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COMICLIST: IDW publishing new RELEASES FOR 01/09/2019

Posted on January 23, 2023 by giqwp

ComicList: IDW publishing new Releases for Wednesday, January 9, 2019, by Charles LePage.

Atomic Robo as well as The Dawn Of A new age #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Scott Wegener), $3.99Atomic Robo as well as The Dawn Of A new age #1 (Of 5)(Cover B Thom Zahler), $3.99Bubba Ho-Tep as well as The Cosmic Blood-Suckers #5 (Cover A Baldemar Rivas), $3.99Bubba Ho-Tep as well as The Cosmic Blood-Suckers #5 (Cover B Horacio Domingues), $3.99Bubba Ho-Tep as well as The Cosmic Blood-Suckers #5 (Cover C Baldemar Rivas Black & White Variant), ARComplete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy volume 25 1969-1970 HC, $44.99Dread Gods TP, $17.99DuckTales #16 (Cover A Marco Ghiglione & Cristina Stella), $3.99DuckTales #16 (Cover B Marco Ghiglione & Cristina Stella), $3.99Euthanauts #5 (Cover A Nick Robles), $3.99Euthanauts #5 (Cover B Marley Zarcone), $3.99Euthanauts #5 (Cover C Nick Robles), ARHouse Amok #4 (Cover A Shawn McManus), $3.99House Amok #4 (Cover B Dilraj Mann), $3.99House Amok #4 (Cover C Shawn McManus Black & White Variant), ARLeague Of extraordinary Gentlemen volume 4 The Tempest #4 (Cover A Kevin O’Neill), $4.99League Of extraordinary Gentlemen volume 4 The Tempest #4 (Cover A Kevin O’Neill), ARLodger #3 (Cover A David Lapham), $3.99Mickey mouse 90th anniversary Collection TP, $24.99My bit pony The Crystalling TP, $7.99Star Wars Adventures Destroyer Down #3 (Of 3)(Cover A Derek Charm), $3.99Star Wars Adventures Destroyer Down #3 (Of 3)(Cover B Jon Sommariva), ARUnknown Anti-War Comics HC, $29.99

PLEASE NOTE- Not all of these titles will really show up in all stores. Please let me understand if any type of of the names or numbers are wrong. utilize the ComicList Printable checklist to produce buying listing for your regional comic book shop. To discover a regional comic book shop, please search The Master listing of Comic book & Trading Card Stores. go to GoCollect as well as utilize their next-generation, near real-time comic book cost guide. Subscribe via email or RSS.

© 1995-2019 Charles S. LePage. This work is licensed under the innovative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 united states License. To view a copy of this license, go to or send a letter to innovative Commons, 171 second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. any type of concerns regarding the utilize of this work should be directed to Charles LePage at chuck@comiclist.com.

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MARKLEY’S FEVERED BRAIN: ON TO INFINITY…

Posted on January 20, 2023 by giqwp

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Wayne Markley

by Wayne Markley

One of Marvel’s most fascinating aspects of their world of characters is the vast universe they have created outside of the planet earth and the heroes who live with-in that Universe. As I discussed last time, there are a number of alien races and worlds that marvel has focused on over the years and with the Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming in a few weeks, you will see more of Marvel’s intergalactic universe than ever before. one of the underlying currents in most of Marvel’s space stories, and has been teased as well in the movies, is the villany of Thanos and the various stories called “Infinity”. I am going to take a few blogs to look at this vast epic story which ties together quite nicely over forty years of stories.

Avengers vs. Thanos

First off, there is the character that is typically referred to as the mad god, Thanos. While Thanos is not a god, he is at times quite mad. He was created by Jim Starlin in 1973 as a one off villain in issue #55 of Iron Man. In interviews Starlin has talked about how Thanos was inspired by Jack Kirby’s work on the Forth Worlds series (available in four nice trade paperbacks) which is ironic in Thanos was inspired by Darkseid, yet Thanos has become a far more infamous character (though looking at Starlin’s first drawing of Thanos, Metron was obviously a big influence – ed.). Thanos was born on the moon of Titan, the moon of Saturn, and at his birth his mother tried to kill him. Over time he would develop a fascination with Death, and he would eventually fall in love with her. In the marvel comics universe, death is portrayed as a woman in a long dark cloak, a skull face, and is called mistress Death. Over the next twenty years from his first appearance, Thanos would fight the Avengers and Captain marvel and a number of other heroes a number of times, most notably Adam Warlock. These stories can be found in a hefty trade called The Avengers vs. Thanos. These stories basically make up the first wave of Thanos, and are the second wave of Marvel’s cosmic heroes (the first wave being the Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel). At the conclusion of this wave of Thanos adventures, he was left for dead.

The Silver Surfer: rebirth of Thanos

Of course you cannot keep a good villain down and Jim Starlin brought Thanos back in the Silver Surfer (Vol. 3 #34). The whole story of Thanos resurrection is collected in a trade called Silver Surfer: rebirth of Thanos. The resurrected Thanos is told by mistress death that he must kill half of all living things, including humans, Kree, Skrulls, Badoon, and all of the other various races in the marvel Universe. thus Thanos launches a plan to collect all of the Infinity gems and create an all powerful weapon called the Infinity Gauntlet. By no surprise this was also the name of the 6 part miniseries collecting this cosmic story with Thanos vs. Avengers, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, doctor Strange, and many others for control of this all-powerful gems. The Infinity gems (which had been called the soul gems in prior stories) were six different colored gems, each with a unique power, with complete control over their namesake. There was the green gem which was the soul gem; the blue gem which controls the mind; the red gem which had control over power; the orange gem controlled time; the yellow gem was the master of reality; and the purple gem controlled space. So when Thanos had control over all six of these gems, he attained godhood in that he could control anything and everything. This allowed him to carry out his plan to wipe out half of all living things. As a quick aside, the Infinity gems were all in the possession of one of the elders of the Universe, a group of even more cosmic marvel Characters that keep reality as we know it going. The first half of the Infinity Gauntlet is Thanos devising plans to get the gems away from these elders of the Universe. There are short stories with in stories where Thanos outwits the In-Betweener, the Collector, The Gardner, the Runner, Champion, and the Grandmaster. These stores are interwoven with the back story of half the people on earth disappearing and the Avengers, Warlock, and the rest of the gang trying to come up with a way to thwart Thanos. I do not want to give anything away, but these stories are very creative and complex in the way they are interwoven to get Thanos to the end result. once Thanos gains the power of the Infinity Gauntlet he is confronted by Adam Warlock who in turn gains control of the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos and finds he is no better when given absolute power. The story ends up with Warlock being put on trial by the Living Tribunal (acosmic judge) and it being decided that the Infinity gems should not ever be allowed to be together again. This of course does not last.

Infinity Gauntlet

Ireally enjoyed this whole story which is collected in two volumes, the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Gauntlet Aftermath. All the Infinity Gauntlet stories are written by Jim Starlin and drawn by George Perez and later Ron Lim. all of the other stories are written by Jim Starlin and drawn by various other artists. I really like this story because it shows how an epic tale can be told in six issues (and that is a little padded) and can be entertaining and filled with surprises and not drag on forever. It also sets up a number of future stories in the marvel universe such as Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Infinity Abyss, Marvel: The End, and the recent series, Infinity. Also, there are subtle things mixed in such as AnnihIlus sneaking across dimensions, which would lead to the story in Annihilation many years later. This series also lays the groundwork for some of the marvel films, as Thanos is in the opening and closing scenes of The Avengers movie, the Collector is in the closing scene of the most recent Thor movie, and has a major part in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. As an aside, marvel just released an Infinity Gauntlet Omnibus which is an oversized hardcover filled with all of the original six issues but also all of the crossover books that have not been collected elsewhere. It is a bit on the pricy side, but it is a terrific value.

Infinity Gauntlet Aftermath

I encourage you to check out any go these Infinity stories, but I would for warn you that they read better in order of publication than reading them haphazardly.

As always,l everything written in this blog is my personal opinion and does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I welcome feedback, or ideas or review copies at MFBWAY@AOL.COM.

Thank you.

10 things I like about DECEMBER ’10 COMICS

Posted on January 19, 2023 by giqwp

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Legion of Super-Heroes Annual

by KC Carlson

1. DC Annuals: The DC universe seems to have an interlude month of books this time around. There are no new major launches — not too surprising, given both the turmoil within their pages (The Return of Bruce Wayne, fresh starts for Superman and wonder Woman) and real life (DC’s restructuring/further assimilation into Time Warner’s corporate structure, with the real-life fallout and uncertainty of people losing their jobs, moving across country, or some other unknown, which regrettably has also wreaked havoc with their recent on-time scheduling). I haven’t commented much on this situation because the utmost story (and its ramifications) is still unfolding, and I’m a lot more concerned about old friends and colleagues possibly losing their jobs than the comics themselves.

Detective Comics Annual

But DC is still rolling on while all this is going on behind-the-scenes. This month, they’re putting some effort into the current crop of Annuals. The big news is, of course, a legendary legion of Super-Heroes creative team reuniting in the pages of legion of Super-Heroes annual #1. Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen combine their talents for the first time in 20 years! They’re introducing a new emerald Empress, one who possesses entire planets — and devastates the legion in her wake. if you haven’t caught up with the current legion excitement, this might be a good place to start! . . . also provided this month is a two-part Batman story (Detective annual #12 and Batman annual #28) featuring a Batman, Inc. recruitment story with both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as Batman. The story also guest stars The question and introduces a new Bat-character. Both issues are by David Hine and Agustin Padilla . . . There are two stories in action Comics annual #13 starring Lex Luthor in early meetings with Darkseid and Ra’s al Ghul, and I don’t think they are team-ups . . . While not technically an Annual, the DC holiday special only happens once a year. The 2010 version features all-new time-spanning stories starring Superman, The Spectre, GL John Stewart, Jonah Hex, Anthro, and the legion of Super-Heroes . . . I’m dreaming of an Orange Christmas in GL: Larfleeze Christmas special #1 starring the Orange lantern Corps — and Santa Claus! Aw, man… Is there going to be a lot of hugging? Ho! Ho! Humbug!

John Byrne’s next Men

2. John Byrne’s next men #1: originally one of the a lot more interesting creator-owned series of the early 1990s, John Byrne’s next men abruptly ceased publication — with a cliffhanger! — and hasn’t been seen for 15 years. Well, the wait is over, as next men returns in December — ideal where it left off. The original series, which blended both science fiction and political intrigue with superheroics, features a group of super-powered youths originally raised in a idyllic VR environment. The original comics have also recently been collected by IDW (making it easy for those of you who never got the chance to experience the series first-hand to get caught up), the publisher of this new series, written and drawn by Byrne.

Marineman

3. Marineman #1: I don’t know a lot about the series concept yet, but writer/artist Ian Churchill’s sample pages for his upcoming image series are just gorgeous. I’ve took pleasure in his previous work on Hulk and Supergirl, so I’m very interested in checking out this new series. In the plot description, Steve ocean is a marine biologist and TV presenter, blessed with good looks and good friends. sounds like a prefect life. but he has a mysterious secret. Churchill originally created the character 30 years ago, before his professional occupation started. By the looks of the ultra clean art and design, it seems like a great book for the return of classic heroic storytelling. It’s so refreshing to see a hero with a big smile on his face, as depicted on the cover to issue #1. I will absolutely be checking out Marineman #1!

Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars

4. Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars: I can’t even pretend to do justice to the legend of beau Smith and his new Wynonna Earp epic, The Yeti Wars. And, actually, I don’t have to, considering that Roger and beau recently sat down to talk about it (or maybe they were standing… I don’t know… I wasn’t there…). That interview will be here on the blog any day now. In the meantime, I can give you the facts, Joe Friday style. Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars is an all-new 104-page graphic novel. beau himself describes it as “a full color fistacular of fun,” because no one else would actually use the word “fistacular.” Descended from the popular lawman Wyatt Earp, Wynonna specializes in enforcing paranormal law, so she’s the ideal person to discover that Bigfoot (Sasquatch) and the Yeti (Abominable Snowman) are tearing it up in the wilds of Alaska during the worst blizzard in history. toss in a mystery that impacts the entire Earp family and you have a butt-kickin’ classic in the making! Plus, it’s drawn by the great Enrique Villigran! As beau additionally explains, “The Yeti Wars is genuinely The Brightest Day story of The Heroic Age.” (Beau, he’s a marketing genius!) but I gotta leave something for beau and Roger to talk about, so let me stop with this thought — I’m worn out of talking about beau now. Please, do us all a favor and get his book! (Hey, he’s signing all of the copies sold by Westfield!) published by IDW .

Stan Lee’s Starborn

5. Stan Lee’s Starborn #1: The third of the Stan Lee trilogy of new titles coming from Boom! Studios looks to be a classic Stan star-spanning space-epic! Benjamin Warner is a failed fantasy writer, always dreaming of far-flung space adventure and cosmic battle. When the return of a familiar face jars his memory, he realizes his rejected stories and daydreams aren’t fantasy — they’re history! He recovers memories of his home planet and becomes involved in galactic war. based on Stan’s concepts , writer Chris Roberson and artist Khary Randolph combine for the next big space saga! Roger Ash recently spoke with Roberson, and you’ll see that interview here soon. Boom’s first issue will feature covers by Randolf as well as gene Ha and Humberto Ramos.

BB Wolf & the three LPs

6. B.B. Wolf and the three LPs: The lost Recordings: already on the fast track for inclusion in the next edition of Rocklopedia Fakebandica, the legendary legend of B.B. Wolf and the Howlers continues as some of B.B.’s vintage lost recordings have recently resurfaced and are being made available on a special CD. It’s included with a release of B.B. Wolf and the three LPs, the ground-shaking graphic novel based on the life of B.B. Wolf as told by writer J.D. Arnold and artist rich Koslowski. For those of you who weren’t cool enough to catch it the first time around, B.B.’s story is a classic tale of racial injustice, murder, revenge, and music — and a lot of good ol’ huffin’ an’ puffin’! It may all sound familiar, but you’ve never heard this side of the story before. and now you can read along to some classic blues tunes, including “Rip It Up”, “Freight Train”, and “Sweet baby Elle”! but be warned: this special edition CD is strictly limited to actual orders — so if you want it, you gotta get it now! published by top Shelf.

Gotham City 14 Miles

7. Gotham City: 14 Miles: The subtitle for this book is “14 Essays on Why the 1960s Batman TV series Matters” and that pretty much says it all — except that the essayists include Chuck Dixon, Bob Greenberger, Paul Kupperburg, Peter Sanderson, will Murray, Timothy Callahan, all experienced writers who know their Caped Crusader. The book consists of essays comparing the show and the comics, the show’s actors and their portrayals, its villains, and its overall influence — not just on the comics, but pop culture itself. Edited by Jim Beard and published by Sequart, who have put out lots of other literary examinations of comic books including books about Watchmen, grant Morrison, and my favorite, teenagers From the Future: Essays on the legion of Super-Heroes. highly recommended.

Drawing Power

8. drawing Power: A Compendium of cartoon Advertising: This is one of those books that I think will get lost in the flood of holiday releases, but it must be of special interest for all pop culture fans, mixing as it does two “low” art forms: comics and advertising. featuring the collision (or must that be “collusion”) between the two from the 1890s to the recent past, this book will showcase comic stars like the Yellow Kid, little Orphan Annie, Mickey Mouse, Peanuts, B.C., and Dagwood Bumstead shilling for coffee, motor oil, cars, soft drinks, and even atomic energy! Plus, there’s a look at the days when comic strip artists were celebrities themselves, as well as pitchmen (Pogo’s Walt Kelly selling cement?). Plus, examples of the world’s greatest cartoonists (including Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles) working (anonymously) in advertising. Dr. Seuss and Rube Goldberg sell stuff too! 128 pages, edited by Rick Marschall and Warren Bernard and published by Fantagraphics Books.

Secret Origin: The story of DC Comics

9. Comics on DVD: These were provided on the buy form last month but you can still buy them now! secret Origin: The story of DC Comics is an all-new 90 minute documentary celebrating DC Comics’ 75 years of history by opening up the DC Archives and presenting material from the comics, films, and TV shows. I think these things always work best if they actually speak to the artists and writers who originally created the work (instead of the Hollywood- style executives who normally show up in these things to claim credit), and this documentary has Neil Gaiman, Geoff Johns, Dwayne Mc Duffie, and grant Morrison, so that’s a good start. It’s also narrated by Ryan Reynolds, taking a day off from his emerald Crusader duties. available only in DVD format (at least for now).

DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam

DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam seems like it’s being done by popular demand for all those folks who have said “Gee, I wish I could see all the DC showcase shorts (The Spectre, Jonah Hex, green Arrow) without having to get all the motion pictures that they were originally attached to.” To lure those who did get all those movies, there’s also a brand new extra-length (22 minutes) Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam short. Plus, the previous shorts are said to be “extended versions with never-before-seen footage”. even so, the four cartoons together run only 63 minutes, a count that does not include the four included benefit cartoons (previously released and a lot of likely episodes of Justice league Unlimited) featuring the same characters. The Blu-ray (only) has a special feature of commentaries for the new cartoons with Bruce Timm and selected creators. choose your options wisely, grasshoppers.

Grant Morrison: talking With Gods

Grant Morrison: talking With Gods (DVD only) is an 80-minute analysis of Morrison’s 30-year occupation in comics, including his groundbreaking work on series such as The Invisibles, animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, Batman, and All-Star Superman. It also features interviews with Morrison’s collaborators and peers: Warren Ellis, Geoff Johns, Frank Quitely, Dan DiDio, Frazer Irving, Phil Jimenez, Cameron Stewart, Jill Thompson, and mark Waid, as well as substantial interviews with Morrison himself. I’m greatly looking forward to this critical assessment of Morrison’s work, as I’m often slow in comprehending his a lot more complex works and am always trying to find additionally insight into his writing. Directed by Patrick Meaney.

Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus

10. Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus Hardcover: I’ve been saving the best for last! I have been bursting at the seams to talk about this one considering that I found out about it back in February (from Walter himself, who immediately swore me to secrecy). This (are you sitting down?) 1,192-page hardcover collects the complete classic Thor run (issues 337-382, excepting a couple of fill-ins, plus Balder the brave #1-4), which lots of consider the classic run of Thor. (It’s not just a book, it’s a weapon! only true Thor fans can lift it.) The comics were completely written by Walter, with a lot of issues drawn by him as well. but when Walter needed to step back a bit and just write the book, he chose Sal Buscemea to replace him on the artwork — and this also became one of Sal’s classic runs! — as well as one of the great historic marvel collaborations! Here’s just some of the fantastic storylines included here: The origins of Asgard! The death of Odin! The Casket of ancient Winters! The introduction of Beta-Ray Bill! The sacrifice of the Executioner! The curse of Hela! and my (and everyone’s) favorite: Thor-Frog! and the villains — Loki! Lorelei! The Midgard Serpant! Malekith the Dark Elf! Surtur! Fin Fang Foom! The Destroyer! Kurse! and more!

Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus Variant Cover

Here are a few production secrets that you won’t hear elsewhere: nearly the entire book is being re-scanned from the original artwork. (Walter called all his inkers to track down original pages he himself didn’t have!) The book is being “remastered” (with substantial art touch-ups and corrections) under Walter’s direct supervision (including the re-scanning), which includes such detail work as removing the UPC boxes from the covers to expose the original, unseen artwork underneath. Plus, the entire book has been fantastically re-colored by Steve Oliff, who reassembled lots of of the original Olyoptics crew to work on the project. With this much care and attention, not only is this book a fantastic read, it is going to be one of the best-looking archival books in recent memory. It is going to glow!

Marvel�

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: HERMES PRESS’ ROY ROGERS: THE COLLECTED everyday as well as SUNDAY newspaper STRIPS

Posted on January 19, 2023 by giqwp

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Roy Rogers: The Collected newspaper Dailies as well as Sundays

by Robert Greenberger

The name Roy Rogers conjures up pictures of a cowboy as well as roast beef for a lot of people under 50. But, for everybody else, he was the cowboy hero of the 20th Century. born Leonard Franklin Slye (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), Rogers played guitar as well as was a handsome fellow, quickly adapting to the motion pictures where he starred in 87 musical westerns, normally astride his horse, the golden palomino named activate as well as costarring Dale Evans, who married him. He was named the primary Western box-office star for a lots consecutive years.

Cowboys harkened back to the previous generation, before the fantastic Depression, before strife over immigration, as well as reminded people of a time when the American frontier was still being tamed. The delineations between great as well as evil were extremely remove as well as fed a requirement among the populace for easier times. It’s those extremely exact same needs that made the Western such a prominent television genre a generation later.

The King of the Cowboys’ popularity was such that he had his own radio series on the shared Network, heard by an estimated 20 million people each week. The show then migrated to television, appearing as 16 NBC television specials plus a half-hour remarkable series from 1951-1957. If you believe there’s a great deal of product surrounding your preferred hero today, picture 400 Roy Rogers-branded products in the Sears catalogue alone plus 2.5 billion boxes of publish Cereal featured his image.

And yes, there were comic books as well as a comic strip. The comic books are stated to have offered in excess of 25 million copies a year while the strip reached some 65 million visitors weekly.

So yeah, he’s a huge deal. bit question then that Hermes press is dusting off the strips as well as collecting them for the very first time, with volume one due in January. The book uses visitors a sample of the strip choosing sequences from its twelve year run, featuring art as well as stories from Mike Arens, Pete Alvardo, as well as Tom, Chuck, as well as Bob McKimson. The highlight for some, though, may be the sequence illustrated by the legendary Alex Toth. According to Toth in Comic book Artist, he filled in for routine artist Arens when the illustrator fell ill. Toth may have only drawn the strip from December 19, 1960 with January 12, 1961 however his masterful work is not to be missed.

Also, I phone call your interest to the strips from 1949-1953, which were illustrated by Thomas McKimson, credited as creating Tweety Bird, who dealt with his sibling Charles as well as artist Pete Alvarado, signing the strip Al McKimson. younger sibling Bob is bets understood for his work on the Looney Tunes as well as Mister Magoo shorts.

The strip was prominent as well as commonly checked out however today is one of those overlooked gems, not normally featured in surveys about the genre. now you can choose for yourself if the derring-do [is deserving of] reconsideration.

Roy Rogers: The Collected everyday as well as Sunday newspaper Strips will consist of black-and-white everyday strips as well as twelve total full-color continuities of the Sundays plus an introductory essay by Tim Lasuita, gone along with by artwork, motion picture posters, advertising, as well as toys demonstrating the cowboy’s reach as well as appeal.

VISIONS by ALICE HOWE

Posted on January 16, 2023 by giqwp

There’s a couple of really good covers on this album, and a bunch of really good folk songs as well. Don’t sleep on this record.

BOB’S news about STUFF!!!

Posted on January 11, 2023 by giqwp

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This September’s Batman: Black & White #1 (of 6)

Batman: Black & White returns with an all-new 6-issue mini-series this September with creators including Neal Adams, mark Silvestri, Chip Kidd, Sean Murphy as well as Chris Samnee!

Age of Ultron #10 will be polybagged to spoil any type of huge last few page surprises up until you get it house (or checked out about it on the Web thingy)!

Carlos Pacheco will be the artist on Rick Remender‘s second Captain America story arc beginning with problem #11!

Savage Wolverine #9 will begin a 3-issue futuristic storyline written as well as drawn by Jock!

Marvel will be introducing a new Mighty Avengers title this September, written by Al Ewing with art by Greg Land, spinning out of their upcoming Infinity event led by Luke Cage together with The Falcon, White Tiger, She-Hulk, Suuperior Spider-Man, Blue Marvel, Monica Rambeau (now named Spectrum), as well as a new Ronin!

Marvel just recently trademarked the name of their Fantomex character, typically a indication that they have plans for the character. perhaps a his own series, mini-series or in an upcoming movie?

Current physician Matt Smith will be leaving physician who as well as regenerating into a new 12th physician in this year’s Christmas episode. Sad, however that IS the nature of the 50 year old show!

AMC has release a 2.5 minute behind the scenes look at season four of The walking Dead!

Warner siblings has revealed that there’s a live-action Archie film in the works!

BOB’S news about STUFF!!!

Posted on January 5, 2023 by giqwp

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*Top shelf productions has finally scheduled Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s league of extraordinary Gentlemen: Century #2 – 1969 for a July 2011 release.

*Jesus Saiz (JMS’ brave & The Bold) will be the new regular artist on Birds of Prey beginning with issue #12.

*Neal Adams is getting a 2nd DC universe Illustrated Hardcover by the end of the year that should feature his Spectre and Phantom stranger material as well as assorted short stories and cover work.

*Work on the sequel to Wednesday Comics is making progress. Steve rude is contributing a new Gods strip.

*The next season of Torchwood has a new title, plot and a new cast member.

*There’s a new pic of Chris Evans in costume from the Captain America movie (sweet!) and the first Andrew Garfield pic in his costume from the new Spider-Man movie.

*March 2 sees the release of Peter Milligan’s 5 Ronin five-issue, weekly miniseries which re-imagines some of Marvel’s heavy-hitters as masterless samurais.

10 things I like about JULY 2012 COMICS

Posted on January 5, 2023 by giqwp

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The Snowed In, lost Muppets, new Pages, Marie and bill and Steve, Nega-Band Reboot, Giant-Size Man-Thing, space Punisher edition — Guest-Starring Flexy!

KC Carlson. Art by Keith Wilson.

by KC Carlson

The Judas Coin

THE JUDAS COIN: This trip de force project from Walter Simonson — who does everything but letter, and that’s being done by long-time collaborator John Workman — was originally conceived as Simonson’s issue of the sadly departed, mark Chiarello-edited Solo anthology series. (It was also planned to be the only issue of Solo with a full-length story.) After Solo’s cancellation, Simonson got the go-ahead to expand the story from 48 to 96 pages and have it published as a stand-alone graphic novel. The story is based on the silver coins that Judas was paid to betray Jesus, and how those coins have impacted thousands of years of DC continuity, with individual chapters starring the golden Gladiator, the Viking Prince, Captain Fear, Bat Lash, Batman (with Two-Face), and in a major surprise, Manhunter 2070.

I got trapped at the Simonson home in a snowstorm for a few days a while back, and I jumped at the chance to read the work in progress. I read three chapters (the only ones finished then) and can wholeheartedly say that The Judas Coin is an amazing work, which rivals Walter’s very best stuff — and that’s very difficult competition! Something that DC isn’t saying about the work is that Simonson draws each chapter in a different style. in some cases it’s in tribute to the original artist of the character (I can’t wait to see Walter’s version of Nick Cardy’s style in the Bat Lash chapter). In others (like the Batman chapter), Simonson selects the style of a particular personal favorite artist (in this case, one who’s never drawn Batman), and adapts the character to that style.

I’m really hoping that The Judas Coin doesn’t get completely lost and ignored by DC now that it’s finally finished. Simonson’s long-term contract with DC expired recently, and he’s making quite an impression at Marvel, penciling the ongoing Avengers title as well as dozens of covers for them. Historically, creators leaving a company no longer receive the promotional push that they once might have, had they still been under contract (and not so visibly producing for the competition). In addition, the DC universe in The Judas Coin may or may not be the same DC universe currently depicted (and pushed!), due to the recent unveiling of the “New DC”. I’m an old continuity man from way back, but in this case I say — who Cares? The Judas Coin is going to be a major work from a major talent, and DC would be foolish not to push this book like crazy. Don’t miss The Judas Coin!

National Comics: Eternity

OTHER DC STUFF: national Comics is a new DC imprint providing up one-shots of fringe characters as try-outs to see if they garner enough interest for their own ongoing series. first up is Eternity #1 by Jeff Lemire and Cully Hammer, featuring a brand-new take on the classic kid Eternity character . . . DC’s still rolling out the before Watchmen comics with before Watchmen: Ozymandias debuting in July. The solicitations also reveal how some of the BW books might stay on schedule while featuring some notorious deadline-challenged creators — not all of the before Watchmen titles will be issued as monthly comics . . . James Robinson and Phillip Tan are the creators of a new He-Man and the Masters of the universe six-part miniseries, which will excite thousands and thousands of fans who were born in the best decade. Sadly, I’m not one of them. good sword, though.

Captain Marvel

CAPTAIN MARVEL: I am really looking forward to the new Captain marvel book coming in July. It stars Carol Danvers/Ms. marvel in a completely new role in the marvel Universe. That’s nothing new for the character. She has already had several different personas in the marvel Universe, as well as being one of the major supporting characters from their Silver Age. She debuted in the second adventure of the original marvel Captain marvel (Mar-Vell) in 1968 (Marvel Super-Heroes #13) and became an ongoing character in Mar-Vell’s series while also making appearances in Avengers and Uncanny X-Men. She’s currently one of the few characters broken between sides in the Avengers vs. X-Men battle, and this new title will sorta spin out of that series into her new book.

But the main reason for my excitement is the writer — Kelly sue DeConnick. I’ve been enjoying her one-shot stories over the past couple of years (Sif, Rescue, short stories for the Age of Heroes anthologies). She’s also written the gripping Osborn: Evil Incarcerated miniseries and the lovely (but thankless) Supergirl storyline that ended the previous incarnation of the character (and that series). She’s the co-writer (with Bendis) of the Castle graphic novel as well as a number of projects from IDW and Image. Her attention to both character and detail made her work stand out, and both of those qualities will be needed in handling such a long-time character (with a complicated backstory) as Carol Danvers. I expect, based on her track record, to see a book with interesting challenges for Danvers as well as a compelling supporting cast.

I know very little about artist Dexter Soy, but the promotional art shown so far looks very competent. I don’t imply to make that sound like a backhanded compliment, but I’ve only seen two pieces of his work so far.

Carol Danvers. Ms. Marvel. Binary. Warbird. Floating marvel Superhero Poker Regular. and now, full circle, Captain Marvel. Her time has come!

Fantastic four Annual

OTHER marvel STUFF: Roger Langridge’s “lost” Muppets story (from when Disney took back the Muppet comic license from BOOM! and reassigned it to Marvel) finally sees print in July. Muppets: The four seasons is a four-part series featuring the gang celebrating Spring‘s arrival, as well as a new Muppet performer! . . . several of this summer’s marvel Annuals will be written and drawn by Alan Davis, featuring his creations the ClanDestine. They kick off in July with fantastic four annual #33 (guest-starring Dr. Strange) and August with Daredevil annual #1 . . . Marvel’s got another new #1 issue in July with X-Treme X-Men #1, which I know very little about, except that it’s… (slipping into Truckosaurus voice:) X-TREME!!! Oh, and it spills out of Astonishing X-Men and it’s by Greg Pak and Stephen Segovia . . . winner of Dumb Title of the Month: space Punisher #1! Doesn’t it just sound like one of those lame deals where they invent the insipid toy first, and then somebody has to figure out how it works as a comic book? (Next: Laser Punisher!) Not to mention undercutting the stark reality of The Punisher’s ongoing adventures. (Sarcasm alert.) There’ll never be another Franken-Castle. bet this one will be re-titled before publication.

Man-Thing Omnibus

BIG HONKING BOOKS: The Man-Thing Omnibus hardcover is pretty much all the Man-Thing you might ever need. This 1,192-page hardcover features all of Man-Thing’s earliest adventures (from way back in savage Tales #1), including the celebrated Steve Gerber-written run of the character. (Although Roger points out the Gerber-written Man-Thing stories that appeared in marvel Comics presents do not seem to have made the list in Marvel’s solicitations. hope marvel catches that before the book goes to print.) Gerber wasn’t the only writer of the character, but he was the best, and Mike Ploog’s work on the series was at the top of dozens and dozens of artists who have drawn the character over the years. This may seem an extremely quirky choice for an Omnibus, but I’ve read practically everything in it, and the large majority is either exceptional or at least interesting. You can’t always say that of too numerous marvel series from that era. This gets two muck-encrusted thumbs up! (Does Man-Thing have thumbs?) . . . DC is re-soliciting its absolute final crisis 464-page hardcover, to include stuff they originally left out (Final crisis Director’s cut and Batman #682-683) as well as including seven new pages by grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke (hopefully adding the satisfying ending that was not in the original). (sarcasm alert). Really, DC? You’re really expecting people to pay $100 bucks to get seven pages of material that probably ought to have been in the original, had it not completely collapsed editorially at the end? Really? Hey, you men at DC love the new digital initiative. how about making those seven new pages available as a totally free download to all of us who can show that they purchased all the originals. Let’s call it the new DC Challenge! . . . July sees the release of best of Archie Comics volume 2, over 400 pages of vintage Archie stories for only $9.99. readers of this column may remember that I wasn’t a big fan of the first volume, but I wish them all the best for volume two and hope that the Archie folks had plenty of time to assemble it.

Marie Severin: The Mirthful mistress of Comics

CLASSIC CREATORS IN THE SPOTLIGHT: TwoMorrows’ long-awaited Marie Severin: The Mirthful mistress of Comics TPB is now available for order, spotlighting one of comic’s many popular artists and colorists. Marie worked extensively for two major publishers. At E.C. Comics, she was their primary colorist. For over 30 years, as both a freelancer and staffer for marvel Comics, she did pretty much every job involved with artwork or production. Her amazing sense of humor offered numerous classic Not brand Ecch! stories, as well as hundreds of office-only cartoons cleverly lampooning her co-workers. She’s one of the most beloved creators in comics, and dozens of co-workers — including Stan Lee, Al Feldstein, Roy Thomas, John Romita, Jack Davis and many, numerous others — share their stories about Marie. Plus, she shares a few about them! If you like fun inyour comics — this book’s for you!

The creativity of Steve Ditko

The creativity of Steve Ditko is the long-awaited follow-up to Craig Yoe’s The Art of Ditko, with this new 208-page hardcover collecting Ditko’s many creative comics stories. (Would be nice, though, if we got a hint as to which stories Yoe thinks those are.) The forward is by Paul Levitz, with other essays by Mike Gold, Jack Harris, and Amber Stanton. She’s the daughter of artist Eric Stanton, who shared a studio with Ditko for nearly a decade around the time that Spider-Man was created. That ought to be some interesting reading. published by IDW.

Bill the young boy Wonder: The secret Co-Creator of Batman

Bill the young boy Wonder: The secret Co-Creator of Batman is a 48-page hardcover written by Marc Tyler Nobleman (Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman) and illustrated by the fantastic (and underrated) Ty Templeton (Batman Adventures). It tells the mostly untold tale of bill Finger, the man who helped create Batman and many of the original major Bat-villains. That story went untold because Bob Kane signed a developer contract with DC Comics in 1939, stating that he was the sole developer of Batman. Legally, DC has had to uphold that statement throughout the decades, even if they in some cases didn’t want to. This is mainly a book intended for younger readers and children’s libraries, but every comics fan ought to delight in this fond look at one of comic books’ great “lost” creators.

DC Super-Pets: Swamp thing vs. The Zombie Pets

SUPER-PETS RULE!: six new DC Super-Pets books — all illustrated by the amazing Art Baltazar — are now available for ordering. This batch features some new characters, including Solomon Grundy’s zombie animals and Swamp Thing’s bog buddies (in Swamp thing vs. The Zombie Pets). Plastic Man’s pet frog makes the scene in The fantastic Flexy Frog — and he’s got his master’s goggles! (Goggles are cool!) Old favorites like Krypto take on The cat crime Club, and Ace the Bathound should survive The night of the Scaredy Crows! Plus, the Atom’s microscopic mutt, Spot, should face Giganta’s pet giraffe in The most significant little Hero, while Aqualad and his super-pet fluffy should take on ocean Master and his nasty fishy foes in Deep-Sea Duel. These are all 56-page storybooks — developed for kids, but their parents will love then too!

The hole of tank Girl

MORE good STUFF!: view for: The hole of tank Girl, collecting the entire run by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin in a massive hardcover; The Lone Ranger: snake of Iron by Chuck Dixon and Esteve Polls from Dynamite; a good Monolith hardcover by Palmiotti, Gray, and Winslade; and a very new reprinting of the Gibbons, Rude, and Kesel World’s Finest from DC. look for upcoming previews and developer interviews for numerous of these in the next couple of weeks from other Westfield correspondents. and congrats to The walking Dead for hitting their magic #100 issue. In these days of rebooting series every 12 issues or so, this is a very significant and well-deserved milestone for a very successful comic book!

CLASSIC COMIC book COLLECTIONS

Batman: The Dark Knight Archives volume 8

Batman: The Dark Knight Archives volume 8 (DC): Collecting Batman #32-37 from the 1940s

Chronicles of King Conan volume 3

Chronicles of King Conan volume 3 (Dark Horse)

Classic G.I. Joe volume 15

Classic G.I. Joe volume 15 (IDW): Reprinting the final issues (#146-155) of the classic marvel series for the first time

Eerie Archives volume 11

Eerie Archives volume 11 (Dark Horse): Collecting issues #52-55

The Flash Chronicles volume 3

The Flash Chronicles volume 3 TPB (DC): Collecting The Flash #113-118 by Broome, Fox, and Infantino

Green Lantern/Green Arrow

Green Lantern/Green Arrow TPB (DC): The entire classic Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams run in one volume

Jack Kirby’s fourth world Omnibus volume 3

Jack Kirby’s fourth world Omnibus volume 3 TPB (DC): Kirby�

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: DC’S GOTHAM central OMNIBUS

Posted on January 1, 2023 by giqwp

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Robert Greenberger

by Robert Greenberger

Novelist turned comic book writer Greg Rucka had been writing Batman stories for a while and slowly began evolving the cast of characters at Gotham City’s police department. prior to the 1990s, the recurring characters were fairly limited to Commissioner James Gordon, Sgt. Hanier (who manned the Bat-signal), chief O’Hara (on the ABC television series), and Harvey Bullock (created as a one-off by Archie Goodwin and resurrected to good effect by Doug Moench in the 1980s).

When he partnered with Ed Brubaker, who loved noir fiction, for the “Officer Down” storyline that ran through the Bat-titles, a team was born. They pitched DC Comics with the idea of a new series focusing on Gotham’s cops and after much persuasion were green lit to produce Gotham Central. With artist Michael Lark on board, they built up a roster for the major Crimes Unit, the ones who would most interact with the caped crusader and his colorful rogues, splitting stories between the day and night shifts.

Gotham central Omnibus

The forty-issue series was a sheer delight, earning accolades and awards but without the cape and cowl in every issue, its sales suffered which is a shame. now that Gordon and Bullock can be seen weekly on Fox’s Gotham, DC is producing the Gotham central Omnibus containing every issue. While the prime time series bears zero resemblance to the source material, this is a treat for those of you who missed out.

The series used familiar villains and built up the backgrounds and characterizations of the cops dealing with the crimes. The sense of drudgery, paperwork, too-much-coffee and too-little-sleep pours off each page. The initial two-parter set the stage as the MCU took on Mister Freeze after Marcus Driver’s partner Charlie fields is killed. during this story, Renee Montoya was outed, putting pieces into place for the series’ best known arc.

Gotham central #6

While investigating Fields’ last case, they run up against Firebug in Brubaker’s first solo story. We then swing into Rucka’s “Half a Life”, a five-parter that explores Montoya’s life after her lesbian nature is public knowledge. Complicating things is Two-Face, who abducts the woman at least half of him thinks is in love with her. This arc won the Eisner award – best Serialized story and the Harvey award – best single issue or story in 2004. Additionally, was won the Gaylactic Spectrum award – best other Work.

Lark took a break for a one-off drawn by Brian Hurtt, focusing on Stacy, the civilian who controls the Bat-signal because law-enforcement officers are legally prevented from summoning the vigilante.

Gotham central #13

Lark returns, now paired with inker Stefano Gaudiano for “Soft Targets” when the MCU are targets for the Joker, who is livestreaming his murderous antics.

Brubaker and Rucka team-up with artist Greg Scott for “Life is full of Disappointments” which shone a spotlight on three different detectives, also guest-starring the Huntress. This is followed by a four-parter that showcased Bullock, at the time a disgraced detective and on the outs with the GCPD. He picks up a cold case about the mad Hatter but comes to believe it was actually a Penguin crime.

Gotham central #23

By this time, Jim Corrigan, not the incarnation best known to most as the Spectre, is a corrupt detective on the squad and Rucka shows us the depths of depravity in a two-parter, as Crispus Allen is in trouble after Corrigan removed evidence from a crime scene. This story tangentially connects with the Batman: war games crossover event. once that story ended, the series had to address the current relationship between police and bat with the signal removed from the roof in “Lights Out”, which proved to be Lark’s final issue as artist.

Detective Josie Mac, a new addition to the mythos, has been hiding her psychic abilities but things prove complicated when Catwoman learns her secret in a story from Brubaker and Jason Alexander.

Gotham central #29

With an eye towards how cops in other cities work with their heroes and villains, the four-part “Keystone Kops” involves the Flash’s hometown and doctor Alchemy, who leaves a permanent reminder as Montoya’s chest is scarred by her altered necklace, branding her in a way. Gaudiano moves up to penciler here, inked by Kano.

Rucka’s Whiteout partner, Steve Lieber, reports for duty in a one-off which focuses on one of the city’s many corrupt cops. This also has an appearance from Poison Ivy.

When a boy in a Robin costume is found dead, Batman is presumed responsible and a manhunt ensues in “Dead Robin”, which Rucka cowrote but was notable as Brubaker’s swan song from the series. Kano and Gaudiano swap roles for the arc’s artwork.

Rucka and Lieber produce another one-off, this time setting up the final confrontation between Allen and Corrigan.Tying in with infinite Crisis, Captain marvel makes an incongruous appearance and Aquaman’s foe The Fisherman dies here.

Gotham central #38

The series’ final arc has Corrigan kill Allen where the Voice turns the honorable cop into his Spirit of Vengeance and a new Spectre is born. Corrigan seems to get away with the crime, leading Montoya to quit the force, setting up her eventual evolution into the question in the Rucka co-written 52.

This is a rich series and one I was proud to work on when I was in the Collected Editions. So strong was its street level authenticity that I had little problem enticing crime writer par excellence Lawrence block to write the introduction to the first volume. The stories hold up and are far richer than what you can see weekly.

Purchase

Gotham central Omnibus

Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database

INTERVIEW: JIM MCCANN & JANET LEE ON ARCHAIA’S RETURN OF THE DAPPER guy

Posted on December 31, 2022 by giqwp

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Return of the Dapper Men

Jim McCann is the writer of Marvel’s prominent Hawkeye & Mockingbird and the upcoming Chaos War: Alpha Flight. Janet Lee is a gallery artist. together they bring you Archaia’s Return of the Dapper Men, a fairy tale that appears like nothing you’ve seen before in comics. Westfield’s Roger Ash spoken to McCann and Lee to discover more about the book.

Westfield: how did Return of the Dapper guy come about?

Jim McCann: Janet and I have understood each other for 15 years now. She lives in Nashville and I online in new York, but I go back to Nashville every Christmas and a couple of times with the year. She is a book buyer by day and a gallery artist by every other hour of the day and night. two Christmases ago, in 2008, I was visiting and saw these three different pieces from different showings. One was a Christmas ornament, one was a little, 5”x8” maybe, framed picture, and then another was a six foot tall painting that she had done. They were three very, extremely different looking pieces. The ornament was a steampunk looking boy, the smaller painting was a robot girl flying in space, and the big painting had these extremely dapper looking guy raining down on a Victorian setting. It is extremely Magritte looking. I came back to new York after Christmas and couldn’t get those three pieces out of my head. I had actually brought two of them back with me and put the extremely big one on hold. To me they told a story. They all went together. I composed up the proposal and the first paragraph ended up being the introduction to what is now Return of the Dapper Men. I basically stated to Janet, “Hey, you want to do a graphic novel?” So I pulled one of Nashville’s most popular up and coming gallery artists off the market for the next year and a half. At San Diego Comic-Con in 2009, I brought a few printouts of a few of Janet’s work, went to Archaia and pitched it to them on the floor. They did something that seldom happens- stated indeed right away after hearing the story and seeing the artwork. We right away kicked it into gear and sat down and organized out the whole story and how Janet was going to go from gallery artist to telling a sequential story. Okay, Janet, your turn?

Janet Lee: [laughs] I’m supposed to take over from there? There’s not much else to tell. That’s quite much how it happened. Jim sent me an email that was amazing. It made me believe of Neil Gaiman and J.M. Barrie and Tim Burton all rolled into one, so of course I stated yes.

Return of the Dapper guy page 13

Westfield: had you ever believed of doing a book before, Janet?

Lee: I’ve always wished to try my hand at book illustration. I kinda believed the first thing I’d end up doing would be a children’s book, but I’ve always liked comics so this was just an outstanding opportunity. I couldn’t potentially state no, and I’m so thankful I didn’t.

McCann: Me too!

Westfield: You have a unique art style. It’s something different than I believe people have seen in comics before. Can you talk about that a bit and was it difficult adapting it to the comic form?

Lee: I’m still completely amazed when I take my bit placards to conventions and everyone freaks out because they’re on wood. [laughs] It’s quite bizarre. For a number of years I’ve been working in decoupage, which is the extremely time-honored, 1970s custom of gluing layers of paper down on a specific object. I had been utilizing decoupage with the gallery art. Jim was calling the pieces that he saw “paintings”, but actually they were giant decoupage pieces that I had done.

I draw original illustrations and layer them onto wood or canvas or something like that. It wasn’t a difficult shift to sequential art: it was the method I envisioned doing the book to begin with. When he originally pitched the project, Jim took a bunch of the decoupage pictures to show Archaia and they stated they desired exactly that style, so it was a truly easy decision to do it that way. It is most likely a bit more complicated than doing pages the routine way, because I’m drawing several layers and gluing them down and kind of building up a photo from behind. but I believe it adds a truly nice depth and a nice structure to the page that you can’t just get on ordinary paper.

Initially I started building a few of the pages on paper, and it’s just not sturdy enough to withstand layers and layers being shellacked on top of it. I ended up taking a piece of wood that’s approximately trim size and I’ll draw out what I want to do for the page. then I’ll cut out the private elements and go back in and paint some aspects in the panels, perhaps do some layers of paper within the panels and then glue the whole thing together. After that, I take the piece to be scanned, and that becomes the page.

Return of the Dapper guy page15

Westfield: Jim, what can you tell us about the story?

McCann: It’s a fairy tale. It is extremely much in the spirit of the things that influenced us growing up which were the original texts of Peter pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and also Where the Wild things Are. A great deal of Maurice Sendak and Shel Silverstein, that type of whimsy. but then also the several layers of where an adult can checked out a story and get one meaning out of it and a child can checked out the story and get another layer out of it. In stating that it’s all ages, it is all ages in three ways. It’s all ages youngster appropriate. It’s all ages, an adult can checked out it. and it’s all ages in that ideally that it is something that is for all the ages.

It’s the story about a world where time has stopped and has been stopped for as long as anyone can remember. There are no adults and nobody to tell the youngsters to go to bed, so they have never grown up. They’ve grown wilder and wilder and the robots have become more and more human. It’s become a extremely segmented society and stagnant. up until 314 dapper looking gentlemen rain down from the sky and time starts back up again. They go about setting things right and getting things back on track. It’s told from the point of view of one of the Dapper Men, a robot girl, and a human boy. It takes location from when time starts back up again at 3:14 pm all the method to bed time. The people and the robots of Anorev have to discover what it is to grow up, to change, and to find destiny. It taps into that feeling and anxiety that kids have about going to bed and about changing and growing up. and also about what adults have about what it is that is their destiny or why they’re here; what they’re supposed to do. Plus, a bit bit of clockwork world theory where the world machine is wound up and has ground to a halt and our society needs to change and get back on course. and then a touch of steampunk just for fun.

Lee: It’s all about layers. Decoupage layers. story layers. The style is layers.

McCann: Yeah! It is a extremely layered story but at its heart, it’s our version of a fairy tale.

Return of the Dapper guy page 56

Westfield: It seems like Jim had the preliminary idea but the two of you worked out the story together.

Lee: It’s been incredibly collaborative. This being my first graphic novel, I don’t understand what I expected but Jim’s included me every step of the way. We feed off of each other’s ideas.

McCann: Janet’s art absolutely fuels my concepts as far as the story goes. I pictured Anorev and composed it down in the script, and then Janet took it to a whole other level just as she’s done with everything – the characters, all of the settings. When we were plotting things out, she was drawing character sketches and she drew a girl. I saw her and I instantaneously understood that was one of our antagonists. just as the preliminary three pieces influenced the story, I’ll look at things that she’ll just doodle and be completely inspired. Her art truly does speak to me. Not in an “I hear voices in my head” type of way. laughter I absolutely like working with her. I’ll throw something available and she’ll knock it out of the park. She’ll come back with something totally unique. Or she’ll draw something and it will add another layer to the story. I’ll go back in and say, “Oh! OK, no. We should totally have this.” At Christmas this past year she had drawn another doodle. Return of the Dapper guy is rather self-contained, however as soon as I saw this doodle that’s no bigger than your hand, I all of a unexpected understood how we could make this a trilogy. I understood exactly what the story was for two more books. It speaks a great deal to how collaborative a process this is and how much we continue to influence each other.

Lee: I believe I’m getting completely spoiled. Am I ever going to have a partner as good as Jim again? No. He’s stuck with me forever, obviously. laughter

McCann: and I don’t want to let her go either. I am lucky enough to have a partner like Janet.

Westfield: and you have Todd Klein designing the cover for you.

McCann: Yes. That was amazing. They had Todd come on and his sensibilities, going back to Sandman and all with the years, truly provides that other world type of feeling. He and Janet worked much closer, so Janet can talk about that.

Lee: Todd came in and his preliminary concepts were completely in the direction I wished to go and then he made one suggestion: he wished to add an organic element to the cover and it just clicked at that point. It was exactly like a turn of the century children’s book would be and that was perfect. I don’t understand if we would have gotten there without him. He is a genius.

Return of the Dapper guy page 59

Westfield: Jim, you were telling me earlier that there are some announcements people should be watching for.

McCann: There are a number of announcements still to find between now and whenthe book hits that will attract both comic book visitors and I believe it’s risk-free to state that it’ll attract a great deal of attention from the general populace with the people that are involved. The support for this book has been overwhelming. Archaia’s been phenomenal, I have to say. They have been so terrific to Janet and I. They let us take these crazy concepts and this incredibly unique art style and they’re taking a substantial chance on a fairy tale and throwing their support right behind the book. We’ve found the exact same thing has occurred within the artistic community. There are a number of artists who have asked to, and have agreed to do, pin-ups. A great deal of names within the comic book market and outside of it that’ll surprise a great deal of people and will excite a great deal of people, in addition to some outstanding graphic artists. There have been a number of artists and writers within the community that have put their support behind the book by going on Twitter and going on Facebook and speaking about how excited they are. The person composing the intro, the foreword, is somebody that I can’t even believe stated yes, but I’m so honored and thrilled that we got a indeed and with as much enjoyment as we have for the book. The support from the whole community has been extremely lovely and extremely humbling.

Lee: I agree.

Westfield: Is there anything else either of you are working on that people can look forward to?

Hawkeye & Mockingbird #6

McCann: Hawkeye and Mockingbird, we’ve got a great deal of terrific things coming up. There’s been a great deal of support behind that book, both vital buzz and fan buzz. The action and drama is just going to keep accelerating.

Lee: and mouse Guard.

McCann: Yeah! David Petersen has asked Janet and I to do a story in mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard volume 2. then a couple of other things that Janet and I have organized that people have asked us about. So it appears like we’re starting to be a team. That’s awesome.

Lee: Yes. That’s exciting.

Westfield: any closing comments?

McCann: say thanks to you to everybody who’s supporting the book available in fandom. and supporting all our work. It means a great deal to us. and thanks to Archaia and Janet, to the experts and fans that have been spreading the word about it, in addition to all of the people that are included in the process doing pin-ups, the foreword, Todd Klein, Dave Lanphear who’s lettering it. everybody who’s been a part of team Dapper, we’re very, extremely thankful.

Lee: We are. and you know, I haven’t done comics work previously but I’ve gone to conventions and been a fan for ages. It’s truly outstanding to be on the other side. just satisfying people and getting to talk about the artwork — not just to people within the industry, but to people who come to the Archaia booth– has been wonderful. I truly couldn’t have requested anything more.

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