Howdy, Rama readers! You fighting jet lag, after this weekend’s Nor’easter? Well, I certainly am, which is why some news from Devil’s Due could be good for those stuck at the airport.

The comics publisher announced last week that they would be rereleasing comics by Jim Mahfood, Tim Seeley, and our Life of High Adventure columnist Christian Beranek to the iPhone via iTunes, iVerse, and comiXology, largely for 99 cents a pop.

Via Devil’s Due, here’s what’s slated to be out:

-  Colt Noble and the Megalords One-Shot Special
-  Loaded Bible #1
-  Loaded Bible #2
-  Loaded Bible #3
-  Dracula vs. King Arthur
-  Carl: The Cat That Makes Peanut Butter Sandwiches
-  Grrl Scouts: Work Sucks #1
-  Grrl Scouts: Work Sucks #2
-  Grrl Scouts: Work Sucks #3
-  Grrl Scouts: Work Sucks #4

While Grrl Scouts is already on comiXology, the wave of comics should continue from this month through January, with more titles soon to be slated for release.

Usagi Yojimbo: Yōkai
Written & Illustrated by Stan Sakai
Published by Dark Horse

How many of you still get that trill in your heart in anticipation of a new comic? I mean, we all still love comics (or I hope we do), and we look forward to many different titles, but how many give you a physical reaction? How often do you glance over a solicit and nod that you’ll read it, rather than pump your fist and feel a rush when you know a book’s coming out soon? I used to count the days until Wednesday, antsy as I had once been on Christmas morning in my childhood. Now, truthfully, I prefer to not be anywhere near a comic shop on Wednesday.

Not many books excite me like that anymore. I still love finding new books and exploring their worlds, but I rarely find myself counting days or hours until a particular book arrives. I think it’s partially a product of what I read; most of it is very good; I enjoy comics today more than ever, but little of it is adventurous or pulp exciting. Few action comics click for me (most superhero titles inspire indifference or scorn, really), and the exceptions tend to be self-contained so I’m never quite sure what to expect from them and the anticipation isn’t the same. Most of my favorite books give me an emotional and intellectual charge, but it’s not that sort of escapist fancy that I had when I was a young comic book fan.

Fortunately for me, however, the world of comics still offers Usagi Yojimbo. When I know there’s a new Usagi book on the horizon, I can actually feel my heart pick up the pace, and I find myself irritable at the number of books on my reading pile that I have to finish beforehand for one reason or other.

Usagi Yojimbo is, bluntly, my favorite ongoing comic series. In celebration of Usagi’s 25^th anniversary, the series’ creator Stan Sakai sat down to pen his first full-length graphic novel. Okay, it you must nitpick, it’s more of a novella, clocking in at just under sixty pages, but sixty pages of Usagi is still sixty pages of greatness. As a further treat, Sakai painted the entire book in watercolors, providing a very different texture to contrast the regular series’ black and white line art.

The plot finds the titular hero, Miyamoto Usagi, lured deep into a forest by a fox spirit, whereupon he discovers a sobbing woman. Her child, she explains, is lost in the nighttime and the yōkai, creatures from Japanese folklore, are plentiful this evening. Shortly afterwards, Sasuké, the demon queller, encounters Usagi and explains that the yōkai are preparing to invade the physical world. Rescuing children and stopping otherworldly invasions, it’s all in a night’s work for Usagi.

Sakai keeps the story loose, allowing plenty of room to show off the bizarre and surreal yōkai designs. Nearly all of the creatures are based on actual Japanese lore, though Sakai admits in the brief afterword to modifying some of them for effect. A superb cartoonist, he manages to mix both absurd and terrifying monsters to great effect, showcasing both his strong character designs and his excellent visual storytelling skills.

For established readers, although Yōkai is geared as a stand-alone, fun and introductory book, it effectively reintroduces Sasuké, who will play in role in upcoming collections of the ongoing serial (or already played a role, depending on your reading habits). Providing a glimpse of Sasuké’s back story and showcasing a range of yōkai, the story also deepens the history and range of Sakai’s world. Plus, it’s an Usagi story in vibrant color.

For new readers, Yōkai focuses on only two characters and demands no previous understanding of either. The action-packed story moves quickly, offers some intrigue into the mysterious demon queller, and showcases Usagi’s heroism while still presenting his frustration at facing the supernatural and being caught up in battles that are none of his concern. Samurais, monsters and fighting, what’s not to love about that?

Although the regular Usagi series is done in black and white, Sakai has been painting cover to Usagi trade paperbacks for years now. Thus, it is no shock to discover his talent for watercoloring in Yōkai. The primary colors pop off each page, yet Sakai provides a moody base of blues and grays that establishes the mysterious, creepy vibe of bizarre creatures in the night.

If you’re a long-time fan or new to the series, Yōkai stands as a great experience in the ongoing adventures of Usagi Yojimbo.  Sakai’s reverent research remains evident in even the most adventurous story line, and his peerles cartooning continues to set the industry standard.  Simply put, it’s another great Usagi comic; the only downside is now begins the long wait for the next Usagi book.

I know what you’re thinking—actually, scratch that. I know I think I know what you’re thinking: “What’s this? Linkarama on a Tuesday morning? I thought Caleb only linkblogged on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays…what gives?” Well, as you may have noticed, Blog@ was down Sunday night and Monday morning due to, um, witchcraft, I think the official cause was. Yes, definitely witchcraft. So here are some links I would have posted yesterday, were it not for the curses and evil spells cast upon us.

“Graphic novelist creates tales of hot spots”: Despite the completely vague and meaningless headline, this Associated Press article on Joe Sacco’s latest book, Footnotes in Gaza, is a pretty fascinating read, focusing on not only Sacco and his work, but the way it’s received.

“Each is a spot on impersonation, with dialogue that, like the book itself, honors both classic literature and cartoonists, revealing something fresh in each”: Chicago Tribune writer Christopher Borrelli offers some advice on giving works of great literature as Christmas gifts, and comes up with three pretty great graphic novel/comics collections. The above quote is referring to R. Sikoryak’s Masterpiece Comics, which really is a perfect gift for anyone into literature, comics or comics and literature. The article was published on December 19 though…not many shopping days left until Christmas!

And speaking of Christmas…: Here are some fun links to holiday posts I’ve stolen from other, better link-bloggers (Hedi MacDonald and Dirk Deppey, to be precise). First, here’s Mike Mignola’s depiction of the fourth most famous Christmas ghost, here is a two-part Disney duck Christmas comic, and here is a characteristically kick-ass Marvel Family comic from the ’70s.

But what about Batman: Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon #1 and Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Anti-Venom—New Ways to Die #1?: Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle ran a list of their 100 favorite fiction and non-fiction titles from 2009, and three comics works were included among all the prose—Logicomix, Book of Genesis Illustrated and Asterios Polyp. It’s nice to see comics being considered as book-books, whether they’re technically a different medium or not (They’re still books as objects, after all).

Say what you will about Blackest Night, but it has been a great boon to the comics blogosphere: Need proof? Well, you have been reading Bull the little stuffed bull’s adventures with the various rings, right? If not, you’ve got some catching up to do.

I’ll say this: Dan DiDio really knows how to upset my afternoon.

Today, in an exclusive interview with CBR, the DC honcho announced that Jaime “Blue Beetle” Reyes will lose his co-feature in Booster Gold and be relocated to another book, but not as a co-feature or as the headliner of his own title. Additionally, DiDio announces that Manhunter will be dropped from Streets of Gotham. That’s a huge disappointment for this Manhunter fan, who has repeatedly written to DC in support of the title and who has bought dozens (literally) of graphic novels to hand out to potential new readers and get them hooked. So, already–not off to a great start…and then he says that there are “creative team changes” imminent for Booster Gold.

Say what?

Dan Jurgens, who created the character and has drawn virtually every solo Booster story ever told, is currently the writer and artist; he participates in a monthly creator commentary here on Blog@, and also at Comic Related, that looks at Booster Gold shortly after publication. The possibility of Dan’s imminent departure hasn’t come up in any of our interviews, or off-topic e-mail conversations; I can say, though, that in order to replace Jurgens, the team would have to be phenomenal for the book to remain afloat.

I don’t think Booster Gold is as marketable a character as DC apparently does; it seems clear to me that the thing that’s kept the character going this long is that Jurgens has connected with the title’s (and the character’s) core fans. That his art keeps a level of consistency in the title that’s rarely, if ever, matched by a book in mainstream publication is an added bonus. For the title to work without Jurgens…I don’t know. It seems like it would have huge potential to feel a lot like when Aaron Sorkin was dropped from The West Wing, and the show deteriorated into mayhem, which they had to bring Sorkin back to attempt to salvage so that it could go out with dignity rather than be canceled after seven seasons as one of TV’s most respected shows.

Certainly I might be overreacting to the announcement–and I’ll of course keep readers posted as information comes into my hands–but the last two times they’ve needed a fill-in penciler, they’ve gone to Patrick Olliffe who, while a perfectly serviceable draftsman, is not right for the title. Rick Remender, whose two-issue fill-in as writer was the undisputed low point of the title’s publishing history, also expressed a desire, during his turn at bat with The Gold Exchange, to return to Booster in a more regular fashion so that he could tell the Chronos-and-Booster story he’d had planned during his time as writer of The All-New Atom. He is, as far as I know, Marvel-exclusive, but just the idea of him as the title’s ongoing writer makes my skin crawl.

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

If they ever assembled a Justice League: North Pole, the founding members would be pretty obvious. There’s Rudolph and Charlie Brown, Ebenezer scrooge, and Frosty would be on the roster, the Grinch… but the superpower of warm fuzzy holiday sentiment isn’t limited to just the big guns. There’s a whole universe of audiovisual Christmas cheer out there waiting to be found. Pick your favorite TV show or cartoon, and there’s probably a very special Christmas episode for you to enjoy. Even Pac-Man had a Christmas special for crying out loud. The Grinch and Frosty will always be at the top of the holiday heap, but there are still a lot of lesser known Christmas specials that have more to offer than simple kitsch value. Consider these suggestions as a sort of JLA North Pole reserve. The Captain Marvel to Rudolph’s Superman, the Guy Gardner to Charlie Brown’s green lantern. (more…)

Have you been following Justice League: Cry For Justice? Yeah, me neither. But DC Comics released the solicitation for a March-shipping special entitled Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal, and it apparently picks up on something that happened in the last issue of Cry. Specifically, Roy “Red Arrow” Harper getting his arm ripped off. That’s the charming cover by Greg Horn there.

The solicitation reads thusly:

In JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE, Roy Harper lost everything at the hands of Prometheus, barely surviving the brutal severing of his arm. But when he finally awakens from his coma, Roy will find that his dangerous journey into despair is just beginning.

You know what the most tragic part of this whole thing is, though? Roy lost an arm, and it was his right arm. But his lame tribal tattoo is on his left arm!

In America, now suffering for its excess with the Great Recession, you never know who might look down upon you if you don’t own a house, or a car, or the latest gadget. Western society tends to have a problem with identity and status and capitalism and commercialism are always there to provide a quick fix. Maybe these times are converting more people to cherish a more simple life and appreciate what they already have. That back-to-basics lifestyle is what is at the core of what is one of the most significant do-it-yourself enterprises out there, a self-published zine called, “King-Cat Comics & Stories” by John Porcellino who has grown into a significant artist in his own right.

The current issue of “King-Cat Comics & Stories” marks the 20th anniversary of the little zine that has influenced a generation in comics and much more. John Porcellino’s last visit with Newsarama was a few months ago. With the current leg of his book tour completed, here’s a chance to catch up a bit more with the man called the heart and soul of the small press. Here is further insight into his latest collected work, “Map of My Heart” and “Thoreau at Walden.”

Blog@Newsarama: “Map of My Heart” covers six years, 1996 thru 2002, in your life and “King-Cat.” At the start of this period, you were just beginning to study Zen Buddhism. How would you describe that journey and how it has influenced your comics?

John Porcellino: I always say that when I first discovered Zen, it was like finding an old pair of shoes in your closet, that you’d forgotten you had.  You put them on and they’re worn-in and comfortable.

Zen practice is the practice of everyday life, so eventually it connects to all aspects of your life.  In that way, for me, it connected to comics.  Comics became part of my practice.

In a way, meditation probably helped me to slow down a bit and have the patience to really look into small moments, which was something I was always interested in doing with my comics.

Blog@: You make such wonderful observations about nature. And, often, it’s about little creatures that must coexist with us humans and our suburban sprawl. You find the poetry in that. Tell us more about this.

JP: In one of his writings, Thoreau talked about appreciating more the natural environment in which humans have made an impact.  I feel the same way.  Pure wilderness is amazing, but I was always more attracted to the pastoral, where the fingerprint of human activity is on the land, but it’s not obtrusive, it’s a part of the environment.  So I’ve been interested in the way Nature adapts to humans and vice versa.

I think it’s beautiful, and inspiring, that humans are so self-centered, stomping around blindly on the planet, yet Nature rolls on all around us.

Blog@: I love all your top forty lists. Among movies, I see that the Marx Brothers are all-time favorites. Those guys loved to perform and loved people. What do you think of Charlie Chaplin? I think he shares a quality you have of wanting to give back.

JP: I’ve only seen two Chaplin films, “The Gold Rush”– while in high school, and “Modern Times,” last week…  so I don’t feel knowledgable enough to comment on Chaplin.  As far as giving back, yes, I feel like part of a community, and that we’re all here for each other.

Blog@: What can you tell us about your influences in your work? I’m guessing that James Thurber is one of them.

JP: I’ve read Thurber for years, and I definitely love his work, but I wouldn’t call him an influence.  If he was it was very subconscious.  My main influences I would say were Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, the Chicago Imagists, Kerouac, Thoreau, John Rooney (college painting teacher), Warhol, punk rock, Jenny Zervakis, Jeff Zenick, and various Buddhist poets and writers.

Blog@: “King-Cat” began in 1989 and is unique in having developed this world-wide grass roots following. Can you speak to that?

JP: I don’t know what to say about that.  I appreciate it…  it’s humbling, and motivating.

Blog@: Please tell us about a project I am sure is dear to you, “Thoreau at Walden.” I see that you visited Walden. That cabin is pretty small!

JP: One day Jame Sturm emailed me and asked if I would be interested in doing a book on Thoreau…  as soon as he mentioned it, I thought “Wow–  what a perfect idea!”  Thoreau has been a huge influence on me, perhaps the biggest influence on me as an artist, and it was a real honor to work with his writings in that way.

While on tour I finally got to go to Walden Pond.  It was a clear, cold morning at the beginning of October, so there were very few people around.  It was a joy to walk on those paths.  It felt like American holy ground.

Blog@: What would you like to tell us about your book tour? You’ve completed the East Coast leg and there’s still more to come, right? Any stories come to mind?

JP: I toured the Northeast and Midwest in September/October, and hope to make it out to the Southeast and West Coast next spring/summer.  The tour was great, but exhausting!  I got to see so many new places, and meet so many people, old friends and new.  It was inspiring.  My life isn’t very dramatic, so I don’t know how many interesting stories I have to tell.  It was fun learning how to sleep sitting up in a freezing cold car.

Blog@: Share with us a bit about your own reading of comics. What comics are you currently into? Any thoughts on DC, Marvel, whatever comes to mind.

JP: I’ve been reading mostly some of the great reprints that are coming out nowadays, Little Orphan Annie, Peanuts, Popeye, Walt and Skeezix.  I picked up about two boxes full of books and zines while on tour, so I’m set for a long time as far as reading goes.  Been learning a bit about the alternative Manga artists, and that’s pretty exciting, it’s a whole new world to explore.

Of contemporary cartoonists, I really love Kelly Froh and Max Clotfelter, Jason Martin, Gabrielle Bell, and all the other usual suspects.

As for DC and Marvel, this year I started reading a bunch of the Jack Kirby reprint series, and it’s no exagerration to say that they’ve totally changed my thinking about comics.  They kind of re-inspired me after a long period of self-doubt.  But I’m otherwise unfamiliar with anything those companies have put out since the mid-80′s.

Blog@: You’ve written about how suburban life can be comforting. Do you think that’s sort of a human’s natural habitat?

JP: No, I think suburban life is unnatural.  It’s comfortable in some ways, if you have a car, and don’t expect to have a community experience.  I spent my adolescence in the suburbs, so I have an affinity to them, and a nostalgic kind of longing for them, but in general I think they’re unhealthy and unsustainable.  I appreciate more cities and towns.  I suppose the most natural environment for humans would be a town large enough to have a cultural scene, but small enough to feel human scaled.  By that I would include city neighborhoods.  But there should be access to Nature.  I don’t know!

Blog@: I love the notes you include in the back of “Map of My Heart.” You provide the initial thoughts that led to some of your comics. In “Psalm,” I thought you stayed out of the house to let your cat, Maisie Kukoc, sleep but you say it was the stars that kept you outside, which makes perfect sense. Could you really hear the living ground?

JP: Yes.

Blog@: You’ve had your share of illness and, in the end, you say it has strengthened you. You speak about not fearing death but, at the same time, loving being alive. Would you say that is the theme to “King-Cat”?

JP: Yeah, in a way it is.  Maybe the theme to “King-Cat” is “This is your life, and it’s your job to live it.  No one else can do it for you.”  Find the sanctity in that.

Blog@: You started “King-Cat” as a youth full of dreams and you’ve kept on with it and seen it mature and prosper. Would you say that “King-Cat” is fullfilling your dreams?

JP: I wouldn’t really think of them as “dreams.”  I had something I wanted to pursue, and a way I wanted to pursue it.  To have been able to do that to the extent I have has been gratifying.

I always wanted to be an artist, I wanted to be able to communicate to people through my art.  At some point that became a reality, to one degree or another.  In that way it’s been successful.  It feels good to go on.

“Map of My Heart” is 360 pages and priced at $24.95

Vist the publisher of “Map of My Heart”, Drawn & Quarterly.

Keep up with John Porcellino at the King-Cat Web site.

More bad news for fans of recently-canceled TV show King of the Hill: Brittany Murphy, the 32-year-old actress who played Luanne Platter in the show, has died of sudden cardiac arrest, according to multiple reports. Murphy, who had a brief spurt of mainstream popularity in the middle of the decade, was best known to cinemaphiles as Tai (in the movies) and Jasmine (on TV) from Clueless–but genre fans will know her for her roles in Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, Sin City and King of the Hill.

Reports originated early this afternoon from celebrity gossip website TMZ, and after about an hour of other news sites citing that report, the information was finally verified by CNN, who confirmed it with the Los Angeles Couny Coroner’s Office.

Is Ziggy considering wearing a pair of pants under his long-sleeved mini-dress?: Stephan Pastis, the cartoonist responsible for Pearls Before Swine, points out a recent Ziggy cartoon and gets all hopeful that the bald, miserable little homunculus might be moving toward a wardrobe change. Meanwhile, Comics Curmudgeon Josh Fruhlinger offers commentary on two pants-related Ziggy cartoons here and here.

How much you want to bet that Chris Sims actually has business cards in his wallet that say he’s a Batmanologist?: Invincible Super-Blogger and Comics Alliance contributor Chris Sims has some excellent suggestions of what eras Batman should visit while working his way through the past in Grant Morrison’s recently announced Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries. Man, with ideas this good, it’s a wonder Sims isn’t writing comics himself—Oh wait, a minute, he is! Check out the Sims-written, Matt Digges-everything elsed Christmas Chronicles of Solomon Stone right here. Stone, you’ll recall, is World’s Greatest Half-Vampire Skateboard Champion Private Detective, and in this nine-page Christmas special, he faces Atnas, the Anti-Santa.

I’m looking forward to not hearing any thing else about Avatar: Two superhero movies are on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s list of most-anticipated of the next year. Can you guess what they are? Eh, don’t bother, I’ll just tell you—Iron Man 2 and The Green Hornet.

“[T]hey’re often based on things that should probably have never been comics, let alone games”: Topless Robot offers a list of “7 more of the most wretched superhero games of all time” and—hey, not only have I never played any of these, I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of most of these.

Some people still think riffing on Burt Ward’s catchphrase from a 43-year-old TV show is still funny: And some of them also have jobs at newspapers.

“Chosen Comix”: This is an oddly specific list of comics to give as gifts for the second half of Hannukah,  but then, Heeb‘s an oddly specific magazine. I can’t quibble with the contents—there are some fine, fine comics listed, and a few weird, weird ones.

This is Hit Girl, played by 12-year-old Chloe Moretz. IGN debuted this latest character poster for the much anticipated movie, Kick-Ass, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. and published by Marvel Comics under its Icon imprint. Kick-Ass opens in theaters on April 16, 2010 and, wait for it, it’s going to kick your ass.

The new trailer really packs a punch. Mickey is looking mighty fierce. Robert is ultracool. Nice to see Garry Shandling in there too. The movie is set six months after the events in the last one after Tony Stark reveals his identity to the world. Looks like some fun, right? Robert said that Marvel gave him a Bentley as a thank you after the first two weeks of proceeds from Iron Man. Wonder how they’ll top that. Iron Man 2 is in theaters on May 7, 2010. You can see the new trailer here.

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

Warner Home Video spoke with rising anime director, Toshiyuki Kanno, about “The Babysitter” episode within Halo Legends. This is an all-new anthology of seven stories that expands the universe of Halo, one of the world’s most popular video games. Halo Legends will be available on February 16, 2010 on DVD and Blu-Ray as well as On Demand and Digital Download.

Kanno provided insight into the production of “The Babysitter” in this following interview with Warner Home Video:

Question: How does Halo lend itself to anime/animation?

Kanno: Halo is a property filled with so many exciting characters and detailed story settings with a very vast/huge background and I believe that the property has a lot of room to create episodes. Thus, I think that various ways in anime development can suit the property in whatever style the creators employ.

Question: What was the inspiration for your artistic vision in your episode of Halo Legends?

Kanno: What inspired me the most are the “ruins of an unconfirmed space alien.” Of course, we had a premise that the ruins are Forerunners, and Microsoft/343 Industries provided us with a good deal of leeway to create new elements. We have tried to incorporate a Japanese taste as much as possible to the buildings, costumes and other visual things to try to add greater depth and expand the Halo realm.

Question: Were there any particular images within the Halo realm that helped shape or drive your creative vision?

Kanno: We found inspiration in all of the art books provided by Microsoft, especially the beauty of the nature shown in the image boards as well as in the game itself. I tried to incorporate a similar beauty in my episode. In addition, the costume and the weapons of various characters such as the Brutes, Elites and Prophet provided me with inspirations in creating the characteristics of this episode.

Question: Why were you the right person to direct/design/write this episode?

Kanno: The original script describing a story relating to the relationship between Spartans and ODST was provided by Mr. Frank O’Connor. I discussed with Ms. Tanaka, the producer of the episode, that we needed to brush up the story to make it more understandable and impressive, and proposed the new scrip to Microsoft. I believe that the script has become better suited to animation.

We had a very strong design and animation team. I was in charge of character designs and focused on creating designs to easily express emotions of each of them. I employed Mr. Hayashi and Mr. Suzuki to design mechas, such as those involving the Spartan, ODSTs and Covenant. They have been very good in creating mechas that are simple but very cool designs.

Mr. Sasaki was in charge of background designs, and his ideas helped realize a very distinguished world of “The Babysitter” – giving our anime sensibility, but retaining the Halo taste. He has created an origina UNSC spaceship and the design seemed to please the Microsoft staff.

Both Ms. Miyuki, who was in charge of coloring, and Mr. Watanabe, who headed the CGI as well as the screen plan, focused on keeping a balance throughout the entire episode. I believe that they contributed a lot in accomplishing a profound screenplay.

Question: What did you set out to accomplish in this episode, and why do you think you achieved or exceeded your goals?

Kanno: The most distinguished characteristic of this episode is that this is the only episode in Halo Legends where ODST characters appear. During the production of this episode, a new Halo game, “Halo 3: ODST,” featuring ODST characters, was released – and our episode has some common characters with the game. Thus, we felt an intense pressure to make the episode very enjoyable to the newcomers to the Halo world and, more over, to ensure that the episode would not betray the trust of the game fans.

I, myself, was quite a newcomer to Halo at the beginning of this project, and it was a very hard process to understand the vast realm of Halo and to create new things out of it. Consequently, I have found out that the episode has become very exciting and much better than I had originally expected. I believe that this result comes from the efforts of each and every member of our production staffs. This was a very collaborative effort.

Question: How important was having Halo gaming experience to bringing the world to life in anime?

Kanno: I am not at all good at playing video games, and I have not played that much. But my staff played a great deal, and both myself and my staff spent a lot of time viewing the long-playing movie many times to ensure we understood the Halo realm as well as the details of its settings.

Question: Are there any hidden images or behind-the-scenes “Easter eggs” – special little things you included for the devout Halo fans – that appear within your episode?

Kanno: It was simply tough enough for me to understand the Halo universe during such a short period of time, so I did not have time or room to created such “hidden images” etc. However, I strongly believe that every viewer will feel the enthusiasm of all our creative staffs in the episode.

DC has long promised that there was a second wave of Red Circle superhero comics coming. Today on The Source, that promise is fulfilled. Rachel Gluckstern is sharing concepts, characters and sketches from Marc Guggenheim, Talent Caldwell, Duncan Rouleau and Powers‘ own Michael Avon Oeming on the project in the coming year.

There’s an Inferno miniseries and a writer change announcement for The Web in the works, too; head over to The Source for a half-dozen graphics and more announcements than you can shake a Riverdale High baseball bat at.

In DC Comics’ controversial 2004-2005 miniseries Identity Crisis, writer Brad Meltzer revealed that classic Justice League foe Dr. Light, who first came on the scene in 1962 with a plot to send each Leaguer into a different dimension using a disco ball, had once raped Sue Dibny, the wife of superhero The Elongated Man, in the Justice League satellite headquarters.

Violence, even sexual violence, had been part of the DC Universe prior to that series, but it was pretty unusual for it to play such a prominent role in such a prominent series, particularly one featuring the more fantastic, kid-friendly characters like Superman and the Justice League (usually, that sort of thing is relegated to the Vertigo imprint, or the grimmer, grittier, more street-level corners of the DCU, like those in which Batman and Green Arrow move).

Personally, I was never comfortable with the story, and I still feel a bit queasy about it. I can sort of understand how Meltzer got to writing it—he wanted to deal with various Justice Leaguers doing something fairly immoral and keeping it from the others, and he needed an especially heinous act to get the stalwart heroes to betray their ideals, betray one another, and keep a secret for years. I suppose he felt having a supervillain rape the loved one of a superhero was the best way to motivate the chain of events involved in his story.

It sure makes it weird when Dr. Light pops up on cartoons like Teen Titans now, or in DC’s Johnny DC line, teaching at Sidekick Elementary in Tiny Titans or menacing the heroes of Teen Titans Go! or Super Friends.

Meltzer never resolved the issue of Dr. Light within Identity Crisis—he wasn’t killed or brought to justice at the end of the series—and he’s been popping up throughout the DCU ever since. In fact, his appearances have dramatically increased since Identity Crisis; they used to be relatively few and far between, now almost all of DC’s most prominent writers have used him at some point, and he usually makes an appearance in big events.
And all he ever does is talk about rape now. It’s like how Catwoman used to only talk about cat-stuff and speak almost exclusively in cat puns during the Silver Age, only it’s 2009, and the subject is rape.

(After the jump, Dr. Light’s repugnant, probably NSFW appearance from a comic this week.)

(more…)

Rip Kirby vol. 1

Written & Illustrated by Alex Raymond, with Ward Greene

Published by IDW

God bless the American Library of Comics. Whenever I hear people talk about their history reading comics, so many readers always offer the caveat of a few years when they quit reading for one reason or other. And too often that reason grows from a general lack of interest in the comics they’d been reading. Since I started reading comics regularly, I’ve never taken a break, and it’s entirely because I continue to find amazing stuff both new and old.

Alex Raymond, if you’re unaware, made his name as the creator and artist of the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strips. After a healthy run on Flash (and its accompaniment strip, Jungle Jim, and even a brief partnership with Dashiell Hammett on Secret Agent X-9), Raymond resigned his newspaper comic strip duties and enlisted during World War II. When Raymond was released from service, his space ace had gone on to new adventures under the guidance of cartoonist Dan Barry, and King Features Syndicate, which owns the strip, hesitated to re-assign Raymond over Barry. However, King offered Raymond the opportunity to create a new adventure strip. Despite considerable disappointment at surrendering Flash Gordon, Raymond eventually took them up on the offer and Rip Kirby was born.

Rip Kirby’s a very interesting strip. Pulp magazines bore most of the early comics’ inspirations, and the pulps were rife with hardboiled, two-fisted, chain-smoking, surly detectives in the mold of Chandler and Hammett. Remington “Rip” Kirby operates a more modern investigation. He’s a scientist, wears glasses, and maintains a cool attitude. On the other hand, he’s a former All-American athlete and not above knocking sense into a suspect when necessary. But the strip is a clear step away from the noir detective, and a move toward the procedural dramas seen today.

Being a Raymond-drawn strip, Rip Kirby looks gorgeous. Rip’s a handsome fellow, and his girlfriend Honey Dorian is an absolutely knockout. Raymond really embraced the comic format, believing totally in its power as a storytelling form and art form, and you can really see his confidence in what he’s doing on every daily sequence. The cinematic quality layouts, dynamic figures and detailed, natural illustrations deserve all the plaudits that have been heaped on Raymond’s work.

Only the first story, with a clunker of a reveal, fumbles on a story level. Fortunately, Raymond and his editor and writer, Ward Greene, craft meticulous dramas in each of the ensuring mysteries. Even when the culprit is obvious, they leave plenty of thorns and surprises along the path to justice. Though readers usually know more than Kirby, the character’s logical deductions always feel genuine.

Raymond’s ability to pace a drama out is incredible. Especially when read in sequence over a short duration, there is an irresistible motion to the daily serial, and Raymond knows exactly how to use the format. Each strip offers another layer, a hint, a clue, a misdirect, a piece of character insight, building incessantly toward the inevitable climax. With only three or four panels per daily, the tension never stops.

The American Library of Comics’ massive hardcover edition, published through IDW, presents the work in a beautiful format. Nearly all of the artwork is reproduced beautifully, and the introductions provide useful background into Raymond’s switch from Flash Gordon to Rip Kirby, as well as some suggestion of the man who produced these wonderful cartoons. A full week of dailies (Rip never ran a Sunday page) shows on each two-page spread, allowing readers to absorb the strip in a condensed variation of its original pacing.

Whether you buy it or borrow it, Rip Kirby vol. 1 is simply great comics and fully recommended. Anybody who loves a rip-roaring, smartly written adventure really owes it to themselves to explore the work of Raymond (as well as Milton Caniff and Hal Foster).

Yesterday Digital Spy relayed that singer Taylor Swift “has apparently been mentioned as a possibility” to play Supergirl in a Supergirl movie, should a Supergirl movie get made. That’s right—”apparently,” “mentioned” and “a possibility.” That’s the Hollywood casting rumor equivalent of “a sure thing,” right?

I don’t know about you guys, but I think Swift is perfect for the role of Supergirl, in that she is a girl and she has blond hair (Imagine! No wigs or dye needed!).

But who could they get to play her enemy in the film? Oh, I know! Maybe they could cast Kanye West as Lex Luthor! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You know, because of that one thing that happened that one time at that awards show for kids? That’s still timely, right? He could be all like, “Yo Supergirl, I’m really happy for you, but Bizarro Supergirl is the best superheroine of all time!” and then his clone of Supergirl, played by Beyonce would—okay, I’ll shut up now. (Sorry.)

Kate Beaton has a trio of four-panel Christmas comics up her website, Hark! A Vagrant. In the first, she covers the events of Luke 2: 8-11 quite, um, Kate Beaton-ly. Now I want to see a Gospel of Luke Illustrated By Kate Beaton book. If R. Crumb can do Genesis, Beaton can do Luke…Heck, let’s start dividing the Bible up between cartoonists, shall we?

There are several ways comic companies can practically guarantee a mainstream media outlet will write something about their comic books, particularly if the company is Marvel or DC. Killing off a live character, bringing a dead character back to life, revealing a secret identity, a marriage, a demonic divorce, the occasional coming out, sticking Barack Obama on the cover or in the story…these are generally enough to get some reporter somewhere to call the name of the PR person on the press release and ask for an interview.

The downside of each of those strategies, however, is that they usually involve a lot of follow-up work, and only work so many times—Marvel can’t keep killing Captain America biannually, for example, and DC can’t re-out Batwoman.

A far simpler strategy is to destroy a recognizable part of a recognizable real, world place, and let the media react—while plugging your story in the process. When Mark Millar and Marvel destroyed a chunk of Stamford, Connecticut at the beginning of Civil War, Connecticut media perked up.

Today’s Chicago Sun-Times has a short article about Marvel’s upcoming Siege miniseries/publishing event, which begins (as you’ve no doubt seen in the free preview in the back of several Marvel Comics), with the destruction of Soldier Field in Chicago (NBC Chicago also covered the series from the same angle).

Although the story appeared in the paper’s books section,  Misha Davenport framed it as a local interest sports story, with the devastation being “the latest indignity” to befall Soldier Field “after many a Chicago Bears diasspointment.” There are a few quotes from writer Brian Michael Bendis about the decision and the repurcussions. The paper’s website also ran a preview and some upcoming covers, and posted the trailer Marvel put together for the event.

All in all, not a bad bit of PR—maybe Marvel and DC should focus on destroying real world locales more often.

In the piece, Bendis promises that Marvel heroes will visit Chicago during the storyline. “We’ve blown up a stadium,” he says, “Respect will be paid.”

I’m sure there will be a scene of superheroes picking through the rubble, and maybe a memorial service of some kind before it’s over. I just hope Norman Osborn and his collaborators get comeuppance from the hero who no doubt took this atrocity the hardest.

You know, this guy:

After all, how often does supervillainy and pro football intersect in the Marvel Universe? This is his chance to shine!