I think it’s going to be a damn heavy blogging week for old Sean T. Consider that a heads-up.
UPDATE: Those looking for the scoop behind managing editor Milo George’s ouster at the Comics Journal are advised to look at this TCJ.com messboard thread, which reposts an email sent by TCJ editor and publisher Gary Groth to the magazine’s freelancers. Groth asserts that George’s firing was not a policy decision, but a personal one: the two of them didn’t get along. (What’s that, you say? A personality conflict between Gary Groth and Milo George? I know, I know, I was shocked too.) It’s probably worth keeping this in mind when trying to predict what changes, if any, will be made under Dirk Deppey’s reign.
The big news of the last few days was that Erik Larsen has replaced Jim Valention as Publisher of Image Comics. This story seems to have more angles than a geodesic dome: The suspect nature of Newsarama’s coverage of the story; Erik Larsen’s subsequent debunking of some of the more lurid aspects of same; Rich Johnston’s round-up of rumored reasons for the palace coup, rumors Johnston claims are likely bogus. The upshot seems to be that Valentino’s ouster was less a matter of policy (i.e. not because of the exodus of independent studios and their lucrative retro tie-in titles, not because really good books are selling really poorly) than a matter of personality (I’ve heard tell that other, unpopular personnel at the company were also on the losing side of this corporate shuffle). Personally I know very little about the inner workings of the company or the personalities of those involved, but I will say that I think Erik Larsen is an extremely bright and forthright guy, whose tastes are more catholic and whose book is more intelligent than most people give him credit for. Now that he’s in control of a company that publishes a stable of titles including Powers, Invincible, The Walking Dead, Rex Mundi, Age of Bronze, A Distant Soil, and Savage Dragon, I’m truly interested to see where the Big I goes from here.
Speaking of Rich Johnston, his column is a strong one today, featuring juicy bits about the future of Marvel under the watchful eye of Hollywood honcho Avi Arad, the lasting bad blood over the execution of the Epic line, stories involving creators like Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, John Byrne, and more. If you can put aside Rich’s plugs for his upcoming series (unless, of course, you’re dying to read a comic about The American Family by a wise-arse whose research consisted of watching The Sopranos, The Simpsons, The Addams Family and The Waltons), it’s an intriguing read.
Markisan Naso is on the gossip beat as well, chronicling an unseemly meltdown by New Frontier writer-artist Darwyn Cooke directed at Dark Knight Strikes Again writer-artist Frank Miller. My feelings about Frank are fairly well known, so it probably won’t surprise you whose side I’d take in this particular kerfuffle; I will simply say that getting this worked up because Miller apparently didn’t pay Superman and Robin (who, I might remind you, are not real people) the respect you feel they deserve does not bode well for people who are worried that a certain incredibly long homage to the Silver Age is going to end up being more than a little over-reverential. Also, claiming that the reaction to DK2 is going to make DC clamp down on risky creator-driven projects is silly for a variety of reasons, from the fact that DC has been notoriously risk-averse since time immemorial to the fact that, well, they’re in the process of publishing an incredibly long creator-driven homage to forgotten Silver Age characters like the Suicide Squad by a guy whose track record, while strong in a cultish sort of way, certainly doesn’t include things on the level of The Dark Knight Returns or Daredevil: Born Again or Sin City. But hey, you knew that already.
Typically strong Monday-morning action abounds at Alan David Doane’s blog. First there’s a 5 Questions inverview with Mother, Come Home creator Paul Hornschemeier. I finally got the trade paperback collection of that book this weekend, and it’s even stronger than I remembered. The interview is as good as you’d expect, especially when Hornschemeier discusses his view of his audience. It’s a very unique one in this day and age, I think.
Also at ADD’s is a plethora of short reviews, including one of the Chris Ware parody in Batton Lash’s Supernatural Law #39. Lash’s humor book is an acquired taste, but his dead-on rendition of Ware’s neurotically precise style is a real jaw-dropper, made even funnier by how it’s used in the service of a story that’s unmistakably un-Ware. Check it out if you get the chance.
UPDATE: If you’re looking for more punchy reviews, Johnny Bacardi has a swell bunch, including one that’s really making me eye Paul Grist’s Jack Staff. Mission accomplished, Johnny! (But can you cut back on all those graphics in your blogroll? Those things just kill my dialin’-up browser time and time again!)
Bill Sherman continues his invaluable outsiders’ exploration of manga, this time examining the bloggerly acclaimed title Planetes, another book I finally picked up this weekend. Sherman’s chops as a writer seem equalled only by his ability to pick out good manga books for us tyros to read.
N.B.: The artist formerly known as Big Sunny D, David Allison, has taken his fanboy-derived writings to a new group comics blog called Insult to Injury, and it’s a hoot so far. (It certainly contains more information about Grant Morrison & Cam Stewart’s upcoming Seaguy than you ever thought you’d need.) The Sunny still rises.
There’s another new comicsblog in town. called The Cultural Gutter, it focuses on the nerd-trash trifecta of video games, sci-fi, and comics. It’s beautifully designed, akin in spirit to Franklin Harris’s wonderful Pulp Culture columns, and features a swell introductory essay by comics correspondent Guy Leshinski. This one looks good. (Link courtesy of Chris Butcher.)
Kevin Melrose points to an interview with altcomix superstar Art Spiegelman by the San Jose Mercury News. I’m sure you’ve guessed I’m not looking forward to Spiegelman’s book on 9/11 (gee, do you suppose he thinks What’s Happened In America Since Then Is The Real Tragedy?), but his thoughts on the socio-critical acceptability of comics are vastly more optimistic than any I’ve ever seen from cartoonists in his position. I’m even more stunned to find myself thinking, “You know what? He’s right!” Comics are taken for granted as being part of the art/entertainment tapestry by a whole lot of clued-in people these days. I also think that Spiegelman’s fear about comics suddenly losing its Wild West flavor because of the attention of critics is ill-founded–unless, of course, you’re Art freaking Spiegelman, whose Maus has got to be the biggest blessing-curse for any comics creator in history.
Tim O’Neil links to a story of comics being used for a good cause–i.e. to fight against the death penalty in Missouri. (Registration required for this Kansas City Star article; simply use laexaminer@laexaminer.com as your email address and laexaminer as your password.) I think I agree with the skeptical former inmate quoted therein–comics doesn’t seem to be the best way to go about working on this. But then, I’m skeptical that political/editorial cartoons ever accomplish anything but preaching to the converted (Thomas Nast and Bill Maudlin excepted).
NeilAlien reviews the Comics Journal’s Steve Ditko issue, with all the brio you’d expect from the mysterious palindrome. He also mentions my involvement in the issue; I’m working on my own response to that, rest assured.
Rose Curtin and Steven Berg of Peiratikos continue their terrific blogging on Batman and Animal Man–just click on the above link and start scrolling.
Catching up with Ninth Art: Paul O’Brien decries the overwhelming sameness of Marvel’s pin-up covers. While I initially thought this policy was a good one, given how hideous Marvel’s covers were for years and years (and in that sense how perfectly reflective they were of the stuff between those covers), personally I agree with Steven Grant: Any good idea goes bad when no deviation from it is allowed. (See also Bill Jemas’s “No Flashbacks EVER” policy.) Alex Deuben says it’s not superheroes per se but the insularity of the industry that produces them that’s comics biggest concern–a worthwhile distinction given certain untenable opinions being advanced these days. Finally, Frank Smith recounts the career of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. This is a topic tackled with gusto by David Allison at Insult to Injury, too. (I just wish he’d commented on the underlying sense of Lovecraftian “cosmic horror”–that is to say, profound wrongness–that endures despite the comedy and the fisticuffs…)
Finally, Xaviar Xerexes of Comixpedia weighs in with an article about the comics blogosphere phenomenon. It’s a considered and insightful look at the different types of sights and the differing aims of their proprietors, and yours truly is quoted a couple times. However, I’ll admit that I was a little alarmed at the lockstep we all seem to be in regarding manga. What if the Newsarama posters are right, people? What if it is just a fad? Not since the political chattering classes universally predicted John Kerry’s demise in Iowa will so many look so silly for being so wrong!