Archive for October, 2009
Craftin’ Outlaws is this Saturday, and I’ll be vending there under the guise of drawrobot.designs. Admission is free. Show runs from 11-6pm at the Lodge Bar. There’s food. There’s booze. There’s handmade items such as an ironic plush mustache. Vegan baked goods and what have you. I killed at this show last year so I’m happy they had me back. Check out my friends GalaxyReno (aka Clinton Reno) and Stinky Bomb Soap (aka Megan Green). I have a baby doll head soap gracing the bathroom thanks to Megan.
Two out of the three new things I was planning to have for this show fell through but I’ll have a new print in the arsenal. Still trying to draw my way out of this (hopefully) temporary artist’s block. If I’m lucky to get in next year, I’ll definitely have some shirts screened up.
Yep, it’s that time again…
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Bud Light presents Real Men of Genius. (Real Men of geee-nius!)
Today we salute you, Mr. Obscure Indie Comic Merchandise Pusher Man.
(Mr. Obscure Indie Comic Merchandise Pusher Man!)
It’s hard enough selling quality indie comics to new readers, but there you are at your convention table with only 5 copies of your photocopied zine…but 28 different products “branded” with your property.
(I keep Cafe Press in business!)
Your comic features amateurish art, derivative character designs, and hideous coloring , but that doesn’t stop you from slapping its logo all over t-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads, posters, pint glasses, whistles, change purses, and fly swatters and expecting people who have never even heard of your book to buy them.
(Why won’t people pay for the privilege of advertising my stuff?)
Sure, you could expend your time and energy into perfecting your craft and producing a great comic, but you know the real money in small press comics is in merchandising, O’ Seller of the Swag.
(Buy my $15 Captain Ninja shot glass!)
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Mr. Obscure Indie Comic Merchandise Pusher Man, for when it comes to selling shit nobody wants or cares about, your face is on our roll of novelty toilet paper.
(Bud Light Beer, Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri)
While I’m skipping around my long boxes, I usually try to avoid repeating creators or series’ as much as possible, but we’re in for some repeats over the next couple posts. I hope no one will object if two posts regarding Neal Adams appear in a row, and if someone does, what the hell is the matter with you?
Amazing Adventures #8
This one I waited too long to post about. I have several issues from this series and have always had it on the back burner to write about, taking the opportunity to chastise Marvel for not getting around to reprinting this series since it first appeared in 1971. Seriously, if you had a multi-part story lying around that was started by Jack Kirby and handed off to Neal Adams, would you wait 38 years to collect it into a single volume? Who’s been asleep at the wheel all this time? I picked up another issue at MidOhio and decided to finally get around to writing that post, only to discover that coincidentally a Masterworks edition including this very series is being released later this month. So at the risk of doing something nice for corporate Marvel, let me finally get this one out of the way and recommend that Masterworks to everyone. They’re still idiots for sitting on this one for so long, though.
The Inhumans shared this book with the Black Widow in her first pre-Daredevil solo adventures which weren’t exactly standouts, so we’ll ignore them. The earliest chapters of the Inhumans story were by Jack Kirby, who created some memorable clashes between the Atillans and the Fantastic Four and the whole of the outside world. Somewhere about halfway through the series, however, Jack defected to DC and the series landed in the capable hands of Roy Thomas and Neal Adams.
I say capable hands, but there are some interesting contrasts. Neal’s figure work is brilliant, but anyone following in the steps of Kirby will have their weaknesses exposed. Kirby depicts an Atillan filled with super-science and bizarre landscapes whose every exposed surface is covered with functional gadgetry the King designed with a purpose in mind for every piece. Neal’s backgrounds don’t have the same gee-whiz effect Kirby communicates so easily.
Roy Thomas addresses this by moving the action to San Francisco where Adams’ work can shine in more familiar urban settings. An amnesiac Black Bolt befriends an orphan who is being manipulated by his criminal uncle, and all three fall under the influence of a black militant determined to burn down the ghetto he escaped from as a youth (yes, this issue was published just a few months before the Captain America comic I reviewed a few posts back…). It seems the well-meaning madman spent his life trying to change the system from within before discovering he has cancer, and now has only two months to try to change the world by force. He appears to have Black Bolt under his control and intends to use the power of his voice to destroy the slums.
As the Inhumans race to the scene to rescue their missing monarch they are met by Thor, whose alter-ego Don Blake is the doctor who has been caring for the misguided lunatic. A tussle ensues as the thunder god seeks to defuse the situation and save his patient, while the Inhumans want simply to barrel in and recover their leader.The Toledo Museum of Art presents LitGraphic, an exhibit tracking the evolution of the long-form comic, from now until Jan. 3.
“Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., the traveling exhibition features more than 146 artworks by 24 contemporary graphic novelists and historic practitioners of this ever-evolving art form.
The show is as varied as the artists themselves: wordless narratives by 1920s woodcut artist Lynd Ward and modern-day commentator Peter Kuper; revolutionary underground comix by R. Crumb and humorous, personal Girl Stories’ by Lauren Weinstein; works by Mad Magazine co-creator Harvey Kurtzman and Breathtaker co-creator Marc Hempel, and the pioneering art of Will Eisner (Contract with God), Dave Sim (Cerebus) and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise).
Original book pages and studies, sketchbooks and videotaped interviews with graphic novelists are featured. Admission to the Museum and to the LitGraphic exhibition is free.”
Bob Corby has just announced the finalists for the 2010 S.P.A.C.E. Prize.
Once again, PANEL is well represented:
Craig Bogart with The Secret History of the Ineffables, part 2.
Tom Williams for his story “Hand Jive”, and Brent Bowman for his story “Jack and the Beanstalk”, both in Panel: 12 and Under.
Other Columbus creators who made the cut: writer/artist Lora Innes gets a couple of nods for her series The Dreamer, in both the general comics category and webcomic category. Mason Easley comes in with Psychic Soldier Kai. And Phonzie Davis gets a nomination for his surrealist comic Left Handed Sophie.
C-Bus represent!
Also, friend-of-the-ferret Chad Lambert gets a couple of nods, for his graphic novel Kill the Revisionist and his book Return to Point Pleasant.
Congratulations to all the finalists!
Here are 7 covers by British artist Jock (real name Mark Simpson). He came to prominence in the US in 2003 with his work on Vertigo’s The Losers, though he had been doing lots of work on the 2000 AD anthology prior to that.
Next week, I’ll post 7 of my favorite Jock covers from The Losers.
(Have a favorite series of your own? Or an artist? Character? Submit your own set of 7 covers by sending me small files (i.e. 72 dpi for the web) to ferret at ferretpress dot com and include “7 covers” in the subject line. Also, let me know if you have a blog or website you’d like me to link to.)
(Warning: shameless self-promotion ahead)
Chris Ryall at IDW asked me to put together a proposal for a movie-related revamp they’re doing with MGM. The studio had asked for 3 pitches. I got this brief message back from him shortly after I sent in my pitch:
“More to you later, but I’m just reading this now and man, I love love the sound of it. Love x 2!”
Followed by:
“Again, more soon when I actually have time to type more than one sentence, but yeah, we’re totally doing this. This rocks. Great job, man.”
Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this. I deliberately went with the opposite of what the “logical” approach to revamping the property would have been, and it obviously made an impression. This will be a 4-issue mini series. I’ll reveal more details when I can…
This weekend, we’ll visit the WTF? file with Teknophage vs. Zeerus:
I know, I know, everyone has this book in their collection and it’s been discussed and reviewed so many times, it’s gotten boring. But I say once a classic, always a classic?
Wait, what? You’ve never heard of Zeerus? Or Teknophage? Well, does the full title of the book – Neil Gaiman’s Teknophage – ring a bell?
Still nothing, eh? That’s because when Tekno Comics burst onto the saturated comics scene in the 90s, they paid a bunch of famous people, from Gaiman to Leonard Nimoy to Isaac Asimov and others, to “create” books for them. And by create, I mean comic-book-publisher-version-of-create. Needless to say, that’s where the involvement of these famous folks ended. Not surprisingly, Tekno Comics folded once the speculation bubble burst.
But hey, we’ll always have this classic to remember them by.
Weird that it seems everyone’s migrating from livejournal to blogger. Jim Rugg has a new blog over there with a lot of new stuff coming down the pipe. I’m looking forward to Afrodisiac from AdHouse. Not only is it great stuff but out of everyone that’s tried, Jim’s successfully pulls off that old *comic look. Hoping with all this new material, he’ll make it out to S.P.A.C.E. next year.
*It’s overly distracting when everyone tries it and doesn’t quite nail it.
Amidst all the last minute preparations last week for the con, I missed out on this press release about Alan Moore’s new underground zine called Dodgem Logic:
“Forty years after the uproarious heyday of the alternative press, writer Alan Moore is launching the 21st century’s first underground magazine from his home town of Northampton, a community that is right at the geographical, political and economic heart of the country; one which has half its high street boarded up and is at present dying on its arse, just like everywhere else.”
So what exactly can you expect within the 40 full-color pages of this mag?
“Regular columnists provide delicious, inexpensive recipes, wide-ranging medical advice, simple instructions for creating stylish clothing and accessories from next to nothing, guides to growing your own dinner by becoming a guerrilla gardener, and, in the first of Dave (The Self-Sufficient-ish Bible) Hamilton’s environmental columns, a bold experiment in living with no money.”
All that, plus comics and articles by the likes of Kevin O’Neill, Melinda Gebbie, and of course the bearded wizard himself.
No word on whether you can get a subscription stateside.
Good lord, MidOhio Con was good to me this year– at least from a buyer’s perspective. I left Bell, Book & Comic’s table with enough goodies to keep the WBM going until Gem City rolls around next year and I can visit them again to replenish my supply. We’ll start with the issue that is the standout from the huge pile I have to read through: A Ka-Zar appearance by Roy Thomas and John Buscema with all sorts of surprise appearances.
Astonishing Tales #12
A couple of federal agents have recruited Ka-Zar (wearing the dockers he favors when visiting civilization) to help track down a scientist who has disappeared in the Florida everglades. A group of researchers had isolated themselves in the swamps to focus on their work: the recreation of the super soldier serum that gave birth to Captain America a few decades before. Just a few weeks ago, lead scientist Ted Sallis went missing when agents of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) attempted to raid the compound to steal their research. The feds hope to find Sallis alive before he is captured by the spy organization.
The mission gets off to a bad start as A.I.M. soldiers shoot down the good guys’ helicopter, causing it to crash in the swamp. Ka-Zar and his pet sabretooth Zabu both get to demonstrate their gator-wrestling prowess as their guides make it to safety, then lead them to the (apparently poorly) hidden lab where Sallis’ colleagues continue their work. They are shown to an infirmary, where an aged scientist clings to life, victim of a gunshot wound. As they ponder her seemingly incoherent ramblings, a mossy form shambles up to the window to observe them from outside.
This is where a very pleasant surprise appears in this issue. As everybody better already know, Ted Sallis escaped his A.I.M. pursuers by injecting himself with the prototype super soldier serum and crashing his car into the bog, where the chemicals interacted with the strange environment to transform him into the Man-Thing. This is Manny’s first color comic appearance; he first appeared with Conan the Barbarian in the b & w mag Savage Tales for all of one issue. A second story by Len Wein and Neal Adams was prepared but never saw print until it was integrated into this very Ka-Zar adventure. So it is that I discovered a happy interlude with Neal Adams illustrating my favorite Marvel b-lister, written by Len Wein months before the arrival of Swamp Thing #1 (adding to the layers of coincidence surrounding the two characters, his roommate Gerry Conway had written that Savage Tales story months before that).
In the Man-Thing flashback, A.I.M. agents have riled up the superstitious locals into believing the old woman leading the group of researchers is actually a witch, a charge made plausible in their minds by the recent monster sightings in the area. During an encounter with the angry mob, the woman is shot before the Man-Thing’s very eyes just as she has put two and two together and figured out who the mute monster really is. Now he hovers nearby as his only hope for regaining his humanity lies on her deathbed.
Even next to Neal Adams’ amazing work, I’m impressed by how well Buscema’s pages stand out. Tastes being relative, my ideal for comic illustration is to convey as much information as simply as possible, and John Buscema is the paradigm. Even more than Kirby, his work defined Marvel’s “house style” for decades. His simple lines carry a tremendous amount of power; you can practically feel the weight of the jungle lord as he slams into that hapless A.I.M. goon, and Ka-Zar’s crouched form in the next panel is bursting with energy. This is what us old-timers once called drawing comics “the Marvel way.”
The annual United Nations human development index compiled by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) “ranks 182 countries based on such criteria as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.” Sort of a “best place to live” index. This year, Norway was at the top of the list, followed by Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.
Last place went to Niger (coincidentally, one of the settings in my Terminator Salvation series).
The US ranked #13.
I’m sure somehow Fox News will find a way to blame that on Obama as well.
Well, Mid-Ohio-Con 2009 is behind us. Overall, it was an ok show. Saturday traffic seemed to be decent, and I did ok with sales. Several people told me it was a lot better this year compared to the previous, but I didn’t notice much of a difference. Sunday, on the other hand, was dead slow. I made two sales, for a total of $15. Oh well.
While I managed to keep my spending to an absolute minimum on Saturday (my only purchase was the Neil Gaiman Eternals hardcover, marked down from $30 to $8), I did spend quite a bit more on Sunday. One dealer had almost the whole run of the 80s science fiction anthology series Alien Worlds (Pacific Comics) and Alien Encounters (Eclipse) for sale, most at a $1 a piece, and I couldn’t resist. The covers alone on some of these books are worth the price of admission. We’re talking William Stout, Dave Stevens, and more:
I also grabbed a couple of sketches. The first was from Marvel mainstay Fred Hembeck, who did his classic Doctor Voodoo:
And the next from Tiny Titans and Patrick the Wolfboy cartoonist Art Baltazar. I asked who his favorite character was, and he said currently he’s enjoying the Red Hulk (aka “Rulk”), so that’s what he drew…in glorious crayon color for a mere dollar!
On top of it, he was very funny, personable, and fun to talk to. Last year he did a Robin sketch for Hanna, and even though she had her dollar ready, he gave it to her for free, which totally made her day.
Finally, I have three of anecdotes to share:
Secret Identity – On Saturday, I saw a couple with their 3 or 4 year old boy, who was dressed up in a Spider-man costume, complete with plastic mask. As they walked by my booth, the boy ran head first into the metal pole that holds up the railing/dividers between the booths! His mom rushed to check on him, and tried to take off his mask to see if he was ok. But the boy refused, holding the mask to his face and shouting “No! Not the mask!”
Dude, like, Awesome – On Sunday a couple of younger guys were looking through the books on my table, and one of them picked up the Terminator graphic novel. Here’s the conversation that ensued, essentially verbatim:
“Guy: Dude, you wrote this?
Me: Yeah, I was given the movie script and asked to–
Guy: Wicked! Did you meet Arnold?
Me: Uh, no, I just wrote the comics and–
Guy: So did you go on the set?
Me: No, I did everything from–
Guy: Dude, is your name in the credits of the movie?
Me: No, see, I just wrote the–
Guy: (nods his head, puts the book down, and wanders off)”
The Borders Library – Another couple came by with their teenage boy. He told me that he loved the Terminator graphic novel, and that it was only the 2nd or 3rd graphic novel he’s ever read. I thanked him for the compliment, and this is the conversation that ensued between him and his mom:
“Mom: Oh yeah, I remember buying this book for you.
Son: You didn’t buy it for me.
Mom: Yes I did.
Son: No you didn’t. I read it at Borders over the course of 3 days.
Mom: Oh. Well, I meant to buy it for you.”
At which point they all wandered off.
Good times.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll do a follow-up post later on my two surprise finds at the show.