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18 March 2006
[comics] The Vendetta Behind ‘V for Vendetta’ — another article on Vendetta and Alan Moore from the NYT … ‘[Moore] resides in the sort of home that every gothic adolescent dreams of, one furnished with a library of rare books, antique gold-adorned wands and a painting of the mystical Enochian tables used by Dr. John Dee, the court astrologer of Queen Elizabeth I. He shuns comic-book conventions, never travels outside England and is a firm believer in magic as a “science of consciousness.” “I am what Harry Potter grew up into,” he said, “and it’s not a pretty sight.” Actually, he more closely resembles the boy-wizard’s half-giant friend Hagrid…’ [via BeaucoupKevin]
[comics] D for Vendetta — Wired News Review … ‘From the start, Larry and Andy Wachowski, the Matrix brothers, pack Vendetta with literary, religious, political and pop culture references: the Sex Pistols and The Girl From Ipanema, The Count of Monte Cristo and Beethoven, Twelfth Night and Benny Hill.’
17 March 2006
[comics] Jonathan Ross reviews V for Vendetta: ‘Despite postponing the release date from last November to allow more time for post-production work, the film looks cheap and lacks any sense of time or place. Throw in Matrix veteran James McTeigue’s flat direction and you have a woeful, depressing failure. If it had been called V for Vasectomy I could scarcely have found it a less enjoyable experience…’ [via Haddock]
16 March 2006
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9 March 2006
[comics] Alan Moore interview available on BBC2 Website — basically a “beginners interview” with Alan Moore but worth watching.
[comics] Reminder: Alan Moore Interview on BBC2 Tonight at 7.00pm — According to the Alan Moore Fan Site Jonathan Ross and Iain Sinclair are to make contributions…
7 March 2006
[comics] BeaucoupKevin looks at the origin of the Silver Age Lex Luthor … ‘Pay attention to Luthor’s dialogue immediately after the accident. He’s furious at Superboy for fucking up the experiment. His going bald is completely secondary to the fact that he was trying to do a brother a solid and got bitten in the ass for his troubles.’
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6 March 2006
[comics] The Random Chick Tract Generator — Is it just me or do Random Jack Chick Comics make more sense than real ones? [via Progressive Ruin]
3 March 2006
[comics] Alan Moore to be interviewed on the BBC2’s Culture Show next Week — Thursday 9th March at 7:00pm … ‘A rare TV interview with Alan Moore, the unsung genius of British writers, and acclaimed author of the graphic novels V for Vendetta and Watchmen’ [thanks Graybo]
[comics] ‘$1m a minute to film? No problem’ — Neil Gaiman discusses the relationship between comics and movies … ‘Last week an interviewer asked me whether I thought that the recent success of superhero movies meant that we might see a world in which comics that don’t include the capes-and-tights brigade might also have a chance at making it onto the silver screen. “You mean comics like Road to Perdition, Ghost World, Men in Black, A History of Violence, Sin City, From Hell, American Splendor…?”‘
28 February 2006
[comics] Comic Events and Exhibitions Calendar — for the UK, Europe and the US – compiled by Paul Gravett. [via Pete’s Linklog]
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23 February 2006
[comics] Batman Kicks al Qaeda’s Ass — Metafilter discuss Miller’s Holy Terror … ‘If Batman turned his attention to anything outside of punching Gotham crooks in the nuts, said problem would be resolved toot-sweet, certainly in less than 200 pages. Unless, of course, he punches each and every member of al Qaeda in the nuts, which would easily fill 500+ pages of nut-punching glory. Batman’s insane and a perfectionist, so that could happen…’
21 February 2006
[comics] Interview with David Lloyd — the artist of V for Vendetta discusses the comic, the movie adaptation, Alan Moore and comics generally … On V (the comic): ‘Its theme is universal. It sells all over the world – or over lots of it, at least. It’s about tyranny, the right of the individual to be individual, it’s about terrorism…’
17 February 2006
[comics] Grant Morrison’s International Guide To Living Fabulously — report on meeting Grant Morrison at Isotope Comics in San Francisco … ‘He was immediately thronged by young worshippers and fanboys. Some wished only to press the flesh of the man who wrote The Invisibles, while others had 10 or 12 comics stacked up waiting for autographs. We lurked and waited for the throngs to die down. The most impressive thing to me was just how much patience and genuine interest Grant had with each of his fans. He was always smiling and eager to talk, even egging people on with questions of his own when they were too star-struck to speak.’
15 February 2006
[comics] WonderCon ’06: Holy Terror, Batman! — details on Frank Miller’s new 911-inspired comic … ‘Miller doesn’t hold back on the true purpose of the book, calling it “a piece of propaganda,” where “Batman kicks al Qaeda’s ass.” The reason for this work, Miller said, was “an explosion from my gut reaction of what’s happening now.” He can’t stand entertainers who lack the moxie of their ’40s counterparts who stood up to Hitler. Holy Terror is “a reminder to people who seem to have forgotten who we’re up against.”‘
[comics] Grant Morrison on Batman: ‘Morrison said Batman coming out of 52 OYL will be a more of a “fun guy, more healthy”, more like the “Neal Adams, hairy-chested, love-god” version of Batman.’
14 February 2006
[comics] Getting a lot of traffic today: Batman Valentines Day Card … ‘I fight a war that can never be won. I strive toward a goal that can never be reached. I am haunted. I am relentless. I am tortured. Won’t you be my valentine?’
12 February 2006
[comics] Wondercon ’06: Grant Morrison Spotlight — GM update from Newsarama. ‘…about issue #4 [of All-Star Superman], Morrison said readers will see a transvestite Jimmy Olsen on page one.’
8 February 2006
[comics] Mutants in Mega City One Video — a video of Carl and Suggs from Madness performing as the Fink Brothers from Judge Dredd. Contains bits of the video for the song plus a confused appearance by them on a Saturday morning kids TV program called Saturday Starship circa 1985.
2 February 2006
[comics] The Dark Knight Returns — interview with Paul Pope (from Wired). On Batman: Year 100: ‘[Batman’s] mask symbolizes the last hope against a corrupt government encroaching on individual privacy. “He’s someone with the body of David Beckham, the brain of Nikola Tesla, and the wealth of Howard Hughes, who is pretending to be Nosferatu,” Pope says.’
1 February 2006
[comics] Are you a Red Dupe? — An important announcement from Haunt of Fear #26… [via Pete’s Linklog] 
29 January 2006
[comics] The Story Behind the Microsoft Font Comic Sans — It’s all Frank Miller and John Constanza’s fault: ‘I started with the font drawing software Macromedia Fontographer, trying to make the capitals in a similar form as the lettering used in DC, Marvel and all other company’s comic books. The Dark Knight Returns a Batman book was one of the books I referenced often.’
28 January 2006
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25 January 2006
[comics] Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly — interview with the creators of Local from the Onion AV Club … ‘It’s possibly rather implausible that any human being would travel and live in 12 cities in 12 years, but I knew people that did stuff like that. They’re just very aimless, and just were always moving somewhere. So hopefully it’s not too implausible.’ [via Sore Eyes]
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16 January 2006
[comics] The Day the Powers Died — When did Brian Michael Bendis jump the shark? … ‘What was the point where it all went south for Bendis? The answer was actually much easier than I’d guessed. The fucking monkey issue of Powers.’ [via Neilalien]
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13 January 2006
[funny] Jimmy Corrigan Condensed — Chris Ware parodies JC. [via BeaucoupKevin]
12 January 2006
[comics] 911 in Comic Books — webpage looking at how comic books portrayed 911. Includes the black covered issue of Spider-Man which has Doctor Doom shedding a tear… [via Metafilter] 
11 January 2006
[comics] I Heart Pixels — the sketchblog of R Stevens of Diesel Sweeties Fame. [via The Daily Chump]
[comics] Fell #1 — Warren Ellis’ new comic available online with art from Ben Templesmith. ‘Detective Richard Fell is transferred over the bridge from the big city to Snowtown, a feral district whose police roster numbers three-and-a-half people (one detective has no legs). Dumped in this collapsing urban trashzone, Richard Fell is starting all over again. In a place where nothing seems to make any sense, Fell clings to the one thing he knows to be true: Everybody’s hiding something. Even him.’
10 January 2006
[comics] Michael Avon Oeming takes on Warren Ellis — interview between the two comic creators … ‘I come to the pub to work, not to talk. A fan once tracked down the pub I work in, and came in asking questions. When I arrived, everyone was very tense. He didn’t realise there were three large blokes behind him ready to stamp on him if he moved funny. He turned out to be a very nice guy. But they’re kind of protective of me here.’
7 January 2006
[comics] Drawing Fire — Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson describes why political cartoonists should never give out their email addresses. ‘…every time I draw a cartoon critical of George Bush my inbox gets inundated with a tidal surge of hate mail. I’m not alone, of course. Steve Bell gets it too. In fact the first piece of digital bile I received asked me why I drew Mr Bush as a monkey, when he was the president of the United States of America and I was just a schmuck. I politely replied that I never had, and that my correspondent had got the wrong lefty cartoonist. I got a reply saying I was an asshole anyway.’
3 January 2006
[comics] Warren Ellis Audio Interview — check out the Alan Moore section  … ‘No Warren. Don’t tell me about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Film. I might cry.’
28 December 2005
[comics] They Dealt with Dan. Now Dana and Yasmin target Dennis — the Guardian looks at Children’s Xmas Comic Annuals … ‘Al Notton is not convinced that comics of any kind have a future. “I was speaking to my seven-year-old nephew about comics recently, and he said, ‘Uncle Alan, what’s a comic?'”‘ [via Bugpowder]
13 December 2005
[comics] Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Weblog — the infamous anti-comics crusader has a posthumous blog (he died in 1981) … ‘Flooding the market with love-confession comics is so successful in diverting attention from crime comic books that it has been entirely overlooked that many of them are crime comic books, with a seasoning of love added. Unless the love comics are sprinkled with some crime they do not sell. Apparently love does not pay.’
9 December 2005
[comics] Comic Book Habit — from Toothpaste for Dinner … ‘I found this comic book in your room… before this becomes a habit, I want you to think very carefully about this, and ask yourself if you want to get addicted…’ [via scans_daily]
6 December 2005
[comics] Interview with Brendan McCarthy … ‘I was sitting in a taxi with Grant [Morrison] – we’d got pissed at a comic convention and he was saying he couldn’t think of a headquarters for the Doom Patrol. So I said – what about the Beatles in a Hard Day’s Night? They used to live in that house where they were all connected together. I don’t know if you remember the sequence, but the Fab 4 lived in 4 terraced houses that were basically hollow inside so it was one giant house. So I said – why don’t you make it so that they live on a street and the street moves around and hides among other streets? It fit into the surreal Doom Patrol style? We started talking about streets and I said – you know what’s bugged me all my life? It’s that that the singer Danny Le Rue – he’s basically called Danny the Street – isn’t that just a fucking weird name? Why don’t you call it Danny the Street and make it a transvestite cross-dressing street?’
5 December 2005
[politics] CIA Sabotage Manual — used in Central America in the 1980’s – reminiscent of Jack Chick. [via jzw] 
4 December 2005
[comics] Intellectual Marijuana: Comics and their Critics — an essay on the perception of comics by “intellectuals” in America during the last Century. Marya Mannes: ‘Every hour spent in reading comics is an hour in which all inner growth has stopped.’ [thanks John]
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2 December 2005
[comics] The Dawn of Dilbert — online version of the original Dilbert submission package which Scott Adams sent to various cartoon syndicates – includes 50 Strips … ‘Synopsis: Dilbert is an engineer. He is about thirty, and works at an undisclosed high-tech company in Northern California. He lives with his dog, Dogbert, who bears a striking resemblance to Dilbert (including glasses and the ability to speak). Dilbert is very intelligent and kind-hearted, which makes him particularly ill-suited for life on this planet. Dogbert is also intelligent, but with a cynical edge. In contrast to his master, Dogbert has such a simple, yet keen understanding of human nature that his perceptions seem ridiculous to Dilbert.’
1 December 2005
[comics] Where’s Barry? — Barry Allen isn’t Dead. He’s just Resting… ‘Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, has been called “DC’s first official saint.” He died saving the entire universe, after all, and to avoid cheapening that sacrifice he is likely to be one of the few comic book characters whose death will actually stick. However, his virtual sainthood has led to Barry being sighted as often as Elvis…’
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29 November 2005
[comics] I’ll Thank You Not To Call My Collection Of Sequential-Art Erotica ‘Dirty Comics’ — a classic Onion: ‘…your familiarity with comics is so limited, you couldn’t identify Aquaman’s wife without recourse to the Justice League FAQ! To think I believed you capable of appreciating the works of the finest erotic artists working in the medium today!’
25 November 2005
[comics] Amazing Heroes #176 Cover — in an interview Grant Morrison points out the Greatest Ever Line in Comics: ‘It was really a traumatic period, crammed with adolescent horrors. But all the stuff in St Swithins Day has come out of that time. The whole strip is lifted from my teenage diaries. I actually found the greatest ever line in comics in one of those diaries. It’s the first time that a character has ever just sat down and said, “Why am I such a wanker?” That came from the 1979 diary, some tortured moment on the M6.’ (from Feb 1990)
17 November 2005
[comics] Grant Morrison’s Six Rules for Writing “All-Star Superman” … ‘PLAY CLARK AS A ROLE WITH A GOAL – We’re playing Clark as a big, clever country guy who’s used to wide-open horizons and who can’t seem to move in a confined space without knocking something over. The real wizardry is in Frank Quitely’s art, which captures a lot of physical nuances and subtle body language that previous Superman artists have often overlooked in their portrayal of Clark. He’s not just Superman with glasses on. He’s a performer. He allows Superman to experience humility, among other things.’ [Related: Official Preview from DC]
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