Archive for May, 2007
Stuck moved to hiatus a week or so ago. Today, Vito and I are interviewed by Chris Arrant over at the Chemistry Set.
Judging from the interview, it’s uncertain when Vito will come back to it. Probably not until next year at least. Read on.
How about we take a break from the color pages and look at a nice black and white page? Guess away:
(click image to demonize)
(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, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007, 3/19/2007, 3/26/2007, 4/2/2007, 4/5/2007, 4/9/2007, 4/16/2007, 4/23/2007, 4/30/2007, 5/7/2007, 5/14/2007, 5/21/2007)
A couple of weeks ago, I gave you a sneak peek at the pencils for the adaptation of “Anda’s Game” that I’m doing for IDW. Well, here’s a finished page:
I’ve been neglecting to let you know when the new issues of Melt magazine have been coming out, so just head on over to the official Brainbot, Jr. site and catch up on the monthly strip.
The missus and I thought we had our backsides covered when she went on maternity leave since she had been paying into Aflac coverage through her employer. Things went pretty sour, however; they took a month and a half to process her claim, adding some hefty late fees onto our rent that month, then delivered about half the amount she was told she could expect when she purchased the policy. As a result, June will be a tight month while we play catch-up now that she’s returned to work, and I need to drum up some extra $$ to get us by. Which means, regretfully, some old comics are being put on ebay, starting with:
They’re priced to sell, so tell all your friends. I might include our mac & cheese box tops with multiple auction wins. More goodies will follow shortly.
Come this fall I start re-collecting some comics.
This one is from an obscure comic that I don’t even know why I ever bought…
(click image to SubLevelize)
(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, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007, 3/19/2007, 3/26/2007, 4/2/2007, 4/5/2007, 4/9/2007, 4/16/2007, 4/23/2007, 4/30/2007, 5/7/2007, 5/14/2007)
Here’s a very long interview with the quintessential 80s/90s Batman team of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. Lots of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff, like the story of how Grant was fired off the bat titles after a 13 year run, or that Batman #500 sold around 4.5 million copies.
“AG: I was sent two Batman stories before Wagner and I started writing the Ventriloquist story and one of them happened to be Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, which I thought was vastly over-rated. Reading it from a British point of view it seemed to me like at least 30 or 40% of the ideas in it had been stolen from 2000AD.”
Ashley Wood’s got a gorgeous preview of the 24-7 vol.2 cover. It’s weird and exciting to see my name on the list of contributors.
update: Image has it being solicited for August 1st. I’m sure Ivan will have some copies ready to go for San Diego.
Local boy/ CCAD alum Steve Hamaker’s got a new interview over at the Pulse. Talking up Bone, Shazam and his work on Flight.
This comic didn’t make much of an impression on me when I picked it up as a kid. It’s the third part of a four-part story which offers little in the way of rising action or resolution, and brings only the barest synopsis to a reader just coming into the story to understand or care about what the heck’s going on. In other words, Super Villain Team-Up #11 was about thirty years ahead of its time.
It’s not so bad reading it now, having been desensitized to inaccessible storytelling in superhero comics, and I actually quite enjoyed it this time around. I was most struck by Bob Hall’s great looking artwork in this issue; I picked this up with a pile of other issues in the series, and his work doesn’t look this good in any other book. He was either having a breakthrough of sorts when he was working on this single issue, or, as I suspect from a careful study of these panels, Gene Colan pitched in with an uncredited layout assist. I’ll never know for sure.
Super Villain team-ups are apparently (and logically) the opposite of superhero team-ups; villains have a misunderstanding early on which causes them to work together, before later degenerating into a free-for-all death duel. Such was the case with Doctor Doom and the Red Skull, who together had hatched some plan for world conquest before the Skull deposed Doom as ruler of Latveria and shrunk him and Captain America to the size of field mice, setting them loose in the garden outside the castle. Namor’s presence is never really explained, but he proves key to restoring the protagonists to normal size (showing loyalty to Doom, rather than his fellow Invader as one might expect), and there’s a new guy called the Shroud who’s present mainly to get slapped around by everybody—Skull, Doom, and Cap alike. The guy actually cries after Cap belts him.
Writer Bill Mantlo redeems the issue on two points: the first, a single page showing once again that Doc Doom is the coolest villain in all of western literature. As Mini-Doom and Mini-Cap sneak back into the castle, Cap is surprised by Doom’s display of affection for those that serve him out of genuine loyalty. By the end of the page, however, the Doom we know returns when he gets pissed off at the sight of someone else sitting on his throne. The exchange in those last two word balloons is priceless.
The second saving feature of the issue is a great cliffhanger: everyone had ganged up on the Skull and apparently beaten him, but the Nazi’s secret teleport device sends him to his hidden base on the moon, where his finger now rests on the trigger of the dread Hypno-Ray. With the enslavement of all earth only minutes away, our heroes (and villains) can only stare at the Skull’s gloating image on a view screen in Doom’s Latverian castle. I didn’t care about much of this book when I was seven, but I did want to know how this was resolved.
I was hurrying through the grocery store a few days ago with my 22-month old belted into the cart when she pointed to something behind me and started yelling excitedly.
“Pider! Pider!”
I had no clue what might have drawn her attention; looking around, I finally saw a big display featuring a prominent movie tie-in.
“Yes, honey. That’s Spider-Man.”
I’m sure we’ll both always remember this sentimental moment of father/daughter bonding.
Not sure what to think of this one. It may be easy, it may not…
(click image to KERAKKCKerize)
(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, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007, 3/19/2007, 3/26/2007, 4/2/2007, 4/5/2007, 4/9/2007, 4/16/2007, 4/23/2007, 4/30/2007, 5/7/2007)
Seems like it’s turning into IDW Week here at the blog…
Anyway, I’ve received the ok to post a bit about the other project I’m doing for IDW. They will be adapting 6 of science fiction/futurist writer Cory Doctorow’s short stories into comic book one-shots, and I’ve been asked to script two of them. I’ve already turned in the script for the first one, Anda’s Game, and I’m currently working on the second, Craphound.
Matt Wagner was originally going to do the cover for the books, but I think he had to back out due to a scheduling conflict. So instead the good folks at IDW got Sam Keith to do the cover for Anda’s Game:
And here are a couple of samples of the interior art. Pencils by Eduardo Alpuente, who has done a lot of inking in the past for Marvel, DC, and Wildstorm, but kicks it into overdrive as the lead artist here:
Cory really liked the script for Anda’s Game, and he even mentions it on boingboing. Even though this is strictly a work-for-hire situation adapting someone else’s work, it’s been a lot of fun and a good learning experience on the structure of a well-formed story.
Meet the newest member of the family. We adopted Duncan this week from the Franklin County Dog Shelter. He’s a hound mix, we think between 1 and 2 years old, and he’s the most amazingly gentle and mellow dog I’ve ever seen.
Hanna took to him immediately, and this is a girl who’s afraid of most dogs (due to a couple of scary experiences with dogs when she was really young.)
Duncan is housebroken, crate trained, and knows how to sit and shake hands. But his favorite hobby seems to be pretending he’s the world’s biggest lapdog. He loves nothing more than curling up with you on the couch.
It’s circulating around the internets: Tom Artis’ family needs some help. A veteran comics creator, he passed away leaving his family in dire financial need. Everyone needs to throw some money into the pot. Freelancers can empathize. It can be as small as what you would spend on a trade. You know, the trade you bought even though you had it in softcover or all the issues leading up to the trade. He wasn’t a John Byrne or Jim Lee, which is why money was thin once he had that stroke. He couldn’t work. For freelancers, a suprize like this will sink you. I’ll be sending a check out tommorow. Modest it may be every little bit helps.
A fund has been set up to help the man’s family pay for funeral expenses and to help his kids out. You can send a check to:
The Tom TC Artis and Family Memorial Fund
Marine Bank
Attn: Gale Krueger
1401 North Dirksen Parkway
Springfield, IL 62702
Well, the news has been out for a few weeks, but I figured I should get around to making an official post about it on the blog.
IDW Publishing will be presenting my Lifelike webcomic as a deluxe hardcover, full-color graphic novel in December. Needless to say, I’m very excited by this opportunity. I’ve worked with over a dozen great artists on the strip, and really wanted to find a publisher willing to not only print the book in graphic novel format, but also do it in full color. Ted Adams, Chris Ryall, and everyone else at IDW have been great to work with. They’re enthusiastic about the book, and keep me in the loop on everything from ad copy to press release wording.
Speaking of which, here’s the ad they ran in the APE program book a few weeks ago:
Here’s a picture of the IDW booth at APE, with a nice color poster promoting Lifelike:
And here are some links to publicity for the books:
- Newsarama article about IDW’s foray into publishing a line of indie/alternative graphic novels.
- Comic Book Resources covers the new line of indie books.
- The IDW website carries the same article as above, with color images of the books. Lifelike is in good company with Pat Lewis’ The Claws Come Out, and Troy Little’s Chiaroscuro.
And lastly, here’s the official press release announcing the book:
“ONE WORLD… MANY STORIES
IDW Publishing collects Dara Naraghi’s diverse visions of life in a beautiful hardcover editionSan Diego, CA (April 30, 2006)— Following in the footsteps of their beautiful hardcover editions of THE COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD’S DICK TRACY, as well as the upcoming THE COMPLETE TERRY AND THE PIRATES, THE COMPLETE LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE and CHIAROSCURO, IDW Publishing proudly announces the latest in their new line of independent and personal hardcover collections—Dara Naraghi’s LIFELIKE.
LIFELIKE is a diverse collection of slice-of-life stories… and beyond. Each vignette presents a glimpse into a different corner of the world outside our window. From the sentimental to the shocking, the familiar to the unknown, it’s all here. Written by Dara Naraghi, the anthology includes the work of talented artists Irapuan Luiz, Shom Bhuiya, Marvin Mann, Neil Errar, Jason Scott Jones, Jerry Lange, Tom Williams, Steven Spenser Ledford, Adrian Barbu, Steve Black, Andy Bennet, and Tim McClurg.
“There are so many different visual styles here,” says Nebula and Locus award winning novelist Cory Doctorow, “and Naraghi is such a versatile storyteller, that they barely seem to be part of the same series, but there’s something that links them together, a great storyteller’s sensibility. From hard-boiled noir crime to war memoirs to sweet, sentimental stories, LIFELIKE has the feel of a great comics anthology, like DRAWN AND QUARTERLY or WORLD WAR III.”
“Usually when people hear ‘slice of life stories,’ they instantly think of whiny, emo-types talking endlessly about failed relationships, or sensitive artistes examining their lackluster existence in excruciating detail,” said creator Naraghi. “But if you think about it, real life is full of so many different kinds of people, events, and experiences. So why not explore as many as possible? That’s what I’ve tried to do with my short stories. A little humor, a little angst, some downright criminal behavior, and a sprinkle of sentimentality. And that’s just the beginning…”
LIFELIKE will be released in December 2007 in a deluxe hardcover format and contains 108 full color pages. It will retail for $19.99.
ABOUT IDW PUBLISHING
IDW PUBLISHING is a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC, a revolutionary creative service company with a wide range of clients. Among their best-selling titles are Hasbro’s THE TRANSFORMERS; Fox’s ANGEL, Konami’s METAL GEAR SOLID, and FALLEN ANGEL. IDW’s 30 DAYS OF NIGHT film is in development and will be released by Sony Pictures in October 2007. IDW has films in development at Dimension Films and Paramount Pictures, too.”
I suppose a lot can happen between now and December, but so far things are progressing smoothly. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and if you’re so inclined, feel free to mention the book on your own blog or link back to this post. Thanks!