Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: A Publishing News Column

By Tom Spurgeon

*****

* PictureBox will release a 320-page graphic novel from Yuichi Yokoyama in May, called Garden. That's thrilling news; Yokoyama has been a revelation and PictureBox seems to me a great publishing partner for his work.

* the big mainstream media attention generating comics news of the week, and deservedly so, is Top Shelf working with Congressman John Lewis on a graphic novel about his experiences in the Civil Right struggle. I think there's a huge, untapped reservoir about that period in American history somewhat along the lines of the fascination the last 15 to 20 years with World War II-era history -- there's just something about people living through a historical moment being of a certain age that leads folks to want to hear their stories. I hope it's really, really good, because I would like to see historically relevant comics memoirs become one of comics' richest areas of exploration. The planned book is apparently the first graphic novel penned by a sitting member of Congress, which punctures my theory that Rick Santorum was somehow behind the Coley Running Wild series.

* the cartoonist Jim Rugg urges folks to order copies of Street Angel and Afrodisiac if you haven't already purchased them, as supplies have been diminished by damage to boxes in storage.

* a collection of King City would be a really fun book if it comes off, and I hope if Tokyopop decides not to do it someone out there will.

* I'll join my voice with Chris Butcher's that Maurice Vellekoop making a new comic is a wonderful thing.

* the cartoonist Jeff Smith published a Superman sketch at the Boneville blog that he says is from something he's working on for DC. You can pretty much group three or four clusters of words together out of that last sentence and be happy to read each one. There's a physicality to RASL that makes me way more interested in what Smith might do in terms of superhero art that far outstrips my general level of interest in superhero stories. Speaking of Smith, he's getting the Modern Masters treatment from TwoMorrows.

* Bantam and Dynamite have apparently won the license to do comics from George RR Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire series of prose novels, soon to debut as a gritty television series with many writers doing the Sopranos/Lord Of The Rings comparison right out of the PR. Those are good books, and this adaptation doesn't look or sound all that promising for that series' hardcore fans, although I could be wrong and it could be that its newer fans will like it just fine.

* Fantagraphics has the cover image up for Jim Woodring's Congress Of The Animals.

* remember that great feature that Greg Stump did for a brief time years back about a pair of vigilantes that did nothing but beat people up for writing snotty or ill-informed articles about the comics medium? They would likely have a lot to do based on what I have to imagine without looking is the reaction to news of a forthcoming comic explaining this administration's take on health care reform.

* here's some good news that seems to me a bit off the beaten path, although there's a chance I could be misinterpreting what I'm seeing. It seems as if the forces behind the Vintage Sleaze blog have generated a book, Smut By Mail, a massive preview of which is available here.

* not comics: Dark Horse is still devoted to developing a prose imprint.

* not comics: Stuart Ng Books has finally launched a proper web site.

* finally, fanzines make the world a better place, and Ditkomania is apparently celebrating its 20th issue since its return and 83rd overall. Speaking of fanzines Mineshaft may not count as one except in its idiosyncratic editorial view and some of the basic parameters of its physical presentation (size, page count), but every single serious comics fan should at least consider buying this publication. It's a delight, and whenever an issue shows up it goes to the top of my reading pile 15 years after I stopped moving stuff to the top of my reading pile. I'd have paid cover price solely for this latest issue's back-cover drawing by R. Crumb of Wally Wood. That's not really publishing news, but I'm running out of places to talk about the publication.


 
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