In the past week we’ve seen a cross-blog debate explode about the nature of a scene with Tigra in New Avengers #35 and some discussion about a spread of three female Justice Leaguers in Justice League of America #14. I was unwilling to comment directly on either because I’ve only seen online scans, but I just can’t ignore these things. I was reading a debate on an email list where one my co-bloggers (it was Tom) pointed out there is a trend of heroes getting in trouble recently and brought up that Kyle Rayner was recently stripped completely nude in the current Green Lantern storyline as an example. Well, a Green Lantern mention can usually get me to speak up, and a quick look at the Sinestro Corps confirmed that a very important factor was in play (two, actually, but I only have time for the one today), a factor that influences the reaction no matter where the story was going or what the artist and the writer intended. A factor that the artists, editors, and writers in superhero comics should keep in mind when crafting their stories, because it interferes severely with the communication between the creator and the reader.
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Think she’ll spin? I bet she spins

So I’ve mentioned the upcoming comic-themed episodes of Dexter and Numb3rs … now Comics Continuum points out a special guest appearance by Wonder Woman on Tuesday’s episode of Bones. Per the site, Emily Deschanel’s Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan wears a Wonder Woman costume and Tamara Taylor’s Dr. Camille Saroyan wears a Catwoman costume in the Halloween episode.

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Variety‘s Tom McLean turns the spotlight on Tokyopop with a profile of founder Stu Levy and an overview of the company’s recent expansion into animation and digital media:

In bringing manga to America, Tokyopop has adapted its dominant role in Japanese pop culture into the “manga lifestyle.” Defined by Levy as “an appreciation for things that are from that East-West connection,” the manga lifestyle has evolved from traditional anime fans to a wide array of people the company reaches out to through original manga, animation and fan-created content on its website and MySpace page as well as cell phones.

“You have some people that are really serious about manga as literature; other people that are really into the look and style, the visual element of it; you have people that like something that’s different; and then you have people who are appreciating the storytelling and the risk-taking aspects of manga as an entertainment form,” says Levy, who spearheaded original manga format comics by Western artists in 2003 and co-created the company’s signature character, Princess Ai, with rocker Courtney Love.

The coverage also includes a Tokyopop photo gallery.

Comics Alliance points to the website of composer Mel Wesson, which includes what may be an honest-to-goodness teaser poster for The Dark Knight. Wesson is collaborating with Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard on the movie’s score.

Following on from the Q&A JK linked to this morning, Larry Young is answering questions from the posters on the Your Mom’s Basement message board. My favorite exchange so far:

“Will you ever publish Yaoi?”

“Are the dudes wearing spacesuits, at first?”

“Looking at the last script I wrote, yes.”

“Is it really MAKING YAOI BETTER? We have mission statements to uphold.”

It looks as if Black Canary is heading to Smallville.

KryptonSite reports that Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) is returning to The CW series in January, and he’s bringing Black Canary with him. The episode is titled, appropriately enough, “Siren.”

No word yet on who’s playing the character.

Black Canary is the latest in a long line of superhero guest appearances that has included Aquaman, Cyborg, The Flash, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter and, this season, Clark’s cousin Kara (aka Supergirl).

Stuart Immonen lets you know just how awesome he really is, by showing his thumbnails to the Immonen household contribution to Marvel Comics Presents #2:

Now that Marvel Comics Presents #2 is out, I can share the thumbnails I prepared for the Patsy Walker story therein. It’s actually surprising how accurately they match the finished compositions; these “pages” are only 2 1/2 inches high. I guess I’m just too lazy to second-guess my instinct.

Go! Look!

Stop what you’re doing and dash over to Bully’s blog to read his hilarious “Batman: Master of Timing” visual gag. Go, now.

Comics and pop culture blogger David Allen Jones has announced he’s ending The Johnny Bacardi Show after a very solid five-year run.

Jones’ site touched upon everything from comics to music to movies, and sprung up more than a year before a handful of comics blogs began to morph into The Comics Blogosphere. If I recall correctly, Jones was one of the first people to link to my Thought Balloons blog, which started in October 2003 (just a week or so after Graeme McMillan’s Fanboy Rampage). Plus, he runs a website devoted to Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden’s short-lived Thriller series. The man obviously has taste.

In his farewell post, which marks his five-year anniversary, Jones writes that he’ll continue to maintain his LiveJournal, as well an Elton John commentary blog (which I need to wade into later). However, I’m hoping his departure from the comics blogosphere turns out simply to be a hiatus.

Until then, thanks for an entertaining five years, Johnny Bacardi.

At long last, artist Karl Kerschl provides a glimpse of the first three pages of Teen Titans: Year One #1, which is set for release in January. The pages also can be found in November Previews.

I’m absolutely giddy for this miniseries.

Well, not quite. But Jaime Hernandez did do this amazing poster to promote Bob Dylan’s XM satellite radio show, “Theme Time Radio Hour.” You can see an even larger version here.

via Flog

Shooting War creator Dan Goldman has posted his contribution to 24 Hour Comics Day, “Before You Were Here,” on his website.

(Via)

Ash Aiwase interviews AiT/Planet Lar publisher Larry Young for Your Mom’s Basement. Lots of good stuff here, from Black Diamond to updates on AiT media projects to Young’s response to the whole Diamond/barcode thing:

Jon Proctor’s cover aesthetic – not unlike Becky Cloonan’s approach to the Demo covers – has given Black Diamond a unified look on the stands. Does Diamond’s new barcode mandate change the approach that you and Jon are taking to covers?

Naw, all that did is make sure we don’t do any more floppies. I think we’ll see PREVIEWS getting thinner because of this, though, and more webcomics and POD things appearing.

Really? Why’s that?

Well, because it costs so much more money to slap the UPCs on for monthlies. For us, why bother? Just do OGNs, as we already have the infrastructure in place.

BoingBoing points to an online collection of early artwork by Bill Watterson:

While a student at Ohio’s Kenyon College, Bill drew cartoons for the school newspaper The Kenyon Collegian and for the yearbook. Thanks to the generosity of Nat D., a schoolmate of Bill, here are scans of Bill’s work from that era.

The first image is a 1979 cartoon from the Collegian and the rest are pictures from the 1980 yearbook.

NAT’S NOTES:
“I didn’t know Watterson very well, but my roommate Jeff grew up with him in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. We crossed paths a certain amount. I remember I had the same history class my freshman year, and we were in different classes for the same drawing teacher, Marty Garhart. Interesting tidbit is that Jim Borgman of Zits fame was two years ahead of Watterson at Kenyon, and also studied under Garhart.”

Threads of Red Jack, written by Daniel Kibblesmith and drawn by K. Thor Jensen, will join the webcomics collective The Chemistry Set. This isn’t the first appearance of the title character, as Red Jack previously appeared in a Dresden Dolls video:

Here’s fair warning:  this post may make even less sense than usual.

Back when we were both teenagers, my sister and I got stuck babysitting, and our charge wanted to watch Back to the Future on tape.  He had seen it already, and I had too, but my sister hadn’t (this was back in 1986 or so, when BTTF was new to VHS*).  He drove both of us nuts pointing out all the things which (he and I knew) would change due to Marty’s trip.  For most of the movie’s first act, we heard “Watch for that truck!  Look at that tree!”, etc. 

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Artsy-fartsy Canadian publisher Drawn and Quarterly opened their very own store in Montreal recently. You can see some photos from the store’s grand opening here. To celebrate the grand occasion, the Montreal Mirror interviewed publisher Chris Oliveros:

This week, 18 years after first setting up shop in Montreal’s Mile-End, the press will open its first store, which, Oliveros promises, “is a lot more than just a store. It’s a multi-purpose space.” It’ll carry the pre-requisite graphic novels, art books and regular fiction, but workshops and regular events, such as book launches, are also an important part of the plan.

Starting in January, the company that supported burgeoning graphic novelists will now have a hand in creating them. The workshops will focus on everything from cartooning to publishing and will involve collaborations with local artists. Making the most of what Oliveros does best, working from the ground up.

On his blog, Neil Gaiman tells a funny story about how apparently Amazon wouldn’t take his word for it that he knows which artists he worked with on the issues collected in Absolute Sandman 2:

Amazon.com lists Absolute Sandman 2 as being written by me (which it was) and designed (which it wasn’t) by Dave Mckean. It doesn’t mention any of the other artists involved (Shawn McManus, Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Bryan Talbot, John Watkiss, Matt Wagner, Stan Woch, Colleen Doran, Duncan Eagleson, John Bolton, Malcolm Jones III, George Pratt, Dick Giordano, P. Craig Russell and Vince Locke). So I sighed, and filled in the form that allows you to fix things on Amazon. It was always the best thing about Amazon.com — they made goofs but they were fixable.

I just got an email from them, listing all the names I’d submitted (along with Alisa Kwitney’s, who wrote the introduction). And it concluded,
Action: None. We could not verify the requested update.
Data accuracy is highly important to us. We appreciate the time you have taken to submit your updates to us. Best regards,
Catalog Department

And sure enough, it’s still wrong, and just lists me and Dave.

Since Gaiman posted, the listing has been updated with the list of artists, but the story reminds me of when I updated my brother’s Wikipedia page. His place of birth was wrong, so my mom and I corrected it. Then someone changed it back because they said the source was questionable. Now granted, I wasn’t there when he was born, as he’s older, but our mom definitely was …

I love these “local cartoonists” stories that daily newspapers do. This one’s from the Philadelphia Inquirer and focuses on cartoonist Al Wiesner and his comic book creation, Shaloman:

Wiesner, of Warminster, is the artist behind what he calls a pioneering “Kosher Crusader.” Shaloman wears a yarmulke, and the insignia on his chest is a Hebrew letter. He’s a man of peace and stone – literally. His secret identity is a rock on Mount Israel.

“There’s always a message related to Judaism, but I try to mix in the humor so it doesn’t feel like you’re being lectured to,” said Wiesner, 77. “This isn’t a textbook or a Bible story. It’s a comic book.”

Wiesner created Shaloman more than 20 years ago. He has written, drawn and self-published 39 comic books that are sold in area comic-book stores, online, in Canada, and in Judaica stores across the country. Some area synagogues also use the book in classes.

Yes, it’s true, Andy Capp has his own statue, located in Hartlepool, England. Steve Holland has the whole story of how it came to be.