Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital By Tom Spurgeon
* Sloane Leong pays tribute to the just-completed Octopus Pie. I think that one will stick around as a story of the year; it's not broadly impactful or controversial, but I think Meredith Gran's multi-year saga stands in for an entire generation of webcomics makers, and for an entire group of long serials. My hunch is it will feel more symbolic as time goes on, something towards which to point.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Rob Clough on Sunburning.
* the writer Abraham Riesman had a big day Wednesday in terms of unfurled articles. The writer took his shot at a thinkpiece regarding Captain America's cosmic cube heel turn and all the arguing about that plot point. He provided a very broad list of good comics published this year, and he talked to Margaret Atwood.
* finally, the Lucas museum has found civic approval in Los Angeles that thwarted it in Chicago. This is a bigger deal than you might think for comics due to their interest in comics art and their deep, deep, deep pockets. I hope they buy selectively and not aggressively given the fact I'd like to continue to see the major comics libraries get important work for their use.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* it looks like Salt Lake City may have countersued Comic-Con International over the name thing. At the very least, it looks like it will be taken out of settlement discussions and into a judge's hands, if we're not already there. Clearly shows like Salt Lake City are aping Comic-Con's model and the shine they've given that term in recent years; I don't think people hear someone use the word Comic-Con and make firm distinctions between multiple shows. It's such a generic word, though, with usage that runs parallel to San Diego in any number of places, that I'm not sure it's actionable. I guess that's what we're finding out. I also wonder if some of the claims that are presented in these articles as accepted wisdom have been properly vetted.
* Hope Larson talked about her move to North Carolina in advance of an event this week, which I totally missed until writing this last night. Hope's always been one of the most straight-forward people I've encountered when it comes to figuring out how to fashion a career that is focused on making comics.
* it used to be that July 4 was one of those weekends like Thanksgiving that people targeted for events because it was guaranteed a lot of people would be looking for stuff to do. Now it seems that for the most part we stay away and find weekends to settle into that aren't connected to a holiday. I want to say that the Chicago show was traditionally this weekend for a time in the 1980s and 1990s, and Wikipedia confirms. It's hard to imagine making a comics show a part of a holiday weekend in this era of immersible shows, but Dragon Con seems to do this just fine with Labor Day.
* finally, it's an exciting weekend at my house because I remembered to buy handkerchiefs for use mopping up sweat stumbling around SDCC. Small victories when you got older, folks.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Françoise Mouly and Genevieve Bormes talk to Gary Panter.
* not comics: Steve Brodner provides producers with an Alex Baldwin-festooned TV backdrop.
* more not comics: I saw that Wonder Woman movie. I thought it was a pretty good popcorn flick. There were a lot of attractive people and locations, a lot of fighting, a lot of stuff blew up... all things I like. I think it will play well in the future as something people dip into and dip out of as it shows up on TV and as part of one's streaming service. I was surprised the Germans kept their shit together on the beach enough to inflict some damage. I would have wet myself and run away when the horses arrived and people started backflipping the fuck around. Anyone who thought you couldn't make a Wonder Woman movie must feel pretty silly now -- it always seemed obvious to me you could. I'm glad for people who received the extra charge which comes from direct identification with a movie character as full protagonist, as I've always had a wide choice of characters in a variety of media for that kind of fun and even potentially meaningful emotional commitment.
* finally, it's still not comics: I'm curious and hopeful as to the effect that the touring and repertory company versions of Fun Home will have on communities outside of New York. I'm imagining one person per show for whom that performance will be everything.
By Request Extra: Save Pepe One of the weirdest all-time cartooning stories continues as Matt Furie and Jason Furie are reviving Pepe the Frog, Matt's stoned cartoon character turned symbols of "let it all burn" politics by chuckleheads and assholes during the last election and continuing into the Trump presidency. Furie previously "killed" the character, so apparently the story will involve his resurrection.
The whole thing is being crowd-funded, and the initial goal has already been met. I like those comics okay -- the ones from the creator rather than the dicks who made it their own, if that wasn't clear -- so I'll be happy to see what comes next from that standpoint. This has to be really weird, and as much as I like to pretend I have easy answers for life problems facing everyone else I have to admit I have no idea what I would have done or would continue to do in this case.
Go, Read: Tim Kreider On Satirical Art That Engages With Political Assassination Here. Kreider boxes a round with the three-headed monster of Kathy Griffin's goofy photos, the Julius Caesar production that had Trump elements and the congressional baseball game shooting. The joy for comics fans will be in the adroitness of the details.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into The 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.
*****
MAY160528 ALACK SINNER AGE OF INNOCENCE TP $29.99 MAY171589 FOG OVER TOLBIAC BRIDGE HC TARDI $19.99
This strikes me as a smaller week in terms of title of interest, but a significant one in terms of the level of that interest. An Alack Sinner collection is about as good as surprise discoveries at the comics shop may get. Tight stories, funny and wise, magnificently drawn. I read them and then I go back and stare at them. I tend to do the same with Tardi, but I think the last decade or so of English-language releases has made my eye become at least a little accustomed to how Tardi savages a page. It's great to have so much of his work out now over here.
MAR171256 TITAN #5 (MR) $6.99 APR170863 SAGA #44 (MR) $2.99 MAR171254 REICH #8 (OF 12) (MR) $4.00 APR171032 BLACK PANTHER #15 $3.99
A shorter than usual week if you're just running in to pick up flopping. Francois Vigneault's harder-than-some science fiction story Titan runs to its first concluding moment (I only say "first" because I hope for more) with a lot of confidence in terms of tone and plotting. Saga #44 will make a lot of comics shops happy. Reich may make some people happy, too, I just don't know as many of those people anymore. I love all of my copies, though, and am glad for the series late-in-publishing-life chance at new DM stores. Black Panther strikes me as a title at a point in the series where Marvel traditionally starts to lose its readers, so that will be interesting to watch. I'm still buying them.
FEB170447 WALTER SIMONSON THOR RETURN OF BETA RAY BILL ARTIST ED HC $125.00
One of the most fun artists ever in the format that changed the way that I, at least, thought about him.
FEB170071 USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 31 HELL SCREEN $17.99
I will buy every comic that Stan Sakai ever makes.
APR170737 ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN COMP COLL HC $54.99
I read a lot of these in serial form. This was Robert Kirkman with Jason Howard on an extremely superhero-y take on one of the great monster concepts. This made it really stand out against the last 25 year of monster comics, and while it was never super-successful, it had fans that would seemingly delight in this gigundus collection.
FEB170536 COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD DICK TRACY HC VOL 22 $44.99
Dick Tracy ranks pretty low in my personal pantheon, but it's a fun strip that was frequently beautiful to look and it amazes me that there are people spending a thousand dollars to have all of these stunning-looking books in their personal library. Oh to be rich and a comics reader.
APR171966 LIFE CHANGING MANGA OF TIDYING UP $14.99
This looks fun: a fictional treatment of life-changing cleaning-up philosophies promoted by Marie Kondo. I would imagine that manga would be an efficient way to communicate that kind of news.
APR171801 CARTHAGO ADVENTURES DLX HC (MR) $34.95
I would stop and stare at this European adventure series for as long as my shop would let me.
APR170837 OCTOPUS PIE TP VOL 05 $19.99 AUG160477 TOM TOMORROW 25 YEARS OF TOMORROW HC $125.00
Here's a couple of other books that comics does well right now, or at least these are comics that come from fruitful places in recent comics tradition. The fifth volume of Octopus Pie concludes Meredith Gran's always funny, occasional touching and at times profane web series in a collected form that's always been flattering to that title. The Tom Tomorrow was a massively crowdfunded collection that was successful enough it was its own hyped object. I look forward to reading both.
*****
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.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Bill Boichel on Boundless.
* the cartoonist Chris Schweizer has a really nice advice post up for writers that want to break into comics, perhaps a bit more interesting than usual in that Schweizer's a cartoonist first (controlling the entire process) and I at least think of him as an artist/illustrator second, and this is directed at those that don't have many of his displayed skills. He also chides those that give "just make comics" level advice without further insight. I think his proposed path would work for anyone with the talent so that the resulting work would attract positive attention. Comics has a low threshold for entry and a pretty dependable mechanism for finding jewels in the rough. It may be more difficult to break into the middle, and harder yet to move from the lower end of industry gigs upward. Schweizer covered that stage, too, a bit more broadly, in a previous post.
* finally, Françoise Mouly and Genevieve Bormes talk to Gary Panter.
Parts Of Ted Rall’s Defamation Suit Against LA Times Dismissed By Judge Last Week
There are couple of articles out there picking up on movement last week in the legal action Ted Rall filed against the LA Times a year ago March. Here's the Times itself. Here's Courthouse News Service.
The dispute is over Rall's no longer being carried by the Times following a 2015 opinion column in which he described a jaywalking arrest. The LAPD provided a tape of that arrest they -- and subsequently the Times -- felt ran contrary to Rall's claims, and thus made him not someone they wanted to keep using. Rall presented what he claimed was a cleaned-up version of the tape that supported his original story. He then raised money from friends/fans for legal action and drummed up a modicum of verbal support from peers. My memory is that the cartoonist also suggested the Times and the LAPD were working against him because of anti-LAPD opinion work and cartooning in the recent past.
Another motion will be heard this week, and one imagines future movement in the case will be dictated by these rulings and in part from Rall's decision whether or not to press the point -- both legally and/or in the court of public opinion by suggesting the legal strategy being used against him is a corrupt one.
I read and listened to a lot of this stuff early on and I found Rall's arguments about the tape only sporadically on point, and then only in an Internet-argument way. What I mean by that is that if the process being claimed were vetted and found indisputable, the potential for another point of view on some specific points might be possible -- possible -- but not all of them and not to the degree to provide positive support for the original claim and certainly not enough to discount a hiring body reasonably wanting to look elsewhere. I also read a few years of Rall's pertinent cartoons and police malfeasance didn't seem an overwhelming crusade on the cartoonist's part, at least not enough to justify the hints at conspiracy. Cops get it worse in Andy Capp. I realize that's just dormitory-hallway-at-3AM arguing, though, and the legal standards are being worked through now, whichever way they fall.
Assembled Extra: SAW Launches Ambitious Set Of On-Line Courses, Programs
They're located here. The classes look like like they're in the few hundred dollars range for the most part -- certainly something someone could try without making a major, life-altering commitment. I hope they keep doing this until after I'm retired and have the time to enroll.
* Marvel teased big news last week which I and many others thought might be content-related but it was a "cover reveal" through several sites in support of an upcoming focused-on-the-past event initiative combining new and old Marvel concepts. Heidi and the gang collected a bunch of them here. Maybe all of them. There are many fine artists working on this for Marvel, but this wasn't flattering to the bulk involved.
* there is apparently a new Robotech comic. I liked those cartoons when I was a kid; I can't imagine wanting any more than they already gave us, but I'm sure fervent fans disagree.
* I enjoyed this slightly scattered survey-style look at the state of comics in libraries, bouncing as it does from topic to topic. Every thread presented for pulling is an intriguing one.
Fantagraphics Hiring For Social Media Position Following The Departure Of Anna Pederson
I'm told that this job opening at Fantagraphics is the result of Anna Pederson leaving the company. Pederson worked for full two years replacing Jen Vaughn in the marketing/PR portion of the company, but had worked as an intern for the company as early as 2012. Pederson I believe also worked a stint as an intern at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund when the Fund was in New York City.
"I love Anna and wish she wasn't leaving but I support her," Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds told CR. "She knows I'm really going to miss her, yet I am proud of her for taking a leap into the unknown."
The job opening closes on the fourth of July.
Best of luck to Ms. Pederson in anything she tries in the future, and a thank you for the work done.
Good luck to all those applying to a key position at one of the great publishers in the world.
Bill Morrison Named MAD’s Fifth Editor They announced it through Hollywood Reporter, underlining that this comes with their move of the magazine to the West Coast. Morrison's primary preceding gig is the creative director work he did for Bongo. He's also connected, a multiple-skill comics creator and seemingly well-liked, all of which can be a great boon for someone undertaking a supervisory-style editing gig.
CR wishes Morrison the best. I think there's room for that publication to become a higher-profile prestige gig for comics and for humor, although I have my doubts MAD is situated to provide the world with a lot of truly subversive material at this point in its corporate history. We will note that editor of MAD is one of the four or five comics gigs that has a Heisman Trophy/astronaut type pedigree. It's now Kurtzman, Feldstein, Ficarra/Meglin, Ficarra, Morrison.
Go, Read: Derf’s Reminder That New Healthcare Programs Could Have Devastating Effect On Comics The Beat was smart enough to pick up on Derf's recent note that more restricted healthcare could have a drastic effect on a comics community that depends on many of its younger artists taking some measure of financial risk. It's a game-changer for sure.
Take note of the dissenters in the comments section. Many of them have no clue that Derf is a successful cartoonist and call some version of sour grapes. The overall negativity may surprise some. Not me. A significant sub-group of comics fans has long had a negative view of anyone criticizing what many feel are dream jobs, end stop. I think it's an orientation that would be to comics' advantage to change.
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding By Tom Spurgeon
* here is today's reminder that Marc Arsenault could use a hand due to business disruption caused by a sudden, severe health matter.
* from Jillian Tamaki comes word about the building that hosts Koyama Press and a bunch of other artists and their support frameworks may be lost to those arts-related tenants due to the appeal of making more public money from the property. That's a terrible thing to happen to a city with a vital arts scene, and it happens everywhere. It looks like anyone from anywhere can sign this petition.
* finally: I'm usually less familiar with IndieGoGo artists and comics-makers than I am with their equivalents on Kickstarter. No Idea why that is. However, I'm familiar with JT Yost, and this project looks like one readers of this site might want to know exists.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * go, read: "Image Of Youth."
* Susan Ferrier Mackay profiles Merle Tingley, aka "Ting."
* the cartoonist Michael DeForge has been tweeting out fun drawings of Yuri!!! On Ice characters, but I can never find the exact tweet that starts a thread without it being changed so here's his twitter account more generally.
* Matthew Thurber picks 10 cartoonists every art lover should know. That's great because it's a fun list, with at least one cartoonist I hadn't thought of in a long while, and you get to know how Matthew Thurber's head looks a little bit.
FFF Results Post #479—Always
On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Characters From The Comics You Like In At Least Two Variations Of Their Distinct Look." This is how they responded.
*****
Evan Dorkin
1. The Beast (human, beast)
2. Skeezix (toddler, young boy, etc)
3. The Sandman (striped shirt and pants, gimmick costume)
4. Alec MacGarry (younger, older)
5. The Sleeper (flying Red Skull head, combined robot)
*****
Steve Replogle
* Superman (Siegle and Shuster's Golden Age original, Morrison's New 52 revamp)
* Conan (Barry Windsor-Smith, Buscema and Alcala)
* Jimmy Olsen (Kirby 1970, Grist 2001)
* The Spider (Cowan and Bunn 1965, Grist 2001, Albion 2005)
* Alan Moore (Cerebus #239, The Simpsons #407, ABC 64-Page Giant)
1. Luke Cage (Yellow Disco Shirt and Bullet-proof-black-man-in-a-hoodfie)
2. Batman (Rainbow Batman and Jungle Batman)
3. Iron Man (Roller Blading Iron Man and Hulkbuster Armor)
4. Hulk (Tuxedo Hulk and Planet Hulk)
5. Bizarro (Original look and wearing a JFK mask)
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. Black Panther (The Kirby Original And The Sleek Standard From The 1970s)
2. Thing (Lumpy, Rocky)
3. Hopey Glass (Teen, Recent)
4. Hulk (Gray, Green)
5. Linus (Baby, Little Kid)
*****
Scott Stewart
1. Iron Man (original gray, Ditko redesign)
2. Marvel's Captain Marvel (Colan look, Starlin look)
3. Daredevil (Everett original, Wood redesign)
4. Sandman (Flessel, Simon & Kirby, Gaiman)
5. Superman (Shuster, Boring, Swan - not radical redesigns, but distinct)
... and one I hate: Adam Strange (modern version replacing classic Infantino look.
1. Robotman (original & Morrison Doom Patrol version, Young Animal version; and, on the Brave & The Bold as voiced by Henry Rollins)
2. Ant-Man (Original labcoat, big black circles and cyber helmet, Marvel Feature Mike Friedrich Red Shirt/White pants, MCU)
3. Steve Ditko's Captain Atom (Yellow and red & Blue/red/silver)
4. Tintin (Blue sweater, Brown Jacket)
5. Brainiac 5 (original purple coveralls, animated circles on head)
1. Darna (Mars Ravelo's original and Arnold Arre's 2000 version)
2. Prez (Teen-aged original by Simon & Grandenetti as well as the elder Preston Rickard by Russel & Caldwell)
3. Wildfire (The Bates/Cockrum original and Mike McKone's update)
4. Storm (Wein/Cockrum original and '80s mowhak version)
5. Punisher (the superheroish white gloves 'n boots version, also the more realistic variation established later)
*****
Sean Rogers
1. Buddy Bradley (slacker, junkyard owner)
2. James Corrigan (1890s, 1980s)
3. Calvin (T. rex, Spaceman Spiff)
4. Superman (Superduperman, Bizarro)
5. Waldo (Mishkin's, Jack Schick's)
1. Dan Dare (original uniformed pilot, Dave Gibbons/2000AD's SF hero)
2. Jimmy Olsen (skinny bow-tied version, Jack Kirby's version)
3. Paul Kirk, Manhunter (Kirby's 1940s version, Goodwin & Simonson's ninja)
4. Hugo Tate (stick-figure, fleshed-out human)
5. Dick Briefer's Frankenstein (early WWII horror/Nazi version, later funny version)
*****
Mário Filipe
1. Buddy Bradley (Slacker and Suburban Sailor)
2. Hellboy (Adult, Junior)
3. Spider-Man (Classic, Black Costume)
4. Hulk (Mindless Hulk banished to The Crossroads, Joe Fixit)
5. Matthew Cable (self-destructive human in Saga of the Swamp Thing, Dream's Raven in The Sandman)
Brendan Wright Wins Most Intriguing-Sounding New Comics Job Here. Congrats to the former Dark Horse mainstay and more recent helping-to-define-the-category freelance editor. That is certainly an exciting and underserved audience.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Alex Hoffman on HEDRA.
* this is a nice story I keep wanting to spotlight, but for whatever reason this week has been hell on feature stories: Ariell Johnson has received a sizable business grant in support of her burgeoning, Philly-area store. This will allow them to fold into the store's regular operations some classes aimed at the store's business with indy comics and small press.
By Request Extra: Marc Arsenault Could Use Some Help
The retailer, publisher, artist, editor and art director Marc Arsenault -- a significant figure in the history of small press comics -- could use a hand following a surprise surgical procedure. I hope you'll consider joining me in making a donation. Marc currently runs Alternative Comics which means he likely publishes a cartoonist you love or someone that inspires a cartoonist you love. I hope things return to normal for him soon.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* this weekend is much more quiet than last weekend, but last weekend was probably the busiest single weekend of the year. I hope to fully catch up by Sunday with the stuff I've gleaned staring at that full calendar.
* this music/comics festival is coming up. I don't know how those two mix -- you attend music shows mostly for performance and you attend comics shows mostly for consumer opportunities -- but the contrast in the might play well. I can't imagine doing as many shows as someone like Cameron Stewart seems to do, and I don't even work at the shows I attend.
* one of the great things about San Diego Con is that it forces comics professionals to deal with their place in the wider entertainment industry firmament, hopefully in a positive way. I look at an article like this one so obsessed with celebrity and spectacle it suggests standing around outdoors and hanging out in hotel lobbies as a way to pass time, and I can't imagine giving up my show of cartoonists panels, old funnybooks and getting to see speak at least three or four legends of an art form I love.
* finally, I suppose that "comic con" could be a theme for your non-related business to embrace. Why not?
* Abraham Riesman writes an article about the kids-comic part of the comics industry in a way that gives significant attention to Raina Telgemeier and manga, which is a rare thing, unfortunately. Jeff Smith, Jenni and Matt Holm, Gene Luen Yang, they're all in there.
* Landry Q Walker writes a response to maybe that article, maybe a couple of other ones. No matter the case, it's interesting.
* that's a nice way to celebrate the King's 100th, I guess. I have a hard time figuring out if things like that are widely meaningful or meaningful in a focused way or just more noise. I'm pretty sure it beats not getting that specific recognition. It's also still weird to see Disney accommodate the Marvel stuff as Disney stuff, but I guess 50 years from now there's a chance no one sees that distinction.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into The 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.
*****
APR171238 KING CAT 77 $5.00
John Porcellino's mini-comics master series slipped back into Direct Market distribution a few issues ago -- my memory is that it was briefly available this way a while back, but this could even be a first time thing. It's a really good issue, with a bunch of high-energy short comics about the natural world as encountered by the cartoonist. Paired with the great #75, it paints a picture of a revitalized cartoonist with plenty to say. I hope that's the case: the comics world is better with an invigorated John Porcellino on point.
JAN170390 DOOM PATROL THE SILVER AGE OMNIBUS HC $99.99
It's a pretty good week for comics of a bunch of different types, so of course my old-man eyes are drawn to a standard DC archival project collecting a bunch of their old Doom Patrol comics. The thing is, I've never read a lot of this stuff, and I've had it recommended to me not as great comics but as quirky and compelling ones. I'd look!
APR170815 HEAD LOPPER #6 CVR A MACLEAN $5.99 MAR170740 BLACK MONDAY MURDERS #6 (MR) $3.99 APR170827 INVINCIBLE #137 $2.99
My brother and I are both infatuated with Head Lopper, which we enjoy as an atmospheric, fantasy goof with great setpieces and a jaunty tone. I've been reading a bunch of Jonathan Hickman to the point that when I saw him at Heroes Con I gushed more than usual. I think he's an interesting talent in the world of independent/mainstream comics, and most of the books he's done over the last five years have a lot to recommend them. Black Monday Murders uses a lot of text and symbolic language, which makes the comics sequence punch and disarming. Invincible continues its crimson-masked victory tour with a sprawling inter-galactic epic meant to wrap up the majority of its foregrounded plotlines. It's to the comic's credit that a bunch of basic outcomes are still on the table.
MAR170628 LEANING GIRL TP (IDW ED) $29.99 FEB170489 LOST PLANET HC $29.99 FEB170492 RED RANGE A WILD WESTERN ADVENTURE HC $19.99 FEB170486 ROCKETEER HIGH FLYING ADVENTURES HC $39.99
These are the reprints that stood out for me this week. Leaning Girl is IDW by way of its partnership with Schuiten/Peeters focused Alaxis Press, and is one of the more elegant looks in that collaboration's sprawling efforts. Lost Planet is Bo Hampton doing 1950s science fiction comics to the point they're printed in some odd way that was only done at the time -- I always look at Bo Hampton. Red Range is Joe Lansdale paired with the mighty Sam Glanzman, who never cheats on the page. That Rocketeteer book I think is a big collection of the immediate post-creator efforts, with an all-star lineup of the last 30 years of mainstream to indy talent. I have little to no interest in making that kind of work part of my diet at the serial comic level, as my interest in the concept ended with the originator, but I'd take another look at it bundled together in one place.
APR171740 NEW LOW GN JOHNNY RYAN (MR) $19.99 FEB171648 ZANARDI HC $29.99 MAR171796 IN THE PINES 5 MURDER BALLADS HC (MR) $24.99
Strong week from Fantagraphics, including a bunch of Vice work from the super-smart and leans-to-extreme-outcomes Johnny Ryan. I always like how immediately Ryan shoves his characters into dismaying circumstances. The Zanardi work was titanically important to adult-sensibility comics in its original market and promises realistically portrayed stories of teenager troubles in the late '70s and early '80s, all the teens I stared at and watched from my percn on the stairs until I became one myself. Looks super-pretty, too. I'm in the middle of reading Erik Kriek's well-conceived volume of adaptation of murder ballads; they could be lying to me that murder ballads is really a thing, but if it isn't it should be.
APR171754 PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 15 1965-1966 $34.99
I clapped my hands like a simpleton when I got a copy of this latest Prince Valiant work. I adore the boys' adventure elements of Foster's work, and this Arn-driven revisitation to some Valiant/Aleta stomping grounds provides a lot of that kind thing. Like I really liked this Viking Hall that has this humiliating nighttime door where you have to enter in a non-defensible crouch. Give me details like that and I would have read it for 100 years or whatever in my newspaper, too.
APR172172 DOROHEDORO GN VOL 21 (MR) $12.99 APR172173 MASTER KEATON GN VOL 11 URASAWA $19.99 APR172166 GOODNIGHT PUNPUN GN VOL 06 (MR) $24.99
That's three super-solid, appealing series by cartoonists of significant interest. I think the latter two are late in their runs. I've come around on the Urasawa work, which carves out its own place in your brain.
APR171772 INDEH STORY OF THE APACHE WARS TP $14.99
I've heard more about the publicity for this comic due to its pedigree as work originating with the author/actor Ethan Hawke, but Greg Ruth has done a lot of well-received work in a quiet way and I'd like to see the actual work to figure out how he's done with this particular story.
APR172280 PERSPECTIVE IN ACTION SC $22.99
David Chelsea doing one of the things David Chelsea does best: communicate issues of drawing and presentation to a reader ready or at least desirable of master-class type teaching.
FEB171592 KITARO AND THE GREAT TANUKI WAR $12.95
I quite liked this little Shigeru Mizuki work, from his long-running and popular series of monster-focused adventures. I liked how crazily this story careened towards despair and places of hopelessness, and how things offscreen would both not come through and succeed spectacularly. I want to read more.
*****
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.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * this comic in support of new single-year program at SAW is very charming. The notion of making art as a therapeutic reaction to a crummy world holds a lot of power.
* I'm less angry about the collectibles aspect of comics as I get older, partly because I'm less angry about everything and partly because I realize that what everyone values about comics isn't going to be what I value. Derf makes the strongest point possible here, though. A comic after 1960 that sold 325,000 copies into a market isn't rare. The condition of it is rare. It's a made-up thing, all the way through, and in a world short of capital that makes a lot of people suffer for it, it's heartbreaking for money to be dumped into a hole someone dug just for the hell of it.
* Rich Douek and Eric Palicki are both familiar names to me, and it's interesting for me to see names I know working this corner of the comics world. It's not necessarily an advantage to come in as a known quantity.
* I'm traveling today after a fun weekend in Charlotte attending about 36 hours of Heroes Con. It's their 35th anniversary, and that shop was an instrumental supporter of this site back when we started out. I'm always happy to attend. Initial reaction: cons are weird this year. Opinions were all over the place as to the show's success generally and any one individual's place in that success. I could not find a pattern in it at all. I had a good time watching programming. That's always a very friendly show.
* in case I don't end up doing a full write-up, you know who's ridiculous at that show? Patrick Dean. He does these $10 monster drawings with ink wash added that are just lovely, and I don't get the price point! He has a new book out he's shopping around.
A thing to remember about fascistic action in politics is that it violates standards norms as a way to bring a kind of shocking power to the political actors' willingness to disrupt standard behavior in return for a show of power that may assist control. That's certainly in line with what seems to be happening here. It does not take much for this kind of move to happen anywhere, and when it happens, it's amazing how quickly it becomes its own standard way of thinking.
In potentially more hopeful news, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has asked Turkey for a written submission by October 2 of a defense for their behavior according to accusations made by and on behalf of the detained journalists. I have no idea how much pull something like this has, but it can put what happened and is happening in stark terms and the details always look awful in this case. I remember there was a time about a dozen years ago when Turkey's standing with the West was considered a prime deterrent against too much censorious action. The West is a bit different now, the government of Turkey is in a different place, and the power structures are different. Still.
Again this publication adds it voice to so many publications and individual actors to denouncing the overreaching absurdity of these charges and how they've been employed. Any way other than this way would be a better way. Please free Musa Kart and his colleagues immediately. Please suspend the charges.
Go, Watch: The Cartoon Lounge I haven't watched one of the newer ones yet, but I'm glad there's going to be some way we hear from Emma Allen in her Cartoon Editor gig at The New Yorker. It will be more interesting to read her issues, of course, and what they look like one year, two years, five years down the road. Still, I'm glad to see this feature continued.
The send-off for Bob Mankoff and transition to Allen was so Mankoff-oriented in terms of general press I don't have any clue as to Allen's public personality or her decision-making process, so every bit helps when it comes to peering into one of comics' great jobs.
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital By Tom Spurgeon
I'm going to go with one story this week: news that the Library of Congress has identified a number of webcomics worth of curation and storage and has announced a program in support.
It's a pretty good list for a start, and hopefully they've settled on a storage solution and plan to keep the collection stored yet available that takes care of what has been for years -- at least from my perspective -- worries about the ability to sustain a program through the changing needs that might become apparent as such a program ages. There's a lot of material whose creators will hope for curation.
I'm also interested to see a few years down the road if other institutions have joined them and how, and also how all the institutions will handle support and contextual material. The Cavna article gets a bit into that but I imagine there's more to come. Still: first one in the pool.
* this is an interesting article about the way these giant companies manage characters and how an "event comic" can cut into the character development that other creators might spend years building. Event comics are hard.
* finally: Todd McFarlane remembers "his Batman," the late Adam West.
The award, named after foundational Batman writer Bill Finger, targets writers that might have been under-appreciated in a way Finger was for so many years.
I believe this is the first time that the award has gone to creators potentially as or better known for their artistic contributions -- Kirby in particular is known as one of the 20th Century's two or three greatest comics artists. I think that's good to see, as a lot of artists also write, and at times their writing is treated differently than that done by people that come from a more solidly non-artistic scripting tradition. I also like both of these writers -- Messner-Loebs for his work on the historical drama Journey maybe more than the mainstream work. Kirby I think was a terrific writer who more than makes up in poetic expression and tone what he might lack in line to line writerly sophistication.
The Finger Award is given out during the Eisner Awards ceremony held the Friday of Comic-Con International weekend.
Festivals Extra: A Few Thoughts On CAKE 2017
I attended CAKE 2017 last weekend on both days, having driven up from Columbus as I now have the ability for regional shows. I did not participate in any of the late-night stuff having a personal agenda running alongside my comics stuff, which may distort my perception. I also work for a show in Columbus called Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, which I imagine informs every single way I look at other shows now.
* I really enjoyed CAKE 2017 and thought it was a generally strong show.
* The biggest lingering perception is that Chicago is a solid and deep scene. Not every exhibitor was from Chicago but a lot were, or had a Chicago connection. There were also Chicago people at the show that weren't exhibiting. There was a significant number of cartoonists from the strong Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
* I talked to about 25 exhibitors throughout the show about sales and traffic, and the majority felt they were slightly down. This is the least scientific poll in history, right below one that relies on the researchers belching their data. Let me throw in I did talk to a pair of exhibitors who had extremely strong shows, and no one was dismayed, the way things are at a show with truly light sales. I could discern no pattern for what sold and what didn't beyond a bump for material from special guests from out of town. I saw two buyers make use of their clever mini-comic buy/giveaway program, which everyone should steal (you get a prize bag for buying from a certain number of exhibitors, and I think maybe just handmade material; you get the idea, though).
* the other thing everyone should steal is that CAKE collects its attendee information through stickers (counting the empty sheets) and pins on a map, things like that. That's super-smart, because no one wants to do a survey in the middle of a show except saints and weirdos. That won't work for every show, but I bet it works for some.
* CAKE seems really settled into the Center on Halsted. Good neighborhood. Quality facility. Great big room and a decent smaller, supplementary room for exhibiting, although I'm sure they're turning down 2X to 3X that many in applications. Access to a Whole Foods and seats downstairs a plus.; You can eat in the neighborhood if you do a little advance scouting, which is a bonus for tired exhibitors. I felt comfortable there.
* downside on the facility itself was the toilets going out on the 3rd floor (the show floor) which I guess has happened before? An elevator broke down. The first floor bathroom serves some street traffic with some "Yeah, not staying in here" results from show attendees. One cartoonist went to the restroom at IHOP because they couldn't pee in front of others at the busy urinals in the all-gender setting.
* let's be honest: the parking situation was abominable. There were two Chicago Cubs day games Saturday and Sunday, and the show's proximity to Wrigley Field meant paid parking jumped up about 2X, and event parking rules didn't really match up with the needs of anyone who wanted to go to comics show. There was also massive street parking deficits and tow zones and torn-up city blocks. Taking care of my own car needs I talked to show attendees (thank you t-shirts) who simply parked far away and walked over, but only stayed 90 minutes so they could get back to their cars. CAKE is bigger than 90 minutes can encompass. Shows in New York and San Diego are also famously difficult parking events, but they are every year and the nature of those shows stands in contrast to that of a free festival. I would suggest making Cubs game days a total no-no, and researching the parking in the area so some advice can be given to the unfortunate minority that might come in from suburbs on out.
* the panel work was really strong across the board. The highlights buzz-wise were the Olive Panter interviewing Gary Panter event on Saturday and the Comics as Political Resistance panel early Sunday. That wasn't even close. That's a great little theater for panels, too. I am grateful to organizer Jessica Campbell, participants Ivan Brunetti, Anya Davidson, Noah Van Sciver, and the focused audience that went to the Fantagraphics presentation. CAKE was early on paying its moderators, which I think is an admirable thing.
* the Chicago scene loves Ivan Brunetti -- everyone should -- and there were many of his students in attendance. The teacher/student relationship was probably the biggest one connecting the generations there, which gave the show a different mood, I think. Less grumbling, more proud parents!
* speaking of the Chicago comics education scene, Scott Roberts told me that his employer, Depaul, just added Jacob Ciocci of Paper Rad fame to its department. That's a fascinating get. I hope that was on the record. Amy Lockhart teaches there, too.
* Fiona Smyth was the random cartoonist no one particularly noted in advance would be there that everyone to whom I spoke was excited to learn she was in attendance. It as a first-time for Summer Pierre and Michel Fiffe, too, two solid citizens of the art-comics festival scene. Jesse Jacobs sold out early and castigated himself a bit for not bringing more to sell.
* ran into Gene Kannenberg Jr. who works in Evanston now at the Northwestern University library into which I used to sneak food. Gene was a writer for me back at TCJ in the '90s and is a well-liked figure in the turning-50 generation of comics academics. He had a nice book of abstract comics he was selling -- second printing, too, after a first printing of 500. Go, Gene!
* the room paid attention in that subtle way rooms pay attention when Emil Ferris came in and sat at the Fantagraphics table. That book and the roar of positive reaction that accompanied it was part of the standard conversation I had with people.
* the Yeti Press gang concluded their comics-publishing lifespan at the show, with a lot of these-books-must-go pricing to be enjoyed by those in attendance. I think more alt-publishing houses that could last a long time won't just as people do different things in their lives that used to have only one or two options for participation in the medium. I wish the Yetis well with whatever they do next.
* seeing John Porcellino was great, and he accepted multiple congratulations for how strong King-Cat #76 was. He's just published Jenny Zervakis, and that book was one of the talking points of the show. There were a lot of cartoonists there that didn't know Zervakis at all, but expressed an interest in learning about her work, which are sentiments that don't always go together.
* if you're interested in what being a judge at the Eisners feels like, corral Rob Clough. He'll tell you.
* I didn't get to any of the afterparties as I had some personal stuff to do, but the range of people I spoke to had a good to great time. I did get to go to Hellas Gyros on Bryan Mawr, so I felt like that sort of made up for it.
* a few folks noted with sadness that D+Q wasn't attending after a long run at the show. Koyama was there, but Annie and Ed Weren't. Fantagraphics was repped by Jacq Cohen. When asked, the people that were sad just mentioned they generally liked having those iconic businesses and people on the floor more than that they had a specific use for them that wasn't fulfilled.
* it was a very gender-balanced show. It was mostly young, but there were enough older customers -- I talked to maybe ten that had just come down to see Gary Panter -- to not make it oddly young or less substantial. Chicago has always been a great market for comics, so it makes sense you'd have people in attendance that span those same decades.
* I like CAKE. I'll go every time I can. It's a great place to see a bunch of different cartoonists in the context of one of the great comics cities in North America. It's a well-curated room. I hope they stay as local as possible before they get more ambitious -- if they get more ambitious -- because there's so much more to explore with a Chicago-centric show!
Links to stories, eyewitness accounts and resources concerning the 2017 edition of CAKE, held June 10-11 in and around the Center On Halsted in Chicago.
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The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* Joe Gordon does the comics world the favor of breaking down comics programming at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
* this weekend is stuffed, with the kids-focused Ann Arbor festival and the Detroit Comix Party holding down the midwest with two fun-sounding events. The latter in particular is at the stage where it could use the support for the sake of being supported in the way newer shows have that need, so hopefully some of you that might do the former and not the latter, say, might consider the generosity of your time. That's a thriving community, so I'm sure things will turn out well. Heroes Con is also this weekend, celebrating its 35th year. They've been direct supporters of CR over the years, so that's where I'll be. There's ELCAF in London, and MeCAF in Maine, making this one of the three busiest weekends of the year and an impressive performance by Convention Nation. I hope everyone enjoys.
* this should be an interesting summer at all the shows, because of changes in how pros approach them and why they're used. Things to mark are how many publishers invest in shows and which ones, and how the class of creators featuring those that have been around long enough they're a known quantity within their scene but perhaps not a public draw approaches this summer's events. Things are tough all over: here's one vendor's view on elements of the convention experience about which I have next to no opinions.
* finally, my stand-alone article rolled out late because I forgot to click a button, so in case you missed it CALA announced for 2017. The Los Angeles, creator-driven, talent-rich show is going the 9th and 10th which is great news for those of us who might pair it with our holiday breaks and couldn't probably do the 2nd and 3rd in a continuity. That is probably like two people not me, but still I'm happy for the opportunity to maybe do that show. They've also moved, to a nice-looking warehouse-style space in what seems like a less street-active area of the city. That should have benefits and challenges, and I'm sure that show is up to both.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * you can go through this profile of Nick Sousanis' comic about Karen Green to get to the cartoon about Green, and that way come to it fully armed with contextual information.
Dandelion Wine Collective Wins $25,000 In Seed Funding From MICA’s UP/Start Venture Competition
Via press release comes word that two recent graduates of Maryland Institute College of Art received $25,000 in seed money for their Dandelion Wine Collective by being one of two winners in the MICA's second annual UP/Start Venture Competition.
The founders of the collective are Paloma Hernando and Sunmi Shin, two illustration BFA graduates this year. They will also receive mentorship-type advice in getting their micro-publisher started.
This sounds pretty great. A wide variety of projects were funded. The initiative comes from something called MICApreneurship, spearheaded by the Joseph Meyerhoff Center For Career Development. It would be wonderful if all the schools were comics are welcome build similar programs out of their resources and established graduates. I look forward to the comics that result.
By Request Extra: Cartoonist Joel Carroll Asks For Commission Work Here. Anyone that says they've had a rough summer and it's only mid-June could probably use a hand. Double anyone that does commission work that has to miss Heroes Con. Plus in helping you get something nice!
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.
*****
MAR171737 UNCOMFORTABLY HAPPILY GN (MR) $29.95
This is an intriguing week, and no comic this year provides as different and remarkable a reading experiences Uncomfortably Happily. A lot of this year's best books have taken comics' ability to stretch time in order to bring about a practiced effect: the hours of boredom and borderline hopelessness in Guy Delisle's Hostage, the feeling of routine and peace and building accomplishment in On The Camino, by Jason. In this book we get page after page of descriptive comics and incremental emotional change in order to mark one of those periods in a life where very little happens but everything in your life falls into place around that lack of frantic change. I enjoyed it a ton, and have read it twice since snagging an early copy.
APR171751 VAGUE TALES HC (MR) $16.99
Eric Have is a funny man and fun cartoonist who hasn't come close to achieving the audience that might be entertained by his daffy, destructive, uniquely energetic work. His comics have the heaving rhythm of a man playing golf without a club: sprinting and throwing, sprinting and throwing. In Vague Tales the story never quite cohere except when they connect into a cycle. I could read a thousand pages of this stuff.
APR170731 BITCH PLANET TRIPLE FEATURE #1 (MR) $3.99 APR170811 GREEN VALLEY #9 (OF 9) $3.99 APR170723 WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD #1 (OF 4) CVR A SAMPSON $3.99 FEB171107 REICH #7 (OF 12) (MR) $4.00
Here are the comic-book comics that jumped out of me this week: the curtains close on the Bitch Planet mainstage for a little near-the-audience short vignette work from sympathetic authors. Andrew Aydin -- whom I think would really like to do a lot more work in comics -- is among those participating. Green Valley ends as corny as you probably thought it might, but it works pretty well. There's a sly lesson here about intent and outcome, but I'd have to spread the comic out on my kitchen table and pick at it like a surgeon until I figured it all the way out. Crowdpleaser, though. Winnebago Graveyard contains artwork from the well-liked Alison Sampson, working in a genre that should suit her: horror. The old issues of Reich continue to be re-issued and God bless your comic shop if those comics are being carried. Buy them. Kiss the owner.
FEB170070 ADVENTURES OF SUPERHERO GIRL HC EXPANDED ED $16.99 MAR170098 GARY GIANNI MONSTERMEN & OTHER SCARY STORIES TP $19.99 APR170876 SHE WOLF TP VOL 02 (MR) $12.99 FEB171310 GIANT DAYS TP VOL 05 $14.99 APR171741 RIPPLE HC PREDILECTION FOR TINA (MR) $24.99 JAN178426 VALERIAN COMPLETE COLLECTION HC VOL 01 $29.99
Here's a bunch of trades of various interest, which I'm collecting together for speed of description. Adventures Of Superhero Girl is work by Faith Erin Hicks, and is very cute -- it's nice if you know a Hicks fans that this fully-formed a work is out there for a subsequent buy after devouring one of the bigger-company books she's been doing. Gary Gianni's work is always pretty, and I always look at it. Same with Rich Tommaso, who now moves to Spy Seal. I will always consider buy John Allison, and I wonder how this work function as serials trades. Ripple is artist Dave Cooper's great comics work, and it's nice to see it back. Influential in a quiet way, that book. I enjoy the Valerian work and Jean-Claude Mezieres is one of comics' great, charming citizens. It seems to me well-suited for the movies because the warmth of having actors instead of drawings at center stage might warm some of the arch, continental quality out of which the series builds its tone.
MAR160903 BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS CRIME NOIR OMNIBUS HC (MR) $125.00 MAR172324 LINE OF BEAUTY ART OF WENDY PINI HC $50.00
Here's two collections I'm glad to see although might be out of my budget range. It's good for Marvel to support one of their great writers with a collection of past work, and good for close readers as well. Wendy Pini is an influential artist for being one of the first Western comics-makers to let her characters act on the page the way that manga characters might. I'd certainly look at both of these.
DEC160605 JACK KIRBY FOREVER PEOPLE ARTIST ED HC $125.00
Jack Kirby or "Artist Ed" in a description is an automatic list-with-picture for this column. It's sick how well and for how many years the Artist Edition series has held our interest by going after major work after major work. I want this one, too.
*****
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.
* Augie De Blieck, Jr. suggests that where mainstream companies like Marvel screw up is in their on-their-feet moves as opposed to their planning. I like this thought because I think execution is underplayed in comics, and that drip-over of series does kind of screw things up. It's aggravating, too, because the resources of a company like Marvel should allow them, essentially, to herd cats.
Bundled Extra: D+Q Pushes From Lone Mountain To 2018 Straight from the mouth of small press icon John Porcellino comes word that his From Lone Mountain has been pushed back to early 2018. My notes -- and these could just be wrong -- had it coming out mid-September and the fact I saw an early review today suggests this is true.
As I recall this will collect work from the #60s in the King-Cat series run and deal with fallout from Porcellino leaving Denver for marriage and the Bay Area.
Porcellino's one of my favorite cartoonists and I hope that a few extra months' time before release might lead to more significant attention to his accomplishments on the page. I'm grateful to D+Q's support of the cartoonist's mini-library of collections and stand-alone works.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * not comics: Noah Van Sciver went to this East Indy drive-in on the way home from CAKE. Dining room A+, clientele A-, French Fries D+, Reuben C-, Pork Tenderloin Sandwich A-. $17.88. An easy-to-find, right off of I-70, non-corporate place to chow for you comics road warriors out there.
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding By Tom Spurgeon
* congratulations to Melanie Gillman for successfully meeting her first ask on her webcomics-collection related crowd-funder. There is still time to get on board for what looks like a solid project. Not much time, but a little time.
* I can't tell from this site's interface whether or not donations are still being taken, but this campaign for a vegan coffee shop and comics store hasn't done well at all thus far. I figure if local patrons don't want it, it may not happen with something like this.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * not comics: I didn't notice until much later than everyone else that the actor Adam West passed away. West had an important role in comics history as the face of the 1960s Batman TV show that for many fans that longed to have their interest in comics validated was a horror show of juvenile, wink-wink humor and outsized cheesiness. A number of those fans shaped the more seriously intended comics-making of the 1980s and 1990s, even as interest in the friendly, goofy and immensely popular West version of the character began to grow in counter-reputation. He had broad shoulders and a great voice.
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital By Tom Spurgeon
* really only one news story in the digital realm of first-rung status: the ending of Octopus Pie, one of the two or three best long-form serials from an era of idiosyncratically-created long-form serials. All congratulations to the cartoonist Meredith Gran on the extent of her achievement. If comics progress into digital realms the way they should Octopus Pie should be long noted as a creation for this specific time and place.
* that's the cover at right to the imminent print collection. Gran redid the entire series through Image and a final softcover trade will be out in a scant few weeks. I think having stuff like that in print and with a company that does not interfere with media rights is something that could distinguish a number of on-line projects. I know it was a spur for me to catch up with the work.
* not comics: Willa Paskin writes in defense of lust as a reaction to art. I agree in that every reaction to art should be on the table. The problem is that so much of the writing about attraction and desire given over to an object seems outside the time and attention given other aspects, and in some places, certain realms of superhero comics, a certain kind of desire becomes so privileged the work literally twists to present itself that way.
* a printer that's a bookmobile. It's like my two favorite places when I was a kid folded into one.
* finally, here's a nice reminder that sometimes Schulz had Charlie Brown win an argument or two, usually to great sentimental effect.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* everyone's pal Noah Van Sciver reports from TCAF 2017. Guest-star: Simon Hanselmann.
* I'm always interested when I hear about companies throwing their own shows, because I think that should have happened by now in a bigger way. Stan Lee doing so many shows of that kind in his nineties also intrigues me, but in a different way.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Team CBLDF talks to Gilbert Hernandez.
* not comics: the latest in bad news for digital advertising. A nearby article talks about saving the newspaper industry by putting together a group of highly-paid group marketers and running awareness commercials, and just on the surface of it that sounds like a useless idea.
* still pretty fascinated by the kind of reader for whom this is a big deal.
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.
*****
DEC161689 TO HAVE AND TO HOLD GN $24.99
This is Graham Chaffee's latest, and the great chronicler of the spiritual lives of animals focuses on more standard human noir characters this time around. Chaffee's an interesting cartoonist, and I like the way this book rolls around in its own ordinary qualities rather than exaggerating the various plot points for effect. It's uglier for that, but in a great way.
FEB170028 ABE SAPIEN TP VOL 09 LOST LIVES & OTHER STORIES $19.99 APR170066 BALTIMORE THE RED KINGDOM #5 $3.99
Two from the Mignola-verse, which seem to me have been doubling more and more over the last few years. I think that Abe Sapien might be the last from the character's ongoing. I'm interested in this line right now because the way I process big narratives all of this stuff seems like a year away from the end.
APR170734 BULLETPROOF COFFIN THOUSAND YARD STARE (ONE-SHOT) (MR) $3.99 APR170389 FLINTSTONES #12 $3.99 APR170902 WALKING DEAD #168 (MR) $2.99 APR171022 BLACK BOLT #2 $3.99 APR171391 GIANT DAYS #27 $3.99 APR170684 DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA #1 (MR) $3.99
Another fun David Hine/Shaky Kane one-shot. Their comics stew in an alternate comics history in a way that seems about overlapping nostalgic viewpoints that existed in 1992. They're fun as hell to look at, and this one is very funny. I'm still enjoying Flintstones, and that's a sequence of letters I never thought would escape my finger tips. I also still read Walking Dead, which is in coda mode right now from its last storyline but seems due a major shift. There's an obvious new direction that's been presenting itself in the narrative, so Kirkman and company probably won't pursue it for years. Black Bolt is a favorite character of my younger brother, so I'm putting this here to remind me to go pick one up. I don't get how Marvel made me not like the Inhumans, but most Kirby creations are resilient in a way they eventually make a comeback. I assume at some point someone will do the Geoff Johns thing and put the Inhumans into major combat with the Inhumans of other planet. If that's already been done, they didn't do it big enough. I like everything John Allison does, and while Giant Days isn't the best work he's done and even seems naturally unsuited to the comic book format because of perceived value for their breakneck pacing, I'll buy new issues when I see 'em. Ditto Howad Chaykin, whose contemporary-statement book debuts on stands today.
FEB170076 TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN OMNIBUS PLUS HC $29.99 APR171698 IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO ELISE GRAVEL HC $17.95 MAR172272 INSTRUMENTAL GN $24.99 APR170909 WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 05 IMPERIAL PHASE I (MR) $16.99
Here's a bunch of big-list projects about which I don't have a lot to say. I don't know what TMCM material that is, but most people my age will want one version of that stuff in their library. The D+Q art-type books are always fun to read, and I'm sure that's the same with this one. Instrumental has a nice look and the author is a musician doing music-related comics and putting a soundtrack to them, which makes this book sound like it springs from a 1998 save-comics site. Wicked & Divine is a big hit and doesn't need my help at this point, but I think the trades read better as serial comics than the comic-book issues.
MAR171772 BELGIAN LACE FROM HELL HC VOL 03 CLAY WILSON (MR) $34.99
Patrick Rosenkranz is the best writer about comics currently working, and his best subject is S. Clay Wilson. The other two books were great.
APR171182 TARANTULA HC (MR) $14.95
Hey, it's the long-promised volume from AdHouse Books. This looks like something that would fit comfortably in the latest craze for retro books -- I think one of the Fanta versions of those comics is out today but I don't know its name -- but this one getting the nod from Pitzer automatically makes it more interesting to me. I bet it's something to look at, anyway!
*****
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's a nice interview with the late Geoffrey Hayes, the TOON Books mainstay and one-time comics-making collaborator with his brother Rory Hayes. I kind of adored the Benny and Penny books that he did for TOON; they had a quiet intensity that the best kids works have. I also quite liked his color sense, which was warm but did not call attention to itself. I'm glad that TOON gave him a nice public platform for his final work years.
* James Whitbrook recommends Wonder Woman comic books to read. I like those junky super-spectaculars for a wide range of approaches.
Seattle Office Of Arts & Culture Offering $85K Grant For GN About Georgetown Steam Plant
It's all right here. That's going to be a great gig for someone out there. I hope, given the idea that if it's really good more governments will set aside this kind of money for this kind of project, that the most talented cartoonist and best proposal gets the shot.
Here. I don't like reading most notes from the author pieces but I liked this one. I liked that I'm not being aggressively sold on either the work in question or the author's skill in putting it together. I think Rilly is onto something when he describes the uncertainty of a work being good as part of the thrill in making something. It's a good comic, too; I hope you'll buy it if you see Rilly on the road.
Bundled, Tossed, Untied & Stacked: Publishing News By Tom Spurgeon
* this column isn't meant to deal with work that's already published, but I failed to learn before recently that John Porcellino planned to publish a collection of Jenny Zervakis' Strange Growths comics from the 1990s. He's done so now. Zervakis is right up there with David Lasky in terms of great 'zine-conscious cartoonists of the Pacific Northwest that flowered during the decade and haven't received their full due since then. Her comics intrigue and remain an obvious influence on cartoonists like Porcellino, even though he's definitely a peer and not someone that followed her. I plan on picking up a copy this year, and hope you'll consider it, too. That link has a bunch of pages for you to see if it's your kind of thing.
* I don't have a link for this one, but when Marvel did one of their line-wide relaunches a few years back I decided I'd follow a few titles to have that experience of going to the store and reading some series the way most consumers might. I chose five. Last week at the shop I realized all of those titles -- two of which were critically successful -- are now either canceled or have moved past their original creator teams to something I don't recognize as creative continuity. That seems rough to me, and makes television look vastly more stable during their so-called current Wild West period.
* Anthony Haden-Guest speaks in summary, personal fashion about English vs. American cartooning in the 1960s and how each fed the satire age and counter-culture literature.
* I am personally a bit baffled by articles even in the on-line world that are just descriptions of creative acts, like SNL sketches or music videos, but if they must exist let them be pieces about Ann Telnaes drawing President Trump on the toilet.
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding By Tom Spurgeon
* here's the latest crowd-funder for new work by the legendary Steve Ditko. I admire so much his continuing to make comics and find a way to bring them to his readers.
* Comics For Choice has surged a little bit after some attention paid to it in various places over the weekend, but there's still a long way to go to reach the project's initial, ambitious goal.
* finally, a pair of projects I've been watching have gone over their initial ask with some time left for you to participate: Melanie Gillman, and Kilgore Books.
* Charlie Jane Anders writes about Wonder Woman comic books. I came to comic books from fantasy prose so Wonder Woman was my favorite when I was very young. She had the best stuff, and the coolest friends. I don't identify with characters the way a lot of people do but the characters I usually did identify with in some fashion were female characters. This isn't remarkable in any way, it's just that Wonder Woman's so obviously a really good character, totally in the pantheon, and there a lot of fine characters in comics that are female characters, and that we treat anyone's identification or joy or pleasure with those comics as this oddball thing is terrible and hopefully ends.
Never A Bad Day To Be Reminded Of Musa Kart
Our world doesn't always know how to process certain up-front acts. A lot of our political debate is on speculative action, as opposed to already completed power moves. One such move in recent memory was the round-up of journalists after a failed coup in Turkey became a trigger and subsequent emergency acts affording more power to the presidency became a bullet. The end result is a very matter-of-fact shoving a lot of distinguished journalists into jail with a certainty of their guilt that isn't matched by any third party outside the situation looking in I've yet to encounter. One thing that's get done in the face of that is art, and I hope that people in other countries at least recognize that just because something is largely unthinkable doesn't necessarily mean it is very difficult to have it done.
* Sloane Leong 
* Rob Clough on 
* Françoise Mouly and Genevieve Bormes talk to 
One of the weirdest all-time cartooning stories 
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* Bill Boichel on 
* veteran cartoonist Rina Piccolo 
* Todd Klein on 
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* Alex Hoffman on 
* Hillary Brown talks to 
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* the late writer James Vance 
* Hillary Brown on 
I'm going to go with one story this week: 
* Alex Hoffman on 
* you can go through 
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* Chris Samnee draws 
Straight from the mouth of small press icon John Porcellino comes word that 
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By Tom Spurgeon
* not comics: I didn't notice until much later than everyone else that 
By Tom Spurgeon
* Gil Roth talks to 
* Team CBLDF talks to 
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* Robin McConnell talks to 
By Tom Spurgeon
* Sam Ombiri on 
* Alex Hoffman on 
* John Seven on 
