Comic Art Show

This Friday (1/5/07) there's a new show opening at the Mad Art Gallery called "Famous Fictional". A slew of talented local artists were each asked to do two portraits, one of a famous comic character and another of a character from popular literature.

Brian Hurtt, Matt Kindt, Anchovy, Dan Zetwoch, Ted May, Sacha Mardou, Jason Robards, Kevin Huizenga...(it keeps going). Expect to see some unique and interesting takes on everything from Holden Caulfield to Doctor Doom, since most of these guys are working slightly outside of their regular element.

The opening night reception will run from 7 to 11 at 2727 12th Street in Soulard. Be there or don't!

-Nick

More BSG Goodies!

I see Ben told you all about the awesome Galactica statue we got in this week. That's cool.

But did he tell you about the new BSG comic that came out this week? No, I didn't think so. BSG: Zarek shipped this week, along with issue 4 of the regular series, and I have to admit it was pretty cool. And yes, while the main story does focus on Tom Zarek, they also did a really good job of showing the culture and enviroment that shaped him. And in this case that means the Twelve Colonies, the events leading up to, and including, the first Cylon war. And I admit, I really didn't like Zarek's character much when we first encountered him, or even as he was during the second season of the show. Much better third season character though. Richard Hatch probably just has a better idea of who Zarek is at this point.

Back to book though, I am really glad I picked it up. It shows why the Cylons were created in the first place, and why some of the Colonies came through the last war better then some of the others. And that the last war was much more conventional then this one. But all in all, if you're a fan of the show, I highly recommend it, for the cool history lesson if nothing else.

-Dan

BSG Galactica Statue

We got a lot of terrific stuff in yesterday. More variety in comics than I've seen in a few months, even. But the coolest thing we got yesterday has got to be the BSG Galactica Statue.

The 15” long resin statue showcases the Battlestar Galactica down to the smallest details as it was created with the digital production files used on the series. It can be configured with landing bays extended for recovering Vipers or withdrawn for jump. Galacica sits on a pedestal that's actually the Galactica Emblem. It's pretty weighty, and definitely solid enough to hold the entire ship.

I've decided I'm getting one for myself. Now they need to release a Basestar.

-b

Riverdale Facelift

As we all know, today's comics industry is different in many ways from that of yesteryear. It used to be that fan turn-over was so high stories could be recycled every few years and no one would notice; comics were strictly for kids and something that readers "grew out of". Now, fans stick around for a lifetime. Comics are for grown-ups just as much as, if not far more than they are for kids.

With the exception of Archie and his pals. Between the unabashedly cartoony art and the "golly gee" storytelling, Archie comics are hard to enjoy after you hit puberty. But that's not necessarily a bad thing; personally Archie still holds a place in my heart. But of course, things always have to change.

Archie's publishers are going after a slightly more mature audience with a brand-new "realistic" look. Gone are Jughead's comical nose and paper crown, the mysterious tic-tac-toe shape in Archie's hair. Artist Steven Butler depicts the teen inhabitants of Riverdale (and probably Mr. Weatherbee, too) like real people, of all things.

Don't panic yet, though. According to Editor Victor Gorelick, the new art will only appear in one 4-part story in Betty & Veronica Double Digest (beginning with issue #151) to test the waters. Readers' reactions will dictate if Butler can keep his job drawing the new and-- ahem-- improved characters. And the official word on the future of the old style is that it's here to stay. The cartoony Archie will remain at the root of the books, at least for the forseeable future.

I think they should do it manga-style! Betty would be adorable. And Dalton is halfway there already. OK, maybe I still do love Archie comics. But I'm a grown-up, I swear!

-Elizabeth

What If...

Apocalypse Now?!?

What if the Age of Apocalypse was even more dire and devastating than the original alternate reality? Its hard to beleive it could be any worse, but leave it to Marvel to make the Apocalypse suck even harder. Thats right, in the upcoming What If? - Age of Apocalypse mini-series things are looking really bad for the X-Men (This is where you ask when are things not looking really bad for the X-Men?). So how bad could it be? Well, in this tale of woe not only is their no Xavier but there is also no Magneto, thus there is no one left to form the X-Men and stop the rise of Apocalypse.

Those mutants that have survived in Apocalypse's twisted world must band together under the leadership of young Nate Gray (an alternate reality version of Cable) to find some sort of escape from this horrible reality. Confused yet? That means you've never read the original Age of Apocalypse epic. Don't worry though, we have the whole graphic novel series here at Star Clipper and I highly recomend this to not only X-Men fans but comic readers interested in genuine epic storytelling in the vain of AKIRA or even BONE. A helpful hint for reading the original Age of Apocalypse series is to start at book 2, thats where the story actually begins.

So go catch up on what has become arguably the most popular story arc of X-Men history and then pick up the What if? - Age of Apocalypse mini #1 due out according to Marvel on 12/27. Yet, since Marvel has entered the Age of Delays you might be checking this one out next year.

Anywho, make mine Marvel anyway!

-Jon

Ellis' Second Life

Warren Ellis announced that he will be doing a column about Second
Life for the Reuters news service. He seems pretty excited about the
new job, because of his "fascinations with the future, technology,
and digital living".

Lost? Second Life is, according to Wikipedia, "a privately owned... 3-
D virtual world". Not the kind of virtual world where you ride a
white tiger and kill goblins. The kind that has an economy, live
music, and 20,000 people logged on at any given moment.

Maybe Warren Ellis can look toward our virtual future with
excitement, but it scares the bejeezus out of me. Some people play
Second Life so much, it takes precedent over their, well, first life.
Which is fine for them, but if this is the future of humanity, I'm
logging out now. Sheesh.

-Elizabeth

Christmas Postings

Sorry for the delays in posting folks. I'm off in sunny California visiting family for the holidays while the rest of the staff is working their butts off dispensing Christmas cheer...so I'm not really pressuring anyone for blogs.

So postings will be kinda limited until after Christmas. Everything should be back on track then, tho!

Thanks for bearing with us.

-Ben

There Are Four of Them, Anyway...

Unless you a) haven't read Civil War and b) are living under some sort of large rock (if you fall into one or both of these categories, I guess a SPOILER ALERT is in order), you know that the honeymoon is more or less over for Sue Storm and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Since "The Fantastic Two" just doesn't have the same ring, many people have been wondering what will become of the super-team. Thanks to a slip-up at the Marvel offices, we may have an answer.

According to Newsarama, the cover image to Fantastic Four #544 was leaked online and then quickly pulled down. Not quickly enough, however; many people saw the cover by Michael Turner and noticed something different in the line-up. On the cover, The Human Torch and The Thing are joined by a married couple-- Storm and The Black Panther.

The post-Civil War FF will begin in March, and Dwayne McDuffie will be writing with Paul Pellitier on art. If this leaked info is true, it will mean a huge change for the Fantastic Four, and shows that Civil War is having real effects in the Marvel Universe. And it is an interesting choice; Reed and Sue were the sweethearts of Marvel until being torn apart by the Registration Act, and Storm and Black Panther are set up to be the new dream couple (after all, theirs was the "Wedding of the Century").

And, as was pointed out by Dan, Black Panther books are getting awesome. Hopefully this carries through into the Fantastic Four title. And hopefully it's better than McDuffie's work on Beyond!, because... yeah.

-Elizabeth

Holiday Hi-Jinx

So I was looking for a new holiday desktop, to replace my Spider Jerusalem one. And I happened upon this little gem on the DC site.

So Far everyone has had something different to say about it. And in that same vein, we're gonna do a caption contest. Just leave a comment on this post with your funniest one liner. That's it. There's no real prize for this other then proving yourself the wittiest person on the Star Clipper blogs. C'mon, that's worth something, isn't it?
I'll even go ahead and start if off for you:

"Never bring a snowball to a comet fight"

&

"That's not snow.....

It's marshmallow fluff!"

Have fun, nothing too dirty.

-Dan

Arthur: Not Just an Aardvark

If you haven't read Arthur yet, you should. It's a new magazine that calls itself "a review of life, arts, & thought", and has been heralded by The Gaudian as "the American counterculture's answer to the New Yorker." And what better time to pick it up than now; the Winter 2006 issue includes a brilliant essay by Alan Moore on the history of pornography.

In the essay, Moore takes us from the Willendorf Venus (a fertility statue dated to 25000 years ago) through the work of cartoonist Robert Crumb. It's definitely an educational read, if you're at all familiar with Moore's writing you know he's not shy about his ideas.

The new Arthur also has an extensive story on Joanna Newsom, music reviews, and lots of cool stuff you didn't know about. Check out the website if you don't believe me. And did I mention it's FREE? Yes. That's right. You can come pick it up and read the articles and even take it home for zero dollars. Well, what are you waiting for?

-Elizabeth

Your Moment of Zen-Like State

This explains in so many ways why Batman is cooler then Superman.

-Dan

It's A Zombie Christmas!

God, these things just don't stop, do they? It's literally a wave of undead crashing down on us. Not only do we have new comics, such as Chris Ryall & Ashley Wood's Robots VS. Zombies, but now we're getting zombies on CD! Now you all know I loved the book World War Z, and I can't wait till the movie comes out, but until then we have World War Z Audio Book. OMG I can't wait to get this! They pull a full cast out for it, with actors such as Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner, Alan Alda, John Turturro, Henry Rollins, and Mark Hamill. The five disc set clocks in at about six hours, so obviously there is a bunch that they had to cut, but that's okay. This is the type of book perfect for cutting actually. You don't absolutely need to know about the bodies infected with diseased organs, or the guy who profited from them. You don't need to know the first hand accounts of the guy in Johannesburg, or was it Cape Town? I don't really remember. But, if you put in the battle of Yonkers, the guide from China, the two guys from Japan, and several others, you still get the broad strokes of it. You can also hear what I assume are excerpts on the website, WorldWarZ.net This is must buy for any zombie fan!

Remember, no place is safe, only safer. Organize before they rise.

And if there's any of you wondering what to get me for Christmas, this would do nicely. Or a nice [Adult Swim] hat, those are pretty sweet too.

-Dan

Lenin Dunny

Its a Communist Manifestival !!!

Yes, its true, the ghost of communism that haunted Europe way back in 1848 has returned, and now its haunting Star Clipper. Actually its not really a ghost but a Dunny, close enough though. This Dunny, created by designer Frank Kozik (remember those cute Smorkin' Labbits), has taken the ghastly form of famed Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin. That's right, Kozik designed a Dunny after a deseased communist leader that had his preserved dead body on display in Red Square for decades. Cool Huh!

Ironically, Kozik is noted for his unabashed support for American capitalism, making his Lenin Dunny a paradox at best, but who cares. Collectors of the world unit!! Seriously though, the Lenin Dunny was released in very limited quanity so get it while you can.

However, for those proletariat types looking to instigate the revolution, don't forget to also pick up Marx for Beginners, a great companion piece for reading Marx's actually texts. This illustrated book is pure fun but also accurately condenses Marx's body of work. Trust me, after reading Capital I wish I had had something to break up the tedious writings of Marx. And it will make a great gift for those liberal professors of yours.

Until next time, viva la revolución!!

-Jon

Another New Best Book (To Me At Least)

I had heard that the new run of Black Panther was pretty good, but not being familiar with the character, I kind of wrote it off. I never read much Marvel when I was a kid, except for X-Men, and never Avengers. Add to that, he just never made any sense to me. How does a supposed monarch get all this time to go off and play super-hero in another country, halfway around the world from his own. It just didn't make sense. But I read the two Civil War issues that just came out, and I must say I was really, really impressed.

The current issue was probably the best Civil War issue I had read to date. It was that good! It also made me think, if this was that good, how good might the rest of the series be? And don't get me wrong, it does have some week points, but overall, really fantastic. I think the first book, Who Is The Black Panther is going to be one of my new favorites. Its a brilliant stand alone story that tells you absolutely everything you need to know about the character and his entire world. Just what comics needs more of really.

Rorschach Goes to the Movies: Take Two

A few months ago I wrote a blog to grumble about the announcement of Watchmen: the Movie. Here's the second installment (I know I should just stop paying attention to this project-- but it's like a trainwreck. I just can't look away from the horrible carnage they'll make of the book).

As we all know, when it comes to movie adaptations of great works of literature, leaving details the way they appear in the book is a laughable concept. Like costumes. Apparently the costumes for the heroes in Watchmen are just not good enough for the 21st century. And who better to update the looks of the Silver Spectre and Night Owl from frumpy to foxy than Mr. Adam Hughes?

That's right; the man behind the upcoming All-Star Wonder Woman has been chosen to sleek-ify the Watchmen to satisfy the fashion appetites of today's movie-goers. Hughes isn't letting slip which characters he'll be making over, but it's not going to be everyone. Will we get a new and improved Rorschach, perhaps? Goodbye trench coat, hello track jacket! And The Comedian? Shoulderpads are soooo 1987!

Hey, nothing against Hughes. He's a great artist, and I'm sure he'll make everyone look very nice. But come on. It's not enough to make The Watchmen into a feature film; they have to update it, too? Two thumbs down, Hollywood.

-Elizabeth

Fantastic Four Rides Again

I'm not a big fan of superhero movies. I think we all know that by now. But, I can't help be fascinated by them right up until the moment they come out. I guess it's all the design stuff, all the concept drawings and such. So next years Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer is the current object of fascination for me. Right off the bat I can't help but be excited by the prospect of the Silver Surfer and Galactus. So far we have not gotten any pictures of either, but they are rumored to be coming soon. This past week they did give out the picture of the new Fantasticar, which does look pretty sweet. Apparently rumors have Dodge paying a million dollars to have their logo on the front. Not too bad actually. Think about how much getting your car into something like a Bond movie costs. Anyway, probably the best part of all this was how I found out about the car. I first heard about it on Newsarama, but that was really just a link to the USA Today article. But the really funny part was what they said about the guy who designed the car. Both credit it to Tim Flattery, who Newsarama credits with designing the Batmobile in the new Batman Begins. However, USA Today is the one who actually gets it right, crediting Flattery with the design for the much less cool Batmobile in Batman Forever. I shall never trust Newsarama again.

-Dan

Doctor Who meets Heroes

I'm sure many of you have heard the rumors circulating about Christopher Eccleston, The Doctor from season one of the new Doctor Who joining the cast of NBC's Heroes. Any Doctor Who fan is surely super-excited about this, as Eccleston was arguably the finest Doctor in Who history. David Tennant is great, but he's not half the Time Lord Chris Eccleston was.

But I digress. The rumor has been confirmed by none other than TV Guide; Eccleston will be playing an invisible man on Heroes starting with the January 22nd episode. Apparently, the character has had powers for longer than the current main cast; he's been dealing with invisibility issues "for years" according to Tim Kring (creator of the prime-time hit).

If you're a Doctor Who fan and not yet a Heroes watcher, I suggest you catch up for this. You can find all of the episodes of Heroes so far over at NBC.com for free viewing (pretty cool, huh?). And if you're already a dedicated Heroes fanatic and haven't yet seen Chris Eccleston in action, the complete first season of Doctor Who is now out on DVD. If you don't love it, you weren't paying attention.

-Elizabeth

Gift Lists!

Did you know you can get registered here at Star Clipper? And no, I don't mean registered as in Civil War, that was months ago, and if you haven't registered for that by now it won't be Santa coming down your chimney at Christmas. No, I'm talking gift lists! Yes indeedy! And it's pretty easy to get you signed up for this actually. First of all, you gotta have an account here, student, book club, whatever, you just have to be in our computer. Second, get a list together of all the cool books, t-shirts, vinyl toys, and what-nots you want. Bring that list here to Star Clipper, or e-mail it to me, dan@starclipper.com. We'll put your list into our computer, and then your friends and relatives can come by and pick out something you'll really dig! And remember, you're not paying for it, so why not put down the big stuff like Absolute Sandman, or the New X-Men Omnibus. Who knows, you might find out someone likes you more then you thought! Happy Holidays!

-Dan

Old Super Heroes

French installation artist, Gilles Barbier has a piece called Nursing Home which features life-size, hyper-real sculptures of our beloved, "timeless" comic characters in their elderly years. Check out that Wonder Woman in these details.


And here's a total non sequitur that I just thought deserved to be linked to...Paul Robertson's "Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006" is an awesome pixel art tribute to video games of yesteryear with some kickass music. What it lacks in plot, it more than makes up for in awesome

-Nick

Nilsen, Bell, Huizenga

Thanks to everyone for making the signing last night such a success! It was terrific having such a great group of talented young artists at Star Clipper.

Here's a quote from someone who stopped by:

"Also a big thank you for having such a fine trio of young artists at your store, It is always exciting to meet new talent, and makes the buyer, me, feel that I have spent my money now and in the future on real people with something to say!"

If you didn't get a chance to meet them, make sure you take a look at their latest work. Curses was recently named by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a top book of 2006. Be sure to check out Gabrielle Bell's amazing 'Lucky' hardcover and Anders' heart-wrentching 'Don't Go Where I Can't Follow.' You'll love the terrific new titles coming out of Drawn & Quarterly's presses these days!

-Ben

X-Men Legend Dies

Dave Cockrum passed away this past Sunday at age 63. He had a long career in comics but was most famous for revamping the X-men and turning it into a success (the first time) in 1975 with Giant-Size X-men #1. He and writer, Len Wein, created Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and many others for Marvel. Of course, he never saw any royalties off of it, which might be why he was wearing Superman pajamas and a Batman blanket when he died.

No, he did get his start drawing Legion of Super Heroes for DC. And Marvel deserves some credit for trying to help him out with his medical bills recently. In 2004, when he was diagnosed with diabetes and pneumonia, he was nearly broke. Some of his friends in the industry helped him by contributing artwork to auctions for his benefit. In August, the Comics Journal reported that artist Neal Adams had "suggested the publisher might be willing to salve its corporate conscience by offering Cockrum the sort of bonus arrangement it had offered other creators" and that Marvel had come to some sort of undisclosed mutually beneficial agreement with Cockrum. Probably secret because they wanted to help out, but didn't want to open the door for all their other creators to come looking for their checks.

Cockrum hadn't produced comics in a number of years but was going to produce 8 pages for Giant Size X-Men #3 in 2005. Unfortunately, a recurrence of his health problems prevented it. His last drawing was a sketch he did for a fan at a small convention in Greenville, SC, where I was born and raised.

-Nick

Comic Book Mix Tape

With the holiday season in full swing, its always helpful to have a good suggestion of a meaningful gift to give to your loved ones. So with the spirit of do-it-yourself gifts in mind, I suggest making a comic book mix tape to go along with all the graphic novels you give out.

So here are the directions. First, you are going to need to buy a blank cassette tape (a blank CD will work but it's not nearly as cool!) Then write a list of superheroes that might have songs about them, or that refrence them, and try to find those songs in your collection to put on the tape. Its as simple as that.

O.K. so making a full tape of songs about superheroes is harder than i'm letting on and you are going to have to put a bit more effort into it, but isn't that what makes do-it-yourself gifts so great. If you're having trouble let me get you started. Here are five awesome comic related songs that should go on the tape:

1. Weezer - In the Garage (X-men Kitty Pride and Nightcrawler)
2. The Ravonettes - Attack of the Ghost Riders (Ghost Rider)
3. Gnarls Barkley - Transformer (The Transformers)
4. Veruca Salt - Spiderman\'79 (your freindly neighboorhood Spiderman, all 70's out)
5. Donovan - Sunshine Superman (Superman and Green Lantern)

If you are still having trouble here is a helpful website that list tons of songs just about superheroes.

So when your loved ones unwrap their Dr. Strange and Howard the Duck Essentials books make sure they can also listen to T-Rex and the Pretenders sing songs about them as well.

And feel free to post your favorite comic songs and share in the trivial fun.

Rock on comic readers!

-Jon

HBO Gets Preacher!

Vertigo's Preacher comic, one of the best series ever published, has moved around Hollywood a bit recently. Kevin Smith's production company was attached to it for a minute, with James Marsden, X-men's Cyclops, cast well in the title role. But it slipped away (like every other comic property that Kevin Smith's gotten his fat fingers on)

Now its found a new home, with HBO snatching up the license. Sounds great right? HBO doing vertigo comics? That's fantastic. Well, yeah, but they're giving it to Daredevil and Ghost Rider writer, Howard Deutch and director Howard Deutch, who did Pretty in Pink, the Melrose Place pilot, an episode of Caroline In The City, and a couple of crappy sequels to crappy movies.

Series creators, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon will be executive producing, so hopefully they'll be able to maintain the integrity of their story. Either way, lets hope its a hit and HBO (and maybe Sci Fi) will start tapping more comic series like this for the small screen, which seems better suited to the medium than movies.

-Nick

DC's at it Again!

I'm sure you've all heard me say it before, about how no matter what type of story you want to tell, DC has a place for it. Well now they are adding another new imprint to their stable, the Minx line. Minx will be targeted to young girls in their teens, much as most of the DCU is targeted towards teen boys. Instead of a regular comic format, these will be OGN's slightly larger then regular manga size, and are going to come in under ten bucks. Think of something like "My Faith in Frankie" if you've seen it. Which was written by Lucifer scribe Mike Carey, also purported to be writing for the new line. Karen Berger, Senior VP and Executive Editor, Vertigo, will be heading up the imprint with fellow Vertigo alum Shelly Bond. Berger, one of the top editors in the industry, is responsible for us getting such books as Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Y the Last Man, and the Vertigo imprint itself. Interesting side note, if Vertigo was it's own publishing company, they would be the fourth largest American comic publisher, behind Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. The accompanying panel is from The P.L.A.I.N. Janes, the lead off book set to come out in May of 2007. While I may not be the target audience, I can't wait to see how this all turns out. C ya!

-Dan

Everything Old is NEW Again!

I so got the chance to read NEWUNIVERSAL this week. I had read some of the old New Universe books when I was just getting in to comics. And I reread the ones I still have when I heard this was coming out. And you know what? They were crap. Total crap. Maybe they weren't all crap, but the ones I have are. So I was skeptical going in to NEWUNIVERSAL. Well, not that skeptical since it is Warren Ellis, but Salvador Larroca on the art did not assuage my fears in the least. And I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the watered down tones that Larroca uses instead of the garishly bright colors in the X-Treme X-Men books I read. Which by the way, are not that bad if you skip over all of Claremont's synopsis captions. Can we get an editor for this guy? Sheesh.

Anywho, back to NEWUNIVERSAL. While this is obviously an Ellis book, it's also obviously a work-for-hire book. Ellis always brings his own style to something, but I guess I just really like his stuff better when it's his original idea. Such as Transmet, or Orbiter. But it does deliver the goods in the end. The idea is pretty simple, giant light in the sky, "The White Event" as they call it, and all over the world people start to discover they have superpowers. Straczynski probably would have been my pick to write it actually since he did very similar stuff in both Rising Stars and later in Supreme Power. But that's just splitting hairs. I am genuinely interested in character Justice this time around though. Again, since I didn't read how the original stuff started I don't know if his origin is the same or not. Hero cop shot in the head and waiting for his third surgery, the white event gives him the ability to know all a persons crimes just by looking at them. And some sort of ability to make things appear. Maybe. Still not sure on what happened there.

But all in all, a good read. I give it solid B+ for the first issue. One of my Picks of the Week for next week. NEWUNIVERSAL, written by Warren Ellis, with art by Salvador Larroca ships from Marvel this coming Wednesday, December 6th.

-Dan