“Drawing is generally like digging a ditch…I basically know how far I’ll get each day”: That’s Joe Sacco, talking about how much work and labor is involved in cartooning in this See Magazine article. Adrian Tomine is interviewed for the same piece.
Wait, The Dark Knight and Batman Inc are both off schedule already?: Marc-Oliver Frisch has put together his monthly look at DC Comics’ sales charts for December of last year, which you can read at The Beat. Apparently the company’s top book was the David Finch written and drawn Batman: The Dark Knight #1, the very first issue of which was late, and the second issue of which is still over a month away, three months after the debut of the first issue. I hope this doesn’t date me too much, but when I first started reading Batman comics, they used to be monthly (Actually, I don’t think this matters all that much, as the series seems to really be more of a Finch fan-only title, and there are plenty of other Bat-books with more regular schedules to engage fans and keep the story going; flagship Batman Inc being off-schedule is a bigger concern).
Dwayne McDuffie is awesome: In lieu of linking to almost every one of these, I suppose it would be more efficient to simply say that this year for Black History Month, 4thletter! is highlighting great and influential black comics creators and suggesting bits of their bibliographies to read, so you may want to start visiting it daily (if you don’t already). Today Dwayne McDuffie gets the spotlight. I really like McDuffie; he’s never written anything that made me cry or broke my heart or changed my life or anything, but he’s one of those writers who consistently delivers superior product, and one of the first comics writers that Teenage Caleb finished a book and though, “Wow, that was pretty good,” and then looked at the credits to see who was responsible for making it so good.
“It seems so…redundant now anyway”: That’s Johnny Bacardi on why he’s lost interest in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, give that the Regular Old Marvel Universe has come to resemble it so closely. It’s part of a review of Ultimate Avengers Vs. New Ultimates #1 (which he bravely read despite not having checked in on the UU since Ultimates 2), which itself is part of his regular Confessions of a Comics Shop Junkie review column.
“It just wouldn’t be a holiday at ComicsAlliance without The KGBeast”: Chris Sims presents his annual crop of comic book-themed valentines in the style of the sort elementary school kids pass out during their Valentine’s Day parties. Included are regular Sims targets/topics, and some of the more laughed at characters and events of the last year or so (Yes, Arsenal clutching a dead cat is there).
I woulda guessed 12 issues tops, but Doom Patrol and The Outsiders are still being published: DC has the details of their previously announced Static series, which will be written by Felicia Henderson and drawn by Scott McDaniel and Jonathan Glapion. I was pretty disappointed to see McDaniel’s name in there. I really enjoyed his Nightwing and Batman work way back when, and I still like a lot of what he does, but I think the sorts of assignments he’s been doing the last few years that DC has given him have unfortunately made him seem like The Guy DC Calls When They Don’t Have Much Turnaround Time. Now if cover artist Keron Grant were doing interiors as well, I think we’d really have something here…
“It really is a pity that the appearance of Bane in the wrestler mask has led to many forgetting the mind behind the mask”: Paul Hicks’s latest Uncollected Editions feature at Collected Editions spotlights the first appearance of Bane, from Vengeance of Bane #1 by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Eduardo Barretto. With an art team like that, of course the book looked great, and I remember liking that issue quite a bit—Bane was certainly a much more interesting character before and during Knightfall than he was after.
I prefer it to the final one, but I’m no editor: Ty Templeton shares an unused, refjected cover from his time on The Batman Adventures. Batman learning to read by reading a book entitled “How To Read” kills me, but then, I’m seeing it now as an old in 2011, not a kid in in 1991 or whenever.
February 11th, 2011 at 9:26 am
Static Shock is by Felicia Henderson, not Felicia Day. We can only hope that the actress/writer will someday write for DC, and that Ms. Henderson will not do as poorly on Static as she did on Teen Titans.
February 11th, 2011 at 9:44 am
Thanks for the nod, Caleb. It’s been a lot of fun working with Paul on spotlighting these uncollected gems — more to come!
February 11th, 2011 at 9:56 am
You know, considering how few Felicias there are writing comics, you’d think I could keep ‘em straight. Sorry about that; I fixed it (I think).
February 16th, 2011 at 4:49 am
Good analysis of The Dark Knight as just a Finch vehicle.
I do disagree about Bane though, Bane is probably at his most interesting with the best characterisation right now with the Secret Six. I do fear that the new film might destroy this status quo.