The Comics Reporter

May 21, 2013

Go, Look: Hypnotic Midday Movie

posted 8:25 am PST | Permalink

Iconic Comics/Illustration Site Drawn.ca Calls It Quits

John Martz has announced the winding down of the site Drawn! on his tumblr. That was for its entire run a significant site, and by coming on-line in 2005 was particularly in those days when such things were possible a huge traffic generator for a lot of visual artists and comics-makers that were featured there -- think of it as the equivalent to stand-up comedians playing certain late-night variety and talk shows in the 1980s and 1990s. I enjoyed it a lot and stole from it more than most.

I would imagine that this is another sign we're in a potential transitional period for on-line culture as it intersects with comics. We're starting to see institutional alterations take hold as companies re-think their incentive models for that kind of work; some self-generated efforts are beginning to cycle out just in terms of what people are doing with their lives; anything that starts now does so in the context of social media efforts as opposed to the landscape that existed in the early 2000s. I don't know where we end up with all of this, but I do know it's something of a shame just for fans of this kind of material that certain efforts won't be with us when we arrive. Thank you to the Drawn! people; I hope they all have a terrific time doing whatever each one wants to do with the time this frees up moving forward.

posted 8:20 am PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Tramp Stamp

posted 8:15 am PST | Permalink

Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked

By Tom Spurgeon

* this isn't exactly news, not at this point in their production schedule, but I think this the best-looking of the Tardi series covers to date. We live in an amazing reprint era that it's possible Fantagraphics' excellent treatment of these works isn't front and central in our thinking at all times.

* Doug Wright Award winner Nina Bunjevac covers Taddle Creek #30.

* it's about a week old now, and we've linked to it in the random news before now, but this interview with Mike Richardson and Joe Casey takes on the work Casey's doing with some of that company's costumed adventure characters. I think that's a fair description of those characters.

* let's hope this is the first in a series of such ads, hotter and hotter as they go.

* as a fan of the original Rocketeer comics that see that character and that world as tied into the unique expression of creator Dave Stevens, I don't really have an interest in what IDW has been doing with various sequel series. Ditto The Spirit and Will Eisner. Still, I think that IDW has done what seems like a pretty good job of working with the Stevens family and putting out quality comics set in the late cartoonist's world -- it strikes me as an honorable enterprise even if it's one in which I have little interest in the resulting content: the same relationship I have to something like the Leslie Turner Captain Easy.

* Steve Morris looks at the end of the latest run for DC's Amethyst character, the kind of character you'd think would find an audience if the market were just adjusted like two degrees towards greater rationality.

* Marvel has apparently canceled their Red She-Hulk title. I'm not sure why there needed to be a Red She-Hulk title. I sort of like comics where I can't figure out why they exist.

* finally, I found the news that writer James Robinson is leaving DC Comics to be interesting on a lot of levels. I like Robinson, I think he did a lot of good work for that company, and I think that's a company that can ill-afford to lose any talent at all. I didn't really understand his Earth 2 title, but I was surprised by how much I liked his recent Shade mini-series that DC collected. Robinson had a real talent in terms of carving out space in DC's "universe" that allowed for dramatic stakes based on something other than Amanda Waller showing up and the whole thing being plugged into some line-wide storyline about whether or not the DC comics icons are awesome and why. I think that's a real lost art, and given that these are entire worlds, I wish that more creators could create little worlds within the bigger one. I wish him luck in whatever he does next, and would love to see him return to his creator-owned work.

posted 8:10 am PST | Permalink

Seriously, Buh: Jesse Marsh Draws A Big Spider

posted 8:05 am PST | Permalink

ComicsAlliance Hints At Sequel That Will Be Awesome But Maybe Super Pisses Off Fans Of The Original

Here. I like Joseph, and I enjoy reading a lot of their writers; it'd be nice if they could get something going.

just to be clear: that title is a joke about using Dark Knight imagery, not a sign that I think a new CA would actually infuriate fans

posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink

Go, Look: 40x

posted 7:55 am PST | Permalink

Placeholder: I Completely Screwed The Pooch On ECBACC Festival Coverage For This Year

Make up for my error, which will be rectified as soon as possible, by looking at the PW story on the targeted-audience show that took place in Philadelphia over the last weekend.

posted 7:50 am PST | Permalink

Let's All Look At A 2008 John K Post On Owen Fitzgerald

posted 5:30 am PST | Permalink

Comics By Request -- People, Projects In Need Of Funding

By Tom Spurgeon

* this is another edition of the column that runs on Mondays; I had a few more of these to post where I didn't want to wait a week.

* that nice man and indy comics veteran Batton Lash has launched a second crowd-funder, this time in support of a 112-page book of work that was previously featured on-line at SupernaturalLaw.com. This seems a natural place for someone like Lash to land, allowing him access to his scattered by fervent fan base in a way that's much more efficient than leaving that in the invisible hands of the direct-market mechanism. Here's the link to Werewolves Of New York, which Lash writes in his PR is the longest story he's ever done. He has many cute incentives, tied into his overall theme. I think he'd get there without this site's help, but I enjoy Lash and wanted to pass this along.

* Clifford Meth, who does an enormous amount of work on behalf of older comics-makers that find themselves either in trouble or in need of a specific form of advocacy, has a crowd-funder up for a book that features conversations with many of those creators and others besides.

* I'll pull one from yesterday's run of requests: David Lasky is trying to raise money via original art and publication sales so that he can attend the Eisner Awards in support of his nominated Carter Family book. There is no better guy in comics than that David Lasky guy. Also, he hasn't aged in 20 years, so I'm hoping that by posting this he'll pass on eating a part of my soul.

* finally, someone is translating Schuiten and Peeters. Or wants to. Always worth a check-out when that work is mentioned.

posted 5:00 am PST | Permalink

OTBP: Adapt #1

posted 4:30 am PST | Permalink

Forthcoming Comics-Related Events, Through June 2013

Go, Read: A Short Essay About Bill Finger

posted 3:00 am PST | Permalink

Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* in case you missed it, TCAF Director Chris Butcher responded to Sunday's TCAF 2013 report here, and cartoonist/former con organizer Dustin Harbin added commentary here.