“That’s what being a hero is all about, it’s that sometimes, you gotta take out a baby”: That’s Tucker Stone trying to look on the positive side of things in his latest Advanced Common Sense, which means Donna Troy taking out a zombie baby is actually an admirable thing, and Justice League: Cry For Justice helps teach kids about their bodies…? Give it a watch, but be warned, it may not be safe for work, depending on what you see when you see Stone’s defense of Gotham City Sirens.

“There is going to be an EXTREMELY COOL movie based on this coming out next year, and when it comes out if you’ve read this back in 2009 it will make you EXTREMELY COOL also”: Colin Panetta tries out a strategy for making people want to try reading Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series in this piece.

“Be prepared for a lecture on how the series’ mythopoeic pantheism informs its assertion of a sort of mimetic eschatalogical narrative which defies conventional exegeses. Also: Lacunae!”: Is Glen Weldon being contrary, or dumb or is this the way one reacts to a classic work if one comes to it too late? I often wonder what it would be like coming to The Sandman late. Like, really late—like, after it stopped appearing as a serial comic book, and could be experienced for the first time in trade late. (The special was my first issue, and I started reading it monthly somewhere during Fables and Reflections). NPR’s Weldon contends there is an extremely high bar of entry between new readers and The Sandman, apparently because J’onn J’onnz, Mister Miracle and Dr. Destiny are in the first volume. I’m not sure I agree at all, in the same way that you don’t need to know all that much about Calliope or Bast to understand their appearances, a thorough knowledge of Element Girl probably isn’t necessary to understand hers. But then, I think Weldon over-thinks Sandman: He takes three paragraphs to explain the premise, which can be summed up even more directly as “The story of story in the 20th century.”

Martin Eden is certainly doing something right: I’ve seen more stories about his Spandex in my Google News feed the last few days than on just about any other topic. Here’s an interview in Wired.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

When it comes to superheroes and beards, there’s not a whole lot of overlap.

Sure, there’s Hercules, and there’s Odin — goateed folks like Tony Stark and Oliver Queen just don’t make the cut — but otherwise, the number is pretty sparse. But Croatian illustrator Vanja Mrgan is looking to bridge that divide, with his site, Beards and Bellies.

You wouldn’t know it, but underneath that beard, Batman has another fist. (Or a Whirly-Bat.) It’s some pretty funny stuff. Go ahead and check out the rest of the images here.

Don’t worry, the artist of Green Arrow: Year One isn’t having a feud with Ollie Queen.

According to Jock’s Twitter feed, apparently his drawings of the left-leaning superhero were co-opted by the Home of Green Arrow and Friends… a web site which supports the far-right British National Party, which a particular anti-immigration, anti-minority bent. (I thought the above image was appropriate — if Ollie found out about this, he probably wouldn’t leave that tree for a week.)

“i’ve emailed the site and i’ll be letting DC’s legal dept know,” Jock added on Twitter. “this is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth….”

I can imagine, whatever your politics, that Ollie probably wouldn’t be thrilled with his likeness going here either, with gems like, “wake up people or we are going to go the way of the Christians of Kosovo, the Red Indians, Incas, Australian aborigines and wind up as dead as a Dodo. The harsh fact of nature is this.  Land belongs to those who occupy and hold it, not give it away.” Ugh. We’ll keep you posted if anything changes.

Could this be the start of an online paradigm shift?

IDW Publishing announced this week of the creation of their very own storefront app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, in conjunction with iVerse Media. iVerse has helped translate a lot of comics to the iPhone, including Atomic Robo, Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer, Neozoic, Proof, and, of course, IDW’s Star Trek: Countdown, which came out in conjunction with the hit J.J. Abrams film.

“We’ve spent the past several months building and refining these apps and creating a large catalog that includes both classic series and fresh stories,” Jeff Webber, IDW’s ePublishing Director, said in a statement. “IDW has one of the most diverse collections in comics, and it now fits in your pocket!”

The app, called IDW Comics, currently holds 10 free comics, with more than 200 comics available for purchase. The company says the site will be regularly updated with new releases. Currently, they have books up as recent as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Music Box, which only came out about three weeks ago.

For me, IDW — the first company to have their own storefront app — has a fairly interesting idea. While larger cities with numerous comic shops have greater flexibility in terms of getting their comics out, those in smaller towns have their own sets of difficulties: understaffed shops, delayed availability of books, and sometimes an enormous distance between stores. With companies like iVerse and comiXology beginning to trickle books to iPhones — albeit at a decent delay — and digital download programs such as Longbox on the horizon, could simultaneous print and online distribution be the next big thing? Sound off, Rama readers!

Once he was a Loser — and now he’s one of Odin’s right hand men!

Marvel announced today that Idris Elba (who will be in the upcoming Losers film) will be joining the cast of Thor as Heimdall. In the comics, Heimdall stands as the guardian of Asgard’s Rainbow Bridge.

With all the hubbub surrounding the recent casting of the Warriors Three, is there anyone else left to be cast? With Kenneth Branagh behind the wheel, I’m curious to see how this thing shakes out.

The film is due out in May 2011.

For comic book film lovers, sometimes the Blu-Ray debate is a tough one. On the one hand, Blu-Ray is becoming more and more prevalent due to the PS3 — on the other hand, though, why give up your existing DVDs to buy a more expensive Blu-Ray copy of the same thing?

Well, for at least some of these genre offerings, Warner Bros. is offering a compromise with their DVD2Blu program — trade in your DVDs for their Blu-Ray counterparts for a discounted price.

Relevant titles for our crowd include A Clockwork Orange, Constantine, Dark City, A History of Violence, Golden Compass, Lost Boys, The Orphange, Pan’s Labyrinth, A Scanner Darkly, Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman Returns, The Shining, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Esther Inglis-Arkell read what looks like this past Wednesday’s Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant #1, and she did not enjoy the section by Jen Van Meter and Justiniano (pretty nice looking art, though!).

During that scene, Cyclone and Power Girl talk about how cool Power Girl’s costume is, and how, in fact, it is not at all sexist or unusual in anyway that there’s a big cleavage window in it…in fact, that’s the best part because of the way it unsettles criminals and blah blah blah. Inglis-Arkell then rattles off all the other explanations for Power Girl’s sexy costumes, and the sexy costumes of her female crime-fighting peers she’s read. None of which seem to include “Just because the person who designed it thought it was sexy, okay?”

Seriously, go read Inglis-Arkell’s post. Then come back and we’ll talk more, okay?

I can’t disagree with anything she said in her post; she’s dead-on right. If I had anything to add, it would be that the writer’s doing the justification of the costumes almost never have any real control over those costumes, and probably think they’re doing something valuable by finding a reason for explaining a costuming choice that sounds better than “Some guy 20-65 years ago though this was totally hot, and wondered if his editors would let him get away with it.” (That doesn’t make it any less irritating though, especially for a character like Power Girl, who is given explanation after explanation for her cleavage window. The first one of these speeches you read is never as annoying as the second, third or fifth).

Oh, and I should note it annoys me whenever a writer tries too hard to explain a goofy or silly element of a superhero comic, costuming or otherwise, in a way that writer thinks sounds more “realistic.”

For example, in this week’s Flash: Rebirth, Geoff Johns has a character mention that Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick where’s his totally boss soup-bowl hat because it reminds him of the helmet his father wore during World War I.

No, he wears it because he always wore it, and he started wearing it because it looked cool. (Oh, and the Roman god Mercury probably had something to do with that). Whether or not you think Power Girl’s costume looks cool or is sexy, the person who designed it certainly did, and the editors and artists responsible for dressing her since agreed and kept it. Some things about super-comics don’t need to be explained, and when a writer tries to explain them, they only draw attetnion to them and draw attention to the fact that the writer is struggling with their work.

Nothing knocks one out of a super-comic faster than the writer acknowleding that they’re not really fond of or don’t really get super-comics.

Gotta get back? Back to the past?

Well, Samurai Jack won’t disappoint — because he might be hitting the big screen in 2011.

Frederator has an interview up with series creator Genndy Tartakovsky, saying that he is teaming up with J.J. Abrams for a “2D/stereoscopic 3D production” of the legendary samurai. What’s more, IMBD has an announcement suggesting a 2011 release date! If that’s true, color me excited — Samurai Jack was an awesome show, probably with the best theme song on Cartoon Network. What do you think?

“New Moon” and all things Twilight is a much-debated subject. Already talked about here, here, and here, it opens the floodgate for debate on numerous things such as whether or not author Stephenie Meyer can form a simple sentence, to why her lead character, Bella, is a poor role model for young girls.

Or whether you’re Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Whatever the debate maybe, you can’t deny this spoof is possibly the funniest yet.

Keep ‘em coming, Itsjustsomerandomguy and gal!

The Twilight phenomenon is nothing new. It’s just the apotheosis of a sort of pop-cultural nosferatu makeover that has been chugging along since Anne Rice sent moody young romantics swooning with Interview With a Vampire way back in 1976. Purists may scoff at the melodrama and angst that have been infused into the sinister vampire archetype by authors like Stephenie Meyer or Laurell Hamilton, but nowadays, the real paroxysms of angst are coming from tormented horror fans who can’t stop moaning about the sparkling Nu-Vampire paradigm. Still, whining sourpuss fans should take heart. If you hunt hard enough, there are still plenty of counterpoints to the new moon that is rising, and even stories that integrate elements of the romanticized Nu-Nosferatu in a way even anti-Twilight curmudgeons can appreciate. Consider the following suggestions a sort of prescription for the current vampire epidemic going around, a treatment regime of literary inoculations and cinematic antidotes that can help you survive. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2004’s Green Lantern: Rebirth, Geoff Johns had some pretty difficult challenges to wrestle with. Not only did he need to bring the late and outdated Hal Jordan character back to life—no easy feat given the nature of his death and afterlife at the time—and convince readers there was any point to doing so at all, he also had to come up with a solution to the contentious Green Lantern fan issue of which of the many characters to have the name should be the Green Lantern, and what to do with the rest of ‘em.

I thought Johns’ “Everyone wins!” solution was rather elegant. He simply made all the possible contenders Green Lanterns, and DC found books for all of them to appear in, even if the main Green Lantern monthly could only star one of ‘em. It was a solution facilitated by the fact that the Green Lantern concept has so long included an army of Green Lantern characters all over outer space—if there were going to be at least 3600 Green Lanterns, surely there was room for four or five Earth men among them, right?

Johns’ current Rebirth series, in which he’s again working with artist Ethan Van Sciver, faces similar problems, although they’re magnified.

Once again Johns has to convince readers that a late and outdated character needs to be brought back to life, but Barry Allen had been dead far, far longer than Jordan, and his replacement Wally West “took” better than Jordan’s replacement Kyle Rayner.

And once again, he has to figure out what to do with the other possible contenders for the name, if Barry Allen were to come back. Unlike Green Lantern, The Flash doesn’t have a built-in army/team component to the concept though, so pluralizing The Flash won’t come quite as naturally, if that is what Johns is intending.

The Flash: Rebirth is only five-sixths over at this point, but it seems as if the final status of all the Flashes was revealed in this week’s issue (additionally, several big DC storylines, most notably Blackest Night, are set after the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth, and have thus offered pretty strong hints). Also, we got a look at what they may be wearing from now on.

So after the jump, a badly-scanned image of a two-page Van Sciver-drawn spread, and some thoughts about the characters on it…and the clothes they’re wearing. (And, um, “spoilers,” obviously).

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month, we sat down with some of the icons of comics to discuss how they felt about how they were represented in Halloween costumes. This month, with Thanksgiving fast approaching, we thought that we’d risk humorless tweets and reach out to ask what our heroes find themselves thankful for this year. We begin with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, as they gather at the Infinite Mansion. It turns out that after some tinkering with a leftover device of Kang’s, they were able to round-up Avengers past and present. We begin with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Hank Pym, and the Hulk.

NRAMA: Thanks for agreeing to speak with us. Cap, Hulk . . . nice to see you again.

Captain America: You too, young man.

Hulk: Hi, Blog Guy.

Iron Man: Which one of you is asking the questions?

NRAMA: Excuse me?

Thor: Pardon friend Iron Man. The Armored Avenger hath been in his cups all morning.

Iron Man: That’s a lie! I started last night. Nothing says Thanksgiving like Wild Turkey!

Wasp: Oh boy.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

WORLD OF HURT - The Thrill-Seekers - Episode 6: “Calling One In”

For the longest time, this was my favorite strip.  I even put it on the back of my business card, with re-worked dialogue.

Here we get to see one way in which Pastor cashes in the favors that are owed him.  Also, this is my first opportunity to really expand on the world in which Pastor operates.  I had the idea that Pastor may have a connection inside a Nation of Islam-esque organization.  Detoxing junkies was one of the community services the Nation Of Islam engaged in during the 1960s and 1970s.  (They may still do it.  I’m not sure.)  I wanted Pastor to come across as familiar with them by use of the traditional Islamic greeting, but his use of Brother Omar’s birth name suggests a certain casual dismissiveness, too.  If space had allowed, he was going to be a lot MORE harsh, because I wanted to include dialogue to the effect of “Keep him under wraps.  I don’t wanna find him on the corner sellin’ bean pies!”  See, now I’m really gonna get in trouble…

Incidentally, I completed this strip faster than any other, because I was heading to Houston to celebrate my brother’s birthday, and I was determined not to miss my deadline.

Remember, the latest episodes of WORLD OF HURT - The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

What happens when the government assembles the greatest creative minds — from chemistry to creative writing — to devise end-game scenarios?

The answer is Unthinkable — and Mandalay has just picked it up.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that producers Peter Gruber and Cathy Schulman have picked up the property, written by Mark Sable and illustrated by Julian Totino Todesco. On BOOM!’s side of the fence, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby are also on board for the project.

This is not the first time that a BOOM! Studios property has been picked up by Hollywood: Universal has picked up Talent, Tag, and 2 Guns, while CBS snagged Station and David Entertainment has acquired North Wind. Still, this series was one of the highest-concept books of 2009, so Sable has definitely earned this great news. What say you, Rama readers?

There’s a new regular feature at Blog@, and it’s literally all about the fans. Fan Fandom will highlight particularly great-looking or well-written fan sites from across the span of comics (and one degree out, as we like to say). It’s a truth of this medium that it owes its lifeblood to the readers. After all, they’re the ones that turn out in droves for conventions, films, and even the comic shops. Fandom itself is nothing new, unless you’ve already forgotten the late, great Jerry Bails or Forrest J. Ackerman. However, as fansites have gotten more sophisticated and intricate over the last decade, it’s high time that we give some a little recognition.

The first candidate? Gotham Knights Online. GKO distinguishes itself in a number of ways. It’s visually appealing, it covers a variety of Batman-related material, and it has a podcast that’s landed guest appearances by the likes of Greg Rucka and Mike Marts. In addition to discussing and reviewing new issues of the comics, a premium is also placed on covering “Batman: The Brave and The Bold” and items like the forthcoming “Batman: Reborn” figures from DC Direct.

Bob Tilley, Cory Lewellen, and Gary Allegra have done a solid job in getting this one together. One of my favorite pieces has been an interview with the composers for “B:TB&TB”, complete with clips that complement the conversation. So hey, do some fellow fans a solid and drop by. And don’t be afraid to post some of your other favorite, let me emphasize this, FAN sites below; they may very well pop up in a future Fan Fandom.

So after seeing yesterday’s post about the first look at Smallville’s Hawkman, a lot of the comments skewed towards the negative. While I feel the jury might still be out on that one, only one thing’s for certain:

THAT is how Hawkman is supposed to look. This piece, drawn by The Mighty’s Chris Samnee, is just freaking awesome. Get the right colorist on this guy, and a Samnee Hawkman might just sell gangbusters. What say you, Rama readers?

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

“Kenneth Branagh? A comic-book superhero movie? Are things really that tough? And not even an A-list Marvel hero—but Thor?”: Paid professional, film critic, author and apparent grown-up man Marshall Fine is shocked, shocked, shocked that talented directors and actors might make Hollywood superhero movies or voice cartoon animals. Marshall Fine hasn’t seen a single movie in the last ten years.

“It‘s a physics question…If she‘s falling, say, 100 metres, how fast is she going?”: Here’s a nice Chronicle Journal feature profiling comics fan and physics teacher James Kakalio, author of The Physics of Superheroes. The “she” doing the falling is, of course, Gwen Stacy, just a few seconds before physics murders her.

“I generally think in pretty visual terms when I’m writing…And so, this felt kind of natural in that way, and, of course, easier for me because I can, instead of really struggling over those descriptions, I can just say, here, you do this, you know?”: That’s prose writer-turned-graphic novel writer Kevin Baker on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, talking about Luna Park, his collaboration with artist Danijel Zezelj (and talking specifically about one of the benefits of the medium for someone used to doing all the describing himself). You can listen to it here (or just look at the pretty pictures) or read a transcript here.

Dammit. I shouldn’t have waited so long to write about Spandex: Martin Eden sent me a copy of his book about an all-gay superhero team to review, and I put it on my “to-review” stack and just haven’t gotten there yet. Now I’m missing the press roll-out! The Sun had a short piece on Spandex here, Digital Spy has another short piece here, and I suppose I should also mention that Rich Johnston has a piece over on his website, because if I don’t he’ll just show up in the comments section and let us all know anyway. You can learn more about the book here. (My three-word review of Spandex? Pretty good stuff.)

The biggest news a Moomin/Bjork fan could ever hope to hear: “Bjork Writes New Song for Freaky Finnish Childrens Movie” (Via The Beat)