From: Maddy Palmer
To: Scott Kurtz

Dear Mr. Kurts,

I hope you are well. I like your comic. I am celebrating my fifth grade graduation this weekend. Since you are my favorite webcomic guy, I would like to invite you to come. I have one extra ticket since my parents are divorced and Daddy is in Haiti with his secretary. The event will be at Abraham Lincoln Elementary in Urbana, Illinois. Can you come? I love PvP.

Thank you,
Maddy

Dear Maddy,

First of all, my name is Mr. Scott KurtZ, not Kurts. Kurtz like Marlon Brando in “Apocalypse, Now”. Not that you’d understand that reference, and not that you’ve read “Heart of Darkness”, either, since your father obviously neglects you.

Just you so know, I am not just a “webcomic guy”. My official titles are Tastemaker and Pioneer. That actually makes me Mr. Tastemaker and Pioneer Scott KurtZ if you’re paying attention.

Now, about your fifth grade graduation. Fifth grade graduation is total horseshit. It’s one of thirteen ceremonial turds you’ll crap out before you hit college. No amount of polishing your fifth grade turd is going to make it worth anything. What did you do? Long division? Cursive? Please. The economy continues to tank, and soon all education will lack any value. We should celebrate this?

And Lincoln? They dishonor the name of Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president, by slapping his name on a bastion of non-achievement like your school? I will eternally hate the city of Urbana for doing that. Eternally. As in Eternity. Like in the “Eternity for men” ads. Eternal - wait for it - ly.

Maybe if you cared enough to get my name right, or actually learned who the presidents were aside from the one that you enter every day, I’d give you THIS FIVE MINUTES. As it is, I won’t.

Give your Daddy my best. And I’ll give your Mommy my best if I see her. Otherwise, shove fifth grade up your ass.

Best,
Scott Kurtz
Tastemaker, Pioneer, Legend, Ruler of Goddamn Australia
www.pvponline.com

P.S. Please take my name off the invite list for your no-boobs-yet sixth grade graduation.

Letter #2

Shalom, Mr. Kurtz!

My name is David Greenberg, and I’m celebrating my Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Novemeber 21st. It’s at West Town Synagogue in Smithtown, Michigan. Please RSVP, or is that “RSPVP”? LOL. Thanks! Big fan.

Thank you,
David

Dear David,

Do you realize that you just spelled “November” incorrectly? I mean, it’s only the month in which the MOST IMPORTANT EVENT of your young life is taking place. Why would it be important to get the month right? But let’s not bother with mundane details.

Your manhood ceremony is horseshit. How can you be a man at 13? Have you even seen an uncovered breast, let alone touched one? You’re as much of a man as Heidi Klum. Anyway, your adult life is going to crap out by your eighteenth birthday in 2015. Your event serves no purpose but to bury a childhood that I have no ties to.

If you even thought about what I was doing, given my duties as Tastemaker and Pioneer, then you wouldn’t have asked me. Enjoy your adult life, and your inevitable bankruptcy.

Best,
Scott Kurtz
Tastemaker, Pioneer, New Bassist for Metallica, Master of Puppets
www.pvponline.com

P.S. Who am I kidding? You’ll never touch boobs.

Letter #3

Dear Mr. Kurtz,

We hope this letter finds you well. My name is Norman Gibson, and we’re hosting the First Annual Webcomics Tastemaker and Pioneer Awards ceremony. We were hoping that you might be the keynote speaker. Please respond to the number provided.

Thank you,
Norman Gibson
Chair, WTPA

Dear Norman,

What gives you the right to decide who the Tastemakers and Pioneers are? As a Tastemaker and Pioneer that knows that he’s a Tastemaker and Pioneer, I don’t need your dick-measuring contest to tell me what I am. All you’re going to do is fracture your arm patting yourself on the back.

Remember Gareb Shamus? Remember when he was a Tastemaker and Pioneer? Where were you when he was a Tastemaker and Pioneer? I mean, now he craps out turds shaped like magazines and conventions, but you weren’t there when he WAS a Tastemaker and Pioneer!

You make me madder than The Hulk. Jack Kirby’s version of the Hulk from when he started out gray before he was green and then turned gray again and was two Hulks. That’s me. Hulking out at you in full-on gray-green, surrounded by Kirby Crackle. Hating you forever.

So no, I can’t make it.

Best,
Scott Kurtz
Tastemaker, Pioneer, Awesome
www.pvponline.com

[Yes. This is a parody. Thanks. - The Management]

KICK-ASS. The movie site — IamKick-Ass.com — is now up via Lionsgate, and a trailer will be out in 8 days. The film — based on the Mark Millar/John Romita Jr. comic of the same name — is due out April 16.

[Hat tip to Tim]

The Gotham City Sirens and Streets of Gotham writer has also been working on a live-action series called Tower Prep, which Variety announced today has been ordered by Cartoon Network. (Perhaps no coincidence — Cartoon Network is owned by DC Comics’ parent company, Time/Warner.) This series, along with Unnatural History, will be the first live-action series — but after the high ratings the live-action Ben 10 movie made, it makes sense for the company to get lightning to strike twice.

Tower Prep is about a rebellious teen who wakes up one day trapped in a mysterious, inescapable prep school. By teaming up with his fellow students/inmates, this series looks like a long term caper.

What will this mean for his comics writing, however? I know that there was a brief skip in his Batman titles, with Scott Lobdell and Chris Yost filling in for Sirens #3 and Streets #5. That said, (A) I don’t know how many episodes other than the pilot that Dini will be writing, and (B) Dini has proven through his work on Countdown and Detective Comics that he is built for speed. More info to come when we get it!

Comics Alliance has reported that Scott Kurtz has done more than just throw down the gauntlet with the convention/magazine company — Laura Hudson likened it to the Daken versus Punisher battle, in which Frank gets literally cut to pieces. I’m not sure if I entirely disagree.

Here’s some highlights from the PvP creator, who Wizard unfortunately called “Kurt”:

Your conventions are total horseshit, so it’s wise to stop branding them with the name Wizard. But no amount of polishing is going to make me want to attended any of the 5 turds your company is going to crap out in 2010, especially when you schedule them against other shows in some bullshit dick measuring contests that serves no other purpose but to fracture an already dying industry that I have nostalgic ties to.

Remember Mike Wieringo? Remember how you guys only cared about him when he was the “hot artist” for a window of time and then you quickly forgot his name despite the fact that he was producing some of the best work of his career on Fantastic Four with Mark Waid? And then remember how after he died you had the balls to name one of your panel rooms the Mike Wieringo room? I will eternally hate everyone associated with your company for that. For eternity. For Jack Kirby’s version of Eternity where the concept is embodied as a giant man made up of the universe. That’s me, hating you for the Mike Wieringo thing. Forever.

Whether you agree with Kurtz or not, these are definitely some harsh words, especially regarding an invitation to next year’s Anaheim Comic-Con — already controversial, since it’s scheduled on the same weekend as competitor Reed Exhibitions’ C2E2 in Chicago. What say you, Rama readers? Give us your thoughts!

Well, we have an answer for you, as our very own Brian Andersen has sent us a link to The A-Z LGBT Comic Book Character Superlist — “an alphabetized listing of over 260 LGBT characters from comic books (including superheros, supervillains and supporting cast characters).”

Right now the profiles are fairly short — but they do also link to articles on Wikipedia, Gay League, and Pink Kryptonite. Give the site a look.

Medors, who has been battling cancer for several years, is a prime example of how the Hero Initiative can help creators in financial and medical need. The piece is currently on auction now on eBay — as are many other products from Hero — and you can bid on it here.

So that someone could spend a day of his life hastily assembling an Archie story filtered through Jack Kirby’s New Gods comics. That someone was Adam Prosser, and you can read his whole story in all its shouty, punch, funny hat-wearing glory here. (Thanks to Johanna Draper Carlson, from whom I totally, shamelessly stole this link).

Doom Patrol #4 hit this week from DC. In this Blackest Night crossover, dead members of the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol (from the “Showcase” issues in the ’70s and the pre-Morrison ongoing of the ’80s) rise and attack the original members. However, one significant change has been noted. Josh Clay, aka Tempest, has always been a “blaster”. That is, his power set involved the ability to shoot energy blasts, and the ability to fly derived from said blasts.

In this issue, dead Arani recalls Josh as having weather-related powers, manifested in the flashback by tornadoes. When Black Lantern Tempest attacks, he’s exhibiting, again, weather powers. Why the change? Is there some kind of valid reason for this? Was there editorial confusion over Black Lantern Tempest/Aqualad/Garth and BL Tempest/Clay? Some fans are already grumbling, pointing to this as a case of DC’s continuity changing on a whim.

What say you readers? Did you notice? Does continuity-shifting bother one?

One thing’s for sure. While it was interesting to see the dead Doom Patrol members, they weren’t my favorite return of the week.

[Thanks to David Pepose for the image.]

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting story up about the swarm of producers and agents on game and toy lines — mentioning, for example, that Hancock’s Will Smith was producing a movie on the game Risk — but one particular sentence really stood out:

J.J. Abrams, who created the TV show “Lost” and directed this summer’s “Star Trek” film, is in discussions to produce a movie about Japanese toy line Micronauts, which Hasbro just acquired.

Micronauts, originally a Japanese toy line, has had its fair share of comics, with Marvel producing 59 issues of related comics, Image producing 11, and Devil’s Due completing three. In their original comics incarnation, they even teamed up with Nightcrawler and the Fantastic Four!

Operation Save Clark Kent has more images of the Wonder Twins’ debut on Smallville, for the upcoming episode “Idol.”

Be warned — there’s also a picture of Clark and Lois in a church that, for some strange reason, made me feel they were reenacting a performance of the Laramie Project rather than a Superman-related show.

[via io9]

Nexus Archives vol. 9
Written by Mike Baron
Illustrated by Steve Rude, Paul Smith, Neil “Spyder” Hansen and Adam Hughes
Published by Dark Horse

The greatest superhero comic of all time hits one of its most controversial eras in this volume, which collects issues 53-57 and issues 2-4 of the concurrently published Next Nexus miniseries. Among Nexus fandom, the first fifty issues are nearly universally beloved, and rightly so. Baron and Rude create a universe far more complex and nuanced than that of any other superhero comic, stuffed to the gills with immigration concerns, energy shortfalls, religious zealotry (and they were writing these stories twenty-five years ago!), massively complex moral quandaries, enticingly realized alien culture, political parody as good as any you’ll find in the papers, and yes, awesome and bombastic action sequences.

Nexus Archives vol. 9 deals with war and assassination. It shows presidential politics and the struggles of humanitarian missions. Angry little girls are confronted by dedicated younger ladies, and sci-fi military antics abound during the chaotic assassination attempt on Sundra Peale. Capitalism runs out of control. It’s a superhero comic, with plenty of balls and a brain, and it’s a rare breed that manages to have both.

Despite alternating issues of the standard Nexus comic and the Next Nexus spin-off (ironically, classic Nexus artist Steve Rude is the illustrator on the secondary title, not the main series), the story flows quite smoothly in this Archive. Credit to Mike Baron, who deftly juggles the war on Ylum, as well as Ylum’s presidential election, the blindly vengeance-driven quest of the replacement Nexuses, and ex-Nexus Horatio Hellpop’s establishing of a medical clinic for the impoverished of Flatlandia.

Operating as an ensemble piece more than ever before, Nexus moves quickly between scenes, giving readers snippets of conversations and high points of action. Baron’s clearly a believer in starting the scene as late as possible and ending it as early as possible, because there’s not a wasted panel here. While Next Nexus focuses on Horatio’s clinic and the immature, desperate rage of the Loomis sisters, Baron still offers peeks into the political climate of Ylum. When Nexus deals with Zeiffer Meird’s assault on Ylum and Sundra Peale, mentions of Horatio’s quest are frequent. Baron juggles all the balls extremely effectively. Nexus is a title whose consequences are always on the minds of its characters.

His writing of Lonnie Loomis, the objector to the Loomis sisters’ vendetta, is some of his most convincing. The conflict and denouement between Sundra Peale and the Merk (a fitting irony to the assassination attempt on Sundra herself) is both surprising and effective, and the pages devoted to Tyrone and Dave continue to round out the picture of Ylum society. Horatio’s story is quieter, slower, and more difficult, but such is the condition of missionary medical work, and Baron deserves credit for giving time to the emotional cost of the work on our hero.

Steve Rude and Paul Smith handle three issues of material each, so you know the comics look great. Rude’s the visual architect of the Nexus universe, and Next Nexus gives him plenty of chances to shine. Multiple missions for Stacy and Michana Loomis as they establish their tenure as the new Nexus, each building their legitimacy as a threat to Horatio – the man who killed their father. Rude’s work is a little too slick to handle the sickly masses of Flatlandia, but he exhibits his usual élan when drawing the lush palace of Ursula X.X. Imada on Procyon or the brutal executions perpetrated by the Loomis sisters.

Paul Smith’s work doesn’t match Rude’s design work, but Smith, even then, was a precise cartoonist, setting scenes with clarity and keeping the drama high on each page. Spyder’s clumsy pages show some talent, but it’s very raw here, offering a passable if uninspiring penultimate chapter to the book. Adam Hughes, like Smith, an artist who went on to much higher profile work but showed talent from the very beginning, handles the finale, and his illustrative prowess is obvious from the get-go. He doesn’t provide the backgrounds and trappings of Smith or Rude, not yet, but the character work is very strong and clearly a sign of better work to come from Hughes.

This volume also introduces one of my favorite Nexus characters: Stanislaus Korivisky, the man who replaces Horatio as Nexus (after the Loomises prove untenable). Stanislaus is only glimpsed here, but his respect for Horatio and the responsibility of his position is well handled, setting up some of Baron’s most compelling character work ever over the next two or three volumes of the Nexus Archives.

Nine volumes into the series, the quality remains very high. Steve Rude’s art is going to be sorely missed in the coming volumes, but Baron’s scripts remain politically and socially relevant, dynamically paced, gilded with exciting action but woven with dozen of threads of human existence. No exception to the rule established by previous editions, Nexus Archives vol. 9 is a true must-have comic for fans of intelligent sci-fi and/or superhero adventure.

Earlier this week MTV’s Splash Page brought “exclusive” news that novelist S.E. Hinton will be joining the throngs of popular prose writers moving into the hot new medium of comics. Hinton will be working with Bluewater Productions, the company that published some comics based on Ray Harryhausen creations and concepts, but is probably best known for those weird “Female Force” biography comics that seem to generate plenty of mainstream media coverage every time an issue is announced.

Splash Page and Bluewater’s home page both have some covers and details, so head on over there for to take a look (My immediate reaction, you ask? Yuck). It sounds like the relationship will begin with Bluewater adapting some of Hinton’s pre-existing works, before writing “an entirely new title created specifically for Bluewater” in 2010.

I understand why comics publishers are so eager to accept the contributions of proven prose authors, what with their name recognition and their large audience of non-comics readers who would theoretically at least follow them into comic shops, but part of me still thinks there should be some kind of hazing ritual involved. Like Salman Rushdie will be allowed to write an original graphic novel, but first he has to write and draw his own minicomic to be published at a photocopier in a Kinkos, or Stephen King can develop a Vertigo ongoing, but only after a couple issues of Brave and the Bold.

I think I know the perfect title for Hinton’s hazing.

Well, the Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog has announced that John C. Reilly (of Walk Hard fame), along with Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker, are joining the cast of Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner’s Red.

Parker will play the romantic interest to retired agent-on-the-run Bruce Willis, while Reilly will play a paranoid retired CIA agent.

Similar to the Animatrix or Batman: Gotham Knight, this eight-episode anthology will have work from Ghost in the Shell’s Production I.G., Cowboy Bebop’s Bones, and Dragonball Z’s Toei Animation.

The anthology will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on February 9, 2010.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

Just over twenty years ago, one of Alan Moore’s seminal works finally concluded, starting off in relative obscurity and — aided by the runaway success of Watchmen, completed three years earlier in 1986 — made Moore into a legend. It was subversive. It was brutal. It was a love letter to truth, justice, and the Anarchist way — it was violent and vicarious, volatile and visionary.

It was V. V for Vendetta.

And as his masked terrorist hero proclaimed — “Remember, remember, the 5th of November” — we’re going to Dial V for History and look back on this groundbreaking work, and its effects on Moore and the comic book industry as a whole.

Rewind to 1981. Alan Moore has yet to strike paydirt with Watchmen, which would go on to be one of the most celebrated and well-known graphic novels of all time. Instead, take a look back to the creation of a black-and-white British anthology that would go on to make history: Warrior. With editor Dez Skinn, Warrior housed many of Moore’s great works, including the subversive superhero epic Marvelman.

But the very first issue of Warrior — headlined by Axel Pressbutton, the Psychotic Cyborg — had a cloaked man with a Guy Fawkes mask along its spine. “V for Vendetta.” It was a short first chapter, but it was effective: Evey, a munitions worker so desperate she’s decided to sell her body on the streets. Unfortunately, her first solicitation happens to be a Fingerman, one of the corrupt policemen in a totalitarian England. She is only rescued from rape and worse by the intervention of V, a masked terrorist whose dispatch of the men is as brutal as it is inventive.

How did that come to be? In an interview with Warrior later reprinted in the V collection, Moore recalled that the idea for V actually was a descendant from an idea he had when he was 22: “The Doll.” The Doll was a masked terrorist who waged war on a totalitarian United States. Despite sending the idea to a scriptwriter talent competition — perhaps not surprisingly — the idea didn’t fly. “D.C. Thomson decided a transexual terrorist wasn’t quite what they were looking for,” Moore recalled, “and wisely opted for an entry submitted by a green-grocer from Hull entitled ‘Battler Bunn (He Bombs The Hun!)’ or something very similar.”

Despite feeling crushed that his work hadn’t been approved, Moore still managed to make friends in higher places — namely, artist David Lloyd, who had collaborated with Moore on strips for Doctor Who Monthly. When Lloyd was brought on board for Dez Skinn’s new operation, he suggested Moore as a writer. The two’s partnership was both electric and incremental — for example, despite Moore’s exhaustive research on the 1930s gangster era, Lloyd said that if “he was called upon to draw one more ‘28 model Dusenberger he’d eat his arm.” Yet as ideas were kicked around — Would the setting be England as opposed to the U.S.? Would the character be called “Vendetta”? Would he be a cop trying to bring down the system from within? — Skinn associate Graham Marsh gave them the title “V for Vendetta,” what Moore would call “a sign from the gods.”

More would come — despite Moore’s dystopic touches, it was Lloyd who came up with the unique visual for V himself.

“Re. The script: While I was writing this, I ha this idea about the hero, which is a bit redundant now… I was thinking, why don’t we portray him as a resurrected Guy Fawkes, complete with one of those papier mache masks, in a cape and conical hat? He’d look really bizarre and it would give Guy Fawkes the image he’s deserved all these years. We shouldn’t burn the chap every Nov. 5th but celebrate his attempt to blow up Parliament!”

It was golden. Moore and Lloyd’s work was groundbreaking, as it got Moore in particular a shot at the big times — DC Comics. In 1983, Moore was writing Swamp Thing, moving onto icons such as Superman in “For the Man Who Has Everything” and Batman in “The Killing Joke,” and would soon move on to the pinnacle of his career — Watchmen, which began publishing in 1986.

It was ironic that as Moore’s star was on the rise, V was nearly in danger of winking out of existence. While V for Vendetta was still publishing at a steady rate, Warrior was suffering from problems with the rest of its creative team. Marvelman was under fire from Marvel Comics, and other Warrior artists went off the board completely. Warrior had had its day, and shuttered in 1985, leaving V without a home.

This continued for years, despite several publishers’ attempts to convince Moore and Lloyd to take the series to its completion. Three years later, in 1988, DC Comics staged a coup, reprinting the original black-and-white Warrior strips in full color, as well as completing the series. By this point, Moore was a sequential art rock star, with Watchmen having been issued in trade — nothing to sneeze at at that point — but he was starting to chafe at his new patrons, citing issues with royalties and a proposed rating-system. By May of 1989, V finished his run, having his final victory against the totalitarian government — and then Moore left DC.

Since then, however, V has kept on kicking. Despite the continuing conservatism in England — which Moore thought would be a thing of the past well before the series concluded — the series was well-regarded as one of Moore’s early hits. Yet when conservatism spread around the world in the days before — and especially after — 9/11, suddenly the idea of V as a visionary became more marketable than ever. Warner Bros., DC’s corporate parent, looked to this work to ride the comics film boom, working with the Wachowksi Brothers of the Matrix fame to adapt this work to film. Moore, however, was livid, having already been burned on train-wreck adaptations of From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — he called the screenplay “rubbish,” telling the New York Times, “I don’t want anything more to do with these works because they were stolen from me — knowingly stolen from me.”

V for Vendetta was not an easy film to put together, as not only was the film delayed due to a June subway bombing in 2005, as well as having Hugo Weaving not join as a replacement V until the fourth week of production. Still, despite its many liberties — including twisting it an in arguably American-centric view — V for Vendetta went on to make $132 million worldwide, earning 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. While David Lloyd was reportedly thrilled with the production, the producers did follow Moore’s instructions, leaving his name off the final credits.

Since then, V has had his image appropriated elsewhere, ranging from the progressive metal band known as the Shadow Gallery, to the Internet group Anonymous, who donned V’s iconic mask in their protests against the Church of Scientology. In many ways, V for Vendetta is a tragedy both on and off the page, instilling feelings of rage and hope in both its creators and its readers. As an early work of a comics master, V for Vendetta is a book that no comics reader should do without.

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

SUGGESTED FOR MATURE READERS

Welcome back, Blog@teers!

When I started WORLD OF HURT, I wrestled with the issue of how much fidelity I would have to the Blaxploitation films that inspired it.  In general, they were rather lurid and profane.  I wanted to stay true to my “creative muse,” but I also wanted my Mom to be comfortable reading it.  This may make me a terrible son, but in the end, the muse won out.  However, I did warn my mother beforehand that the language was somewhat salty.  (The first strip ran in April, but by July she had worked up the nerve to stop by the site.)

Nonetheless, I did work out a compromise with myself.  The only word that is off limits is the N-word.  I want to bury it forever, so even in the name of artistic license, I refused to give it validity or currency in my webcomic.

- JEP

DC Comics, via the Source, has announced that Milestone Comics will get their day in the sun next year with MILESTONE FOREVER, which will be written by company founder Dwayne McDuffie.

This series, which will bring together Static, Hardware, Icon, Shadow Cabinet, and Blood Syndicate together with original Milestone artists John Paul Leon, Mark Bright, Chris Cross and Denys Cowan, will be a bittersweet tale that “chronicles the literal end of a universe, and the birth of something new, with major consequences for the future of the DC Universe.”

“16 years ago this month, industry giant DC Comics and upstart Milestone Media entered into an unprecedented creative partnership, producing 14 interlocking, creator-owned titles including Hardware, Icon, and the multimedia hit that would best be known as Static Shock,” wrote McDuffie. ” The story Milestone chose to tell was an audacious one, larger than life on its surface, character and story-driven at its base, Humanist and multicultural at its heart. For over 250 issues, fans explored a superhero universe like no other.”

DC announced that they would be bringing Milestone into the DCU proper in 2008, where Icon, Hardware, and the Shadow Cabinet guest-starred with the Justice League. Since then, Static has — perhaps not surprisingly — gotten the most time in the mainstream DCU, having joined the Teen Titans.

20 years. More to come.

[Update: Ha. Great minds, etc. Nevertheless, return later for a look back at "V" by our own David Pepose.]

Sheldon L. Dorf’s drive and vision paved the way for the Comic-Con International in San Diego that we know today. As part of the tributes emerging for Shel Dorf is a Web site where his memory can be honored, celebrated and shared with everyone. The photo above of Jack Kirby and Shelf Dorf in 1969 is from the site. Also, is this excerpt from Mike Towry’s observations:

Would there have been a Comic-Con in San Diego without Shel? Probably, someday, sure. Would it have been the one we have today? Certainly not. Comic-Con got its spirit, its positive, non-profit, welcoming vision from Shel. The Con committees throughout the years have done a fantastic job in building the Con into what it is today, but, to paraphrase Isaac Newton, “If they have seen further than others, it is because they stood on the shoulders of a giant.”

Phil Yeh, a long-time participant at Comic-Con International and founder of Cartoonists Across America and the World, has suggested for some time now that a street in San Diego should be named after Shel Dorf to honor the man and for all he’s done to make the San Diego Comic-Con the largest pop culture festival in North America , and one of the largest in the world.

When I contacted Phil Yeh, he said, “It would be great to see a street named for Shel and maybe a park with a mural that would be created by so many of the artists who had their lives changed because of Comic-Con. There is a park in Springfield, Massachusetts  with statues in tribute to Dr. Seuss and his characters. Perhaps San Diego should consider a park with statues celebrating comic characters and the man who brought so many talented creators together.”

The Simpsons: The Uncensored, Unauthorized History
Written by John Ortved
Published by Faber & Faber

Conducting dozens of interviews with writers, producers, cartoonists and executives whose lives have been connected to the development of the forever-running television series The Simpsons, John Ortved’s book attempts to untangle the web of the series creation and provide a glimpse at how it all came to be and who fathered the show’s, and the family’s, many startling and hilarious facets.

As might be expected, a network television show doesn’t truly have its origins in a phrase as simple as “created by Matt Groening.” Dozens of writers have passed through the show’s writers room, each drawing from different experiences, divergent senses of humor and completely individual expectations for the series itself.

Curiously, Ortved doesn’t speak to the three major players: Matt Groening, whose comic strip Life in Hell was noticed by producers on The Tracey Ullman Show, who in turn asked him to come up with a concept for interstitial cartoons to run between their skits; James Brooks, the movie and TV mogul, who produced and protected The Simpsons at Fox; and Sam Simon, the show’s lead writer during its formative years. Brooks’ company, Gracie Films, opted not to cooperate with the book’s creation, leaving Ortved to fill in his history from the outside in. Thus, readers are left with an interesting view into the world of the show’s three-headed initiators.

The effect creates a multi-faceted perspective that enables backers and detractors of each of the three to put forth their own experiences as to what occurred, as well as offering other theories as to how the show found its unique satirical voice and visual design. Readers can examine the evidence presented and look for something close to the “truth,” if such exists, in the cross-section of the testimony given.

Ortved is able to speak to many of the important figures, including the show’s original animation executive producer, Gabor Csupo; former writers and producers like Brent Forrester, Jay Kogen, and Josh Weinstein, among many others; one-time writer and current talk show host Conan O’Brien; former creative consultant Brad Bird; Matt Groening’s long-time friends and fellow cartoonists Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman and Gary Panter; and FOX CEO Rupert Murdoch and other FOX execs like Barry Diller and Charlie Goldstein. Also, the administrator of fan sites like NoHomers.net are able to weigh in. So readers will definitely get a well rounded picture of how things occurred.

Probably the most distracting element of the book is when Ortved breaks from the “oral history” style and inserts his own thoughts. Often, he’s providing valuable and factual background that sets the stage from the interview segments, but sometimes, Ortved drifts into editorializing. His comments on others’ quotes are occasionally valuable, but often unnecessary. More disconcerting is his penchant for slagging off the show’s later years. It’s not that he’s wrong (not having watched the show in close to a dozen years, I can’t say myself), but it seems unnecessary and at times even petty when cast against his own fawning over the undeniably massive influence of the show on current pop culture and comedy.

That’s a fairly minor complaint, as most of the book conforms to the “oral history” format, using quotes and only context-providing paragraphs from the author to set the scene for each person’s story. All of those people providing their perspectives on the founding of The Simpsons builds a multifaceted history of a television revolution and institution. If anyone has any interest in codifying the building of one of the most important pieces of American pop culture, The Simpsons: The Uncensored, Unauthorized History is a very effective, very worthwhile read.

So it looks like I got folks talking with my last Blog post. That’s great – good conversation and debate is the highest compliment for a blogger, it means people are actually reading and feel compelled to respond in some way. Not only did Newsarama readers comment (44 comments!), but other bloggers responded in their own forums.

The only problem is that most of the commentators seemed to fixate on one statement in the blog post and missed my intended point. Admittedly, that may have been a failing on my part as a writer, so I thought it wise to try and clarify this week. Let’s see if I can get it right the second time around.

The actual point I was trying to make was – Witchblade, as our comic most often dismissed as “T&A” by online commentators, is not and has not been very “T&A” for years. Sara Pezzini, our title character, spends more of her time in more clothes than your average superhero-in-tights comic. I posted some Witchblade covers in comparisons with some recent Marvel and DC covers. In my mind, the Witchblade covers were largely narrative, focused on portraying our heroine as a strong female lead rather than a sex symbol. The other covers struck me as a bit more “T&A” in nature.

The statement that seemed to get the most attention was:

“Top Cow does intentionally place sexy artwork on our convention variant covers. We recognize there’s a part of our audience that digs them and we’d be bad business people for not giving our fanbase what they want. These covers are put out in a limited release and are primarily sold directly to fans at conventions.”

I posted one cover image as an example of a sexy convention cover, our Witchblade #128 San Diego cover, which while sexy strikes me as pretty classy. I’m not embarrassed to show this to my wife. Your mileage may vary.

Two intelligent ladies blogged in response to my blog, one was Laura Hudson at Comics Alliance and one was our own Christine Dinh, Marketing Assistant at Top Cow. Before you ask, no, I did not ask Christine to write on my behalf. They both make some interesting points and are well worth reading.

But back to my point, Witchblade is not a T&A comic.

The contrary preconception seems to be largely based on issues published before 2005. I make a point of saying 2005, because that’s when Ron Marz took over the title as writer. I have to credit Ron with doing more than any other single individual in trying to change perceptions about Witchblade. Along with artists Mike Choi, Adriana Melo, and now Stjepan Sejic, Ron has focused on making Sara Pezzini a realistic, fascinating heroine. As for the question of clothes, Sara spends most of her time in everyday clothing and even when she “armors” up, the armor forms over her clothing.

Here’s a good quote from one of the artists, Francis Manapul, who actually drew Witchblade from an interview on Multiversity Comics:

After moving from Top Cow to DC, was it hard drawing clothing on your characters again? I could imagine it would be quite the change for an artist.

FM: Actually I found it quite the opposite. I drew more clothing at Top Cow than I did at DC. Main reason is that even though the DC characters I’ve tackled have costumes on they are pretty form fitting so they might as well be naked. LOL. It’s quite a misconception how books were visually portrayed at Top Cow. When I was working on Witchblade since it was a police crime drama, there were more civilian clothing than I was used too. I didn’t think I’d be clamoring to draw tights as much as I did after that run. It was strange because prior to working at Top Cow as an aspiring comic book artist all of my samples portrayed heroes in tights. When I started working at Top Cow I had to learn how to portray drapery quite fast. So it was a very valuable experience in learning how to portray real world scenarios.

It seems pretty clear that the interviewer has the same preconception about Witchblade as many people, but Francis (who works exclusively for DC these days and isn’t compelled to defend Top Cow in anyway) does a nice job setting the record straight.

Make no mistake, Witchblade is a mature readers title. It’s a realistic, supernatural/police procedural, which deals with adult concepts, adult relationships, and well… adult characters. I believe those adult themes are handled tastefully, intelligently, and with an eye first towards growing the characters.

One of my goals coming into Top Cow was to have the covers, particularly the trade paperback covers, reflect more accurately what was inside the comics. To date, the rebranding of the Witchblade trade line has been a point of pride for me as Top Cow’s Publisher. When I began, Ron Marz’s run began in Volume 10 of the trade series. I felt we needed to give readers a jumping on point to the “modern era” of Witchblade. In rebranding the trade line, Volume 1 begins with Witchblade #80, Ron’s first issue on the series. The earlier stories are collected as part of the Witchblade Origins trade line and in the massive Compendium editions.

As part of this rebranding, we also commissioned new covers from Stjepan Sejic (the current Witchblade artist), which could serve as iconic imagery encapsulating the tone and themes of the series. Below you’ll see the original Volume 10 and 11 covers juxtaposed against the current Volume 1 and 2 covers.

So here’s the deal, I’m going to put our money where my mouth is. Thanks to the generosity of our friends at Discount Comic Book Service and InStock Trades, you can now get a FREE copy of the original printings of the Witchblade trades containing Ron Marz’s first two storylines. All you have to do is make one additional purchase (which doesn’t have to be a Top Cow item) through InStock Trades and either Volume 10 or 11 will be absolutely FREE. If your total order is over $50, you don’t even have to pay shipping. If you don’t want to go in for a trade, you can head over to DCBS and order Witchblade #134, the beginning of a 3-part story, for 75% off the cover price. Check out the links below for more info:

Witchblade Volume 10 (collects #80-85) for FREE

Witchblade Volume 11 (collects #86-92) for FREE

Witchblade #134 at 75% off (go to page 6)

Once you’ve read it, come back and let me know what you thought and if it changed your preconception of Witchblade. Who knows, maybe it’ll make you a regular reader. I know that Ron’s writing certainly changed my preconceptions of the series.

Next time: There is No House Style.

Take care,

Filip Sablik

Publisher Guy

Filip Sablik is the Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc. He’s been in the business for nine years and is in his thirties. Occasionally, he does a bit of writing and drawing. He loves comics. Top Cow Productions, Inc. was founded by Marc Silvestri, co-founder of Image Comics. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades.

Dragons, dragons everywhere! The She-Dragon has returned–looking ten different kinds of creepy–and finds herself facing off against a revived Savage Dragon who may be suffering from acute amnesia–or may have Emperor Kurr’s memories restored to him. All the while, there are bad guys trying to use Dragon’s blood to turn some of their B- and C-listers into Dragon-baddie hybrids, and a dark, ominous dragon calling some of the other ones names.

Blog@Newsarama: From a literary standpoint, is this issue kind of a bookend with the beginning of the series? I mean, Dragon is physically Dragon but he has no memories at the start of the issue.

Erik Larsen: That’s kind of the idea–but of course there’s no actual “end” at this point but it is hitting some of the same notes as it did at the start of the series with wildly different results.

Blog@: Does Erik Larsen draw Savage Dragon comics, IN the comics? I mean, that cover looks familiar!

EL: I’d actually done a story where Dragon met a couple creators and they’d talked about doing a Savage Dragon series–it was in Savage Dragon #105, I think, but I wasn’t one of them. I don’t really want to go there. Stan Lee used to insert himself into the comics and that was fun but I don’t want to be a character in my own book. There was a guy who looked somewhat like me at one point but that’s as far as I’d like to go. It could get too self-indulgent and self-referential. I’m not into that.

Blog@: Dragon’s language seems oddly stilted….Is that something we should be reading into?

EL: I’m trying to be somewhat cagey here and hint that either he’s a blank slate or that he’s reverted back to being the guy he was prior to waking up in that burning field 17 years ago. You can read his dialogue either way, I think but the most important thing I wanted to pull off is for him not to sound like he usually does. I didn’t want it to seem like fixing him is easy or he just becomes Superman. I don’t want readers to think he’s invincible–that he can’t be screwed up for good.

Blog@: Anarchy/Dragon seems to have no body hair! What’s with that?!

EL: He’s not becoming Dragon–he’s just taking on aspects of Dragon. Dragon’s son doesn’t really have that either.

Blog@: That makes me think: If all their experiments keep failing miserably, and the Kurr body version of Dragon is brought back from the dead with Malcolm’s blood, does that put a bull’s eye on the boy?

EL: Oh, sure it does.

Blog@: Powerhouse seems pretty defeated here. Is this just another example of your earlier comments that Dragon and the people around him are aging more like real people than like superheroes, and maybe at some point people just don’t have the energy for all that crap any more?

EL: Powerhouse has always had it tough because of his physical appearance and that takes its toll. Because he’s a descendant of a god he doesn’t get much older looking physically, but things still wear on him. He wants respect and at times he’s commanded respect but the others see him as a guy who’s been knocked off of his perch thanks to the advent of the new Overlord and they’re only to willing to needle him a bit now that he’s no longer in a position of authority.

Blog@: Erik, nothing personal…but did you have a big sister who beat you up as a child or something? There’s like ten pages of dudes getting kicked around by girls in this issue!

EL: Readers have asked for me to use more women villains for years and for some reason I never got around to it. Well, now I have. I’ve been making an effort to do more of that. It’s hard to pull off without making the guys seem like bullies but I’m doing what I can. I like that Dart, who’s physically very small and nymph-like, flits about with casual ease like a ballerina and just destroys whoever she’s facing no matter how powerful they are. She-Dragon is another story entirely. At this point she’s a powerhouse in her own right.

Blog@: I kinda like the idea of having Curley (or any of the kids, really) be the ones to put Alison down for the count. How long will the subplot with those guys be running?

EL: My thought was to have them be pretty much permanent fixtures in the book and treat them as I would any of my characters.

Blog@: Is there a different approach to the art taken when you’re drawing Golden Age Daredevil and the Li’l Wise Guys as opposed to the Dragon pages?

EL: Not really. I don’t want those worlds to seem too different from each other. I tend to lean more toward the Frank Miller aspect of my style than the Jack Kirby aspect but since all of my influences have merged together at this point it doesn’t look all that different to me.

Blog@: When you said last month that the She-Dragon’s transformation wasn’t finished yet, I don’t know if anyone had where she ended up in mind. Are there plans in store for her in the near future?

EL: I actually was thinking that it was time to close out her story. I didn’t want her to get killed off but she grew out of her role. Now that she’s in her thirties, she really can’t be that cute little girl who followed Dragon around like a puppy anymore. It was time to bring her story to its end. I’ll touch on her from time to time but I don’t see her playing a major role anymore, which is kind of strange in a way because she took over the title at one point.

Blog@: Is one of the nice things about working on your own, creator-owned title that you can DECIDE to retire a character? When Geoff Johns ended The Flash and gave Wally West that terrific send-off to fatherhood and family, it lasted like fifteen minutes because the publisher wasn’t on board…!

EL: Yeah, that is a big part of the beauty of it all. As much as a creator at Marvel or DC might try to “make that character their own” they will never be THEIR character and they can NEVER fully control that character’s
destiny.  Fans used to use the term “Bucky dead” to mean a character who was actually dead and would never come back–ever. Now that term is meaningless because Bucky has been brought back to life like so many other characters. Between Aunt May, Norman and Harry Osborn, Colossus, Jean Gray, Bucky, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Robin and all the rest–it’s no wonder that fans get tired of feeling lied to and jerked around.

But that’s the nature of the beast. The companies have this corporate mandate to make money and administrators and creators get shuffled back and forth in an effort to do that. And I’m not saying “these fuckers are evil” but it does make it difficult to have any kind of story integrity when the next creator in line is rubbing his hands together, anticipating the chance to undo everything the last guy did.

That doesn’t happen with me. Love it or hate it– there’s nobody in line who can put a lie to anything I’ve done and dig up any characters I’ve bumped off.

Blog@: So…how many Savage Dragons are there right now? And is there like a Dragon Equilibrium in the universe where one has to blow up or become human in order for another one to show up?

EL: That’s what we’ll be exploring in the upcoming Dragon War. Up until this time we’ve seen two—our hero, who’s not in his right mind, and one from an alternate earth called Darkworld. Now, there are other characters who have sported fins: Malcolm, Mutation, Virus and Flash Mercury among them but they’re not Savage Dragon, strictly speaking. With Dragon’s blood being passed around like candy on Halloween things will be different over the next few months but if one was to strip away all of the pretenders, there are really just two Savage Dragons—the original and this alternate version.

And now, on with the show:

Portland, OR:

Join creators Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth for the release of their new comic series STUPMTOWN in the home of the comic’s namesake Portland, Oregon! Greg and Matt will be meeting fans and signing books at Cosmic Monkey Comics from 4-7pm on Wednesday 11/4.

Cosmic Monkey Comics
5335 NE Sandy Blvd
http://www.cosmicmonkeycomics.com
503-517-9050
Wednesday 11/4/2009
4pm - 7pm

New York City:

November 7, 4-7pm
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School
A Tribute to “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Joe Shuster
with the beautiful fetish model Darenzia and Nicholas posing
sponsored by Baby Tattoo Books, Boyd and Blair Vodka, and Squishables
Dr. Sketchy’s is a life drawing class turned cabaret extravaganza. Artists draw glamorous underground performers, compete in contests, and win booze and prizes. From its humble Brooklyn beginnings, it’s spread to 100 cities on five continents- including London, Rome, Tokyo, Paris, Sao Paulo and Melbourne.

On November 7th, Dr. Sketchy’s is teaming up with renowned comics scholar Craig Yoe, to celebrate his new book, “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster.” Stunning fetish models will reenact the hidden art of Superman’s creator, and Mr. Yoe will speak about his book and sign copies.

Dr. Sketchy’s takes place on

November 7, 4-7 pm
at the Slipper Room,
167 Orchard St (corner of Stanton).
New York City

Tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 a the door, and can be purchased at www.drsketchy.com or at the door. 21+

Seattle:

Al Columbia is widely regarded among his peers as one of the most accomplished and influential artists working in comics today. On the occasion of the publication of PIM & FRANCIE, his most ambitious work to date, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is hosting a rare public appearance by the cartoonist on Saturday, November 7 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

PIM & FRANCIE represents a breathtaking vision of contemporary American art.  Collecting over a decade’s worth of artifacts, excavations, comic strips, animation stills, storybook covers, and much more, this broken jigsaw puzzle of a book tells the story of title characters Pim and Francie, a pair of childlike imps whose irresponsible antics get them into horrific, fantastic trouble.

AL COLUMBIA: PIM & FRANCIE
Art exhibition and book signing
Saturday, November 7, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Exhibition continues through December 9, 2009
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) Seattle, WA
206.658.0110  www.fantagraphics.com
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

Indianapolis:

Indianapolis newest comic book store The Hero House is proud to announce Shawn Crystal (artist on Marvel Comics’ Deadpool series) will make a rare Midwest appearance to sign autographs, and meet with fans on November 6th and 7th.

He will be appearing as part of The Hero House grand opening celebration which will include a storewide sale on all back issues and Graphic novels. The Hero House specializes in Comic Books, Movies, Anime and related merchandise and is located in historic fountain square.

According to Bleeding Cool, which has a larger version of these images, apparently all five covers lock together to create this cool image. What say you, Rama readers?

QUESTION: What led to the Red Sonja title transitioning to this new title, Queen Sonja?

JOSHUA ORTEGA: I think a number of factors, really. The main one being the chance to do something really different with the character, the chance to throw a twist on a classic, enduring character.

Dynamite has done a fantastic job with the current series, and has really brought the character of Sonja back to the prominence that she deserves. Now that the series is nearing 50 issues, it’s time to shake things up a bit, introduce some compelling new elements that’ll keep the readers guessing and take them to some brand new places in Hyrkania that they’ve never seen before.

QUESTION: In the previous series, the original Sonja portrayed in the Dynamite series died in #34 – and a reincarnation of the original Red Sonja took her place. Is she still in the lead here?

ORTEGA: I guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we? (laughs) All will be revealed in time, but you can be assured that this *is* Sonja in this story, this isn’t going to be a clone story of Sonja or “Who shot JR” or anything…you can read this and know you’re getting the real deal, an epic tale of the She-Devil with a Sword.

QUESTION: What is Red Sonja up against in this new series?

ORTEGA: She’s up against many things, but her main enemy will ultimately be the empire of Emora and its allies. We don’t want to reveal too much just yet about the specifics, but suffice it to say that she’ll be facing one of the greatest challenges of her life, and her actions will have ramifications far beyond her own personal sphere.

And of course, in classic Sonja fashion, she’ll be battling against the evil that men do, and defending those who can’t do it for themselves…while making a little bit of loot on the side, of course.

QUESTION: The solicits promise a new Sonja short story in addition to the comic – did you write that as well, and if so, can you tell us about it?

ORTEGA: Top secret so far, but I’m sure Dynamite will be releasing the details soon…all in all, it’s looking to be an awesome new launch for fans of Sonja, high fantasy, and kick-ass barbarian action!

Well, if you’re looking to get that eyesore off your lawn — and help some creators in need — the Hero Initiative has news for you. For anyone who wants to donate their clunker car to Cars 4 Causes, you can stipulate that your donation will go straight to the Hero Initiative.

Donating to Cars 4 Causes is tax-deductible, and in this case, will help the Hero Initiative assist creators in financial and medical need. Click here or here for more information.

Corey Breen, senior pre-press artist at DC Comics and all-round nice guy, has written a blog post over at Master Digital Coloring detailing the whole experience of working on Absolute Watchmen. With 1980s artwork having to be reworked for an oversized format, it proved to be a tough process — here’s a highlight:

Since we no longer have the original art to older comics such as this, what we have are the pages in the film library.  Back in the day, all our books were shot using film on acetate.  Our film library has extensive books all on film, and when we need to reprint them, it is shot from that film, and made digital for us to use.  But this poses a lot of problems.  Since the film is well, film, and it is old, when you make a digital file from film, it can be dirty, have scratches, and have sections missing, depending on how well the film was originally made.  This was the case with the Watchmen ‘film’ we wound up having to use.

Breen goes on to discuss the main theme of remastering Watchmen — not noir, but moire, an unsightly and jagged form of lines that unfortunately crops up with high-res images of old half-toned art. It’s a cool process piece, especially for anyone interested in the production side of comics. Give it a read!

Apparently, the New York Times list-makers don’t even crack the covers of the books they put on their lists: I quit paying attention to the NYT’s goofy comics bestsellers lists as soon as I got over making fun of their dumb names and dumber press announcement, but manga expert Deb Aoki hasn’t, and she notes another reason to shake one’s head sadly at the lists. Illustrated prose book Death Note: L Change the World apparently ranked #4 on the manga bestseller list, despite not even being manga, or comics of any kind.

“I used to feel as powerful as a locomotive, but I’m running out of steam”: Augusta Chronicle columnist Glynn Moore reflects on his own mortality in relation to dressing up in Superman t-shirts and towel capes with his grandson in this only mildly depressing piece.

Great, now I’m hungry: On Drawn and Quarterly’s blog, the unlikely source of inspiration for Seth’s Nancy Vol. 1 collection cover design stands revealed.

“I cannot wait until Williams III leaves in a couple months time…I wonder how many people are going to admit that if it weren’t for Williams’ III art, this would be just one or two steps above Outsiders“: In his latest post, guy-I-link-to-alot Tim O’Neil reviews the latest issue of ‘TEC, along with several other recent releases, and discusses how muscular Reed RIchards should look.