Archive for January, 2006
In a truly bizarre LJ campaign that comprized of photos w/ these guys shirt’s off, I assume they’re launching a new webcomics enterprize. One panel images in a field of red sporting ‘ACT-I-VATE’ in big lettering have been appearing for a while now on livejournal thru their individual journals. An impressive collaborative of indie creators if that’s the case. Only tommorow will tell. See all the glory of ACT-I-VATE!!
Stoopid Alito!! Awww hell, time to kick back.
Fun lil’ drinking game for tonight’s festivities. Or in my case (or Andy’s) we’ll substitute a vernor’s or mountain dew.
(courtesy of commondreams.org)
*Almost makes me wish I lived in Virginia…
Word on the street is that there will be a decent sized book signing up in Richmond, VA. The event will be from 2-5 on February 11th. Creators appearing will be Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan, Ryan Kelly (maaaaybe), Farel Darymple, Jim Rugg, Tom Scioli, and the cats from Teenagers from Mars (Rob G & Rick Spears)
For street direction or info:
818 West Grace Street
Richmond, VA 23220
ph. 804.726.6300
*actually after hearing the Virginia governor’s rebutal to Bush’s Union address, it’s warming me to the thought of Virginia. Great speach by him.
Google map of great comic book stores
Dan Shahin of Hijinx comic book shop has started a Google Maps site to pinpoint cool comic book stores. I’ve submitted The Laughing Ogre info to him. Feel free to contact him with your favorite store, if it’s not already on the list.
(via boingboing)
All-Star Superman review (or: I must be a crank)
Ok, let’s just get this out in the open: I’m not a huge Grant Morrison fan. Yes, yes, I know, that clearly puts me in the minority of comic book fans, and especially comic book fans with blogs. And it’s not that I haven’t enjoyed any of his writing. I absolutely loved his Doom Patrol. But just about everything I’ve sampled from him since then, from Arkham Asylum to the 7 Soldiers of Victory, has failed to really excite me. They’re all well written and a cut above the average comic, but too often come across as pretentious or needlessly hyped.
And so it is with All-Star Superman. I read the first two issues back to back. I enjoyed Frank Quitely’s artwork in them, especially the sublime cover on issue #1. I enjoyed Grant’s crazy ideas, especially the ones lobbed at us at breakneck speed in issue #2. But overall, I’m still left with a feeling of “yeah, it’s interesting and all, but…eh.”
Sorry, I know that’s not a very deep observation, but that’s really how I feel about this book. It captures the “wow, gosh!” factor of Superman on an intellectual level, but completely fizzles out on a…well, superhero level.
I mean, I’m not one for mindless superhero slugfests, but come on. This is friggin’ Superman. 2 issues in, 44 pages of story, and he throws a punch in, like, 2 panels? His epic battle is with…degenerative cell tissue? Look, I appreciate that he’s an intelligent hero. A hero with heart. Not a musclebound moron. But if you’re making the quintessential Superman book (that is the purpose of the All-Star line of books, right?) shouldn’t you show this godlike being at least occasionally duking it out with equally godlike beings/monsters/threats/events?
As for the cinematic (or “widescreen,” take your pick) approach to storytelling, I’ll admit that it’s used quite effectively by Morrison and Quitely to portray the grandeur and larger-than-life essence of Superman. But at the end of the day, for $3 a pop and only 22 pages of story, I need a little more. It’s not the same excruciatingly painful “decompressed” storytelling plaguing so many other comics these days, but it’s not enough to keep me around either.
Or maybe I’m just a square who doesn’t “get” Morrison.
Get your summer reading on, bitches…
I’m about as giddy as a school girl. I’m one of the freaks that LOVED summer reading assignments. Christ, was I well-rounded. Check out this link for the comicy goodness of Penguin’s 2006 cover redesigns for some much loved/hated classics. I can’t wait for summer break!!
Monday Morning “Guess the Artist”
You all know the deal: I feature a page of art from the early career of some of today’s big name comic book artists, you use the comments section to guess who it is. This week, we’re switching gears back to a pin-up page. And I think it may be a hard one again, we’ll see.
(click image to galactusize)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006)
AA Weekend Covers
I think I’ll continue with the “themed” Awesome and Ass covers. This weekend: Swamp Thing.
AWESOME
(click to enlarge)
Swamp Thing #157 (August 1995) by John Totleben.
Not a whole lot I can say about Totleben, other than he’s one of the most amazing artists out there, period. Not only that, but he produced so many fantastically rendered covers, especially for Swamp Thing, that I could have picked from dozens and dozens of examples. This particular one, however, just stands out in its non-traditional color scheme and composition. I absolutely love Totleben’s fusion of the Swamp Thing character with the traditional Green Man imagery.
ASS
(click to enlarge)
Swamp Thing #81 (December 1988) by Rick Veitch.
Rick Veitch had a great run on this title as writer, and even produced some great covers. But this one…um, not so much. Alas, this is what happens when a clearly non-mainstream book is forced into a company-wide superhero crossover event: Invasion. The horrific mood portrayed by the central image of a Abbey suffocating under a plastic cover is instantly negated by the brightly colored and cartoony alien hands. I suppose Veitch did the best he could with a company mandate, but this was an issue that clearly didn’t need to exist. And when you have a series like this that boasted a veritable who’s who of extraordinary cover artists, even an average cover is going to look lame by comparison.
(previous weeks: 12/3/2005, 12/11/2005, 12/17/2005, 12/25/2005, 1/7/2006, 1/15/2006, 1/22/2006)
Gary Reed column at Komikwerks
I just saw this article penned by Gary Reed over at Komikwerks. In it, he describes how he got into comics as publisher of Caliber Comics. It’s an interesting story, of which I’m sure Andy has a lot of knowledge. For one thing, I didn’t know he had a master’s degree in Biology. It’s also interesting to hear him talk about the early days of McFarlane Toys, the Detroit convention scene, and other things.
“One of my customers also sold hand painted t-shirts at my store. When he asked me to look at a comic series he had been pushing for years, I was introduced to The Crow. Jim O’Barr was delivering parts at a auto dealership and when he showed the series to me, it was a bit rough in some spots.”
Apparently this is a more or less regular column by him at the site. There are 3 more articles by him in the archives.
What Went Wrong: Lost in Space
Hey, I want a recurring blog item, too! So here it is: “What Went Wrong.”
As you may know, I often watch lousy or unknown movies just to see “what went wrong.” I usually rent these out of the library rather than paying green American money. It’s my hope that their failure will allow me to succeed in my own writing. This week: Lost in Space.
Lesson No. 1: Not all ideas are good ones. This movie’s a mess: It tries to cover environmental degradation, terrorism, hyperspace, time travel, cute aliens, evil alien spiders and the true meaning of friendship.
Lesson No. 2: Know your limitations. There’s no reason for this movie to be 130 minutes long. No reason.
Lesson No. 3: Know Matt LeBlanc’s limitations. Seriously, Heather Graham acts circles around him. Heather Graham.
Lesson No. 4: Always check the resume. Scribe Akiva Goldsman is also responsible for Batman: Forever and Batman & Robin. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Lesson No. 5: Step lightly. In the first 10 minutes it sets up Prof. Robinson as an absent father. This theme gets beaten to death all throughout the movie. By the time he finally gets around to showing Will some love, you wish they’d all just get lost.
Joe Sacco comic in The Guardian
Comics journalist Joe Sacco has an 8 page comic in the British newspapaer The Guardian about two Iraqis currently suing Donald Rumsfeld relating to charges of torture.
(via boingboing)
Coop’s Log..
*WARNING! Definetely not work-friendly. I will refrain from adding an image because I can’t stress ‘non work-friendly’ enough. If you’re familiar with Coop, you know what I mean.
Completely forgot how I came across this but I found his blog. Not a huge follower of his work but he’s posting work-in-progress reports- affectionately called ‘Paintblogging’. It’s facinating for me to see how artists go about producing their work. You really get a sence of the size he works at and how he goes about crafting these. While I hate most pop-art, Coop seems to have a genuine affection for comics. Still he’s come to that annoying Pop-Art phase where one throws their style in a blender.
Odds and Ends
A couple of quick links to throw on the blog on my lunch break…
- Disaffected! – A free game from Persuasive Games, the description reads: “A videogame parody of the Kinko’s copy store, a source of frustration from its patrons. Disaffected! puts the player in the role of employees forced to service customers under the particular incompetences common to a Kinko’s store. From a new series of persuasive games we call anti- advergames.” Tom, I think this is for you!
- From the “Jargon Watch” section of Wired magazine, December 2005: “Weblogistan – n. The Iranian blogosphere, where activists go to vent anonymously in the face of Iran’s oppressive regime. Weblogistan is now so vast that Persian is the fourth most widely used language on blogs.”
- The Flash, from TV to comics – Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, the producers/writers of the 1990 live-action The Flash TV show, will be the new writers on The Flash comic. I have to say, I have fond memories of that show, even though it only lasted a year and had some heavy-handed Howard Chaykin episodes in the mix.
Because he’s that good….
This month’s Wired has a multi-page feature on Paul Pope’s upcoming Batman 100. It’s extra pretty in Wired’s newish super-glossy format. You can read it online starting the 31st of January. Now, if I can figure out why Wired still sends me their rag every month I’ll be all set.
