St. Louis’ Playback talks with writer Joe Casey about the January relaunch of Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood at Image:

Youngblood is a series that has had many false starts and unfinished stories. How much of that spotty prior history is considered canon for your new take on the characters, and what promises can you offer to fans that they won’t get burned again?

The series is designed so that if you’re familiar with the specific history and past stories of the characters, this series will seem like the next logical step. If you’re new to the characters and the concept, everything you’ll need to know about their past will be included in the comics.

[snip]

Rob Liefeld’s name seems to stir up a lot of animosity among comics fans, yet the response to the announcement of your new series has been overwhelmingly positive. Were you surprised by that response?

Not really, because the affection that a generation of readers has for these characters is huge. It certainly outweighs anyone’s feelings about any one comic book professional. I’m just happy that readers seem to be excited about the comic. It’s a big part of why we do this.

The second part of the interview is set to appear on Dec. 28.

When I saw this commercial for Kewpie cellphone charms, it really reminded me of the Joker. I almost want to say that Christopher Nolan was inspired by this ad. The charms themselves, which some look like tortured babies, rank as one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen come out of Japan, and I’ve seen a lot of strange things. The land of Hello Kitty isn’t always fluffy and cute.

Found ala Gizmodo

Courtesy of Seven Days magazine.

I don’t have the latest issue of Spin Magazine, but according to several blog posts that popped up last night it announces a new Image Comics anthology, Comic Book Tattoo, which will feature stories inspired by Tori Amos songs. Rantz Hoseley is editing and the book will be out in time for Comic-Con International next year.

Newsarama contributor Chris Arrant will write one of the stories:

As reported in the newest issue of SPIN magazine, musician Tori Amos is coming to comics in the form of a comic book anthology graphic novel entitled Comic Book Tattoo. A variety of comics talent are working on stories inspired by specific songs from Tori’s album, and I’m one of them (not the songs… the talent!) Artist Star St. Germain and I are working on a favorite song of mine that I can’t disclose just yet.

Lea Hernandez and Neil Kleid will also have stories in the book.

Update: As will Colleen Doran.

Update 2: And Leah Moore, John Reppion and Pia Guerra.

Japan’s Daily Yomiuri profiles Houston creator rem, winner of Kodansha’s Morning International Manga Competition.

Rem, the artist for Tokyopop’s Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives, won with her manga Kage no Matsuri. She received a $5,000 prize and had her story published in the November issue of Kodansha’s Morning 2 magazine.

What is it that Japanese manga has that American comics don’t?

“I think the artistic technique really sets the two apart,” rem said. “The American method of drawing comic books leaves you wondering what sort of style or feel they’re trying to express, as the look seems homogeneous between series to me.

“The method of having a separate person who pencils, inks, colors and edits the comic makes the comic feel less individualistic.”

She added, “I feel like you can really see the artist’s hand in [Japanese] manga.”

The contest attracted more than 200 entries from 30 countries.

MySpace Comic Books has an eight-page preview of Abe Sapien: The Drowning #1, by Mike Mignola and Jason Shawn Alexander, due out in February from Dark Horse.

–JK here … over the last couple of days, we’ve had to delete comments and close a few threads because some people can’t discuss things like the new Dark Knight trailer, Dan DiDio or a variety of other topics without getting personal, insulting other fans, insulting comic pros, etc. So please, keep it civil.

–MTV gathers up opinions from various folks on the new Dark Knight trailer, including Paul Dini:

“Heath Ledger’s Joker seems perfectly suited to the dark Gotham City created by Christopher Nolan,” Dini asserted. “He seems more street than any other version of the Joker, with his clownish visage recalling hastily applied graffiti paint rather than chemically dyed skin.”

They also talk to Jeph Loeb and Adam West.

– Jeannie Schulz offers her thoughts on David Michaelis’ biography of her late husband.

–Leicester, England is looking for its own superhero.

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Paul Jenkins’ Sidekick
Written by Paul Jenkins; Illustrated by Chris Moreno
Image
$16.99

I don’t usually like superhero parody a whole lot. It’s an overdone subgenre and most of the parodies I’ve read just repeat the same tired jokes endlessly. I’d list a couple of examples for you, but honestly it makes my head hurt to think about. I actually am pretty fond of superhero comics and dwelling on their worst qualities isn’t something I enjoy. If I find a particular aspect of superhero comics unappealing or ridiculous, I’ll just quit reading comics that have that trait. I certainly don’t want to read a parody comic that highlights it and makes it the center of focus.

Sidekick isn’t that kind of parody. I actually had to think about the word “parody” for a bit to decide if it even applies to Sidekick, but I think it does. Certainly there are some fun, silly superhero comics that get inappropriately labeled as parody, but they’re more celebrating the genre than making fun of it. It’s the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at him. Let me repeat that it’s certainly valid to laugh at superhero comics; I’d just prefer that comics that do that be, you know, actually funny. And that’s what separates Sidekick from the usual parody.

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I believe this is a new trailer for the animated New Frontier direct-to-DVD film coming out next year; I don’t recall seeing it before, anyway:

Via.

Marvel.com hypes up the next issue of Captain America by asking who the next Cap will be:

Via

I mean the movie, not the comic. Anyway, Nathan Rabin at the Onion’s AV Club sure does:

Howard The Duck begins by introducing its eponymous hero in his own world. Against a backdrop of smoky jazz, the camera moves deliberately around Howard’s apartment, lingering on a posters advertising “Mae Nest” and “W.C. Fowl” in “My Little Chickadee,” “Breeders of The Lost Stork.” as well as magazines like Rolling Egg” and Playduck. A mere three minutes into being introduced to Howard The Duck’s comic-book universe, I was already hankering for a way out. See, Howard’s totally a three-foot-tall wisecracking duck who acts just like a person! He thinks he’s Rory Calhoun or something. That’s joke number one: the artless juxtaposition of man and duck-kind. Over the course of the next 112 interminable minutes, I waited patiently for joke number two. It never arrived.

Be sure to check out the comments section at the bottom, where Rabin inquires about the quality of the source material.

A couple of mainstream media outlets look at the business side of comics … first, the San Mateo County Times talks to several Northern California comic retailers about their customers:

“They are not just for kids, they are for all ages,” said Mike Cresser, owner of Crush Comics in Castro Valley. “They are for males and females. A graphic novel is something that attracts all readers. Just because it’s a comic book or based on a comic doesn’t reduce its appeal.”

Recent sales trends back up suggestions that graphic novels are more popular than they were a few years ago, according to data released by ICv2, a Madison, Wis.-based company that tracks popular culture.

Graphic novels in 2006 generated $330 million in sales in the United States and Canada. That was up 12 percent from $295 million in graphic novel sales in 2005.

Sales of periodical comic books — the kind that usually ship once a month andinclude familiar titles such as “Uncanny X-Men,” “Batman,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “Witchblade” — totaled $310 million in 2006, up 15 percent from 2005.

“Do we see more women and more girls getting into comics? Yes, more so than we ever have,” said Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord. “Graphic novels and other comics are driving a lot of fans of all ages into comics shops to get the next dose of their favorite characters.”

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I mentioned yesterday that writer Brian K. Vaughan is No. 47 on USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson’s list of the Top 100 People of 2007. Well, today Matheson rolls out the next leg of her annual countdown — Nos. 21-40 — and it’s lousy with comics folk.

TV, film and comics writer Joss Whedon comes in at No. 26, followed by writer Ed Brubaker at No. 34, actor-comedian-comics writer Patton Oswalt at No. 38, and underground comics artist Aline Kominsky Crumb at No. 39.

The list wraps up tomorrow.

Isotope Comics is getting into the spirit of the season by offering free previews of several upcoming comic series over the next few days , starting with The End League by Rick Remender and Mat Broome.

Also, if you’re in San Francisco and stop by Isotope, you can check out a gallery of Matt Silady’s artwork from The Homeless Channel.

You-all are very lucky I couldn’t get a solicit-flavored “Visit From St. Nicholas” poem to work. I kept coming back to this closing couplet:

And I heard him exclaim, ere he took to the skies,

“Merry Christmas to all, until someone else dies!”

WAY too bitter. So, having dodged that particular bullet … uh, so to speak … let’s jump ahead to March, and then I’ll wrap up with some more appropriate seasonal observations.

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DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio is either throwing rocks at a hornet’s nest or dropping not-so-subtle hints about the return of a character who’s become a bit of a hot-button issue.

I’m going with the latter.

This week’s installment of “DC Nation” — the editorial page that appears in all DC Universe titles — features a list of holiday wishes from several of the publisher’s characters. Beside Robin’s name we see, “A memorial for Stephanie Brown,” but it’s crossed out with a note that reads, “Can’t do!”

I don’t think DiDio would go out of his way to taunt those fans who have been campaigning for a memorial case in the Batcave for the fallen Spoiler/Robin (of course, he’s probably tired of hearing the Memorial Case Question at virtually every DCU convention panel). So, odds are this is another piece of the promotional puzzle that began in October with the appearance of Spoiler — a Spoiler? — on the assembled covers for the Gotham Underground miniseries. Plus, there are the solicitations for Robin #170-171.

Or maybe I’m not cynical enough.

But Heidi MacDonald ferrets out a thread at Millarworld that makes up for my sunny disposition:

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Mental Floss looks at the “real story” behind the holiday TV staple A Charlie Brown Christmas, a show that CBS executives initially didn’t like:

There was just so much wrong with it. There was not enough action. It moved too slow. The voices had been done by real kids, not adult actors. There was no laugh track. And Linus read from the Gospel of Luke in one scene. (“You can’t read from the Bible on network television!” they declared in unison.) At the end of the meeting, [animator Bill] Mendelson was told: “Well, you gave it a good shot. Believe me, we’re big Peanuts fans, but maybe it’s better suited to the comic page.”

That slow, Bible-quoting cartoon is now the longest-running holiday special on television.

One of the things I like about Tom Spurgeon’s series of “Holiday” interviews is that he always picks at least one or two folks who aren’t cartoonists per se but have a role in the industry that provides them with a unique and worthwhile viewpoint. Today it’s former Highwater Books publisher and now Drawn and Quarterly “Creative Director” Tom Devlin:

SPURGEON: What has your influence been most concretely felt there at D&Q? What is different about the company for your involvement, do you think?

DEVLIN: There’s more talking in the office? No, I’m not sure. I hope the company doesn’t seem too much different to people honestly. It’s no longer just this one sweet Canadian guy working out of his apartment. Now there’s brash loudmouth Americans in the mix.

I’ve always been leery of diluting Chris’ editorial vision with mine (not that they are so wildly dissimilar but the company is very editorially consistent under Chris’ direction.) But I very much did not want to storm in and “Highwater-ize” the place, I like to think I am very respectful of what Chris and all of his cartoonists have created over the past two decades. He has the most consistent vision of a comics publisher ever. The last thing I would want to do is come in acting like I know more than “The Chief”; it’s just not possible. I hope that my involvement on a small level complements all that Chris has achieved.

Evan Dorkin’s holding a contest with I Love You, Beth Cooper, a novel by Larry Doyle featuring cover and chapter art by Dorkin, as the prize. To enter, you just need to help Dorkin find a new job:

Simply this: Tell me what occupation I should take up instead of cartooning. I need career guidance, as this writing and drawing thing isn’t working out so good. Where should someone with my skills (i.e., none) go for employment once I’m blackballed from the funnybook business?

For more information on the book, check out art from it and read an excerpt, check out its website.