As I wrote a few weeks ago, this is a great time to enjoy non-realistic fiction. Technology has evolved to the point that, even with no budget, people can tell the most fantastic, unimaginable stories without spending millions of dollars.
As an example, there are two different broadcast network television shows this year based on classic fairy tales. They’re very different, appealing, I suspect, to different audiences. Let’s discuss.
NBC’s Grimmis, in my opinion, the better show. It’s premise is that there is a race of people, Grimms, who hunt down supernaturally evil creatures from folklore, like trolls and ogres and giants. The last Grimm is a young married police detective, Nick Burkhardt, played by David Giuntoli (who looks a lot like Brandon Routh). He is helped in his investigations by a charming werewolf, Silas .
As you might expect from that premise, this series owes a lot of its structure to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. So you won’t be surprised that the producersworked on Buffy show and the spin-off, Angel, as well as movies. The other two producers have experience in comedy.
The show is paced very much a police procedural, with a crime committed at the beginning of the show that must be solved by the end. The only difference is that the criminals are almost all supernatural, and Burkhardt is the only one who knows. There’s also a continuing story about some kind of conspiracy against the Grimms, one that the chief of police seems to be in on. The relationships among the characters seem real, the town seems like a place where people actually live, and the hero is happily married (at least so far), which is refreshing. Too many shows rely on the sexual attraction between two characters and a “will they or won’t they” dynamic to provide suspense.
By contrast, Once Upon a Time is much more of a soap opera, which is appropriate, given that it’s the lead-in for Desperate Housewives. The premise here is that the fairy tale characters have unknowingly left their dimension because of a spell by the Evil Queen, and now live Storybrooke, with no memory of their true identities.
As with Grimm, every week there is a mystery to solve. The sheriff, Emma Stone, is a former bail bondsman who was brought to Storybrooke by her long-lost son, Henry, who was adopted by Regina, the Mayor. As you might expect from that name, Regina is the evil queen.
Appropriate to a series with a queen, Once Upon a Time is campy fun. There are lots of knowing winks to Disney films, and the comic book rack at the drugstore has only Marvel titles. The child psychologist who works with Henry is, in the fairy tale universe, Jiminiy Cricket. Hilariously, his name on our world is Archie.
Best of all, the mysterious Mr. Gold is played by Robert Carlyle, an actor who can do anything. In Trainspotting, he was a scary psychopath. In The Full Monty, he was adorable. He was a Bond villain. He was Hitler. This show doesn’t give him enough to do.
The Evil Queen is always evil. The good guys are always good. The characters are not as complex as those on Grimm. However, half the time, they get to dress up like royalty.
As I said, I think Grimm works better overall. If you can only watch one, choose that. I can’t imagine why you would have to so limit yourself. Maybe that will be next season’s fantasy series.
Well that’s not really true. If you know anything about my history you will know the last thing I’d ever do is kiss ass.
It’s simply not in my DNA not now, not ever. I’ve been in many a situation where a well place smack on someone’s ass would have been very beneficial to me but I just couldn’t do it.
I’ve tried to kiss some ass. I really have. I wanted to kiss some ass. I was even looking forward (she was fine) to kissing some ass at one point but I just… could… not…do it.
What always stops me is my inability to show respect to those who do not deserve it.
Respect is a very big thing with me. I’d rather have someone’s respect than just about anything else. To get my respect is not hard on a personal level all I really need on that level is for you to treat me with respect and you have mine.
On a professional level getting my respect is not easy. I’m not the guy to tip toe around people’s absence of professionalism. If you have ever read any of my articles on Michael Davis World (plug!) then you may have noticed a recurring theme in my rants: customer service or the lack there of.
I don’t care if you are an artist, IBM or Larry the Hot Dog Vender, if I’m going to write you a check for your services your professionalism had better be your A game. Anything less than an A game I’ll never work with you or use your services again. You can forget any respect I may have had for you because that my friend, like the old south, is gone with the wind.
Chief among all the reasons I have for liking The New 52 from DC is the massive amount of respect I have because DC went there.
DC comics went where no other comic book company in the world went before: they started over. If the books sucked which they still would have had my respect. There are some in The New 52 that have left me wondering why they went into the direction they went but for the most part I like or love what they have done.
Liking or even loving what DC Comics did with the re-boot creatively is not the main reason I like The New 52. It’s really about respect and balls.
I respect the balls the editors at DC showed in going there.
Every die-hard comic book fan has thought how cool it would be to completely overhaul a comic book universe. The fan forums are filled with what’s wrong with DC, what the problem is with Marvel, or what was Dark Horse thinking? I don’t think there is any comic book universe that is so darn cool that everyone agrees they are doing everything right. I’ll let you in on a little secret; I’m a closet Archie fan. Actually, I’m a huge fan of Little Archie. I’m not sure they even do Little Archie stories anymore but when I was a kid I loved me some Little Archie.
That’s the only comic book universe I had no problem with. The Little Archie universe was perfect to me. Because I was such a fan of Little Archie I tried the regular Archie books.
After reading the regular Archie books for a while I decided if I ran the Archie universe the first thing I would do was have Archie tap Veronica and Betty’s ass.
Hell, I’d have Archie tap them both at the same time. You think that’s bad? Then you don’t want to know the plans I had for Mr. Fantastic.
That’s why it’s good not to have fan’s revamp comic book universes.
Like any young fan, I often wondered why comic book companies don’t do the obvious. Why can’t Uncle Ben come back? Why did Gwen Stacy have to stay dead? Why doesn’t Superman tap the ass of all those people whose initials are LL?
Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lucy Lane, Lori Lemaris? If I were in charge of the Superman Universe Clark would have had some serious LL booty. I mean the LL list is endless!
Lara Lor, Linda Lang, Lighting Lad, Lex Luthor…eh…wait a sec…maybe tapping all the LL’s is not a great idea after all. Another reason it seems that fans should not be in charge of universes.
So, as fans we don’t have the power to make massive changes in our comic book universes but why don’t the comic companies make massive cool ass changes a lot more?
Yes. Every so often some new event happens that sorta, kinda, changes stuff but not really. Not like you are I would have changed it.
Massive, cool, earth shattering new shit that will be the envy of all of comicdom!
DC went there.
However, as easy as it may seem to fans to simply hit the reset button it’s not easy at all. You may think as I did when I was just a fan that imagination is all you really need to run a comic book universe and you would be as wrong as I was.
If you are Larry Comics and you started your comic book company a couple of years ago you can reboot all you want and the only people you have to please is your new fan base.
DC Comics has been around since 1935. That’s a lot of history to muck with.
The people at DC Comics just couldn’t sit in a room and decide to do this. That’s not how it works in the real world. The people who came up with the reboot idea had to sell that idea to the parent company and that parent company is Time Warner. Time Warner is one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world.
I’m not sure what kind of relationship DC has with Time Warner. Time Warner could be completely hands off. I doubt it, but that could be the case. DC may have complete control over the comics and Time Warner may not give a sheet.
I’d think something this big would have had to be run up the flagpole at corporate on some level. Again, I’m not aware of DC’s relationship with Time Warner so I can only speculate from my own corporate experience.
I’ve been President or President and CEO at a few entertainment companies and any major decision over a certain dollar amount I made had to be at presented to the powers that be on some level.
When I ran Motown Animation & Filmworks I was hired to create, develop and sell film and television properties. When I decided to do a comic book line, Motown Machineworks, I had to create a business plan, present it to my boss and hope to God it did not crash and burn.
That’s what a lot of fans don’t understand about comics. It’s a fantastic medium and great entertainment, but it’s a business.
Whoever came up with the reboot and then sold the idea to corporate had good creative intentions to be sure but something that big has a lot more to worry about than creative ideas.
Regardless if the ideas were great or if Time Warner is hands off or not, if the reboot would have been a dismal failure heads may have rolled.
This is the real world folks, with great power comes great responsibility is truer in the real world than in comics. Peter Parker fails to stop a guy who then busts a cap in his Uncle is tragic but at any point Marvel could change that.
Real people put their careers in play on some level. I don’t know to what extent those people were at risk if at all but something as big as a reboot it stands to reason that someone’s ass would be on the line if it went south.
It’s easy to talk a big game when it’s not your ass on the line. It’s not so easy when that great power comes with a great responsibility that could result in you having a real bad ending to your story.
Once, longer than a while ago, at this time of year, I would make a list of what were, in my opinion, the year’s ten best and ten worst movies. I was writing a column, on movies, for Marvel’s Epic Magazine, and I saw that as part of the job. Not that anybody told me that it was something I had to do, or even should do. But isn’t that a movie critic’s duty? Make these year-end lists? Then, after a year or two, I realized that I was blowing about ten percent of the annual column inches available to me on the year’s worst list and…accomplishing what?
Not much. Nothing, in fact. Unless you count taking easy shots – one liner-type – at other people’s work. Might have made me appear…oh hell, what? Clever? Sophisticated? Maybe witty? Or was it snottiness masquerading as wit?
You may be familiar with Dorothy Parker’s line about Katharine Hepburn: “She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.” Clever, sophisticated, witty – traits Ms. Parker had solid claim to. But what does it really tell you about Ms. Hepburn, her acting, her rendering of any one role? Are we shedding any light here, friends?
Anyone who’s ever presumed to write or act or sing or dance or tell jokes or do tricks with a yo-yo for others’ entertainment knows that sometimes you miss the mark. Usually it’s not for want to effort. Such failures might merit regret, but not ridicule.
I eighty-sixed the ten worst list, and I doubt that anyone ever missed it. Including me. Including Epic’s editor, Archie Goodwin.
Archie, editor, colleague, friend and the nicest man I ever met, is gone now these…is it really 13 years? I still remember him and sometimes mention him when lecturing. At times of festivity – the holidays; right now – the absence of someone like Archie dims the lights a bit, maybe makes the laughter occasionally forced.
We’ve lost other good and valuable men in 2011, we denizens of the funny book world. Eduardo Barreto. Joe Simon. And Jerry Robinson.
I’ve seen a bit of Jerry these past five years and, always, it was a pleasant experience. But I didn’t realize that he was ill. The other night, Danny Fingeroth, who’d also seen a lot of Jerry recently, told me that Jerry was battling illness for much of that time. Jerry expressed concern when I had a brush with mortality, but said very little about his own problems.
He was gallant, and brave, and in the best sense of the word, a gentleman.
Here, we end our dark-day rumination. It’s Christmas Eve as I write this, fully night, and I’ve had enough of gloom. Pretty soon, Marifran and I will get into her noble Honda Civic and go hither in search of a few groceries – and to see what kind of Christmas decorations our fellow Rocklanders are displaying for our edification.
2012 is waiting in the wings and we welcome it. (Well, okay, we don’t have a lot of choice, but we smile a welcoming smile anyway.)
So ends my catechism.
(Editor’s Note: For those who are not in possession of visual reference, the photo above is of our friend Archie Goodwin.)
It’s the end of the year and everybody’s got their Top 10 list, and since I went to journalism school I’m obligated to list mine. I’m looking at titles that were released in 2011 because cover dates are meaningless. I’m not looking at original graphic novels or reprint projects, even though in dollar volume they constitute the majority of my purchases. Besides, original graphic novels are done to very different standards. Finally, some of these titles are done by friends of mine; I refuse to disqualify them because they just might buy me lunch. Having said all that…
#1 – Life With Archie Magazine (Archie)
Top of my list for the second year straight. Two stories – Archie marries Veronica, Archie marries Betty. Parallel worlds which converge, but that’s not why this book is great. There’s very real character development here, layered on personalities that existed for 70 years without it. We watch them grow, not into adults, but as adults. Better still, the most interesting character in both series is Reggie Mantle! Paul Kupperberg writes this, with art from Norm Breyfogle, Fernando Ruiz, Pat and Tim Kennedy and a host of others.
#2 – Tiny Titans (DC)
If you see this as a kid’s comic, that’s great, particularly if you’re a kid. If you see this as a brilliant loving satire of DC Comics and its convoluted universe, that’s great too, particularly if you’re an “adult.” Art Baltazar and Franco are pushing towards 50 issues here, and there ain’t a clunker in the bunch.
#3 – Elric: The Balance Lost (Boom)
Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion has been in the hands of a lot of comics creators and a lot of comics publishers, and the output has been… inconsistent. This latest series is among the very best: all of the various shades of Elric are here, and interweaved through the storyline are very contemporary elements and environs. Good stuff from Chris Roberson and Francesco Biagini.
#4 – Daredevil (Marvel)
Once again, Mark Waid does what he does best: he takes a well-established character that, like all well-established comics characters, has been covered in paint about a dozen too many times and strips it back down to the wall, preserving everything that made the character work while imbuing it with a contemporary environment. On this series, he’s going just that – and he’s doing it better than ever. Penciler Marcos Martin ain’t no slouch, neither. This is a real superhero book.
#5 – Justice League Dark (DC)
This one’s my surprise of the year. While very little of DC’s New 52 answers the question “why bother,” this one takes a bunch of characters of a somewhat mystical nature and thrusts them, Justice League like, into a trauma vastly larger than any one of them… and maybe all of them. Sort of like The Defenders, with all the style and John Constantine’s wit. Peter Milligan’s DC work has been inconsistent for me (I tend to prefer his U.K. work), but I’m glad I checked this one out. Mikel Jann draws the series. Very different… and very good.
#6 – Fly (Zenoscope)
I reviewed Raven Gregory and Eric J’s series about a recreational drug that gives kids the power to fly way back here. I liked it then, I like it now. Of course it’s out in trade paperback, so if you blew me off in August, give it a shot now.
#7 – Red Skull (Marvel)
Retrofitting a backstory onto a well-established character is a gambit that is often ill conceived and, worse, boring. Not this one. Greg Pak and Mirko Colak take us back to the villain’s adolescence where we learn – definitively – where his allegiances truly lie… and why. The fact that it’s got the best covers I’ve seen on a mini-series in a long while doesn’t hurt, either.
#8 – Batgirl (DC)
I don’t have a clue about how this series fits into any continuity, current or past. I’m told it does. What I do know is that this is a series about a young woman who’s trying to reestablish herself as a superhero after enduring traumas that shattered her body and soul. She’s not necessarily great at being a superhero, but she’s giving it all she’s got. This is exactly what I expect out of Gail Simone, and that is a very high standard. Adrian Syaf offers solid and exciting storytelling.
#9 – Action Comics (DC)
I went here because of Rags Morales’ art – I’d buy Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes if Rags drew the box – and I stayed for Grant Morrison’s innovative and engrossing script. This is the all-new young Superman, before he figured out what to wear on the job. It’s set well before the all-new older Superman in his eponymous title. I don’t know how this leads up to that, and I don’t care. This is supposed to hold up on its own, and it does. I’ll get over the slap in history’s face with the numbering (if such lasts); this is the best-produced Superman title in a decade-and-a-half.
#10 – To my friends who didn’t make this list: each of you came in tied for #10. Now go fight it out.
Notice how there aren’t any teevee or movie tie-ins? I never warmed up to that stuff. Not even as a kid. Which means it took me a while to realize Steve Ditko actually drew Hogan’s Heroes.
I have no doubt that within weeks at least two of the above-named will start to suck. Like all commercial media, comic books are subject to the whims of the lords and ladies of irony. But as a professional cynic, these titles and perhaps another half-dozen meet and exceed my bizarrely encrusted standards. Your opinions might differ, and that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wrong.
Of course not.
Extra: Happy birthday wishes to fellow columnist Marc Alan Fishman, who turns 30 today and, therefore, is old enough to know better. His son turns 0 in about a month.
Extra-Extra: Thanks to Gatekeeper Glenn for saving my life this year.
Holiday-themed comics have long been a tradition, along with holiday-themed… everything else. That’s cool; if you can’t make a buck pushing Santy Claus, when can you?
As far as our four-color medium is concerned, we inherited the tradition from the newspaper strips. These guys went all-out, and back when there were still a lot of continuity strips stories would be interrupted for Christmas and New Years (Hanukkah rarely, Kwanza, Ramadan and Saturnalia never) or, better still, holiday themes would be incorporated into the ongoing story. This was carried over into proto-comic book form when Will Eisner and his largely Jewish crew produced their annual “Christmas Spirit” story.
Outside of Santy-themed covers, it took a while for the comic book publishers to reliably produce annual holiday fare. The two that lasted the longest where Archie’s Christmas Stocking (with variations on that title, including the all-embracing evil “holiday” word) which started in 1954, and DC’s Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, licensed from Robert L. May, who owned the glowing streetkill. That title commenced in 1950. Dell had special Christmas editions of the various Disney and Warner Bros. cartoon characters, and before long most other publishers jumped on the sleigh.
As a child, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer confused me. That’s a statement you don’t often read, but it’s true. The original series ran for twelve years, which meant twelve issues. All were unnumbered. At some point I understood DC didn’t number their first issues (I later discovered why), but I knew Rudolph to be an annual event. A collector even as a child, I wanted to know how many issues I had missed. The title continued in various formats – giants, tabloids – until it was no longer worth the licensing fee. Yet holiday-dedicated superhero comics continued; DC was way ahead of the curve with its Holiday Special (sic) going back at least to 1980.
This year, we continue to have holiday output from Archie – including a trade reprint of Stocking stories – and a pretty nifty tome from Marvel that first appeared as individual digital stories. This latter book is one of my favorite Marvels of 2011. But unless I overlooked a page in the Diamond catalog, nothing from DC Comics. No Christmas title, no Holiday title, nothing from the company that pretty much started it all.
At first I thought Mark Waid just didn’t need the money this year and is probably overbooked writing every seventh title published. But then it dawned on me.
Maybe Bill O’Reilly is right. Maybe there is a War On Christmas. After all, those bleeding hearts at Warner Bros. studios now have full control of the company, and Bill and his friends at the New York Post keep telling us they’re heartless bastards. I guess this is proof.
O.K. Fine. I’ve got my Marvel holiday comic, and my Archie reprints, and besides, I firmly believe there ain’t no sanity clause. But I’m sentimental enough to wish you-all a wonderful holiday season.
[[[Government Issue: Comics For The People, 1940s-2000s]]] By Richard L. Graham Abrams Comic Arts, 304 pages, $29.95
The rich history of comics is also one of the public’s perception of it being mainly for children. What is only recently being uncovered are the many ways comics have been used beyond cheap entertainment for the masses. As early as 1940, Will Eisner saw their potential and he was among the first to use the graphic form for educational purposes with what became P*S, the preventative maintenance magazine produced by the Army. During World War II, Stan Lee wrote comics to explain how forms need to be filled out and DC Comics did special editions of Superman to help teach America’s soldiers to improve their reading.
Now, we’re learning that the Federal Government has long been a proponent of using comics as educational and propaganda tool, dating back to the field’s infancy. Thankfully, Richard Graham has done the spadework that has uncovered the full flavor of material offered using your tax dollars. Government Issue is actually an important addition to our comics history, demonstrating the reach of the format and the value placed on its ability to communicate with the masses
Graham organizes his book by different subject matter – “military,” “employment and economics,” “Civil Defense, Safety and Health,” and “Landscapes and Lifestyles” – so you can get a better sense of how far-ranging this had become. And like most government operations, there was no central plan or design; no comics czar to ensure federally-produced comics met certain criteria for quality of accuracy. As a result, we see a variety of writing and artistic styles brought to bear in conveying the information to its intended audience. One of the worst results of this lack of control has to be the ham-fisted writing and terrible artwork accepted by the military for a piece on how homosexuals should consider admitting their persuasion to superior officers during the period of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
Comics made the mainstream news only with some event regular folk could understand and think was worth going into a comic book store for the first time…ever.
Superman is dead.
Superman gets married. Which is the same thing as being dead.
Spider-Man gets married.
Spider-Man becomes Latino and black.
Spider-Man gets divorced (because he became Latino and black).
Archie kisses a black girl.
Archie is booted out of the Tea Party (you know why).
The news that DC is being kicked out of major bookstore chains because of an exclusive deal they made with Amazon is messing with my head.
That’s not the only thing either, I read an article in Wired magazine recently that stated that iPads could both revolutionize and destroy the industry.
Again. My head is being messed with.
I don’t want to see mainstream media talk about comics unless it’s a new comic book movie, Comic Con or Archie uses the ‘N’ word during a argument with his black girl friend.
Yes, I know I’m being naïve. Yes I know that comics are a business and change is inevitable, yada, yada, whatever. I get that.
But…
I long for a return to the good old days when the press would make a big deal out of The Death Of Superman and regular folk would be naive enough to buy dozens of copies because it never occurred to them that Superman would be back.
“It’s a comic book you moron.” I said to about a zillion people who were shocked that Superman was not dead forever so the 50 copies they purchased along with the 50 billion sold would not be so valuable as to put the kids through college.
I remember a “regular folk” about to pay a retailer $40 bucks for two copies of The Death Of Superman at a NY Comic Con when the very same issue was cover priced at a newsstand in the lobby of the Javits Center where the con was being held.
I told the guy about the newsstand price and assured him they still had plenty of copies left. He thanked me like I just handed him a winning lottery ticket. Man, was he happy!
The retailer, not so much.
Yes, mainstream press, give me that kind of comic book news and keep your gloom and doom for what you do best: Lindsey Lohan.
Continuing a great and long-standing tradition, about 90 of our top newspaper comic strips will be commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on and in Boston MA, New York City NY, Newark NJ, Shanksville PA and Washington DC by producing special strips, with each cartoonist making his or her individual comment on the event.
Strips that will be participating include Agnes, Apt. 3-G, Archie, Arctic Circle, Ask Shagg, B.C., Baby Blues, Barney & Clyde, Beakman And Jax, Beetle Bailey, Between Friends, Big Nate, Bleeker The Rechargeable Dog, Blondie, Brewster Rockit: Spaceguy!, Buckets, Buckles, Candorville, Chuckle Bros, Crankshaft, Curtis, Daddy’s Home, Deflocked, Dennis The Menace, Dick Tracy, Dog Eat Doug, Dogs Of C-Kennel, Doonesbury, Dustin, Edge City, Elderberries, Fastrack, Fort Knox, Freshly Squeezed, Funky Winkerbean, Gasoline Alley, Grand Avenue, Hagar The Horrible, Heart Of The City, Heathcliff, Heaven’s Love Thrift Shop, Herb And Jamaal, Hi And Lois, Home And Away, Ink Pen, Lacucaracha, Lio, Little Dog Lost, and Luann.
Continuing our alphabetical list: Mallard Fillmore, Mark Trail, Marvin, Mary Worth, Momma, Mother Goose & Grimm, Mutts, Nancy, Ollie & Quentin, On A Claire Day, One Big Happy, Over The Hedge, Pardon My Planet, Pluggers, Pooch Caf’e, Prickly City, Pros & Cons, Real Life Adventures, Red Rover, Reply All, Retail, Rhymes With Orange, Rubes, Safe Havens, Sally Forth, Sherman’s Lagoon, Shoe, Six Chix, Snuffy Smith, Speed Bump, Stone Soup, Strange Brew, Tank Mcnamara, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Brilliant Mind Of Edison Lee, The Duplex, The Family Circus, The Meaning Of Lila, The Other Coast, The Pajama Diaries, Tina’s Groove, Todd The Dinosaur, Wizard Of Id, Zack Hill, Zippy, and Zits.
Further, special exhibits and presentations will be made at The Newseum in Washington, D.C., The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, The Toonseum in Pittsburgh, and The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) andThe Society of Illustrators, both in New York City. Contact the individual museums or go to http://cartoonistsremember911.com/ for more information.
2:40: And that’s the way to end the show! Enjoy the after parties, everybody!
2:35: Best Graphic Album-New: TIE! Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee (Archaia); Wilson, by Daniel Clowes (Drawn & Quarterly)
2:31: Best Graphic Album-Reprint: Wednesday Comics, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC)
2:28: Best Adaptation from Another Work: The Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)
2:18: Best Continuing Series: Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)
2:13: Best Limited Series: Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)
2:11: That King fella on American Vampire has talent. Of course, he’s no Joe Hill…
2:08: Best New Series: American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC)
2:06: Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award: Nate Simpson for Nonplayer
2:03 AM: Best Reality Based Work: It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)
2:00 AM: Best Single Issue (or One-Shot): Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)
1:56: Best Short Story:“Post Mortem,” by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, in I Am an Avenger #2 (Marvel)
1:52: Best Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit (IDW)
1:48: Best Writer: Joe Hill, Locke & Key (IDW)
1:41: Hey, look, everybody! It’s John Stewart, Virgil Hawkins, Remy LeBeau and Samurai Jack!
1:36: In Memoriam. Can we have a year where we don’t need this segment, please?
1:31: Voters’ Choice for Eisner Hall Of Fame: Roy Thomas, and Marv Wolfman.
1:28: Voters’ Choice for Eisner Hall Of Fame: Harvey Pekar.
1:23: Voters’ Choice for Eisner Hall Of Fame: Mort Drucker! Congratulations to one of the usual gang of idiots.
1:16: Hall Of Fame Inductees: Ernie Bushmiller, Jack Johnson, Martin Nodell, and Lynd Ward.
1:04: Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia: Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
1:00 AM: Best U.S. Edition of International Material: It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)
12:51: Best Archival Collection/Project-Strips: Archie: The Complete Daily Newspaper Strips, 1946–1948, by Bob Montana, edited by Greg Goldstein (IDW)
12:47: Best Anthology: Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, edited by Paul Morrissey and David Petersen (Archaia)
12:44: Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, presented by Ruth Clampett to Patrick McDonnell (Mutts)
12:41: Best Publication Design: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer Artist’s Edition, designed by Randall Dahlk (IDW)
12:38: Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Books: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
12:35: Best Comics-Related Book: 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, by Paul Levitz (TASCHEN)
12:31: Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism: ComicBookResources, produced by Jonah Weiland (www.comicbookresources.com)
12:28: Best Cover Artist: Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Baltimore: The Plague Ships (Dark Horse)
12:25: Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art): Juanjo Guarnido, Blacksad (Dark Horse)
12:22: Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team: Skottie Young, The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel)
12:11: The Bill Finger Excellence in Comics Writing Awards go to Bob Haney and Del Connell.
12:08: Best Digital Comic: Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl, www.abominable.cc
12:05: Best Lettering: Todd Klein, Fables, The Unwritten, Joe the Barbarian, iZombie (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (WildStorm/DC); SHIELD (Marvel); Driver for the Dead (Radical)
Best Coloring: Dave Stewart, Hellboy, BPRD, Baltimore, Let Me In (Dark Horse); Detective Comics (DC); Neil Young’s Greendale, Daytripper, Joe the Barbarian (Vertigo/DC)
12:02: Best Humor Publication: I Thought You Would Be Funnier, by Shannon Wheeler (BOOM!)
11:57: Best Publication for Teens: Smile, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic Graphix)
11:54: Best Publication for Kids: Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)
11:30 EDT: And awaaaaay we go! Fellow NYU classmates Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant take the stage.
Welcome to our coverage of the 2011 Eisner Awards ceremony from the San Diego Comic-Con. We’ll be updating this post throughout the evening, boldfacing the winners as they’re announced. You can also follow our updates by following ComicMix on Twitter or Facebook.
Leading the 2011 nominees with five nominations is Return of the Dapper Men, a fantasy hardcover by writer Jim McCann and artist Janet Lee and published by Archaia, with nominations for Best Publication for Teens, Best Graphic Album–New, Best Writer, Best Artist, and Best Publication Design. Two comics series have four nominations:Morning Glories by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma (published by Shadowline/Image) and Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (published by IDW). A variety of titles have received three nominations, including the manga Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys(VIZ Media), John Layman and Rob Guillory’s series Chew (Image), Daniel Clowes’s graphic novel Wilson (Drawn & Quarterly), and Mike Mignola’s Hellboy titles (Dark Horse).
The creator with the most nominations is Mignola with five (including cover artist), followed by Spencer and Hill, each with four. Several creators received three nominations: McCann & Lee, Rodriquez, Urasawa, and Clowes, plus writer Ian Boothy (for Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book and other Bongo titles) and cartoonist Jimmy Gownley (for Best Publication for Kids plus coloring and lettering on his Amelia Rules! series). 15 creators have two nominations each, a new record.
We are all serious about our Pulp, be we writers, artists, publishers, or fans. The goal of ALL PULP is to make sure you as a reader have all the insight and news we can provide you about All Things Pulp! That includes, although not frequently, whimsy. Yes, whimsy can exist within the stark black and white right and wrong world of Pulp. And the best whimsy of all is that which brings Pulp authors and Pulp style to the forefront. Enjoy the following whimsical, yet extremely valid Pulp post, wont you?
FROM DOC HERMES via DERRICK FERGUSON http://dochermes.livejournal.com/157023.html I posted this a few years ago, when I was plowing through pulp stories as if they were going to be taken away any minute. Finishing a Nero Wolfe story right after a Solomon Kane one gave me a whimsical idea.
These are fun to write, please feel free to add a few.
WHAT IF… Robert E Howard wrote a Nero Wolfe mystery?
It was ten o’clock on a dreary winter morning, and as Wolfe lowered his immense bulk behind his desk and rang for the first of his unending series of beers, I couldn’t take it any longer. “Another exciting day, I suppose. It’s fine for you. You’ve got those filthy orchids and pouring beer into your gut while you pretend to read some 700 page book on Hungarian politics. But what about me?”
Wolfe raised one eyebrow, which for him was a dramatic reaction and I exploded, venting all my long pent up rage. “I’m not a bloated product of civilization!” I snapped. “I’m six feet of lean muscle and rawhide, wide shouldered and narrow hipped. I burn to smash my fist into Inspector Cramers sneering mug, feeling his teeth splinter under my knuckles. By God, Im tempted to go down to Centre Street and litter that place with bleeding cops.”
“Archie, cease this flummery,” Wolfe said with that insufferable smugness that made a red haze of fury pass over my eyes. “Have you been reading those so-callled pulp magazines again? Every month when WEIRD TALES comes out, it has a deleterious effect on your demeanor.”
“Well, what of it!” I roared, leaping up with the speed of a starving panther. “When are we going to get a case where I can sink my blade deep in my enemys heart and carry off some buxom wench? A case with the stolen eye from some heathen idol or a death cult of slant eyed killers? I'm sick of these sissy cases where only one person gets killed!" Beneath my heavy black brows, my volcanic blue eyes burned hotly. <br><br>"Pfui," said Wolfe, marking his place with a bookmarker. "First, Archie, I must remind you that your eyes are dark brown and you are not Irish on either side. As we have discussed before, you are English and Dutch, with some Cherokee on your paternal grandmother's side. This Celtomania is fatuous, coming from a man who resembles Humphrey Bogart." <br><br>I barely restrained myself from pouncing upon him in a blur of savage motion. That accursed paycheck held my hand. <br><br>"Furthermore," Wolfe went on as calmly as if I were not poised to leap at him, my iron fists clenched, "Fritz is preparing lamb kidneys with dumplings, and blueberry tarts for lunch and you wouldnt want to miss that.”
He had me there. Fritz made dumplings with chopped beef marrow, duck eggs and lemon rind. I could easily keep up with Wolfe as far as dumplings went. And faint vapors of the blueberry variety were teasingly drifting into the office.
“Fine”, I gave in with ill grace, and returned to my desk where my copy of WEIRD TALES sat. Wolfe glanced at me and snorted almost inaudibly. “I should be grateful, I suppose, that you don’t read THE SPIDER”, he muttered.
_____________________ WHAT IF… Don Pendleton Wrote a Nancy Drew Story?
Stepping away from her sporty red roadster with its running boards and rumble seat, Nancy felt the breeze stir her golden hair. Yeah, it was a good day to be sixteen and a little princess. It was just too darn bad that for Carmine it would be his last day on Gods earth. <br><br>She had parked high on the hill overlooking Makeout Point, where teenagers had been parking under the summer moon for years. Nancy remembered that moon and her face flushed red as she gazed coldly down at the figure waiting for her below. <br><br>How had she ever thought that Carmine Salvucci could help her in her solving of mysteries? And what was an Italian family doing in Bayport anyway? Nancys lovely eyes narrowed into slits as she saw Carmine leaning against the fender of his own jalopy, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. Enjoy it, she thought, you darned little ruffian.
For a second, she touched the tiny hole where a button was missing from her pure white blouse with the blue collar, and her adorable mouth tightened. Then she turned and from the rumble seat she drew the thing she had taken from the closet of her father, noted detective Carson Drew. The Scheissekopf 374 (with the folding stock and chrome lined barrel) was a heavy weapon, and it took all her strength to lift it, much less hold it steady. But a girl had to do what was right in a world that was going to heck, no matter what the consquences. Yeah, she was determined to live large and stay firm. Soft but firm.
Carmine seemed to sense his danger for he suddenly flicked his butt to the ground and jerked his head up to look right at her. His eyes bugged out with raw terror and his jaw dropped so hard she heard the thump it made. Then she gently squeezed the trigger and a huge copper jacketed slug sizzled through the summer air to plow through Carmines face as it it wasnt there. And in fact, it wasnt there any longer. <br><br>Her shoulder ached from the recoil of the massive Scheissekopf but she didnt even feel it. She looked down grimly at the cold clay that a minute ago had been a high school student. “No one cops a feel off Nancy Drew,” she whispered.
____________________________ WHAT IF… H.P. Lovecraft Wrote a Lone Ranger Story?
THE UNPLEASANT KIVA
Despite the irridescent luminosity of the Arizona sun, which rivalled Hyperion in the late summer afternoon, the air around the Kiva had somehow a cold, clammy chill which carried a faint odious vapor with it. Even the scrub grass which grows sparsely in that land was absent around the foreboding area; the ground was black and barren, and they seen no sign of any living thing for nearly a mile.
Seated astride their splendid mounts, the masked man and his aboriginal comrade regarded the bleak structure with misgivings. Unlike the typical Kiva, religious structures used by the Indians of the American Southwest for their ancient heathen rituals, this structure stood by itself, far from the cliff dwelings. Its opening, surounded by a low adobe rim, resembled nothing so much as the phantasmagorical maw of some antedilivuian beast, the bones of which normally are only seen in museums.
“Cant recollect Ive ever laid eyes on a Kiva like that,” mused the Lone Ranger in a hushed tone. “How old would you say it is, Tonto?”
“Ugh, me not know,” replied his stoic coppery countenanced companion.
“Confound it!” the masked rider vented angrily. “I know you speak English, Spanish and half a dozen Indian dialects. How is it you cannot manage correct pronouns?”
As his friend turned his head in grieved silence, the Ranger regretted his outburst. Before moving to the wilderness of Texas, his family had been among the oldest and most prominent of the gentry in New England and his innate breeding should have given him the tact to avoid giving offense. “Walll”, he said after a silence, “Since three townsfolk have been missing after they expressed interest in the treasure allegedly buried in this pagan structure, it is our duty to investigate.”
Alighting from his steed, the Ranger uncoiled his trusty lariat from its hook on his saddle and fastened one end securely to a projection on the outer ring of the Kiva. As he placed one polished boot on the rim, he turned and said, “Tonto, perhaps you had best secure our steeds in the shadow of those rather withered and unhealthy trees, since the direct sunlight cannot be good for their health. Then wait for me to climb back up.”
The Indian brave took the reins of the great white stallion which was most appropriately named Silver, but there was apprehension on his lined face. By that, I mean Tontos face, not Silvers. “Kemo sabe, me think there is bad medicine in that hole. Me hear tales of the Old Ones who lived here in the long ago time, before even the red man. Maybe best you wait for me”. “Balderdash,” scoffed the noble champion of justice, flashing his brilliant smile. “What evil spirit can stand against silver bullets fired by one whose heart is pure?”
With obvious reluctance, the redman rode his painted pony to the shade, towing the magnificent argent beast with him, as behind him the masked man clambered lithely down the foreboding opening. Even as Tonto secured the reins to the trees, which did indeed look as if they had long been exposed to a malign influence, he heard the crisp retorts of two Colt revolvers being fired.
Faster than he would have thought possible, the agitiated brave raced back to the Kiva and thrust his weathered face over the opening, In his hand was his own weapon, drawing without his realized it. For only a second, he listened and then he whirled in fled in a dire panic dreadful to see in a man of such proven courage. The horse Silver he abandoned where it stood, later to be taken by wandering Navajo.
Tonto himself was a broken man after that, losing much weight and babbling dementedly, taking to strong drink and staying behind locked doors the remainder of his life. When asked what could have wrought such a change in his formerly heroic constitution, he would only mumble, “Chewing….me heard CHEWING!”
________________________ WHAT IF… Norvell Page Wrote an Oz Story?
RED PAIN SLAVES OF THE BLOOD DEATH KING
Dorothy reeled back in horror against the door of the summer palace. The Emerald City was in flames, crimson tongues of fire roaring upward but not drowning out the screams of pain. All around her,, hundreds of Munchkins were staggering in agony as red blood poured from their mouths and noses. As the Kansan gasped in disbelief, a dying Munchkin collapsed against her, lifes blood spewing from his face onto her blue gingham dress. "Ewww, gross," she said and pushed him off. <br><br>Horrified beyond words, the young girl turned back to where her best friends in Oz stood in the doorway behind her. The Tin Woodsmans cold metallic face was unreadable, but Glinda……! On Glindas lovely ageless countenance was a scowl of pure hatred. <br><br>"These mishaps never happened in Oz before your arrival, she hissed at Dorothy. You must be responsible, Kansan! Kill her, Woodman!" <br><br>Even as the unliving horror drew back his mighty axe, Dorothy reacted. Her exploits in Oz had sharpened her wits and toughened her body, and for an eight year old, she was extremely dangerous. She knew Nick Choppers weakness. Even as he drew his axe high overhead, the Kansan leaped forward and shoved him hard in the chest with both hands. Taken off balance, the Woodman fell with a loud metallic clang and she knew from their past adventures together that he could not rise quickly.
Whirling toward Glinda, Dorothy cried out. “Have you gone mad? The citys on fire! Your people are dying from this strange affliction. Now is when we must work together to make things right." But there was a strange evil glitter in the Good Witchs eyes, and as she raised her star tipped wand, lurid red sparkles danced around it. In another instant, Dorothy would have been blasted into charcoal but quick as a litttle cat, the Kansan seized the Woodmans axe. The short tool was surprisingly light (it was made of tin after all) and she whirled it to smash the wand from Glindas hand. Even in her desperation, Dorothy was careful to use the flat of the blade, not the edge. As the magic wand went flying, Dorothy spun to flee. She had to find out what was behind this. Could the Nome King have somehow cast a spell on Glinda?
Dorothy knew there was a farm just down the road with a scarecrow in its field. If she could reach it, she could disguise herself as her friend, the famous living Scarecrow, and be able to move around freely while she found out what was going on.
“Stop!” commanded Glindas icy voice. "Have you forgotten....Toto?" <br><br>Freezing where she was, Dorothy turned with reluctance to see Glindas servants wheeling out a large circus cage which was seperated into two compartments. In the smaller section was her beloved Toto, cringing in the corner, eyes rolling wildly. And in the other compartment, roaring and foaming at the mouth, was the Cowardly Lion. The great beast was too enraged to speak, its bloodshot eyes fixed on the tiny little pitiful beast almost within its reach.
“Hah hahhh” laughed Glinda in hideous triumph. “The Lion has not been fed in three days and he is not Cowardly anymore only Ravenous. If I give the word, the barrier between him and your miserable little mutt will be lifted. Well, Kansan, wlll you surrender?”
In a few second, the young girl suffered terribly as she realized her awful decision. But Dorothy Gale came from tough pioneer stock and had never been one to give up. Quick as a bunny, she raced to the cage and brought the axe down as hard as her skinny little arms could weild it to snap off the lock on the cage holding the Lion. Even as she dropped flat, the great brute leaped over her to pounce full upon Glinda.
The hideous scene that followed does not bear describing (the editor said no). As Glinda met her fate at those leonine fangs, her spell broke. The Munchkins stopped spewing blood and the burning city began to return to normal. Casting a wary eye on the feasting lion, the Kansan bent to pluck up the star tipped wand where its late owner had dropped it. A wry smile was on Dorothy`s lips. Killing witches was getting to be a habit with her.
______________________ WHAT IF… Shakespeare Wrote a Mike Hammer Story?
That very breath which inspires warmth and animation into this mortal clay fled her lips as doth mist off ice in the noonday sun. Still she found the will to speak.
“How couldst thou?” spake the virago and I in turn rushed to answer ere flesh and spirit were forever sundered.
“With ease,” I spake to ears which, alas, would never hear aught more.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, this is a great time to enjoy non-realistic fiction. Technology has evolved to the point that, even with no budget, people can tell the most fantastic, unimaginable stories without spending millions of dollars.
(VIZ Media), John Layman and Rob Guillory’s series 
