Comics Alliance: An AOL Comic Book Community

One of the first things I learned about writing screenplays back in the day: Nailing down the concept in as few words as possible -- 25 or less -- was the ticket to Hollywood. It didn't take me long to learn and practice the concept on the thousands of movies I'd seen in my relatively short life. (I could never quite master that same skill when it came to boiling down my own screenplays into salable, simple stories, however.) All the moneymakers have a hook that grabs your attention and won't let go until you're compelled to see it (and buy way too many DVDs too).

After reading the short Variety news item late last month about Matt Ogens' directoral debut, Confessions of a Superhero, concerning the further "adventures" of real people completely convinced that dressing up as superheroes eking out a meager existence posing for pictures with tourists along Hollywood Boulevard was their ticket to "fame and fortune," I had to see this film.

It's one thing to wear your favorite superhero costume at the five-day "Geek Vegas" party known as Comic-Con International: San Diego. It's quite another to count on it to survive without superpowers or billions of dollars of weaponry. Besides, what kind of person is really capable of doing such a thing in the real world?

Seems Ogens, a veteran of episodic TV and commercials, had been thinking precisely about the same thing traveling around Hollyweird...

Comics Alliance: How did you come up with the wonderful concept for this film?

Matt: Like everyone else in Los Angeles, I drove past these characters many times and was passively curious. As fate would have it, I was directing a commercial on Hollywood Boulevard right where the characters work for tips. In between shots, I spent every minute talking to Christopher (Superman) Dennis. It was like we were two animals curious about each other. Two weeks later, we started production.

CA: Obviously, you had many costumed "characters" from which to choose on Hollywood Boulevard. Aside from Christopher Dennis -- truly a natural and almost a dead ringer for Christopher Reeve -- how did you come to find this more interesting version of Fantastic Four for your film?

Matt: Superheroes are timeless and iconic. They are recognized everywhere. And I wanted a consistency in the type of character I chose – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Hulk.

One of the things I've always loved about SPX is the Ignatz Outstanding Debut Award. It guarantees that you'll always be able to find something new at the show. This year there were 28 (!) nominees for Outstanding Debut. I wasn't able to read all of them, but here's a look at a few books that piqued my interest.

DAYBREAK VOL 2
I talked with DAYBREAK creator Brian Ralph for a few minutes at SPX this year but foolishly forgot to buy a copy of DAYBREAK VOL 2! Let's just move forward on the assumption that it's as good as the first volume, which I un-foolishly bought and loved. If you've liked any other Ralph stuff or are a fan of skillfully told post-apocalyptic stories, do yourself a favor and pick this series up.




BIG QUESTIONS #10
The story of warring factions of birds in the wreckage of an airplane, BIG QUESTIONS #10 by Anders Nilsen is a beautiful book. Nilsen's always fragile art has never looked better. The story is well paced and the dialog is sparse but effective. BIG QUESTIONS #10 is easily one of the best books I picked up at the show this year. It's too bad Nilsen didn't take home the Debut Ignatz, but he did pick up the Outstanding Graphic Novel Award for the devastating DON'T GO WHERE I CAN'T FOLLOW.

PAPERCUTTER #6
This year's Debut winner, PAPERCUTTER #6, is a great issue of a great anthology series. I say that like I know what I'm talking about, but in all actuality, I just picked up all six issues on Saturday. It's basically a collection of the most talented small press creators around. Aaron Renier, Liz Prince, John Porcellino and Kazimir Strzepek are just a few of the great artists from the first five issues. Issue six keeps up the pace with new material from guest editor and Phase 7 creator Alec Longstreth, a darkly hilarious story about a disenchanted trucker by Ken Dahl and the best story about pubic hair I've ever read.


That's really just the tip of the SPX iceberg. Make sure to check out Comics Alliance-guru John Anderson's look at some of the other fantastic stuff at the show.

Last night's Ignatz awards show at SPX was a pleasure to attend, with Heidi MacDonald again handling the emcee gig with customary wit and charm. Living up to the promise to keep the awards show moving along briskly, so that everyone could move on to the after-party (featuring a chocolate fondue fountain!) which followed, the presentation clocked in at under an hour.

As fine a job as Heidi and all of the award presenters did, however, the star of the show was unquestionably the unidentified individual who accepted Chris (Achewood) Onstad's award for Outstanding Online Comic dressed in a full gorilla costume. As presenter of the award, Nick Gurewith served as translator for the gorilla's (pantomimed) acceptance speech, and this is where the awards show was elevated to the level of Art, with the comedy stylings of Gurewitz and the gorilla keeping the audience in stitches throughout. Sample line: "Thank you from the top of my ... buttocks." As priceless as it was unforgettable, this ought to be an awards show to go down in comics history.

Congratulations to all of the Ignatz winners! (The complete list of 2007 Ignatz nominees can be seen here.)

* Outstanding Artist (award presented by Jeff Smith)
Jaime Hernandez, Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics Books)
* Outstanding Anthology or Collection (award presented by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock)
Curses by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
* Outstanding Graphic Novel (award presented by Nick Abadzis)
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly)
* Outstanding Story (award presented by Rutu Modan)
"Felix" by Gabrielle Bell, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)
* Promising New Talent (award presented by Larry Marder)
Tom Neely, The Blot (I Will Destroy You)
* Outstanding Series (award presented by Douglas Wolk)
Mourning Star by Kazimir Strzepek (Bodega Distribution)
* Outstanding Comic (award presented by Matt Kindt)
Optic Nerve #11 by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)
* Outstanding Mini-Comic (award presented by Pam Bliss)
P.S. Comics #3 by Minty Lewis
* Outstanding Online Comic (award presented by Nick Gurewith)
Achewood by Chris Onstad
* Outstanding Debut Award (award presented by Liz Prince and Alec Longstreth)
Papercutter #6 edited by Alec Longstreth (Tugboat Press)

At the last stop on his year-long Bone World Tour, Jeff Smith sat down at SPX this afternoon with Heidi MacDonald for an engaging hour-long chat in which he spoke of Bone, Shazam, and his forthcoming Rasl. And yes, he also uttered the pull quote I shamelessly used as the title of this post, but you'll have to read on to get the context for that statement.

Plainly stating that he is "not a children's author, [he is] a comic book guy," Smith spoke of the dual existence that Bone now enjoys as a truly all-ages book. Smith explained that "in the graphic novel section [of a book store] is the big, black and white book for adults, and in the kids section is the very same book in color." Smith explained that he "didn't make Bone for kids, I made it for cartoon heads like us...but kids found it, librarians found it, and claimed it."

In response to a question about being known for all time as "the Bone guy," Jeff replied that, "I'm fine with being 'the Bone guy.' I love Bone. I'm very proud of it."

Of his Shazam miniseries, Smith agreed that "a breather is a really good way to put it" by way of describing his having taken on that work-for-hire gig following his twelve years creating Bone, and also noted that of all the characters that DC could have offered him, Shazam was the one that he felt he couldn't refuse.

As you'll have likely guessed by now, it's difficult for me to be objective regarding SPX, so I'll just say that day two of the show has been typically great. Lots of women, and quite a large number of kids (largely due to Jeff Smith's appearance no doubt) made for a splendidly mixed crowd. It's always gratifying to see kids at comics shows, and it's a particular pleasure to see them at an indie show like SPX. From my trips to the convention floor, it seemed that there was a lot of money changing hands and between panels I was able to do my own bit as a patron of the arts in spreading some cash around the room in exchange for some great looking comics, graphic novels, minis and curios. I thought it might be fun to do my bit to promote some of the books that caught my eye as well, so here are cover images --each of which links to the creator and/or publisher's site-- of every book I picked up for which I was able to locate an online image:



Boobage by Monica Gallagher came strongly recommended from Karon Flage, this year's Executive Director of SPX, and who am I to argue? I seem to recall Dean Haspiel speaking highly of this book at MoCCA this summer as well, but somehow I managed to leave that show without a copy. Cover art and design doesn't get a great deal more eye-catching than this, eh?




Looking over the shoulder of a guy reading Death, Cold as Steel in the auditorium prior to Jeff Smith's talk with Heidi MacDonald had me wondering just what this book was. The strikingly atmospheric, almost Steranko-esque artwork really popped, so I was pleased when the guy sitting a couple seats away, apparently similarly taken with the look of the book, asked the owner for the title, and location of the booth where he purchased it. Which just goes to show, reading your just-purchased comics at a show can figuratively pay dividends for your fellow seekers (while literally paying dividends for the book's creators).

Douglas Wolk, of Reading Comics fame, moderated an informative panel exploring the relationship between animation and comics this evening at SPX. Joining Wolk on the panel were Kim Deitch, Jeff Smith, Tom Neely and Roger Langridge.

All of the panelists except Langridge have had (or continue to have) animation experience, and all of them expressed a preference for making comics over animation given the art-by-committee nature of most commercial animation, and the plain fact that creating animation simply takes a long, long time. Comics were compared to storyboards at one point, which led Smith to observe that "comics have a different sort of heat coming off the page than storyboards," and that, "you can change the camera angle, so to speak, a lot more frequently in comics, and for different reasons."

Seemingly feeling the need to defend Flash animation at one point, Smith strongly recommended the animated videos of Graham Annable (of Grickle fame), which he called "hilariously creepy," calling out one video in particular as being "unbelievably funny." That video is called "Space Wolf" and we present it now for your viewing pleasure:

My day began with a fruitless search for the charger for my camera's battery, followed by an equally fruitless search for a store that might sell me a replacement, so I'm afraid I must begin with an apology for the lack of on-the-scene photos. I'm hopeful that some of my fellows at the Alliance will be able to pick up the slack in this regard.

But enough about that: It's the first day of SPX, baby, so everybody get happy!

I've been attending SPX every year since its inception in 1994. I'm pretty sure it was '94 (it's possible it may have been '95), but I'm certain that I've never missed one --and that includes 2001's "SPXiles" show where the Baltimore Comic-Con heroically stepped into the breach in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, of which that year's SPX was a casualty. My point is that this is a show that is very dear to me and, sure, some of the reason for that is that good friends Greg Bennett and Chris Oarr were involved in the show from the beginning (I remember how excited they were to tell me over dinner one night that they'd decided SPX needed an award, and that it would be a festival prize, and that they had come up with the perfect name and design of the award with the Ignatz brick. And it is indeed perfect...though they quickly learned that it is rather expensive to ship an actual brick to winners not in attendance), but the main reason for the affection I hold for this show was that it was those early years of SPX where I first experienced the true community that a common love of making and/or reading comics makes possible.

Despite my best intentions -- also lacking the time and a plane ticket -- I'll be very sorry about missing this weekend's Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, Md., one of the most enjoyable weekends of any year for fans of independent comics.

SPX represents the last major independent show of the year, after STAPLE!, APE and MoCCA, and it's my favorite of the bunch. I'm partial to the D.C. group of retailers and, now, friends of retailers who have managed to expand the reach and scope of their show to a larger audience over the past decade without losing its indy feel.

I suspect it's a geography thing: SPX is just far enough away from California and NYC not to be the "trendy comic book thing" to do (for now anyways) and important enough to attract special guests the likes of Matt Wagner, Bill Griffith, Jeff Smith and Gilbert Hernandez, heavyweights by any measurement.

And, like MoCCA, you'll discover treasures you'd never find at your local comic shop.

Case in point: Dead Man's Hand, a new anthology of westerns published by Tree Fort Press that features stories by students at the Center for Cartoon Studies along with veterans like the ol' Tyrant himself, Steve Bissette and Web cartoonist Cayentano Garza (Magic Inkwell).

Since I'm partial to Western comics, I think I'm going to order one of these online just to be on the safe side.

If you can't make it to Bethesda this weekend, maybe you should too...

Press Release

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, will hold its annual exposition from October 12 to October 13. This years exposition will again be held at the at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland across from the White Flint Metro.

This year's slate of special guests include:

Bill Griffith, who is known world wide for his syndicated strip, Zippy The Pinhead, which runs daily in The Washington Post. He has a new Zippy collection out from Fantagraphics entitled "Zippy: Walk A Mile In MY Muu-Muu". SPX is proud to have him make one of his rare convention appearances at this years show.

Jeff Smith, is the creator of the celebrated epic "Bone", which has over a half million copies in print and is now available in Italian, Spanish, German and many other foreign languages. Jeff recently completed his critically acclaimed reworking of the Golden Age hero Captain Marvel, "Shazaam! The Monster Society of Evil" for DC Comics. He has recently been named by Fantagraphics as the art designer in charge of the upcoming reprints of Walt Kelly's classic, "Pogo".

Matt Wagner is one of the pioneers of indie comics with his original creation of "Grendel", which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year. Matt also created, wrote and drew "Mage", and has worked on a number of projects for both DC and Vertigo. His next installment of the Grendel saga, "Behold The Devil" is due to be released this November from Dark Horse.

Gilbert Hernandez, whose Love and Rockets is considered one of the groundbreaking works in the history of comics, will be at SPX to promote his first graphic novel in four years, "Chance in Hell" from Fantagraphics.

Rutu Modan, one of the founders of the Actus Tragicus comics collective, will be at SPX with her first full length graphic novel entitled "Exit Wounds", from Drawn & Quarterly.

Kim Deitch will be at SPX to promote his well received latest graphic novel, "Alias The Cat" from Pantheon Books. Kim is one of the original "underground" cartoonists who redefined comics in the 1960's and has also worked in the field of animation.

There will be a full two day session of Creator Spotlights, where each of the above special guests and others will have a live 1 hour interview session, in addition to a number of panels and workshops on the comic arts.

As in previous years, there will be an exposition hall with over 300 creators and publishers, where attendees can buy the latest in commix and graphic novels, as well as interact with the exhibitors.

SPX will be open to the public from 2 pm - 8 pm, Friday, October 12 and 10am - 7 pm Saturday, October 13. Admission is $8 for a single day and $15 for both days.

SPX culminates with the presentation of the 11th Annual Ignatz Awards for outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. The awards will be held Saturday evening at 9PM and is open to all SPX attendees for free. The Ignatz is the first Festival Prize in the US comic book industry, with winners chosen by balloting during the SPX.

SPX, a non-profit organization, brings together more than 300 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers and distributors each year. Graphic novels, political cartoon books and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. A series of panel discussions will also be held of interest to readers, academicians and creators of graphic novels and political cartoons.

As in previous years, all profits from the SPX will go to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), protecting the First Amendment rights of comic book readers and professionals. For more information on the CBLDF, go to their website at http://www.cbldf.org/.

I couldn't help but smile, as I was reading my USA Today (in bed of all places), to find TV critic Robert Blanco blaming Comic-Con International: San Diego attendees for bad TV. Take, for example, Blanco's take on Wednesday night's Bionic Woman redux that drew almost as many viewers as the Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, by the way:

"None of this means the show won't draw a crowd, at least initially. The ads are terrific (far better than the show they're promoting), and there is a fan base that likes its fantasies somber and its heroines pouty. Which may be why Bionic plays like it was created, not so much to run on TV, but to provide panels for comic book conventions." OUCH!!!

Some of us at the Comics Alliance corral feel far differently about the results of mixing superheroes and TV at comics/pop culture conventions, however.

SPX 2007 will host the 11th annual presentation of the Ignatz Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. The Ignatz is named after Krazy Kat's creator George Herriman's brick-wielding mouse, recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression.

The Ignatz Awards are a festival prize, the first of such in the United States comic book industry. The nominees for the ballot were determined by a panel of five comic artists, which will be voted on by the attendees during SPX. The Ignatz Awards ceremony will be held at the North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland on Saturday, October 13th, 2007 at 9:00 PM.

For more information on the Small Press Expo and the Ignatz Awards, please visit http://www.spxpo.com.

Outstanding Artist
Vanessa Davis, Papercutter #4 (Tugboat Press), Kramers Ergot #6 (Buenaventura Press)
John Hankiewicz, Asthma (Sparkplug Comic Books)
Jaime Hernandez, Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics Books)
Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly)
Ted Stearn, Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville #4 (Fantagraphics Books)

Outstanding Anthology or Collection
Curses by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 by Gabrielle Bell, Martin Cendrera, and Dan Zettwoch (Drawn & Quarterly)
King-Cat Classix by John Porcellino (Drawn & Quarterly)
Misery Loves Comedy by Ivan Brunetti (Fantagraphics Books)
Moomin Book One by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)

Outstanding Graphic Novel
Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie (Drawn & Quarterly)
Bookhunter by Jason Shiga (Sparkplug Comic Books)
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly)
Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan (Drawn & Quarterly)
House by Josh Simmons (Fantagraphics Books)

Outstanding Story
Delphine #1-2 by Richard Sala (Fantagraphics Books/Coconico Press)
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly)
The End #1 by Anders Nilsen (Fantagraphics Books/Coconico Press)
"Martha Gregory" by John Hankiewicz, Asthma (Sparkplug Comic Books)
"Untitled" by Gabrielle Bell, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)

Promising New Talent
Gabrielle Bell, Lucky, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)
Scott Campbell, Flight Vol. 4 (Ballantine Books), Hickee vol. 3 #3 (Alternative Comics)
Lilli Carre, You Ain't No Dancer Vol. 2 (New Reliable Press)
Brandon Graham, King City (TokyoPop)
Tom Neely, The Blot (I Will Destroy You)

Outstanding Series
Atlas by Dylan Horrocks (Drawn & Quarterly)
Delphine by Richard Sala (Fantagraphics Books/Coconico Press)
Dungeon by Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar, and various (NBM)
Love & Rockets by Los Bros Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)
Mourning Star by Kazimir Strzepek (Bodega Distribution)

Outstanding Comic
Doctor Id by Adam McGovern and Paolo Leandri (Indie Ink Studios)
Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville #4 by Ted Stearn (Fantagraphics Books)
Love & Rockets vol. 2 #18 by Los Bros Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)
Monster Parade #1 by Ben Catmull (Fantagraphics Books)
Optic Nerve #11 by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)

Outstanding Mini-Comic
Burning Building Comix by Jeff Zwirek
The Monkey and the Crab by Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett
Noose by Mark Burrier
P.S. Comics #3 by Minty Lewis
Seven More Days of Not Getting Eaten by Matt Wiegle

Outstanding Online Comic
Achewood by Chris Onstad (www.achewood.com)
Grace by Kris Dresen (www.girlthrow.com/grace)
Persimmon Cup by Nick Bertozzi (www.act-i-vate.com)
Thingpart by Joe Sayers (www.jsayers.com/thingpart/thingpart.html)
Wondermark by David Malki (www.wondermark.com)

2007 Ignatz Jury
Sara Edward-Corbett
Paul Hornschemeier
Steve MacIsaac
Jesse Reklaw
Zack Soto

If you've never had the pleasure of attending a comic book convention, you should strongly consider it in the very near future, if for no other reason than to have the opportunity to catch a rare glimpse of your favorite cartoonist at work sketching something spontaneously that you'll never see published anywhere.

I've had the unique pleasure, in my former life on the convention circuit doing a little bit of everything over the years for my pal Chris Staros of Top Shelf Productions (never a henchman or minion, however), of watching the many artists in the Top Shelf stable sketch for fans and, on rare occasion, for me. Being a man of too many words who'd prefer to say more with less, I am forever envious of talented people who can capture the pictures in their heads on paper.

Hopefully, you'll savor that same kind of experience at least once a week in this space under the moniker The Comics Page, a place to find buried art treasures on the Web and elsewhere from cartoonists whose names you already know, along with a few whose names you should...

This week's stop is my pal Craig Thompson's awesome Doot Doot Garden Blog. There, you'll see your first glimpses of his next beautiful graphic novel, Habibi, pages from his sketchbook and his love for the indy rockers of Menomena. Below is a promotional poster for a concert date with Menomena and Tracker, the group who produced one of the few soundtracks ever created for a graphic novel, in this case Craig's wonderful Blankets.

This past weekend was my first time at the Baltimore Comic-Con since 2002, and wow, has this show ever come into its own! Sure, New York and San Diego had movie and tv stars –and those shows certainly basked in the reflected glow of Hollywood glamour as a result– but what the Baltimore Comic-Con has to offer is, in some respects, even more special: an honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned (and gloriously, unrepentantly so at that) comic book convention.

If you've been following our coverage of the show, you're already well aware of the excellent range of programming that was on offer at the Con. Personally, I applaud the efforts that were clearly made to spotlight indie creators right alongside the "big guns," and props are also in order for having a variety of kid-centric programming as well.

Speaking of kids, hey, there were a lot of them at the show! I'm pretty sure I saw more families, more kids, and more strollers in Baltimore than I've seen at the rest of this year's shows combined. This, my friends, is a very encouraging sign, and it may well be that Baltimore will be seen as a hotbed new comics talent in, oh, say ten or fifteen years time.

Jose Villarrubia, comics artist and professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, moderated a conversation with award-winning artists James Jean and Paul Pope on Sunday afternoon at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The three men spent a more than generous two hours talking about their work, with both Jean and Pope presenting slideshows of recent works for the capacity crowd. The majority of the audience appeared to consist of Villarrubia's students from the Maryland Institute, many of whom came armed with their sketchbooks as well as an enthusiasm for the subject matter of comics art that was a joy to see.

The presentation was divided into three sections, the first consisting of Villarrubia interviewing the two artists, the second was an audience Q&A and, following a short break to set up the projector, the panel concluded with Jean and then Pope giving their slideshow presentations while sharing details of their creative processes throughout.

Much as I'm loathe to "bury the lead," there were not one, not two, but three major-league exclusive announcements made during the panel. One pertained to the Watchmen movie, one involved an upcoming Fables project, and the last one ... well no one could've seen that one coming. Click "more" to read those details (and more) from what was an absolutely fascinating couple of hours spent with some of comics' most visionary artists.