126 FRIDAY WRAP-UP, Y’ALL! ;-D

Hey Y’ALL! Wuzzup! NMH!

Alright, so comics came out on Thursday this week, and between that and studying for the GRE I didn’t get a chance to read or review any of them. This is a classic good news/bad news situation. Bad news: no reviews today ;[ <— that is a sad face. Good news: two posts on Monday– the next installment of Calling All Requests! and a bunch of superhero crap that came out this week! Better news: here’s some stuff I didn’t write!! FRIDAY WRAP UP, Y’ALL! ::REGGAETON HORN::

• Tom Spurgeon’s Holiday Gift Guide at the Comics Reporter is once again the best way to find something for the esoteric who has everything! Someone forward this to my mom and/or girlfriend, please and thanks.
• Karen Green put together a really nice piece on Al Jaffe, and Jewish comic creators in general, over at ComiXology. It also serves as a reminder to all New Yorkers that Mr. Jaffe is speaking with Danny Fingeroth at Columbia University next Wednesday at 8 PM.
• I haven’t linked to Valerie D’Orazio in a loooong time, and I quite liked this quote.
• Abhay Khosla wrote something. I haven’t even read it yet but I mean… come on, Abhay Khosla wrote something. Go have fun.
• There’s a cool Fumetti piece starring Harvey Pekar over at Graphic NYC. I usually hate these things but this one works, perhaps because Pekar himself has been drawn in so many styles that it seems like a natural progression.
• Robot 6 continues to report on awful people who try to ban comics. Except this isn’t really so bad. I don’t see anything wrong with putting Black Dossier in an adult section, unless that’s “Capital A” Adult, meaning pornography. Still, look at these women:
  I mean don’t they just look miserable? Seriously, Sharon Cook and Beth Boisvert of Jessamine County, Kentucky, leave our comix alOne ;[[[[[[ WAH WAH okay is that enough outrage, team comics?
• And finally, Chris Sims writes about something much more sinister (wrestling comics!) both at his blog and at Comics Alliance.

100 One Hundred Posts

Well it’s taken me about eight months but I finally broke into triple digit posts. To be honest with you I thought I’d do this for a few weeks, get bored when no one commented, and go back to playing sudoku at work but I’ve been kind of surprised by the response I’ve gotten. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not struggling to moderate my comments everyday; it’s not like I’m taking the internet(TM) by storm or anything. Still, I get comments here and there, and I get emails, and I get feedback from a lot of people, and that’s all really pretty nice. It’s motivated me to continue writing here on a somewhat regular basis.

I wanted to come up with some big flashy post when I reached one hundred, something funny and meme-ish and viral, or whatever. I didn’t do that. I think instead I’ll just thank some of the people who’ve contributed or linked to me, and post some links to my favorite entries.

So, thanks to my buddy Matt Occhuizzo, who did the photo work on my Spidey/Obama post. That shit was huge and it’s really because he lowered his standards to work with me on that idea.

To Matt Siblo, who not only took me to the only comic shop in DC, and is not only putting me up for Baltimore Comic Con, but contributed the clever Fifty Word Watchemen Review, and the recap of Art Spiegelman’s lecture at George Washington University. Matt will be contributing more in the future, and we’re in the midst of working on another project together. He and I worked together on an online music zine in the early two-thousands, and it’s always a pleasure to have my writing next to his for everyone to see.

Thanks to Chelsea Bahr, who thought comics were dumb when I met her but was open-minded enough to read Black Hole when I bought it for her birthday, and even came with me to New York Comic Con, writing a few guest posts for me along the way.

To Jen Drake, who also wrote a guest post for Comic Con, and who bugged me enough times to start blogging that I actually listened.

Thanks to my good buddy Dana Gluck, who has a tremendous vintage fashion blog, Indian Summer Vintage. She’s like me, except with fashion instead of comics, and good writing skills instead of shitty.

 

Thanks to my even bigger buddy (Edit: THAT IS NOT A CRACK AT HIS WEIGHT, IT IS A REFLECTION OF OUR BUDDYNESS) Chris Campbell, for linking me over at Spout every time I make a crack about some dumb superhero movie.

Many, many, MANY thanks to Karen Green, who was kind enough to answer some of my silly questions for an interview. I urge you to read her column at comiXology.

 

To Garrett Martin who, along with Hilary Brown, writes the fantastic Shazhmmm… blog.

To Zenescope, for being a crappy publisher and giving me the idea me to write this.

Special thanks to When Fangirls Attack, for linking to that post, and other posts of mine.

Thanks also to Heidi MacDonald, Tom Spurgeon, Val D’Orazio, and a ton of other comics bloggers who have linked to my posts and are probably too high profile to even be reading this right now.

Thanks to everybody who’s read and commented. I know this post might come off as hokey, overdramatic, or unprofessional but I don’t really give a shit. It’s surprised me how much I’ve stuck with this thing and one hundred posts, to me, is a landmark. So if it’s overdramatic, c’est la vie. I grew up reading Chris Claremont. If you’re looking for someone to blame, blame him.

Anyway, here’s one of the very first posts I’d ever written for the blog, and probably my favorite. It’s a post about “Your First Time”; your first comic book, or the first time you ever read a comic. It’s personal, and it’s nice, and it reminds me of why I like comics every time I re-read it. Enjoy.

 

Other posts:

Comics, Sexuality, and Parenthood

“Getting Them to Read Comics”

Censorship vs. Personal Responsibility

Patriotism vs. Morality

Cartoon porn = Jail Time?

Abstract Comics

Watchmen Review

Who Licenses the Watchmen?

Asterios Polyp

Swallow Me Whole

“The DeBenedetto Classics”: A (Proposed) Comics Canon

Blogging the Bat #1

084 Friday Wrap-Up for the Week of 7/5/2009

I’m gonna take a quick break from the canon and do a quick round-up of some of this week’s comics news items. I’ll be back at it this weekend!

If you missed the first four parts here’s the tag.

• Heidi MacDonald linked to some great coverage of the new David Mazzuchelli comic Asterios Polyp, including this great piece by Paul Gravett.
• USA Today is running the Superman portion of Wednesday Comics every week in their publication and online.
• Here’s a great story in the Miami Herald about young comics artists.
• Why ARE Rainn Wilson and Nathan Fillion meeting with DC Comics?
• Scott Ian from Anthrax is going to write a Lobo story with Sam Kieth (come on, “Metal Underground”, spell the man’s name correctly!)
• The speculation continues as to who will play Hal Jordan in the upcoming Green Lantern film (call me crazy but I don’t mind Justin Timberlake as an actor.)
• Michael Kupperman is signing tonight at Desert Island in Williamsburg! I’m not going, but if I did I’d buy that nifty poster.
• And finally, thank you New York Post for running with this story as a headline.

064 Friday Wrap-Up for the Week of 4/20(BROOOO!)/2009

• OK so me and the girlfriend have been on a bit of a Buffy kick lately. I never really watched the show but love Joss Whedon, and she’s a huge fan and owns all the DVDs. Right now we’re on Season 2, where Spike and Drusilla are introduced and within one minute of Spike being on screen he became my absolute favorite character on the show. I don’t know why but this story about James Marsters really kind of disappointments me. What’s the deal, Spike? You shit-talking comics or what?
• The VII Gallery in Dumbo is showcasing the artwork from Emmanuel Guibert’s comic The Photographer, as well as the photos by Didier Lefèvre that the book was inspired by. The opening reception was last night so I’m a little late on this one, but it goes on until May 19 so I’ll definitely be there at least once.
• If you like comics you like Darwyn Cooke, and if you like Darwyn Cooke you should check out this cool preview of his adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Hunter.
• Hey guys– hope you weren’t trying to go to Comic Con on the Friday.
• Buenaventura Press is trying to save comic books:

Despite the ‘industry trend’ of canceling comic books to focus on graphic novels, Buenaventura Press boldly plans to release half a dozen actual comics over the coming year. We love the serial format that gave us masterpieces such as Eightball, Frank, Acme Novelty Library, Optic Nerve, Yummy Fur, Zap, Dirty Plotte, Palookaville, and Love & Rockets–and we want to keep alive the stapled marvel that is the comic book.

As part of this mission, Buenaventura Press is excited to announce the first in a new series: The BP Comics Revival Economic Stimulus 3-Pak! This Diamond exclusive is a throw-back to the ol’ drugstore shrink-wrapped 3-packs, but with all new comics. Offered in the June 2009 Previews at $11.95, the first Pak includes two new series–Aviatrix #1 by Eric Haven and I Want You #1 by Lisa Hanawalt–plus the return of Ted May’s Injury, with the brand new issue #3.

Working with Diamond’s Jenny Christopher, a staunch supporter of independent comics and new cartoonists, we are offering the Economic Stimulus 3-Pak at a discount price. Diamond’s distribution system allows us to maintain significant print runs that keep the price affordable. The comics will also be available individually at the BP webshop, Last Gasp, and select retailers. Issues will be priced at $4.95 each, making the 3-Pak a 3 dollar savings!

Stay tuned to Buenaventurapress.com for information on forthcoming comics, such as Matt Furie’s Boy’s Club #3, and more news from The Comics Revival!

• Hey, Ninja Turtles is 25!
• And finally, I love Tucker Stone but I don’t know how I feel about this.

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Hey you guys! I’m going to be in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
For fun updates about my trip, and even more fun everyday, follow me on Twitter! Yayyyy! Fun!

054 Friday Wrap-Up for the Week of 3/16/2009

• While it didn’t actually happen this week, Japan has proven itself to be the weirdest country in the world yet again. Obama erotic Manga!!!
• Laura Hudson is back amongst the land of the living, and posting again at Cereblog. Thank goodness.
• DC announced their new weekly series: Wednesday Comics. The jist? Full, newspaper sized pages of comic strips, featuring creators like Neil Gaiman, Paul Pope, Mike Allred, Brian Azzarello, and more working with DC characters, both popular (Superman, Batman) and not so popular (Metamorpho, the Metal Men). I have no idea what to think of this, but my gut feeling? Awesome.
• Speaking of awesome… The Goon meets Deathklok.
• And finally, in “can everybody stop being so fucking sensitive” news, Marvel has decided it wants you to suck Wolverine’s cock and the religious right is pissed. EDIT: Did you realize I had no idea this was satire? Like, at all. I am such an asshole.

049 A weird, comics-related dream, and a wrap-up

So I’ve been doing a lot of comics study lately; comics history, comics form, comics lit– just basically studying comics in all aspects. I suppose it’s even seeping into my subconscious because last night I had a weird dream that I was in college, in class, and the course (as well as my major) was about comics. I don’t mean I was learning to create comics, I mean my major course of study was comics themselves (I suppose the same things I’ve been reading about lately.)

Now in my dream I apparently have a pretty hefty schedule, because I’m going from class to class with a ton of books in my arms. But you know who is in each and every one of these classes?

Judd fucking Winick.

Mr. Real World himself. Seriously, every time I look to the right of me Judd Winick is two rows away, listening to our professor go on and on about comics. I’m sitting there taking it in, but Winick is frantically taking notes and has this look on his face like he’s in way over his head.

Clearly I have the utmost contempt for this man (as a creator, not so much as a person. Seems like a nice enough guy.) I mean he just can not write comic books, and that’s a sad truth, because they KEEP GIVING HIM WORK. He’s going to be the new writer on Batman so I guess that means whoever wins the “Battle for the Cowl” doesn’t matter, because he’s just going to kill whoever it is and give fucking Cyborg the cape or some such bullshit.

Anyway, like all of my dreams, this one soon turned into a suspenseful action-adventure movie, and at one point I tied a rope around my waist and jumped out the window a la Die Hard. How’s that for Comic Adventures in Academia!

Hey! Here’s your wrap-up for the week of 3/1/2009!

• There’s a cool new “indie project” on the way from Marvel, with such creators as Dash Shaw, Paul Pope, and even fucking JASON (!!!) taking a crack at hero work.
• Roger Ebert is the only one who likes Watchmen. Meanwhile, Tom McLean has this thoughtful review of the film.
• Valerie D’Orazio has a fine post up at her site about All-Ages Comics.
• Finally (and most importantly!) The New York Times has a new comics best sellers section with an incredibly unfortunate name. Regardless, this is a huge step in the right direction. Attaway, comics.

044 Friday Wrap-up for the week of 2/22/2009

• Hey look! Watchmen stinks! Who knew?
  

  Yet the movie is ultimately undone by its own reverence; there’s simply no room for these characters and stories to breathe of their own accord, and even the most fastidiously replicated scenes can feel glib and truncated. As Watchmen lurches toward its apocalyptic (and slightly altered) finale, something happens that didn’t happen in the novel: Wavering between seriousness and camp, and absent the cerebral tone that gave weight to some of the book’s headier ideas, the film seems to yield to the very superhero cliches it purports to subvert.

  Zack Snyder is worse than Uwe Boll.

• There’s an article in Wired about the Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees, which is sort of an article I was planning and it sucks they did it first but, hey, no one reads my blog anyway so I’m going for it. Anyway, there’s someone from Cosmic Comics profiled, which is my comic shop. Apparently she’s Gary Panter’s kid.
• An “unrestored copy” of Action Comics No. 1 is on sale. I’ve read a reprint, and it’s boring.
• Green Hornet’s back on, Michel Gondry is directing, and it kind of seems awesome .
• Speaking of comics movies, Sam Jackson will ONLY BE NICK FURY from now on. Nine picture deal. Jesus. But fuck that, if this Suicide Squad movie actually happens I might just take back everything I’ve ever said about “superhero” films.
• In other news, Marvel is dumb.
• Go read the first four issues of Cold Heat, it’s kind of intense.
• Then, go watch a preview for Art Spiegalman’s Be A Nose!
• Wow, so much shit to check out this week; here’s a cool article from the Savage Critics by Dick Hyacinth. He’s doing a best of the 00′s series, starting with Black Hole.

041 Friday Wrap-up Special Edition: Comic Con Wrap-Up

Final thoughts:

1. One reason why comics are so great is because no matter what age you are you can have a conversation with another comics fan and your opinion still counts. Whether you’re 14 or 45 you probably know just as much as the next guy about what’s going on in the New Avengers, or have a pretty cool take on Watchmen, or have collected every issue of Optic Nerve and can wax philosophical on Tomine’s work even though you will probably sound pretty boring while doing so. It’s a pretty inclusive medium. Which bring me to my next point….
2. For all this talk about comics exclusivity Comic Con sure didn’t showcase that. Chelsea, who does not read comics, had one hell of a time at the convention. Hell, she even went to the DC Nation panel and didn’t feel like a fish out of water. Everyone was very welcoming and, and no one made her feel like a dick. I’m not saying she can walk into a comic shop now and pick something off the shelves because those people are still pricks (with a few exceptions, notably Rocketship in Brooklyn) but she’s been exposed, and it’s not as scary as she thought.
3. Note to DC and Marvel: WOMEN READ COMICS! Like, a lot of them. Yeah it was still overwhelmingly a male audience but the female contingent was there in droves. Stop ignoring them.

Anyway, for my first convention experience this was a blast. I’m annoyed that the next NYCC is October 2010, but I’m going to try to hit up some other ones. MoCCA and maybe Baltimore, and if my tax return is especially nice maybe even San Diego.

For a better written, more interesting wrap-up of the con you should probably read Garrett Martin’s post at Creative Loafing.

For a list of Wednesday’s Child Comic Con articles and photos look below!

Reactions
Here’s my take on Day 1. (Paul Debenedetto)
Comic Con and Kids (Paul DeBenedetto)

Photos
The convention floor, Day 1.
Photos by Chelsea
More photos by Chelsea
Photos taken by Owen Thaxton

Panels
DC Nation (Chelsea Bahr)
NYC and its Authors/Battlestar Galactica: The Comic (Jennifer Drake)
Representation of Women in Comics (Chelsea Bahr)
The Multicultural Mask (Chelsea Bahr)
Comics and New Media (Paul DeBenedetto)
Graphic Novels and Academic Acceptance (Paul DeBenedetto)
Elvis Schmelvis! How Comic Books Spawned the Rock and Roll Era (Chelsea Bahr)

023 Friday Wrap-up for the week of 1/25/2009

Busy day, but I wanted to post a quick wrap-up.

• Stan Lee Media is suing…. STAN LEE??? How is that even possible?
• Not comics related in any way, but the Arrested Development movie is back on, WITH Michael Cera!
• Also not comics related: Mickey Rourke out of Wrestlemania? Thank God.
• The Green Hornet movie, which was recently said to have been canceled, is now apparently back on.
• Barack Obama is a huge nerd.
• Robot 6 is reporting that Bryan Lee O’Malley will be doing a couple of signings in NY, where he will be selling a special edition of Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe, as well as Pilgrim T-Shirts and other merch. I know I’ll be on line at Rocket Ship in Brooklyn.
• As a former fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, this idea intrigues me. Apparantly they’re making a horror-themed Star Wars book. I might just read it. By the way, I learned about this via Christopher Campbell’s post on Cinematical a few days ago. Go read his stuff!

016 Friday Wrap-up for the week of 1/18/2009

• Aaron McGruder caused a bit of controversy this week when it was reported that he said Barack Obama “isn’t black”, since he wasn’t descended from slaves. He denied this a couple days later. Just another case of the media taking things out of context? Ehhhh I dunno with this one. McGruder loves to drum up controversy. I’m almost surprised people were upset about it. I mean, have you ever heard the man speak, or seen an episode of The Boondocks?
• The Ampersand has a great interview with Get Your War On! creator David Rees. Will anyone miss the Bush Administration more than this man and John Stewart?
• Derek Kirk Kim takes a look at the appallingly offensive casting of the Avatar movie. This quote in particular he lambastes:

“I think it’s one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan,” he said of the transformation he’ll go through to look more like Sokka. “It’s one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.”

Ouch, kid.

• Over at the LA Times they explain the secret history of why Disney dumped Narnia.
• If any of you Watchmen fans still haven’t seen this brilliant piece of viral marketing… well, there you go.
• Some interesting questions raised by the Superman copyright trial.
• Hey, go back two posts; I still need your suggestions!
• Finally, we are two short weeks away from Comic-Con. Wednesday’s Child (and friends) will be on hand to blog you through the cool shit, so stay tuned