Neal Adams tells Mike Raub about teaming up with Frank Miller on a Batman mini-series, we uncover the roots of the Suicide Squad, our Timeline stops on 1968, Walter Cronkite talks parallel history, and new releases are exposed!
You can here all the thrills by pressing the play button, right here:
Those of us who frequent the liberal end of the political blogosphere got a real kick out of A-list blogger and comics fan Matt Yglesias’ post The Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics on the group blog TPM Café.
Of course, Denny O’Neil responded in his column last week here on ComicMix, and now Matt has since followed up on his own blog (of particular amusement is that post’s comment section). Will this be the last word on the subject? Check out Denny’s next column, available mid-day Tuesday, right here.
Budgie calls our attention to another anti-comics screed from the (London) Times Online entertainment columnist Kevin Maher, this time writing about the TV series Heroes. Not only does Maher begin his article with a "Holy fill-in-the-blank, Batman!" cliché, but his entire point is about how "there are no subjects and no areas of modern life that cannot be infected by the inane juvenilia of comic-book lore," emphasis ours. What, did Superman disintegrate his teddy bear when he was a kid or something? Budgie assures us this contempt is nothing new for Maher, whose bias ought to make his editors think twice about assigning him to write about anything remotely comic-related.
Charles Vess is preparing to mount an exhibition of his Stardust art this summer in the premium exhibition space at the William King Regional Arts Center, and to that end has put out a call for sold art: "I’m looking for various pieces of Stardust original art that I’ve sold over the years and would like to borrow that art back for this show. The names of the donors will be included in various publications concerning the exhibit as well as being on the identifying labels themselves." More details at Vess’ blog.
Folks are still recovering from this past weekend’s New York Comic Con, which garnered over 40,000 unique attendees according to ICv2.
"The trade day on Friday set new records for retailer, librarian, press, and other trade attendees," which meant pretty much anyone with a pro badge, and since pros are an integral part of any comic convention (and the con itself never asked for proof of professional credentials so one assumes there were a number of non-pros there too) this trade-day "record" isn’t all that surprising. ICv2 also notes, "Artist alley space was off the main floor, but was jammed throughout the show, due not only to the appeal of the wide range of talent, but also to the fact that access to the autographing and gaming areas required passage through the ‘alley.’" One hopes this layout will change next year when con space doubles again.
Some nice overview reports from attendees:
ICv2 also reports on the winners in Saturday’s American Anime Awards.
Publishers Weekly’s Calvin Reid reports that Running Press has signed licensing agreements with Marvel, DC and Tokyopop "to publish deluxe hardcover editions of classic cartoonists and other archival material" as well as manga coloring books.
The first project revealed will be Mad’s Greatest Artists, a series of deluxe, slipcased oversized hardcover collections featuring the great cartoonists who have worked for that magazine; the initial title in that line is The Completely Mad Don Martin, due in October with a price point of $150. Just in time to start saving up for Christmas!
The Sci Fi Channel and Virgin Comics will be teaming up to create a co-branded multimedia partnership called Sci Fi/Virgin Comics. Launching with five new original comic book titles, Sci FiVirgin Comics’ actual stated goal is "to develop properties that integrate the goals of both brands across multiple platforms including publishing, movies, TV, digital and gaming."
Let’s hope they’re able to fit some storytelling in among all that!
Jessa from Bookslut pointed to one of the archives at the Authentic History Center, specifically Treasure Chest’s This Godless Communism produced by the Catholic Guild (and with an introduction by J. Edgar Hoover herself!). This link led to much trepidation about time suckage, as the AHC has some really fascinating stuff. You can peruse WWII military cartoons, comics about atomic energy, a really wrong Howdy Doody cover… a great way to kill a few spare hours! Highly recommended, and adding stuff all the time.
Sunday was a fairly quiet convention day, at least compared with Saturday. Oh, there was still the huge entry queue, but it seemed to be all caught up by around 10:30 or so. However, the energy level was definitely lowered from Saturday’s intensity, so the veteran con-goers among us opted for what we considered really important — reconnecting with good friends, using panel attendance as an excuse to do so.
Yes, there are more photos, and a little bit of a panel review:
Tom Spurgeon is the go-to guy for coverage of comics that raise a ruckus. Today he reports that "an episode of Funky Winkerbean from late last week that hinted at a soldier in Iraq falling prey to an IED in what was actually a video game led to a complaint by a soldier in one case and concern by editors in both. This in turn led to a call from one of the editors to King Features demanding a better heads-up on sensitive material or they would cancel all of their King Features material, and an apology sent to each paper by Tom Batiuk."
Spurgeon also notes that the Korean-American community in Los Angeles is protesting what it perceives as anti-Semitism in Lee Won-bok’s Distant Countries and Neighboring Countries. Needless to say, it should be seen as a very positive thing that comics continue to have the power to enrage as well as inspire.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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