Archive for January, 2009
CCAD’s own C.F. Payne, chairman of the Illustration Department, provided the cover for Time Magazine’s Inauguration Issue. THe issue is dated Jan. 26 but it’s out now.
Ohio’s Greatest Home Newspaper has more details.
Today’s page is once again provided by PANELista Craig Bogart. And I’m guessing it’s a rather easy one.
(click image to enlarge)
(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, 5/28/2007, 6/4/2007, 6/11/2007, 6/18/2007, 6/25/2007, 7/2/2007, 7/9/2007, 7/16/2007, 7/23/2007, 7/30/2007, 8/6/2007, 8/13/2007, 8/20/2007, 8/27/2007, 9/3/2007, 9/10/2007, 9/17/2007, 9/24/2007, 10/1/2007, 10/8/2007, 10/15/2007, 10/22/2007, 10/29/2007, 11/5/2007, 11/12/2007, 11/19/2007, 11/26/2007, 12/3/2007, 12/10/2007, 12/17/2007, 12/24/2007, 12/31/2007, 1/7/2008, 1/14/2008, 1/21/2008, 1/28/2008, 2/4/2008, 2/11/2008, 2/18/2008, 2/25/2008, 3/3/2008, 3/10/2008, 3/17/2008, 3/24/2008, 3/31/2008, 4/7/2008, 4/14/2008, 4/21/2008, 4/28/2008, 5/8/2008, 5/12/2008, 5/19/2008, 5/27/2008, 6/2/2008, 6/9/2008, 6/16/2008, 6/23/2008, 6/30/2008, 7/7/2008, 7/14/2008, 7/22/2008, 8/4/2008, 8/11/2008, 8/18/2008, 8/25/2008, 9/8/2008, 9/22/2008, 9/29/2008, 10/6/2008, 10/13/2008, 10/20/2008, 10/27/2008, 11/3/2008, 11/10/2008, 11/17/2008, 11/24/2008, 12/1/2008, 12/8/2008, 12/15/2008, 12/22/2008, 12/29/2008, 1/5/2009, 1/12/2009)
The Comics Reporter posted an open letter from Dan Vado to Diamond. Diamond is raising it’s sales bar to a point that will affect pretty much all small press publishers: from Slave Labor to Oni Press. Effectively dropping a lot of them from distro and a spot in Previews. It may come to a shock to many indie comics fans, indie comics are a hard sell. Personally I think it’s due to an unresponsive DM that doesn’t know how to sell them, coupled with a lack of any real marketing push from publishers who are lucky enough to skate by. Word of mouth can only get you so far. I will be the first to admit that there is an abundant amount of steaming crap out there. It’s like that with every media though: books, music, film, etc. The DM’s roof was leaky and this was bound to happen eventually.
I’ve always appreciated Vado’s bluntness in regards to the industry. Despite this news being a bit hard to take. Something I think that impeded success for small press was the shear glut of it when you look through Previews. I’d hate to see the cut off happen to publishers like Oni or SLG. Good or craptacular, it was in there. It does sound like Vado is entertaining being a distributor for those publishers slighted by Diamond’s new cut-off policy.
Friend of the Ferret, Cleveland resident, kick-ass indie artist, and all-around cool guy John G is offering a collection of his band poster work. The set contain 53 posters printed on cardstock, in a variety of sizes. Yours for $50, plus $10 for shipping.
I love John’s work, and it’s always a blast when we see him at local cons. So head on over here for more details on how you can get your own John G Poster Megapack.
This weekend, we take a stroll down memory lane to the wacky world of mid-90s indy comics, for a crossover event that nobody demanded:
If memory serves me right, both characters were initially published by Hall of Heroes, which was run by high school kids. CyberFrog was the creation of then 19 year old Ethan Van Sciver, who of course went on to find fame and fortune working on DC’s Flash and Green Lantern characters. Creed was created by 17 year old Trent Kaniuga, who apparently is doing video game design for World of Warcraft and Diablo 3.
So there you go, a bit of worthless 90s indy comics trivia, courtesy of the guy who remembers the most useless things.
Because you demanded it!
(Ok, it was just a single exchange between Matt and Tony in one of the comment threads below…but I’m doing this anyway. Deal with it!)
The Duke of Oil in Wikipedia.
The Duke of Oil chronology index.
The Duke of Oil lovingly painted by James Jean:
That should be enough for now, right?
So yesterday Tom posted the link to that new blog Covered where artists take a stab at re-drawing or re-interpreting (it’s not clear which)comic book covers. Some of the covers are from classics like Uncle Scrooge, some are from hipster-ironic tongue-very-firmly-planted-in-cheek classics like Secret Wars. Big surprise that Jeffrey Brown did that one.
Anyway, I mentioned that I wasn’t too impressed with the 2 covers I had seen, and after looking at Johnny Ryan’s Uncle Scrooge cover, a dreadfully dull paint by the numbers affair, I’m still not. Yet the idea does have much promise, and I wanted to share an artist who did a series of similar drawings.
I don’t know a whole lot about Mark Todd and there does seem to be the typical gallery / artist statement claptrap on his site, but he did some really interesting re-interpretations of some classic Marvel comics. Click on that link above to see them all, but here are my favorites compared to the originals. First, my favorite, The Invincible Iron Man #2…
…and the original…
Next, The Mighty Thor #151…
…and the original…
And finally Amazing Spider-Man #53…
…and the original…
There’s some good stuff on his site. Check it out. And let us know what this mystery project is, Dara!
(with apologies to Wall of Voodoo)
The past couple of weeks I was a guest on 2 different radio shows talking about the Terminator Salvation prequel series. You can listen to both programs online:
I was a guest on Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib Awan, “a weekly one-hour journey through the comic, novel, film, and television universes” which airs Sundays on WNJC 1360 AM, Philadelphia, PA. Click here for the Sunday, January 11 show.
I was on Central Ohio’s NPR station, WCBE 90.5, Columbus, OH, on Wednesday January 14. Click here for the segment.
Warning: I’m not exactly a great speaker, nor a radio personality. You have been warned!
Batman was the Outsiders’ original mentor, but one of the lessons he failed to teach the team was: You’re only as good as the villains you fight. The big obstacle to Geo-Force becoming a B-lister is his strength of schedule.
The original Outsiders only fought two members of Batman’s inestimable rogue’s gallery, and they were Firefly and Maxie Zeus. At least arrange a bout with Calendar Man, Bats.
To make matters worse, Mike W. Barr had a real thing for pun-related villains in those days. Geo-Force found himself up against the Force of July, the Duke of Oil, Madame Ovary, Agent Orange, the Nuclear Family, and this unfortunate fashion victim here:
But still, he managed to get some licks in on some quality opponents. Like Soviet super-soldiers …
… Vampires …
… And he had an unusually strong outing against Superman.
But, of course, he failed to defeat his greatest nemesis: Free Willy.
But, like I say, this was early in his career.
Next time: It’s the last “Leave Geo-Force Alone” post, and in it we find a new way forward for the Markovian Marvel. Be Here! It’ll be good!
