* My interview with Strange Tales II editor Jody LeHeup is up at Marvel.com. Sample quote:
Marvel.com: How similar was the project to something like the Bizarro books that DC did a while ago?
Jody LeHeup: It’s very similar, but there are some very important differences. In that book, there were no writer/artist stories for some reason. For example, I remember looking at that book-which I enjoyed very much by the way-and wondering why Jaime Hernandez, for example, didn’t write the story he drew. And it was like that throughout. In STRANGE TALES the opposite is true. Most contributors are writer/artists, which I think makes for a different kind of story experience. The other difference is that there is a lot of young and new talent mixed in with the veterans of indie comics. So there’s this exuberance or vitality to the STRANGE TALES stories that I’m very proud of.
Also, Benjamin Marra, Sheldon Vella, and Ty Templeton have been added to the line-up.
* Grant Morrison is launching a new ongoing series called Batman Inc. This will see Bruce Wayne “franchise” Batman out to a bunch of people. That’s pretty rad.
* Morrison’s also writing an independent film called Sinatoro. It looks neat. “Rad,” “neat,” yes, I’m very insightful today.
* Joss Whedon is directing the Avengers movie. Unless something in my life radically changes between now and then, this will be the first Joss Whedon thing I’ve ever watched.
* Ben Jones designed an ice cream truck!
* Tom Devlin ships Kristen Bell and Taylor Kitsch. “Your show gets cancelled, you do a guest spot on a show that everyone stopped watching about the time you show up and, whammo, you’re gone. See ya later, Ex-Oh-Ex-Oh. Man, Jessica Alba would have a crazy crowd at this thing. Keep her away from that John Byrne. Ha. Is he even still alive?” Glorious.
* Your quote of the day comes from Tom Spurgeon:
I heard some complaints from fellow comics reporters that there wasn’t more media coverage of comics from people at the show. I don’t know, maybe this obnoxious to say out loud, but it seems to me if you’re media and you don’t think there’s enough coverage of comics, maybe just do more coverage of comics?
* In non-Con news:
* I was really hoping this would happen: Dan Nadel reviews Blaise Larmee’s Young Lions. It’s a fine comic, which Dan addresses; it arises from a mindset in which, intentionally or not, the discussion and aura surrounding art/artists/making art has a place of primacy over actual works of art/actually making art, which Dan also addresses. Somehow I feel like this Nate Patrin piece on music critics talking about Pitchfork reviews of music instead of the music being reviewed is relevant here.
* PictureBox has announced the winners of its Thor Know Prize contest. Here’s Jim Rugg’s submission:
* I’m serious, Zack Smith is fucking killing me. Idea machine.
* The next time you’re tempted to dismiss Direct Market comics as a cultural irrelevancy because the most popular only sell like 125K copies, think of indie rock. Way more people bought Siege #1 than LCD Soundsystem’s last record.
* Can you imagine anything more horrible than deciding who is and isn’t a real pop music fan?
Man, the Buffy pilot (“Welcome to the Hellmouth”) is free on iTunes right now – you should grab it. That was a show I’d always kind of mocked from afar, but I sat down with the DVDs a few years ago and it really knocked me on my ass. It takes about a season to really find its voice, but there’s still fun to be had in the early days.
Also, thanks for your post about A Sunny Day in Glasgow – I wasn’t familiar with these guys. Phenomenal not-quite-awake Saturday morning music. If you haven’t heard it yet, check into The Books’ newest one, “The Way Out”. I grabbed it after Kevin Huizenga wrote about it on his blog earlier this week, and it really is something special.
I mean, I’ve obviously heard great things about Buffy over the years. It’s just a massive investment of time compared to other “good” TV shows, one that even by its fans’ admission includes a lot of shaky material, and it’s not as though the Whedon comics I’ve read have me clamoring for more work in that style. I’ve still got Mad Men and Breaking Bad on the docket–Buffy’ll have to wait.
But I am super super super glad I turned SOMEONE on to A Sunny Day in Glasgow. I feel like I’ve achieved something. I’ll certainly check out the Books, even if Kevin lost a lot of points with me for hating on “She’s Leaving Home” in Ganges. 🙂
Is “Batman, Inc.” Grant’s new riff on “X-Corporation” from his NXM run?
“The next time you’re tempted to dismiss Direct Market comics as a cultural irrelevancy because the most popular only sell like 125K copies…”
Actually, I dismiss the Direct Market because so many titles sell under 50K!
Only a decade ago, sales under 50K were grounds for cancellation, or at least downgrading from color to b/w!
Entire lines selling under 50K were cancelled mid-story!
Now, 50K or less is grounds for celebration!
Unless the book is a “loss leader” for a potential media franchise, or the publishers aren’t paying the creatives (which seems to be happening quite frequently), there’s no way these books make money!
“whoa, did you seriously just try to equate sales with cultural relevancy?”
No. Quite the opposite, as I thought was pretty clear. Getting all worked up about sales, in one direction or another, is a mug’s game, is what I was saying.