Additional casting for the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special An Adventure in Space and Time has been trickling out slowly as filming has proceeded. Today it was revealed that the role of the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, will be played by Reece Shearsmith, a member of the surreal comedy team The League of Gentlemen. The team also includes Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss, who wrote the anniversary adventure.
Reece Shearsmith (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“I first asked Reece 12 years ago when I started thinking about this project.” Gatiss was quoted in the Mirror. “We were in the midst of League of Gentlemen and I just remember thinking, if anyone plays Patrick Troughton, it should be Reece. Like the Second Doctor, he’s small, saturnine and a comic genius. The complete package. He thought it was a fantastic idea and I’ve kind of nurtured it all this time.”
While the team have been long-time fans of the series, Reece is the only member of the League not to have made an appearance in the returned show. In addition to writing several episodes for the new series, Mark Gatiss played Dr. Lazarus in The Lazarus Experiment, voiced one of the Spitfire pilots in his episode Victory of the Daleks, and was almost unrecognizable under makeup (and a pseudonym) as Gantok in The Wedding of River Song. Steve Pemberton played Strackman Lux in the Moffat-penned two-parter Silence in the Library / The Forest of the Dead.
While he’d not made it to the big game till now, Reece’s history with Doctor Who is quite long indeed. His first professional acting credit is with the fan-produced Doctor Who Homage series P.R.O.B.E. a production written by Gatiss. The show attempted to pay homage to Doctor Who, even casting many classic Who actors like Caroline John (playing her Who role of Liz Shaw) and several Doctors including Peter Davison.
An Adventure in Space and Time is a dramatization of the creation of Doctor Who, centering mostly on the show during the early years, and the growing professional relationship between first Doctor William Hartnell and the show’s producer Verity Lambert. It will be one of the last productions to be produced in the original BBC Television Centre, where the original series was filmed, before the property is redeveloped. David Bradley (Argus Filch from the Harry Potter films) will play Hartnell, and Call the Midwife‘s Jessica Raine will portray Verity Lambert.
Via Chris Ryall at IDW Publishing, we have this drawing by John Byrne, featuring Popeye and an Uncanny X-team, too.
C’mon, you never once looked at those forearms and thought to yourself, “Stinkin’ mutie”? With forearms that big, to heck with retractable claws– he could have a whole retractable wolverine in there. Nevertheless, this is not how I imagined Byrne returning to the X-Men.
Greetings, past-dwellers. Tis I, Marc Alan Fishman, the sage of the future! I traveled here to the past, via my patented DC Direct TimeSphere. It was only $299.99 at my local comic retailer (which in the future is just Amazon Prime…)! I come to you, this random Saturday morning, on a mission from ComicMix 8.0. I’ve come to give you hope that in 2013, everything changes. Hold on to your bow ties, time lords. Let me give you the glimpse of what will become of your industry.
In 2013, the rumblings began. You see every time a creator got uppity in the past, they dropped those immortal words: “Creator-owned is the future, man.” And every time those creations (not of Marvel or DC, mind you) became one with the zeitgeist, the word revolution spread across the artist alleys of convention floors like a plague. Ah, I know. I know. You say “but that means nothing, FutureBeard… no one will ever take down the Man!” And, in a sense, you are right. The Man, thanks to lucrative movie franchises only made the big two stronger. Much like Coke and Pepsi, so too grew Disney and Warner Bros. until they were simply entertainment forces of nature. But therein lies the seeds of change.
It will all happen so slowly, you may not notice it. DC’s New52 and Marvel Now continued to polarize the ever-aging fanbase. The movies and TV series connected to them (both live action and cartoon) never lead to direct increases in comic book sales. They were, in essence, two distinct media with distinct audiences. It took a while to figure out ourselves… but our NerdVerse Historian, King Alan Kistler decried it, and it was written; while there will always be crossover, there wasn’t (and will never be) a movie or comic to unite them all.
And with that knowledge, spreading like primordial ooze across the vast lands of Nerdtopia, came with it the paradigm shift.
Through careful and meticulous planning and the support of the not-as-big-as-you’d-hope-but-still-pretty-big fan base… established creators turned towards indie-or-self-publishing outlets. Crowd-sourced, and then sold for profit directly towards their bottom line, these creators proved that even without a corporate overlord signing a check… a meager living could be made. And this is how the pebble begins to roll down the mountain.
When those small books became big hits, their creators soon became corporations unto themselves. And then, those same creators, backed by their cultivated fan base, combined into local studios to consolidate their power. No longer mere islands adrift in freelance work, these micro-states began dictating what they published on their own terms. And yes, even on the outskirts of these creator-states… smaller unknown (cough… cough… unshaven…) studios took to the same open road and formed bonds that could not be broken. And now, from the future where I come to you, I’m proud to say that the industry has never been stronger, where creators are no longer afraid to present their own ideas… and take home enough to support continuing doing it again.
Now, don’t cry for Marvel or DC. They still have a large foothold of the rack-space. But their talent pool is a wide berth of only the young unknowns, and the old guard who chose never to leave. The young, lured in by the shiny opportunity. The old, still fearing the unknown, and clinging to the terrible contracts that deny them anything more than pittance while their creations bring in countless millions in other mediums.
And yes, occasionally some of the Indie Nation takes on an old favorite. And they sell magnificently. But here in the future… after that tale has been told, they are reenergized to return to their own pocket universes. It’s a glorious time for sequential fiction. It happened in dribs and drabs over the aughts. Image’s old image (heh) of splashy pastiche universes gave way to intelligent, and brilliantly crafted mini-series. Dark Horse, IDW, Boom!, Avatar, Dynamite, and others began looking towards those self-sustaining garage bands in the artist alley and gave them a powerful ally to help build their brands.
The Internet, social media, and most important, peer-to-peer connections via conventions spread the word of the DIY-revolution. Indie comic creation became the new rock-and-roll. And 2013 my friends… was where those faint rumblings began to move the needle towards the utopia I live in now. Suffice to say: keep your eyes and ears open. More importantly: keep supporting your favorite creators when they make the leap away from the dark side.
I should also note, in case you’re curious:
Superman ditched the Nehru collar. Grant Morrison’s consciousness was transferred to a super-computer. Rob Liefeld eventually got his eyesight checked, and realized the error in his proportions. He redrew every ounce of work he produced up until 2015. Afterwards, his wrist looked like Cable’s, circa 1996. Unshaven Comics optioned the rights to the Samurnauts to Sony Pictures. Brad Bird directed the first of 17 successful films. Subsequently, Unshaven Comics erected a 75 foot golden beard in the heart of downtown Chicago.
And, finally, Alan Moore eventually forgave DC. Shortly after, he ascended to Snake Mountain and has since lived as the NecroLord of Fourth Realm. He still puts out books every year, and they are still amazing.
Pulp Ark 2013, being held in Springdale, Arkansas April 26-28, 2013, announces today the ballot for the Pulp Ark 2013 Awards.
The ballot for this year’s awards was composed based on nominations called for beginning December 15, 2012 and ending January 15, 2013. Only those who nominated in at least one category in that time period are allowed to vote. The original intent was to have voting begin January 15 and end February 15, 2013. Due to an unforeseen number of ballots and a tremendous variety of nominations, the ballot was not completed until February 5th, 2013. Therefore, all eligible voters have until March 1, 2013 to complete a ballot and email that to proseproductions@earthlink.net.
Winners will be announced on or after March 1, 2013 once all votes are compiled and winners are determined. Awards will be given on April 27, 2013, at Pulp Ark 2013.
If you made a nomination and did not receive a ballot, please email proseproductions@earthlink.net a copy of your original nominations.
The most comprehensive Pulp award today, the Pulp Ark 2013 Ballot features over 40 publishers represented by nominated creators and works.
For more information on Pulp Ark 2013, go to www.pulpark.blogspot.com.
The nominees for Pulp Ark 2013 are as follows-
BEST NOVEL-
The National Maul- A Misty Johnson Mystery by RP Steeves, Seven Realms
The Sting of the Silver Manticore by PJ Lozito, Pro Se Productions
Riddle of the Glowing Men: A Captain Action Novel by Jim Beard, Airship 27
Productions
Dillon and the Pirates of Xonira by Derrick Ferguson, Pulpwork Press
Blood of the Centipede by Chuck Miller, Pro Se Productions
Die Glocke by Barry Reese, Pro Se Productions
Drowning in Red Ink by James Mullaney, James Mullaney
Devil May Care by James Mullaney, James Mullaney
Project Alpha by Lee Houston Jr., Pro Se Productions
Death’s Dark Domain by Will Murray (Kenneth Robeson), Altus Press
The Destiny of Fu Manchu by William Patrick Maynard, Black Coat Press
Once Upon a Time in Afrika by Balogun Ojetade, MVmedia
Murder Most Faire by Teel James Glenn, Post Mortem Press
Hawk: Hand of the Machine by Van Allen Plexico, White Rocket Books
Legends of Darkness by Georgia L. Jones, Blackwyrm Publishing
Prohibition by Terrence McCauley, Airship 27 Productions
Know No Fear by Dan Abnett, Games Workshop
The Song of Kwasin by Philip Jose Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey, Subterranean Press.
Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr, Putnam
Earthstrike Agenda by Bobby Nash, BEN Books
Green To Go by John Cunnigham, Green St.
Dinosaur Jazz by Michael Panush, Curiosity Quills Press
BEST NOVELLA
The Lone Ranger: Vendetta by Howard Hopkins, Moonstone
Moses: the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Bookx 1 and 2) by Balogun Ojetade, Balogun Ojetade
The Looking Glass Gambit from The Further Adventures of Maxi and Moxie by Teel James Glenn, Booksforabuck.com
Unearthed by William Preston, Isaac Asimiov’s Science Fiction Magazine, 9/12
Play the Way Home by Jessica McHugh (as EJ McCain), P. Mortem’s Tall Tales
Exiles of Kho by Christopher Paul Carey, Meteor House Press
Savage Song by Warren Murphy, Destroyer Books
Outlaw Blues by Percival Constantine, Pulpwork Press
Dragon Kings of the Orient by Percival Constantine, Pulpwork Press
The Sons of Thor by Erwin K. Roberts, Pro Se Productions
The Knockout by Robert J. Randisi, Fight Card Productions
Samaritan by Bobby Nash, BEN Books
Sinbad and the Voyage to the Land of the Frozen Sun by Derrick Ferguson , The Adventures of Sinbad, Airship 27 Productions
BEST COLLECTION/ANTHOLOGY
Blood-Price of the Missionary’s Gold: The New Adventures of Armless O’Neil by Various, Pro Se Productions
Nightbeat: Night Stories by Various, Radio Archives
Mystery Men (and Women) III by Various, Airship 27 Productions
The Huntress of Greenwood by Nancy Hansen, Pro Se Productions
Tales of the Rook by Various, Pro Se Productions
Sgt. Janus Spirit Breaker by Jim Beard, Airship 27 Productions
The New Adventures of the Eagle Volume 1 by Various, Pro Se Productions
The Adventures of Lazarus Gray Vol 2: Die Glocke, by Barry Reese Pro Se Productions
Sinbad: The New Voyages By Various, Airship 27 Productions
The Green Hornet: Still at Large by Various, Moonstone Books
The Ruby Files By Various, Airship 27 Productions
Headline Ghouls: The Further Adventures of Maxi and Moxie by Teel James Glenn, Booksforabuck.com
Monster Aces by Various, Pro Se Productions
The Adventures of the Pulptress by Various, Pro Se Productions
BEST SHORT STORY
Armless O’Neil and the Chase for the Kuba Mask by RP Steeves from Blood: The Price of the Missionary’s Gold: The New Adventures of Armless O’Neil, Pro Se Productions
The Chicago Punch by Paul Bishop from Nightbeat: Night Stories, Radio Archives
Doc Panic by Dave White from Pro Se Presents 16, Pro Se Productions
The Killing Games by Barry Reese from The Tales of the Rook Volume 1, Pro Se Productions
Lucky by Tommy Hancock from Nightbeat: Night Stories, Radio Archives
Doctor Fear by Jarrod Courtenmanche, Secret Agent “X,” Volume 4. Airship 27 Productions
The Coming Storm by Teel James Glenn from New Adventures of the Eagle, Pro Se Productions
Lady Madeline’s Dive by Terrence McCauley from Thuglit #1, Thuglit
The Feast of Stephen by R P Steeves from An Undead Christmas, Undead Press
The Abominable Myra Linsky Rises Again by Chuck Miller from Pro Se Presents #13, Pro Se Productions
Making of a Hero by Barry Reese From The Adventures of Lazarus Gray: Die Glocke, Pro Se Productions
The Keener Eye: The Web of Life by Nancy A. Hansen from Pro Se Presents 12, Pro Se Productions
Death of a Dream by Christofer Nigro from Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 9, Black Coat Press
Tulsa Blackie’s Last Dive by William Patrick Maynard from The Ruby Files, Airship 27 Productions
The Portrait by Terry Alexander from The Adventures of the Pulptress, Pro Se Productions
The Hellmouth by Barry Reese from The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade, Pro Se Productions
Extraction by Jessica McHugh from Fear the Abyss, Post Mortem Press
The Wild Huntsman by Win Scott Eckert from The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster, Meteor House Books
Hand of the Monster by Jim Beard from Monster Aces, Pro Se Productions
Red Lily and the Oriental Flower by D. Alan Lewis from Nashville Noir, Parthenon Press
The Curse of Baron Samedi by Percival Constantine from Tales of the Rook, Pro Se Productions
The Ghoul by Ron Fortier from Monster Aces, Pro Se Productions
Paranoia by Kevin Rodgers from Pro Se Presents March 2012, Pro Se Productions
Die Giftig Lillie, Sean Taylor from The Ruby Files, Airship 27 Productions
The Butcher’s Festival by Ron Fortier from The Adventures of the Pulptress, Pro Se Productions
Crown of the Cobra King by Frank Shildiner from Secret Agent X Vol. 4, Airship 27 Productions
BEST COVER ART
Witches, by Larry Elmore, Blackwyrm Publishing
Gil Murillo, The National Maul-A Misty Johnson Mystery, Seven Realms
Tales of the Rook, Volume 1 by Bob Hall, Tales of the Rook Vol. 1, Pro Se Productions
Mystery Men (And Women) III, by Marco Turini, Airship 27 Productions
Monster Aces byTerryPavlet, Pro Se Productions
Sentinels: Metalgod by Chris Kohler, White Rocket Books
Lazarus Gray: Die Glocke by George Sellas, Pro Se Productions
The New Adventures of the Eagle Volume 1 by David L. Russell, Pro Se Productions
The Ruby Files by Mark Wheatley, Airship 27 Productions
Pro Se Presents #13 by Sean Ali, Pro Se Productions
Drowning in Red Ink by Micah Birchfield, James Mullaney
The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage: The Infernal Buddha by Joe DeVito, Altus Press
The Destiny of Fu Manchu by Christine Clavel, Black Coat Press
Once Upon a Time in Afrika by Stan Weaver, Jr., MVmedia
Doc Claus by Teel James Glenn, Pulp Empire
Blackthorn: Dynasty of Mars by Adam Diller, White Rocket Books
Pro Se Presents 14 by Sean Ali, Pro Se Productions
Sting of the Silver Manticore, David L. Russell, Pro Se Productions
Prohibition by Rob Moran and Shannon Hall, Airship 27 Productions
The Green Hornet Still at Large by Doug Klauba, Moonstone
Three Against the Stars by Laura Givens, Airship 27 Productions
Nightbeat: Night Stories by Doug Klauba, Radio Archives
The Family Grace by George Sellas, Pro Se Productions
Dragon Kings of the Orient by Percival Constantine, Pulpwork Press
Exiles of Kho: A Tale of Lost Khokarsa by Mike Hoffman, Meteor House
The Horn by Mike Fyles, Uchronic Tales
Huntress of Greenwood by David Russell, Pro Se Productions
Project Alpha by Marc Guerrero, Pro Se Productions
Captain Action: The Riddle of the Glowing Men by Nick Runge, Airship 27 Productions
BEST INTERIOR ART
The Ruby Files Volume 1 by Rob Moran, Airship 27 Productions
Mystery Men (And Women) III by Rob Davis, Airship 27 Productions
The Adventures of Lazarus Gray Volume 2: Die Glocke by George Sellas, Pro Se Productions
Robin Hood: Arrow of Justice by Rob Davis, Airship 27 Productions
The Moon Man Volume 1 by Ralf van der Hoeven, Airship 27 Productions
Sentinels: Metalgod by Chris Kohler, White Rocket Books
In the bleak midwinter (or whatever you call this part of January; there’s snow on the ground and it’s super-cold here and the heat’s not working, is all I know) we could all use a little cheering up, and a reminder that there’s more to the world than ice and the howling wind.
In fact, there are people! Friendly, cheerful, sociable (and warm!) people, just waiting to be our friends or date us or possibly some combination of the two. But it can be easy to forget there are other people out there when it’s so cold all you want to do is stay inside huddled under a fleece blanket and a barskin cloak (what? That’s just me? Oh.). And when you do eventuallyventure out from under your space heater that you’ve hung directly above your bed (to accompany the ones on either side of it, of course), you may have forgotten a step or two in the dance of social niceties, which requires practice to maintain. That’s why I invited everyone’s favorite sunshine-y relationship advisor to stop by and do a guest appearance on my column!
…Okay, that’s not exactly what happened. Maybe I had to go out of town this past weekend, and I didn’t have a ton of time just lying around in which to share my usual deep insights into the human and geek psyche with you, and maybe Rorschach just happened to stop by right after receiving some letters from honest citizens in desperate need of some social advice, and maybe he had nothing better to do, all his cans of beans and sugar cubes being neatly stacked already and the weather keeping most people from committing any obvious crimes on the streets…and so maybe I suggested he take over my column this week for my own selfish reasons, e.g. so I could pack for my trip.
And maybe this is all actually my friend Viv’s fault, because she is the one who originally suggested the previous advice column which first brought us the never-ending gift of Rorschach sharing his valuable social insights.
Regardless! Here he is, ready to share his wisdom with the masses! Lucky masses.
Rorschach’s Advice Column: January 29, 2013
Arrived in Washington, D.C. for meeting of dedicated crime fighters, to find “dedicated” crime fighters cowering and shivering behind closed doors. Pathetic scum, lacking moral conviction to protect city in face of wind and moderate-to-light snowfall. Reduced to helpless, shut-in imbeciles by thin layer of white on roadways. This city would weep for its weak protectors, but knows they also whimper at sight of icy rain.
Only reason crime not rampant in streets tonight is that people of this city are weaker than mewling “crime fighters,” who patrol alleyways only on warmer days. Crime fighters afraid to fight crime with runny noses. Can’t brave slight discomfort for greater justice. Can’t see that all that is needed to defeat crime and cold is trench coat, scarf, fedora, and fists. All I had as I walked streets tonight.
Tonight, a man dated in D.C. Then wrote letter asking my advice. Have tried to stop misguided weak-willed inhabitants of city from sending letters begging my perspective on their lives as they wallow in frozen slurry of self-loathing and despair. Can’t. Not even by breaking thumbs. Tried this last week. Man with broken thumbs cried. Then asked if he should send flowers to angry girlfriend. Left in disgust.
A man dated tonight, and nobody cares. Not even me. Will answer letters anyway, though, as answering letters passes time until miscreant am lying in wait for leaves bar.
Letter #1
Dear Rorschach,
How do I know if this woman I’ve met is The Right One?
Thanks,
@Vitt311
Vitt,
Will answer question but then you must answer mine: were parents hippies? Who names child Vitt? Is that even name? Why does it contain numbers and symbols? Suspect an alias. Perhaps spy?
So. You went out. Probably to seedy bar. Bought drink. Talked to woman. Suddenly you discover Ms. Right. Convenient.
But she is not Ms. Right. Here is how I know: there is no Ms. Right. Relationships are farce. Also unimportant. All that matters is justice. And beans.
~RR~
P.S. Do not try to trace this response, spy; you will fail.
P.P.S. Do not turn around. I am standing behind you but do not wish you to see me yet. Not until I am ready.
Letter #2
Mr. Rorschach,
How does a hamster find Mr./Ms. Right?
Sincerely,
@bicyclefish
Fish on Bicycle:
Are you also spy? Do you know @Vitt311? Your name also gibberish and symbols. Possibly occult. Clearly is conspiracy. Will need to get to bottom of this. Hrm.
As for question: Rodents do not discriminate with mates. Can’t be discussing rodents. Must be code. Are “Hamsters” new street gang? Why have I not heard of them? Must investigate.
Well. If you are spy or miscreant gang member, there will never be a Mr./Ms. Right for you. You will always be alone. And probably in jail.
~RR~
P.S. If you are not miscreant (unlikely) see previous question for answer.
P.P.S. Also send me full name, and address of your dwelling, as all you have given in letter is gibberish name and P.O. Box. This is not sufficient. Will need to question you further about these “Hamsters.”
Letter #3
Dear Mr. Rorschach;
If you are a spy, is it okay to date another spy at a rival agency, under the assumption that hilarity will ensue? Same question, but for Glee coaches.
@BenjaminPFisher
Fishy Benjamin,
You claim to be a spy, yet use real name. Must be trap. Hrm.
Spies are not hilarious. Do not joke about spies. Or spy conspiracy. Which you are clearly part of.
Beginning to suspect advice column being used as spy trap to lure me in and pick off another costumed hero. Is obvious now, really. And Dreiberg called me paranoid.
Am done answering letters until have uncovered whole of spy ring out to get me. Will hunt you down, all of you, and exact justice for this persecution. Don’t bother to beg for mercy. There will be no compromise.
~RR~
P.S. If did use real name, you are very bad spy.
P.P.S. What is Glee coach? Is this spy code? Sounds leftist.
• • • • •
Hey guys, it’s Emily! So…I just got back and Mike showed me the results of my latest experiment with guest writers. Uh…yeah, maybe inviting Rorschach over to play wasn’t such a good idea. But I don’t have time to write something new at this late date, so…sorry? And he didn’t really mean it, about the spy thing. And hunting people down. Not really. I don’t think. Um.
…Until next time, Servo Lectio?
P.S. I really am sorry.
P.P.S. I hope he’s not standing behind anyone right now.
I guess they’re not kidding about this “dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return” business. After 1,699 issues and 42 years of publication, what began as the brainchild of 17-year-old Alan Light and, after a few earlier names was finally and best known as The Comics Buyer’s Guide – CBG for short – has reached its end.
I don’t think I ever paid for an issue of the paper but, thanks to the generosity of its publishers, I read a lot of them. When I was sitting behind various editorial desks CBG would appear in the mail once a week and when I had some spare time I’d page through it, reading this and that. It wasn’t a big part of my professional life, but it was nice.
Eventually, I did a short article for it. My idea was to make CBG’s readership aware of Harvey Pekar and his self-published and strange and unique comic book, American Splendor. Since Harvey didn’t truck in the usual comic book stuff, I thought that maybe CBG’s readers might be missing something that was unlike anything else on the market, something they’d like. I now wish I had a do-over. Though my intentions were pure, the piece I produced, I think, was patronizing, maybe because I didn’t, and don’t, know how to describe Harvey’s episodic autobiographies. He was an American original and his work doesn’t classify easily.
That regrettable bit of quasi-journalism printed and, one hopes, quickly forgotten, I no doubt thought I was done with CBG except for my weekly reading of it. But the best was yet to come. CBG played a small, but crucial, part in events that shaped the rest of my life. Cue organ chord.
Getting married is generally considered to be a life-shaper, no? And getting married to a teenage sweetheart you haven’t seen in 30 years, well…
To be brief: Marifran Reuter, nee McFarland, was teaching a parish school of religion in a St. Louis suburb. Talking to a student’s mom, she mentioned that she once dated a guy whose brother had the same name as the student’s father. Mom and teacher compared facts and, yes, the student’s dad was, indeed,the brother of the guy teacher had dated, long since moved to New York and working as a writer. Teach wrote writer a letter and, on the writer’s next midwestern visit, they met and talked until three in the morning. A bit later, during a phone conversation, Marifran told the writer that she’d be selling text books in Omaha during summer vacation. Uh-huh! So the writer, me, looked into CBG and found the name of a comic shop in Omaha. I called the shop and persuaded the proprietor to invite me for an autographing session on the June day that Marifran was hawking textbooks in the area. Then I called her and said that she wouldn’t believe what just happened – I had a gig in Omaha on the same day and why don’t we meet in Missouri and go together…
Would it have happened without CBG? I don’t know. But happen it did, and on a warm Nebraska night, we sat on a hillside and spoke the truth as we knew it and created the rest of our lives.
Comics About Cartoonists • Edited by Craig Yoe •192 pages • $39.99 retail in hardcover • IDW Publishing, on sale January 22nd
The creative life has its own circle of hell. The blank page, the blank canvas, the empty stage, all exist to remind us of our failure. When one is a professional with a deadline, the taunting is even more painful.
For those of us in the audience, it can also be excruciating. I don’t like songs about how difficult it is to be a rock star. I don’t like novels about how misunderstood teaching assistants can’t get laid.
But then it can also be fun. The Stunt Man is a wonderful movie about making movies. My Favorite Yearis a laff riot about writing television shows, and it’s one of my favorites. All That Jazz? It’s show time!
And now, Craig Yoe has put together an anthology of comics about creating comics, Comics About Cartoonists. It collects sketches and finished stories, newspaper strips and comic book covers from some of the most celebrated creators of the last century.
The book has comedy, horror, and romance. It has work by Jack Kirby, Winsor McKay, Steve Ditko, Ernie Bushmiller, Jack Cole, Al Capp, Milton Caniff, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Charles Schulz and lots, lots more. It has deep personal insight into the real lives of working stiffs, and also what happens to cartoonists when aliens attack.
To meet this deadline, I read the whole thing in one sitting, and that’s not something I would recommend to you, Constant Reader. There are only a few plots. Cartoonist has no idea, so he fells asleep and his characters have an adventure. Cartoonist isn’t appreciated by his editor. Cartoonist stumbles on plans for an alien invasion. Beautiful girl doesn’t realize that the dumpy guy who looks like the cartoonist is beautiful on the inside. I’m sure I would have enjoyed these stories more if I read them one at a time, instead of in a lump.
And then, it has Basil Wolverton, with a story that not only exhibits his energetic wit and exuberance, but dialogue that is so much fun it should be read out loud. I would pay for Childish Gambino to record it.
My favorite comic stories about comics were the ones Cary Bates and Elliott S. Maggin wrote themselves into with the Justice League. Yoe also doesn’t include Grant Morrison’s appearances in Animal Man. The rights were most likely not available, and all of these are too self-consciously meta for the book’s shaggy-dog aesthetic.
On the other hand, the book’s endpapers are old ads promising to teach you — yes, you! — how to make big money and attract beautiful women as a cartoonist. “Cartoon Your Way to Popularity and Profit” says one ad that goes on to promise you a “Laugh Finder.” That ad alone is darker and more meta than anything on the market today.
New Pulp Author Bobby Nash’s newest BEN Books release, FRONTIER, a collection of pulpy sci fi and space opera themed stories is now available as an ebook for Kindle and Nook. It is also as a paperback from BEN Books direct, which can be found here. Paperbacks will be available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble within a week.
PRESS RELEASE:
Frontier collects 9 sci fi short stories from Bobby Nash, author of Earthstrike Agenda, Evil Ways, and Deadly Games! Some of the rare tales presented in Frontier are reprints and others are in print there for the first time. The stories that make up Frontier happen on Earth, on alien planets, and in the deepest recesses of space. There’s action, adventure, horror, and even a little romance.
Stories included in Frontier:
SAMARITAN In deepest space, a research vessel rescues a survivor who asks to be returned home. The catch: her planet lies at the center of a black hole.
DREAMWEAVER Nathanial “Doc” Dresden wakes up in space, free floating above the moon. But he is not alone.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE MONSTERS GONE? Nathanial “Doc” Dresden and his team investigate bizarre happenings.
MIDWAY A meteor storm damages Midway station, a museum storage facility and frees an ancient creature from its icy tomb.
JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY ON OUTPOST 9 When war breaks out between neighboring worlds, the Outpost 9 space station is caught in the crossfire. Dr. Erin Moonshadow tries to save lives as chaos reigns around her.
THE DROP War. Ground troops are dispatched. Dropped from their starship, the troop transport is attacked and one of the soldiers is lost. Then things get strange.
NIGHTMARE IN AMBER Are a young man’s dreams of an interstellar war a product of his imagination or a prophecy of things to come?
THE GARDEN A survey crew discovers a veritable Garden of Eden. Is this paradise or is there a serpent in hiding, waiting to strike?
A JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY A one-page story that was doubled as an advertisement for a convention where Bobby was a guest. A fun experiment.
Illustrations in Frontier are by Bobby Nash and Jeff Austin.
The author shares the contents of the book as well as an essay on the making of the book on his website. You can read Bobby’s thoughts on Frontier here.
It used to be, when I was about to go home from the San Diego Comic-Con or some other show that required a stupidly long plane ride, I’d drop by the dealer’s area (you know, that ever-shrinking portion of the main floor where people would actually sell comic books at a “comic book convention”) and I’d blow about twenty bucks on stuff to read on the return trip. These purchases were almost exclusively of “funny” comic books.
Sadly, we have come to the point where, in the world of contemporary comics, the phrase “funny comic books” has evolved from a redundancy to an oxymoron and the funniest comic around these days is Deadpool – a title with a death count high on the Tarantino scale.
No, the funny books I’m referring to were, well, funny. One of my favorites was Bud Sagendorf’s Popeye, a somewhat maligned title because the Snoots insist upon comparing it to E.C. Segar’s newspaper creation. Whereas Sagendorf was Segar’s assistant on said feature, they were produced at different times for different audiences and they occupied different landscapes. You tell a story differently in a newspaper strip, usually ending each day with both something resembling a punch line as well as a hook or a cliffhanger to bring the reader back. In comics back in those ancient times, stories were self-contained with a beginning, a middle and an end.
And Bud Sagendorf’s Popeye was brilliant. He certainly got the characters right, employing Segar’s entire cast and adding a few great characters of his own. The stories were as compelling and entertaining as anything on the stands at the time – and we’re talking about a period that encompassed Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge, John Stanley’s Little Lulu, and Shelly Mayer’s Sugar and Spike.
Yes, I just compared Sagendorf to Barks, Stanley and Mayer. If you don’t like that, well, in the words of Mike Baron, you can bite my Twinkie.
Our pal Craig Yoe has brought this stuff back to the masses in IDW’s Classic Popeye series, and I see they’ve begun to anthologize their “early” issues (I think they’ve published six issues so far, so “early” is relative only to Doctor Who fans).
But that’s not why I’m writing this. Fooled you, didn’t I? Opening with a 385-word digression. My journalism teachers would plotz. No, I’m writing about a one-shot comic released last week that, on the face of it, seems like a cheesy exploitation gimmick or, in other words, my kind of comic book.
The aforementioned folks at IDW possess the Mars Attacks license as well as the Popeye contract. People think this is because IDW’s Chief Operating Officer Greg Goldstein was a honcho at Topps, the bubble gum people who created and own Mars Attacks. I don’t think that’s the reason. I think it’s because Goldstein has the same strain of arrested development that I do and, instead of growing up, we got into the comics business.
So IDW is doing what every other publisher does with such a property: they’re squeezing the licenses until their eyes pop. Which is why we’ve now got, of all things, Mars Attacks Popeye.
The effort of writer Martin Powell and artist Terry Beatty (yep, the guy who draws The Phantom Sundays and Ms. Tree and Batman and stuff) and edited by the professionally unusual Craig Yoe and Clizia Gussoni, this is one funny, clever and well-produced comic book. It didn’t have to be that; it easily could have been a stupid cheesy exploitation gimmick. No, in the finest American tradition, it is a solidly amusing and entertaining cheesy exploitation gimmick.
Stylistically, Mars Attacks Popeye is done as a Popeye comic in the finest Sagendorf tradition. It employs almost all of the Popeye cast going back to 1919 (not that I really should give away Olive Oyl’s true age) and they take on the advancing army of bubble gum card fame – this time, under the provocation of Popeye’s very own Doctor Doom, the Sea Hag.
Look, you’ve probably got an extra four bucks on you, but if you don’t roll a school kid or something and check it out. It’s about time we got us a funny funny book.
I’m nothing if not a slave to predictability and tropes. Sure, I wax poetic weekly on how I loathe authors and artists who fire off the same crap week in and week out,but I’m nothing if not a glorious hypocrite. So, after my “best and worst” article, what better to follow it up with a “New Year’s Resolution” article! Lest I be completely worthless to you, I promise to keep this punchy.
I resolve to wean myself from the teat of Marvel and DC. When I looked over my buy pile of books littered throughout my basement from the last few years, I’ve grown sick at the sight of so much mainstream chum. Not that I ever considered myself anything less than a mainstream whore before… it’s now with half a decade under my belt as an outsider indie guy, that I’ve decided to grow up, if only a little bit.
My rule of thumb has been pretty clear: every week that I have less than four books to buy, I will add one indie title to my list. Thus far, I’ve added Revival, Clone, and Nowhere Men. Two of which landed on Mike Gold’s list of awesome things. This obviously means I’m on the right track. Image, Valiant, Dark Horse, IDW, and the litany of unknowns are making me realize there’s so much more out there. More creativity. More unpredictability. More leaping from the cliff, and hoping to fly. It’s time to read what I sow; it’s time to tell Bob Wayne and Mickey Mouse I’m quitting (just a little bit, cause you know… I’m really liking Batman, Batgirl, and some Marvel Now titles).
I resolve to draw and write everyday. I’m not going to be a fool and say I’m “doing it for myself” because it’d be a lie. I’m going to write and draw more to do it for my company and my family. Not that I don’t love my day job, but let’s be real. Unshaven Comics gets where its going because we work at it. So, by proxy should I vow to write or draw everyday, I will presumably see Unshaven Comics be more lucrative. More than that though, the ideology is clear. The more you work at something, the better you’ll understand it. And while I presently work nearly every day as it stands? Making a concerted effort to spare time every day to do something for Unshaven Comics means there’s more chances at eventually becoming one step closer to semi-obscurity.
I resolve to make better connections with those in the industry – both here with my ComicMix mates and abroad. Unshaven Comics is traveling to 15-16 conventions this year. Simply put? There’s no excuse I shouldn’t be exercising my networking abilities. They’re what landed me here in the first place. As I stated last week, no better memory convention-wise comes to mind more than Baltimore, where I was in contact with Glenn Hauman, Mike Gold, and Emily Whitten, all of ComicMix fame. My hypothesis that possibly making ways to meet my other fellow contributors in the coming year could only benefit my growing rolodex of people I admire also knowing my name. Egotistical? Sure. But I’ve had breakfast with John Ostrander, so suck it.
I resolve to turn off the TV more. I realized over this “holiday break” of sorts how much worthless drivel I surround myself with when I’m home. I only actively watch TV in the last hour of consciousness. But the TV is on in my home basically from the time I get home to the time I go to bed. I tend to lazily leave the set on, with a cooking show, or rerun of The Cosby Show for background noise as I go about my business. Suffice to say, it’s silly of me to do so. Shutting off the set will give me an appreciation for when I turn it on. And maybe in a year’s time, I might just see the heavens part and drop my expensive cable bill in lieu of a Roku system. But that’s a long-game I plan on playing.
Lastly, I resolve to be a better columnist to you, my readers. I look over my body of work here at ComicMix, in 2012, and I certainly see some high points. But like many an artist, I also saw bouts of frustration on my part. Weeks where I had no real points to make outside the handful I’ve relied on: DC sucks. Marvel Sucks. Being an Indie Guy is hard. And so forth. So, in 2013, I vow to return to those tropes only when there is new meat on the bone. I’ll seek out bold and new directions to tantalize you from. I’ll strive to make you angrier, sadder, happier, or flameier. I’ll do everything in my power to remain relevant, and entertaining to you. And I’ll do it all with a smile.
Thanks for sticking with me for another year. The only place to go from here? Up, up, and away.
