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The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.
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Thursday, September 9, 2010
Disappointed
Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others
 So, hey, it’s been a while. Apologies. Between Christmas and some Big Shenanigans going on at my day job, I just haven’t been able to keep up. I haven’t wanted to just ignore what’s been going on in the world of comics though, so I’ve been saving up and that means there are lots of stories to talk about. About – what? – three weeks worth? Yikes.
One of the most significant announcements for me was the news that Kurt Busiek will be leaving Dark Horse’s Conan series after issue #28. He’s leaving the book in fine hands with Tim Truman (and a fill-in arc in between written by Mike Mignola), but it’s still disappointing. One of the things I love about the series so far is that it’s been following Busiek’s singular vision. I’d looked forward to it continuing to do so for years to come. Still, it’s nice to hear that the hand-off to Truman has gone smoothly and that the transition should be relatively seamless.
The blow is also softened by news of Busiek’s post-Conan project, writing Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis for DC. I’m one of the few people who thinks that Aquaman’s orange and green costume is actually kinda cool and that there’s a wealth of potential stories about him as long as he’s kept more or less in his element and not weakened by being forced to fight alongside the JLA on the surface. It sounds like Busiek also sees that potential and is going to do his best to realize it by retooling Aquaman’s comic into a sword-and-sorcery epic beneath the seas. Putting Butch Guice on the art only sweetens the deal.
Sword of Atlantis is only one of many new titles and/or creative changes that DC has announced in their “One Year Later” follow up to the current Infinite Crisis event. I’ll spare you the full list but among the most interesting changes to me is that James (The Golden Age/Starman) Robinson will be writing both Batman and Detective Comics. I can’t tell if he’ll be the permanent writer for both of these, but he’s kicking things off with a story that crosses over between the two titles. My joy at that is lessened though by seeing that the story will be a gimmicky one about whether or not Bruce Wayne is still Batman and, if not, who is.
 I also see from DC’s recently announced solicitations for March that Judd Winick is going to have to wrap up his Jason Todd/Red Hood mystery outside of the comic that he started it in. The conclusion will be in Batman Annual #25. I haven’t been reading Winick’s story, but it’s the first casualty I’ve seen of the forced company-wide re-launch.
Other changes in the “One Year Later” DCU: Catwoman is no longer Selina Kyle (and gets a “shocking” supporting cast member), Nightwing is hiding out in New York City, Robin is wanted for murder, Birds of Prey have added a couple of “shocking” (again) members to their team; Blue Beetle (but not Ted Kord) is back in a series written by Keith Giffen, Green Arrow is the new mayor of Star City, JSA will continue to be written by Paul Levitz; the Outsiders don’t exist (but still have a monthly series), and the Teen Titans have a new team (they also provide a new home for the recently cancelled Doom Patrol).
 Speaking of the Teen Titans, Cartoon Network has sadly passed on a sixth season of the animated adventures of that team. It lasted about as long as other DC-based animated series have and will hopefully follow their pattern of being collected on DVD in the near future. I’ve enjoyed the episodes I’ve seen, though they’ve been continuity-heavy and unfriendly to the casual tuner-inner. A DVD collection would be the perfect way to enjoy the entire story from beginning to end.
In better DC news, their characters and the comics covers will be featured in a set of US postal stamps in 2006. I’m not a stamp collector, but the envelopes for my bill payments and magazine subscriptions are sure gonna look a lot snazzier than usual next year.
One last piece of cool DC news: Space Ghost is getting a second series in DC’s straightforward take on the traditionally goofy children’s cartoon hero. This time around it’ll be written by Bill Willingham, which may mean that it’ll get a dose of silliness added back into it. I’m a big Willingham fan, but like the Conan news from earlier, I’m a bit disappointed that Joe Kelly won’t be writing the follow-up series as he did the first one.
 Marvel Comics also announced their March solicitations recently. Mostly, it’s still fall-out from House of M (including a new Ms. Marvel series) and the current Spider-Man crossover. Squadron Supreme moves from Marvel’s adults-only MAX imprint to their mature-but-not-THAT-mature Marvel Knights imprint. I expect that fans of the series will find the same dark tone, but without objectionable elements that MAX allowed for.
March will also see Marvel planting the seeds for its next big events: “Annihilation” (in the appropriately titled Annihilation: Prologue) “Civil War” (in Fantastic Four #536 and New Avengers: Illuminati) and the return of the ‘80s’ New Universe (in about a gazillion Marvel Milestones and Untold Tales specials).
In case you feel like keeping track, “Annihilation” is the event focusing on Marvel’s cosmic heroes (particularly Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull, Nova, Ronan the Accuser, Drax the Destroyer, Quasar, and Thanos). “Civil War” is the House of M spin-off that will have the Marvel heroes choosing sides in a moral debate and going to war over it. (At this point I have to call attention to the silliest marketing hyperbole I’ve seen in a very long time when Marvel’s EiC Joe Quesada says that “the Marvel Universe may even become unrecognizable to some extent if the balance shifts too much and if the Illuminati are wrong. It may even get worse if they’re right.” “May?” “To some extent?” “If?” Could he have used more qualifiers? Possibly.)
 The New Universe revival will take place with a new Warren Ellis ongoing tentatively called Newuniversal. It’s a completely new take on the New Universe concept, with Ellis’s keeping whatever he wants to keep and discarding or reinventing whatever he doesn’t. I’m trying to figure out how this will appeal to anyone who’s not a) an avid Ellis fan or b) an avid New Universe fan (and with Ellis changing so much about the concept, I’m not even sure how group “b” will respond). The New Universe was an interesting concept though, even if it was horribly executed, so maybe the appeal comes in seeing what a respected science fiction writer can make of it.
In other Marvel news, the company recently settled their suit with City of Heroes, in which Marvel claimed that the game’s ability to create Marvel look-alikes would make it difficult for Marvel to market a similar game in the future. City of Heroes players will continue to be able to make Wolverine to their hearts’ content. No one’s telling what Marvel gets out of the deal.
Better news from Marvel is their unveiling of digital comics and their signing of Paul Jenkins to an exclusive contract. In order to generate interest for their print series (and also test the waters for potentially publishing original material in the format), the publisher is making available online versions of the first issues of titles like Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Captain America, and She-Hulk. With the announcement of Paul Jenkins’s new contract comes the news that he’ll be taking over the writing duties on Brian Bendis’s former baby The Pulse, in addition to continuing to write The Sentry and Generation M.
Unfortunately for Marvel, their biggest news of the last couple of weeks has been around disappointing announcements about their huge deal with Stephen King. First it was announced on King’s website that his Marvel Dark Tower series would be delayed until 2007, and then the news came out that King’s role would be that of “Executive Editor and Creative Director.” It was also announced that Robin Furth, who wrote a concordance to King’s Dark Tower series, would be plotting and outlining the Marvel series. The year-long delay shouldn’t hurt the project much, but the question of authorship has got to be a factor in how many fans will be looking forward to picking it up.
 Closing off the Marvel news on a better note, images were recently released from next years X-Men 3 film. The Angel looks great, but I’m disappointed that they’ve chosen a latex look for the Beast’s face rather than covering it in fur. Also disappointing is news that X3 will be Marvel’s only film next year, now that Ghost Rider has been pushed back to early 2007.
In other comics-to-film news, Top Cow’s Witchblade is sure popular amongst filmmakers. IDG Films is coughing up the lion’s share of the capital to develop a live-action Witchblade movie and its sequel, both of which will be filmed back-to-back in China. Meanwhile, Gonzo Digimation will be producing an anime version of the comic with 26 episodes planned. The live-action version is reported to be fairly true to the comics version, while the anime will borrow only the concept of the Witchblade weapon and transplant it onto a Japanese heroine.
Classic Media, holders of the Lone Ranger copyrights and trademarks, have announced that a new Lone Ranger film is also planned for 2007. This announcement came with the news that they’ve also awarded the license for Lone Ranger comics to Red Sonja publisher Dynamite Entertainment. DE has made it known that Brett (Serenity) Matthews and fan-favorite artist John Cassaday will be the creative team on the book.
 Wrapping up our comics-to-film section here (and, in fact, this week’s column) is some news relating to Oscar-winner (for cinematography) Road to Perdition and the graphic novel it was based on. Max Allan Collins’s final book in his trilogy about the son of a gangster hit-man was released a couple of weeks ago. It’s entitled Road to Paradise. Nice to end a disappointing couple of weeks with a positive item.
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Friday, February 8, 2008
• The End.
So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Good night.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
• Closing time
You don't have to go home...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
• Oni resurrects letters columns
Resurrection series features letter-writing contest
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
• And... we're back
With Red 5 info
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
• Happy Thanksgiving!
From aka Comics and Comic World News
• Happy Birthday, COMICRAFT!
Lettering powerhouse and CWN sponsor turns 15
Monday, November 19, 2007
• Surrogates movie ready to start production
Bruce Willis to star
More >>
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February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain