Author: Andrew Wheeler

COMICS LINKS: Back To The Rack

COMICS LINKS: Back To The Rack

Labor Day’s over and it’s back to work or school. Here’s some cheap thrills to get you through the day. (Our illustration is a recent Clay Bennett editorial cartoon.)

Comics Links

The Daily Cross Hatch interviews Evan Dorkin (in the first of what may be many parts).

Eddie Campbell remembers zipatone.

Comic Book Resources talks to Paul Jenkins.

Just in case you missed it: Monday was, in the Comic Curmudgeon’s words, Fööberdämmerung.

Comic Addiction talks to Ben Templesmith.

Newsarama slashes summer. No, really. That’s what it says.

The Montreal Gazette reports that a Dragon Ball Z live-action movie will be filmed there over the next year. OK, is there any chance that this won’t suck? [via Newsarama]

Comics Reviews

Brian Cronin of Comics Should Be Good reviews the first issue of the new magazine about comics, Comics Foundry.

From The Savage Critics:

SF/Fantasy Links

SF Scope reports that the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have just suspended their ePiracy committee in the wake of SFWA Vice President Andrew Burt’s recent badly-handled complaints against the Internet text-sharing site Scridb. (The full SFWA motion is also available on their LJ community.)

Robert J. Sawyer thinks the process for the Canadian SF award the Prix Aurora is horribly messed up this year — but he has a suggestion to help fix it.

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COMICS LINKS: Wired Pennies

COMICS LINKS: Wired Pennies

Comics Links

Wired has a long article about the creators of Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik.

Rick Geary presents: The Comic Con Murder Case, a short online comic.

Comics Reporter interviews Nick Abadzis, cartoonist of Laika.

Greg Hatcher of Comics Should Be Good thinks about history and comics and ends up daring DC Comics to just reboot their entire line already.

Comics Reviews

The Toronto Star reviews Scott Chantler’s The Annotated Northwest Passage.

The LA Times reviews Adrian Tomine’s upcoming graphic novel Shortcomings.

Brad Curran of Comics Should Be Good reviews Countdown to Adventure #1.

From The Savage Critics:

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing reviews DMZ: Public Works.

Edward Champion reviews Warren Ellis’s novel Crooked Little Vein in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

SF/Fantasy Links

The 2009 World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Montreal, Canada. Neil Gaiman will be the author Guest of Honor.

SF Site has indexed the contents of the first twenty-four annual volumes of Gardner Dozois’s annual Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology, by author, title and volume.

Reports from Worldcon:

And reports from Dragon*Con:

Neil Gaiman visits the Great Wall of China and learns that giraffes are forbidden to drive cars there.

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GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Chance in Hell

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Chance in Hell

Chance in Hell is Gilbert Hernandez’s second stand-alone graphic novel, after Sloth. Like Sloth, it’s unconnected to his Love & Rockets work, but – unlike Sloth – it’s deeply metaphorical and difficult to follow. It’s set among unnamed people, living in unnamed places in an unspecified time, worrying about criminals with monikers but not names and slaughtering each other at whim. I’m afraid it’s all supposed to be an allegory for something, most likely the Iraq war, but I couldn’t quite bring that into focus.

The story takes place in three time periods in the life of one woman, but they’re not separated or otherwise marked as chapters; there are no captions at all. Our protagonist is called “the Empress,” and she’s the only person with a name – besides “the Babykiller,” whom is talked about but never shown – out of dozens in this graphic novel.

We meet the Empress as a young girl, living among people prone to extreme violence in a Mad Max-ian trash heap. Eight or ten unnamed male characters, mostly teenagers, fight over her, while two technicians try to maintain a fence around a large, dangerous piece of unspecified machinery. Empress is perhaps four or five, playing with a doll and not talking much. At the end of this scene, after much bloodshed, a man in a suit takes Empress away, with a promise to become her new “daddy.”

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COMICS LINKS: Gorey Tribbles

COMICS LINKS: Gorey Tribbles

Comics Links

Shaenon Garrity imagines what Edward Gorey’s adaptation of “The Trouble With Tribbles” might have been like.

The Beat takes a look at DC’s sales in July.

Comicon interviews James Kochalka, whose new children’s book Squirrely Grey has just been published.

Comicon also talks to Scott Shaw! about the rebirth of Captain Carrot.

The Wall Street Journal reports on Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is trying to use manga’s popularity in the West to improve Japan’s image.

Ridiculopathy has the sarcastic version of the old how-to-create-a-webcomic story.

Comic Book Resources interviews what looks like every person connected with the new Marvel Comics Presents series.

CBR also interviews Joe Casey about his new series Pilot Season: Velocity.

Comics Reviews

AppScout reviews the preview chapter of a new graphic novel, Shooting War.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog covers this week’s comics, starting with Avengers: The Initiative #5.

Graeme McMillan of The Savage Critics learns that Gene Simmons’s Dominatrix #1 is just as bad as he thought it would be.

Awards

According to Charles Stross, his novel Glasshouse has won the 2006 Prometheus Award, given by the Libertarian Futurist Society to the best Libertarian SF novel of the year.

SF/Fantasy Links

Tobias Buckell runs down a current SFWA kerfuffle: one particular officer is a bit extreme on fighting copyright infringement, and has demanded the website Scribd take down a whole bunch of things are aren’t actually infringements. (And here’s the original report from Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing.)

One more Worldcon report today, from Pat Cadigan.

Robert J. Sawyer walks the Great Wall of China – and takes pictures.

Commonwealth of Fantasy, you can rest easy tonight. The SF Diplomat is taking his ball and going home.

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COMICS LINKS: Inferior Five Edition

COMICS LINKS: Inferior Five Edition

Comics Links

Hipster Dad thinks that there should be an Inferior Five collection.

Comic Book Resources talks to Christos Gage.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog presents more evidence that Bob Kanigher was a mad genius.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good reviews this week’s comics, starting with Batman Annual #26.

Brian Cronin of CSBG reviews the unpublished graphic novel Division Shadow.

Living Between Wednesdaysweekly reviews start with Countdown to Adventure #1.

The Daily Cross Hatch interviews Peter Kuper about his new book Stop Forgetting to Remember.

Comics Reviews

Fantasy Book Critic reviews The Nightmare Factory, a graphic novel based on four stories from the collection of the same name by Thomas Ligotti.

Wizard reviews the covers of three recent comics.

Blogcritics reviews Good As Lilly by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm.

Panels and Pixels has a manga review roundup.

The Daily Cross Hatch reviews the first collection of “Perry Bible Fellowship” strips by Nicholas Gurewitch, The Trial of Colonel Sweeto.

The Savage Critics reviews:

 

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COMICS LINKS: Felt Typewriters

COMICS LINKS: Felt Typewriters

Today, our illustration is of a felt replica of an Underwood typewriter, simply because dogged persistence in the pursuit of idiosyncratic ends should always be celebrated. That is really impressive.

 

Comics Links

Comic Book Resources has a Bizarro talk with Geoff Johns.

CBR also chatted with ComicMix‘s own Mike Baron, whose character The Badger will be returning soon from IDW. ("Lawyers? I hate lawyers!")

Comics Reporter runs down the reactions to the news that Berkley Breathed’s strip Opus has been dropped from a number of papers for two Sundays for religious intolerance and making the wrong kind of jokes.

Newsarama has another article in their ongoing series about stuff they love, “I (heart) comics.” Has anyone told them that the heart icon doesn’t come through in feeds – and not always on their page as well – so it looks like they’re saying “I slash team books?” And do they understand the significance of slash?

Comics Reviews

The Book Nerd reviews Linda Medley’s graphic novel Castle Waiting.

The Tri-City News loves itself some Scott Pilgrim.

Blogcritics reviews The Poison Diaries by Jane, Duchess of Northumberland & Colin Stimpson.

SF/Fantasy Links

Here’s an official report on the Chengdu International SF/Fantasy Conference, and here’s Neil Gaiman’s personal report.

Ellen Kushner has arrived in Japan for Worldcon.

And so has Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

(Further links, I hope, as more people arrive in Japan and start posting.)

SF Diplomat circles back to the subject of Fantasy (which he still hates). You know, I could read one or two romance novels, loathe them, and then create a huge, unwieldy critical apparatus too, but…I have better things to do with my time. (He gets hammered in the comments quite comprehensively on similar grounds.)

John Joseph Adams’s upcoming anthology Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse has a website.

Niall Harrison of Torque Control has some notes from an evening with William Gibson.

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COMICS LINKS: Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

COMICS LINKS: Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

Comics Links

The New York Times notes what would have been Jack Kirby’s 90th birthday. (And, in honor of that, a random odd Kirby drawing is our illustration today – a stamp with a Kirby Silver Surfer.)

The Beat digs into Marvel’s sales figures for the month of July.

Blogcritics interviews Mike Carey about his first novel The Devil You Know.

Kaplan is publishing graphic novels with deliberately difficult words (including definitions), reports Bloomberg. I can’t fault the idea, but I suspect teenagers aren’t looking to learn vocabulary words from their pleasure reading.

Wizard interviews Mike Mignola about the Hellboy 2 movie.

Publishers Weekly talked to Kyle Baker about his new series Special Forces.

Comics Reporter covers the recent episode of Anthony Bourdain’s TV show No Reservations set in Cleveland, in which Harvey Pekar played a large part.

Panel and Pixel has a collection of stories about how not to break into comics.

San Francisco Bay Guardian talks to Kyle Baker.

Kevin Melrose at Newsarama lists what looks like everything coming out this week. (If you buy all of it, I bet Steve Geppi will come and personally thank you.)

Comics Reviews

Eddie Campbell reviews Clare Briggs’s Oh Skin-nay! The Days of Real Sport.

Wizard reviews Tangent Comics Volume One and The Complete Bite Club.

Blogcritics reviews Good As Lilly by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm.

The Boston Globe reviews Gilbert Hernandez’s Human Diastrophism.

Augie De Blieck, Jr. of Comic Book Resources reviews two recent Fantastic Four comics, one of which he loved and one of which he didn’t.

Comic Book Bin reviews XXX Scumbag Party by Johnny Ryan.

Punked Noodle reviews Osamu Tezuka’s Ode to Kirihito.

Eye on Comics digs up a copy of X-Men #121 at a flea market.

At The Savage Critics, Graeme MacMillan reviews Batman #668 and others.

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COMICS LINKS: Completely Random

COMICS LINKS: Completely Random

Comics Links

Eddie Campbell tries to define what a graphic novel is. (Illustration of Campbell deep in thought by Campbell.)

The LA Times has an article about the webcomic A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge.

Publishers Weekly interviews Satoru Kannagi, writer of Only the Ring Finger Knows.

PW also reports on the massive Japanese convention Comiket.

Comic Book Galaxy interviews the always-sunny Harvey Pekar.

Comics Should Be Good takes their usual monthly look at Marvel’s December covers.

Newsarama talks with the creators of Punks: the Comic.

Comic Bloc interviews Mike Baron.

The CBC interviews For Better or Worse cartoonist Lynn Johnston.

Comics Reviews

Dana of Comics Fodder reviews this week’s Marvel comics.

Sequart’s Rob Clough reviews three volumes of Graphic Classics.

Sequential Tart reviews the new The Spirit comic.

Reviews from The Savage Critics:

 

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COMICS LINKS: Monday Again

COMICS LINKS: Monday Again

No links came with obvious top-of-the-post illustrations today, so, instead, let’s focus on the Monday-ness of today, and think demotivation.

Comics Links

Comic Book Resources looks at webcartoonists at Wizard World Chicago.

Wizard talks to Avatar Press artist Jacen Burroughs.

Comic Book Resources interviews Hugh Sterbakov, writer of Freshmen.

CBR also chats with artist Adrian Alphona, soon to take over Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

Comics Reporter interviews Comic-Con Director of Marketing and Public Relations David Glanzer.

Newsarama has the second half of an interview with Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics.

The New York Times’s Paper Cuts blog interviews cartoonist Dan Clowes.

Comics Reviews

The Joplin Independent reviews Modern Masters, Vol. 7: John Byrne.

Blogcritics reviews The Architect by Mike Baron and Andie Tong.

Comics Reporter reviews Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow.

Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good reviews Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #23.

Living Between Wednesdays reviews this weeks’ comics, starting with The Immortal Iron Fist #8.

Graeme McMillan of The Savage Critics reviews Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero #1.

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COMICS LINKS: Play Ball!

COMICS LINKS: Play Ball!

Comics Links

Newsarama has discovered the exisitence of Triple-A Baseball Heroes, in which Marvel superheroes apparently battle villainy in tandem with minor-league team mascots. (The cover is our illustration today.)

Comics Reviews

Ain’t It Cool News reviews a pile of recent comics, starting with the Booster Gold relaunch.

CHUD’s Thor’s Comic Column presents reviews of comics by several people, none of whom are actually named Thor.

Comic Book Resources’s Hannibal Tatu reviews a pile of this week’s comics.

Comics Reporter reviews Hurricane Season #1.

The Daily Cross Hatch reviews Fletcher Hanks’s I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets.

Comics Worth Reading reviews To Terra by Keiko Takemiya.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog covers this week’s comics.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good also reviews this week’s comics.

Comics Should Be Good’s Brian Cronin looks at the first issue of the second series of Mouse Guard.

SF/Fantasy Links

What is Star Wars were a musical? Let’s Blow This Thing! might just be the result. [via Extra Life]

Locus Online lists the new books that they saw in mid-August.

Jeff Somers’s new book The Electric Church now has its own website.

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