Episode 332: Free Comic Book Day 2014

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Welcome to the show.  I hope you had a good Free Comic Book Day.  I know we did.  Don't believe us?  Give the show a listen.  Oh, you'll see.  Also, we are less than two weeks away from SC ComiCon.  We'll talk about that some too.

Runtime:  1 hour 7 minutes 12 seconds

Episode 332:  Free Comic Book Day 2014

HeroesCon 2013 Mega Music Panel: On the Intersection(s) of Comics and Music

Comics and music share a lot of affinities-both depend heavily on rhythm and intervals,and many cartoonists are also musicians-and cartoonist Ben Towle and blogger Craig Fischer have organized a diverse smorgasbord of a panel to explore these affinities. Ben will discuss the many ways cartoonists represent music visually, and will chair a wide-ranging panel on comics and music with Peter Bagge (Hate, Yeah!), Ed Piskor (Hip Hop Family Tree), Andrew Robinson and Vivek J Tiwary (The Fifth Beatle). Craig will talk about the work of Marc Weidenbaum, an editor, teacher, and musician who's been combining comics and music in his creative projects for over two decades. And Charlotte, NC avant-duo Ghost Trees (Brent Bagwell on saxophone, Seth Nanaa on drums) will participate in two live comics/music performances, including a soundtrack for Joe Lambert's "Turtle Keep it Steady," a rock-n-roll retelling of the Tortoise-Hare fable!

Making Of: The Wide Awake Press FLUKE Anthology

A few years back Wide Awake Press published the "annual" FLUKE anthology.  Here is a little video telling the tale of its creation.  This is where I learned the art of constructing a massive minicomic.

Press Release: Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con

Nathan Fillion, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, James Marsters, Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Rooker Headline Celebrity Guests At Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con, May 30 – June 1

Jon Bernthal, Jason David Frank, Robert Knepper, Top Comics Creators Also Among Top Stars At Pop Culture Festival At Georgia World Congress Center

ATLANTA, April 8, 2014 – Nathan Fillion (“Castle,” Serenity), Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Jon Bernthal and Michael Rooker of “The Walking Dead,” James Marsters (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Torchwood”), Milo Ventimiglia (“Heroes,” Rocky Balboa), Darryl McDaniels “D.M.C.” (“Run-D.M.C.”) Jason David Frank (“Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers”), and Robert Knepper (“Prison Break,” Hitman) are among the celebrities scheduled to attend Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con, May 30-June 1 at the Georgia World Congress Center. It is the seventh of 16 events currently scheduled in the 2014 series produced by Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB: WIZD) and will also feature a top-drawer collection of well-known comics artists and writers and a variety of activities, exhibitors and special attractions.

Reedus, Cohan and McDaniels will appear on Saturday and Sunday, May 31-June 1, and Fillion will attend on Saturday only; the others are scheduled for all three days.

Superstar comics creators scheduled to attend include Neal Adams (“Batman,” “Green Lantern”), Jorge Molina (“X-Men,” “Fear Itself”), Jerry Ordway (“Action Comics,” “Avengers”), Ron Garney (“Thor,” “Uncanny X-Force”), Alberto Ponticelli (“Justice League,” “Green Lantern”), Bob Layton (“Iron Man,” “Captain America”), Ethan Van Sciver (“Green Lantern,” “Flash”), John Tyler Christopher (“Amazing Spider-Man,” “Secret Warriors”), J.M. DeMatteis (“Justice League Dark,” “Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger”) and many others.

Other notable celebrities on the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con roster include the Boondock Saints trio of Sean Patrick Flanery, David Della Rocco, Clifton Collins Jr. (Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, Star Trek), J. August Richards (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Angel”), Sara Underwood (“Attack of the Show,” Epic Movie) and Brian Muir (sculptor, Star Wars, Alien).

In addition, all Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con VIP attendees will receive an exclusive variant cover of Marvel's “Amazing Spider-Man #1,” drawn by Christopher, at registration.

Wizard World Comic Con events bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con show hours are Friday, May 30, 3-8 p.m.; Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday, June 1, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

A first-class lineup of topical programming takes place all three days at the event, with celebrity Q&A's, the Wizard World Film Festival, comics-themed sessions, costume contest, movie screenings, evening parties and more. Sunday, June 1, is also Kids Day, with an array of activities and programming specially designed for the younger Wizard World fans.

Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con is also the place for cosplay, with fans young and old showing off their best costumes throughout the event. Fans dressed as every imaginable character – and some never before dreamed – will roam the convention floor, often stopping by the Show Stage, the ideal place to see and be seen.

For more on the 2014 Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con, visit www.wizardworld.com/home-atlanta.html.

VALIANT Plans Star-Studded Anniversary Celebration for X-O MANOWAR #25

– with ROBERT VENDITTI, BRYAN HITCH, J.G. JONES, JUSTIN JORDAN, PETER MILLIGAN and More!

Valiant is proud to announce that it is pulling out all the stops for X-O Manowar #25 – the publisher's first 48-page anniversary spectacular from ongoing series creators Robert Venditti and Diego Bernard, and an all-star cast of special guests including Bryan Hitch, J.G. Jones, Justin Jordan, Peter Milligan, Rafer Roberts, and more!

Before X-O Manowar steps front and center for the Armor Hunters crossover event beginning in June, he'll be celebrating 25 chart-topping, critically acclaimed issues with a special oversized anniversary issue, bursting with all-new content from the top creators in comics today, including:

• ARMOR HUNTERS: PART ZERO by ROBERT VENDITTI (Green Lantern, The Flash) & DIEGO BERNARD (Eternal Warrior)
• THE ORIGIN OF X-O MANOWAR retold by ROBERT VENDITTI (Green Lantern, The Flash) & J.G. JONES (Before Watchmen: Comedian, Final Crisis)
• Plus: all-new tales of X-O Manowar by PETER MILLIGAN (X-Force), BRYAN HITCH (The Ultimates), JUSTIN JORDAN (Dead Body Road), RAFER ROBERTS (Carpool Buddies of Doom), and more special surprise guests!

Whether you've been reading X-O Manowar since issue #1 or you have yet to pick up your first issue, X-O Manowar #25 is a can't-miss comic book event celebrating the character's past and future with a spectacular array of brand new stories! Featuring stunning shelf covers by JELENA-KEVIC DJURDJEVIC (Thor) and BRYAN HITCH (Age of Ultron), X-O Manowar #25 will also feature an Armors Variant spotlighting the different incarnations of the X-O Manowar armor throughout the ages by artist ARTURO LOZZI (Bloodshot); as well as Valiant's very first throwback cover by Valiant icon SEAN CHEN (Iron Man); and an iconic, fully painted variant cover by superstar artist TERRY DODSON (X-Men) – his first piece for Valiant!

"X-O Manowar #1 was the first issue of a monthly comic book series that I’d ever written, so I didn't know what to expect. I hoped I’d at least make it a year, and I really hoped I’d make it two.  So to be at #25 now, and to be planning far beyond, I feel very fortunate," said series writer Robert Venditti.

"When X-O Manowar #1 by Robert Venditti and Cary Nord hit shelves in 2012, it didn't just mark the return of one of the greatest characters in comics – it also marked the return of Valiant," said Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons. "Now, with our biggest story yet – Armor Hunters – just over the horizon, X-O Manowar #25 is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the incredible work that Robert, Cary, Lee Garbett, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic and Diego Bernard have accomplished."

"We're overjoyed to be celebrating our first major anniversary with X-O Manowar #25, and we're packing this issue to capacity to make sure it's the must-read milestone that this series deserves. With the Armor Hunters crossover event about to come crashing down on Aric of Dacia's world, summer 2014 is going to be the summer of X-O Manowar – and issue #25 is the perfect place to jump on board," said Valiant CEO and Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani.

Since debuting in the pages of X-O Manowar #1 in 1992, X-O Manowar has sold more than 8 million copies and featured work by a distinguished roster of comics luminaries including current Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada, former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, and comics legends Barry Windsor-Smith and Bob Layton.

Two decades later, as the first title of Valiant's 2012 relaunch, the all-new X-O Manowar #1 by Robert Venditti and Eisner Award-winning artist Cary Nord became one of the year's highest selling debut issues, warranting four sold-out printings. In the two years since, the series has continued to accrue critical and commercial accolades, including "Best Revival of 2012" by The Onion/A.V. Club, "Best Ongoing Series" by Ain't It Cool News, and a 2012 Diamond Gem Award nomination for Best Comic Book of the Year.

This May, find out why Valiant's X-O Manowar is a legend in the making, only in X-O Manowar #25 – a milestone 48-page celebration from a colossal cast of all-star talents!

For more information, visit Valiant on Facebook, on Twitter, and at ValiantUniverse.com.

 For Valiant merchandise and more, visit ValiantStore.com.

X-O MANOWAR #25 (OVERSIZED ANNIVERSARY ISSUE)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI with PETER MILLIGAN, JUSTIN JORDAN, and MORE!
Art by DIEGO BERNARD with J.G. JONES, BRYAN HITCH, RAFER ROBERTS and MORE!
Covers by JELENA KEVIC-DJURDJEVIC and BRYAN HITCH
Armors Variant by ARTURO LOZZI
Throwback Variant by SEAN CHEN
Variant Cover by TERRY DODSON
$4.99/T+/48 pgs.
COMING IN MAY!

ARMOR HUNTERS #1 (OF 4)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
COMING IN JUNE!

Comic Reviews: A Grab Bag of Stuff

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Betty Blues

    Renaud Dilles serves up this auburn-hued, smoky-shaded story of a hot-headed, jazz playing duck named Little Rice Duck.  And while his trumpet playing may be hot his dedication to playing has left his (literal) chick Betty ice cold.  Betty wants more from life than a jazz club trumpeter can give her and when you add in Duck’s inattention she is primed to leave with a fat cat who promises her the good life of champagne every day she leaves him.  Giving up the life of music Little Duck becomes a wanderer to find himself again.  Dilles has written a wonderful tale of self-realization but the stand out here is the artwork.  Each panel is draped in gold and dim orange hues that lend a heaviness to the story.  If you are looking for something a little different I recommend you give this a shot.

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I Think I Am in Friend-Love With You

    Go back in your mind and try to think of that special someone in your life.  I’m not talking about your current wife or girlfriend of boyfriend or whoever (but it can be).  I mean that one person you touched you in that special way.  That one person who, even though you knew you could never have, still gave your life meaning.  That one person who you just enjoyed sitting and talking with, sharing corny jokes with, and looked forward to getting calls from.  We all have that someone and this book by Yumi Sakugawa is dedicated to them and she uses odd, alien creatures of a non-specific gender and race so all readers can identify with them.
    The only word for this book is "cute".  If you happen to find a picture online of a baby kitten and rabbit cuddled up asleep on a fuzzy blanket in a meadow of yellow dandelions that MIGHT be cuter than this book but I doubt it.  If you are lucky enough to still have that person in your life you just want to be with and not “be with” buy this and share with them.

Madison Square Tragedy

    Rick Geary has found his niche and he works it like no one else.  What Ken Burns does for PBS documentaries Rick does for historical comics.  Rick has a talent for picking juicy, salacious tales of murder and mystery from history and presenting them in a documentary format that I love. 
    Older men love being around young, beautiful women.  That was true today and it was true 100 years ago.  Stanford White is one of New York City’s most famous architects and he loves his women young and beautiful and there is no girl more beautiful than Evelyn Nesbit.  She is a young aspiring actress and the first true supermodel.  Her face was a muse to men, capturing both a youthful innocence and a pouty sexiness that could not be ignored and Stanford White had to have her, and if that meant getting her drunk and drugging her in his private apartment (home of the now famous red velvet swing) then so be it.
    Unfortunately for Stanford White, Evelyn soon married a man named Harry K Thaw who was both insane and rich.  Harry Thaw for some unknown reason saw Stanford White and the very embodiment of everything that was wrong in the world and had for a long time.  And when he found out that his one evening that his wife had been taken advantage of by that very man something completely snapped in Harry and when the opportunity presented itself he shot Stanford in the face multiple times in public, in front of dozens of witnesses and was found not guilty.  If you love history as well as comics track down anything by Rick Geary but start with Madison Square Tragedy.

Little Fish

    People change.  The person you were is not who you are and who you are is not who you are going to be.  When you leave high school for college you get the chance, if you wish, to reinvent yourself.  Who can be whoever you want.  If you were the social outcast in high school nobody at college needs to know that you weren’t the homecoming queen and voted most popular.  The dark side of this freedom is that you will inevitably leave behind not only the life you had but those who were a part of it.  Sure, you promise to keep in touch and initially you do.  But as you begin to grow in one direction your friends grow in others and the calls become less frequent and more superficial.  
    Little Fish by Ramsey Beyer does a very good job of being written at a level for high school kids and hopefully preparing them for the upheaval that is about to come.  The problem I have is with the gimmick she uses.  You see, Ramsey likes to make lists.  She makes lists of everything, favorite rock bands, things that scare her, whatever happens to cross her mind and the book is constantly interrupted by these lists.  I counted them up and 42% of this graphic novel are pages of these lists.  I’m not sure what the official text page percentage is when a graphic novel turns into a regular book but it’s got to be around 42%.
    If this had been used less and less as the book went on to show Ramsey becoming more confident and needing the security and structure that these lists gave her than I would have applauded her creativity.  What story is there is well-told, but I am going to spend $16.00 I don’t want to just read lists.

Comic Reveiws: Anomaly

I can just imagine what it must have been like to pick up a copy of The Fantastic Four #1 off the stands or The Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns.  To sit there and read them and just know that the game has changed.  That from that moment on the art form of comics had just taken a giant leap forward and could never go back.  That is the feeling I had reading Anomaly, the original graphic novel written by Skip Brittenham and Brian Haberlin with art by Brian Haberlin and Geirrod Van Dyke.

If Avatar and The Lord of the Rings had a love child it would be named Anomaly.  The year is 2717.  Having stripped the Earth of it’s resources a handful of power companies under the banner of The Conglomerate have banded together to exploit distant planets.  The Conglomerate controls a powerful army lead by Enforcers and the best of them is Jon, at least he was the best until an accident on a planet leaves many of his men dead.  Years later he is given the opportunity to redeem himself by accompanying a group determined to try to peacefully contact another planet.  A betrayal by the Conglomerate leaves this group of humans stranded on a planet controlled by dangerous mutants and it is up to Jon to figure out how to gather the free “people” of the planet together to battle the mutants.

If the story seems a little bit basic and “been there read that” it is.  The idea of the outsider coming in and leading the natives has been in used in so many books and movies by now (the latest being Avatar) that it is almost a cliché and that’s not a bad thing.  If the formula works why change it?  The story is there only to serve as the hooks to hang all of this beautiful artwork on and after 7 or 8 pages I stopped actually reading the story and just experienced it.  It was like watching a big screen epic play out in front of me and I just had to hang on for the ride.

When you buy the book you get a free UAR (Ultimate Augmented Reality) app to download.  Just point it at certain pages and the creatures pop off the pages and perform some basic animation.  Since we are on an alien world the UAR segments didn’t feel out of place but instead kind of functioned as a moving encyclopedic guide to the strange creatures on the planet.  Click on THIS LINK for a demo to get a taste of what I’m talking about.  If you don’t have the ability to use the app don’t worry as this will not affect your enjoyment one bit.

While the book might set you back $75.00 every bit of this 12 x 16.5”, 6 pound, 370 page book is worth the price you pay.  And even though it is the longest original graphic novel ever published when it ends it STILL feels like it ended too soon.  This is easily the best graphic novel of the year hands down, period, end of sentence.  If you love comics you owe it to yourself to make sure this is at the top of your Christmas list.