Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Blogging? Fun for how long?
The Post had an interesting article about how something, like blogging on comics, becomes no fun if one is paid for it. Some sites have gone pro and been sold like Comics2Film or Newsarama, while Heidi MacDonald moved herself over to Publishers Weekly. Perhaps one of my colleagues would like to comment on if the fun remains - here's the article. "When Play Becomes Work," By Shankar Vedantam, Monday, July 28, 2008; Page A02. ComicsDC has been ad-free since its inception, much to my wife's dismay.
Dark Knight in Smithsonian IMAX theater
The Express is recommending that one drive out to Dulles to see the Dark Knight in the Air and Space's Museum's annex's IMAX theater. I've got some friends who did it and thought that it was only so-so because the movie was so dark and focused so much on actor's faces which don't need to be 3 stories tall. Speaking as a museum professional, I'm appalled that the Smithsonian shows stuff like this in what was built to be an educational facility. I guess they've got bills that no honest man can pay. But here's the story if you want to check it out.
KAL blogs on China trip
Kal went to China recently as part of a animation and comics festival. He reported on his trip with pictures here.
Borrowing from Beeler? Hope loses job
Clay Jones of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star has written up what either is a case of really similar cartoons or plagiarism. The original cartoon is by Nate Beeler of the Examiner, while the similar one is by Jim Hope, a freelancer for the Culpeper (VA) Star Exponent. Jones linked to a story at the S-E as well, where in the comments Hope maintains it was a coincidence, writing:
The incident of two pieces of art work done by Nate Beeler of the Washington Examiner and the one done by myself was truely coincidental. I had know previous knowledge of Mr. Beeler’s work till I was notified by the Star-Exponent.
After locating Mr. Beeler’s work, I was dumbfounded in the similarities. I contacted Mr. Beeler explaining to him the situation and claimed no right to nore did I plagiarize his work. Mr. Beeler responded, stating, ‘No worries, I’m surprised more people didn’t use that image.’
In my own defense, people in all lines of life come up with the same ideas and concepts, especially in this line of work. I sincerely hope you, the readers understand.
Jones comes down on the side of plagiarism. I honestly have no opinion on this - Nate's a friend, this wasn't a great idea for a cartoon, and I'm not a cartoonist so it's hard to know how inspiration may or may not strike. Certainly I think one can unconsciously borrow an idea that one saw briefly - and the Internet makes it much easier to do that, but also to spot said borrowing. Jones posted the two cartoons as a pdf file as well.
Dave Astor's got this story as well (I didn't get it from him!) - "Cartoonist Loses Freelance Job After Plagiarism Allegation," E&P July 29, 2008.
The incident of two pieces of art work done by Nate Beeler of the Washington Examiner and the one done by myself was truely coincidental. I had know previous knowledge of Mr. Beeler’s work till I was notified by the Star-Exponent.
After locating Mr. Beeler’s work, I was dumbfounded in the similarities. I contacted Mr. Beeler explaining to him the situation and claimed no right to nore did I plagiarize his work. Mr. Beeler responded, stating, ‘No worries, I’m surprised more people didn’t use that image.’
In my own defense, people in all lines of life come up with the same ideas and concepts, especially in this line of work. I sincerely hope you, the readers understand.
Jones comes down on the side of plagiarism. I honestly have no opinion on this - Nate's a friend, this wasn't a great idea for a cartoon, and I'm not a cartoonist so it's hard to know how inspiration may or may not strike. Certainly I think one can unconsciously borrow an idea that one saw briefly - and the Internet makes it much easier to do that, but also to spot said borrowing. Jones posted the two cartoons as a pdf file as well.
Dave Astor's got this story as well (I didn't get it from him!) - "Cartoonist Loses Freelance Job After Plagiarism Allegation," E&P July 29, 2008.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Frederick, MD library hosts anime meetings
This is a pretty common story these days, but here's a local example - "Japanese craze lures teens to library," by Stephanie Mlot @ The Frederick News-Post, July 28, 2008.
Bash, alt-comics newspaper to debut on Friday
Bash, an alt-comics newspaper will debut on Friday, August 1st. The Washington City Paper's website has the story - "Talkin’ Bash," by Andrew Beaujon on Jul. 28, 2008. A pdf will be on their website, but if anyone can grab me a copy or five, I'd appreciate it as I'll be traveling that day. I am very interested in how this works out - I've thought for some time that an alternative approach to newspaper comic strips would be a good idea. The Simpsons is now the longest-running sitcom, the major movies this year are based on comic books, Jim Davis (happy birthday!) sold his jet, but is still a millionaire - there's money in comics.
BTW, I'm not quite sure how I keep getting scooped by every paper in DC, but it's getting embarrassing...
BTW, I'm not quite sure how I keep getting scooped by every paper in DC, but it's getting embarrassing...
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 07-30-08
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 07-30-08
By John Judy
BLACK PANTHER #39 by Jason Aaron and Jefte Palo. Okay, much as I like regular PANTHER scribe Reginald Hudlin, the thought of Jason Aaron, the creator of SCALPED, writing the issue in which the Panther and his kingdom throw down with the Skrull army… Let’s just say it was a “Ledger as Joker Moment.” Highly Recommended.
DOOM PATROL ARCHIVES, VOL. 5 HC by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. The final adventures of the Silver-Age’s strangest team. Collecting issues #114-121. Six-hundred bucks in Near-Mint. A lot cheaper here. Highly Recommended.
ELEPHANTMEN VOL. 1: WOUNDED ANIMALS SC by Richard Starkings and Moritat. Collecting the first seven issues of what Publisher’s Weekly calls a “superior dystopian sci-fi tale” and “a lightning-fast but addictive read.” Recommended.
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 7 SC by The Guys Who Did FF When I Was a Kid. Collecting issues #138-159, plus two Annuals and more. This one has the first appearance of Madrox the Multiple Man and the wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal. Fun stuff, hours of entertainment, dirt cheap!
GREEN LANTERN #33 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. The adventures of Hal Jordan and his good buddy Sinestro continue. For realz.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL #1 by Geoff Johns and Jerry Ordway. Power Girl gets her dream come true: Earth-2 lives again! Works for me.
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DEFENDERS VOL. 1 HC by Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Ross Andru and Sal Buscema. Collecting SUB MARINER #34 & 35, MARVEL FEATURE #1-3, and DEFENDERS #1-6. These comics would set you back almost 800 bucks if you bought them from the back issue bin. Cheaper here. Featuring Doc Strange, Sub-Mariner, the Hulk and the Silver Surfer! Evil don’t stand a chance! Recommended.
NEWUNIVERSAL: 1959 by Kieron Gillen and Greg Scott. Warren Ellis’s “hand-picked” protégé writer takes on the history of the New New Universe, making it, in theory, the New New Universe of Old. Anyway, if you can still remember the last issue of NEWUNIVERSAL (early May 2008), there was a guy named Philip Voight who killed superpeople back in the 50s. This is his story.
NORTHLANDERS #8 by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. No Skrulls! No Mutants! Just good old fashioned Vikings and Violence! Highly recommended!
PREVIEWS by Marvel and Diamond Comics. Start making your holiday wish lists!
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS # 5 of 7 by Alex Ross and Company. Souring people on the Golden Age of Comics one issue at a time.
REIGN IN HELL #1 of 8 by Keith Giffen and Matt Clark. It’s a battle for the rulership of Hell in the DC Universe. I nominate whoever thought it would be a good idea to keep doing year-long weeklies after “52.”
SKRULLS VS POWER PACK #1 of 4 by Fred Van Lente and Cory Hamscher. Wow. Who do you root for here? I root for Van Lente because he did ACTION PHILOSOPHERS!
THOR #10 by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel. If the pay-off to this story is not something along the lines of “Loki, how stupid do you think we are?” I for one am going to feel let down. Good stuff. Also out this week is the first trade collection featuring issues #1-6. Enjoy!
TRINITY #9 by Various Creators. Okay, I hate to say this because some of the creators involved are very talented and/or nice people, but this series is Not Good. DC is asking fans for a total of $155.48 plus local sales taxes over the course of a year for this book and …. No. “52” was worth it. COUNTDOWN and now TRINITY are not. Take the three bucks a week and try a new series, kids. Or save up for a trade collection. SCALPED, NORTHLANDERS, CRIMINAL or (heck, if it has to be capes) why not ASTRO CITY? These are all great books that deserve more support. DC should wrap up TRINITY ten months early and blame the Time-Trapper or something. Un-Recommended.
TRUE BELIEVERS #1 of 5 by Cary Bates and Paul Gulacy. A veteran creative team brings us a super-team for the Information Age, a crazy bunch of kids who expose evil on the internets, kind of like MoveOn.Org but with skimpier outfits. There’s a preview on Marvel’s website. Worth a look, but not for younger kids.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #124 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen. Ultimate Beetle, I swear to god…. Plus Ultimate Venom is naked.
WOLVERINE #67 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The imaginary story “Old Man Logan” continues as Hawkeye and Logan head East and Logan tries not to kill people. It’s very entertaining but I still want my money back for “Wanted”, Mr. Millar. Recommended.
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #27 by Daniel Way and Stephen Segovia. Balancing out the quality of the main Wolverine title is the transcendent suckiness of this one. Like Yin and Yang, for every Wolverine story employing subtlety and nuance in his character, there is another which invents tranny clones and long-lost sons who are able to have tattoos despite an inherited healing factor which would make tattoos impossible. What is the sound of one hand ripping a bad comic to pieces? Cleansing breaths now. Ommm….
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
BLACK PANTHER #39 by Jason Aaron and Jefte Palo. Okay, much as I like regular PANTHER scribe Reginald Hudlin, the thought of Jason Aaron, the creator of SCALPED, writing the issue in which the Panther and his kingdom throw down with the Skrull army… Let’s just say it was a “Ledger as Joker Moment.” Highly Recommended.
DOOM PATROL ARCHIVES, VOL. 5 HC by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. The final adventures of the Silver-Age’s strangest team. Collecting issues #114-121. Six-hundred bucks in Near-Mint. A lot cheaper here. Highly Recommended.
ELEPHANTMEN VOL. 1: WOUNDED ANIMALS SC by Richard Starkings and Moritat. Collecting the first seven issues of what Publisher’s Weekly calls a “superior dystopian sci-fi tale” and “a lightning-fast but addictive read.” Recommended.
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 7 SC by The Guys Who Did FF When I Was a Kid. Collecting issues #138-159, plus two Annuals and more. This one has the first appearance of Madrox the Multiple Man and the wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal. Fun stuff, hours of entertainment, dirt cheap!
GREEN LANTERN #33 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. The adventures of Hal Jordan and his good buddy Sinestro continue. For realz.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL #1 by Geoff Johns and Jerry Ordway. Power Girl gets her dream come true: Earth-2 lives again! Works for me.
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DEFENDERS VOL. 1 HC by Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Ross Andru and Sal Buscema. Collecting SUB MARINER #34 & 35, MARVEL FEATURE #1-3, and DEFENDERS #1-6. These comics would set you back almost 800 bucks if you bought them from the back issue bin. Cheaper here. Featuring Doc Strange, Sub-Mariner, the Hulk and the Silver Surfer! Evil don’t stand a chance! Recommended.
NEWUNIVERSAL: 1959 by Kieron Gillen and Greg Scott. Warren Ellis’s “hand-picked” protégé writer takes on the history of the New New Universe, making it, in theory, the New New Universe of Old. Anyway, if you can still remember the last issue of NEWUNIVERSAL (early May 2008), there was a guy named Philip Voight who killed superpeople back in the 50s. This is his story.
NORTHLANDERS #8 by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. No Skrulls! No Mutants! Just good old fashioned Vikings and Violence! Highly recommended!
PREVIEWS by Marvel and Diamond Comics. Start making your holiday wish lists!
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS # 5 of 7 by Alex Ross and Company. Souring people on the Golden Age of Comics one issue at a time.
REIGN IN HELL #1 of 8 by Keith Giffen and Matt Clark. It’s a battle for the rulership of Hell in the DC Universe. I nominate whoever thought it would be a good idea to keep doing year-long weeklies after “52.”
SKRULLS VS POWER PACK #1 of 4 by Fred Van Lente and Cory Hamscher. Wow. Who do you root for here? I root for Van Lente because he did ACTION PHILOSOPHERS!
THOR #10 by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel. If the pay-off to this story is not something along the lines of “Loki, how stupid do you think we are?” I for one am going to feel let down. Good stuff. Also out this week is the first trade collection featuring issues #1-6. Enjoy!
TRINITY #9 by Various Creators. Okay, I hate to say this because some of the creators involved are very talented and/or nice people, but this series is Not Good. DC is asking fans for a total of $155.48 plus local sales taxes over the course of a year for this book and …. No. “52” was worth it. COUNTDOWN and now TRINITY are not. Take the three bucks a week and try a new series, kids. Or save up for a trade collection. SCALPED, NORTHLANDERS, CRIMINAL or (heck, if it has to be capes) why not ASTRO CITY? These are all great books that deserve more support. DC should wrap up TRINITY ten months early and blame the Time-Trapper or something. Un-Recommended.
TRUE BELIEVERS #1 of 5 by Cary Bates and Paul Gulacy. A veteran creative team brings us a super-team for the Information Age, a crazy bunch of kids who expose evil on the internets, kind of like MoveOn.Org but with skimpier outfits. There’s a preview on Marvel’s website. Worth a look, but not for younger kids.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #124 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen. Ultimate Beetle, I swear to god…. Plus Ultimate Venom is naked.
WOLVERINE #67 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The imaginary story “Old Man Logan” continues as Hawkeye and Logan head East and Logan tries not to kill people. It’s very entertaining but I still want my money back for “Wanted”, Mr. Millar. Recommended.
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #27 by Daniel Way and Stephen Segovia. Balancing out the quality of the main Wolverine title is the transcendent suckiness of this one. Like Yin and Yang, for every Wolverine story employing subtlety and nuance in his character, there is another which invents tranny clones and long-lost sons who are able to have tattoos despite an inherited healing factor which would make tattoos impossible. What is the sound of one hand ripping a bad comic to pieces? Cleansing breaths now. Ommm….
www.johnjudy.net
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Annapolis comic book collectors featured in paper
"Local comic fans have Marvel-ous collections," By THERESA WINSLOW, Staff Writer, Annapolis Capital July 27, 2008
Hellboy game review in Onion UPDATED
This is in the physical paper this week - "Hellboy: Science Of Evil," Reviewed by Scott Jones, Onion July 21st, 2008.
Other items on comics are appearing on their website:
Jeff Smith
Interviewed by Tasha Robinson
Onion July 28th, 2008
Jules Feiffer
interviewed by Sam Adams
Onion July 29th, 2008
Mike Mignola
Interviewed by Jason Heller
July 24th, 2008
The Luna Brothers
Interviewed by Tasha Robinson
Onion July 25th, 2008
San Diego Comic Con, Day 0: July 23, 2008
By Keith Phipps
Onion July 24th, 2008
Your guide to the WALL-E controversy
posted by: Sean O'Neal
July 10, 2008
Other items on comics are appearing on their website:
Jeff Smith
Interviewed by Tasha Robinson
Onion July 28th, 2008
Jules Feiffer
interviewed by Sam Adams
Onion July 29th, 2008
Mike Mignola
Interviewed by Jason Heller
July 24th, 2008
The Luna Brothers
Interviewed by Tasha Robinson
Onion July 25th, 2008
San Diego Comic Con, Day 0: July 23, 2008
By Keith Phipps
Onion July 24th, 2008
Your guide to the WALL-E controversy
posted by: Sean O'Neal
July 10, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
New York Times coverage of San Diego Comic-con
"Comic-Con Brings Out the Stars, and Plugs for Movies," By MICHAEL CIEPLY, New York Times July 25, 2008.
"Comics for a Story by Stephen King, Too," By JULIE BOSMAN, New York Times July 26, 2008.
"In Comic-Con Galaxy, Stars and Terrestrials Meet," By MICHAEL CIEPLY, New York Times July 26, 2008.
"Comics for a Story by Stephen King, Too," By JULIE BOSMAN, New York Times July 26, 2008.
"In Comic-Con Galaxy, Stars and Terrestrials Meet," By MICHAEL CIEPLY, New York Times July 26, 2008.
Toles picks up Oregon newspaper
Tom Toles will be in Astoria, Oregon's paper the Daily Astorian, which will be using his syndicated strips. The article doesn't mention who they dropped.
Steve Heller reviews Mauldin, Panter, Baseman and Wacky Packages
"The Artist at War," Reviews by STEVEN HELLER, New York Times Book Review July 27, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
New book of wordless graphic novels by David Berona
Some years ago, I worked on a wordless comics bibliography - "Stories Without Words : A Bibliography with Annotations" compiled by Michael Rhode, Tom Furtwangler, and David Wybenga, International Journal of Comic Art,v. 2, no. 2 (Fall 2000), p. 265-306.
David Berona's done more than anyone else to bring some forgotten works back to public view. Here's a profile of him: "Central alum writes the book on wordless books; David Berona links wordless books of '30s to today's graphic novels," By Andrew McGinn, Springfield News Sun Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Needless to say, the bibliography's out of date. Lio's my current favorite wordless comic strip.
David Berona's done more than anyone else to bring some forgotten works back to public view. Here's a profile of him: "Central alum writes the book on wordless books; David Berona links wordless books of '30s to today's graphic novels," By Andrew McGinn, Springfield News Sun Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Needless to say, the bibliography's out of date. Lio's my current favorite wordless comic strip.
Zadzooks on Hellboy book
"ZADZOOKS: Hellboy: Behind the scenes," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Animation Show review
The Animation Show, Mike Judge's animation shorts program, has made it to NYC - here's a review - "Life in Motion," By NATHAN LEE, New York Times July 25, 2008.
Matt Dembicki featured on Fairfax Library podcast
Matt just wrote in to say, "[Sam Clay,] the director of the Fairfax County Library System did a recent podcast interview wih me." Cool! Matt's been teaching cartooning classes in the system off and on, I believe. Here he talks about Mr. Big, the graphic novel about a snapping turtle he did with his wife. Matt revealed he's influenced by Wally Wood, Steve Bissette, Alan Moore, and Frank Miller. The link will take you to a whole page of interviews.
John Hefner's one man show
John Hefner used to work at Big Planet Comics. He's been doing a one-man show recently and unfortunately I just found this DCist post by Chris Klimek to realize I missed his recent appearances in town.
Tracking Jason Rodriguez, part 4
Jason's got a new post up taking him through Arizona and New Mexico - July 24, 2008 - Coast-to-Coast Comicdom: Sweating the Southwest.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
DC Anime Club cosplay in Silver Spring
Details at "Dressing in character is part of ‘Cosplay’ fun," by Aaron Kraut, Montgomery Gazette Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The Alliance Comics and Games store used to be one of Geppi's stores, way back in the early mists of the direct market.
AO Scott is tired of comic book movies
And he'll tell you why in "How Many Superheroes Does It Take to Tire a Genre?" By A. O. SCOTT, New York Times July 24, 2008.
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