Blog Archives
3 New Comics for New Readers – April 18, 2012
A tale about a shape-shifting shark from Hawaii for young readers, a look at the characters and folklore of Cleveland, and a gutsy look at modern war – just a sampling of the wide variety from this week’s promising new graphic novels and comic books.
Wednesday is New Comics Day! Each week, The Comics Observer picks three brand new releases worth checking out that should be suitable for someone who has never read comic books, graphic novels or manga before.
If you like what you see here, click the links to see previews and learn more about them. Then head to your local comic book store, or check out online retailers like Things From Another World and Amazon. Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook.
For a full list of this week’s new releases, see comiXology and ComicList.com.
Shooters by Eric Trautmann, Brandon Jerwa, and Steve Lieber
Shooters
Written by Eric S. Trautmann and Brandon Jerwa
Illustrated by Steve Lieber
Published by Vertigo / DC Comics
Genre: War
144 pages
$22.99
Today’s battlefield isn’t just about the uniformed soldier in service to his country; there’s also the contractor, who answers to the corporation. Call them mercenaries, soldiers-for-hire, or private military operators, they are a new breed of combatant in today’s conflicts.
Shooters is the story of Terry Glass, a warrior whose spirit and soul has been hardened in countless battles. When a horrible accident shatters his world, Glass finds himself waging a private war on several fronts – against his career, his marriage, and ultimately, his faith.
Written by Eric S. Trautmann (Checkmate, Red Sonja, Flash Gordon) and Brandon Jerwa (G.I. Joe, Battlestar Galactica, Highlander), and drawn by Eisner Award-winning artist Steve Lieber (Underground, Whiteout, Road to Perdition: On the Road), Shooters tells a story of modern warfare that will stay with you forever.
The Shark King by R. Kikuo Johnson
The Shark King
Written and Illustrated by R. Kikuo Johnson
Published by Toon Books
Genre: Fantasy
40 pages
$12.95
Meet Nanaue, a boy craving to be who he truly is.
From the islands of Hawaii comes the electrifying tale of Nanaue, who has to balance his yearning for Dad’s guidance with his desire for Mom’s nurture.
Award-winning cartoonist R. Kikuo Johnson transports young readers to the lush, tropical shores of his native Hawaii. Emerging readers, fluent or not, will be thrilled when they experience the transformative powers of this stirring literary work.
R. Kikuo Johnson grew up in Hawaii on the island of Maui. For generations, native Hawaiians have told tales of the shape-shifting shark god Kamohoalii; The Shark King is the artist’s version of one such tale about the insatiable appetite of Kamohoalii’s son, Nanaue. Kikuo’s 2005 graphic novel, Night Fisher — also set in Hawaii — earned him both the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award and a Harvey Award. Kikuo spent his childhood exploring the rocky shore in front of his grandmother’s house at low tide and diving with his older brother. Since moving to the mainland, Kikuo has discovered the joys of swimming in fresh water and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he enjoys cooking, playing his ukulele, and riding his bike all over the city.
Cleveland by Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant
Cleveland
Written by Harvey Pekar
Illustrated by Joseph Remnant
Introduction by Alan Moore
Published by ZIP Comics and Top Shelf Productions
Genre: Non-Fiction
128 pages
$21.99
A lifelong Cleveland resident, Harvey Pekar (1939-2010) pioneered autobiographical comics, mining the mundane for magic since 1976 in his ongoing American Splendor series. Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland is sadly one of his last, but happily one of his most definitive graphic novels.
It combines classic American Splendor-ous autobiographical anecdotes with key moments and characters in the city’s history as relayed to us by Our Man and meticulously researched and rendered by artist Joseph Remnant.
With an introduction by Alan Moore to boot!
3 New Comics for New Readers – April 4, 2012
Kitty stories for kiddies (of all ages), a fantastic journey to a dark and weird world, and a creature of the earth haunting the swamps – Wednesday is New Comics Day! Each week, The Comics Observer picks three brand new releases worth checking out that should be suitable for someone who has never read comics before.
If you like what you see here, click the links to see previews and learn more about them. Then head to your local comic book store, or check out online retailers like Things From Another World and Amazon. Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook.
Miss Annie: Freedom! by La Galle & Balthazar
Miss Annie Book 1: Freedom!
Written by Frank Le Gall
Illustrated by Flore Balthazar
Published by Graphic Universe / Lerner Publishing Group
Ages 7 and up / Grade 3 and up
Genre: Humor
48 pages
$6.95
Miss Annie is a kitten with ambitions and a large dose of curiosity! The big, wide world beyond the window calls! Outdoors there are trees to climb, birds to chase, and other cats. Even though she’s only a few months old, Miss Annie thinks she’s big enough for adventure right now. If only she can convince her human family that she can take care of herself — or can she?
Born in Rouen in France, award-winning writer Frank Le Gall published his first works at the age of sixteen. Since then Le Gall has continued writing graphic novel adventures, occasionally taking a break for animation and short stories.
Born in 1981 in La Louvière, Belgium, Flore Balthazar decided at the age of nine that she would become a cartoonist, after reading Hergé’s Tintin and other comics at the local library across the street from her house. She soon realized that her art would not look exactly like Tintin, and developed her own self-taught style. She eventually went on to study at the Binche and the Etterbeek Academies of Fine Arts (both in Belgium), also studying Slavic languages and literature at the university in Brussels. She quickly realized that the best way to become a cartoonist is simply to keep drawing. She now lives in Orléans, France. Miss Annie is her first graphic novel series.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath & Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft & Jason Thompson
The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath & Other Stories
Written by H.P. Lovecraft
Adapted and illustrated by Jason Bradley Thompson
Published by Mock Man Press
Funded by Kickstarter
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
184 pages
$24.95
Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city…and three times he was snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it.
In search of a lost city and a forgotten memory, Randolph Carter enters the dreamlands, the vast world of wonder and horror where one night can span a million years. From the jungles of Kled to the surface of the moon, through perilous encounters with bat-winged nightgaunts and man-eating ghouls, Carter’s quest takes him ever closer to the secret of the marvelous sunset city… and the terror of Nyarlathotep and Azathoth, the monstrous Other Gods who stand in his way.
This limited edition oversize 184-page hardcover includes a full comic adaptation of the novel by H.P. Lovecraft, as well as the related stories “The White Ship,” “Celephais” and “The Strange High House in the Mist.” It also features a map of the dream world, as well as an art gallery section with concept sketches and additional drawings.
Saga of the Swamp Thing Book One by Alan Moore & Stephen Bissette
Saga of the Swamp Thing Book One
Written by Alan Moore
Illustrated by Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben
Published by Vertigo / DC Comics
Genre: Horror
208 pages
$19.99
Before Watchmen, Alan Moore made his debut in the U.S. comic book industry with the revitalization of the horror comic book The Swamp Thing. His deconstruction of the classic monster stretched the creative boundaries of the medium and became one of the most spectacular series in comic book history.
With modern-day issues explored against a backdrop of horror, Swamp Thing‘s stories became commentaries on environmental, political and social issues, unflinching in their relevance. Saga of the Swamp Thing Book One collects issues #20-27 of this seminal series including the never-before-reprinted Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, where Moore takes over as writer and concludes the previous storyline.
Book One begins with the story “The Anatomy Lesson,” a haunting origin story that reshapes Swamp Thing mythology with terrifying revelations that begin a journey of discovery and adventure that will take him across the stars and beyond.
3 New Comics for New Readers – March 28, 2012
This week, a biography of Hunter S. Thompson, a horror story of a woman who won’t die, and a supernatural tale of three Irish immigrants in New York City catch our eye.
Each week, The Comics Observer picks three brand new releases worth checking out that should be suitable for someone who has never read comics before.
If you like what you see here, click the links to see previews and learn more about them. Then head to your local comic book store, or check out online retailers like Things From Another World and Amazon. Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook.
Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson by Will Bingley & Anthony Hope-Smith
Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S Thompson
Written by Will Bingley
Illustrated by Anthony Hope-Smith
Foreword by Alan Rinzler
Published by Abrams ComicArts (originally published in the UK by SelfMadeHero)
Non-Fiction
180 pages
$17.95
The great American writer, the great American iconoclast, the great American hedonist – however you choose to view him, Hunter S. Thompson remains the high-water mark for all social commentators worldwide, and a truly fearless champion of individual liberties.
This is his story, the story of a troubled kid from Louisville who went on to become an international icon. A story that plumbs the darkest depths of American society and charts the now legendary adventures that birthed Gonzo Journalism, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and a lifestyle beyond imagination.
Rachel Rising Vol. 1 by Terry Moore
Rachel Rising Vol. 1: Shadow of Death
Written and illustrated by Terry Moore
Published by Abstract Studios
Horror
120 pages
$16.99
Rachel Beck wakes in a shallow grave and claws her way free as a mysterious woman watches from a bluff. With no memory of the night before, Rachel enlists the help of Aunt Johnny, the town mortician, to find her killer.
But when repeated attacks send her to the morgue, Rachel’s ability to wake from death again and again prove to be a blessing and a curse, and the eerie town of Manson will never be the same!
Collects issues #1-6.
Gone to Amerikay by Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran
Gone to Amerikay
Written by Derek McCulloch
Illustrated by Colleen Doran with José Villarubia
Published by Vertigo / DC Comics
Crime
144 pages
$24.99
This sweeping, century-spanning graphic novel explores the vivid history of Irish émigrés to New York City via three intertwined tales, from a penniless woman raising a daughter alone in the Five Points slum of 1870, to a struggling young artist drawn to the nascent counterculture of 1960, the year America elected its first Irish-Catholic president.
Ciara O’Dwyer is a young woman raising a daughter alone in the Five Points slums of 1870; Johnny McCormack is a struggling actor drawn to the nascent folk music movement in Greenwich Village 1960; and Lewis Healy is a successful Irishman who’s come to present-day Manhattan on his wife’s anniversary-present promise to reveal the connection between him and them. The mystery originates with Ciara’s runaway husband, who disappeared after promising to join her in America, and carries into mid-century when Johnny, devastated by an unexpected romance and a lost shot at musical fame, gets a supernatural visitor.
Written by Eisner Award-nominated writer Derek McCulloch (Stagger Lee, Pug), and beautifully illustrated with period detail by Colleen Doran (The Sandman, Orbiter) and color by Jose Villarrubia.
Disclaimer: These are recommendations based on available press, buzz and the magic Comics Observer crystal ball. These are not reviews.
Comics Panels announced for LA Times Festival of Books
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books has announced the program schedule for the event’s weekend of April 21 and 22. Most of the panels and presentations related to comics and graphic novels are front-loaded on Saturday, with some competing against each other in the early afternoon. While the scheduling congestion is unfortunate, it’s indicative of the growing star power of comics at the Festival to get such premium placement.
Highlights include a moderated conversation with Robert Kirkman, writer and co-creator of The Walking Dead comic book series, and an appearance by Jeff Kinney of Diary of a Wimpy Kid fame on the Children’s Stage. DC Entertainment will also hold a panel with co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee to talk up their controversial prequel comics to the acclaimed Watchmen graphic novel, followed by a screening of the movie adaptation. Almost simultaneously there is a discussion panel called Drawing Outside the Lines, featuring acclaimed graphic novel writers and artists Joseph Lambert (I Will Bite You!), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), and Jim Woodring (Weathercraft), a trio of unique creators who write and draw their own work on their own terms. That panel is moderated by the LA Times’ Deborah Vankin who also wrote the graphic novel Poseurs. The last event for Saturday is a panel on Mythic Stories that features writers Ed Brubaker (Criminal), Adam Mansbach (Go the F**k to Sleep, Nature of the Beast) and Douglas McGowan (Nature of the Beast), with moderator Leslie S. Klinger (The Annotated Sandman). A fourth writer is TBD. The weekend ends with two screenings of the feature-length documentary, With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story.
While admission to the Festival is free, the limited seating of indoor panels requires the necessity of tickets, which go on sale April 15 at 9:00 am. A limited number of tickets will also be for sale during the Festival at booth #463. Panel passes, which reserve 8 tickets per pass, can be purchased now for $30. Tickets for the 32nd Annual LA Times Book Prizes Ceremony, happening the Friday night before the Festival, are also now on sale for $10.
Saturday
10:30 am – Robert Kirkman in Conversation with Geoff Boucher (Panel 1121)
Ronald Tutor Campus Center
12:55 pm – Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
Target Children’s Stage
1:00 pm – DC Entertainment Presents: Watchmen — It’s Not the End, It’s the Beginning.
A Conversation with Jim Lee and Dan Didio, moderated by Geoff Boucher
2:00 pm – Watchmen Screening
School for Cinematic Arts
1:30 pm – Graphic Novel: Drawing outside the Lines (Panel 1113)
Joseph Lambert
Carla Speed McNeil
Jim Woodring
Moderator: Deborah Vankin
Taper Hall (THH 101)
3:30 pm – Graphic Novel: Mythic Stories (Panel 1044)
Ed Brubaker
Adam Mansbach
Douglas McGowan
TBD
Moderator: Leslie S. Klinger
Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL 101)
Sunday
11:00 am & 3:00 pm – “With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story” screening, presented by EPIX
Located in the Ray Stark Theater
School for Cinematic Arts
Comics Publishers make Mainstream Push
There's a comic for everyone. They just don't know it yet. (Art by the late great Seth Fisher.)
Public awareness of comic books (or graphic novels or whatever you want to call them) is probably at an all-time high. Certainly higher than it’s been since the ’50s. But awareness has translated to people seeing and talking about comic book movies and TV shows, not actually reading comic books and graphic novels. Not in any significant and sustainable influx of numbers, anyway. Fortunately some comics publishers have noticed this and are doing some things about it.
Marvel Comics has entered into a partnership with Starbucks where their Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited service will be included free as part of the Starbucks Digital Network available via free Wi-Fi to patrons of nearly 6,800 Starbucks coffee shops in the United States. Marvel’s MDCU currently has about 8,000 comic books available digitally, with more added every week, so it’s quite a sampling. It will be part of the Entertainment channel, along with iTunes, Nick Jr. Boost, Yahoo! entertainment offerings, and other content providers. This has huge potential to lure in the simply-curious for some fun Marvel comic books. If it goes well, maybe Starbucks will add in other publishers to offer a greater diversity of material (ie, not just superhero comics). It’s an exciting start and a great idea. (Read more about Starbucks’ announcement.)
DC Comics also had big news yesterday. Cartoon Network announced plans for a block of on-air and online programming they are calling DC Nation. “A multi-platform, branded block of original programming and exclusive content based on the DC Comics library of legendary character properties, DC Nation is developed in partnership with Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. The all-new venture will harness the publishing, theatrical and television assets together for one powerful on-air block on Cartoon Network with exclusive online content.” The name is a reference to DC Comics’ in-house column of the same name that appears monthly in most of their comic books. Programming will include a CG-animated Green Lantern animated series and a brand new Looney Tunes show, among lots of other things (ThunderCats!). Cartoon Network is saying that it will be “populated with event programming, interstitials, exclusive behind-the-scenes of theatrical production and an insider look into the world of all things DC.” Maybe I’m getting my hopes up too high, but I’m hoping they will use this opportunity to promote DC’s line of comic books and graphic novels, and not exclusively focus on other media. (Read more about Cartoon Network’s announcement.)
And finally, LA-based Boom! Studios released a PDF of a comic book meant to be freely shared and passed on to friends. In a bold reversal of most publishers’ fears of pirating, Boom! is embracing the modern internet culture of sharing by actually encouraging people to pass it on to others. The comic, suggested for mature readers, is Hellraiser: At the Tolling Bell, a new 8-page comic by horror legend Clive Barker and artist Leonard Manco (Hellblazer). It serves as a prelude to the new ongoing Hellraiser comic book series by Barker and Manco. This is a pretty big deal because, as mentioned on his website, “Clive Barker has touched Hellraiser only twice: once to write The Hellbound Heart, and once more to write and direct the original Hellraiser film”. The preview includes a link to sign up for more free comics from Boom!, a great explanation of how the new Hellraiser series will work for the uninitiated (“Just as TV shows are serialized week to week, comic books are serialized month to month”), a list of premiere comic book shops in Canada and the United States, with links to their websites, and a link to the Comic Shop Locator and their phone number 888-COMIC-BOOK. The PDF comic is a very creative advertisement for the comic, and they take great pains to make it clear that it’s not a preview – what appears in the PDF comic is unique and not an excerpt of the first issue. (Read more about Boom!’s announcement.)
Three publishers creatively reaching out to new audiences. What a great step in the right direction. To these three publishers and every other publisher out there: more like this, please!
Hammer Museum celebrates 75 years of DC Comics
Hammer Museum: 75 Years of DC Comics (click for enbiggification)
The Hammer Museum here in LA reached out to let us know about a free event celebrating 75 Years of DC Comics on Tuesday December 14th at 7 PM.
Yes believe it or not, back in 1935 (!), 12 US Presidents ago, way before either Iraq Wars, before the Cold War, the Vietnam War, a few years before World War II and with the country still trying to shake off the Great Depression, a company then called National Allied Publications took a risk by publishing the first comic book of all-original material, New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine. Before then, comics were mostly or entirely made up of recycled newspaper comic strips. It was an uphill venture that initially didn’t pay off until 1938 with the release of Action Comics #1 and the debut of Superman. This was not only a huge hit, but it ended up inventing an entire sub-genre: superheroes. As National Allied changed hands, it’s name evolved to National Periodical Publications and eventually DC Comics and just recently DC Entertainment, named after the home of their second mega-hit Batman from Detective Comics. DC has remained an industry leader since the late 1930s, publishing more world icons like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash to accompany Superman and Batman.
Last month saw the release of a massive retrospective, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, written by former DC Comics president Paul Levitz. (Levitz was among our interviewees for Dig Comics at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego.) To help in the yearlong celebration, Levitz will be joined at UCLA’s Hammer Museum by current DC executives and creators Jim Lee and Geoff Johns to discuss the history and future of DC. The event will be moderated by comedian Patton Oswalt, who’s no stranger to the world of comic books.
Within its short 75-year lifespan, DC Comics has created and destroyed entire cities, worlds, and universes with a cast of characters that includes the titans of the Superhero world. Comedian, actor, and writer Patton Oswalt will moderate a discussion among DC Comics’ Paul Levitz, Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns, the creative and editorial superheroes behind the pages of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern, who will discuss the pulp origins of DC Comics’ story lines and characters, as well as the future of digital publishing.
ALL HAMMER PUBLIC PROGRAMS ARE FREE. Tickets are required, and are available at the Billy Wilder Theater Box Office one hour prior to start time. Limit one ticket per person on a first come, first served basis. Hammer members receive priority seating, subject to availability. Reservations not accepted, RSVPs not required.
Parking is available under the museum for $3 after 6:00pm.
While this looks like fun, the really interesting part to me is the inclusion of discussing the future of digital publishing. DC has made some good moves in this area just in the last few months, but it has also sadly shut down its imprint for original webcomics Zuda Comics. Word is that some more bold moves are in the works. I’m not expecting any solid announcements, but I’m hoping there will be some positive discussion to show that they’re ready to push strongly in that direction.
And I’m also unrealistically hoping they’ll pass out free copies of Levitz’ 75 Years of DC Comics to everyone in the audience, Oprah-style.
