I hope everyone that went out to the New York Comic Con had a lot of fun and got a lot of loot. I spent my weekend working overtime *mumble grumble*. At least it’s new comic day, so it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy our month’s end offerings!

Tom Bondurant’s Pick of the Week

Good to see new issues of Hero Squared, Green Lantern, and Action Comics, but my pick this week is Firestorm #33, the apparent beginning of the end of the cancelled series, barring a Manhunter-like reprieve. It gets what looks like a decent sendoff from writer Dwayne McDuffie, layout artist Dan Jurgens, penciller Ken Lashley, and inker Rob Stull, as Stormy meets Seven Soldiers’ Mister Miracle and the rest of the New Gods. Previous writers Dan Jolley and Stuart Moore (with artists Chriscross and Jamal Igle) made this version of Firestorm a fairly straightforward, enjoyable exercise in superheroics, so I wouldn’t expect anything less from McDuffie. DC has a preview here, and if you like what you read also offers a paperback reprinting the One Year Later issues (#s 23-27)

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I mentioned earlier that due to scheduling conflicts Shane won’t be doing a Meanwhile … today, which means you’re stuck with me as a “guest columnist.” Shane usually starts off the column with an intro paragraph, so let’s keep things legal:

There have been so many shocks and surprises and the internet just can’t be broken anymore. It’s become tougher, like when you tear a phone book into pieces and eventually it just won’t rip anymore. How do you tell who’s who and what’s what in this new world out there? Don’t worry. I’m here to comfort and guide. Welcome to the world outside B@N. Welcome to Meanwhile….

For the past few weeks Shane has been interviewing bloggers and running other special features in the “new and improved” Meanwhile. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to do anything that clever, so you’ll have to settle for some “old school” Meanwhile linkage. So let’s get to it …

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If you live anywhere near the vicinity of Austin, Texas, and are in deep need of an independent comix fix, you need to check out the third annual STAPLE! show this Saturday, March 3 at the Red Oak Ballroom.

Among the heavy hitters featured at this year’s show: Special guest Dean Haspiel, nee of Billy Dogma, The Quitter and American Splendor, and creators from Top Shelf Productions, Dead Squirrel Girl and Sparkplug.

Besides some cool free parties before and after the show and panels during the day, admission is only $5. Learn more about all the vitals here.

There’s some nice tidbits from Sci Fi Wire and IGN about a Sin City sequel, but here’s the best news of all: Jessica Alba’s Nancy Callahan character from That Yellow Bastard returns in a brand new story!

Last week, Harlan Ellison continued his ongoing rant about Gary Groth and Fantagraphics, making all sorts of nasty charges:

Oh, and by the way, Gary, before you mulct all those dollars out of your naive site-squatters with a Fantagraphics Defense Fund, why not tell them what you did with the money donated to the LAST defense fund? You remember that one, don’tcha, kiddo: the Michael Fleisher lawsuit? Does the word Bahamas strike a familiar note?

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Over at Mangablog, Brigid is a posting machine, putting up a ton of interesting news items following her trip to the NYCC. Top on the list for me is the fact that Viz is going to be reprinting Junji Ito’s “Gyo” and “Uzumaki” under their Signature label.

There’s other news, of course, including information on CPM, who had been dormant for most of 2006, and Del Rey’s upcoming titles. And even suggestions that the fourth volume of Yotsuba will be out soon. Cool beans.

Over at CBR, Gail Simone’s thread on Rick Olney is still going (Oh, just start here, picked at random from yesterday). And, if some of the more recent posts are anything to go by, going badly for all involved.

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Andrew Foley, who co-wrote Cowboys & Aliens for Platinum Studios, left a comment on my post about Broken Frontier yesterday that included a statement from Broken Frontier Editor-in-Chief Frederik Hautain about some technical problems the site has experienced:

Our regular visitors will surely have noted the lack of updates recently on Broken Frontier. Rest assured, there’s no reason for concern and the explanation is pretty simple…

On Thursday, February 15, a server switch was initiated to put everything in place for our site expansion. Initially, this resulted in some downtime, a problem that was resolved fairly quickly and the main site and forums were put back online shortly afterward.

Still, a few technical issues with our site’s admin panel had to be ironed out before any new content could be posted. Most of these tech issues have been resolved, and the final bump in the road - restoring our email server - will be fixed today.

To make matters worse, last Wednesday, February 20, I got hit with a severe bout of the flu, so bad even that my doctor didn’t clear me to fly out to NY for this past weekend’s New York Comic-Con. That, along with the site’s technical problems, trashed our plans to get some convention coverage on the site.

Anyway, we’re getting back in the game full force this week. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me at snapshot5@hotmail.com.

Thanks for sticking with us,

Frederik Hautain
Editor In Chief

Looks like the site has been updated with new news today, including a brief blurb on one of my favorite comic series, Boneyard, reaching a milestone.

2000AD may be seven years ago, but it’s also thirty years old as the BBC looks back to the future:

Like so much of science fiction, the comic 2000AD, celebrating its 30th birthday, has to cope with its “predictions” coming to pass rather more quickly than expected.

The comic’s most famous character, the unblinking dispenser of justice, Judge Dredd, has become a byword for excessive authoritarian powers.

It’s the column and headline writers’ first port of call in this time of concern over both anti-social behaviour, and the powers used to combat it.

As Britain has toyed with the idea of giving police officers more and more authority, the papers have talked of “an army of Judge Dredds” and “Judge Dredd powers”.

It might only be on-the-spot fines for vandals and burglars being suggested now, but the newspapers seem to think it’s a slippery slope to Mega City One, the massive urban nightmare that provides the backdrop to Judge Dredd.

Slundigg Vur Whatever, earthlets.

“They All Got In”.

Thanks, ICv2.

Just like last week, Skottie Young has posted more character designs for his upcoming run on New X-Men:

Young writes about Pixie:

I wanted to make here wings look more like a butter fly than just ovals on her back. I pulled out the master of Pixies and Fairies, Brian Froud and went to town. I tried to make her hair a little more unique as well, giving you the sense that she is a pixie. something uncovential to a normal girls hair. Keeping it cute, but also making it a little fun in the process. When I think of faries, or pixies, I think of nature. Trees, flowers, gras..etc. Since they live in a school, surrounded by giant robots and rooms full of tech things, I added the nature into her clothes. By adding some stiched on patches of flowers and vines her her jeans, i think I can keep the feeling of nature in her character with out having her sitting on tree stumps and the like.

Subtlety may not be his strong point, but nonetheless, Erik Larsen talks politics:

Editorializing on the comic book page is risky business. There’s always a huge risk of offending or alienating a good chunk of your audience. Like religion, it’s a touchy subject. Say or do the wrong thing and readers will drop your book like a bad habit.

It’s no wonder my sales figures are in freefall… It really struck me, as I was writing and drawing “Savage Dragon” #119, which featured on its cover the Dragon punching President George W. Bush in the face. Now, I think old George is a guy who well-deserves a good poke in the snoot but in writing the story, it really hit home that what I was doing was, well, wrong and that it wasn’t possible to do it right regardless of what I did.

There’s been some cross-blog discussion recently of the Friends of Lulu Empowerment Fund, and a lot of misunderstanding exchanged in that discussion. FoL Boardmember Leigh Dragoon is offering a place to clear up the confusion:

Friends of Lulu Empowerment Fund - The Straight Dope
A lot of ire has been raised over the past couple of weeks in the Blog-o-Sphere concerning Friends of Lulu’s now defunct Empowerment Fund, a project which was spear-headed by former Friends of Lulu board member, Ronee Bourgeois. As a Friends of Lulu board member, I, like the other current board members, take the integrity of FOL very seriously. I have decided to attempt to address the issues which continue to be raised regarding the Empowerment Fund and the status of the contributions to that Fund. I have outlined the salient facts below:

1. Ronee announced the Empowerment Fund to the public without the agreement of the rest of the board.

2. Ronee is no longer in any way associated with Friends of Lulu.

3. The Empowerment Fund is a defunct concept which Friends of Lulu will no longer be pursuing.

4. I have examined the PayPal statements. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Ronee misappropriated any funds. In fact, she donated funds.

5. We offered Fund contributors a refund period.

6. Money was spent ONLY on the Fund’s intended purpose: namely, to defray court costs for Taki Soma.

I will try my best to answer any questions left in the comments section of this post.

If there are any interested parties reading, she’s taking questions and answering them in her own livejournal.

The University of Florida’s Department of English, which publishes the peer-reviewed journal on comics called ImageTexT, is hosting two annual conferences — one on games and digital media, and one on comics and graphic novels — on March 1-4:

The third annual Conference on Games and Digital Media will be held March 1 in Reitz Student Union Room 361 and March 2 in Room 285. Guest speakers will include Dave Szulborski, creator of the game “Chasing the Wish,” and Nick Montfort, author of “Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction.”

The fifth annual Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels will be held March 3 in Room 282 of the Reitz Student Union and March 4 at the Alachua County Library, downtown headquarters. Guest speakers include comic artists Jeff Smith, “Bone”; Dylan Horrocks, “Hicksville”; and Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen.”

Events will run each day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Held back-to-back for the first year, the two conferences will feature the joint theme of World Building and will explore how virtual, digital and narrative worlds are created in each medium.

Check out the latest issue of ImageTexT, which features an interview with Bryan Talbot.

Something I remember fondly from my youth were the adverts in British reprints of Marvel comics where clip art-ed versions of the characters appeared in subscription ads or advertisements for the latest issue of Super Spider-Man or whatever, telling the reader to pick up the latest copy now (Of course, I tried to find some of these on Google and failed, so maybe I’ve made these up in my unreliable memory). Thankfully, Matt Silady has brought those days back with this form for you to print out and take to your retailer, telling him that, yes, you really do want to order a copy of his graphic novel The Homeless Channel.

The cool folks over at Isotope have an eight-page preview of Garage Band, due in April from First Second books. Go check it out.

Due to some conflicts, Shane Bailey unfortunately couldn’t write a new edition of Meanwhile this week … don’t worry, he’ll be back next week. I’ve agreed to fill in for him and will have a brand spankin’ new Meanwhile up later today.

However, since we just passed the one-year anniversary of the column, which began back in February of 2006 at The Great Curve, I thought this week I’d present something special. Yes, below you will find Shane’s very first Meanwhile column, from back before Blog@Newsarama existed. Hopefully all the links still work. Enjoy!

Welcome to the first of many journeys around what’s known collectively as the comic blogosphere. The blogosphere seems to grow larger every day and just like comics, sometimes it’s pretty easy to get a little lost. “Meanwhile…” will act as your map pointing out what interesting discussions are happening out there while you’re reading the Great Curve. Sit back, relax, and let’s take a look, shall we?

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There’s an interesting Associated Press story making the rounds about the use of a manga character, Prince Pickles, by Japanese military to “soften” their image, called strangely enough the “cute offensive.”

Here’s an interesting take from Rika Kayama, a psychiatrist and author, via the blog site, Japan Probe: “This could only happen in a country that is so open to immaturity. Authorities here feel it’s easier and less threatening to use characters to get the public to accept them, rather than explain the facts.”

Caroline McCarthy with CNET writes about the digital versus hardcopy comic debate after speaking to several people at this past weekend’s New York Comic-Con:

“There are two kinds of comic fans,” said Russell Williams, the CEO of Flying Labs Software, which offered a demo of the beta for its upcoming online role-playing game, Pirates of the Burning Sea. “There are the collectors, and then there are people who just enjoy it for what it is.” He pointed out a display of Marvel DVDs that contain hundreds of digitized versions of classic Spider-Man comics, and proudly declared that DVDs had made it possible for him to bring 2,500 comic books on the plane with him.

“I’ve always got it with me,” Williams said of the collection.

According to Williams, the digital age has opened up a whole new set of possibilities for the comic industry. “Technology is now getting to the point where the market can follow the people who don’t have the time” or space to maintain a comic book collection, he said. Digital comics, Williams added, can give fans access to older titles that would otherwise be in storage. If his prediction is correct, this will open up a whole new segment of the comic fan market.

Williams doesn’t believe that new media will kill the paper comic book trade. “The collectors will always exist, no matter what,” he said.

Interestingly enough, there’s no mention of the Marvel or Top Cow announcements, but plenty of food for thought otherwise.

Eckhart Reveals ‘Dark Knight’ Details

Aaron Eckhart talks to VH1.com about his upcoming role as Two-Face in the next Batman movie:

“Batman is a complex character, and Two-Face comes a little bit from the same world,” Eckhart insisted. “But [at the same time] he’s apart from it.”

Eckhart reported that the key to playing Two-Face, then, is finding specifically how he mirrors — and where he differs — from the Caped Crusader.

“I’m looking for the tension between the two, the similarities between the two,” Eckhart said of his portrayal. “I want to find what’s similar to Batman and then find what’s opposite to him.”

Two-Face flips a coin to decide how he’s going to act. But will Eckhart even get the chance? Rumors persist that Eckhart’s role as Dent will set him up as the main villain in the series’ third installment, with his disfigurement coming toward the end of the second film.

Is Eckhart exclusively Harvey Dent in “The Dark Knight”?

“Yeah,” Eckhart said, before reconsidering after a brief pause, “Well, I’m Harvey Dent … then I go into Harvey Two-Face.”

Eckhart says if he were to reveal who is responsible for scarring Dent in the film, the studio would kill him.

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