Viz has a sneek peek at the first volume of Takehiko Inoue’s influential basketball manga. John Jakala offers some commentary:

It was interesting to read this first chapter and compare how Viz’s translation differs from Gutsoon’s. Both translations are perfectly readable, but there were some spots where I preferred Gutsoon’s phrasing over Viz’s. Still, even Gutsoon tweaked its translation between serialization in its weekly anthology and the eventual collection, so for me it just highlights how tricky translating can be.

Lately, talk in the blogosphere has turned to the emphasis of plot over aesthetics in superhero books. Although plot does get a lot of play, given the realities of corporate superhero serials’ production, that doesn’t mean it can’t be managed more productively.

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EW.com has a bunch of exclusive images — some of them don’t seem very “exclusive,” though — from the upcoming candy-colored Speed Racer adaptation. The photos are accompanied by behind-the-scenes tidbits from the movie, which opens May 9.

A new Webcomic by Elijah Brubaker.

Newsweek goes gaga for Classics Illustrated this week, as Malcolm Jones looks at the line’s rebirth as well as various other literary adaptations out in stores:

Papercutz has borrowed well to kick off its rejuvenated line, and a sneak peek at its forthcoming “Alice in Wonderland” proves that its freshly commissioned work is no less dazzling. It had better be. Half a century ago, Classics Illustrated competed only with superheroes in spandex, Archie and Jughead and Little Lulu. It ruled its particular niche in more or less lonely solitude. Since the original company shuttered in 1971, comics have become a recognized art form with a full complement of resident geniuses as various as R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman and Mariane Satrapi. The ways to pursue what the late comics genius Will Eisner described as “sequential art” continue to prove limitless. Marvel recently introduced a sleek classics line. There’s also a splendidly inventive series called Graphic Classics that devotes each issue to several stories by an individual author (Arthur Conan Doyle, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Louis Stevenson), with each story illustrated by a different artist—and in its adaptation of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” it cleverly employs two artists: one to illustrate the criminal career of Hyde, the other to illuminate the confession of Dr. Jekyll. There’s even a set of Shakespeare’s plays rendered in the style of Japanese manga comics —but hark!—with Shakespeare’s dialogue intact.

You can’t go wrong with any of these series. But the old question posed by strict teachers and worried parents still hangs in the air: shouldn’t you be reading the originals and not wasting your time on what used to be called “funny books”? For anyone who grew up reading the illustrated Melville and Hugo—that would be me—the answer is, maybe not. After all, one of the hardest parts of growing up was discovering that great fiction did not necessarily come with illustrations.

Checker Book Publishing Group brings the latest collection of old comic strips to remind us that some of the stalest funnies of today actually used to be really good.

From the press release: “The book will feature the Beetle Bailey daily and Sunday comic strips, syndicated by King Features, which were published between when the comic strip first appeared in September of 1950 and December 1952.

“Beetle Bailey made his comic strip debut on September 4, 1950. In the beginning, the comic strip was set on a college campus. The main characters were based on Walker’s fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri.

“It was not until during the Korean War, when Walker decided to enlist Beetle in the U.S. Army that the comic strip took off and became immensely popular. Beetle enlisted in the US Army on March 13, 1951. None of the characters from Beetle’s university days came with Beetle when he joined the Army. Instead Walker created a whole new quirky set.”

Checker plans to release the book in May/June 2008.

Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey 1950-1952 (Mort Walker Writer/Illustrator )
$24.95, ISBN:978-933160-71-9, 280 pages, Hardcover, b/w and color illustration throughout

From Doc Lehman.

Kristi Valenti has a must-read column this week on how boys tend to be reluctant readers and how that applies to the comics industry:

There have been times where I’ve received the message in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that, because I’m a woman, superhero comics (Hi, Dirk!) are not made for me. As such, I’m starting to understand something of the “boys club” bunker mentality that some mainstream comics readers exhibit after a discussion with local teen librarian Jennifer Bisson (her opinions, she was careful to say, were her own, and didn’t reflect that of her employer). Apparently, not only do boys have a more difficult time early on learning to read, of those who do read for pleasure, many stop when they reach the preteen years (she expressed this as the age in which boys catch up in social skills with girls: I’ve heard this expressed by others as the age in which boys get interested in girls). She theorized that the reason that boys stop reading is because, early on, reading is feminized: not only are educators at the elementary level primarily women, but librarians, as a rule, are too.

Go check out the whole thing. It’s fascinating reading.

Whitney Matheson of Pop Candy has posted the first part of a Q&A with artist Tim Sale, which includes several fan questions she received before the event both of them attended at Isotope Comics in San Francisco this past weekend:

You’ve worked on a lot of the big characters in comics. Is there a character you’d like to draw but haven’t had a chance to? — Dennis S.

There are a number of people, and not just at Marvel, but most of them would be. I’d love to do Agent S.H.I.E.L.D. — not Sam Jackson, not David Hasselhoff. Doctor Strange. I used to think I’d like to do Silver Surfer, but I can’t think of any sort of stories … it’s just great artwork. I don’t have any interest in almost any character after ‘75. I include the X-Men in that, even though they were created so much earlier … I’ve never been an X-Men guy.

You know who else I’d really love to do? I’d love to do Conan. That would be a lot of fun. And if anybody ever gets the rights to do The Shadow again, I would die to do that. I’d do it like a noir story — like the noir story I did with Brian Azzarello in Solo. Ink wash, this sort of faux ’40s look, fedoras and old cars.

MySpace Comic Books has a sneak peek — well in advance — of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #16, which features the first meeting between Buffy Summers and the futuristic slayer Fray. Issue 16 is set to hit stands on July 2.

In honor of its 85th anniversary, renowned genre magazine Weird Tales has compiled its list of the “85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” It comes as no surprise that several comics creators and cartoonists make the cut, including:

• Charles Addams
• Clive Barker
• R. Crumb
• Steve Ditko
• Neil Gaiman
• Edward Gorey
• Gary Larson
• Dave McKean
• Alan Moore
• Grant Morrison
• Dr. Seuss
• Osamu Tezuka

Other notables include Douglas Adams, Ray Bradbury, Angela Carter, Roald Dahl, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King and Anne Rice. The list appears in the March/April issue of Weird Tales.

(Via SFScope)

A Queens councilman is pushing to have Gotham City designated as New York City’s chief nickname to capitalize on the summer release of Batman: The Dark Knight.

The Village Voice’s Runnin’ Scared blog reports that City Councilman — and Batman fan — Hiram Monserrate thinks the moniker would be a perfect tool for attracting tourists, who would be encouraged to “Come visit the real Gotham City.”

Of course, Gotham has been one of New York’s many nicknames since 1807, when Washington Irving compared the city’s residents to those of Gotham in Nottinghamshire, England.

Batman’s base of operations originally was identified as New York City. In 1941, the setting was changed to the fictional Gotham City, which editor Dennis O’Neil once said “is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November.”

New York magazine’s Vulture blog, with tongue in cheek, argues against the proposal: “Gotham City is not New York! The differences are legion.”

The Hollywood Reporter has news that Tobey Maguire and Neal Moritz will adapt Afterburn, newcomer Red 5 Comics‘ post-apocalyptic adventure.

The four-issue miniseries, which debuted in January, centers on a group of treasure hunters who face mutants and pirates on an Earth whose Eastern Hemisphere was destroyed by a massive solar flare. Afterburn is written by Red 5 founders Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood, and illustrated by Wayne Nichols.

Maguire is also developing the live-action Robotech. He’ll produce Afterburn through his Maguire Entertainment and Moritz (I Am Legend) through his Original Films.

On his LiveJournal, Brandon Graham posts art from the second King City — specifically a really cool board game spread complete with cut-out pieces (shown above). If you haven’t read the first one, it’s totally worth seeking out.

Via

Cinematical points out that the Gotham Times, the viral website for The Dark Knight film that launched last November, has been updated. The lead story in the new edition focuses on Harvey Dent, while other stories spotlight Batman’s activities and an increase in fear toxin in the city. Uh oh … My favorite headline, though, is on the editorial page (page two) — “Arrest Batman — Just Not Yet.”

And like the first edition, this one points to all sorts of sub-sites, like Gotham Cable News, DanaWorthington.com (Harvey’s opponent), the Maiden Avenue Report, the Gotham Victims Advocate Foundation, St. Swithuns Catholic Church and Citizens for Batman. Following the email link on that last one gets you a reply:

Dear Gotham Citizen,

Thanks for expressing your interest in joining Citizens for Batman. The
easiest way you can join is by attending a meeting. Check the web site
for meeting times. If you can’t attend, you can always lobby City Hall
to support Batman and stop any talk of his being arrested.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Brian Douglass
Founder and President, Citizens for Batman

No doubt the other sub-sites have more email links, phone numbers and the like … let us know what you find.

Daily Motion has a new Iron Man spot:

Via

April 4 can’t get here soon enough

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The first ‘MyCup o’ Joe’ column, where the Hero Intiative’s Jim McLauchlin asks Joe Quesada questions, is up on MySpace and Marvel.com.

In the first edition, he addresses why the column is on MySpace and not here at Newsarama, recent Marvel announcements from WizardWorld L.A. and Grant Morrison’s remarks about DC kicking Marvel’s ass:

In the immortal words of Roy Batty, “That’s the spirit!”

I thought it was great because for the longest time I’ve been wondering if those guys across town had a pulse. [Laughs] Seriously, at least Grant is trying to stir it up and make some noise, which I think is very healthy for our industry. I love mixing it up with DC, so let’s get in the trenches, let’s get muddy, let’s have some fun, and let’s sell some books! Everyone wins!

That said, the one place where I would take exception to Grant’s comments were when he tried to downplay Secret Invasion and it’s importance simply because it’s a story with Skrulls in it and we’ve seen Skrulls before. This kind of comment is a bit hard to swallow from a guy who’s writing an event with the word “Crisis” in it—I kid, I kid!

We’ve seen DC’s universes split and reunite before, haven’t we? Do you think we might just see different versions of our DC favorite characters? Will there be a key life-and/or-death moment with the Flash? The answer is probably “yes” to all those questions. But I don’t believe that Grant’s Final Crisis will be redundant simply because it has the word “Crisis” in it and “promises to change everything.” I give Grant a lot more credit than that, and expect that he’ll blow everyone away and not give us something we’ve seen before, or at least take what’s happened before and turn it totally on its ear to give us a new take on it. He also has the brilliant J.G. Jones doing the art, so it’s going to look fantastic.

Fantagraphics is hosting Drew Friedman at their shop in Seattle tomorrow night:

The fun begins on Thursday at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery with Drew Friedman’s stunning show “The Fun Never Stops!” Come meet this extraordinary artist and view his stunning comics and illustrations. The exhibit includes 16 spectacular Friedman originals and a very limited signed silkscreen print (pictured below) for only $20.

Join us this Thursday, March 27 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM to welcome this amazing artist on his first visit to Seattle, and check out an array of exquisite new books from your favorite publisher. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in the Georgetown district – just minutes south of downtown Seattle. Arrive early and then head up to the Crumb exhibition at the Frye Art Museum at 7:00 PM where Gary Groth will moderate a discussion with panelists Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney and Jim Woodring. Admission is free to both events.

Admission is free to the public of all ages. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale St. in Seattle’s Georgetown industrial arts district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110. See you all soon.

Shuffleboil talks to La Perdida creator Jessica Abel:

SB: When you started out, what goals did you have in the form that made you want to do mini comics and self publish?

JA: I don’t think I thought about it very concretely, I just made comics and then I don’t even know how I got the idea to make-up photo copied mini comics, I don’t know where that came from. I must have seen them around or something or known that it was something that people did, but it wasn’t like I was trying to join the movement or anything. It was just once I did it, it turned out there kind of was a movement and I was in it, then. But I didn’t know that at the time.

I started getting involved in the early ‘90s. I was making my own comics but also trading comics with people, there was a lot of mail order stuff that was going on at the time, ordering mini comics through the mail. I’d get envelopes with two bucks in them and send somebody back a comic and that went on for a number of years.

My own ambition at the time was to keep making comics. I knew that I wanted to be published by Fantagraphics — and in the end I was. After the Xeric issue, they picked me up to do a second run of “Artbabe.” That was achieving a goal but I didn’t really have any idea of what that would mean in terms of my life, where do you go from there?