Articles by martha-thomases
Sun Jun 8, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Friends of Lulu Awards 2008
Minx, gURL.com big winners
Friends of Lulu, the organization dedicated to increasing the involvement of girls and women in comics, as both professionals and consumers, held their annual Lulu Awards at the New York Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Saturday, June 7. Until now, the awards have been presented during the San Diego Comic-Con. This is the first time the event has been held in New York.
And a glittering evening it was. There were several glamorous gowns, lots of cool earrings, and more cleavage than one sees at an average comic industry night out. After a cocktail half-hour starting at 8:30, the ceremonies began at 9 PM.
Emily Flake was the Mistress of Ceremonies, and she ran a very tight ship. The presenters were introduced, announced the nominees, and awarded the trophies. Here’s the list, with the winners in bold:
Kim Yale Award for Best New Talent (presented by 2007 winner Rachel Nabors):
Martina Fugazzotto, senior designer, gURL.com
Kiki Jones, gURL.com Comix artist
Julia Wertz, The Fart Party
Woman of Distinction, for contribution in areas other than writing and art (presented by Heidi MacDonald):
Shelly Bond, group editor, Vertigo; editor, MINX line
Cindy Fournier, VP Operations, Diamond Comics Distributors
Janna Morishima, director, Diamond Kids Group
Sat Jun 7, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Me, Come MoCCA - by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise #60
I like New York in June. How about you?
There’s all the hippie, flower-child kinds of reasons. The days are warm; the nights are cool. The leaves provide dense shade, like stained glass windows from a Tiffany dream. The humidity is low, so the garbage isn’t baking on the sidewalks. Nature is reborn. It feels good to have a body.
There are also the 21st Century Geek Squad reasons. Free music in the parks. The summer movie season is at full throttle. The big cross-over events in comics are up and running, and, even when I don’t like them, they make the comic shops fun to be in on Wednesdays (fanboy fight!). Network TV is all reruns, but the cable networks bring in new stuff. The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a show on superhero costumes.
Best of all, there’s MoCCA.
More precisely, the Art Festival sponsored by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Usually held on the last weekend in June, this year, instead, it’s being held on the first. Today and tomorrow.
Now, if you’re a regular reader of these columns, you may have noticed that my tastes run to the pop. I like my comics fantastic. True, I also enjoy believable characterizations and witty dialogue, but mostly, I look to comics for escapism. Any coincidental addition of artistic merit to my entertainment is a bonus.
Wed Jun 4, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
EZ Street: Lone Justice Arrives -- With a Vengeance!
Working it out on EZ Street
Do you ever find yourself talking to a voice inside your head? And, if so, what do you do next?
Danny and Scott seek an answer to that question in today's brand-new episode of EZ Street by Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell. So turn up the soundtrack and read on!
Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)
More: EZ Street
Tue Jun 3, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
White Viper: It All Begins Today!
ComicMix kicks it old school...
Today on ComicMix, the legendary art team of Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin begin a new series, White Viper, with scripts by Erin Holroyd. A mother abandons two bundles in the snow. A rapacious gang of bandits is following her. They find one. What happens to the other?
Credits: Erin Holyrod (Writer), Frank McLaughlin (Inker), Dick Giordano (Penciller), Lovern Kindzierski (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor)
More: White Viper
Mon Jun 2, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Demons of Sherwood: Out With A Fight!
The end of 'Demons of Sherwood'
Today's episode of Demons of Sherwood is the finale. Robert Tinnell and Bo Hampton wrap up their tale of Robin Hood and his Merry Men with a final showdown over the Holy Grail.
They fight demons -- and not just metaphorically. Will Robin and Marian live long enough to realize they were meant to be together?
Credits: Bo Hampton (Artist), Bo Hampton (Colorist), Bo Hampton (Letterer), Bo Hampton (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)
More: Demons of Sherwood
Mon Jun 2, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
'White Viper' Starts June 3 on ComicMix!
Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin and Erin Holroyd team up for new series
A baby, abandoned. Surrounded by dead bodies, she is found by a poor monk. He takes her back to his home for safety, and the company of his brother monks.
Happily ever after? Think again.
In White Viper, the new series written by Erin Holroyd, with art by the legendary Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin, nothing -- and no one -- is what it seems. There is blood and death in the countryside, but at the same time, there is love. A holy man can teach you how to kill.
And sometimes, no one can be trusted. And sometimes, you must trust a stranger with your very life.
Frank McLaughlin, providing inks and story, said, "I've been working in comics for more than 40 years, and this is the story I've always wanted to tell. It's a joy to work with my old friend, the great storyteller Dick Giordano. Inking his work was one of my first jobs, and it's great to be collaborating on something that means so much to both of us. We're very excited that Erin has taken some time off from the Stratford Bard to work with us."
ComicMix Editor-in-Chief Mike Gold said, "I've known Dick and Frank since I worked at DC Comics, and I'm delighted to be working with them both again. This series is the best work they've ever done."
White Viper runs every Tuesday on ComicMIx, free and in full color.
Sat May 31, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Are We There Yet? by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise
Every week when I’m considering a subject for my column, I look at the newspapers and the comic books cluttering up my living room. Perhaps this will be the week in which there is a perfect synchronization between the real world and the graphic world! Perhaps a team of comic book writers, artists and editors will perfectly capture the zeitgeist that is our national condition!
Perhaps this primary season will finally end.
I like elections. I like voting. I vote every chance I get. Because I live in New York, I’m accustomed to my primary vote not counting very much. I vote anyway. I voted for candidates I knew would lose, just because I wanted the Democratic Party to know there was a bloc of support for those positions. I’ve voted for Bella Abzug, Al Sharpton and Jonathan Tasini for Senate. I voted for George McGovern, Jesse Jackson and Edward Kennedy for President. I voted for Ruth Messinger for Mayor. I voted even though none of them had a prayer. When I voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and he won, I didn’t know what to do with myself.
Thu May 29, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Simone & Ajax: Lemmings Always Know...
Who snatched Simone & Ajax?
In today's brand-new episode of Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck, by Andrew Pepoy (with colors by Jason Millet), our heroine, Simone, and her dinosaur pal, Ajax, find themselves locked in a cell. Their captor is the beautiful Fu Wahu.
The evil temptress is trying to rejuvenate her father, the dreaded Fu Ohn Yu. Can our heroes save the duck?
Credits: Andrew Pepoy (Artist), Andrew Pepoy (Letterer), Andrew Pepoy (Writer), Jason Millet (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor-In-Chief)
More: The Adventures of Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck
Wed May 28, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
EZ Street: Crash!
Are you wearing your seatbelt?
In today's brand new episode of EZ Street, by Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell, things go bump in the night. It's enough to make a man question his entire career, assuming he makes it out of the crash in one piece.
Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)
More: EZ Street
Wed May 28, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
ComicMix Six: Biggest Tease in Comics (Male)
There's nothing worse than a superpowered tease!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: In previous editions of ComicMix Six, our contributors have given you their lists of comics' top political campaigns, the best and worst movies based on comics, and even a few reasons why a Skrull invasion isn't anything to worry about.
This week, ComicMix Media Goddess Martha Thomases ranks some of comics' most desirable -- but unattainable -- men, and the reasons why they always remain just out of reach. -RM]
Some of us yearn for a man’s touch. Sometimes, that man refuses. The very beauty that drew us to him now taunts us.
Here are the worst offenders, in no particular order, for my ComicMix Six list of The Biggest Tease in Comics (Male):
6. MORPHEUS: The Sandman only comes to you when you’re already asleep. This limits how much fun you can have, and more important, how much fun you can remember.
Continue reading ComicMix Six: Biggest Tease in Comics (Male) ›
Sat May 24, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
My Week Without Comics, by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise #58
You may have noticed that my quick wit and adorable charm were missing from this site for a few days last week. From May 11 through May 19, I was away on vacation. It was the first time my sweetie and I have been away alone together for more than a few days since our son was born.
Not that we haven’t been on any vacations. We’ve had great times with the boy (who, riding horses with Holly Gaiman at Walt Disney World, sang the entire soundtrack to The Lion King), and with family and friends. But I hadn’t had any time alone to roll in my sweet baby’s arms, and we needed it.
To be a real vacation, a trip should totally take you away from your regular life. It should provide experiences that are different from the day-to-day, and that help you look at the world anew. We had a few days to ourselves on our tenth wedding anniversary, in 1990, when we biked through the Finger Lakes area in New York. It was so much fun that we explored doing something like that again. Spending a week on a bicycle, riding through small towns and countryside with a group of strangers, seemed about as foreign to crowded Manhattan as it was possible to get. We decided to take the train back and forth, so we kept our energy use down and kept the money in the USA. Less guilt!
Continue reading My Week Without Comics, by Martha Thomases ›
Thu May 22, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Black Ice: Protein-Laced Zyp
Sounds like fun!
In today's brand-new episode of Black Ice, by Mike Baron and Lee Oaks, the Prince takes the Helmet to which he believes he was born. The King and Queen learn of their son's alleged death. And, oh yeah, there's dragons.
Credits: Mike Baron (Writer), Lee Oaks (Artist), Bob Pinaha (Letterer), Matt Webb (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor)
More: Black Ice
Thu May 22, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
New Yorker Copies Kirby 'Tales To Astonish' Cover Image?
Homage vs. Plagiarism: Discuss
According to Gawker, the New Yorker recently ran a cartoon that plagiarizes the very famous cover of Tales to Astonish by King of Comics, Jack Kirby. The too-cool-for-school blog asks, "Comic book geeks, your services are at last required. How obscure is this?"
On behalf of geeks everywhere, allow me to say, it's not at all obscure. It's one of the more famous images around.
[Above image pulled from Gawker for use in comparison.]
Wed May 21, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
EZ Street: Danny Crashes
Things go boom!
In today's brand-new episode of EZ Street, by Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley, Danny crashes in a bad way. He's hearing voices, and they're calling him names. And who is that behind him, ready to hit him with a board?
Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)
More: EZ Street
Sat May 17, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Vogue, by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise #57
There is a special exhibition at the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Musuem of Art called Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. I haven’t been able to go yet, but according to the exhibit’s web site, the show features costumes designed around these groups:
•The Patriotic Body (Wonder Woman, Captain America)
•The Virile Body (they cite The Hulk and The Thing, which sort of creeps me out)
•The Graphic Body (Superman and other characters with logos)
•The Paradoxical Body (Catwoman and other hyper-sexualized heroines)
•The Armored Body (Iron Man, Steel)
•The Aerodynamic Body (The Flash)
• The Mutant Body (they cite Rogue)
• The Post-Modern Body (Ghost Rider, Punisher).
The show and its parties are sponsored by Conde Nast, DC and Marvel, and Giorgio Armani. The opening night was extremely glamorous, with attendance from stars like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Tilda Swinton, and the Olsen Twins. Heidi has written great stuff about it at The Beat and the Fug Girls are all over it.
Some of these groupings I understand, and some seem to be redundant (really, is Rogue that much different from Catwoman in the way she’s presented in this show?). However, none of them seem to consider superhero garb the way I did, when I was considering being a superheroine.
It’s true that I was designing my costume when I was eight years old, when fashion was not my foremost concern, nor did I need to worry about where I was going to keep my breasts at that time. I wanted something that would allow me to hide in the shadows, mysteriously, even while showing off my beautiful blonde hair (I had a few blonde cousins, and thought all I needed was more time in the sun to achieve the same golden tresses). Midnight blue, I thought, was the perfect color, at least among those choices in my Crayola box.
