Fantagraphics Kisses The Diamond Ring

Comic Experience retailer Brian Hibbs writes an excellent dissection and summation of the impact of Fantagraphics just-announced exclusive distribution deal with Diamond. It would be disingenuous(to use TCJ's favorite word) to describe Fanta's deal with the distribution monopoly as anything other than a complete and utter sellout. Having given lip service to rebellion against all the medium's ogres and evil empires (from mainstream comics and creators, to Wizard, to Diamond) Fanta has slowly but surely jumped into bed with all of them--publishing special editions devoted to artists (like Frank Miller) whose work the publishers have publicly acknowledged hating; sending all manner of Fanta product to Wizard for review; and now, of course, going exclusive with Diamond.

While the move is more symbolic than anything else, that symbol is of capitulation and the acknowledgment that as the publishers go gray their retirements have become vastly more important than their ethics. Almost no one would begrudge them that, of course. Except these are the same guys who made their names lacerating, excoriating, and at any opportunity humiliating creators over the years who opted for bigger paychecks than the chickenfeed offered by doing more "personal work" in indie comics..ideally for them.

Sure it's hypocrisy but as the publisher has made piles of money from the likes of Charles Shulz reprints and porn comics, there are few if any in the medium willing to direct much more than the mildest criticisms, and far more who will all but prostrate themselves with the hope that they'll be the next anointed by the publisher. In an industry rife with incestuousness and cowardice, Fantagraphics was once one of the few publishers who via their journalistic tool, The Comics Journal, was willing to call some of the medium's most unethical, yet powerful, entities to the mat. But those days waned years ago and now that Fanta/TCJ is essentially little different than the entities they once scrutinized and often crucified, who remains as the industry's conscience? Everyone has sold out. Everyone is compromised. Everyone has ulterior motives. And anyone with even the faintest amount of leverage holds a grudge even when the criticism is valid.

Anyway...here's to the monopoly.

5 Blogs (minus 1)

At The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon asked: "Which five blogs of comic book characters would you read?"

Trying to think of five I realized how low my interest threshold for most comics (and the characters that roam through them) really is. But I finally scraped up five possibilities.



The Crumbs (R., Aline, and Sophie are the dominant characters in their own comics)--I want to read the sequel to the Zwigoff doc. I want to read Robert's freshest rants against Western commercialism and the joys of fat-bottomed girls. I want to see Nationals Lampoon's Crumb Family Vacation: Destination France. Date of return? Never!

The Silver Surfer--A bit stoic but the guy has seen the universe from atop a surfboard. His Lonely Planet Guide To The Cosmos has to be trippy.


Tex from Love & Rockets--The fat, bespectacled, black punk rocker is one of the sweetest-natured characters ever created. But of course nice guys just get their asses kicked. Still, dude traveled the country in punk bands and had a threesome with Penny and Hopey. He’s got amazing stories to tell.


Batroc The Leaper--Zees eez ze blag av Georges Batroc. Nevah drop ze soap in ze Foreign Legion showair.

Um, I'll think of a fifth one at some point. Really I will.

Santogold goes down smooth

If you love M.I.A. as much as I do you'll surely like Santogold also. Certainly the global vibe is reminiscent of Maya but Santo brings plenty of her own flavor and influences to the table, and she's more of a singer.

Background music for this page? Why Everything's Gone Green, of course. Check it.
How hard is it to throw a fucking smoke grenade?

WIRED digs BatAnime

Maybe because the first (last...most recent...previous) live-action film didn't really move me, I find the look of the animated Gotham Nights more compelling. The fannish Wired blog seems to agree.

"From a visual point of view, this is the most stylized Batman that's come out of Warner Bros.," explained Batman lifer Alan Burnett in a press release. "What they've done is really eye-catching, and it truly expands his world. Their visualization of Gotham City is stunning, and it's very interesting to see how they've envisioned Batman, his environment and his action and movements.

Burnett is joined by famed comics scribes Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello, as well as cinema and TV writers Josh Olson (A History of Violence), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) and Jordan Goldberg (The Dark Knight). But the new visionaries of this iteration, as with eye-popping, brain-crunching Animatrix, are the mostly Pacific Rim directors hired on to stylize Bruce Wayne's superego for the 21st century, including Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi
Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki, Toshiyuki Kubooka and Jong-Sik Nam.

It's by far the darkest Dark Knight ever to hit the screens, large or small."


Go here to watch more in-depth shit as a bunch of DC creators discuss.

Dave Stevens

I was shocked to learn that Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens passed away March 11th, 2008 from complications of leukemia at the age of 52. Here's an interview with Stevens in 2001 from Comic Book Artist. And an excellent remembrance of Stevens by Filmmaker Scott C. Clements

Giant Robot entrepreneur Eric Nakamura's short list of documentary films that made a difference to him

The entirety of The Pixies classic Doolittle is coming to Harmonix Rock Band videogame. I have never played Guitar Hero or Rock Band. But I will now undoubtedly, unequivocally, positively have to buy and play Rock Band (one day when I have some cash). I wonder how playing will affect my appreciation of one of the greatest records (Surfer Rosa is equally fantastic) and bands ever? I dunno, but I wanna find out. Debaser, Gouge Away, Tame, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Wave of Mutilation...every song here is a gem. Finally I can wail and riff along with the great Joey Santiago and Black Francis on something other than a scarred tennis racket.
Here's a delicious acoustic version (el nino, you say)

And here's what it looks and sounds like on the game

Panting Panter, Feral Farel, Lethal Lethem & CogNocenti

Never expected to see Gary Panter art on a Marvel comic but here's his inimitable stuff on Omega The Unknown, with Farel Dalrymple interior art as well.

Panter talks with author Jonathan Lethem about his latest eponymous collection. 5/13 7pm at the Strand Bookstore 828 Broadway, NYC.

Cover by Farel Dalrymple

There's also a short review of Lethem and Dalrymple's work on Omega in the current issue of the always pricey ($19.50) Print magazine. Interestingly the Print review is by Annie Nocenti, who unless there's an incredible coincidence, used to be a regular Marvel editor/scribe, although back then she went by the less exciting "Ann Nocenti." Interesting Wiki entry says the following: "She is noted for her left-wing political views which, particularly during her run on Daredevil, caused some controversy among fans who didn't agree with her politics." She also was editor at High Times for a year. That a former editor for New Mutants would end up editing High Times and writing for Print. Who'da thunk it.

Check out Farel Dalrymple's delicious livejournal blog

Death Note review on NPR

NPR discusses the "Killer Penmanship" of the popular anime Death Note.
Listen HERE.

Alan Moore Drops Dirtbombs

Neil Gaiman and the sartorially resplendent Alan Moore.

NPR's "Song of The Day"

"The disc's best track, "Leopardman at C&A," features an unlikely collaboration: Its words were penned by comics writer Alan Moore for use by his friends in Bauhaus. But Collins sets them to his own brisk Bo Diddley beat, so Moore's evocative depictions of a corporate world fallen into savagery ("We'll start a Jaguar cult and dress up like an XJ-6 / Turn our CDs into wind chimes turning slowly in the breeze") are showcased at their funny and despairing best. It also doesn't hurt to have Collins' deep, dry vocals; the buzzing, twitchy, fuzz-draped guitars; and the two rhythm sections pounding out a rough-and-ready tribal beat, reminding listeners that it's an urban jungle, not an urbane one."

Hear the Dirtbombs song HERE

Man, I like the opening bass and drums, and those slashing guitar riffs remind me of The Damned. Vocals sound a little Bauhausian and the rhythms like Adam and The Ants.

Speed Racer at NPR

Listen as NPR's Morning Edition discuss the Speed Racer anime (audio file) as the Wachowski brothers glitzy movie reaches theatres.

Gustav Klimt was the modelfucking man

[article from Entertainment Weekly]

BBC Videos seven-disc set “The Private Life of a Masterpiece” reveals the delicious and sometimes tawdry details of those classic masterworks of the past.

For instance Klimt worked wearing his favorite blue robe with nothing on underneath and kept a bevy of barely-clad redheads milling about to service any “pressing” needs when painting all those details wearied him. As another respite he also sketched the girls and by the time he finished The Kiss (1908) he had a collection of over 100 nudes.

In 1924 the National Gallery of London bought the seventh and most famous version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers(1888) for 1,325 (British) and have subsequently made over 2 million just on Sunflowers-themed postcards and tea towels. If I remember correctly the anime Samurai Champloo did an entire episode around Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (the main characters were after all searching for someone named the Sunflower Samurai after all).

Edvard Munch: The lettering in the sky on Munch’s The Scream reads in Norwegian “This can only have been painted by a madman.” Scholars have no idea whether Munch wrote this himself or it was scratched in by one of his detractors. Regardless Munch went on to create 105 versions of The Scream (which I think answers all questions about his mental state).

$152.50

[Buy TCI #4 with David Choe's first print interview on Ebay right now November 2008 as mentioned on his blog]

For all the jealous naysayers who once said David Choe was just a flash-in-the-pan, more style and controversy than substance, here's yet another glaring indicator of how successful Choe's art career has been since he won the Xeric Grant and released his first (and only) proper graphic novel, Slow Jams back in 1999: a copy of Slow Jams (cover price $4) just sold for $152.50 on Ebay (see the auction here).

While you can find the debut books of most Xeric winners in bargain bins, Slow Jams sold out it's print run and Choe's rabid fan base (most of which exists outside the parameters of comics) now vastly exceeds the copies available, making it one of the hardest comics under ten years old to find. I'm not much of a collector but after seeing this auction I'll have to dig up my lone copy of Slow Jams and slip it it a protective bag. Ditto for my only copy of the vastly more rare Son of Slow Jams which most people don't even know exists.

Back in 2000 in his first extensive print interview in The Comics Interpreter #4 Vol. 1, Choe talked about receiving the Xeric grant.

"I wish I could show you my grant proposal. It was on ripped out, lined notebook paper. I think when they asked me how much funds I'd need (can't exceed $5000) I wrote "I'm gonna need $5000 cuz I know I'm gonna need it." I sent it out in such a hurry to meet the deadline and it was so messy I couldn't believe I won it. Not knowing when to quit, I called up Xeric immediately and asked for more money. They said "no". Initially one of the ladies there even asked me to send in the "finished artwork" thinking that what I had sent her were just sketches (which is what they were I guess).

It's refreshing to know that sometimes talent can speak for itself (no goldleaf binder and asskissy cover letters needed). Sometimes..

Dave Sim Teaches Tracing, Pencil Sharpening

Strangely halting narration from Sim as he discusses his process on his post-Cerebus book Glamourpuss. The trials and tribulations of tracing from fashion mags, how to use an electric pencil sharpener, and the wisdom of Al Williamson. Notice the slightly eerie child-sized Cerebus figure standing alone in a room at the 2:10 mark.

Soup and Binding (fresh ground pepper?)

Oddly fascinating discussion in a diner between a barely audible Chester Brown, Dave Sim, and Rob Walton.

Choe works over Jim Lee, Quesada scolds TCI

Saw this awhile back and it's certainly interesting. Dave Choe does his own painted take over Jim Lee's pencils for a published cover for Superman #214. Working from the exact same tight pencils, what a radical difference in Choe's image. Here's what Jim Lee said on his blog.

Here is an incredible painting fellow Korean artist David Choe did over a printout of my pencils for the cover to Superman #214.

I just love it. It's different and I am sure not every fan will feel the same way but I love the energy, the colors, the intensity most of all.

In general, David's typical work is difficult to describe; part graphitti, part porno, all out passion. Some of you may be familiar with his work as David just recently did the cover art for the latest Linkin Park and Jay-Z album.

He is and has been a huge comic fan and over the years, we have become friends and try to get together several times a year. One time, we happened to be in NYC at the same time, and I got a chance along with Ale, Lee and Carlos to see David paint live on a giant wooden board in front of an audience at a church/dance club. Another time, we were all hanging out in my backyard, talking art as I grilled burgers and pulled out old art from my art collection.

Anyway, he did this for the hell of it but I like it so much that I have to figure out a cool project to do together. I think the style would better suit a character like Batman, Deathblow or Constantine, no? The mind races with possibilities. I just need to find the time in the schedule...

What's also interesting about this whole thing is that in his interview in The Comics Interpreter (Choe's first print interview way back in TCI #4 Vol. 1, 1999) Choe blasted Lee (along with a number of others, notably Adrian Tomine) for portraying an asian in one of Lee's series as the stereotypical brainy geek. But years later Choe admitted that his beef had been squashed--Lee was far too big to likely even notice or care about Choe's slam--and the two have since become fast friends and mutual admirers.

An interesting sidenote to all of this is that way back when I did TCI #6 as a tribute to The Brothers Hernandez I was soliciting comments about Los Bros work from a wide variety of creators and industry types and among them was Joe Quesada. The Editor-In-Chief of Marvel was actually a big fan of Los Bros work and was glad to discuss them until he learned that Choe was also participating. Quesada and Choe had recently had a massive, bitter falling out over Choe's dismissal from Marvel's NYX proposal that he was pitching with Brian Wood. Choe's proposal was typically extreme, featuring considerable dollops of sexual deviance and drug use which unsurprisingly wouldn't fly at Marvel. Choe's response to this rejection was a vicious email that circulated widely all over the internet. Quesada proceeded to dress me down for giving Choe a forum in the magazine and refused to participate. Quesada at the time said he would never work with anyone that associated with Choe or gave him a forum. It's also worth noting that when I posted on Wood's Delphi site saying that perhaps Choe and Wood had been naive to really think that Marvel would ever go forward with such an extreme proposal regardless of what Marvel was saying at the time; Wood immediately deleted my post even though it was basically defending he and Choe, for fear that it might upset his masters.

I mention all of this because while I think Quesada is a perfectly nice guy, I always thought his edict would only apply to a tiny magazine like TCI and would never apply to the likes of Wizard, assuming Wizard ever did a feature on Choe. The point being that it's an absolute certainty that if Jim Lee wanted to do any work for Marvel right now that his friendship with Dave Choe would be a complete non-issue; and not simply because a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, but because most people operate under situational ethics and as long as Jim Lee is hot shit he can befriend whoever he chooses without any detriment to his career...but TCI cannot. Oh well, the more things change the more they stay the same. But an interesting story nonetheless, eh?

Who summons the Whiiizzza!

So Wizard has reached 200 issues and they celebrate with a cover that looks like a box of laundry detergent with little more than a big neon "200" on the cover. Obviously showing you would be better than telling, but I haven't been able to find an image online...yet.

Heatley redesigns world currency

Same issue of The New Yorker has a full-page illustration by current Fanta-darling David Heatley. Essentially is a page filled with Heatley’s own colorful interpretations of various world currencies. The center stage is taken by a US twenty dollar bill (ya’ll) in which we see a seriously fretting and sweating Andrew Jackson with the words "Federal Disaster" on the top border, “The Precarious State of America, Please Don’t Take My House" and on the seal, "In Greenspan We Trusted," Signed by GWB.
An Iraqi denomination shows a Mullah with an eyepatch and read “When are you people leaving?”
A North Korean one shows a portrait of Kim Jong Il with the saying "Pay Attention To me."
A Jamaican coin features Bob Marley’s image and a quote from Redemption Song "Have no fear of atomic energy because nothing can stop the time.”
A Chinese bill shows a red dragon desperately spraying air freshener to stem the pollution before the Olympics and a mention of sweat shops. (Note: China has 12 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, and with the exception of Cairo and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the rest are in India).
A Euro is emblazoned with “The official currency of Jay-Z videos.”
And an Indian rupee shows Ghandi as a computer support specialist fielding a call with “Thank you for calling” and “How may I help You.”

Rest in Peace: Anthony Minghella

Saddened by the sudden death of Anthony Minghella. I really liked “The English Patient” when it came out, as much for it’s exquisite, sweeping David Lean-inspired shots of the desert as the fine performances of Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Naveen Andrews (who happily reappearedplaying an Iraqi no less, years later in “Lost) and the always wonky Willem DaFoe.

One wag said online that it was a glorified J. Peterman ad, which is kind of funny
but not fair. For one, it’s a period piece and people did dress that way and Fiennes character and sultry Kristen Scott Thomas playing his lover, were both educated and upper crust and only wearing clothing appropriate to the desert. Additionally compare The English Patient to a another desert set-film adapted from a novel and about a adventure-seeking but troubled couple played by John Malkovich and Debra Winger); Bernardo Bertolucci’s version of The Sheltering Sky. I like Bertolucci even though his films often seem awkwardly-paced and uneven, but The Last Emperor and his more recent The Dreamers have plenty to recommend them (and not just Joan Chen sucking toes in the former and Eva Green’s copious nudity in the latter). But The Sheltering Sky is mostly terrible. The dialogue is read so stiffly it feels far more like a stage production by a middling theatrical group than a major film by an acclaimed director and cast. For his part, Malkovich is as oddly affecting (and affected) as usual and does a solid job. As slightly oddball, scene-chewing actors go, he and the lower-key DaFoe are quite comparable and rarely dull (Being Willem DaFoe may make an even stranger film than Being John Malkovich, if only it were directed by Science of Sleep; but either would hold a candle of eccentricity to Being Crispin Glover by Harmony Korine). But aside from Malkovich the cast is wooden and Winger in particular proves that she cannot act. She’s mostly terrible in the role. Particularly disappointing because Paul Bowles is one of my favorite fiction writers ever, although I much prefer his short stories, and the film doesn’t in any way grasp the cold, almost alien and unsentimental tone of Bowles prose. Surprising since Bowles not only appears in the film but apparently overdubs a few passages from his book (which don’t work very well either). Anyway, were Bertolucci fails mostly miserably in his adaptation, Minghella’s screenplay and dirction for The English Patient had few false notes, excellent acting across the board, and spotless dialogue. It was warm and sentimental while still being cool and detached (the very definition of Fiennes, who after this and Schindler’s List and Quiz Show, seemed poised to be a peer of Daniel Day-Lewis).
Minghella also brilliantly pieced together The Talented Mr. Ripley bringing Jude Law to light and adding another layer to Matt Damon.
And I liked Cold Mountain also even though I struggle to see anything that features Renee Zellweger’s pruny, lemon-sucking visage; Jack White (Stripes) was quite good in his small role and the mountains of Romania subbing for the unspoiled forests of southern US mostly worked.

Gargoyle sculpting is kidstuff

From New York magazine: The Salvadori Center hosts a kid-friendly architectural tour followed by hands-on gargoyle making. Apparently the center which is located on site of the City College of New York, has roughly 600 gargoyle sculptures dotting the nearby cityscape, and will allow artistic little moppets to create their own monstrosities from clay. . While other cities and towns in the hinterland do no more to stimulate their kiddies than make handprints on paper and hold eating contests in effort to breed even fatter and more gluttonous future generations, NYC enfants terrible are crafting stone totems to ward of evil spirits. I say tres cool.

Frazetta's 80th birthday

I meant to post this back in February (when it was still relevant...what's that about the "immediacy" of the net?), but Frank Frazetta celebrated his 80th birthday a few months back.
British arts magazine ImagineFX printed an entire issue as tribute to Frazetta (on stands now) complete with drawn tributes from 80-artists (some decidedly better than others); a short overview of Frazetta's career by Spectrum's Arnie Fenner who notes that a Frazetta original has sold for $250,000.

Growing up I remember Frazetta's art being ubiquitous on ominous Molly Hatchet album covers (Frazetta's reknown "Death Dealer" painting) that spawned a thousand lesser imitators (Vallejo anyone?). In high school I remember the handsomest guy in school, Robbie Owens, drawing a nude that made the girls swoon (even more) and passing it off as his own original. Only I recognized it as an exact ripoff of a Frazetta nude but lacked the nerve to say anything.

Frazetta is an equal opportunity sensualist as his male and female figures are potently sexual in equal measures; the artist genuinely relishes drawing the human body regardless of gender.

Frazetta can hardly be blamed for having inspired generations of lesser artists who have appropriated Frazetta's trademark obsessions while lacking his blend of unassailable skill with anatomy, composition, and lighting. Thus the ugly steroidal barbarians and buxom women in fur loincloths that adorn so many tacky fantasy novels at your local bookstore, may be the unintended progeny of Frazetta's style, but they are not his responsibility.

BAKSHI: Truly, completely...Crumby

It seems a strange coincidence that I was just reading the aforementioned R. Crumb: Conversations in which in many of the early interviews Crumb expresses much consternation over Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation of Fritz The Cat. Of course Crumb’s disgust with the animated version of his work (which led him to subsequently kill off the character in protest) is nothing new, but I really haven’t heard much of Bakshi in decades. But just out is a new book Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, noted in the latest Entertainment Weekly alongside what else, an image of Fritz The Cat. I think it’s safe to say that the foreword is not by R. Crumb (no, but it is by Quentin Tarantino).

Raise your hand if you like orgasms

Paul Pope is the cover boy of the latest issue of High Fructose (which is trying to assume the "ugly art" mantle mostly vacated by Juxtapose, Pope's work being a notable exception, of course). Typical of these magazines, there are some beautiful examples of Pope's art accompanying a sparsely-worded interview. But that doesn't negate a few juicy quotes.

When asked apropos of nothing, whether at age 70, if he will be a "dirty old man, Pope's response:

"Will I be a man who loves beautiful women and who will love to have orgasms and make love? Will I be a sensualist who will love to eat and fuck and listen to music and drink good wine and embrace snow and sunsets? Yes..."

Well spoken, well said.

AppleSoft Comics: Computer giants get into publishing in a big way!

Maybe it's just a blip in the mainstream press but it's huge news in the comics medium. Apple and Microsoft may be cats and dogs when it comes to computer software, but they're jumping into bed together to form AppleSoft GNP, a publishing arm that based on resources alone will immediately be the largest publisher of comics and graphic novels in the world. The GNP by the way stands for Graphic Novel Publishing while also cleverly alluding to the more well known use for that abbreviation, Gross National Product; appropriate since these two behemoths share worth that dwarfs that of many small countries GNP's.

Apple spokesperson Lori Flapos had this to say about the massive, albeit fledgling, venture:

"AppleSoft is essentially a pooling of resources by both companies in a highly collaborative realm to further the exciting medium of visual storytelling and graphic novels. AppleSoft recognizes the huge impact that comics have had on the film industry and multimedia gaming and merchandising from a commercial and creative standpoint. We also recognize the tremendous artistic contribution and potential and we are very excited to play a part in helping advance this artform we all love and respect. "

In a press release Applesoft suggested that it will not be tentative or glacial in it's movement into comics publishing, but plans a large, wide-ranging and longterm approach.

Flapos says: "AppleSoft has every intention of publishing established authors in the field, but also searching out and nurturing nascent talents. We are very interested in independent creators and unique voices. We will be seeking a viable synergy between publishing high quality commercial projects and less commercial but artistically worthy books, and both will be given equal priority and attention within our editorship. We have already established a mission statement of sorts and that will include paying the highest royalties, ancillary rights, and exceeding production standards for all of our creative collaborators."

But why would either company be interested in the antiquated and fading medium of print when both feature high-tech portable multimedia devices in iPod and Zune and Apple has previously released it's eBook reader?

Flapos: While AppleSoft is certainly always eyeing advancing technologies and ways to make people's lives oth simpler and more entertaining, we are all committed to print publishing and think that no handheld devices can ever entirely replace the tactile sensations and pleasures of reading a printed book. Of course all of the graphic novels we publish will be available on iTunes and open source to both iPod and Zune. But we find that graphic novels in particular are more suited to larger, less portable screens, because such a huge enjoyment aspect comes from viewing the art in a format as large as intended.

Flapos would not go into details as to flagship artists for the company or any specific projects in the works but did let slip this: Suffice to say AppleSoft plans on bringing the same level of energy, innovation an creativity that both companies are known for individually. We fully expect to turn the comics medium as we know it on it's head, but in the most exciting and stimulating fashion possible.

It is well-known that Apple CEO Steve Jobs enjoyed reading comics as a kid, and former Microsoft overlord and primary shareholder, Bill Gates was himself a comic geek (although computers proved infinitely more profitable) who professed his love for The Flash and slight dismay that more wasn't done with the character on the Canadian TV show The Anti-Gravity Room (couldn't locate the exact ep.).

It's unknown what impact AppleSoft will have on the current, relatively stable comics industry as we know it, but it's a safe assumption that Marvel and DC are already shuddering at the sight of the new hi-tech and unimaginably well-heeled 800lb gorilla in the room.