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"The Drudge Report of comics..." -- Don Simpson  |
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Elmo Health Warning: This column is RUMOUR. Do not take anything here seriously. These RUMOURS are presented here as GOSSIP for their ENTERTAINMENT value. |
| What is Ramblings 99? | Logo by Kirk Kimball, Pop Rocket |
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Pop Goes The Wildstorm We've received a rumour that backs up something we'd previously heard - Warren Ellis will be getting his own imprint at Wildstorm for his creator-owned work, in a similar fashion to Alan Moore's ABC line. Each title in the line will be a mini-series and Warren will supply three titles a year for three years. Tim Bradstreet (famous for his covers of people smoking against walls) will be supplying the art for one of these titles, unnamed, but three issues long. No other artists have been named by this rumour monger. Sounds like Pop Comics to me... Warren Ellis has yet to return our e-mail. The sod. Scott Dunbier wasn't any more forthcoming either. Anyone else heard anything out there? Anyone got a contact for Tim? Who else could be attached to this project?? Purely speculation, it would be nice if Warren could do a piece with Gary Erskine... Gary would be perfect for Wildstorm. Actually Scott, if you're reading this, Gary would be perfect for any of those military/superhero books you do. Check out his early work on Warheads to see what I mean. I also reckon people like Phil Winslade and Steve Pugh could be up for this line. What about Matt (D'Israeli) Brooker? Hey, how about a return for Lazarus Churchyard? Please? Gorillas In The Missed. We've been told that Gorilla is definitely not dead and to expect some announcement in the next few weeks. When last seen it was with either Wildstorm or Image. Anyone with added info who can fill us in? Awesome's Whereabouts. Pat Sullivan, king of Diamond UK and all round nice chap, was on hand to fill us in on the missing Alan Moore's Awesome Adventures issue 1 Missing-In-Action story. He's aware of the problem and says that it's probably a 'supply chain error'. We look forward to hearing more when it's sorted. If it's sorted. Can Anyone Think Of A Bad Pun Using 'X' That I Haven't Used Which Would Work Well With This Story? Reaction to the mass firings story at the X-books has been muted. No confirmations, but then no outright denials. No response from Our Man At Marvel yet, either. Fabian Nicieza, Gambit writer (not affected if the rumour is true) writes to tell us he hasn't heard anything about this. An acquaintance of Jay Faeber writes to speculate that Jay would probably kick Jason Liebig's arse if such a situation occurred. Gratuitous fight scene! Gratuitous fight scene! Gratuitous Plug. The (now named) Tales Of Midnight Kosovo Refugee Benefit Eighty Page Giant is just off to the printers in time for launching at Galaxion '99 on October the 3rd. They seem to be getting the publicity they need, all the London magazines are doing features, and LAM is giving Tales Of Midnight the cover. Look out for Barry Norman's feature on the show for his Sky TV show, and convention mainstay Elaine Mace will be in costume to promote the book. Jeremy Bullock's story, set in a galaxy far, far away featuring a suspiciously familiar character that isn't Boba Fett has been approved by Lucasfilm too. And I'll be there, flogging my wares with some original preview art for Pokémonstrosities. The cover features a Pikachu-lookalike singing in Las Vegas. Go to http://www.bluesilver.com for more fun information. That means you, Mike Doran and Matt Brady. Future Plugs Friendly neighbour-hood David Bishop was on hand to give us some 2000 AD upcoming news. We've restrained Dominatrix Mary this time, so let the man speak! "Nemesis the Warlock returns in Prog 1165, on sale from October 13th. Henry Flint is drawing part nine as we speak, while Kev O'Neill is illustrating the final ever episode of Nemesis for Prog 2000. (Don't know where he's up to with League #5  but he's got an October deadline for me...)" "Nemesis marks a return to black and white art in 2000 AD, loaded with letratone, light and shade. This series is being published in glorious monochrome - the first B&W strip in the comic for five years..." "Dave Gibbons has already handed in his artwork for the Rogue Trooper story in Prog 2000, while Brian Bolland's cover is safely locked away in Tharg's Thrill-power vaults. It features a tribute to more than a dozen dead but not forgotten British comics, including Revolver, The Eagle, Deadline, Escape, A1, Valiant, Lion, Crisis, Battle, Starlord and many more..." "It also features Brian Bolland drawing Dredd, Strontium Dog, Nikolai Dante, Rogue Trooper (Rogue was vetted by Dave Gibbons for accuracy!) and his first ever rendering of Nemesis the Warlock. Be pure, be vigilant, etc..." "There are two Dredd stories in Prog 2000 - Wagner &McMahon at the start of the 100-page special issue, Alan Grant &Cam Kennedy to finish. The ABC Warriors will return in a six-page black &white story that sees the Mek-nificent Seven return to Mars, courtesy of Mills &Kevin Walker." "Brett Ewins has drawn a new Bad Company for the special issue and Steve Yeowell is drawing Zenith, but Ian Gibson has cried off creating new illustrations of Halo Jones and Robo-Hunter, blaming artistic ennui." "Strontium Dog returns in Prog 2000 - a decade after he died. Rather than rewrite history in a crass, Byrned-out style, the story is simply set before his death. The original creative team of Wagner &Exquerra reunite. Can you say old school extravaganza?" "Prog 2000 also features Sláine by Mills & Greg Staples; Nikolai Dante by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser and a tenth, as yet unrevealed strip." "Big hits in 2000 AD at the moment: camp vamp Devlin Waugh's mega-epic and the return of Nikolai Dante, both of them fast becoming firm favourites with Earthlings everywhere, as the saying goes." "Hot tips for Y2K: new future war saga Glimmer Rats by Gordon Rennie & Mark Harrison; veteran British artist John Burns painting a full series of 27th century swashbuckler NIkolai Dante and the return of creator-owned character Button Man ((c) John Wagner &Arthur Ranson)." "Expect more old school revivals by the original creators and new Thrills from younger writers like Robbie Morrison and Gordon Rennie." "Lotsa 2000 AD activity in other areas - the action figures launch at Memorabilia 99 on November 6th, 1999 - Re:Action Figures are flying in Carlos Ezquerra from Andorra for a rare British appearance, alongside John Wagner, Mark Harrison and others." "Harrison, S. B. Davis and Paul Staples are flying to Germany in October to help launch two monthly comics of Judge Dredd and 2000 AD strip from Egmont's German publishing companies." "New 2000 AD graphic novels are now in the shops - JUDGE DREDD: Judgement Day (Ennis, Ezquerra, Ormston, Doherty and Chris Halls - now better known as award-winning video director Chris Cunningham), DURHAM RED: The Scarlet Cantos (Abnett & Harrison) and JUDGE DREDD: The Scorpion Dance (featuring Beyond the Call of Duty) (Wagner, Ezquerra & Burns)." "2000 AD is sticking its toe in the direct sales market again with two Garth Ennis-scripted yarns in US comics format. JUDGE DREDD: Emerald Isle reprints the eponymous story by Ennis & Steve Dillon, while JUDGE DREDD: Death Aid collects a black comedy by Ennis & Ezquerra. Both are due to ship in November." "Andy Diggle is now officially editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine (and Sonic the Comic). Despite all the doomsayers who have predicted the Megazine's doom over the years, the title will continue publishing into the year 2000 - its tenth year on the shelves, giving it a longer run than any other British comic launched in the 1990s." "Err, is this the sort of thing you're after?" Just the thing, David, just the thing. Hey, Newsarama, Comic Wire, CSNsider, etc., give 2000 AD a mention! Changes Afoot. We all now about Larry Marder taking a job with McFarlane and Valentino taking his place... but is that what happened? One San Diego attendee writes "Larry Marder over at Image seemed to be signing people at the show left and right; must admit, leaves me kind of cold and seems to downgrade a bit the Image "brand name."... Jim Valentino is now "Publisher" (Marder was "Executive Director.")" Lounge Link Clem Clambake, source for last week's Alex Ross link asks us to give out the full address for his Alex Ross webpage. Here you go. http://www.insanerantings.com/Clambake/AlexRossLounge.html Stage Struck Another press release, here chaps. Bloody hell, we'll turn into our 'rivals' if we keep doing this... MAGUIRE AND RASPLER KEEP IT KA-BAAM!! KEVIN MAGUIRE, former artist on "Justice League", "Captain America" and creator of "Strikeback", and DAN RASPLER, editor of "JLA" and writer/creator of "Young Heroes in Love", have joined the cast of "Ka-Baam!!", New York City's only living comic book spectacular!! "Ka-Baam!!" performs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. at Surf Reality, (172 Allen St.) starting on October 15. (See below for details!!) "Ka-Baam!!" is an improvisational comedy/adventure show in the style and spirit of all your favorite Silver-Age comic books. The production assumes an ongoing continuity and will reveal an 80 Page Giant worth of secret origins, secret identities, secret crushes, team-ups, deaths, resurrections, alien invasions, love triangles, sidekicks, butt kicks, and untold crossover extravaganza crises in a world we never made!!!
On top of it all the show features a collection of some of the brightest improvisers in New York banding together to keep the streets safe while delivering their lines with Adam West urgency and William Shatner aplomb (West and Shatner will not be appearing).0 Ka-Baam!! returns after playing to sold out audiences when it was part of Freestyle Repertory Theatre's spring 1999 season. Striking out on it's own like a young, cherub-y freshman, Ka-Baam!! stands apart in a world of often look-alike improvisational comedy. It's a Ka-Baam!! Kollector's Item Klassic!!
If you prefer your superheroes gritty and your tone reverential, go watch Frank Miller mow his lawn (tickets available at box office)!! Get a taste at http://www.yesand.com/kabaam. Ka-Baam!! Nutkickin' fun, Fridays, October 15-November 19th, 8 p.m. Surf Reality 172 Allen St., NYC (F Train to the Second Avenue) $8 So, when are you moving it to the West End then? Grant Morrison Talks About Stuff. Grant Morrison has been speaking out over on http://www.nextplanetover.com (Home of really expensive back-of-DC Comics ads) On TPBs, "The next Invisibles collection is out soon, I think, reprinting the rest of Volume 2. I'm still trying to convince Vertigo to collect the rest of Volume 1 - not to mention Sebastian O, Kid Eternity, Flex Mentallo and all the other work that lies unexploited in their drawers." On the new JLA 2 HC, "EARTH 2, is a story of the evil Crime Syndicate of America, who live on the Anti-Matter Earth. I don't want to say too much about the story but I will say it has the sleaziest superbeings imaginable, Commissioner Wayne and Boss Gordon, evil super-gorillas, Luthor and Brainiac, colliding Earths, Superwoman seducing the transvestite Jimmy Olsen, Jeffrey Dahmer as President and lots more. If you buy only one superhero book ever, this is the one with everything. And Frank has outclassed even himself to produce the most beautiful comic art I've ever seen." On Zenith, "I won't be doing any more Zenith but I agree that someone should start looking into reprinting that stuff for the American market. I'm always asked about that series when I'm at conventions in the US." On films, "Mark Millar and I are working on a screenplay right now which has a superhero theme, although it's a new and different way of looking at superheroes." On Hypertime, "If Mark Waid and I get arounmd to doing this 'Hypercrisis' thing we've talked about for 2001, I promise you will see the long awaited return of Sunshine Superman. You will also find out what Hypertime really is - alternate realities are only the beginning." On Bizarre Boys, "Pete (Milligan) and I did half of the script (32 pages) then Jamie Hewlett dropped out and we all lost interest. The half that was done is hysterical and very dark. I can't imagine it being published right now at the new Ned Flanders-approved Vertigo but times change and who knows?" On Doom Patrol, "I can't imagine doing any more Doom Patrol ever. Tom Peyer, I believe, is doing something with the 90's DP and he's the only person I'd trust not to ruin my beloved characters. John Byrne has entertained numerous schemes over the years and will probably end up doing something with Doom Patrol - like making it exactly the way it was in his youth but with enough of a Byrne spin to make everyone hate it." On the Invisibles TV show/film, "The Invisibles TV show and movie plans have ground to a halt. Mainly because the first volume of Invisibles has already been adapted as a movie and released under the name 'The Matrix'... The BBC had it and I'd written some scripts which told a revamped and extended version of the story from the first four issues. After five years of meetings and messing around, I was eventually told by a BBC high-up that 'no-one understands telepathy' and that was reason enough not to make the show. It went to Channel 4 and nothing happened there and now it's floating around with Chris Carter and a bunch of other production companies in the US. I don't think it will ever get made." More on the Matrix, "The Wachowski Brothers already stole the theme, the characters, the code names, the leather, the bald heads, the torture scenes, the magic mirror, the insect-machine bad guys, the evil agents with special powers and shades and just about everything else that would have made The Invisibles look great on film." On Flex Mentallo, "This was my first conscious attempt to create a comic spell - one designed to actually alter conditions within 'reality'. As I go deeper into the possibilities of using comics as hyper-sigils, I'm making new discoveries every day about how words and pictures can be used to get at the basic programming language of the universe we live in. Mad, perhaps but it's working and it makes me happy." And that's me lot. See you next week! Or even sooner... |
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The Dark Troll Returns. I'm back. Lock up your grannies. Sterling thanks to Mike Meyer for keeping the column going while I was away (even if we seem to have had yet another counter reset!) You're safe in his hands folks! Just gave myself a few days breather after the holiday, coinciding with a huge increase of work at the office and the arrival of Dungeon Keeper 2 to my new PC. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Anyway, Scandinavia was great and so were their comics. Now, my Scandic friends, be aware that I am likely to make loads of mistakes and all my observations are just that, based on what I saw. I didn't really search anything out so I'm sure I missed loads. I'm an ignorant English yobbo abroad, alright? Anyway. Sweden is good for comics especially on the news stand. Didn't see any comic shops, but the newsagents have a variety of stuff... lots of American translated reprints of the Marvel, DC and Image superhero stuff, US comedy comics, some pulp action adventure and the one I went for, Pyton and MegaPyton, a mixture of original and translated US alternative comics, freely and readily available everywhere. Joy. Daniel Ahlgren and Tomas Runcks were particular favourites of mine. In a larger newsagent in Karlstad, I also bought Flamingo and Galago, two Swedish comics magazines. Flamingo puts a busty babe on the cover, has entertainment features and glossy pages. Galago has original and reprinted alternative strips, but of the less humorous type than Pyton. One strip in Flamingo, which I think could have been French in origin (the copyright is to Dargaud Editeur Paris) is drawn by Labiano. I tell you Cliffhanger, the Marvel Xbooks or Marvel Knights should snap this fellow up, he work is reminiscent of the cartoony exaggeration of Cliffhanger, but grounded with a sense of pedestrian composition, realistic background and a strong attention to detail. And the men have got large chins. Norway saw me find my first comic shop of the trip, Tronsmo in Oslo (thanks to Streetwise magazine for the tip). An alternative bookstore up top, below was a wonderful collection of comic book paperbacks and hardbacks with a small smattering of imported US pamphlet comics of the ABC/Vertigo/Heart Of Empire type. I picked up a range of Norwegian stuff, included a best-of-translated-into-English book called No Comprendo Comics. This is the kind of book I'd have expected British people to have produced in the eighties, a kind of Escape/Ark/ Heartbreak Hotel affair. The kind of stuff we could do with right now. The star strip is 'I Really Like You' by Waldemar Hepstein which is a self-pitying slice-of-life unrequited love piece, the kind of this Joe Matt would be proud of, with a very varied art style that matches the mood of each panel. 'Bad Influence' by Christopher Nielsen is a highly amusing tale of a young boy attempting to live the life that his current favourite author Buskowski writes about. The back page, Modern Times again by Waldemar Hepstein is a real scream too. Christopher Nielsen also writes and draws a book called Weltschmerz, of which I picked up the first issue. A woman's trial though life and it's all down to her bloody children. Good argument for contraception, this one! There was a fair amount of translated US stuff, and I just had to buy the first Transmetropolitan collection in Norwegian, known there as Transmetro, just because they'd stuck a Lobo reprint in the back too. Made me laugh. Colour separation wasn't great though... reminded me of those early eighties Marvel UK attempts. Back through Sweden, Stockholm, saw me picking up Sarajevo Tango, a beautiful book in watercolours and pencils by Hermann, reminding me sometimes of Michael Zulli, sometimes of Phil Winslade but with a strong voice of his own. Vertigo should sign this guy up if they know what's good for them. If they can afford him, that is. Denmark did the business for me. Antikvariat, this second hand bookshop in Copenhagen with a US back issue comic collection... and a pile of small press Danish comics. A quick browse soon brought the attention of the manager who was able to direct me towards the best his shop could offer, and I bought as much as the previous night's Tivoli would allow. Check out www.image.dk/~sirich/ for more details. And while you're doing that, here's a review of a few comics I bought there. Fisk by Peter Kiellan, from big Danish comics small press publisher Fahrenheit, is a non-speaking surreal story about a walking fish moving from one location to another through a series of holes. Reality is a variable thing here, as characters move without discernible motivation while the fish's main needs of food, drink and cover are it's main concern. It's a timid thing with a sense of luxury and humour. Oh and the aliens don't help much. It's charming and dashing from one mood to another, hurtling along this strange stream of consciousness. 64 pages of it. Farenheit 62.6 is just one book length issue of a long running anthology series, full of a huge variety of styles, cartoony, minimalist realism, photo-realistic, dark shaded plasticine, angular spot backs... a real variety I haven't seen since Raw. A favourite is STIG&Martha by Mardon Smet, exploding with tightly laid down cartoons... combining such energy and enthusiasm with such time consuming craft is admirable. The last strip, Sbyoren G Mosdal is an Al Columbia-The Biologic Show lookalike (although who came first?) and this strip is reprinted and English translated in Drone 1... the only book I picked up not published by Fahrenheit still has a direct connection. Stol and Bord, both by S. Behncke, published by Fahrenheit. I am reliably informed that Stol means 'chair and Bord means 'table' and these companion books contain a series of one page gags, mostly silent and the rest you can work out easily enough. The author's style is versatile to show a real visual difference from page to page, and each book's strips have either a table or a chair in a starring role. The amount of comedy derived from these pieces of furniture is quite remarkable. Drone 1 by Soren G Mosdal, published by Debaser. Not published by Fahrenheit but spun off their anthology book, Drone is thankfully in English and tells the story of a famous, much loved individual for his writings and for his skills as a lover, all in a high faluted narrative. This is followed by a number of short stories, each with their own twist on Mosdal's artistic style. A very enjoyable book. Fahrenheit is at Mysundegade 9, st. 1668 Kohenhavn V. Denmark while Debaser is at Asgerrysgade 5-7 Vesterbro 1727 Kobenhavn V. Denmark. The rest of the honeymoon was stunning, and I give a wholehearted thank you to Paul Levitz for pulping the Elseworlds 80 Page Giant and allow me to make a small profit equivalent to a year's worth of comics buying... or a honeymoon I'll always remember. Thanks, Paul. Care to do the same again soon? Now what's been happening while I've been gone? Something about DC and Superman? Wizard publishing comics? Nothing important, I'm sure... Gemma's Gem. Actually, here's something much more important. Posy Simmond's daily vertical half A3 page strip illustrated story/comic strip in The Guardian, Gemma Bovary finally came to an end last week and is collected and published this month. A fine piece of crafting from one of Britain's premier comic artists, it sees a couple, Gemma and Charles Bovary moving to France while watched and observed by their neighbour baker as he sees the patterns of the novel Madame Bovery echo in their lives. You can order a copy by clicking here, and after reading the entire run, it has my highest recommendation. And Twist And Shout (basically me) will be appearing at Galaxion '99, a sci-fi convention in London Olympia on October the 3rd and 14h. I'll be bringing the wife on Sunday to help me out too as I'll also be there to sign launch copies of the Tales Of Midnight Kosovo Refugee Benefit Comic I've been plugging for ages on this column. And I've just been told that all you Johnny Foreigners will be able to order copies in the Previews For December... look for Blue Silver in the Comics section, and hopefully Diamond will give it Featured Item, Spotlight, whatever. Remember chaps, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Garth Ennis, Chris Achilleos, that bloke who played Boba Fett, Walter Koenig, Al Davison, Steven Grant, loads of other great people... and finally, me! Go to www.bluesilver.com for all the information your little hearts can handle. You'll also be able to bid for all the original art produced too, you lucky bleeders. Mike adds: Twist and Shout will also be at Dan Vado's new brainchild, the Independent Press Experience, debuting in Los Angeles Oct. 17. Ipex (which you can read about at their site) is Dan's attempt to get back to the basics of the first APEs -- a small show with lots of Zines as well as indy comics in a one-day show. This one's in LA, and if it works, he's planning to take it on the road to Chicago, Seattle, and New York. The attendance list looks pretty good, all the Slave Labor folks on the Left Coast, and just about all the LA APE contingent as well, plus members of CAPS (Comic Art Professionals Society, a group started by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones among others). Our mortal enemy Nat Gertler will also be there, selling the issues of The Factor which include our work, not to mention art from the fabulous Carla Speed McNeal , Matt Feazel and others. Savaged Dragon? Erik Larsen writes at www.savagedragon.com "Savage Dragon sales are going down-- they have been pretty much from the first issue. It's getting dangerously low at this point. Now, I like working on this book and I'd like to do it forever but if things don't change soon-- it may be impossible for this to continue. Changing the book to B&W would be the kiss of death-- NO superhero book EVER has lasted as a black and white title and I don't expect Savage Dragon to be the exception to that. I could certainly raise the cover price to $2.95 but it will negatively impact sales-- it won't stop the bleeding but it may keep the patient alive a while longer. Advertizing is pretty well out of the question-- right now a single page ad in Wizard equals my profits for a couple issues and it WON'T help sales a whole hell of a lot. Now what? If there was ever a need to get out the word-- NOW is the time. If you ever thought of turning somebody on to Savage Dragon--NOW it the time. If you ever thought of getting some Dragon fan a TPB for Christmas, NOW is the time. I WANT to keep going. I'll need your help. -Erik" Ramblings '99 absolutely adores Savage Dragon. I've bought it since it first came out, even recognising the character from Erik's Spider-man/Wolverine story in Marvel Comics Presents (49-51 wasn't it?) and have no desire to see this truly wondrous comic disappear. If you don't know the book, it's about a green skinned, head finned policeman called Dragon, who lives in a Chicago heavily populated with super types. It sits more with Astro City and Top Ten than with Captain America, Hulk or Spider-man and is the only original Image book that is still written and drawn by its creator as opposed to being handed over to the work-for-hire mobs. It's a very interesting book, sprinkled with some of the most outrageous fight scenes in comics. Well worth your money every month. So go out and order it... back issues should be pretty cheap too. Travis Travesties. Over on NextPlanetOver.Com, Scott Lobdell's been talking about WildCATS, about creative freedom.... " In regards to WILDCATS, in a WAY Travis and I had total freedom from editorial. I can't think of a single incident or idea that we proposed that got nixed or even questioned...everyone was one thousand per cent supportive, even at the thought of introducing the gay NOIR to the team." "Having said that, however, I didn't have as much "creative" freedom as I would have liked. By that I mean TRAVIS is an immensely talented artist who comes to any project with a lot of ideas. Unfortunately for me as the writer, more often than not those ideas stray far from the actaul plot as it was written. As a result, I often got pages back that took the story I had written and sort of hurled it off into oblivion for several pages -- only to try to have it bounce back in the last few pages." "I don't think Travis would object if I talk about the first issue. The GRIFTER/SPARTAN vs. the gun runners was supposed to last about 7 pages, at which point we were going to intro EMP hiding out at the VATICAN of all places, explaining the far reaching influence of Kenyan and giving way clues as to the fate of the other WILDC.A.T.s. Instead, I got back what was essentially 12 extra pages of SPARTAN beating up a tank. A tank? I asked. TRAVIS explained he had seen SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and was intrigued by the tank." "Now, as talented as TRAVIS is, it was quite frustrating for me to read and abundance of posts and letters railing against how I didn't know how to write a story and the pacing was ridiculous and the ending was too abrupt and etc, etc, etc...and not feeling it was my place to say "B-but...but that's not the story I wrote. I agree with you -- it is poorly paced and there is no emotional conflict on these pages and i don't understand why this character is doing this for that reason or where that gun suddenly came from or where those characters disappeared to half way through the story..." So instead, I had to concentrate on making the stories the best that I could possibly make them as they were handed to me." So, did I have freedom? Interesting question. (And before anyone reads that as being bitter -- I'm not, even a little. I love TRAVIS and think he is brilliant...but working on the series has proved more frustrating that fascinating. Who wants to be an X-Man? The rumour is that Deadpool does... please, don't let it be true... or if it is, let Kelly write Uncanny and Priest write X-Men without any editorial dictates... But before he does that, Deadpool's up for fisticuffs with Thor. Priest gave a little insight on rec.arts.comics.misc. ****SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!****
****BACK TO RUMOURS! BACK TO RUMOURS! BACK TO RUMOURS!**** And this is a rumour. Just that. Nothing else, okay? Well, one reader writes to say "I'm a big fan of RICH'S RAMBLINGS, and I heard a rumor the other day that I thought you would like to hear: Jason Liebig (Marvel X-book editor) is going to fire all the creators on all his books (BISHOP, X-MAN, X-FORCE, GENERATION X, MUTANT X and X-MEN UNLIMITED) in an effort to boost sales by bringing in new creators. Have you guys heard this already?" Not until now... we're in the process of contacting affected individuals. One who'd rather not be named says they can't comment on the story, so maybe we can read something into that, maybe we can't. Let's see if we get a few more replies in the next few days. But if Jason were to ditch all the creators, surely he'd be perfect to join DC's Batman and Superman editorial teams? Elsewhirled. A word comes to us from DC's Legal department, as an individual has been given the job of checking their comics for babies in microwaves. We're also told that the reason DC's Elseworld 80 Page Giant shipped to Britain was that they didn't receive the recall announcement in time. However, copies were available for reorder from Diamond UK for over three weeks after the book shipped and certainly after the pulping story went public. Interesting... Why Are We Waiting? Talking of Diamond UK, they seem to have dropped the ball again. Alan Moore's Awesome Adventures shipped well back in August, yet no UK stores have received copies of the comic, save for a few 'premium' editions this week from Dynamic Entertainment or something. We all want to see these infamous panels that weren't drawn by anyone, just featured art from previous comics clipped, cropped and placed. Sigh... A Diamond UK representative in Warrington refused to comment. Mind you it was late on a Friday afternoon and the receptionist in their London branch said all the marketing staff were out on a long lunch... I'll try them again on Monday. Projected Sales. As for Blair Witch Project... a lot has been made over the extra shipping and multiple prints of the comic as late demand well outstripped supply. So what actually happened? The book was originally late solicited in Diamond Dateline, Diamond's weekly retailer pamphlet, which led to orders of 700. A Previews listing was deemed necessary, and an extra 3800 were ordered - 500 of which went to one store owned by one of the actresses' parents, who arranged a signing opportunity. A couple of thousand more printed for the film company itself totalled about 6000, so the initial 18,000 printing was quite optimistic. Then the film was released. Shame there weren't enough for all the UK's initial orders... Matt Finish. Talking of pulping, the Drawn And Quarterly printing of Joe Matt's Cartoon Diary wasn't released because Joe Matt wasn't happy with the printing... unless you ordered from Red Route Distribution who, unawares, managed to get some and sold them quite nicely. Chunky Plug. Time for another great book to plug, Goodbye, Chunky Rice from Top Shelf, sold to me by the excellent Pete Ashton at Caption '99. A very charming book, reminiscent of Fisk (see above) and gloriously produced, this very detailed book should be up for the Eisners. Buy it when Diamond get round to distributing it. Pat Mobile. After this week's announcement on Mania that Wizard are to publish comics, Wizard's most prominent employee on the internet Pat O'Neill decided to get his shot in first. "For the record, because I'm sure someone will bring my name into this sooner or later, I think Wizard's decision to publish a line of comics is a major mistake on both ethical and economic terms. Ethical because no publisher should be in this conflict of interests--publishing a product in competition with the companies it reports on. This has long been one of my complaints about Fantagraphics and the Journal, and Wizard doing it is no different. Economic because I think they're going to lose a ton of money." For more ranting, type Pat O'Neill into Dejanews past articles search and prepare to be swamped. Titillation. It's been pointed out to us that Alex Ross let a little something slip on his cover for Top Ten 1. Check out Toybox's frontal chest area on the cover to see what Jackie is so intently looking at. This website should do the trick: http://www.insanerantings.com/Clambake/TopTen.jpg Gorillagram Check out Ray Mescallado's Fanboi Politik (always a favourite of mine) in The Comics Journal as the Waid/Busiek Gorilla rumour we originally brought to light gets a thorough going over. You know, we haven't heard anything about that for a while... could the Image problems still be... problems? You've Never Had It So Good. It's an industry truism that comics have never been as good before as they are now. I certainly think it's true, but the usual examples I give are your Acme Novelty Libraries, your From Hells, your Dorks, your Palookavilles... but I think it's true about superhero comics too. Reconstructed superheroes are doing great business, after the superhero stories have been deconstructed, they've been reconstructed into something else, offering something new and vibrant. Exciting, funny, clever-clever and delivering the same adrenaline pump to young adults that we used to get when we were kids. My recommended list follows: Authority (Wildstorm), Black Panther (Marvel Knights), Daredevil (Marvel Knights), Deadpool (Marvel), Earth X (Marvel), Hitman (DC), Inhumans (Marvel Knights), Invisibles (DC/Vertigo), Planetary (Wildstorm), Promethea (ABC), Quantum And Woody (Acclaim), Savage Dragon (Image), Tom Strong (ABC), Tomorrow Stories (ABC and Top Ten (ABC). There's suddenly a revival of intelligence and I think it's telling that almost all of the books are relatively new or have been significantly revamped. If you like some of the above and haven't tried the others, maybe this list will help you find something else to enjoy. And no, JLA, Astro City, Avengers and Rising Stars don't make the count as of yet. But maybe Spyboy, Steampunk, Kin and M-Rex will be worth checking out, as might be Jenkin's Incredible Hulk. And we're all really really looking forward to the Mark Millar/Frank Quitely Authority... The Future Is Now. And let me give you a taster of what Twist And Shout Comics' next printed book will be (if I have any say in it) hopefully for January 2000... Pokémonstrosities (guest starring The X-Flies). You have been warned. Previews coming soon... Well, I'm back. Any more rumours out there? Rich Johnston |
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