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The Future Of The Past Is On Full Display In 'Frank R. Paul: The Dean Of Science Fiction Illustration'

Dylan Todd — 2013-04-15T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Reviews, IDW, Sci-Fi, Art, Opinion

Legendary science fiction illustrator Frank R. Paul is probably not an instantly-recognizable name for every ComicsAlliance reader, but for generations of science fiction, fantasy and comic book enthusiasts, his work took the fantastic worlds described on the pages of the pulps and made them real. IDW's recently-published book, Frank R. Paul: The Dean of Science Fiction Illustration, sets out to collect a good chunk of the illustrator's work in one book while giving readers a look into the life and career of the man whose dazzling cityscapes, bizarre creatures and ability to make the fantastic palpable earned him a place among the greats of science fiction illustration. And while the book tends to over-extends its reach, it's still an impressive amassment of amazing classic pulp illustration that is worth checking out if you're at all interested in the future of the past.

Born in Vienna in 1884, Paul studied architecture, a background that shines through when he tackles the marvelous cityscapes that adorned the covers of magazines like Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories or Science And Mechanics. His sense of scale and materials sell ideas that, even now, seem impossible.

And then there's the "Buck Rogers" cover for Amazing Stories, August 1928, a hugely influential piece that, for me at least, hits you right in the solar plexus with its abruptness. It's thought-through in a meticulous fashion, with the way that harness is designed to hold the wearer in properly, to the leather-looking fabric on the forearms and elbows to brace the flying man should he happen to crash. You can't help and see a lot of Star Wars in that get-up as well, from the striped Han Solo pants and knee-high boots, to the Darth Vader-ish chest panel and belt. In fact, the whole thing reminds me a lot of this early Star Wars concept piece by Ralph McQuarrie.

The cover art for Air Wonder Stories, August 1929 is equally impressive. Paul not only does an amazing cut-away of this marvelous Victorian vessel, with a huge boiler-looking engine and Deco-influenced detailing, but he also adds in those little bodies flailing through the air as the ship is sliced in imperfect quarters. It's that detail, that insanely realistic detail, that kills me. Because of course if this were a real vessel that really got sliced up in the sky there would really be those unfortunate people who got tossed overboard and Paul, with his desire to make these things as real as possible, thought this through to the gory end.

Like most illustrators at the time, Paul also tried his hand at comics, illustrating the adventures of long-forgotten heroes like spaceman Mitey Powers and prodigy-mastermind of the year 2680, Marvo 1-2Go+: the Super-Boy. While Paul's analytical nature never allows the strips to get as bonkers as something like Fletcher Hanks or Basil Woverton's output, it's hard to argue with the craft on display in the strips.

Paul's most notable contribution to comics, however, is the iconic cover to Timely's Marvel Comics #1. You know the one. There, on that one cover are the seeds of what would become the Marvel universe: a hero, cursed with a horrible power, uses said power to protect those that would hate and fear him. It's an image that's supposed to feel heroic, but feels like a nightmare; like a scene from The Terminator, only the Terminator is on fire and your bullets keep melting before they can hit him and he can walk through walls and he's smiling like a total creep and, oh yeah, did we mention that he's the good guy?

My biggest nitpick with the book is the design. While the book is organized mainly by the main periods of Paul's work, the visual organization leaves a lot to be desired, with images laid out in a fairly staid fashion. Each section is accompanied by an essay that details the section of Paul's career and, while they're very informative, the three-column grid they're laid out in, with their huge indents and wonky justification, make them nearly impossible to read. The typefaces are meant to recall vintage pulp magazines, but instead of feeling retro, they just come across as old-fashioned and unattractive. Even the title, Frank R. Paul: The Dean of Science Fiction Illustration is kind of dull and on-the-nose. One wonders how much better the book would read were a little more attention paid to making it feel more pleasing to the eye and better-laid out.

There's also a feeling that this book is trying to do too much, with the last quarter or so of the book being devoted to cramming as many of Paul's covers into pages of nine-panel grids on top of a distracting background of ghosted-out artwork. While it definitely ticks off the box for including a massive amount of Paul's covers, it sells his artwork short and makes you wish they'd condensed the biography portions down into fewer pages, freeing up more space for the covers and spot illustrations. It can't decide if it's a showcase for his artwork, a biography, or some hybrid of the two, and that lack of focus makes it difficult to recommend without some caveats. It's a shame, because if IDW had approached this with the same deft hand they did with the recent Alex Toth: Genius Illustrated book, I would heartily recommend it. As it stands, it's recommended mainly because there's not another book of this scope out there that showcases Paul's work.

In the end, it succeeds in showcasing an artist that a lot of modern enthusiasts might not know. If you want to look at great pictures of streamlined spaceships, spindly-limbed aliens and adventuring spacemen, Frank R. Paul: The Dean of Science Fiction Illustration is definitely worth your time.

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'Dinosaurs Attack!' Comics Return At IDW This July

Dylan Todd — 2013-04-12T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: IDW, News

There are a few things that I truly love. One is dinosaurs. The other is cartoonish mayhem. So it should come as no surprise to anybody that I am a huge fan of the 1988 Dinosaurs Attack! card series from Topps. A reworking of the classic Mars Attacks! cards, the set featured time-displaced dinosaurs wrecking everything from pro wrestlers to smarmy businessmen to evil Commies in a gross-out gorefest of Emmerich-ian proportions. As a comics fan, I also knew that Eclipse Comics planned a tie-in miniseries in '88, written by creator Gary Gerani and featuring art by Earl Norem, Herb Trimpe, and George Freeman, though only the first issue ever saw print.

...Until now. Among the news to come out of last month's Wondercon was the announcement that IDW is set to republish - and complete - the original Dinosaurs Attack! comic miniseries as a five-part miniseries this July.Helmed by DA's original creative team, the miniseries will follow the storyline of the old school trading cards, from the accident aboard the science satellite The Prometheus that tears the dinosaurs from the past and plants them firmly in the world of 1988, through their reign of terror as they immediately destroy anything and everything in their way. (PRO TIP: Don't name your science thingy after the guy whose story is the allegory for hubris. It will not end well.)

In IDW's press release, Ira Friedman, Topps Vice President of Licensing, said, "Dinosaurs Attack!s powerful visual style and over-the-top sensibility make it a quintessential Topps property. IDW's ambitious plans to produce comics -- a quarter century after its initial introduction -- is a tribute to the brand's enduring fan appeal. And don't be surprised if you see us announce more exciting new Dinosaurs Attack! projects as we celebrate its 25th birthday!"

I, for one, welcome our new dinosaur overlords and look forward to their dino-reign.

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SUPERMAG: Jim Rugg's Ambitious and Eclectic Comics, Illustration and Design Magazine [Interview]

Dylan Todd — 2013-04-11T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Indie, Interviews, Opinion

"Print is dead," is a pithy saying that gets tossed around a lot these days. Well, apparently nobody said in front of comics artist and illustrator Jim Rugg (Street Angel, Afrodisiac, The Plain Janes). This May, Rugg will launch the first issue of Supermag, a 56-page, full-color, glossy magazine full of comics, illustrations, design pieces and more. Published by AdHouse, it's an impressive amount of work, with topics ranging from Nazi-fighting golfers, Vanilla Ice trading cards, adult theaters, killer gorillas, punk rock icons in love, and so much more.

In this in-depth interview accompanied by many pages of art, we sat down with Rugg to discuss all things Supermag, print, design, zine-making, creative process, Bigfoots, and why he believes there are no more rules in comics.

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ComicsAlliance: How would you describe Supermag? Is it a design piece? A comics piece? The classiest zine ever made? All of the above?

Jim Rugg: In terms of a physical description, it's 56 full-color, glossy 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages of my comics, drawings, and designs.

I think it's clearly comics and design. The zine part is flattering because I've been looking at zines and talking to zinemakers a lot in the last couple of years, and that DIY-mentality has influenced me quite a bit. It's kind of a return to making mini-comics in a lot of ways because we figured out the specs for this thing based on a proposal I had to do for a magazine format book. Based on that proposal, Chris Pitzer from AdHouse Books put together some options for me --- like, we can do this many pages and maintain the saddle-stitching, and here are some different paper stocks that match your description, and on and on until we had the format completely worked out. But it was really a situation where we just kept working on this in terms of what can make with this timeline, budget, content, and so on. I wanted to make a zine, like a cross between a perzine and comic book. The magazine became the format and then it was just like build, build, build, rearrange, take out that page, bring in that other page...

We just have access to so much information now that we can make almost anything we can imagine, and in that sense it is a zine. I'm not sure there's anything I'd do differently with this project, y'know in terms of if I had a bigger budget or something. Working with AdHouse Books has been fascinating.

CA: It's very reminiscent of one-man comics anthologies like Dan Clowes' Eightball or Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve, while still giving off strong vibes of design magazines like David Carson's Raygun run, the Emigré magazine and Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser's The Pushpin Graphic. What else fed into Supermag?

JR: The accuracy of that list is astonishing. Eightball is my favorite comic. I've been a fan of Optic Nerve since it was a mini-comic. David Carson's Raygun was like a textbook when I was an undergrad. I had a subscription to Emigré at my first graphic design job and used to just look at it over and over and sort of half-understand what I saw. One of my favorite issues was all photographs of their old computer equipment which they kept kind of in storeroom because they didn't know what to do with it. That magazine was incredible and changed the way I thought. I just got my first issues of The Pushpin Graphic this year, so I'm behind on that one, but it's very fresh in my mind.

I self-published my first comics and attended SPX in 2000. I had never seen anything like that. It was a life-changing moment. I came home with boxes of mini-comics. Fort Thunder and Kramers Ergot. David Choe's Slow Jamz left a mark. Seeing some of these self-published, self-produced comics and zines just broadened the language for me. And it also inspired me because suddenly, my favorite comics weren't just written and drawn by one person, often they were even printed and assembled by that same person. Comic Art magazine was pretty important, too.

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JR: Early Image Comics were big, specifically Nick Manabat's Cybernary backup in Deathblow #1-4, Stephen Platt's unreal mark-making in Prophet #5, Jae Lee's story in Youngblood: Strikefile #1-3 (second best superhero coloring ever; Batman: Year One is tops on my list), and a few others. I'll refrain from providing a top ten list. But I spent like six months going through those again and it was interesting. I feel dirty admitting this, but Wizard magazine.

I got this book called The Last Magazine by David Renard and it had beautiful photos of all of these magazines, "the style press" he called them. That was pretty influential and it was at the perfect time. I got it because of my work on Foxing Quarterly, and I kept looking at it more than the average book that passes across my desk.

The other big influence on me is media and format. When I was a kid, I would rent horror movies and watch them late at night after my parents went to bed. I started watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre and had to shut it off because of the 16mm film. It freaked me out. It was like home movies. It felt so real because of that film and because of the low-budget quality. And I think I've always been somewhat aware of that part of the experience. When I was really little I used to ask my parents about cartoons -- how did they work. I knew they weren't quite real people, but I couldn't figure out how animation was made. It was like magic of some sort, a science that was far beyond my 4 year old knowledge.

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CA: Both here and in your previous work, you have such a variety of styles on display, from the Fleisher-esque clean animation style in "Duke Armstrong," some Eddie Campbell-esque slice-of-life cartooning, and photorealistic reproductions of '90s trading cards. Afrodisiac was a cavalcade of styles from throughout comics history, including the spot-on Extreme Studios-style pin-up that's also here in Supermag. How do these start off? Is this style-hopping based on the material, or is it a matter of, "I wonder if I can pull this style off?" and then having the piece come from there?

JR: I don't know what comes first. An idea happens, and then you just start kicking it around -- what's the best way to create a Vanilla Ice pinup? What if Afrodisiac was a '90s Image book? Afrodisiac happened because of blaxploitation. Once I started getting into blaxploitation - specifically the films of the '70s, I had to do a '90s version because my first exposure to blaxploitation was gangsta rap of the early '90s that referenced and sampled blaxploitation. So that is something I've been thinking about for a while and just couldn't come up with a script that made sense. That early '90s Image storytelling is so strange. In the end, it seemed like a pinup made the most sense for that concept.

Sometimes it's a question of can I pull something off. Lately I've been making 3D drawings, and they are totally based on that idea -- technically, can I do this? I like trying new things. I'm trying to allow myself to fail more and just rundown ideas and not worry about whether they'll work. It's pretty boring doing things when you know what the outcome will be. It's all about time, trying to create windows of time where I can just wander and balancing that against deadline-work. In many ways, Supermag is that experimental project for me. It's an opportunity to try some new things. And hopefully more of those things hit than miss for most readers.

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CA: I think it's also worth noting that Supermag is a decidedly print-friendly magazine, with shifts in orientation, paper choices and techniques. In an increasingly digital environment, what is it about print that attracts you?

JR: I'm not sure. Maybe it's the tactile quality and the physical, tangible object. Digital media feels so ephemeral sometimes. Like if I don't check my Twitter or Tumblr feeds all the time I might miss something. Even something beautiful and worthy of more than a quarter of a second just disappears so quickly online.

I don't know. Printing technology is so widely available now, not just offset printing, but I have friends who own their own letterpresses and make their living printing, and then use that equipment to produce their own incredible work -- zines, books, whatever. As creators, we have access to risographs, screen-printing, photocopiers, drawing tools and inks and paints from all over the world. I've been making comics for almost 15 years. When I began, the idea of doing a color, offset book was ridiculous. Now it's possible to create these dream projects. That opportunity may not come again, but for Supermag, I had a chance to create a full-color magazine. That's something I've thought about doing for 25 years.

So I guess part nostalgia and part opportunity to try to make something interesting.

CA: On the back page of Supermag, you have a list of ingredients that run the gamut from comic books and graphic design to sable brushes, the 1990s and narrative collapse. While you were pulling all of this together, did you worry about it being too much of a grab bag?

JR: Not really. Now that I have a copy I worry about it, but that's just my nuerosis. If it weren't that, I'd worry about some other detail. Supermag's contents are pretty weird. But I like weird. One of my favorite qualities of comics is that because they are produced with so few hands, they have the potential to be very unique and personal visions -- i.e. weird. That creative model has the potential to capture the point of view and quirkiness of the person or people who create them in a way that a film or larger creative collaboration can't. I'm sure it will be too much of a grab bag for some people, but we didn't print enough for everyone to have a copy so it's okay if not everyone wants one I guess.

I'm terribly insecure about this kind of work because it is personal and different and not for everyone. As a result, I try to overcompensate. So while I'm sure it won't be everyone's ideal, I don't think anyone will feel disappointed in the effort.

I think if you enter Supermag with the magazine layout in mind, it fits together better. For instance, the first few pages mirror the advertising structure of traditional trade magazines (everyone loves Mad Men, this is the domain of their type of work). Then there's the editorial page, a series of shorter strips, like magazine features, then longer features with sporadic advertising mixed in...it's not as random as it may appear at first. There's an effort to create that sort of rhythm or pacing of a magazine.

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CA: In the "Why Supermag?" page, you sign off with the line, "There are no rules anymore." Can you elaborate on that?

JR: Growing up, it seems like people lined up to tell me how the world worked and to prepare me for the real world. As an adult, it turns out that my experiences in the real world are a lot different than my expectations and in hindsight; a lot of my preparation was misguided. As a result, I now approach everything as though I don't know anything. When I want to make something, I just start researching it. So far, I haven't encountered anything that I'd consider impossible. A lot of it is difficult, but none of it is impossible.

The Internet has created a world where we have access to the knowledge and experience of millions of people. And what I've discovered is that for every rule I learned growing up, I've met people who are exceptions or have experienced exceptions to that rule.

For instance, at different points in my comics making experience I've been told that you have to make comics a certain size (6 5/8 x 10 1/4 -- the standard comic book size). I've been told this by cartoonists, publishers, and retailers. Of course many of my favorite comics are not that size. Where would Building Stories be if it adhered to such a rule?

When Afrodisiac was published, it far exceeded my expectations in terms of sales. I had editors and retailers tell me how much they liked it, but the cover didn't have a title on it. Big mistake. When I asked one retailer, who told me about this mistake, how it did in his store, he said it sold very well.

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I have really great comics that have no words, that have been silkscreen-printed, or drawn with nothing but vector art... it doesn't matter what tools or approach is used to create work anymore. Whatever model someone wants to follow to make their work, I bet you can find examples of people who have done great work using that model.

I think the binary metaphor that I grew up with right/wrong, either/or, etc., just isn't accurate today. I learned this through Photoshop. I went to college with Jasen Lex, and we started using Photoshop in '95. So whenever we collaborate on something, sometimes we'll be in the same room, working on one machine. We can arrive at the same effect, but our process to get to the same point is completely different.

There are more ways to skin the proverbial cat than one person can explore in a million lifetimes. Every day it feels like someone does something new and different in terms of producing work or distributing work or selling work. No rules. Not anymore, and I often wonder if there were ever rules because I can't find any. I wish I could. Life would be much easier if we didn't have an infinite amount of choice all around us. But unfortunately, every time I think I've found a rule, I find an exception.

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CA: You recently art directed two issues of Foxing Quarterly magazine, the cover of which made its way into Supermag (and ComicsAlliance's Best Art Ever). How did you get that gig and what did you take away from the experience?

JR: The editors of Foxing Quarterly contacted me about producing a cover for the first volume. As we worked on it and communicated, the topic of art direction came up. I've always wanted to art direct a magazine project. We realized that it might be a good fit and so we did it. It's been a great experience so far. The Foxing Quarterly team has been extremely supportive of my ideas and designs. One thing I take away is that collaboration is good. Another is to just try things, because it's hard to know what will work before you do it. And without the Foxing experience and the research that involved, Supermag almost certainly wouldn't exist.

CA: How does it feel to know you've drawn the best Bigfoot versus a monster truck comic of all time?

JR: (muffled sob?) Th-thank you! It is a relief to finally scratch that one off my to-do list. I've been drawing Bigfoot trucks since I was six. It's great to get that monkey off my back! The only thing I can remember drawing before I started drawing Bigfoot trucks was dinosaurs. (Stephen Bissette's Tyrant and Mark Schultz' Xenozoic Tales were a couple of my favorite dinosaur comics.)

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CA: What things have you seen lately - comics- / design- / illustration- / other-wise - that has really inspired you?

JR: Object 5 by Killian Eng, published in 2011 by Floating World Comics. It's a small, full-color book of drawings that look like a cross between '70s/'80s sci-fi cartoons and Moebius. It's not exactly a narrative, but it feels like a narrative... it's beautiful.

Fukitor, a series of full-color mini-comics self-published by Jason Karns. It's printed on newsprint by the artist with adjusted amounts of ink so it looks like faded, old comic books. The stories and art are NC-17 levels of offensive in terms of sex and violence. And they are incredibly well drawn and very funny. Not for the faint of heart I suppose, but damn near perfect objects. If underground comics and EC had degenerate offspring, it would be Fukitor.

SSE #20: Where Is My Super Hero by Sung Mo Kang, (SSE project). Full-color, mini-comic/zine hybrid. This is part of SSE project, an online gallery and zine thing. Interesting drawings that show a comics influence, lettering is part of the drawing, and there's a suggestion of narrative. If you click on their shop button, you can see good previews of all their zines. I want them all.

Windows of New York by Jose Guizar may be the most beautifully designed website I've ever seen.

The Wally Wood and David Mazzucchelli artist editions from IDW. Back issues of Comic Art magazine. Somehow those look better than the day they were published. I loved the color and lighting in Spring Breakers. Oh, and the work of Uno Moralez. His work almost defies description. He makes illustrations, comics, and animated GIFs in a style that is like early bitmap images. In comics, the only thing that looks similar is Shatter, and that's not a good comparison at all. When I was rambling about the "no rules" thing, this guy could be the champion of no rules. His work is amazing, and it's hard to believe it works at all.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a million things...

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CA: What are you working on now? What's next on your plate?

JR: Drawing. I have a show coming up in August at iam8bit in L.A. It seems like it's going to be drawings that have lettering in the drawings. As part of this process, I've been posting drawings more frequently online. My tumblr is probably the best place to see those. It's fun. I had a show there last year that was ballpoint pen drawings on notebook paper. And that was a great experience. It's been amazing just drawing whatever I think of. That sounds obvious, but I had gotten into the bad habit of drawing mainly for work. So these shows have been very rewarding in that they require me to just draw for the love of drawing. It's like being a kid again.

I also produce a podcast called, Tell Me Something I Don't Know on Boing Boing with Jasen Lex and Ed Piskor. We talk to artists, cartoonists, musicians, filmmakers, journalists, and other creative people about their work and the reality/business behind what they do. We just started our second season. Previous guests have included Gary Groth, Faith Erin Hicks, Mike Mignola, Matt Furie, Rob Liefeld, video-game designer Jesse Schell, and many others.

I'm not sure what my next comics project will be. I am looking at a couple of things right now. My summer's pretty booked with work and touring. I'll be at TCAF, Phoenix Comicon, and Heroes in May and June. Then LA for the Supernerd opening and Autoptic in Minneapolis in August. Before you know it, it's back to school time!

CA: Finally, who do we talk to about getting a "Duke Armstrong: World's Mightiest Golfer" ongoing series?

JR: Brian Maruca will be happy to read that.

Supermag goes on sale this May from AdHouse Books.

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Underground Icon Wesley Willis Joyrides Into DC Comics As Wonder Woman's Half-Brother

Dylan Todd — 2013-01-31T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Music, Opinion, Culture

While everybody's been talking about the New 52 debut of Jack Kirby's Orion in the pages of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's Wonder Woman, a far more exciting character debuted in the DC Comics title over the last couple of issues. Wonder Woman #15 introduced the newly redesigned Orion, but along with him was Milan, a son of Zeus and, it would follow, Wonder Woman's half-brother.

What makes this supporting player so interesting is that Milan bears a strong resemblance to an underground icon, singer-songwriter, and lover of joyrides, the late Wesley Willis. For those familiar with Willis' oeuvre, this development truly whips the llama's ass with a belt.Wesley Willis was a Chicago outsider artist and musician who gained a cult following in the 1990s, putting out records on Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label and Rick Rubin's American Records. A paranoid schizophrenic equipped with a microphone and a Technics keyboard, Willis' songs focused mainly on riding the bus, going to rock n' roll shows and getting beat up by superheroes and the police. A mix of scatlogical humor, stream-of-consciousness rambling, and blinding honesty, Willis was a true original, churning out songs by the truckload. Willis usually ended each song by yell-rapping some corporate slogan or jingle, and would often flip the script by beating up the superheroes.

Here's his slightly NSFW song, "I Whupped Spider-Man's Ass."

Willis passed away in 2003 from complications related to leukemia. But by all the evidence presented in the last couple issues of Wonder Woman, he's alive and well in the New 52 DC Universe, where he's the half-brother of Princess Diana of Themyscira. For example: Willis chose to greet fans with a headbutt, a characteristic shared by Milan....

Milan also shares Willis' tendency to break down the world into two categories: "hell-rides," Willis' term for moments (usually bus rides) where the voices in his head would overwhelm him; and "joy rides," which denoted good times. Willis once described rock n' roll as "the ultimate joy ride."

You hear a lot of artists talk about songwriting as being a cathartic exercise; an opportunity to exorcise demons. With Wesley Willis, I think he believed that really was the case, so it's hard to imagine he wouldn't be thrilled to know that his memory is living on, among ancient gods and superheroes. Although Willis might object to getting his fictional ass whupped by Batman.

The New 52 has seen a lot of creative missteps, but this addition to Wonder Woman's supporting cast? This one I can get behind.

ROCK OVER, GOTHAM. ROCK ON, METROPOLIS. BEEF: IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!

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Brian Wood & Carlos D'Anda's 'Star Wars' #1 is the Star Warsiest Comic in Years [Review]

Dylan Todd — 2013-01-11T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Dark Horse, Reviews, Opinion

The Star Wars universe, not unlike superhero comics, has built up a massive amount of continuity over its 35-plus years in existence. The "Expanded Universe" -- a tapestry of Star Wars stories that take place around the events of George Lucas' film trilogies, in novels, video games, RPG sourcebooks, cartoons, Underoos, etc. -- is full of X-Men levels of offspring; progenitors; ancillary characters whose names contain too many unnecessary apostrophes and not enough vowels; and divergent storylines set in a myriad of time periods that range from the dawn of the Sith Empire to the exploits of Luke Skywalker's space-mulleted grandson. If somebody wants to read a comic featuring the recognizable characters from the Original Trilogy doing cool space stuff, it gets a little difficult. Until now.

Into the breach steps Dark Horse's new adjectiveless Star Wars ongoing series by Brian Wood (The Massive, Conan the Barbarian) and Carlos D'Anda (character designer of Batman: Arkham City and artist of its spinoff comics), a continuity-lite title that takes place in the timeframe between the end of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The first issue released this week is a promising start for the latest Star Wars title from Dark Horse, full of familiar faces in new, exciting situations set in a period largely unexplored for these characters.Being a first issue set in a simplified Star Wars universe, there's a lot of information tossed around, but Wood and D'Anda manage to tuck most of that into scenes that not only deliver exposition but also communicate a lot about where the characters are in an emotional context. I really liked seeing Luke feeling a little lost, because after all he's just a farm kid who met some weird old wizard whose ghost helped him squeeze off a lucky shot that blew up the biggest symbol of fascistic oppression in the galaxy.

The real standout character of the first issue is Leia, however, as she channels the grief over the loss of her homeworld into a redoubled effort to stop the Empire. You remember that this is the same plucky diplomat who insulted the guy who showed up to rescue her from Lord Vader's secret torture cell and basically told a Grand Moff that he smelled bad -- to his face.

While Han and Chewie have a brief scene, their introduction has a neat twist as well, leaving questions about just how much of Han's old life is going to come back to haunt him as he transitions from smuggling scoundrel with a death mark on his head into a new life as a hero of the Rebellion. That's not an easy switch to make, and I'm looking forward to that transition playing out.

The most exciting story arc is Darth Vader's. Disgraced after the defeat at Yavin IV that resulted in the destruction of the Death Star, he's chided by the Emperor and given a new boss who doesn't seem like the type to let some religious fanatic in a black leather suit push him around. Vader's cornered and angry and wants revenge. Add to that the fact that the kid who blew up the Death Star has the last name of "Skywalker," and you got yourself a stew. All this is helped along by D'Anda's representation of Vader as a towering behemoth whose facemask has hints of the more angular Ralph McQuarrie concept art for the original Vader, which lends an extra air of menace to the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Wood's been putting out some quality work on Dark Horse's The Massive as well as its licensed Conan comic, though his tendency to over-caption sequences crops up here as well. There's a dogfight scene that gets halted just as it begins by an "opening crawl"-style description of the Empire and the Rebellion that doesn't add a lot to the scene. In the end it's a minor complaint; Wood knows the universe and, more importantly, the characters.

D'Anda's comics work is new to me, but he has a dynamic style that has the movement a Star Wars comic needs. His storytelling is clear and workmanlike for the most part, but there's a wordless two-page sequence with Leia on a planet's surface that doesn't flow as well as it could, with the payoff of the scene hampered by a couple of weird panel choices. D'Anda's ability to draw stylized, recognizable likenesses and to deftly render iconic spaceships and technology forgives any missteps, though. Style-wise, he sort of reminds me at times of a reigned-in Tradd Moore and at other times of early Leinil Yu. He's inking himself and for the most part, it works, though there are times where some unnecessary hatching obscures rather than enhances some sequences.

My biggest complaint with trying to do Star Wars in comic form is the fact that the films use sound as a huge storytelling tool, with two main characters -- Artoo and Chewbacca -- communicating entirely through sound effects, and another -- Threepio -- with a heavily affected and processed voice. Michael Heisler's work here is fine, but when you think of the latest Simon Roy issue of Prophet, with weird glyphs that stand in for alien speech, or the way James Stokoe nailed Godzilla's screech in the first issue of his Half-Century War miniseries, you can't help but wonder if that extra lettering effort would pay off here.

The inclusion of characters like Mon Mothma and the Emperor, who don't fully show up until Return of the Jedi, allow for characters and lore from the rest of the Original Trilogy in addition to the Expanded Universe. Which means that we just might get to see Lando Calrissian in this series. Of course this also means we might see Dash Rendar, and that guy is just the absolute worst. Let's start the letter-writing campaign now: Put Rendar in the blendar! We demand-o Lando!

In the end, Wood and D'Anda created a comic that feels like Star Wars. The characters and dialogue ring true, the situations are set up to showcase different sides of the icons, Vader is menacing and cornered and dangerous, the story possibilities feel wide open, and yeah, they even sneak in the requisite "I have a bad feeling about this" line that I think is legally required in anything Star Wars-related. It just might be the most Star Wars-y comic I've ever read, and I have read more than a few. Between this and the recently-announced Legacy relaunch, I'm excited for Star Wars comics for the first time in a long time.

Star Wars #1 is on sale now in your local comics shop and digitally from Dark Horse Digital.

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Shotaro Ishinomori Is A Big Deal: An Action-Packed Primer For New Readers

Dylan Todd — 2012-12-12T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Manga, Culture

Shotaro Ishinomori is one of the most popular artists in popular culture, having created massively appealing characters, concepts and series that have captivated audiences all over the world for more than four decades. Recently ComiXology teamed with Ishimori Production Inc. to digitally release a selection of the prominent Japanese creator's most famous titles in English, making it an ideal time to affordably explore one of the important creator's body of work.Ishinomori is, to put it mildly, kind of a big deal. Beginning his career in comics at the age of 15 in his native Japan, Ishinomori quickly honed his craft, working under Osamu Tezuka on Astro Boy by the age of 21. Tezuka's style is all over Inshinomori's art, with a mixture of cartoony figures and dynamic movements, but where Tezuka's stories tend to have a depth of emotion and character, Ishinomori packs that in around pop action sequences and angst. To strain an overused music metaphor, if Tezuka is The Beatles, -- all harmony and innovation -- Ishinomori's The Stones, doing amazing stuff within the existing form. Oh, and he's also one of the reasons that the kanji for "manga" looks the way it does now. You know, NBD.

Ishinomori is known in some circles as the Stan Lee of manga, and it's a fairly apt description, with Ishinomori sharing "Smilin' Stan's" love for occasionally ham-fisted messages, tortured characters and splashy action. He also shares Stan's obsession with mutants, wild powers and flashy villains, concepts he returned to repeatedly as he created. Ishinomori created one of Japan's earliest superhero teams with Cyborg 009, birthed the Super Sentai franchise that eventually led to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in the US and he holds the Guinness World Record for "most comics published by one author," (beating out Tezuka for the title posthumously in 2008, thanks to some, let's say, "shaky" math) with a total of more than 128,000 pages produced.

His work is bold, engaging and smart, with just enough pathos to ground it in something that resembles reality. If you're at all interested in action-packed comics, Shitaro Ishinomori's catalog should have something in it for you. Here's a cursory look at just a few of the prominent series.

CYBORG 009

Ishinomori's Cyborg 009 was arguably the first superhero team in manga, telling the story of nine people kidnapped by the evil Black Ghost organization (my new band name) and given cybernetic enhancements in the hopes of creating a fighting force capable of battling space. Because of course. Naturally, the cyborgs rebel and fight against their former captives, supernatural threats and your garden-variety mad scientists. And while there is some unfortunately racist caricature in the way Ishinomori draws Pyunma/Cyborg 008, there's also stuff like this:

Oh, and also robotic dinosaurs with mouths full of missiles.

SKULL MAN

Ishinomori's first real sensational character was 1970's gritty Skull Man, a gruesome vigilante who's killing his way through Tokyo to find the person who killed his parents. In typical Ishinomori fashion, he's a visually arresting character, with a cape worthy of Batman and, of course, that distinctive skull helmet.

Personally, this was the weakest of the Ishinomori books for me, with the main mystery being not all that mysterious, the characters being kind of one-note and a final act with a reveal that swoops out of left field, stumbles all over the place and then just sort of wanders off. But, it's worth pointing out that Skull Man's assistant/Igor-type is a guy who can transform into a huge man-bat, a werewolf and also a crocodile. So there's that.

(Side note: in 2007 a reimagined Skull Man anime series was produced, updating for a more mature, modern audience. The entire series is streaming on Hulu.)

KIKAIDER

Kikaider is basically, "What if Pinocchio kicked all kinds of robot ass?" which you have to admit, is a heck of a high concept. More than a little inspired by the most famous creation of Ishinomori's former boss, Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, Kikaider is a human-looking loner named Jiro who winds up fighting a series of themed robots created by Dr. Gill, the evil lab partner of Jiro's deceased creator. When he's confronted by an enemy, Jiro crosses his arms across his chest and transforms into the wonderfully-designed Kikaider.

Of special note to people who like robots, Draculas and/or Robot Draculas (*cough* Chris Sims *cough*), one of the evil robots is designed to look sort of like Groucho Marx got turned into a vampire. Check him out:

Guys, his mustache and eyebrows are bat-shaped. Just enjoy that fact for a second.

Naturally, the Dracula robot transforms into a huge golden bat robot who devises an elaborate death-trap to kill Jiro. You know, usual Dracula stuff, like crucifix missiles and killer coffins. Say what you will about Dr. Gill's evil robots, but they know the importance of a consistent brand message and I can definitely appreciate that.

Kikaider also features a bumbling private investigator named Hattori Hanpei and he's completely terrible at his job. I was informed the other day on Tumblr that using the term "spirit animal" can be hurtful misappropriation, so I won't say that he's my spirit animal, but rather that he is an animal that best represents my true spirit. I love him so much.

Kikaider's main thrust is free will and choice, and while it's a bit heavy-handed at times, it gives the book a theme to explore in-between the fantastic robot fights. Ishinomori also sets Kikaider up as someone who's seen as a threat by the general populace and gives him a touch of self-loathing, seeing his robot form as being ugly and terrifying to others.

INAZUMAN

The tale of an international group of teenage mutants hated and feared by those they're sworn to protect might seem familiar, but Ishinomori manages to take that set-up and pack it full of some decent comedy and some straight-up creepy moments like this, where the main character, the hot-tempered slacker Saburo "Sabu" Kazeda, follows an American girl into a construction site and is greeted by a weird cat-person who, well, calls him a chrysalis.

That's ... that's a little unsettling, right? It's not just me?

Anyway, Sabu soon finds out that he's one of a few young mutants who, banded together under the moniker The Youth League, have decided to use their psionic powers against adult psionics who want to enslave humanity. Again, it's familiar territory to anybody who's read an X-Men comic, but it works because of the way Ishinomori sells it. The transformation that Sabu undergoes when he turns into Inazuman is painful-looking and kind of gross, adding a veneer of body horror familiar to anybody who's gone through puberty.

The real treat here is the way Ishinomori captures being a teenager: being way too interested in the opposite sex, being constantly late for school, feeling out of control of your body, being viewed by his adults as lazy or threatening; all of it rings true. Sabu struggles with the stuff that teenagers must deal with. Well, and also stuff like the fact that his teacher is an evil psionic who tries to brainwash him into killing the Professor X-type sensei who leads the Youth League.

KAMEN RIDER

I think I described this on Twitter as "Batman + Spider-Man + a dirtbike," which I think is pretty spot-on. Here's the set-up: champion dirtbike racer Takeshi Hongo is abducted mid-race by agents of Shocker, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. He's experimented on and turned into a super-powered cyborg. Hongo wakes up mid-operation and flees the scene with a scientist in tow, completely unaware that Shocker gave him cybernetic implants that made it possible for him to accidentally punch a dude's head off.

Shocker then sends more of its super-powered cyborgs after Hongo, who has learned how to transform into a grasshopper-themed hero he dubs "Kamen Rider," a hero powered by nature itself.

The first two Shocker agents the newly-minted Kamen Rider faces are cyborgs named Spider Man and Bat Man, names that just happen to be the same as two of the most popular American superheroes in the world. Ishinomori puts his character against them and the Masked Rider comes out on top, using a combination of righteousness and dirtbikes that cements his reputation as being in the same category as those Western heroes.

It's a wonderful concept that lends itself to a host of stories. I don't want to spoil too much, but halfway through the second volume, there's a wonderfully zany switch-off that takes place and boosts the book's great premise to a brilliant premise capitalized on masterfully by the live-action KR television series:

If you don't have time to check out anything else on this list, at least try Kamen Rider. It's a fantastic superhero book with a likeable main character, bizarre villains, crazy action and did I mention that he dirtbikes guys in the face -- like this imposter Kamen Rider here -- like all of the time?

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The Batman '66 Project: A Graphic Design Love Letter To The Campy Caped Crusader

Dylan Todd — 2012-09-24T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Television, Art

There are some facts that you can't get around: Kirk is the best Captain of the Enterprise, Road House is a masterpiece of American cinema, and the best Batman is Adam West Batman. Sorry Christian Bale, Kevin Conroy, those old guys in the serials, Diedrich Bader and the Holy Bat-Trinity of Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney; but you can't argue with facts.

The Bat-verse of the 1966-1968 TV series and feature film manages to take the inherent silliness of the core concept of Batman -- a rich guy and his young ward dressing up to fight costumed villains whose plans regularly involve insane death traps -- and builds a world where this behavior is considered perfectly normal. Despite all this, it's all still recognizable as being Batman, a character who so wonderfully lends himself to multiple permutations and interpretations. And not only is the show funny, but it also looks flat-out fantastic despite its obvious cheapness, having been designed right at the intersection of Modernism and hippie culture. Plus, that theme song is the business.

It was these qualities of the winking, swinging version of the Caped Crusader that led me to create The Batman '66 Project, a gallery of 64 images celebrating the heroes, villains, allies, props and vehicles of the series and film. You can view the entire series here, but in the meantime, here's a few of my favorites. Thanks for tuning in, Bat-Fans.

The Complete Batman '66 Project.

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"Kids Like Chains" And More Wisdom From Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld and Stan Lee circa 1991

Dylan Todd — 2012-09-05T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Humor, Art

The year is 1991. George HW Bush is the President of the United States. Oil fields are burning in Kuwait. Terminator 2 is breaking box office records. C+C Music Factory, Color Me Badd and that terrible Bryan Adams song from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves are all over the airwaves. Oh, and comic books are selling like hotcakes. This is the year that Jim Lee and Chris Claremont's X-Men #1, Rob Liefeld (whose Twitter feed has been sparking a lot of controversy lately) and Fabian Nicieza's X-Force #1 and Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 will each sell millions by the year's end, boosted by creators who understood what the comics-buying public was into, as well a rabid speculator's market and variant covers.

In this climate of comics fever, Smilin' Stan Lee -- never one to let a cultural wave go un-surfed -- records a series of interviews for Starbur Home Video called The Comic Book Greats. The series features Lee interviewing artists like Will Eisner, Sergio Aragones, Harvey Kurtzman, and Jack Davis, among many others. In one infamous installment of the show, Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld create a character together and it is, no joke, one HyperColor t-shirt away from being the greatest '90s Comics Artifact you will ever see.Not only do you get the fun of watching Stan Lee make jokes about claiming others' work as his own (icky!), but you also get the wonder of watching him try and understand why these young guys, with their maximalist design aesthetic and post-Watchmen/action movie-inspired grittiness, are so popular with "The Kids."

Something this beautiful deserves to be documented, so check out the best moments of The Comic Book Greats: Overkill With Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld below, screen-capped and captioned for your viewing pleasure.

We kick it off with Stan Lee possibly trolling Todd McFarlane:

Again, not sure if trolling or...

And with that, we move into the aesthetics of early '90s comics:

The early '90s/Image Comics business plan:

And here's Stan Lee joking about taking credit for something he just managed, which would be cute and self-deprecating if, well, you know...

Todd, I don't think that word means what you think it means:

I'm not sure if McFarlane's joking here or if he really doesn't know what passé means. I mean, I figure it's the former, but after that gauntlet bit:

The Kids Love Sweat:

You made it weird, Stan:

FUN DRINKING GAME: Take a drink every time Rob Liefeld says "Oh heck yeah!" in this video. WARNING: You will probably die if you play this game.

MUST. RESIST. FEET. JOKE:

So am I Rob; so am I:

McFarlane's command of irony is on display here, as a slightly-reworked version of this "lame" character will end up appearing in Spawn as Overtkill. (the "T" makes it different!) Comics everybody!

Okay, okay; here's your feet joke:

And we'll conclude with Stan totally being Stan:

And that's a wrap, True Believers. For the full experience, you can watch all three parts of this video here, as well as the other ones in the series from that same uploader.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drink a case of Crystal Pepsi and listen to some En Vogue.

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Tokyo Comic Shop Takes A Page From Comic Design For Awesome Paneled Shelving

Dylan Todd — 2012-08-09T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Art, Culture

What if your comic shop looked like a comic book? For manga and anime shop Tokyo's Tokyo, that's exactly the approach they took. Designed by the Tokyo-based Ryo Matsui Architects Inc., the open, airy shop features curved panel-like shelves, speed-lines to emphasize displayed items, word balloon way-finding and floor displays that look like stacks of comic books. A far cry from the stereotypical Android's Dungeon-style neckbeard dens that come to mind when you mention "comic shop," the store looks approachable, fun and exciting. In other words: I want to go to there.

The whole store concept is solid in every detail, from the parquet flooring that's reminiscent of open books to the subtle halftone effect caused by the dotted material used on some shelves. another nice touch is what appears to be the seating area, which takes on a rounded, organic shape to set it apart from the more geometric display fixtures.

You can scope out more shots of the unique shelving below. BRB, booking my flight to Tokyo right now.

[Via Book Riot, Ryo Matsui Architects, Ltd.]

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Michael Allred's 'It Girl And The Atomics' #1 Gets Ginchy At Image [Preview]

Dylan Todd — 2012-08-08T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Image, Previews

Heavens to Murgatroyd! It's the debut of an Atomics ongoing, It Girl! and The Atomics #1, by writer Jamie S. Rich and artist Mike Norton with covers by creator Michael Allred!

For those of you not initiated in Allred's longstanding Madman mythos, the Atomics are a reformed gang of teenaged mutant street beatniks (you read that right) who were granted super-powers after a beatdown at the hands of the unofficial guardian of Snap City (think Marvel's 1960's New York crossed with Fritz Lang's Metropolis) -- more widely known as Madman -- landed them in a puddle of space spores. Because comic books. The Atomics have fought space aliens, cadaverous scoundrels and rodent-themed super villains, teamed up with Madman and the Savage Dragon, seen g-g-g-g-ghosts, have traveled to strange new worlds and set up a ginchy headquarters in the depths of the earth. They are, in short, some real cool cats and kittens who just dig being super-people.But you really don't need to know all of that to enjoy this new ongoing series from long-time Madman editor Rich (Spell Checkers, Cut My Hair) and Norton (Revival, Battlepug). Focusing mainly on Atomic member It Girl (who can absorb the attributes of anything she touches) as she struggles with what it means to be a superhero, you can get a taste for the new series in our six-page preview.

From the Image Comics solicitation:

Fresh from the pages of Mike Allred's MADMAN: Snap City's favorite heroine is ready for her own crimefighting adventures! With the Atomics boys in outer space, it's up to It Girl to keep the streets safe. Easier said than done: The Skunk, the man who murdered her sister, is out of jail and back to old tricks. Meanwhile, Dr. Flem has a brand new space-time experiment and wants It Girl to be his guinea pig!

Check out the six-page preview below for some old-school street thugs, some "totally 21st century" banter and some very New-52-ish piping on It Girl's costume.

It Girl and The Atomics #1 is on sale now at comic shops and digitally via ComiXology.

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Top Shelf Announces 'From Hell Companion,' Teases 'SuperF*ckers' Cartoon And More [SDCC]

Dylan Todd — 2012-07-16T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Top Shelf, News

Independent publisher Top Shelf announced a companion to Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell, showed footage from the Superf*ckers cartoon based on the comics series by Eisner-award-winning cartoonist James Kochalka and discussed a flurry of other comic projects at its San Diego Comic-Con panel Saturday. Take in the full report after the cut.The panel, moderated by marketing director Leigh Walton, kicked off with an update from Top Shelf Digital's Chris Ross, who announced a slate of new initiatives for the digital, including the announcement that the publisher would be partnering with Amazon to offer the first three Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volumes, with more offerings rolling out throughout the year. Ross also mentioned the "wonderful response" to the Cannon "Brothers" Double Barrel, the two-creator anthology that features 50+ pages monthly for less than $2, and showed off the third cover of the series. Ross also announced more comics set in the world of Robert Vendetti's The Surrogates with Case Files #1 being published digitally this month.

Ed Piskor was on hand to discuss his graphic novel, Wizzywig, a "social history of hacking." Piskor showed thumbnails and early pages of the graphic novel.

Walton then introduced Eddie Campbell (From Hell, Alec), who spoke briefly about his latest graphic novel, The Lovely Horrible Stuff, a look at the history and consequences of money. Campbell then showed off footage from an aborted TV series pitch that looked not dissimilar to his autobiographical comics.

Cartoonist Nate Powell then discussed his latest projects, the already-released Any Empire and March, a memoir of the Civil Rights struggle written by Congressman John Lewis and co-writer Andrew Aydin, a staffer at the congressman's Washington office who was on hand to introduce pages from the book.

Walton then showed pages from Jeff Lemire's The Underwater Welder, which debuted at the convention. Described by the publisher as, a book about "fathers and sons, birth and death, memory and reality, and the treasures we all bury deep below the surface," the pages looked lush with the detail and emotion fans have come to expect from his work on books like Essex County and Sweet Tooth.

Walton then introduced newly-minted Eisner-award-winner James Kochalka, whose Dragon Puncher Island won the night before in the "Best Publication For Early Readers" category. Kochalka then quickly moved on to his latest project, a cartoon adaptation of his Top Shelf series, SuperF*ckers. Produced by Frederator -- who also produces Cartoon Network's Adventure Time -- the animated series is set to debut on the soon-to-be-launched Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel along with Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward's Bravest Warriors. The audience was treated to a 3-minute clip of the show that involved main character Jack Crack's sentient feces, lots of Grotus slime and a fair amount of super-vomit. You can watch a very NSFW clip below:

Also announced were digital collections of Kochalka's autobiography strip, American Elf, which will release a year's worth of strips for $1.99.

Lastly, Walton teased some preview pages from the companion book to Alan Moore's recent spoken-word special, Unearthing. The book features photography and design by Mitch Jenkins. It is expected to see print in December of 2012.

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Comic-Con Carplay: Batmobile '66! [SDCC 2012]

Dylan Todd — 2012-07-14T17:45:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Television

As part of the greatest Comic-Con attraction of all time, here's a lovely close-up of the door of the beautiful Batmobile from the 1960s Batman television series.

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Comic-Con Cosplay: 'Back to the Future's' Marty McFly [SDCC 2012]

Dylan Todd — 2012-07-14T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Movies, Conventions, Culture, Cosplay

Excellent Marty McFly cosplay spotted on the showroom floor on Friday at San Diego Comic-Con! Hit the jump for the full version.

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Comic-Con Cosplay: Madman! [SDCC 2012]

Dylan Todd — 2012-07-14T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Image, Conventions, Indie, Culture, Cosplay

Excellent Madman cosplay spotted on the showroom floor on Friday at San Diego Comic-Con! Hit the jump for the full version.

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Oni Press Announces New 'Double Fine,' 'Diesel Sweeties' Collections And More [SDCC]

Dylan Todd — 2012-07-13T20:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Conventions, Oni, News

Oni Press announced new collections from webcomics creators Scott C. of Double Fine Action Comics and Rich Steven's Diesel Sweeties, as well as teasing some upcoming projects and sharing info about their stable of continuing series at Friday's RevolutiONIize panel.

The big news of the panel -- moderated by Editor-In-Chief James Lucas Jones -- was the publication of print editions of popular webcomics creators, with Scott C.'s Double Fine Action Comics and Rich Stevens' Diesel Sweeties joining the Oni Press catalogue in 2013.

From Oni's press release:

"I'm so very glad to welcome two incredibly talented and wildly popular cartoonists to the Oni Press fold," gushed Oni Press editor in chief James Lucas Jones. "Both R. Stevens and Scott C. are pioneers in our field. The approach to online presentation of DIESEL SWEETIES and DOUBLE FINE ACTION COMICS have served as templates for dozens, if not hundreds, of aspiring creators and the comics themselves are some of the funniest ones I've ever read."

Initially started as a before-work project on video game developer Double Fine Production's website, Scott C.'s Double Fine Action Comics features the exploits of Two-Headed Baby, a knight named Knight, a circus strongman named Muscleman and two astronauts named Captain and Thompson as they "collect rocks and have parties and stuff," according to creator Scott C. (Who, in this reporter's opinion, has really cool hair). Beginning in 2013, Double Fine Action Comics will see a newly-designed reprint of the very rare first volume, as well as a new-to-print second volume. A third volume, collecting the remainder of the run, is scheduled to hit shelves later in 2013.

Rich Stevens' long running Diesel Sweeties (the strip boasts over 3,000 pixel-art strips), will see collections based on their content rather than any sort of production order, with Stevens suggesting a book entirely composed of "pixel kitties." The normally-vegetarian Stevens also lamented the side effects of a recent Kickstarter campaign which saw two backers donating $666 each to see the artist eat a pound of bacon. After asking how he will each two pounds of bacon, Stevens noted that he's been "training," but also added that, "If you're not suffering, it's not comics."

The panel also discussed additional Oni Press series, with Brahm Revel on hand to talk about the recently-released second volume of his "Chimpanzees-in-Vietnam" tale, Guerillas, and artist Matt Dembicki talking about his "heavily-researched, National Geographic-style" graphic novel Xoc: The Journey of A Great White, available later this month.

On hand to discuss their multi-Eisner-nominated series The Sixth Gun, writer Cullen Bunn and artist Brian Hurtt showed off the cover to issue #24, stating that it it kicks off an arc that "sets [the title] on its roller coaster ride toward its conclusion," sometime around issue #50.

Jones also teased a few new books scheduled to be announced at the New York Comic-Con, including Buzz, from Ananth Panagariya (Johnny Wander) and Tessa Stone (Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name), and A Boy And A Girl - "A science-fiction story with a good dose of romance" from Jamie S. Rich ("A love story from Oni Press written by Jamie S. Rich?" joked Jones) and Natalie Nourigat (Between Gears).

Jones also mentioned that there are new volumes of Blue Monday (which should come out sometime in the back half of 2013) and Hopeless Savages, which is still in development, but progressing.

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Legendary Comics Introduces New Projects And Creators [SDCC]

Dylan Todd — 2012-07-12T21:00:00+00:00

Legendary Comics used Wednesday's Preview Night to give a taste of their upcoming offerings, with projects from Max Brooks, Mark Waid, Matt Wagner, Simon Bisley and Shane Davis. The press-only event, introduced by nerd personality Chris Hardwick (whose Nerdist Industries was recently acquired by Legendary) and Legendary Editor-In-Chief Bob Schreck teased two new properties from a line-up of notable creators.On hand to answer questions about their upcoming graphic novel, Shadow Walk, were World War Z author Max Brooks, comics stalwart Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Daredevil) and Superman: Earth One artist Shane Davis. The upcoming graphic novel was described by Waid as "a story of faith, science fiction and elements of horror," dealing a Prometheus-style excursion to study a mythical valley "we've all heard of," led by a soldier who may or may not have killed his entire platoon in excursion to the same valley. Details were sparse, but it's expected to be a "big, fat graphic novel."

Also in attendance was writer Matt Wagner (Mage, Grendel, Trinity) who discussed his upcoming series with Simon Bisley (Lobo, 2000 AD), The Tower Chronicles, a series of prestige format graphic novels detailing the history and modern tales of a supernatural bounty hunter with a grim and secretive past that haunts his every action. Wagner summed up the book as "What would drive a man for years and years and years and years to step out of the night and confront all the nightmares and horrors that the rest of the world has forgotten? Must be love." Wagner noted that Bisley, who was originally contacted to only draw a promotional image, was recruited for all three volumes of the series after Wagner saw that image and was currently working on the second of the three volumes.

The first installment of the Tower Chronicles: Book One, is scheduled to be published in September. The cover for the second part of Volume One is illustrated by Alex Ross and will be released in November.

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Designer Rian Hughes on Valiant's New Graphic Identity [Interview]

Dylan Todd — 2012-05-03T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Indie, News

This week has seen the relaunch of the Valiant universe with the release of the first issue of X-O Manowar by writer Robert Venditti (The Surrogates) and artist Cary Nord (Conan the Barbarian). Coming in the months ahead are new incarnations of other Valiant properties Bloodshot, Harbinger and Archer & Armstrong from a roster of talent that includes writers Fred Van Lente, Joshua Dysart, Duane Swierczynski and artists Clayton Henry, Manuel Garcia and Khari Evans.

Naturally with a relaunched comic book universe comes a relaunched look, with new logos, mastheads and trade dresses courtesy of the legendary designer Rian Hughes of the London-based design firm Device. The visuals for the Valiant project draw on the 23-year history of the brand and franchises while refining some of them to better work in a 21st century marketplace. We recently had a chance to discuss the new Valiant look with Hughes, who discussed the challenges of rebranding a comics universe as well as his own philosophy on comic book design.Before we get to our interview with Hughes, it's helpful to take a look at Valiant's new company logo, which takes the implied "V"-shape of the compass from the previous logo by designer Henry Steiner, marries it with the compass shape from the original logo, and adds in a strong sans serif typeface that adds a subtle art deco feeling to the whole thing.

It's a solid, handsome logo, with a strong identity that is easily adaptable to a number of bold, fashionable colors. My only quibble would be the spacing between the "V" and "A", which seems to be set a little wider than the other letters in the logotype. Overall though, the logo is a strong spin on a classic foundation; the goal of any relaunch.

ComicsAlliance: Rian, you're no stranger to designing identities for comics companies, having designed the main logo for Archaia and having created numerous logos and mastheads for a number of publishers. What was it about reworking the Valiant logo that made you interested in the project?

Rian Hughes: Well, originally Valiant were going to run with the italicized version of the logo they had, but as we got deeper and deeper into plans for the line, redesigning it entirely to coincide with the relaunch seemed like a much better option. [Valiant Executive Editor] Warren [Simons] and [Chief Creative Officer] Dinesh [Shamdasani] agreed, and so began the process of working towards a new version. I think I'm probably just a nit-picking perfectionist (which some clients love and others get frustrated by!) and if I can take a project back to first principles and rethink the entire thing from the ground up, I will. It makes far more sense. You get a more cohesive and considered result instead of a disparate bunch of elements bolted together.

CA: Did you have an existing connection to the Valiant properties?

RH: No.

CA: What sort of objectives were you given at the beginning of the project?

RH: The brief was to update the existing logos and look, to not jettison entirely the heritage we had there. To build, freshen and modernize, but to still be Valiant. Some logos have moved on further from the originals than others, and that's probably due to how much we decided we wanted to reclaim from the original designs. The Archer and Armstrong logo bears little resemblance to the original, whereas the general layout of the X-0 Manowar logo is taken from the original. The Valiant logo itself takes the compass design and emphasizes the hidden "V" while enhancing it, ditching the fine serif type of the original, and locking it all together in a panel so the elements combine into a punchy cohesive whole. It's designed to be able to be used in different colors too, so it can be keyed to the colors in the art on the cover issue to issue.

CA: Let's talk process: how do you start a brand identity like this?

RH: I generally ask questions of the client: What do you want to say to your audience? How do you want to be perceived? What does the name mean to you? How can we express all this in an original, clean and fresh manner? Is the process for a brand identity different from, say, masthead design?

A masthead logo has to express the character of the star(s) of the book, so can be more quirky and idiosyncratic. A comic brand identity needs to be more of an umbrella design under which all these disparate characters can live, so is generally more universal and generic -- generic in a good way!

CA: What turned out to be the biggest hurdle with the Valiant identity?

RH: Redesigning a corporate logo can be a labor-intensive process. In fact, in the end, we came full circle to one of my earliest designs, but I think sometimes you need to see what doesn't work so you can be sure about what does work. I'm very happy with the result -- and the custom-drawn type has the right balance of characterful angularity (to match the compass' angularity) and readability.

CA: How much did the previous incarnations of these titles influence the mastheads of the current books?

RH: As I say, some more, some less. Some are very much of their time, but I do like to take something from the history and heritage of a character if I can, if there's a hidden gem of an idea there you can unearth and polish. Sometimes design is about knowing what you should keep, not just about knowing what to ditch.

CA: What was your favorite part of this assignment?

RH: My favorite part is seeing the books on the racks -- until they're actually printed, it doesn't seem finished. I'm one of those old-school designers who likes the smell of ink and the feel of paper.

Invincible Iron Man covers designed by Rian Hughes

CA: You do a lot of design outside of comics. Do you approach non-comics design differently than your comics work?

RH: Well, what I do try and do is inject a design sensibility taken from my broader experience of working in the music and publishing industries; to ask new questions and look at comic design in a different way. Looking in from outside comics, mainstream comic design can look samey and pretty clichéd for the most part -- there are many titles that don't stack up very well if you take them out of the comic shop and place them alongside the best work from other areas of graphic design. Overall, you'll see more innovative design in a music store or a bookshop than on the racks of a comic shop, which is strange as comics are essentially a visual medium sold to visually minded people. There are, of course, notable exceptions to this, and many comics publishers and designers are doing absolutely beautiful work, and generally the comics industry does look way better than it did when I started out designing comics. It's looking better all the time.

CA: What do you wish you saw more of in comics design?

RH: I'd like to see more design based on a strong underlying concept. Design that adheres to a solid grid. A more cohesive marrying of type and illustration into one piece.I'd like to see less use of fancy textures and shading to polish what is essentially a poor design to begin with. No background textures with small type on long lines reversed out.

CA: I couldn't agree more. What's been your favorite comics-related piece in your portfolio? (Other than the Valiant redesign, of course.)

RH: I like the Batman and Robin logo I did for Grant Morrison's book. It has a "classic bat-logo" feel to it. I'm still very fond of the Tangent books I designed for DC way back as well -- they still look fresh, and the Invincible Iron Man covers I did with [series artist] Salvador Larocca really jumped off the shelves. [Series writer] Matt Fraction deserves praise there for getting me in and giving us a free reign. And, of course, Warren [Simons] was the editor on those books too, which really helped!

DC Comics "Tangent" line designed by Rian Hughes

CA: What have you seen recently that you wish you'd come up with?

RH: I was foreman of the typography judging team at the recent D&AD awards, and I have to say a lot of the most interesting work was coming out of Korea, China and to a lesser extent the Middle East. Much of it had a very elegant and refined structural underpinning that's quite different from UK and American design. They don't seem to worry about having several focal points of almost equal weight in, say, a poster, and they don't fight -- the whole is somehow still in perfect balance, it all works beautifully. I was trying to figure out how they'd done it, trying to take it apart in my mind's eye and see how it all worked.

CA: If you had to point aspiring designers to three books or designers to study, what would you recommend?

RH: Well, the people who influenced me early on and I still find inspiring are, in no particular order, the Stenberg Brothers, Barney Bubbles, Peter Saville, Paul Rand, Fortunato Depero, Roger Excoffon, Malcolm Garrett... that's more than three, and it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface!

CA: Finally, what are you working on now?

RH: It's a long list. I'm currently finishing a new font family called "Broadside," designing bike livery for Fourty, the covers for The Chap magazine, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo, a book cover for a novel called I Am A Magical Teenage Princess, CD covers for a couple of London-based bands, customizing a phonebox for the BT Artbox project, finalizing a book of my burlesque illustrations ... Do I sleep? Rarely.

I'm also working on a script for a Batman: Black and White story I'll be drawing for DC [Editor's note: we presume this is part of the Batman digital initiative, but confirmation was not available at publishing time]. I drew several pages of comics last year for the Nelson anthology and for the reissue of Tales from Beyond Science, the series I drew for 2000AD with Mark Milar, Alan McKenzie and John Smith, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy drawing comics.

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Oni Press Art Director Keith Wood On The Publisher's New Graphic Identity [Interview]

Dylan Todd — 2012-02-15T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Oni, Indie, Interviews

A few weeks ago, Portland's Oni Press announced their new logo, which we critiqued here at ComicsAlliance. We recently had the opportunity to talk with Oni's Art Director, Keith Wood, about the reason for the change, how the logo took shape and the types of things a publisher - and a designer - has to consider when they undertake a complete rebrand. We also take a look at some never-before-seen alternative approaches to the final new Oni Press logo.

ComicsAlliance: What prompted the decision to change the brand identity?

Keith Wood: Well, Oni Press' 15th anniversary is close at hand, and we wanted to celebrate that with an update to reflect who we are as a company now. But having a logo that works on changing digital formats was one of the key factors in that decision, too. I wanted to change the logo to be more versatile, to work in all the new publishing methods that this modern age is giving us. Giving the company a fresh look in a competitive industry was always in my mind.
CA: As this was an internal project, was there a design brief of any sort? What sort of objectives were laid out at the beginning of the project?

KW: Yes, I spoke with James [Lucas Jones, Editor in Chief], Joe [Nozemack, Publisher], and Cory [Gasoni, Marketing Director] here at Oni Press before we embarked on the project. We discussed the problems with the current brand and what we were looking for in a new one. I worked on multiple approaches before we decided on what you see now.

CA: A rebrand is a huge undertaking. What sort of things did you have to consider when you started your preliminary work?

KW: It is a huge undertaking and I am still working on it, in between a lot of other projects that need my attention. I had to dissect the original logo, which I had been working with for over ten years. I had already dealt with a few problems with the old logo, particularly that it did not reduce down very well under certain circumstances. Favicon images, iPads, and modern cell phones were not even around when the logo was originally created, and trying to make a favicon simply didn't work. The original logo is beautiful, but it's really intricate. Another challenge was that it would plug when utilizing foil stamping or silk screening at a small size. These are just a few of the many things that I had to think about when reworking the logo. That's all from a more technical aspect, but that's only part of what you have to think about when you embark on a rebrand.

You have to seriously think about it: you are changing the look of the company! I really wanted to make it a more contemporary and current, but not design it so that it's too modern. It's important that it hold up in the years to come.

With the company focusing on doing the best creator-owned projects and bringing in new talent, we needed to have strong identity that will hold up on the bookshelves. We are a small publishing company competing for shelf space, and we needed to be instantly recognizable as a quality brand.

KW: And we love our titles and know they are fantastic! We want The Secret History of D.B. Cooper to be noticed by fans of Hellboy, because it's on the same level of quality. Nothing makes us happier than hearing how much someone loves one of our titles. Our fans are comics fans, and likewise, everyone at Oni Press is a comics fan. It's why we work in comics! Increasing readership is a huge priority and we can do that with strong titles and a strong image. We publish such a wide variety of material, and our editorial team is constantly looking for unique projects that fit our growing company. It was imperative that the logo be as versatile as possible.

Oni Press frequently develops new talent, but works with veterans in the industry as well. I looked at the logo in much the same way. We had a great logo by Dave Gibbons that served the company well for 15 years. He is of the greats in the industry, but we wanted to have something new. There still is a nod to Dave's work in my design, and I hope that fans will appreciate our new look. I know where we came from and I have a strong idea of where Oni Press is going, and I think that's reflected in this new logo.

CA: Describe your design process. Do you start with research, reference, sketching?

KW: I did do a lot of research. I spent hours and hours of my personal time just looking at things. In fact, most of the logo was designed during the off hours because I have so much work to do in the office. I looked at what all the other companies are doing for their logo, and I just knew I could make something great.

I also spent time wandering Powell's Books downtown. Walking the aisles, and just looking at the spines of other publishers. Looking at corporate logos, and studying branding. Originally, I was going to move away from having an Oni sad on the logo completely and just go with more of a logotype. However, after presenting a couple options to Joe, James, and Cory, we had many discussions and ultimately decided it would be too much of a departure. I did multiple sketches, along with digital comps using InDesign and Illustrator.

CA: How many rounds do you think you went through before you "got it"?

KW: I don't honestly know. I suppose it depends on whether you count sketches and all the variations as a round. I did a lot of self-editing and showed it to people both in and out of the comics industry. I lost track at one point on how many roughs I had made. I worked on it off and on for over a year and revised the logo at least three or four more times once we picked the direction we were going with. Making subtle revisions along the way.

CA: Eventually, this logo would have to live in a lot of different situations with a lot of different production methods. What kinds of things did you need to keep in mind from a production standpoint?

KW: The usual things, such as making sure the logo is trapped properly for print. Ensuring the stroke width maintains the proper width when reducing or enlarging. Maintaining consistency in how it is applied. I needed to work out sizes for all the different books we do, and create all the rules that need to be established. One of my biggest pet peeves about the old logo was when people would reverse it. It just didn't look good reversed! I spent some time establishing guidelines so when other designers or artists use the logo, it maintains the look that we worked so hard to establish.

CA: What was the biggest difficulty you encountered when creating this identity system?

KW: It's hard to choose just one because everything relates to each other. One of the largest challenges is just bringing change. People get used to the way things are and have a hard time adjusting. That's one of the wonderful things about design though--you can influence change through design. Whether it's your environment, the color on your walls, or the work you see on a comic book. People take a split second to judge if they like something or not. One of the hardest things was that we wanted to represent the Oni without showing the horns. Ultimately having horns on the logo hurt the image on our titles aimed at younger readers. Most parents buy their kids' books, and not understanding what an Oni is. They would often judge it purely based on a grinning demon. That was a huge challenge.

It was difficult because I would create a mark but it wouldn't reduce properly, or it would look good on a book like The Sixth Gun, but not as much on an all-ages title like Salt Water Taffy. Making sure it works across all of our titles was something that absolutely needed to happen. The Oni Press creators are a diverse group of talent and it needs to work on all titles.

CA: What's your favorite thing about the new identity?

KW: I love that it is so versatile, but maintains the Oni Press brand. I really love the "ONI" type I made. If you take two squares and then remove the lower line on the bottom of the second, rotate it 90 degrees you have the foundation of the type. I know it sounds simple, but working out the weight of the lines was something I worked hard to get right, and making sure the balance with the face in the square panel was right. We have a lot of options with how the logo integrates into Oni Press design and it will shine throughout the years.

CA: What pushed you toward design in the first place? Where'd you go to school? What sorts of design work had you done before Oni, how did you end up there?

KW: I've always been drawing. My parents always supported art in my family. My grandfather was extremely talented. He drew, painted, and built model trains in his basement. He was basically a big kid and very supportive and proud of anything my brother or I would do. My grandparents had some comic books that were my dad's when he was a kid, so I was exposed pretty young and fell in love with them. I started drawing comic art, and in middle school when l got into skate boarding, I began drawing a lot of other things. Seeing all the graphics and how they "borrowed" from comics and cartoon art was a big influence. I loved the logos and brands the skate companies had, and would draw them on my text books. I would notice the Beastie Boys wearing a VW hood ornament around their necks or RUN-DMC promoting the Adidas brand. Something just clicked with me and I fell in love with graphic design.

In high school I looked into attending the Kubert School, or the Savannah College of Art and Design, but ultimately I didn't have the funds for those schools. I attended the University of Northern Colorado and studied under many great artists. Eugene Hoffman was a fantastic instructor and a great influence on me. I also worked on campus in the Graphic Services department. Making posters, logos, University designs, t-shirts, etc. I eventually managed that department. I also worked for the Greeley Daily Tribune, doing advertisements for local companies. Anything from car ads to selling siding products. All that sort of thing. Working on a daily newspaper taught me a lot about deadlines.

KW: After college, I applied to work at Dark Horse Comics. I got the job and moved to Portland, Oregon in 1998. It was a dream come true for me. I worked at Dark Horse for many years, and had the opportunity to work on so many amazing projects. After a while, I decided to become a freelance designer, and left Dark Horse. Oni Press was one of my main clients. I also worked on Powers for Brian Michael Bendis and designed a couple of projects for Mike Allred and other creators.

After freelancing for more than four years, I went back to work at Dark Horse, coordinating the design and production departments. While doing that, I was still designing a lot of books. Oni Press contacted me and offered to bring me back to their fold as Art Director, and I jumped at the opportunity. I love working in comics, and this was something I could not pass up! As much as I hated leaving Dark Horse, I had to try this. I knew that I could do wonderful things for the company and over time, all of the hard work would shine at Oni Press. It's been over three years now that I have been officially on staff, and this year is one of the most exciting in all my 14 years working in comics.

CA: What sort of stuff inspires you?

KW: I find [inspiration] in everything. I see it all over Portland. We have such an amazing community of artists and designers here! I notice design everywhere and take mental notes constantly of what I like and don't like. I visit websites and absorb what everyone is doing around me. Design magazines and books are constant reads and sources of inspiration for me. I recently picked up a new book on Saul Bass that I am diving into and loving. I really like swiss design; clean modern designs. Video games menus, movie posters & credits are something I always study too. I also love silk screen posters. Gig posters are a constant influence. Logos are my absolute favorite thing, though. I have tons of books just on logos and logotypes.

CA: What's been your biggest success or favorite project at Oni?

KW: I can't be more proud of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun. That book has been my favorite monthly comic by any publisher in years. In all honesty, Cullen and Brian have maintained one of the most enjoyable monthly comics I have read in a very long time. Petrograd by Phil Gelatt and Tyler Crook is something very special, and Tyler is such a pleasure to work with. That book is simply beautiful.

I love so many of our titles, old and new. I love Andi Watson's Love Fights. Chynna Clugston's Blue Monday, Black Metal by Rick Spears and Chuck BB. And Ray Fawkes had such an amazing book last year with One Soul.

New projects like Bad Medicine and The Secret History of D.B. Cooper have me really looking forward to putting out more monthly books. You can't deny the success of Scott Pilgrim. Jarrett Williams has so much energy in his artwork in Super Pro K.O.!. The list goes on and on!

CA: What's the biggest challenge?

KW: The biggest challenge is always time. I am actively juggling multiple projects, freelancers, thousands of files, meetings, training, art direction, and design, every single week. In January alone, I sent eight titles to press. That's finished projects, not including all the other things I have going on in my department. We'll be working on anything from monthly 32-page books to 200-plus page graphic novels, in a variety of formats, including ebooks. But I am constantly trying to expand our line of books with things that you can't recreate digitally. We used glow in the dark ink on Ghost Projekt. Rascal Raccoon has an acetate dust jacket similar to an animation cel. I am actively trying to use techniques that make sense on our line of books, to show our fans, and retailers, the care that Oni Press is putting into our titles. Our stories, art, and production on our titles are extremely important to us, and I am proud of all the titles Oni Press has released. I truly love working with every creator, and I am lucky to work with such a variety of material.

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Hickman On 'The Manhattan Projects,' 'Secret' And Graphic Design [Interview]

Dylan Todd — 2012-02-10T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Image, Indie, Interviews

If you've been keeping up, we here at ComicsAlliance have been running some specially made teaser posters for the new Image Comics series The Manhattan Projects from writer (and Marvel Comics Architect) Jonathan Hickman and his collaborator on last year's The Red Wing, artist Nick Pitarra. (You can view those images here and here.) The ongoing series features such real-life scientific giants as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Yuri Gagarin, and Enrico Fermi engaged in what can best be described as "bad science." The atomic bomb, it appears, was the tame stuff. It's a bold idea that is sure to please fans of Hickman's work on Marvel titles like Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as his earlier creator-owned books like Pax Romana, Transhuman and The Nightly News.

On top of an impressive writing pedigree, Hickman also has some prodigious design chops from a past working in advertising and graphic design. His bold use of white space, his eye for organization of information and his clean and consistent aesthetic all make his books stand out on the shelves and demand to be read.

We recently spoke with Hickman about his upcoming projects, his love of subverting history and his philosophy on design in comics.ComicsAlliance: You've got a lot of projects going on right now: The Manhattan Projects and Secret coming from Image, plus over at Marvel you have Fantastic Four, FF, S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultimate Comics: Ultimates, and you have a role as a Marvel Architect. Am I missing anything? So, my first question is: When do you sleep?

Jonathan Hickman: When I can. Not enough. Efficiency is the new sexytalk around my house.

CA: We've seen the previews over the last few days and know that it's sort of an alternate-history story about, for lack of a better term, mad science. What else can you tell us about The Manhattan Projects?

JH: The Manhattan Projects asks, what if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs? It's about smart guys being bad. The comic book pitch is: "The Thunderbolts of Science."

CA: The Manhattan Projects has you working with Nick Pitarra again, your first collaboration since last year's The Red Wing. What's that working relationship like?

JH: Oh, working with Nick is great. First off, he's a unique talent. His personality really comes through in his art, he's clearly proficient technically, and, this is probably the most interesting thing for me, he's an evolving artist. I think over the next couple of years he's going to really grow and visually do some fairly significant things.

He's a one-look, high ceiling guy.

CA: Let's talk about the design for The Manhattan Projects covers. Can you walk us through how you landed on the look for that book?

JH: Well, the design parameters for both this book (as well as Secret which I'm doing with Ryan Bodenheim) are twofold. One, they need to exist within the family of other Image books I've done (no real problems there, I certainly have a type). Two, I wanted the individual issues of each book to reflect what I have been doing in the collected volumes of my previous miniseries. By that I mean a holistic (is that the right word in this sense, maybe homogeneous would be more accurate, I dunno?) design that permeates the entire experience. So, even though these are ongoings, the design you see in issue one is expected to continue through to the title page, to the next issue, to the first trade, and to the very end.

The specific "rule" for The Manhattan Projects is that everything radiates from the center. In relation to the cover, this would be the Manhattan Projects "badge."

CA: I especially love that there's a explanatory blurb in that central circular element. I saw that and immediately wished I'd thought of it. How'd that idea come about?

JH: A couple places. I really hate all the garbage we're normally expected to put on the cover, so I've been playing around with the idea of a "container" for a while.

I'm also a big proponent of disinformation, or skewed data -- a unique secondary take on what is being presented. So that's the purpose of what that text area is for: Yes, this is what the issue is about, but it's also may be commentary.

Now, I should add, the text that has been seen in Previews and press will not actually be what's released. In the teaser's case it's intentional. But honestly, I tinker with this sh*t up until the last minute. I generally reserve the right to not publish what's been publicly seen.

CA: A lot of your books - like The Mahnattan Projects, Pax Romana, S.H.I.E.L.D. - deal with the "real story" history. What did history ever do to you, Mr. Hickman, that you feel the need to rewrite it? But seriously, what is it about rewriting history that interests you?

JH: I'd like to believe it's smart world building. Start with something that everyone is familiar with, twist it, then pull the entire floor out from under the reader.

As for personally why I do it, I wish it was more complicated than this, but it's just one of the things I like.

CA: I can't tell you how much I love that you used photography on the cover for the first issue of Secret. Are we going to see more photo covers like that for that series?

JH: That's how every cover (title page, trade design, etc.) will be for the entire run -- however long that is -- of Secret. Hopefully, it's quite a long time.

CA: Your books are meticulously plotted. What's that look like? Are there big, plotted out diagrams pinned to the walls, a bunch of notecards?

JH: Every time I have a idea or concept for a new story or book, I write that on a note card and stick it up on the wall. Beyond that, I don't really use them. I do a lot of whiteboarding. In fact, I'm getting ready to use this product to make it so I can use an entire wall as one.

I do a lot of radial diagramming (Look at something like TheyRule.net for an example of this) showing how things are connected, be that people, or events, or even story arcs.

I honestly don't know if all the stuff I do is actually the best way to do things, at this point I've just accepted it as my process. It is what it is.

CA: How do you get away with the designer-y stuff at Marvel, a company with what one would assume are many layers of approvals? Has there ever been push-back against your more ambitious layout choices?

JH: Well, a few misconceptions there. Marvel doesn't have many layers of corporate approval. Sure, I guess if you're talking about wanting do a story where Spider-Woman's aborted fetus, after a religious conversion spurred on by drug use, decides to kill the President of the United States... yeah, there will be lawyers. But design of a book? That's pretty much an editorial decision, which usually means one person. Also, and I've said this before, Marvel hired me to be me. For better or worse, this is kind of what you get.

Actually, most of the push-back I've gotten has been from well-meaning, but uninformed fans. Instances of confusion whenever I've been able to talk Marvel into dropping ads so that I can do a design or title spread. The argument seems to be hubris -- that I have stolen pages that could have gone to story so I can see my name in bigger type or something. All I'm actually guilty of is saving them from another sh*tty Big Bang Theory advert.

We should all agree that's Karma positive.

A heavily-designed spread from Hickman's The Nightly News

CA: A while back, you spoke with CA Editor-in-Chief Laura Hudson and you said, talking about design, "That stuff matters. It matters, it matters, it matters." I'm wondering if you can elaborate on that idea; what do you feel the benefit of good design is for comics?

JH: It shows you care. Actually, I take that back as it's really not strong enough. What I should have said was: Good design shows you believe. Like a soul, it permeates the product (I'm not really talking about just covers here - we are actually blessed with overabundance of very talented people in this area), it goes all the way through -- good design adds unaccounted weight.

And, look, I certainly don't hold myself up as the paragon of "getting it right." I'm pretty terrible at logo design, generally weak with typography, and I have some pretty predictable tendencies; but I don't think anyone would question, when looking at my books, whether or not I believe in them. Which, I think, is all that really matters.

Of course, I'm also leaving out the obvious benefits of good design making things easier to use, to read, to sell, to buy...

And not for nothing, Michio Kaku posted on Twitter today that we found a planet with water 22 light years away. Do we really want to show up in crap space ships?

The Manhattan Projects #1 goes on sale March 7. It can be pre-ordered now at your local comics shop or from online retailers like Things From Another World.

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ComicsAlliance Design Critique: New Oni Press Logo

Dylan Todd — 2012-01-27T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Oni, Indie, Art, Opinion

There must be something in the water. No sooner does the comics internet settle down from the commotion caused by DC Comics' new logo rollout than Portland, Oregon's Oni Press announces that it is revamping its look as well.

With a host of projects in development for other media - like The Sixth Gun TV series at Syfy and Marc Guggenheim's Resurrection being optioned by Universal - as well as signing with the William Morris Agency last summer, (a move which netted them a first-look deal with CBS) Oni is poised to branch out in new directions beyond the comics and graphic novels it has been known for since launching in 1997. If there was ever a time when it made sense to update Oni's brand, it's now. So let's take a look at the new identity system and figure out what works, what doesn't and how it could be improved.Created in-house over the last year, the new Oni look will be rolled out on comics covers this March. The new logo keeps the same color scheme - red, black and white - but they have dramatically updated the mark and logotype and created a "word balloon"-style containment device in which to hold all of it. They've simplified the Dave Gibbons-designed demon head of their original logo, zooming in on the eye and nose, and have stripped the type down to simple, geometric letterforms. Here is the cover element mocked up on the cover for Brian Churilla's new full-color ongoing, The Secret History of D. B. Cooper:

Overall, it's a clean, modern-looking logo, despite the fact that there are a lot of elements in that containment. Let's go over that list again: we have a mark and logotype, a tagline in the main logo and issue number/price in the cover element, and finally, the URL for the publisher, all in that "word balloon" element. Thankfully, it's organized well, because otherwise this could be a huge mess.

The "demon face" mark itself is just okay. If you're not already familiar with the logo, I'm not sure that you'll read it as a face at first glance as it's perhaps a little too simplified. There's something about the bulbousness of the nose and cheek that doesn't work for me, visually. It seems at odds with the more organic, rounded elements of the rest of the mark and also seem to clash with the stridently geometric letterforms of the "Oni" wordmark. The contrast of the two almost works, but if there was a little more visual cooperation* between the two, it would help it feel a little more of a piece instead of there being the tension there is between the mark and logotype. (*I just made that term up.)

The good news is that with this many pieces, it offers the perfect opportunity for using the different elements as parts of a system. The mark, tagline, word balloon shape and logotype can be used separately and together for convention backdrops, T-shirts and apparel, advertising, and even re-purposed for production company titles before a film or after a TV show.

The main mark has a little kerning issue in "Comics" where the "C" and "S" are a bit too close together. I'm not sure about the Condensed Gothic (I think it's Franklin, but I could be wrong) paired with the Helvetica Neue Bold (or something very similar) used in "Press," as the leg of the "R" has a kick to it that the "R" in the tagline does not have. That's totally nitpicky, but when there are this many elements going on, stuff like mismatched typefaces start to degrade the logo. But that's some real deep "Inside Baseball" stuff. Overall, the type is handled well.

The real test is how this design is going to look on the comic book covers, and I have to admit, it looks really smart in the corner there. It's a strong enough element to be used across all of Oni's varied output without it overpowering the rest of the cover. The placement of the "balloon" element on the monthly books could possibly be a problem when it's racked on a store shelf, but when they say stuff like "We have plenty of [...] new publishing initiatives on the way," in their press release, it makes one wonder if Oni is going to be pressing more into the digital space than they already are.

All in all, Oni's new logo looks good. I'm not sure if it's a trade up so much as it's a lateral trade - if that makes sense - but it's a good step for a company whose profile is on the rise. As much as I love the former logo, it's hard to get too upset when the new one is this versatile, organized, clean and modern.

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