A couple of publishers on their Eisner nominations: Drawn and Quarterly’s Peggy Burns admits to feeling very appreciated over the publisher’s 11 nominations, which almost half as many nominations as books they publish in a given years. Mathematically that’s…well, I can’t do math. Still, I bet if you subtracted the number of nominated works from the complete number of books D+Q published last year, and added up the nominations in comparison to that number, it would be pretty impressive book-to-nomination ratio. Meanwhile, DC announced their many nominations in a post entitled “DC receives 14 Eisner Nominations, The Most of Any Publisher.” Is it worth noting that of those 14, ten are for Vertigo 0r Vertigo-like (Joe Kubert’s Best/Writer Artist nom for Dong Xaoi, Vietnam 1965) books and two more are for projects far outside what one might consider DC Universe continuity comics (Tiny Titans and Wednesday Comics, for Best Publication For Kids and Best Graphic Album Reprint, respectively), leaving only two “true” DCU books nominated—Superboy for Best New Series and a Billy Tucci short from DCU Halloween Special 2010 for Best Short Story. I’m not trying to diminish the publisher’s accomplishments—one of its great strengths is the way it publishes a wide variety of work for a wide variety of audeinces within the structure of mainstream comics publishing—but I think its worth noting where what the Eisner judges consider “the good stuff” is coming from at the moment, I think.

Speaking of math and comics: Check out this heady, intersting analysis post entitled  “Mathematical Equivalence of Comics.” I wish I had to take a class on that in high school—I’m certain it would have come in more handy more often in my adult life than either algebra or trigonometry ever did. (Via Comics Reporter)

Black Widow’s weapons of choice—sexist?: Here’s an interesting discussion of Marvel’s super-spy’s versatile bracelet/gauntlet thingee. Please note that the name of the blog is NSFW.

So who’s drawing what from when?: DC announced the titles, logo designs and writers of their Retroactive books at WonderCon recently, and now The Source blog is going to start rolling out the names of the artists. First up? Eduardo Barretto on the ’70s era Superman one-shot. (Nice.) Keep your eyes on The Source for more reveals. This initiative provides plenty of opportunities for the cynical among us to make cracks at DC, but it also provides a lot of opportunities to see great work from great creators, many of whom we don’t see appearing on the new comics shelves as often as they should. Meanwhile, Don MacPherson of Eye On Comics offers his thoughts on the project, and offers some guesses as to who some of the artists might be. He mentions the timing of the event might make some of the creators more attractive folks to send to this season’s many conventions, and bigger draws once they’re there. I hope it gets some of these guys bigger readerships and perhaps more work—I certainly wouldn’t object to seeing a Barretto-drawn Superman or a Norm Breyfogle-drawn Batman showing up as often as, say, an Eddy Barrows-drawn Superman or Tony Daniel- or David Finch-drawn Batman.

The reviews themselves: Is it a sign of event fatigue that I didn’t find more Fear Itself #1 reviews among the comics blogosphere during my last two trips through it, Thursday and Sunday nights? Here’s a few sentences on it from Tim O’Neil (“Not terrible”), a review that takes an interesting tangent into relevance in comics and how this one features a scene that chooses to “go half-assed and bring the real world in, only to shy away from actually saying anything about it?”  by Yan Basque (“[B]y the time I’d reach the last page, I was itching to find out what happens next”) and a more formal review by the previously mentioned Don MacPherson (“The saving grace of this book is the artwork”). I think O’Neil wins the blurb-off here…who wouldn’t at least be tempted to buy a big, fat hardcover collection with the words “Not terrible” quoted on the cover?

The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force of warriors who are all chosen for their honesty and the ability to act without fear. They wear power rings tap into the emotional spectrum of the universe, drawing on the collective will of all sentient life and pouring it out as green energy. These weapons are among the most powerful in the universe and are mainly limited only by the bearer’s force of will (which must harness and shape the green energy), their imagination, and the need to occasionally recharge through the use of a lantern-shaped power battery. Green Lanterns patrol the universe and sometimes will venture into parallel realities when they recognize that there’s evil that they need to take down.

This is pretty epic. And the Earthmen who have been chosen to be Green Lanterns are all pretty formidable characters. And fortunately for these folks, a hero can’t always be judged by his or her enemies. These days, the GLs fight the likes of the Red Lantern Corps, the conqueror Mongul, the necrotic Black Lanterns, and other terrifying menaces. But back in the old days, for every great villain that existed like Sinestro, the rogue Green Lantern, there were a couple of losers who just had no sense of style and couldn’t help but make you chuckle. Let’s look at some of them, shall we?

MYRWHYDDEN

A powerful mage who is a little crazy and has a serious revenge fixation on Green Lanterns, due to one of them (Abin Sur) forcing him into exile for a time. That’s not a bad recipe for a cool, scary villain. But when the mage in question looks like an old man who accidentally threw his underwear on outside his collared sweatsuit, you look creepy in a nursing home kind of way rather than as a super-villain. A few changes in this wardrobe and Myrwhydden could finally be ready to lay down some punishment.

MAJOR DISASTER

Paul Booker could create natural disasters whenever he wanted to. This is a scary thing, no doubt about it. The destruction you could cause, the terror you could inspire. You could hold entire cities or even countries hostage. Earthquakes and hurricanes could keep police and military forces from reaching you. This guy could cause volcanoes to form in front of him!

But then, we have this suit. Magenta and blue? And what’s the deal with that weird mask and hood? Those are strange enough, but then you add in a skirt and thigh high boots? Really? You thought all of these elements worked well together?

Booker later got a new look and spent some time with the Justice League where, surprisingly, no one really brought up this previous fashion disaster.

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This week’s discussion topic: This week’s Village Voice is the special “Comics Issue,” and features a great cover by Ward Sutton, depicting comics characters in the styles of different catoonists (Jack Kirby’s Charlie Brown! R. Crumb’s Olive Oyl! Et cetera!). The most talked about/blogged about issue raised by the issue? That of paying and not paying cartoonists. Here’s the Voice article “If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don’t They Pay?”, and here’s a little round-up of some of the many reactions to the piece and its existence in the Voice.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if Marvel tried its hand at that format again? Well, guess what? It did, and quite recently”: Don MacPherson discusses Marvel’s recent flirtation with the magazine format. Have you heard of them?

Peanuts by Eric Reynolds, age 8 or 9: On the Flog blog, Fantagraphics’ Reynolds shares some childhood comics he did as a kid.

Noooo!: Why can’t you just leave poor Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana alone, Titans?

It Came From the NYPL

Alan Moore’s Complete WildC.A.T.S
Written by Alan Moore

Penciled by Travis Charest, Kevin Maguire, Ryan Benjamin, Jason Johnson, Dave Johnson, Kevin Nowlan, Scott Clark, Aron Wiesenfeld, Jim Lee, Josh Wiesenfeld, Mat Broome, Pat Lee & Rob Stotz
Inked by Troy Hubbs, Randy Elliott, Sal Regla, Trevor Scott, Scott Williams, Art Thibert, Terry Austin, Hakjoon Kang, Andy Owens, Harry Thuran, Tom McWeeney, John Nyberg, JD, Bob Wiacek, Dexter Vines, Richard Friend, Mark Irwin, Luke Rizzo, Sandra Hope, John Tighe, Richard Bennett, Jason Gorder & Scott Taylor
Colored by Wildstorm FX, Bad@$$ & Alex Sinclair
Lettered by Bill O’Neil & Comicraft
Cover art by Charest
Published by DC/Wildstorm

A while back, I borrowed Wild Worlds, a collection of Alan Moore-written odds-n’-ends set in the Wildstorm universe, from the library, and it was a mostly terrible reading experience. Eventually, despite Wild Worlds, I decided to borrow the other major collection of Alan’s Wildstorm tenure – his slightly-over-a-year long turn on Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.S series.

Reading the stories, I’m couldn’t help but think … — so y’all know I’m a big Neil Young fan, right? These books – Wild Worlds and Complete WildC.A.T.S – remind me of Neil’s early and mid-1980s output: amazing artist, really terrible work.

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“‘Just look at it,’ quoth the Helfer”: In light of the recent announcement of DC’s Retro-Active comics, in which J.M. DeMatteis will be re-teaming with Keith Giffen and Kevin Maguire for the ’90s Justice League issue, the writer shares an old essay about how he got involved with the franchise. It’s a fun piece with some fun behind the scenes details, and a good argument for the value of a talented, engaged editor working closely with creators on a title.

“Miller and Varley’s Joker”: The Mindless Ones series “Three Fools” continues with a look at The Joker in Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s The Dark Knight Returns. It’s a particularly intersting piece following the first part, which covered The Killing Joke, since Dark Knight isn’t particularly known for its Joker.

“Once upon a time the mouse named Batman…”: James Kochalka tells the best bedtime stories.

“I know I’m supposed to get all excited about the Thor movie, and the Green Lantern movie, and the Herbie the Fat Fury movie, like everyone says I’m supposed to…”: What live action superhero is Ty Templeton most excited about these days? Click to find out! I must confess, that particular hero translates remarkably well to that particular venue, which generally doesn’t do live action superheroes all that well.

It’s new to me, too: Check out this iFanboy post, in which a 2004 Frank Quitely image featuring the Masters of the Universe characters gets dug out and shown off.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords. As should you. Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers and last week I focused on the delightful, yet scarce, Batgirl finds from the site. This time around I’m giving our metal brothers and sisters a chance to shine. Why? Because this past weekend I was served alcoholic beverages by a few at BarBot in San Francisco and I wish to keep them happy.

I purposely steered clear of movie or television robots because that’s a whole other category for another day. Here’s some great robot finds from Etsy.

Now here’s an item name that roles right off your tongue, Anti Boredom Flat Pack Puzzle Robots in Deployment Pod. It may sound complicated but it isn’t. User Tinkeringproductions created this set of puzzle robots for $10 out of laser cut hardboard. Tinkeringproductions says they can do boring tasks for you like distribute business cards, hold other small stiff pieces of paper, hold pens, and pen like objects as well. You’ll never be bored at work again.

Meet Billy the Robot. He’s part of a family of robots. As you can see, he enjoys:
figure skating, pudding pops, epic fantasy and dislikes: insult comics, turnips and cigarette smoke. Sounds like my kind of guy. User sweetmealine has created this robot in a frame out of tiny bits of watch pieces, cogs, gears, electronics, jewelry findings, and other found objects for $20. And make sure to check out the rest of the family.

This one should have creeped me out but it’s too darn cute to be scared of. It’s a MilliBOT Sculpture from user JunkBOT. Measuring just 2.5″ long, this little robot bug was made out of 20 electrical components and capacitors. It stands on a small wooden base with a hand stamped nameplate. $12.

You’ll be able to clean a lot with Mr. Robotic Clean Fun set of 8 soaps. User Melsfunsuds recommends giving them out as party favors. For $14.75, each robot soap also comes with its own key. Various colors and scents are available.

If you’re nice enough, maybe this guy will let you wear him around your neck and even help you with directions. It’s an antique bronze robot with compass and clock from user fashionjewel. It’s only $4.99 and yes, batteries are included.

As always, bear in mind, since Etsy is a craft website and not a commercial, mass-market dealer, items are almost always one-of-a-kind or in very limited availability. When you see something you like, buy it. It may not be there the next time you surf round. (Yes, it’s a very dangerous site for your wallet.) Also, since most items are created individually, many sellers are willing to customize something specifically to suit your needs. Just ask!

The biggest direct market release of the week should be Fear Itself #1, the official kick off of Marvel’s latest line-engulfing crossover story. Unlike the majority of the previous big Marvel crossovers, this one won’t be written by Brian Michael Bendis, but instead by Matt Fraction, with Stuart Immonen providing the pencils and covers (Well, some of the covers, anyway; there should be several for each issue of this). As far as I can make out, the premise seems to have something to do with a pre-Asgardian force referred to as The Serpent giving various Marvel characters giant Thor-like sledgehammers and glowy redesigns, and also making other heroes face their worst fears or something.

At the very least, I imagine the prevalence of hammers in the series will guarantee a great deal more hitting and smashing than either Siege or Secret Invasion managed to muster. It’s a $4, 56-page book.

Aaron and Ahmed: Prose novelist Jay Cantor and Bronx Kill artist James Romberger team for an original graphic novel exploring the question, “What causes terrorism?” It’s a $25, 145-page hardcover from Vertigo’s crime imprint.

Blue Estate #1: This high-concept crime comedy comic sounds like it could be either awesome or terrible—“an alcoholic hit man and a desperate starlet dodge Russian mobsters, Italian gangsters, ninjas, hippies and the LAPD in a scheme to steal millions from a psychotic action movie hero”— but considering some of the artists involved, I’m leaning toward awesome. Screenwriter and artist Viktor Kalvachev write, while Nathan Fox, Toby Cypress, Kalvachev himself and others draw. You can see a preview here.

Blue Exorcist Vol. 1: This new manga series from Viz is about young  Rin Okumura, an orphan boy raised by an exorcist who discovers his real dad is Satan himself. With a background like that, naturally he decides to go to exorcism school. It’s from creator Kato Kazue, and the first volume is 200-pages for $10

BPRD: The Dead Remembered #1: The latest offering from the Mignola-verse is a three-issue miniseries flashing back to a teenage Liz Sherman joining Professor Broom on an investigation in New England. Scott Allie and Mike Mignola write, while Karl Moline and Andy Owens provide the art. You can see a preview here.
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I just read a review copy of Chester Brown’s upcoming Paying For It, and am still processing it and am thus still a long way from writing an actual review of it yet (it doesn’t come out until May). But one of my favorite aspects of the book were the scenes in which Brown’s comics versions of real-life friends and cartoonists Seth, Joe Matt and himself would hang out and talk about the subject of the book (Brown’s “whoremongering,” as Matt calls it, and their various theories on romantic love/human relationships). Here Matt, whom you may recognize as the author of Spent (in which Brown and Seth also appeared as supporting characters), reviews Paying For It…or at least its portrayal of him in some scenes.

“G-g-g-ghost World?”: Check out this neat “mush-up” of Ghost World and Scooby-Doo.

“So let me throw out a few vaguely related thoughts that I can’t really seem to flow in a cohesive narrative right now…”: Sean Kleefeld on what still strikes me as the strangest announcement of the weekend.

“I’m not the biggest Neal Adams fan. This will not change my mind”: Blog Into Mystery blogs into Adams’ Skateman #1. What I wouldn’t give to see Adams have Skateman team-up with Batman in a Batman: The Odyssey special…

That White Queen costume doesn’t look quite 1960s, and yet doesn’t look quite modern to me either: Total Film attempts era-appropriate X-Men: First Class for their issue featuring the upcoming X-Men film.

Great headline, guys: “The Green Lantern comic is the basis for a movie due in June”

That’s about 23 more expressions than most super-comics artists seem capable of mustering these days: Brad Mackay closely examines a two-page spread of various Superman faces and expressions he found in DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. (Via Comics Reporter)

And they’ve already got a theme song!: A recent installment of James Kochalka’s American Elf diary strip was entitled “Pitching Superf*ckers,” and was about he and four guys on his team pitching the four people on “their team.” “I could write a whole graphic novel about the emotional dynamics in that room,” Kochalka wrote. Man, I would love to read that graphic novel. Almost as much as I’d like to see a Superf*ckers cartoon.

We’re trying for something a little different this time, folks. Something a little fun and a little funky. This time around, we’re going to talk about a group of people who completely lack fashion sense and would need some serious redesign if they were ever translated into live-action media. With people everywhere talking and theorizing about the upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises, I thought we should look at the Batman’s worst-dressed enemies.

Get ready to giggle.

CRAZY QUILT

Paul Dekker was a painter who later suffered an eye injury. Now all colors seemed obscenely bright and garish to him, painful to look at. He became the criminal Crazy Quilt, dressed in a patchwork outfit meant to make other people feel as he did. Though, if you think about it, with his condition, this outfit probably caused more pain for Quilty than anyone else. I mean, if you see normal colors as bright and painfully clashing, wouldn’t a costume designed for such a purpose just exacerbate the problem?

Crazy Quilt later made himself a helmet the could hypnotize and disorient his enemies with crazy colorful lights. Alas, this did not prevent him from getting beat-up and imprisoned by Batman and Robin. In fact, Robin became Crazy Quilt’s object of vengeance, since the Boy Wonder beat him up more often than the Dark Knight.

Recently there’s been a lady Crazy Quilt and she actually seems to pull off the look better than Dekker ever did. Either way, once you’ve seen this outfit and that helmet, you never forget it.

SIGNALMAN

Some people, when they become a costumed hero or villain, get inspired by a specific symbol or icon. Batman was inspired when a bat crashed through the window. The Green Lantern’s symbol is the lantern that acts as the source of his power. But Phil Cobb wasn’t a guy to sweat any details. He just liked symbols and signals and became fascinated by how society seemed to be driven by them, so he became the Signalman.

He fought Batman a few times, once turning the Bat-Signal into a heat beam, another time trapping Batman inside it. He also briefly became an anti-Green Arrow called “the Blue Bowman.” In general, he’s never done anything major to register on the super-villain scale in a big way. And why should he? That cape. Those clashing colors. And those ridiculous shorts! What is with those shorts?

The main problem here might be that there’s no cohesive identity and it shows. This is just a bunch of random decorations and images thrown together. Signalman, it would be good if you picked a single symbol or icon. Otherwise, you’re as generic as “Theme-Man” or “Guy in Costume.”

Moving on…

CALCULATOR

Remember when the pocket calculator was new, cutting edge technology? Naturally, DC decided that there should be a villain who corrupted said device for evil uses. Enter Noah Kuttler AKA the Calculator. Now, if you break it down to what this battle suit could do, it was actually pretty cool. Its sensors and operating system could scan an enemy and accurately predict what they would do in battle. Give the suit enough information, it could even enter the realm of psychohistory (one of Asimov’s cooler ideas) and predict how the general populace would behave. And the helmet could project solidified holograms that could be operated as weaponry in a way that mimicked the Green Lantern power ring.

Sadly, it’s hard to get people to listen and acknowledge that you’re potentially quite dangerous when you look like a tool. Seriously, a keypad with simple math symbols on it would get you beat up in high school, much less by the likes of Batman and Aquaman. After vanishing for several years, you might’ve expected Kuttler to re-appear with yet another costume based on cutting-edge tech such as the iPhone. But instead, he kept the name Calculator and simply dropped the costume, becoming a hacker and information broker for DC supervillains. He’s been doing much better now operating that way, but one still has to wonder if his old battlesuit isn’t hanging in a closet, waiting for someone to wear it again.

KITE MAN

Charles Brown (known as “Chuck” to friends) decided to use jet-propelled kites to commit serious crimes. Basically, imagine if Charlie Brown of the Peanuts gang got so angry at the tree that kept messing with his kite, he decided to use kites as an instrument of revenge against society. In fact, that would have probably been a cooler story that what Kite Man provided us. He dressed up in silly costumes and despite the fact that he had high-tech jets that could’ve acted as a rocket pack, he insisted the kites were necessary to make him a bad-ass super-villain.

So naturally, this kite-armed individual decided to take on heroes that surely even he had a chance of beating up. Or rather, that would have been the smart move. But no, instead, he decided to fight the Batman (big mistake!) and, later on, Hawkman and Hawkgirl (heroes armed with maces, bigger mistake!!!).

KILLER MOTH

Drury Walker was a no-name criminal who decided to set himself up as the anti-Batman. But unlike the Wrath or Prometheus, he decided to do it without being intimidating. By day, he masqueraded as rich playboy Cameron Van Cleer. By night, he was the Killer Moth, based in his Moth-Cave until criminals could summon for his aid with the Moth-Signal, at which point he’d arrive in his Moth-Mobile and take care of any pesky cops or vigilantes so his clients could escape. Of course, he wasn’t very good at this and criminals realized that shining a light into the sky to announce their presence was not the smartest idea.

And hey, look at what our boy is wearing. I know a couple girls who have knee high socks with that color pattern! Maybe Drury decided that an anti-Batman needs to be the opposite of intimidating, someone who would be invited to kids’ parties before guest-starring on Sesame Street. In the 1990s, they changed Killer Moth into a mutated creature called Charaxes, but no one can ever forget this outfit here.

THE TEN-EYED MAN

Wow. Hey ladies, I’ve got my eyes on you! Hey, now! I can see you in my pants! No, seriously, look at my belt. It has an eye!

Okay, weird jokes aside, let’s look at this guy. Phil Reardon, a guy who was injured in the eyes by a grenade and then, while he was guarding a warehouse, mistook Batman for an intruder and fought him. The real intruders had planted a bomb in the warehouse and it went off, completely blinding Reardon. But that’s okay, because an experimental operation attached his optic nerves to his hands, allowing him to see through his fingers.

Just think about that for a moment. You’d need to have your hands out in front of you the whole time just to walk and if you made two fists you would be instantly blind. On top of that, what is with this look? Mohawk and a lot of eye badges? Really? Like having eyes in your fingers isn’t creepy enough. This villain was so lame, writer Marv Wolfman made it a point to kill him during Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Recently, Grant Morrison re-invented the concept by introducing a cult of mystics known as the Ten-Eyed Men of the Empty Quarter, mysterious warriors who tattoo eye symbols on their fingers, hunt down demons and are able to cut out the darkness of people’s souls.

CALENDAR MAN

Julian Gregory Day (wow, named after not one but two calendars) was a very clever criminal who decided to commit crimes based on holidays, seasons, the days of the week, etc. To be fair, he actually did pull off quite a number of successful robberies each time he went on a crime spree, not being captured by Batman until the he finally tried one heist too many. If he’d stopped some of those crimes at an earlier date, he could have easily retired and enjoyed his riches.

But while Julian Day can be intimidating when he’s wearing the clothing of a simple patient of Arkham Asylum, that’s lost the minute he puts on his official costume. His default look was a rather ridiculous hooded outfit with a sash and calendar pages stapled or taped together as a very flimsy cape. Though, you have to admit, a man who runs around in this costume must not be afraid of anything.

But that’s not all. The Calendar Man adopts a different costume for different crimes. For a Wednesday crime, he dressed as Odin (whose other name Woden later gave us Wednesday). For a Thursday crime, he dressed up as his own version of Thor (from whom we get “thor’s day”). For a spring crime, he dressed up as a… flower guy… Yeah…

For a summer crime, he dressed up as a man bursting with fire and decorated by the sun. For a winter crime, he dressed up as a living snowman. That’s right. There is a comic where Batman fights what seems to be Frosty the Snowman. And all of these costumes were ridiculous, gaudy and lame. For a time, during the 90s, he adopted a different, creepier guise, but that was short-lived. So for sheer volume of awful costumes, the Calendar Man totally wins.

And that brings us to a close for now. There were other villains we could’ve talked about, but then again we could be here forever. Rest assured, there will be other best of and worst of lists in the future.

CONVENTION ALERT! If you are at WonderCon in San Francisco this weekend, I am wandering around. You can find me in panels dealing with superhero psychology and trauma, panels concerning the Green Lantern film, the Doctor Who panel, and probably just walking around the floor. So if you spy me, come up and say hi!

Until next time, this is Alan Kistler, Agent of S.T.Y.L.E., signing off.

Alan Kistler writes the comic book history/fashion column Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. He is an actor and freelance writer living in New York who has been recognized by Warner Bros. Films and major media/news outlets as a comic book historian. He is also the creator/host of the web-show “Crazy Sexy Geeks: The Series.” He knows entirely too much about the history of comics, Star Trek, Doctor Who, time travel, and vampires that don’t sparkle.

Alan can be followed via Twitter: @SizzlerKistler. His work can be found at http://KistlerUniverse.com or http://www.youtube.com/user/CrazySexyGeeksSeries

Mr. Tawny would look swell dressed as Eustace Tilley: In a follow-up of sorts to a piece on Chip Kidd and Geoff Spear’s Shazam! book, Jaime Wolf of the New Yorker writes a nice, short biography of Captain Marvel creator C.C. Beck, paying particular attention to the part of his career after he stopped making Captain Marvel comics, and instead turned to Captain Marvel paintings. Wolf mentions he’d like to eventually see a gallery show of those paintings. I’d settle for a nice book collecting images of them.

It’s Even More Depressing Than Usual, Charlie Brown!: In the spirit of Garfield Minus Garfield comes “3eanuts”, which chops the fourth and final panel off of installments of Charles Schulz’ Peanuts strips, thus depriving each narrative of the tension-relieving punchline.

Gary Groth on Carl Barks: The Fantagraphics publisher talks a bit about his company’s upcoming collection of the great Good Duck artist’s duck comics in the latest issue of The Carl Barks Fan Club Newsletter.

Wow: Check out Jillian Tamaki’s hand-sewn book covers.

Hey remember when DC published a comic for little girls by Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez?: Well, Fantagraphics is collecting it. That was one of those occasional comics from the Big Two that seems so incredibly unlike anything you’d ever expect them to publish taht it kind of seems like someone just made it up or something. Like, if someone told me about it, I might think they were lying. Except in this case, I remember the house ads and seeing it on the shelves.

“Who’s the pair everywhere at each high-class affair?”: Hey, it’s the entire eleven-minute and eighteen-second Snake ‘N’ Bacon pilot!

“11 Reasons why Marvel’s Godzilla is still King”: It’s difficult to argue with any of these, really.

Who’s morning Johnny Storm?: At The Cool Kid’s Table, Ben Morse dicuss the totally dead forever Johnny “Human Torch” Storm’s “various girlfriends and shape shifting alien wives.” Prior to that, he posted pictures of the Greek symbol Omega in various superhero comics for some reason. He included Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple’s fairly awesome Omega The Unknown, but negelected to include the original, totally awesome Omega The Unknown.

Your second look at the new TV Wonder Woman?: The first photo of Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman that was released was much-discussed pretty much everywhere people discuss superheroes, and a common complaint seemed to be the shiny, plastic-y, off-the-rack look of the costume. Well, it looks less shiny, plastic-y and off-the-rack on set, as you can see in this series of images. I was a little bummed she changed boots, as the blue boots in that initial image were my favorite thing about the costume. I still contend the new Wondy costume looks infinitely better than the majority of the superhero costumes on Smallville, like this Blue Beetle get-up, for example. [UPDATE: Oops, looks like the main page also has the same images. That's the beauty of the Internet—you just don't get that kind of two people talking about the exact same thing at the exact same time in different sections of the same venue in print media!]

Speaking of Wonder Woman…: This H.G. Peter-drawn “Wonder Woman, Amazon Baby Sitter!” comic is fantastic, even if none of the events in the actual comic quite live up to the image on the title splash page, of Wondy pushing a baby carriage with a T-Rex happily crammed into it.

“If you look at the series, it’s typically Godzilla — he’s coming to wreak havoc on Japan…There’s no question that it’s unfortunate timing”: That’s IDW’s Ted Adams discussing this week’s release of Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 a San Diego Union-Tribune article about a Godzilla-destroying-Japan comic coming out in the midst of Japan’s current tragedies. When the earthquake an tsunami first hit, many political cartoonists turned to Godzilla as a symbol of Japan and/or devastation in Japan in their initial cartoon reactions. (I know I had a hell of a time yesterday thinking of a non-offiensive Godzilla gag to draw at the top of my new release preview column).

Jeff Smith visits Yakko, Wakko and Dot: Sadly, they didn’t seem to be home.

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez draws the Marvel Family: Check out Jeffrey Klaehn’s little gallery here. It still boggles my mind that when DC wanted to make Mary Marvel “sexy,” they crammed her into a tighter costume with a tiny, barely there skirt instead of just, you know, having a person who draws really well draw her really well.

AAAAAAAAAA!: In this post from Brian Hughes, he discusses why he seems to be buying fewer and fewer DC Comics lately. The main reason I call attention to this post is that Hughes also points out something I so far hadn’t noticed—Phil Jiminez is a great artist, but his Bouncing Boy will haunt your dreams.

Sexless Superman is my favorite Superman: A. David Lewis discusses Superman not being “a sexual being” at The Hooded Utilitarian. I disagree with a lot of what he writes in terms of factual stating—Superman’s not a sex symbol? Then why do so many people wanna have sex with him?—and comic book Superman seems to have sex with comic book Lois Lane all the damn time now that they’re married. Lewis’ article may go away towards explaining why seeing comic book Superman make bedroom eyes at comic book Lois Lane never fails to creep me out. I tend to think of them as my parents for some reason (Like, in the way that I would think about my parents, not in that I think they are actually my parents), and don’t want to hear them allude to doing it. Anyway, it’s well worth a read, being about superheroes and sex, everyone’s two favorite subjects.

It Came From the NYPL

Grandville
Written & Illustrated by Bryan Talbot
Published by Dark Horse

Bryan Talbot’s one of my favorite cartoonists. Even if Alice in Sunderland wasn’t one of the five greatest comics of all time, the mind-bending Luther Arkwright books or the hippie-dippie fun of Chester Hackenbush would place Talbot high on my personal favorites list.  Grandville, his steampunk, “scientific-romance thriller” from 2009, didn’t really grab my attention, however. I wanted to read it; it’s Talbot after all, but the genre elements didn’t really appeal to me. That steampunk thing just isn’t my bag. So I kept checking the library and finally (and I mean finally, I’ve been checking regularly), the library got it in stock and I borrowed it.

It’s pretty much the perfect library book. Grandville‘s fun, a whole lot of it. Anthropomorphized animals, a stylized steampunk Europe setting, fast action, a few good plot twists and plenty of danger make it a worthwhile thriller. Talbot’s always been a terrific artist, and his expanding mastery of modern coloring only enhances the speed and tension of his line work during the book’s many chase sequences, fistfights and gun battles.

The plot’s not exactly wholly original – and it’s an entirely plot-driven book – but Talbot adds a few wrinkles to keep it interesting. In short, Grandville‘s the perfect library book – a rock-solid adventure by a favorite cartoonist, but one that I probably won’t want to revisit frequently. If steampunk-based, government-murder conspiracy thrillers are your thing, this book’s among the best of its ilk. And even if it’s not, Grandville‘s a really well crafted comic and recommended. If you’re lucky, you can find it in your local library and find out for yourself if it’s a keeper or a borrower – either way, it’s worth the time.

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last week I tried something new by focusing on just one Etsy user and her delightful Gotham Chic prints. I’m going back to basics this week though and showing some love to one of my favorite characters – Batgirl. Surprisingly, there really wasn’t that much Batgirl product on Etsy, so here’s my call to all you craftsters out there: MAKE MORE. Thank you.

Goodness gracious. I almost fell over from the cuteness of this one. It’s the Cupcake Eatin’ Batgirl bottle cap necklace from user anilineblack. For $16 you can gaze at Barbara Gordon really enjoying some cupcakes. And let’s face it, who doesn’t? Also available, Cupcake Eatin’ Batman. Hehe!

Holy glitter Batgirl! (I know, I’m just luring the guys in this week, aren’t I?) This pin-up style Batgirl Glitter Art will definitely brighten up any living space. User tigergalindo has this for $35. There’s also a Wonder Woman piece and several other comic characters from both DC and Marvel available.

Comic book decoupage is a popular craft on Etsy. One day, my whole house will be filled with it. Until then, perhaps you’d like this Batgirl Plate by erindara for $35? Or, if you’d prefer to wear Barbara, a Batgirl bracelet from Customcomix for $17.

Also falling in the adorable category this week, a set of four Super Gals Magnets. User greenbeanbaby also includes Spider Woman, Smurfette, Wonder Woman in the set for $6.25.

As always, bear in mind, since Etsy is a craft website and not a commercial, mass-market dealer, items are almost always one-of-a-kind or in very limited availability. When you see something you like, buy it. It may not be there the next time you surf round. (Yes, it’s a very dangerous site for your wallet.) Also, since most items are created individually, many sellers are willing to customize something specifically to suit your needs. Just ask!

IDW’s Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 may not be the biggest release of the week, but the title character is certainly the biggest comic book protagonist this week. In this new ongoing series, Godzilla will be in the company of some of his monstrous Toho enemies and allies, and in the capable hands of  writers Tracy Marsh and Eric Powell (the latter of whom is also providing covers) and artist Phil Hester. It’s a $4 book.

I have two nagging questions about the series. First, will Marsh and Powell be able to formulate the perfect onomatopoeia to capture the sounds of Godzilla and his fellow monsters screaming and shooting things at each other? Because the sounds are probably my favorite part of the old movies (In a perfect world, Doug Moench would probably be called in to write just the sound effects, and John Workman to letter them).

The other is where exactly IDW expects to sell this thing, now that Godzilla has gone ahead and destroyed so many comic shops…

The Bronx Kill: The latest Vertgo Crime original graphic novel is from longtime Vertigo writer Peter Milligan, with art by James Romberger. The subject matter? A frustrated author who must find his missing wife wit the help of his police officer father.

Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker #1: This is Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston’s new series about a superhero coming out of retirement, and it has a hell of a title. Huddleston’s art looks pretty great too, although it doesn’t sound or look like this is going to be a book for everyone. See for yourself here.

Caligula #1: Caligula, David Lapham and Avatar Press—a perfect combination? Sounds like. Lapham writes this historical horror story about one of Rome’s most notorious emperors, here possessed by a demon. German Nobile provides the art. It’s a $4 comic. You can see a preview here.
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The saddest thing you’ll read all day: Deadline Hollywood reprints the contents of a letter the late Joanne Siegel, wife of Superman creator Jerry Siegel and the inspiration for Lois Lane, sent to Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes just a few months before she died. The issues raised sure makes discussions like who’s playing Lois Lane in the latest Superman movie seem kind of frivilous, huh?

My mind is having trouble processing the idea of Bill Murray’s Batman…which makes me want to see it all the more: Michael Rechtshaffen recounts the many famous names who either clamored for or were once considered for the film roles of Superman and Batman.

Jeff Parker on all things Jeff Parker: I enjoyed this wide-ranging interview with the talented Marvel writer currently responsible for Hulk and Thunderbolts.

J.H. Williams III tries to bring Funk to a pice of his cover art: Here’s a look at Williams cover for the somewhat controversial Static Shock Special, including a nice little walk-through of his thought and creative processes.

“And it’s a bloody good comic, with a couple of moments where it becomes the best thing Garth Ennis has ever done”: Bob Temuka reads Garth Ennis, John McCrea and company’s Hitman series. (I certainly can’t think of a better exmaple of Ennis writing strong characters and compelling drama). I agree it’s a great comic, and among the talented Ennis’ best. I really liked the way Temuka highlighted aspects of the book too, as it forced me to recall great bits from the series and, in  a few cases where I couldn’t remember the reference, to get curious about it all over again.

Most folks have heard of Batgirl, but not as many know about the Batwoman!

Kathy Webb was a spy who left behind her life of action to become a successful film director, later marrying the wealthy Nathan Kane. A woman of many talents and a thrill-seeker, Kathy was given a circus by her husband Nathan simply because she’d always wanted one. After her husband’s death from a stroke, Kathy felt directionless and didn’t know how to express her grief beyond courting danger as usual. But then she was recruited by the mysterious organizations Spyral and asked to learn what she could of Gotham’s mysterious Batman, who had recently begun operating alongside the first Robin.

Accepting the assignment, Kathy was surprised to find herself drawn to this dangerous, driven vigilante and decided that the best (and most fun) way to get close to him and learn about him was to join his war. Outfitted in a bright, circus-style outfit, she became Batwoman, armed at all times with a utility purse and a smile. After a heated but brief relationship with Batman, Kathy Kane seemingly ended her own mission by retiring from the life of a superhero and breaking up with Bruce Wayne. A couple of years later, she met her death when she was killed by the forces of Ra’s al Ghul and the O-Sensei.

Years later, Kathy’s relative Kate Kane left the U.S. Marine Corps when she was forced to admit she was gay. Driven by the memory of her mother and sister’s deaths, Kate was a warrior at heart who now didn’t have a fight. Inspired by Batman, she later became the new Batwoman. Since then, she has been a dedicated vigilante, hunting down some of Gotham’s most dangerous psychotics and becoming an enemy of the religiously-driven Church of Crime. With recent appearances in Batman, Inc. and a new on-going series coming out, Kate Kane is definitely a hero to watch.

So let’s take a look at these two women. We’re going to stick primarily with mainstream continuity, as usual.

KATHY KANE, CIRCUS STAR

Kathy Kane first debuted as Batwoman in Detective Comics #233 in 1956. Accusations of Batman and Robin’s adventures having a homosexual subtext had made many parents concerned. So Bob Kane (Batman’s creator) and Sheldon Moldoff created Kathy Kane to disprove this idea by becoming a romantic interest for the Dark Night Detective. To emphasize Kathy’s femininity, she had a utility purse and all her weapons were based on what could be a woman’s personal items. Strangely though, the stories often involved Batman avoiding Batwoman’s romantic attentions, unwilling to settle down or expose is secret identity to anyone.

Now look at Kathy’s outfit. Although she is modeling herself after the Dark Knight, she’s definitely not following his color scheme or basic imagery. We could argue that this makes no sense and that she should dress just like Batman, but let’s remember that just because you’re attracted to someone or trying to get their attention, it doesn’t mean you have to dress like them. Batman was a lighter-hearted character in the 1950s than he had been in his early days, but he was still someone who intimidated his enemies and who would make himself seem like a creature of the night when he operated in the shadows. If you see him as a silhouette moving across a rooftop, you could believe he was a creature rather than a man.

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James Kochalka has got to have one of the most interesting resumes in comics: Check out the cover he provided for the magazine Trends in Cell Biology.

Did you know Jim Henson made a Muppet Wizard of Id pilot?: Well, he did, and Alan Gardner has four minutes of it.

My favorite part of comic book conventions I don’t attend?: Seeing Cliff Chiang’s convention sketches. This round from C2E2 includes some characters who look a bit unusual but also pretty awesome in Chiang’s style, like Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Ramona Flowers and Julie Adams…in the clutches of the creature from the Black Lagoon, of course.

The saddest title to a blog post I’ve read in months: “I guess porn is the only way I get to see my favorite DC women on film”

Don’t look at this tumblr thingee: Seriously, don’t. You won’t like what you see! It’s not good for you! It might upset your stomach! (Via Mike “Black Fury” Sterling)

Marvel shipping two issues of their monthlies in a single mont, good or bad?: Bob Bretall discusses, and iFanboy offers further commentary. It’s a tricky one, especially if the plan is to publish more than 12 issues a year, as some folks at Marvel have stated was the plan. I agree that if you love the title, it’s a great thing, but if it’s one you’re on the fence with, the accelerated schedule will only accelerate the time in which you decide to drop a title. One likely side effect is diminishing the role of the artist in a particular title, though, as writing, say, 14 or 18 comic scripts a year (I think Brian Michael Bendis does that eveyr month, actually) instead of 12 is a hell of a lot easeir than drawing 14 or 18 comic books per year  instead of 12. Thoughts? (Via Comics Reporter)

Are superheroes still Jewish?: Eli Valley checks in. (By the way, I’d buy a pickle from Superman…and I don’t even like pickles). (Via Comics Reporter again…where would this entry be without Tom Spurgeon’s links to cherrypick from?)

Two thoughts on two great DC artists: Good God Rags Morales sure can draw, can’t he? I hated that comic book, and hate it more each time I reread it, but I’m having  a hard time thinking of a better-drawn bad comic from the last 20 years or so. Why isn’t DC (or someone, anyone) publishing a monthly, Morales-drawn comic? That’s something I’d love to spend my comic book money on (Speaking of Morales and how awesome he is, did you guys pick up the recently recleased Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms Vol. 1 from IDW? If not, you totally should; it’s Morales doing non-superhero stuff, and it’s great). Also, DC’s Source blog is kicking off another Flashpoint Friday, with a Jim Lee redesign of Element Girl (Now Element Woman), last seen in Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred’s Wednesday Comics strip. Her costume is…pretty dumb, actually, just patches of clothing here or there, and I have no idea how it stays on (Glue? Elemental powers? An invisible fabric stretching between the visible stuff?). It made me realize that although I love Lee as an artist, I don’t care for his costume design work at all (factoring in his Wonder Woman and Huntress redesigns).

A great comics-related  you’re not going to read: Dean Trippe and Daniel Krall apparently pitched DC a series of ilustrated young adult novles called Lois Lane, Girl Reporter. I believe it’s currently being shelved alongside athe Absolute Edition of Tintin Pantoja’s Wonder Woman comic in Dream of The Endless’ library…

Mark Trail tracks Billy Keane: Drawn and Quarterly’s Chris Oliveros shares some images of a really neat looking place in Orlando. For comic strip fans, anyway.

How late is Batman Inc anyway, and who’s to blame?: In a image and information round-up post from his visit Wizard World Toronto, David Diep says the delays are “a combination of slowness on Grant and Yanick’s part” and that we should expect more delays and/or fill-ins (Paquette disagrees with what Diep reported, and takes the full blame for the book not being monthly). My favorite part of Diep’s post, however, was the sentence, “Francis [Manapul] revealed that Jim Shooter isn’t the easiest guy to work with.” Manapul was talking about the way Shooter’s writing style and his own art style mesh, not the reasons past pros have cited for Shooter not being the easiest guy in the world to work with.

In  other Batman scheduling related news…: Matt Duarte tries to figure out whatever happened to the caped crusader’s creative team (on Batman and Robin, which was created as a Morrison and friends book, and has since become a Batman Confidential/Legends of the Dark Knight-like book).

“‘Event fatigue’ is easy to say but hard to prove: how do you decide whether or not fans are sick of events if they still continue to buy the events?”: In the course of reviewing Fear Itself: Book of the Skull and some other recent books, Tim O’Neil wonders about how Marvel’s latest event got put together, and how it compares to the events it is following. Me, I think it’s a little too soon after Siege for more Norse gods business.

I don’t think they do  either of those things, personally: “Do Superhero Movies Make Us More or Less Fearful of Transhumanism?”

Noooooooooooo!: Achewood has gone on hiatus…and it sounds like it may be a long hiatus. This is obviously pretty bad news for fans of the strip, and pretty surprising when one considers that Chis Onstad has been a bottomless ocean of gags and ideas for years now. Of course, seeing as he’s seemingly done the work of at least a dozen cartoonists on that strip over those years—writing blogs in the voices of the characters, bits of prose, recipe books, etc.—perhaps it’s not that surprising.

I like the idea of The Leader vs. Anyone, really: Inspired by the latest Invincible Iron Man story arc, Ben Morse plays “Mix & Match Super Villains.”

Wait, neither of those guys is Japanese…: “Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield Among Frontrunners For ‘Akira’ Adaptation”

It Came From the NYPL

King: King of Comics
Written by Mark Evanier
Published by Abrams

Jack Kirby is, of course, the most important and influential artist in comic book history. He, along with a few contemporaries, created the visual language of the comic book page; the sheer volume of his pages boggles any imagination; and he’s created, co-created, or radically reimagined about two-thirds of the commercially viable characters (even Superman’s carried the influence of those Jimmy Olsen stories for a long, long while) to appear in superhero comics over the past forty years.

So clearly, the world really needs a proper biography of the life of a man who did more for comic books than anybody else. Fortunately, Mark Evanier is available for the job. Kirby: King of Comics, which I recently borrowed from the New York Public Library, does a wonderful job introducing readers to Jack Kirby, the man. We’ve known his work, but most of us have never had the opportunity to meet the person.

Evanier’s biography is a loving effort, with the author’s affection for Jack apparent on every single page. Insight into Kirby’s work ethic, motivated by his need to provide for his family, comes through clearly, as does Kirby’s enthusiasm for telling stories and the comic book medium. When it comes to Kirby’s battles for recognition – monetary and public – Evanier takes the high road, avoiding most blame. Martin Goodman, Jack Schiff and the money people are the clear villains of Kirby’s life. Many of the industry-based anecdotes have been heard before, but the book is largely about Jack as a man, how he struggles on, always bringing home that paycheck for his family.

An oversized hardcover, King: King of Comics provides readers with hundreds of pages of artwork and illustrations. The book’s dimensions showcase the drawings beautifully, allowing the detail and power to really come across. It’s a very attractive book, complementing Evanier’s affectionate tribute.

Kirby: King of Comics isn’t quite essential – it’s too reverent, but it’s a loving tribute to the most important creator in comics history. Mark Evanier’s done a fine job illuminating the man behind the creations, providing readers with a book well worth owning, or at least worth a visit to your local library.

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last week I celebrated the Irish by highlighting green comic book characters, this week I’m focusing on prints. Not only is Etsy fantastic for craft items, there’s a lot of really amazing art there as well. From time to time I’ll showcase one users artwork that really jumps out at me. For my first go-around, it’s artist Amber Lynn Seegmiller, known on Etsy as ambird.

Ambird has a series of Gotham Chic artwork that plays off Batman and his Rogues Gallery. The first that caught my eye was this one of “Batman.” She also has the other half of the Dynamic Duo, Robin. All prints are $10. (more…)