Considering there’s been a lot of coverage regarding overlap between comics and Twilight, I just wanted to show you the possible worst crossover between the two worlds.

The funny thing is that Blade is likely doing this not because Edward is a vampire, but because Blade is a die-hard Anne Rice fan. “Real vampires play in a rock band, motherlover!!” This image, which I picked up from Mark Waid, would probably end the movie in about five minutes. But it would be a sparkly five minutes. Hey, at least it isn’t Three Wolf Moon.

While many of our readers are content finding their comics news on sites like Newsarama, that’s not to say that mainstream media isn’t getting in on the act as well. But perhaps none are more powerful than Georges Gene Gustines, who (among many other things) writes comics-related news for the New York Times.

Mark-Oliver Frisch interviewed Gustines, who has broken stories such as DC’s new logo, the gay-bashing storyline written by Judd Winick for Green Lantern, as well as Batwoman being a lesbian. Here’s a highlight:

What makes a good comic?

I’ve been wrestling with this question quite a bit. For me, it starts with the writing: good premise (The Walking Dead)? Interesting point of view (Criminal)? A moving personal account (countless memoirs!)? Any of these criteria can hook me in. The art, of course, plays a big role. I’ve read lots of stories with lackluster art, but when the images are as strong as the words, there’s a certain magic to it. That’s when you get, in superhero comics, unforgettable runs like Wolfman/Perez on Titans and Claremont/Byrne on X-Men.

He also talks about the difficulties of pitching comics stories to the paper — and how occasionally creators will contact him after a piece has run, saying that their work fits the piece, etc. etc., even when the boat has long since sailed.

Gustines also breaks a BIG misconception for non-journo types: unless it’s a blog like this one, reporters almost NEVER write the headlines for their own stories, so don’t blame him for any BIFF! POW! ZAP! kinda deals. Another fun quote? “I try to read Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and The Beat religiously. I really enjoy the blogs on Newsarama and Comic Book Resources, where I have to admit I miss the weekly “Lying in the Gutters” column, which was always entertaining.” Now that’s an endorsement I can stand behind. While I’m off breaking my arm patting myself on the back, you should read the rest of the piece here.

[Hat tip to Heidi for the link]

Happy Thanksgiving from your friendly neighborhood Blog team! Via Newsarama’s very own Mike Avila, an image of the Ol’ Webslinger himself, making his return to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:

According to many folks on Twitter, the parade not only brought Spidey back to the fore, but also plugged the company’s Digital Comics Initiative. We hope you’re out eating turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and the like, but if not — don’t worry! Plan on a few extra posts today, because we are thankful for your readership!

Considering yesterday’s post on the Onion AV Club’s top 25 comics of the decade was a fairly important deal, I also wanted to direct your attention to another list that may have been overlooked: Christopher Bird, aka MightyGodKing, discussing 25 gateway comics for people.

At this point I have honestly lost count of the number of comics lists that suggest that someone brand new to comics start with, say, Jack Kirby’s New Gods. Or Walt Simonson’s Thor. Or the Fantagraphics Complete Peanuts. Or, god forbid, Herbie the Fat fucking Fury, a comic hardcover that will set back a prospective reader sixty bucks Canadian for a measly 224 pages of kitsch that relies desperately on people saying how awesome it is.

Or they’ll recommend something safe, like “you should read Sandman.” Or Watchmen, or Transmetropolitan, or [insert critically acclaimed comic by the Usual Suspects here]. Now, sure. These are great comics. But I’m not going to say “this is how you should get started with comics.” Watchmen should be nobody’s first comics read. Sandman has an impenetrable first volume. And Transmet is a commitment – not that Spider Jerusalem isn’t worth the ride, but I’m not going to introduce somebody to comics with it.

Bird goes on to list books like All-Star Superman, Bone, Criminal, Maus, Scott Pilgrim — it’s definitely worth a read (and i totally agree with him about not suggesting Thor or New Gods or Watchmen to someone fresh onto the scene). But I also wanted to add my personal list, as a regular comic book evangelist (not to be confused with a comic book Evangelion). Does it break Bird’s third rule of contemporary superhero fare? Yeah. Is it the best of the best of the medium? It’s good, but I wouldn’t go that far. And obviously the list isn’t meant for everyone — just those with an open enough mind to take a look at a medium we all care about. My rules of thumb: more character, less depressing, and comedy can’t hurt. (Obviously, more serious-minded people should read Scalped or Criminal, but that’s not what I open with. And I’m not putting Scott Pilgrim on the list, only because that one should be obvious.) Is this list the definitive list of things You Must Read? Heck, no — it’s just the books I give to people who are interested in reading ‘em. Obviously, your mileage may vary.

Amazing Spider-Man, by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita, Jr.: The first arc is a decent introduction to the character, with lots of action and wit. But it’s the second arc — kicking off with the black covered 9/11 issue — that blows people away. One of the prime misconceptions of comics is that they’re kids fare, that there’s no depth: Straczysnki’s 9/11 story takes a national tragedy — one that most of the country was still reeling from — and gave a response. The rest of the book, up through issue #500, is great, as well: even if you don’t buy the Spider-Totem subplot, it doesn’t matter. J. Michael Straczynski, to borrow from an earlier Marvel campaign, puts the character into comics. Read it.

Astonishing X-Men, by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. While the series (by the author’s own admission) occasionally veers off the rails in terms of subject matter, Joss Whedon knows how to make characterization work. Kitty Pryde and Colossus have a great arc, and Scott Summers in particular makes a fantastic movement from up-tight leader-man to the put-together general we now know and love. It’s also cut with a nice degree of humor to it, which makes anything more palatable. For more serious-minded readers, Morrison’s New X-Men isn’t a bad run either.

Batman: Gotham Knights, by Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson. It’s too bad this book hasn’t been collected in trade, because there isn’t a better look at Batman or his family than this. Fantastic moody artwork by Robinson, and the relationships between Batman and Nightwing, Batman and the Spoiler, Nightwing and Robin, all tying in with Bruce’s deep-seated issues, made this book an exercise in superiority for years. It eventually ties in with the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive crossover, which will likely confuse, but the much of the preceding work is just spot-on.

Batman: The Long Halloween, by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. But what if your target isn’t into the touchy-feely Batman? That’s okay — while it occasionally riffs heavily on things like the Godfather, The Long Halloween is a great introduction to Batman and his world. It’s rare to have One True Voice for the Bat, but Jeph Loeb pulls it off, giving us a great view of how he operates, and who he operates against. Tim Sale’s scratchy lines may put off a few people who are brand-new to the medium, but if they’re open-minded (or have read even one comic, just to get a sense that it doesn’t have to be a cartoon or photorealistic), this series will hook most mystery fans.

The Incredible Hercules: Love and War, by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Clayton Henry, and Salva Espin. The gateway drug for that most awesome of Greeks. Clayton Henry was born to draw Herc in this incarnation, as his expressions add so much to Pak and Van Lente’s antics. There’s a lot of dumb action, but there’s also a lot of humor and (surprisingly) romance to it all. The final chapter — complete with alternate reality and new art team — takes a little bit of a weird turn, the first few chapters make it a worthwhile read. It’s also a great way to transition someone to another great run, Sacred Invasion.

Invincible, by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley. The everyman factor strikes again — Robert Kirkman manages to go hog-wild with Invincible, as the first few volumes especially deal with the problems of superheroics, and plain old growing up. Walker transitions to Ottley smoothly in terms of the art, and the twist of the Viltrumites will keep people in it for the long haul. Additionally, while much of the world Kirkman creates is homaging something else, for new readers, they won’t know the difference — it’s like feeding them their vitamins, so they aren’t confused if they see it elsewhere. But the main hook of this book is character — Mark Grayson is one sympathetic character, but not necessarily a sad-sack like Peter Parker, and his family is a hoot. Worth it, especially if you’re looking past the Big Two.

Iron Man: Extremis, by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov. With Tony Stark hitting the cineplexes next year, there are a lot of people who want to know what he’s all about. I would direct them to Warren Ellis’s Extremis first — not only does Ellis really “get” Tony’s scientific streak, but Adi Granov will blow a new comics reader out of the water for his unique style. That said, if you feel the revised origin story might be a little redundant because of the movie, Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca are tearing it up in Invincible Iron Man. Definitely a toss-up, but one you really can’t lose.

Scott Pilgrim, by Bryan Lee O’Malley. UPDATE: I wrote at the beginning of this list that this book was an obvious pick for the list, and didn’t need me to explain why — but just to prevent people from missing that disclaimer, here goes. Music? Check. Romance? Check. Post Gen-X Ennui mixed with a healthy helping of Kicking Ass? Double check. Some people might underestimate this book because of its cartoony style: those people are idiots. This book out-indies the best of ‘em, and is going to get some added exposure by the upcoming film with Michael Cera.

Superman: Birthright, by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu. Not knocking Geoff Johns’ Secret Origin, but it’s a shame that this book hasn’t gotten more critical acclaim. If you have a friend who even knows what the show Smallville is, then this is a great way to introduce Superman as a character to them. While the ending is a little flat, the thing about these books is that all you need is a strong intro to prove what this medium can do — and Mark Waid does that in spades. Showing the globe-trotting Clark Kent is a side we haven’t seen of him before, and it gives a worldlier perspective to the Big Blue Boy Scout.

Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. This is likely as much of a “commitment” as Bird describes Transmetropolitan, but it’s worth it. This totally flies in the face of male-centric superhero convention — this is a book someone who wouldn’t be caught dead reading a capes-and-tights book might budge a little over. Some strong characterization and the fact that the creative team sticks around for 60 issues is what helps — by the time this series is over, it’s as if you’ve lost a friend. Highly recommended for fans of long-form storytelling, whether it’s the West Wing or How I Met Your Mother.

Zot!, by Scott McCloud. UPDATE: Oversight alert! I can’t believe I forgot to put Zot! down as a gateway comic. Sure, it plays with a lot of sci-fi/superheroic tropes, but the social issues that the book eventually gets into are some really powerful stuff. “Look what they’ve done to you” — life is painful, and McCloud is great at showing people struggle and transcend their problems… and include sci-fi robots, jetpacks, and monkeys. I would strongly suggest picking up the black-and-white collection, which picks up the later (and greater) issues of McCloud’s run.

What say you, Rama readers? Any books I’ve missed? Sound off!

Talking to Strangers

Written by Fehed Said
Illustrated by Nana Li, Wing Yun Man, Faye Yong, Chloe Citrine and Sonia Leong
Published by Sweatdrop Studios

Talking to Strangers is a six-short story collection of mostly horror and fantasy-leaning tales, written by Fehed Said and illustrated in manga style by a variety of intriguing artists.

The book’s lead story, “Box,” has an interested conceit, hampered by its delivery. It may be a few words that throw off Said’s intent – the parents refer to their “baby,” the doctor explains that they found her like this, both of these without showing the parents alongside their daughter. When the nurse uses the adjective “finally” when talking to another mother, it only enforces a passage of time that doesn’t seem to have occurred, and the connection between the parents and the people in the “boxes” didn’t quite work. Still, Said and Nana Li infuse a terrible desperation to the lives of the young man and woman in their separate boxes. Flawed, but creepy and terribly sad when the final twist hits.

“Static,” drawn by Wing Yun Man and Faye Yong in a looser, bigfoot style, somewhat reminiscent (only on the surface) of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s line work, deals with agoraphobia and the frames through which we see the world. That fear of social interaction manifests in a purely literal fashion, with Said cleverly upsetting the protagonist’s anxiety via his connection to TV programs – a connection that is displaced to the local park outside his window when the cable service is interrupted. The ending works as a small triumph of the human spirit and comraderie.

Chloe Citrine’s artwork in “Malignant” shows promise, despite a few shortcomings in layout that make specific pages and sequences difficult to read. The story revolves around a young boy dragging his life’s burden, represented initially by a small rock, across a foreboding landscape, toward some fantastical monument that offers a hope of freedom.

Dark fantasy comes to the fore in “Hero,” with a battered teen boy and a personification of death sharing an apartment building, their paths crossing on the walk-up and landing. Both story and art, by Sonia Leong, are fairly pedestrian for the genre.

Childish whimsy and the book’s first outright happy ending highlight “Flowers,” illustrated in a bouncy, simple and open style by Faye Yong. Said does a fine job capturing a young girl’s innocence and excitement over the discovery of a flower. A little back story pertaining to the disappearance of flowers adds the requisite sci-fi touch, but it’s not really necessary; Said’s tale of innocence lost and rewarded is delightfully charming, and Yong’s art suits the tale to a T.

The “bonus story” (aside from it lacking any fantasy or sci-fi elements, I’m not sure why this one is a “bonus”) “The Old Man” provides an interesting, if slightly hokey in its ending, peek into the lessons of an elderly gentleman. Faye Yong again handles illustrative duties, using a more detailed line work than seen in “Flowers,” and the result is another artistic gem.

Overall, Talking to Strangers is a book of creative promise.  I’m sure it says something about the interconnected importance of story and art that the two best narratives, “Static” and “Flowers,” have the top art.  With both elements working together, the two stories stand out.  When the art does not support the writing, the elements are left slightly askew, disjointed, leaving four shorts that offer glimmers of wit and humanity.  With all that said, for fans of dark fantasy, I suspect that Talking to Strangers will have something to please you.

Happy day before Thanksgiving!  Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

“The heart of my story is not even about modeling, it’s about chasing what you want and not giving up”: The New York Daily News has a little feature story about Model Life, a graphic novel by artist Jazmin Ruotolo and subject Isobella Jade, a petite model who is building herself a little media empire. And what modern media empire would be complete without a graphic novel?

Reason #219 Sarah Palin will never, ever actually go away again: Political cartoonists love her.

“I thought he should be handsome, patient, and friendly and for some reason, Eric Reynolds popped in my head”: When looking for a model to base a character in Stumptown #2 on, artist Matthew Southworth thought of Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds.

I want to marry this comic book: PW has a preview of John Pham’s Sublife Vol. 2 and I swear you guys, this thing is so lovely. I have a preview copy on my nightstand, and I just can’t keep my eyes—and hands!—off it.

This is my favorite version of the Legion of Super Heroes: And if your favorite aspect of the LOSH is that they’re basically just a bunch of a-hole superhero teenagers (actually, that’s the only thing I really like about ‘em), then James Kochalka’s superlative work in the a-hole superhero teenager genre will likely be yours too.

Keep a steady eye on one page or another from Stitches and you can feel the urgency and sincerity. For example: David is six and he is lying on the floor with his paper and crayons before him. He’s in his element, his world. He’s already feeling uncertain about his home life. In that moment, he has his crayons and he knows how to draw better than any other kid on the block.

David Small gathers up critical details along with the lighter ones as he pursues his own Rememberance of Things Past. He is documenting as well as exploring. He is going as deep as he can go for things to make sense to him. In the process, random moments in time find their proper place in the story: his mother’s secret language; his sliding in his socks across a hospital’s slick floor; his Alice in Wonderland make-believe world; his recognition that a mysterious friend of the family brings out something unusual in his mother. In this way of recalling the past, Stitches is most like Maus and Persepolis, the only two graphic novels that most people outside of comics are aware of.

As Small states in an interview with Newsarama, he does not consider himself a writer, at least not a great writer. Well, it’s no easy hat trick to summon up the past and bring it to life in vivid detail. Even when it’s just drawings we see, Small often creates bits of poetry. It’s nice that he does not take himself too seriously. Considering the content, it requires a sure and steady hand not to have it overwhelm the creator. This is a story about how Small discovered, at age eleven, a growth in his throat and his parents, who had the money, chose to wait three years before removing it. The neglect and misjudgment does not stop there. Small gives us a clear picture without his self-pity or any sense of revenge.

It’s hard to come out and call Stitches “groundbreaking” when you consider all the other exemplary works in comics. The last two columns of Comics Grinder alone provide excellent examples: The Squirrel Machine and The Winter Men. But, the fact is that Stitches is an exceptional book and it can be called groundbreaking in certain aspects. Placed alongside Maus and Persepolis, Stitches provides the general reader with a great leap forward in lyrical, expressive and beautiful drawing to be found in a “graphic novel,” something that Maus and Persepolis are not geared toward and is outside the scope of either book’s ambitions. Yes, at the end of the day, drawing counts for quite a lot.

Stitches is on many a critic’s short list for best comics of the year. It also holds the distinction of being only the second graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award. The first was in 2006 for Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese. So, it’s good to have Stitches in the spotlight offering a strong story along with strong art and that’s a groundbreaking step for comics in the eyes of a mass readership. And for those of us with more discerning eyes, I still believe that Stitches holds its own among the best books out there.

For more information on David Small and Stitches, visit the David Small Web site. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again. Until then, stop by Comics Grinder for any other musings.

So, you may have noticed that DC’s kept Superman and his cast of heroes, villains and supporting cast pretty busy since they (re)introduced a hundred thousand Kandorians to Earth over a year ago. By all indications, DC has made hits out of the various Man of Steel books, especially since the main man has been taken out of most of the titles in favor of different characters to take the lead. And as entertaining as “New Krypton” has been, all indications point to even more activity with Superman and New Krypton in 2010.

I’ve been loving it myself, so here’s my question: Why has DC Direct not so much as sniffed at some sort of “New Krypton” action figure line? The characters are there, and then some. DC Direct has never been shy on producing Superman figures, and he’s deeply immersed in his most compelling storyline in years, produced by some of the publisher’s best creatve talent. What’s the holdup? Well, I hope DC Direct’s paying attention, because the Super Articulate team has figured out no less than FOUR 4-figure waves that strike the right balance of A-list heroes (anchors, as they like to call them), villains, and characters that DC Direct really needs to get around to making. Take a look after the jump and let us know what you think!

(more…)

With 2009 coming to a close, a lot of people are looking at the best comics of the decade. (There will be other sticklers who post about it next year. No complaining, people.) But the Onion A.V. Club has a list of some of the best of the best — 25 to be exact, with five other archival collections — from publishers all over the place.

Now, to be fair, it’s obviously tilted towards books with indie sensibilities rather than, say, capes-and-tights fare like Green Lantern or Ultimate Spider-Man (although All-Star Superman, DC: The New Frontier and Bendis’ run on Daredevil all get nods). Asterios Polyp, the book that everyone raved about this year obviously made the cut, as did the Acme Novelty Library and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Yet there’s a huge oversight here — the total lack of manga, which already spans far more genres (romance, school, workplace drama, even cooking) than most American comics ever have.

Of course, that said, there are clearly some books whose absence would make people angry. Scott Pilgrim, whose high energy and cross-genre leanings have landed it a movie deal, was noticeably left out — Scalped, which has gotten rave reviews for Jason Aaron, was overlooked in favor of Criminal, a book with similar tone in terms of subject matter. Astro City is something I’ve heard people talk about — and while I don’t dispute it’s a good comic, I would argue that some of its best issues, such as the introduction of Samaritan, or the arc with the Confessor, came out before the 2000 mark.

In a lot of ways, these lists are pure politics, and the further from 2010 you came out, the greater the handicap against you. The other question is that of tone: does it have to be polished with the art style? Does it have to be either gritty and realistic (Criminal) or hugely subversive (Tales to Thrizzle)? Does mainstream popularity — sales, not necessarily reviews — preclude you from the list? You can check out the AV Club’s list here — I’m curious what you think is missing. Sound off!

The Year of Loving Dangerously: A Graphic Memoir
Written by Ted Rall
Illustrated by Pablo G. Callejo
Published by NBM/ComicsLit

In 1984, Columbia student Ted Rall was expelled from college and deposited outside the school dorms. With little money, no job, and too much pride, Rall began a months-long ordeal of … well, finding shelter with women he was able to seduce. His story is chronicled in his new book The Year of Loving Dangerous.

I’ll say this for The Year of Loving Dangerously, at no point does Rall apologize for his behavior. He does acknowledge that being totally dependent on the women in his life for basics like food, the emotional connection became more difficult. The fundamental imbalance of need made it difficult for Rall to give himself emotionally. It’s an interesting outlook, and Rall puts his feelings across fairly clearly. That said, toward the end, when Rall gets his feet underneath him, he does occasionally come across as bragging a bit. It may bother some readers, may not bother others. Use your own prudence.

Among the book’s most intriguing aspects is the possibility of the biased, unreliable narrator. Rall’s stories of losing his job and the rationale for his expulsion from Columbia manage to squeeze together a nearly unbelievable number of extraordinarily unlikely coincidences. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but you can’t help but wonder what some of his former professors would say if telling this story from their perspective.

Rall does a fine job laying out the story, weaving his year of dangerous love with flashbacks that explain his predicament. It’s an impressive balancing act, and he makes it work. The dialogue is convincing, and most of the women are presented as realized, if perhaps needy, young ladies.

By comparison, Rall doesn’t full achieve an emotional representation of himself. As he writes with the eye of his current self looking back with certain confidence, and as the circumstances leading to his homelessness are completely beyond his own control, you never feel that he’s truly emotionally devastated. Scenes depicting him as such feel slightly flat.

Pablo G. Callejo, matching the writing, does a solid job with the art. The line art is effective, and he lays out pages clearly. The water balloon sequence is particularly well done. On the other hand, the coloring is over-saturated and the occasional use of photographic backgrounds for large cityscapes distracts.

With all this in mind, I’d say that The Year of Loving Dangerously is solid, but comes up somewhat short of being must-read.  If you’re a fan of comic memoirs, yet maybe a little sick of socially inept, nebbish autobio, Rall provides an effective antidote.

Not only is tonight the night before Wednesday, it’s also the night before the night before Thanksgiving. Here in America, that’s a very special holiday, on which we commemorate one of the founding myths of our society. Each fourth Thursday of November we remember that terrible first year of Solomon Kane’s in the New World, during which the vengeful, bad-ass puritan was unable to make his crops grow, no matter how many times he stabbed them, shot them and called them sinners.

When the harvesting season had almost passed, it was beginning to look like Kane might starve to death, but thankfully Turok, Son of Stone arrived with enough pterodactyl meat to save Kane. Ever since, we’ve gathered together with our loved ones to eat the closet thing to pterodactyl meat we can find.

What comics can we look forward to re-reading in the corner at our family gatherings instead of making small talk with our extended families this Thanksgiving? Let’s take a look at some of them, after the jump!

(more…)

Comics Alliance has a great post up discussing “the Core Marvel Universe.” What do I mean? It all stems from the new Rick Remender/Tony Moore arc for the Punisher called FrankenCastle. I’ve already written my thoughts of it over at Best Shots, but needless to say, there are some fans who don’t feel it fits with “the Core Marvel Universe.” To which the Invincible Super-Blogger known as Chris Sims decided to lay down the law on to what that actually meant, such as this apt description of Wolverine:

In the Core Marvel Universe, the most popular person is a 120 year-old Canadian berserker samurai who has who has been to the moon and was in love with a psychic who destroyed an alien planet and came back from the dead, married to both Japanese royalty and a green-haired terrorist, and had a child with a woman from a hidden region of Antarctica where dinosaurs and cavemen live. When he is not fighting his enemies — most of whom are versions of himself, some of whom have claws made of lasers — he reaffirms his status as as tough-as-nails loner as a member of at least three superhero teams.

Or perhaps you’d like to hear this one, about the God of Thunder, Thor:

In the Marvel Universe, Thor — the literal Norse god of Thunder — was turned into a frog for three issues, including one where his magic hammer turned him into a 6’6″ frog-man (er, frog-god), which had the side effect of chipping his hammer so that another frog (who had once been a man before he was cursed by a fortune-teller) could turn into a normal-sized frog-god, which came in handy when he had to team up with a teleporting dog and a sabretooth tiger to get magic gems back from an alien from Jupiter’s moon who was in love with the living embodiment of Death.

Needless to say, over the past week Sims has made #coremarveluniverse a Twitter phenomenon, with some other great examples of Marvel zigging where they usually zag:

jjason1749: In the Core Marvel Universe, your Dad didn’t die when you were a kid. He’s a space-pirate with a hot, furry girlfriend. #coremarveluniverse

kennykeil: A robot creates an android who marries a reality altering mutant witch and gets shot at by cows. #coremarveluniverse

ciscocosta: #coremarveluniverse The King of Atlantis became CEO of a major corporation after repeatedly trying to destroy the surface world.

keithpille: In the #CoreMarvelUniverse, you can be the world’s best assassin by putting people into a giant pinball machine and not killing them.

In other words, yes, occasionally comics do jump the shark on occasion — see X-Men, the Shiar, Mojoworld, inferno, Operation Galactic Storm, Secret Wars, and so many more. Sometimes, like the Angelic Punisher, it can hurt the series — but if creators keep the characterization in check, it can be (just like many of the Claremont references I just made) be some of the best comics of your lifetime. Comics can be one crazy medium, and it’s stuff like FrankenCastle and Frog Thor that help keep it so refreshing. What say you, Rama readers?

With Japanese anime studios wrestling with longer hours, slimmer budgets, and growing (sometimes government-backed) competition from studios in China and South Korea, the Wall Street Journal has reported that dissatisfaction is becoming more pervasive than ever.

Here’s a highlight:

Morale is low. Industry executives estimate nine out of 10 new workers quit within three years, with the many talented employees leaving for better-paying jobs in areas like videogames. A survey conducted this year for industry executives showed that animators in their 20s made just 1.1 million yen ($11,000) a year on average, while those in their 30s earned 2.1 million yen.

Yasuna Tadanaga, 23 years old, left her position as an animator at a small Tokyo studio last year, only six months after landing what she thought was her dream job. To meet deadlines, Ms. Tadanaga worked 13 to 14 hours each day. During one month, she was given just one day off.

“The unspoken understanding was we worked on weekends because we loved the work,” Ms. Tadanaga said. “We had to have a very good reason to take a day off.”

But what can that mean for anime, which has been getting some critical buzz over the past decade with works like Ponyo and the Academy Award-winning Spirited Away, not to mention inspired work in U.S. programming ranging from Teen Titans to even Justice League Unlimited? Competition is always a good thing, and seeing that these animators are largely living at home with their parents to make ends meet just does not compute when it comes to the sort of intensive labor the job provides. Click here to read the rest of the WSJ piece.

What’s up on Norah’s Infinite Playlist? Howzabout the God of Thunder?

Marvel has announced that Kat Dennings will be joining the cast of Thor, just like Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Stuart Townsend, and Tadanobu Asano.

No word yet as to who Dennings will play — Natalie Portman let it slip to MTV they would be working together, and the Hollywood Reporter seems to have confirmed it. Considering Jane Foster and the Lady Sif are already spoken for, who could Dennings possibly be playing? The Enchantress? Either way, we’re curious.

With DC putting in Manhunter, the Question, Blue Beetle, and the Metal Men in their comics as second features, it’s cool to see other DC Entertainment properties following suit.

According to a release sent from Warner Home Video, in the upcoming DVD Crisis of Two Earths, the main animated feature will be joined by a second animated short, starring the Spectre. Gary Cole from Entourage and Alyssa Milano from Charmed will be voice acting, while the short itself was written by 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles.

In a lot of ways, this looks like a smart idea. With the episodic structure of comics, there’s a lot of trivia and continuity and reimaginings that bog down characters for new readers. For film and cartoons, however, there’s a clean slate and a wide distribution platform — in other words, you have to distill the character to what makes them work, and cast to the wind much of the idiosyncrasies inherent to a character such as, say, a third-level legacy character such as the Spectre. Adding what’s essentially an intro-level course on the Spectre — for free, no less — is a great move for DC, as it helps diversify their stable of heroes, and helps bring in fans of Jim Corrigan. Every comic is someone’s first — why can’t that be the same for cartoons?

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!

Ah, okay, I think we’re all big enough to admit that not every headline can be a keeper. Moving along.

io9 brings up a great point — with emo vampires and werewolves having pounded the Dark Knight into submission for midnight movie showings (if he had prep time it would have all been okay), superheroes are taking a page out of their book:

Poor Peter — of course you miss Uncle Ben. And Gwen. And MJ. And Ben Reilly. And your parents.

Sadly, JSalvador’s Super Emo Super Friends print has completely sold out on Etsy, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking it out.

Considering there was a bit of hostility coming in from William Shatner regarding his exclusion from this year’s Star Trek film, TrekMovie.com has an interesting post up showing what might have been.

According to them, William Shatner — the original James Tiberius Kirk — apparently had a scene in one of the drafts of the script, albeit as a holographic recording sent back in time with Leonard Nimoy, or Future Spock.

I won’t give away specific bits of dialogue — you’ll have to check out the site for that — but apparently Shatner’s “no cameos” rule led Abrams and company to scrap the bit and come up with a different ending. Which is too bad, as the whole idea of the duality of the past and future Trekkies — making the passing of the torch more literal than metaphor — was a cool aspect of the film to me.

[Image via the Telegraph]

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 7: “Mourning”

This strip was an important one for me in the development of WORLD OF HURT.  My first inclination was to continue with more action, but I felt it was important to humanize Alicia Patterson, and tell a little something about her background.  My fiancee commented that it was this episode that really caused her to to start caring about the story on its own right, not just because it was something I had written.

I am proud of how Alicia’s mother came across.  She has a voice that feels genuine to me, because it is a voice I heard often in my youth in southwest Georgia.  However, to maintain the fidelity to the era, this was one of the few times I altered dialogue in a strip after it was posted.  In the first panel, Mrs. Patterson originally made a statement about “smart, Black girls,” but I later decided that a middle-aged Black woman from the South in the 1970s may not have been completely used to the term “Black,” so I changed it to “colored.”

Detective Andy Haworth, physically and in temperament, is based on WORLD OF HURT’s resident tech guru of the same name.  Andy was instrumental in getting my site going.  He did it out of love for the genre, and didn’t ask for compensation.  However, in his honor, I said I would include Andy as a character in WORLD OF HURT.  Appropriately, he’s about the only person that Pastor can trust.

I hope to see you again on Thursday, but remember that new episodes of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP