QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 05-07-08

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 05-07-08
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #558 by Bob Gale and Barry Kitson. I really miss J. Michael Straczynski….

AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #2 of 4 by Harvey Pekar and Associates. It’s an all-personal growth issue starring the Elvis of autobiographical comics!

AVENGERS/INVADERS #1 of 12 by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Steve Sadowski. What Roy Thomas did in the seventies in four or five pages The Ross Machine’s going to do in 12 issues. Positive points: 1. The cover ink will not give you a rash. 2. By the time issue 12 comes out we’ll have a new President. 3….. Let me get back to you.

BOYS #18 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Wee Hughie vs. Blarney Cock, dead or alive! Not for kids. Recommended.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #14 by Drew Goddard and Georges Jeanty. It starts with a dead slayer and ramps up from there. Cool.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY #1 by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, Luca Rossi, and Lotsa Guest Artists. You like stories? We got stories! Recommended!

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca. Just in time for the most awesome movie ever, the Golden Avenger gets a title that’s readable again. Really quite good on its own merits and maybe my favorite work by Matt Fraction yet. And that Larroca fella can scribble! Recommended! PS- Lotsa variant covers and related merchandise this week.

IRON MAN: VIVA LAS VEGAS #1 of 4 by Jon Favreau and Adi Granov. Written by the guy who directed the Greatest Movie of All Time! Hoo-hah!

LOGAN #3 of 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso. The final issue of this rarity: A Wolverine series that does not suck. Smart script plus beautiful art equals “Recommended.”

MAN WITH NO NAME #1 by Christos Gage and Wellington Dias. The iconic Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western character has his own comic. Hear that whistling…?

MIGHTY AVENGERS #13 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Watch out Skrulls! Nick Fury’s back and he’s got a new bunch of Howling Commandos! Some Avengers appear also.

QUESTION VOL. 2: POISONED GROUND SC by Dennis O’Neill and Denys Cowan. Collecting issues #7-12 of the adventures of the late Vic Sage. Great 80s comics. Recommended.

SECRET INVASION #2 of 8 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. Not so secret anymore! Big fights! De-Skrullification! Six more to go!

TOR #1 of 6 written and illustrated by Joe Kubert. Comics legend Kubert takes a fresh pass at his Silver-Age creation, a prehistoric man on a quest for answers. Gotta look!

X-FACTOR: QUICK AND THE DEAD #1 by Peter David and Pablo Raimondi. Separate from the main title this one focuses on how Quicksilver went bad/crazy. Or did he?

YOUNG X-MEN #2 by Marc Guggenheim and Yanick Paquette. If half these characters don’t turn out to be Skrulls I’m going to be very disappointed.

www.johnjudy.net

May 6: Marvel EiC Joe Quesada on Post chat

Oddly enough, I really can't think of anything I want to ask him...

Tuesday, May 6 at Noon ET
Talking With Joe Quesada
Editor in Chief, Marvel Comics
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; 12:00 PM

It was a good weekend for Joe Quesada. The editor in chief of Marvel Comics saw the movie "Iron Man," an adaptation of one of his company's comics, soar to the top of the box office. Next month, a new version of "The Incredible Hulk" also arrives in theaters.

Quesada will be online Tuesday, May 6 at noon ET to discuss both of those projects, Marvel's venture into producing its own films and anything else related to the comic book world.

Submit questions before or during the discussion.

Murakami exhibit reviewed in Post

The Murakami exhibit's in NYC, but here's the Post's excellent critic Blake Gopnik on it - "Toying With Catastrophe: Takashi Murakami Coats the Toxic Fruit of Consumer Culture With Bold, Playful Imagery," Washington Post Monday, May 5, 2008; C01.

Post's Style and Arts section goes to the cartoons

Three! articles in one section on comics:

1. Reggie Hudlin and BET with glances at Boondocks and Black Panther - "Channel Changer: Three Years Ago, Reggie Hudlin Came To Save a Troubled BET. But Has He?" By Teresa Wiltz, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, May 4, 2008; M01.

2. A glance at Oliphant's sculpture of Rumsfeld on display in Woodley Park - "Capturing a Hero for Posterity," by John Pancake, Washington Post May 4, 2008

3. Quesada on Marvel - "Now here we are. We're going to be producing our own stuff.": There's Nothing Mild-Mannered About Joe Quesada's Marvel Comics," by David Betancourt, Washington Post Sunday, May 4, 2008; M02.

and not on comics, but on visual art is this fascinating piece on the true colors of ancient statuary - "Correcting a Colorblind View of the Treasures of Antiquity," By Blake Gopnik, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page M01.

Zadzooks on Iron Man toys

See "Iron Man toys show evolution of his armor," By Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times May 3, 2008. Also, I believe Burger King is offering toys as well.

Richard's Poor Almanack annual Free Comic Book Day cartoon

See it on his blog.

I was at Hole in the Wall books in Vienna, VA and they had it posted. I mentioned it and they started wondering how he could get the life of a comic book store owner so accurate in the last bit of the cartoon.

TwoMorrows Free Comic Book Day includes free downloads

Not exactly Washington DC-centric, but a fine offer nonetheless...


This weekend, we're celebrating Free Comic Book Day by offering FREE publications, both in comic book stores worldwide, and online at www.twomorrows.com.

On Saturday, May 3, 2008, our new COMICS GO HOLLYWOOD publication will be available free of charge at comic book shops. This 32-page comic-size book was assembled exclusively for Free Comic Book Day by our regular magazine editors, and reveals secrets behind your favorite on-screen heroes, and what's involved in taking a character from the comics page to the big screen. It includes storyboards from DC's animated hit "The New Frontier" (courtesy of DRAW! magazine), JEPH LOEB on writing for both Marvel Comics and the Heroes TV show (courtesy of WRITE NOW! magazine), details of an unseen X-Men movie (courtesy of ALTER EGO magazine), a history of the Joker from his 1940s origins to his upcoming appearance in the Dark Knight film (courtesy of BACK ISSUE magazine), and a look at Marvel Universe co-creator Jack Kirby's Hollywood career, with extensive Kirby art (courtesy of my own JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine).

This one-shot sampler of our magazine line is also available in print form free from our website (a shipping charge applies), or as a free downloadable Digital Edition just by logging in and adding it to your shopping cart, and checking out. Also, last year's FCBD publication, COMICS 101 (featuring how-to and history lessons from top comicsprofessionals) is also available for free in print or digital form at
www.twomorrows.com.

To give readers a chance to sample complete issues of our publications, we're again offering free downloadable Digital Editions of these recent issues of our magazines, only from May 3-4:

Alter Ego #65
Back Issue #21
Jack Kirby Collector #47
Write Now #14
Draw #12
Rough Stuff #3
BrickJournal Vol. 1, #9

We've also added several new Digital Editions of past issues of our magazines (each available for $2.95 per download), just in time for the FCBD event, and the newest episode of the TwoMorrows Tune-In podcast (hosted by Chris Marshall) has just debuted, featuring behind-the-scenes info on our upcoming publications.

So be sure to go to your local comics shop, and stop by our website and load up on free stuff!

Best regards,
John Morrow
TwoMorrows
10407 Bedfordtown Dr.
Raleigh, NC 27614
919-449-0344
fax 919-449-0327

Saw Iron Man tonight...

...and it was good. Fanboy city as I went with friends from work. It's a mish-mash of the Stane takeover of Stark International and Armor Wars and a lot of the Michelenie - Layton years which is when I really liked the comic. Robert Downie Jr. makes the movie though - with a less-talented actor, this would have been a snooze.

For the Post's take, see "'Iron Man' Shows Strength of Character," By Ann Hornaday, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, May 2, 2008; C01.

Legalize Free Comics!

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1397009

As much as I suppose I should, as a DC-area resident, be more in tune to what a Congressional Resolution supporting Free Comic Book Day would mean in real life, it's pretty cool to see our pasttime/hobby/obsession getting that level of attention...

Comics Buzz in today's Examiner

The May 1st Virginia edition of The Examiner has a good handful of comics-oriented blurbs.

The top of page 5 has a piece about the the Ditko Spidey pages going to the Library of Congress.

The List: Your Guide to Weekend Arts & Entertainment points out Free Comic Book Day as #4 of the top 5 "Best Family" events for the weekend on page 17, listing the URL (www.freecomicbookday.com).

They also list the Herblock's Presidents exhibit as the Best Gallery exhibit (page 18).

And, of course, Iron Man is listed as Best Movie (p. 18).

Good to have a comics-friendly paper hereabouts!

Herblock exhibit blog article

I still haven't written my review, but another press conference attendee has done his - "Poking Fun at the Presidents," By Kenneth R. Fletcher for the Smithsonian Magazine's Around the Mall blog April 30, 2008.

Library of Congress blogs, Smithsonian blogs... it's a brave new world.

Wash Post on Iron Man movie backstory

See "Nerve Of Steel: To Pull Off the Making of 'Iron Man' Took Some Transformative Powers," by John Anderson, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, May 1, 2008; C01.

Pretty good article - I like Robert Downey Jr. and I've got high enough hopes for this that I'm doing the geek thing and will be at the Uptown on Friday at 7 pm.

Semi-OT: Marc Weidenbaum on DJ Spooky in Nature

This one's stretching a little, but my friend and Viz Editor (and former Tower Records Pulse! comics editor) Marc Wiedenbaum's got a review of a new book by DJ Spooky, who was born in DC and has gone on to being, in Marc's words, "a centre-stage cultural figure — performer, composer, remixer, sound artist and activist." And it's in Nature!

See, if you can, Nature 453, 33-34 (1 May 2008); Published online 30 April 2008
An experimental musician explores how technology has transformed our cut-and-paste culture.
BOOK REVIEWED-Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture
edited by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid
MIT Press: 2008. 416 pp (plus CD). $29.95, £17.95

Actually it's pretty interesting. I have little to no interest in the music that Spooky would be DJ'ing, but the concepts in the book sound intriguing.

OT: New York Times cartoon journalism on website

Cartoon journalism is one of those minor interests of mine, and somewhere I've got a bibliography of it floating around. For a new example, see the New York Times' "Primary Pen & Ink: Asheville, N.C." - Campbell Robertson, a reporter for The Times, and an occasional cartoonist, is talking to voters around North Carolina in the week leading up to the state’s primary on Tuesday. His reports will be presented in graphic form.

Wuerker takes flight

Matt Wuerker, cartoonist of The Politico, has painted a plane sculpture for Crystal Flight, in Crystal City, Arlington.

The event, running through is described on Crystal City's webpage:

In Spring 2008, Crystal City will celebrate its long-standing connection to flight when 50 airplane statues (25 fighter jets and 25 vintage planes) land on the streets of Crystal City. Each Crystal Flight plane is sponsored by an area business, designed and decorated by talented local artists, and then placed throughout Crystal City beginning April 2008. Aimed to attract visitors from all over, this series showcases
Crystal City's integral relationship with the concept of "Flight," as illustrated by the proximity to Washington National Airport and the local presence of the United States Air Force, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and more. Come see the fun, the creative, the whimsy.

There's also a map to the statues on that page. Matt's plane is right outside the subway station.

Kjscrafts describes Matt's plane as "This is a fun plane statue with an Uncle Sam looking pilot added to it. It red and white stripes on the body of the plane. The tail has a star and the word Politico (the sponsor for this particular statue)."

Anyone know if these will be for sale after the event? Anyone got a picture of Matt's plane?

Amazing Fantasy 15 - Library of Congress press release

The Library of Congress has issued a press release for the story we broke over a week ago, thanks to a casual conversation. Ahh, Washington - it's all in who you know...

Check out their blog post too, linked to further down in the press release. I grabbed two pictures from it, but there are a couple more.

(Photos from Library of Congress blog)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

April 30, 2008

Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Sara W. Duke (202) 707-3630, sduk@loc.gov

Library of Congress Receives Original Drawings for the First Spider-man Story, “Amazing Fantasy #15”

In a deed of superheroic proportions, an anonymous donor has given the Library of Congress the original artwork by Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics’ “Amazing Fantasy #15” – the comic book that introduced Spider-Man in August 1962.

This unique set of drawings for 24 pages features the story of the origin of Spider-Man along with three other short stories – also written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko – for the same issue: “The Bell-Ringer,” “Man in the Mummy Case” and “There Are Martians Among Us.”

“The donation of these wonderful drawings is a treasured gift to the American people. The opportunity to see the original art behind the published stories will benefit comic-book readers as well as popular-culture scholars,” said Sara W. Duke, curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division. “Looking at the drawings inspires a new appreciation for the artist’s skill and design choices and also deepens our understanding of how a superhero created to attract a teenage audience became a cultural icon with mass appeal.”

For comic-book scholars and fans, this donation is a fantasy-come-true. Those who have heard the news of the survival of these drawings and their future availability at the Library of Congress have already expressed great excitement.

The black-and-white, large-format drawings (21 x 15 inches) detail the transformation of high school bookworm Peter Parker into Spider-Man. He is bitten by a radioactive spider, discovers his new powers and develops his now well-known disguise. The first episode concludes with several of the most famous lines attached to the story of Spider-Man: “With great power there must also come great responsibility … and so a legend is born and a new name is added to the roster of those who make the world of fantasy the most exciting realm of all.”

To view a sample of these drawings, visit the Library of Congress blog at http://www.loc.gov/blog/?p=290.

The donor, who has asked to remain anonymous, preserved the drawings with great care before turning to the Library of Congress to ensure that the designs will be available to researchers for generations to come. In the next few weeks, the Library plans to scan the drawings for easy access on-site in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, and the digital reference copies will also help preserve the fragile original artwork.

Appointments to view the original drawings can be requested through the Prints & Photographs Division’s “Ask a Librarian” service at http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-print.html.

The Spider-Man drawings join a premier collection of original cartoons in the Library’s Prints & Photographs Division. The collection includes more than 125,000 caricatures, comic strips, and political and social commentaries from the 1600s to the present. An ongoing program to preserve and exhibit drawings and to encourage cartoon research is sponsored by the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. For more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with more than 138 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. As the world’s largest repository of knowledge and creativity, the Library is a symbol of democracy and the principles on which this nation was founded. Today the Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site, in its 22 reading rooms on Capitol Hill, and through its award-winning Web site at www.loc.gov.

# # #

PR08-89

4/30/08

ISSN: 0731-3527

ICAF 2007 - Kyle Baker speaks

The International Comic Arts Forum was at the Library of Congress in 2007, and the Library routinely records events. The tapes of the event were given by ICAF to Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection, but I have a cd copy of them and was able to provide a mp3s of Kyle Baker speaking about his career for a researcher from the comix-scholars listserve, rather than putting Librarian Randy Scott to the effort of getting a tape duplicated. The tape was corrupted and had another program recorded over most of the first side of it - it picks up with Baker talking about when he was doing "King David." The second side moves onto "Nat Turner." The session ends with him answering semi-audible questions from the audience.

Baker's one of the best cartoonists working today in comic books today. I enjoy his work immensely (although I'm still disgruntled about how he and Andy Helfer abused my hero, The Shadow in the 1980s) and hearing him speak about it was a treat. Credit goes to Stanford Carpenter who booked him for ICAF.

Herblock 100th birthday book coming

I was fortunate enough to attend a preview of the National Portrait Gallery's new Herblock exhibit today - I'll post about that in the next day or so - and met Ms. Jean Rickard, Herb Block's Girl Friday for decades. She mentioned a project that the Herb Block Foundation is doing next year. It's a book about Herblock with DVDs of 16,000 of his cartoons included. The book includes a 4,000 word essay by Herblock's former colleague at the Post, Haynes Johnson. It comes out on his 100th birthday, October 13, 2009.

May 3: Free Comic Book Day offer from Hogan's Alley

One of the best general comics magazines is Hogan's Alley and I'm not saying that because I write for them once in a while. After all, they don't pay me. I'm saying it because it's true. And the editor Tom Heintjes is making an offer you can't refuse:

Mark your calendars for this Saturday, May 3: Free Comic Book Day! Send us an e-mail at hoganmag@gmail.com ON THAT DATE with your mailing address, and we’ll send you a FREE issue of Hogan’s Alley! No obligations, no strings attached; the only thing it will cost you is several hours as you enjoy the issue. (This offer is valid for all U.S. residents, whether you’re a current subscriber or not.) Remember the one condition--we must receive your e-mail request on Free Comic Book Day, not the day before or the day after.

Set your calendars now!

May 3: Free Comic Book Day signings

Randy T. had put this in a comment, but I think it's important enough to move it up into a post:

Pretty disappointed to see so few creator signings locally to coincide with this event (http://www.freecomicbookday.com/creator_signing.asp).

I did, however, notice that Matt Dembicki and Andrew Cohen will be signing at Beyond Comics in Gaithersburg, MD. I only found that since he was signing last year at Big Planet's Vienna, VA store and I figured he'd do so again this year, even though it's not on the creator signings listing at FCBD's web pages.

If you feel like traveling, though, try the following:

Cards, Comics & Collectibles in Reisterstown, MD is having Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules!), Steve Conley (Star Trek), and John Gallagher (Buzzboy).

Collector's Corner in Parkville, MD is having Michael S. Bracco (Novo), Tony Calandra (No-One!), Pat Carlucci (Marvel Masterpieces), Ver Curtis (Moonstone Comics), Kata Dales (Lost in the Woods), J.D. Dracoules (Trailer Park of Terror), G.W. Fisher (Shadowhawk), Nathan Getz (No-One!), Ross Kerr (Lost in the Woods), Sunny Lee (Gen 13) [tentative], Chris March (Trailer Park of Terror), H.C. Noel (Mr. Scootles), and Frank Zeigler (Waki & Rusty).

Super Villains Inc. in Nottingham, MD is having Greg LaRocque (Legion of Super-Heroes), Arvid Nelson (Rex Mundi), and Jeff Parker (Marvel Adventures: Iron Man – FCBD 2008 Ed.)

And Washington Street Books in Havre de Grace, MD is having Chelsea Carr (Baltimore Betty), Greg Cox (Star Trek), and Gale Heimbach (Green Hornet).