Archive for July, 2004
Art of Adrian Barbu
My Romanian partner in crime has a new online host for his artwork. Check out Adrian’s kick-ass work over at the VisualArt website. This is my favorite piece ever.
Indulge Me
Please pardon the interruption with this non-comic news, but Melanie and I received news yesterday about our adoption. There is a seven-month old baby girl waiting for us in China. Her name is Jiang Wen Zhi and she is healthy. We’ll probably be traveling in September to pick her up. Read our Adoption Journal for full details, but in the meantime, enjoy this picture of Jiang Wen Zhi.
This Month’s Marvel Comic Covers: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Ok, continuing on with the comic cover reviews that I started back here, today we’re going to look at Marvel’s covers for books shipping in October. And when Craig said “The good Marvel covers may be a very short list. I seriously dislike their practice of pin-up art covers that don’t say anything about the individual issue,” he was pretty much right on. If there’s a single word to use to generalize all Marvel covers, it’s got to be “boring”.
As always, for a look at the larger sized images of these covers, go here.
::::::::::::::::::::::: The Good :::::::::::::::::::::::
X-MEN: THE END: BOOK ONE – DREAMERS AND DEMONS #4 (of 6) by GREG LAND (not dynamic at all, but the detail on the background machinery combined with the lighting and the sinister look on the character’s face gives this cover a real ominous feel)
STOKER’S DRACULA #1 (OF 4) by DICK GIORDANO (it may still be a single-character cover, but leave it to the old school masters to show the proper use of design, shadows, and placement)
BULLSEYE: GREATEST HITS #2 (of 5) by MIKE DEODATO JR. (dark humor, and I love how the unconscious catcher’s feet frame the image of the malicious Bullseye)
WARLOCK #2 by J.H. WILLIAMS III (doing his best Dave Johnson riff, but combining it with his own detailed and realistic style. I could care less about the character, but this cover rocks)
SHE-HULK #8 by MIKE MAYHEW (funny, great facial expressions)
::::::::::::::::::::::: The Bad :::::::::::::::::::::::
Too many to note individually, so let’s just change this category from “Bad” to just “FUCKING BORING!!!” (which means the art – for the most part – is good, but as covers go they fail miserably in capturing your attention or making you curious about the content of the books)
::::::::::::::::::::::: The Ugly :::::::::::::::::::::::
ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE #3 (OF 5) by TREVOR HAIRSINE (hideous colors, murky art, lost detail…a disappointment from this otherwise solid artist)
VENOM VS. CARNAGE #4 (of 4) by Clayton Crain (WTF?)
X-FORCE #3 by ROB LIEFELD (Look ma, no backgrounds! Even on a cover! Plus bad anatomy. Yep, I’m one lazy-ass son of a bitch.)
CABLE/DEADPOOL VOL. 1: IF LOOKS COULD KILL TPB by ROB LIEFELD (Look ma, no backgrounds! Even on a cover! Plus bad anatomy. Yep, I’m one lazy-ass…oh, forget it.)
and just for fun, a couple of new categories this time around 
::::::::::::::::::::::: The Homoerotic :::::::::::::::::::::::
WOLVERINE: THE END #6 (OF 6) by CLAUDIO CASTELLINI (as drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs used to say, “they’re making the sign of the twin-humped aardvark…”)
HULK & THING: HARD KNOCKS #2 (OF 4) by JAE LEE (a sweet embrace, a Mike Tyson ear nibble…)
::::::::::::::::::::::: The Pseudo Child Porn :::::::::::::::::::::::
EMMA FROST #16 by GREG HORN (no comment necessary)
The verdict? While there are many talented artists working at Marvel, the editorial edict that covers should be more like pin-ups and have nothing to do with the actual story content are hamstringing these gifted people.
Vertigo and Wildstorm for kids?
So if you go to the Kids WB home page, you’ll see an ad in the lower right hand corner. Amongst the rotating ads that are displayed there: link to Vertigo website and the Wildstorm website.
Somebody screwed up huh?
Listing of (mostly) indy comics publishers
Check out this British site for a listing of many US independent publishers and their characters and/or universes. Includes many, many now-defunct companies that used to publish great books, such as First and Eclipse.
I find it difficult to write a story in which no one dies.
With a murder, the story has a built in structure: It starts with death, then moves toward revelation and/or punishment. With slices of life, the possible endings are infinite. Also, the cliches — the sitcom ending, the Lifetime Movie ending, etc. — are very tempting.
Incidentally,
Tony.
Bone collection already sold out of initial print run!
Newsarama reports that many retailers will be shorted copies of the Bone collection due to the 400 copies that Jeff Smith sold out of at Sand Diego Con. They’ll have to wait on part of their order until Jeff goes back to press with another huge printing.
“Problem was, Smith’s estimate of how many books needed to be printed was low. About 50% low. “We figured out how many copies we wanted for San Diego, and then guessed at how many the rest of the market would handle. Even considering that this was a $40 book, we thought we ordered really generously, and figured we’d be able to cover all orders. We ordered right around 5,000 copies, and everything started processing. A short time later, the numbers came in for orders - it was 10,000. That just blew us away. When the orders came in, we were caught completely flat footed, and then, demand at the show was completely unexpected.”
First of all, congrats to Jeff for this incredible success. Self-publishing is a tough, tough business and Jeff deserves every single bit of recognition (both critical and financial) that he gets because he’s poured everything into this book.
Secondly, for those few retailers that moaned and bitched about “we got shafted” and “he shouldn’t have debuted the book at San Diego”, etc. etc. etc. I’d like to say a great big FUCK YOU! It’s not like he intentionally tried to screw anyone over. He took a big gamble overprinting based on his estimates. It was a $40 book, not to mention the whole series was already published in single issues AND trades. How much demand could there have been for it given those facts? As fate would have it, a lot, but the point is he had no way of knowing that. And besides, you’ll still get your books, albeit a bit late. The Bone fans who pre-ordered those books will wait for them, trust me. They obviously really want it. So seriously:
America: Earth’s 21st Century Country
Here’s the first and last grafs of Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman’s speech to the Democratic National Convention last night. It has nothing to do with comix, but it’s what’s on my mind this morning.
I’m Mike Coleman, mayor of America’s 21st Century City, Columbus, Ohio. From the shores of Lake Erie to the banks of the Ohio River, the great state of Ohio stands squarely in the Heartland of America. And in the middle of Ohio is the great City of Columbus, the largest city in the state. I call Columbus “America’s 21st Century City” because our best days are still ahead. Columbus remains strong in the face of Ohio’s loss of over 200,000 jobs. Columbus remains strong because we bring people together to get things done — no matter where you grew up, where you go to church, where you work, how you vote, or how much money you make.
…
I proudly second the nomination of Senator John Kerry as the next President of the United States of America. I am also proud to know Senator John Edwards. These are two men who I have welcomed to my city, worshipped with in Columbus churches, walked through our neighborhoods so that they could see the spirit of Columbus. I do not take this responsibility lightly because tonight I dedicate this nomination to the many sons and daughters serving in the United States Armed Forces, whether serving here at home, overseas in Iraq or in Afghanistan … I dedicate this nomination to my son, Lance Corporal John David Coleman, a United States Marine training in Israel today. John Kerry, I trust you to lead him as he performs his duty, and I pray that one day we can bring all of America’s daughters and sons home safe and sound to a better America, a United America. God Bless you and God Bless America.
Hollywood and Comic Book Properties
So despite the hard time I gave those “secret Spider-man movie” guys below, I do agree that the majority of the time Hollywood screws up any sort of adaptation by dumbing down the material and making arbitrary changes. From Rich Johnston’s column, a quote overheard at San Diego Comic Con:
“Our job is to try to get them not to screw things up. We fail, most of the time.” – Greg Noveck on representing DC properties to TV and film.
Columbus Underground
Columbus Underground has started a moblog (short for mobile blog). If you’ve got a cell phone with a built in camera, just snap a picture around town and upload it to the Columbus Underground moblog. “Visitors can leave comments on individual pictures and also rank them accordingly.”
(link courtesy of DavesBeer)
“Secret Spider-man Movie” and delusional fans
Ok, I really don’t want to come off like an elitist comic fan, but man, sometimes you just want to shake your fellow fans and yell “get a life!” So these two guys are all upset at how the “StudiHo’s” are ruining comic book characters by making horrible, horrible movies. You know, like that horrible Spider-man 2. So they’re asking for donations in order to make their own Spider-man 3 movie and stay true to the character. Delusional statement from their website (red highlight is theirs, not mine):
“We are going pick up where Spider-Man 2 leaves off and make a short version of Spider-Man 3 that is completely loyal to the original Spider-Man series before Columbia Pictures goes into production next summer. We are then going to take our film to Marvel and show them how compelling even a limited budget film can be when that film stays true to the original story. Once they see that they can fulfill their duty to protect the sanctity of comics and make money at the same time, they will force Columbia to also stay true to the comic and save the franchise before its too late.”
Oooookay, because that’s going to happen.
If you dig through the site a bit, you’ll see a “trailer” showing other (stereotypically geeky) comic fans supporting them by ranting against the Hollywood crap machine. Which, hey, I agree with for the most part, but making your own low-budget Spidey movie ain’t gonna’ do jack to change things. Plus, people just aren’t going to take you seriously when you start ranting about inconsequential stuff like this:
“They altered the history Spider-Man the comic, and in doing so they have created an entirely new and misinformed legion of comic fans who now believe Spidey shoots webs organically.”
The message board is an interesting little train wreck of a show, too. Divided down the middle between “you guys rock!” and “you dorks are retarded” discourse. My favorite:
“So you want to make a Spiderman movie that’s completely true to the comic? Does that mean you’re going to turn Mary Jane into a drug addict? How about having J. Jonah Jameson piloting that stupid robot Spider hunter thing? Ooh, I know! Peter could grow six arms with the help of Dr. Connors to cure this illness he had in movie #2. OH WAIT! “Stop the Press!” to quote Jack. I know exactly what should be the plot for the threequel. THE CLONE SAGA!!! The ultimate Spiderman story EVER!”
(link to this goofy story courtesy of BoingBoing)
In Response to Dara’s Plea
Check out this story in Wired about bloggers who get tired of blogging: Wired News: Bloggers Suffer Burnout. I don’t think we are burned out yet, but the rest of us need to lend Dara a hand with the posts so he doesn’t flame out.