The High Holiday of geekdom is upon us. The publishers have deemed us worthy once a year to give us free books, but more importantly, to get kids reading. Avengers hits the big screen as Free Comic Book Day celebrates an eleventh year!
“One does not simply GET INTO comic books.”
Your local comic book store or LCS will likely be decorated with balloons, offer snacks and be slightly more awesome than usual on Saturday. The stores want your business, your kid’s future business and will be offering smiles to all who come in the door. It won’t be about the money, it will be about the pride shared by our fandom.
Comics and graphic storytelling have been inadvertently promoting literacy for nearly a century.
Robert Venditti (The Surrogates) pens the triumphant return of 1990s armored barbarian X-O Manowar for the all-new Valiant Universe. Look for the talking voice variant cover of issue #1 to hear ‘The Voice of War’. … You sure hate Mondays, but Wednesdays just got a little better with the debut of Garfield #1 from kaboom!. Comics legend Mark Evanier (DNAgents, Groo, MAD Magazine) teams up with artist Gary Barker for comic gooier than 7 layer lasagna! … The less questions asked about the new-new DC continuity the better. Earth 2 #1 materializes over at DC to give us alternate versions of Batman, Superman, Power Girl and Huntress. Why? Only Starman’s James Robinson knows. It’s comics—just consume and accept! … LeaguePodcast supports your decision to bring the kids to Free Comic Book Day Saturday!
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Guy Delisle will be at Harvard Book Store tonight at 7pm for a free signing and discussion of his travel journal from Jerusalem entitled, Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City.
Canadian born cartoonist and animator Guy Delisle lived in the Holy City of Jerusalem for a year with his wife and two young children. His wife worked for Doctors Without Borders as an administrator as Guy settled in to raise his children, find a studio, sketch constantly and teach cartooning when called upon.
Drawn and Quarterly debuts his hardcover graphic novel this month, and Guy joins us in the States from his permanent home in the South of France to promote his book with a slide show and discussion about his experiences in one of the oldest cities in the world.
I was immediately intimidated by this assignment. How can I do the work justice when I know absolutely nothing about the politics of the Holy Land? My base understanding is that the place is to be revered as the birthplace of civilization and of Western religion. I’m uneducated on even current events or recent conflicts in the region. I expected to come out of this review feeling dumb.
Thankfully, Guy’s book was a travel journal of his life there as someone with knowledge on par with mine. Delisle’s cartooning and illustrations of the intensely complex subsections of the city throughout the book transformed my vague conceptions of the West Bank into realized maps.
There is the culture built upon conflict. Conflict begets villages, towns and separation. Checkpoints and automatic weapons meld seamlessly with the scenes of vendors selling fruit in the market.
At least six major religions have a righteous stronghold and ancient holy buildings in the Old City. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RNcIjW1-k I have the utmost respect for the work that Doctors Without Borders does and learned for the first time how difficult it must be to travel in the region on such a mission. All vehicles are subject to search. Bombings, shootings and violence are daily occurrences.
I imagined myself in Guy’s shoes adjusting and exploring all the old world had to offer.
The book illustrates the logistics of living in the city as a foreigner and seeing the place for the first time. He was responsible for getting his kids to school and finding places for play. There is so much honest exploration and learning exposed in this book.
Guy is a curious explorer, hopping into the Arab minibuses with a backpack to check out the city, draw and ask questions.
Chapters are broken up by months, and high holiday celebrations of the major religions are highlighted with an observant eye. There is a humorous reveal about the author’s spiritual beliefs that I identified with about halfway through the book. To be a non-believer in the Holy Land you are on the surface neutral, and at the same time without allies in conflict. Guy shows that it is best to keep your atheist or agnostic beliefs to yourself and blend in wherever possible. My original expectations were surpassed by a desire to travel more and carry a sketch book with me more often. The humorous human element of tense political and religious contexts in real situations brought me genuine happiness and joy. The illustrative maps and symbols in the work gave me a better understanding of the Middle Eastern region than all of my education and news input combined.
Guy Delisle has given us the history of the world told through the eyes of an outsider. He tells the story of how an artist and his family can integrate into a cultural mix thousands of years in the making.
OK so this review was a preview of Guy’s signing. I went, got some pictures and asked about process. Guy uses photo references, his own sketches and google image search for his drawings. The clerk actually quoted me in his intro!
Guy Delisle has given us the history of the world told through the eyes of an outsider. He tells the story of how an artist and his family can integrate into a cultural mix thousands of years in the making.
100 Months was written and drawn by the late 2000AD/Judge Dredd artist John Hicklenton before his assisted death in 2010. Diagnosed with MS, John struggled with the disease and left us with this ethereal and insightful quest of Mara the Earth Goddess vs. evil Longpig. … S.H.I.E.L.D has taken over in Ultimate Comics: Ultimates #9. What does this mean for the Ultimates and the nation they are sworn to protect? … Find out all about the place Superman hangs his cape and his gigantic golden key in Superman Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude! The sheer number of visits to the Fortress of Solitude Wikipedia site is prompting another check up at the shrink before having to explain this to HR! Picks from LeaguePodcast’s Boston Comic Con After-Party are here. Thanks for coming!
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It’s finally here! Convention season has begun for fans of comics and pop culture. The growth of Boston Comic Con over the last five years has turned our fair metropolis into the host of one of the biggest shows in the country. The spaces keep getting bigger, the roster gets more impressive and local fans have something to look forward to all year without shelling out the traveling expense of the San Diego or New York conventions. We speak this week with Colin Solan, Public Relations for Boston Comic Con 2012!
Hey Colin! We’re here to talk about something you’ve been putting a lot of time into lately…the 2012 Boston Comic Con! Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.I’ve been attending the Boston Comic-Con for the last few years, and honestly I can say I always have a great time. How important is the fan’s experience to you and the promoters? It is the most important factor to us, obviously we need fans to come back year after year and bring their friends. We’ve grown rapidly in our five years and that is directly due to attendees enjoying themselves and spreading the word.
Peter Bagge (HATE, Strange Tales: The Incorrigible Hulk) is going to be at Boston Comic Con this weekend! … Strap on the experimental augmented reality goggles to relive the major events in your life and see just how twisted your past self can get in Peter’s new book Reset! … What if you kicked it like King Kong and could reach into buildings with your giant hand? Here’s the companion book to the Matt Kindt’s 3 Story graphic novel in 3 Story: The Secret Story of the Giant Man, reprinting the globetrotting tales from Dark Horse Presents. … Sixty years from now there is no oil after a new American Civil War, and New San Diego is being protected by Navy Seal descendants, The Marksmen. Can they defend the city against the Lone Star rangers? Find out in the collected Marksmen trade paperback from Image Comics. Come to the LeaguePodcast Comic Con After Party — Saturday at McGreevys, 6pm!
What do you get when you have the creator of Kick Ass, Mark Millar, and the artist of the Watchmen, Dave Gibbons, working on a book together? A mysterious looking couple of dudes with a yellow logo on the cover, that’s what! Don’t miss Secret Service #1. …Kevin Smith wrote a screenplay for The Bionic Man reboot in the 90s that never saw the light of day so Dynamite adapted this for a successful comic! Marvel writer Paul Tobin brings female counterpart and ex-girlfriend of Steve Austin, Jaime Sommers, to life in The Bionic Woman #1 spinoff this week. …Grins were from ear to ear at Hub Comics over the weekend as collectors and fans met with classic G.I.Joe writer and Wolverine scribe Larry Hama. What happens when Cobra Commander faces the Blue Ninjas in G.I.Joe - A Real American Hero #177? … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com. Psssst… guess what’s coming up next weekend? NO! Not your chance to win a trip to Sonar Festival in Barcelona (*sigh*) even BETTER! COMIC CON. And Clay’s got a PREVIEW: EARTH PRIME TIME: BOSTON COMIC CON 2012 PREVIEW: TYLER JAMES OF COMIXTRIBE
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ComixTribe is an online community that imprints with the motto “Creators Helping Creators Make Better Comics.” The Red Ten, Scam and the upcoming Oxymorongraphic novel anthology will be showcased under the bamboo signage of the ComixTribe banner at Boston Comic Con on April 21 and 22. We’ve asked Tyler to preview the convention from an independent perspective as a writer, artist and editor of some great breakout books!
Tyler, thanks so much for previewing the BostonCon with us. We always chat at conventions big and small, but this year is a big one for you. Are you excited? This one is special. I’ve been exhibiting at Boston for the last four years or so, but this is the first year I’ll be there exhibiting as ComixTribe and sharing the table with several ComixTribers. We’ll even have T-shirts! That TOTALLY makes us official, right?
First ‘print’ interview / CROSS POST for EARTH PRIME TIME: CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT & COMMANDER X PREVIEW WITH JAY PISCOPO! We made the paper, baby! Thanks for all of the support from my editors David Day and Lauren Metter at DigBoston.
Moonstone Books will co-publish a cross-over one shot with local publisher Nemo Publishing to rebirth the legendary golden age hero Captain Midnight in December 2012. We’re huge fans of the collaborators, Jay Piscopo (Nemo, Capt’n Eli) and Brian Augustyn (DC Comics, Gotham by Gaslight). Jay was kind enough to take us to the skies and give us a birds-eye view of what to expect!
[Pick Up the DIGBOSTON paper this week. See for yourself!]
Jack “King” Kirby created Captain America with Joe Simon in 1941. By 1970, Jack negotiated a deal with DC Comics to create the Fourth World series of books that showcased hero Orion along with the Forever People and Superman facing off against new villain Darkseid of the planet Apokolips. Kirby’s Fourth World is collected for the first time in affordable paperback from DC Comics, and continues to be at the top of the list for timeless superhero adventures. The King didn’t merely innovate comic book storytelling and create all of our long lasting heroes, Jack Kirby is why there is a comic book industry today.
‘The RustyGear’ aims to bring Metalocalypse, Venture Bros fans together
Natick MA will host metal-heads and super-science nerds alike in June
[ PRESS RELEASE DATE - April 3, 2012] 2012 marks the inaugural year of The RustyGear, a conference catering to fans of the Adult Swim cartoons Metalocalypse and Venture Bros. It will be held June 28 to July 1, 2012 in Natick MA at the Hampton Inn Boston-Natick.
As a fan-run conference, all the programming is being run by and for fans of the shows, so the specific focus (as opposed to the more general nature of most conventions) means that attendees have the opportunity to “really dig into those two shows; their characters, their plots, their fan communities” says the Convention Chair, Anna “Supergirl” Ramm. But why combine those two programs specifically? While there is a fair amount of overlap in the fan-base, Ramm says there’s more to it than that. “The [adult swim] comedy roster is great, but not all the shows have a lot of depth … these shows happen to be two of the few [as] comedies that can be discussed on a serious level, because of their complex plots and characters.”
Metalocalypse and Venture Bros have never received this kind of focused attention from the fan-base on the scale of a conference before. The RustyGear is keeping the focus on fans’ love of the show, with programming featuring artists, fan fiction writers, costumers, and even fandom-based baked goods. Event attendees can expect to be engaged with the planned events; not only can they participate in discussions of plotlines, characters and themes but also get hands-on with workshops or try their hand at re-enacting their favorite scenes.
Registration, as well as information about sponsorship and vendor tables is available online through The RustyGear website located at http://therustygear.org. The Hampton Inn Boston-Natick can be reached for reservation inquires at (508) 653-5000 (mention the conference to get their special rate) or book online using the link on the “Hotel” page of The RustyGear website.
The RustyGear is a not-for-profit event run by Massachusetts-based Awesome Conferences Inc.
— Clay Fernald / Clay N. Ferno M: +1 (617) 30-COMIC (google voice) Check out our comic book podcast, LeaguePodcast.com Check out my comic book culture column at DigBoston.com - EARTH PRIME TIME: DigBoston
We’re doing an artist and fanboy edition for you starving comic fans out there this week! First up is Dursin’s favorite artist Terry Moore with another instructional book, How to Draw - Beautiful. Step by step instructions to go from drawing stick figures to Toulouse-Lautrec dancing girls in weeks! … If you can draw a box, you are halfway to drawing a robot in disguise! That’s right, friends, IDW publishes a definitive guide to drawing Transformers in How To Draw Transformers - Prime. We wish we had this book as a kid! … Wrapping up this segment showcases one of the most dynamic artists in the business Humberto Ramos (Amazing Spider-Man). Humberto and Sam Humphries drop Fanboys vs. Zombies #1 for just a buck! Save your money for art supplies! … Supportive words and pictures this week from LeaguePodcast.com!
The Nightly News was originally published as a six-issue limited series from Image Comics in 2008.
The collected edition is available in trade paperback and an anniversary hardcover.
In the months after #occupy, this is required reading for comic book fans angry with the media and the distortions portrayed by the beast.
Hickman currently works on Marvel’s flagship superhero family Fantastic Four as well as the Ultimate Universe version of The Avengers, The Ultimates.
His earlier work such as The Nightly News and Pax Romanashowcases his abilities not only as the writer but also as letterer, colorist, designer and artist.
The best way to describe the art is as an infographic. Every page is footnoted, cataloged, referenced, carefully balanced as graphic design and just packed with words. I had several hard, false starts getting into the book. I’d read a few pages, get lost and distracted.
Moonstone Books will co-publish a cross-over one shot with local publisher Nemo Publishing to rebirth the legendary golden age hero Captain Midnight in December 2012. We’re huge fans of the collaborators, Jay Piscopo (Nemo, Capt’n Eli) and Brian Augustyn (DC Comics, Gotham by Gaslight). Jay was kind enough to take us to the skies and give us a birds-eye view of what to expect!
“Spoon!” you say? You’ve got that right, as The Tick turns #100, local New England Comics character teams up with Robert (The Walking Dead) Kirkman’s Invincible in an absurdist superhero romp through The City facing Chairface Chippendale! … The man who killed Superman teams up with the dude who penned Batman knocking out the Green Lantern in ‘one punch’ to bring us a new team on Superman in issue #7. Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen bring new blood to the New 52 take on the last son of Krypton. … If you are too cool for another steampunk vampire/zombie comic (or as Jaush says, “Vamp-ombies” then the League wishes Consumption on your offspring! Just kidding, but seriously, if you are into that sort of thing, check out The New Deadwardians #1 from Vertigo. … LeaguePodcast.com has inspected and endorsed these periodicals!
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IT’S WEDNESDAY, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS: #COMICS DAY! IN THIS WEEK’S EARTH PRIME TIME COLUMN, AN INTERVIEW WITH JAY PISCOPO, WHO’S REBIRTHING LEGENDARY GOLDEN AGE HERO CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT IN DEC 2012.
“Trust me,” Clay Fernald, the publicity and promotions manager of the Middle East Nightclub writes, “the reason you fall in love with people here is because they love what they are doing.”
That seems to be the magic ingredient that keeps The Middle East, Boston’s favorite night spot, up and running. It’s held together by people who love where they are and what they do.
My niece Macie’s favorite comic in the known universe goes away so that Aw Yeah Franco & Art Baltazar can work on the new Superman Family Adventures book! Pick up the final issue of Tiny Titans with the littles this weekend to enjoy some quality superhero bonding! … We haven’t gone all soft and family-friendly, Dad will enjoy the heist story in Supercrooks #1 from Mark Millar and Lenil Yu. … Before lightsabers was The Dawn of The Jedi! Two young students feel a disturbance in the Force, a calm before the storm that will engulf their planet and change the galaxy forever! Use the cash, dude. And pick up Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #2 this week! … Midi-chlorian counts this week courtesy of LeaguePodcast.com.
It’s #comics day kiddies, and you know what that means! A group of the baddest DC villains is plotting to annihilate the Justice League. But hark! You can save them by reading Clay’s comic column and then watching the movie… EARTH PRIME TIME: JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM.
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Last week, we picked Image Comic’s Red Spike trade paperback as our marquee pick of the week. After reading the book, our adrenaline spiked higher than our usual caffeine levels and we naturally had to regulate. Writer Jeff Cahn was kind enough to shaman us through the transition and tell us more about his action-packed comic series.
Thanks for hanging with us, Jeff! You’ve got Red Spike from Image/Benaroya collected to trade. Are you excited? Definitely. It’s my first trade, which is exciting. But I’m also just really excited and proud of the way it turned out. We added a couple extras to it that weren’t in the comics, so I’m glad that people are going to get to see a little bit of new content as well.
Saga debuts this week with a spectacular double-sized issue. Brian K. Vaughn (Lost, Y: The Last Man) returns to comics with breathtaking art from Fiona Staples. Merging sci-fi and fantasy in this epic space opera. Like Star Wars? Duh! This preview is for you! … Queen Crab is an original hardcover from Jimmy Palmiotti about a newlywed Ginger. She is murdered by her husband and tossed overboard on their honeymoon. That’s all before she is rejuvenated by the sea and turns into a crab! … Buffy Season Nine continues with issue #7. Will Buffy settle down for a movie night with Spike? Semi-romantic picks from your pals at LeaguePodcast.com.
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