Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 04282017

(The Savage Dragon #34 1996.  Cover by Erik Larsen.  Stolen from Cover Browser.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 04282017.

"The takeaway here, as I see it, as that there is no lack of customers for periodical comics, and there’s no lack of passion and energy for the format, and that there is no indication that “casual” readers won’t be interested in purchasing periodical comics (A big chunk of those “Saga” readers, like the “Sandman” wave that happened two decades before, are not normal and traditional “Wednesday Warriors”, yet there are still stoked to buy periodical comics!) – but that Marvel (and DC, largely) have harmed their own sales and chased their own customers away. There’s a problem when I sell 160 “Saga” and 16 copies of “ASM”… but this is problem of Marvel’s making over the accumulation of time." -Brian Hibbs.

• Guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys!!!  The world is spinning at 1000 miles per hour and we are all going to die!  The future's so bright I gotta wear a radiation suit!  Doomed!  Doomed!  What can save us?  Comics?  Don't be ridiculous.  Of course not.  Nothing will save us.  There is nothing left to do but, ya know, whatever you feel like doing I guess. Me?  I'm going to go to the Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine Festival in Athens GA this Saturday, April 29th.  It's going to be great.  Robert Newsome, Patrick Dean and other people will be there.  Other people!  Come find my table.  I probably won't be at said table.  I'll be walking around blabbing my mouth off about professional wresting or guitars or some other nonsense but that's okay.  Just leave a huge stack of cash on my table and take whatever you want.  It's gonna be great I tells ya.  I can't wait to hear about how great you think I am.  Thanks in advance! 

• Hey.  Are you super depressed about the world and clinging to comics as your chance for escape and/or inspiration?  Well good news, comics are super depressing too!  One of the things about comics currently giving me the sweet sweet butt hurt is Marvel's new "Digital Edition" policy.  To explain why this bothers me so much let's go back to my tender youth, way back to the year 2012 when the first The Avengers movie was on the big screen and the Avengers vs X-Men (AvsX) miniseries was on the comics stands.  At that point about the only mainstream comic I was reading was Savage Dragon but my daughter was just getting into comics.  She liked The Avengers movie ans she loved old X-Men comics so we bought AvsX.  It came with something that was new to me, the Digital Edition codes.  You could redeem these codes and read the comic you bought online or on your cell pad pod phone. You could also link your Marvel account up with a Comixology account and read them in the Comixology app.  It was around this time that the family first got cell pad pod phones so my daughter and I really dove into the Comixology app thanks to the digital codes.  The best thing was that I could buy the paper comic (because I'm an old man who loves paper) but my kid could read the same comic digitally without me buying two copies.  This.  THIS.  THIS MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE PREVIOUS TEN YEARS got me back into going to the comic shop, starting back a "pull list" and buying ongoing Wednesday floppy comics again.  My daughter and I bought stacks of them.  And thanks to the digital codes we could read them anywhere any time.  And if the last comic we read made us curious about something we could pull up related issues on the Comixology app and buy those too!  (You can't do that anymore by the way.  Amazon killed the store feature in the Comixology app because they hate making money or something.  Again, always be super depressed.)  So yeah, it was good times.  It was a brilliant offering from Marvel and I spent years yelling at other publishers to follow suit.  Only Dark Horse tried.  DC offered a version where the comic with a digital code costed more.  That was stupid and awful and embarrassing for everyone.  But the Marvel deal was good and like all good things some stupid jerks would eventually decide to make it go away.  Recently Marvel has replaced their Digital Editions with a digital code where YOU DO NOT GET THE COMIC YOU PAID FOR.  Under the previous system, if you bought five Marvel comics in one week you got a code for each of those five comics you paid for. Now, you do not get the comic you paid for.  Instead each week's shipment of Marvel comics all have the same three promotional comics.  So, if you bought five Marvel comics, you just got three digital comics, none of which are the comic you paid for.  Let me say that part again; in the past, if you bought 100  Marvel comics you got 100 digital comics.  Today, if you buy 100 Marvel comics in one week you get three digital comics.  The digital comics in question are generally the first issue of something that has recently been collected in a trade paperback.  So these comics are not a promotional tool for you to buy more digital comics, or to return to your comics shop and add a comic to your "pull list".  These are comics promoting you to by a trade paperback. Or, to put it another way, if you are a regular Marvel customer, these are comics you already own. This my friends, is a situation I refer to as total bullshit. So, here's the thing;  Marvel, I love you.  I love your nutts.  You are a big part of my life.  For years and years.  Stop making it so hard to be your customer. 
• Sigh.
• And again with the Marvel... Let me just say this as open advice for all creators; Take risks.  Be bold.  Shake things up.  Challenge your audience.  But remember, if you have to explain it, you probably already failed.  And, more importantly, remember that you do not get to tell your customers how they should feel about it. 
• Again with the Marvel part 3;  Every time I read an article like this it occurs to me that we are just one Disney executive saying, "Wait, we still publish paper comic books?" on a conference call away from the whole freaking  business being tossed into the crapper or the top characters licensed out to the highest bidder.  A publisher that is not Marvel now publishes the Frozen comics.  If Marvel can't be trusted to make money off the Frozen phenomenon why would you trust them to be able to make any money off Ant-Man or Doctor Strange?  Because they did six decades ago?  Good luck with that answer on the next investors call. 
• Also, FDR Democrat Steve Rogers forever. 
• Can there still be good news in comics?  Can there still be something to get excited about?  Yes.  Yes there can.  I'm excited about Alterna Comics' new line of newsprint comics for several reasons.  For one thing, they're gonna be super cheap with a $1.50 cover price.  And one of the series, Amazing Age, is created by pals Jeremy Massie and Matthew David Smith.  I checked out that comic in its original webcomic form and liked it a lot.  Those bros are the solidest of bros so I'm excited for what I believe is going to be a breakout book appealing to a new audience that may have missed their other stuff.   And, arguably most importantly, Smith has confirmed that the newsprint in his comp copies smells great.  The books start rolling out next week.  I'm not familiar with many of the other creators but at $1.50 I'm sure to check them out. 
• Hey.  Do you like comics?  Do you like guitars?  Do you like comics that are guitars?  I recently built a Stratocaster using the Carmine Infantino drawn issues 14 and 15 of the original Star Wars comics.  It's probably the coolest guitar on Earth.  Maybe you wanna check it out. 
• When it's time to comics we will always comics hard.
• It was twenty five years ago several days ago Sergeant Malibu told his band to play.
• Tom Scioli's new Princess webcomic is pretty rad.  Also, that Transformers vs. G.I.Joe The Movie comic he made is bonknanners. 
• Ain't no party like a wizard battle party cause a wizard battle party don't stop until one of them dies and the other wizard creates a hyper sigil making people focus on the number of rapes in the other wizard's comics instead of their valuable contributions to the medium. 
• And finally... Francis gave up candy for your sins.

• Remember pals, life is hard.  Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend.  Read comics and chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics. 
p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
p.p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  I guess it's a law or something.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 04172012

(One of my all time favorite covers by the late great Carmine Infantino.  Notice that you have your "Frazetta Pyramid" but the pyramid is turned on its side.  Which, I think says a lot about Infantino's style.  Super master level skills with everything tilted and skewed beyond expectations.  Just right outside the comfort zone.  Full of energy and a subtle edginess.  Image stolen from bipcomics.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 0417013:

"No more hurting people." -Martin Richard.

• Hello brothers and sisters.  It has been a while since the last Parade-O-Links.  I've been making my little list throughout the days and working on the column but I've just not been able to get the thing together.  I'd love to have a new Parade-O-Links up for you every Sunday morning but, my life has been challenging lately.  Times is hard.  A lot of awful things have happened.  We mourn for those we've lost.  We pray for those that have had tragedy forced upon them.  And, it's sadder each time.  You don't really get used to it.  It just piles on.  Maybe the weight of it makes you stronger and maybe you can carry the burden but the weight is there.  Heavier and heavier.  But we press on.  Ya know, I'm a guy, staying up past midnight writing about a hobby I can not afford to have.  But here we are.  We press on.   I'm reminded of a gym teacher I had at Saint Paul Elementary School.  His name was Tom Payne.  He was a character.  I remember one day, I think it was sixth grade gym class, he stood up and he said, "Kids.  Do you want to know what the meaning of life is?  All through your life you are going to hear people talk about it.  What does it all mean?  Why are we here?  What is the meaning of life?"  He turns around and he grabs a piece of chalk.  He writes on the chalkboard.  Real big.  He writes to huge words.  "HAVE FUN."
• And I don't even know what that means.  I think it's gotta be more than that.  But it's not a bad start.  Times is hard brothers and sisters.  But we press on.  If for no other reason that somewhere down the road we'll share some laughs.  And to those that try to keep us down...you've got to live with me breathin' baby.

(A panel from one of the issues of Carmine Infantino's water planet story in Marvel's Star Wars.  Image stolen from the Jedi Council at theforce.net.)

• The great Carmine Infantino passed away earlier this month on April 4th at the age of 87.  He was a lot of things in his career.  Inker, penciler, designer, art director, editor and publisher.  But to me, he was the guy that drew the coolest looking, most exciting Star Wars comics.  And to me, when I was a kid, that meant that he had the most important job on Earth.  I met him, gosh, close to 10 years ago now, and he seemed to be a sweet man.  I had him sign some Star Wars comics and he had a story about each issue.  He remembered drawing them, and remembered conversations with Lucasfilm about what could and could not be in them.  He seemed to really enjoy the issues that took place on the water planet.  They were pre-Empire Strikes Back and were a huge contrast to the desert and sterile space station locations of the first Star Wars film.  (Years later we would see a Star Wars water planet and sea dragon type creatures in Attack of the Clones but it was nowhere near as cool as what Infantino did.) That work was a good example of what Infantino was in comics.  He took what you gave him, The Flash, Batman, Star Wars etc., and pushed it a bit further.  Turned it on its side.  Skewed the perspective so that it felt like you were falling into the image.  His drawings were like a broken mirror.  It felt like if you held the paper the wrong way it would cut you.  And those lips he drew on the female characters,  you knew if they kissed you it would be fatal.  He didn't draw the stuff "on model".  He drew it better than model.
• Mark Waid spoke about Infantino here.
•  Neal Adams spoke about Infantino here. 
• The Comics Journal remembered Infantino here.
• The Gary Groth TCJ interview with Infantino here.  With an additional piece here. 
• The "collective memory" at The Comics Reporter. 
• Roger Ebert also passed away since last we met here on the Parade-O-Links. When I was a kid, Sneak Previews and At the Movies were a big deal.  Most of us just called them "Siskel and Ebert".  Other than stuff like Starlog and the TV commercials, Siskel and Ebert was about the only place you could get a look at new movies.  The main thing I took from Ebert as a critic and a writer was his enthusiasm.  A lot of critical writers hide their enthusiasm if they have any of all.  Never be ashamed of what you like.  That is just stupid.  The notion that you will get closer to the objective truth by denying your personal truth is just idiotic.  And always want the things you like to try and be better. 
• All I knew about Margaret Thatcher I learned from comics and rock music.  The lady was ahead of her time.  And by that I mean she should be on Fox News right now. 
• Another non-comics obituary I'd like to point to is that of Mrs. Ann Gregory.  She and her family bought the town newspaper from my family when I was just a baby.  She would be a great friend to my family and a positive presence in my life.  Saint Paul, Virginia is a very small town but reading her obituary I'm struck by how much she accomplished and how many people she reached through her work.  Sometimes, here in these hills, here in this valley, you feel like you can't reach beyond the hills to the rest of the world, but she did.  Her life was full of honors and titles but none of them were achieved out of ambition.  All she accomplished was out of a commitment to the service of others.  She was a very impressive person and will be missed. 
• Congratulations to this year's Eisner Award nominees.  I've been paying attention to the Eisner's for a decade or more and this might be the first time where I have a work or a creator that I'm excited about in every category.  It's kind of like, dang, they nominated my twitter feed.  Are the Eisners getting more savvy in their awareness of indie comics and webcomics or is everything mainstream now?
• The winner of comics kerfuffle of the month went to the "Saga saga".  First teh intronets thought Apple was banning things because they hate teh gays.  Then teh intronets decided maybe Apple did not hate teh gays but only hated boners.  Then the CBLDF reminded us that boners are totes legal.  But some retailers said, I don't care, I ain't selling boners.  Then Comixology came out and said my bad bro, my bad.  So now you can read all the boners you want.  I guess.  Which is kind of where we were before it all started but now a lot more people know about that Saga comic.  But it still kinda sucked.  Teh intronets everybody!  Seriously though, Tom Spurgeon summed up the more important parts of the story here.  One of the best things about this issue was that Spurgeon got to talk about boners in, I think, three separate blog posts.  So, that was a good week for me in my comics internet reading.  "Mostly, though, anyone that interprets the clumsy negotiation of a potentially troubling content policy by a corporate entity as some sort of failure to make sure that the PR image of involved business is treated with some perceived level of demanded respect is a scary person. Fuck that. Question everything. Tiny boners 4-ever."  Tiny boners 4-ever indeed.
• Boners.
• In other news, just last week, I became the owner of a cell pad pod phone for the first time ever.  That's right.  I have a "smartphone".  Mine is an android phone and the Comixology app was the first app I installed.  So no Apple store for me.  All the boners I want!
• Boners.
• Speaking of boners Comixology, remember that whole deal where Comixology and Marvel tried to give away over 700 comics to way over 700 people and it all blew up?  Well, just like they promised, they delivered this week.  I got the comics I wanted easy as pie.  Like, ridiculously easy.  Like, faster than I could eat my dinner.  I did not chose to own all of the comics but I got a lot.  A lot people.  And I'm loving it.  So, boners or no boners, high five Comixology.

(Doctor Who reads comics.  Of course.  Image stolen from Bleeding Cool.)

• The Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine fest took place back on April 6th in Athens, Georgia USA.  Sadly, I missed it.  I was going to go but things occured.  So, I did what any hard working comics blogger would do and I called up the most dangerous man in the world, Henry Eudy on my email phone.  (Which does not exist.)  Our conversation went like this:

from the desk of file under other, April 3, 2013:

Dearest Bro Duder,

Are you still going to Fluke?  I unfortunately cannot go.  Again.  Due to the horrors of going through a separation/divorce and needing to use my spare time knocking over convenience stores to pay for my kid's braces.  

If you are going, would you be interested in writing another con report for file under other for absolutely no reward whatsoever? 

If so, please send the following fax to Dave Sim:

"Dear Mr. Sim,

No one has a fax machine anymore therefore you have received this via magic and you are either a wizard, elf or troll.   Please forward this fax to Shannon Smith via your magic ways so that he will know whether or not Henry Eudy can write a con report.

Sincerely,

Gloria Steinem"

from the desk of Agent Henry Eudy, April 3, 2013:

I received the following reply by way of it being taped to the topside of a badger that somehow appeared in my living room:

"Dearest sirs,

I can't be bothered to give a damn about your completely insignificant con report. Frankly, if yours truly and my amazingly underrated and misunderstood tracings of women from Vogue aren't the main attraction at a convention, then why bother anyway? It's all too insipid. Probably a woman is behind this. What kind of name is Shannon anyway? Humph. Anyhow, I got tracings to do and rants to write. You two pansies figure this our your own selves."

Graciously yours,

David Albert Sim"

Weird, huh? Plus I think it was all written with old cigarette butts. Anyhow, I am planning on making FLUKE although I already know I'll have to bail out a few hours early to get back home for an prior engagement. Still, I should be able to experience enough for a solid con report. Sorry I won't be seeing you there. Good luck with those robberies and such.

---- H.

Sadly, Agent Eudy's mission was to be aborted due to life events happening.  Like they do.  But all hope was not lost.

from the desk of Agent Henry Eudy. April 5, 2013:

Hold the phone! I did have an idea for a perfectly good con reporter. I believe all around good guy and fancy beard grower Adam Casey will be at FLUKE. Might make a pretty good Henry H. Eudy replacement, if you ask me. 

And so it would come to pass that Adam Casey and his beard would journey to Fluke and record the important details of this most important event.  And now, dear reader, you can read the whole thing here. 

(Glorp mania takes over Fluke.  Image stolen from Shawn Daughhetee's facebook.)

• Here is a comic about how it is apparently hard to openly like things if you are a girl.  Honestly, this notion has never made any sense to me.  I just don't get being insecure about the things you like.  And I also just don't get that there have apparently been generations of girls around this world afraid to openly like video games.  I guess everyone's perception is different but I thought pretty much every girl on post-industrial electricity having Earth since the Atari 2600 played video games.  My high school girlfriend and her little sister both beat my ass at Super Mario Bros y'all.  For those of you that do not live in my reality, I offer you both condolences and congratulations depending on which you would prefer.
• There have been several of transgendered comics characters before.  You people are aware that things happened prior to six months ago right?  But, either way, high five transgendered folks!

• Do you need things rated on a points scale before you buy them?  Or, do you need to look at a points scale after the fact to validate your purchase and in turn your overall value as a human being on planet Earth?  Well, congratulations. 
• Robert Venditti and Van Jensen talk about Green Lantern.  (Hey guys, don't forget you promised to have Tomar-Re in every panel.  Thanks!  Chicken Fish Head Guy forever!)
• Ben Towle of Oyster War and many other things was interviewed at Comics Coast to Coast.
• Jill Thompson on creating the t-shirt art for WWE's CM Punk. 
• Another installment of Pádraig Ó Méalóid's Marvelman history is up. 
• Finally a jihad we can all get exited about.

• Above is a picture of the world's happiest illustrator Ashley Holt with his head on a stuffed version of The Demon.  I think Ashley had a birthday since our last Parade-O-Links.  That's as good a reason as any to post this picture.  (But I was going to post it anyway.  I think Josh Latta made it.)  I believe Robert Newsome also had a birthday since our last P-O-L.  And according to the facebook, April 16 was Brad McGinty's birthday.  Happy birthday y'all buncha geezers. 
• Josh Latta:  Social Media Queen.
• I've never been to MoCCA but I liked this piece Darryl Ayo Brathwaite wrote about it. 
• How about instead of step 5 we just slash your tires and burn your house to the ground you ignorant douche face?
• BREAKING:  Producers of the upcoming film adaptation of Dave Sim's Last Girlfriend have announced that the role of the fax machine will be played by Bradley Cooper. 
• Here's a tip for all you young copywriters: stop sucking so hard.
• Tom Spurgeon does some very interesting talking about comics at Deconstructing Comics. 
• A while back, Tucker Stone (still not dead) talked about Thanos and Judge Dredd and other things.  That Thanos comic sure looks weird.  Speaking of Thanos, one day earlier this month I was driving down the road listening to a sports talk radio station and I heard a radio commercial for Marvel's Thanos Rising.  That happened.  I swear to you that I was not under the influence.  Speaking of Judge Dredd, I watched that Dredd movie.  I liked it a lot.  Liked the look of it.  Loved the sound design.  I could listen to motors and gadgets for hours. 
• And finally...Iron Man's a drunk ya know.

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 03172103

(Conan #15 cover corrected and improved by juvenile delinquent Patrick Dean.  Stolen without permission from the Bizzaro-Wuxtry facebook page.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 03172013:

"Curation just isn't in our DNA. How are the kids gonna learn, man? You can't shut em out."  -Whoever pilots the SPX twitter account.  

• Happy belated Birthday to my daughter Kassidy Smith. She turned 11 last Sunday which was why I was too busy to ever post last week's Parade-O-Links.  She did the drawing above.  Yesterday (actually last Saturday when I started putting this post together) she worked on painting a huge Adventure Time tree house she built and she created a custom case for her iPod touch using multicolored duct tape.  Yes, multicolored duct tape is a thing that exists. 
• So, who wants some free comics?  Apparently everyone!  So, Marvel and Comixology got together to try and give way over 700 free digital comics to anyone that was paying attention.  I'm a big advocate for Comixology.  At least since my daughter got the Comixology app on her iPod touch.  So I think it was a great move for both Comixology and Marvel.  Of course it was going to crash.  I got in for a few minutes and you could add about 25 comics to your cart at the same time.  I'm sure there were people trying to checkout with hundreds of items in their cart at once.  Crash is the only way that ends.   The great and powerful Jog talked about the whole deal here and wrote about some other digital offerings.  I've checked out Panel Nine a few times but never pulled the trigger on any of it.  I'm cheap and busy.  I mainly buy and/or redeem digital comics that I can share with my daughter.  I don't think the Panel Nine stuff falls in that category.  Maybe one day when I grow up and get my own cell pad pod phone I might give it a spin. 
• And speaking of Comixology- this Submit self publishing deal through their site could be a big deal.  I've already added Too Much Coffee Man and Nathan Sorry to "My Comics".  I'm excited about it.  Lots of potential there for the self publisher.  I don't know if it's going to create any self publishing break out starts but you gotta be in the game to win and this is a nice start. 
• And speaking of digital digitalings- Codes man codes.  Bluray codes, comics, codes... I live for the codes!  Seriously.  If you don't want your codes, don't sell them, email them to me!  To pull up my comics and movies on whatever device is closest to me is great for me.  My life is a train wreck but it is awesome to be able to watch and read wherever my post crash cadaver lands. 
• But ya know, paper is still pretty great too.  Oh if only there were a way to read paper comic books for free. 
• I'd like to take a moment to beg you to do things.  Do you like file under other?  Do you like the Other Comics News Parade-O-Links?  I sure do.  And I'd like to keep them going.  But dang, the way my life is right now, I probably have less than four hours a week not consumed by my job and parenting duties.  (And I'm gonna spend one of those watching Justified.)  So, it would mean a lot to me to feel like there was a point in spending that time writing about other people's comic books.  Especially when the only thing in life that holds any real interest for me other than my kids is the dream of making my own comics.  So, hey, um maybe share this website on twitter, or the facebook, or G+, or the tumblr, or the reddit or maybe even the next time you come in contact with one of the flesh humans you might use your talking parts to share the news.  I know it sounds pathetic and desperate to ask you to do this but, trust me, I don't know anything about "driving traffic" or "building an audience" or any of that crap.  Maybe you do.  Maybe you can help.

(The best magazine cover ever stolen from Plaid Stallions.)

• If by some miracle I get this posted on time and if by some miracle you got out of bed and read this on Sunday morning... you might still have a shot at getting a table at SPX.  Online registration starts at noon.  I suspect all the tables will be gone by, oh say... noon.  So, good luck.  If it is not yet noon when you are reading this, here is the registration walk through.  I believe that this will be the registration link.  But don't take my word for it.  You should have probably already been following SPX on the twudder.  It's a great show and I hope to go.  I can't afford the table at the moment.  One of the kids needs braces so I guess I'll pay for that instead.  But I do hope to make the show so good luck getting a table and make sure to bring some cool stuff for me to look at.

 

(People.  I really love this drawing of Speedball by Daniel Spottswood.  This is not a news link or anything.  I just really like it.)

• The cast and crew of file under other wish Kim Thompson all the best.  We met him at SPX once and he was swell.  Plus, he herded all the cats at the Comics Journal message board for years.  I appreciated that. Oh, and comics.  Comics are good too.  We need Kim Thompson.  Get better real soon. 
• A lot of thoughts were thunked, discussions were discussed and blogs were blogged after the great comics creator Jerry Ordway posted some thoughts on how hard it is to get work in comics at his age.  Which is just stupid, because there are probably less than three comics published by DC right now that would not be instantly 200% better if Ordway were either the artist or the writer on the book.  The Challengers of the Unknown comics Ordway did last year were, in my opinion, the best looking comics the New 52 has produced so far.  With the exception of Capullo's Batman, I think they may be the only comics in the new 52 where the characters have had the same faces in panel five as they did in panel 3 on any given page.
• Mark Evanier also had some thoughts on the issue.
• And Tom Bondurant said some smart things. 
• And Gerry Conway, he thinks things too. 
• Look, there were a ton of links to the Ordway thing.  I'm late on this but let me just say Ordway is great and literally, no crap, I have and I will buy whatever you the comics publisher people of the world hire him to draw.  Love his stuff.  I'm not going to hunt the link but some editor said something to the effect that they could not imagine Ordway drawing all those lines on Superman's current garbage sack costume.  There is so much about that statement that is infuriating to me.  For one, if the job is to draw stupid lines on a costume then Jerry Ordway will draw the lines and make them look great because the man is going to deliver.  Secondly, that's your freaking problem for giving Superman a crap Jim Lee costume.  Thirdly, that's just your lack of imagination and CAPITOL F YOU IDIOT you are mentally disabled.  If you can't imagine a guy that has delivered at the highest level for 30 years delivering one more time then what the FFFF is wrong with your thinking box and how the FFFF are you in your job?  So your customers are going to lose out on great work because of your lack of imagination?
• F!
• Tumblr is the enemy and must be destroyed at all costs.  (But in the meantime, please follow my tumblr.) 
• Kickstarter will save us all.  (Except that it probably won't.)
• Those Bill Sienkiewcz New Mutant comics were amazing looking.  I had not idea what to make of them when I was a kid but I've been trying to get as many of them as I can find when I dig through the dollar boxes at shops and cons. 
• Here is a great story about a 60s commercial artist getting hired to do 60s commercial art in the year 2013.  
• Hey.  If you ever get to make a movie about a huge group of characters, all of which were created by one man... please, please, remember to invite that guy to the premier of the movie.  

• Just above these words is a convention sketch I did of Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant riding a shark in outer space.  I always wonder what happens with those con sketches.  Well, this one inspired a story in an ongoing webcomic. 
• That Superman lawsuit that was totally over?  Maybe it's not over.
• So, like Commissioner Gordon is going to have a cell phone?  Alfred rants about Downton Abbey?  
• I'm typing this while listening to this.  
• Hey, it's Crogan Adventures comics you can read with your ears!
• Check out this super great poster Jost Latta done arted up.  You can buy one or twelve.  Josh as been knocking out some very impressive Avatards lately as well.  You should check 'em out. 
• This is a bit old now but that Gary Groth interview Tom Spurgeon did was very good. 
• CGR talked to Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson because it was women's day or month or something.  I like comics by both of those ladies a whole lot.  Women?  I guess they are pretty okay. 
• Jamie Hernandez talked to Hazlitt.
• This George Lucas art museum thing looks like it could be spectacular.  Ziah Grace at Comics Alliance wrote about it here.  From what I've heard about Lucas's comics collection, if he put just part of that in there it would be maybe the best comics museum in the US.  Maybe?  I hope it happens. 
• New comics from Gabby Schulz boys and girls!  Here he returns to the credit union.  And here are some comics about the boys in blue.  That Schulz, he sure loves the police. Oh no terrorism indeed. 
• This Kickstarter for some Steve Ditko comics already met its goal but you can still get in on some good stuff. 
• March MODOK madness!
• I'm pretty sure everything in my brains already came from comic books.
• That Michael Deforge cover is neat-o mosquito. 
• There is still a little time to get in on Retrofit Comics subscription deal.  If I had any money at all I would.  Maybe I'll see some blood this week. 
• I'm very angry about the cancellation of Green Lantern and Young Justice.  I have a lot of cartoon based anger these days.  Why does a TV show have to sell toys?  See, that's not how TV works-  You make good TV that people like then you make your money by selling advertisements.  Gumball toys sold = zero.  Level Up toys sold = zero.  Incredible Crew toys sold = zero.  Total Drama Island toys sold = zero.  Johnny Test toys sold = zero.  And, now is as good as time to point out that Annoying Orange is the worst thing that has ever happened.
• I've got a lot of Star Wars based cartoon anger too. 
• Look I've got two kids.  I watch a lot of Disney television.  Let me make this perfectly clear to you.  This is an indisputable fact.  Disney hates cartoons. Don't expect Disney to give you MORE Marvel or Star Wars on TV.  Before being bought by Disney, Marvel had 5 cartoons on the air or in the works.  Right now they have one with two more on the way.  Before being bought by Disney, there was one, very, very, very good Star Wars cartoon on TV with another on the way.  Now there are zero.  People, have you seen that Jessie TV show?  Disney TV shows are awful!  What did you expect?
• I'm also angry about Google Reader going away.  At least 70% of this post came from my Google Reader feed.  If RSS really does die then I guess I'll have to start blogging about facebook advertisements. 
• Not even going to talk about Sullivan's Sluggers.

(Maybe the coolest Spider-Man I've ever seen.  And I've looked at Spider-Man every day for over three decades.  Drawn by Rafael Grampá.  Stolen from Dean Trippe.)

• Them Star Wars movies were a-okay.
• Back when the kid writing the comics was younger than the heroes' sidekicks. 
• My God it's full of Kirby.
• Astro City is making a return.  That is a series I never got into while it was actually happening but later read a bunch of the trade paperbacks thanks to the local library.  Good stuff. 
• Hopefully never.
• This Vertigo timeline was very surprising for me.  During the time when The Sandman was a phenomenon it seemed like the run lasted forever.  Or at least a decade.  But I guess it was only really three years. 
• Ya know.  The more I think about it, Jack Kirby might be the only person in the past 70 years of US comics that never read a single word Stan Lee wrote.
• POW... SUPERHERO FAN!
• Shut up and stop everything.  Sal Buscema drew new ROM.
• Men, if you’re feeling a bit queasy at the idea of so many beloved characters suffering rape –  if you’re feeling creeped out by someone enthusiastically arguing in favour of them being raped because it’s too bad if it upsets you, it’s realistic… Well, hi. Welcome to the world of women.
• And finally... Vatican the Gathering?  Vatican 360?

Oh, and happy Saint Patrick's day and all that.  Totally forgot.  (Since it was not Saint Patrick's day when I originally typed all this.)

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

file under digital comics: The Surrogates: Case Files and Bandette

(Image stolen from The Surrogates: Case Files #1 on sale here.)

I've been on the fence about digital comics for a long time.  More accurately, I've been about 50 yards away from the fence thinking about if I should walk over and look at it or not.  I've been waiting to see if other people get on that fence and how hard they land if they fall off.  I read paper comics and webcomics every day but digital comics have failed to lure me in.  I don't have a cell pad pod phone so the apps and incentives mean nothing to me.  But, reading comics on a laptop is okay.  I read webcomics on it every day.  I've used my laptop to read a few free pdfs here and there and a few free samples on Comixlology but I have not felt compelled to pull the trigger on buying digital comics.  Until this week.
  

I've noticed over the past week or so (mostly thanks to twitter word of mouth) that a lot of indie publishers have been getting into the digital comics game with a new enthusiasm.  To pay full print cover price for a Justice League comic I can read on my laptop has not been a sales pitch I'd buy into.  But to pay $1.99 for a new Surrogates story from Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, sure, I'll do that.  

I got The Surrogates: Case Files #1 from Top Shelf and read it through Comixology.  For just $1.99 it was a really solid and substantial comic.  It's a self contained story so it did not leave me empty.  I'm a big fan of the previous Surrogates stuff and the writing and art live up to that standard.  The story is a police detective mystery with a Surrogates world sci-fi twist.  I loves me some sci-fi so I'd be glad to have another dose of this every week.  This story is a prequel to the other Surrogates stuff so we get to see Venditti take his time and develop the Harvey Greer character as he is still learning the ropes.  
Weldele's strength is his use of light and color and, I really hate to type this but, his art may work better on a lighted digital device than it does on paper.  Gasp!  I mean, just look at the image I sampled above.  It is fantastic and I don't think it would have the same punch on paper.  
The purchase was easy.  The read was enjoyable.  As they make more, I will be reading them.  And by the way, if you have not yet read the two Surrogates graphic novels, you can go do that right now at the very low digital sale price of $2.99 each. 

(Image stolen from Bandette #1 on sale here.)


Over at MonkeyBrain Comics they also have a bunch of neat looking digital comics for super cheap.  I checked out Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover.  It is a lot of fun.  It looks and reads like a Richard Sala comic.  To be more specific, it looks and reads like Sala's Cat Burglar Black.  Which is fine by me because I loved that book.  My daughter also loved Cat Burglar Black and has been asking me forever when another volume was going to come out.  Bandette could be Cat Burglar Black volume 2 but sadly I won't share this with my 10 year old just yet.  It has about one line of potty mouth and one panel of legs up sexy time that are about one percent outside my threshold for what I'll let her read.  And that's a shame because I think it would be her favorite comic.  Bandette is a young female adventurer/bandit (get it, bandit, Bandette, haw!) with a group of partners that include a scooter riding delivery guy,  five street hooligans and three ballerinas.  Ideas for comics don't get much better than that. 


Both of these digital comics reading experiences were fun for me and left me excited to read more.  I think price point is super important here.  My digital purchases will never be like Wednesday comics shopping.  Or at least I don't think it will.  It won't be a destination thing where I say, today is the day I shop for digital comics.  Like almost all of my internet shopping since there has been an internet, it will be an impulse thing and price will be critical.  It's like any other product, if I feel I get my money's worth, I'll keep coming back.   


Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.