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Saturday, December 20, 2003
link: time.com has posted their top ten graphic novels of 2003 and i have to say that i agree with andrew arnold's tastes. here's the ones we've covered on the site to date, all of which make for excellent holiday gifts:
  
  
(grace, looking over my shoulder, just said... "ohh. i loved blankets!" she's never wrong, that one.)
posted by peter! 2:03 PM EST permalink
interview: newsarama posted an interview with chester brown yesterday to talk about the recent release of the louis riel hardcover collection. it's a fun piece where brown discusses his influences, his sex life and his future plans. (sorry, no direct link, but it's a couple items down on the home page. as usual, we don't link to pages with embedded message boards in them.)
posted by peter! 1:52 PM EST permalink
more manga madness: icv2.com has posted three more manga-related stories this week in addition to the couple we cited earlier, including this bit about dark horse's new helsing book having an initial print run of 40,000 copies (three quarters of which are going to the booktrade and not the direct market); this bit about tokyopop expanding their 2004 publishing schedule by 30-40% to somewhere between 450 and 500 titles; and this bit about archie comics hiring a manga artist to give a new look to their classic sabrina the teenage witch character. it's a revolution, i tell you.
posted by peter! 1:32 PM EST permalink
happy holidays from digital artist kenn brown.
posted by peter! 1:23 PM EST permalink
Friday, December 19, 2003
news: fantagraphics has announced their april 2004 releases, featuring peter bagge's long awaited collection of the bradleys; a new edition of george herriman's krazy and ignatz strips from 1931-1932 complete with beautiful chris ware cover; an original graphic novel from pop life collaborator wilfred santiago entitled in my darkest hour; and the 50th and final volume of hal foster's prince valiant series.
  
plus the 10th issue of the new love and rockets by los bros hernandez; the 3rd issue of raisin pie by rick altergott and ariel bordeaux; and a special comic book entitled canvas by xeric grant recipient alex fellows.
  
and a gaggle of erotic comics from their eros imprint including the first issue of lanegra's beautifully rendered spanish conquest; as well as new books by wes crum, okawari and others. tune in to both fantagraphics and eros comix for more details on all of these releases. good night.
posted by peter! 8:05 AM EST permalink
event: today in sunny san francisco, isotope comics is hosting an ed brubaker signing that promises to be entertaining as the popular comics writer has agreed to arm wrestle (!) his fans. the event runs all day and night starting at noon and there should be plenty of spirits on hand. assuming i'm still conscious tonight, i hope to pop-in sometime myself. directions on the website.
posted by peter! 7:51 AM EST permalink
link: the cleveland plains dealer ran this article in their newspaper yesterday about how independent and diverse comic books and graphic novels are beginning to penetrate the cultural mainstream. there's hope for us yet.
posted by peter! 7:46 AM EST permalink
link: this cover image of a new comic book being produced and distributed during the holidays by the animal rights group peta is making it's way around the internet and drawing a firestorm of controversy. i think it's kind of funny, myself. i believe the story originated here.
posted by peter! 7:40 AM EST permalink
news: last week, we reported that ken gale's long running comics interview show on nyc's wbai 99.5 would be making a clandestine return on the early morning of dec 31st at 3:30 am pst, and he's followed up to confirm the date and time as well as his guest, controversial "lady death" creator brian pulido, who should make for an interesting interview in light of recent upheavel at his own publishing company, chaos comics, as well as his new home at crossgen comics. there should be an archive available on ken's website shortly thereafter.
posted by peter! 7:34 AM EST permalink
link: slate.com is running this retrospective on the storied career of comics writer alan moore, including a nice art gallery of some of his more popular works. (thanks, toby, for the link!)
posted by peter! 7:27 AM EST permalink
happy holidays from neil kleid! (and speaking of neil, if you're in the detroit area on dec 21st around 6pm est, you can catch him doing a radio interview on "graphic music", a pop culture variety show airing on whfr 89.3, which has realtime feeds and archives on their website.)
posted by peter! 7:22 AM EST permalink
Thursday, December 18, 2003
i want this! sirius entertainment sent us a bunch of preview art of their upcoming march releases, including this brilliant piece from an upcoming book called "deady and the malevolent teddy" from chi-chian and oh my goth creator voltaire. it promises loads and loads of horrible, malevolent, adorable, cuddly violence. fantastic!
here's the cover, plus art from their other march releases, including mark crilley's latest akiko collection (the battle of boach's keep) as well as jinky coronado's first banzai girl trade (sans panties).
  
posted by peter! 11:14 PM EST permalink
news: the american film institute (afi) has named american splendor -- the film adaptation of harvey pekar's classic autobiographical comics -- one of its top ten films of the year. the graphic novel makes another fine holiday gift, methinks. here's the story as reported earlier in the week by reuters on yahoo. congrats, harvey.
posted by peter! 10:59 PM EST permalink
link: it looks like joe kubert is signing copies of his recently released opus, yossel, april 19, 1943, if purchased from the joe kubert's world of cartooning website. (if you don't feel like drilling through the site, the direct shopping cart link is at the bottom of this page.) a very nice holiday gift, indeed.
posted by peter! 10:51 PM EST permalink
preview: coming in march is "baraka and black magic in morocco", a graphic novel travelogue of creator rick smith's experiences in that country. here's the cover and some pages (click on 'em for larger pics):
 
 
[Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco, deluxe graphic novel by Rick Smith, For Mature Readers, trade paperback, 128 pages, partial color, 6” x 9”, $11.95, ISBN: 1-891867-69-5, Alternative Comics]
posted by peter! 10:43 AM EST permalink
news: went trolling around icv2.com tonight and found a couple of interesting bits, including this piece about tokyopop's efforts to penetrate the pententially lucrative chain store market. the publisher is already the leading asian comics provider in the states, doing most of their business within the booktrade market, and have a chance of surpassing marvel comics this year as northern america's top provider of comic books. it's an endlessly fascinating story because they have basically bucked all the so-called wisdom of the american comic marketplace, which is that you a.) need to distribute within the established comic book store direct channel to survive and b.) that kids don't read comics anymore. with at least three straights years of healthy growth, they have proven nearly every so-called comics pundit wrong. (now, before i get swamped with the usual asinine emails complaining about a perceived bias against american comics, i want to make it very clear that it doesn't matter to me *where* the comics i enjoy actually come from. i'm like tommy lee jones in the fugitive. i don't care. good comics are good comics regardless of what country produces them. it just happens that more original and diverse content is being produced overseas right now. anyone who follows the site at all is well aware of the excellent american comics that we promote on this side of the pond.) meanwhile, elsewhere on the site, they're also reporting that osamu tezuka's classic creation, astro boy, is returning to the small screen in january, courtesy of sony pictures, tezuka productions and the wb. [man, that was long winded. three days of drinking will do that to you, y'know.]
posted by peter! 1:13 AM EST permalink
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Our dreams: they've come true. Only, in the dreams, we're all speaking Japanese. Also, we are girls.
posted by Matt 1:51 PM EST permalink
the world made good again: heartfelt congrats to speed and her family on the new addition! way to go, guys. (more updates tonight once i get out from under some film stuff. and maybe some sleep.)
posted by peter! 11:51 AM EST permalink
Carla Speed McNeil has baby; Artbomb blogger struggles with Mother, Jugs, and Speed reference and fails.
"December fourth, 12:48 AM, nine pounds two ounces, twenty-two inches long, David Antony McNeil. He is my husband Mike's Mini-Me literally down to his toes."
Way to spawn, Speed. Congrats!
posted by Matt 2:53 AM EST permalink
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
news: it looks like the league of extraordinary gentlemen dvd has hit the stores today. now, i have no idea whether the film is any good or not (i haven't seen it), but i greatly enjoyed the graphic novel by alan moore and kevin o'neill from which it was based, so i present you with both options:
 
choose wisely.
posted by peter! 5:43 AM EST permalink
news: meanwhile, over at journalista, dirk deppey has been following in (scary) detail the plight of corner comics, a washington-based retailer forced to pulp their unsold backstock in order to avoid paying back taxes being imposed by the irs. the story has apparently boiled over into a feud between deppey and the comic book industry alliance (cbia) over whether or not the comics industry should help out the retailer in question. i'm not privy to all the facts nor do i have an accounting degree, so i have no idea where the truth lies, but it's unfortunate whenever a comics retailer runs into a situation which might force them to close their doors. at the end of the day, we need more retailers, not less, and it's a shame when we lose site of that.
posted by peter! 5:33 AM EST permalink
ahoy there: i'm sure rich johnston is just trying to blow some steam up someone's ass, but he's reporting in his weekly rumor column that marvel comics might resume their attempt to break up diamond distributor's monopoly on the direct market comic book market by signing with cds once their current contract expires. i know a lot of retailers despise the thought, but i've always been of the belief that competition would be a healthy thing for the comics distribution marketplace. time will tell, as it always does.
posted by peter! 5:22 AM EST permalink
Monday, December 15, 2003
recommendation: i know we don't cover anthologies on the main site, but i really enjoyed autobiographix, a new release from dark horse comics, that features some of our best and brightest including frank miller, will eisner, eddie campbell, jason lutes, matt wagner, metaphrog, farel dalrymple, just to name a few of the contributors. seek it out, if you get the chance.
posted by peter! 3:32 AM EST permalink
artfilm: made my monthly dvd excursion to chinatown yesterday and picked up the following new releases that i hope to check out over the holidays:
Infernal Affairs II: this is the sequel (prequel, actually) to the 2002 blockbuster crime drama of the same name, which i believe was optioned by brad pitt or somesuch. look for the third part in 2004.
Turn Left Turn Right: this is a romantic drama that teams directors johnnie to and wai ka-fai with the charismatic takeshi kaneshiro. unfortunately, it's region 3 only as warner brothers has snagged the rights to it and is limiting distribution (you really ought to have a region free dvd, anyway).
Heroic Duo: i'm not the biggest benny (gen-x cops/gen-y cops) chan fan, but the folks at the shop were pretty fond of it, so i figured it was worth a look.
My Wife Is A Gangster: this is an old release, but one of the most popular korean comedies ever made. there's a sequel out as well. i think this is region 3, but there's also a region 1 deluxe set available.
you know, there's really no need to go to the cinema anymore.
posted by peter! 3:26 AM EST permalink
happy holidays from dean haspiel (whose becoming a regular in these here parts)
posted by peter! 3:06 AM EST permalink
Sunday, December 14, 2003
make it stop: i'm supposed to be finishing up a comic script tonight, but i find myself surfing more of ingrid's dutch comic strip sites instead. here's "sigmund" by peter de wit:
Patient: "I am addicted to therapy."
Junkie: "Psst, buy a bike? Only 50 dollars!"
Sigmund: "No, mister junkie."
Sigmund (panel 2): "You're going to replace this bike where you found it and write an apology letter to the owner!"
Sigmund (panel 3): "When you fuck with those addicts, you pay less for the stolen goods."
posted by peter! 9:47 PM EST permalink
events: jim hanley's universe in nyc (4 w 33rd st) is hosting a pair of signings this week, both featuring our beat-up pal dean haspiel. wednesday, dec 17th, will see dino, gabe soria, vito delsant, mike lilly, alex robinson, chris radtke and mike dawson from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. saturday, dec 20th, will see dino, gabe soria, and vito delsante from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. visit the poor guy, why don't ya.
posted by peter! 2:03 PM EST permalink
news: ken gale is reporting that his long-running comic book interview radio show, 'nuff said, has been officially dropped from the wbai-fm (99.5) schedule in the nyc area. ken vows to continue the show -- as he has been doing since it went on hiatus some time ago -- by sneaking in segments during other programs that he dj's. the next segment should occur early morning wednesday, dec 31st at 3:30 am, when he subs for "punk and hardcore" host susan brown. guests tbd. check out the website for news and archives. good luck, ken.
posted by peter! 1:43 PM EST permalink
comic strips: last week (i think!) we posted a cartoon from holland that drew some curiosity. it happens to be by two dutch cartoonists, hanco kolk and peter de wit, who have a website right here. "s1ngle" is a strip about a nurse named fatima, her two girlfriends, and the never ending seach for love. enjoy some more cartoons, translations once again courtesy of ingrid.
Fatima on a First Date
Boyfriend (panel 1): "Look! You can see me score during my last game!"
Boyfriend (panel 2): "Aaah... to score feels better than sex!"
posted by peter! 1:21 PM EST permalink
archives:
11/30/2003 - 12/06/2003
12/07/2003 - 12/13/2003
12/14/2003 - 12/20/2003
12/21/2003 - 12/27/2003
12/28/2003 - 01/03/2004
01/04/2004 - 01/10/2004
01/11/2004 - 01/17/2004
01/18/2004 - 01/24/2004
01/25/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
02/08/2004 - 02/14/2004
02/15/2004 - 02/21/2004
02/22/2004 - 02/28/2004
02/29/2004 - 03/06/2004
03/07/2004 - 03/13/2004
03/14/2004 - 03/20/2004
03/21/2004 - 03/27/2004
03/28/2004 - 04/03/2004
04/04/2004 - 04/10/2004
04/11/2004 - 04/17/2004
04/18/2004 - 04/24/2004
04/25/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
05/23/2004 - 05/29/2004
05/30/2004 - 06/05/2004
06/06/2004 - 06/12/2004
06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004
06/20/2004 - 06/26/2004
06/27/2004 - 07/03/2004
07/04/2004 - 07/10/2004
07/11/2004 - 07/17/2004
07/18/2004 - 07/24/2004
07/25/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/07/2004
08/08/2004 - 08/14/2004
08/15/2004 - 08/21/2004
08/22/2004 - 08/28/2004
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