Star Wars A cappella
I know this is probably old news, but I just found it:
I hope you enjoy it if you haven't seen it before!
I hope you enjoy it if you haven't seen it before!
Just a quick thought for tonight
Hey all, I just thought I'd write a little something. I haven't posted today yet, so, I painted half a thing, then drew a couple of panels on another page, and now am about to try to finish a couple of graphic designy things before I head to bed. I'll post something new once it's done.
I'll try to have something more substantial soon...
I'll try to have something more substantial soon...
The futility of Rob Liefeld
I saw something funny just a few moments ago and immediately this post sprang to mind. Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate Rob or anything - quite the contrary, I've heard he's quite a nice guy. I don't think his art is particularly good, but then I'm sure lots of folks don't think my art is fantastic either - that's the beauty of art, it's subjective. One man's trash is another man's treasure. That said, this was too good to pass up.
For those not in the know, Rob Liefeld is an artist who became a big name during the 90's comics resurgence period and has managed to hang on throughout the late 90's bust era, bankruptcies, getting kicked out of the company he co-founded, and all sorts of other stuff. He was a superstar at one point, early on (he even did a famous Levi's Jeans commercial):
so that may have helped. Once in awhile he puts something out there that elicits a reaction from me.
You may have heard, either on CNN or through other sources, the HUGE reaction that Marvel Comics got from releasing their special "Barack Obama/Spider-Man" cover. I think maybe Rob was going for the same thing? I don't think he'll get it, but maybe I'll be wrong... we'll see.
What do YOU think?
For those not in the know, Rob Liefeld is an artist who became a big name during the 90's comics resurgence period and has managed to hang on throughout the late 90's bust era, bankruptcies, getting kicked out of the company he co-founded, and all sorts of other stuff. He was a superstar at one point, early on (he even did a famous Levi's Jeans commercial):
so that may have helped. Once in awhile he puts something out there that elicits a reaction from me.
You may have heard, either on CNN or through other sources, the HUGE reaction that Marvel Comics got from releasing their special "Barack Obama/Spider-Man" cover. I think maybe Rob was going for the same thing? I don't think he'll get it, but maybe I'll be wrong... we'll see.
What do YOU think?
Bill Willingham, Conservativism and Superhero Decadence
So I read Bill Willigham's article since there seemed to be some brouhaha going on about it. And you know what? For the most part, I agree.
I mean, not so much with the part about Robin parachuting into Afghanistan (yeah, let's send teenagers into a war-zone, 'cause it's the RIGHT thing to do), but grim and gritty has gone a bit too far, you know?
For my money, one of the best new comic series of the last several years was New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. Of course it had to be set during the golden age of superheroes, since it wouldn't be believeable in the modern age, right? I mean we live in a time where it's ok to have a villain beat a hero's sidekick to death with a crowbar, shoot the daughter of a cop and paralyze her, rape a hero's wife and murder her or shoot a hero in the head. Or for that matter, heroes are allowed to snap a villain's neck on national television or shoot each other in the back! All this and more has actually happened in comics folks - you're damn right, biff, pow, comics AREN'T for kids anymore. I wouldn't let my preteen (if I had one) anywhere near them. In fact, in conversation with a fellow comic reader, I espoused this philosophy and the response?
"It makes me angry that I'd have to give up my superheroes, for kids!"
Hmmm.
Think about that - THERE is the problem. What if the silver age creators had the same mandate - let's get rid of the comics code and make our superheroes more adult. What would the current generation of readers have grown up reading?
Probably not comics.
Comics are back in the spotlight for the first time in a long time. Barack Obama is on the cover of Amazing Spider-man and Dark Knight rules at the box office. But really, how many adults actually want to read about Superheroes? Comics aren't for kids anymore, but as far as Marvel and DC goes, maybe they should be. Maybe Bill is right, and superheroes have lost a bit of their heroism. Maybe it's a trend we should embrace, the idea that Robert Kirkman proposed, that mainstream superheroes - the one still very very prominently featured on underoos, lunchboxes and in toystores everywhere - should be written and drawn for kids. Or if not for kids exactly (no kid really wants to be talked down to) then for All Ages. One of the best comics of last year, in my humble opinion, was All Star Superman. The unfortunate title acronym aside, here was a comic that, in tone, reminded me why I started reading comics in the first place. Not women in refrigerators or getting shot through the chest with an arrow, but good old fashion super HEROICS. Let's try that for awhile and see if we can expand the audience. What do you say?
So, in summary, yeah, let's have brighter superheroes. We tried grim and gritty and it nearly sank the industry (what with the multiple covers and "collectability" that went with it). Let's save that for other, more adult genres and we can save superheroes (at least the mainstream ones from Marvel and DC) for the kids.
What do YOU think?
I mean, not so much with the part about Robin parachuting into Afghanistan (yeah, let's send teenagers into a war-zone, 'cause it's the RIGHT thing to do), but grim and gritty has gone a bit too far, you know?
For my money, one of the best new comic series of the last several years was New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. Of course it had to be set during the golden age of superheroes, since it wouldn't be believeable in the modern age, right? I mean we live in a time where it's ok to have a villain beat a hero's sidekick to death with a crowbar, shoot the daughter of a cop and paralyze her, rape a hero's wife and murder her or shoot a hero in the head. Or for that matter, heroes are allowed to snap a villain's neck on national television or shoot each other in the back! All this and more has actually happened in comics folks - you're damn right, biff, pow, comics AREN'T for kids anymore. I wouldn't let my preteen (if I had one) anywhere near them. In fact, in conversation with a fellow comic reader, I espoused this philosophy and the response?
"It makes me angry that I'd have to give up my superheroes, for kids!"
Hmmm.
Think about that - THERE is the problem. What if the silver age creators had the same mandate - let's get rid of the comics code and make our superheroes more adult. What would the current generation of readers have grown up reading?
Probably not comics.
Comics are back in the spotlight for the first time in a long time. Barack Obama is on the cover of Amazing Spider-man and Dark Knight rules at the box office. But really, how many adults actually want to read about Superheroes? Comics aren't for kids anymore, but as far as Marvel and DC goes, maybe they should be. Maybe Bill is right, and superheroes have lost a bit of their heroism. Maybe it's a trend we should embrace, the idea that Robert Kirkman proposed, that mainstream superheroes - the one still very very prominently featured on underoos, lunchboxes and in toystores everywhere - should be written and drawn for kids. Or if not for kids exactly (no kid really wants to be talked down to) then for All Ages. One of the best comics of last year, in my humble opinion, was All Star Superman. The unfortunate title acronym aside, here was a comic that, in tone, reminded me why I started reading comics in the first place. Not women in refrigerators or getting shot through the chest with an arrow, but good old fashion super HEROICS. Let's try that for awhile and see if we can expand the audience. What do you say?
So, in summary, yeah, let's have brighter superheroes. We tried grim and gritty and it nearly sank the industry (what with the multiple covers and "collectability" that went with it). Let's save that for other, more adult genres and we can save superheroes (at least the mainstream ones from Marvel and DC) for the kids.
What do YOU think?
Convention season
It seems these days that the perceived wisdom in the comics industry is there is a convention season that runs from about February (the New York Comicon) to November (Wizard World Texas). In between there are probably dozens of Conventions and they're all pretty cool.
...You know, in a nerd-chic kind of way.
Anyway, last year, I took some time off from Conventions, attending only one in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Previously, I had been regularly attending at least three: Toronto Paradise Comicon, San Diego Comicon and the aforementioned Winnipeg show. In previous years I'd also attended the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, Wizard World Texas and The Comic Expo in Toronto. Of course, going back to school, buying a house and getting married will mess with your finances and some things will have to fall by the wayside. This year I hope to get back to my "regular" schedule.
Of course, I'm still in school and I haven't quite finished with getting married, but I'm almost at a point where I'm not bleeding money anymore and starting to make some again. So maybe I'll only be able to handle two shows - we'll see. If I do end up with a table at some cons, I'll definitely be bringing along some new projects - like final printings of Against the Wall and One Last Song, as well as some other stuff I'm just getting started on - Like the Adventures of Vol Ranik at the Edge of the Galaxy. But that's something for another post...
...You know, in a nerd-chic kind of way.
Anyway, last year, I took some time off from Conventions, attending only one in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Previously, I had been regularly attending at least three: Toronto Paradise Comicon, San Diego Comicon and the aforementioned Winnipeg show. In previous years I'd also attended the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, Wizard World Texas and The Comic Expo in Toronto. Of course, going back to school, buying a house and getting married will mess with your finances and some things will have to fall by the wayside. This year I hope to get back to my "regular" schedule.
Of course, I'm still in school and I haven't quite finished with getting married, but I'm almost at a point where I'm not bleeding money anymore and starting to make some again. So maybe I'll only be able to handle two shows - we'll see. If I do end up with a table at some cons, I'll definitely be bringing along some new projects - like final printings of Against the Wall and One Last Song, as well as some other stuff I'm just getting started on - Like the Adventures of Vol Ranik at the Edge of the Galaxy. But that's something for another post...
Overstating the case?
So I've been looking at some of these year in review things, and it seems a lot of people are talking about "comic book" movies and how they are a big story and important to our end of the publishing biz... but I can't help but feel that it rings false somehow. I mean, I LOVED Dark Knight as much as the rest of fandom out there, don't get me wrong and I was thrilled that it did as well as it did. But I think that people are giving it too much credit as a "comic-book" film, and ignoring that it is actually mainly a SUPER-HERO movie, which is understandable, since a lot of people who READ comics also get confused over the distinction between meduim and genre too (that said, there really isn't any such thing as a "comic-book" film - just films that draw their inspiration from sequential art. But I digress...) The reason the distinction is important, is that just because a certain character does well in one medium, doesn't mean that it'll do well in another, or even have an impact. Watchmen may be the exception (and I'm not sure that the impact of the trailer was really felt at the comic-shops - is there anything other than anecdotal/circumstantial evidence to show that the upsurge of sales on the Watchmen trade really is a pile of people new to comics checking out the source material?), but in general are we seeing people flocking to the comic store to check out The Long Hallowe'en or Dark Detective because they saw the new Batman flick? Not that I'm aware of. Maybe I haven't been reading the right blogs or talking to the right retailers? I don't know, but I haven't seen the impact.
Further, there aren't really any Batman comics being written that are very similar in style to the films. Batman is the same in the comics as he's been depicted during the last few years, the same as most super-heroes - here's a guy who for no real reason dresses in blue and grey spandex and jumps around rooftops. The Batman in the movies is driven by the same motivation, however the film makers went to great pains to ground their Batman in reality (despite his dressing as a bat). He's a high-tech hero, almost James Bond, rather than Hulk Hogan. Body armour, driving a tank and his cape is there for more than effect, it's actually an electronic glider. The Batman films it seems are more police procedural than super powered.
That said, when a book like Wanted hits the big screen in a big way, there is the ancillary benefit of the creators getting a cheque, which undoubtedly helps them continue making comics. Of course this doesn't necessarily apply to a film like Batman, since that's all corporate money anyway, so who knows where that ends up. I'm not sure how many people who watch these movies are aware of the origins of a film like A History of Violence or 30 Days of Night. Do they go check them out? Do they even know where to go? It's not particularly easy to buy comics these days, with the direct market being what it is. Hopefully there is SOME impact from the films, but I just don't think it's as big as people would like to think.
So what's the point? In the end, I'm all for hollywood mining comics. Obviously it's a joy to see the big screen interpretation of your favourite characters and if I'm ever in a position to get a property I own optioned, I'd certainly take it. I'm just a little leery about assuming that Hollywood will "save" comics. I think it's something that we have to do ourselves, maybe similarly to the way that Robert Kirkman suggested. Of course that is a whole other kettle of fish, isn't it? Something for another day and another post...
Further, there aren't really any Batman comics being written that are very similar in style to the films. Batman is the same in the comics as he's been depicted during the last few years, the same as most super-heroes - here's a guy who for no real reason dresses in blue and grey spandex and jumps around rooftops. The Batman in the movies is driven by the same motivation, however the film makers went to great pains to ground their Batman in reality (despite his dressing as a bat). He's a high-tech hero, almost James Bond, rather than Hulk Hogan. Body armour, driving a tank and his cape is there for more than effect, it's actually an electronic glider. The Batman films it seems are more police procedural than super powered.
That said, when a book like Wanted hits the big screen in a big way, there is the ancillary benefit of the creators getting a cheque, which undoubtedly helps them continue making comics. Of course this doesn't necessarily apply to a film like Batman, since that's all corporate money anyway, so who knows where that ends up. I'm not sure how many people who watch these movies are aware of the origins of a film like A History of Violence or 30 Days of Night. Do they go check them out? Do they even know where to go? It's not particularly easy to buy comics these days, with the direct market being what it is. Hopefully there is SOME impact from the films, but I just don't think it's as big as people would like to think.
So what's the point? In the end, I'm all for hollywood mining comics. Obviously it's a joy to see the big screen interpretation of your favourite characters and if I'm ever in a position to get a property I own optioned, I'd certainly take it. I'm just a little leery about assuming that Hollywood will "save" comics. I think it's something that we have to do ourselves, maybe similarly to the way that Robert Kirkman suggested. Of course that is a whole other kettle of fish, isn't it? Something for another day and another post...
Goals for 2009
So, I was just reading over at my buddy Nate's Static Broadcasts website and he posted something similar to this there, and me never being too proud to steal an idea, thought I'd make a list of my own. For the record, Nate is a fantastic writer who works mostly in the horror genre and you owe it to yourself to check him out. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that we collaborated on two graphic novels together, and he's one of my friends, but despite that I'm not the only one who thinks this guy is on the rise. Anyway, I'm babbling a bit, so let me get back to my point.
As I mentioned, and as you can see from the title, this post is intended to be a run-down of the year's upcoming developments, mixed in with a bit of a wish list.
So, without further ado, what the heck am I going to be releasing in 2009? Here we go...
Anyway, that's a bit of a peak into where I'd like to be by the end of the year... Maybe I'll come back and edit this post as I complete some of these things... Hmm, we'll see!
Be well and we'll see you on the con trail (but that's a whole other post!)
As I mentioned, and as you can see from the title, this post is intended to be a run-down of the year's upcoming developments, mixed in with a bit of a wish list.
So, without further ado, what the heck am I going to be releasing in 2009? Here we go...
Release the "Director's Cut" of Against the Wall (2009 Edition), written by Dino Caruso.
Letter and Colour FISK: S.U.B.S.T.I.T.U.T.E. Hero and pitch that around. This one is also written by Dino.
Finish drawing, lettering and inking that project with Chris Jones (www.uncannycomics.net).
Finish Welcome, Welcome!, the children's book I'm doing with my friend and co-worker Mike Lawrence.
FINALLY finish One Last Song, the mini-series I'm doing with CJ Hurtt, which is published by Brainscan Comics.
There's my backburner project that I'd like to get going, the graphic narrative of the legend of Sioux Lookout, the town I live in. I think it'll clock in at 100+ pages, so that'll definitely carry over to 2010.
I'd love to get some mainstream work also, but I say that every year, don't I?
Anyway, that's a bit of a peak into where I'd like to be by the end of the year... Maybe I'll come back and edit this post as I complete some of these things... Hmm, we'll see!
Be well and we'll see you on the con trail (but that's a whole other post!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)