Friday, September 30, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/30/2005 02:14:00 PM
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Posted by
Dara
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9/30/2005 10:20:00 AM
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All-Star Superman
Newsarama has an 8 page preview of Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly's All-Star Superman #1. Not a huge fan of the character or the writer, but I just may check this out.
Looks like they're using "digital inking" on this project, as opposed to traditional inking. Hmmmm, interesting.
--Dara (permalink)
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
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Posted by
Tony
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9/28/2005 09:23:00 AM
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George who? Revenge of the what?
Caught a sneak preview of "Serenity" last night ... all I can say is "wow." Joss Whedon pulled out all the stops on this one -- you could tell he expects never to be able to make another one.
You may quibble about certain things. Inara was criminally underutilized. You might think there's too much humor, or the shocks may be too shocking. But the bottom line is this: "Eff George Lucas and his stupid effing beard."
Burn the land, boil the sea.
--Tony (permalink)
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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
on
9/27/2005 10:17:00 AM
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Gaiman roundtable
Newsarama has the transcript of a roundtable discussion with Neil Gaiman, wherein he talks about MirrorMask, writing, and other topics."People say, 'Were you a geek or a nerd when you were at school?' I said, 'Well, neither. I went to school in England. We didn't have those kinds of divisions then.'" And this about working with the man himself, Bill Sienkiewicz:"Johnson: I wanted to ask you about writing the movie. I read another interview that when you worked Endless Nights for Bill Sienkiewicz and what you got back from him in terms of artwork was not at all what you had written and I wanted to know if that was analogous to working on a movie?
Gaiman: Bill is just Bill. Bill is a force of nature. Working with Bill, I wrote a script as loose as I could possibly make it figuring that whatever I gave Bill he would do something else, and he did something even elser. At that point, as the writer, I took these 20 pages that Bill had given me and reordered them and rewrote them and written the story based on what Bill had given me. "
--Dara (permalink)
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Monday, September 26, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/26/2005 09:19:00 AM
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Monday Morning "Guess the Artist"
Another week, another episode of Guess the Artist, where we look at a piece of artwork from the early career of some of today's big name comic book artists. As always, use the comments section to share your guess.
(click image to magnificate)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005)Labels: guess the artist
--Dara (permalink)
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Tuesday, September 20, 2005
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Posted by
Matt Kish
on
9/20/2005 07:01:00 PM
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Give it away now...
Hey everyone. Since Ione and I will be moving to Dayton much much more quickly than we had initially anticipated (by November 1st now), we have to get rid of a lot of stuff. On my site I've put up a page with a bunch of the art prints and gig posters I'm giving away. Go to www.spudd64.com and you'll see a news update entitled "Free Stuff For Y'all" with a link. Click on that link and you'll find the page and more information. Please help me get rid of some of this stuff and I'll be deeply appreciative.
--Matt Kish (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
on
9/20/2005 03:16:00 PM
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Hey Kids, Boobies...er, Comics!
DC's December solicitations are out, and it's time once again to do the boobies cover roundup.
Let me tell you, folks, it's disappointing. This feature was a heck of a lot more fun last month. Anyway, on with the show:
Squished Metalic Boobies
Endless Expanse of Outer Space Boobies
And, um, that's pretty much it. Bummer, I know. Unless you're into No Boobies, or Man Boobies. Even the A in T&A gets the (sorry) bum's rush with a sub-par offering.
On the other hand, there are some great covers to make up for the lack of fanboy-pleasing mammaries.
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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9/20/2005 10:45:00 AM
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Alan Moore knows the score
Courtesy of 4ColorHeroes.com ("dedicated entirely to the works of Alan Moore,") here's a look at his script for Batman: The Killing Joke. Well, the first 12 pages anyway.
And let me just say, my sympathies go out to all those artists who have worked with Mr. Moore. The man is a genius when it comes to writing comics, but my god does he write a lot! Just look at some of those panel descriptions, they're over a page long.
(via FanboyRampage)
--Dara (permalink)
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Monday, September 19, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/19/2005 03:02:00 PM
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Les 4 Fantastiques
ComicBookResources has a first look at the character designs for the new Fantastic Four animated series, set to debut here next year. French company Antefilms Productions is producing the 26 half-hour episodes.
I've never been a fan of the FF, and the anime-influenced look doesn't do much for me (Mr. Fantastic looks way too young,) but I do like this version of The Thing.
--Dara (permalink)
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Sunday, September 18, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/18/2005 04:08:00 PM
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Monday Morning "Guess the Artist"
Welcome back to the second episode of our new weekly feature, where we look at a piece of artwork from the early career of some of today's big name comic book artists. Per Matt's suggestion, I'm trying one that will hopefully be a bit harder than last week's page (although it'll probably still be too easy for Andy "Walking Encyclopedia" Bennett.)
As always, use the comments section to share your guess.
(click image to super-duper size)
(previous week: 9/12/2005)Labels: guess the artist
--Dara (permalink)
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Saturday, September 17, 2005
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Posted by
Andy Bennett
on
9/17/2005 06:28:00 PM
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Your literary moment of the day
Put a few minutes aside to take in the works curated by Steven Gettis at his online gallery devoted to Artistic Interpretations of Literary Figures. The concept is simple enough - give a bunch of illustrators carte blanche to portray their favorite authors or characters; stand back and watch the fun; rinse; repeat. The range of talent is staggering, from masters like Will Eisner and Alex Toth, to underground guerrilla artists like John Greiner and Dave Crosland; hard-core comic book illustrators like John Buscema and Jim Aparo, to fine artists like James Jean (pictured), Dave McKean, and John J. Muth. And there's even one by yours truly...
Enjoy!
--Andy Bennett (permalink)
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Friday, September 16, 2005
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Posted by
Tony
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9/16/2005 02:15:00 PM
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Posted by
Dara
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9/16/2005 11:49:00 AM
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Review-o-rama!
Several reviews and interviews to let you know about:
On his blog devoted to small press comics, Size Matters, Shawn Hoke reviews Panel: Home. I wouldn't call it a glowing review, but he did like quite a few of the stories and thought the overall book had "a pretty snazzy package."
Over at Broken Frontier, Sam Moyerman reviews Panel: Myth. Although there were things in the book that didn't quite work for him, he does give a generally positive review for the entire package:"In the end, Panel #5: Myth is the perfect example of small press books. It contains some really good work by the creators, and somehow even the shortcomings have their own sense of charm. If you’re interested in reading books by people who love and study the comic book medium, check this book out." Oh, and he describes Matt Kish's story as "visual poetry," which I quite like.
Sam also pulls double duty, doing an interview with yours truly about Ferret Press and Panel. You can read the interview here.
Panel and the Ferret, taking over your comicsverse one website at a time!
--Dara (permalink)
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Thursday, September 15, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/15/2005 02:31:00 PM
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In-depth journalism
Another bold, thought-provoking, investigative article on the world of comic books, courtesy of The Telegraph. Thrill to the controversial, radical claims of the author:
Lemons are sour.
Kittens are cute.
Pamela Anderson has fake boobs.
Comics aren't just for kids anymore.
Amazing! Who knew?
(via Progressive Ruin)
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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9/15/2005 11:29:00 AM
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Your political moment of the day
"U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations..." What a great photo!
--Dara (permalink)
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Wednesday, September 14, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/14/2005 11:10:00 AM
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Posted by
Dara
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9/14/2005 09:25:00 AM
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Keron Grant: Son of Vulcan
Columbus' own Keron Grant gets the spotlight over at The Pulse in an article about his new 6-issue limited series at DC, Son of Vulcan. This time he's pencilling and inking.
 "'Throughout my career in comics, I was always told my stuff is too stylized for mainstream comics,' Grant said. 'When you work on established characters, you have to deal with a lot of status quo - which is always a bit binding. So when Tom offered me this project, I jumped at the chance.'" I also like how he gets in a little dig at the New Mutants books he started doing for Marvel a couple years ago..."Grant said SoV was different from some of his other recent penciling gigs. 'It's new,' he said. 'It's not a bunch of girls standing around talking. It has reasonable deadlines. I've got a great editor. I've got freedom to explore and push my work. I don't have to draw splash pages of people hugging.'"
--Dara (permalink)
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Tuesday, September 13, 2005
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Posted by
Tony
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9/13/2005 04:25:00 PM
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Reading at Risk
The horror stories are true: Reading really is getting more rare in this country.
Around 46.7 percent of Americans reported reading literature in 2002, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, down from 54 percent in 1992 and 56.9 percent in 1982.
Chris Bohjalian reported this depressing statistic at his Thurber House talk last night.
“You people are like medeival monks, carrying on a dying art form,” he told the Thurber House crowd.
The study defined literary readers as those who read a novel, short story, play or poem within the last year. Those who were forced to read for school weren’t counted. The study didn’t attempt to distinguish between serious literature and escapist fiction.
Women are more avid readers than men -- 55.1 percent of women reported exposure to literature in 2002, compared with 37.6 percent of men.
The West was the most well-read region, followed by the Northeast, Midwest and South. Around 46.7 percent of Midwesterners reported literature-reading in 2002.
Breaking the Midwest down further, some 45.5 percent of residents in the East North Central region, which includes Ohio, reported some exposure to literature over the previous year.
Only 7.1 percent of adults (or 15 million people) indicated that they did any kind of creative writing during 2002. That was a slight increase over 7.4 percent in 1992 and 7 percent in 1982.
Interestingly, creative writing does not vary among income levels or racial backgrounds -- poor blacks are just as likely to pick up a pen as rich whites. Creative writing is more common among people under 25, however.
The survey, “Reading At Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America,” came out in June 2004. It’s available at http://www.arts.gov/pub/index.php
--Tony (permalink)
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Posted by
Tony
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9/13/2005 03:03:00 PM
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250!
Chris Bohjalian received 250 rejection slips before he sold his first short story.
In college, he submitted a short story to a famous female writer for review. Her three word review: “Be a banker.”
But Bohjalian stuck with it, and last night he was the Thurber House’s featured speaker. Bohjalian is the author of nine novels, including “Midwives,” a best-seller and Oprah’s Book Club selection. His novel “Past the Bleachers” was turned into a TV movie, which he said was better than the book.
“That’s why I keep it out of print,” he said. “When the TV movie is better than the book, you keep it out of print.”
Bohjalian worked in advertising during his long, slow climb to fame, and his marketing background was in full effect last night. He hosted a dinner for book groups before the reading. After the reading, he made a point of signing the first book right in front of everyone.
He directed everyone to his Web site, http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/, which I’ve only seen one other author do. But he went one step further: He invited everyone to the section on his Web site where you can submit a question. He insists he answers them. He also will appear at book club meetings via conference call.
The section he read from his new book, “Before You Know Kindness,” wasn’t bad. But his professionalism was excellent.
--Tony (permalink)
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Posted by
Andy Bennett
on
9/13/2005 09:30:00 AM
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SPX announcements aplenty
The SPX homepage announced this week that Ohio's favorite son, Harvey Pekar, will be the guest of honor at this year's Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland on September 23-24. Some of you know Harvey from his excellent comix series, American Splendor; others may know him from the film of the same name. Regardless, it's nice to see Harv getting his due; he's practically a living legend.
Also over on Tom Spurgeon's Comics Reporter, you can find a list of this year's IGNATZ Award nominees.
--Andy Bennett (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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9/13/2005 05:18:00 AM
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Creator personalities vs. creator works
Since I'm doing the 4 AM work thing again, waiting on some hideously long database update to finish, I'm catching up on some blog reading. And over on Cognitive Dissonance, Johanna has a brief post on Warren Ellis, namely his whole "Grumpy Old Bastard" public persona. One of her readers comments:"Ellis has always been like this and he has his devoted fanbase. Myself, I got to the point where the persona got in the way of the story for me, so it's mostly an uphill battle to get me to buy anything he's written, particularly if its superheroes (how many last superhero projects has he had? how many times has he done a cynical JLA homage?)" Which bring up my question to you guys: does a creator's public persona (whether real or perceived) ever make or break the deal for you when it comes to buying their work? Aside from Ellis, John Byrne seems to be another creator who falls into this category. He has a strong core fanbase, as well as a huge group of detractors, and it seems that each camp has arrived at their destination based more on his opinionated public comments rather than his talent.
I think I do have a tendency to stay away from certain creators who come across as too pretentious or holier-than-thou, regardless of the quality of their work. But not too often, and frankly, I can't think of any good examples off the top of my head. Maybe Grant Morrison, especially when he starts into all that Magik crap (though oddly enough, I have no problem with Alan Moore's crazy-ass occult beliefs...) But for the most part it's easy enough for me to separate the ego from the work. For instance, I still dig the hell out of Planetary, even though I too am sick of Warren's "edgy bastard" online presence.
How about you guys?
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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9/13/2005 04:58:00 AM
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No love for Comic Sans
The great thing about the Internets is that anyone with an agenda and a few bucks to register a domain name and host it can start their own little grassroots movement. Hence: BanComicSans.com - Putting the Sans in Comic Sans"In 1995 Microsoft released the font Comic Sans originally designed for comic book style talk bubbles containing informational help text. Since that time the typeface has been used in countless contexts from restaurant signage to college exams to medical information. These widespread abuses of printed type threaten to erode the very foundations upon which centuries of typographic history are built." Be sure to check out their Statistics page for some dire predictions on the future usage of Comic Sans.
--Dara (permalink)
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Monday, September 12, 2005
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Posted by
Tony
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9/12/2005 09:39:00 AM
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Sex and the Cowtown
Candace Bushnell, author of "Sex and the City", will speak in Columbus 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the King Arts Complex, 867 Mt. Vernon Ave. The event is hosted by the Thurber House. Tickets are $18, or $10 with a valid student ID. Check out http://www.thurberhouse.org/events/special.html for more info.
--Tony (permalink)
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Sunday, September 11, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/11/2005 10:49:00 PM
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Monday Morning "Guess the Artist"
Welcome to a new (hopefully) weekly feature here on the mighty Ferret blog: Guess the Artist. Having enjoyed BeaucoupKevin's Genius Covers Sunday installments, as well as (postmodernbarney)'s Subtext? What Subtext? features, I've decided to try my hand at some fun scans in an effort to give back to the comics blogosphere.
So each Monday, we'll look at a piece of artwork from the early career of some of today's big name comic book artists. Thrill to their humble beginnings, gasp at their amateur mistakes, and wonder at their generic style. So without further ado, check out today's page and use the comments section to...Guess the Artist!
(click image to huge-ify)Labels: guess the artist
--Dara (permalink)
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Saturday, September 10, 2005
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Posted by
Sean McGurr
on
9/10/2005 04:44:00 PM
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Graphic Novel Writing Seminar
826NYC (the location of the Superhero Supply Company) is hosting a writing seminar on graphic novels next week (in NYC and for $50). Moderated by Chip Kidd, panelists include Art Spiegelman, Kim Deitch, Jessica Abel, and PJ Mark.
Also of interest might be their upcoming seminars on nonfiction, playwriting, starting a magazine, and humor writing (with guys from The Onion).
--Sean McGurr (permalink)
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Friday, September 09, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/09/2005 11:39:00 AM
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Thursday, September 08, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/08/2005 11:16:00 PM
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Posted by
Sean McGurr
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9/08/2005 09:23:00 PM
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Posted by
Dara
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9/08/2005 12:54:00 PM
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The Onion and Katrina
Leave it to The Onion to tell it like it is...
"Bush: 'It Has Been Brought To My Attention That There Was Recently A Bad Storm'"
"God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again"
"White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters"
"Nation's Politicians Applaud Great Job They're Doing"
"Louisiana National Guard Offers Help By Phone From Iraq"
"Area Man Drives Food There His Goddamned Self"
--Dara (permalink)
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Wednesday, September 07, 2005
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Posted by
Dara
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9/07/2005 01:10:00 PM
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Mike Mignola's other property
The Comics Continuum has a first look at a design for the animated series based on Mike Mignola's The Amazing Screw-on Head."Paul Giamitti, who starred in American Splendor, is proving the voice for Screw-On Head, a secret agent working for the U.S. government and a robot that screws his head onto a wide variety of bodies.
In the pilot, Screw-On Head faces off against his arch nemesis and former manservant, Emperor Zombie, voiced by David Hyde Pierce. Molly Shannon plays Screw's love interest, Patience the Vampire. Rounding out the cast are Patton Oswalt as Mr. Groin, Screw's faithful manservant, and Mindy Sterling, who plays the dual roles of zombie henchwomen Aggie and Geraldine."  (larger image at the link above)
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