A gallery of the Gothic novel staple.

Via Neil Gaiman.

God, it’s been a while!

§ Speaking of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, here’s a Fearnet promo image for the film by Ben Templesmith.

§ Will GREEN LANTERN be to DC what IRON MAN was to Marvel at the movies? Comics Book Bin sure hopes so:

Whether or not a Green Lantern film would feature the same kind of character development remains to be seen, but certainly the potential is there. Hal Jordan was chosen to become a Green Lantern due to his fearlessness, and that could be the linchpin to his character in so many different ways. Such a lack of fear could border on reckless behavior, or the journey could be all about overcoming fear and not allowing it to hold us back.

Such depth of character would come from, initially, the hands of the screen writers. They would have to craft a likable Jordan who in the course of the film becomes a better man, but not so much so that he is by any means perfect – merely worthy of being Green Lantern. Comics and film scribe Kevin Smith is a favored candidate, and fans are eager to see his take on the super-hero film genre.

BONUS: Hervé St-Louis tells you everything you need to know about Green Lantern.

§ The Wanted official site has gone live.

§ The Times profiles immensely popular webcomic xkcd:

Mr. Munroe, a physics major and a programmer by trade, is good for jokes like this three times a week, informed by computing and the Internet. By speaking the language of geeks — many a strip hinges on crucial differences between the C and Python programming languages — while dealing with relationships and the meaning of a computer-centric life, xkcd has become required reading for techies across the world.

The site, which began publishing regularly in January 2006, has 500,000 unique visitors a day, he said, and 80 million page views a month. (Why “xkcd”? “It’s just a word with no phonetic pronunciation,” his Web site, xkcd.com, answers.)

Munroe is one of less than two dozen webcomickers who makes a living at it, says the article.

§ Randy Myers unearths six graphic novels that aren’t about men in tights.

§ James Kochalka and sons profiled.

All of this has made for a contented family in the Old North End — Kochalka and his wife Amy King, a teacher at Lawrence Barnes Elementary School, live in a small house on Manhattan Avenue. It has also earned the artist awards and an avid international following. During a recent visit, Kochalka is jiggling the smiling, saucer-eyed Oliver in his left arm. He puts down a bottle and disappears through the kitchen to retrieve a hefty French compendium of the first five years of American Elf. The daily graphic diary, carried in Seven Days for the past five years, turns 10 in October. It has also spawned a two-volume Italian edition of the first two years and a Spanish edition of the first year. The whole decade’s worth is now available online at Kochalka’s website. And this is just a fraction of his prodigious output.

§ David Brooks on Alpha nerds:

In 1950, Dr. Seuss published a book called “If I Ran the Zoo,” which contained the sentence, “I’ll sail to Ka-Troo, and bring back an IT-KUTCH, a PREEP, and a PROO, a NERKLE, a NERD, and a SEERSUCKER, too!” According to the psychologist David Anderegg, that’s believed to be the first printed use of the word “nerd” in modern English.

The next year, Newsweek noticed that nerd was being used in Detroit as a substitute for “square.” But, as Anderegg writes in his book, “Nerds,” the term didn’t really blossom onto mass consciousness until The Fonz used it in “Happy Days,” in the mid- to late-’70s . And thus began what you might call the ascent of nerdism in modern America.

What will be contents of the TWO Hobbit movies now in the works from producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro? There is sure to be an unexpected party, and Smaug and Bard and barrels and all that, but what’s in that second movie? It’s purported to cover the 60 years between the end of THE HOBBIT and the start of FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, but what does that mean?!?!? Well, Jackson and del Toro just did a Q&A session with fans and did answer that question:

Guillermo del Toro: The idea is to find a compelling way to join THE HOBBIT and FELLOWSHIP and enhance the 5 films both visually an in their Cosmology. There’s omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain the HOBBIT in a single film.

Peter Jackson: I’m really looking forward to developing Film Two. It gives us a freedom that we haven’t really had on our Tolkien journey. Some of you may well say that’s a good thing of course! The Hobbit is interesting in how Tolkien created a feeling of dangerous events unfolding, which preoccupy Gandalf. There’s an awful lot of incident that happens during that 60 year gap. At this stage, we’re not imagining a film that literally covers 60 years, like a bio-pic or documentary. We would figure out what happens during that 60 years, and choose one short section of time to drop in and dramatise for the screen. I’m really interested in how it effects The Hobbit – do we show what happens to Gandalg during his trips away? We’ll see. We may well have seeds for Film Two that we’ll subtly sow during The Hobbit.

Dear lord, it really is going to be a movie about Gandalf wandering around talking to Radagast the Brown! Can you say…fanfic? Not that we’re not going to stand in line between now and 2012 to see it, but what a crazy idea!

[Link via Sean T. Collins.]

Technorati Tags: Tolkien

In the recent avalanche of comic book movies, one has been MIA for a while — the Kate Beckinsale starrer WHITEOUT, based on the GN by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. Its been in the can for a while, but appears to have been caught (perhaps — this is our speculation only) part of the Warner Bros. edict against female fronted movies — and also moved to avoid going up against the similarly snow-themed 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. However Shock Till You Drop reports that it will finally be hitting this September 19th.

Directed by Dominic Sena, Whiteout stars Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. Marshall investigating the first murder in Antarctica. She must solve the case before the winter comes and plunges the continent into darkness. Tom Skerritt, Alex O’Loughlin and Columbus Short co-star.

Ian Brill makes the jump from blogger/journo to the man who makes the sausage, joining Boom! as Games Workshop editor. Congrats, Ian! We’ll miss you as a freelancer, and at those whacked-out San Diego PWCW editorial meetings, but we’re proud of you for moving onward and upwards. PR below.

BOOM! Studios announced today the appointment of Ian Brill to the role of Games Workshop Editor. Bringing heavy experience in writing and editing, Mr. Brill will helm BOOM!’s Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and Blood Bowl line of comics while providing steady leadership and unique insight to the expanding BOOM! catalog as the company continues its explosive growth.

“Ian has an unparalleled devotion for comics that makes him ideal to work at BOOM!,” said Ross Richie, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “Coming from comic book journalism, Ian has a unique vantage point that has allowed him to see every part of the comic business, and this, hands down, makes him one of the best-suited people in the industry today to make the jump to an editorial position.”

“I’m thrilled to see what ideas Ian will bring to the table,” said Mark Waid, BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief. “BOOM! continues to bring in top talent with various backgrounds, which gives us a cutting edge in what used to be a two-company market.”

Ian Brill started working on the other side of the comics business, writing article after article for The Comics Journal, Publishers Weekly and Newsarama. A graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.A. in English Literature, Brill is no stranger to writing and editing. Mr. Brill now takes his love of comics to BOOM! where he will oversee the bestselling Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and Blood Bowl line of comic books, licensed from Games Workshop.

You’ve all seen it, right?

Okay spoilers after the jump.

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The 2008 Friends of Lulu Award Nominations have just been announced. (Above image by Hope Larson.)

Kim Yale Award:
MARTINA FUGAZZOTTO (senior designer, gURL.com)
KIKI JONES (gURL Comix artist)
JULIA WERTZ (The Fart Party)

Woman of Distinction:
SHELLY BOND (group editor, Vertigo; editor, MINX line);
CINDY FOURNIER (VP Operations, Diamond Comic Distributors);
JANNA MORISHIMA (director, Diamond Kids Group)

Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame:
NELL BRINKLEY (early 20th century cartoonist);
MARTY LINKS (Bobby Sox/Emmy Lou);
TARPE MILLS (Miss Fury);
LOUISE SIMONSON (X-Factor; Superman: The Man of Steel)

Lulu of the Year:
AUDRA FURUICHI (Nemu-Nemu);
gURL Comix (www.gURL.com);
STEPHANIE MCMILLAN (Minimum Security);
RUTU MODAN (Exit Wounds);
MARJANE SATRAPI (Persepolis)

PR follows:

It’s time for a true FoL first. Every year, Friends of Lulu, the national, non-profit organization, which has brought more women and girls into comic books for close to 15 years, recognizes several women who have made notable contributions in the ever-expanding comics industry. As yet another extremely successful year for women in comics continues, FoL is proud to keep the momentum going by bringing the Lulu Awards, usually presented in a West Coast event, to New York City for the first time. The 2008 Friends of Lulu award nominees have been selected by the comic-reading public, and the voting period for the award winners has begun.

This year’s well-deserved trophies will be presented at the exciting Lulu Awards event on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in Manhattan, at 594 Broadway, Suite 401 (between Houston and Prince Streets). This event starts at 8:30 p.m. and takes place during the annual, highly popular MoCCA Art Festival (the weekend of June 7 and 8; for more information, please go to www.moccany.org). Refreshments will be served, and the night’s M.C. will be the lively illustrator Emily Flake. The suggested donation for admission to this sure-to-be-enjoyable event is $8, and admission is free for Friends of Lulu and MoCCA members. FoL kindly requests that attendees RSVP by purchasing tickets for the event beforehand, at our site, www.friends-lulu.org. A number of tickets will also be available at the door.

Those people interested in voting for their favorite nominees simply need to visit the Friends of Lulu Website at www.friends-lulu.org/awardsVote.php by Tuesday, May 27; the voting period closes at the end of that day. Only current Friends of Lulu members can vote, and information about how to join the organization is at the main site, www.friends-lulu.org.

Alan Gardner reports that Mad’s Al Jaffee gas this year’s Reuben Award for the Outstanding Cartoonist of the year. Congrats!

A judge has refused to overturn the conviction of Michael George this morning. The defense had attempted to get the jury’s guilty conviction vacated due to a lack of evidence, but the judge sided with the jury, George faces life in prison without parole after being convicted of the 19 year old murder of his wife, Barbara.

Newsarama adds up the costs of this year’s big crossover events and finds they do not come cheaply. For SECRET INVASION, after toting up all the tie-ins and spin-offs and whatnot, comes to this conclusion:

November Subtotal: $6.98 The Whole Shebang: $316.98, or just about airfare from Chicago to San Diego and back for Comic-Con ($359)
Total Book Count for this event (to date): 85 official, and 18 unofficial tie-ins, for a total of 103 Secret Invasion tie-in issues.

For FINAL CRISIS, it’s much the same:

he Price So Far: $115.14, or about 29 gallons of gas (based on the current national average)

Total Final Crisis book count (to date): 30.

Or, if you’re one of those people who are looking at both, and we know you’re out there, together, both will set you back $432.12 for 133 books from now through the end of the year.

And that’s WITHOUT all the tie-ins that they haven’t announced because they haven’t thought of the them yet.
Valerie weighs in:

This just doesn’t work. Readers can’t be forced to follow this many books to understand the story. I’m not saying this because I think huge events like this are wrong from a personal standpoint. But from a business standpoint — this publishing model only really benefits from the hardcore readers who were buying all the books anyway. Any new reader is going to view their checklist and freak the f**k out and say “this is way too much of an investment for me.”

While it certainly isn’t new-reader friendly to begin with, for the faithful, surely they already have a bit of money set aside for comics every month, so this is all budgeted for. Of course, rising prices for gas and food may impact that budget as the year goes on.

Or, as we’ve always said, if folks at comics companies were forced to buy their comics for a little while instead of getting them all for free, they would have a different feel for the economics of it all.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that a movie based on RUNAWAYS may be coming:

Brian K. Vaughan, who co-created the series with artist Adrian Alphona, is writing the adaptation, for which Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will act as producer. Vaughan is also a co-producer and writer on ABC’s “Lost.”

As opposed to other Marvel characters getting the silver screen treatment, such as the Hulk and Spider-Man — who have been around since the 1960s and are pop-culture fixtures — the heroes in “Runaways” are relatively new, with the comic series launching in 2002.

Yes, that’s exactly right. Bringing RUNAWAYS to the screen would be a huge boost for Vaughan, as well as Marvel’s ability to adapt newer characters to marketable status.

Lance Fensterman is a very busy guy. He’s the showrunner for not just New York Comic-Con, but also the new York Anime Fest AND the BEA (Book Expo America), the annual schmoozefest for everything book related. This year’s BEA is being held next week in LA, where they buy more books per year than in New York, or so we’re often told by Angelenos. Anyway WE WILL BE THERE, and we’ve already heard from a few peeps who want to get together and our dance card is filling fast, so call, email or text of you wanna hang, or know where to do it. We’re staying at the downtown hotel with the spinning bar, so you know where we’ll be.

Wait…where were we? Oh yeah, Lance Fensterman. Anyway, the BEA is a celebrity/author fest with the biggest names in the business — it’s wall to wall superstar authors. The author signings list has been posted, and Lance has the details:

How big is the autographing program at BEA going to be this year? Consider these names are just a handful of the authors that will be appearing on just one day of the three day program.

Neil Gaiman, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Brooke Shields, Jon Scieszka, Robert F Kennedy Jr. , Judy Blume, George Hamilton, Garth Stein, Anita Shreve, Seth Kantner, Brad Meltzer, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Cory Doctorow, Kate DiCamillo, Sherman Alexie, Laura Numeroff, Eoin Colfer, Paul Feig, Berkeley Breathed, Brian Selznick, Dennis Lehane, R.L. Stine, Scott McCloud, Jeff Smith, Gary Hart…

The official numbers on autographing: 926 signings (auto area and in booth) plus another 100+ in booth that came in after the print deadline (I’ll try and get those online soon).

It’s kind of scary to see how many of Our Kind have infiltrated that list.

- The Autographing line-up is here, and with its LA proximity, everyone from Ernest Borgnine to Brooke Shields will be signing. Maybe we’re just old or jaded or whatever but there was almost no one on the list that made us go…WHO-AHHH! We gotta meet that person. Have we really met everyone we ever wanted to meet? Is that it?

Well there was one name: Sean Stewart, the lead writer on THE BEAST, the AI interactive game that was one of the greatest icons of the early interactive media, and one that all ARGs (alternate reality games) have been chasing ever since. So there you have it; we still want to meet Sean Stewart someday.

The long national nightmare is almost over in our household!

Almost.

We’ve been so busy we forgot entirely about Fleet Week.

Some really nice news for a change:

Artist Gene Colan has been one of comics’ favorites for a staggering seven decades. Now, as Gene is suffering illness, some of the characters Gene worked on are coming to save the day.

The Hero Initiative in conjunction with Marvel Comics is launching a series of Gene Colan-themed products, starting with a limited edition print of Gene’s cover art to Invincible Iron Man #1, available at Wizard World Philadelphia, May 30-June 1. Only 200 prints will be available at the show at a cost of $25 each. Net proceeds from sales of these prints by The Hero Initiative will benefit Gene Colan. Another 50 prints will be available at a later date, with plans to have them autographed by both Gene Colan and Stan Lee.

Also at Wizard World Philadelphia, guest writers and artists at the Marvel Comics booth will be signing and sketching two large poster-sized boards, which Hero will auction benefiting Gene at a later date.

And that’s just the start. Wizard World Chicago, June 26-29, will see the release of a second print featuring the cover art to Daredevil #47, the legendary “Brother, Take My Hand” story by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. A third print will be available later in the year, along with other products.

For August, a Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula poster will be available for order via Marvel Previews with proceeds routed to Gene; and in September, a special book reprinting some of Gene’s greatest stories will be made available. In addition to these items, The Hero Initiative will take additional steps to help Gene in his convalescence.

“Gene Colan,” said Roy Thomas, longtime Marvel Comics writer and Hero Initiative Board member, “is one of the most amazingly talented comic book artists in the history of the field. When I was scripting one of his stories, there was no one-not even Neal Adams or John Buscema-whose pencils could make me feel more strongly as if I were looking into a real world. He combines often-photographic realism with dynamism worth of a Kirby…and that makes him unique.”

“Speaking as an artist, in addition to his awe-inspiring renditions of classic comic book heroes, ‘Gentleman’ Gene Colan has been a tremendous inspiration to those of us who have drawn Daredevil,” said Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada. “I’m happy to say that Marvel is working along with The Hero Initiative to help one of the industry’s greats and a member of the Marvel family. Our hearts and thoughts go out to Gene and his family during this tough time, and we hope the rest of this great community can do what they can to help support one its founding members.”

The Year of the Symposium continues with a one-day FREE seminar put together by the New York Institute for the Humanities featuring Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman, Gary Panter, David Hajdu and Hope Larson among others. Jeez, twist our arm some more, will ya? It takes place in NYC the day before MoCCA, so everyone get ready for an EXTRA DAY intelligent discussion of a vibrant medium. You can see all the relevant info here but here are a few details:

An all-day symposium on the growing cultural significance of comics.

with

* LYNDA BARRY * DAVID HAJDU * HOPE LARSON *
* GARY PANTER * MO WILLEMS * ART SPIEGELMAN *
and many other luminaries from the comics world.

Friday, June 6, 2008, 11 am – 9:30 pm
Cantor Film Center at NYU, 36 East 8th Street (at University Place)
Free and open to the public.

Over the past few years comics have escaped from the shtetl and entered the salon. A “big bang” has exploded the assumption that the medium is inherently immature, and comics have hurtled into the worlds of book publishing (as literature for adults and children), contemporary art, literary criticism, and even musical theatre.

This all-day program—free and open to the public—will spotlight major creators of and commentators on comics, highlighting key trends and debates facing comics in this new, “post-bang” environment.

The program will be organized around a series of panel discussions on different aspects of contemporary comics, followed by two sets of conversations with some of the most innovative creators in the comics field.

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News quickly rocketed around last evening that Kiel Phegley has been dismissed from his position at Wizard Magazine. Phegley has been co-writing the Indie Jones column for Wizard.com and spearheaded much of their convention coverage, and was a familiar face on the circuit so it comes as a bit of a surprise. However, with massive personnel changes taking place at the company, and their offices put on the market in an “exploratory move” you can only come to one conclusion — printing magazines just isn’t as lucrative as it used to be.

The Beat wishes Phegley well in his future endeavors — given his very obvious skills, we’re sure he’ll be snatched up soon.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should just be called Indiana Matlock. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It was a lot of fun and very enjoyable. We liked the fake, Frazetta-esque backgrounds during the “Jungle Chase” sequence. We also liked Harrison Ford just fine, and loved Cate Blanchett’s villain. We did not like the space aliens. [Spoiler] Nor did we like the CGI orgy in the third act, but what ya gonna do now–you can’t make a movie like you made Raiders any more.

Also, why was Shia LeBeouf’s crotch constantly being endangered?

The bottom line? Nothing well EVER top the first 15 minutes of Raiders. That boulder was REAL.

Charles Burns has a new art book coming out from French publisher “United Dead Artists”entitled PERMAGEL. It will be 32 pages in a huge 30×40 cm format, printed in double black impression on Rives paper. Stephane Blanquet is the editor.
More information and images.

Golden Age Comic Book Stories reprints some of the mind-bending work of John R. Neil illustrating the sixth book of the Oz series, Emerald City of OZ. Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13 and Chapter 14.

If you love this work as much as we do, you know that it is great not just because of it’s pen and ink virtuosity, or its stunning imagination and in-depth characterizations…

…but because it was as disturbing and sad as hell.

Technorati Tags: Oz