Saturday, July 24, 2010

Harvey Pekar reminiscence by a long-time coworker

This is a nice letter from one of his co-workers at the VA hospital:

A day in the working life of VA file clerk and 'American Splendor' creator Harvey Pekar
Friday, July 23, 2010

At some point I'll try to list all of the interviews that popped up after Harvey's death, but hadn't been included in Harvey Pekar: Conversations.

Washington Post on Comics-Con

An article in print today -

Comic-Con in San Diego makes a heroic effort to party hearty
By Jen Chaney
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 24, 2010; C05

and five more stories on their Comic Riffs blog

COMIC-CON 2010: Legend STAN LEE talks 'geek power,' new movies -- & why he was embarrassed to be a comic-book writer
By Michael Cavna | July 23, 2010

COMIC-CON 2010: 'iCarly's' JERRY TRAINOR goes 'b-i-g' to voice the new cartoon 'T.U.F.F. Puppy'
By Michael Cavna | July 24, 2010

COMIC-CON 2010 Interviews: MAD magazine artists 'excited' about TV show for a new generation
By Michael Cavna | July 24, 2010

COMIC-CON 2010: 'Opus's' BERKELEY BREATHED talks pigs, penguins & the thrill of adapting 'Pete & Pickles' for animation
By Michael Cavna | July 23, 2010

COMIC-CON 2010: Rising OLIVIA MUNN has already inherited the geeks. Will she now inherit the Earth?
By Michael Cavna | July 23, 2010

Comics on the Rack, Quick Picks for Comics Due 07-28-10

COMICS ON THE RACK

Quick Picks for Comics Due 07-28-10

By John Judy

ABE SAPIEN: ABYSSAL PLAIN #2 of 2 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg. "We're all dead in a commie submarine, a commie submarine, a commie submarine!" Recommended.

ACTION COMICS #891 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods. Lex Luthor has taken over as the star of this book and is up to some insanely depraved stuff even for him. Can Lex regain his Orange Lantern juice? And who's gonna be dumb enough to get in his way? Highly recommended.

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #5 by Stephen King, Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque. Wrapping up the first arc with some fang-tastic payback! Recommended. Not for kids.

BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #4 of 6 by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart. Bruce just hopped the DeLorean into the wild, wild west! Will the Time-Masters catch up with him before he actually makes it back? Or will he??? Recommended.

BATMAN: THE WIDENING GYRE #6 of 6 by Kevin Smith and Walter Flanagan. Ha! I knew there was a Smith title that hadn't come out in a while! I knew it! Issue #5 was out in March! BTW, did you know there's going to be a second volume to this story? Supposedly it will run from July through December 2010 "after a six-month hiatus." Thank-you, Kevin Smith! My world feels normal once again.

BUZZARD #2 of 3 written and drawn by Eric Powell with a back-up feature drawn by Kyle Hotz. A solo adventure of your favorite mystery man from THE GOON. Highly recommended.

FANTASTIC FOUR #581 by Jonathan Hickman and Neil Edwards. Reed's dad shows up during his son's college years to press Reed, Ben and young Doc Doom into service. It's a retcon road trip!

FLASH #4 by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul. Captain Boomerang is back from the dead and ready to make you stop laughing at his name! Flash-fact!

GREEN LANTERN #56 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hector Hammond and his huge head get back in the game. Creepy cover.

INCORRUPTIBLE #8 by Mark Waid and Horacio Domingues. Reformed super-creep Max Damage has to keep two sidekicks above ground. A difficult task considering some non-reformed creep just let some daylight through ol' Max. Recommended.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #47 by James Robinson and Mark Bagley. The latest JLA/JSA cross-over continues! Original Green Lantern Alan Scott has gone nuts and it's gonna take both teams to chill him out! Big fights and lots of 'em!

LIFE WITH ARCHIE: MARRIED LIFE #1 by Michael Uslan and a Team of Fine Artists. A continuation of the popular stories in which Archie married both Betty and Veronica. Who knew Archie was a Mormon?

NORTHLANDERS #30 by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. Bonnie and Clyde in the time of the Vikings! Highly recommended!

PREVIEWS by Marvel and Diamond Comics. Imagine yourself reading these comics outside on a cool Fall day three months from now… Nice.

PUNISHERMAX #9 by Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon. Bullseye finally goes too far. Think about that one for a minute.

RASL #8 written and drawn by Jeff Smith. His back to the wall, science-punk Rasl lashes out. Highly recommended.

SECRET AVENGERS #3 by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato. Nova's gone nuts and now the gang's gotta duke it out on Mars. Big fight!

THOR #612 by Kieron Gillen and Doug Braithwaite. Thor goes to Hell. But enough about the post-Kirby years…

ULTIMATE COMICS MYSTERY #1 of 4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Rafa Sandoval. "Umm, why is Marvel still doing this line of books?" Wait! No! It's the sequel to ULTIMATE COMICS ENEMY! Y'know, the one where they never told you who the bad guy was even after you bought all four issues! Not to worry, they'll clue us in at the end of the next four-issue mini-series after this one fer sure! Excelsior!

UNCANNY X-MEN #526 by Matt Fraction, Alan Heinberg, Olivier Coipel and Whilce Portacio. Five new mutants have popped up. That requires an extra creative team in my book. "Five Lights" no waiting.

WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #15 by Jason Aaron and Ron Garney. The final chapter in the Deathlok story. For now… Recommended.

WONDER WOMAN #601 by J. Michael Straczynski, Don Kramer and Michael Babinski. Love him or hate him, JMS doesn't go half-way on an idea. Here he completely revamps the Amazon Princess. Will it work? Time will tell… Gotta look.

X-MEN LEGACY #238 by Mike Carey and Clay Mann. This is set in India. Apparently there's a new mutant whose power is answering the phone.

www.johnjudy.net

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Comic Riffs interviews Keith Knight and Dan DiDio

COMIC-CON 2010: Keith Knight talks new books, Nappy Hours & why he won't be on an Angry Black Panel
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 22, 2010

COMIC-CON 2010: DC's DAN DiDIO talks Superman, Wonder Woman & why he loves fan interaction
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 22, 2010

'South Park' would-be censorer arrested

Man arrested in terrorist case was 'South Park' protester
By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post July 22, 2010

Disneyland inspired local golf course

Disney-inspired Woody's Golf Range in Herndon celebrates 30 years
By Gregg MacDonald
Fairfax County Times
Thursday, July 22, 2010; VA17

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Scott Pilgrim bandwagon token post

Big Planet Comics in Bethesda has free miniposters for the upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs the World movie.

Riffs on Comic-con's overgrowth

Has COMIC-CON outgrown San Diego? 9 big-time guests tell us where to go
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 21, 2010

I think Cavna's gone home for the madness as he says he'll be posting on the Con frequently.

Weldon's book reviews and recommendations

Five Great Books They Won't Talk About At Comic-Con, by Glen Weldon, July 21, 2010.

Richmond's free weekly comic strip issue

The Comic Strip Issue, Style Weekly 7/20/2010.

I'd appreciate getting a copy if anyone would pick me up one.

SpongeBob begins appearing in oil protests

Signs of the times: Oil-spill victims on Grand Isle post protest [SpongeBob SquarePants].

By Ylan Q. Mui

Washington Post July 20, 2010; C10

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Truitt on Scott Pilgrim

It's 'Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour' and Bryan Lee O'Malley's, too
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY July 20 2010

Monday, July 19, 2010

Carla Speed McNeil to work on novelist Sara Ryan's Bad Houses

At least that's what it says here.

New Weingarten interview online

PopMatters 20 Questions: Gene Weingarten
By PopMatters Staff 19 July 2010

Iranian cartoonist interviewed at Comic Riffs

Q&A: Muslim cartoonist offers her thoughts on depicting Muhammad
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post's Comic Riffs blog July 19, 2010

Comics and Stamps Have a Longer History than You’d Expect

I wrote a short history of cartoons and stamps that I've been planning for a decade or so...

Comics and Stamps Have a Longer History than You'd Expect

Posted by Mike Rhode on Jul. 19, 2010 at 10:53 am

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2010/07/19/comics-and-stamps-have-a-longer-history-than-youd-expect/

Comics on the Rack, Quick Picks for Comics Due 07-21-10

COMICS ON THE RACK

Quick Picks for Comics Due 07-21-10

By John Judy

ALAN MOORE NEONOMICON #1 of 4 by Moore and Jacen Burrows. Moore's sequel to THE COURTYARD in which two FBI agents get mixed up in some Lovecraftian badness. It is fortunate that Moore has overcome his disdain for creators building on the works of others. Fortunate indeed…. Gotta look.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #638 by Joe Quesada and Marcos Martin. In which Joe Q tries to square the circle between pre-Mephisto/Marriage Spidey and post-Mephisto/Brand New Day Spidey. Heads will explode tonight!

AVENGERS #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. The Avengers go back to the future to see what shenanigans their kids have been up to. But will they all fit in the DeLorean?! Doc!!!

BRIGHTEST DAY #6 by Geoff Johns and Friends. The truth of the White Lantern revealed!

CBGB #1 of 4 by Kieron Gillen, Sam Humphries, Marc Ellerby and Rob G. A mini-series built around the legendary "Country/Blue-Grass/Blues" music club in New York that is sadly now a high-end men's clothing store.

DC UNIVERSE LEGACIES #3 of 10 by Len Wein and Many Awesome Artists. The dawn of the Silver Age of Heroes. Cool.

GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS #8 of 9 by Ennis, Russ Braun and Garry Leach. In the midst of bloody WW2 aerial combat, love takes flight among the commies. Recommended.

HELLBLAZER #269 by Peter Milligan and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Desperate to keep his sanity John Constantine summons Shade the Changing Man for help. Because none of his ex-girlfriends or demons from hell were available.

JANET EVANOVICH TOUBLEMAKER, BOOK ONE HC by Janet and Alex Evanovich and Joelle Jones. Crime-fightin' NASCAR sweethearts in Florida! It's a movie!

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #41 by James Robinson and Mark Bagley. It's a JLA/JSA cross-over as the source of the original Green Lantern's power comes back for him and his kids. Oy!

KEVIN SMITH'S GREEN HORNET #6 by Smith and Jonathan Lau. The son of the dead Green Hornet gets up to speed under the watchful tutelage of Mr. Miyagi.. I mean Mister Han… sorry, this "Kevin Smith comics coming out on schedule" thing is disorienting…

MARVELMAN CLASSIC PRIMER #1 by Many People. Everything you ever wanted to know about Marvelman/Miracleman but were afraid to ask. Please don't screw this up, Marvel…

NEW AVENGERS #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen. The gang mixes it up with a magical menace!

OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE, VOL. 40 HC & SC by Team Overstreet. The Bible of what your stuff is worth, featuring variant Batman and Captain America covers. Educational.

RASL POCKET EDITION, VOL. 1 SC written and drawn by Jeff Smith. Collecting the first seven issues in a handy 6.5 x 9 inch format. Recommended for travel and/or staying home.

SCOTT PILGRIM, VOL. 6: FINEST HOUR GN written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley. At last! The final Evil Ex-Boyfriend arrives! It's clobberin' time! (Sorry. Wrong book. Sorry…)

THUNDERBOLTS #146 by Jeff Parker and Kev Walker. Luke Cage and his new T-Bolts must clean up a mess from the previous administration. Lotta that going around…

TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT #1 of 6 written and drawn by Dan Jurgens. The search for Batman brings in the bigwigs of DCU time travel, including Rip Hunter!

TRUE BLOOD #1 by Alan Ball, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner and David Messina. A little something from the world of HBO's hit vampire soap that's been called "Twilight for people with pubic hair."

ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS 2 #5 of 6 by Mark Millar and Leinil Francis Yu. Ya ever notice how some titles just trip off your tongue? Like music really… Anyway, they're still fighting Ultimate Ghost Rider for the life of the Vice-President. Honest.

ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #3 of 5 by Jeph Loeb and Frank Cho. This comic was drawn by Frank Cho.

WALKING DEAD #75 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. You knew the peaceful life was too good to last, right? You knew that weasel preacher shoulda been fed to the biters early on, right? Here's where it all comes down. Plus a color back-up story drawn by Ryan Ottley. Highly recommended. Not for kids.

WALKING DEAD, VOL. 12: LIFE AMONG THEM SC by Kirkman and Adlard. Collecting issues #67-72, in which the gang finds The Community.

WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY: ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE #1 of 6 by Gail Simone and Horacio Domingues. The retirement village for super-folk is back! As are several colorful characters with scores to settle, whether this mutant Mayberry is ready or not! Recommended!

X-FACTOR #207 by Peter David and Sebastian Fiumara. Is a shock ending still a shock ending when they tell you ahead of time it's gonna be a shock ending? Head hurts…

ZATANNA #3 by Paul Dini and Stephane Roux. "Dab yug Rehtorb Thgin skool ekil eht Rekoj no htem! Sekiy!"

Wishing everyone a happy Comic-Con (except the Westboro Baptist Church)!