Cartoonist Musa Kart Still Imprisoned In Turkey
One of the things about the adage "this will never happen here" is that we're close enough now to imagine things happening and at least in my imagination, there is little in the way of reprisal that's effective and sets things right. The support for cartoonist Musa Kart and other opinion leaders accused of supporting a military coup continues, but it doesn't seem like the political lever of support is in any way connected to reality of change, and that's terrifying.
* finally, the grand Chicago show CAKE has a date and an artist. It's good to read they're doing a set of dates that is not the same weekend as HeroesCon and A2CAF.
Go, Submit: Open Applications Until December 10 For RESIST!
Gabe Fowler sent along the following about open submissions for their RESIST! newspaper, to be handed out in DC during the inauguration and subsequent Women's march.
By Request Extra: LA-Area Volunteer Needed For Russ Heath
The need is described here. It's rare for a non-financial need to be publicized, although certainly there are dozens of comics-makers that could use some assistance by someone devoting time to them.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
OCT161558 WUVABLE OAF HC BLOOD & METAL (C: 0-1-2) $19.99
The second volume collecting Ed Luce's striking comics leads off a significant week in terms of art books and potential birthday presents. My first glance indicates a lot of in-ring jokes, a great place for visual interest.
SEP161531 LAKE JEHOVAH GN $20.00
That is the Conundrum Price Point, and lo and behold, there it is. It looks interesting, even if the descriptives are all over the place.
OCT161555 LIFE & LEGEND WALLACE WOOD HC (RES) (C: 0-1-2) $39.99
This is a book taken away from Fantagraphics and now returned, to be done with the kind of friendly treatment of art that you didn't see in that many volumes twenty years ago. Everything Wood ever did is interesting to me.
JUN161080 TITAN #4 (MR) $4.95 SEP160093 WITCHFINDER CITY OF THE DEAD #4 $3.99 AUG160649 MONSTRESS #8 (MR) $3.99 SEP160749 SAGA #40 (MR) $2.99 SEP160753 SEX #33 (MR) $3.99 SEP161048 BLACK WIDOW #8 $3.99
Kind of an odd week for serial comic-book comics. I like Titan because the sci-fi elements are used for blunt, more direct comparisons within the society depicted as opposed to graceful metaphors. There's a Mignola next on our list, followed by three high-end Image series and the comic book at Marvel featuring the Waid/Samnee team of recent artistic success.
SEP161757 PANDORAS EYES HC (NEW PTG) (MR) $24.95
This is the kind of standard genre work that you might find in the long-ago history of a single-genre master like Milo Manara, except it comics much later in the artist's career than one might guess. I'm sure the whole thing is well crafted.
SEP161784 HAPPINESS GN VOL 02 (C: 1-1-0) $12.99
This is the best-reviewed genre series with a volume, at least according to my quick glance. I believe this is a supernatural story, and I believe it's relatively very new.
SEP161276 MUTTS TREASURY YEAR OF YESH SC (C: 0-1-0) $19.99
I will always list Patric McDonnell's work even though he's frequently ignored by comics people. His work remains quite beautiful.
SEP161688 ROY CRANE BUZ SAWYER HC VOL 04 ZAZAROFS REVENGE (C: 0-1-2) $39.99
Speaking of beautiful, I'm not sure any work matches primetime Roy Crane in terms of how visually pleasing it is. I have no idea who's buying this Fantagraphics' series of hardcover but I know they're getting handsome page after handsome page.
SEP161507 SQUALOR GN $19.99
This week's entry in the "everything comes back" sweepstakes is this series remembered best for one of Tom Sutton's rewarding re-directions in terms of his art. You could torture me for 8000 years and I couldn't tell you a think about the plot.
APR162001 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #13 (C: 0-1-1) $8.95
Kaluta. I'd like to read that one.
AUG162140 SCUMBAG LOSER OMNIBUS GN (RES) (MR) (C: 1-1-0) $30.00
This is a horror story with which I'm not familiar, but that's a nice pricep post f
SEP161366 COPRA TP ROUND FOUR (MR) $19.95
Michel Fiffe's admirable, self-directed projectcontinues.
*****
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.
* here is your infrequent reminder that Laura Park's on-line archives of sketchbook work and completed comics remains one of the best available on the Internet.
By Request Extra: Odod Books Launch Tom Kaczynski and Jordan Shiveley have displayed excellent taste through Uncivilized Books, and their proposed children's line Odod looks to be more of the same. In fact, like the best spin-off lines, Odod (dodo backwards, I assume; that's a rough name sound-wise) has some background with the main line, where you can envision the new books as spiritual successors to their good work with Peter Wartman's Over The Wall.
At this writing, they only have about 15 percent of their desired money raised, and I think they have ambitions for a few stretch goals here. There could be a lot of reasons for this, and I actually think with some more attention they have a good shot of making their goal and there will be some really good comics to come out of it. If they don't make it, they're in a position like some recent fund-raisers to recalibrate and try again. I hope for one of those outcomces, and mostly the first! That's the one that is the happiest ending. This looks like a good project so please take a look.
We don't yet have a regular standard outside of the various project-to-project crowd-funders on behalf of Tezuka material for what people will regularly support in a publisher's on-line asks. I think people will help out in a pinch, but how much and whether that extends to distinct projects within a larger publishing -- or even operating -- umbrella has yet to be seen. I also wonder if we have enough of an audience built in a basic sense for the amount of awesome material we publish. It's a golden age, but some of these books that would have made my teeth fall out of my head in 1988 are moving 800 copies. There's more worthy work than ever only being seen by as many people as are inside a standard Wal-Mart at 2 PM on a Tuesday.
For now, I hope you'll support this honorable company in their ask, particularly if it's material that interests you. There are questions to be answered, but I'd rather do it in a world with more great comics in it than less. If you're in a position to be a white knight here, even better.
Bundled, Tossed, Untied & Stacked: Publishing News By Tom Spurgeon
* the 100th anniversary of Will Eisner -- it's also the Kirby centennial -- kicks off with a book release. It's interesting to track the developing reputation of both greats.
* your newest X-Men teams, as of next Spring. Nothing strikes me as particularly interesting about any of the creative teams, team rosters or directions. That is a book that could use a radical new direction, and comics is very bad at radical new directions more than once or twice in a property's history.
* finally, in a piece of vital and right-now publishing news, Francoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman will guest-edit a special issue of the NYC comics paper Smoke Signal to be called RESIST! and will constitute a response to the recent political turmoil caused by election results and country's lurch rightward. Thirty thousand copies are expected to be distributed. The web site is right here.
* David Betancourt names the top ten superhero comics of 2016. I know that comics are still becoming different because for the first time my initial thought was wondering why anyone would bother segregating the cape comics from the rest of them.
FFF Results Post #465—Lines For Paper
On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Describe Four Times (#1-4) They Were Asked To Wait In Line For A Comic Or Something Comics-Related; Name One Thing (#5) For Which You'd Happily Line Up Right This Very Second." This is how they replied.
*****
Dave Knott
* Convention sketch from Juanjo Guardino (totally worth the long wait!)
* Pass pick-up at SDCC on "preview night", 2003
* Advance preview screening of the "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" movie
* Outside the local shop on Free Comic Book Day
* French customs authority on the way to the Angouleme show
*****
Philippe Leblanc
1. At the very first Ottawa Comic-Con. It was a new event, and it was also taking place at the new EY convention center, weeks after it's grand opening. Staff were overwhelmed by the amount of attendees and everyone gladly waited in line, enjoy the day and each other's costumes.
2. To attend a panel Helge Dascher did on translation
3. To walk into the Wowee Zonk area at TCAF in 2015. The area was (as usual) packed
4. To walk into a comic shop in Windsor, Ontario for their 20th anniversary sale. They didnt have comics by local comic artists, but I bought a copy of Slash/Maraud #5 for 25 cents
5. To meet norwegian cartoonist Jason
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. At San Diego's train station, waiting to get on the train and watching every single person ask if that's really the line.
2. To get my first job in comics at TCJ. I was the fifth choice.
3. To get my regular stack of comics on my way out of town the same day they killed Superman (the '90s one, the one with all the Bloodwynd in it).
4. To introduce myself to Glen Weldon the other night and keep Laurenn McCubbin company in line.
5. Ditko signing.
1. Mark Evanier's Quick Draw Panel at San Diego Comic Con with Scott Shaw!, Sergio Aragones, and any of a dozen or more superb artists
2. Waiting for Frank Miller to finish at the urinal
3. Watching cosplay counter-protestors give the Westboro Baptist Church a hard time before SDCC opened its doors
4. Buying lunch from the snack bar with Kyle Baker at NYCC
5. A panel with Shary Flenniken, Gisele Lagace, and Raina Telgemeier
1.Comic-Salon Erlangen 2010: Waiting in line for David Lloyd to sign my copy of V for Vendetta. Representative of his German publisher: "No sketches, only signatures." Lloyd: "D'ya want a sketch?" (Photo attached)
2.Comic Salon Erlangen 2010: Waiting in line for Howard Chaykin to sign my copy of American Flagg. Talking with him about the genius of Alex Niño while he's busy signing other people's books. Those getting their stuff signed seem to be quite annoyed due to our enduring conversation, but alas, we don't care; because it's Niño, you know?
3.ILB in Berlin 2011: Waiting for Lorenzo Mattotti and Blexbolex in a little tent in Berlin, trembling like a dead leaf in an autumn wind.
4.Grober Unfug in Berlin, 2012: Lining up for a sketch by Sarah Burrini during her "Drei Superhasen tanken Tusche" world tour. (Translates as "Three super-bunnies tank up ink" or something like that, but I'm sick and probably lovey-dovey right now or even both, so what the fuck do I know.)
5.Gina Wynbrandt doing things.
*****
Sean Kleefeld
1. To get my copies (volumes 1 and 2) of The History of Comics signed by Steranko.
2. To get a tour of the new Billy Ireland Museum. Technically, it was more of a general gathering than a line, but I still had to wait.
3. To check out at a very badly managed comic shop during Free Comic Book Day two years ago. It's the store closest to my home, but I refuse to even go there at all any more because it's so poorly run.
4. To meet Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Karl Kesel, Stuart Immonen, and Joe Casey immediately after they announced the formation of Gorilla Comics in 1999.
5. To meet Bill Watterson.
*****
Jamie Coville
1. Press or Pro Pass at 90% of conventions I've gone to.
2. To get into the exhibition floor on San Diego Preview Night.
3. Free Comic Book Day purchase at a local comic shop.
4. Chris Ware panel that you moderated at TCAF one year.
5. Steve Ditko spotlight panel.
Zunar Exhibit Attacked By Pro-Government Thugs; Arrested
The great Malaysian cartoonist and free-speech lightning rod Zunar sent out the following letter earlier today about his exhibition being assaulted by those that supported the Malaysian government, members of whom on the police end of things have been rigorously and regularly harassing him both physically and through the courts.
"I was attacked by pro-government thugs
"Today -- 25th Nov 2016 -- I was forced to call off my exhibition in Penang, 4 hour drive north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia due to an attack by pro government thugs. I was verbally abused, physically attacked, and my artworks were vandalized.
"More than 30 thugs stormed into my newly launched exhibition in a public area. They were aggressive, hostile and abusive. Some of them assaulted me. I was fortunate that a few members of public came to my rescue. The few policemen who turned up were unable to control the thugs and they had to call in the anti-riot unit.
"The thugs demanded that I take down the exhibition and some of them proceeded to destroy my artworks.
"This adds to the list of harassment I received through the years."
The full letter, including a most-recent-events statement and general timeline can be found here:
By Request Extra: Alice W Castle Could Use Some Help Here. My memory is that Castle was a productive writer at Multiversity Comics at one point, and may still be. The need seems more current than my knowledge, and best of luck to the writer.
Zunar’s Constitutional Challenge Court Date Set For January
The great Malaysian cartoonist and free-speech target Zunar sent out a short in-text press notice earlier this week, noting that:
"Zunar's case (together with another two lawyers) to challenge the constitutionality of The Sedition Act is now fixed for trial on 24 Jan 2017. Depending on the outcome, the trial on nine charges of Sedition charges on him will follows."
If that comes off, and the number of delays thus far makes that a dubious suggestion, it will either end a particularly pernicious legal strand of the harassment he has experienced in this lengthy war with police official, or it will bring that whole thread forward so that there can be some resolution.
As always, this site would like to emphasize that the harassment Zunar has experienced is idiotic and shameful. It should not only be retracted by the agents pursuing the cartoonist should be punished. If only the strong-arm aspects of the world might have diminished even further since this whole ordeal started, rather than given life and hope. All respect to Zunar for the fighting he's done and will continue to do.
Remember There’s A Comics-Teaching Job At CCAD Please come apply. It's fun here, and to get in on the ground floor of a new major will be an exciting opportunity for someone.
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital By Tom Spurgeon
* virtual retailers have been a thing since at least the start of this site back in 2004. I don't recall every seeing one focused on graded Silver Age comics before, though. Here a new retailer with exactly that focus.
* Tony Isabella gets into the issue of cross-race and cross-gender "casting" of superhero-story characters. It's interesting to me because of Isabella's history with trying to broaden the diversity of the overall character base, and because he's the same age with a lot of older fans who think these complaints are legitimate. They really aren't. They're corporate properties, and they're going to be used to greatest profit, whatever that is. A great thing is that in the case of many of these specific changes, there's a huge advantage that accrues to the work because people, particularly younger people, benefit greatly by feeling represented on the page in a way that has been and continues to be denied a lot of people.
This is a one-day I track for a few reasons. The first is proximity; I'll be tabling. The second is that it runs on Sunday, 2-7, on the tail end of a big holiday weekend. The US used to do a lot of events on holidays because it was the rare guaranteed downtime for middle and lower class workers. We don't do it as much anymore. The third thing is I'm interested in Cleveland as a comics town, and what the audience will be like. It always feels to me like the first generation of direct market retail had a bigger presence in the midwest than the second generation does.
Festivals Extra: Robert Boyd Tables At Houston’s Zinefest
Here. The last time I saw Robert table at a show it was the 2003 BEA and the time before that he was repping Roger Corman's Cosmic Comics. It's fun to have a veteran look over the room. That's Ben Snakepit, above -- never seen a picture of that guy.
* Brian Cronin picks the best of a various specific and recurring X-Men story moment. Extra business like that makes a lot of difference with serial entertainment.
* my god, look at all that verbiage. I'm not averse to comics with a lot of writing. In fact, I think if you strip comics down to filmic components you're only exploring about 1/5 of what they can do, just on a regular, general basis. But it's hard to process the number of words used here.
* belated happy anniversary to the alt-comics power couple, and that is one cute drawing. That's a good thing to do, clearing up old business like that. I'd love to see comics in a place ten years from now where doing that for comics people is a routine thing in large part because everything else is reasonably squared away.
* Philip Tan replaces Moritat on Hellblazer, a rare modern mainstream comic book publishing story starring two strong creative assets.
* I missed out on this profile of Bloom, a 2018 book from First Second by creators Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau.
* so now I'm looking around for announcements and press I missed, and I seem to have missed out on a ton of coverage of Scholastic's 2019 launch with Amy Kim Kibuishi, Rema.
* I missed this article about the anger white people with the privilege of having tons of characters with whom they can feel an easy kinship feel about fictional characters of color, particularly those they feel have somehow replaced a white character over which they feel ownership. This strikes me as the dumbest, saddest thing in the world, which makes harassing behavior on its behalf that much more hateful and idiotic.
* not comics: I imagine this article on Harry Potter fandom has a ton that's informative about second-stage fandom -- what fandom does after that initial generation has moved through a property or work of art, usually in a rapturous state. My buy-in was never this intense or comprehensive with anything, although I was relieved as an adult the Peter Jackson Lord Of The Rings films were fine, fun, boys' adventure movies. Sometimes I wonder if it would be awesome to have had that kind of experience, or to have one now, but I don't think it can be faked and I would worry that I might fall prey to what people experience in my previous bullet point.
Your 2016 Washington Post Best Of Comics List Here. It's a pretty standard list -- and kind of retro in that only two of the 13 creators named are female. The Burns and the Feiffer haven't been appearing on lists I've seen so far. I'm glad to see the Tom Gauld and the Sonny Liew as well.
* The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
* Cousin Joseph, Jules Feiffer (Liveright)
* Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier (Graphix)
* Hot Dog Taste Test, Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Last Look, Charles Burns (Pantheon)
* March: Book Three, John Lewis And Andrew Aydin And Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
* Mooncop, Tom Gauld (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Patience, Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
* Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart (St. Martin's)
* Sheriff of Babylon Volume Two: Pow Pow Pow, Tom King And Mitch Gerads (Vertigo)
Like most lists, the books are spread out among several publishers, eight in this list's case. I'm not sure if that makes sense or doesnt; I go both ways.
FFF Results Post #464—Fit To Serve
On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Four Comic Book Or Strip Characters You Think Would Make A Good POTUS And One Who Would Not." This is how they responded.
*****
Mark Brodersen
* Mitchell Hundred (Ex-Machina, Mayor Hundred previous superhero known as The Great Machine; pictured)
* Tin Tin
* Bart Simpson
* David Letterman
* Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman
*****
Sean Kleefeld
1. Lucky Luke
2. Kevin Matchstick (pictured)
3. Mister X
4. Reuben Flagg
5. Jon Arbuckle
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. Virginia Slade
2. Buford Hollis (pictured)
3. Daphne Matsumoto
4. Washington Tubbs II
5. Reggie Mantle
*****
Tom Cherry
1. Linus Van Pelt (pictured)
2. Dr. Maureen Vonnegut
3. The Doggie (Zippy would be his veep!)
4. Madeline Otterloop
5. Ed Crankshaft
*****
Frank Young
1. the little hitch-hiker from "The Squirrel Cage" (pictured)
2. Sam Catchem from "Dick Tracy"
3. an adult Lulu Moppet
4. Bruce/David Banner (think of how entertaining the press conferences might be)
5. Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks (this one may have happened)
*****
Douglas Wolk
1. Lucius Fox
2. Astoria (pictured)
3. Linus Van Pelt
4. Joanie Caucus
5. Phoney Bone
Missed It: Dr. Seuss Holding Company Sues Over Crowdfunded Star Trek/Seuss Mash-Up Comic
By Tom Spurgeon
Since I forgot to put together a digital comics column this week, let's focus on the biggest story for a player in that world: that lawyers on behalf of Dr. Seuss enterprises filed a copyright/trademark/unfair practices suit against ComicMix and three related individuals -- Glenn Hauman, David Gerrold and Ty Templeton. Although primarily a digital presence, ComicMix raised money through a crowdfunder to support the printing of this book in physical form.
At question is a comic strip combining elements of Seuss story "Oh The Places You'll Go" with Star Trek imagery. Gerrold was a writer on the latter property's original series, and is a writer closely linked to that property.
To me this seems like clear and allowable parody, but that doesn't mean the law will come down on the side of the defendants.
I was a bit constrained in my ability to report this last week -- it broke on the 11th -- due to a potential personal involvement, but I did manage to receive a note from the defendants' lawyer Dan Booth, headquartered in Cambridge.
"As anyone looking at the book could tell, the creators have great love and appreciation for the works of Dr. Seuss. They are deeply disappointed that his estate is affronted by their creative work, which they maintain is a fair use, not a matter of infringement or unfair competition. We hope to reach an amicable resolution."
* here's an argument for not using the term graphic novel anymore. I've rarely called them that, but I understand why people would. There was also a time when using terms like "funnybooks" was amusing to see certain people squirm. That time has passed, too. I don't think it's a big deal. I call them comics because that's what I'm most comfortable with. The next time someone asks me to explain the difference between graphic novels and comics will be the first. Mostly we talk about movies. Or film. Whatever. Fuck.
* not comics: for the fliers among you that like me, beat the shit out of headphones too much to buy expensive ones.
* festivals extra: Flame Con has announced for 2017. It should be very interesting to see how comics choose to or refuse to engage with more general political realities.
Congratulations To Andrew Aydin, Congressman John Lewis And Nate Powell For Their NBA Win
Here's a nice photo of the happy trio. This the first comics win at the program. The message behind fighting for civil rights has added resonance right now. I'm very happy for all three men.
Your Amazon.com 2016 Top 20 Comics & Graphic Novels The on-line retailer Amazon.com has released its list of 20 best books for its comics & graphic novels category. The list is -- as I think has come to be expected now -- wide-ranging and leaning towards commercial comics perhaps more than a list generated by, say, this site might be. The books are also pretty evenly distributed by publisher.
Two books from this list also made the 100 overall books list: the March volume and Monstress. Several books by cartoonists and/or in comics form alternatively made a kids list, including Kate Beaton's King Baby from Scholastic.
* Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book 1, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze (Marvel)
* Clean Room Volume One: Immaculate Conception, Gail Simone and Jon-Davis Hunt (Vertigo)
* Dark Night: A True Batman Story, Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
* Faith Volume One: Hollywood and Vine, Jody Houser and Francis Portela (Valiant)
* Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic)
* How to Be Perfect: An Illustrated Guide, Ron Padgett and Jason Novak (Coffee House Press)
* Hot Dog Taste Test, Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn and Quarterly)
* March: Book Three, John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (Top Shelf/IDW)
* Moebius Library: The World of Edena, Moebius (Dark Horse)
* Monstress Volume One: Awakening, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image)
* Neil Gaiman’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties, Neil Gaiman and Gabriel Bá (Dark Horse)
* Paper Girls Vol. 1, Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image)
* Patience, Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
* Princess Jellyfish 1, Akiko Higashimura (Kodansha)
* Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, Sarah Glidden (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir, Tom Hart (St. Martin's)
* The Birth of Kitaro, Shigeru Mizuki and Zack Davisson (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Vision Volume One: Little Worse Than A Man, Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta (Marvel)
I would imagine that the lists are designed to drive traffic to the books named as Christmas gifts, so other than the Mizuki and the Moebius I'm sad the rich vein of specialty books and collection isn't tapped. I bet that Sunday Press Books treatment of Dick Tracy is astounding-looking. Then again, It's just a list, among many others at the end of the year.
Not Comics: Mark Osborne Announces Deal To Work On BONE Adaptation With Creator Jeff Smith
Here. Mark Osborne worked on the commercially successful, lauded Kung Fu Panda and most recently The Little Prince. Jeff Smith started in animation and certainly his characters and story should work in that medium. Here's wishing a great cartoonist the most happiness possible in what happens this time around.
Congratulations To Christopher Sebela On Ten Years Of Writing
If you have any sympathy for choosing art or some form of making as a way of life, it's hard not to smile reading Christopher Sebela's description of quitting his last job ten years ago. I used to fall asleep at the newspaper, too.
For a lot of people, simply getting to create things, getting to live in that headspace, is the bulk of the reward.
+ Doc M, Kalapani Comics
+ Durga: Legends, Vimanika Comics
+ Space Junkies, SK Comics
+ Rumi Vol. 2, Sufi Comics
+ Karma & 13 Days, TBS Planet
+ Mallory, Red Streak Publications
+ The Age of Immortals, Holy Cow Entertainment
+ Mighty Girl, Graphic India
+ LoSs4A2, Kuma
+ Jataka Manga, ICBM Comics
+ Sirji Comics Vol. 2, Sirji Comics
+ Rakshak, Yali Dream Creations
I don't know what the Indian comics industry is like exactly this minute, but a healthy mix of homegrown work vying for attention strikes me as creatively healthy.
* here's a lengthy report about writer Ta-Nehisi Coates' appearance at Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse in Philadelphia. He has lots to say, and I'm glad that he's out in support of that shop, which is apparently doing well.
By Request Extra: Sophie Goldstein Sells Book To Raise Money For ACLU Post-Election
This site was among many that received a note from the artist Sophie Goldstein about how money from a current book sale will be directed:
"In light of recent events, Jennifer Jordan and I have decided to donate all profits from our Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell holiday book sale to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Since the printing was covered by the initial Kickstarter campaign, that means that the only money taken out of the donation will be for shipping. Books are $20 with free shipping; you can buy them in our online store through December 15th."
I assume that more people will be doing sales or raising money or organizing benefits having to do with current political reality. I'd be happy to tell people about it, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)Here's one from Michael Deforge that I missed; didn't hurt its success, though.
A longer version of the above statement may be found here, at Goldstein's site.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
SEP161626 MOOMIN AND FAMILY LIFE GN $9.95
In addition to using art for solace and comfort in bad times, it's often to reconnect with the values on display if your choice of reading material has a moral outlook of the sort you endorse. I don't know that the Moomin books are first up in my home for that role, but they are always welcome, and this is one of the great publishing initiative in comics this century.
SEP160532 COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF COMICS #1 (OF 6) $3.99 SEP160084 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #147 $3.99 SEP160045 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #28 $4.99 SEP160026 ETHER #1 LEMIRE VAR $3.99 JUL160753 INVINCIBLE #131 $2.99 SEP168236 KILL OR BE KILLED #1 4TH PTG (MR) $3.99 SEP168237 KILL OR BE KILLED #2 3RD PTG (MR) $3.99 SEP168238 KILL OR BE KILLED #3 2ND PTG (MR) $3.99 SEP160734 KILL OR BE KILLED #4 (MR) $3.99 SEP161684 COSPLAYERS XMAS SPECIAL $4.99 SEP161841 KAIJUMAX SEASON 2 #6 $3.99
I couldn't understand why we're getting more of the Comic Book History series, but this time it's in color, which should flatter those comics quite a bit. I always list and usually buy the Mignola-verse book offered. The DHP is at an astounding 28th issue. Ether involves Jeff Lemire -- always of interest -- and has been promoted a bit. Invincible is in the harrowing part of the storyline before the final storyline. Kill Or Be Killed gets the "it's starting to hit" reprint array; that's a gorgeous-looking book, and I look forward to what Ed Brubaker has planned for the latter stages of its exploration of its specific sub-genre. Dash Shaw did a Christmas comic book, which is a great thing. And then there's Zander Cannon tying the bow on a second series of his weird as hell giant-monsters-in-prison series, and god bless him forit.
AUG160545 SUPER WEIRD HEROES HC VOL 01 $39.99
This is Craig Yoe's entry into the oddball golden age heroes sub-genre, and he seems well-suited for it given his tastes and the breadth of his collection. It's also not as crowded a moment for those kind of works that it was a few years back.
JUL161781 BAD MACHINERY GN VOL 06 THE CASE OF THE UNWELCOME VISITOR $19.99
I'm a big fan of Bad Machinery and buy the trades. It's one of those comics that's like a TV show I watch where I have no idea if anyone else does. There's a rigidity to the formula, but I take pleasure in its prescribed areas of exploration.
JUN161234 MOUSE GUARD WINTER 1152 HC B&W LTD ED $99.99
Always look; all respect. This edition probably isn't the one for me.
AUG161629 PEANUTS EVERY SUNDAY HC BOX SET 1960 $79.99
Ditto this version of those lovely color Peanuts Sundays. I'm loving these, and they're little talked about. Schulz wasn't a slam dunk Sunday guy because he adhered to the multiple-format restrictions in a way that kept him from cutting loose. When your work is this generally strong, simply having more of it does the trick.
SEP162121 SUNNY HC VOL 06 $22.99
I think this is the last of this high-quality, beautiful to look and deeply pleasurable to read, orphan-oriented series.
AUG161633 DISNEY ROSA DUCK LIBRARY HC BOX SET VOL 05 & 06 $49.99 AUG161632 DISNEY ROSA DUCK LIBRARY HC VOL 06 UNIVERSAL SOLVENT $29.99
I'd aim for the bottom one, a collection of Rosa work post his Scrooge biography-in-comics-form. I like Rosa's duck comics in part because its component strategies frequently lead to comics I don't enjoy. All of these things work for Rosa, though, and god bless him.
*****
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.
* not comics: so apparently Twitter has new anti-harassment tools. I'm rarely harassed on-line, nor am I a likely target for harassment, so it's hard for me to even posit a guess as to whether this suite of policies will be enough. I'm guessing not. According to my experience, the culture that is the immediate context for harassment-style abuse has to make stopping it a value for any tool or tools to work, and I'm not sure we're there yet, either. No one should be harassed on-line, and the people more likely to be harassed have every reason to be angry with Twitter for its start-and-stop attitude towards this. We all should be. I wish I had the confidence necessary to believe this will eventually be done no matter what; without that, we must continue to pay attention at every step.
Bundled Extra: Stacked Deck Press Announces All-Trans Anthology We’re Still Here Here. I'm a great fan of Tara Avery, one of the editors, and the already-joined-up list has a lot of interesting cartoonists on it.
They're looking for more contributors, and there's information through the link as to how to submit. Deadline looks like early January.
I forgot to check back in on the animated film that has Frank Quitely's involvement. It's not comics, but I thought the project might have some appeal to fans of the artist's comics work. Anything that guy wants to do is A-OK with me.
* Vicehas up some work featuring Fletcher Hanks as the bound volume collecting his works under the curation of Paul Karasik starts to make its market presence known. That should be a good holiday gift for several people. Hanks' work is in the public domain, so you have some options on how to experience the work here and there, so this kind of collection becomes really valuable.
* I guess there's a comic featuring as its lead the Jim Starlin character Thanos. Cosmic big-boss bad guys seem to me pretty limited in the kinds of stories you can tell with them, but I guess the Darth Vader comics sold pretty well. I liked how Thanos worked as a bad guy in the 1970s comics as a kind of coda to the 1960s books, but I have a pretty precious way of thinking about the Marvel comics in general.
* Dan Vado describes in some detail his future publishing plans with SLG over at Johanna Draper Carlson's place. You'll have to read through the comments section.
* a Highlander series in 2017. One supposes, by the rule of Highlander, that there won't be any spin-off series.
* finally, NBM put out a press release they'll be publishing Sandrine Revel's biography of Glenn Gould. Here's a profile of the book from its European publishing period. I like that as a publishing strategy for them, carving out some space with mainstream-focused, translated biographies.
* Chris Pitzer finds some old art of the "Oh, yeah, that's a thing people used to do" variety.
* Tim Gagne sent along this article summarizing the praise of and objections concerning the use of Wonder Woman by the UN. I think my Mom had it right in that it's the honorary ambassador thing that tastes the most wrong, not the use of the character to promote women around the world. All of the fights in the area of women's rights are tough enough without a whole meta-argument about what's real and what isn't and how that character would relate to the real world if they were a real person.
I guess they've been passing these around and now it's this site's turn to show some footage from the currently crowd-funding Mike Diana documentary, one of whose producers is friend-of-comics Caitlin McGurk. This one has a bit of everything: prosecutors, defense attorneys, Mike's Mom, old footage, new footage, reporters, stop-motion film, cartoonist witnesses.
It does seem like they're accepting the notion that Mike's work was really extreme but has to be protected so that other things less extreme don't lose their protection. Like I've written a dozen times, I've always seen Diana's stuff as crude, white-trash-acting-out kind of humor as opposed to something spiritually cold like Josh Simmons' work. However they play it, getting the issue back in front of eyeballs with a conservative takeover of federal government and a general emboldening of authoritarians, that has to be a good thing. I hope you'll educate yourself on the case no matter how you choose to support or not support the documentary.
Go, Read: John Jackson Miller’s Comichron Report It's here. He does these every month, although I have to admit I'm not processing them every month. I liked this one as a pass-along for the discussion of how loot-crate distribution changes sales figures, and for his prediction we should stop just short of $600M for that market this year.
Hello, PR People And Creators Wishing To Promote Things The on-line media world is changing all of the time. I am unable to keep up with many of those changes. If you are currently just announcing stuff you've done via social media, I am probably not seeing it. That's true even if we are friends, even if I'm a follower, even if you tag me. I'll do my best, and I like the Facebook events page as a reliable place to send people, but the act of announcing things that way seems to me an inherently limited one. Twitter is huge. Facebook does not give everyone all of your posts.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) That e-mail only. And if you can, e-mail with a link to something, even if it's just a link to a tweet or facebook post -- in fact a very short e-mail is sometimes more effective than a five page announcement that looks like it's from 1978. I will endeavor to make that activity worthwhile by attempting to process your e-mailed PR with more discipline and speed.
We are far past the day where a site like this one can generate thousands of people heading to your news with a single, casual mention, but I am very convinced that we have a high-quality, responsive, opinion-shaping readership worth reaching. So I hope you'll continue to get to us directly. I'll follow you the best I can but that direct contact makes a huge difference. Thanks!
Site Note: Please Send Along Any And All Suggestions For The CR Holiday Interview Series
I'm going to try to do a proper CR Holiday interview series of 20 interviews from late December to early January. I usually solicit interview ideas in terms of people and subject matter via social media outlets but I'm trying to minimize their use this month and next. So I'm asking here. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) I'm interested in just about anything comics-related.
I don't want to be pitched on you, a buddy, or someone with whom you have a professional relationship no matter how determined you are to do so -- everything else is great! Thanks in advance.
Go, Look: Kanat Atkaya On Musa Kart, Canaries
There's a nice, short essay here that leaves several graphs to the task of extolling the virtues of jailed Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart for exactly those things that led to him jailed -- the cartoons he's made about forces that oppose the current Turkish government. The essay argues, convincingly at least to me, that on a fundamental level Kart's job is to make art and cartoons about the reality that he sees, not to cast his political fate with one side or the other for fear of being snuffed out in reprisal or raised up if prescient. With that construction in mind, the language being used to describe the group of journalists of which Kart is a part as barometers of political fortune in the most direct fashion seems more powerful.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Greg Hunter talks to Trungles. Kurt Anthony Krug profiles Arvell Jones. This older R Crumb profile focused on mundane artistic habits flashed back into my Facebook feed for some reason.
* this weekend I attended some events at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum revolving around the new exhibit figuring the works of Mike Peters that are in the museum's holdings. Peters is an extremely funny, life-positive man and like the best of the modern TV comedians you get a sense that there's a decent person operating underneath the outsized personality. So watching him run around and tell naughty stories and kiss people was great after a long week of worry and sadness. It was good to see people brighten up. The thing that struck me the most was the good chunk of Peters' professional peers that came in for the launch and presentation. I hope if I'm lucky to live long enough and things go well enough I continue to see my friends and same-age peers similarly honored I can make those kinds of trips of support.
Missed It: San Diego Convention Center/Future Of The Chargers Related Measure C Goes Down In Flames Here. My memory is that there were a couple more "future of San Diego" type measures involving the convention center, and that nothing was passed that dramatically influences the future. Measure C got the most publicity because it was endorsed by the Spanos family and I believe the mayor.
While every single plan that comes up involving the convention center is worth acknowledging and reporting, I think the last few years have both reduced the reflective panic that would result from a CCI move down the road, but also allowed the show to get a sense of whether or not it can meet its goals and retain its stature even if other shows can claim more people. I suspect it will remain in SDCC until it becomes untenable, and that group is pretty damn skilled at adjusting to the reality facing them.
Last Of The Homer Marciniak Robbers/Killers Sentenced Here. This was caught by a couple of my peers and a few CR readers before I saw it, but Albert William Parsons was sentenced on Tuesday for his role in the death of comics collector Homer Marciniak.
Parsons was part of a felonious crew that mostly targeted retail but directed their attention to the comics collection of the 78-year-old, Medina, New York resident Marciniak. Marciniak was assaulted during the attack, and later died of a heart attack that the prosecution was able to show was tied into the stress of the assault and robbery.
Parsons was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. He's 47.
* finally, some nice person or people at Tight Pencils talks to Kevin Czap. Bret Saunders profiles Ward Sutton. Sutton has done the relocation but his choice of Fort Collins is certainly different.
The cartoonist let it slip on Facebook, which is appropriate as various Facebook postings of the character the cartoonist created as a kid brought with them the positive reaction that has led to this announcement.
Company PR since distributed suggests a comic-book series starting with an issue #1, and June 2017 as a launch date. It looks fun, and the veteran cartoonist Tommaso is overdue for a comic that strikes a popular chord.
Marc Sleen, RIP
Wim Lockefeer points out in the article linked-through above that Sleen was one of the last surviving acknowledged early masters of the Flemish-language school of comics within Belgium. He passed away on Sunday at age 93.
By Request Extra: Last Hours Of A Bernie Wrightson Kickstarter With Significant Payout To Wrightson
Here. It has far exceeded its initial ask and promises that half the money raised will go to the artist. Assuming it's all true, that's one of those crowd-funding efforts that makes you feel like there's a specific promise to the model when employed that way.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* talked to two happy publishers this week for whom the previous weekend is their last show weekend of the year. There are still a few shows -- Genghis Con, for instance, and a Wizard World show in Austin both spring to mind. Wichita.
* J. Scott Campbell makes a less sexualized cover featuring the teenaged hero of the lastest Iron Man comics. I think that's a pretty good outcome. I'm sure much was argued along the way that wasn't as productive.
* here's some news that escaped me: Gabe Fowler debuted a new issue of Smoke Signal at CAB last weekend. That publication has had a very strong year, unless I'm remembering 2015, too, in which case it's having a very good couple of a years.
Election Night Surprise: Chloe Eudaly To Portland City Council
The legendary Portland-based 'zine supporter and owner of Reading Frenzy Chloe Eudaly has defeated incumbent city commissioner Steve Novick. Her primary issue was housing, something that has had an effect on that city's cartooning community as prices have skyrocketed for livable places within city limits. A small-business owner, a single mother and a resident of the part of the city where city-council members tend not to live, Eudaly was considered an outsider's candidate.
Longtime Portland resident Joe Sacco lent his presence and his considerable cartooning skill to a rent-crisis comic used by the campaign.
Eudaly could probably still use some campaign finance relief -- if there's a link that pops up today, I'll put it here. Congratulations to her, her team and her supporters.
A Lot Of People Staying Up And Thinking About The Future
I've made all the commentary about this week's presidential election I'm going to make on various social media platforms. For what it's worth, I always saw the winning candidate winning. It's not worth much except maybe I get to avoid the shock part of what many of my friends are saying they're experiencing now. Even as I go to bed, there's still hope, but I'm not confident. I will embrace being wrong with the greatest smile on my face.
Comics mostly leans left, and I bet last night was heartbreaking if not bewildering for a lot of comics people. Further, if you're in one of the many groups overtly and directly threatened in the course of the winning campaign or even those whose primary livelihood counts on margins that will soon be removed via things like raised health insurance premiums, I'm so sorry. What you're facing is less heartbreaking and more terrifying, and also something more likely to make you furious or feel despair. I don't have any answer why a list of about 20 things didn't disqualify the president-elect. I hope for our ability to respond in the most humane way possible, I hope our responses improve.
In order to function the way it has over the last quarter-century, comics depends on a lot of poor people either doing direct harm to their lives, giving up things that would benefit themselves in the future, or otherwise putting themselves at risk to pursue a dream of making within an art form that has just begun to fully realize its potential. It's an art form that seems to attract nice, mostly sane people -- if only compared to other art forms. I can understand why people may harm themselves to live there, but I'm not sure I can continue to countenance it.
We may all have to up our game a bit if the world around us becomes, as many expect it to, more hostile and difficult to navigate for people without significant wealth, or who don't adhere to rigid standards of preferred identity. We can no longer afford to short-change ourselves the talent pool necessary to maximize economic growth by holding onto bias and prejudice, even if it's just to keep our place. We have to stop seeing the room we share as a place to get our own, to exploit as others may seek to exploit us. We have to stop acting like consumers in all things, because that's how they get you.
This work was always there to do. It's imperative we stop settling and work with clear heads and shared enthusiasm towards a rational, supportive, truth-telling, non-exclusionary and non-exploitative community. Comics for everyone: we have that now. We'll be judged on what we do with it. There's a very real possibility that even our best effort could be thwarted. We have to try.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
AUG161637 LOOKING FOR AMERICAS DOG HC (MR) $22.99
It's been a weird 2016 marked by any number of really good books from mature artists who aren't exactly top-tier names, and it's difficult to imagine a weirder book of this type than Steve Weissman's second Obama White House fantasia. I have never heard or read a single person discuss this work and it's very funny, both for being so aggressively odd and for the execution of its daily-strip style gags. You won't read anything like it well, ever.
SEP160917 BLACK PANTHER WORLD OF WAKANDA #1 NOW $4.99 JUN160620 CASANOVA ACEDIA #7 (MR) $3.99 AUG169185 GREEN VALLEY #1 (OF 9) 2ND PTG $2.99 SEP160728 GREEN VALLEY #2 (OF 9) (MR) $2.99 AUG160638 ISLAND #12 $7.99
A light week for comic-book formatted comics, with the World Of Wakanda effort by far the most hyped. The grouchy way to react to that comic is to wish that maybe there could be one successful comic set in that part of the Marvel Universe for a longer while before we get a second one. The less grouchy way to react is to shut up and enjoy the atypical and special talent that Marvel can get to work on the book. I'd say less-grouchy carries it. The latest Casanova is as confident-seeming as anything from in that series; I think it's on point. The Green Valley fantasy series is fun to look at and amiable, although I have my doubts about the pacing being such that it will make a satisfying read on the whole. We'll see. I've enjoyed the last few issues of Island, even if I wonder whether or not Brandon Graham has quite found his exact approach yet.
JUL160183 NEXUS OMNIBUS TP VOL 08 $24.99 JUN160060 USAGI YOJIMBO GALLERY EDITION HC VOL 02 $125.00
Two major series of my youth and beyond, enough so that I pay attention to every single iteration. The Usagi Yojimbo pages I've seen in the real world are beautiful, and certainly would be flattered by that kind of publication.
AUG160343 SUGAR & SPIKE METAHUMAN INVESTIGATIONS TP $14.99
I don't even have the heart to google this.
JUL160588 WHO KILLED KURT COBAIN STORY OF BODDAH HC $24.99
I moved to Seattle about two months after Kurt Cobain killed himself, so with my Fantagraphics-related projects right now I've been thinking about that event. I'm not all that certain of the approach (and I'm not one to believe in some of the asserted conspiracy-theory stuff that I've read), but I suspect this is a translation of a French work I saw once and I remember the art at least being quite lively.
JUN161075 AT THE SHORE GN $19.99
This looks really interesting, and I guess is an off-kilter zombie story? Okay.
SEP161797 COMETBUS 57 $5.00
I liked this issue of Aaron Cometbus' gift to post-boomer culture, a bunch of interview of various players within the New York City comics scene -- one of whom, Julia Wertz, has since left. I think what I enjoyed most about it was how pratical and matter-of-fact each person was about their involvement, which is something you couldn't have counted on 20 years earlier, when doing stuff in this little sub-culture felt really weird.
JUL161356 MOUSE GUARD LEGEND OF THE GUARD BOX SET $59.99
I'm not sure this is the format I'd personally to own this work, but I enjoy the comics when I get to read them and would pay attention to a box set.
SEP161369 SUMMERLAND GN (MR) $9.00
I don't know the work of Paloma Dawkins, but cartoonists with a similar profile have done well publishing through Retrofit/Big Planet, so I'd definitely take a look at this new offering from the imprint.
AUG161643 MORE HEROES OF COMICS HC PORTRAITS PIONEERING LEGENDS $34.99
This is Drew Friedman's second book of profiles of comics industry figures as he sees and appreciates that sub-set of the publishing world. The portraits are of a high quality and the vision of that industry is completely divorced from our time and the fan's buy-in that is required even to hold most of the business gigs.
JUN161505 COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY TP VOL 10 EC ARTISTS PT 2 $34.99
I have this but haven't looked at it yet. The Journal always did a fine job with the EC artists -- they were strong-sellers from the magazine whenever they appeared on the cover. A lot will have to do with how the art is presented, which is something you can check out in a comics shop.
SEP161695 GAZE OF DRIFTING SKIES SC TREASURY BIRDS EYE CARTOON $29.99
I love this book to death, a bunch of crowd-scene comics of the kind that were very popular in the Edwardian period and all further times that had nostalgia for that gently turbulent but still idealized period of Americana. I could look at it for hours and I already have. Check this one out in the shop if your shop is cool enough to carry it.
AUG161787 HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE NORTH HC $22.95
This narratively complex and well-crafted work should place on more than its fair share of top ten lists for 2016. I'm still exploring it myself, but it's obviously extremely attractive.
*****
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.
* Jerry Moriarty is an extremely admirable artist in terms of staying true to a sophisticated vision that's representative in some way of the human experience. I'm glad that Fantagraphics is publishing his work. That can't be an easy sell considering how much work is out there. If we ever get to the point where none of our leading publishers publish work that's admirable but hard to sell we're going to be a much different art form. We're slowly moving in that direction.
* I miss a lot of publication news and it's so spread out now that I feel my reach is even less now than it was five years ago. I'm doubly confused that when publishers do exclusive announcements with a site they don't drive attention to those articles more directly. Anyway, I was searching for the phrase "2018 graphic novel" wondering if that might yield something I missed, and it did: Shadow Life, from writer Hiromi Goto and artist Celine Loup.
* finally, Slate's preview of a chapter lets us in on James Sturm's Off Season coming out from D+Q in 2018.
Latest Round Of Turkey’s Assault On Media Within The Country Ropes In Cartoonist Musa Kart
The Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart was among nine arrested from the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet on charges of committing crimes that favor the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a network of sympathizers led by Fethullah Gulen.
Arrested with Kart were the paper's editor-in-chief and several board members of the newspaper and its foundation. In somewhat terrifying fashion, those that denied the accusation were kept in custody because those charges might mean they start a counter-narrative if free.
While this latest move is more powerfully strident than past strikes against media entities within Turkey, the country has long had a troublesome history of hostility towards journalists and comics-makers, using pressure from the courts to quell what most countries' cultures would see as not only acceptable but almost benign counter-opinion. Kart has frequently run up against these counter-measures, at one point severe enough political observers thought it might directly harm Turkey's ability to forge close ties with western countries.
The latest seems to be that the court reprimanded those in custody on Saturday night, which doesn't sound like movement in a direction that might favor Kart and his fellow journalists.
Bundled Extra: First Second Releases Array Of Covers For Books In Winter 2017 Season
First Second sent out a press release late last week with an array of covers for their Winter 2017 season. I think the books had already largely been announced, although maybe not with that much visual information in one place. It's an interesting-looking season, and very all-ages oriented it seems, maybe slightly more than has even been the case in general since their readjustment a few years in. In fact, more than half the season's list are early books in series.
You can't argue with the success of most of these endeavors, though, and this season brings with it some bigger names in the all-ages category like Faith Erin Hicks and Matthew Loux. That Mama Cass bio looks kind of fun, in part because I can't imagine her being the subject of a biography right this second without the focused interest of a creator. The Shiga is fun and filthy.
*****
* Animal Crackers, Scott Christian Sava; illustrated by Alison Acton.
*****
* Hocus Focus: Adventures In Cartooning, James Sturm and Andrew Arnold and Alexis Fredrick-Frost.
*****
* Artemis (Olympians Series #9, George O'Connor.
*****
* Demon Vol. 2, Jason Shiga.
*****
* Decelerate Blue, Adam Rapp and Mike Cavallaro.
*****
* Science Comics: Bats, Falynn Koch.
*****
* The Time Museum, Matthew Loux.
*****
* Secret Coders Vol. 1, Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes.
*****
* California Dreamin', Pénélope Bagieu.
*****
* Star Scouts, Mike Lawrence.
*****
* The Nameless City Volume Two: The Stone Heart, Faith Erin Hicks.
Wizard Fires Stephen Shamus, Sues For Practice Of Signing Non-Profitable Celebrities, Then Profiting
I'm sure the papers themselves will flash up on someone's site pretty soon, but I think it's enough to know that the Wizard group of shows has fired Stephen Shamus, longtime Wizard linchpin and brother to Gareb, and is now suing him for asserted malfeasance on the job. It looks like what's being argued is that Shamus signed celebrities to the show series in a way that couldn't benefit the show but might be expected to benefit Shamus by his scoring autographs and the like for his own sideline dealings. That's an interesting construction; the law will have its say on the matter or be kept from having its say via settlement.
I think what will strike many longtime industry observers is that this is in spirit the kind of hustle it was always implied that the Wizard empire specialized in when it was a publishing concern for the most part and Shamus worked in-house, the difference being back then there was a comics guide component which could be seized on or even manipulated for the sake of profit by collectible.
It's difficult to think of another art form where this kind of hustling is so near the core of public elements of its identity, although most media with an object that changes hands has some element of this.
Update:Here's an official response from Shamus' representatives in advance of a formal response to the court.
* Greg Preston's second Artist Within book could use a white knight or two at this point, although that's a high-profile enough campaign I bet it has a second life if it needs one. Michael Dooley threw a spotlight on the crowd-funder over at Print's on-line presence; lots of nice preview photos there. That might be a good Christmas present for someone if it makes its first stated goal.
* finally, Alex Fellows is selling some lovely-looking art in support of a down economic time he's been facing. Lot of nice art for bargain prices there.
* Kiel Phegley writes at length on the TV show Gotham's version of the Penguin character being gay and the role of LGBT characters more generally within the various overlapping Batman "worlds."
* did I forget to call attention to all of these posts at Trouble With Comics, most by D. Emerson Eddy, related to horror in comics? I just may have.
* finally, Chris Pitzer has extended orders on his limited-edition AdHouse Books t-shirt. AdHouse is an honorable publisher and I've ordered a shirt I can't even fit into right now.
* August 2016: the moment I threw up. Ugh, the headline. Missed this article, totally, though, and that's a formidable comic book about which I always like reading.
* let the Doctor Strange feature tie-ins continue! I read a bunch of these in a row today and it seemed to me we're pretty close to square one again when it comes to talking frankly that such characters have human creators and that in the case of Stephen Strange we know he was Ditko's idea. Here's another one focused on favorite stories. I think the only must-read Doctor Strange stories involve Steve Ditko, and I tend to be pretty broadly accepting of what comics creators bring to characters like this one. It's just that nothing has won me over. I liked the late '70 P. Craig Russell annual, the Colan art generally, the Roger Stern years and the current material okay, but the Ditko-involved work seems of another class.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
SEP161703 LAID WASTE GN $14.99
This is a very good book, confidently cartooned and ruthless in its portrait of the human condition across the majority if not entirety of the timeline. She's just really good, and I want to read the next five books right now. I can't imagine that this is a big-seller due to its dour and complex nature, so if you're an art comics fan of any kind I urge you to pick it up not just for the quality of the work but the admirability of the publishing project.
APR160769 PROPHET EARTH WAR #6 (OF 6) $3.99 FEB160567 BITCH PLANET #9 (MR) $3.99 SEP160690 SOUTHERN BASTARDS #15 CVR A LATOUR (MR) $3.50 SEP160763 WALKING DEAD #160 CVR A ADLARD & STEWART (MR) $2.99 SEP160697 WICKED & DIVINE #23 CVR A MCKELVIE & WILSON (MR) $3.50 SEP160885 AVENGERS #1 NOW $4.99 SEP160900 UNWORTHY THOR #1 (OF 5) NOW $3.99 SEP160655 CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2016 CVR A POWELL (MR) $4.99 SEP160656 CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2016 CVR B GRAHAM (MR) $4.99 JUL161105 CEREBUS IN HELL #0 $4.00 SEP161451 GIANT DAYS #20 $3.99 SEP161446 GOLDIE VANCE #7 (OF 7) $3.99 SEP161830 MOTRO #1 (OF 10) (MR) $3.99
A bunch of comic-book sized comics, starting with the final comic book in the extended Graham/Roy + Friends version of the Prophet property. It ends more quietly than I might have thought near the beginning, but I enjoyed the issue. Strong sales-quartet for Image, which makes for happy retailers. There's a significant Columbus connection to the backmatter material this time out, I believe. I have no idea why the core Avengers title needs relaunching, and we need to fix whatever it is that encourages this. This is dumb. I laugh at a comic being called "Unworthy Thor." That plotline was presented to me as publishing moves rather than a plotline, so it's difficult for me to get excited about a permtuation of that narrative getting the spotlight. Who knows? It might be great. The primary creators are formidable ones. There's always one or two things of interest in the CBLDF material they're doing with Image. Cerebus In Hell is I think the repurposed clipped material being done as new comics. I don't really understand that, but okay. Sim's an effective writer, and that's a time-honored exercise, particularly in strip comics. Giant Days I mention here because it's up to #20 and I will at some point have them all. Ditto Goldie Vance, which isn't necessarily for me so I can wait to catch up, I think. Motro is the latest wildly drawn comic of the Head Lopper variety, and that's a kind of comic I like.
JUL160160 ALEISTER & ADOLF HC (MR) $19.99 AUG160036 MUHAMMAD ALI HC $19.99
Two from Dark Horse that looked heavily stylized or intriguing enough that I'd like to see them, particularly the Ali biography from France. Ali is a fascinating figure, and I look at him at a sports figure first so that that's the part of any biographical treatment with which I engage first.
JUL160152 COMPLETE ELFQUEST TP VOL 03 (RES) $24.99 JUN160024 DAVE MCKEAN CAGES TP 2ND ED $29.99
Eventually I will own full copies of these works and have them in my home where someday someone will box them up and try to give them away. I don't know if it will be these versions or not. I do own versions of most of the first, all of the second.
JUL160657 RED BARRY UNDERCOVER MAN HC VOL 01 $49.99
A handsome, fun strip with a glorious newspaper run as one of the most popular of the day, now back for a second look. We live in rich times when this is possible, but I'm not going to feel guilty about it.
AUG161623 A DISTANT NEIGHBORHOOD COMPLETE HC $28.00
This is a reprint of the Jiro Taniguchi work. I may have this work already, but I'll always look at it. I like the feel of his pages, his narratives.
AUG161187 DIARY OF A WIMPY KID HC VOL 11 DOUBLE DOWN $13.95
Not my kind of thing, and maybe not even new, but always worth noting. How old are the kids that started with that first volume now? Twenty-five?
MAY161805 BEST OF BC HC $24.99 SEP161275 DILBERT HC IM NO SCIENTIST THINK FENG SHUI IS PART OF ANSWER $19.99 AUG160546 BATMAN SILVER AGE NEWSPAPER COMICS HC VOL 03 1969-1972 $49.99
There's a bunch of newspaper stuff out this week. This is the group of comics I don't have any interest in owning but wouldn't mind seeing or knowing certain things about them as publishing projects. For instance, I'd love to know if shirtless political Scott Dilbert is having any effect on the sale of Dilbert collections, which at this stage I can't imagine is a hugely lucrative enterprise. I don't say that as an insult, that's just the way of the market right now. I'm sure he does great compared to 90 percent of all comics going in. That Batman I'm curious to see, but I think the curiosity would fade quickly.
AUG161778 TREASURY 20TH CENTURY MURDER HC VOL 03 MURDER BLACK DAHLIA $15.99
I'm all for Rick Geary doing gruesome history for as long as he wants to do it. I'm not the primary audience here but I'm a happy accidental audience member when the occasional arises. I think it's a good pairing, artist and subject matter. This is one of the biggies.
AUG161217 JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS #2 CVR A REG AUDREY MOK $3.99 AUG161218 JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS #2 CVR B VAR ISAACS $3.99 AUG161219 JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS #2 CVR C VAR LOTAY $3.99 AUG161220 JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS #2 CVR D VAR MACK $3.99 AUG161221 JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS #2 CVR E VAR SOHN $3.99 AUG161222 JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS #2 CVR F VAR ZULLO $3.99
Please stop doing this. Please. I don't know who's in charge of doing this, and I'm happy to see artists get an additional payday but you're pumping a market that needs to be treated in a way that sponsors maximum health, not maximum health - whatever you can get.
AUG161641 WEATHERCRAFT HC 2016 ED $22.99
The reprints of Jim Woodring's masterpiece trilogy begin with this volume. I'm happy for that to be placed back in folks' hands in any way, shape or form that is required to make that happen. I think that particular group of books may be the Woodring books that stick with us for the longest period of time, however many decades moving forward.
SEP161696 PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 14 1963-1964 $34.99 APR160378 ABSOLUTE BATMAN YEAR ONE HC $125.00 AUG160550 COMPLETE LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE HC VOL 13 $49.99
These are the three reprints listed this week that I'd want without looking. This is from Prince Valiant's golden afternoon period, but that's always a fun book to stare at and better than you remember to read (the boys adventure material > domestic comedy). Year One is one of the ten best works in the superhero genre, which has had a lot of energy spent in its general direction. Finally, I'm a LOA fiend, and I've been having a blast figuring out how many years of Gray I can read before it just starts grinding on me to spend that much time in that guy's head. So far, so good.
*****
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.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* this weekend it's CAB and Short Run, both fine shows that I would let on the ark if the whole thing were going under. I started the year planning to go to Short Run, and spent the last two months thinking I'd hit CAB, but neither plan worked out.
* hadn't noticed until someone told me we have dates for MoCCA Festival 2017: April 1-2.
* here's a bonus Secret Acres report, coming out before a show: the now bi-coastal publisher will be sending East Coaster Barry Matthews to CAB.
* finally, I live a life of ridiculous comfort and privilege, but every so often something comes up that makes me wish I had the money to fly wherever, whenever. Jim Woodring is a great artist, and this looks fun.
* I"m having one of those days where I can't remember if I've discussed this bit of news five times or not at all, but Jude Terror has flipped from The Outhousers to Bleeding Cool. I read Terror specifically at his former site, and I imagine that will be much the same at his new gig.
* the lunacy of list-making begins November 1 with PW's list of five graphic novels. No Clowes, which is always interesting because he's Daniel Clowes. Rosalie Lightning makes the cut, which is interesting to me because that came out early in the year.
* looks like we're getting monsters at Marvel in early 2017. I like monsters just fine.
Festivals Extra: VanCAF Joins TCAF Family; New Festival Director It's all here. The two shows will take place two weeks apart, and Andrea Demonakos will take over as festival director from founder Shannon Campbell. That's a rich and vibrant area of the world for cartoonists and comics-readers; this should allow TCAF room to develop some concurrent program which should strengthen their overall position on the convention calendar.
* Maggie Vicknar on 
JUN161080 TITAN #4 (MR) $4.95
* John Seven on 
Tom Kaczynski and Jordan Shiveley have displayed excellent taste through Uncivilized Books, 
* the 100th anniversary of Will Eisner -- it's also the Kirby centennial -- 
* Shea Hennum on 
* Sean Gaffney on 
* Henry Chamberlain on 
* Michael Buntag on 
* here's 
* Rob Clough on 
* The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
* 
* 
* Todd Klein on 
The on-line retailer Amazon.com 
* Natalye Childress talks to 
SEP160532 COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF COMICS #1 (OF 6) $3.99
* Rachel Gould talks to 
* I guess 
* Sam Thielman talks to 
The on-line media world is changing all of the time. I am unable to keep up with many of those changes. If you are currently just announcing stuff you've done via social media, I am probably not seeing it. That's true even if we are friends, even if I'm a follower, even if you tag me. I'll do my best, and I like the Facebook events page as a reliable place to send people, but the act of announcing things that way seems to me an inherently limited one. Twitter is huge. Facebook does not give everyone all of your posts.
* 
* Greg Hunter talks to 
* Todd Klein on 
* John Seven on 
SEP160917 BLACK PANTHER WORLD OF WAKANDA #1 NOW $4.99
* Annie Mok on 
* Ken Parille 
* Philippe Leblanc talks to 
By Tom Spurgeon
* Philippe Leblanc talks to 
* Philippe Leblanc talks to 
APR160769 PROPHET EARTH WAR #6 (OF 6) $3.99
AUG161778 TREASURY 20TH CENTURY MURDER HC VOL 03 MURDER BLACK DAHLIA $15.99
* David Betancourt profiles 
* Emma Houxbois on 
