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| Monday, May 21st, 2012 | |
oni_press_buzz
|
10:35p |
JOHN ALLISON’S BAD MACHINERY MOVES FROM WEB TO PRINT VIA ONI PRESS
http://www.onipress.com/blog/?p=2928 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JOHN ALLISON’S BAD MACHINERY MOVES FROM WEB TO PRINT VIA ONI PRESS
Starting in early 2013, Oni Press will begin collecting John Allison’s popular webcomic Bad Machinery into a series of books. Allison began Bad Machinery in 2009 as an extension of his online strip Scary Go Round. This will be the first time any of the material has seen print.
Bad Machinery is a serialized comic about two rival teams of kids who investigate supernatural mysteries, often competing to solve the same case. The story is set in a fictional English town, and all the kids go to the same school. There is the girls group—Shauna, Charlotte, and Mildred—and the boys group—Jack, Linton, and Sonny—and though they each tend to start an adventure from opposite ends, they usually end up in the same place by story’s end.
John Allison is a pioneer of webcomics, having started Bobbins in 1998 and Scary Go Round in 2002. There have been five Bad Machinery stories so far, each exceeding 100 pages. The first Oni Press volume will collect The Case of the Team Spirit, a story revolving around a haunting within the local football club. This full-color paperback is scheduled for March of next year.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with John,” Oni Press editor in chief James Lucas Jones stated. “His comics have helped define how the art form has translated to the internet. His writing displays an impressive balance of suspense and humor, and the book’s characters are well-rounded and interesting so you want to know what happens to them. And that doesn’t even touch on how John is one hell of a cartoonist.”
“It seemed like it was about time I had some Bad Machinery books out there,” Allison explained, “and Oni Press feels like the perfect fit. Their production standards are the best in comics, and I can’t wait to see how they handle printing my strips.”
“We’re at a point where the term ‘webcomics’ is becoming redundant,” Jones added. “Comics is about storytelling, not the delivery system. Being a publisher in the 21st century is reliant on recognizing talent wherever you find it. John Allison is one talented guy, and we’re proud to have Bad Machinery joining the Oni Press library.”
Bad Machinery, vol. 1 is scheduled for a March 2013 release. In the meantime, start reading Bad Machinery now by visiting badmachinery.com. |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2012 |
mooncalfe
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5:55p |
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| Monday, May 21st, 2012 |
doronjosama
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12:00p |
My tweets
- Sun, 13:00: So apparently telling people they have 2:30 minutes for a skit means they are going to record 3:00 minute soundtracks. :I #mfw
- Sun, 14:16: Woot, all cosplay CDs are tested and prepped, all cosplayers emailed. Time for a break, then con stock packing time!
- Sun, 18:10: The Kings of Catchphrase Comedy is one of my absolute fave SNL recurring skits. #beefjelly #furcoatrhonda
- Sun, 22:50: Really, Facebook? You've teamed up with McAfee to determine which outgoing links are safe?! And oh hey, you think Twitter isn't safe? Please
- Mon, 11:48: Not even noon yet, and all the @radiocomixinc all-ages books are pulled & packed for A-Kon! Next: lunch & Genus #94 work. Then more packing!
- Mon, 11:50: Still to pack: all the naughty @radiocomixinc comics and the hunks of my manga collection I'm selling off. And table supplies & odds & ends.
- Mon, 11:53: @PiousKnob @king_cheetah @TheNewMeat We got the 2 10-pagers, what's the page counts on the other stories coming in? Must turn in this week!
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readaboutcomics
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1:00p |
Genetiks™ Vol. 1
http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2012/05/21/genetiks-vol-1/ http://www.readaboutcomics.com/?p=2279  Story and layouts by Richard Marazano
Art by Jean-Michel Ponzio
104 pages, color
Published by Archaia
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a graphic novel written by Richard Marazano—I think the only other one of his comics to be translated into English was Dusk back in 2000—and I’d not heard of Jean-Michel Ponzio at all. Genetiks™ Vol. 1 was an impulse read, the sort of book that literally caught my eye thanks to its dynamic cover layout. What I found was a graphic novel with some slight rough edges, but overall something that was worth my time.
 Genetiks™ is one of those books that starts off relatively simple and then slowly expands its reach. We open by meeting Thomas Hale, a genetic scientist working on man/bee hybrids called chimeras, and looking after his wheelchair-bound father. Thomas is in many ways the stereotypical privileged protagonist; successful and arrogant, and clearly heading for a massive fall. That fall happens rather quickly, with Genetiks proving to be a big, evil corporation with such speed you’ll get whiplash, and Thomas ending up in a rather bad situation where he’s asked to sign over his life to the company. And all the while, if that’s not bad enough, he’s having strange visions interspersed with reality.
In many ways it’s that basic set-up that defines the entire first volume of Genetiks™. It’s a mixture of stereotypes so broad that it’ll make you groan, and genuinely interesting material that at times seems to get the short shrift. (Interestingly enough, digging up an old review I wrote about Dusk Vol. 1, the same problems existed with Marazano’s script for that book too.) I wanted to see a lot more about the chimeras and the strange visions, but the book keeps sidelining into extended scenes with Thomas being locked out of the company network, arguing with his father, and inadvertently offending the beautiful art student that also happens to be his best help in rebelling against Genetiks. So much of Genetiks™ is villains-by-the-numbers (and Thomas has only just begun his climb towards redemption), and occasionally there are bits that don’t seem to quite make sense (like how Genetiks claims ownership of Thomas). Every time we angle towards the larger plot, though, Genetiks™ would pull me back into the flow and make me want to learn more about the central mystery and Project Anqã.
 In some ways, the problems with the writing of Genetiks™ mirror those with Ponzio’s art. There are moments that Genetiks™ looks beautiful and energetic, with carefully drawn characters with just the right touch on the inks to look realistic without fake. Then you’ll turn the page and the characters are stiff and obviously posed. Thomas’s face is expressive one moment, and looks dead the next. It’s frustrating, because like Marazano’s story, I ultimately liked Ponzio’s art but I wanted to love it. I’m not sure if the problem has to do with Marazano providing the layouts for Ponzio or if that was ultimately an assist, but either way Genetiks™ looks like a book on the verge of being even better than it actually manages.
Genetiks™ Vol. 1 is a book where it’s strong enough that I’ll read the second volume, but hasn’t quite lived up to its promise. I’m glad I read Genetiks™ Vol. 1, and I want to see where the story is going, but Marazano and Ponzio are at times teasing but not delivering the level of quality they seem capable of. Still, the book does get better as it progresses, and if that rate of improvement continues into Vol. 2, it’s going to knock everyone’s socks off. Definitely worth a look.
Purchase Links: Amazon.com | Powell’s Books |
andiwatson
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4:27p |
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| Sunday, May 20th, 2012 |
evandorkin
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6:47p |
The Abomination
 Here's an old Marvel Comics villain I have fond feelings for even though I've barely read any comics featuring the character or know much about him. Despite his looks, he wasn't designed by Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko, which would have been my first (and second) guess. Actually, The Abomination is a Silver Age bruiser first drawn by Gil Kane, a guy who could do most anything well and wasn't a bad designer by any means but isn't someone I think of as a chunky-clunky monster artist (although he was always good with snakes and serpents when he tackled the sword and sorcery/Barsoom/space adventure crap). I know Kane shares co-creator status on oddball C-Listers like Morbius, The Living Vampire (kinda surprised that weirdo hasn't had a major resurrection/movie deal/TV pilot on the name alone. Or has he? I honestly am not Mr. On-Top-Of-That-Stuff.), but besides a lot of Green Lantern stuff, I can't rack up too many trivia points for knowing his Marvel design work. Six-Armed Spider-Man? I guess that counts, if he did it. Whatever. I have a feeling I confuse a few 70's Romita designs with Kane designs. And vicey-versey. Anyway, the Abomination, co-created by Stan "I Could Have Been Wealthy" Lee, was a Hulk villain, as I'm sure you kids know. Another Gamma-Gamma-Hey! goofball, green-skinned and rippling with the muscles. He was a slob named Emil Blonsky, I believe (I checked Wikipedia to doublecheck the Lee-Kane connection, but not the guy's traveling papers. If I'm wrong, deduct ten geek points from my score and e-mail Mark Waid to let him know I suck at comic books), and I think he was a Commie Spy, and then he got real gamma-gone and started fighting people for the next thirty years or however the hell long it's been. Basically, the appeal of this guy was that he was a monster, strong enough to give the Hulk problems, and he had funny bumps and ridges on his head and those nutty ears. It's really not much of a design, it got refined, for good or bad, over the years (more bumps and ridges, I think he changed underpants a few times, green, blue, back to green, back to blue, darker blue, off-register blue...), but man, I dug those flappy ears of his. I used to constantly draw those ears on characters when I was a kid, I must have been obsessed with those ears the way I was obsessed with Sal Buscema mouths and Don Martin noses (some childhood, huh?). I'm sure I still toss those Abomination ears on background monsters without knowing it, maybe even on background people, milkmen, cabaret dancers, proofreaders. Those ears! (Also -- he's called THE ABOMINATION. No effing-around there, I mean, that's a villain name for you, huh? I bet DC wouldn't have called anybody The Abomination back then. No, sir, not the house of The Penguin and The Cheetah and Talk-Down-To-Children Man.) I actually know the character best from appearances in the 70's Hulk comics, I'm betting Sal Buscema drew those comics (those screaming mouths! My unhappy childhood!), but the version of the character that stayed with me was actually from the covers. I don't know who drew them (I could look it up, I know, but I'm a very complex person with a liquid intellect that requires constant challenges in order to function), I do remember one had The Hulk and The Abomination doing something monster-related atop a rollercoaster. This was back when showing and using specific locations mattered a lot more in superhero comic books, although amusement parks usually didn't factor into things all that often (which is a bit of a shame, really). The plot of this two-part storyline involved the Abomination pretending to be The Hulk's friend or something fascinating like that, a very special ABC Afternoon Special kind of sad thing with pathos and shit, as well as extreme violence and monsters and rushed inking. And maybe a Marvel Value Stamp (oy, don't get me started). Don't know what happened past the rollercoaster. Maybe The Abomination took the Hulk to the amusement park and the relationship unraveled naturally or there was some gamma-infused funnel cake to blame or the Leader or Crackajack Jackson ruined things, I just know deep in my heart's mind they threw down, beat up, and moved on. I'm sure I can go buy this in a $100 hardcover or look it up online but, y'know. I'm complex and shit. So, the Abomination. A favorite of my childhood, pretty much unearned, a character with presence and a bit of a push but with no real personality or excitement. A character I liked looking at, although seeing the Kane version while referencing the sketch card didn't knock me out at all. Just a bunch of lumps and bumps, not a very cohesive design, a bit like Ditko tracing Kirby on a weak lightbox with only moments to spare, gone over by Kane with a felt-tip while he was talking on the phone and eyeing some art sitting on a pile in the back of the mailroom ("My boy..."). I know from Previews and the statue shelf at my local shop that in recent years the Abomination's been souped up, enlarged and bad-assified to the Marvel Max and I'm sure used to great bloody effect. I understand the intent and all, but the results just look like Killer Croc's streroidal cousin, nothing really reads from the character other than size and badly-organized muscles and veins and teeth and the fact a lot of folks are still influenced by 90's Image books. He's edgier, obviously, and the kids dig him, or at least someone does, because, according to the All-Seeing Myopic Eye of Wikipedia: " In 2009, the Abomination was ranked as IGN's 54th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time". Thank goodness we have folks with the spare time, grit and determination to help us out with those burning questions, I salute you, IGN, you whose initials must stand for something ridiculously brash and edgy and pathetic. So says the guy drawing ol' #54 and writing paragraphs about his friggin' ears. |
doronjosama
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12:00p |
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| Saturday, May 19th, 2012 |
doronjosama
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12:00p |
My tweets
- Fri, 19:59: Odd question, does anyone know where one could buy candy cigarettes here in SA? I need them for my cosplay & have no idea where to look.
- Fri, 20:26: Working out and watching Urusei Yatsura! Classic!
- Fri, 22:43: I am eating spaghettios for dinner and watching One Piece. Why, yes, I am an adult, thank you very much.
- Sat, 00:47: Painting the letters on my Bell-mere shirt. #onepiece http://t.co/IIXiK6FW
- Sat, 11:41: Jackie Chan to stop doing action movies. He had a great run! I'll support his new direction! RT @bleedingcool http://t.co/XZIto4bX
- Sat, 11:44: Just had the horrible realization that I leave for A-Kon in 12 days. SO MUCH TO DO. D: D: D:
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| Friday, May 18th, 2012 |
mooncalfe
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4:37p |
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mooncalfe
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3:29p |
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doronjosama
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12:00p |
My tweets
- Thu, 13:07: Guys of the world: it's mega creepy when you approach women who waited on you once 4 years ago with a guilt trip bout not remembering you.
- Thu, 13:10: Even creepier, asking me if I'm alone in the store. No, stalkerpants, you can't kidnap and kill me today! Sorry!
- Thu, 13:15: Insult to injury, Creepy McCreeperton thought I was some other woman who worked here. Yes, that makes the stalkery guilt trip all better. :P
- Thu, 17:56: Long day is long. But! My shirt for my Bell-mere cosplay showed up. Have to hem it & paint MACE across the chest. After I do Radio work tho.
- Thu, 17:58: To do tonight: Radio work, eat something, work out, weekly meeting with @smudge_dragon, pack con stock for @AKon_Convention, sleep.
- Thu, 22:55: RT @radiocomixinc: Matix's BL fairy tale, Sebastian & the Beast updated on Weds! Humans ARE insane! http://t.co/Wq3RuxHR
- Thu, 22:55: RT @radiocomixinc: Brian Sutton, @king_cheetah and Mark Moore's anthro pulp adventure Eureka has updated! http://t.co/nMqaOju0
- Thu, 22:55: RT @radiocomixinc: Christina Hanson aka @smudge_dragon has a new page of Ebin & May up for your perusal today! http://t.co/Y2Dydh7W
- Thu, 22:55: RT @radiocomixinc: Posting early, but Mark Barnard & Terrie Smith's sci-fi BL romp, Havoc INC starts a new chapter today! http://t.c ...
- Thu, 22:56: RT @radiocomixinc: By the way, Will Allison's Trouble Express is available on iBooks now! http://t.co/72GrPZqt
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readaboutcomics
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1:00p |
Rohan at the Louvre
http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2012/05/18/rohan-at-the-louvre/ http://www.readaboutcomics.com/?p=2277  By Hirohiko Araki
128 pages, color
Published by NBM
I’ve always loved the fact that the Louvre art museum in Paris has been commissioning a series a graphic novels set within and around the famed museum. Each one’s had a different take on the idea (my favorite is probably Museum Vaults by Marc-Antoine Mathieu) but they’ve all been good. With Rohan at the Louvre, the Louvre has hired a manga creator to tackle the subject. And what we got was not only able to stand out in its own right, but strong enough that now I want to read more comics by Araki.
Araki quickly introduces his character of Rohan—whom I hadn’t realized until after the fact is one that’s appeared in other short works by Araki, but you don’t need to have read those to enjoy this book—and his ability to "read" people’s souls, before leaping right into the plot itself. Araki crams a great deal of time into this book’s 128 pages; we start when Rohan is young and living at his grandmother’s boarding house, and end a decade later after he’s become a successful manga creator and decides to investigate a mystery that had begun all those years ago.  In some ways Rohan at the Louvre feels like two different graphic novels grafted together; the halves are tonally quite different from one another, the first being more of a gothic romance and the second being an out-and-out horror. But despite there being a strong dividing line between the two, the second half feeds off of what we learned in the first half in a way that makes this pair of stories work as a single unit.
One of the things that I think works best about the jump in time between the two halves of Rohan at the Louvre is how Araki is able to make Rohan grow up a bit between the two. When Rohan interacts with the mysterious Nanase in the first half, he’s all but spying on her as he grows more and more intrigued by her story. He’s a slightly gawky teenager, with youthful ambition and dreams but not a lot of self-control. (After all, that’s partially why he’s staying at the guesthouse.) Once Rohan is older and in Paris, there’s a bit of maturity in him. He’s a big scornful of the teens that he runs into (although his mocking their outfit when in his own slightly bizarre uniform feels a bit off), but he’s someone for whom success has clearly managed to arrive for.
 The horror element in the second half of Rohan at the Louvre is strong and slightly unnerving, thanks in no small part due to Araki’s art. The art here reminds me of a mixture of Western artists like Barry Windsor-Smith and Neal Adams; there’s a strong sense of realism to the art, with heavy, strong ink lines. When Rohan and his escorts are being attacked in the bowels of the Louvre, the impossible elements are jarring in part because they’re drawn with that same level of realism that we’d seen up until that point. The tire tread moment is easily the most memorable of the actual death scenes, but what ends up being even creepier is the sideways glimpses of the dreaded Nizaemon Yamamura painting when they first arrive at vault Z-13. Araki carefully avoids letting us see it directly until almost the end of the entire book; by that point it’s built up so much menace that Araki has infused our own emotions into the final piece. We are able to understand its danger by what it can do, not just solely on how it looks at first glance.
Rohan at the Louvre is a fun book, and it’s one that grows on you with time. I enjoyed it when I first read it, but a day later I found myself thinking about it and how effective some of the scenes in the book were; not only the horror scenes, but the guesthouse interactions between Rohan and Nanase as well. I’d love to see more of Araki’s Rohan comics translated in to English, based on Rohan at the Louvre. All in all, another strong addition to the Musee du Louvre Edition line. Don’t let the garish colors on the cover of Rohan at the Louvre scare you off; this is a dark, creepy book.
Purchase Links: Amazon.com | Powell’s Books |
andiwatson
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2:21p |
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confessions_123
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2:22a |
I LOVE A GOOD FIGHT
http://confessions123.blogspot.com/2012/05/i-love-good-fight.html
NEW TO THEATRES...
* Bernie, Richard Linklater reteams with Jack Black for a semi-successful comedic take on the true crime genre.
* The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest is big on laughs and small on story, but if you like his stuff, the giggles win.
OTHER ARTICLES...
* This weekend in Portland, the sixth-annual Queer Documentary Film Festival is going down. I wrote a round-up of the event for the Mercury. If you are in town, you have to do what you can to go see Jobriath A.D. It's excellent!
* To commemorate the passing of Adam Yauch, I wrote about the Criterion Beastie Boys Video Anthology.
Current Soundtrack: Asobi Seksu, "Miniature Cities;" Ian McCulloch, "Vibor Blue (Acoustic Version);" the Monarques, " It's All Over Now"
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich |
| Thursday, May 17th, 2012 |
reyyy
|
7:46p |
Oh hay whattap LJ. I was passionate about reviving this account for 24 hours. Then I forgot. Anywayyzzzzz since last we talked Sharknife 2 and reprinted 1 haz come out and it has all been good times. I really only want to update today-- coz I've been doing a lot of groundword / chizzling / writing the expansive whole large sharknife universe and where it's going, but also, specific, tiny things. getting crazy into writing mode IM WORKING ON SHARKNIFE 3 PRETTY DEEP INTO IT It's a "SHARKNIFE TRIPLE FEATURE" 3 pretty self-contained stories in 1 book here's the plot synopsisisess for each. though of course more stuff happens than is simply implied. still these simple things are fun to write out. no matter how esoteric you make your crafts, you should be able to explain them in 1 or 2 sentences. i'm constantly trying to keep sharknife on that keel. Anyway yeah SHARKNIFE Vol. 3 - Tango 1. "Street Swords" Ceasar tries to break up a potential rumble on the streets; succeeds only in redirecting the ire of rival restaurant owner Ronin Olsin's savage Were-Papillon, Chloe. - Tango 2. "Speed Dive" A stylish young couple venture recklessly into the ocean depths, only to uncover the undersea zoo of Hadaal Uunden, world-famous chef and secret SHARKNIFE hero! - Tango 3. "Shiin" Raymond Momuza, creator of the Guangdong Factory, hosts a secret rendezvous with Ceasar, Chieko & Ombra to explain the secrets of their Daring Powers, and what the future holds for them. |
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confessions_123
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5:41p |
GINGER SNAPS
http://confessions123.blogspot.com/2012/05/ginger-snaps.html It's week 4 of Bobby Pins and Mary Janes, and the next section will go live tonight after midnight, PST.
In the meantime, you have to check out this unbelievable drawing Chynna Clugston Flores did for the book. I literally had tears in my eyes when I saw this the first time earlier this week. It's a knock-out.
Click on the teaser image to see the whole thing.
Current Soundtrack: Gene, "A Town Called Malice;" Dean & Britta, "Ginger Snaps" |
doronjosama
|
12:00p |
My tweets
- Wed, 17:52: RT @kylehebert: #ToonamisBackBitches http://t.co/8onDo9p8 Huzzah!
- Wed, 18:01: Today I read a manga based on a dating sim for girls. It was like cotton candy in book form. #cute #fluffy #unsatisfying
- Wed, 21:51: RT @Lileks: More shard-tastic than Captain Crunch, by the way, was something called King Vitamin. Like eating shrapnel made from jet-eng ...
- Wed, 21:52: RT @kawaiinot: Bubble envelopes make my heart go pitter pat. A fresh roll of packing tape causes full on swooning.
- Wed, 21:53: RT @Epers: Guy outside with a daughter named Charisma. What the hell? Parents, you don't put all a kids' points in one stat.
- Wed, 21:57: Husband got us in to see Dark Shadows for free, awww yeah! I enjoyed it, but then I have no fond memories of the old intensely boring show.
- Wed, 21:58: How a soap opera full of witches, vampires, ghosts and reincarnation could be so boring, I have no idea. Ten-year-old me was unimpressed.
- Wed, 22:00: 10-year-old me also loved Doctor Who (Tom Baker), Battlestar Galactica, Fantasy Island & Wonder Woman, so it's not like I didn't like cheese
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andiwatson
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3:35p |
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| Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 | |
verabee_sketch
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7:22p |
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evandorkin
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6:17p |
Odds and Ends for May 16th
The "Cartoonist Goes to Hell" comic I did for Dork #8 is available for a limited time as a t-shirt from Comic Strip Tees. Here's a short interview with me about Dark Horse Presents, Beasts of Burden and the House of Fun material at ComicBook.Com. Speaking of Dark Horse Presents, issue #12 ships on May 23rd, with a 1-page Milk and Cheese strip and a seven-page Eltingville Club full-color zombie crawl story. You can see a CBR preview of the issue here, but my stuff's not there. NSFW reasons, I think. A little too much cursity-curse-curse action. F-Bombs, S-Missiles, that sorta thing. But, hey,the return of Mister X, the return of Nexus, and the return of The Eltingville Club, as well as Finder and a lot of other stuff. Go look, why don't you? And, speaking of Beasts of Burden, Jill Thompson and I apparently won an award in Norway for the translated version of the series being that's being serialized over there (under the title " Dog Guards"). All for now. |
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readaboutcomics
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1:00p |
Brody’s Ghost Vol. 3
http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2012/05/16/brodys-ghost-vol-3/ http://www.readaboutcomics.com/?p=2275  By Mark Crilley
96 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse
It’s been a little over a year since the first two volumes of Brody’s Ghost, Mark Crilley’s new series for Dark Horse. It would be easy to have forgotten about the series by then, or at the very least feel slightly lost with this new installment. But if anything, I think the reverse is true here. Crilley picks up where he’d left off with the previous volume, but does so in a way that keeps readers instantly informed, and if anything picks up steam at a rapid pace. I’d go so far as to say that readers who jumped in with this new installment would do just fine.
It helps a great deal that after most of Brody’s Ghost Vol. 2 involved Brody being trained to use his new-found powers, this new volume quickly moves Brody onto being on the trail of the dreaded Penny Killer. It’s a moment that needed to happen, and it feels like Crilley’s timing is perfect. Brody’s grown up a great deal in the first two volumes, and he’s mentally ready to move forward in a way that he wasn’t at the start of the series. What I found myself appreciating is that the route that Brody goes down this volume is a group effort; Brody’s responsible for a lot of it, but it’s his friendships that have just as much of a boost down the road to finding the Penny Killer. You can see, looking back, how Crilley laid the groundwork in the earlier volumes to make him able to able to get through this portion of the overall storyline.
 Crilley’s also found a nice balance here in other parts of the story. Brody’s telling his story to his closest friends has just the right mixture of skepticism and belief, for instance, and for every right move that Brody makes in telling lies to get closer to the Penny Killer, he also makes mistakes. (Fortunately for him, none of them are critical mistakes, but it’s a nice reminder that he’s new at this sort of thing.) It keeps Brody from being infallible, and those little slips make him a much more interesting and relatable character as a result. And in many ways, that’s one of the biggest strengths of Brody’s Ghost; Brody’s become so likable that I want him to succeed no matter what. The fact that he’s hunting a serial killer is of course a good reason to want him to do well, but it wouldn’t matter what his mission was at this point, and that’s a good protagonist.
The art in Brody’s Ghost is as nice as ever; Crilley’s art is in a manga-inspired style, using clean lines and expressive faces as the cornerstone for the pages. There’s a lot of storytelling chops on display here too; he’s able to use panel size and progression to carefully move the reader through the page in a way that exhibits strict control over your reactions. When Brody has his visions, for instance, coming back to reality starts with two small panels showing a tight focus on his eyes, from being squinched shut to opening back up. It’s then that Crilley pulls back and shows the rest of Brody; the distressed look on his face, the outstretched arm and hand holding the object, and refocusing us in the real world.
Brody’s Ghost Vol. 3 is just as good as the first two volumes, and was well worth the wait. My only complaint is now we’ve got to wait for the next chapter, and this is a series that’s good enough that I’m always feeling a little greedy in wanting more. If you haven’t read anything by Crilley up until now—or like Crilley’s comics but were just waiting on enough material to be released—this is a great time to jump and see it all for yourself. Highly recommended.
Purchase Links: Amazon.com | Powell’s Books |
| Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 |
mooncalfe
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2:27p |
store signing and Q&A on May 26!!
on Saturday, May 26th, i'll be signing at the comic shop Heroes Your Mom Threw Out in Elmira, NY, 2pm to 4pm! the store is at 128 West 14th Street, Elmira Heights, NY 14603 ( more info here). i'll have new Glory and TMNT prints, copies of my Leonardo issue, probably some original art, and i'll be doing however many sketches time allows for! and THEN on the same day, i'm doing a Q&A at 6:30pm to 9:30pm at the Elmira Elks Lodge #62, 300 East Gray Street, Elmira, NY 14601 ( more info here). both things are free to get in. i don't do very many store signings, mostly because i always assume nobody knows who i am or if they do they don't care so i don't want to be sitting there with nobody talking to me, i can't take that kind of blow to my fragile ego! this is only the second store signing i've ever done, so try to catch me here if you can. also show up so i'm not lonely and embarrassed! XD |
| Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 | |
oni_press_buzz
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1:52p |
Out this week from Oni Press – 5/16/12
http://www.onipress.com/blog/?p=2881 In stores and available for digital download this week.
The Secret History of D.B. Cooper #3
Writer/Artist: Brian Churilla
As CIA operative D.B. Cooper continues his political assassinations in the astral plane of “The Glut,” the missions take their toll on both his mind and physical body. Desperate to find the daughter he swore he would never lose, the gruff Cooper must travel the surreal landscape of the mind with his new teddy bear companion in search of his girl’s trail.
Format: Single, Standard
Content Rating: T+ (Teen Plus)
Diamond™ Order Code: MAR121140
Sixth Gun #22
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Brian Hurtt
“A Town Called Penance” Part 5. Weary, injured, and lost–Drake Sinclair and Becky Montcrief are on the run from the ruthless forces of the Knights of Solomon. Can even the power of the Six save them from the unstoppable fury of the Knight’s cruelest member? If they survive, they must still face a shocking surprise that could shake the very foundations of reality.
Format: Single, Standard
Content Rating: T (Teen)
Diamond™ Order Code: MAR121144
Writer: Antony Johnston
Artist: Sam Hart
November 1989. Communism is collapsing, and soon the Berlin Wall will come down with it. But before that happens there is one last bit of cloak & dagger to attend to. Two weeks ago, an undercover MI6 officer was killed in Berlin. He was carrying information from a source in the East — a list that allegedly contains the name of every espionage agent working in Berlin, on all sides. No list was found on his body. Now Lorraine Broughton, an experienced spy with no pre-existing ties to Berlin, has been sent into this powderkeg of social unrest, counter-espionage, defections gone bad and secret assassinations to bring back the list and save the lives of the British agents whose identities reside on it.
Format: Original Graphic Novel, Hardcover
Content Rating: O (Older Audiences)
Diamond™ Order Code: JAN12 1214
ISBN: 978-1-934964-53-8 |
doronjosama
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12:00p |
My tweets
- Tue, 19:41: RT @Daphne_Lage: Kids re-enact Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ video in tribute to Adam Yauch http://t.co/wTLij0C1
- Tue, 20:40: Doing good, did my cardio anyway, despite whanging the hell out of my leg on the wooden arm of the couch the other day. #deeptissuebruise
- Tue, 20:42: The bruise on my leg is pretty spectacular, multiple shades of purple, burgundy, and blue. I am graceful like whoa, y'all.
- Wed, 09:33: Dear Marvel: do you hate retailers?! Naming 1 title AvX & naming 1 title AvX Vs. is kind of a super dick move. Just sayin'.
- Wed, 10:15: And perfect, the credit/debit system is down this morning. Just what we need first thing on a Weds morning.
- Wed, 10:28: Even better, it is the store internet is down. Yay.
- Wed, 10:55: And thank god, the internet has returned to the store. Now we can process cards. No more death stares from customers! Yay!
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andiwatson
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4:52p |
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