For his Sunday interview, Tom Spurgeon talks to Fred Hembeck about his upcoming anthology collection from Image, swirly knees and his career in general:

SPURGEON: Weren’t you also preparing a book for Tundra that kind of drew you away from your strip work?

HEMBECK: Right. Around 1990, ’91 or so I was preparing to put together a strip for them called KIDZ, the call letters of a TV station — run by kids! Hey, that’s clever, huh? [Spurgeon laughs] I never really finished it. They never even knew about it. By the time I got around to the layouts for page 300 they went out of business. I’m not always the best at planning things. I’m trying to be a little more on top of stuff these days.

I put a lot of work into that. My daughter was very young, and I’d split time taking care of her. My wife was off at the compute place, IBM — you’ve heard of them. So I was doing a lot of house husband stuff, and I thought that’d be a great thing to do. But it never went anywhere, unfortunately.

The Onion’s A.V. Club provides a primer to the works of Alan Moore, touching upon everything from Watchmen and Top 10 to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and A Small Killing:

… while Watchmen’s characters and plot have become less radical over time—either because they’ve been copied so much, or because they were thin and derivative to begin with—the structure and sophistication of the book’s storytelling remain every bit as thrilling now as they were 20 years ago. Dave Gibbons’ insanely detailed art finds visual rhymes and thematic connections that even Moore didn’t know he’d implied, and Moore’s method of stopping the action in order to look deeper into what a character is reading, as well as his devoting whole chapters to some heroes’ convoluted backstories (complete with frenetic time-jumps, in the case of the omni-powerful Dr. Manhattan) has influenced a generation of geek art, right up to the current ABC hit Lost. The immediate impact of Watchmen was a wave of violent, ugly, and stupid superhero comics. The long-term impact has been much more resounding.

The feature ends with a rundown of essential Moore stories, as well as a “Demerits” section, looking at some of the writer’s “wrong turns.”

The release of the Jessica Jones- and Luke Cage-centric New Avengers #38 has Don MacPherson feeling nostalgic for the old Brian Michael Bendis:

New Avengers #38 recaptured the strength of Alias, and it’s clear that Marvel knew this particular issue would appeal to those of us who remember that mature-readers series with fondness. It brought back Gaydos to illustrate the issue. Yes, the visuals were much brighter this time around, but the characters are in a much different mode now as well. The argument between Jessica and Luke allowed Bendis to show off the wonderful beats he can bring to dialogue and the convincing tone with which he dazzled so many readers early on in his career in comics.

Mind you, the 38th issue was really an aberration in the overall picture of New Avengers. Lately, it’s been far more focused on plot than character, on action rather than substances. It’s been criticized (justifiably so, to a certain degree) for misogynist leanings, and despite a strong start, it’s been spinning its wheels with its current “outlaw Avengers” riff. The “Return to Alias” issue show what a strong title it could be, but it also doesn’t leave the reader with the impression that the creators plan a creative shift, with a strong focus on characterization, for the title.

MacPherson launches into a re-examination of much of the Bendis catalog, from Fortune & Glory to Ultimate Spider-Man to Powers to Mighty Avengers, and comes this close to penning a eulogy.

The essay, of course, sparks a thread on Bendis’ message board, where a surprising number of members agree with MacPherson’s assessment.

And then Bendis himself responds:

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Mark Andrew Smith sent over this Guy Davis pin-up from his upcoming book, Aqua Leung, which is due in April.

Channel 4′s “4Talent” feature spotlights Phonogram artist and Suburban Glamour creator Jamie McKelvie:

With Suburban Glamour, Jamie has expanded his own horizons and moved into writing as well as art. The series blends mundane realities with the fantastical. A teenager feeling trapped in her Midlands town begins to have strange visions, then makes a startling discovery about her background. “It’s very much based on my own life,” admits Jamie — although he fictionalised the name of the town — “but I think — and this is backed up by letters I’ve had from fans — the experiences and lessons of it are fairly universal.”

Unlike much of Jamie’s earlier work, it’s also in colour, and a clear progression in his ability is obvious. “I’m usually most proud of the latest issue,” he agrees. “The older something is, the more I can look back at it and see what’s wrong with it. But I think that’s exactly how it should be. If I was happy with something I did a year ago, what would be the point of continuing to work?”

McKelvie also reveals that his first work for Marvel, an X-Men short story, will be published later this year.

From the Image Comics booth at WonderCon:

Mark Millar. Tony Harris. Summer 2008. Sweet.

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Dick Hyacinth chats with Aqua Leung creators Mark Andrew Smith and Paul Maybury about the book and Jethro Tull:

Aqua Leung is presumably a play on the Jethro Tull song “Aqualung.” Would you say that the interplay between electric guitar and flute exemplifies your collaborative process?

MARK: That’s a good idea and I’d wish we thought of something that cool. I think the guitar in that song is amazing. So for our name we wanted to do something with water, or an Aqua Lung like the piece of scuba equipment. So I got it from there first and then the Tull song. But the guitar at the start of the song does kind of exemplify what kind of raw and dynamic energy you should imagine when reading the book. So to use your idea I could say yes and that the interplay between electric guitar and flute exemplify the creative process, as long as I can be the guitar.

PAUL: I was thinking about learning the flute just so I could do a little JT at cons. People would come up to the booth and I would just jump out from behind the curtains and start rocking out on top of the table. I would of course sign the book eventually.

The first Aqua Leung graphic novel due in April. You can check out the Aqua Leung short story that appeared in the PopGun Anthology here.

I’ve been remiss in not linking to the new Perhapanauts website that Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau have put up to help promote the relaunch of their fun comic series. But the fact that Dezago not only announced some new shirts, but also shared pages from the upcoming first issue of the ongoing series on the site’s blog gives me a good excuse.

At io9.com, Blog@’s own Graeme McMillan chats with writer Matt Fraction about his fast-paced spy-fi series Casanova:

The series deals with some pure sci-fi concepts (time travel, alternate universes, robots, etc.) in a very offhanded, throwaway manner. Do you think that comic readers in general are so used to this stuff you don’t need to spend time explaining it, or is it that it’s so secondary to the human interactions that you want to write about?

Nah, it’s just not what the book’s about, at least to me. It’s not about spies or floating heads or giant robots; it’s not about what movies I’ve seen or what bands I like, no matter what the text bits at the back go on about. All that’s maybe the form but not its content. Or not its only content, anyway.

Like, there’s a line Ballard said of science fiction that “from the margins of an almost invisible literature has sprung the intact reality of the 20th century,” and I guess, in my own sweetly retarded way, I’m looking to make Casanova the kind of “literature” from which my own intact reality might spring, or at least from which said reality may be divined. And not even in that base, Rod Serling sort of “Oh noez the martians are an allegory for immigrants and science fiction is really just symbolic social fiction and we’ve seen the enemy and it is us” sort of reality, not the shared reality of this craa-aaa-aaa-zy world we live in, but the brute, base reality of MY life, of my world and whatever it is I’m going through at any given moment. You make it all up and it all comes true anyway. As a writer, Casanova is the lens through which I try to view my life.

It’s also an excuse to execute every abject genre jolly I ever had, so, y’know. Bonus.

The entire first issue of Casanova is available online at Newsarama.

Related: Valerie D’Orazio asks, “Where’s DC’s Matt Fraction?”

On his blog, Dan Hipp walks through his process for writing and drawing Gyakushu, from plotting and thumbnails to inks and grayscaling.

He also provides an update on The Amazing Joy Buzzards: May will see an omnibus edition collecting the first two volumes of the series, followed by a new volume in July, named Monster Love.

Gyakushu, Vol. 2, hits shelves this week.

For your viewing pleasure, writer Mark Andrew Smith sent us the complete Aqua Leung story originally published in Popgun volume one, the anthology Image released late last year. Drawn by Paul Maybury, the story provides a taste of what to expect from the first Aqua Leung graphic novel due in April.

Check it out after the jump …

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The Hero Initiative has added a couple of T-shirts to their online store to help raise money for the cause. The first features Dawn by Joseph Michael Linsner:

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A couple of weeks ago Tom Bondurant shared his thoughts on ten DC Comics-related comics/events coming up in 2008. I liked the idea, so I threw it out to the rest of the Blog@ team to see if they wanted to tackle 2008-oriented “top ten” lists related to other areas in the comics world, i.e. manga, alt-comix, Marvel, etc.

You’ll see these lists pop up on the blog over the next week or so. We know they aren’t exhaustive and just represent what we’re looking forward to, so we invite you to let us know what you’re looking forward to. For today, I present Chris Mautner’s list of ten reprint collections to look forward to in 2008. While some of the lists were put together by more than one person, this one is all Chris:

1. Humbug and Trump collections (Fantagraphics). Perhaps it’s cheating to put these two projects together, but I tend to group them together in my mind. I’ve heard so much about Harvey Kurtzman’s ambitious, cancelled before their time magazine projects that I’m overjoyed (and honestly, a little shocked) to realize they’ll both be coming out this year in handsome packages.

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–Robert Kirkman shares a B&W version of the cover to Walking Dead #51 by Charlie Aldard.

–This just in: Alan Moore has no interest in the Watchmen movie.

–George Khoury examines the comic book implosion of the 1990s. Tom Spurgeon questions a few of his assertions.

–Old Man Musings went to the Stan Lee-themed exhibit in Los Angeles and took pictures.

–Persepolis got snubbed in the Oscar’s Foreign Film category. Hopefully it will be listed under Best Animated Film.

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The Forbidden Planet blog has an extensive interview up with Kane and Jack Staff creator Paul Grist:

MB: Have you always been into comics and which artists and comics were particularly inspirational?

PG: The short answer is yes. Ever since I can remember comics have always been around. I had an older brother and he had comics, and so I had comics. The ones that made the biggest impression on me were comics like TV21 and artists like Frank Bellamy and Mike Noble. They were the artists that I would look at as a small child and think, ‘Yeah!!!’ They made me want to draw comics really.

MB: You’ve developed quite a different style from those artists despite their influence.

PG: They were the ones that made me want to draw comics, but there were other artists who, if you like, I stole things from, but inspirationally they [artists such as Frank Bellamy and Mike Noble] were the ones that I was looking at when I was a very small child. Then, later on, you come to the artists that actually make you realise how things are done artistically. When I was a late teenager that was artists like Frank Miller and Dave Sim. They were a lot more motivational in giving me ideas about how to draw.

Sure, it’s free online, but whatever happened to the PvP comic books that Image publishes? Scott Kurtz answers that question on his blog:

Image Comics stands out as one of the most philosophically sound comic book publishers out there. To their detriment at times, they are pro-creator. PvP has the best home it can have at Image Comics and I’ve been lax on keeping my room tidy at the Image House. I’ve spent the last week catching up on late issues and collections.

The PvP Awesomology was due in November and now we’re looking early spring. We just tried to cram too much awesome into it. This is the first hardcover I’ve ever made and I want it to be perfect. My philosophy with the book is that every issue is going to be my last, so make it count. The Awesomology is almost 10 years of my life stuffed between two covers. I don’t want to look back on it and say “I should have done X,Y or Z differently.” So I guess I’ve been choking a bit on it. But we’re past that now and ready to get it off to the printer this week. I’ll keep you updated on it’s new ship date. We’ll be offering it here via the site as well so stay tuned.

The people who I’ve screwed over the most by being late are all the retailers who support PvP by keeping it in stock at their stores. So I wanted to try to make it up to them in some way. The best way to do that is to get on-time and stay on-time. But beyond that, I would also like to do something nice to say thank you. So help me out with this. If you buy PvP comics from your local shop, and you want to thank them for keeping you in fresh PvP, drop me an email with the name of the store you frequent, their address and the name of their owner/manager. I would like to send them a thank you package for keeping PvP in stock, despite my falling behind in 2007.

More at the link.

As we approach the end of 2007 (just a few more hours, and counting), I asked the Blog@ team to share some of their favorite comics from the previous year. As Kevin says below, it was tough to narrow down the list to just a few stand-outs, but here are our favorites:

Tom Bondurant

I’m sure no one is surprised to see Architecture & Mortality as one of my Best of 2007 picks. I loved the heck out of Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang’s metatextual take down of DC’s periodic character overhauls. Whether it was setting up a groan-worthy pun or a sentimental moment, A&M was designed to make its readers question not only the manner of revamping and reusing obscure DC characters, but the roles of all involved, including the fans. It reminded this reader that every character has its own dignity.

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St. Louis’ Playback talks with writer Joe Casey about the January relaunch of Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood at Image:

Youngblood is a series that has had many false starts and unfinished stories. How much of that spotty prior history is considered canon for your new take on the characters, and what promises can you offer to fans that they won’t get burned again?

The series is designed so that if you’re familiar with the specific history and past stories of the characters, this series will seem like the next logical step. If you’re new to the characters and the concept, everything you’ll need to know about their past will be included in the comics.

[snip]

Rob Liefeld’s name seems to stir up a lot of animosity among comics fans, yet the response to the announcement of your new series has been overwhelmingly positive. Were you surprised by that response?

Not really, because the affection that a generation of readers has for these characters is huge. It certainly outweighs anyone’s feelings about any one comic book professional. I’m just happy that readers seem to be excited about the comic. It’s a big part of why we do this.

The second part of the interview is set to appear on Dec. 28.

I don’t have the latest issue of Spin Magazine, but according to several blog posts that popped up last night it announces a new Image Comics anthology, Comic Book Tattoo, which will feature stories inspired by Tori Amos songs. Rantz Hoseley is editing and the book will be out in time for Comic-Con International next year.

Newsarama contributor Chris Arrant will write one of the stories:

As reported in the newest issue of SPIN magazine, musician Tori Amos is coming to comics in the form of a comic book anthology graphic novel entitled Comic Book Tattoo. A variety of comics talent are working on stories inspired by specific songs from Tori’s album, and I’m one of them (not the songs… the talent!) Artist Star St. Germain and I are working on a favorite song of mine that I can’t disclose just yet.

Lea Hernandez and Neil Kleid will also have stories in the book.

Update: As will Colleen Doran.

Update 2: And Leah Moore, John Reppion and Pia Guerra.