Tales Designed to Thrizzle #6
Written & Illustrated by Michael Kupperman
Published by Fantagraphics

Honestly, this brand of retro-camp isn’t really my bag, but I can’t deny that Michael Kupperman knows his way around the comics.

First of all, Kupperman draws the hell out of every page.  The “Juggle Princess” sequence recalls classic adventure comics, with brightly colored protagonists moving over monochrome backgrounds in dynamic ballets of action.  Strong line work captures the pristine silliness of Jungle Girl, jungle heroine and fashion magazine publisher, aided by a chimp-hawk duo against unbelievable foes.

Other sequences in Tales Designed to Thrizzle #6 include post-modern wallpaper ideas, the Richie Rich parody Willie Wealth (Kupperman does a superb Warren Kremer pastiche) and a darkly humored thriller about the history and importance of drainage juxtaposed against an “aging” theatre actress’s plight.

Fake ads, an Armageddon-inspired Mark Twain/Albert Einstein team-up, and a dismissal of books round out Kupperman’s offerings in this installment.

Every sequence looks excellent, dramatically staged and rendered in clear, strong lines.  Kupperman uses blacks to add strong accents to each page, and alters his style to give each sequence the appropriate flavor.  Strong primary coloring enforces the power of the line art.

Tales Designed to Thrizzle #6 looks great.  The script hits all the right marks.  If you’re the type of reader who enjoys self-referential nods to the comics of yesteryear, Kupperman’s title sets the standard all such titles should shoot for.

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

I don’t know about you guys, but to me, this is proof that you really can’t go online and call your boss a Nazi and still manage to come away scot-free.

Deadline has reported that Megan Fox is OUT of the Transformers franchise, in favor of “giving Shia [LeBeouf] a new love interest makes more sense for the story.”

While Fox’s PR reps told People that “it was her decision not to return. She wishes the franchise the best,” Finke believes that’s total B.S., and that it was based on a decision purely from director Michael Bay. Genre fans will be able to see Fox later this summer in Jonah Hex.

Last year, when Fox was promoting the film Jennifer’s Body, she told Wonderland that Bay “wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for.” Well, I guess she’s woken up from that nightmare! Nikki goes into the entire battle royale, including statements from Fox, Bay, unnamed writers and crew members, and Fox’s trailer assistant. What say you, Rama readers? Who do you want to replace Fox in the next film? Sound off!

I was pretty surprised to hear that Ryan “The Atom” Choi was apparently killed off during violent fight with Deathstroke the Terminator and a gang of supervillains in May 12’s Titans: Villains For Hire Special #1, by Eric Wallace and Fabrizio Fiorentino.

The special was a kick-off to a new direction for the troubled Titans ongoing series, in which the sometimes Titans villain Deathstroke would be the new star.

Now there’s nothing all that shocking about a super-character getting killed off at the beginning of a new story or series, particularly at DC. It’s happened so often throughout the course of the last decade that, as I’ve mentioned here and elsewhere before, I’ve begun to suspect the process is some sort of profane pagan ritual, in which DC staffers offer the imaginary blood of fictional characters to an extra-dimensional deity they believe in and worship, in exchange for its blessings in the form of monthly sales in excess of 40,000 units a month.

The Outsiders/Teen Titans relaunches began with the deaths of Donna Troy and Omen, Identity Crisis began with the death of Sue Dibny, the build-up to Infinite Crisis with the death of Blue Beetle, Infinite Crisis itself with the death of The Freedom Fighters (and a good dozen more before it was all over), Final Crisis with the deaths of Martian Manhunter and all of the New Gods, Titans with the deaths of the new “Titans East” team, Blackest Night with the death of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the new volume of Green Arrow with the death of Lian Harper in Cry For Justice,  and on and on.

But Ryan Choi being killed off at the beginning of a new direction of Titans came as a big surprise—of the “Oh God, are they still doing this?” variety, not the “OMG, I can’t wait to see what happens next!” variety—and not simply because he’s a character that’s never had anything to do with the Titans or Deathstroke before.

Why was it so surprising? Let me count the ways.

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Look who showed up in the first half of a two-panel Crankshaft strip by Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers? You can read the full strip in color here, and it should be archived there for a while if you don’t click today.

Today Marvel released this teaser image for their upcoming vampires vs. mutants thing:

The Death of Dracula #1 is written by Victor Gischler and drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Marko Djurdjervic and goes on sale July 7.

Just in from EW.com and others, Smallville will fly off TV stations after next year’s 10th Season.

The show, featuring a “young” Clark Kent, has increasingly pushed into Superman territory, involving more characters from the Superman mythos and the DC Universe as a whole in the last two years, especially.

The final season was due to be announced on Thursday at the CW Upfronts, but lead actor Tom Welling let the cat out of the bag early at an event last night.

Now the question is: at what point in this final season will we see the cape and hear the name Superman? Will they save it for the very end, or transform him earlier? We also have the promised threat of Darkseid from teases this season… will that be the final big bad?

Courtesy of the Source, it’s Red Lantern/Red Arrow.

Is this a sign of something in-universe, with Atrocitus and Roy Harper? Is it an Elseworlds tale with Hal and Ollie? Is it something that’s just so crazy it might work? ‘Rama readers, start your speculation.

I don’t know about you guys, but I think that might be the coolest Archie has ever looked. Wouldn’t you read the heck out of a Cliff Chiang Archie comic? I mean, I know part of the charm of the book is it’s longevity in style, but man, an “Astonishing Archie” with some really divergent artistic and writing styles would be kinda kickin’.

For those of who are still thinking about it, however, you should check out the rest of the Hero Initiative’s Archie Covers: 50 Times An American Icon series, especially since all these covers will eventually be available on eBay! I particularly dig Michael Metcalf‘s take on Riverdale’s favorite readhead. (And Bill Morrison‘s just made me laugh.) Check it all out!

Chaos to Dynamite?: Yes, according to The Beat.

“Tiny little chapbook that made me laugh out loud. One of the funniest things i’ve read in a long while”: Top Shelf’s Brett Warnock’s latest Hey, Bartender update includes a nice little tour of his personal haul from Stuptown and the Toronto Comics Art Festival. The above is in reference to Ian Smith’s The Klingon. I like how the mentions of the books sound like reviews one might receive via telegram. Or text message, for you kids in the audience. And on the subject of Top Shelf, I really enjoyed Lizz Lunney’s fun little Top Shelf 2.0 strip Rocketman. It involves space cats.

Good pun, LA Times: “After ‘Iron Man’, Marvel hopes its other characters follow suit”

“Batman is on the edge of a 200-foot-deep chasm and wants to jump to the other side”: That’s the beginning of a word problem featured in this weird “Batman Teaches Math Now?” post that a Google alert through at me. While involving Batman in word problems no doubt makes them much more interesting, it also runs the risk of making them too easy, as you can probably answer anyone with the simple statement of “Because he’s Batman.”

Something to get excited about: Fantagraphics has a nice, big, 240-page, seven-inch-by-10-and-a-half inch trade collection of Dame Darcy’s Meat Cake on their schedule for June. You can take a look—and download about 30-pages worth of material from it—here.

I didn’t know anyone wanted to see one, let alone make one: “‘Splice’ Director Adds ‘Alpha Flight’ To List of Superhero Movies He’s Dying To Make”

By Julie Opipari

DC Comics announced that they are shuttering CMX, effective July 1, 2010. What awful news! CMX was one of my favorite publishers, and they offered a wonderful variety of titles. Some of my favorite series are CMX titles. Nari Kusakawa is a must buy artist, and now I sob at the thought of the premature end to all of the CMX books that I have come to love. They will never receive the ending they deserve here, and that makes me very unhappy. More importantly, I am very sorry about the lost jobs that this announcement brings. CMX employees were always so wonderful to work with, and I wish them luck in the future. My heart goes out to them.

This news has really got me down. First, Viz eliminated 40% of their work force last week. Now DC Comics is completely shuttering the CMX offices. I am terribly worried about the future of manga. So many companies have closed up shop, and each is a loss to the industry that I love. With fewer companies publishing manga, there are fewer choices on bookstore shelves, and publishers will be very, very hesitant to license anything remotely chancy. All of the little gems that don’t get much buzz will remain buried, like undiscovered treasure. Last week I was looking for a silver lining. Today I am looking for my tissues, to blot away my tears. This is a bitter pill to swallow, and I wonder where it will end?

With CMX out of the picture, the manga landscape looks pretty bleak. Sure, Viz releases many series that I enjoy, but they are, for the most part, just variations on the same theme. We have the fighting manga and the high school romance manga, and until Viz gathered up a little courage and started giving us the Viz Signature and Ikki imprints, that was about it. I love Bleach and Vampire Knight, but there are times that I want to read something a little more cutting edge or intended for an older audience. Something that I can relate to, something that speaks to me.

Now here’s the scary thing – what other publishers are in a hurt box, and weighing the same decision. To keep trying to make a buck in this challenging economic environment, or to call it quits and give up. CMX had DC’s might behind them, but they have always been treated like the red-headed step-child in that house. Not much effort went into trumpeting their books. Worse, book store availability has always been an issue. I personally have never had an issue buying their titles, but I purchase 99.9% of my books online. It takes a raging fire to get me into the not-so-local Borders, and the disorganization of the shelves always sets my teeth on edge.

So, Dark Horse, DMP, Vertical, TOKYOPOP, and Yen Press, what are you doing to make sure you aren’t the next victim in the manga publisher bloodbath? DMP has slowed output way down, and has tried to shift their focus more to online offerings. If Apple and Adobe were friends and my iPad ran Flash, I would be all over DMP’s eManga.com website. Dark Horse and Vertical seem very cautious with licensing decisions, and they only release a few choice selections every month. TOKYOPOP discovered the danger of flooding the market with too many releases each month; there are only so many dollars to go around, and when a company is sniping it’s own sales, life gets difficult very quickly. Yen Press has an interesting catalog, and they aren’t afraid to adapt some high profile titles into a graphic novel format. They did axe Yen Plus magazine. And I wonder how profitable the Twilight GN really was for them.

So here we are, and I am feeling more pessimistic about the future of manga in the US than I have in a long, long time. Like every other hobby, strained leisure spending is taking its toll on an industry that was flying high just a few short years ago. Or was that all smoke and mirrors, much like the financial markets that have brought this once mighty economic machine to its knees? How much worse are things going to get, before they finally do get better?

When Julie Opipari isn’t mucking around the barn, she can be found trying to make a dent in the massive pile of manga that keeps following her home from the bookstore.  Not wiling to admit she has a problem, she blissfully continues to anticipate the latest releases despite the cries of agony from her credit card.  She cheerfully blames her addiction on the stresses of college and post traumatic work disorder, and is grateful that her family grumbles only occasionally about the amount of time she spends buried in her books. In addition to reading Your Manga Minute every Wednesday, you can read more of Julie’s work on her blog, Manga Maniac Cafe.

Air v.2: Flying Machine
Written by G. Willow Wilson
Illustrated by M.K. Perkar
Colored by Chris Chuckry
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher
Published by DC/Vertigo

After it was recommended to me, I went to the library to check out the series Air, about an acrophobic airline stewardess who gets caught up in a massive conspiracy.  Vol. 1 wasn’t available, so I went straight into vol. 2, which was maybe not the best idea.  There’s clearly some groundwork that I was missing when reading this book, but it was still mostly entertaining and worth a look.

Flying Machine collects issues six through ten of the serial, and finds our heroine Blythe allied with a still-adventuring Amelia Earhart.  After Earhart’s history unfolds, much of the plot revolves around a mysterious ability called Hyperpraxis, an ability at which Blythe is naturally gifted, which allows the bending and folding of physical space.  A country called Narimar, which may or may not exist, comes into play, and Blythe’s love for a mysterious young man named Zayn underlines her every action.

G. Willow Wilson sets up a pretty compelling conspiracy, played with a supernatural bent, and she teases out new information at a good pace.  Conspiracies too often suffer from giving no consequential data, leaving the reader to feel like the mystery won’t ever actually pay off.  X-Files and 100 Bullets, I’m thinking of you.  In Air, Wilson feeds out more clues and more solid discoveries, yet keeps opening new doors to keep readers enticed.

Blythe’s character is hard to read from this one volume.  The plot drives much of the book, leaving her attraction to Zayn unclear, and the concept of the naturally gifted adept is well-trod territory.  The conspiracy plays out nicely, but there’s not quite enough here to see if Wilson has anything new to say about the concept of the concept of the adept.

Solidly unremarkably, M.K. Perkar’s artwork carry Wilson’s story effectively, despite occasionally inconsistent illustrations and sometimes choppy pacing.  Silent reaction panels often carry too much weight, giving a herky-jerky effect to many pages.  Perkar, however, carries readers outside conventional reality convincingly, showing readers the edge of reality and the gridlines beneath our universe in a creative manner.

A few people, in mentioning this series to me, have compared it to the television series Lost.  For me, it’s a wasted analogy; I’ve never seen Lost (take it for what you will, most of you probably have seen it), but Air is a compelling supernatural conspiracy saga.  It’s not really my bag, personally (which is to say, I’d probably enjoy it over a single-volume, but might not have the interest to follow it for several years), but there is no doubt that Air v.2: Flying Machine is put together in a mostly dramatic manner and is a worth a look for fans of supernatural mystery.

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

In their second New York Media Softball League game, the DC Bullets played tight defense and strung together a three run-scoring rallies to best public radio’s WNYC 10-4 on Monday evening.  Playing on WNYC’s home field, perhaps the deepest field the Bullets play on all summer, extra base hits came with difficulty, but the bats put together a few sustained station-to-station relays in the first and fourth innings.

Centerfielder Neil Hiremath (1-3) led off the top of the first with a hustling base hit, before he was erased on third baseman Mike Lorah’s (1-4, 2 R) fielder’s choice.  Co-captain and shortstop Adam Schlagman began a perfect day at the plate with a line single to left.  Adam finished 3-3, with a run scored, an RBI, a double and a base on balls.  LF Andrew Arnold (2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI) drove home Lorah, and LF Jay Kogan (2-4, 2R, RBI) knocked Schlagman home.  2B Christine “CNap” Napolitano’s (1-2, R, RBI) groundout scored Andrew, and LP Vollano, the designated hitter, capped the scoring with a two-out single.  LP had himself a 2-2 with 2 RBI day.

WNYC then halved the Bullet lead with two runs in the bottom of the first.  Despite lead-off hits in the second, third and fourth innings, but Bullets failed to tack on to their lead.  The offensive shortfall appeared problematic when WNYC’s biggest bopper hammered a two-out, two-run double down the left field line in the last of the fourth, tying the score at four all.

However, the resilient Bullets shook off their doldrums in the top of the fifth.  Consecutive singles by Lorah, Schlagman and Arnold put the Bullets back on top, and after Jay’s fielder’s choice erased Adam at third base for the first out, CNap loaded the bases by beating out an infield single. LP drove in Andrew for a second run, and 3B Adam Staffaroni (2-2, 2 RBI, double) doubled home two more runs, adding an exclamation point to the inning.

The 8-4 Bullet lead held into the seventh inning, when the comic book makers launched a two-out rally.  With SCF Joel Press (1-2, R) at first and two away, SCF Brian Cunningham (2-2, R) lined a hit to left and pitcher Larry Ganem (1-2, RBI) flared a single to right, bringing Joel around and across the plate.  Brian Walters (0-1, BB), the right fielder, walked, and RF Allison Dugas capped a 2-2 day with an RBI base hit, scoring Cunningham.

Battling to the end, WNYC put their lead-off hitter on in the seventh, but after a foul pop-out at third, Larry Ganem put an end to the game by spearing a line drive back to the mound and doubling the runner off first.

With the 10-4 win, the DC Bullets move to 2-0 in the NYMSL, and 5-0 overall.  Next the Bullets match up against Scientific American on Thursday at their home field, Field #2 in Central Park’s North Meadow.

Game Notes:

The Bullets likely benefited somewhat from WNYC’s being short a player; the radio squad played a nine-person team, leaving them with only a three-man outfield.

With eighteen players present, only shortstop Adam Schlagman, pitcher Larry Ganem and first baseman beyond peer Laura Demoreuille played every defensive inning.

Due to the large WNYC home field, the Bullets managed only two extra base hits, both doubles: Adam Schlagman’s lead-off gapper in the third, and Adam Staffaroni’s two-run shot that capped the fifth inning scoring.

Mike Lorah struck out looking in the sixth inning. For shame.

Ian Brill has been ready to get dangerous — but now that’s looking to be a much more long-term investment, after BOOM! Studios announced today that the June Darkwing Duck miniseries would now be an ongoing book! Newsarama caught up with the writer to follow up on how he’s handling the transition, and what might be next for Drake Mallard and company now that he has more room to — ahem — stretch his wings.

Newsarama: Ian, wow, I think this is a first — going from a limited series to a fully-fledged ongoing based on pre-orders and buzz alone! As someone who works at BOOM! as both a writer and an editor, can you take us behind the curtain a bit, as to the sorts of variables that spurred this decision?

Ian Brill: It’s not much more than simple supply and demand. Fans demanded more Darkwing, we’re going to supply it! I’m personally so thankful to see the reaction from fans. It’s amazing to see a character that still gets so much love twenty years later. That’s why myself, James Silvani and everyone else on this book are working so hard to make this book as good as it possibly can be!

Nrama: Now, you’re staying on for the long haul on this, correct? How long do you plan to stick around on the series, and how far ahead are you in terms of Darkwing ideas? Can you tease any arcs that you’ve been tossing around for future issues?

Brill: I’ll be writing Darkwing as long as they’ll have me! The next arc is all plotted out and we have other ideas brewing. I’ll say this for the next arc: there is one major villain that we don’t get to explore to a great extent in the first arc. One villain that fans have been asking about since we announced this story. The second arc is our change to really bring this villain back. He will be throwing some major MAJOR challenges our heroes’ way.

Nrama: For those who aren’t in the loop about Darkwing Duck: The Duck Knight Returns, can you tell us a little bit about how you’re opening this series, and where DW’s head is at? And considering this series is now ongoing, how will Darkwing continue to grow as a character?

Brill: We find that Drake Mallard and hasn’t been Darkwing for a while. As the story continues we’ll find out why that is. We’ll also see what a St. Canard without Darkwing looks like, and who protects it. A lot of familiar faces return but in strange new ways!

Nrama: Something we should ask is how you’re making the jump from writing a limited series to an ongoing. How are you wrapping your head around this? Are you switching how you see things when you’re putting together future stories?

Brill: The big lesson I’m learning is what to do with this great cast of characters the show has. Not just the main characters but the many villains and supporting cast the show had. It’s hard to choose who to use in a given story since there are so many great ones available.

Nrama: How about the art in this book? We know you’re working with James Silvani for at least the first arc – any idea as to what the future might hold for this series in that regard?

Brill: The plan is to keep James as long as he can do the book. He’s amazing! He inserts visual jokes into the book that are funnier than anything I could come up with. The next arc has specific story points for him to go wild with.

Nrama: And considering you also work as an editor for the company — how do you balance the two jobs both in terms of time and brainpower, and how does your “editor” hat inform your “writer” hat?

Brill: It’s a matter of managing my time correctly. Editor by day, writer by night! The way the two inform each other is that I try to make my scripts as clear as possible, well aware of the fact that what may be obvious to me isn’t obvious to my editor and artist. That’s an important lesson picked up working editorial.

Nrama: And also touching upon that — you’re working with editor Aaron Sparrow on this book, correct? How do you feel your two editorial sensibilities differ, and how do you feel they complement each other?

Brill: I like it when Launchpad’s crashes go CRASH! and Aaron likes it when they go K-KRASH! But (half-)seriously Aaron’s been working in comics longer than I have, whether it’s working in editorial, working for Comic-Con or being the translator for such heralded mangas as Dragon Head. I learn a lot from him and have great conversations with him on story and characters.

Nrama: Now, Darkwing Duck has a lot of characters in his rogues gallery, and with a limited series, there’s no way you could touch upon all of them — but now that you’ve got an ongoing to stretch your muscles with, are there any characters you’re excited to have pop up in your next few arcs?

Brill: Let me just say this: Let’s. Get. Negative.

They’re incredible! Er, no, fantastic! Er, they’re a superpowered family! And they’re hitting ABC this fall! So check out this preview of No Ordinary Family, starring the one-time Thing Michael Chiklis:

Between that and the Cape, it’s looking like the networks are looking to fill their four-color fan bases. What say you, Rama readers? You interested in this? Give us a shout!

Age of Heroes #1 is the comic book I’m most excited to see in the shops this week, if only because I can’t wait to see if it will have the “Heroic Age” banner across the top, and thus look like it’s actually called The Heroic Age: Age of Heroes #1. It’s the first issue of an anthology miniseries spotlighting various characters and their places in the new, post-”Dark Reign” Marvel Universe. J. Jonah Jameson, Spider-Man, Dr. Voodoo and some agents of MI-13 star, while Kurt Busiek, Paul Cornell, Rick Remender, Dan Slott, Leonard Kirk, Marko Djurjevic, Chris Samnee and others do the creative duties.

But wait, we’re just getting started with Heroic Age offerings!

There’s also Avengers #1, the new Avengers flagship title by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.; Enter the Heroic Age #1, a one-shot  featuring five stories featuring characters who will be starring in five new ongoing series,  by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Christos Gage, Jim McCann, Jeff Parker, Mike McKone, Kev Walker and others; Atlas #1, the debut of the latest incarnation of the Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman (now with added 3-D Man!) and, finally, Avengers Assemble #1, an Official Handbook full of Avengers-related updates.  All five of those are $4 books.

American Vampire #3: The first issue of this new series sold extraordinarily well, either because people like Stephen King, they like vampires or they like Vertigo comics. I’m not sure which was the deciding factor in its success. Anyway, Scott Snyder writes the main story, King writes the back0up, and Rafael Albuquerque draws everything.

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WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 44: “Time To Talk”

I gotta be honest with you.  Artistically, I didn’t think this strip was my strongest effort, but I did like the Ned’s expression in the final panel. Also, the “we need to talk” line from the typically terse Pastor was a nice pay-off to that first conversation he had with Caroline Belmont and portends a painful fate for Ned. 

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

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!

As BOOM! Studios is looking to tell you, you can’t keep a good duck down — because Darkwing Duck is getting his own ongoing series!

“The fan response for Darkwing Duck has been amazing!” series writer Ian Brill said in a press release. “The fans wanted more, so we’ll give them more! Not just more issues but more adventure and more humor. After the first story, which will have big changes for Darkwing and family, we’re going to take the readers on an even crazier ride!”

What is perhaps even more surprising to me is the fact that this decision has been made before even the first issue of his limited series The Duck Knight Returns even came out! But considering how much buzz Darkwing Duck’s return has gotten, I’m not terribly surprised that sales spiked enough to get this book a permanent spot on the BOOM! Studios roster. The book, with art by James Silvani, is due out on June 16. What say you, Rama readers? You excited?