Tagged: comics

Rabbi Harvey Comes To Comics

Rabbi Harvey Comes To Comics

  • News
  • June 14, 2007

The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey
Written and Drawn by Steve Sheinkin

At Book Expo this year, I was surprised by the number of publishers producing graphic novels.  Your classic comics publishers were there, your Marvel and your DC, your Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterliy your IDW, Dark Horse, Viz, TokyoPop and so on. There were publishers such as Simon and Shuster, Harry Abrams, Houghton Miflin and other literary publishers with an eye on a growing market.

But Jews?

Now, I know that Jews pretty much invented the comics business in general and super-hero comics in particular.  I knew this even before I read Gerard Jones’ great Men of Tomorrow:  Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book.  And I’ve always felt this makes sense, that the Jewish people, with their history of hiding from exposure and keeping their identities secret, were the models for the genre.

Still, I never thought I’d see a Jewish publisher create original comics to tell religious stories.  We’re the Chosen People.  We don’t preach, nor do we attempt to convert.  We are not Jack Chick. So I was surprised to see  that Jewish Lights Publishing had a graphic novel in their line.  What will the goyim think?

I need not have worried.  The book, The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey, is adorable.  The story of a Rabbi in the fictional Elk Springs, Colorado, during cowboy times, follows the rebbe in question as he dispenses his wisdom to his flock with "the best advice west of the Mississippi."  Everyone (with one brief exception) is Jewish, including the outlaws, who have names like "Big Milt" Wasserman, Danny "The Lion" Levy and Moses "Matzah Man" Goldwater.

There’s no gunslinging, no cattle rustling, no showdowns at any corral.  Instead, Sheinkin uses a very simple style to retell some of his favorite folk-tales of rabbinic wisdom.  I loved these stories when I was a kid, and it’s wonderful to have these versions to share with the kids in my life.

Jewish Lights also publishes Stan Mack’s The Story of the Jews: A 4,000 Year Adventure.

Your video of the day

Your video of the day

  • News
  • June 12, 2007

Via Lisa Fortuner, a group of talented young men who put a not-so-atypical female comic shop customer on a pedestal so they can look up her dress.

One step forward, two steps back. If you have to ask why this song is indicative of (or parodying) the "just doesn’t get it" mentality, well, that’s what a comments section is for.

Secret Asian Man Goes Wide

Secret Asian Man Goes Wide

  • News
  • June 12, 2007

On July 16th, United Media (home to Peanuts and Garfield) will launch a new newspaper comic strip with the highly punny name Secret Asian Man.

The creation of Tak Toyoshima, the strip tells the story of Osamu Takahashi, a struggling comic strip artist with a wife and son. Osamu – also known as Sam – is a second generation Japanese American. Toyoshima is the art director of the Boston alternative newsweekly, The Weekly Dig, where the strip has been running for some time. Secret Asian Man already appears in a number of such alt-weeklies across the country; being picked up by the Snoopy Syndicate is quite an achievement for an alternative comic strip.

For more info, check out Secret Asian Man‘s website.

Artwork copyright 2007 Tak Toyoshima. All RIghts Reserved.

DENNIS O’NEIL: A Superman For Our Time

DENNIS O’NEIL: A Superman For Our Time

  • News
  • June 12, 2007

When we’re in a somber mood, which is an easy kind of mood to be in these days, we hope that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were not prophets. Joe and Jerry were, of course, the creators of Superman, and way back in 1938 they told what’s become known as Superman’s origin story.

Surely you’re familiar with it; it’s been retold and edited and redacted and emended and amended and recast in comics, in movies and books and on television, and probably video games, for these past 68 years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some earnest young writer is, at this moment, reworking it yet again. But in the event your long-term memory is gebollixed for some reason, I’ll give you the trading card version.

Jor-El, a scientist, tells the poobahs of his civilization on the planet Krypton that their entire world is soon to disintegrate. The poobahs refuse to believe him and – oops – the darn world does blow itself to bits. Jor-El does manage to get his son away in a spacecraft before the final blooey. The kid lands on Earth and becomes a mighty champion of justice, etc. etc.

If I were to rewrite this familiar story, I might consider making Jor-El an environmentalist who’s worried about, let’s say, global warming. And maybe, in this version, the poobahs are politicians who take Jor-El’s carefully reasoned and scientifically unimpeachable work, which Mr. El has presented in the form of a document, and had someone with negligible scientific credentials edit Mr. El’s writing so heavily that it’s meaning is altered.

I mean, my suggested revamp isn’t really too far from the original, is it? What’s scary is that it isn’t far at all from some recent real-life history. And that’s why, despite my great respect for Messrs. Siegel and Shuster, I hope they’re lousy prophets. Remember how their story ended? The poobahs insisted they were right and Jor-El was wrong, despite plenty of contrary evidence, and – Blooey!

If we were to redo, once again, what Joe and Jerry began with, we might consider expanding it to allow a look at the poobahs. The trick in doing this kind of thing is to ask, if these fictional characters were real, what kind of people would they be? Not conventionally “evil;” at least, they wouldn’t think of themselves as “evil;” no one does.

But arrogant, certainly: so sure of their own unchallenged superiority that they feel they don’t have to listen to, much less heed, anyone else. And prisoners of their own egos, which would not allow them to admit ever, being wrong. And not only greedy, but able to rationalize their greed, if there were a profit to be made from their acts.

All that would congeal into deep, impenetrable ignorance. Not lack of education, nor stupidity, but ignorance, which, in this context, we might define as a refusal to acknowledge the truth that’s available to them.

I’d like to read that story. In a comic book, not in a newspaper.

RECOMMENDED READING: The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins.

Dennis O’Neil is an award-winning editor and writer of comic books like Batman, The Question, Iron Man, Green Lantern and/or Green Arrow, and The Shadow, as well as all kinds of novels, stories and articles.

Artwork TM and © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Four director looking at The Losers

Fantastic Four director looking at The Losers

  • News
  • June 11, 2007

The Hollywood Reporter, via Reuters, says that Tim Story, director of the new Fantastic Four film opening this weekend, will direct The Losers for Warner Bros. The series, which debuted 37 years ago in Our Fighting Forces, was recently revived for DC’s Vertigo line by Andy Diggle and Jock.

Story said, "I told my agents I didn’t want to do another comic book.  I had been in the world of fantasy and I wanted to do something very edgy, a realist action movie. I wanted to find something like a Bourne Identity or Black Hawk Down."’

You can download the first issue of the Vertigo series at http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=1687

MICHAEL DAVIS: Bad Boys For Life

MICHAEL DAVIS: Bad Boys For Life

I was talking to Kevin McCarthy a day or so ago about writing another book for me at The Guardian Line. He’s doing a fantastic job on The Seekers and has done great work for most of the major publishers in comics for a while now. If you don’t know Kevin’s work, you should. He is without a doubt one of the most talented and original people working in comics today. He is a GREAT writer and just as talented as an artist. In fact I would say that Kevin is on the leading crest of creators today.

While talking to him I realized that one of the things I don’t do enough of is talk to creators about the process. I miss the days when I could just sit down and make up a universe or develop a story line. I spend more time dealing with the “deals” in comics and television than I do actually working on the “idea.”

That sucks.

The single greatest thing about working in any creative field is the creative process itself. To sit in a room and just make things up is so unbelievable cool that words fail to describe the feeling when things are just right. Talking to Kevin made me wish for the days when I could just sit down and write a story. This got me thinking about just how long I have known Kevin and how we met. We met because someone introduced me to him and he became part of my life and I his as a mentor.

Late last week I sat down with Marv Wolfman and Len Wein to talk about a business deal. Sitting with us was a young lady who was taking notes. I am a mentor to this person. She asked some really great questions and had some real cool insights. Marv, Len and I were happy to have her there but she was ecstatic about sitting with legends…and with me. Truth be told, at that time during that meeting we were all her mentors and she appreciated our knowledge and was humbled in our presence. OK, she was humbled in Marv and Len’s presence and I just happened to be there…it was my house.

This young lady will soon turn the world of comics and illustration on its ear with her original take on the medium. Like Kevin McCarthy she is a fresh face with fresh ideas that our industry needs. It’s amazing to think that Marv and Len have created some of the biggest icons on the planet between them and they still take the time to share that knowledge with younger people.

Over the years I have seen these guys take the time to talk to many young people about the industry. I have watched time and time again how their information lit up the faces of those they were talking to. I’ve been around a bit but there are some people I still consider mentors: Paul Levitz, Mike Richardson, Mike Gold and Jim Shooter to name a few.

Each of those guys has taken me aside on more than one occasion and shared their valuable insight with me. I remember one Comic Con years ago I was standing with Paul Levitz in a hotel bar when a young colorist confronted me. He told me that I was an idiot for letting a writer go on a project and that I was using his (the colorist) name to promote myself. He said some other things that were just as bad. I was about to respond like he was a Crip and I was a Blood when Paul placed his hand on my shoulder and quietly shook his head “no.” When the colorist walked away (like the little bitch he was, yes I’m still pissed) Paul said to me, “It comes with the job, Michael. The bigger you are the bigger the target on your back becomes.” He was so right.

(more…)

JOHN OSTRANDER: Overlooking the Obvious

Awards season is loose in comicland and I can already tell you what won’t be getting awards, this year or any other year. Anything that smacks of a licensed property. When I speak of a licensed property, I mean anything like Battlestar Gallactica, or The Phantom, or Buffy, or Conan. Or Star Wars.

   

And, yes, I write some of the Star Wars comics – currently my book is Star Wars: Legacy. If that sounds like a conflict of interest on my part or that maybe I have an axe to grind – so what? If there is one thing being in rotation with Michael Davis has taught me, there is no shame in saying your own name and being proud of what you do. Michael is my hero and my shining example. I intend to channel my inner Michael.

   

I’m as proud of my work on Star Wars as I’ve been of anything I’ve done in my career – and never more so with Legacy. We’ve jumped down the Star Wars timeline 100 years past anything that is being currently done in Star Wars, including the novels. We’ve imagined a whole new galaxy of characters and re-defined Star Wars, working from its past while making it open to newcomers.

   

But forget me for a moment. Wait – I’m channeling my inner Michael. Don’t you ever forget me but, in addition to me, there are other folk doing superlative work. My artist and partner in crime, Jan Duursema, is doing some of the finest work of her career and, given the amount of talent she has to begin with, that’s considerable. When a new Star Wars project is conceived, it usually takes a team of designers a year or so to come up with the look. Jan designed it herself (with Sean Phillips designing a lot of the ships) in less than a year while she was finishing work on our predecessor Star Wars title, Republic. She has a wonderful team of Dan Parsons on inks and Brad Anderson on colors and both of them contribute massively to the just straight out beauty of the books.

   

And it’s not just our book. Doug Wheatley does breathtaking work on Star Wars: The Dark Ages. Nor is it only Star Wars; Timothy Truman and Cary Nord have been doing stunning work on the Conan title. Nor is it only Dark Horse books; the number of books based on licensed properties is growing and coming from many different publishers. Their sales are increasing; the first issue of the new Buffy, the Vampire Slayer series cracked the Top Ten on Diamond’s list the month it came out.

   

So – where’s the love? Where’s the respect? Certainly, Legacy gets it from the Star Wars fans. I was out at Celebration IV about two weeks ago and it was in plentiful display. I find it frustrating that more general readers aren’t at least looking at the titles. These are just good comics, gang – good characters, good stories, lots of adventure, intrigue, great dialogue. And these are just in my comics. (Man, I’m loving channeling my inner Michael. Maybe I’ll call him John-Michael. Or is that too French?) The point is – they’re as good as or better than most of the comics out there. I’ll stand them up against anybody else’s willingly.

(more…)

ELAYNE RIGGS: The awesome factor

ELAYNE RIGGS: The awesome factor

I haven’t talked that much yet about being what my life is like being married to one of the relatively few lucky and talented people able to make a living as a comic book artist.  There are a few reasons for this, among them being stuff I’m not allowed to reveal in a public forum because of various confidences.  (For instance, it’s driving me nuts not being able to talk about Robin’s next inking assignment, and ComicMix readers will understand why once it’s been officially announced.)  I walk a fine line between wanting to crow about the comics I see in their formative stages and realizing that any specifics thereof will often require massive doses of pre-approval before I talk about them.

But I can still indulge in generalities, one being a topic on which I’ve briefly touched before — the blurry line between being a fan and being a pro.  Today I want to talk specifically about dealing with pros from a fan’s point of view.

What brought this on was my musings after attending the Dave Cockrum memorial last week.  I was acquainted with Dave and Paty from the days when they used to appear at NYC comic shows, mostly the Fred Greenberger ones but I think they were also at some of the "church cons" that Mike Carbonaro held before those shows moved across the street from Penn Station.  When Dave was at the VA hospital a bus ride away from my apartment, I visited him once in the bitter winter because it was the right thing to do, not because he was This Big Name.  I’ve been lucky enough to get to know a lot of luminaries from those old cons as people and friends before I really knew any of their work.  And I remember when I used to mention their names in Usenet posts, the way I’d mention other friends and acquaintances, I’d often receive nasty accusations of "name-dropping" from my fellow comic fans, with an attitude of "how dare she talk about these Names as though they were — people!"

It seems far simpler for many fans to think of pros as abstracts on whom they can project their own entitlements than to interact with them as fellow human beings.  And whether this consists of treating fictional characters as more important than the real people who create and work on them, or erecting pedestals and shrines to the objects of your affection, the result is much the same.

(more…)

DENNIS O’NEIL: Two-Fers, part two

DENNIS O’NEIL: Two-Fers, part two

All hail to thee, Pulpus. Praised be thy name.

What? You don’t know that you’re Pulpus, god of popular culture? Well, if I were you I’d get next to Shrinkus, god of psychotherapy, and do something about your identity crisis. Meanwhile – there are some questions I’d like to ask you.

I assume that part of your duties involve helping the content, as well as the venues, of popular narratives evolve. Now let’s say – we’re just blue-skying here – that there’s a cheaply published vehicle for a certain kind of heroic fiction. Call the vehicle… oh; I dunno – “funnybooks” and the central characters of the fiction… lemme think for a second – “superheroes.” Let’s further suppose that for a long time a lot of people who fancied themselves “respectable” thought that the words “funnybook” were a synonym for illiterate tripe.

Okay, carry our supposition a step further and say you’ve done your work well and both funnybooks and superheroes have become – here’s that word again – respectable. Say that the funny book-inspired kind of fantasy melodrama has become a mainstay of the world of motion pictures. So – as part of the form’s evolution, wouldn’t you want to eliminate the elements that gave “respectable” people an excuse to excoriate these funnybooks? Creative Writing 101 stuff like an overdependence on coincidences, not establishing elements crucial to the narrative, not showing and/or explaining how the good guy accomplishes what he accomplishes…

Being, as you are, the god of popular culture, you would be aware that the funnybooks were occasionally guilty of these sins against what is generally considered good fiction writing, for a number of reasons, including extreme deadline pressure; a lack of sophistication on the part of the funnybook creators, some of whom began in the business when they were quite young; the fact that funnybooks are an extremely compressed kind of storytelling; the further fact that funnybooks developed erratically, without anyone connected with them trying to really understand what they are and how they might best be employed, at least not until pretty recently; and, finally, the disrespect given them even by people whose living and lifestyle – sometimes a very handsome lifestyle, indeed – depended on them, which meant that nobody associated the word “quality” with them, not for a long time, and so nobody tried to define what quality in this context might be.

That was a painfully long sentence. But you’re a god, you can handle it.

Anyway, what I guess I’m asking is, even if certain narrative glitches have often been a part of the funnybook world, may even have contributed to funnybook charm, should they be carried forward and exported to other media doing funnybook-type material? Or would evolution demand that they be eliminated?

Beg pardon? You want to know if I’ve been to the movies recently? Matter of fact, I have. But what has that got to do with anything?

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot…All hail and praise be thy name.

RECOMMENDED READING: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig

Dennis O’Neil is an award-winning editor and writer of comic books like Batman, The Question, Iron Man, Green Lantern and/or Green Arrow, and The Shadow, as well as all kinds of novels, stories and articles.

Here come the Harveys

Here come the Harveys

The Harvey Award nominations are out!  The full list can be found at the Harvey website, as well as pretty much everywhere else in the comic-o-news-o-blog-o-sphere.

Nominations for the Harveys Awards are selected exclusively by folks involved in a creative capacity in the comics field — as the site notes, "the only industry awards both nominated by and selected by the full body of comic book professionals.  Professionals who participate will be joining nearly 2,000 other comics professionals in honoring the outstanding comics achievements of 2006."

Final ballots are due Friday, August 3, and voting is open to anyone involved in a creative capacity within the comics field.  Your intrepid news editor will doubtless be kibbitzing over my local inker’s shoulder…

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