream comic books for specific content reasons. I'd have to have more time to read the piece closely to characterize it without potentially doing the argument a disservice.'

* Graeme McMillan wonders out loud if the trend of reviving characters may be more difficult to do as we reach the limit of characters to be revived and head into times marked by previous character revivals more than new character creation.

* not comics: hey, nice lamp.

* finally, it's hard for me to imagine an article much more fun than Gene Luen Yang writing about the similarities between Chinese opera and North American superhero comics.

posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink

Happy 29th Birthday, Lauren Barnett!

posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink

February 27, 2013

Go, Look: My Prince

part one; part two

posted 8:15 am PST | Permalink

Tom Tomorrow Wins The 2013 Herblock Prize

A bunch of the political sites and the cartooning-related news entities picked up on a release yesterday that Dan Perkins, the longtime creator of This Modern World as Tom Tomorrow, won the 2013 Herblock Prize.

That press release says the feature still appears in 80 papers, which to my mind makes it something of a giant in that vastly reduced landscape. Perkins is also the editor of the comics section at the Daily Kos site.

As this site is very much pro all the comics awards that come with cash prizes in the hopes of encouraging more of them, it's worth noting that the Herblock Prize comes with a $15K after-taxes gift from the massive Herb Block Foundation, created with the massive, I believe media-stock related holdings of the late cartoonist.

The ceremony will be held on April 25 at the Library of Congress. Previous winners include Matt Bors, Tom Toles and Jim Morin.

posted 8:10 am PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Leo Burdak

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A Few, Random Tips For Attending Emerald City Comicon

1. Work The Entire Room
I don't know that Emerald City has worked out a firm identity for itself the way that HeroesCon has forged a relationship with a drawing culture that favors sketches and more sketches and then some more sketches followed by an art auction. Its reputation in comics seems to be that of a super-solid show, one that treats its professionals well, so let's start there. With so many talented creators on hand perhaps the greatest joy I've had at this show is simply walking around the room and interacting with all of the talent on-hand. I might suggest even making a full circuit before you buy anything -- the exception being someone you simply have to have sign something, which might be worth sacrificing any other sort of strategy, particularly if their line is short. Any show that has cartoonists like Moritat, Steve Lieber and Brandon Graham just sitting at various locations around the room waiting to talk to you -- not to mention hidden gems like last year stumbling across Kevin Nowlan -- is a pretty darn good show. Walk and talk.

2. Seek Out The Guy That Sells Old Silver Age Material Super-Ass Cheap
I don't remember this guy's name, but there's a dealer there that sells a metric ton of lower grade Silver Age comics for less than five dollars a pop. He's my favorite con-dealer ever. You may notice his presence because there will be a bald guy with a beard snapping up late-period Jack Kirby Fantastic Fours and cackling. I actually think it's a good show for dealers overall, with a graspable selection of guys on-hand, mostly featuring different things. You could probably do the whole crew in less than half a day. Dealers are comics conventions for those of us that remember a time when you went to comic book shows because otherwise you couldn't find the comics you wanted. It's always nice to remember that. It's also nice to leave a show with a little stack of comic books.

3. Drink Local Coffee
Starbucks is a local coffee joint, really, but that's not what I mean. Seattle loves its coffee enough that it has a number of really solid, full-service coffee places that don't have a franchise option. You might try this one, right up Pike from the convention center. I used to haunt the top-of-Capitol Hill location back when I lived in the city. Search near wherever you're staying or ask a local, though. It's not like these are going to be uncomfortable, weird, tiny places.

4. Steal Away To A Restaurant
Seattle is a pretty good food city. Downtown is probably the trickiest neighborhood in which to find a place to eat because there are a lot of places that serve people a) with a lot of money and/or b) that don't really give a shit about maximizing their food experiences and/or c) that are tourists and enjoy chain-restaurant eating. You might have to dig a bit, in other words, but it pays off. Here's a list of places Anthony Bourdain visited on a recent show; here's a list of places from Seattle folks pushing back against that list. I'm not sure that I have a specific recommendation down there, although restaurants that have been around a million years are usually pretty good and I always thought Seattle did underrated storefront Italian. You'll find a lot of stuff in that $15-$30 entree range. Also remember that the big dinner-out days are big dinner-out days generally: Friday and Saturday. You might have to wait, and having a smaller party rather than a big one could be key. Also, maybe don't let the guy who made $1500 selling art pick the place.

5. Seek Out Programming
I only went to a few pieces of programming last year: a Robin McConnell panel with Bill Sienkiewicz and a Seattle comics culture panel hosted by Larry Reid. Both were solid and fun, although admittedly I was in a honeymoon phase with conventions in general at that point. The bigger-name mainstream panels tend to fill up, so you might have to wait in line. I think I heard of a Jeff Parker spotlight conducted by David Brothers that sounds worth attending.

6. Use Public Transit
The professionals late-night culture at this show is I believe pretty hotel bar focused, with an undercurrent of people bailing out on the comics convention altogether and spending time with their local friends in some neighborhood or another. I think it's a fine city in which to get around, and I like the public transit options. I might not like them as much if they were my only option day after day after day, but they're fine for a visit. It's also a fun city in which to walk, and the downtown is small enough that a short jump in a cab solves a lot of problems.

7. Register Early
I happened to be walking around downtown well before the show last year just to check things out and found a registration line for press, got that settled in about ten minutes, and spent an hour or so checking out the set-up of the place and chatting with people. It was really, really fun, and press doesn't get to do that at a lot of shows. At any rate, I'm told that registration in general is pretty easy across the board. It's certainly casual, but so is Seattle.

8. If You Can, Seek Out The Fantagraphics Store
I'm not sure that I can recommend a specific comics-related stop to make there in the city. Perry Plush's fine Zanadu Downtown store is the one I used when I was roaming around in that part of town. It's a solid shop, or at least it was a decade ago and I have no reason to think otherwise. I have yet to to to the Fantagraphics store, and would like to make that trip during this year's event. That's become more of an events space in terms of what we hear about it, and I'm not sure Fantagraphics does events down there that weekend, but I'd still like to see it.

9. Remember To Have A Good Time
This may be a function of my getting older, or the fact that this show is first up in the calendar year for a lot of those attending, but one thing that struck me about the ECCC that I attended is that people seemed to be having a pleasant time at the show itself, as opposed to enduring a madhouse in order to get to the good times on either side of show hours. So have fun on the floor. Meet somebody new. Say thanks to somebody that's provided you with a fun moment or two. Smile.

posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Lena H. Chandhok

posted 5:30 am PST | Permalink

This Isn't A Library: Notable Releases To The Comics Direct Market

Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely 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 works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

DEC121247 NEMO HEART OF ICE HC $14.95
There aren't as many genre series that have been as reliably strong as these books have been, so I look forward to any iteration that arrives on shelves.

DEC121248 WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED #44 (MR) $7.00
It's an odd week for comics, or at least comics that I tend to buy. If I were in a comics shop I think I would be casting around a bit, perhaps saving my money to buy books directly from authors at ECCC. At any rate, if my store were one of those awesome ones that carried magazines like WW3 Illustrated, I would certainly take note of a new issue.

NOV120056 ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN ARCHIVES HC VOL 02 $49.99
NOV120057 ARCHIE ARCHIVES HC VOL 08 $59.99
These are two Dark Horse collection efforts that have been a little more difficult for me to track than others. I don't have a refined knowledge of Silver Age comics that would tell me exactly what's in an Adventures Into The Unknown archival collection, but I would certainly check one out were it to appear in front of me on a book rack. The Archie material is being collected a few different places in a few different way and while I've been looking at all of it I don't know that I'm all in on any one series yet.

DEC120320 JOE KUBERT PRESENTS #5 $4.99
DEC120420 ROCKETEER HOLLYWOOD HORROR #1 $3.99
DEC120582 PROPHET #34 [DIG] $3.99
DEC120693 HAWKEYE #8 $2.99
This is what popped for me new-serial-comic-book wise. The first two are actually book I'd want to see before I thought about buying them, particularly the Rocketeer effort, which is a series of new comics I haven't been tracking at all. In fact, I'm more just glad that there's an audience for off-mainstream costumed adventure more than I have a drive to see those comics myself. The Prophet and the Hawkeye have been the most reliable mainstream comics effort in their specific sub-categories for months and months now.

JAN131159 OLYMPIANS GN VOL 01 ZEUS KING OF THE GODS $9.99
JAN131160 OLYMPIANS GN VOL 02 ATHENA GREY EYED GODDESS $9.99
JAN131161 OLYMPIANS GN VOL 03 HERA GODDESS AND HER GLORY $9.99
These First Second George O'Connor book have sold pretty well and have a little market force with multiple volumes out.

NOV121028 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 08 THIRTEEN TO ONE $11.95
NOV121029 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 09 FOR MARIA $11.95
NOV121030 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 10 EL CASCADOR $11.95
DEC120976 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 11 THREE SILVER WATCHES $13.95
DEC120977 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 12 TRIAL $11.95
DEC120978 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 13 TOP SECRET $11.95
I would spend some time with a six XIII books if they showed up in front of me, why the hell not? People like that series. I think there's even a TV version somewhere with alternate-universe Aragorn or someone like that. Or maybe I'm thinking of another series entirely. Someone e-mailed me that all the Cinebook books showed up this week at once, so if you're a fan of that line you should probably slow dance with the more complete new releases list that's available through one of the links.

NOV121242 MITCH O CONNELL TATTOOS SC (MR) $14.95
NOV121241 MITCH OCONNELL WORLDS BEST ARTIST SC (MR) $35.00
I'm a fan of Mitch O'Connell, briefly a sequential comics artist some three decades ago and a longtime painter of hipster-friendly iconography. He is skilled, and this is an older book and a brand-new book, both of which I want to own.

JAN131345 KINGS IN DISGUISE TP $16.95
JAN131344 ON THE ROPES HC $24.95
Speaking of decades-ago comics work, this is the James Vance/Dan Burr depressing-setting work from that period and a seminal graphic novel of its day and the brand-new sequel set a bit later in the 1930s than the first one. That's a long-time coming, but super-welcome. Hooray for comics.

*****

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 so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, 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. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.

If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.

*****

*****
*****

posted 5:00 am PST | Permalink

Not Comics: A Franklin Booth Illustration Series

posted 4:30 am PST | Permalink

Missed It: Cold Air

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Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Koyama Press sent out a release two days ago indicating that Ed Kanerva would be coming to work for the company as a full-time publishing assistant starting March 1. Congratulations to the company and to Mr. Kanerva on the new arrangement.

* Brian Garde on Zombies Hi. Carla Hoffman on the latest round of superhero spy comics. Charles Hatfield on Fairy Quest: Outlaws #1.

* Marvel's Stephen Wacker dispenses advice.

* Tim O'Shea talks to Paul Allor. Chris Arrant talks to Joe Keatinge. Andy Mueller talks to Duane Swierczynski.

* not comics: I find this super-weird.

* I think I already mentioned this, but there's a DC plotline where one of its name characters is killed off -- not even the classic name character, someone relatively new that's wearing the costume. There are some attempts to kind of focus on the story being told as it's an exit book for Grant Morrison as he wraps up this big-icon phase of his at DC. Still, what fascinates is all the other stuff, if only briefly and without much heat: the fact that mainstream media loves running stories like this now, that DC is happy to "spoil" a storyline for the PR boost, that this will send people into comics shops looking to buy comics that will be worth a bit more than cover value only if a lot of people run into comic shops wanting this comic book, and that although they're getting rid of a pretty good character and one of the few newer ones that might make a comic with him in it distinguishable from a comic book DC released in 1997 that this isn't seen as something they can't walk back if they want to.

* finally, Kevin Melrose has a write-up on the significant amount of money brought in by auctioned Watchmen cover artwork. That's a lot of money, but that's not money I begrudge anyone making as long as they obtained the original works legally and honorably, which I believe to be the case here.

posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink

Happy 51st Birthday, Andy Kubert!

posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink

Happy 53rd Birthday, Jeff Smith!

posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink

Happy 53rd Birthday, Norm Breyfogle!

posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink

Happy 42nd Birthday, Barry Matthews!

posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink

February 26, 2013

Magnus Johnstone, RIP

posted 8:45 am PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Patrick Dean Has An Etsy Store

posted 8:15 am PST | Permalink

Columbia University Libraries Acquires Elfquest Archives

There's a very thorough press release here about the Columbia University Libraries acquiring the comics archives of Elfquest material for its growing comics holdings. That's the institution whose comics efforts are spearheaded by Karen Green, a regular presence for years now at comics shows and one of the key figures in comics and comics art at libraries right now.

It looks like the primary value of that archive is a massive if not complete collection of original art for the long-running series.

I think that's a fine thing to bring in-house for an institution like that, and I think they have it right that Elfquest Vol. 1 played a key role as both an independent comics project from the 1970s -- helping forge a place in the burgeoning Direct Market for non-superhero genre work guided by smaller companies -- and as a work whose primary driving force creatively was a woman. So congratulations to Green and the library and Wendy Pini and Richard Pini. I'd like to see a big chunk of that work someday up close, and it looks like I'll maybe have that chance at some future date in New York.

posted 8:10 am PST | Permalink

Not Comics: More Ronald Searle Wine Illustrations

posted 8:05 am PST | Permalink

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