Comics Alliance: An AOL Comic Book Community

I wouldn't be surprised if most of you weren't familiar with the work of painter/colorist/computer graphic artist Jose Villarrubia, with the possible exception of his gorgeous work adapting Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire and The Mirror of Love, both published by Top Shelf Productions. Nevertheless, working along the margins of comicdom is just the way Jose likes it, which is why I'm filling this week's space "outing" the wonderful work of my versatile and modest friend.


Behind the scenes, however, Jose is one of the comics industry's go-to professionals when it comes computer coloring, photography and digital illustration. In fact, the list of collaborators this ex-pat from Spain has worked with over the years -- excluding his work with Moore -- reads like a "who's who" list of industry luminaries, including Jae Lee on Fantastic Four1234, Paul Pope on Batman Year 100, J.H. Williams III on Desolation Jones and Richard Corben on Cage.

I feel a strong kinship to Jose (certainly not on the talent side), because his journey as a creative professional has taken him places he never expected, like his second career paralleling his comics work as a full-time professor of art at the Maryland Institute College of Art (one of my fond memories of Jose is his "Pied Piper of Hamlin-like" influence on his students following him around comic book conventions soaking up the creativity in the room).

Besides the links I've embedded along the way to provoke your interest in Jose's career, I suspect you'll feel some of the same warmth, kindness and creative intensity my talented friend projects effortlessly after viewing this video tour of Baltimore, his adopted town.

Hey! It's Friday. This week that means new comics. Is that a surprise? I'm mildly surprised. Also, this week, Greg McElhatton returns with some new manga for the kids! The kids love the manga! Here he goes!

I was very much looking forward to reading my pal Tom Beland's latest one-shot classic for Marvel -- Fantastic Four: Isla de la Muerta -- and getting a first-hand look at the work of his artistic collaborator, Juan Doe. Evidently, so were a lot of other media folks, from the New York Times to Washington Post, only for different reasons than my own.

Seems Marvel's simultaneous publication of Isla de la Muerta in English and Spanish, in which the 4 battle the legendary blood-sucking Chupacabras (the Spanish word means goat sucker), is only the first from a comics publisher to date. Considering EIC Joe Quesada told the NYT, "Hispanics don't only mark the fastest-growing segment of the population but also one of our fastest-rising readership segments," you'd think publishers would've jumped on this market segment a long time ago.

I'm very well familiar with American GNs translated for foreign editions, but this pamphlet publication is a different animal indeed, and, evidently, one whose time is long overdue. My LCS of record sold out of the Spanish language edition on the very first day Isla de la Muerta was released, testimony to me this struck a nerve.

Check out both Spanish and English sample pages of Tom's latest Marvel book -- chock full of the playful banter among characters that's makes his auto-bio True Story Swear to God so special (one of the few pamphlet comics I buy, in addition to the trades) -- and be impressed...

No explanation needed for this latest and terrific video from Michael Agrusso, the It'sJustSomeRandomGuy, spoofing Clement Clark Moore's poem, Twas The Night Before Christmas, with a Caped Crusader twist. One of my Christmas wishes for Michael: Will somebody PLEASE HIRE him so he can keep making these terrific videos?

After reading the latest posts by Dave Gibbons from the past two weeks on the Warner Bros. sponsored Watchmen blog, I'm feeling a strong vibe that director Zach Snyder could be a good choice to helm the movie adaptation of this classic 80s tale after all.

Count me among the many comic folks who were very surprised Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's 300 was as enjoyable and interesting as it was. Still, Watchmen is one complex animal, and the track record of movie adaptations based on works written by Alan Moore to date has been poor at best, with V For Vendetta being the best of the lot.

That said, I can't help but think Watchmen would've been better served -- along with V and From Hell -- as a HBO limited run series a la Deadwood or Rome in formats that would have given producers enough flexibility, time and room to better capture and expand on the multi-tiered stories Moore told over the course of 12-issue series. But it's not my money on the line and nobody asked me.

Like the other films that came before it, I'll venture into Watchmen with expectations low and hope to be pleasantly surprised. And wonder when Hollyweird's appetite for superheroes will finally cease...

With the success of Showcase Presents series of 500-page plus reprints chock full of Silver Age material selling, not only in comic books shops but bookstore chains all over, I'm not surprised DC is considering shelving their Archives line of collections, according to Publishers Weekly.

Even geeks like me can do the math. Retailing at $16.95 a pop, the Showcase Presents collections feature 500-plus pages per volume of some of the choicest Silver Age stories on the planet, albeit on cheap paper and in glorious black-and-white. Volumes of the Archives series, while printed in full color and on great paper, were only half as big and sold from $49.95-59.95.

Granted, by next summer, DC will own the honorable distinction of being the only publisher to reprint to entire Spirit series of classic Will Eisner stories from the 40s and 50s in its Archives format. Even for a Spirit fan like me, however, I figured the final investment -- at least $1,250, if not more, for the 25-volume set -- wasn't in my budget.

To their credit, DC is experimenting with other formats, like their Omnibus line reprinting Jack Kirby's Fourth World books and James Robinson's Starman series next year Publishers Weekly says. Again, as good as those stories are -- even with double the page count and all of them in full color -- DC's Omnibus editions start at $49.95, and are no more of a bargain than their Archives.

Perhaps, to the good, DC has started publishing Deluxe Editions of individual stories or arcs in a slightly oversized format, bridging the cheaper Showcase Presents and pricier Omnibus, with its Shazam: Monster Society of Evil "deluxe" edition collecting the three-issue mini by Jeff Smith.

I was pleased to learn the Jonah Hex and House of Mystery volumes were among the best sellers in the Showcase Presents line. Considering both were refreshingly continuity-free and bereft of superheroes, it's no wonder the "off-genre stuff" is selling well...

And, don't get me started about the Absolute line...

It's time for the last new release Wednesday of the year! Sure, we get comics next week, but that'll be on a Friday, and during the holiday season I'm prone to sentimentality. So, good bye New Release Wednesdays of 2007. I'm sorry you're dead but am quite happy that time continues to move in a normal fashion. To the comics!!

WHAT IF? CIVIL WAR
I'm sure I'm not the only person that was hoping for a Captain America-inflicted ass kicking of Iron Man in Marvel's CIVIL WAR mini-series. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that everybody I've ever met in my entire life hates Iron Man and his stupid Superhero Registration Act. Well, bring on WHAT IF? CIVIL WAR, where everyone gets what they want and Cap is ultimately victorious and everything goes great!............OR DOES IT?!?!
Not to be confused with WHAT THE?! CIVIL WAR, in which Tony Stork still wins the CIVIL WAR and Ghost Writer fights Goose Rider!





SPECIAL FORCES #2
Wow. I thought the first issue of SPECIAL FORCES was pretty controversial, but ZOMG! check out the cover to issue two! I'm curious to see where this goes with all but two characters dying in the first issue.

MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL
Not only is this thing full of holiday cheer, it's full of delicious cake as well! Last year's MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL was great and with Mike Carey and Fred Hembeck at the helm, the (not quite a) streak looks to be intact.

"What about the full list of comics?", you ask. "Click the link below!", I say.

I braved the rain, fog and a 160-mile round trip to San Antonio Friday just to spend five minutes examining The Dark Knight's arch nemesis The Joker, as channeled by Aussie Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger, in a very well publicized prologue sequence preceding the IMAX debut of I Am Legend.

Understanding that no human can live a day without avoiding a good justification, I made the gray, grim and gritty drive down I-35 already expecting to be pleased with the action sequence as teased in the IMAX featurette by director Christopher Nolan. The $64,000 question posed by many in this space and comic shops all over -- will Ledger's turn as the Clown Prince of Crime be almost as good as Jack Nicholson's from the 1989 Tim Burton /Michael Keaton film? -- wasn't my concern.

Instead, could Ledger inhabit The Joker's skin in a radically different way that would make Bat-fans like me forget all about Nicholson? That's all I really wanted to know.

I came away from The Dark Knight prologue feeling that if you enjoyed pouring through the early days of The Joker -- a mere 67 years ago in Batman #1 -- with a dollop here and there of the psychopathic force of nature Alan Moore brought to life in The Killing Joke, you'll wonder why fans' underoos were tied in knots at all about Heath Ledger wearing the clown makeup at all...

If you don't have the time, spare cash or an IMAX theater near you, our friends at Dark Horizons broke the news that a high-def Dark Knight trailer will debut Sunday at a site conveniently called A taste for the theatrical and Monday on MTV.com. Also, check out the Dark Horizons site for a link to some of the newest TDK movie posters, besides the official teaser plastered all over the Internets, including here...

One question for those of you who make it to see I Am Legend, IMAX or not: Did you see the same well-worn but very strategically placed Superman/Batman poster with the date of 5.15 in the beginning as Will Smith's Neville chased down deer through a deserted Manhattan?

So, how did it feel NOT to have a new ep of Heroes to watch last Monday (or in my case reading my blogstress-in-crime Carol Orsini's awesome recaps the day after)?

Should you be looking to immerse yourself in all Heroes-related things during the coming holiday season -- maybe hitting the DVR to review Volume 2 or catching up on the first collection of online Heroes stories recently published by DC Comics -- here's an unusual freebie worth considering, straight from the good folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known to the world at large as MIT.

Last month, MIT's Communications Forum sponsored a two-hour seminar/ interview with Heroes executive producer Jesse Alexander (who worked once-upon on-a-time on popular TV serials Lost and Alias) and Mark Warshaw (formerly of Smallville) to discuss the multi-platform approach to marketing this groundbreaking series from online graphic novels, to podcasting to the free availability of previous eps, appropriately titled NBC's Heroes: From Appointment TV to Engagement TV?

There are two ways you can listen to this interesting and free two-hour podcast: Click on the link in the Audiocast section to listen at your computer or download the podcast from iTunes from the CMS Colloquia Podcast page.

Here's a bonus for those who use iTunes: Toward the bottom of the list, lectures 49 and 50 feature 2006 interviews with Scott McCloud (Understanding/Reinventing/Making Comics) and Frank Espinosa (Rocketo), comics luminaries whose work we admire.

Welcome to the land where comic books roam like wild buffalo. Where Green Lanterns fight Yellow Lanterns and Cable is somehow almost cool again. And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

GREEN LANTERN #25
This issue of GREEN LANTERN, the SINESTRO CORPS WAR finale, is easily filled with more "holy crap" moments than any other comic this week. Saying anything about anything that happens in this issue would just ruin it for you so just read it as soon as possible. It is absolutely epic and is probably the best non-Grant-Morrison-penned superhero comic of the year. Even the two-page preview of the next big GL event was more incredible than most whole comics!


X-FACTOR #26
How is it that there are, like, three good big crossovers going on right now? Of course there's the aforementioned SINESTRO CORPS WAR...kick-ass, obviously. You've got the Ra's al-Ghul thing going on in BATMAN. Pretty good, if you ask me. (It doesn't hurt to have Morrison, Dini and Milligan writing the thing!) But lastly, and to me, most surprisingly, there's the MESSIAH COMPLEX storyline running through the X-books. This13-part (!) crossover about the first mutant birth since the end of HOUSE OF M is more readable and consistent than any X-story in a long time and so far, the X-FACTOR have been the best of the lot.

TALES OF THE TMNT ORIGINAL SERIES VOL 1 TP
Featuring the first appearance of the Rat King! This is a collection of the old TALES OF THE TMNT series. I couldn't find a picture of the cover, so here's a picture of the super-rad looking new Leonardo figure that I found on Mirage Comics' homepage. It's awesomeness knows no bounds.

Clink on the link to see more awesomeness, some of it may also know no bounds.

Thousands of apologies if this space has become too Batman-centric lately for its own good, but I just couldn't resist sharing these news items involving Batmobiles, past and present. Goofball news first...

A number of car enthusiasts blogs jumped on a posting from Hemmings Auto Blogs about the shabby showing of a promotional Batmobile used to promote Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever that was recently up for auction in Florida. Although auctioneers pegged the pre-sale value of BF Batmobile at somewhere close at $800,000, all they could muster was a measley $297,000. True, the movie was a knife in the gut to most Batfans after Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, but a Batmobile -- attached to a craptastic movie or not -- still is a Batmobile, right?

Not if buying one prevents its owner from driving it out on public... And, that's just one of seven rather restrictive conditions spelled out in the purchase agreement from DC Comics and Warner Bros. (Scroll down the page of cars recently up for auction from RM Auctions to #863 to read the entire list of restrictions.)

Now, for something completely better...

You'll have a smile on your face after watching this short video interview with car empresario George Barris, who built the classic 60s Batmobile along with a slew of cool rides for other gone-but-not-forgotten TV series, such as The Munsters, Beverly Hillbillies and Green Hornet. Ever wondered how the back end of the Batmobile rocketed through the streets of Gotham with its tail on fire? Watch the video to learn the answer...

Considering all the deserved raves writer Gail Simone has earned for her work on an array of mainstream superhero titles -- notably DC's Birds of Prey -- it's hard to believe until a couple of years ago, she hadn't admitted she was a professional writer of comics, one of the interesting fun facts she shared in a recent New York Times interview. Much of the story deals with Simone's newest writing gig on Wonder Woman, joined by artists Rachael and Terry Dodson, and, hopefully, it will be a successful one.

Unfortunately, the NYT story gets it big time wrong when crowing that Simone is "the first woman to serve as "ongoing writer" (to use the industry's term) in the character's 66-year history." Trina Robbins and Mindy Newell come to mind immediately. And, what about the recent run by bestselling author Jodi Picoult?

Here's hoping Simone's take on WW is as interesting and successful as that of the most successful relaunch of the character to date by Newell, Len Wein, Greg Potter, George Perez and Jill Thompson 20 years ago...

Can't wait another two weeks for the debut of the featurette/prologue of The Dark Knight before I Am Legend on IMAX screens across the U.S.? Hopefully, this groovy image of Heath Ledger as The Joker from the January 2008 cover of the UK-based film magazine Empire -- along with a short interview -- will whet your appetite in the short term.

So, how will Ledger play the Clown Prince of Crime? "I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath - someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts. He's just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown, and Chris has given me free rein. Which is fun, because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke," Ledger told Empire.

Don't know about you, but I'm looking for a copy of the new Empire today!