Comics Alliance: An AOL Comic Book Community

This cool Iron Man cartoon over at the new site Marvelkids.com looks to be the first of three CGI cartoons by ULTIMATE ALLIANCE animators Blur Studios. According to Marvel, this "Marvel Adventures Iron Man advervideo" is "a thrilling, cutting-edge adventure!"


Why is there an ad before my advervideo?
"Hey! Little kids! You know you love Iron Man, but did you know that Iron Man loves the University of Phoenix?!"

Typically, I don't go to comics-related gallery openings, but if I lived on the Left Coast, I probably couldn't resist attending the premiere of Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee, cosponsored by Golden Apple and Gallery 1988, Tuesday, Jan. 8 from 7-11 p.m.

First off, Golden Apple and Gallery 1988 will sponsor a Be a Superhero fund raiser, in which real, live and professional comics artists will doing sketches to benefit the Hero Initiative (formerly ACTOR) of donors as their favorite superhero, so expect to see more sketches of Batman and Wolverine's less athletic brothers floating around Hollyweird than you'd ever care to see. And, Stan Lee of Who Wants to Be a Superhero? will be in attendance too.

I suspect, however, the real attraction for most of you will be the bizarre (who knew Magneto loved ducks?) and cool paintings by folks like Disney designer Eric Tan and Brandon Bird. If you love Eric's take on the X-Men below as much as I do, 100 signed and numbered posters will be available at the opening. Check the Gallery 1988 Web site the day after the show if there are any extras, should you want one...

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.

Probably, the worst kept "secret" in the comics world as of late has been the outcome of Amazing Spider-Man #545 in which Peter Parker's pact with Mephisto supposedly erases his love affair/marriage with Mary Jane once and for all to save his beloved Aunt May.

We can debate all the reasons why Marvel did it coming and going -- rebooting the character or making the comic better resemble the movie franchise come to mind immediately. Frankly, I'm not crazy about the move -- Aunt May has more lives than the average black cat! -- and Marvel probably expects this kind of reaction from oldtimers like me, but not kids and young adults who may be discovering Spidey for the first time.

My question is a simple one: Is the Spider-Man comic "franchise" better off with or without Mary Jane? Why?

Give me reasons to hope this isn't another desperate move by the "former" House of Ideas merely to grab attention...

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...

How many of you went to the comic book store on Wednesday to buy new comics? Oh!! The humanity! The humiliation! It is an unfortunate situation, but thankfully, it's all over now, because new comics came out yesterday! Behold the power of the aforementioned comics!!

ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY #18
Chris Ware returns with another issue of ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY, this time collecting his previously published (in fancy-pants magazines) "Building Stories". If you ever like your comics without capes, you are probably already going to buy this, but guess what! I'm going to write about it anyway! Umm.....it's good.

PAX ROMANA #1
Did you read NIGHTLY NEWS? If you did, you're pretty excited about PAX ROMANA. It's by that guy Jonathan Hickman who wrote and drew NIGHTLY NEWS, but it's about time traveling modern soldiers in Ancient Rome!
Now for some grammar fun! Should I have capitalized the word "ancient"? Discuss!

HULK VS FIN FANG FOOM
You know how sometimes you get a comic and it's, like, This Guy vs That Guy but it ends up being, like "Oh! This Guy and That Guy thought they wanted to fight, but now they're friends!". This is not that comic. Hulk punches Fin Fang Foom through a roof! I generally like comics where people get punched through roofs and I think you will, too! Plus, the whole issue is drawn kinda like Jack Kirby! (Especially the reprint, which is drawn BY Jack Kirby.)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #545
So, this guy Nick just asked me if I was writing about AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #545. I told him no, but it was a lie. This last part of the "One More Day" storyline is likely to make you very angry. Like, Norman Osborn makes babies with Gwen Stacy angry. If you don't believe me, just look at the picture of Nick reading it!

If you want to find out what other comics came out this week that will make Nick make dumb faces, click the link below.

In conversations with comic geeks lately about the various funnybooks-to-movies adaptations in 2008, to my surprise, it's Iron Man -- not The Dark Knight -- that has many stoked, making that a decision (by Paramount or IM director Jon Favreau) to screen a trailer at Comic-Con a smart one.

Add one more fan to the list of "True Believers": The Wall Street Journal. Not only did the film receive primo front page real estate in Thursday's WSJ next to the B-52s first album in 16 years, the popular image of Robert Downey, Jr. sporting "Iron Man" hands also graces the online piece. Speaking of images, Marvel.com released a new digital of ol' Shellhead for you to drool over until May 2, but not much different than the one we saw this past fall...

In a previous comics blogging life not so long ago, you may have read my first look piece about Rich Koslowski's newest project, B.B. Wolf & The L.P.s, in collaboration with writer Johnnie Arnold.

Rich has been a very busy guy lately, completing B.B. Wolf in his gorgeous ink wash style (very similar to his work on the award-winning Three Fingers and The List), starting a new Three Geeks GN (a movie based on the trio is in the works) and staying ahead of schedule on his first assignment for the House of Ideas, scripting a 12-part story arc about the new Guardian for Marvel Comics Presents. And, that list doesn't include his freelance endeavors for other publishers including Archie Comics and Devil's Due (Family Guy).

Watching from the sidelines since the debut of Three Fingers five years ago, I'm glad to see Rich's "star" is finally ascending in the comics industry, and it's about time...

BTW, Rich pens one of the more politically incorrect and funnier creator blogs around, no doubt a product of his awesome storytelling, a gregarious nature (that belies a heart of gold) and a frighteningly acidic sense of humor (especially when I'm within earshot).

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.

When you read/listen to NPR's report about the development of Virgin Comics, at first glance, you may be pretty impressed that those with deep pockets -- multi-billionaire Richard Branson, self-help guru Deepak Chopra and film director Shekhar Kapur -- are investing a lot of cash in developing comics based on Hindu mythology.

Perhaps, your curiosity may be peaked as was director John Moore's who helmed the recent Omen remake. He plans to make a film based on the Virgin one-shot Virulents, a story about the Hindu demon Raktavija, set in modern day Afghanistan as Indian and American soldiers face off against an out-of-this-world foe that cannot be killed.

And, the enthusiasm of Indian creators developing stories about their own culture and not aping "the best of the West," says Gotham Chopra, EIC and chief creative director, is appealing, although the one book that really attracted my attention -- Snake Hunter -- was produced early on by Marvel Comics scribe Zeb Wells (who's also worked on Robot Chicken) and former Alias artist Michael Gaydos.

However, I'm afraid this story was meant for NPR folks who have rarely, if ever, seen in the inside of a comic shop, and not for those who love comics and are addicted to pop culture. Where the story runs off the rails is completely ignoring the rest of the Hollyweird factor, meaning the encroachment by folks like Nicholas Cage, Guy Ritchie and John Woo into the creation of comics, not to mention a popular porn star lending her name and image to the upcoming Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter, slated to debut Christmas week.

Celebrity names -- except for Stephen King these days -- sell comics only on the short term, if that long. Well-told stories based on Indian mythology and not porn stars... Now, THAT'S interesting.

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.

If you're like me --a huge fan of Stephen King's magnum opus The Dark Tower, but not a very big fan of comic adaptations unless the original author is writing the script-- you might have approached Marvel's Dark Tower series with some trepidation when it appeared earlier this year. If, like me, you ultimately decided to give the series a shot, I'd be willing to be that you, too, found it to be an outstanding achievement. King handed over the reins to his most personal work --though he was closely involved every step of the way-- to the crack team that Marvel had assembled, and in return Peter David, Robin Furth, Jae Lee, and Richard Isanove delivered a sumptuous feast for the fans, and a work of which King himself is justifiably proud.

Well, friends, as it turns out, the creative team was just getting warmed up. The original "Gunslinger Born" series is now available in a collected hardcover edition, and some tidbits about a second volume were revealed in the recent "Hot" issue of Rolling Stone (in which the Marvel book took the Hot Adaptation prize). According to that Rolling Stone piece, volume two is set to begin appearing in the spring and --here's the best part-- they quote artist Jae Lee as saying, "it's a hundred percent brand-new material ... Fans are definitely in for a surprise."

Can I get an "Amen"?

While we're on the subject, if you missed it previously, check out my report on the Dark Tower panel from this year's NY Comic-Con, which featured the entire creative and editorial team ... including the maestro himself, Stephen King.

Met up quite unexpectedly Thanksgiving eve with Alan J. Porter, the hardest working writer I know (one of the nicest too!) and an expert on all things comics, James Bond and The Beatles, at my town's local comic shop of record, Austin Books and Comics (before I forget, welcome Maakies creator Tony Millionaire there Dec. 1).

Alan is a multi-tasker extraordinaire with all the creative work he's already doing plus a new James Bond book (before Bond 22 hits the silver screen next year), a day job that keeps him hopping and keeping the women in his life (two teenage daughters and a beautiful, young wife) very happy. So, it takes something pretty extreme to derail this man's train...

Unfortunately, all it took was a request to his daughter's high school English teacher that she be allowed to supplement her prose reading with graphic novels and comics, and there were good reasons for doing so beyond the obvious ones. After writing a comics blog for almost two years, I wish I could say I was surprised by said teacher's typical and uninformed response, but I wasn't. Judge for yourselves.

Makes you wish you could pull Stan Lee from behind a blackboard for instances like this, a la a spot Marshall McLuhan siting in Annie Hall...

Puts a rather sour spin on my pal Eddie Campbell's ongoing argument in the comics industry at large about the nomenclature of graphic novels and literature, doesn't it?

A-ha! There are comics out today. I have solved the mystery of the "what comes out today".

ACTION COMICS #859
The first issue of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's ACTION COMICS was awesome, so here's hoping they can keep it up. Word is John's run continues to kick the ass. Witness the Legion of Superheroes! They are only in 17 comics this month.











GOON CHINATOWN HC
Eric Powell, creator of THE GOON, has been working on this graphic novel since 1882. THE GOON is always a violent good time and Powell's first original graphic novel looks great. Learn about the Goon's past. If you don't he may punch your head off.





HALO UPRISING #2
Weren't the four issues of the HALO comic supposed to come out before HALO 3? Now HALO's been out for almost two months and we're on the second issue of this in-betweener series that's meant to connect HALO 2 and HALO 3. Blurg. Oh well. At least it's good. I assume it's good. I got the information from the only reviewer I trust.



Many more comics will also arrive today. Click through for the list, yo.

Lately, I've been picking up a lot of those Showcase Presents trades from DC reprinting the Silver Age and beyond exploits of their many characters, the latest featuring the World War II battles of Sgt. Rock as told by Robert Kanigher, Russ Heath, Jerry Grandenetti and Joe Kubert.

Pouring through these 500-pages-plus volumes of mainstream comics has been a real eye-opener for me. Largely, the stories were shorter, weren't concerned with collector continuity syndrome and had that intrinsically goofy charm just as I'd remembered them 30 to 40 years ago (think Challengers of the Unknown or Adam Strange). In other words, you could enjoy them for what they were without feeling embarrassed about reading them at all.

On occasion, however, reading some of those volumes with half-century-old eyes was far more painful than I recalled or expected. In those cases, the story logic was nonexistent (good art trumped good storytelling, in the mainstream comics industry of the past and now) and women were victims rather than equals. Still, take them for the mini-time capsules/snapshots of the comics industry and modern culture back in the day and you won't feel disappointed. (And you may come to appreciate the work and mindset of Mike Allred, one of this industry's more interesting cartoonists all the more.)

With these thoughts swirling in my head, I started thinking about the future and who will follow in the footsteps of Kubert, Will Eisner and Jack Kirby in the digital archives of Showcase Presents or Marvel Comics about the time my grandkids get to be my age. Some, I suspect, are already working in the medium, while others haven't even been born yet. And a few, like Jake Tinsley are just getting started.

The 13-year-old creator was inspired to create the Night Owl after the untimely death of his best friend and grandfather, noted Texas journalist Jack Tinsley (former executive editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) some three years ago. In fact, the Night Owl was one of four stories featured in the inaugural issue of Two-Fisted Adventures, recently published by Wham Bang Comics (based in Galveston, Texas).

It's probably not Shakespeare, or even The Spirit, but it's a start, and who knows where the muse will take Jake by the time he's my age, or if we're really lucky long before then...