Results tagged “comic books”

As it is zombie week it would be wrong if someone didn’t take the time to mention what has become the biggest event in the comic book world this year. DC Comics huge Green Lantern crossover mega event Blackest Night is dominating the comic book sales charts each month. Written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Ivan Reis, the eight issue series is crossing over into all of the monthly Green Lantern titles as well as many of DC’s other core monthly books.
Just what is Blackest Night, and what does it have to do with zombies? Watch the video below for a little teaser and then jump to learn more about the series and find out how you can download a free copy of the Free Comic Book day Blackest Night issue 0 (cover to the left).

Introduction by Jackie Kessler:

I used to watch The Electric Company when I was a kid, and there was a terrific segment on it called “Spidey.” Spider-Man would appear on the scene to help people — but he “spoke” only in dialogue balloons, so the other people had to pause and read the content of those balloons aloud to have a conversation with him. Cool idea, one that helped kids like me want to read. (But I wound up thinking for the longest time that Spider-Man was mute. Oops.) After “Spidey” came actual comic books, which I read with my dad every week, from the time I was 8 until I went to college. (Yes, swapping an issue of The New Teen Titans for, say, an Avengers West Coast was a family tradition.)

Even though I stopped reading comics religiously, my love for all things superhero never went away. When I met Caitlin Kittredge, I was psyched to discover that she and I were both fangirls at heart. And so we decided to write our own superhero novel, one that focused on two women: Jet, the superheroine who worked with shadow, and Iridium, the supervillainess who worked with light. To best use our voices, Caitlin wrote all the Iridium-POV chapters and I wrote all the Jet POV chapters. The result? BLACK AND WHITE, the first book of The Icarus Project.

There are a few other Icarus project stories that Caitlin and I wrote. And now, for the first time, you can find them here at Suvudu.com.

“Canary Code” after the jump!

It’s one of the biggest events going on during Comic-Con: the Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards, or “The Eisners” for short. It honors some of the best of the best working in the industry and pays tribute to the most well-known of names (like Mike Mignola) to the integral but sometimes overlooked comics workers, like those nominated for Best Lettering. It’s an opportunity to celebrate, educate, and have a little fun.

So why is so little written about them?

Well, here at Suvudu we’re trying to bring the Eisners to you in a big way. We ran a shakedown of many of the Eisner categories, we tabulated our results, and we filmed the ceremony. Now it’s time to bring the show to you. This year’s show brings some humor to the preceedings as well as a few of those big names. It was an interesting awards ceremony and now it’s your turn to see how it all went down.

With that in mind, let’s start the show. And the nominees are…

Patton Oswalt Presents the Best Publication for Kids & Best Publication for Tweens/Teens

Patton Oswalt opens the awards with a touch of humor and some minor difficulty with name pronunciation. We can’t fault him there. Check out the awards and speeches in the video below.

Jackie Kessler, co-author of Black and White, and Diana Rowland, author of Mark of the Demon, set off across the San Diego Convention Center to talk to Superheros great and otherwise. Their question was simple, “Are supervillains evil or just misunderstood?”

Here is what they found:

These past few days I’ve been manning the “booth,” or the small space between the Del Rey and Crown booths to be more precise, and haven’t been able to get out and about very often. Today, that changed as my mission morphed from hand out bags to anyone who asks for one (meaning just about anyone with a pulse) to wander around and blog the Con. And while our bags are well made and wonderful, the latter mission is much more exciting.

So, I was able to break away for about 30 minutes this morning before running off to snap a few shots of Terry Brooks’ autograph session*. Here are a few things I saw during my all-too-brief running wild time:

The Life-sized Bumblebee

The Transformers are more than 20 years old now, but no less cool than when they first transformed and rolled out. This Bumblebee is more than 25 feet tall, towering over the convention floor. You can see he’s standing next to a mock-up of the TF:Animated Blitzwing. Sweet. If you’re a fan of the films, you might also want to know that Alan Dean Foster (author of the Pip & Flinx novels) has been writing the novels for Del Rey. He also wrote a pretty sweet between-the-films books, The Veiled Threat which fills in the time between the movies with additional goings-on in the Transformers universe.

So, we’ve seen that Comic-Con isn’t just about the comics, but did you know that it’s also a huge networking convention? Actually, yes, you probably did. To cut down on the confusion and impose a little order, Comic-Con International is nice enough to provide a Portfolio Review area (PR) where companies will speak with up-and-comers and review portfolios and, on occasion, interview you for a job on the spot.

So if you’re looking to break into an industry, attending Comic-Con might just be good for you career! How sweet is that? Anyway, what follows are a list of programs you may wish to attend if you’re trying to break in. Then, after the jump, comes a guide to the portfolio review area.

There’s a lot of information here, so let’s just jump right in. And of course, good luck to all of those out there who plan on bringing their portfolio - get out there and rock it!

Programs To Help You Break In

Thursday, July 23
10:30am, Room 4: DC Talent Search 1 [more]
3:30pm, Room 6DE: Marvel: Breaking into the House of Ideas [more]
3:30pm, Room 30CDE: Andrew Pepoy’s Professional Networking Seminar [more]
4:30pm, Room 7AB: Workshop: Creating Creator-Owned Comics the Image Comics Way [more]

Friday, July 24
10:00am, Room 4: DC Talent Search 2 [more]
10:00am, Room 32AB: From Fan to Creator: Goal Setting for Creative Types [more]
3:00pm, Room 30CDE: Impact University: How to Write and Draw Comics and Graphic Novels [more]

Saturday, July 25
10:00am, Room 2: How to Get a Job in the Video Game Industry [more]
10:30am, Room 4: DC Talent Search 3 [more]
1:00pm, Room 18: How-To Session: Matt Busch [more]
4:00pm, Room 30CDE: Building Your Art Portfolio [more]

Sunday, July 26
3:00pm, Room 32AB: Full-time Creative Work on a Part-time Schedule[more]

As readers of Suvudu know, we are proud to launch Del Rey Comics with the adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s THE TALISMAN. The comic will be adapted from the novel by Robin Furth with pencils and inks by Tony Shasteen, colors by Nei Ruffino, and cover paintings by Massimo Carnevale.

We’re so excited about this book that we have created a special black and white preview edition of issue 0 that we will give away for FREE at San Diego Comic Con. Come by the Del Rey booth, #1129, and ask for your copy.

Not going to comic con? The full color issue 0 will be available in comic shops around the country on October, 21 for $1.00. Find your local comic book shop at comicshoplocator.com.

We also want to know what you think of it. Please email us at delreycomics@randomhouse.com

G.I. JOE vs COBRA: The Essential Guide is on sale today!

A true labor of love for author Pablo Hidalgo, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, and myself, G.I. JOE vs COBRA is a fun look back at the need-to-know history behind the epic clash between G.I. JOE and COBRA-and the origins of the heroic team that became the ultimate name in action. This book contains classified intelligence about all of our favorite G.I. JOEs such as Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Hawk, Duke, Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Flint, and Stalker along with dossiers on nefarious villains such as Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness, Storm Shadow, Zartan, and many more.

G.I. JOE isn’t just about cool characters, it’s about awesome cutting edge vehicles as well. Whether the battle is on land, sea, or air (even space!) G.I. JOE and COBRA are guaranteed to roll out the heavy weaponry. The motor pool gives us a look at G.I. JOE’s VAMP, AWE Striker, MOBAT, Killer W.H.A.L.E., and Skystriker XP-14F just to name a few along with COBRA’s Rattler, F.A.N.G., H.I.S.S., and so many more.

Breakdowns of some of the most dangerous and daring missions as well as a special sneak peek into IDW Publishing’s new line of G.I. JOE comics round out this lavishly illustrated full color book.

Any one who grew up with G.I. JOE and COBRA or has kids who are familiar with the toys today is going to have a lot of fun reading this book.

Now you know…and knowing is half the battle.

Jump to see page spread samples from the book.

Robin Furth is one of the more interesting people I have met.

I mean, how could she not be having once been Stephen King’s personal assistant!

I bet she has stories galore!

Being an expert on all things King-related, Robin has been tapped to fulfill some of King’s creative endeavors. She has plotted four Dark Tower comic book series, bridging the time period between Wizard & Glass with The Gunslinger. She has also been hired by Del Rey Books to write the comic book adaptation to the Stephen King and Peter Straub novel The Talisman, which I am really excited about since that is one of my favorite books!

I sent Robin a short interview a few weeks ago, just to get her initial thoughts on the new project and how it was going.

M-O-O-N! That spells interview!

Suvudu: Where are you at in The Talisman project?

Robin Furth: So far I’ve written a prequel, which we call Issue 0, a detailed overview of Talisman Graphic Novel Volume I (that’s issues 1-6 of the comics, and Parts I and II of the novel), as well as the panel by panel breakdown and the script for the first issue. I’m working on the script for the second issue now. I’m really enjoying this adaptation, though I must say I bite my fingernails every time I hand in a script. In some ways Issue 0 was the scariest. As you can imagine, it isn’t every day you’re asked to write the backstory for a novel that you love! And to make the whole thing even scarier, I wrote the script and then—after the editors had gone over it and given their very helpful feedback—it was sent directly to Steve King and Peter Straub to get their approval. They gave it the thumbs up, and I think I nearly passed out with relief. I won’t tell you what happens in Issue 0, except that it takes place while Jack’s dad is still alive. Since in the actual novel Phil Sawyer’s memory is a big influence on Jack, I thought it was really important for new readers to learn a little bit more about him. It was also a great way to bring in all the flashbacks that we’re told about in the book but which we would have a very difficult time fitting into the comic books.

My overview for the first six issues took a LONG time. I think I had the editors a little scared! I can work quickly when I have to (and in comics, your back is often up against the wall since deadlines are all-important) but sometimes I really feel that to do the story justice I have to take my time and think things through. Since in comics the old adage show, don’t tell really holds true, I had to spend a lot of time deciding which scenes were crucial, and then how I could get additional information into those scenes, so that readers of the comics would get the ambiance of the original novel. Then, as the editor Betsy Mitchell can attest, after the dialogue was written, we had to go back through and chop half of it away, since I had the characters talking so much that the letterer would have had a heart attack!

S: What have you liked so far about adapting Steve’s and Peter’s book?

Norman Osborn. The Green Goblin. One of Spider-Man’s greatest foes and a diabolical fiend that rivals the evil of DC Comics’ Lex Luthor.

And Norman be a stormin’ through the Marvel Universe!

Like all great villains, Norman doesn’t see himself as one. He is a benefactor. And after the events of the Civil War that gripped the Marvel Universe, Norman is now in a position of power to shape the course of the United States—and the world. Through machinations of his own making, Norman is now seen as a darling by the media and he uses his new position to form the Dark Avengers to begin destroying the superheroes many people in America have come to fear.

Thus begins Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1!

Here is the summary:

The Dark Avengers take on the Uncanny X-Men! Kicking off the 6-part crossover event, rising star Matt Fraction (UNCANNY X-MEN, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN) is joined by X-artist supreme Marc Silvestri (X-MEN: MESSIAH COMPLEX, CIVIL WAR: THE INITIATIVE ONE-SHOT) to bring you a story that shakes the foundations of the Marvel Universe. When mutant riots break out in San Francisco, Norman Osborn declares martial law and sends the Dark Avengers in to quell the riots and take down the X-Men. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t miss the first Avengers/X-Men crossover in over 15 years!

Now, I rarely read comic books anymore. Seen it. Done it. But every once in a while, usually a twice or three times a year, a group of creators come together to tell a story that really peaks my interest.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia is one such story.

It features my favorite artist, Marc Silvestri, doing what he does best. He will be doing the artwork for the first and sixth issues of the arc. And the story of Norman Osborn as he goes after the X-Men with the Dark Avengers is just too good to pass up.

Click HERE for a six-page preview!

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 goes on sale today!

Check it out!

Since today is Father’s Day, Newsarama has posted The Top 10 Best — and Worst — Dads in Comics!

Comic books have some great father-son/daughter relationships. The purest dynamic has always been the relationship between Pa Kent and his “adopted” son Clark Kent, the former teaching the latter what it truly means to be a good human being. But the most interesting to me has always been the conflict between Norman Osborn (The Green Goblin) and his cowardly son, Harry.

What is your favorite?

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!

I cannot believe we are already in June! It seems just yesterday when I was at the February NY Comic Con and had the chance to meet, interview and hang out with Stephen King comic book writer Robin Furth and The Talisman artist Tony Shasteen!

Remember the NYCC Suvudu videos?

- Robin Furth
- Tony Shasteen

Well, since February, Robin and Tony have been hard at work on The Talisman, the comic book adaptation to the long-time bestselling novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub!

The Talisman #0 will launch the series on October 21, 2009, but those who are attending the San Diego Comic Con will get the true first look at the comic book series, where Del Rey Books will be giving away FREE black and white copies of Issue #0!

We also now know who will be supplying the comic book adaptation cover artwork and who will be supplying the interior coloring! Thanks to the Official June 16th Press Release, we know Massimo Carnevale (Y: The Last Man) will be supplying the cover artwork! He is an extremely talented artist and makes an excellent and award-winning addition to the creative team. And coloring the black and white artwork supplied by Tony Shasteen will be Nei Ruffino, who is currently working on Supergirl and Green Lantern for DC Comics!

The exclusive Comic Con The Talisman #0 can be found at the Del Rey booth (#1129) this July 22-26! To get it, you will have to attend the convention!

Or know someone who is going!

More to come soon!

I grew up reading comic books.

The New Teen Titans was probably my favorite (I got positively giddy when I was recently watching TT with my sons and saw a Wolfman-scripted episode), with X-Men a close second. (My bat mitzvah present? X-Men #94 - 100 in mint condition. Best. Present. Ever!) But I loved pretty much all superhero comics: the Avengers (remember the West Coast title?) and the Incredible Hulk (when he was green — no, gray. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!) and Batman and Wonder Woman… The list goes on. When I got older, I branched out into Vertigo titles, with some Image and Dark Horse thrown in there. (Best villain ever? Hunter Rose.) But in my heart of hearts, for me, superheroes are about sitting down with my dad every Saturday and swapping the latest comic book titles.

Yep, I grew up reading comic books. So it was probably inevitable that I’d write about superheroes one day. With BLACK AND WHITE (written by me and Caitlin Kittredge) now on the shelves, I thought I’d visit my local comic book shop and reminisce, and possibly buy something for my own children. They’re sort of young to get started on the family tradition—the Precious Little Tax Deductions are seven and five—but hey, it couldn’t hurt to do some reconnaissance. And maybe buy some things.

Imagine my shock and horror when I stood in the comic book store and felt totally lost.

Today Newsarama posted a preview of the comic book adaptation to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time! This will be a Herculean effort by the Dabel Brothers, the breadth of Jordan’s series going to require hundreds of issues to bring to life.

Issue #1 is the start! To view the preview, click HERE!

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time #1 will be released June 24th!

M-O-O-N! That spells adaptation!

As reported HERE in February, Del Rey Books will be adapting The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub into a monthly comic book series, to start releasing at the end of the year!

And since it was announced the project has been moving forward!

The Talisman is definitely one of those foundational books that make up who I am as a whole. I first read it after I had read the first two Dark Tower books and the connection between them could not be ignored. And like the Dark Tower series The Talisman is filled with great characters—both good, evil and in between—and the settings are wondrous. The kid who still lives within me and who yearns to visit the Territories is excited to see the tale of Jack Sawyer come to life!

Tony Shasteen, the artist Del Rey tapped for the project, produced character sketches before the first page of the comic book was produced, each one of them sanctioned by King and Straub. In February we showed you Morgan Sloat and Speedy Parker.

Well, Tony, Del Rey, and StephenKing.com have released the next three!

Visit HERE to view the character sketches for Lily Cavanaugh, Jack Sawyer and Phil Sawyer!

A lot more will be coming in the next few months concerning the adaptation of The Talisman, so stay tuned!

M-O-O-N!

Len Wein.

Recognize the name? If you do, then you probably know what I want you to do next, so you can just skip to after the jump.

If you don’t recognize his name, then you surely recognize some of his comics industry credits.

Editor of Watchmen. Former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics. Co-creator of Wolverine. Co-creator of Swamp Thing. Writer, at some point, of practically every super-hero you’d care to imagine. Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame inductee. Basically, a living legend in our comics community.

On April 6, 2009, Len Wein lost most of his home to a fire. He, his wife, and son are unhurt, although their dog Sheba died in the fire. And while reports are that he is doing as well as can be expected, most of his possessions have been destroyed.

Insurance will help get the house fixed, but Wein’s collection of comic books he’s worked on—the artifacts of a long career in comics—will not be.

Unless we help.

A month ago Bruce Wayne went to that great Bat Cave in the sky, leaving Batman fans wondering what was going to happen to Gotham and its other heroes. After all, Batman is the glue that holds them all together but just because Bruce Wayne is no longer around doesn’t mean someone can’t wear the bat costume, right?

This coming June 10th, fans will discover who is the new Batman!

Visit DC Comics Solicitations for all other June 2009 comic book releases!

And after more than a year of believing Captain America dead at the end of Marvel’s Civil War storyline, it looks like Cap is coming back on June 17th! How is this possible? Only Marvel has the answer, True Believer!

Visit Marvel Comics Solicitations for all other June 2009 comic book releases!

Altogether, it looks like June is shaping up to be a great comic book release month!

What are you looking forward to?

The Dabel Brothers really started something years ago.

They decided adapting high profile sci-fi/fantasy novels into comic books could possibly be lucrative, reaching a fan base that enjoy such projects.

They were right. They had a string of successful adaptations. Now, after it has proven it can work, other companies like Marvel Comics (The Dark Tower by Stephen King) and Del Rey Books (The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub) have begun adapting books into comic books as well.

The original adapter hasn’t quit.

Dabel Brothers just released a Sneak Peek of the first 10 pages from their forthcoming adaptation of Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The pages are only inked, but they showcase very good art by Chase Conley. And with comic book writing legend Chuck Dixon scripting the series, Jordan’s work is in capable hands!

If the final book in the Wheel of Time series is released this year, 2009 might be the year of Jordan!

And the Dabel Brothers will have a hand in it.

For Superman, life is never easy.

He protects Lois Lane, his city of Metropolis, the United States, the world, the galaxy and, dare I say, the universe at times. He has encountered hundreds of foes—some human, some metahuman, some alian—all wishing his destruction. He has caught dozens of cars and held them aloft. He has carried the massive orb of the Daily Planet on his shoulders numerous times, the symbol of the most important paper in Metropolis!

For graphic novels, life hasn’t been easy either.

In the mid 20th century, comic books were primarily children’s reading. The stories were simple, geared toward that age group, and only a few titles were available. Over time those children grew into reading adults and the landscape of the comic book field began to change, the youngish stories of the past evolving into more complex storylines and grayer characters. Societal and cultural elements creeped in, producing stories with more literary merit. The comic book grew into the 21st century.

For all of those years and even now, there are people who believe the comic book is a lower form of entertainment, beneath novels and movies, still meant for children or the immature. They believe comic books are not literary tales merely wrapped in a different medium. To their argument, some comic books aren’t. Just like some novels are not. Just like some movies are not. Comic books, to them, are colorful representations of our youth and hold no meaningful realization of life’s truths.

The New York Times—the Daily Planet of our world—has now changed that belief, at least partially!

Last week the NY Times announced a new bestseller listing—graphic novels!

Those of you who read comic books in the 90’s will know why this variant cover of Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #3 is just so cool!

Adam Kubert, who is one of my favorite comic books artists, gained a huge name for himself when he began penciling Wolverine #75 more than 15 years ago. He was quickly acknowledged as being one of the best pencilers in comic books and the readership on Wolverine went through the roof, returned to the splendor of the Marc Silvestri penciling days years before.

After a long run on Wolverine, Adam went to pencil The Incredible Hulk for a lengthy run as well. I was sad to see him go as I am a big fan of Wolverine but it was a great fit. Adam brought the Hulk a new readership and I loved his take on Bruce Banner and his massive alter ego. I stuck with that book as well for a long time.

What some of you might not know is the relationship between the characters Wolverine and Hulk.