Boston.com takes the time to sit down with seven-year-old cartooning wunderkind Alexa Kitchen who has a new book of postcards out, entitled Kidding Around:

Drawn with assurance and economy, her comics reveal a wry wit and an eye for psychological detail. One page on the coffee table details a series of nuanced facial expressions, such as a girl longing for her crush.

“I like a comic where there are a lot of funny little details you can see,” Alexa says. “I like a comic that makes me laugh. I really hate ‘Scooby Doo.’ “

An unnamed writer for Scripps Howard News Service wonders why sports and comic books haven’t had a happier history:

There have been many comics-related premiums associated with sports stars before (like DC’s “King James” in 2004, starring Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James). And many pro athletes are avowed comics fans — notably Shaquille O’Neal of the Miami Heat, who sports a Superman logo tattoo and starred in “Steel,” a 1997 movie based on a DC character.

So comic books are pretty well represented in sports. But going the other way — sports in comic books — is a pretty bumpy ride. There actually have been lots of sports-related comic books, but none were very successful.

Of course, the writer completely ignores manga, which has a long, and extremely successful, relationship with sports stories: Slam Dunk, I’ll, Prince of Tennis, Dokaben, Touch, Star of the Giants, and so on.

At Sound Generator, Matt Sheret talks with writer-artist Jamie McKelvie about his upcoming Image Comics miniseries, Suburban Glamour, and his collaboration with Kieron Gillen, Phonogram.

Wondering what all the fuss is about regarding Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkon Kinkreet? Well, then, IGN.com provides an overview of the series, recently collected by Viz in the 614-page Black & White edition:

Chances are you’ve heard about this book already. The hype machine has been hard and heavy to make sure that people know this book and anime are out there to be found. As with all things hype, we always proceed with caution, but it’s difficult to ignore the praise this series has already received. Paul Pope (THB, Batman Year 100) says “(Creator) Taiyo Matsumoto is a genre defying manga-ka with an approach unlike any other modern Japanese (or American) cartoonist.” As mentioned previously, Giant Robot’s Eric Nakamura calls Matsumoto’s work “a style that’s an evolutionary step of manga,” adding that “he diplays some of his European (art) training, fused with an indie comic style of imperfect lines.” [Viz Editorial Director Elizabeth] Kawasaki adds “I can’t remember the last time I read 600-plus pages in one afternoon. I couldn’t put it down.”

These are but a handful of quotes surrounding this book, and there are more than enough out there to make anyone believe this is the manga’s second coming. Is it manga 2.0? 3.0? It’s certainly a blending of what we’ve come to see as manga “conventions” with some of the style of Matsumoto’s Eurpoean artistic heroes like Moebius. Like his other work, Blue Spring, he paints an at-times honest and at-times surreal view of the urban decay going on around his central characters. “It’s powerful stuff,” adds Kawasaki. “It’s sad. It’s hopeful. It’s extremely violent. It’s a touching love story. And it’s a tale of survival.”

Unfortunately, I don’t have my copy of Black & White yet. Curse you, monthly comics shipments.

Related: Frames Per Second celebrates the release of the Tekkon Kinkreet DVD with three days of related content. First up, a gallery devoted to the look of the setting, Treasure Town, from reference photos to completed images.

To mark the release of Halo 3, pranksters from MIT decked out the statue of John P. Harvard in Harvard Yard with a Spartan helmet — “Master Chief in Training” was written on the back — and an assault rifle.

(Via Neatorama)

It’s not up on the Expo’s Web site yet, but Heidi has the full list of guests, panels and moderated discussions for you to peruse. I’ll probably be attending this one:

The State of Comics Criticism – Comics are getting more press than ever, but how good is the press? Is it too good? Do comics suffer from the lack of a vibrant critical milieu? Gary Groth (The Comics Journal), Tim Hodler (Comics Comic), Dan Nadel (Picturebox/Comics Comics), and Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics) discuss in a conversation led by Bill Kartalopoulos.

After what was a fairly big week for releases, we shift back into low-key mode this Wednesday.

Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, this week brings another issue of All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder (the seventh issue since July 2005!). It also sees the first full and official issues of Dwayne McDuffie and Sean McKeever’s tenures on Justice League of America and Teen Titans, a hardcover collection for Archaia Studios Press’ edition of The Killer, and a couple of annuals from Marvel.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

(more…)

The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat has reported that Michael George, owner of Comics World and organizer of the Pittsburgh Comic-Con, has waived extradition to Michigan, where he faces charges for the murder of his wife 17 years ago.

As Newsarama reported on Aug. 7, George was arrested in Pennsylvania but was to be extradited to Michigan. According to the latest report, Michigan authorities have charged George with first- and second-degree murder and a weapons violation in the execution-style killing of his then-wife, Barbara Marie George, on July 13, 1990, in the back area of the comics shop he owned at the time north of Detroit. According to reports, the 32-year-old woman died from a single, close-range gunshot to the head from a semi-automatic handgun after she closed the comics shop, also called Comics World, to prepare for a surprise birthday party for her husband. Reports also indicate $30,000 worth of comics were stolen at the time.

George’s attorney, Tim Leventry, said George decided to fight the charges in Michigan after receiving documents about the case from prosecutors. From the article:

“No information in those documents, we believe, suggests any form of homicide,” Leventry said.

“We want to get Mr. George to Michigan as quickly as possible to have a preliminary hearing.”

George is expected to be transported to Michigan in 10 days to two weeks, Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler said.

The article goes on to quote Thomas Eleinko, assistant prosecuting attorney for Macomb Co., Mich., who said that George “has no bona fide alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the shooting.” The prosecutor also alleges the couple had an unhappy marriage, and that George received $125,000 in life-insurance proceeds as well as $13,000 in other benefits. A similar report from The Associated Press says that prosecutors are alleging “the motive was an extramarital affair and a six-figure insurance policy.”

Shortly after his wife’s murder, George relocated to Pennsylvania where he and his wife, Renee’, founded the Pittsburgh Comicon, which celebrated its 14th anniversary in April.

The latest issue of Steampunk Magazine, which features an interview with Alan Moore, is available for free online as a downloadable PDF document.

On the heels of last week’s discussions about global manga, The Star of Malaysia takes a look at manga produced outside of Japan:

Ilya [editor of The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga] insists that there is no single “manga style”.

“It can and does look like almost anything,” he said.

“Foreign mangaka who purely mimic what is an innately Japanese form of expression are doomed to repetition of tropes and cliches they might never truly encompass nor fully understand.

“Far more interesting to me are those who take up the medium they love, and learn from it. Bringing just as much of themselves to the drawing table, the works of these creators display their own unique cultural backgrounds and interests. That’s just what (Osamu) Tezuka did; so that is truly manga,” he opined.

OEL mangaka Tony Salvaggio thinks it’s unfair to label authors like him copycats.

“It’s pretty poor and short-sighted. You know, spaghetti westerns are no less valid as westerns just because they’re created in Italy. You can’t tell me those guys can’t make a good western,” said the co-author of Psy-Comm in the Austin American-Statesman article in April.

Said Ilya: “Manga is the best chance comics have to once again become a mass-market medium.”

Related: Fans give their opinions on global manga

The New Haven, Conn., Register uses the recent local controversy involving Dan Clowes’ Eightball as a launching point for a Graphic Novels 101 article:

Late last year, two graphic novels — Blankets by Craig Thompson and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel — were removed from the shelves of the public library in Marshall, Mo., after a parent said she thought they should not be available to children. The books were returned to the collection when the library adopted a new materials selection policy, according to a local newspaper.

People sometimes define graphic novels as having more mature content than other comic books, but Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in New York City, said the genre does not necessarily include adult material.

“The content of a graphic novel is limited only by the author’s imagination, and so there’s content that skews towards readers of all ages,” Brownstein said. “Just like somebody wouldn’t necessarily write off film because they happened to see a sophomoric comedy the first time they saw a movie, somebody shouldn’t write off graphic novels either because they’re coming in with a preconception.”

Related: “Parents of Connecticut Teen Mistakenly Believe Daniel Clowes’s Comics Are Sexy”

Artist Ryan Kelly has uploaded 195 pages of original art from his run on Vertigo’s Lucifer.

“I probably worked on 1200 pages from this celebrated Vertigo series,” he writes. “I believe I have already sold 2/3rds of my Lucifer pages so I hold on to these more dearly.”

Go, browse. Many of them are for sale.

The Washington Times has a two-part interview with Bill Sienkiewicz up, one of those “let’s arrange the quotes in meaty bullet points” things. To wit:

My style evolution: I had an epiphany one day and decided to do whatever I wanted to do on a page, and if they printed it, it would be a valid way to do comics. It was my not-too-subtle way of slipping one past them, and I felt so … clever at 21 years old.

Anyway, it worked. My way of doing comics became legitimate, so it spurred me on to do further experimentation. In Elektra: Assassin, I would tear sheets in half, glue down pieces, sew pieces together, use doilies. If characters needed a Band-Aid, I would use real Band-Aids on their wound. If something looked like it needed to screw into place, I would use a screw. The style caught on, and I thought well, why not?

The Standard is not known for comic book movie adaptation news. Instead, it is known as a source of information for Pan-Asian businesses. So, it was kind of surprising to see them reporting that the next Batman movie will be filming in Hong Kong:

Workers and residents in Central and Western should be prepared for chaos when Batman arrives in Hong Kong in November, a district councillor warned yesterday.

Kam Nai-wai, of the Central and Western District Council, also warned residents to prepare ear-plugs as the producers intend to use a helicopter in the late hours of the day.

Oh, I get it. The most interesting part is that they’ve given a bit of the plot away in the process:

Kam’s warning followed a district council meeting yesterday at which the distributors for The Dark Knight, a sequel to the hit movie Batman Begins, outlined how the caped crusader intends to move from Gotham City to fight his enemies who are gathering in Hong Kong.

So … The Joker is in Hong Kong for some reason?

IESB is reporting that Tom Welling is out of the running to play Superman in the Justice League movie:

But, I’ve got some further info to share. I was waiting to get final verification this week before I broke the bad news and I’ve gotten it. I really wanted my readers to hear it from me…Tom Welling is completely out of the running for Superman.

We first heard this from the same source that first confirmed him to us, I then confirmed it with 3 other studio sources. I am asking for an explanation but they have not been able to give me one quite yet.

Does this mean that Routh is a shoo-in? They aren’t sure, and frankly I hope he isn’t. I mean, other than the fact that Routh kind of looked like Reeve he really had no redeeming qualities in the last Superman movie.

Over on his blog, The Metabunker, Matthias Wivel has a four-part interview with Anders Nilsen about his work and dealing with the death of his fiance:

You’re obviously dealing with the death of Cheryl in your other work at the moment. I assume that that’s to a large extent a case of this event looming so large that it naturally makes its way into your art. Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow is the most direct. What made you decide to publish this very personal material?

After Cheryl died I couldn’t really think about much else, and didn’t really want to, so everything else was put on hold. Much of the material that ended up in Don’t Go was stuff I’d set aside before her illness with the idea of doing some kind of book or zine or travelogue about she and I. So most of the material was there. When she died the material seemed like an obvious candidate to turn into a sort of memorial for friends and family. The original idea was just to print 20 or 30 copies out on my inkjet printer, but the book got longer, as did the list of people I wanted to have one, and when I printed out an early version to proof, I realized that my printer wasn’t really up to it and I couldn’t really afford to self-publish it in the form I wanted it to take. I asked Chris [Oliveros, DQ publisher] if he’d be willing or interested to put it out. He was, and so the book was published. So it really was intended for a very small, very specific audience. The fact that it made its way beyond that audience is perfectly fine with me, but wasn’t my main interest. As it happens it seems to have struck a chord. I’ve gotten more mail from and about that book than any other single book I’ve done.

Neatorama points to Rob Nance’s wonderful Do-It-Yourself Posable Paper David Hasselhoff, which comes with a variety of clothes, accessories, and even heads. Okay, so it’s not entirely off-topic: One of the Hoff heads is Nick Fury. (You can download the PDF at the Art for Robots website.)

Last week, I talked to Alex Ness about his illustrated book of narrative poetry. This week, I’m talking to some the artists involved, most of whom are recognizable names from the comics industry. Gathering around the table are A Life of Raven‘s Art Director and publisher Bob Giadrosich, Mike Grell (Green Arrow, Warlord), Alex Sheikman (Robotika), Peter Bergting (The Portent), Joel Vollmer (Dust to Dust), Cynthia Cummens (Star Wars trading cards), David Yurkovich (Less Than Heroes, Death by Chocolate), Rich Koslowski (Three Fingers, The King, The List, Marvel Comics Presents), Kurt Wilcken (Aztec Anthropomorphic Amazons), Tony Caputo (Vespers), Josh Howard (Dead @ 17, Black Harvest, Clubbing), and Jason Copland (Empty Chamber, Kill All Monsters!).

First though, I asked Bob how he came to be so closely involved with the book.

Bob, what went into your decision to not only help illustrate Life of Ravens, but to publish the book as well?

Bob Giadrosich: One thing that has attracted me to the project from the beginning was the strength of the words. I love to read poetry because it’s a heart language. It operates on a completely different level than a short story or novel. I believe that Alex has written some fine, fine poetry in this collection. One of my favorites is “Feeling Lucky,” illustrated by Jeff Fairbourn.

Many publishers we approached liked the material, but reacted with…“Poetry?” After that, in my mind, I was determined that the material be given access to the marketplace. Too many people had put together too much excellent work to not let people have the opportunity to read and view it. 

The next question’s for everyone. How’d you all get involved in the book? 

Kurt Wilcken: Alex kept sending me poems until I agreed to illustrate one.

Giadrosich: Initially, Alex asked me to illustrate two poems (“The Golden” and “Burning Perfection”) in early- to mid-2006. I think “Red Snow” followed soon after that. As I was slammed with other deadlines at the time, I did some rough sketches to set down the ideas and moved on. In subsequent phone conversations and through email with Alex, it became evident that more and more illustrators were becoming involved. 

(more…)

My teenaged daughter dragged me to the movies over the weekend, which usually means I’m going to watch a predictable teen flick with a message or something painfully family-oriented. But this time I got a bit of a surprise when the teen movie featured a young female lead character who loves comic books.

Sydney White, the modern take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs starring Amanda Bynes that opened this weekend, doesn’t break much new ground as a teen movie. But it definitely breaks the stereotype of comic books being for boys because the film’s heroine reads and loves them, something my comics-reading daughter and I appreciated.

And when I looked up pictures over the weekend of Bynes for this post, I was further surprised to find out that it was her idea to make her character a comic book fan. As she told The Early Show on CBS earlier this month:

“I grew up loving Archie comics and I was obsessed and I collected them,” she said. “I have like 400. I still have them. I, basically, when I was meeting to do this movie, said ‘What if my character had a comic book, you know, obsession?’ So they added it in and now my character is a comic book freak as well, so it kind of makes her relate to dorks.”

For those of you not familiar with Bynes, she grew up performing on Nickelodeon, even starring in her own show, and could be described as the Carol Burnett of my daughter’s generation (or the Tracy Ullman or whatever your generation’s female comedy-skit queen was named). So, since seeing the movie on Saturday and finding out about Bynes’ collection, my daughter has not only already informed about a dozen of her friends that the movie star also reads comics (“just like me”), but has counted her comics to see how long it would take her to reach the 400 mark (“just like Amanda”).
(more…)

As the American dollar and Canadian dollar reach parity for the first time in three decades, many Canadian readers are wondering why they’re still paying more for their comic books. Don MacPherson delves into it:

One recent Image Comics release boasted a cover price of $2.99 US/$3.35 Cdn, which represents only a 12 per cent different between the Canadian and American prices. It’s still not that close to par, but it’s closer than DC and Marvel prices. Image revises its Canadian pricing on a frequent basis. Dark Horse doesn’t print a Canadian price on its direct-market releases. Johnston said that means he has to sticker those comics with a Canadian price. Oddly enough, Dark Horse’s newsstand comics in Canada do carry a U.S. price and a Canadian one.

DC’s and Marvel’s reviews of their Canadian pricing are far more sporadic than Image’s. I can’t recall them revising their prices more frequently than once a year, and I suspect it’s actually less frequent than that. Furthermore, I’ve noticed that when it comes to DC and Marvel, when one alters its Canadian price, the other follows suit rather than following the currency market.

We’re at a point today when both prices should reflect the same number. It remains to be seen if that will come to pass.

There’s some interesting discussion in the comments section, too.