Paul Maybury, creator of last year’s critically-acclaimed Image graphic novel Aqua Leung and a longtime member of New York’s Act-I-Vate comics collective, is hard at work these days putting together his next opus–a 230-page graphic novel called Party Bear, which explores characters looking for hope in the seemingly-hopeless life of lower-middle-class America. Maybury, having just crested the halfway point in creating art for the book, contacted Blog@Newsarama to discuss the project.

Blog@Newsarama: What’s the overview? What’s happening in the series to make people want to read it?

Paul Maybury: Party Bear takes place in a fictional neighborhood in Boston. It examines the absence of fathers in the lives of Milsap and his best friend Seal, who have Mothers with very different views and paths in life.

It’s also a study of the roles people adopt  as a result of the pressures of their neighborhood and social class. And how it’s seemingly impossible for them to get out of the dismal cycle of helplessness and apathy that stems from lack of education and opportunity.

The mysterious mute character Party Bear acts as an icon of something new and exciting that sends the neighborhood a buzz with new ideas and hope. His silence is interpreted in various ways by everyone around him, acting as a mirror in some cases for their true intentions.

The story centers around Milsap and Seal, and how they both plan to get out of their neighborhood and better their lives, and how Party Bear alters their paths.

I know that’s somewhat vague, but there’s a lot going on.

I do not have a publisher for the project. I’ve been in talks with a couple, but I’m sort of just letting it get finished and riding out the economy crisis until I can ask for the deal I really want.

Blog@: How specific is Boston to the story? Certainly it’s a popular setting for a lot of different kinds of stories–and it’s often a character unto itself.

PM: In a way it’s just another city, It’s a big northern city, and similar to NY and Baltimore in a lot of ways. It’s a very racially tense city, a  smart and busy city, but it’s also a little more working class, old and still very much segregated. All of the characters are loosely based off people I’ve known. I grew up in the city of Boston, so it made sense to place the story there, as I feel I can speak from experience.

Blog@: What sort of names are Milsap and Seal?

PM: Seal is named after the singer. His mother wanted to give him the name of a more sensitive man than his father, which is revealed a little later in the story. I used the name Milsap because I wanted him to be that person who’s always on the edge of being that kid who gets picked on at school. He’s been dealt kind of crappy cards, which is why he’s overly rambunctious to cover up his insecurities and flaws. So the name sort of reflects that a little in contrast to his behavior.

Blog@: Books like Mystic River examine the relationships of fathers and children, too. Do you think the whole Irish Catholic thing, with a kind of muting of emotion and a prohibition on contraception and abortion, lends itself to that kind of story?

PM: Yeah I think so. I’m half Irish, and half Spanish, and really culturally I think it’s kind of the same across the board, in Boston at least. My family was pretty different compared to a lot of my friends and neighbors, meaning I had a pretty free-thinking liberal window to look through. But abortion wasn’t something that most families really considered as far as I could see. Books like Mystic River really work well when placed in a city that is notorious for keeping it’s issues to itself. In Party Bear both Milsap and Seal are without strong father figures, which sort of gives them a hole in their lives that they’re always trying to figure out and assimilate by looking to every other older male character be it good aspects or bad. This sort of lends to the lack of direction and motivation to really grasp the tools to live a life beyond what immediate opportunities present themselves. Which is why I want to show to very contrasting Mothers for Milsap and Seal, so the reader can see the effect their parenting has on both characters by the end of the book.

Blog@: “It’s also a study of the roles people adopt  as a result of the pressures of their neighborhood and social class. And how it’s seemingly impossible for them to get out of the dismal cycle of helplessness and apathy that stems from lack of education and opportunity.” …So is this graphic novel going to come with an all-Springsteen soundtrack CD?

PM: Hah, maybe some Springsteen, Nas with some Bad Religion peppered in.

Blog@: Is Party Bear an actual bear or is that, like, somebody’s club name or something?

PM: Party Bear is an actual bear who wears a red striped Party Hat. I wanted to have a character who was goofy and ridiculous, then throw him into a very serious story and see how long I can ignore the fact that he’s a giant bear. Sort of a modern fairy tale where you just have to accept that it’s weird and go with it as the reader to see where it goes.

Blog@: When your entire motivation is to get the hell out of Dodge, what is success?

PM: I think success can come in many different forms. It could be achieving great wealth and moving out and living your dreams. Or something as simple and the awareness that things could be better, and the very idea of improving your life. I don’t believe everyone is given a fair chance in life, and Party Bear examines a 

group of people trying in different ways to get there despite many disheartening obstacles.

Brendan McGinley, editor of the Dose comics anthology, writer of Hannibal Goes to Rome and co-writer (with Joshua Elder) of Mail-Order Ninja, has rolled out a new webcomic–Heist–at Indelible Comics. He sat down with Blog@ to discusss the project.

Blog@Newsarama: Why not give a capsule summary of what the comic is actually about for the uninitiated?

Brendan McGinley: Heist is the story of the world’s greatest supervillain, a clever thief who has as little to do with superheroes as possible, and so they have no idea he exists. But he’s addicted to thrills, so he takes on the impossible job of stealing something dangerous from their headquarters.

Blog@: And in doing so, he’s not going to be…err…raping any superhero’s wives out of sheer opportunity, right?

Cause I guess according to some people that happens sometimes when the bad guys break in

BM: No, he will not.

Not because he’s better than that — he’s a horrible person

–but because he prefers the thrill of the chase to outright violation.

He thinks he IS better than that

But he’s a thug. I’m honestly not sure if he’s capable of rape. I like to think it’s not in his character, but thankfully it’s not a question.

Blog@: How do you write a character like that–someone who doesn’t have a real clear sense of self–and not make the reader feel confused?

BM:Oh, it’s easy enough. He’s a caricature to start with.

We pummel some depth into him.

Blog@: So as far as format–are you going to have everything, or whole issues, go up at once or do more of a one-page-at-a-time approach a la Warren Ellis’ new thing? (more…)

A few minutes ago, Marvel Comics issued the following press release, indicating that their open submissions policy is under review:

Due to an unprecedented number of unsolicited art and writing submissions, Marvel has altered its open submissions policy effective immediately.  Marvel has remained the only major publisher to continue accepting open submissions, however that practice has been halted as we review our strategies for accepting future submissions.

Marvel has a proven track record of attracting new and emerging talent and does not plan on ending those efforts in any way.

“If you look at our track record over the last 18 months, I think you’ll find the names of more new writers and artists in Marvel books than ever before.  Maybe more than at any other major comic book publisher, as a matter of fact,” says Marvel Talent Liaison C.B. Cebulski. “We pride ourselves on finding new voices and artistic styles to help us shape the Marvel Universe in original and exciting ways. And while the hunt for new artistic resources to help us ever expand the Marvel mythos will continue, we’ll just be going about it in different ways. We’ve examined all our past practices concerning talent recruitment and it quickly became clear that more ‘reactive’ methods such as open submissions were the least effective ways to open the Marvel door for up-and-comers. So instead we’ll be continuing with the more ‘proactive’ methods of artist and writer discovery that we’ve found so successful of late, including some soon-to-be-announced new outlets.”

While the open submissions policy has ceased, Marvel will continue its active recruitment of artists through its Talent Management department.  Artists are also encouraged to bring portfolios for review to the major conventions at which Marvel will have a presence this year.

Talent Coordinator for Marvel, Chris Allo adds, “In regards to finding new artists, we in the Talent Management department will still continue to look at online websites such as Deviant Art, Comic Art Community, as well as comic art blogs, and other related sites.  Online comics are rapidly becoming a source for scouting as well.  And, of course, we will still go to the comic book stores on Wednesdays and see what new artists are out there working for other companies and on independent books.”                         

With the successful discovery and publishing of writers in the fields of comics as well as TV, film and literature, Marvel will continue to search out new voices in all published fields, as we have for the past number of years. 

As new media and means of publishing comics on the web as well as small and independent press, we encourage all new creators to continue honing their craft by using all of the tools available during this time.  Marvel will be announcing a new submissions policy in the near future.

Marvel Comics today announced that February 18, 2010–or just less than a year from now–would be the official premiere date for Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark, the long-rumored Broadway musical featuring music by U2′s Bono and The Edge and direction from The Lion King veteran Julie Taymor. The release is below, and can be located at Marvel’s official site here. Here’s hoping it meets with more success than the Batman musical did!

Webheads, get ready to experience the exploits of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in an entirely new, exciting way when “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” opens on Broadway!

Mark your calendars now, thwippers, “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” opens on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at Broadway’s Hilton Theatre, 213 West 42nd Street. And some lucky Broadway goers will get to see the show when preview performances begin Saturday, January 16, 2010. 

Stay tuned to Marvel.com to find out about your chance to purchase tickets to “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” before they go on sale to the general public!

Of course a show starring Spider-Man deserves all-star talent and “Turn Off the Dark” has it in spades! Tony® Award-winner Julie Taymor (“The Lion King,” “Across The Universe”) is not only directing the musical, but she shares writing credits with Glen Berger. Oh, but there’s more! Bono and The Edge, 22-time Grammy® Award-winning members of the legendary band U2 are creating new music and lyrics for the show!

The principal creative and design team for “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” includes Daniel Ezralow, Choreographer (“Across the Universe,” “The Green Bird”); George Tsypin, Sets (“The Magic Flute,” “The Little Mermaid”); Eiko Ishioka, Costumes (Academy Award® for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” Tony Award® nomination for “M. Butterfly,” the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics); Donald Holder, Lighting (Tony® Awards for “The Lion King,” “South Pacific”); Jonathan Deans, Sound (“Fosse,” The Beatles “LOVE” by Cirque du Soleil, “Young Frankenstein,” “Ragtime”); and Teese Gohl, Musical Supervisor (“Across the Universe,” “Frida”). Additional members of the “Spider-Man” creative team will be announced at a later date.

Drawing from over 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” spins a new take on the mythic tale of a young man propelled from a modest rowhouse in Queens to the sky-scraping spire of the Chrysler Building, the bustling offices of the Daily Bugle, through the dizzying canyons of Manhattan, to new vistas never before seen. 

The musical follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down—literally—when he’s bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek—suddenly endowed with astonishing powers—soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains test not only his physical strength but also his strength of character. 

Spider-Man’s battles will hurtle the audience through an origin story both recognizable and unexpected—yielding new characters as well as familiar faces—until a final surprising confrontation casts a startling new light on this hero’s journey.

Casting for “Spider-Man” will be announced soon.

Group tickets now on sale. Single tickets will go on sale June, 2009. For more information about group tickets, visit the “Spider-Man” website at www.SpidermanOnBroadway.com or by calling 1-800-Broadway.

Check out the official Marvel Shop for everything Spider-Man!

Download episodes of “X-Men: Evolution” now on iTunes!

Coming in March from IDW, writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Mike Cavallaro are teaming up to tell the story of The Life and Times of Savior 28. It’s a tale that’s been percolating in the back of DeMatteis’ head for nearly a quarter of a century. The writer told Comic Related at the New York Comic Con early this month that he has been wanting to tell this story since he was writing Captain America at Marvel in the early ’80s. But Mike Cavallaro, whose dynamic art completes the book and sets a tone for the fall of America’s most beloved superhero (in this particular universe, anyway), hasn’t even been in the business that long. Coming a little late to the party, exactly how do you approach creating a look and feel for an ambitious, clever script that’s completed before you ever put pencil to page? Read on…

Blog@Newsarama: How did you come to be chosen as the artist for this project? Did you help JM develop it?

Mike Cavallaro: I’ll answer that in reverse order. J.M. had the entire concept down from the get-go. It’s been his task to hammer out these scripts all on his own. All I bring to the table are the visual interpretations of the characters and situations. He gives me pretty free reign in this area. I think I did my first sketch of 28, and J.M. said, “I love it!” I felt obliged to do more sketches and he was like, “No, I love the first one! Go with it!” Ha ha. Pretty easy to work with.

I’ve been a fan of J.M.’s for many, many years since reading Moonshadow as it was being serialized in the 80′s. A few yeas ago, a mutual friend put us in touch with each other and we struck up a correspondence. I had become part of the webcomics collective ACT-I-VATE, and had just completed my first story, Parade (With Fireworks), which has since been nominated for an Eisner Award and released as a trade paperback from Shadowline/Image Comics. I sent J.M. a preview of my new AIV comic, Loviathan, and he felt the visual tone was what he’d been looking for on Savior 28. He sent me the synopsis, I signed on, and we had IDW verbally onboard by the end of the day.

BLOG@: Do you approach the old-school, superhero Savior 28 pages differently than the pages that were either happening later in his career, or after his death?

MC: That’s a cool question. This past year I was working on a graphic novel. The main character was described as being “not attractive” in the script. I was like, “What does that mean? I want to like the character I’m about to draw for the next 160 pages. What’s not attractive?” My studio mate Dean Haspiel advised, “Sometimes attractive isn’t how someone looks, it’s how they carry themselves — an attitude.” That set a light bulb off for me that resolved the problem for that project, and I carried this thinking over to Savior 28.

The page mechanics are the same between the “old-school, superhero” pages and all the others. The difference happens in 28′s bearing, attitude and acting. There’s definitely something slightly more world-weary and haggard about 28 in some of the scenes as opposed to what I’ll call the “dynamic innocence” of his hero shots.

BLOG@: How do you go about trying to create a look for a superhero that evokes a certain era and feeling, without being derivative of any particular character?

MC: J.M. started me out with visual cues so I could understand what he was thinking for some of the characters, usually by saying, “Think this actor or that actor”. So in the first place, refer to real life. I thought that was a good way of approaching it, so I carried that through with my own research. In a lot of cases, there are actors who really seem to embody their era: James Cagney is a good example. Artists are similar in that way. Kirby and Romita are very ‘60′s/‘70′s to me. Their art evokes that period. If you want to evoke a particular era, marry the way an iconic artist from that time would draw an iconic actor of that time, filtered through your own sensibilities, and you’ve gone a long way in concocting something new that feels very familiar.

BLOG@: Did you intentionally evoke the look of Nomad when depicting the aged Savior 28?

MC: No. To tell you the truth, I never read an issue of Captain America before signing on to this project, and had never heard of Nomad until relatively recently. There’s no purposeful narrative attempt to relate the two characters on my part. I don’t think it’s accurate to call him “the aged Savior 28″, because he doesn’t age. Again, he’s more world-weary and emotionally distressed, and it goes back to what Dean was saying about how a character carries themselves. I gave him stubble, mussed up his grown-out hair, made him forget to put his costume’s gloves or cape on at times, all in an effort to tarnish his outward appearance to show that his attention was focusing inward.

BLOG@: Given that JM has a history with Captain America, and that there are some obvious similarities between the characters, how hard was it to distance the assassination sequence in the first issue from the one that took place on the courtroom steps back in Captain America #25?

MC: AAARRRGGHHH! SPOILERS!!!! CAP’S DEAD??????NOOOOOOO!!!!

No, seriously … there was just no problem with that at all. I’m finally reading Brubaker’s Captain America run now in trade paperback, and I just bought the first Civil War volume yesterday. I’m not up to the part where Cap buys it. I know it happened, obviously, but it wasn’t a book I was reading and was sort of on the periphery of things for me. I just did my best to interpret J.M.’s fantastic script, and never thought about the fact that other superheroes have “died” previously in other comics. Maybe having not read Captain America #25 made it easier on me, in fact, because I didn’t have that floating around in my subconscious. But I didn’t think about it. I was just focused on doing a good page of comics, to the best of my ability.

BLOG@: How fun was it to draw that strange, hilarious splash panel on page 15 (the one with the alien, Uncle Sam and J. Edgar Hoover in a fez)?

MC: Man, you nailed it. I laughed out loud the first time I read that in the script, then read the page out to my studio mates. Hilarious. One of my favorite moments in the first issue, and colorist Andy Covalt deserves a lot of credit for his spot-on mood setting. The fez became an in-joke for a couple days, and I think we discussed releasing an S28 incentive fez. Ha!

BLOG@: I tell you what—I’d buy one of those!…Thank you, so very much, for respecting your audience enough to draw 9/11 instead of superimposing a digitally-altered version of some crappy AP photo; I’ve seen far too many of those in the last eight years.

MC: Wow, well, thank you. I live in NYC, and love it dearly. Everyone who was here that day has a 9/11 story. I stood in the street and watched the second tower fall with my own eyes. It was a horrible, horrible day, with many more to follow. Since The Life and Times of Savior 28 shines a light specifically on violence in popular culture, it was imperative to include this pivotal moment from our own lives.

In terms of comic-making in general, I normally don’t dig it when you see photos slammed up against drawings. I just don’t think it works. Or at least, it works very rarely, and I certainly don’t think it would mesh with what I’m doing on S28. I never even thought about using a photo there. Never crossed my mind.

Many years ago, I read an interview with guitarist Angus Young from AC/DC. He said he never does anything in the studio that he can’t actually play live on stage. That made a real impression on me. I liked the honesty of that aesthetic. I keep my comics pretty lo-fi in many ways. I don’t do a lot of trickery. I like drawings, I like the humanity of imperfections, I’m not concerned with realism. I guess that’s why I like Kirby so much. It’s more about the vibe than the accuracy.

Lloyd Dangle, the cartoonist behind Troubletown and one of the contributors to Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Steal Back Your Vote comics anthology last year, is holding a contest on his website, and giving away an original piece of Troubletown art drawn to commemorate the first thirty days of the Obama Administration (yes, yes, I know–insert groans here about yet another Obama comic).

The rules and like that are below, and a Facebook group for the contest can be found here.

New York Times-bestselling investigative journalist Greg Palast–author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Armed Madhouse (and co-author, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and three political cartoonists, of the recent Steal Back Your Vote comics anthology), issued this statement today, giving the million-plus readers who follow his work or watch him on BBC Newsnight a chance to look at the introduction he’s written for the newest trade paperback volume of Brian Wood’s brilliant Vertigo comic DMZ. Along with a look at the introduction, Palast (who runs a nonprofit and does fundraisers like this pretty regularly) will be offering readers and fans an opportunity to purchase a copy of the trade paperback from his website, signed by Palast and Wood. Check it out:

The occupied territory of Manhattan is supposed to be a demilitarized zone – as long as you ignore the blown-apart corpses in front of the bodegas and Trustwell Corp assassins infiltrating the block parties.

I don’t review other writers’ books. Mostly, because I don’t like what I see. But this graphic novel, DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, is too good to let go by unheralded.

Click on the image to get a feel for it.

DMZ is New York in the future, and it looks uncomfortably too much like America today. There’s a phony war on terror, a hunt for illusory insurgents and troublemakers which becomes the trigger-point excuse for crushing the heaving, rising underclass.

Except here, in the comic, America’s culture war and class war has moved to its inevitable bloody conclusion: a corporate junta pretending to provide safety to war-torn New York while using high-tech military intelligence and scum-bag death squads to hold on to power.

In the center of the story is a half-assed but earnest journalist Matty Roth on the Lower East Side whose need to voice the story of the voiceless is at war with his reasonable cowardice. Tell me about it.

Reporter Roth is sent in to find and cover a charismatic street leader, Parco Delgado, who declares his candidacy with explosives. Is Delgado a greasy, piece-of-crap thug or a savior in a dirty T-shirt? What makes creators Wood and Burchielli such smart storytellers is that they don’t make the answer simple, but they don’t fail to give the answer. If the story sounds weird it’s because any story that’s real is weird.

I’m writing this after filing my own story from Eight Mile in Detroit. One foreclosed home after another, weeds to the roof. This guy in the last unemptied house on the street told me his son was shot dead in his back yard. There’s several foreclosure notices on his dinner table. He’s working seven straights to keep his kids from having to live in a homeless shelter. But he’s screwed and he knows it. He doesn’t stand a chance. America is a fixed casino.

DMZ is a brilliant news report from inside America’s skull dreaming into the future – when the “stimulus” has worn off and reality eats our young.

***

I’ll make you a deal. Buy the book - DC Comics brought it out this week – and make Brian and Riccardo happy. Or better, click here to buy the book from this journalist on the Lower East Side, by making a tax deductible donation of $75 or more, and I’ll send you a copy signed by gracious author Wood, and I’ll sign it too. (My excuse for adding my name to their effort is I wrote the intro to the book.)

Maybe it’s a bit weird to end a review with a request for money. But it’s like this: two-dimensional journalists live on ink and imagination, but three-dimensional ones live on falafel sandwiches, re-heated coffee and the un-tender mercies of dead-broke publishers. Truly, the Palast Investigative Team needs your support. We’ve laid off staff, we’ve cut back on falafel – but we cannot continue to report from the front lines of the economic wars without your help. And that’s the non-fiction here on the Lower East Side of the new reality.

I want to thank those who supported the Palast/Bobby Kennedy investigations of the elections theft over these past years. But now we need to take on a bigger story. We are snaking our way into the file cabinets of the financial vultures who are turning worldwide Depression into a profit center. But Con Ed wants its pound of flesh monthly. They won’t take “hope” as payment. Help us. Investigative reporting is needed now more than ever.

Sincere thanks,
Greg Palast

Greg Palast is the author of Armed Madhouse and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He reports for BBC Television Newsnight and Air America Radio’s Clout! At the Palast Investigative Fund store you can also donate for our Best Democracy Money Can Buy poster with art by Winston Smith and pick up some of the remaining copies of the Steal Back Your Vote! Investigative Comic. Join us on MySpace, friend us onfacebook and follow us on Twitter. You can also watch our latest BBC and Democracy Now! Reports by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

Blog@Newsarama: DC seems to have spoiled the mystery villain in solicitations, though I won’t here. That said, what’s this guy’s beef with Chronos?

Dan Jurgens: I don’t know that I’d say he has a specific beef with Chronos. He came to get the knife and Chronos happened to be there. Let’s just say he doesn’t approve of Chronos’ agenda. Not to mention his choice in clothing.

Blog@: How early in the writing process for this series did someone say, “At some point, Booster has to team up with himself!”?

DJ: It is kind of a natural, isn’t it?

Don’t worry though. We won’t be going to the well on this one too often.

Blog@: We reusing all that dialogue a nice break from scripting, or was looking it all up more trouble than it was worth?

DJ: You’re right. It isn’t any kind of time saver. However, it was important to lock this into a very specific moment in time and replicating those specific scenes is the best way to do it.

Blog@: And did the positions that Wally and Booster took the same as in the original issues? How much reference did you have to do? (more…)

Pop culture website Gawker.com is running an article on their blog today taking pot shots at the New York Comic Con and its attendees. Featuring a number of pictures of attendees in costume, there’s no real “article” to accompany them but only the headline “Nerd Alert” and a nasty paragraph that makes jokes at the expense of both comic fans and New Jersey. Typical of Gawker, they cover this story without ever actually attending the convention, taking their photos from wire service offerings.

Fangoria is reporting that Nick Principe, the chrome-faced killer in Robert Hall’s Laid to Rest, will apparently be “the lead slasher” in Robert Hall’s film adaption of Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash comic book. Principe says nothing in the article about the heavily-guarded secret of who will play the leads in the film, which will be produced by Rogue Pictures, a division of Universal that specializes in genre films and is probably best-known for releasing Shaun of the Dead.

The Bellingham, Washington local newspaper The Bellingham Herald is reporting that Bluewater Productions–the comic book company behind 10th Muse and Vincent Price Presents, as well as those Female Force books featuring Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin, has relocated their facility from Bellingham to nearby Vancouver, Washington.

While the Bluewater website doesn’t make any mention of the move, The Bellingham Herald quotes publisher Darren Davis as saying that he felt he was “taken advantage of” by local vendors who carried his titles on consignment and who Davis felt never gave him the support befitting a local, independent publisher in a community like Bellingham. Davis also told the paper that there were more personal reasons for the move–to be close to family, and to the airport. According to the article, Davis will still play a role in Bell Con, the convention that takes place in Bellingham.

Bluewater, which has gotten a lot of buzz surrounding its election-themed Female Force books, is clearly a company in transition: recently announced plans to switch to 100% recycled paper for its comics, and to expand the size of many of its books so that price increases necessary to accomodate Diamond’s new benchmarks for small publishers would sting less for the readers.

As a preview to the New York Comic Con, I wanted to sit down with a few people and get what they’re doing for the show. Unfortunately, a troublesome issue arose: I had no Internet access for almost a week leading up to today. I have, however, had a chance to talk to a few folks and their stories will be posted starting with Samuel Vera of Crazee Comics. Started in 2003, Crazee first launched underground. At that time, Vera was working with a bigger team which downsized due to what he refers to as “personal reasons. Different career choices and stuff like that. So right now, I just hire freelancers,” he says. “I outsource, I create my stuff and then I outsource to artists and colorists and things like that. It seems to work easier that way.”

Vera is the creator of all the Crazee titles, and the only writer currently operating under the Crazee Comics banner. George Medina, who used to be a Crazee staffer, still letters some of Vera’s books. He’ll be at the convention on his own, but sitting in with Vera at the Crazee table will be David Quiles. He’s the illustrator on a children’s book Vera wrote, and also the artist on The Forbidden, which is a trade paperback Crazee is going to release in the winter.

Crazee’s current flagship title, There’s an Alien in My Toilet, is what’s getting a lot of buzz right now. Its central character, an alien-with-an-attitude named Doodie who seems a little like Jhonen Vasquez’s Invader Zim, is the subject of not only a graphic novel and a forthcoming follow up, but also a kids’ title tie-in called Doodie’s Adventures. While the first series came out as “floppy” comics before being collected, and Vera has done a special New York Comic Con reprint of the first issue due to reader demand, the series will from this point on be released exclusively as trade paperbacks.

For the con, Vera’s line of children’s book—he has several titles—wil be on sale along with the first trade paperback of There’s an Alien in My Toilet. There’s a pinup version of the second volume trade for There’s an Alien in My Toilet, and original sketch cards. He’ll have prototype figures and a resin prototype of some of the characters on display.

“I’m very strategic in terms of I do competitive pricing with manufacturers and designers and I’m a very big advocate of print-on-demand, so I only print what I can sell,” Vera says. “On that note, I try to moderate—I don’t overstock, I go with what I can sell, I only do the conventions that are going to be cost-effective.”

“I still have a full-time job by day, so that helps also to support this,” Vera says, “but I design my own website, I do my own website, I do my own PR, but I’ve been really pushing it right now, talking to some international reps to rep the products over seas and…trying to secure an animated series.”

Vera says that he puts a lot of emphasis on There’s an Alien in My Toilet but he feels he has to have something on his back burner because you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. “I work seven days a week and on my days off I’m behind my table,” says Vera. “Thank God I have a supportive wife.”

He describes his approach to Doodie’s stories as “trying to establish a brand like Charles Schultz did with Peanuts and make it recognizable. A lot of people say it should be a strip instead of a book, but I’ve found a model that I feel works for myself.”

Asked how to approach his line if a consumer only has a limited budget at the convention, Vera says, “Pick up the first issue of Doodie, because they’re definitely going to laugh and I stand by that. Get a sketch card or get another one of the younger age books that I have and they’ll definitely get a feel. I also have Doodie’s Adventures. That kind of tells you how he gets to where he is in the series.”

Variety is reporting that Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott) and Daniel Craig (Bond…James Bond) have been cast as Tintin and Red Rackham in the upcoming Steven Spielberg animated feature The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Adding them to previously-announced castmates Andy Serkis, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the pair round out the cast for the feature, which has had a secretive pre-production following reports that its funding may have been in danger at one point, despite the attachment of Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings).

The Hollywood Reporter today is reporting that the newly-formed Death Ray Films is taking Dark Horse’s El Zombo Fantasma to the big screen in partnership with Maya Entertainment.

According to the report, Kevin Munroe will write and direct the feature, with Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson executive producing.

El Zombo Fantasma, published in 2005, was created by David Wilkins and Kevin Munroe. The story follows the murder of a notorious Mexican wrestler who bargains his way out of an Hell by returning to Los Angeles to act as a guardian angel to a troubled teen. He soon discovers that the young Belisa Montoya is actually spiritually linked to him, and has been for a very long time.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, movie execs hope to follow up the feature film with an animated series, and refer to the movie as “a Latin Hellboy.” The film seems poised to be the first comics-to-film adaption to appeal specifically to the Hispanic population.

“Zombo started years ago as just a geeky idea between two friends who worked at the same video game company,” says Munroe. “But Dave and I always knew that the property had a broader appeal than just its publishing roots, and now we’ll see it finally reach an entirely new audience. I’m thrilled to be a part of creating this new breed of superhero for the big screen.”

Death Ray Films is an entertainment production company founded by comic book & film industry veterans Chris Patton, Robert Sanchez and Kevin Munroe. The trio’s diverse backgrounds and extensive experience in all forms of media include: film, TV, Internet, comics and video games. And when combined, they form a giant robot.

Maya Entertainment, created by award winning producer Moctesuma Esparza, is a vertically integrated company and is the only production/distribution/exhibition entity in the United States, dedicated to the constantly growing US Latino Market. The Latino market represents the fastest-growing consumer segment in the U.S. and accordingly offers some of the most exciting growth opportunities for the entertainment industry today. Maya Entertainment is uniquely poised to become the first broad-based Latino-oriented filmed entertainment company.

The Minnesota Independent is following up on a blog post by political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow (creator of This Modern World) that announced Village Voice Media has been forced to suspend all of its syndicated comic strips until further notice. Tomorrow indicated that the suspension would last at least until the end of the first quarter, and possibly beyond if the company continues to suffer financially.

The strips are being seen as slightly more expendable than news content, and so the cuts are intended to do the least damage to the company, ease costs and hopefully be reversed when the economy starts to pick up again. Many of the strips, including This Modern World, are not exclusively distributed by the Village Voice Media, and so will continue to have some presence. Says Tomorrow, “This still leaves me with eighty-odd papers, as well as Salon and Credo, so it’s not a fatal blow. And believe me, I wasn’t so naive as to imagine I was going to get through this economic mess without taking some hits. Nonetheless it’s a serious chunk of major cities to lose in one fell swoop.”

Tomorrow encourages readers to make Village Voice Media aware that they’ll miss the comics, but also emphasizes that “this isn’t a ‘me vs. them’ situation. These are in many cases people who have supported my work and given me an audience for ten or fifteen years; some are personal friends. This is just an unfortunate decision made at the corporate level in response to a very difficult time.”

This is a post-mortem column, breaking down the game film for Young Liars #11. As such, please bear in mind that there are SPOILERS ahoy, dear reader, and proceed with caution (or, if you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed after having read it)!

-Ample Spoiler Space-

Blog@Newsarama: So…this issue kind of throws a wrench into things, eh? Is it just me, or in terms of “sympathetic narrators,” did Danny kind of let his denial get a bunch of his friends killed in this issue? If he could have made the gunmen stand down at just about any time, whatever happened to Donnie and Ceecee is kind of on him, isn’t it?

David Lapham: Well, I don’t want to revel too much.  As opposed to the character study of last issue, this one goes back to the core story and won’t be complete till next issue.  SO, Danny’s culpability won’t become clear till next…Well, look, Danny’s a liar, okay.  Who he’s lying to, and what he’s lying about is the ultimate question.  SO, more answers next issue–LOTS of answers next issue but some new questions.  And yes, Danny messed up this issue–big time.

Blog@: Will we be seeing more of Lorelei?

DL: Oh, yeah.  Lots more.

Blog@: So…spiders from Mars…what’re the chances of a rock band trying to fight those?

DL: The brain of every last soul on Earth is at stake here.  If they can’t do it, we’re all doomed.

Blog@: Why wouldn’t someone have outed Danny first? Jack seems to know.

DL: Yeah, Jack knew.  But it’s not his place to “out” Danny.  Plus Danny outranks him and Jack would have been in big trouble with the king of Mars and all, y’know.  A world of bad news.

Blog@: So is it safe to guess that Danny can now make himself Sadie’s man by way of “destiny” or something? If she’s got to birth the spider-babies or whatever…!

DL: That’s a good point, but check out the opening page of issue #12 to find out Sadie’s reaction to this new discovery.  Who knows though.  ”Danny” did have a plan along those lines in issue 7.  Maybe he’ll really turn evil.  (And no everyone, Danny is not evil.  He really is a nice guy.  I swear….Well, anyway, I like him.)

Blog@: If Danny has a dream that he’s a rock star—in what appears to be a later narration than the 24-hour period we’re examining between the battle and the plane—are we maybe looking at a possible future where he’s the one who inherited all that money? It would explain how he can just kind of bum around, drinking naked in his Sadie room.

DL: Well, I think the money came from all the fame and fortune he had as “Danny Duoshade”, but you’re giving me ideas….And come on, really, doesn’t everyone have a “Sadie room”?   I had mine installed last week.

Blog@: Sadie’s fucked-up family definitely has a Preacher-esque vibe. It seems likely that this can’t end well for any of them…but is there a particular plan in place for how everyone in this book will eventually meet their ends?

DL: Yeah.  And everyone comes out fine.  Except Danny.  Who comes out not fine, sort of.  And Sadie, who comes out dead–if you can believe anything that was said in the first issue.

Blog@: If Ceecee lives, will a second consecutive lost pregnancy totally fuck with her head?

DL: Actually it would be her third.  IF she lives and IF the baby doesn’t make it even if she lives.  Big C will play a very important role in Danny’s life as things develop.  If you really look beyond the wild lifestyle, Ceecee is the voice of reason.  Danny’s going to need her to get back from the places he’s going.

Blog@: There definitely seems to be a lot that’s happened in the time between last issue, where Ceecee disavowed the sex, to this one…where she’s hoping aloud that the baby is Danny’s and “kind of” always loved him.

DL: Well last issue was set about a year before.  Also they’d been through a lot.  And you do always demean and humiliate the ones you love.   Don’t you?

Blog@Newsarama: So—at long last, The Perhapanauts #5! Want to fill in the fans at home who didn’t bring the scorecard, just started buying or maybe just can’t remember #4 because it was a while ago?

Todd Dezago: umm…okay–BEDLAM has been evacuated so that the security system can be upgraded–but not before the escaped chimaera, bent on revenge and murder, corners arisa, mg, hammerskold, and choopie. choopie gets away while the others are trapped in gremlin-made containment spheres. outside the mothmen have chosen this moment to attack BEDLAM, to make karl and the rest of the perhapanauts pay for their insolence.

choopie is left in an abandoned BEDLAM to fend for himself against the chimaera.

also, big and merrow are in great britain when big realizes that the mothmen must answer to a higher power themselves…

how’s that?
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Blog@Newsarama: So I’ll go out on a limb and guess that most of the readers of Booster Gold are not intimately familiar with Enemy Ace; what was the motivation to use him as the centerpiece of the title’s “Faces of Evil” tie-in?

Dan Jurgens: Primarily, it’s because I find Enemy Ace to be a tremendously compelling character.

We had already begun a storyline where Booster was going to find himself in different eras. To a certain extent, one of the World Wars was a logical destination. Beyond that, “Faces of Evil” then made it necessary to match him up with a villain.

Enemy Ace gave us the opportunity to have a villain that would allow us to step outside the norm and do a different kind of story.

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