The first week of January seems pretty early to make what’s sure to be the biggest publishing announcement of the year: Fantagraphics is going to publish the complete Carl Barks. Wait, that’s not right. Let me try again: Fantagraphics is going to publish the complete Carl Barks! (There, that’s better.) Chris Mautner of Robot 6 scored the exclusive announcement, and interviewed publisher Gary Groth about the project.
Cyke on skates?: The National Hockey League and Stan Lee’s previously announced plan to create a different superhero for each of the NHL’s 30 teams sounded pretty cool when first announced, although the first of the NHL Guardians to hit the ice is a little less than impressive. He’s the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Penguin, he wears yellow and black, and has a weird little cape thing that gives him “super-maneuverability,” plus a magnetized suit and “ice missiles.” You can get a look at his costume here and an unimpressed reaction from the sports world here. I’m a little disappointed myself, but I suppose cool costume creation is more in a Project: Rooftop wheelhouse than that of Stan Lee, who specialized in the word half of the comics equation. Penguin is joined by The Los Angeles Kings’ hero, The King.
Ty Templeton vs. religion: The talented cartoonist and prolific blogger has been counting down some of his best work from the year ending, and this superheroes vs. religous figures post is pretty fantastic. Superman vs. Jesus, The Hulk vs. Buddha and Batman vs. some monsters of the Bible…place your bets before clicking.
New rule—Brian McLachlan is the only one allowed to do licensed movie comics from now on: I don’t know why Google News Alerts alerted me of this post from way back in August of 2010 just this past weekend, but I’m not going to let it stop me from posting a link to the Smooth ‘n Natural web comic creator’s many awesome-looking movie comics that never existed but should have covers. (Via Geeks of Doom)
Abhay connects the dots: The Savage Critics critic talks about some of the most talked about comics of 2010, noting that Charles Burns’ X’ed Out is basically the same comic as Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy’s Joe The Barbarian, and Morrison’s Batman comics are basically a desperate cry for help.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Wow, that Savage Critics column was unbelievably tedious to read. If only it were mandatory that web sites have editors…
January 4th, 2011 at 6:40 am
When will people stop giving Stan Lee money for crap like NHL superheroes
January 4th, 2011 at 8:53 am
You do realize that the COMPLETE Carl Barks was already done, by Bruce Hamilton and the Another Rainbow / Gladstone gang in the 80′s and 90′s don’t you? A lot of the content of this new series benefits from all of the clean-up work and research that Hamilton’s staff did during that time.