Notable Links for 04/05
OK, first I'd like to take a moment to thank Brett Warnock of Top Shelf Publishing for really doing me a solid. As you may have noticed, I've been putting out an open call for a stray copy of The Comics Journal #255 - I had a few months there where I wasn't able to get any comics and this magazine just disappeared before I could get anywhere near it. Fantagraphics sold out almost immediately, and I had it on no less an authority than former editor Mr. Milo George (who didn't even have a copy himself) that in the entire Fantagraphics building there was only one copy extant. So, of course, every store within about a forty-mile radius of me seemed to be out as well, and my pal Mike who runs the Comic Empire in Tulsa, OK didn't have one either (and if he doesn't have it, it usually can't be got!). So, Mr. Warnock, who I would like to point out I have never met before in my life, saw that I needed the issue and went out of his way to pick it up for me. That's just cool anyway you slice it, and it proves what I've always suspected: Top Shelf is good people. If you haven't spent any money on Top Shelf products in a while, why don't you take this moment to do so? I'd especially reccomend this, this and this, if you don't already have them yourselves.
So what have we learned today? If you're planning on having a big-shot controversial syndicated cartoonist cover featured on your magazine, it might help to overprint just a tad.
Now that that's out of the way, on with the show!
* "NYTimes.com said it canceled the use of Ted Rall's editorial cartoons effective March 1 because they didn't fit 'the tone' of the popular Web site." Editor & Publisher has the story here. Rall's own response can be found here, and the Washington Times chimes in here (scroll down a few stories).
While I am of course careful to avoid misusing the "C" word, it seems pretty obvious that the content of Rall's strips were the only reason he was dropped. Again, while obviously the Times, in whatever incarnation, has the right to print what they wish, its pretty craven of them to caveso overtly to right-wing pressure when its not even in their best commercial interests to do so.
I'd encourage anyone reading this to contact the offending parties and let them know that this is just not cool. They have every right to stop printing Rall, but we also have every right to complain and to even boycott the New York Times in retaliation for their transparent cowardace in the face of conservative pressure.
Martin Nisenholtz, CEO of New York Times Digital, can be contacted at nytdceo@nytimes.com. New York Times Letters to the Editor can be directed to letters@nytimes.com. Ombudsman Daniel Okrent can be reached at public@nytimes.com. Regardless of whether or not you agree with Rall's politics, I urge you to consider this matter seriously.
* "Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) announced today the appointment of John Turitzin, age 48, as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Mr. Turitzin has served as outside counsel to Marvel Enterprises and its predecessor, Toy Biz, Inc., since its formation in 1993. He assumes the role from CEO Allen Lipson." Read more here, courtesy of Business Wire.
* No-one should be surprised when Aint-It-Cool-News publishes something of questionable veracity. They're infamously easy to fool. They posted this article yesterday claiming that Alan Moore was not only unhappy with the upcoming "Constantine" movie, he had apperantly washed his hands of the entire process and asked his royalties be withheld and split fairly among the character's co-creators instead.
Makes a little bit of sense, but only a little bit. For one, even though Moore is notoriously surly on the subject of his movie adaptions, he also has little or no interest at all in the procceses, so it seemed odd he would have had any reason whatsoever to even have seen the script. The truth came out on Neil Gaiman's blog, here... where we see that while Moore has indeed decided to stop cashing the checks for movies made from his material, it has nothing to do with the "Constantine" movie, it has to do with this. (IGN's Filmforce has a semi-retraction of the story here.)
Now, from what I know, it seems like a lawsuit like that would make me want to scream and gnash my teeth in frustration. I can definitely understand Moore's desire to distance himself from Hollywood in whatever way he possibly could after that shit. The fact is that one of the reasons why the "League" worked so well is becuase it was one of those ideas that you saw and thought "why the hell didn't I think of that?" It doesn't surprise me at all that someone else had the idea around the same time... but this lawsuit is almost comically stupid. Sounds like they're setting themselves up to prove that the movie studio and Moore were in collusion from the beginning, which is a fool's errand if ever there was one. Everyone knows Alan Moore hates Hollywood - but I suppose that's just a front to cover up their wicked scheme to steal this idea.
Anyway, all I know is that the "Constantine" movie is going to suck but I'm going to see it anyway - not because I have any great desire to do so but because it's got Keanu in it, and the wife likes Keanu. We all have our crosses to bear, I suppose.
* Speaking of Moore, Mr. Alan David Doane has a long talk with the magical mystery fellow here.
* TV Barn is reprinting a memo from the producers of "Nightline" regarding their coverage of the recent corporate upheavals at the Disney company. Disney, you may recall, owns ABC television, which runs Nightline.
* Taiwan is taking steps to stimulate their domestic arts through a system of subsidies and awards - surprisingly, comic books are being targeted for attention as well. Read more here, courtesy of the Taiwanese Government (I think).
* "A federal jury has ordered a $15 million judgment on behalf of a St. Louis company, agreeing with its claim of patent infringement by the nation's leading provider of on-demand book printing." Read about what could be a momentous decision for the future of print-on-demand here, courtesy of the Kansas City Star. Those further itnerested can read the actual verdict here.
* Archie Comics, the sleeping giant of the American comics industry, is finally making a move into the Manga world. They're going to be publishing a manga-lite version of the popular "Sabrina" property, by American artist Tania del Rio. Read the initial announcement here, as well as an interview with del Rio, both courtesy of Newsarama.
* "'Sylvia' cartoonist Nicole Hollander will give a public talk titled, 'Oh No, It’s Monday, and I’ve Run Out of Ideas: A Cartoonist’s Crisis,' at the Library of Congress on Monday, March 15, 2004 in the James Madison Building, Washington, D.C." Read more here, courtesy of Managing Information.
* "Comedian and writer Arie Kaplan will explain 'How Jews Created the Comic Book' when he speaks at the Connecticut Historical Society Museum March 11, 7 p.m. Kaplan's talk, which promises to be lively, funny, and of course informative, relates to CHS's current exhibition, Heroes, Heartthrobs and Horrors: Celebrating Connecticuts Invention of the American Comic Book. Guests may be surprised to learn of the pivotal role that our state played in the evolution of the comic book, and of the absolutely essential role played by a handful of Jewish artists in the invention of many a legendary superhero." Read more here, courtesy of the Hartford Advocate.
* Gamespot talks with Marvel's Ames Kirshen about the companies decision to found a new division, Marvel Games Group, to deal explicitly with the world of electronic gaming here. It's actually a pretty interesting, if cursory look, at some of the money decisions being made at Marvel.
* Comic-related movie news has been coming fast and furious the last couple weeks, and I have steadfastly resisted linking to any of it. However, the Motley Fool's commentary (here) on how Marvel's movie slate is impacting their bottom line is definitely worth reading.
* "Disney veteran animators Tom Bancroft and Rob Corley announce the formation of their new animation development company, Funnypages Productions, LLC. This company will join their already existing subsidiary comic book publishing company, Funnypages Press. Funnypages Productions will offer a full range of animation production as well as illustration, character design and artistic development." Read more here, courtesy of the Hollywood Industry.
* Greece Now has a profile of Grecian childrens-book author and, apperantly, sometime-cartoonist Eugenios Trivizas here.
* Planning on being in the Uk on March 20th? Then stop by the 2004 UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing, which organizer Patrick Findlay claims to be "the first dedicated web and mini comix event ever held in the UK, possibly even the world." I am not so sure about that but it looks like a ton of fun. (Link courtesy of The Pulse).
* In one of the more interesting things I've seen in a while, a group of students at Northwestern University in Illinois are putting on a student-written show called "Spider-Man vs. Batman". The playwright, Mr. Andrew Paul Perez, is apperantly using the tropes of superhero comics to tell a story about "will and fear, the necessity for love and the limitations of time while we exist." I wish I could see it, it sounds very interesting, and certainly of interest to anyone who paid attention to the recent superhero debates that raged through this here blogosphere. Read more about it here, courtesy of the Daily Northwestern (link courtesy of Robert J. Karol).
* Hasbro is bringing Japanese card-gaming sensation "Duel Masters" to the United States - and planning on making quite a bit of money. Apperantly the slow roll out began last year with the appearance of the successful comic series. I find it hard to believe that the comic was actually successful enough to impact on the marketing decisions of multi-billion dollar corporations, but hey, what do I know? Read more here, courtesy of Forbes.
* The Oregonian's Chelsea Cain takes a look at Portland area retailer Excalibur Books & Comics, and likes what she sees.
* Kaleon Rahan of the Malaysian Star covers some recent mainstream releases here.
* "Think your kids watch too many cartoons with no educational value? Have them check out 'The Queen of Persia,' a feature-length animated video about the story of Purim, and a graphic novel of the same title based on the video’s screenplay. The novel reads something like a Purim version of the "Asterix" comics — a guilty pleasure with a lot of humor and color on every page." Man, is it me or are there quite a few Jewish-niche titles being published lately? Read more here, (scroll down the page) courtesy of the Jewish Journal.
* Yay! The Cleveland Plain Dealer is actually utilizing hometown-hero Harvey Pekar's talents for an upcoming "Best of the City" feature. Sounds cool. Read more here, courtesy of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
* Jennifer Contino at The Pulse talks with cartoonist Derek Hunter about his new SLG series "Pirate Clube" here.
* "Arlo and Janis" cartoonist Jimmy Johnson is making an appearance in his home town of Pass Christian, Mississippi, at a gallery showing of his work. More info here, courtesy of the Sun-Herald.
* "Cartoonists Gary Oliver of Marfa and Tom Curry of Alpine will have a joint retrospective of their cartoons at the Art Alliance Center at Clear Lake near Houston, Texas during the month of April, kicked off with an April 2 reception." Read more here, courtesy of the Desert-Mountain Times.
And that's all for today, folks. See you Monday. Maybe they'll be other content up between now and then - who knows?
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Notable Links for 03/04
Hey everybody. If you're interested, scroll on down past today's links and you'll find some actuall commentary from yours' truly. I'm going to try and be better about putting more original content on the page besides just the weekday linkblogging, but there are only so many hours in the day... so we'll see.
Also, I still haven't got any responses from anyone who's got a copy of the Comics Journal #255 to sell. More than anything, I guess I'm disappointed. I expected so much more from you people.
>sigh<
* "Embattled Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner on Wednesday was stripped of his role as chairman, but kept his position as chief executive even after 43 percent of shareholders voted against him in an unprecedented protest." Read more here, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance. Meanwhile, The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at Disney's flagging luck in the realm of feautre-length animation here. BBC News profiles Roy Disney, one of the main architects of the anti-Eisner movement, here.
* "A comic book about Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, sold 530,000 copies in Japan last year. The comic book's title is the 'Introduction to Kim Jong Il,' which tells stories of Kim Jong Il ranging from his abduction of Japanese civilians to his private life." Read more here, courtesy of The Weekly Post (link courtesy of Nailalien).
* The Seuss Centennial continues apace: Time's Richard Corliss takes another look at the erstwhile Thedor Giesel here. Meanwhile, Nancy Beardsley for the Voice of America commemorates Seuss here.
* The Crossville Chronicle wishes Popeye a belated happy 75th birthday here.
* Silver Bullet Comics points out here that one of every two comics sold in January were Marvel Comics.
* Steven Grant's Master Of The Obvious is back this week after a slight detour last week. Of course, it remains essential reading, as Steven Grant has evolved into just about the most vital mainstream commentary around. This week he tackles Marvel's "Secret War" reprint, the essential nihilism behind 90's comic books, as well as some political stuff that you will either love or loathe. Always interesting, never less than compelling. Link courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
* Silver Bullet Comic's "Panel" feature asks a slate of creators just what's going on with the future of comics here.
* Here's an article on Santa Cruz-based comics-inspired artist Koak, from the Bay Area Metroactive.
* "They’re as unlikely a bunch of superheroes as there ever were: Menorah Man, Dreidel Maidel, Minyan Man, Magen David, Kipa Kid, Shabbas Queen and Matzah Woman. But on creator Alan Oirich’s glossy comic book pages, the Jewish Hero Corps leaps, spins and multiplies to fight the enemy Fobots — robots charged with stealing Jewish memories." Read more here, courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
* There have been to my knowledge two musicals written around Charles M. Schultz's "Peanuts" strip. The other one is returning to New York for a limited all-star engagement after a hiatus of some thirty years. Read all about "Snoopy!"s return here, courtesy of Playbill.
* "With the primary aim of enhancing the overall concepts of cartoon in the State, Sarad Sharma, a cartoonist representing World Comics India (WCI) is currently holding a weeklong workshop on communication skills under the aegis of the Diocesan Social Service Society (DSSS) that began from Sunday at the Retreat House, Mantripukhri." Read more here, courtesy of E-Pao.
* Here's another article on reknowned fine-art thief Roy Lichtenstein on the occasion of a recent retrospective show in London. I feel sort-of obliged to link to these things but I'll be damned if I can understand how anyone with two brain cells to rub together could possibly see Lichtenstein as "brilliant" in any way whatsoever. Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.
* Immortal comics-page gadfly "Jumble" is making the leap into the digital realm. Read about it here, courtesy of Yahoo! News.
* The Daily Yomiuri takes a look at the "Ghost In The Shell" sequel, opening March 6, here.
* PopMatters.com reviews "X-Statix"'s recent "Back From The Dead" storyline here, and they're a lot kinder than I was to that shambling mess...
* "Amateur cartoonists are being given the chance to make the whole of London laugh. Comic scribblers could have their work shown around the capital and on the Tube as part of a contest linked to the London Comedy Festival." Read more here, courtesy of the NewsShopper.
* "Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids is teaming up with Walsh Public Relations as part of a national marketing campaign to support the popular syndicated comic strip, according to Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids creator and artist, Bob Weber Jr." Read more here, courtesy of PR Leap.
* "The closed and vacant International Museum of Cartoon Art is suddenly becoming a popular place. A citizens group headed by the League for Educational Awareness of the Holocaust (LEAH) has begun the process of buying the building. But the Boca Raton Orchid Society also wants a piece of the action." Read more here, courtesy of the Boca Raton News.
* 13-year-old Patrick Ugas has won a guest appearance in an issue of "Batman Adventures". Read more here, courtesy of the Ansonia Valley Gazette. (I'd make a joke but - come on, he's thirteen years old, he's probably thrilled to death.)
Captain America #12-23
An interesting problem with Captain America that I have noticed is that people who aren’t familiar with the character dismiss him as a jingoistic right-wing propaganda mouthpiece and those who follow him regularly regard him as a bleeding-heart liberal mouthpiece. There are probably less of the latter than there used to be on account of the fact that the industry has shrunk so much, but the fact remains that the character has always fought the former perception by leaning too hard towards the latter.
Nowhere is this dichotomy more evident than in the character’s own title. Whereas the Cap that appears regularly in “Avengers” is portrayed as, literally, the world’s greatest super-solider and the most brilliant tactician in the universe, the Cap that appears in his own title has always seemed more adrift, almost unmoored. Why is it so hard to take the Cap from “Avengers”, the one that everyone loves, the one who possesses the same kind of inscrutable charm and authority that Batman only wishes he had, and make him work in his own title?
The problem could have something to do with the fact that the two characters couldn’t be more dissimilar.
It’s hard to give Cap conflict in the pages of “Avengers” because more often than not he’s the lynchpin of the action, the crux behind the Avengers’ actions and the leader of the team. But by that same token its hard to resist the temptation to give Cap personal trauma and moral quandary in his own title, because the adventures of the World’s Most Competent Man would make for a boring book.
The one man who cracked the proverbial “Cap Code”, who made the character work against all odds on his own for the first time in years, was Mark Waid. The Captain America Waid wrote was the same Cap we knew and loved from the Avengers, only somewhat more approachable. Waid succeeded in shaking the cobwebs from Mark Gruenwald’s elongated run and made the character work.
Gruenwald himself wrote a fair number of good Cap stories, but his run suffered for the most part from a surplus of good ideas in the first half and diminishing returns from then on in. As good as some of Gruenwald’s early stories were, the fact is that he also turned Cap into a woman, a werewolf, and Iron Man during the course of his later run. Perhaps he should have quit while he was ahead.
Dan Jurgens’ Cap barely registered on my brain whatsoever. By the time we get to the Marvel Knights relaunch the character had passed into the kind of somnolent fugue that typified Gruenwald’s later years: stuff happened, and then, more stuff happened, and then next issue, more stuff happened. Cap was in need of a makeover.
The Marvel Knights relaunch started strong. I really liked John Ney Reiber’s initial take on the character, particularly his impassioned and reasoned response to 9/11. And then . . . something happened. I don’t know exactly what, but the Cap relaunch found itself on shaky ground almost from the start. The story sort-of lurched on but it seemed as if the character had been undercut by a screaming desire for relevance. More than anything else the ensuing issues were just plain boring.
Which brings me back to where I just finished up: the last year of “Captain America”.
Its hardly newsworthy to point out that “Ice” was a mess. The real sad thing is that there was obviously a germ of an idea here, a nucleus of a story, but it never quite succeeded in making it past the meandering clusterfuck stage.
I’m not going to rag on Chuck Austen unnecessarily, he gets enough of that from the “X-Men” fans. But I think I understand why he keeps failing.
One of Nu-Marvel’s smarter prerogatives has been their insistence that continuity is merely a tool and not, to paraphrase the famous barrister, a suicide pact. However, this approach is obviously a two-edged sword, because it’s also a tool that can be misused. Its not hard to write new stories, there are lots of good new stories written every month that neither disregard established canon or rewrite established continuity. Austen fails when he decides he’s going to write about continuity, because quite frankly he just does not possess a deep enough understanding of the characters’ histories to pull it off without screwing up. He writes like someone who pulled an all-nighter to bring himself up to date on specific details, but fails to understand the bigger picture.
So, we have “Ice”. First, as I said, there’s a nugget of a good idea here: the concept of a villain trying to understand just what exactly makes Cap tick through trauma and suffering. The true shame of Austen’s writing, is that, at least on “Cap”, he does possess a fairly comprehensive understanding of the motivations driving his characters. But, again, the key here is the modifier “fairly”, because this limited understanding is undercut by his incomplete knowledge of character history.
It’s been established that Captain America does kill. When the situation calls for it, when there’s no other choice, he can take lives. He is, for better or for worse, still a soldier at heart and so he does possess the capacity to kill. Does he like it? No. But will he if he has to? Yes. He killed Baron Blood during Byrne’s short run. He killed an unnamed ULTIMATUM goon during the early part of Gruenwald’s run, in a situation where he either had to kill or allow others to die.
So the question of whether Cap will or won’t kill is moot. It’s unnecessary to ask the question because there’s already an answer.
It goes without saying that Austen’s attempt at a retcon in “Ice” is equally ham-fisted. It could be argued that the only good idea Rob Liefeld had during his “Heroes Reborn” run was the idea that Cap had been placed in suspended animation by his own government because of his opposition to the atomic bomb. I can sympathize with Austen (and obviously a heavy editorial hand) in wanting to place this idea into canon . . . but its too late. There’s just been too much water under the bridge to convincingly place this crucial kernel into the backstory.
Thankfully, the story was vague enough on these particulars that the whole “Ice” interlude could easily be construed as a dream. I have a feeling that its going to be remembered alongside the lab explosion at the genesis of “Spider-Man: Chapter One” as one of those ideas that was so good we all had to agree never to mention it again.
The truly sad thing is, despite the torpid storytelling, the weak character points, the uninspired villain (“I have a hand! With an eye in my palm!”) and the unconvincing story mechanics, “Ice” is nowhere near the worst Cap story ever. I hate to bring up bad memories but may I simply reacquaint you with . . . Capwolf?
>shudder<
Dave Gibbons and Lee Weeks’ short run, the celebrated “Captain America Lives Again” storyline, was good but essentially superfluous. This is the type of Cap story a monkey could write in his sleep: you just have to hit all the right notes and it will read fantastically.
Back in the days of “What If?” there used to be a story in this vein every few months. Captain America wakes up on the submarine but . . . something has gone terribly wrong! The Nazis have taken over America. Cap has to lead a ragtag resistance to defeat the Nazis and win back the spirit of America . . . you get the idea. Sure, its fun, it works, its great, but its the equivalent of Spider-Man being crushed under a giant piece of machinery only to save himself by a feat of superhuman strength and will. It works every time but you feel a little bit dirty after the fact.
Robert Morales’ run has so many things in its favor – Chris Bachalo’s stellar art, a clear understanding of the character, a sly sense of humor that is often overlooked in Cap stories – but the attempt at placing Cap into a more geopolitically relevant milieu somehow feels fake.
It’s not as if Cap is unable to work in a politically charged story. Lets not forget that one of the best Cap stories ever featured the character temporarily retiring in disgust in the wake of Watergate – hanging up his shield and taking up the identity of Nomad, the Man Without A Country. Hell, even Gruenwald had Cap fighting a temporarily-serpentine Ronald Reagan – not one of the more subtle plot points ever, but I got a chuckle out of it.
But the problem with Cap going down to Camp X-Ray is not that there isn’t the potential for an interesting story here, but just the fact that the story they’re actually telling isn’t very interesting. Perhaps, with a character who’s so baldly allegorical than Cap, its best to merely flirt with relevancy. Ultimately any real attempt at drama in this storyline is going to be undermined by the hard-and-fast fact that, for instance, we know the Red Skull or Baron Strucker are not actually behind the Guantanamo detentions. They can’t write that story because its something we know to be untrue in the real world – it would immediately kill your suspension of disbelief. But unless they do something in that vein, come up with something for Cap to do, its going to be a pretty boring story. So far we’re watching Cap sit around and talk with people.
Why is it so hard to strike the balance between Captain America the moral idealist and Captain America the professional asskicker? I don’t know. The rumor mills holds that perhaps Marvel is going to drop back ten and punt the book – sending Cap back into the mainstream publishing wing and writing off the Marvel Knights experiment as a failure. Unfortunately, I can’t see any reason not to do this.
I would never in a million years suggest that Mark Waid write the book again – he’s been screwed so often I think he’d have to be on drugs to accept the poisoned chalice again. But the fact remains that he’s wrote almost every good Captain America story worth remembering from the past fifteen years, and whoever does write the character should remember this.
I sincerely hope Cap gets good again, because he’s one of my favorite characters. But it’s a tall order. I don’t think it would be a good thing to eject the relevancy that Marvel Knights has attempted to inject into the book, because without some sort of grounding in the actual realities of modern-day America the temptation is strong to make Cap just another colorful superhero in a market already jammed-full of colorful and superfluous super-heroes. But as we have seen, going overboard with this approach makes the book boring as hell to read.
It’s a tough gig, and my sympathies to whomever ends up writing the book when all is said and done.
Hey everybody. If you're interested, scroll on down past today's links and you'll find some actuall commentary from yours' truly. I'm going to try and be better about putting more original content on the page besides just the weekday linkblogging, but there are only so many hours in the day... so we'll see.
Also, I still haven't got any responses from anyone who's got a copy of the Comics Journal #255 to sell. More than anything, I guess I'm disappointed. I expected so much more from you people.
>sigh<
* "Embattled Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner on Wednesday was stripped of his role as chairman, but kept his position as chief executive even after 43 percent of shareholders voted against him in an unprecedented protest." Read more here, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance. Meanwhile, The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at Disney's flagging luck in the realm of feautre-length animation here. BBC News profiles Roy Disney, one of the main architects of the anti-Eisner movement, here.
* "A comic book about Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, sold 530,000 copies in Japan last year. The comic book's title is the 'Introduction to Kim Jong Il,' which tells stories of Kim Jong Il ranging from his abduction of Japanese civilians to his private life." Read more here, courtesy of The Weekly Post (link courtesy of Nailalien).
* The Seuss Centennial continues apace: Time's Richard Corliss takes another look at the erstwhile Thedor Giesel here. Meanwhile, Nancy Beardsley for the Voice of America commemorates Seuss here.
* The Crossville Chronicle wishes Popeye a belated happy 75th birthday here.
* Silver Bullet Comics points out here that one of every two comics sold in January were Marvel Comics.
* Steven Grant's Master Of The Obvious is back this week after a slight detour last week. Of course, it remains essential reading, as Steven Grant has evolved into just about the most vital mainstream commentary around. This week he tackles Marvel's "Secret War" reprint, the essential nihilism behind 90's comic books, as well as some political stuff that you will either love or loathe. Always interesting, never less than compelling. Link courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
* Silver Bullet Comic's "Panel" feature asks a slate of creators just what's going on with the future of comics here.
* Here's an article on Santa Cruz-based comics-inspired artist Koak, from the Bay Area Metroactive.
* "They’re as unlikely a bunch of superheroes as there ever were: Menorah Man, Dreidel Maidel, Minyan Man, Magen David, Kipa Kid, Shabbas Queen and Matzah Woman. But on creator Alan Oirich’s glossy comic book pages, the Jewish Hero Corps leaps, spins and multiplies to fight the enemy Fobots — robots charged with stealing Jewish memories." Read more here, courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
* There have been to my knowledge two musicals written around Charles M. Schultz's "Peanuts" strip. The other one is returning to New York for a limited all-star engagement after a hiatus of some thirty years. Read all about "Snoopy!"s return here, courtesy of Playbill.
* "With the primary aim of enhancing the overall concepts of cartoon in the State, Sarad Sharma, a cartoonist representing World Comics India (WCI) is currently holding a weeklong workshop on communication skills under the aegis of the Diocesan Social Service Society (DSSS) that began from Sunday at the Retreat House, Mantripukhri." Read more here, courtesy of E-Pao.
* Here's another article on reknowned fine-art thief Roy Lichtenstein on the occasion of a recent retrospective show in London. I feel sort-of obliged to link to these things but I'll be damned if I can understand how anyone with two brain cells to rub together could possibly see Lichtenstein as "brilliant" in any way whatsoever. Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.
* Immortal comics-page gadfly "Jumble" is making the leap into the digital realm. Read about it here, courtesy of Yahoo! News.
* The Daily Yomiuri takes a look at the "Ghost In The Shell" sequel, opening March 6, here.
* PopMatters.com reviews "X-Statix"'s recent "Back From The Dead" storyline here, and they're a lot kinder than I was to that shambling mess...
* "Amateur cartoonists are being given the chance to make the whole of London laugh. Comic scribblers could have their work shown around the capital and on the Tube as part of a contest linked to the London Comedy Festival." Read more here, courtesy of the NewsShopper.
* "Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids is teaming up with Walsh Public Relations as part of a national marketing campaign to support the popular syndicated comic strip, according to Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids creator and artist, Bob Weber Jr." Read more here, courtesy of PR Leap.
* "The closed and vacant International Museum of Cartoon Art is suddenly becoming a popular place. A citizens group headed by the League for Educational Awareness of the Holocaust (LEAH) has begun the process of buying the building. But the Boca Raton Orchid Society also wants a piece of the action." Read more here, courtesy of the Boca Raton News.
* 13-year-old Patrick Ugas has won a guest appearance in an issue of "Batman Adventures". Read more here, courtesy of the Ansonia Valley Gazette. (I'd make a joke but - come on, he's thirteen years old, he's probably thrilled to death.)
Captain America #12-23
An interesting problem with Captain America that I have noticed is that people who aren’t familiar with the character dismiss him as a jingoistic right-wing propaganda mouthpiece and those who follow him regularly regard him as a bleeding-heart liberal mouthpiece. There are probably less of the latter than there used to be on account of the fact that the industry has shrunk so much, but the fact remains that the character has always fought the former perception by leaning too hard towards the latter.
Nowhere is this dichotomy more evident than in the character’s own title. Whereas the Cap that appears regularly in “Avengers” is portrayed as, literally, the world’s greatest super-solider and the most brilliant tactician in the universe, the Cap that appears in his own title has always seemed more adrift, almost unmoored. Why is it so hard to take the Cap from “Avengers”, the one that everyone loves, the one who possesses the same kind of inscrutable charm and authority that Batman only wishes he had, and make him work in his own title?
The problem could have something to do with the fact that the two characters couldn’t be more dissimilar.
It’s hard to give Cap conflict in the pages of “Avengers” because more often than not he’s the lynchpin of the action, the crux behind the Avengers’ actions and the leader of the team. But by that same token its hard to resist the temptation to give Cap personal trauma and moral quandary in his own title, because the adventures of the World’s Most Competent Man would make for a boring book.
The one man who cracked the proverbial “Cap Code”, who made the character work against all odds on his own for the first time in years, was Mark Waid. The Captain America Waid wrote was the same Cap we knew and loved from the Avengers, only somewhat more approachable. Waid succeeded in shaking the cobwebs from Mark Gruenwald’s elongated run and made the character work.
Gruenwald himself wrote a fair number of good Cap stories, but his run suffered for the most part from a surplus of good ideas in the first half and diminishing returns from then on in. As good as some of Gruenwald’s early stories were, the fact is that he also turned Cap into a woman, a werewolf, and Iron Man during the course of his later run. Perhaps he should have quit while he was ahead.
Dan Jurgens’ Cap barely registered on my brain whatsoever. By the time we get to the Marvel Knights relaunch the character had passed into the kind of somnolent fugue that typified Gruenwald’s later years: stuff happened, and then, more stuff happened, and then next issue, more stuff happened. Cap was in need of a makeover.
The Marvel Knights relaunch started strong. I really liked John Ney Reiber’s initial take on the character, particularly his impassioned and reasoned response to 9/11. And then . . . something happened. I don’t know exactly what, but the Cap relaunch found itself on shaky ground almost from the start. The story sort-of lurched on but it seemed as if the character had been undercut by a screaming desire for relevance. More than anything else the ensuing issues were just plain boring.
Which brings me back to where I just finished up: the last year of “Captain America”.
Its hardly newsworthy to point out that “Ice” was a mess. The real sad thing is that there was obviously a germ of an idea here, a nucleus of a story, but it never quite succeeded in making it past the meandering clusterfuck stage.
I’m not going to rag on Chuck Austen unnecessarily, he gets enough of that from the “X-Men” fans. But I think I understand why he keeps failing.
One of Nu-Marvel’s smarter prerogatives has been their insistence that continuity is merely a tool and not, to paraphrase the famous barrister, a suicide pact. However, this approach is obviously a two-edged sword, because it’s also a tool that can be misused. Its not hard to write new stories, there are lots of good new stories written every month that neither disregard established canon or rewrite established continuity. Austen fails when he decides he’s going to write about continuity, because quite frankly he just does not possess a deep enough understanding of the characters’ histories to pull it off without screwing up. He writes like someone who pulled an all-nighter to bring himself up to date on specific details, but fails to understand the bigger picture.
So, we have “Ice”. First, as I said, there’s a nugget of a good idea here: the concept of a villain trying to understand just what exactly makes Cap tick through trauma and suffering. The true shame of Austen’s writing, is that, at least on “Cap”, he does possess a fairly comprehensive understanding of the motivations driving his characters. But, again, the key here is the modifier “fairly”, because this limited understanding is undercut by his incomplete knowledge of character history.
It’s been established that Captain America does kill. When the situation calls for it, when there’s no other choice, he can take lives. He is, for better or for worse, still a soldier at heart and so he does possess the capacity to kill. Does he like it? No. But will he if he has to? Yes. He killed Baron Blood during Byrne’s short run. He killed an unnamed ULTIMATUM goon during the early part of Gruenwald’s run, in a situation where he either had to kill or allow others to die.
So the question of whether Cap will or won’t kill is moot. It’s unnecessary to ask the question because there’s already an answer.
It goes without saying that Austen’s attempt at a retcon in “Ice” is equally ham-fisted. It could be argued that the only good idea Rob Liefeld had during his “Heroes Reborn” run was the idea that Cap had been placed in suspended animation by his own government because of his opposition to the atomic bomb. I can sympathize with Austen (and obviously a heavy editorial hand) in wanting to place this idea into canon . . . but its too late. There’s just been too much water under the bridge to convincingly place this crucial kernel into the backstory.
Thankfully, the story was vague enough on these particulars that the whole “Ice” interlude could easily be construed as a dream. I have a feeling that its going to be remembered alongside the lab explosion at the genesis of “Spider-Man: Chapter One” as one of those ideas that was so good we all had to agree never to mention it again.
The truly sad thing is, despite the torpid storytelling, the weak character points, the uninspired villain (“I have a hand! With an eye in my palm!”) and the unconvincing story mechanics, “Ice” is nowhere near the worst Cap story ever. I hate to bring up bad memories but may I simply reacquaint you with . . . Capwolf?
>shudder<
Dave Gibbons and Lee Weeks’ short run, the celebrated “Captain America Lives Again” storyline, was good but essentially superfluous. This is the type of Cap story a monkey could write in his sleep: you just have to hit all the right notes and it will read fantastically.
Back in the days of “What If?” there used to be a story in this vein every few months. Captain America wakes up on the submarine but . . . something has gone terribly wrong! The Nazis have taken over America. Cap has to lead a ragtag resistance to defeat the Nazis and win back the spirit of America . . . you get the idea. Sure, its fun, it works, its great, but its the equivalent of Spider-Man being crushed under a giant piece of machinery only to save himself by a feat of superhuman strength and will. It works every time but you feel a little bit dirty after the fact.
Robert Morales’ run has so many things in its favor – Chris Bachalo’s stellar art, a clear understanding of the character, a sly sense of humor that is often overlooked in Cap stories – but the attempt at placing Cap into a more geopolitically relevant milieu somehow feels fake.
It’s not as if Cap is unable to work in a politically charged story. Lets not forget that one of the best Cap stories ever featured the character temporarily retiring in disgust in the wake of Watergate – hanging up his shield and taking up the identity of Nomad, the Man Without A Country. Hell, even Gruenwald had Cap fighting a temporarily-serpentine Ronald Reagan – not one of the more subtle plot points ever, but I got a chuckle out of it.
But the problem with Cap going down to Camp X-Ray is not that there isn’t the potential for an interesting story here, but just the fact that the story they’re actually telling isn’t very interesting. Perhaps, with a character who’s so baldly allegorical than Cap, its best to merely flirt with relevancy. Ultimately any real attempt at drama in this storyline is going to be undermined by the hard-and-fast fact that, for instance, we know the Red Skull or Baron Strucker are not actually behind the Guantanamo detentions. They can’t write that story because its something we know to be untrue in the real world – it would immediately kill your suspension of disbelief. But unless they do something in that vein, come up with something for Cap to do, its going to be a pretty boring story. So far we’re watching Cap sit around and talk with people.
Why is it so hard to strike the balance between Captain America the moral idealist and Captain America the professional asskicker? I don’t know. The rumor mills holds that perhaps Marvel is going to drop back ten and punt the book – sending Cap back into the mainstream publishing wing and writing off the Marvel Knights experiment as a failure. Unfortunately, I can’t see any reason not to do this.
I would never in a million years suggest that Mark Waid write the book again – he’s been screwed so often I think he’d have to be on drugs to accept the poisoned chalice again. But the fact remains that he’s wrote almost every good Captain America story worth remembering from the past fifteen years, and whoever does write the character should remember this.
I sincerely hope Cap gets good again, because he’s one of my favorite characters. But it’s a tall order. I don’t think it would be a good thing to eject the relevancy that Marvel Knights has attempted to inject into the book, because without some sort of grounding in the actual realities of modern-day America the temptation is strong to make Cap just another colorful superhero in a market already jammed-full of colorful and superfluous super-heroes. But as we have seen, going overboard with this approach makes the book boring as hell to read.
It’s a tough gig, and my sympathies to whomever ends up writing the book when all is said and done.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Notable Links for 03/04
Hey everybody. If you're interested, scroll on down past today's links and you'll find some actuall commentary from yours' truly. I'm going to try and be better about putting more original content on the page besides just the weekday linkblogging, but there are only so many hours in the day... so we'll see.
Also, I still haven't got any responses from anyone who's got a copy of the Comics Journal #255 to sell. More than anything, I guess I'm disappointed. I expected so much more from you people.
>sigh<
* "A comic book about Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, sold 530,000 copies in Japan last year. The comic book's title is the 'Introduction to Kim Jong Il,' which tells stories of Kim Jong Il ranging from his abduction of Japanese civilians to his private life." Read more here, courtesy of The Weekly Post (link courtesy of Nailalien).
* The Seuss Centennial continues apace: Time's Richard Corliss takes another look at the erstwhile Thedor Giesel here. Meanwhile, Nancy Beardsley for the Voice of America commemorates Seuss here.
* The Crossville Chronicle wishes Popeye a belated happy 75th birthday here.
* Silver Bullet Comics points out here that one of every two comics sold in January were Marvel Comics.
* Steven Grant's Master Of The Obvious is back this week after a slight detour last week. Of course, it remains essential reading, as Steven Grant has evolved into just about the most vital mainstream commentary around. This week he tackles Marvel's "Secret War" reprint, the essential nihilism behind 90's comic books, as well as some political stuff that you will either love or loathe. Always interesting, never less than compelling. Link courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
* Silver Bullet Comic's "Panel" feature asks a slate of creators just what's going on with the future of comics here.
* Here's an article on Santa Cruz-based comics-inspired artist Koak, from the Bay Area Metroactive.
* "They’re as unlikely a bunch of superheroes as there ever were: Menorah Man, Dreidel Maidel, Minyan Man, Magen David, Kipa Kid, Shabbas Queen and Matzah Woman. But on creator Alan Oirich’s glossy comic book pages, the Jewish Hero Corps leaps, spins and multiplies to fight the enemy Fobots — robots charged with stealing Jewish memories." Read more here, courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
* There have been to my knowledge two musicals written around Charles M. Schultz's "Peanuts" strip. The other one is returning to New York for a limited all-star engagement after a hiatus of some thirty years. Read all about "Snoopy!"s return here, courtesy of Playbill.
* Here's another article on reknowned fine-art thief Roy
* The Daily Yomiuri takes a look at the "Ghost In The Shell" sequel, opening March 6, here.
* PopMatters.com reviews "X-Statix"'s recent "Back From The Dead" storyline here, and they're a lot kinder than I was to that shambling mess...
* 13-year-old Patrick Ugas has won a guest appearance in an issue of "Batman Adventures". Read more here, courtesy of the Ansonia Valley Gazette. (I'd make a joke but - come on, he's thirteen years old, he's probably thrilled to death.)
Hey everybody. If you're interested, scroll on down past today's links and you'll find some actuall commentary from yours' truly. I'm going to try and be better about putting more original content on the page besides just the weekday linkblogging, but there are only so many hours in the day... so we'll see.
Also, I still haven't got any responses from anyone who's got a copy of the Comics Journal #255 to sell. More than anything, I guess I'm disappointed. I expected so much more from you people.
>sigh<
* "A comic book about Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, sold 530,000 copies in Japan last year. The comic book's title is the 'Introduction to Kim Jong Il,' which tells stories of Kim Jong Il ranging from his abduction of Japanese civilians to his private life." Read more here, courtesy of The Weekly Post (link courtesy of Nailalien).
* The Seuss Centennial continues apace: Time's Richard Corliss takes another look at the erstwhile Thedor Giesel here. Meanwhile, Nancy Beardsley for the Voice of America commemorates Seuss here.
* The Crossville Chronicle wishes Popeye a belated happy 75th birthday here.
* Silver Bullet Comics points out here that one of every two comics sold in January were Marvel Comics.
* Steven Grant's Master Of The Obvious is back this week after a slight detour last week. Of course, it remains essential reading, as Steven Grant has evolved into just about the most vital mainstream commentary around. This week he tackles Marvel's "Secret War" reprint, the essential nihilism behind 90's comic books, as well as some political stuff that you will either love or loathe. Always interesting, never less than compelling. Link courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
* Silver Bullet Comic's "Panel" feature asks a slate of creators just what's going on with the future of comics here.
* Here's an article on Santa Cruz-based comics-inspired artist Koak, from the Bay Area Metroactive.
* "They’re as unlikely a bunch of superheroes as there ever were: Menorah Man, Dreidel Maidel, Minyan Man, Magen David, Kipa Kid, Shabbas Queen and Matzah Woman. But on creator Alan Oirich’s glossy comic book pages, the Jewish Hero Corps leaps, spins and multiplies to fight the enemy Fobots — robots charged with stealing Jewish memories." Read more here, courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
* There have been to my knowledge two musicals written around Charles M. Schultz's "Peanuts" strip. The other one is returning to New York for a limited all-star engagement after a hiatus of some thirty years. Read all about "Snoopy!"s return here, courtesy of Playbill.
* Here's another article on reknowned fine-art thief Roy
* The Daily Yomiuri takes a look at the "Ghost In The Shell" sequel, opening March 6, here.
* PopMatters.com reviews "X-Statix"'s recent "Back From The Dead" storyline here, and they're a lot kinder than I was to that shambling mess...
* 13-year-old Patrick Ugas has won a guest appearance in an issue of "Batman Adventures". Read more here, courtesy of the Ansonia Valley Gazette. (I'd make a joke but - come on, he's thirteen years old, he's probably thrilled to death.)
Notable Links for 03/03
* Marvel's Fourth Quarter numbers for '04 have been released, and the news is very good for the long-suffering company. Profits are up, costs are down and they're even doing a stock-split - which is traditionally a sign of confidence (although the folks at the Motley Fool disagree with that assessment here).
Today's news effectively moots the Dreaded Direct Market Doom theory that many have held for a while: according to these numbers, Marvel could pay off the entirety of its' outstanding debt tomorrow with $100 million to spare. Now, I'm no business expert, but that seems fairly cut and dried. Marvel is a stable company in good fiscal shape and if the direct market goes under its not going to be because Marvel went under.
However, its not all good news - as Quicken.com notes here, Marvel's 2004 profits are expected to dip because of a tax rate hike.
Newsarama has the numbers here. Reuters has the story here.
* Longtime comics industry veteran Hank Kanalz, formerly of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, has joined DC Comics as VP-General Manager, WildStorm Productions. You might remember Mr. Kanalz from his tenure as line-editor for the defunct Malibu Comics line, in addition to various freelance writing gigs, including on DC's "The flash". Read the press release here, courtesy of Silver Bullet Comics.
* As "Cerebus" #300 looms high on the horizon its getting harder and harder to avoid running into people talking to and about Dave Sim. First off, Mr. Alan David Doane has five questions with Sim here. I don't know how he did it but this just doesn't sound like the same Sim I've been following in "Cerebus" for years - he seems, oh, I don't know, slightly rational? Kudos to Mr. Doane for an excellent interview. Bruce Baugh has a semi-reply to Doane's interview here, but its more in the vein of a personal reminiscence on "Cerebus"'s evolution and where the title just stopped working. Finally, here's an update on one intrepid reporter's ongoing struggle to get some straight & usable answers out of Sim for the Onion's "AV Club" section.
* The Dr. Seuss Centennial celebrations continue apace (I refuse to say "Suessentienial" more than I absolutely have to). The good Doctor is getting himself a postage stamp, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a new bronze statuee is being erected in his honor at the University of California, San Diego's Geisel Library. Read about the festivities here, courtesy of the Rugged Elegance Inspiration Network. Meanwhile, The National Review reprints John J. Miller's Seuss appreciation here.
* Viz's "Rurouni Kenshin" manga is really, really popular. Don't believe me? Check out this press release (courtesy of Comic Book Resources).
* Meanwhile, IDW Publishing proves once and for all that in the Time/Warner/AOL behemoth, the right hand really does not know what the left is doing: they've signed a contract to provide content for America Online. Read the press release here, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
* Jennifer Contino at the Pulse talked with up-and-coming alt-creator Tobias Tak about his recently released "Upside Down", from Top Shelf, as well as upcoming projects from Fantagraphics. Read all about it here.
* Artist Jason Shiga makes on appearance on the debut episode of "Stir"m a cable-television program aimed exclusively at focusing the under-represented Asian-American community. Read more here, courtesy of the San Jose Mercury-News.
* "His daily cartoons on page nine of the South Wales Echo have become a Welsh institution. But Gren Jones confesses, 'I'm just as thrilled if I see a cartoon of mine in print today as I was 30 years ago.'" Read more here, courtesy of icWales.com.
* Professor Scot Tipton's Comics 101 column takes a look at that suave super-spy Nick Fury this week, with copious samples of Steranko's gorgeous work on the series. Link courtesy of Movie Poop Shoot.
* Stuart Moore's got a new column up, and, disappointingly, its nowhere near as controversial as his last one: its about colorists. Read it here, courtesy of Newsarama.
* "Past Little Abner’s one will notice the colorful posters lining Universal Comics’ windows that make it stand out from the other grimy brick buildings. Universal Comics is Arbutus’ very own comic book shop, owned and run by the Noon family. The store has been open in Arbutus for the past 25 years, but most UMBC students have probably never heard of it, despite the fact that there is enough interest in comics on campus for there to be a "Comic Book as Literature" class." Read more here, courtesy of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's student newspaper The Retriever.
* "An exhibition cum workshop on cartoons, wall posters and comics strips will be organised on March 5 at Manipur Press Club by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union, AMWJU in collaboration with World Comics India, a release said." Read more here, courtesy of Kangla Online.
* "It is no longer uncommon to flip through a random comic book and discover all sorts of "R-rated" behavior. With the maturity levels growing along with the average reader's age, it's no surprise that most comic books are seemingly targeted towards an older college audience." Comics aren't just for kids anymore, yoinks! Read more here, courtesy of The Battalion.
* Two great tastes that I'm not sure go great together: comic books and tie-dye. Link courtesy of the Waxahachie Daily Light.
Oh, just incase you missed it the past two days: if anyone has a copy of The Comics Journal #255 they would care to part with, please drop me a line. I missed it and there's not a store in my immediate vicinity that has a copy, and Fantagraphics is sold out to boot.
I'm serious. I just want a damn copy of the magazine.
* Marvel's Fourth Quarter numbers for '04 have been released, and the news is very good for the long-suffering company. Profits are up, costs are down and they're even doing a stock-split - which is traditionally a sign of confidence (although the folks at the Motley Fool disagree with that assessment here).
Today's news effectively moots the Dreaded Direct Market Doom theory that many have held for a while: according to these numbers, Marvel could pay off the entirety of its' outstanding debt tomorrow with $100 million to spare. Now, I'm no business expert, but that seems fairly cut and dried. Marvel is a stable company in good fiscal shape and if the direct market goes under its not going to be because Marvel went under.
However, its not all good news - as Quicken.com notes here, Marvel's 2004 profits are expected to dip because of a tax rate hike.
Newsarama has the numbers here. Reuters has the story here.
* Longtime comics industry veteran Hank Kanalz, formerly of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, has joined DC Comics as VP-General Manager, WildStorm Productions. You might remember Mr. Kanalz from his tenure as line-editor for the defunct Malibu Comics line, in addition to various freelance writing gigs, including on DC's "The flash". Read the press release here, courtesy of Silver Bullet Comics.
* As "Cerebus" #300 looms high on the horizon its getting harder and harder to avoid running into people talking to and about Dave Sim. First off, Mr. Alan David Doane has five questions with Sim here. I don't know how he did it but this just doesn't sound like the same Sim I've been following in "Cerebus" for years - he seems, oh, I don't know, slightly rational? Kudos to Mr. Doane for an excellent interview. Bruce Baugh has a semi-reply to Doane's interview here, but its more in the vein of a personal reminiscence on "Cerebus"'s evolution and where the title just stopped working. Finally, here's an update on one intrepid reporter's ongoing struggle to get some straight & usable answers out of Sim for the Onion's "AV Club" section.
* The Dr. Seuss Centennial celebrations continue apace (I refuse to say "Suessentienial" more than I absolutely have to). The good Doctor is getting himself a postage stamp, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a new bronze statuee is being erected in his honor at the University of California, San Diego's Geisel Library. Read about the festivities here, courtesy of the Rugged Elegance Inspiration Network. Meanwhile, The National Review reprints John J. Miller's Seuss appreciation here.
* Viz's "Rurouni Kenshin" manga is really, really popular. Don't believe me? Check out this press release (courtesy of Comic Book Resources).
* Meanwhile, IDW Publishing proves once and for all that in the Time/Warner/AOL behemoth, the right hand really does not know what the left is doing: they've signed a contract to provide content for America Online. Read the press release here, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
* Jennifer Contino at the Pulse talked with up-and-coming alt-creator Tobias Tak about his recently released "Upside Down", from Top Shelf, as well as upcoming projects from Fantagraphics. Read all about it here.
* Artist Jason Shiga makes on appearance on the debut episode of "Stir"m a cable-television program aimed exclusively at focusing the under-represented Asian-American community. Read more here, courtesy of the San Jose Mercury-News.
* "His daily cartoons on page nine of the South Wales Echo have become a Welsh institution. But Gren Jones confesses, 'I'm just as thrilled if I see a cartoon of mine in print today as I was 30 years ago.'" Read more here, courtesy of icWales.com.
* Professor Scot Tipton's Comics 101 column takes a look at that suave super-spy Nick Fury this week, with copious samples of Steranko's gorgeous work on the series. Link courtesy of Movie Poop Shoot.
* Stuart Moore's got a new column up, and, disappointingly, its nowhere near as controversial as his last one: its about colorists. Read it here, courtesy of Newsarama.
* "Past Little Abner’s one will notice the colorful posters lining Universal Comics’ windows that make it stand out from the other grimy brick buildings. Universal Comics is Arbutus’ very own comic book shop, owned and run by the Noon family. The store has been open in Arbutus for the past 25 years, but most UMBC students have probably never heard of it, despite the fact that there is enough interest in comics on campus for there to be a "Comic Book as Literature" class." Read more here, courtesy of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's student newspaper The Retriever.
* "An exhibition cum workshop on cartoons, wall posters and comics strips will be organised on March 5 at Manipur Press Club by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union, AMWJU in collaboration with World Comics India, a release said." Read more here, courtesy of Kangla Online.
* "It is no longer uncommon to flip through a random comic book and discover all sorts of "R-rated" behavior. With the maturity levels growing along with the average reader's age, it's no surprise that most comic books are seemingly targeted towards an older college audience." Comics aren't just for kids anymore, yoinks! Read more here, courtesy of The Battalion.
* Two great tastes that I'm not sure go great together: comic books and tie-dye. Link courtesy of the Waxahachie Daily Light.
Oh, just incase you missed it the past two days: if anyone has a copy of The Comics Journal #255 they would care to part with, please drop me a line. I missed it and there's not a store in my immediate vicinity that has a copy, and Fantagraphics is sold out to boot.
I'm serious. I just want a damn copy of the magazine.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Notable Links 03/02
Man, this is a slow news day. Everyone and their mothers are still talking about the Academy Awards - yawn - wake me when its over...
* Apperantly the Feb 20th installment of "BC" has caused more uproar against cartoonist Johnny Hart - take a look at this letter (second one down) to the Washington Columbian. Having looked at the strip, I don't see it, but that's just me.
* "Riverhead Books has acquired cult comic sensation David Rees's Get Your War On II, according to Senior Editor Sean McDonald. McDonald purchased world rights from Kassie Evashevski at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment in Beverly Hills. The book will be published in September 2004." Read more here, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance.
* Ed Gamble, artist for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville has won the 2004 "Wilbur" award for Outstanding Religious Themes in Media, in the category for editorial cartoons and comic strips. Read more here, courtesy of US Newswire.
* "Getting teenagers and young adults to read and use public libraries is a challenge the library in Ocean Springs is addressing with a $5,000 development grant from the Mississippi Library Commission." Read more here, courtesy of the Sun-Herald.
* The New York Times takes a look at the - ahem - Doctor Seussentennial celebrations in La Jolla, California, celebrating the 100 years since Theodor ("Dr. Seuss") Geisel's birthday here.
* Cartoonist Oliver Chin, author of the 9-11 narrative "9 of 1: A Window to the World", has a new book coming out on the subject of Chinese basketball phenom Yao Ming, Read more about it here, courtesy of The Argus Online.
* Barb Lien-Cooper at Sequential Tart takes a look at how the mainstream's dismissive attitudes towards Manga translate into dismissive attitudes towards female readers in general.
* Also at Sequential Tart , Rebecca Salek takes a look at superhero books aimed at kids here.
* Hey, what's up with all these Sequential Tart links? You'd think they updated or something... here's a round-table look at Tokyopop's "Pet Shop of Horrors", a book they seem to love. I dunno, I haven't seen it but that title is enough to keep me away...
* Oh well, here's one more: an interview with "Interman" creator Jeff Parker.
* I lied, here's another: Jen Bomford looks at why Manga fans are such whiners. (OK, that's not exactly what it says but close enough, a'ight?)
* "The apex journalists' body - All Manipur Working Journalists' Union and the World Comics India (WCI) is jointly organizing an exhibition cum workshop on cartoons, wall posters and comics strips on Friday, (March 5) at the Manipur Press Club [in Kangla, India]." For a rather awkwardly phrased but interesting glance at Indian cartooning, go here, courtesy of Kangla Online.
* Tim O'Shea at Silver Bullet Comics talks with Sean Dietrich, creator of Rorschach Entertainment's "industriacide" here.
* Comic-book publishers can too conquer the world, and here's why (courtesy of the Asia Times).
* Well, I'll be dipped in shit: Gilbert Shelton's classic underground superhero parody "Wonder Warthog" has apperantly gained new life in the world of motocross racing and racing apperal. Go here for more, courtesy of DirtXXX.
* David Allison takes a look at Jeffrey Brown's "Clumsy" here (link courtesy of Sean T. Collins).
Oh, just incase you missed it yesterday: if anyone has a copy of The Comics Journal #255 they would care to part with, please drop me a line. I missed it and there's not a store in my immediate vicinity that has a copy, and Fantagraphics is sold out to boot.
Will pay good American dollars, G.I.
Man, this is a slow news day. Everyone and their mothers are still talking about the Academy Awards - yawn - wake me when its over...
* Apperantly the Feb 20th installment of "BC" has caused more uproar against cartoonist Johnny Hart - take a look at this letter (second one down) to the Washington Columbian. Having looked at the strip, I don't see it, but that's just me.
* "Riverhead Books has acquired cult comic sensation David Rees's Get Your War On II, according to Senior Editor Sean McDonald. McDonald purchased world rights from Kassie Evashevski at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment in Beverly Hills. The book will be published in September 2004." Read more here, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance.
* Ed Gamble, artist for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville has won the 2004 "Wilbur" award for Outstanding Religious Themes in Media, in the category for editorial cartoons and comic strips. Read more here, courtesy of US Newswire.
* "Getting teenagers and young adults to read and use public libraries is a challenge the library in Ocean Springs is addressing with a $5,000 development grant from the Mississippi Library Commission." Read more here, courtesy of the Sun-Herald.
* The New York Times takes a look at the - ahem - Doctor Seussentennial celebrations in La Jolla, California, celebrating the 100 years since Theodor ("Dr. Seuss") Geisel's birthday here.
* Cartoonist Oliver Chin, author of the 9-11 narrative "9 of 1: A Window to the World", has a new book coming out on the subject of Chinese basketball phenom Yao Ming, Read more about it here, courtesy of The Argus Online.
* Barb Lien-Cooper at Sequential Tart takes a look at how the mainstream's dismissive attitudes towards Manga translate into dismissive attitudes towards female readers in general.
* Also at Sequential Tart , Rebecca Salek takes a look at superhero books aimed at kids here.
* Hey, what's up with all these Sequential Tart links? You'd think they updated or something... here's a round-table look at Tokyopop's "Pet Shop of Horrors", a book they seem to love. I dunno, I haven't seen it but that title is enough to keep me away...
* Oh well, here's one more: an interview with "Interman" creator Jeff Parker.
* I lied, here's another: Jen Bomford looks at why Manga fans are such whiners. (OK, that's not exactly what it says but close enough, a'ight?)
* "The apex journalists' body - All Manipur Working Journalists' Union and the World Comics India (WCI) is jointly organizing an exhibition cum workshop on cartoons, wall posters and comics strips on Friday, (March 5) at the Manipur Press Club [in Kangla, India]." For a rather awkwardly phrased but interesting glance at Indian cartooning, go here, courtesy of Kangla Online.
* Tim O'Shea at Silver Bullet Comics talks with Sean Dietrich, creator of Rorschach Entertainment's "industriacide" here.
* Comic-book publishers can too conquer the world, and here's why (courtesy of the Asia Times).
* Well, I'll be dipped in shit: Gilbert Shelton's classic underground superhero parody "Wonder Warthog" has apperantly gained new life in the world of motocross racing and racing apperal. Go here for more, courtesy of DirtXXX.
* David Allison takes a look at Jeffrey Brown's "Clumsy" here (link courtesy of Sean T. Collins).
Oh, just incase you missed it yesterday: if anyone has a copy of The Comics Journal #255 they would care to part with, please drop me a line. I missed it and there's not a store in my immediate vicinity that has a copy, and Fantagraphics is sold out to boot.
Will pay good American dollars, G.I.
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