Comic Books

Doctor Strange v2 #3, 1974 - Still in search of his missing companion, Doctor Strange recalls their initial meeting. Frank Brunner provides only a few pages, framing Clea's first appearance from Strange Tales #126 (drawn by Steve Ditko). The artist nicely packages the reprint with a gorgeous new cover. The figures of Doctor Strange and Clea are heavily shadowed, illuminated by the approaching

TweetJL8 is probably one of the main reasons I’ve been feeling meh about DC lately. Because this, THIS, is how our heroes should be done! Our favourite DC heroes – Clark, Bruce, Diana, Barry, Karen, J’onn and Hal – as they were in elementary school. If they were all friends and had their powers and were even more awesome than usual. The strips are utterly adorable while keeping the heroes very much in character, and it is all ages. That’s right, superheroes for the whole family to enjoy. Yale Stewart has been uploading the strips twice weekly since last year, with over 120 instalments now under his belt. Obviously this is not an official DC project, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that any higher ups are too busy hoping Diana is not going to inadvertently break Karen’s heart with her lasso of truth at her 8th birthday party! The feels man, the feels. The star of the show is almost certainly little Bruce, wearing full retro Batman gear while fretting that he does not look scary enough (his darker costumes are all in the wash). The pint sized crusaders best friend is the adorkable Clark, whose mega crush on Diana has led him to getting writing advice from Neil Gaiman and buying Anya’s Ghost for her birthday present. Meanwhile Barry is your typical hyperactive 8 year old, albeit sliiiightly faster, while he and Hal attempt to show new student J’onn the ropes of Earth living. And oreos. In a lot of ways JL8 reminds me of my own misbegotten childhood favourite read – Calvin and Hobbes. But even dorkier. They may be 8 years old, but these kids are a lot truer to their characters here than many of their more grown up interpretations. Why DC is not paying Stewart bajillions to actually put this in print and raise the profile of its heroes across this new demographic (approximately 4-104 years old btw) is a mystery. I may not be rich but I would give buy the hell out of that and give it to everyone I know. As if that wasn’t enough, Stewart has also used his JL8 art to raise a ton of money for good causes in the aftermath of various horrible events in the last year. SUPERHERO. Sadly no collection is likely to be forthcoming until DC come to their senses, but until then if you’re a fan of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Power Girl, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Neil Gaiman (coughSandmancough) and/or comics that are fabulous, go and read this now! The strips are also archived here (for easier non-tumblr reading) and the facebook page is definitely worth a like. Laura Sneddon is a comics journalist and academic, writing for the mainstream UK press with a particular focus on women and feminism in comics. Currently working on a PhD, do not offend her chair leg of truth; it is wise and terrible. Her writing is indexed at comicbookgrrrl.com and procrastinated upon via @thalestral on Twitter. #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

TweetEvery Friday, Stately Beat Mansion invites round a comic creator or two for a cup of tea, complementary Kit Kat, and a chat about their work in The Phoenix. The Phoenix is a UK series which features a range of the best all-ages comics available, from all kinds of wonderful creators – all compiled into a single issue each week! The Phoenix have very kindly commissioned a whizzy spaceship just for this feature, which sails across to The Mansion every week with a new creator onboard. This week sees Rob Deas cruise on over to tell us about Troy Trailblazer, a series appearing in today’s newest issue. If you want to find out more, then try an issue of The Phoenix for yourself! Steve: Who is Troy Trailblazer? Rob: Troy Trailblazer is an intergalactic archaeologist and all round action hero. Think a young Indiana Jones in space and you’re half way there. Joining him on his adventures are his trusty sidekicks Barrus, a super tough, blue fuzzball and Blip, a highly practical maintenance and evaluation droid. Most stories centre on the search for a particular treasure such as the Starfire Sword (Phoenix issues 27 – 32) The Creation Stone (Phoenix Issues 42 – 51) or The Flute of the Desert Kings (Issues 58 – 59). Our heroes usually get sidetracked by some dastardly villain and end up in whole load of trouble before prevailing in the end. Steve: What’s your favourite thing about this week’s story? Rob: Well it’s the start of a brand new series, Troy Trailblazer: And the Princess of Paragon, and it’s a little different from my earlier tales in that it doesn’t centre on the search for treasure. It’s exciting to be breaking away from my trusted formula. This time Troy is roped in to helping a beautiful alien princess escape a fearsome pack of Bounty Hunters, a task which leads him to the hostile bounty hunter planet of Barabous. I’m really pleased with the villains in this story; they’re a real nasty bunch and make my previous bad guys look pretty harmless by comparison. I’m also trying lots of new things visually this time around, taking my art back to basics with zero photo textures, fewer 3D models and hardly any digital effects, all stuff I used to use a lot of. I’m still working completely digitally but I think the pages have a rawness and an energy about them that was perhaps missing in my earlier adventures. It’s really exciting to be experimenting with new techniques. Steve: What inspired the character? Rob: Troy is all about channelling my inner 9 year old and thinking back to what I used to love back in the day. I grew up in the 80?s so a lot of my inspiration comes from classic Saturday morning cartoons such as He-Man, Thundercats, Ulysses 31, Transformers, Mask, Action Force etc. I used to love the whole action figure/cartoon crossover thing and even now I tend to think very commercially. When designing characters I usually ask myself “Would this guy / gal make a cool action figure?” If the answer is ‘no’ it’s back to the drawing board. There’s nothing pretentious about the way I create my stories, it’s all about fun characters, thrills, spills and ultimate bang for your buck action! Steve: Where else can people find your work? What else do you have coming up in the future? Rob: I used to be better known for my work on classic literary adaptations such as Manga Shakespeare: Macbeth and Pride & Prejudice for SelfMadeHero. Both very different from my work on Troy, especially Pride and Prejudice which called for a much softer line and a more delicate approach, a challenge I really relished. I also do a lot of work for Medikidz, a publisher specialising in medical comic books that help explain illnesses to children in an accessible way, using a team of young superheroes that travel inside the human body. I’ve worked on 4 full-length titles for them over the last 3 years and helped to redesign their core characters. To find out more about my other work head on over to my website: www.rdomics.co.uk. As for the rest

I don’t like clowns, I don’t like dolls and I don’t like blu-tack. As a result, this new poster for James Wan’s The Conjuring has my red needle at 33% freaked out, maybe a little higher because that face is kinda clowny. The Conjuring won’t now be out until August 2nd in the UK. The US release is still set for July 19th. Incidentally, the screenplay for the upcoming Poltergeist remake brings back the clown doll. So… great. I’ve got that to look forward to too. Stop Looking At Me! It’s My Soul, Not Your Lunch! This Poster For The Conjuring Freaks Me Out

TweetI think comedy is the toughest impression to pull with comics. It’s not easy to create something humorous and memorable – something that makes you laugh out loud – using the visual narrative. Josh Mecouch, the creator of Formal Sweat Pants,  makes it look easy. I first learned about Formal Sweat pants because Rob Delaney tweeted the link to his webcomic ‘Rob and Mitt’ during the 2012 election season. Mecouch (has to be a pen name) was illustrating Rob Delany’s tweets to Mitt Romney. The amount of heart and soul to these comics which will become so dated is pretty extraordinary. Formal Sweat Pants is  a webcomic that used to update every Monday. Mecouch has masted the three panel strip format. Topic, premise, punch line. It’s the kind of humor you hear on your favorite podcasts like “You made it Weird” with Pete Holmes and Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. Find more at http://formalsweatpants.com #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

We’re The Millers was in development for years. Years. And now it’s finally going to come out and, before I know it, I’ll be actually be able forget about it. Phew. Or maybe Will Poulter‘s performance will make it stick in the mind. In a good way. He’s certainly got some good stuff in these trailers. First up, the Green Band version – which still features talk of “a big black penis” and footage of Jennifer Aniston stripping. And then there’s the Red Band one. Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to view the embedded video. Did this take years to arrive because it was being crafted by perfectionists? Or did it finally just escape? Green And Red Band Trailers For We’re The Millers – Playing Happy Families To Smuggle Drugs

Posted On Today at 05:17:30 am EDT by AJ [Reply] [Quote] [New] I really like that Romita variant to 642 - I hadn't seen that before. Not as fussed by 612 & 696, but I agree that 666 is a very cool image. AJ

* Heidi MacDonald reminds that it is NCS weekend. Break out the tuxedos! It feels like Rick Kirkman's weekend to me, so let me apologize to Mr. Kirkman right now because I'm always wrong. * Jeffrey O. Gustafson on Feynman. Tom Bonderant on the Green Lantern-related comics of Geoff Johns. J. Caleb Mozzocco on Green Team #1. * Michael May suggests that selling out isn't necessarily a bad thing if what you care about is the comics rather than the intellectual property shared by the comic and the movie/tv show. I think he's right. One of the reasons I think tireless work on the behalf of comics is worthwhile is that I would like any money to be made elsewhere to be additional money rather than the primary money made. I wish we valued the contributions of comics-makers independent of their success elsewhere, even on matters in which they have little say. Comics has greater honor as a creative endeavor than we routinely afford it. * not comics: someone is making a documentary about Michael Netzer; I would watch the heck out of that. * Mike Munzenrider profiles Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon. * not comics: this is a cute story about a little girl answering Marvel trivia questions. The superhero universes and all of their detail -- and none of the distressing adult emotional complications of other similarly complex soap operas -- remain vastly appealing to smart young people. It's one of the best arguments that the continuity heavy superhero comics should be reasonably kid-friendly as opposed to that approach ghettoized in their own lines. * I would have to imagine that there's room for someone to do something with the disco dazzler; I wish those options weren't almost always to fold a character into some team book in a serious, adult, macho way, but I wish for a lot of things. * hey, someone is living the dream I had every night from ages 11 to 13. * finally, I haven't seen anything like this Boulet cartoon since Solano Lopez showed up on Saturday of SDCC 1995 with homemade cookies.

Here's a neat thing they're doing to promote the Man of Steel movie. The Glyph Creator asks you a couple of questions and gives you one of 20 possible Kryptonian chest emblems, along with a family name and what it stands for, and what it would look like in a strange Kryptonian cursive that's really not like the font DC uses in its books. It's the DC movie-verse, what can I say?Hope you get a cool-looking one!

TweetGunnerkrigg Court is a comic that I find myself trying not to visit for as long as possible, only so that I can then drink up a nice long chunk in one go before reluctantly slithering back into withdrawal. The plot is always veering off in spectacular new directions, with cliffhangers and revelations and I WANT TO KNOW MORE! When I first read Chapter 1, The Shadow and The Robot, all those years ago I was immediately intrigued by the premise and the writing: a spooky school, female protagonists(!), and a very clear sci-fi/fantasy scope. The characters of Shadow and Robot caught my imagination completely, and Antimony Carver was an intriguing lead – her look was a little unconventional, particularly in respect to the detailed background art, but it has been wonderful to see Tom Siddell’s art progress over the eight years that the comic has now been running. The sheer scale of the story is, I think, pretty unparalleled in any other comic, incorporating science, magic, fantasy creatures, mixed mythology, mysteries, political battles, sci-fi elements, friendship, romance, parental relationships, betrayals, alchemy… all with two young girls at the centre, Carver and her best friend Kat. And her other friend Reynardine, a creature who is a wolf shape trapped in the body of Carver’s stuffed toy. Much of the drama is down to the setting, the mysterious Gunnerkrigg Court boarding school and its antagonistic relationship with the neighbouring Gillitie Wood – a clash of science versus nature, technology versus magic – and Carver’s ability to transcend and blur the borders. Flashbacks help fill in the gaps of the story that took place years before between Carver and Kat’s parents and other members of the school. The Wood is home to Ysengrin and Coyote, magical creature and god respectively, alongside a host of mythical creatures, while the school has students like Zimmy and Gamma, a mysterious pair that can travel inside dream worlds. As the story progresses, Carver finds out more about her unique heritage, while Kat becomes the savior of the robots due to her incredible tech skills, and the pair make friends at school while navigating the more traditional teen waters as well as their more ethereal adventures. There’s one little chapter of Kat and a boy, which I won’t spoil, but man. The feels. And of course the intermittent adventures of City Face, the famous pigeon are hilarious to read. From 2006-09, Gunnerkrigg Court won six Web Cartoonists’ Choice/Webcomic List Awards, and earned thirteen nominations. Siddell has also chalked up more nominations and awards around the world, and Gunnerkrigg Court is one of the few webcomics to have generated a huge Wikipedia entry and its own Wikia. The comic has been collected in three volumes thus far with a fourth out later this year. They can be bought via the website’s shop, or at any online/offline book store. And as with all webcomics, the entire series can be read for free at the website – so indulge yourself today! Laura Sneddon is a comics journalist and academic, writing for the mainstream UK press with a particular focus on women and feminism in comics. Currently working on a PhD, do not offend her chair leg of truth; it is wise and terrible. Her writing is indexed at comicbookgrrrl.com and procrastinated upon via @thalestral on Twitter. #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}