Via the Source

Famed Batman, Detective Comics and currently Streets of Gotham artist Dustin Nguyen gives off an almost Wonderland feel to his Superman: World of New Krypton #10 variant cover.

I’ve always been a fan of Nguyen’s style, but this piece is on a whole other level. Why don’t you click here for a closer look?

VIZ Media, one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced that it has acquired the domestic TV, Home Entertainment, Streaming, DTO, and merchandising rights to the hit VAMPIRE KNIGHT animated series.

With this license VIZ Media will hold the rights to VAMPIRE KNIGHT for television (including IPTV and VOD) and Home Video (all platforms including Blu-ray), streaming, DTO and merchandising (including digital merchandise and mobile).
VAMPIRE KNIGHT is based on the best-selling gothic-romance manga series created by Matsuri Hino. Cross Academy is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At twilight, when the students of the Day Class return to their dorm, they cross paths with the Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the Guardians of the school, protecting the Day Class from the Academy’s dark secret: the Night Class is full of vampires!

Matsuri Hino burst onto the manga scene with her title Kono Yume ga Sametara (“When This Dream Is Over”), which was published in LaLa DX magazine. Hino was a manga artist a mere nine months after she decided to become one. With the success of her popular series CAPTIVE HEARTS and MERU PURI, Hino has established herself as a major player in the world of shojo manga. VAMPIRE KNIGHT is currently serialized in LaLa magazine in Japan and was also serialized in Shojo Beat magazine in North America. The VAMPIRE KNIGHT manga series is currently published in the US by VIZ Media and continues to keep its place in the Top Ten on The New York Times Best Selling Manga List.

For more information on VAMPIRE KNIGHT please visit their website.

Via Press Release:

VIZ Media delighted anime fans at New York Anime Festival yesterday with an announcement of the near simultaneous Japanese/American simulcast of the action-packed conclusion to the INUYASHA animated series – INUYASHA THE FINAL ACT.

Beginning on October 3rd, INUYASHA THE FINAL ACT (subtitled) will stream on Shonen Sunday and Hulu mere hours after it airs in Japan.

“INUYASHA is one of the longest running anime series in North America and we’re very proud to present the final episodes of this epic adventure to fans in the U.S. mere hours after episodes air in Japan,” says Ken Sasaki, Vice President Strategy & Business Development, VIZ Media. “Rumiko Takahashi created a classic with INUYASHA, and ShonenSunday.com/anime will be THE online destination where INUYASHA fans can watch all 167 previously available episodes, as well as follow the newest episodes from INUYASHA THE FINAL ACT!”

VIZ Media publishes multiple series by Rumiko Takahashi, including her brand new manga series RIN-NE, the INUYASHA manga, INUYASHA ani-manga and THE ART OF INUYASHA. For more information on the INUYASHA anime please visit ShonenSunday.com.

Super Max…. meet Supermax.

Reuters has reported that Columbia Pictures has picked up the script for a film called Supermax.

This is not to get confused with the long-in-development feature “Super Max” by Warner Bros. and David Goyer, which forces Green Arrow to team up with inmates to survive a metahuman prison riot. Instead, Columbia’s film forces a prison guard to team up with inmates to survive… a supernatural prison riot?

Hoo boy. That’s a lot of coincidinks here. Good thing this sort of thing isn’t anything like David Goyer’s earlier film, Death Warrant. That movie is about Jean-Claude Van Damme as a cop teaming up with inmates in a prison riot. Er… never mind.

Someone out there wants to buy me the Absolute Promethea, right? I mean, I provide y’all with plenty of entertainment, snark, and I know you’re just appalled at the fact that I haven’t read Promethea before. So, someone’s gonna pony up, put their money where their wagging fingers are, and buy me a copy, right?

Right?

While I’m still full-time-employment challenged, I guess I have to hold off on fancy pretty hardcover books for the time being. Instead, I’ll make do with a little Wolverine Weapon X, a splash of Unknown Soldier, maybe a little Gotham City Sirens and of course, The Boys Herogasm.

Anything else?

(If you’re going to comment to lecture me about the need to read Promethea, save it, I’m aware. It just might have to come from the library until I can afford to buy more books.)

UPDATE: We now have an interview with Kirkman on the mothership, containing a bit more information, so head on over and check it out!

MTV has a nice interview up with Robert Kirkman, discussing the television adaptation of The Walking Dead with AMC and director Frank Darabont.

The question that really caught my attention was why Walking Dead — which has all the gore and swears you’d expect out of a comic with zombies — was on AMC, rather than a no-holds-barred station like HBO or Showtime:

I had no concerns about that whatsoever, because one of the concerns I have about zombie fiction is when they rely too much on the shocking gore aspects. That’s not really the point of “Walking Dead,” so to a certain extant, I think it will work better at AMC—because it forces people not to rely on that stuff. As far as “Walking Dead” not having teeth on AMC, if you’ve ever seen [certain episodes of] “Mad Men” or “Breaking Bad,” they push a lot of boundaries as far as content goes.

In fact, I just had a meeting with a bunch of the executives at AMC, and Darabont, and Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert at Circle of Confusion, and the executives were talking to Darabont about his script and they said, “You can’t use the F-word.” That was the only limitation they gave him. We were all stunned.

Considering Kirkman is an executive producer on the show, I doubt it’ll veer too far off his own creative sensibilities, even as he has said that the show doesn’t have to follow the comic’s trajectory to the letter. And if AMC is really only saying “no F-words,” this zombie show might have some teeth. What do you think?

A new scene! 

Page 02 of the story I did for David Rodriguez and Dave Reynolds’ ShadowGirls is up at (Cover or Page 01):

ShadowGirls: Getting A Piece of Asp Cover / Page 01

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

“From Red Sonja, I learned that a chain mail bikini is appropriate attire in any situation, even the frozen polar wastes”: What have the Sequential Tarts learned from comics? Mainly that Batman is a pretty poor role model, is what I’m getting.

“The big point here is that Rankin, in literary terms, is a player”: Writing for the Sunday Times, Bryan Appleyard discusses Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera’s Dark Entries graphic novel, Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou’s Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth (“This is probably the best and certainly the most extraordinary graphic novel I have ever come across”), David Small’s Stitches and the value of the medium in general. Meanwhile, here’s another article about Rankin’s Dark Entries, also from the other side of the Atlantic.

“At first I wasn’t sure how to make a whole book out of this. But … It’s something that’s totally ridiculous, but we make it so that it has some meatier elements infused into it”: That’s Nebraskan-born writer Van Jensen discussing his new comic Pinnochio: Vampire Slayer with the Lincoln Journal Star.

“Maybe the cartoonist should either have the courage to use the actual words, or else write material that’s appropriate to the medium. How is it edgy to have profanity in comic strips when it’s only pretend swearing?”: I enjoyed this post by Nelson Dewey about swearing and not-swearing in newspaper comic strips, in large part because I often find myself irritated with how some comic book writers handle swearing, and then trying to think of a better solution to the challenge. Not to pick on Brian Michael Bendis, but his Marvel scripts are the ones I tend to notice the most, wherein a character will “swear” in an extremely clear fasion so that everyone knows the word intended—”I’m going to kick your @#$” or “Shut the @#$% up!”—but the Caps-locked number keys obscure it, drawing attention to the absurdity of the tension in the dialogue. Like, the comic is so mature and grown up that it can use adult language, only not really, because it’s not really for adults. Sorry for the tangent there, but I seriously think about this a lot. Anyway, read Dewey’s post.

Over at the Vertigo blog, fans who post their favorite Fables character and why have a shot (right now a little over 50/50, since only 18 people have entered) to win a free copy of the forthcoming Fables original prose novel, Peter & Max. Written by Fables creator Bill Willingham and featuring spot illustrations by Steve Leialoha, the book will be released on October 15, but readers have until October 9 to post and win.

Ten winners will be chosen randomly (so you don’t have to be a writer of Grimm Brothers caliber to have a shot) and notified on October 13 on the Vertigo blog, or else entrants can contact Vertigo by e-mail after that date to get a full list of winners.

Serious question: Is this the single best Wednesday of the year? After poring over the Diamond shipping lists as I do at the beginning of each week, it sure looks like it. Some of the very best looking books of a crowded week of big releases, as well as a few oddities, after the jump.

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If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

I really enjoyed this video from GRITtv, with cartoonists Jennifer Camper, Carlo Quispe, and Erika Lopez, discussing drawing comics and depicting marginalized lives.

Host Laura Flanders notes that most comics have in common, “the idea of capturing different dimensions,” and her guests are people from different ethnic and economic backgrounds, telling their stories particularly through the lens of their sexuality. Camper notes that she likes to tell “regular stories about working-class people,” and Quispe discusses “being infatuated with someone for twenty minutes” while drawing them. Lopez jokes that she is popular because she is “ranting from the bottom,” and all three note that it is not just people of color, not just LGBT people who read their work.

“Those are the kinds of stories I wanted to read,” Camper said, and the others agreed.

For New Yorkers, there’s a show of these cartoonists’ work opening Thursday at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance.

The Source has revealed some preview images of Francis Manapul’s take on the Flash!

Manapul said that he would be doing his own inks and watercolors on the new project, which teams him up again with his Adventure Comics collaborator Geoff Johns. The book is due out early next year.

Kickstart Productions has announced it will be teaming up with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray to produce their comic Splatterman.

Splatterman explores the lives of two comic book creators whose new horror book takes a startling new turn. It was described in a written release as “a classic mix of action, horror and drama that feeds into the obsessive behavior of fan worship and takes it to new and bloody heights.”

Kickstart was the production company behind the film version of Wanted, and is currently developing Preacher and Wanted 2. They also worked with Palmiotti for his book Back to Brooklyn.

The HERO Initiative wants you to sign up for a 2010 membership!

HERO, which helps out creators in financial and medical need, has three different levels of membership to choose from.

Bronze membership, which costs $29, will get you a personalized membership card, a quarterly newsletter, a variant of Marvel Apes #1, and a HERO Initiative sketched card from artists including Chris Bachalo, Dan Brereton, Mike Deodato, Scott Koblish, Mike Mayhew, Mike Perkins, Joe Quesada, Humberto Ramos, Tone Rodriguez, John Romita Sr., and Leinil Yu.

Silver membership, which costs $99, will give you all the above, as well a HERO Initiative T-shirt, a copy of The Ultimate Spider-Man 100 Project, as well as “First in Line” benefits for many different conventions and events.

Excelsior membership, which costs $500, ill give you all of the above, as well as a $50 car for Sideshow Collectibles, as well as a flat item signed and personalized by Stan Lee. Additionally, current members will get a discounted price for continuing their membership before January 1st.

Want to know more? Check out more information at www.heroinitiative.org!

Exurbia

Written by Scott Allie

Art by Kevin McGovern

Published by Dark Horse

Scott Allie is a busy man. He’s an editor at Dark Horse for such titles as “Hellboy,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The Umbrella Academy” and “The Goon.” But there’s always time for a pet project, especially one as wacky and thought-provoking as, “Exurbia.” Coming out in October from Dark Horse, Allie teams up with artist Kevin McGovern to serve up a truly ditzy distopian farce.

Judging by the current mini comic version, “Exurbia” is quite a stylish little rant. We all have these sort of venting sessions when we can clearly see the network of lies fed to us. We can put our finger on all the government and corporate corruption and cry foul. That’s why we have comics like “Exurbia” to give voice to our cries.

Happily, all the bitterness is contained primarily in the character of Gage Wallace for our entertainment and edification. He’s a layabout twenty-something who is so glued to his TV that it’s sort of painful to watch. He lives in an apartment building with circular windows that, from outside, looks like every other building in the city, a vast collection of blocks of cheese. No wonder a mysterious rat revolutionary emerges to galvanize protest against the system.

Gage has a girlfriend, Brenda, who regularly comes in and cleans up after him. She is beginning to wonder why. On the heels of a lovers’ quarrel, Gage must try to take stock of himself. His only saving grace appears to be his youth and he sort of realizes he’s been pissing that away. Maybe the TV can provide some answers.

The art is a wonderful match for the zany humor. Gage Wallace reminds you of that obnoxious housemate who, despite himself, always had something clever to say. Kevin McGovern is in tune with how to bring that sort of angst to life. His art style is very sharp and animated. The characters have the perfect proportions of big heads and little bodies. It’s like The Flintstones if Fred dabbled heavily in conspiracy theories.

The trade paperback is 6″ x 9″, 112 pages, $9.95 and available for pre-order.

There’s something vaguely insulting about CBS’s The Big Bang Theory.

I think it comes primarily from the fact that, these days, it’s accepted lore that The Big Bang Theory is actually “on our side,” as it were. The conventional wisdom, as espoused by show writer and former computer programmer Bill Prady, is that the comic book- and science-fiction-loving main characters aren’t actually being lampooned but lionized. The notion that—even though the characters are stereotypical, one-dimensional and not at all human—we’re supposed to be happy with their portrayal because, after all, it’s a modicum better than The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, seems a little absurd.
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The Ignatz Awards are intended to recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. Winners of the 2009 Ignatz Awards were named during a short ceremony on Saturday night in conjunction with the Small Press Expo (or SPX) in North Bethesda, Maryland.

And the Ignatz goes to…
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Family Guy’s eighth season premiered last night with one of its Brian/Stewie “Road To…” special musical episodes. In this case, the geek-favorite show might be even more inviting to comics fans, as the title was “Road to the Multiverse” and featured the pair visiting a variety of different worlds. On each, they experienced that universe’s version of the Griffin family.
My first thought was that the Family Guy multiverse is not entirely dissimilar to the one that we saw in Final Crisis. Random, identifiable sight gags that separate the universes in Family Guy aren’t unlike the ones used by Grant Morrison, who had “The Watchmen Superman,” “The Black Superman” and “The Vampire Superman” rounding out the Supermen of 52 worlds who appeared at the end of Final Crisis. In Family Guy, we’re treated to a world where dogs are in charge, a world where everyone has two heads and “The Robot Chicken Universe,” where Stewie taunts the inhabitants, “How does it feel to be on a real network for about thirty seconds?” before leaving.
While the dog-controlled universe (where Stewie the dog and Brian the human have already been on this trip before, and so they know what to do and how to resolve the episode) was good for a couple of chuckles, the world I wish they had visited—which unfortunately the show’s writers have apparently been denied access—is one where Family Guy is still funny.

Part eight of Jaia’s debut and kids’ imagination.

On a different note (and webcomic), a story I did for David Rodriguez and Dave Reynolds’ ShadowGirls begins posting today. ShadowGirls, for those not in the know, is best put as “H.P. Lovecraft meets the Gilmore Girls” [I’m lifting their log line]. It’s my favorite webcomic. It’s different then Global Freezing (it’s short enough to see the end coming for one) and I hope you enjoy it.

ShadowGirls: Getting A Piece of Asp Cover / Page 01

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.