Comic Book Resources

Comic Strips to Comic Flicks: Mark Millar movies they haven’t made (yet)

In recent years, we’ve seen a boatload of comic books and graphic novels make their way to the silver screen, from “big two” stalwarts like Spider-Man and Batman to independent titles like Scott Pilgrim and 30 Days Of Night. Among the various adaptations, though, some creators have emerged as magnets for Hollywood types — one creator who seems to love it more than anyone else is Mark Millar.

After bouncing around the UK comics scene and later DC, Mark Millar made a name for himself for his big-picture epics on The Authority and The Ultimates. Working with artists like Frank Quitely and Bryan Hitch, Millar borrowed some of the wide-screen cinema techniques of film to display comic stories in a new light. From very early on, movie-makers have been cribbing notes from his comics; X-Men: The Last Stand screenwriter Zak Penn said Millar’s work was influencing his own. He was even brought in to act as an informal brain trust to give advice to Jon Favreau during the production of the first Iron Man film.

After seeing glimpses and glimmers of Millar’s influence on company-owned comics-turned-films, it was when Hollywood took notice of his creator-owned work that his bibliography became catnip for movie producers. After back-to-back successes with feature film adaptations of his comics Wanted and Kick-Ass, virtually every creator-owned comic from Mark Millar comes with the question, “How soon will there be a movie announcement?” This attention from movie producers has even led Millar to begin filming his own original movie, which is currently underway.

The question today is this: Of the creator-owned work Mark Millar’s done that haven’t become films yet, which should, and how should they look?

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IDW: Fending off imaginary cannibals

ICv2 starts off the week with a marathon interview with Ted Adams of IDW Publishing. Part 1 focuses on the current comics and graphic novel market and IDW’s place in it, which is pretty solid — sales held steady in 2009 and 2010, and last year IDW became a Diamond Premier Publisher, meaning they get featured in the front of Previews each month. Part 2 covers their digital strategy, which has been quite aggressive, and in Part 3, Adams talks about IDW’s plans for new comics and collections in 2011.

It’s all interesting reading, but of course the part that’s most interesting to me is Adams’s reflection on the digital comics market in part 2. Digital sales doubled last year, he says, but the number is still small—”an insignificant part of our net revenue.” And it seems to be new revenue:

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Quote of the day | Gareb Shamus on the state of the industry

“The comic industry has a lot of issues that need to get solved because the sales on comics are dwindling, and there hasn’t been a leadership role in this industry to change the course of that. So from one perspective I don’t think the material and the talent and the quality of stories has ever been greater. I don’t think we’ve ever had such an exciting time in the comic book industry. But nobody is taking a leadership role in changing the course of sales. And it’s very unfortunate because the retailers are having a very tough time out there, and nobody is helping them. [...] The comic industry lacks the leadership, and I’m not pointing fingers at anybody in particular. But somebody has to make sure that the comic book industry thrives.”

– Wizard World CEO, and self-described pioneer, Gareb Shamus, in an interview touching upon the legacy of Wizard magazine, criticism from former employees and more

Comics in the classroom: A visit from BOOM! Studios

Chris Schweizer is a professor of Sequential Art at the Atlanta branch of the Savannah College of Art and Design as well as the creator of Crogan’s Vengeance and Crogan’s March, so when Matt Gagnon and Ian Brill of BOOM! Studios came for a visit, he took the opportunity to sketch them along with his class. This is just a small piece of it; click to see the full drawing.

Also, congratulations are in order: Chris recently received a SCAD Presidential Fellowship, which includes a grant for a personal project; his will be an annotated sketchbook collecting his character designs, research drawings, thumbnails, and other preliminary work.

Comic artists belt out toons for Portland Opera

by Barry Deutsch

The Portland Opera is currently putting on performances of Turandot, and for a dress rehearsal on Jan. 31 they invited several local comic artists to watch the performance and “draw whatever struck our fancy,” according to artist Mike Russell.

Russell not only drew some artwork you can find on the Portland Opera’s website, but also created a “live comic adaptation” you can find on his site. Other artists who participated include Barry Deutsch, Aaron McConnell, Ron Randall and Joëlle Jones, among others.

You can check out all the images on the Portland Opera’s website.

Brandon Graham’s King City to be collected by Tokyopop, maybe? Hopefully?

a King City collection cover idea

It started out in Tokyopop’s Original English Language, or OEL, line, became one of the most lamented casualties of the publisher’s contraction, and finally found new life as a giant-sized monthly comic at Image. Now Brandon Graham tells Comics Comics’ Frank Santoro that his acclaimed science-fiction series King City may be headed back to where it all began for its eventual collected edition, to which Tokyopop presumably still holds the rights.

Graham tells Santoro that Tokyopop is getting quotes from the printer for a collected King City, ideally to be printed at the size of the Image issues rather than the book’s original digest format. Graham expects the collection to be relatively modest, perhaps with a few layouts and deleted scenes. According to Santoro, Graham’s very understanding of the situation his once and potentially future publisher is in with regards to the collection and potential price points, saying “I just want to see it in print,” regardless of what it costs.

Click the link for the full story, and for Santoro’s thoughts on how collections and the lack thereof can influence readers’ understanding of a cartoonist’s career.

Comics A.M. | Comic-Con passes sell out, Rep. John Lewis to co-author GN

Isotope's "FailFrog" button

Comic-Con | Badges for Comic-Con International sold out Saturday during a marathon online-registration session that taxed the servers of convention sales partner TicketLeap and frustrated ticket buyers. Four-day passes were gone by about 2 p.m. PT; the event sold out by 6 p.m. (Additional passes may become available as cancellations are processed.) As we noted earlier, San Francisco comics retailer Isotope is memorializing Saturday’s experience with a “San Diego Comic Con 2011 Registration Disaster Commemorative Fail Frog button,” featuring a modified version of the TicketLeap logo that frustrated users saw every time they refreshed their web browser.

On the TicketLeap company blog, CEO Chris Stanchak acknowledged that “our platform experienced capacity issues for a 4 hour period” on Saturday: “While we knew the event was going to put significant demand on our system, we did not expect the traffic we received. [...] The traffic we received yesterday was several orders of magnitude higher than our high end estimate. Due to the heavy strain on the system, users for all events across our system received ‘Over Capacity’ errors. This prevented ticket buyers from buying tickets and it prevented event organizers from managing their events.” Tom Spurgeon offers commentary. [Comic-Con International]

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Get your San Diego Comic Con 2011 Registration Disaster Fail Frog button

The Fail Frog

This weekend’s sellout of the San Diego Comic-Con was a disappointment for many and ultimately satisfying for some — but no doubt everyone got tired of seeing the TicketLeap frog when they refreshed their browser.

Now Isotope Comics in San Francisco is commemorating the occasion with a free pin, featuring the newly coined “Fail Frog.”

“Because I know you’ve all been looking at this frog for what seems like forever, we’ve decided to brighten your day a little and bring a great big smile to your face,” writes storeowner James Sime. “The Isotope is going to hook you up with your very own San Diego Comic Con 2011 Registration Disaster commemorative Fail Frog button absolutely free of charge! Why? Because we’re just such huge sweethearts! Send a letter to the Isotope address with a self addressed stamped return envelope and I will personally send you one of these Fail Frog pinback beauties while our supplies last.”

Isotope is located at 26 Fell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

What Are You Reading?

Vietnamerica

Welcome to a special Super Bowl Sunday edition of What Are You Reading? Not that it’s any different from a regular WAYR column, but you can enjoy it while eating hot wings while the TV is paused.

Today our special guest is biology professor Jay Hosler, creator of Clan Apis and Optical Allusions. His latest book, Evolution, with artists Kevin Cannon and Zandor Cannon, was recently released by Hill & Wang. Check out his blog for a story he’s working on about photosynthesis.

To see what Jay and the Robot 6 gang are reading, click below.

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Saturday Shelf Porn!

Hello and welcome once again to Shelf Porn, now on Saturdays! Today’s Shelf Porn is courtesy of Robin McConnell from the Inkstuds radio show and who recently published a book collecting many of his interviews with comic creators.

If you’d like to share your collection with the world, please email a write-up and pictures to jkparkin@yahoo.com. As I said last week, we’re always looking for collections large or small, even if it’s just a picture or two … I’ve got a couple of single pictures I’ll group together into one post when I get a few more in. So send’em today!

And now here’s Robin …

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More woes for fans, CCI as San Diego tickets go on sale again [UPDATED]

Three months after their first on-sale attempt and about six weeks after a successful test, Comic-Con International, their new partner TicketLeap and fans trying to buy tickets to this summer’s convention in San Diego are being plagued with more difficulties this morning.

Registration opened at 9 a.m., and while the Comic-Con site seems to be operating fine, TicketLeap has been displaying a message that says “We are currently over capacity. Try again momentarily,” since about that time — and it’s currently being displayed as I keep hitting refresh.

Shortly after 9 a.m., TicketLeap posted on Twitter, “@Comic_Con fans, if you see an over capacity message hit refresh. We are under heavy load right now and it should smooth out.” You can see some of the reactions from potential con-goers on Twitter as well; some say they have been able to get into the site to buy tickets, but it seems to be the minority.

Not including the test on Dec. 15, where 1,000 tickets were sold, this is the third time tickets for the San Diego Comic-Con have gone on sale. Attempts to sell them on Nov. 1 and Nov. 22 were also met with problems.

Update, 9:50 a.m.: CCI posted on their Twitter feed: “We’re obviously not happy with this morning’s events. We are trying to find answers and get to the bottom of this.” Which was followed by a tweet from TicketLeap: “Hey @Comic_Con, @ticketleap is seeing lots of transactions going through. Keep trying!” Also, #sdcc is a trending topic on Twitter.

Update, 10:20 a.m.: TicketLeap posted about six minutes ago: “There are plenty of #sdcc 4 day passes available. They get held for 15 min and return to inventory if not purchased. Keep trying.”

Update, 11:01 a.m.: Hey, my wife made it in:

If you get a similar screen when you try to log in, one that says four-day passes are sold out, Francesco in our comments section has some advice: “Also notice that even when the system says that 4-day passes are gone, that’s just because every single session (even the thousands of failed one) reserve the passes for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes they’re back in the game. So… keep trying.”

Update, 2:10 p.m.: Looks like four-day passes are gone.

Update, 6:00 p.m.: Provided the information on the TicketLeap web site is current, it appears all tickets for Comic-Con International 2011 have sold out.

Mickey Mouse in Egypt

Cover of an Egyptian Mickey Mouse comic

All eyes are on Egypt right now, but the question that’s being hotly debated at The Hooded Utilitarian is how the localization of Mickey Mouse comics for Egyptian readers expresses the imperialism of the Walt Disney corporation. This being The Hooded Utilitarian, the answer is long, a bit rambling, and filled with interesting images.

The comics examined by writer Nadim Damluji were created between 1959 and 2003, so this is not about the current revolution but rather about how cultures permeate one another. The Mickey Mouse comics in the article have locally created covers that touch on a number of aspects in Egyptian culture, and that art alone makes the article worth reading. The covers and other local content just form the wrapper for translated comics by Western creators, however, and there’s the rub. Damluji points to a Carl Barks comic in which Uncle Scrooge discovers a pyramid and, convinced it will be full of gold, hires generic local Arabs to excavate it. The story does raise issues of ownership and primacy (Why does Uncle Scrooge think he can keep the gold? Why couldn’t the Arabs find the pyramid?), and it seems rather clueless of the Disney folks to print it in an Egyptian comic—had they run out of more generic storylines? On the other hand, the most interesting thing to me was those Egyptian covers. While Damluji seems to be presenting the comics as a wolf in sheep’s clothing—here’s something familiar, kids, but what’s inside is going to make you feel bad!—I see it the other way, as Mickey adapting to local mores by adding content the local audience finds attractive, much as manga publishers put new covers on Japanese content and serve it up more or less unchanged. My guess is that this is more about keeping costs down than the heavy hand of imperialism. And surely Egyptian kids, especially in this day and age, are savvy enough to know that Mickey is an import, even if he does celebrate Mawlad.

The other thing that seems to go uncommented upon is that these are comics. Uncle Scrooge finds the pyramid by sitting on its pointy top. It’s a gag! Huey, Duey, and Louie acting more mature than Donald? That’s funny! A dog biting a man isn’t funny, but a man biting a dog is. Finally, it’s also true that the stories are old and represent cultural values that are passe and have been for a long time. A 50-year-old Disney story may say something about attitudes in the 1950s, but it’s more an artifact than a measure of current opinion.

Seriousness aside, it’s a fascinating post just because of the cultural information. And for more, check out Damluji’s blog, in which he follows in the footsteps of another cultural icon from an imperialist country, Tintin.

The Fifth Color | Saving the Girl You Love

from She-Hulks #4 (of 4)

Man, I love She-Hulk.

The idea of She-Hulks (plural) took me some time to get used to, but now I can see the need for each and all the fun stories that we get to read thanks to two Jade Giantesses.  Part of this realization is thanks to Harrison Wilcox and Ryan Stegman, the duo that brought us the gone-too-soon She-Hulks mini-series.  It was fun seeing Jennifer Walters be her big, beautiful self (even if she wasn’t so big all the time).  I want to see more of Lyra as a young woman raised on a far-flung Femizon future, but what can you do with four issues, right?  We had a great time with  a fun and very youthful art style, the ladies were ladies as well as fighters and everyone learned a little something in the end.  Facial expressions were absolutely brilliant and I feel like I know a little more about Lyra, just by watching her eyes well up with tears when she’s sad or how her mouth drops open when she’s in shock.

I miss the big and vivacious She-Hulk hiding her mousy human self behind her, but the new Jen is a lot more mature and in control;  while she’s still comforting herself in bubble baths and the arms of Wyatt Wingfoot, she’s more centered and kind of heading out on a new path in her life, just with a mentee in tow.  Jen and Lyra had a great rapport with not just each other, but Bruce Banner and the villains they faced.  In fact, I would really like to see more of “Bruce’s Angels,” the sort of sexier, funnier version of X-Force for the Hulk set.

With the series being limited to just four issues, I think the readers missed out on a lot.  The last issue had to deliver on so much it didn’t match the previous issues, making me 98% certain this wasn’t supposed to be a mini-series at all, but an ongoing (wasn’t it first solicited as an ongoing?).  Even the end message is that sometimes you protect people that fear and hate you.  I know what he’s getting at, but Mr. Wilcox sounds like he’s swiping from the X-Men’s tagline.  Yeah, people fear and hate mutations for what that makes them in the evolutionary food chain, because there’s a science out there that can’t be easily explained or ‘cured’, that there’s some envy when the guy next door can fly and you got your dad’s pimply face gene, etc.  Personally, I think people ‘fear and hate’ the Hulk (or Hulk-ism, to coin a term) because people don’t like seeing how close they are to becoming a monster themselves.  The Hulk is emotionally-driven and, while we may not be able to trow a truck when we get mad, sometimes it can feel like your emotions get the best of you and you can say things you don’t mean, break things you didn’t want broken and make yourself and others miserable.  We hate and fear the Hulk because science doesn’t fuel him in so much as the human condition does.

Wow, I got off track.  Anyhow, She-Hulks ended on a note that Wilcox and Stegman should have had just a few more pages to explain.  Because they had less time, I sort of filled in the blanks in my head; I could totally be off base and they Wilcox meant something totally different with the ending of his story, but will be ever know?  Why did this feel so short?  How do some stories get to be mini-series?  Or back-up stories or quarterly issues?

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Jeff Smith shows off Superman art from unannounced DC Book

Cartoonist Jeff Smith is best known for his creator-owned work, from his epic Bone to his current dimension-jumping series Rasl. But although he’s a big proponent of creator-owned comics and self-publishing, he still manages to find time in his day to do work on company-owned characters such as the memorable Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil which centered around DC’s Captain Marvel.

Well, as it turns out — he’s not done yet.

Last night on his blog, Smith posted a sketch from a new project he’s working on — a sketch of Superman. According to the cartoonist, it’s a sketch for an upcoming project for DC. Nothing else is said about the shape or scope of this upcoming work, but Smith does talk about his own personal connection with the character.

“One of my favorite memories of Superman,” says the artist,” is from when I was a kid was the character busting through walls, either on the TV show, or as a plastic Aurora model kit.”

This week is a big one for Smith — the new illustrated Bone novel, Bone: Quest For the Spark, hit shelves. Written by Tom Sniegoski with illustrations by SMith, it’s the first in a trilogy which introduces three new members of the Bone family.

Flashpoint action figures offer some clues to … something

Flashpoint action figures

Following the icons and first issue cover reveal from earlier today, DC Comics has unveiled a look at four action figures from the upcoming Flashpoint event. The Flash looks unchanged, but as you can see Batman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg are a bit different.