Tagged: ComicMix

Supergirl Power, by Martha Thomases

Supergirl Power, by Martha Thomases

At Wizard World Chicago last week, I was struck by how many girls came dressed as Supergirl. Grown up girls wearing the new version of the costume, showing off their toned abs, to be sure, but also lots of girls younger than 12 wearing the classic outfit.

Supergirl was my first favorite super-heroine. Wonder Woman was awesome, but she was so powerful, so confident, that I could only aspire to be like her. Invisible Girl was too passive. She seemed to fade away in a fight, not nearly as active as Invisible Kid in the Legion. From the moment Kara first flew out of that rocket and introduced herself to her cousin, Superman, I wanted to be her.

Superman, being older, more experienced, and male, decided he was the one to tell Supergirl what to do. She would be placed in an orphanage, and no one would know she had super powers. She would disguise herself with a mousy brown wig, even though no one was to see her with blonde hair. She would wear drab clothes, even though her mother had made her the cute outfit with the S-shield so her cousin would know her.

As Linda Lee, Kara learned about American life in a small-town high school, as an orphan. Later, she was adopted by the Danvers, but had to keep her secret from them as well. By some amazing coincidence, I, a young girl on the verge of adolescence, found myself suddenly needing to keep secrets about my thoughts and feelings from my own parents. I might have been more open with them if they’d found a way to get me a super-cat for a pet.

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Manga Friday: Honey and Clover

Manga Friday: Honey and Clover

Manga Friday tackles the thorny question of book-to-movie adaptations head-on this week, by comparing and contrasting the first two volumes of the Honey and Clover manga with the movie of the same name – which was adapted from the manga story.

Honey and Clover, Vol. 1
By Chica Umino
Viz/Shojo Beat, March 2008, $8.99

Honey and Clover, I am told, is one of the most popular shojo manga series in Japan in recent years, selling (in aggregate) over ten million copies so far. It focuses on a group of students at a Tokyo art school – in particular, on their love lives.

Now, no series about simple love-lives will last very long, and Honey and Clover ended its run in Japan a couple of years ago with more than sixty chapters, so you things are going to get complicated. But I’ll start out slow.

Our central character is Takamoto, a sophomore in a painting program who lives in an apartment building near campus – it doesn’t seem to officially a dorm, but it’s rented essentially only to male students. Two of his neighbors are also close friends – Mayama, a studious senior on his way to be an architect; and Morita, a seventh-year sculpture student given to long absences and odd behavior.

They’re all somewhat connected to Professor Hanamoto, and, in the first story in the first volume, the boys need a new student – Hagumi, a young, very small woman living with Hanamoto (who is an unofficial uncle to her) and who has immense talents. Both Takamoto and Morita fall in love with her at first sight, but Morita also torments her by calling her “koropokkur” (after a fairy-like spirit) and making all sorts of photographs and other objects of her koropokkur-ness.

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Is You Stupid? by Michael Davis

Is You Stupid? by Michael Davis

 

I have no real theme this week but I’d like to share some random thoughts. These are some of the things that make me ask…is you stupid? Not to be confused with “Are you stupid?” Is you stupid is a much better way to express my frustration. Just saying is you stupid sounds right in some situations. It lets the person you are talking to know they are stupid but… with a smile.

Not to long ago a good friend of mine called me and asked me to take a look at a project. It was not his project, he was shopping it around for a hotshot TV producer. I was told that this project would make a great comic book series and I was asked if I would get involved and present it to some publishers.

I have been lucky enough to close some major deals with major publishers and know some power brokers. This is outside of comic book publishers, which are no longer the only game in town for comics. As I write this I’m on a plane to New York City for a meeting with Harper Collins Publishers. I’ve been selling comic book universes to major publishers since 1996. The Action Files, a series I created, has been a Simon & Schuster universe since 1997. I’m proud to say that I saw the trend with comics and major publishers before it was a trend.

Anywho, my friend of almost twenty years tells me that he has a series that will be bigger than The Matrix. It was created by a big time producer and they want me involved. Truth be told I don’t really do a lot of pitching of other people’s projects anymore. It’s simply too much trouble. If I don’t create it, then I have little incentive to try and get it sold. As I said – too much trouble. My only exception these days is introducing young talented creators to people who may be able to help them. Help with advise for the most part because that is sorely lacking in our field.

So I’m pitched this series that will be “bigger than The Matrix!” and…

It sucked.

I mean really sucked as in very bad. So I ask you what do you do? Do I say, “Wow. That sucked?” Nah that would be insensitive and you know me. I’m Mr. Sensitivity. Or perhaps I say “My god, this is worst than that sitcom about slavery (a real show) that was on TV for half an episode before the network put down the crack pipe and realized what they put on the air.”

 

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Review: This Week in ‘Trinity’ #5

First things first: I actually, gasp, liked this issue.

For the first time ever, Kurt Busiek pulled the storylines together and gave a sense of the big things ahead. Not perfect, but much better than the past few.

What happened?

The fight against Konvikt finally reached an end, as Batman’s smarts helped the big three devise a clever knockout punch. Batman was the star of the issue, also nabbing one of Morgaine Le Fey’s underlings (which look like the rat creatures from Bone), after it had branded Wonder Woman with an omega symbol.

During a brief interrogation (ended by the rat creature self combusting), it says, "You are the trinity. But you are weakened. Breaking. Soon, you will fall." Buh, buh, BUM!

There’s a little character moment that shines, as Batman and Superman are reluctant to advise Diana to see a doctor, and she points out the inconsistencies of gender relations. It makes her character a little more interesting, which is something plenty of other writers have failed to do.

In the backup, a trio of lame villains (Whiteout!?!) try to kidnap Tarot, who has started to see the trinity in her cards (as justice, strength and the devil — guess which hero goes to which card).

They fail, not unpredictably, in large part thanks to the reappearance of Gangbuster. Which, I’ve got to say, is pretty awesome. At the end, we see Morgaine Le Fey’s creatures after Tarot.

Like I said, everything’s coming together nicely, and we have dire warnings galore. So, hope returns, although I’m still curious as to why Busiek feels the need to include only the lamest villains.

Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van’s blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.

Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.

The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 3, 2008

Things looked dour headed into the comics shop this week, but several books came out of left field and left me impressed. Rare that happens anymore when books get chewed over ad nauseum before they even hit shelves.

So let’s celebrate this special little week, when the comics followed in the tradition of the grand U.S. of A. and liberated themselves from suckiness.

Book of the Week: Joker’s Asylum #1 — When it comes to the Joker, there are a few staple stories. And probably the most generic is Joker taking over a giant game show and threatening the kidnapped contestants with death.

So when this book — which comes across like a clear cash-in on the upcoming Dark Knight film — started off with that premise, I could only think, "Not again." That obvious bent is all set up, though, and writer Arvid Nelson swings the story in a direction that’s not only surprising, it’s also genuinely subversive.

The Joker’s target is the "innocent," just not the contestants. He spares them (despite their idiocy), instead taking aim at a malevolent producer and the audience at home.

For anyone who bemoans the fact that thoughtful quiz shows are being swiftly pushed out of prominence by the like of Deal or No Deal, this is a story you’ll love. Alex Sanchez also offers a very new art style that’s scrawling but effective.

And the climactic line is a doozy: "Who’s the real sicko, America?" Indeed.

Runners-Up:

High Rollers #1 and Station #1 — Two new series from Boom! Studios, and both really shine. Station is a horror story set on an international space station, but at least so far there are no monsters or science fiction. The sizzle is all of the interpersonal type, as regional differences burn like a solar flare and one astronaut ends up killed.

High Rollers, from mystery writer Gary Phillips, is a Sopranos-like look at the rise of an L.A. crime lord. While the art in the first issue is too clean for the source material, Phillips keeps the story humming along as his antihero CQ starts to see the ugly side of a life in crime.

Astonishing X-Men #25 — After the disappointing dragging-on-forever conclusion to Joss Whedon’s run, I was all set to give up on this book, especially after learning it would be part of the listless X-Men’s current continuity. Then I started reading it. Credit Warren Ellis with taking this book back to the characters, focusing skillfully on their relationships and putting together a great comic, even though nothing much really happens.

I’m still not sure about Simone Bianchi’s take on the art, though I love how experimental he’s being with design. And if the words, "Chaparanga, where alien spaceships go to die," doesn’t make you excited for next issue, I don’t think we can be friends.

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Life 101, by John Ostrander

Life 101, by John Ostrander

My Aunt Helen turned 101 years old last weekend. Let me repeat that – my Aunt Helen is 101 years old. She beat her own father’s record, who died a mere six months after turning 100. She still lives in her own apartment, with help especially from my sister, Marge. Helen gave up smoking only a few years ago but she still has her drink now and then. She gets to church when she feels the urge. Big Cubs fan, even though they haven’t won a World Series since she was born. I kid Helen that she intends to hang on until they win another one if it takes another hundred years.

She’s so old she dated John McCain. Ba-dump bump. I think she’d like that gag. Aunt Helen is still pretty sharp. Me, I’m not so sure about.

She lived in the house next to ours in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood when I was growing up, along with my paternal grandmother and grandfather. When Pop-Pop had bought the property, Rogers Park was actually a suburb on Chicago’s North Side. Me, my brother, and my younger sister ran over there with some frequency because there we were little princes or princess – which we sure weren’t at home. Lord knows we took advantage of it. Well, I know I did.

Saturday night we’d have dinner there in front of the TV. Helen always served up the same meal: a bit of steak, Campbell’s Pork and Beans, and for dessert, ice cream cake roll swimming in chocolate syrup.

Let me take a moment to extol on the glories of the ice cream cake roll. The principle was the same as a jelly roll cake only the cake would be a deep chocolate and would use vanilla ice-cream instead of jelly. It’s impossible to find on the East Coast. Even in Chicago, the quality has gone down. The last one I had, the cake was stale, thin, and had freezer burn, as did the very artificial vanilla ice cream that was in it. I’ve wandered off the topic again but… dang! It was ice cream cake roll!

I think I remember some of the shows I used to watch during those Saturday night dinners such as Patrick McGoohan in Danger Man (which would later become Secret Agent) and Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk playing Nick and Nora Charles in a TV version of The Thin Man. After dinner we’d watch The Jackie Gleason Show that included the Miami Beach version of The Honeymooners. If we were lucky, we escaped before The Lawrence Welk Show came on.

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Review: ‘Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel’

Review: ‘Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel’

Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel
By Jordan Mechner, A.B. Sina, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puvilland
First Second, September 2008, $18.95

The first [[[Prince of Persia]]] game was a 2-D platformer almost twenty years ago, and the next big thing with the name Prince of Persia on it will be a major Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie next summer. In between have been a number of games, with a number of different protagonists and plotlines. (And I’ve played exactly none of them, as far as I can remember – just to make that clear.) This year, in between the games and the movie, First Second is publishing a graphic novel loosely based on the series – or at least the title. It’ll be in stores in September.

This graphic novel is credited as “created” by Mechner (seemingly because he invented the original game, and maybe still owns a piece of it), written by Sina, and with art by Pham and Puvilland. And, as far as I can tell, the story here has nothing specific to do with any of the previous incarnations of Prince of Persia. (If I’m wrong, please correct me in comments.)

In this graphic novel, you actually get two stories for the price of one – they’re told intermingled, though, which can make it difficult to remember which story a particular panel belongs to, or which characters belong to which stories. (Evil, nasty overlords being depressingly common in stories like this, for example.) I did read Prince of Persia in bound galley form, though – without color – so it’s quite possible that the palette of the two stories are different enough to make that distinction clear in the final book.

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WWC Interview: John Jackson Miller on ‘Star Wars’ and Webcomics

WWC Interview: John Jackson Miller on ‘Star Wars’ and Webcomics

Writer and comics authority John Jackson Miller probably has one of the most enviable jobs in comics today. Starting off in the early ’90s as editor of Comics Retailer magazine, Miller went on to edit various other publications including Scrye and the Comics Buyer’s Guide. Later, stints on Marvel’s Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man led to his working for Dark Horse comics.

Once at Dark Horse, Miller helped re-launch the company’s Star Wars comics with his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Recently, he also wrote the comic book adaptation of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film and launched his own webcomic called Sword & Sarcasm. I caught up with Miller at Wizard World Chicago to discuss Star Wars comics, webcomics and the first time he ever saw Star Wars.

COMICMIX: John, thanks for your time. Having a good show?

JOHN JACKSON MILLER: Yes, a wonderful Chicago con as always.

CMix: So, tell me about why you’re here?

JJM: Well, I’m here to sign and talk about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, our ongoing series now at issue 30 and still going strong. It’s a big year for us because we had the "Vector" crossover. We’ve also had some major events with Zayne Carrick, our figitive Jedi who’s finally getting his taste of justice with a big showdown about to come up.

Those big events will take us through issue 33 at least. It should be pretty interesting what happens.

It may not be the big showdown that people expect because we also want to make sure we keep people guessing a bit and not always do what people might be expecting. We don’t want readers to get too comfortable with what’s going on and we want to keep it interesting.

CMix: Excellent. You also involved with Wizards of the Coast on some projects as well, right?

JJM: Yes. They are coming out with a series of minatures for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic board game. I helped design some of those characters because several of them are from the comic. I was also a co-author of the Campaign Guide for the game as well, which contains information from all the comics and the two videogames.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #9 – Forest of the Dead

Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #9 – Forest of the Dead

[EDITOR’S NOTE: My apologies for the late arrival of this week’s "Doctor Who in Review." We’ve been catching up after all of the Wizard World Chicago chaos! It’s times like these that I could really use a TARDIS. – RM]

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the "Doctor Who in Review" archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #9: "Forest of the Dead"

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Review: ‘Demo’ by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan

It seems every month that a new comic comes out purporting to offer a new, more realistic slant on superheroes. From Watchmen to Next Men to Powers to Kick Ass, that idea has long been a popular one.

Except, none of those comics feel very real. Sure, they take elements from reality and offer a slightly more grounded or cynical look at heroes, but the stories within their pages don’t begin to evoke everyday life.

And this is why Demo stands so far apart. The on-again, off-again series from writer Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan is finally concluded, and all 12 issues are now collected in a substantive new softcover (Vertigo, $19.99).

Begun in 2003 with a first issue featuring a girl struggling to handle her newfound telekinesis, the series was always about the people in the stories, not the abilities that set them apart. That first issue is rich with metaphor: the girl learns how to break away from home, become independent and not get in the way of her potential. Valuable lessons for anyone.

One of the strongest issues (#5), follows a girl who physically changes in appearance to match the desires of the people who see her. She could be a kooky X-Man, but Wood instead uses the strange ability to explore perception and desire, and the line between love and lust.

While the material is well worth reading on its own, one of the subtexts to watch is the continued development of Wood and Cloonan. You can trace their growth as creators along with the issues, and in the end the series is something entirely new again, not really touching on superpowers at all.

Cloonan’s work is exceptional, bouncing between styles from issue to issue. It’s hard to believe one person was responsible for such a disparate collection of art.

And while Demo features almost entirely young, hip characters — Wood’s bread and butter — he writes their interactions with as much grace as any writer in comics. There is a deep, haunting truth to these stories, so realistic it almost hurts.

Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van’s blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.

Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) gmail (dot) com.

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