Two good reports on cartoonist meetings, complete with pictures:
Howard Cruse details a get-together in Massachusetts of some Pioneer Valley cartoonists, and Mikhaela Reid talks about the Women, Action and the Media (WAM) conference in Washington DC, where she and fellow cartoonists Stephanie McMillan (who also has a review) and Jen Sorensen presented a "Resistance through Ridicule" panel and slideshow.
Fun fact from Stephanie: "When cartoonists get together, it takes a maximum of about ten minutes for the conversation to turn to Photoshop and/or font programs."
This time we talk about ComicMix a bit (!!!) and troll for some comments and we offer the lowdown on Marvel’s special Captain America convention edition (???), connect the music of Coheed & Cambria to Image Comics (Star Wars meets the Matrix?), uncover one of DC’s best kept secrets (no snitching!), we hear from writer/artist Jimmy Palmiotti and do a little kung fu jive and sing together for world peace – all in 10 exciting minutes.
The rule of thumb used to be that the only characters that stayed dead are Uncle Ben, Bucky and Barry Allen.
Some version of Uncle Ben is running around in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man; Bucky turns out to have survived and is now the Winter Solider; and if you believe Dan DiDio’s “slip” of the tongue, Barry Allen may be here soon.
It used to be a big deal when a character died. Amazing Spider-Man #121’s cover, as Spidey faced those nearest and dearest to him with a cover blurb promising one was going to die compelled us to buy that month’s issue. It worked, sales spiked, the status quo was different and people were buzzing.
In 1985, I participated in the planning and, ahem, execution of Crisis on Infinite Earths. One of the key housecleaning elements had to be the elimination of both major and minor figures, heroes and villains, civilians and loved ones. The hit list, as seen in the Absolute edition, evolved as editors and management weighed in. Killing the Flash and Supergirl were the shockers while few cared if the Bug-Eyed Bandit survived or not. Still, these deaths were supposed to be permanent changes to the DC Universe, although few of them have remained dead 20 years later.
By the time Superman died in 1992, the freshness had long since worn off as deaths had been faked (Professor X, Foggy Nelson), undone (Jean Grey, Iris Allen), or were too minor to care (I Ching).
Since then, characters have continued to die and come back with stunning regularity. As a result, the death of a major figure has been more of a blip than a major event, making one wonder what it will take to get people really stirred up.
Much has been made of Captain America’s death and I was among those scoffing at the permanence of his condition. Less has been said about the return of their first Captain Marvel, plucked out of the time stream before his death from cancer (as wonderfully told in a Jim Starlin graphic novel), an altogether new kind of cheat.
Marvel isn’t the only company wheeling and dealing with the Grim Reaper.
I did, more than 30 years ago, at DC Comics. Anthony was tall, friendly, didn’t look like a New Yorker, and wasn’t. He came to Manhattan from Minneapolis in 1973, worked a couple of jobs, and then landed at DC, where he stayed for 20 years, proofreading, color-coordinating, helping Jack Adler manage the production department – necessary chores, done well away from the spotlight, that transform the raw materials of artwork and script into a printed artifact. Along the way, Anthony got married, and divorced, moved to another state, and when he retired from DC, settled in Texas, where he lives and single-parents his lovely and gifted daughter, Katrina.
If you talked to Anthony much, you soon discovered that he had a number of pop cultch enthusiasms, not the least of which was comic books. But his real passions – I don’t think the word is too strong – were always The Shadow novels, mostly written by Walter Gibson under the pseudonym Maxwell Grant and published in the 30s and 40s in the pulp magazine format, and old radio shows, particularly the crime and adventure programs that were the first cousins of the pulps and comics. If ever I had a question about either of these subjects, Mr. Tollin was always my first go-to guy. I never needed a second.
Those passions are still part of the Tollin gestalt, and now he’s found a new way to both share and make a living from at least one of them. Since July, a company Anthony started has, in partnership with something called Nostalgia Ventures, been issuing reprints of The Shadow books. The price is $12.95, quite modest considering that in one volume you get two novels and reprints of the original illustrations, a feature that’s both unusual and, I think, a real value-adder. The book that’s on the desk next to my computer would certainly be mistaken for one of the old pulps – same size, same kind of cover and font – until you picked it up and found that, in fact, both the cover stock and the interior stock are considerably better than anything that bore the original work. Inside, there are the novels, plus a couple of pieces by Will Murray, another expert and go-to guy, and an adaption of a Shadow radio show.
The MAD War on Bush will be released by DC Comics in June. The trade paperback reprints many of Mad Magazine’s recent features tweaking our president, all under an original and reverential introduction by Jimmy Kimmel.
This is a rush release. Perhaps our friends at DC know something about Bush’s future that they’re not sharing with sister-company CNN?
I like Martha Thomases’ idea of 365, as reported on ComicMix yesterday. A full-length comic book story each and every day for a year. Now that would be an event.
Sadly, most such comic book events aren’t worth the effort, let alone the price. The stories are overblown, their effects on their “universe” temporary – either in the sense that they will be countermanded or, at best, castrated in the next such event.
(Hmmm. There’s a phrase I’ve never written before. “At best, castrated.”)
By the time they’re over, most events turn out to be nothing more than marketing gimmicks, and an endless sea of marketing gimmicks doth not a universe make. As of this writing Captain America is dead but Bucky is alive – something he’d managed to avoid for over 40 years. As Denny O’Neil pointed out in his recent ComicMix column, death has no permanence in comics. As a plot point, it is hackneyed: it may have collectibility, but it has no credibility.
Wonder Woman has been redefined, resurrected, rebooted, and retold differently so many times since 1965 (arguably her first real reboot) that I’m surprised she doesn’t bump into Tony Soprano at her shrink’s office.
Of the two major universes, Marvel’s is the most consistent – but only by comparison to DC, whose universe had to be cobbled together retroactively by combining the efforts of five publishing houses over 70 years: DC, All-American, Quality, Fawcett and Charlton – and maybe Fox, depending how you, ahhh, look at Phantom Lady. But by and large, in the past couple decades Marvel’s change has been evolutionary and not stop-and-start-over. Spider-Man went step by step from being a four-eyed high school wallflower with a secret identity to becoming a publicly known married-to-an-actress superhero and, oh yeah, menace to his nation. Marvel never stopped and said “Oh, now everything you know is wrong; this is the way it is and the way it will be until we need to burrow into your pockets again.”
Marvel fans clamoring for the return of Captain America should be careful what they wish for.
On the heels of the recent brouhaha over the just-cancelled My Sweet Lord art exhibit, which proved too much for the delicate sensibilities of a kook who likes to rile his kook-troops to harass my friends until they resign from their jobs, artist Cosimo Cavallaro has signed a deal with Marvel Entertainment to recast the mold for his Christ figure (see right) adding Steve Rogers’ familiar costume and shield (which will be temporarily on loan from its current owner, Stephen Colbert), and readying it for display in the lobby of Marvel’s offices at 417 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan through April.
"The fans have spoken," said Marvel EIC Joe Quesada, "and what they clearly want is the return of Cap. And chocolate. Mmm, chocolate," he added in a wistful Homer Simpson voice.
Cavallaro (no relation to DC editor Joey Cavalieri or The Three Caballeros) is known for past artistic expressions using food, including repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying five tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home, and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham. The unveiling of Chocolate Cap will not be catered.
Saying, "Anything DC can do, we can do better," Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada today announced plans for next summer’s big event. "365 will be a daily comic," he said. "Every single day, including weekends and holidays."
Like 52, the new series will have a team of writers and artists. Twenty-eight writers, including Marvel All-Stars Ed Brubaker, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Chris Claremont, Tom DeFalco, Peter David, Brian Bendis, Mike Carey, Robert Kirkman, Paul Jenkins and Roy Thomas, among others. All will follow the direction of "show runner," Andrew Helfer, who is coming on board to see that all the deadlines are met.
"We have everything in place," Quesada said. "Andy lined up Bill Sienkiewicz and George Perez to alternate covers."
The first issue of 365 will go on sale on a year from today. Cover price will be $10.00 each issue. "That’s what it took for Diamond to handle the shipping," Quesada said.
In retaliation, Dan DiDio announced that DC would launch The Hundred Years War. "Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and other super-heroes get stuck in a line at the Motor Vehicles Bureau," he explained. "It’s up to the rest of the DC Universe to fight the universe-threatening evil. Can Comet the Super-Horse and Ambush Bug save the day? Will someone die? Will anyone live? You might think you don’t care, but you will."
After the Joker and Two-Face warm their way into our hearts in the sequel to Batman Begins, who could possibly rule the roost in the third mega-budget blockbuster other than The Penguin? But, as always, casting is key to the success of any such decision and this time, Batman producers have outdone themselves.
The otherwise unemployed Dick Cheney will be performing the role of Oswald Cobblepot, the tuxedoed gentlemen lord of crime who attacks his enemies with a lethal bumbershoot. The motion picture, due for release in 2010, will mark a new beginning for the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton Energy Services. Mr Cheney most recently was vice-president of the United States of America and, on June 22 2002, briefly served as acting president.
There is one possible fly in the ointment: Mr. Cheney will have to pass an insurance physical.
There seems to be a whole lot of people who get to tell us what they think we should see, what they think we should buy what is the best, worst, the must haves and the stay away froms. Most of these experts put out a list so that we can revel in their genius. How many lists are we subjected to? Let’s see, off the top of my head…
David Letterman’s Top Ten List, the only list I pay any attention to
The Top Ten Movie List
The Hollywood Power List
The richest people in the world list
Blackwell’s worst dress list
The Sexiest Man List (I can’t believe that I have not made that one)
Joan Rivers best / worst dress list
The New York Times Best Seller list
AFI greatest movies of all time list
Rolling Stones greatest albums ever list
These are just the ones I can think of while waiting at LAX for a flight to Chicago. There are a multitude of lists out there. Everybody has a list, every magazine, every TV news show, every critic, every commentator, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a list. Well why can’t we have a list? You, me everybody? What makes Rex Reed’s list better than yours or mine? With all due respect to Mr. Reed, I seem to remember he hated Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Need I remind everybody that that film is one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time. Well I think that it’s time we all have a list. Let’s start with mine. My list will not be a Top Ten list. Nope. I’m twice as cool, so mine will be a top 20!
Comics:
1. The greatest comic book ever: Avengers #66 (My first comic!)
2. The greatest superhero ever: Batman
3. The second greatest superhero ever: Captain Marvel (Shazam!)
4. The greatest super team: 60’s Teen Titans
5. The greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Thing
6. The second greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Sub-Mariner
7. The greatest team up ever: Spider-Man and Superman (the first one)
8. The greatest graphic novel ever: Watchmen
9. The second greatest graphic novel ever: The Killing Joke
10. The third greatest graphic novel ever: The Death Of Captain Marvel
11. The fourth greatest graphic novel ever: Marvels
12. The saddest event in comic books: The death of Gwen Stacy
13. The saddest event in the comics industry: The death of Jack Kirby
14. The greatest writer in comics: Denny O’ Neal
15. The greatest artist in comics: Jack Kirby (DUH!)
16. The greatest publisher in comics: Milestone
17. The second greatest publisher in comics: DC (love them or hate them, they do great books)
18. The smartest man in comics: Mike Richardson
19. The guy with the best job in comics: Paul Levitz
20. The sexiest man in comics: Michael Davis (finally!)
Movies:
1. The greatest movie ever (Tie): My Best Friend’s Wedding / Team America (long story)
2. The greatest movie superhero ever: Batman
3. The second greatest movie superhero ever: Superman
The rule of thumb used to be that the only characters that stayed dead are Uncle Ben, Bucky and Barry Allen.
Meet Anthony Tollin.
I like Martha Thomases’ idea of 365, as reported on ComicMix yesterday. A full-length comic book story each and every day for a year. Now that would be an event.
Marvel fans clamoring for the return of Captain America should be careful what they wish for.
There seems to be a whole lot of people who get to tell us what they think we should see, what they think we should buy what is the best, worst, the must haves and the stay away froms. Most of these experts put out a list so that we can revel in their genius. How many lists are we subjected to? Let’s see, off the top of my head…
