I started blogging outside on the deck, but you know what? It’s hot in the sun.
Let’s kick off this linkblogging entry with links to even bigger and juicier linkblogging entries. Marc-Oliver Frisch reports on Grant Morrison’s newly announced projects (Superman with Frank Quitely!) and solid industry analysis from Rob Liefeld (not kidding!), among other things; meanwhile, Shane Bailey links to basically every goddamned comics-related interview, preview, review, and news item on earth, with a bunch of interesting comic-book-movie-related tidbits thrown in. Have at ’em.
Speaking of Marc-Oliver, he directs us to this Silver Bullet Comics interview with former Marvel whipping-boy Igor Kordey, who’s beginning to rival his own archnemesis Grant Morrison’s penchant for giving quoteworthy interviews (if not Morrison’s penchant for sounding brilliant and not-insane while doing so). After reading this and some of the interviews Kanye West has been giving, I’m starting to think that rampant egomania is the new black.
Courtesy of nearly everyone on the internet comes this Newsarama interview with Brian Wood, taking stock of his Demo project at the halfway point. Newsarama’s Matt Brady makes some similar points to the ones I made in my post on the series earlier today.
Also courtesy of nearly everyone on the internet comes this interview with freshly DC-exclusive Dave Gibbons, featuring a preview of his upcoming Mod graphic novel The Originals. Said preview looks fucking gorgeous, by the by.
Dorian of Postmodern Barney has seen the Ultimate-Universe digests Marvel has quietly started selling at Target in the toys section–so quietly it seems many of the Target employees are unaware of their existence (though that’s to be expected in a big retailer like Target). I’m interested to see that this project, which I first reported about waaaaay back when and have been calling for for even longer, has reached fruition. I’m also interested to see that Marvel chose an oversize format rather than the more compact manga dimensions for the digests. AND I’m interested to see that, apparently, the books have been heavily edited, for space at least, and for content most likely. (Somehow I doubt Marvel left the post-coital Wolverine/Jean scene in the editions of Ultimate X-Men shelved next to the Harry Potter action figures.)
Note to self: If you ever write a comic involving medical procedures or military uniforms, for the love of God, have Scott at Polite Dissent vet it first!
Everybody’s doin’ it! Mike Sterling and Dave Fiore are among the blogvillians who’ve answered the comics-habit questionnaire I took on yesterday.
Otto of Otto’s Coffee Shop fame (with all these new comicsbloggers it’s getting hard to keep track of last names!) has a fascinating post on the public perception of comic books and comic book readers. I’ve said before that I think this perception is tied directly to the floppy format–I know plenty of people who’ll happily read any graphic novel you hand to them, whereas floppies are looked at in much the same way as games of pin the tail on the donkey: fun in first grade, but we’re not in first grade anymore. Anyway, Otto runs down specific reactions and preconceptions from various non-comics-readers in his life. It’s an illuminating read.
Courtesy of Jim Henley (who’s finally noticed he hasn’t been blogging comics very much lately!) comes this multi-title review post from Nate Bruinooge. His thoughts on Blankets and its position in a beaten-to-death genre offer an interesting look at the mind of a won-over Blankets skeptic. But I am a bit nervous at his threatened linkage of The Sopranos to The Authority, The Ultimates, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume II, and the work of Quentin Tarantino: simply put, I don’t think The Sopranos has a thing to do with any one of those, and I like most of them. (I’ve also got a newfound respect for LoEG2 following Jason Kimble’s intriguing exegesis of same, so maybe that doens’t belong in that ballpark either.) I’ve noticed a tendency among a lot of the smarter, academia-rooted bloggers–who are in many cases the discontents of post-modernism, blogs being where they take refuge from their peers–react in an almost, well, reactionary fashion to ugly or “unpleasant” art. It always leaves a bad taste in my Texas Chain Saw-loving mouth.
Speaking of Jason Kimble, he’s announced his intention to spend June–Gay Pride Month–blogging gay issues. (Heck, he even cited my October horrorblogathon as an inspiration! Oh, p’shaw!) He kicks it off with an analysis of the semi-stealthy depiction of homosexual relationships amidst the wider tapestry of Colleen Doran’s sci-fi soap comic A Distant Soil. Good stuff.
And speaking further of good stuff from Jason Kimble, how did I miss his delightful breakdown of the psychodramatic roles of the villians in Bendis & Bagley’s Ultimate Spider-Man? I’m guessing I skipped the entry because it’s talking about the current arc and I’ve switched to wait-for-the-trade mode on USM, but still, this is well worth reading. I love anything that makes me think “never in a million years would I have thought to put it that way, but that’s exactly how I would put it!”
I’m really starting to jones for Walking Dead, and this interview with writer and zombiephile Robert Kirkman makes me glad I heeded my blogospheric peers and ordered the trade. (Courtesy of Kevin Melrose.)
Finally, is McSweeney’s #13 out yet? Everyone’s talkin’ like it is, but as of yesterday the store where I work didn’t have it. What gives?