Tagged: Dark Horse

Interview: Joshua Dysart on ‘B.P.R.D.: 1946’

  • News
  • April 23, 2008

One of this year’s big additions to the Hellboy universe has been the series BPRD: 1946, which puts the spotlight on Trevor Bruttenholm as he investigates the occult legacy of the Third Reich.

I recently caught up with series co-writer Joshua Dysart to talk about BPRD, working with Mike Mignola and Dysart’s strange journey into comics writing. Dysart also touched on the wealth of other projects he’s working on, including one based on musician Neil Young’s life and music.

COMICMIX: How did you end up working on BPRD: 1946 and being so closely involved with the Hellboy books for Dark Horse? 

JOSHUA DYSART: It was kind of a long and winding road, as these things mostly are. I first met Mignola and [Editor] Scott Allie in Dallas, Texas at the first Wizard World there in 2004. We hung out by the pool table in the bar together and just talked. Our aesthetic was very similar. About six to eight months later, Scott got me the job on the Van Helsing comic. Which, despite its source material, I’m still really proud of. When Mike was moving out to Los Angeles he showed interest in finding a local writer to work with. Scott mentioned my name. Then Mike went out to a local comic book shop and the owner, a close personal friend of mine, recommended me. We set up a luncheon date and I was terribly, terribly nervous. But I did my little song and dance and it worked out. That was late in 2006.

CMix: That has to be a little intimidating to go pitch yourself to somebody like Mignola.

JD: I was late to the meeting as well, by the way. I ride a bicycle everywhere and at the time didn’t have a cellphone. So on top of being terribly intimidated, I was late with no way to contact him. I thought for sure that being without a cellphone and a car was not going to bode well for me as a professional. But it turned out that Mike didn’t have a car or a cellphone either, and I think there was a sense of a shared value system in this — like two Luddites finding each other amongst the Blackberry/BMW wasteland of Santa Monica, CA. But all the way around it was a pretty terrifying thing, the notion of the meeting.

But in the end, it was fine. Mike is so enthusiastic about his creation — and as a reader, so am I — so I was put at ease very quickly. I don’t think he even noticed I was late.

The advice I got from Scott Allie before the meeting was, "Don’t act like such a fucking hippie."

(more…)

Happy Birthday: John Ostrander

Happy Birthday: John Ostrander

  • News
  • April 20, 2008

Born in 1949, ComicMix creator/columnist John Ostrander loved comics from early on but initially followed a different love: religion. Raised Roman Catholic, Ostrander wanted to become a priest and attended a year of seminary before deciding it wasn’t right for him. Instead he turned to acting.

Ostrander was part of a Chicago theater company in the early ’80s, and in addition to acting he co-wrote a play called Bloody Bess with William J. Norris. ComicMix Editor-in-Chief Mike Gold was starting First Comics at the time and had seen and liked the play—he knew Ostrander was a big comics fan and invited him to try his hand at writing comics. Ostrander wrote several stories for First’s Warp series before creating the character of GrimJack.

By the time First Comics closed in 1991, Ostrander was working for other comic companies as well, and he continued to do so. He has written The Spectre, Firestorm, Justice League of America, and Wasteland for DC, X-Men, Heroes for Hire, and The Punisher for Marvel, Lady Death for Chaos!, Eternal Warrior for Valiant, Star Wars: Republic for Dark Horse, and many many others. Ostrander has also written audio plays and short stories, and he currently writes for ComicMix, producing both a regular column and new issues of  GrimJack and Munden’s Bar.

Review: Three Pieces of Middle

Review: Three Pieces of Middle

These three books have almost nothing in common – they’re from three different publishers, in entirely different genres, and by very different creators. But they all are middle chapters in long-running series, so they raise similar questions about maintaining interest in a serialized story – when the beginning was years ago, and there’s no real end in sight, either, what makes this piece of the story special? (Besides the fact that it’s printed on nice paper and shoved between cardboard covers.)

Ex Machina, Vol. 6: Power Down
By Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, Jim Clark, and JD Mettler
DC Comics/Wildstorm, 2008, $12.99

Ex Machina gets to go first, since it’s the shortest and it’s also the closest to the beginning of the series. (Both in that it’s volume 6 and because all of the [[[Ex Machina]]] collections are so short – this one collects issues 26 to 29 of the series, so we’re only into the third year of publication.) The premise is still the same – an unknown artifact/item gave then-civil engineer Mitchell Hundred the power to hear and command all kinds of machines, which he used to first become a costumed superhero (stopping the second plane on 9-11, among other things) and then successfully ran for mayor in the delayed election of 2001-2002.

This storyline begins in the summer of 2003, and provides a secret-historical reason for the blackout of that year. (This is too cute a touch for my taste – Hundred’s world is different enough from our own that this “explanation” couldn’t be true in our real world, and so the fact that both worlds had identical-seeming massive blackouts, on the same day, from different causes, stretches suspension of disbelief much too far.)

(more…)

The Way We Were, by Michael Davis

The Way We Were, by Michael Davis

  • News
  • April 11, 2008

Memories… light the corners of my mind, misty water-colored memories… of the way we were…

Dear DC,

It”s been a while. How are you? I know I am the last person you expected to hear from. I did tell you I would call in a day or so. I’m a bit late. It’s been what, 15 years?

I hear you are dating. How is Wildstorm? I know he’s very attractive but I didn’t think you were into pretty boys. But having met him, I’ve realized he is very smart and accomplished. It hurt for a while and it still does. But if you are happy, I’m happy.

Listen, I know this is not my place, but I hear your child Vertigo has been doing some strange things and you may want to get her some help. There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just say it. Word on the street is Vertigo is a freak and I’m not talking about the circus kind. No, she’s what Rick James would call a Super Freak. She goes places where no one else would. She does things that are just downright…I can’t say it but I think you know what “it” is. I tell you all this because I just wanted to let you know I still keep tabs on you; I still care about you and yours.

Things are OK with me these days. I’ve done some good things over the last 15 years. I often think about what would have happened if I could have done some of those things with you. Do you think of me? Maybe a little? Maybe a teeny-weeny little bit? I’d like to think so.

(more…)

‘Wesley Wyndham-Price’ Warns Salt Lake City Council of Zombie Attack

‘Wesley Wyndham-Price’ Warns Salt Lake City Council of Zombie Attack

  • News
  • April 7, 2008

Hopefully you’ve already read the April Fools Day Round-Up we put together (with some help from ComicMix readers), but even if you did, here’s one we missed.

From the April 6 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune, City Council report:

Georgia transplant Wesley Wyndham-Price calmly stood before the City Council, cautioning members about downtown’s derelict emergency-preparedness plan. City elders are "insouciantly" unaware of risks to City Creek Center, he warned.

Wyndham-Price even paused to joke that Georgia’s saltwater taffy is better than Utah’s. "I hope that is not an ad hominem," he shrugged.

Then he got specific and all reason helicoptered into the ether.

City Creek needs an emergency-preparedness plan, he demanded, against zombies.

"Zombies are fierce," he said as a crammed council chamber laughed nervously. "They are going to catch us in there."

Yes, in addition to continuing their adventures in the pages of Dark Horse and IDW comics, your favorite characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are apparently still preaching the gospel of undead threats… to Mormons.

 

(via Whedonesque)

Why ‘Little Lulu’ Works

Why ‘Little Lulu’ Works

  • News
  • April 6, 2008

Over at Comixology, Shaenon K. Garrity offers up her thanks to Dark Horse Comics for publishing Little Lulu reprint volumes en masse, and provides a great analysis of what made the comic strip work.

Simply put, I’m quite certain this is a quality piece of commentary because it actually made me want to hunt down a few volumes of Little Lulu, a strip that never really piqued my interest in the past.

The thing about the Little Lulu reprint project is that, brilliant as Little Lulu is, no one really needs 19 volumes of it. It’s a very repetitive comic. The adventures of Lulu Moppet, Tubby Tompkins, and their many small neighbors were published in a time when kids read their comics and threw them away; a month later, they were ready for more of the same. John Stanley and his nameless assistants worked out a series of reliable formulas which play out, often with only slight variations, in issue after issue after issue:

Garrity goes on to describe each of those "reliable formulas" in detail, explaining the typical set-up inherent to each formula, the payoffs readers could expect to see, and why the strips kept readers coming back. The author also provides examples of the small slices of zen served up by many of the strips:

Although Tubby was unable to carry his own spinoff comic for long, the Tubby-centric stories in Little Lulu are some of the best, and many of them feel autobiographical. When Tubby saves up his pennies to eat at a diner on the outskirts of town because real live truck drivers eat there, and he eagerly asks every man at the counter if he’s a truck driver until—joy of joys!—a bunch of truck drivers come in and sit down right next to him, the story transcends the formulas of kids’ gag comics and becomes a perfect moment drawn from life.

 

 

(via Journalista)

Interview: Nicholas Gurewitch on ‘Perry Bible Fellowship’

Interview: Nicholas Gurewitch on ‘Perry Bible Fellowship’

  • News
  • April 4, 2008

For longtime readers of Nicholas Gurewitch’s weekly, syndicated webcomic Perry Bible Fellowship, it didn’t come as much of a surprise when, late last year, the first print collection of the popular series became the fastest-selling graphic novel in the history of online bookseller Amazon.com.

What did come as a surprise, however, was the announcement that Gurewitch made a few months later.

"I feel I owe it to myself and the Perry Bible Fellowship not to turn a joyful diversion into a long career," wrote Gurewitch in a widely publicized mid-February message to the newspaper and magazine editors running his PBF strips.

Just a few months after The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, made big news in the publishing world by selling more than $300,000 copies in pre-orders alone, Gurewitch made headlines once again by announcing that he would be cutting back on production of the strip — moving from a weekly schedule to a more manageable routine.

"I’m making this decision for a variety of reasons," he explained, "but mainly because I want to do other things besides be a cartoonist."

According to Gurewitch, the decision was made after realizing that the success of PBF had placed him at a series of creative, personal and professional crossroads, and there was no better time to begin walking a different path.

I spoke with Gurewitch recently about the decision to move Perry Bible Fellowship into "semi-retirement," what he’s doing with his time these days and the frustrating divide between creator’s intent and audience’s interpretation.

COMICMIX: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Nick. Now that you have a bit more free time, how are you spending it?

NICHOLAS GUREWITCH: I’m working on a few more books to come out through Dark Horse and I’m writing a feature-length movie script that I’ve wanted to write for years. That’s at the forefront of my mind right now. I’m really excited about it.

CMix:  The books you’re working on, are they related to PBF or are they different projects entirely?

NG: One is a sequel or replacement for the Colonel Sweeto book. It’s a more expensive book that has more comics in it. The other would be a spin-off, if you wanted to call it that — it’s a continuation of one of the stories.

CMix: What story?

NG: It’s the one with the French title that looks like a woodcut. It’s about the Grim Reaper trying to dispose of a baby. He fails, and it’s kind of a sad moment that makes you think, because it’s sad that he didn’t kill a baby. But I’m trying to play with that irony a little more in this small book that I’m doing.

(more…)

Happy Birthday: James Vance

Happy Birthday: James Vance

Born in 1953, James Vance did not enter the comic book industry until he was 35, when Kitchen Sink published his comic book Kings in Disguise. The series earned a Harvey Award and an Eisner Award for best new series in 1989, and a second Eisner for best single issue or story.

Vance wrote Neil Gaiman’s Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man for Tekno Comix in the mid-’90s. He has contributed scripts for several Batman and The Crow comics, and for Dark Horse Comics’ Aliens and Predator lines.

Vance is also a playwright, and has won several national awards in that industry.

 

Interview: Mark Verheiden on ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Teen Titans’

Interview: Mark Verheiden on ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Teen Titans’

  • News
  • April 1, 2008

Writer / Producer Mark Verheiden is one of those fortunate individuals who has been able to make a living doing what he loves. His list of career accomplishments crosses most of today’s media landscape from feature films to series televison to comic books.

Starting off many years ago writing comics like The American and Alien Vs. Predator, through feature films like Time Cop, to producing episodes of the TV series Smallville, Verheiden has been a busy man. For the last several years, Verheiden has been even busier than usual, serving as Co-Executive Producer and writer on the critically-acclaimed series Battlestar Galactica — which airs on the Sci-Fi Channel and has its Season Four premiere this Friday. 

In addition to his producing and writing duties on Battlestar, Verheiden has also been hard at work adapting DC Comics’ The Teen Titans for the big screen as well as one of his own comic book stories, Ark. Recently, ComicMix sat down with Verheiden to talk with him about the next season of Battlestar, his plans for Teen Titans, the writer’s strike, what makes a good story and much more.

COMICMIX: Mark, thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

MARK VERHEIDEN: Of course. Always a pleasure.

CMix: How are you doing these days?

MV: Good. Now that you’re recording, I’ll say nothing incriminating.

CMix: Okay… unless you want to say something incriminating…

MV: No, not me.

CMix: Okay, let’s get to it then. You’re back from the writer’s strike. Hard at work on BSG?

MV: Oh yes, we’re back and right into it again.

CMix: Did the strike have any effect on your plans for the show? Did you have time to think while you were off?

(more…)

Happy Birthday: José Luis Garcia-Lopez, Brian Bolland, and Mark Verheiden

Happy Birthday: José Luis Garcia-Lopez, Brian Bolland, and Mark Verheiden

Today is a popular birthday for comic book creators! Three very different comic book luminaries all share March 26.

José Luis Garcia-Lopez was born in Spain in 1948 but moved to Argentina in 1952. Growing up he worked on several Argentinian comic strips, and in the late 1960s he began doing romance titles for Charlton Comics. Garcia-Lopez moved to New York in 1974 to work for DC. He’s best known for his art on Superman.

Brian Bolland was born in 1951 in Lincolnshire, England, and began drawing at age 10. He went to art school and published work in various underground magazines, then met Dave Gibbons at a comic convention in 1972. Gibbons recommended him to Bardon Press Features and Bolland began drawing comics professionally. In 1977, he found work on the new British comic 2000 AD, and soon became a regular artist on Judge Dredd. In 1979 Bolland began working for DC Comics, doing both covers and shorts. Perhaps his most famous image is the cover to Batman: The Killing Joke.

Mark Verheiden was born in 1956. He started writing comics in 1987, creating The American for Dark Horse. The following year he wrote his first Aliens comic. Verheiden then wrote several Superman stories and a Phantom maxi-series for DC Comics. He also works in television and film, and has contributed scripts to Smallville and other series. He currently serves as co-executive producer of the popular Battlestar Galactica television series.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks