Dan Dougherty is a good-natured and hardworking cartoonist. He’s living the dream and actually getting somewhere with his comics. It is a pleasure to catch up with him and discuss his work on the ongoing comic book, “Rotten” as well as the new graphic novel, “The Apocalypse Plan” and his comic strip, “Beardo.” To recap for you, “Rotten” is published by Moonstone and is about zombies in the Wild West; “The Apocalypse Plan” is published by Transfuzion and is about what happens when heaven and hell are competing corporations; and “Beardo” is about a guy with a beard who is a barista and an aspiring cartoonist. So, without further ado, Dan Dougherty:

Blog@Newsarma: Dan, guide us through the cartoonist’s life. You have a daily comic strip, “Beardo” and you also draw the ongoing comic book series, “Rotten.” Let’s start with a typical day for you.

Dan Dougherty: Well I’m more of a night-owl, and not much of a morning person. So most of my work gets done during the peak hours of the day for human contact.  There’s no formula to it, it’s really just a matter of working on the project that needs to be done the soonest. With “Rotten” and “Beardo,” and the random project here and there, I always have something to do. If I can get a page drawn and a ”Beardo” strip done, it’s a good day.

I used to hate Chicago winters, but I take comfort in them now because they make it easier to stay indoors. You know, reading that back, it seems like I have an abusive relationship with the weather. I might as well have said Mother Nature is the Chris Brown to my Rihanna. Too soon? (more…)

Via Press Release

Red Handed Studios announced today that in addition to their already popular Fallen Justice and forthcoming Dynagirl titles, they’ve added another exciting book to the stable in the form of the Small Press Idol 2007 winning title ‘Talon’.

Careful observers will note that Scottie Ray Watson was added to the Red Handed Studios family back in March of 2009 as he and RHS founder Cary Kelley embarked on ‘Seppuku Blues’, their collaborative title about a futuristic ronin’s fight to stay alive long enough to save the life of a child she barely knows.

“We discussed Talon at the time,” Kelley recalls, “but because of obligations on both sides there were a lot of things left hanging, and Talon was one of them. Now that some of those things have resolved themselves, we’re very pleased to bring Talon under the Red Handed banner and we’re extremely excited about the chance to work with Scottie and the rest of the team on this incredible project.”

Watson and company are already hard at work on the forthcoming Talon graphic novel after having completed the origin story from Small Press Idol 2007. “We’ve been through the ringer,” Watson explains, “So many times we thought Talon wasn’t going to happen because of life issues and setbacks. It was a rough time all around, but we pushed through it and came out the other side stronger for the experience. Now we’re firing on all cylinders and ready to show the world what Talon is all about. Being a part of Red Handed Studios and seeing the energy there, I couldn’t imagine a better fit for what we want to accomplish. We’re having a blast!”

Currently the release schedule is still in revision as Kelley and his group put things in order for the coming year and what looks to be an exciting convention season.
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Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Illustrated by Phil Noto
Published by DC

As I’ve noted before, I’m something of a Superman fan. I’m also a bit of a mark for the Jack Kirby’s Fourth World concepts, despite my assertion that few people outside of Jack Kirby and Walter Simonson ever got it (even halfway close to) right.  (I live in hope that somebody else will pass muster.) I’ve found the three Jonah Hex trades, by the writing team of Palmiotti and Gray, that I’ve read to be solid if not requisite entertainment. With those three factors in mind, I decided that Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom was worth a look, hoping for a solid bit of escapism.

And it was basically what I expected, although much slower and more introspective than I hoped. The plot outline is Maelstrom, a violent evil god from Apokolips attempts to curry the favor of her lord Darkseid by killing Darkseid’s longtime rival Superman. Before fighting Superman, Maelstrom runs into Supergirl and gives the Girl of Steel a sound kicking. Fortunately, big cousin shows up and routes Maelstrom, sending her home with her tail between her legs. Superman then takes Supergirl on a cosmic camping trip, to a planet with a red sun, where they’ll both have to survive without powers. Superman shows her the ropes, things go bad, Superman’s hurt, Supergirl heals him, finds food and repairs the ship so they can go home. They get back to Earth, where Maelstrom, this time backed with allies, is again looking for Superman’s noggin.  And the Super-cousins quickly and efficiently stomp the villains down again.

What was interesting to me is that three of the five chapters focus on the red sun survival trip, with the opening and closing chapters containing the confrontations with the villains. So you’re essentially getting three straight chapters of Superman lecturing Supergirl, and dropping Batman’s name maybe a little too often, and Supergirl finding those lectures valuable after Superman’s injured. Personally, I like seeing Superman in the role of teacher, something we unfortunately rarely see, so I enjoyed those aspects. Mostly.

I mean, it’s a nice idea, Superman sharing his experience with a rookie hero, who applies it all and comes out on top. The execution of the script is a little bit after-school specialy, however. The fighting, what there is of it, is anti-climatic, and if you’re a Fourth World fan – honestly, there’s nothing particularly Fourth World about the storyline. Palmiotti and Gray could’ve substituted any intergalactic headhunter and achieved the same affect. (Which isn’t to say it’s bad – I love The Great Darkness Saga, but I don’t consider it a Fourth World story, as there was no anti-life, no father/son conflict and ultimately, Darkseid could’ve been swapped out with any tyrannical cosmic despot.)

Phil Noto’s artwork is a tough one for me. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t quite grab me in any way either. I often like his cover layouts, but that design sense doesn’t carry over to the interior work, and his illustrations are competent, but stiff. His flat coloring doesn’t provide any lift to the artwork either; the entire book seems to take place during a perpetual twilight. On the other hand, the work didn’t appall me, and frankly, sometimes that’s all I hope for. Competent illustration has its place.

I guess this reads a little harsh on Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom. Honestly, I thought it was a decent read.  I wouldn’t recommend it, per se, but it played to my personal interests, it didn’t insult my intelligence, and I found myself not thinking poorly of a Supergirl character for the first time since Peter David.  Despite their saccharine tendencies, the character elements work, and I appreciated seeing Superman as a mentor.  So I guess I’d say that Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom … , it’s okay.  If okay’s good enough for you today, go for it.  Okay has its place too.

There are people who might criticize Chang Cheh’s, wu-xia epic, THE BRAVE ARCHER because it doesn’t have any archery. But complaining about THE BRAVE ARCHER’S lack of archery is kind of like complaining that Breakfast at Tiffany’s doesn’t have enough breakfast. THE BRAVE ARCHER is so densely packed with all the tropes that make kung-fu-films awesome, only a philistine would nitpick over a technicality like the complete omission of bows and arrows. (more…)

Hideous costume updated to be even more hideous: This person does not care for Sensor Girl’s new costume, as seen on a cover image of an upcoming issue of Adventure Comics. (Via When Fangrils Attack)

Tim O’Neil is really into Top Dog: And thus the X-Babies miniseries was worthwhile after all.

Curt Purcell would really like to read some popular DC comics in trade: So why doesn’t DC have them ready for him to purchase in an agreeable format?

Must you read Tony Isabella’s 1000 Comic Books You Must Read?: Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon and Wired’s Hugh Hart weigh in.

Yesterday I spoke to Galactic Quest store owner Kyle Puttkammer [ http://www.galacticquest.com/ ] and he laid a little comic shop science on me: How can retailers be expected to have a Kid’s Comic Section in their store if Diamond will not put a Kid’s Section in Previews?  It is a point I had not considered before…

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

Interested in comics history? If you’re reading this blog, you should be — and Jim McLauchlin of the Hero Initiative has something in store for you.

Reprinting an article he wrote for Wizard, McLauchlin posted about Phil Seuling. Don’t know how he is? An unsung hero, Seuling was an early comic con adopter, as well as the founder of Seagate Distribution — the original comics distribution system.

Here’s an excerpt:

There were precious few “comic stores” in the early ’70s, maybe 20 or 30 nationwide. Seuling knew there could be more. He had dealers at his conventions who dealt extensively in comics. Their problem was distribution—getting new books they needed, at a decent price. Under the newsstand distribution model of the times, comics and magazines came bundled in odd assortments, and were sold to retailers at 20% off of cover price, a low margin of profit. Retailers had the cushion of returnibility, and they needed it—no one wanted last week’s Newsweek. It was birdcage liner at best.

Not so in the burgeoning comics market. Hell, when Superman #206 came out, you wanted extra copies of Superman #205. The back-issue business was exploding, and plenty of retailers could do great in comics if they could get ready access to them. The publishers’ eyes just needed to be opened to the possibility. Enter a now 17-year-old “house fan”-slash-assistant editor at DC, Paul Levitz.

“I happened to be present at DC the day he came in and pitched it,” Levitz remembers. “[Then DC Vice-President] Sol Harrison came up to me after the meeting and said, ‘Phil has this idea for selling comics straight to the comic shops. Do you think that’s a good idea?’ I didn’t know enough to vouch for the idea, but I could vouch for Phil as a person. The comic shops were all trying to figure out how to get new comics through the newsstand distributors through very imperfect methods. So they were really used comic shops as opposed to new comic shops. It was Phil’s system that tipped that over, opened that door.”

Taking a good look at the man, the myth, the rise and the fall of Phil Seuling, this article should not be missed. Take a look at the rest of Jim’s article by clicking here.

Scott Pilgrim might be taking on the world — but he’s winning over one viewer at a time.

Slashfilm has reported that Adventureland director Greg Mottola has seen an early cut of the film, and has raved about it over on Twitter.

Be very jealous of me. I’ve seen an entire cut of SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD. Edgar Wright has made a classic (again)! It’s amazing. … I would say that Scott Pilgrim is the wittiest action movie you’ll ever see, but that’s just the half of it. … Needless to say, Michael Cera is perfect. In fact, every single performance is incredible. You’ve got something special to look forward to. … The filmmaking is so insanely good, I retired halfway through the movie. (looking forward to the pension checks, tho)

This comes after Juno director Jason Reitman’s Twittereview of the project, who called it “a game changer for Edgar and the genre.” Are you excited? Sound off!

With Iron Man 2 coming out in five months, Paramount is starting to roll out the viral marketing machine. SuperheroHype has one of the first non-poster images out there, one of Whiplash’s clippings about billionaire industrialist/ex-weaponeer, Tony Stark:

Stunning the world’s press, amazing captains of industry, delighting a curious public and thrilling children the world over, Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Enterprises announced this week that he was the main behind Iron Man. The mysterious metal-clad behemoth that has battled terrorists, challenged natural disasters and rescued thousands of people around the world, had people guessing as to his true identity.

It isn’t the most hard-hitting piece of marketing out there, but it gets points for getting out pretty much all the important stuff out from the first film. Want to see more? Check out the rest at SuperheroHype, right here.

For years and years, Clark Kent kept his secret from Lois — and while ultimately it all came out smoothly in the end, remember that Lois was pretty dense (and Clark more than a little vindictive) about the whole secret identity thing.

Imagine, with the help of Blinky Productions, what might have been:

A little bit of nerd geography — I actually know (and have worked with) the Lois Lane in this video, an actress named Christina Calph. She’s great, so give this video a watch. The glasses bit in particular is awesome.

(Hat tip to Jamal)

Wow, I just checked the calendar and it turns out there are only fourteen more shopping days until Christmas. And, more importantly, there are only 141 more days until Free Comic Book Day!

The FCBD Committee just released the slate of titles that their “Gold” level sponsors will be producing to have participating retailers give away on May 1st.

Newsarama.com proper has a list of the titles here, if you’d like to see who’s doing what and start getting excited about one of ‘em now.

I know 141 days seems like quite a ways away yet, but I don’t think it’s too early to start judging the books yet, right? At the very least, we can judge the covers, and start congratulating or complaining about the various publishers’ outreach efforts.

So let’s do so, after the jump!

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Fans reading solicitations will know that Booster Gold #29 involves Hank Henshaw, the astronaut who would later become the Cyborg Superman. That solicitation probably doesn’t bode well for some of our supporting characters who are, at present, apparently taking a little vacation in Coast City during the time that Superman’s presumed dead and healing at his Fortress…but it might give us a little flexibility on the long-established “solidified time” concept, since Rip Hunter’s board this month seems to call for Henshaw’s “elimination.”

That’s just one of the story beats set up by this issue—the other of which will be the subject of all kinds of speculation and conversation for months to come. All the while, they manage to put together an entertaining “Blackest Night” story that features more depth of character than most of the other superhero zombie stories circulating.

In another oversized Booster story, with art chores shared again by Dan Jurgens and Mike Norton, one of the central conflicts of the series—Booster’s inability to save Ted Kord from his death at the hands of Max Lord—is dealt with in a surprising and promising way. (more…)

Hi, all. Miss me?

I’ve returned to bring you yet more on political cartoons: in this case, a traveling exhibition on “cartoons in conflict,” with international editorial cartoonists’ take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s sponsored by a peace group with a pretty amazing story–check out the video, and the exhibit if you’re in NYC.

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures have trickled out the latest bit of PR for next year’s Iron Man 2 movie. You can read more about it here.

Cartoonist Richard Sala, whose most recent work includes Cat Burglar Black and Delphine, recently shared a 2003 strip he did for The Stranger on his blog. The subject is one of seasonal interest—”Psycho Santa Movies,” seven of which get covered in seven panels. As Sala himself notes, it’s a little dated and not exactly a great piece of film criticism, but it gave Sala ample opportunity to draw impreiled young women and psychotic santas. Scary, creepy old weirdos and cute girls are Sala’s two great specialties, so it’s well worth a look. (Via Flog!)

Everyone knows Kate Beaton is a great cartoonist capable of producing seemingly endless laugh-out-loud gags revolving around obscure historical and literary figures, but did you know she can also kinda sorta break your heart when she wants to? I think this Christmas-themed strip, in which she uses her occasional premise of her younger self and older self hanging out together, pretty much proves it.

 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!

Could Matt Fraction be lifting Mjolnir next, as an upcoming writer for Thor? Or am I just reading too deeply into this article?

For those of you who aren’t sure what I’m talking about, take a look at this interview over at ICv2, with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley. He talks about the company’s publishing plan post-Dark Reign, and then suddenly (maybe?) drops a bombshell:

We’re trying to kind of cleanse the palate a little bit.  I’m not saying that we’ll never do a line-wide crossover again.  I just think the consumers, the retailers, our creators, our editors all need to breathe a little bit and tell some stories that they want to tell amongst themselves or by themselves.  Hopefully that’s something that will excite the creative community.  We still have to market it and package it in a way that people can understand it and get excited about it.

I’m very excited about that approach, with lending the creators a little bit more time to chew amongst themselves.  I’ve read what Fraction wants to do with Thor and it’s really cool stuff by itself.

With the emphasis on the above story being mine, I’m curious as to what this means for Thor. In Best Shots the other week, I wrote that Kieron Gillen was surprisingly good at holding onto J. Michael Straczynski’s tone, yet adding in his own style of lyrical quality.

Yet Fraction is one of Marvel’s top writers, and has experience with the character in his earlier Ages of Thunder specials. Additionally, Fraction has a track record that no one else at Marvel has — successfully riding the wave of a multimillion dollar film, having started his Invincible Iron Man series near the same time as the Robert Downey Jr. film. What say you, Rama readers?

Warner Home Video sat down to chat with animation director Hiroshi Yamazaki on his episode “The Duel,” which will be in the upcoming Halo: Legends DVD. The animated anthology will be out February 16, 2010.

QUESTION: What made you think Halo would lend itself to anime/animation?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI: I believe that the suitability (of a property for animation) depends upon each story. This story definitely worked well in animation, and in this style.

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

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI: I have been a lover of viewing the Halo art /illustration collection books and such for some time and the entire collection of Halo properties inspired me.

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

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI: When I was contacted by I.G about the project, I imagined that the project would be very Sci-Fi in taste. However, when I met Mr. Frank O’Connor (of 343 Indutries, Microsoft Games Studios) for the first time, his requirement was to create a Samurai episode featuring an Arbiter, and I was considerably and happily surprised.

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

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI: What I was aiming for in this project was to make audiences understand there should be other styles of animation beyond the existing two primary kinds of animation presented – precisely cel-drawing 2D style and CG 3D style. I wanted to show that creators are not limited, that they have many options for different (animation) styles to create stories.

QUESTION: Did you feel you had the proper Halo experience to to bring the world to life in anime?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI: I have played Halo 1 and 2 all the way through to the end. As I was so busy in this project, I could not play Halo 3 but instead I watched the gaming movie many times from the beginning to end.

QUESTION: Did you include any “Easter eggs” for the devout Halo fans in your episode?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI: I employed the phrase “Akuma-da!” (“He is a devil” in English) as part of the dialogue of a grunt soldier for fun for game lovers. I’m not certain whether everyone will get to enjoy that treat, though, as I understand the English version and Japanese version differ considerably and I am not sure how this dialogue by the grunt is treated in the English version.

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

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 12: “…No One Can Touch Us!”

I’m still waiting for the boycott over that “Black preachers” line.  Ned Belmont’s hubris really got under my skin, and I really wanted the guy to pay for it.

Two additional bits of business that I was able to address in this strip were a) answering any lingering questions over whether “Pastor” was Isaiah Hurt’s nickname or an honorific, and b) I introduced the name for the inner city neighborhood of Pointe Blanc from which Pastor operates.  The D’Urville District was named for Blaxploitation film stalwart, D’Urville Martin.

Thanks for checking in.  Remember that new strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.