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Saturday, April 10, 2004
spanish invasion: "Public Square Books has joined forces with Norma Editorial of Spain to bring a diverse collection of Spanish Language Graphic Novels to American shores for the first time. Public Square will release the first titles to major retailers and wholesalers nationwide in May 2004. Ten to fifteen new selections will follow each month. The publishing program features a wide assortment of books for children, young adults, andmature audiences. Book buyers will be able to choose from many different genres-- from sci-fi to crime noir, anime to autobiography. Monthly selections also include Spanish language versions of acclaimed and popular American series such as Hellboy and Sin City, previously unavailable in the United States... The capacity of popular comics to expand into other markets, such as the film and gaming industries, in combination with an explosion of fanzines on the world wide web, has created an unprecedented demand for graphic novels in bookstores today. Public Square and Norma Editorial seek to further this trend by reaching out to an under-served U.S. Hispanic readership." (i've also heard that persopolis is in the works as well.)
  
posted by peter! 6:47 PM EST permalink
reflections of horror: the duluth news tribune takes a look at a new holocaust exhibit in minnesota, which features graphic novelist art siegelman, among other artists: "Four internationally renowned artists working in different media will exhibit their works in The Holocaust as Subject at the Tweed Museum of Art. The exhibit opens Tuesday and continues until June 13. Art Spiegelman is the creator of Maus graphic novels, essentially a fictional story of the Holocaust inspired by his father's experiences and told in comic-book format. Maus also addresses Spiegelman's understanding of the Holocaust as the son of a survivor... 'This is probably the first exhibition ever in this region to deal with this theme,' said Peter Spooner, the Tweed's curator and acting director."
posted by peter! 6:31 PM EST permalink
new thang: if you're looking for something to do tomorrow night in nyc, then this might be for you: "This Sunday, April 11 (that's Easter evening, for those of you into that sort of thing), at 7pm, stories from the comics anthology New Thing Vol. 2: Secrets will be read as part of the KGB Bar's long-running and esteemed Fiction Series. The stories to be read are: 'b-612' by June K., about two women friends trying very hard not to say good-bye, 'Will You Forget Me?' by Jim Higgins and Jim Campbell, about missing persons and found emotions, and 'Wino Forever' by Dash Shaw, about love, finding out what's real, and a celebrity actress's woes... KGB Bar is at 85 East 4th Street in the East Village. 212-505-3360."
posted by peter! 6:27 PM EST permalink
jailbait: over at indy world, dean haspiel's posted a preview of a graphic novel that he's working on with filmmaker ben sainsbury called jailbait that's looking for a publisher:
posted by peter! 6:21 PM EST permalink
marvel motivation: jeff patterson of gravity lens writes in to tell us about marvel motivational superlithos available from character america. i'm sure using a murdering vigilante like the punisher in the workplace or classroom is a good way to teach people about commitment:
"To fight when others fold, pursue while others retreat, conquer while others quit, and make right when all else is wrong."
jeff's posted his own motivational lithos right here.
posted by peter! 6:05 PM EST permalink
Friday, April 09, 2004
turn around is fair play: marvel has officially announced the launch of a new imprint today called "icon" which will house creator-owned and non-marvel licensed properties beginning with bendis and oeming's powers and david mack's kabuki, formerly published by image comics. last month, image fired head honcho jim valentino, turning over the reigns to erik larson, a move unpopular with some image creators. in turn, marvel's been looking for ways to keep their top talent happy, and offering them a high profile outlet for their creator-owned work should fit the bill.
from the press release: "Marvel Comics announces the launch of ICON, a new publishing imprint that will produce projects utilizing properties outside of the Marvel Universe. ICON will launch with two titles fans are already familiar with: Brian Bendis' 'Powers' and David Mack's 'Kabuki.' Marvel is not new to publishing licensed properties. It has had a successful history with such classic licenses as GI Joe and Transformers. However, Marvel, which works with the top talent in the comic industry, has long been considering ways to offer its creators a home not just for their Marvel projects, but for their other work. The new ICON imprint has been created with a mandate to pursue both these creator and licensed projects, while maintaining the highest level of talent and the brands that readers have come to expect from Marvel."
posted by peter! 4:02 PM EST permalink
Thursday, April 08, 2004
smile through the tears: the cbc is reporting on a new comic book that memorializes the victims of rwandan genocide: "An artist who survived the Rwandan genocide is marking the mass killing's 10th anniversary this month with a comic book that details his experiences. Montreal-based Rupert Bazambanza's Sourire malgré tout, or Smile Through the Tears, tells the story of the Rwanga family -- his friends who were killed in Rwanda a decade ago. Creating the book, which he began two years ago, has been a way for the artist to honour their memory."
posted by peter! 11:10 AM EST permalink
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
cine-manga commitment: tokyopop and walt disney are expanding their cine-manga line, according to this piece from icv2.com: "Tokyopop and Disney Publishing Worldwide have announced an expansion of the popular line of Cine-Manga books, which incorporate images directly from films and television series--adapting the source material to a fumetti-style, quasi-comic book format... Retailers can look for an increasing number of Cine-Manga titles in the near future as Tokyopop and Disney have slated 24 titles over the next three years."
posted by peter! 11:36 AM EST permalink
zoooombies: yeah, not much to do with comics, but here's a good piece from alternet.org on the george romero zombie trilogy: "In 1968, George Romero changed horror film history. Inspired by Richard Matheson's gripping novel, I Am Legend, the independent filmmaker from Pittsburgh envisioned a trilogy of films depicting a chaotic world where the recently dead are reanimated and viciously attack the living. Also known as Anubis (the Egyptian God of the Dead), Romero's 'dead trilogy' presents the irremediable collapse of authority and order." and, to bring this post back on topic, i didn't realize that warren's new strange killings comic was actually about... zombies!... until i read the first issue. avatar has a preview hyperlinked below:
posted by peter! 11:25 AM EST permalink
law and order: here's a good summary of the recent court decision in Gaiman v. McFarlane explaining why the statute of limitation concerning Gaiman's copyright filing had not expired, courtesy of McDermott, Will and Emery: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a jury determination, holding that the statute of limitations under 17 U.S.C. §507(b) did not begin to run until Todd McFarlane, the publisher and compiler of the Spawn comic book, unambiguously denied that Neil Gaiman, the co-creator of three Spawn characters, had any copyright interest in his contribution to the Spawn series. Gaiman v. McFarlane, Case Nos. 03-1331, -1461, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3396 (7th Cir. Feb. 20, 2004) (J. Posner). The parties are two of the most renowned figures in comics. Neil Gaiman is the author of numerous comic book stories and novels, including the Sandman series, while Todd McFarlane is a writer and illustrator who has contributed to the Spiderman and Batman series and who created the Spawn series in 1992..." more at mondaq.com (requires registration).
posted by peter! 11:07 AM EST permalink
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
amazing adventures: the long beach press-telegram caught up with best-selling prose writer glen david gold concerning his contribution to michael chabon's new escapist comic book series: "Recently, Gold got to showcase his love for the [comic] format. He wrote The Lady or the Tiger story line in the second issue of The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist (Dark Horse Comics, $8.95), available in comic book shops Wednesday... The quarterly anthology series is adapted from Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (best fiction 2000), an epic tale following the exploits of Josef Kavalier and Samuel Klayman. Set in 1939 New York City, the historical fiction tells how two cousins join forces to create the heroes, stories and art of the great American comic book..."
posted by peter! 11:09 AM EST permalink
bring on the peanuts gang: more press about the impending release of the first peanuts collection from fantagraphics, this time from the miami herald: "On Oct. 2, 1950, an innocuous-looking cartoon debuted, unheralded, in seven American newspapers. In the four-panel strip, a little boy with an egg-shaped head is running against an abstract background... And next month, Fantagraphics -- a publisher generally known for edgy graphic novels and alternative 'comix' -- launches The Complete Peanuts, a 25-volume, 12-year project that will bring every single daily and Sunday Peanuts strip back into print, between hard covers..."
posted by peter! 11:05 AM EST permalink
crossgen follow-up: on the heels of yesterday's post about crossgen, there's been two new developments about the beleaguered publisher. first is that they're abandoning the american power series, no doubt the result of the controversy swirling around the cover image that's been circulating the net. the second is that vp of marketing and sales chris oar has also left the company. there probably isn't much more that needs to be said.
posted by peter! 10:56 AM EST permalink
comic geek laments comics respectability: here's a strange editorial from cbc news in canada: "I'm not the only one who has noticed the change in comics and how they are perceived. A lot has been written about how they have entered the mainstream, which I think understates what has taken place in the last few decades. Comics aren't just socially accepted in 2004 – they've become downright respectable. In the humble opinion of your pop-culture correspondent, they're now too respectable... comics are now fully the property of the cultural elite. Ol' Stan might love the change, but I can't help feeling that one more piece of my childhood has been stolen."
posted by peter! 10:53 AM EST permalink
candy apple black: available in the new previews for release this summer from good intentions: "It’s a rather grim tale of an angel named Cayce who is cast-down for believing that suicide shouldn’t be a damnable offense. To teach him a lesson, Heaven sends him to Earth for a thousand years, only allowing him to be seen and heard by those about to kill themselves... and little children. This, they believe, will show the misguided angel how terrible suicide really is, and exactly why humans should indeed pay for it with their immortal souls. Unfortunately for the bloodless bureaucracy in Heaven, it does exactly the opposite. It proves to the angel that he was right all along..."
(i'm a sucker for goth girls.)
posted by peter! 10:49 AM EST permalink
a softer world: warren plugged this photo-based web comic in a recent bad signal mailing that's definitely worth checking out: "A SOFTER WORLD by Joey Comeau and Emily Horne is the best continuing comic on the web that I'm aware of right now... Go and read them all, for free, now, before someone makes Joey and Emily rich like astronauts and they start charging you money just to look at their happy little faces."
posted by peter! 10:41 AM EST permalink
Monday, April 05, 2004
getting vertical: first the nytimes, now the sfgate takes a look at new japanese prose and manga publisher, vertical inc: "Establishing a cultural beachhead in the wilds of American publishing necessitates bold action and nerves of steel. Enter Vertical Inc., an upstart New York publisher that hopes to introduce millions of American readers -- notoriously resistant to foreign translations -- to Japanese pop fiction. 'Our books are simply un-put-downable,' Vertical's editorial director, Ioannis Mentzas, claimed with cheerful confidence over the phone. A packet of Vertical books, their eye-catching Chip Kidd covers exuding the essence of cool, recently arrived in the mail..."
posted by peter! 11:01 AM EST permalink
hell hath no fury: despite coming in a tad below expectations, hellboy took the top spot at the box office over the weekend with a 23.5 million opening haul. the guru's got the details: "Sony claimed pole position with Hellboy which powered its way to an estimated $23.5M from an ultrawide 3,028 theaters... The studio poured millions into its marketing campaign hoping to launch a new super hero franchise. Exit polls showed that 60% of the audience was male and 52% was 25 and older. Backed with positive reviews, the effects-driven film certainly did not have an easy road reaching the male audience this weekend. The simultaneous opening of Walking Tall and Saturday night's NCAA college basketball semifinal matches proved to be formidable distractions for the target crowd. However, Hellboy did help keep the red hot box office moving forward becoming the fifth film of the past six weeks to open with more than $20M." weeks two and three are going to be key.
(thanks, sb, for the pic -- more at keaner.net)
posted by peter! 10:53 AM EST permalink
pop physics: voanews.com reports on the growing trend to incorporate pop culture into the classroom in order to get students excited about physics again: " 'When Spiderman's girlfriend falls off the top of a bridge, how fast is she falling near the base? It turns out to be nearly 95 miles per hour. That's more than 150 kilometers an hour, really fast,' says James Kakalios, a physics professor at the University of Minnesota. He often asks students to calculate this speed, given the 90-meter height of the bridge, Gwen's weight, and the pull of gravity. Never mind how the Green Goblin got Gwen to the top of the bridge. Professor Kakalios says, that's superpower stuff."
posted by peter! 10:42 AM EST permalink
death throes: the meltdown at crossgen continues as vp of publishing bill rosemann has apparently resigned according to this piece from newsarama: "Rosemann's departure is the second high profile such leave-taking that happened last week, as writer Ian Edginton reported to Newsarama and other outlets that he had quite Sojourn in protest of company policies and management. Edginton particularly cited the company's upcoming book, American Power, which has been drawing mostly negative publicity from fans and the online comics community." here's the cover in question that's been making the internet rounds the past couple of weeks:
posted by peter! 10:29 AM EST permalink
Sunday, April 04, 2004
hey kids, free comics: top shelf has debuted a free web comics initiative on their website: "TopShelfComix.com launches an all-new online comix section! Come by and check out the awesome first batch from Martin Cendreda, Gregory Benton, Farel Dalrymple, Nate Beaty, Andrew Brandou, Rob Goodin, Josue Menjivar, & Scott Malin. Edited by Brett Warnock, this section will be a rotating cornucopia of the best cartoonists working today." click here to begin reading.
posted by peter! 4:38 PM EST permalink
humanoids phase two: following up on the announcement from a few months ago regarding dc comics entering into a distribution deal with humanoids, dc has issued a press release announcing the first six books to be published under the new plan. the majority of them look like repackaged versions of previously published humanoids hard and softbacks, including the technopriests by jodorowsky, janjetov, and beltran; the metabarons by jodorowsky and gimenez; the hollow grounds by the schuitens; townscapes by christin and bilal; and deicide by portela and pastoras. there's a sixth book, the horde by igor baranko, which appears to be completely new. these are good books, so hopefully they'll find a broader audience this time around. here's some past reviews we've run:
  
posted by peter! 4:21 PM EST permalink
house party: well, i guess it was only a matter of time, but allhiphop.com is reporting that the blokhedz are coming to comics: "Hip-Hop has a new way to express itself and this vehicle comes in the form of a new comic book called the Blokhedz. The comic book chronicles a teenage rapper named Blak who hopes to save his home from malevolent forces and also learn to manage his mystical power over words. The book is the creative vision of twins Mark and Mike Davis and published by the Los Angeles-based Street Legends Ink. Nicole Duncan Smith, producer and marketing exec of the comic, said that this Hip-Hop strip will appeal to readers similar to the way the cultures other elements have swept the nation."
posted by peter! 4:16 PM EST permalink
from the stacks: embry-riddle aeronautical university in arizona has launched a graphic novel pilot program at their campus library: "Graphic novels are here! To the initiated, graphic novels are illustrated fiction written for young adults. We have purchased 20 graphic novels as a pilot project. Some of our students checked out several titles as soon as they were entered into the Yavapai Library Network." pilot books include: buddha by osamu tezuka, the chronicles of conan by roy thomas and barry windsor-smith, a contract with god by will eisner, fax from sarajevo and yossel by joe kubert, the magic flute by p. craig russell, and maus: a survivor's tale by art spiegelman.
posted by peter! 3:54 PM EST permalink
space 04: yesterday, was the 5th annual SPACE convention in columbus, ohio, which saw the debut of the third PANEL anthology. here's the description of the project from last week's press release: "You may never look at space the same way again. PANEL: Space, a 40-page anthology by the Columbus, Ohio-based comix collective Panel, will debut at the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE) on April 3rd. The book features 10 of Columbus' best up-and-coming talents, all exhibiting their take on the concept of 'space.' PANEL: Space is Panel's third outing. Originally conceived as a support group for comics writers and artists, the group branched out into publishing in 2003 with its first anthology, PANEL vol. 1, then followed it up with PANEL: Architecture, which debuted at Mid-Ohio-Con. PANEL: Space is brought to you by Ferret Press, a small press imprint run by Panel co-founder Dara Naraghi." more info about PANEL right here and right over here.
posted by peter! 3:41 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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