Last week’s post made me think about what costumes say about characters. I know I had very clear ideas about what personality traits Arisia’s costume indicated, but some of the commenters here and on Comic-Bloc thought it suited her personality.

Very few people clarified how.

This brings me to this week. Normally, every week I go through my impressions of a particular panel, but this week I want to try something different. Below (From Green Lantern Corps #3) is the best shot of Soranik Natu’s costume I could find.
(more…)

Just in time for Halloween … via BoingBoing comes a link to a site that details how to make your own retractable Wolverine claws:

Adamantium not included.

City councils and mayors seem to fight all the time, but rarely does it involve superheroines with names like Thong Girl:

Unhappy that “Thong Girl 3” movie scenes were recently filmed in the Gallatin mayor’s office, city council members directed the city attorney to draft a new law that would prevent similar embarrassments.

Under the proposed law, filmmakers and people wanting to use the city’s buildings, time or equipment for private uses would have to seek the council’s permission.

So, the skinny here … Thong Girl, the main character in the film, apparently flies around Nashville fighting villains who want to turn country singers into rappers. If you’re familiar with Cowboy Troy, then you know how evil this truly is. Her powers come from her thong … literally. She can shoot lasers out of her ass when wearing them. You can read more about the movie itself over at the official website.

So now the mayor of Gallatin, Tenn. is in hot water with the city council because he let filmmaker Glen Weiss use his office to film scenes for the third Thong Girl movie (yes, it’s a trilogy!). And it’s getting international attention for the town, but not the kind the city council obviously wants.

Weiss also has a blog, where you can see the “Google Current” story on the undies bruhaha and hear directly from the man himself on all the attention he’s getting:

Whew! This is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and write anything since “ThongGate”. I call it ThongGate because this could very well be the ruination of a political career – and for that I am truly sorry. But I digress.

If you haven’t been following the news in the past few days, let me update you. My silly little film “Thong Girl 3: Revenge Of The Dark Widow” has been causing quite a stir… around the world! I kid you not; we have had correspondence and web hits from as far away as China, Australia, Poland and even Afghanistan.

I should also point out that when the news story mentions “White House filmmaker Glenn Weiss,” White House is a town in Tennessee. He doesn’t work for, y’know, that White House, which would have added another strange yet fun element to the story.

Over at his blog, Leonard Kirk has posted some artwork from Agents of Atlas #4:

One of our readers sent us a MySpace bulletin post from Blade: The Series star Jill Wagner where the actress says the Spike TV show, based on the Marvel comic and movie trilogy of the same name, won’t get a second season:

In order to see the message, you’d have to be a MySpace “friend” of Wagner’s. You can request to become her friend by visiting her MySpace page.

Thanks Theo!

Over on Gutter Zombie, colorist Matt Hollingsworth has started a thread where creators can share rejection letters like this one:

Matt writes:

Still cleaning the apartment, and lo’, what do I come across? Old rejection slips, that’s what!!! Hahahahaha! I saved a bunch of them. Funny thing is, I ended up working *with* or *for* many of these folks later on, often at other companies.

Like he did last month, comic reviewer Don MacPherson takes a closer look at the latest issue of Justice League … including the “preview” cover and the final cover:

Regular cover: The originally released “silhouette” teaser cover image doesn’t match with the final version. The silhouettes in the Hawkgirl and Red Tornado positions are as they should appear, but the silhouette in the Black Lightning position is completely different. The hairstyles for the silhouettes in the Vixen and Black Canary slots are different than they appear in the final version. Arsenal’s red bow is colored green in the silhouette version, which is perhaps the most glaring example of misdirection on DC’s part to hide the identities of various team members. Similar efforts to misdirect readers with changes to the original cover images for the first issue were made.

It also merits note that Hawkgirl has yet to appear in the story at all.

I had no idea who Cavalier or Captain Stingaree were before reading this … but now I know who the happy couple are.

Motley Fool gives the thumb’s up to Marvel’s deal with Cryptic to develop a massive multiplayer online game based in the Marvel U.:

It’s a huge victory for several reasons — first, because it allows Marvel to create name recognition for lesser-known characters before they hit the big screen. Second, because it opens a new market for Marvel MMOs that the company previously had little investment in. And finally, because it leverages a partner that knows a lot more about developing video games than Marvel does.

Indeed, Marvel is a comic book publisher first and a movie studio second. Game development isn’t really in its DNA. But it is very much woven into the fabric of both Cryptic and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which will publish the “Marvel Universe Online” for Vista-powered PCs and the Xbox 360.

It’s a fun article with lots of comic references … the author knows his Marvel Team-Up (or his Google, perhaps). You can read about the deal over at the mothership.

James Jean works on a poster for Nike.

Voice of America has an article up on the Indian invasion:

British-based company Virgin wants to introduce comic readers to Snake Woman, the heroine of one of its new comic books, inspired by Indian mythology. The books went on sale a few weeks ago in the United States, and have made a big impression already.

Reader Geremy Hartwik says the comics combine good writing and fresh ideas. “I can see the Indian elements especially in the character names and everything,” he says. “But I didn’t think they seemed only accessible, if you know anything about Indian culture. I think they seemed very accessible because the story is very well written.”

The article quotes sales figures, saying, “Virgin has sold 20,000 copies of its new comics in the first edition alone.” For more detailed, title-by-title sales numbers, check out Marc-Oliver Frisch’s sales analysis over at The Beat.

Phrase it like the cable news guys: is The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #4 making Bart Allen the new Kyle Rayner?

Let’s take a look.

SPOILERS after the jump.

(more…)

North Carolina Relish Now takes a look at 24-Hour Comics Day:

“It’s an interesting experiment,” Davis said. “What you get is sequential art at its most pure. It’s capturing creativity. You go from thought to page in less than 24 hours.”

Newcomers shouldn’t feel intimidated, he said.

“This is by no means whatsoever a professional event…. A lot of these people have never drawn anything before.” He said that the store has had participants as young as 10 years old take part.

“It gets you to appreciate sequential art,” he said, “and the creative power of comics in general.”

Silver Bullet’s competitor, Ssalefish Comics, opened in January and is participating in its first 24 Hour Comics Day.

“I get tired of the customers saying ‘I can draw better than this,’” said store owner Bret Parks. “Now, they’ve got the chance to prove it.”

And if I’m not mistaken, Newsarama poster Adam Casey is also quoted in the story:

One of Parks’ customers, Adam Casey, persuaded Parks to participate. Casey is a member of the Camel City Cartoonists’ Guild, a local club of comics artists.

Casey has not participated in 24 Hour Comics Day before, but has done a similar 48-hour film project. He appreciates the challenge posed by being creative on a deadline.

“So many people are kind of intimidated by the blank page,” he said. “When they start to make comics, they’re overwhelmed by choices of panel and page layout. Here, you kind of have to go with your gut, you don’t have time to hem and haw.”

24-Hour Comics Day is coming up on Oct. 7. For more details and a complete list of participating stores, check out their website.

Our very own Stephanie Chan will make a rare personal appearance at Pure Speculation ’06 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Oct. 13-15. She’ll be participating in “Comic Talks,” a series of panels sponsored by Happy Harbor Comics.

In addition to helping us out here at Blog@, Steph also works as a flatter for several colorists and colors a couple of books herself — Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose and School Bites. She’ll be joined on an “Inside the Industry” panel by Arcana Studios chief Sean O’Reilly, Conan artist Cary Nord and fellow colorist/boyfriend Dean Welsh.

If you’re attending, please stop by and say hi. And if you take pictures, please send them our way!

As we blogged about last week, Colleen Doran has started to post “Seasons of Spring,” a prequel to A Distant Soil, over at her website. The first four pages are available now.

This week’s Busted Knuckles tackles DC and Marvel’s marketing approach. After examining such common complaints as the continuity-laden storylines, the narrow focus on direct marketing, Smith asks a rare question about the typical setting of both DC and Marvel superhero stories:

Marvel and DC Comics really need to stick their head out of the office once in a while and see that this is a huge planet outside the streets of New York.

Not everything revolves around the Big Apple. Of course there are a few fictional cities like Gotham City, but that’s just New York with another suit of clothes. Both Marvel and DC love having blurbs in The New York Times. I believe it’s first and foremost an office ego stroke because it’s what’s important to them as locals. Yes, The New York Times is a world wide read paper, but if there’s no follow up then that’s just a one-night stand and not a long time relationship. In business you’re supposed to be in it for the long haul.

That New York Times article shouldn’t be the end; it should be the start. You take that and run as long and as far as you can. All the time you’re running with that you should be working on the next one to fly with.

As a writer and a marketing person I am amazed that there aren’t more stories and characters that take place more nationally and globally. Why can’t a story take place in North Dakota, Alabama, or Caldwell Idaho and have as much impact, drama and passion as one in New York? Sure, the writer is gonna have to work a little harder, but so what? Are we just collecting a check or are we gonna be really creative?

“It was obvious that Aaron would not be able to meet his original six-month target of returning ‘The Boondocks’ to newspapers… His Sunday strips needed to be in by mid-September to meet newspapers’ deadlines of publishing ‘The Boondocks’ by the end of October. We had to consider the newspapers currently running ‘The Boondocks’ reruns and expecting its return. It was unfair to keep them guessing any longer.”

The story.

My father has heard of Aaron McGruder, and he knows absolutely zippo about comics, so you can imagine the kind of impact a creator like Aaron McGruder has made on the comics landscape. McGruder has been extremely fortunate in that his success has come at so relatively young an age, and with a full season of the animated series under his belt, he’s in a position where he can call the shots as he likes. If he doesn’t want to return to the newspapers at this point in time, I’d say he’s earned the right, though I hope we get to see him in other, different projects as well. A new animated series, perhaps, say, at BET?

[* With apologies to Graeme, of course.] 

Yesterday we linked to Tuesday Morning Quarterback, the erudite sports column which occasionally ventures into geekland, because it was just now getting around to wondering about superhero biology.  Today, in its weekly roundup of reader animadversion, the aftermath begins:

Malan Blum of Calgary, Alberta asks of the X-Men, “If Professor Xavier’s abilities are produced by mutated genes and he teleported his consciousness into another person’s body, how could he retain his powers?” Malan, I am sure your question will not be answered in the next sequel. The next sequel is apparently going to be mainly about Wolverine in any case. Maybe about his sensitive side.

[...]

Thomas Lamme of Houston adds, “In ‘Batman Begins,’ the final story line hinges on the Caped Crusader’s ability to stop a machine that is vaporizing Gotham City’s water supply by disrupting the molecular structure of water. Yet all the people around, who are 60 percent water, are unaffected by the sinister machine. How did this story line make it through an entire production of the movie without somebody asking the obvious question?”

Finally, following up on last week’s column,

TMQ noted that in the Stargate shows, the Air Force has built four enormous faster-than-light starships using plans supplied by friendly aliens. I scoffed that this was impossible from a financial standpoint: “Hundreds of billions of dollars would be involved, and not even Congress could lose track of that much money.” Tom Hitchcock of Costa Mesa, Calif. counters, “It has been shown that our government can lose hundreds of billions of dollars.”  He points out that at this 2001 press conference, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon could not account for $2.3 trillion in past spending.

Kind of puts the “where’s my jetpack?” complaints in a new light, doesn’t it?

If the Internet was everyone, I’m surprised Civil War #4 made it off the shelves. Aside from the sheer thrill of getting to see Thor, any Thor, bring the thunder down, discontent is the majority of chatter, especially regarding the actions of superheroes Iron Man and Mister Fantastic. These two men are fine examples of might for right, putting their rather considerable genius to work to save the world on numerous occasions. So why are they cloning a god to send it after their friends in some mad scientist’s arms race? Who are these people and how are they going to do the things they did before? Is this the end of the hero vs. villain line of morality? Can a story become so dark there’s no light at the end of the tunnel anymore?

(more…)

This might anger any Marmaduke fans out there, so I’ll apologize to both of them in advance. But via BoingBoing comes a link to a project to make Marmaduke funny by putting him in New Yorker comics, giving him a theme song and rewriting the strip’s captions:

It’s a noble idea that is probably utterly doomed to failure … cliches about squeezing water from rocks or putting lipstick on pigs probably apply.

Related: Marmaduke explained

Over at the Onion, the AV Club takes a look at The Tick vs. Season One DVD set, which collects the first season of one of the all-time greatest cartoons ever:

…the series’ best parts generally come from the ancillary characters: The Tick’s nervous accountant sidekick Arthur, the smarmy Batman parody Die Fledermaus, the freaky grandstanding villains, the crowd of low-rent hero-wannabes like Bipolar Bear and the Caped Chameleon. They keep the tone varied and provide less over-the-top perspectives, turning The Tick into an unwitting straight man. The Tick‘s animation is cheap and the pacing is erratic, but it can’t help but be charming: It’s a giddily overeager, surreal satire about a man who never loses his enthusiasm for the things he loves, because he lacks the sensitivity to notice the laughter aimed at him.

The Tick vs. Season One is available now after a very long wait … maybe this crazy world is finally going sane.