As people, we are happy his father is on the mend.
As selfish fans, we are excited as hell for the return of Paige and her pals as they try to help her dad stay out of trouble---by robbing a bank themselves.
Happy day:
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Matthew Rosenberg returns, and we selfish fans rejoice!
The writer for one of our favorite newest titles, "4 Kids Walk Into a Bank", was away with his ailing father for months, according to his apology letter to the fans of his books.
As people, we are happy his father is on the mend.
As selfish fans, we are excited as hell for the return of Paige and her pals as they try to help her dad stay out of trouble---by robbing a bank themselves.
Happy day:
As people, we are happy his father is on the mend.
As selfish fans, we are excited as hell for the return of Paige and her pals as they try to help her dad stay out of trouble---by robbing a bank themselves.
Happy day:
Monday, December 19, 2016
Valiant's 2016 Began and Ended with Successful Mini-series
Valiant in 2016 saw wide commercial and critical success with a variety of projects. The early-2016 notable title that took some folks by surprise stars their most positive happy-to-be-a-superhero heroine, Faith Hebert, in an eponymous mini-series:
The popularity of which has spawned a regular monthly title, a slew of plush dolls and figurines, and plenty of notice from mainstream media.
2016 ends for Valiant as another high profile mini-series ends, only this limited series had enough buildup and fanfare that it's nearly impossible to consider it a sleeper. A commercial and critical success, though, it certainly is. It stars the world's first detective (or, in ancient Rome's time, called a "detectioner"), Antonius Axia:
A wildly striking and entertaining read, I find myself smitten with Valiant's prestige format. The above shots are the regular Cary Nord covers, and upon seeing all the choices, I can't imagine wanting any of the other "specials."
There is much I'd like to say about Valiant's 2016, but now I don't have the time. Bummer.
CHECK OUT THESE STORIES IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!
The popularity of which has spawned a regular monthly title, a slew of plush dolls and figurines, and plenty of notice from mainstream media.
2016 ends for Valiant as another high profile mini-series ends, only this limited series had enough buildup and fanfare that it's nearly impossible to consider it a sleeper. A commercial and critical success, though, it certainly is. It stars the world's first detective (or, in ancient Rome's time, called a "detectioner"), Antonius Axia:
A wildly striking and entertaining read, I find myself smitten with Valiant's prestige format. The above shots are the regular Cary Nord covers, and upon seeing all the choices, I can't imagine wanting any of the other "specials."
There is much I'd like to say about Valiant's 2016, but now I don't have the time. Bummer.
CHECK OUT THESE STORIES IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!
Monday, November 28, 2016
Stunning Sci-Fi
A book that I missed in its original run, but picked up in the collected format, is Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen's Descender:
It tells the story of Tim-21, a robot who is rebooted a few decades after the robot culls and the destruction of the tentative alliance between non-robots (humans included) by planet sized robots.
It's good, and dense, and you can see where Lemire and Nguyen are heading, and the various aliens and neat, and their worlds are beautiful, and the androids are cool outlaws, but ultimately these topics come down to look.
That may be to superficial, and generally I try to avoid those snap decisions. There are plenty of good science fiction stories being created in the world today. What sets this apart?
One thing that got me was the fully painted watercolors from Dustin Nguyen.
Holy cow, it's a stunning artifact from some creative geniuses!
Published mostly monthly from Image, and collected every six months or so. Fully recommended.
It tells the story of Tim-21, a robot who is rebooted a few decades after the robot culls and the destruction of the tentative alliance between non-robots (humans included) by planet sized robots.
It's good, and dense, and you can see where Lemire and Nguyen are heading, and the various aliens and neat, and their worlds are beautiful, and the androids are cool outlaws, but ultimately these topics come down to look.
That may be to superficial, and generally I try to avoid those snap decisions. There are plenty of good science fiction stories being created in the world today. What sets this apart?
One thing that got me was the fully painted watercolors from Dustin Nguyen.
Holy cow, it's a stunning artifact from some creative geniuses!
Published mostly monthly from Image, and collected every six months or so. Fully recommended.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Valiant Throwback Variants
Valiant Entertainment has been using their Harvey-nominated title, Bloodshot Reborn, as a staging ground for some exciting throwback covers.
Bloodshot Reborn normally has pretty dynamic covers to go along with Jeff Lemire's great writing and Mico Suayan and Lewis LaRosa's lush artwork. Here's the main cover from issue number 1:
It was with issue 14 that the throwback covers started, when Jeff Lemire painted his own send-up of comic's first "chromium" cover, Valiant's own Bloodshot #1, though Lemire is using the figment of imagination character Bloodsquirt:
For issue #15, they parodied the look of the late '80's Marvel comics, and specifically the title "The 'Nam." This was surely inspired by the Vietnam-era version of the nanite-infested killing machine. Also, this cover is done by Darick Robertson, co-creator of Spider Jerusalem and Transmetropolitan, one of my favorite comic creations ever.
For issue #16 they dove further back into the past, back to the '60s era Marvel:
Another variant for issue #16 had Valiant again parodying their own property---or joint property, as it is---with the Deathmate cover. The original on the left is the awesome Joe Quesada "Deathmate: Prologue" comic that introduced the crossover between Valiant and Image. I remember one reviewer describing the crossover's ultimate failure in the following terms: If you mix five pounds of ice cream with five pounds of dog shit, you won't get anything edible. In the modern version, Deathmate is the name of the black and silver lady character on the right-side cover. She's a killing machine: part T-1000, part Universal Soldier:
Issue #17 is a pretty direct parody of early '90s DC Comics' Suicide Squad:
The idea of using an older property as a design influence is nothing new for Valiant Entertainment, as we see here from their Summer 2015 event, the Book of Death, where each of the four issues from the miniseries had a classic Rai #0 variant, and the one I chose here is the Livewire copy, #2.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
It's a Celebration!
National Comic Day is today, September 25th.
Celebrate! Read a book! Share an author or a title or some fun!
Check it out for yourself.
Celebrate! Read a book! Share an author or a title or some fun!
Check it out for yourself.
Aardvark-Vanheim
Website: Unable to locate;Here is the link to the Aardvark portal on ComicBookDb.
Style Classification: Single Creator
Notable Works: Cerebus
Story:
Dave Sim is the Canadian grandfather of independent comics. In 1977 he started publishing his Conan-send up Cerebus independently through his own imprint, Aardvark-Vanheim. Over the course of 25+ years and 300 issues, the adventures of the surly aardvark Cerebus gave the world a few things: hope and inspiration for independent publishers as well as a forum for Dave Sim to discuss his specific brand of Canadian philosophy.
That point of view has gotten the man in some hot water through the years, most notably his views on women and his anti-feminist stances taken within the pages of his comics. I don't know enough about these specific controversies, but I'm not one to defend misogyny.
Notwithstanding that, at this point the guy's position in the historical hierarchy of independent comics is basically Rushmore-d.
Style Classification: Single Creator
Notable Works: Cerebus
Story:
Dave Sim is the Canadian grandfather of independent comics. In 1977 he started publishing his Conan-send up Cerebus independently through his own imprint, Aardvark-Vanheim. Over the course of 25+ years and 300 issues, the adventures of the surly aardvark Cerebus gave the world a few things: hope and inspiration for independent publishers as well as a forum for Dave Sim to discuss his specific brand of Canadian philosophy.
That point of view has gotten the man in some hot water through the years, most notably his views on women and his anti-feminist stances taken within the pages of his comics. I don't know enough about these specific controversies, but I'm not one to defend misogyny.
Notwithstanding that, at this point the guy's position in the historical hierarchy of independent comics is basically Rushmore-d.
Cartoon Books
Website: Boneville.com
Style Classification: Single Creator
Notable Works: Bone; RASL
Story:
Jeff Smith founded Cartoon Books as a means of independently publishing his "Bone" comic book series. It is a nod to Carl Barks' "Uncle Scrooge" and answers the question: Wouldn't it be cool if Uncle Scrooge had a twenty year long adventure?
As lushly illustrated as the title Bone-cousins are simple, the complete Bone series is a masterpiece, but anything as influenced by Walt Kelly and Tolkien and Tolstoy as this story is bound to be at least interesting.
I'm lucky enough to be in possession of the door-stopper complete collection, seen below. The sadness creeps in as the story is wrapping up, because you just want it to continue.
This is a story and creator I've suggested to people who harbor specific negative views of the comic industry and its super-hero mainstream.
Style Classification: Single Creator
Notable Works: Bone; RASL
Story:
Jeff Smith founded Cartoon Books as a means of independently publishing his "Bone" comic book series. It is a nod to Carl Barks' "Uncle Scrooge" and answers the question: Wouldn't it be cool if Uncle Scrooge had a twenty year long adventure?
As lushly illustrated as the title Bone-cousins are simple, the complete Bone series is a masterpiece, but anything as influenced by Walt Kelly and Tolkien and Tolstoy as this story is bound to be at least interesting.
I'm lucky enough to be in possession of the door-stopper complete collection, seen below. The sadness creeps in as the story is wrapping up, because you just want it to continue.
This is a story and creator I've suggested to people who harbor specific negative views of the comic industry and its super-hero mainstream.
Abstract Studio
Website: abstractstudiocomics
Style Classification: Single Creator
Notable Works: Strangers in Paradise; Rachel Rising
Story:
The focus this month/day is on three stalwarts from the old school, the veterans of independent publishing.
Abstract Studio is the name Terry Moore's Houston-based independent publisher. They publish Moore's award-winning "Strangers in Paradise", "Echo", and the eventual television show "Rachel Rising."
Terry Moore is an industry veteran who, in the mid '90s, followed in the footsteps of both Dave Sim and Jeff Smith in becoming a hero to the independent publishing world.
Style Classification: Single Creator
Notable Works: Strangers in Paradise; Rachel Rising
Story:
The focus this month/day is on three stalwarts from the old school, the veterans of independent publishing.
Abstract Studio is the name Terry Moore's Houston-based independent publisher. They publish Moore's award-winning "Strangers in Paradise", "Echo", and the eventual television show "Rachel Rising."
Terry Moore is an industry veteran who, in the mid '90s, followed in the footsteps of both Dave Sim and Jeff Smith in becoming a hero to the independent publishing world.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Hex Comix
Website: hexcomix.com
Style Classification: Single Title Publisher
Notable Works: Hex 11
Story:
I met the young ladies that run Hex Comix at Wondercon 2016. This is a very small company stationed in Los Angeles. All three employees are smart and talented young women: Kelly Sue Milano on writing duties, Lisa Weber on art duty, and Lynly Forrest running the office and doing most everything else.
At large scale gatherings, like Wondercon, I like to do support companies I like, like Valiant, while eventually patrolling the smaller booths on the outer edges. This is how I do my part to really help the fringe artists and educate myself on tiny companies.
Like Hex Comix.
As it was, the ladies talked me into purchasing their collection of issues 1-6 of their lone title Hex 11. It takes place in a future where magic has been discovered and acts like the new science. The main character is a young witch, and she's learning about her powers.
Honestly, that premise would never cause me to buy that book. But I enjoyed my time talking with the ladies and wanted to be supportive, and seeing as how some of my students are comic-crazed young ladies, I thought the connection could prove fruitful later.
But, dang, if that comic was not quite gripping. It was a page turner that drew me in. I even checked to see when the series would resume. (It has.)
If you have any young ladies in your life who may be into interesting girl-centered comics, and want to support a tiny fringe comic publisher, and would like some good content, check this company and their title out.
Style Classification: Single Title Publisher
Notable Works: Hex 11
Story:
I met the young ladies that run Hex Comix at Wondercon 2016. This is a very small company stationed in Los Angeles. All three employees are smart and talented young women: Kelly Sue Milano on writing duties, Lisa Weber on art duty, and Lynly Forrest running the office and doing most everything else.
At large scale gatherings, like Wondercon, I like to do support companies I like, like Valiant, while eventually patrolling the smaller booths on the outer edges. This is how I do my part to really help the fringe artists and educate myself on tiny companies.
Like Hex Comix.
As it was, the ladies talked me into purchasing their collection of issues 1-6 of their lone title Hex 11. It takes place in a future where magic has been discovered and acts like the new science. The main character is a young witch, and she's learning about her powers.
Honestly, that premise would never cause me to buy that book. But I enjoyed my time talking with the ladies and wanted to be supportive, and seeing as how some of my students are comic-crazed young ladies, I thought the connection could prove fruitful later.
But, dang, if that comic was not quite gripping. It was a page turner that drew me in. I even checked to see when the series would resume. (It has.)
If you have any young ladies in your life who may be into interesting girl-centered comics, and want to support a tiny fringe comic publisher, and would like some good content, check this company and their title out.
"Harvey Awards" Could be Renamed "Valiant Awards"
I mean no disrespect to Harvey Kurtzman. I'm just excited for our phoenix-like resurrected independent superhero comic publisher.
The Harvey Awards are one of the two prestigious cartoonist and comic industry annual award shows. The Eisners are the other. The Harvey Awards are voted on by industry insiders: artists, writers, colorists, and editors.
This year my favorite company has garnered the most nominations in history at 50. Fifty.
Valiant Entertainment has been honored with, on many occasions, multiple nominations in the same category. Artist Mico Suayan, writers Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt are just a few of the creators who nabbed nominations.
Titles like Divinity, Ninjak (two of the books I read regularly), and Bloodshot Reborn were among the titles nominated.
Matt Kindt's Ninjak has had one of the most complex narrative structures for an espionage/superhero comic around. Each issue hovers in around 40 pages as readers get at least two, but occasionally three, separate narratives timelines telling the story of Colin King, his familial background, his training, his connection to those he hunts for the British government, and ultimately his future. It's a good time.
I have some more homer-like thoughts about Valiant's Generation Zero vs Marvel's The Champions, and the way Faith Hebert connected with fans in ways that slightly more fringe-worthy works like Image's Bitch Planet have yet to.
Homerism to come later...
Congratulations to Valiant Entertainment's 50 Harvey Award nominations, the voting of which ends today. Winners will be announced on September 3rd.
The Harvey Awards are one of the two prestigious cartoonist and comic industry annual award shows. The Eisners are the other. The Harvey Awards are voted on by industry insiders: artists, writers, colorists, and editors.
This year my favorite company has garnered the most nominations in history at 50. Fifty.
Valiant Entertainment has been honored with, on many occasions, multiple nominations in the same category. Artist Mico Suayan, writers Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt are just a few of the creators who nabbed nominations.
Titles like Divinity, Ninjak (two of the books I read regularly), and Bloodshot Reborn were among the titles nominated.
Matt Kindt's Ninjak has had one of the most complex narrative structures for an espionage/superhero comic around. Each issue hovers in around 40 pages as readers get at least two, but occasionally three, separate narratives timelines telling the story of Colin King, his familial background, his training, his connection to those he hunts for the British government, and ultimately his future. It's a good time.
I have some more homer-like thoughts about Valiant's Generation Zero vs Marvel's The Champions, and the way Faith Hebert connected with fans in ways that slightly more fringe-worthy works like Image's Bitch Planet have yet to.
Homerism to come later...
Congratulations to Valiant Entertainment's 50 Harvey Award nominations, the voting of which ends today. Winners will be announced on September 3rd.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Blue Juice Comics
Website: Blue Juice Comics
Style Classification: Company Outgrowth
Notable Works: The Accelerators; Anne Bonnie; Aether & Empire
Story:
This is the first use of this specific classification, something I'm calling "Company Outgrowth." I think that there is a better name for the kind of content this company produces, but for now it'll stand.
The motivation behind the classification: Founded in 2012, Blue Juice Comics is an outgrowth of the film production company Blue Juice Films. The three titles they produce aren't so much created by a company looking to produce already realized content created by outsiders, nor are the three titles sprung from a single person's imagination and all coexist in a tidy cohesive universe.
Blue Juice Comics is the result of people who love comics trying their hand at it.
Blue Juice Films doesn't make major block busters, rather they make and work on (in collaboration with other studios) documentaries, music videos, and animated productions. "Living the dream" they call it down here in the Southland.
Anne Bonnie stars the titular young girl pirate and swashbuckles. Aether & Empire is their newest title and is described as "Victorian sci-fi steampunk space adventure."
The Accerlerators is their founding title and follows reluctant time-travelers who find themselves stuck in a future where time machines are normal but dangerous.
Only three titles, and each one seems completed with excellent execution.
Special Status: SOLID COMPANY
Style Classification: Company Outgrowth
Notable Works: The Accelerators; Anne Bonnie; Aether & Empire
Story:
This is the first use of this specific classification, something I'm calling "Company Outgrowth." I think that there is a better name for the kind of content this company produces, but for now it'll stand.
The motivation behind the classification: Founded in 2012, Blue Juice Comics is an outgrowth of the film production company Blue Juice Films. The three titles they produce aren't so much created by a company looking to produce already realized content created by outsiders, nor are the three titles sprung from a single person's imagination and all coexist in a tidy cohesive universe.
Blue Juice Comics is the result of people who love comics trying their hand at it.
Blue Juice Films doesn't make major block busters, rather they make and work on (in collaboration with other studios) documentaries, music videos, and animated productions. "Living the dream" they call it down here in the Southland.
Anne Bonnie stars the titular young girl pirate and swashbuckles. Aether & Empire is their newest title and is described as "Victorian sci-fi steampunk space adventure."
The Accerlerators is their founding title and follows reluctant time-travelers who find themselves stuck in a future where time machines are normal but dangerous.
Only three titles, and each one seems completed with excellent execution.
Special Status: SOLID COMPANY
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Action Lab
Website: actionlabcomics.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Zombie Tramp; Princeless; Snowed In
Story:
Founded in 2011, Action Lab's website talks about their mad science and their desire to create "the most action packed, the most thought provoking comics" out there.
They have the all-ages title "Monsters Are Just Like Us" as well as the mature title "Double Jumper."
Princeless has garnered award nomination attention.
Upon viewing their Previews pages each month, it looks like there is more exploitation content than they make known on their website. Between the variously declining clothing covers of Vampblade and Zombie Tramp, readers may get a specific impression.
I'm excited a comic company is finding success, but for me the only appealing thing about Action Lab is there logo: a Labrador retriever wearing a rocket,
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Zombie Tramp; Princeless; Snowed In
Story:
Founded in 2011, Action Lab's website talks about their mad science and their desire to create "the most action packed, the most thought provoking comics" out there.
They have the all-ages title "Monsters Are Just Like Us" as well as the mature title "Double Jumper."
Princeless has garnered award nomination attention.
Upon viewing their Previews pages each month, it looks like there is more exploitation content than they make known on their website. Between the variously declining clothing covers of Vampblade and Zombie Tramp, readers may get a specific impression.
I'm excited a comic company is finding success, but for me the only appealing thing about Action Lab is there logo: a Labrador retriever wearing a rocket,
From The Big Two
I usually avoid discussing topics from either DC Comics or Marvel. Marvel owns more than 40% of the entire comics market. Plenty of people talk about them.
DC is like the less-successful older brother, but right now there is something I wanted to get towards with this post.
Vertigo is one of DC's imprints. It started back in 1993 when editor Karen Barger saw that certain titles, like Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and most famously, The Sandman, were being written with different goals and with a different and more mature audience in mind. The opportunity to lump them all together presented itself organically.
Famous books came afterwards, all under the Vertigo imprint, like Preacher.
Eventually after the DC imprint Helix folded, Transmetropolitan was folded into Vertigo. Preacher, Transmet, and Doom Patrol are all titles I'd like to discuss at some time, but I need to talk myself into it for this BB2 blog. Whatever...
Well, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way is starting a "pop-up" imprint at DC under the weird-as-hell world inspired by Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Why not just work under the Vertigo imprint?
It turns out that Vertigo is much more like a creator owned imprint now (see Jeff Lemire's "Trillium"). This new imprint is called Young Animal, and it makes sense that Doom Patrol is the first title.
For the other titles, the story goes, DC execs gave a DC encyclopedia to Way and told him to find someone obscure.
Another Young Animal title will be "Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye." Obscurity, baby! Cave Carson has never had his own title, just a few specials in the early '60s and some crossovers later.
The whole reason this post exists is because I wanted to share these covers, from The Brave and the Bold and Showcase:
Their new title is mildly connected:
Anyway, here is a link to what a reader has called my Swamp Thing Dissertation. It's more of a review of a collection I bought too long ago that covers the first 10 issues from the early '70s.
DC is like the less-successful older brother, but right now there is something I wanted to get towards with this post.
Vertigo is one of DC's imprints. It started back in 1993 when editor Karen Barger saw that certain titles, like Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and most famously, The Sandman, were being written with different goals and with a different and more mature audience in mind. The opportunity to lump them all together presented itself organically.
Famous books came afterwards, all under the Vertigo imprint, like Preacher.
Eventually after the DC imprint Helix folded, Transmetropolitan was folded into Vertigo. Preacher, Transmet, and Doom Patrol are all titles I'd like to discuss at some time, but I need to talk myself into it for this BB2 blog. Whatever...
Well, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way is starting a "pop-up" imprint at DC under the weird-as-hell world inspired by Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Why not just work under the Vertigo imprint?
It turns out that Vertigo is much more like a creator owned imprint now (see Jeff Lemire's "Trillium"). This new imprint is called Young Animal, and it makes sense that Doom Patrol is the first title.
For the other titles, the story goes, DC execs gave a DC encyclopedia to Way and told him to find someone obscure.
Another Young Animal title will be "Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye." Obscurity, baby! Cave Carson has never had his own title, just a few specials in the early '60s and some crossovers later.
The whole reason this post exists is because I wanted to share these covers, from The Brave and the Bold and Showcase:
Their new title is mildly connected:
Anyway, here is a link to what a reader has called my Swamp Thing Dissertation. It's more of a review of a collection I bought too long ago that covers the first 10 issues from the early '70s.
New England Comics
Website: newenglandcomics.com
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe? Store-Turned-Publisher?
Notable Works: The Tick
Story:
Not nearly as important as Image Comics and "The Walking Dead," but NEC achieved more notoriety than many mainstream comics. The creation that garnered such a public acknowledgement: The Tick.
New England Comics is a chain of comic shops in Massachusetts that decided in the '80s that they would try their hand at publishing. They asked their customers for ideas, and eventually settled on a sketch by a young artist named Ben Edlund. They loved the idea of un-squish-ability and tongue-in-cheek humor, and in 1986 the Tick was born.
Similar in spirit to Alan Moore's The Watchmen, the Tick as a comic is more about a world in which super heroes exist, but instead of Moore's look into the existential issues involved therein, NEC focused on absurdity and humor.
It worked. The comics were popular even in the suburb of Sacramento where I grew up. There was a popular and hilarious Saturday morning cartoon show, and even a live-action prime-time show inspired by the character.
New England Comics remains a stand up company: I obtained their offering this year for Free Comic Book Day. Inside the front cover is a letter from the company thanking me for reading and offering, while supplies lasted, each of the FCBD issues they had offered in years past, free of charge. The hitch was that I would have to send a pre-stamped envelope.
Two weeks after sending out that large pre-stamped envelope, I received five issues of NEC's FCBD Tick.
Pretty sweet.
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe? Store-Turned-Publisher?
Notable Works: The Tick
Story:
Not nearly as important as Image Comics and "The Walking Dead," but NEC achieved more notoriety than many mainstream comics. The creation that garnered such a public acknowledgement: The Tick.
New England Comics is a chain of comic shops in Massachusetts that decided in the '80s that they would try their hand at publishing. They asked their customers for ideas, and eventually settled on a sketch by a young artist named Ben Edlund. They loved the idea of un-squish-ability and tongue-in-cheek humor, and in 1986 the Tick was born.
Similar in spirit to Alan Moore's The Watchmen, the Tick as a comic is more about a world in which super heroes exist, but instead of Moore's look into the existential issues involved therein, NEC focused on absurdity and humor.
It worked. The comics were popular even in the suburb of Sacramento where I grew up. There was a popular and hilarious Saturday morning cartoon show, and even a live-action prime-time show inspired by the character.
New England Comics remains a stand up company: I obtained their offering this year for Free Comic Book Day. Inside the front cover is a letter from the company thanking me for reading and offering, while supplies lasted, each of the FCBD issues they had offered in years past, free of charge. The hitch was that I would have to send a pre-stamped envelope.
Two weeks after sending out that large pre-stamped envelope, I received five issues of NEC's FCBD Tick.
Pretty sweet.
Benitez Productions
Website: Benitez Productions
Style Classification: Single Proprietor
Notable Works: Lady Mechanika
Story:
Similar to Rothic Comics, Joe Benitez founded and runs his own comic publishing company. His most popular character is Lady Mechanika, an interesting part machine/part lady in a steampunk universe.
Lady Mechanika is more popular than a single proprietor could hope for, but maybe that's just my bias of having seen images of her in many places. There have been a small collection of other titles from Benitez Productions over the years, and it appears that they all live in the same steampunk universe as Lady Mechanika.
Keep up the success, Mr. Benitez.
Style Classification: Single Proprietor
Notable Works: Lady Mechanika
Story:
Similar to Rothic Comics, Joe Benitez founded and runs his own comic publishing company. His most popular character is Lady Mechanika, an interesting part machine/part lady in a steampunk universe.
Lady Mechanika is more popular than a single proprietor could hope for, but maybe that's just my bias of having seen images of her in many places. There have been a small collection of other titles from Benitez Productions over the years, and it appears that they all live in the same steampunk universe as Lady Mechanika.
Keep up the success, Mr. Benitez.
Comic Cover Inspiration
Dynamite will be publishing what they're calling "Kung Fu Noir", which sounds very interesting. It is a mini-series called "Intertwined."
One of the alternate covers to the first issue is instantly recognizable to fans of '90s era Frank Miller:
This image caught my eye before I knew anything about Intertwined's successful Kickstarter campaign and the Fabrice Sapolsky and Fred Pham Chuong central conceit: What if Peter Parker had been a Chinese immigrant, what kind of hero would he have been?
That question is interesting enough, but when the title is also described as "Bruce Lee meets Swamp Thing," the brain starts to reel.
Anyway, after seeing the cover, I immediately remembered the very first cover for the first mini-series Frank Miller did for Sin City (after the serialization of Marv's avenging of Goldie's murder), A Dame to Kill For:
Avatar Press
Website: avatarpress.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Providence; Cinema Purgatorio; Crossed
Story:
Founded in 1996 by Wizard alum William Christensen, Avatar Press started out as a '90s-era bad-girl press. After a while of finding moderate success in a genre that was already on borrowed time in '96, Christensen started to offer his press up to any elite talent that wanted to make some creator-owned content without any editorial interference.
The biggest names to take him up on the offer over the years were Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis (Preacher), Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan), and Mark Millar.
Eventually they branched out into some licensed content with titles like Frank Miller's Robocop, but the big stories recently, the ones you'll be apt to see at your local shop are Crossed, Crossed+100, Cinema Purgatorio and Alan Moore's heavily researched Cthulhu prequel Providence.
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Providence; Cinema Purgatorio; Crossed
Story:
Founded in 1996 by Wizard alum William Christensen, Avatar Press started out as a '90s-era bad-girl press. After a while of finding moderate success in a genre that was already on borrowed time in '96, Christensen started to offer his press up to any elite talent that wanted to make some creator-owned content without any editorial interference.
The biggest names to take him up on the offer over the years were Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis (Preacher), Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan), and Mark Millar.
Eventually they branched out into some licensed content with titles like Frank Miller's Robocop, but the big stories recently, the ones you'll be apt to see at your local shop are Crossed, Crossed+100, Cinema Purgatorio and Alan Moore's heavily researched Cthulhu prequel Providence.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Enter the Hasbro-verse
This fall IDW is uniting their Hasbro line of comics through an event called Revolution.
Steven Scott, writer and executive with IDW, says that the one thing that connects GI Joe, the Transformers, the Micronauts, MASK, Action Man and Rom is the preponderance of technology, and that taken together, a universe can---nay should---be built around the properties.
Apparently the story arc launches in September with the issues Revolution #1 and 2, and the one shots for Gi Joe, Micronauts, and Rom, and will culminate with the emergence of MASK at the end.
I may not read these titles, but the idea of a cohesive universe being made out of a licensed property---being executed well by top-notch talent---should be exciting for fans of the medium.
Steven Scott, writer and executive with IDW, says that the one thing that connects GI Joe, the Transformers, the Micronauts, MASK, Action Man and Rom is the preponderance of technology, and that taken together, a universe can---nay should---be built around the properties.
Apparently the story arc launches in September with the issues Revolution #1 and 2, and the one shots for Gi Joe, Micronauts, and Rom, and will culminate with the emergence of MASK at the end.
I may not read these titles, but the idea of a cohesive universe being made out of a licensed property---being executed well by top-notch talent---should be exciting for fans of the medium.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Independent Wednesday
A few Wednesdays ago I headed to my local comic shop and purchased a trio of books I am currently reading. While the Big 2 are very well represented in my local shop (and then some!), on this particular Wednesday, my choices highlighted some of the great companies and stories that exist in the industry beyond the Big 2.
The first of the trio I'll be talking about is from the biggest and most important non-Big 2 company:
Starve #10, Image Comics
In my last career I was a chef, and worked for nearly two decades in the food industry, at least half in fine dining. I saw Brian Wood, Danijel Zezelj, and Dave Stewart's "Starve" highlighted last year in an issue of Comic Shop News and decided to check it out.
I got the first five issues, and, after the hiatus, picked up the next---and last---five issues. This issue, #10, marks the end of the series. This saddens us hardcore fans, if only because we'd like to watch Gavin and Angie start the revolution that was alluded to in the first issue. Of course, that revolution is addressed in issue 10, and the selfishness of wanting said revolution, and we are left just trying to be happy and excited for Angie to start her own place.
It could have been the years spent in Brooklyn, but the views of Gavin starting his own place on what looks like Broadway (in Bed-Stuy) were the most exciting parts of the story for me. My view was shaded by nostalgia, but any world where a comic book series about a dystopian future and bad-foodie-culture causes drugged out chefs to want to start a revolution is a world I'm proud to be a part of.
The next book is from my favorite company, and is a title I got into with the start of the Analogue Man story-line back with issue #10 of that series:
Bloodshot Reborn #14, Valiant Comics
This kicks off both the Bloodshot Island story-line and new villain Deathmate, and the return to the title of artist Mico Suayan. Mico was nominated for a Harvey Award this year, and reading this title shows why that makes a ton of sense.
The Analogue Man arc was beautifully painted and presented in Valiant's "Prestige Format," similar to the Divinity titles and the upcoming Britannia mini-series, but here Mico is back and the detail is outrageous.
The story, from Jeff Lemire, has Bloodshot finding himself stuck on an island with other nanite-infested soldier-projects and all being hunted by the killing-machine/lady Deathmate.
Bloodshot is Valiant's action comic, and this one delivers.
The last of the trio is the new issue from a new company I really enjoy, newest fare from Black Mask's hottest new title:
4 Kids Walk into a Bank #2 (of 5), Black Mask Studios
The cover plays up the opening scene from the issue, where, like the first issue, the 4 eponymous kids are rendered as characters they're playing in a game. In issue #1 it was a role playing game like D&D, but here it's a video game.
Paige gets into trouble, confronts her dad about the scummy guys who came to see him (she's resourceful when it comes to scoring information), and both her and her dad make promises they can't keep.
It's a surprisingly touching and amusing title, and like Starve, something totally out-there in the market.
I would fully and excitedly recommend each of these titles. I bought my graphic-novel-liking coworker the Starve Vol. 1 collection, and talk up Valiant to my students all the time (Ninjak may be my favorite).
The first of the trio I'll be talking about is from the biggest and most important non-Big 2 company:
Starve #10, Image Comics
In my last career I was a chef, and worked for nearly two decades in the food industry, at least half in fine dining. I saw Brian Wood, Danijel Zezelj, and Dave Stewart's "Starve" highlighted last year in an issue of Comic Shop News and decided to check it out.
I got the first five issues, and, after the hiatus, picked up the next---and last---five issues. This issue, #10, marks the end of the series. This saddens us hardcore fans, if only because we'd like to watch Gavin and Angie start the revolution that was alluded to in the first issue. Of course, that revolution is addressed in issue 10, and the selfishness of wanting said revolution, and we are left just trying to be happy and excited for Angie to start her own place.
It could have been the years spent in Brooklyn, but the views of Gavin starting his own place on what looks like Broadway (in Bed-Stuy) were the most exciting parts of the story for me. My view was shaded by nostalgia, but any world where a comic book series about a dystopian future and bad-foodie-culture causes drugged out chefs to want to start a revolution is a world I'm proud to be a part of.
The next book is from my favorite company, and is a title I got into with the start of the Analogue Man story-line back with issue #10 of that series:
Bloodshot Reborn #14, Valiant Comics
This kicks off both the Bloodshot Island story-line and new villain Deathmate, and the return to the title of artist Mico Suayan. Mico was nominated for a Harvey Award this year, and reading this title shows why that makes a ton of sense.
The Analogue Man arc was beautifully painted and presented in Valiant's "Prestige Format," similar to the Divinity titles and the upcoming Britannia mini-series, but here Mico is back and the detail is outrageous.
The story, from Jeff Lemire, has Bloodshot finding himself stuck on an island with other nanite-infested soldier-projects and all being hunted by the killing-machine/lady Deathmate.
Bloodshot is Valiant's action comic, and this one delivers.
The last of the trio is the new issue from a new company I really enjoy, newest fare from Black Mask's hottest new title:
4 Kids Walk into a Bank #2 (of 5), Black Mask Studios
The cover plays up the opening scene from the issue, where, like the first issue, the 4 eponymous kids are rendered as characters they're playing in a game. In issue #1 it was a role playing game like D&D, but here it's a video game.
Paige gets into trouble, confronts her dad about the scummy guys who came to see him (she's resourceful when it comes to scoring information), and both her and her dad make promises they can't keep.
It's a surprisingly touching and amusing title, and like Starve, something totally out-there in the market.
I would fully and excitedly recommend each of these titles. I bought my graphic-novel-liking coworker the Starve Vol. 1 collection, and talk up Valiant to my students all the time (Ninjak may be my favorite).
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Darby Pop Publishing
Website: darbypop.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: 7th Sword; Fake Empire; The Living Finger; various Bruce Lee content; Sidekicked
Story:
Darby Pop started as IDW's imprint for Creator Owned Content back in 2013. Hollywood vet Jeff Kline was responsible and filled out a talent roster from his close friends, who were also comic industry vets.
Their titles see original and novel, and a partnership with Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter, has brought many Lee-themed products to the comic book market.
Sidekicked looks promising: superhero sidekicks decide to strike and teach their prim dona bosses a lesson. The Living Finger follows character Jason as he finds a living disembodied finger, obsesses over it, finds a tapping-style form of communication to talk with it, and names it Wendy. Like Sidekicked, this sounds promising.
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: 7th Sword; Fake Empire; The Living Finger; various Bruce Lee content; Sidekicked
Story:
Darby Pop started as IDW's imprint for Creator Owned Content back in 2013. Hollywood vet Jeff Kline was responsible and filled out a talent roster from his close friends, who were also comic industry vets.
Their titles see original and novel, and a partnership with Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter, has brought many Lee-themed products to the comic book market.
Sidekicked looks promising: superhero sidekicks decide to strike and teach their prim dona bosses a lesson. The Living Finger follows character Jason as he finds a living disembodied finger, obsesses over it, finds a tapping-style form of communication to talk with it, and names it Wendy. Like Sidekicked, this sounds promising.
BOOM! Studios
Website: boom-studios.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content; Licensed Properties
Notable Works: Lumberjanes; Adventure Time; Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers; Klaus
Story:
BOOM! has found widespread success with their Adventure Time license, having spread out and spun many stories out of Pendelton's universe. The market for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers remains robust (for reasons I'm still trying to understand).
The BOOM! Box imprint has seen a runaway hit with Lumberjanes, a title that proved women shouldn't be ignored as a viable audience, follows a group of girls at a summer camp and their supernatural encounters, among other things. Fox has the property in the works for a live-action adaptation. Way to go Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Noelle Stevenson!
Industry veteran Grant Morrison found a home at BOOM! for his Klaus story, a dark imagining of the beginning of the Santa Claus, with a foundation in the blending of Viking lore and Siberian-shamanism---how did Santa start? Where does he come from? Check this title out for some wild answers.
Lastly, a title that has my own attention is Wild's End, an adaptation of HG Wells' War of the Worlds, with animal characters and sleepy English countryside villages as the setting. I'm a sucker for things that are different.
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content; Licensed Properties
Notable Works: Lumberjanes; Adventure Time; Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers; Klaus
Story:
BOOM! has found widespread success with their Adventure Time license, having spread out and spun many stories out of Pendelton's universe. The market for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers remains robust (for reasons I'm still trying to understand).
The BOOM! Box imprint has seen a runaway hit with Lumberjanes, a title that proved women shouldn't be ignored as a viable audience, follows a group of girls at a summer camp and their supernatural encounters, among other things. Fox has the property in the works for a live-action adaptation. Way to go Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Noelle Stevenson!
Industry veteran Grant Morrison found a home at BOOM! for his Klaus story, a dark imagining of the beginning of the Santa Claus, with a foundation in the blending of Viking lore and Siberian-shamanism---how did Santa start? Where does he come from? Check this title out for some wild answers.
Lastly, a title that has my own attention is Wild's End, an adaptation of HG Wells' War of the Worlds, with animal characters and sleepy English countryside villages as the setting. I'm a sucker for things that are different.
Titan Comics
Website: titan-comics.com
Style Classification: Licensed Properties; Reprints
Notable Works: Dr. Who; Assassin's Creed; Samurai
Story:
Titan Publishing was founded in 1981, but the comics imprint, Titan Comics, is far newer. It seems like what major licenses that aren't held by IDW or Dynamite, Titan has them.
They've been finding success with the Dr. Who line of books, as well as some interesting Star Wars content. They're releasing a whole slew of Puss 'N Boots comics, along with television's Penny Dreadful, The Blacklist and Vikings as well as the upcoming Independence Day movie adaptation. They also have the market cornered on Silver Age Marvel reprints.
Titan offers the occasional Creator Owned Content comic, and boasts an Image Comics-style right's retention deal. The most interesting and beautiful looking comic I've seen under this heading is Samurai, Jean-Francois di Giorgio and Frederic Genet's gorgeous period stories in the Lone Wolf and Cub tradition.
For Samurai alone this company should have success.
Style Classification: Licensed Properties; Reprints
Notable Works: Dr. Who; Assassin's Creed; Samurai
Story:
Titan Publishing was founded in 1981, but the comics imprint, Titan Comics, is far newer. It seems like what major licenses that aren't held by IDW or Dynamite, Titan has them.
They've been finding success with the Dr. Who line of books, as well as some interesting Star Wars content. They're releasing a whole slew of Puss 'N Boots comics, along with television's Penny Dreadful, The Blacklist and Vikings as well as the upcoming Independence Day movie adaptation. They also have the market cornered on Silver Age Marvel reprints.
Titan offers the occasional Creator Owned Content comic, and boasts an Image Comics-style right's retention deal. The most interesting and beautiful looking comic I've seen under this heading is Samurai, Jean-Francois di Giorgio and Frederic Genet's gorgeous period stories in the Lone Wolf and Cub tradition.
For Samurai alone this company should have success.
Aspen Comics
Website: aspencomics.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content; (soon to be) Shared Universe
Notable Works: Fathom; Soulfire
Story:
Founded in 2003 by Michael Turner, Aspen Comics focuses on an Image Comics-styled Creator Owned Content. It looks like this summer, 2016, the two most prominent properties of the company will combine in a crossover, uniting Turner's Fathom and Soulfire universes into one shared and cohesive so-called "Aspen Universe."
I had no idea of the backstory.
Michael Turner came to LA from Tennessee in 1993, and by 1994 was a rising star in the Image Comics stable. By 1995 his work on Witchblade made him front and center in the public tastes, and in 1996 his first solo property for Image, Fathom, was an instant success. He continued working for Image into the early aughts until he struck out on his own, founding Aspen Comics. (Aspen Matthews is the name of the main character in Fathom.)
The company over the years has continued to publish new and unique voices in the industry, and titles like Bubblegun and Executive Assistant: Iris got attention and brought readers closer to some of the other offers, like the horror-title Dead Man's Run or the fantasy-title Damsels in Excess.
Michael Turner passed away in 2008 after a long battle with cancer. Bummer. Pour some out for the homies...
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content; (soon to be) Shared Universe
Notable Works: Fathom; Soulfire
Story:
Founded in 2003 by Michael Turner, Aspen Comics focuses on an Image Comics-styled Creator Owned Content. It looks like this summer, 2016, the two most prominent properties of the company will combine in a crossover, uniting Turner's Fathom and Soulfire universes into one shared and cohesive so-called "Aspen Universe."
I had no idea of the backstory.
Michael Turner came to LA from Tennessee in 1993, and by 1994 was a rising star in the Image Comics stable. By 1995 his work on Witchblade made him front and center in the public tastes, and in 1996 his first solo property for Image, Fathom, was an instant success. He continued working for Image into the early aughts until he struck out on his own, founding Aspen Comics. (Aspen Matthews is the name of the main character in Fathom.)
The company over the years has continued to publish new and unique voices in the industry, and titles like Bubblegun and Executive Assistant: Iris got attention and brought readers closer to some of the other offers, like the horror-title Dead Man's Run or the fantasy-title Damsels in Excess.
Michael Turner passed away in 2008 after a long battle with cancer. Bummer. Pour some out for the homies...
Black Mask Studios
Website: blackmaskstudios.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Young Terrorists; 4 Kids Walk into a Bank
Story:
Founded in the recent past by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz and comic industry vets Steve Niles and Matt Pizzolo, Blask Mask Studios claims to bring the punk rock ethic to the comics industry.
Their offers beyond the two listed above, offers like Space Riders (psychedelic swashbuckling in space), The Disciples (ghost story in space), and Mayday (drug fiends who may or may not be at the center of a Satanic overtake on LA) show the exciting and bizarre reaches the company strives toward.
4 Kids Walk into a Bank is fun and original, with a look that feels like an older time and a plot that's novel in its approach. Young Terrorists was named to many "Best Of..." lists for 2015 in independent comic categories for its story of the escaped daughter of an assassinated kingpin who leads her fellow escapees against shadowy governmental forces.
If Black Mask Studios can avoid another prolonged legal snafu (like the one that threatened to shelve this year's slate of releases), and if they continue on their current path, the future is very exciting and plenty more success will find them. I find myself as a serious devotee, for what's it worth.
Special Status: SOLID COMPANY
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Young Terrorists; 4 Kids Walk into a Bank
Story:
Founded in the recent past by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz and comic industry vets Steve Niles and Matt Pizzolo, Blask Mask Studios claims to bring the punk rock ethic to the comics industry.
Their offers beyond the two listed above, offers like Space Riders (psychedelic swashbuckling in space), The Disciples (ghost story in space), and Mayday (drug fiends who may or may not be at the center of a Satanic overtake on LA) show the exciting and bizarre reaches the company strives toward.
4 Kids Walk into a Bank is fun and original, with a look that feels like an older time and a plot that's novel in its approach. Young Terrorists was named to many "Best Of..." lists for 2015 in independent comic categories for its story of the escaped daughter of an assassinated kingpin who leads her fellow escapees against shadowy governmental forces.
If Black Mask Studios can avoid another prolonged legal snafu (like the one that threatened to shelve this year's slate of releases), and if they continue on their current path, the future is very exciting and plenty more success will find them. I find myself as a serious devotee, for what's it worth.
Special Status: SOLID COMPANY
Zenescope Entertainment
Website: zenescope.com
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe
Notable Works: Grimm Fairy Tales; Robyn Hood
Story:
When I started looking into the Zenescope Universe, I was happy to see someone trying, and finding success, with the concept.
Founded as an entertainment company in 2005 by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco---screenwriter buddies---Zenescope focuses it's main "universe" on public domain characters. It started with Grimm Fairy Tales, and moved out into Wonderland, Neverland, Oz, and Robyn Hood spin offs. Their main offices are in the Philly metro area.
Their stories have been recognized for their originality and edginess, and Zenescope is considered a premier independent company.
Using public domain characters and doing something original and novel sounds easier than it is, and for this company to find a sustained success---for over a decade now---means they're doing something right.
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe
Notable Works: Grimm Fairy Tales; Robyn Hood
Story:
When I started looking into the Zenescope Universe, I was happy to see someone trying, and finding success, with the concept.
Founded as an entertainment company in 2005 by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco---screenwriter buddies---Zenescope focuses it's main "universe" on public domain characters. It started with Grimm Fairy Tales, and moved out into Wonderland, Neverland, Oz, and Robyn Hood spin offs. Their main offices are in the Philly metro area.
Their stories have been recognized for their originality and edginess, and Zenescope is considered a premier independent company.
Using public domain characters and doing something original and novel sounds easier than it is, and for this company to find a sustained success---for over a decade now---means they're doing something right.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Oni Press
Website: Oni Tumblr
Style Classification: Independent Disparates/Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Stumptown; Letter 44; The Sixth Gun; The Bunker; Rick and Morty
Story:
I don't classify Oni Press as a primarily "Licensed Property" publisher, even if one of their highest profile titles is Rick and Morty, based off the acclaimed Adult Swim cartoon. That seemed like sweepstakes they won. It helps get their name and other books front and center in the heads of the reading public.
Which is a good thing.
Oni Press was formed in 1997 in Portland, Oregon, by a couple of guys---Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack---who longed to see comics that they would want to read on the market, a market they felt was too saturated with superhero titles.
They profess to not publish any superhero books, but that leaves me curious about their Mighty Zodiac character. I imagine they have done something clever with the title, and from what I've read of theirs, I'm affording them the benefit of the doubt.
Their title The Bunker breaks all kinds of story-telling boundaries with both the narrative and the artwork. Letter 44 is another envelope pusher that's actually political sci-fi. The Sixth Gun was written by popular standout Cullen Bunn, and has just finished its multi-year run. It was a western about six mystical and powerful pistols, and one girl's fight to stay alive and in possession of the titular sixth gun.
I picked up the Oni Press starter pack and was happily enlightened.
Style Classification: Independent Disparates/Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Stumptown; Letter 44; The Sixth Gun; The Bunker; Rick and Morty
Story:
I don't classify Oni Press as a primarily "Licensed Property" publisher, even if one of their highest profile titles is Rick and Morty, based off the acclaimed Adult Swim cartoon. That seemed like sweepstakes they won. It helps get their name and other books front and center in the heads of the reading public.
Which is a good thing.
Oni Press was formed in 1997 in Portland, Oregon, by a couple of guys---Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack---who longed to see comics that they would want to read on the market, a market they felt was too saturated with superhero titles.
They profess to not publish any superhero books, but that leaves me curious about their Mighty Zodiac character. I imagine they have done something clever with the title, and from what I've read of theirs, I'm affording them the benefit of the doubt.
Their title The Bunker breaks all kinds of story-telling boundaries with both the narrative and the artwork. Letter 44 is another envelope pusher that's actually political sci-fi. The Sixth Gun was written by popular standout Cullen Bunn, and has just finished its multi-year run. It was a western about six mystical and powerful pistols, and one girl's fight to stay alive and in possession of the titular sixth gun.
I picked up the Oni Press starter pack and was happily enlightened.
Rothic Comics
Website: rothic.com
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe: Single Creator
Notable Works: Ancient Dreams
Story:
JP Roth was a mythology major in college, and parlayed her interest in that combined with her skills as an artist and writer into a series of "Rothic novels"---comics. At first blush it looks like this could all be exploitation books again, what with busty women wearing very little splashed all over the website, but that's not the case.
Roth, herself a beautiful and sexy lady---a so-called "fan favorite" on the convention circuit---has created and woven a series of stories deeply steeped in lore and mythos, stories about love, life, death, dreams, and magic, and each story stars a beautiful young lady. The website says that each title is intertwined and connected, hence the "Cohesive Universe" designation.
On a strange and mostly unrelated note, Google states that the publisher's address is literally right down my street, which is odd, since the area is a primarily residential neighborhood of downtown Long Beach, California
Anyway, while I have refrained from educating myself on Ms. Roth's work, POWER TO HER for finding success independently in this difficult industry, difficult for any company and especially single publishers.
Kick ass and take names, Ms. Roth. Keep it up!
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe: Single Creator
Notable Works: Ancient Dreams
Story:
JP Roth was a mythology major in college, and parlayed her interest in that combined with her skills as an artist and writer into a series of "Rothic novels"---comics. At first blush it looks like this could all be exploitation books again, what with busty women wearing very little splashed all over the website, but that's not the case.
Roth, herself a beautiful and sexy lady---a so-called "fan favorite" on the convention circuit---has created and woven a series of stories deeply steeped in lore and mythos, stories about love, life, death, dreams, and magic, and each story stars a beautiful young lady. The website says that each title is intertwined and connected, hence the "Cohesive Universe" designation.
On a strange and mostly unrelated note, Google states that the publisher's address is literally right down my street, which is odd, since the area is a primarily residential neighborhood of downtown Long Beach, California
Anyway, while I have refrained from educating myself on Ms. Roth's work, POWER TO HER for finding success independently in this difficult industry, difficult for any company and especially single publishers.
Kick ass and take names, Ms. Roth. Keep it up!
Aftershock Comics
Website: aftershockcomics.com
Style Classification: Independent Disparates/Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Rough Riders; Black Eyed Kids; inSEXts
Story:
You get the idea that many of the characters are owned by the creators, and that no one tells anyone what to do with these characters, but it remains to be seen whether the creators own everything like at Image...
This company is barely a year old, starting business only in 2015, but in that time titles like Rough Riders, BEK, and even Captain Kid---about a middle age man who transform into a teenage superhero---feel fresh and are well executed.
The stable of talent they have housed is robust: Jimmy Palmiotti, Sam Keith, Mark Waid, Biran Azzarello, Marguerite Bennett, Garth Ennis, Raphael DeLatorre... If you were starting a company from scratch and the launch talent you could assemble had those names as a fraction of the list? Things would be looking good.
The founders were a combination of industry veterans---Mike Marts and Joe Pruett---and Hollywood development executive Lee Kramer. Together it looks like they pulled the correct strings about obtaining talent, shrewd marketing, and well executed, novel, and exciting content.
Special Status: SOLID COMPANY
Style Classification: Independent Disparates/Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Rough Riders; Black Eyed Kids; inSEXts
Story:
You get the idea that many of the characters are owned by the creators, and that no one tells anyone what to do with these characters, but it remains to be seen whether the creators own everything like at Image...
This company is barely a year old, starting business only in 2015, but in that time titles like Rough Riders, BEK, and even Captain Kid---about a middle age man who transform into a teenage superhero---feel fresh and are well executed.
The stable of talent they have housed is robust: Jimmy Palmiotti, Sam Keith, Mark Waid, Biran Azzarello, Marguerite Bennett, Garth Ennis, Raphael DeLatorre... If you were starting a company from scratch and the launch talent you could assemble had those names as a fraction of the list? Things would be looking good.
The founders were a combination of industry veterans---Mike Marts and Joe Pruett---and Hollywood development executive Lee Kramer. Together it looks like they pulled the correct strings about obtaining talent, shrewd marketing, and well executed, novel, and exciting content.
Special Status: SOLID COMPANY
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Amryl Entertainment
Website: www.amryl.com
Style Classification: Exploitation
Notable Works: Cavewoman, (currently) Razor
Story:
So...what is there to say? The website has the main characters from their titles, and Cavewoman seems to be the most popular? Seeing as she has a Facebook fan club?
The site looks like it was put together in the mid '90s and the "About" tab takes you to a "We'll get this finished as soon as our new site is up and running" page. The copyright is 2011.
If you're looking for busty women fighting dinosaurs, or monsters, or living in caves doing cavewomanly stuff, all while wearing as little as possible and still be considered "covered", then this company's content is for you.
The popularity of this kind of material must have peaked in the past, when free pornography wasn't so readily available. Back in college we used to say that Maxim was like porn for guys who were too scared to buy porn, but that was wrong: Maxim was really just Playboy for guys too scared to get actual Playboy, and Playboy isn't porn. It's tits, a little muff, and lotsa other shit guys can spend money on and/or care about.
Anyway, I'd love to be proven as ass and come to learn that Cavewoman is a serious and wonderfully plotted and executed series.
Any takers on that bet?
Style Classification: Exploitation
Notable Works: Cavewoman, (currently) Razor
Story:
So...what is there to say? The website has the main characters from their titles, and Cavewoman seems to be the most popular? Seeing as she has a Facebook fan club?
The site looks like it was put together in the mid '90s and the "About" tab takes you to a "We'll get this finished as soon as our new site is up and running" page. The copyright is 2011.
If you're looking for busty women fighting dinosaurs, or monsters, or living in caves doing cavewomanly stuff, all while wearing as little as possible and still be considered "covered", then this company's content is for you.
The popularity of this kind of material must have peaked in the past, when free pornography wasn't so readily available. Back in college we used to say that Maxim was like porn for guys who were too scared to buy porn, but that was wrong: Maxim was really just Playboy for guys too scared to get actual Playboy, and Playboy isn't porn. It's tits, a little muff, and lotsa other shit guys can spend money on and/or care about.
Anyway, I'd love to be proven as ass and come to learn that Cavewoman is a serious and wonderfully plotted and executed series.
Any takers on that bet?
Dynamite Entertainment
Website:dynamite.com
Style Classification: Licensed Properties; Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: (currently) Vampirella, Bob's Burgers, Evil Ernie, Grumpy Cat
Story:
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and currenlt holds the rights to over 3000 characters, including the rosters of Charlton Comics, Warren, Harris Comics, and Chaos--all except Lady Death, whom creator Brian Pulido still seems to control.
At times they seemed interchangeable with IDW in that they produce high quality licensed content, but here the licenses are a little more unique. They developed the Grumpy Cat comic from an Internet meme. They've updated Vampirella, Red Sonja, and Deja Thoris to (slightly) less exploitative forms.
They've just brought back Evil Ernie and have an interesting update of Battlestar Galactica in the works. Less movies and pop-culture---save Bob's Burgers---and more kinda weird stuff.
They also work with talent like Alex Ross, Kevin Smith, and Matt Wagner on developing their ideas.
This is currently the home for the erstwhile old-school-Valiant character Dr. Solar, but seeing as how that had been a Warren (and Gold Key) property, that makes sense.
For all of you Army of Darkness needs, check no further than Dynamite.
Style Classification: Licensed Properties; Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: (currently) Vampirella, Bob's Burgers, Evil Ernie, Grumpy Cat
Story:
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and currenlt holds the rights to over 3000 characters, including the rosters of Charlton Comics, Warren, Harris Comics, and Chaos--all except Lady Death, whom creator Brian Pulido still seems to control.
At times they seemed interchangeable with IDW in that they produce high quality licensed content, but here the licenses are a little more unique. They developed the Grumpy Cat comic from an Internet meme. They've updated Vampirella, Red Sonja, and Deja Thoris to (slightly) less exploitative forms.
They've just brought back Evil Ernie and have an interesting update of Battlestar Galactica in the works. Less movies and pop-culture---save Bob's Burgers---and more kinda weird stuff.
They also work with talent like Alex Ross, Kevin Smith, and Matt Wagner on developing their ideas.
This is currently the home for the erstwhile old-school-Valiant character Dr. Solar, but seeing as how that had been a Warren (and Gold Key) property, that makes sense.
For all of you Army of Darkness needs, check no further than Dynamite.
Friday, June 17, 2016
IDW Publishing
Website: idwpublishing.com
Style Classification: Licensed Properties; Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: (currently) Transformers; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Godzilla; Wynonna Earp
Story:
Founded in 1999 in San Diego, IDW has grown into the fourth largest producer of comics in the United States. They have one of the most successful stables of well-executed licensed property divisions in the industry, cornering the market on original stories from the Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Godzilla, Transformers, X-Files, Star Trek, and even Dungeons and Dragons universes.
On the creator-driven division, they have signed exclusive deals with the likes of Kevin Eastman, half of the creative team of TMNT. They publish a wide variety of content that shows how the market has changed, like Time Looper (about a lesbian time-traveling bureaucratic underling) and Wynonna Earp (about a supernatural division or marshals whose star is the eponymous Wynonna). This cowgirl werewolf- and vampire-hunter has been green-lit for a television show on SyFy.
Publishing hundreds of original comics and graphic novels a year, to go along with their line of novels, video games, and other various television and digital content, IDW is a force in the industry, for sure.
They won an Eisner Award for their recent "Little Nemo's Return to Slumberland" limited series, a re-imagining of Windsor McKay's classic surreal work from the '20s and '30s.
Style Classification: Licensed Properties; Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: (currently) Transformers; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Godzilla; Wynonna Earp
Story:
Founded in 1999 in San Diego, IDW has grown into the fourth largest producer of comics in the United States. They have one of the most successful stables of well-executed licensed property divisions in the industry, cornering the market on original stories from the Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Godzilla, Transformers, X-Files, Star Trek, and even Dungeons and Dragons universes.
On the creator-driven division, they have signed exclusive deals with the likes of Kevin Eastman, half of the creative team of TMNT. They publish a wide variety of content that shows how the market has changed, like Time Looper (about a lesbian time-traveling bureaucratic underling) and Wynonna Earp (about a supernatural division or marshals whose star is the eponymous Wynonna). This cowgirl werewolf- and vampire-hunter has been green-lit for a television show on SyFy.
Publishing hundreds of original comics and graphic novels a year, to go along with their line of novels, video games, and other various television and digital content, IDW is a force in the industry, for sure.
They won an Eisner Award for their recent "Little Nemo's Return to Slumberland" limited series, a re-imagining of Windsor McKay's classic surreal work from the '20s and '30s.
Valiant Comics
Website: valiantentertainment.com
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe
Notable Works: X-O Manowar; Bloodshot; Shadowman; Faith
Story:
Jim Shooter tried to purchase Marvel Entertainment in the late 1980s, moving from a management role into an ownership one. It didn't work out, and he was eventually ousted. He left and started his own company, publishing Nintendo Entertainment System licensed properties initially. He and his other investors got a hold of three '60s-era Gold Key properties, Solar, Turok, and Magnus, and started from there to build their own cohesive universe.
By 1991, a stable of dynamic, connected and intertwined characters was existent, and the writing was so good that people began to notice. A psionically gifted tycoon senses the power of a teenager who's just beginning to discover his own powers. The older leader realizes that if this boy fully embraces his powers, innocent people will die. He decides to have this boy killed. Is it in a normal comic trope of calling him in the street as they battle in the skies over a metropolitan area? No; he pays the kid's best friend to shoot him in the head. The murder attempt of Peter Stancheck was unsuccessful, but this is the kid of story Valiant offered.
They also offered the only real independent cohesive universe with intertwining characters outside of DC and Marvel.
The original investors ousted Jim Shooter, then sold the properties to Acclaim, a video game maker looking to take advantage of the comics boom of the early '90s. They got in right as the bubble was bursting, and eventually they shuttered their comics productions, but not before altering some of the titles to be better suited for video game marketing.
In 2012, the resurrection was launched, as new investors bought the rights to the characters and have since been making waves for themselves in a tight market. They have the sci-fi story (X-O Manowar), the action story (Bloodshot), the espionage story (Ninjak), and the horror/magic story (Shadowman). The characters are interesting, novel, and well executed.
Valiant is also getting some attention for the publication of Faith, a comic about a positive super-hero (as opposed to the dark anti-heroes so popular today) who also happens to be a big girl.
(For full disclosure: I am a total Valiant homer.)
It remains the only true cohesive universe to rival those of DC and Marvel.
Style Classification: Cohesive Universe
Notable Works: X-O Manowar; Bloodshot; Shadowman; Faith
Story:
Jim Shooter tried to purchase Marvel Entertainment in the late 1980s, moving from a management role into an ownership one. It didn't work out, and he was eventually ousted. He left and started his own company, publishing Nintendo Entertainment System licensed properties initially. He and his other investors got a hold of three '60s-era Gold Key properties, Solar, Turok, and Magnus, and started from there to build their own cohesive universe.
By 1991, a stable of dynamic, connected and intertwined characters was existent, and the writing was so good that people began to notice. A psionically gifted tycoon senses the power of a teenager who's just beginning to discover his own powers. The older leader realizes that if this boy fully embraces his powers, innocent people will die. He decides to have this boy killed. Is it in a normal comic trope of calling him in the street as they battle in the skies over a metropolitan area? No; he pays the kid's best friend to shoot him in the head. The murder attempt of Peter Stancheck was unsuccessful, but this is the kid of story Valiant offered.
They also offered the only real independent cohesive universe with intertwining characters outside of DC and Marvel.
The original investors ousted Jim Shooter, then sold the properties to Acclaim, a video game maker looking to take advantage of the comics boom of the early '90s. They got in right as the bubble was bursting, and eventually they shuttered their comics productions, but not before altering some of the titles to be better suited for video game marketing.
In 2012, the resurrection was launched, as new investors bought the rights to the characters and have since been making waves for themselves in a tight market. They have the sci-fi story (X-O Manowar), the action story (Bloodshot), the espionage story (Ninjak), and the horror/magic story (Shadowman). The characters are interesting, novel, and well executed.
Valiant is also getting some attention for the publication of Faith, a comic about a positive super-hero (as opposed to the dark anti-heroes so popular today) who also happens to be a big girl.
(For full disclosure: I am a total Valiant homer.)
It remains the only true cohesive universe to rival those of DC and Marvel.
Dark Horse Comics
Website:darkhorse.com
Style Classifications: Creator Owned Content/Licensed Properties
Notable Works: Sin City; Hellboy; Aliens vs Predator; The Mask
Story:
Up until recently, Dark Horse was the most important independent comic publisher in America. That title has since been taken by Image, but Dark Horse remains a success story for all times. This year marks their 30 anniversary, and for many years, they were the biggest rival---in terms of sales and stature---to Marvel and DC. In fact, they were the only rival.
Founded by Mike Richardson in 1986, the company was an offshoot from Richardson's 1980 gamble to open a comic shop in Bend, Oregon. He wanted to give artists a cushy-gig, so to say. They found early success with their Predator comics, and again a few years later with their Alien comics. By 1990, they had the market cornered with official Star Wars Universe books, and the leading edge of movie licensed properties was set.
Over the years, on the creator owned content side of the spectrum, they gave Matt Wagner a home for his Grendel series; Richardson himself loosed The Mask on the world; they let Mike Mignola create an entire Hellboy universe; saw the entire collection of Frank Miller's Sin City as well as his critically acclaimed story of Leonidas at Thermopolae in 300.
In those few well known works listed above, there are at least eight movies: two Mask movies (1994 and 2005), two Hellboy movies (2004 and 2008), two Sin City movies (2005 and 2014), and two 300 movies (2007 and 2014). (The second 300 movie is based on Miller's unpublished prequel about Xerxes.)
Chances are, if you don't know comics but can name one or two independent books not called Spawn or Walking Dead, you'll be familiar with Dark Horse's industry footprint.
Style Classifications: Creator Owned Content/Licensed Properties
Notable Works: Sin City; Hellboy; Aliens vs Predator; The Mask
Story:
Up until recently, Dark Horse was the most important independent comic publisher in America. That title has since been taken by Image, but Dark Horse remains a success story for all times. This year marks their 30 anniversary, and for many years, they were the biggest rival---in terms of sales and stature---to Marvel and DC. In fact, they were the only rival.
Founded by Mike Richardson in 1986, the company was an offshoot from Richardson's 1980 gamble to open a comic shop in Bend, Oregon. He wanted to give artists a cushy-gig, so to say. They found early success with their Predator comics, and again a few years later with their Alien comics. By 1990, they had the market cornered with official Star Wars Universe books, and the leading edge of movie licensed properties was set.
Over the years, on the creator owned content side of the spectrum, they gave Matt Wagner a home for his Grendel series; Richardson himself loosed The Mask on the world; they let Mike Mignola create an entire Hellboy universe; saw the entire collection of Frank Miller's Sin City as well as his critically acclaimed story of Leonidas at Thermopolae in 300.
In those few well known works listed above, there are at least eight movies: two Mask movies (1994 and 2005), two Hellboy movies (2004 and 2008), two Sin City movies (2005 and 2014), and two 300 movies (2007 and 2014). (The second 300 movie is based on Miller's unpublished prequel about Xerxes.)
Chances are, if you don't know comics but can name one or two independent books not called Spawn or Walking Dead, you'll be familiar with Dark Horse's industry footprint.
Image Comics
Website: imagecomics.com
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Spawn; The Walking Dead
Story:
The story of Image Comics inside the comic industry needs no introduction, and even outside the industry needs very little explanation. There's a reason Image is first in these breakdowns: it is the most important independent comic publisher today, having wrested that title from Dark Horse sometime in the last ten years.
Superstar artists from Marvel (and one from DC), upset about having no control over the characters they created, bet on themselves and struck out on their own to create a world in which they would have complete control over their characters and the fruits from other media and licensing properties associated with those books. They could create the kinds of stories they wanted to create, and reap the financial windfalls, if any, all for themselves. It was an experiment in the American Dream, and nearly twenty-five years later, it has proven successful.
It turned Todd McFarlane into a toy magnate (he seemed to have learned the most valuable lesson from George Lucas's Star Wars experiment: the plumpest fruit is merchandising) and spawned probably the most important independent comic book series ever: "The Walking Dead."
If you have an idea for a nifty comic story and the art to boot, ship it off to Image and they will check it out. If they agree it's awesome and could find an audience, they will publish it, cover their costs, and give you everything that's left over. Want to make a TV show? A movie? A mixed-media art-installation that charges french-kisses for entry (which is kinda gross...)? Have at it. Image won't stand in your way, and they'll happily applaud any success you find.
They also won't help you get those ideas off the ground either, but that's just not what they do.
If you're looking for top-notch, independent and bizarre stories, and an environment that is the most friendly to creators, Image Comics is the standard-bearer.
Style Classification: Creator Owned Content
Notable Works: Spawn; The Walking Dead
Story:
The story of Image Comics inside the comic industry needs no introduction, and even outside the industry needs very little explanation. There's a reason Image is first in these breakdowns: it is the most important independent comic publisher today, having wrested that title from Dark Horse sometime in the last ten years.
Superstar artists from Marvel (and one from DC), upset about having no control over the characters they created, bet on themselves and struck out on their own to create a world in which they would have complete control over their characters and the fruits from other media and licensing properties associated with those books. They could create the kinds of stories they wanted to create, and reap the financial windfalls, if any, all for themselves. It was an experiment in the American Dream, and nearly twenty-five years later, it has proven successful.
It turned Todd McFarlane into a toy magnate (he seemed to have learned the most valuable lesson from George Lucas's Star Wars experiment: the plumpest fruit is merchandising) and spawned probably the most important independent comic book series ever: "The Walking Dead."
If you have an idea for a nifty comic story and the art to boot, ship it off to Image and they will check it out. If they agree it's awesome and could find an audience, they will publish it, cover their costs, and give you everything that's left over. Want to make a TV show? A movie? A mixed-media art-installation that charges french-kisses for entry (which is kinda gross...)? Have at it. Image won't stand in your way, and they'll happily applaud any success you find.
They also won't help you get those ideas off the ground either, but that's just not what they do.
If you're looking for top-notch, independent and bizarre stories, and an environment that is the most friendly to creators, Image Comics is the standard-bearer.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Free Comic Book Day 2016 Haul
In this, the fifteenth year of Free Comic Book Day, I was able to get five separate comics at two of my local shops. One shop is very close but I don't actually shop there. It's a very small spot in a touristy zone run by a lone gentleman and stocks nearly exclusively DC and Marvel. The only non Big 2 books are of the Spongebob or very well known IDW property varieties. At this establishment, I was able to get three books.
It was a madhouse. More people than I would have guessed possible were pressed inside.
The other shop I went to was my main store, the store at which I have my pull. I head there every Wednesday and I don't need to give my name for my admittedly few titles. It is far larger and has a wide variety of companies and offerings.
It was an absolute zoo.
They had a table outside with four workers behind and stacks of comics in front. There was a nice crowd at the table, and as I approached the closest guy bagging was directing everybody inside. "Get your tickets at the back of the store..."
Inside were more people than the sum of everybody I've ever seen in there in all my trips over the last fourteen months. I greeted the one guy who's a Valiant homer like me, "This is nice, right?"
He looked at me like I was insane. "You like crowds?"
"In here, every once in a while, sure," with a smile is the only way I could think to answer. I used to live in Brooklyn, so I'm okay with crowds.
The "ticket" was one of those raffle tickets with some code marked on it. The code let the folks know how many comics to let you have. I had been allotted two, and took a minute to make my choice.
What this site is dedicated to is the discussion and highlighting of comics that are from Beyond the Big 2, and I like the fact that my comic haul from FCBD 2016 shines a light on the exact topics about which I wish to address. The long winded lead in discussion is kinda my thing, a participatory journalism deal in the vein of Hunter S. Thompson.
I like the small details of the scene.
Here is a picture of this year's haul with the two from Pulp Fiction Comics (on Clark in Long Beach and my main store) on top and the three from Shoreline Comics (in the Shoreline Village area of Long Beach) on the bottom.
Bob's Burgers: Dynamite
Dynamite Entertainment is one of the bigger comics publishers living out on the margins, and they can get that big because of finding success with Licensed Properties. I am a fan of Bob's Burgers the TV show, but I have yet to make a purchase any of their various titles. I'm not sure if I own any Dynamite books, now that I think about it. I saw this cover months ago and thought it would be fun if I had a chance to grab it. The chance arose and the grab occurred. Inside there are tiny snippets drawn by two separate artists, with obviously different drawing styles, and both obviously different than the look of the animated television show.
Afterlife with Archie: Archie Comics
Archie Comics was better known as MLJ back in the thirties, forties, and fifties and, back then, would never be mistaken for anything resembling "independent" or "an outsider." I have a whole rundown on Archie books coming up so I won't waste time with that now, but I found it interesting that this is actually not a FCBD offering. This is a Halloween giveaway from 2014, itself a reprint of their Archie-and-Jughead-are-zombies story line.
Valiant FCBD 2016 Special
This special has a very short and non-essential lead-in to Valiant's 2016 summer event, 4001 AD. AKA: six pages of new Rai content. There are a few pages of previews from some of their well known material: Divinity, Faith, Archer & Armstrong and Bloodshot, but only the Bloodshot content is upcoming. Valiant is one of the only independent Cohesive Universes available to fans. I'll have plenty to say about this company. This is actually the book that got me to plan a Saturday weeks in advance.
The Tick: New England Comics
This is a great example of the variety in the medium of comic books and an example that I use often to explain the vagaries of industry to my students. The Tick enjoyed a Saturday morning cartoon show as well as a live-action show a decade later, and, I hear, a possible second iteration of a live-action show. He's mostly beloved by fans and folks unfamiliar with the original comics. I enjoyed the books back in the early 90s, and was surprised that NEC didn't have a slew of other stuff. That's before I knew the deal: New England Comics is a store, not a publisher. It is a local shop that publishes its own comic. I love that. Their story will be here soon enough as well. This was the last Tick the guy had. (Sweet.)
Lady Mechanika: Benitez Productions
This is another thing that interests me about the field. Joe Benitez is a writer and artist and has created a fully realized vision. He seems to be able to make a living with his steampunk Victorian-era material. When I get to comic conventions I try to find and support the really marginalized publishers, and in doing research for this web-site project, I came across one Joe Benitez and his most famous creation, Lady Mechanika. This year at FCBD, I came across the work and could put my hands on it without needing to buy it, which illustrates the power of the free comic movement.
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