Friday, December 8, 2023

As Dark As December – This Week’s Links

December 08, 2023 Philippines , Pinoy 0 Comments

Using a fishing pole to flip the number back to zero on the sign marked ‘days since a divisive figure upped sticks and moved all their titles to a different publisher (which incidentally is now owned by a media conglomerate currently liquidating and divesting itself of various recently acquired companies and studios) with media rights to said titles held by a big-name streaming platform’ - it’s not a sign that necessarily updates as regularly as the weekly links, below, but it’s a sign of the times nonetheless.

This week’s news.

• Starting yet another week in the courtroom, as William Crabtree’s lawsuit against Robert Kirkman is headed to trial, albeit in truncated form, after a judge ruled that claims regarding co-authorship of Invincible were outside the statute of limitations, but that portions of the suit regarding the invalidation of a contract Kirkman allegedly tricked Crabtree into signing, and the possible breach of an oral contract regarding payments relating to the comic and its adaptation for other media, should ultimately be decided upon by a jury.

• Elsewhere, Getty Images’ lawsuit against Stability AI has been allowed to progress to trial in the UK, as the visual media company seeks to prove that its copyrighted images were used in the training of Stability’s Stable Diffusion text-to-image generator - Stability had sought to argue that nobody involved in that work was based in the UK, but social media posts appeared to invalidate that claim.

• Closing out this week’s legal triptych, Penguin Random House, Iowa’s teacher’s union, and various authors have filed a lawsuit against the state of Iowa over legislation banning books featuring any description or depiction of sexual activity, or references to sexuality and gender identity, from public school libraries and classrooms, arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

• In other semi-related news, Scholastic released an update on future plans for its book fairs, after a backlash to plans regarding the siloing of titles with themes of diversity and representation caused a rethink by the publisher - Scholastic will now discontinue the proposed Celebrating Voices Collection, which schools could choose to excise in its entirety, and instead incorporate these titles into the wider selection delivered to all schools, with the decision as to which books will be offered for sale to students left up to the schools themselves.

• Finally this week, Koyama Provides announced their next wave of grants, meant this time round as “encouragement to persevere” to artists, rather than being linked to specific projects, with $1500 awards given to Bishakh Som, Shira Spector, and Maurice Vellekoop.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Helen Chazan reviews the deft discipline of M.S. Harkness’ Time Under Tension - “Being among the few people that still read books—the ones with pictures anyway—Harkness’ stories don’t feel small to me. They feel immense. She is larger than life for us, and we believe in her. Her artistry reaches us.”

• Tegan O'Neil reviews the dynamite visuals of H.A.'s The Chromatic Fantasy - “So, you know, The Princess Bride with intermittent bouts of hardcore gay sex between trans men. It really is a beautiful book, so wonderfully drawn. It appears to be drawn in pencil with digital color, and H.A. is capable of some truly remarkable effects.“

 

AIPT

• Colin Moon reviews the violent delights of Ben Stenbeck’s Our Bones Dust #1.

• Connor Boyd reviews the seasonal charms of Jeff Parker, Michele Bandini, et al’s Batman/Santa Claus #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the explosive intent of Jackson Lanzing, Colin Kelly, Geraldo Borges, et al’s Thunderbolts #1.

• David Brooke reviews the strong start of Jason Loo, Luigi Zagaria, et al’s The Sentry #1.

 

The Beat

• Alexa Skiff reviews the harmonious collaboration of Nadia Shammas, Karnessa, et al’s Confetti Realms.

• Arpad Okay reviews the integral aesthetic of Jean Fhilippe’s Leftstar and the Strange Occurrence.

• Merve Giray reviews the rich emotions of Hana Chatani’s Give Her Back to Me.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the enjoyable action of Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, Mike Henderson, et al's The Forged, Volume 1.

• Bob Proehl reviews the little touches of Ben Stenbeck’s Our Bones Dust #1.

• Yazmin Garcia reviews the refreshing sweetness of Io Sakisaka’s Sakura, Saku Volume 1, translated by Max Greenway.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the careful illustrations of Julie Delporte’s Portrait of a Body.

• Andy Oliver reviews the effortless shifts of Anna Readman’s Noodle Wranglin’, and the incisive clarity of Rachelle Meyer’s The Ballad of Betty Rizzo: An Abortion Story.

 

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the elegant ambition of Aaron Lange’s Ain't It Fun: Peter Laughner & Proto-Punk in the Secret City.

 

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the missed opportunities of Matt Wagner's Grendel: Devil By The Deed Master’s Edition.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men  Unlimited Infinity Comic #115, X-Men Blue: Origins #1, Realm of X #4, MS Marvel: The New Mutant #4, and Predator vs Wolverine #3.

 

Kirkus Reviews

Have starred capsule reviews of:

- The quiet humour of Grant Snider’s Poetry Comics.

- The detailed odyssey of Jay Hosler’s Ant Story.

- The fresh mythology of George O’Connor’s Odin.

- The enjoyable surreality of David Small’s The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories.

- The resonant impact of Agnes Lee’s 49 Days.

 

Multiversity Comics

• Christopher Egan reviews the acquired taste of Marvel Comics’ Howard the Duck #1.

• Matthew Blair reviews the gorgeous drama of Maria Llovet’s Crave #1.

• Kate Kosturski reviews the simple plotting of Matt Smith et al’s Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat.

• Elias Rosner reviews the puzzling choices of R. L. Stine, Pius Bak, et al's Stuff of Nightmares: Slay Ride #1.

• Gregory Ellner reviews the energetic fun of Jeff Parker, Michele Bandini, et al’s Batman/Santa Claus #1.

 

Solrad

Hagai Palevsky reviews the core urge of Susumu Higa’s Okinawa, translated by Jocelyne Allen.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Jason Bergman interviews Donald Simpson about Megaton Man, colour comic printing realities, history with Alan Moore, and industry deals in the 90s - “But illustrating other people's ideas didn’t come naturally to me. Most comics scripts, I soon discovered, tended to be more like recipes. Very, very schematic, very minimal. And you really have no idea beforehand what you’re baking.”

 

AIPT

• David Brooke talks to Matt Smith about Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat, the story’s connection to wider Hellboy continuity, and the problems with snowy visuals.

• Collier Jennings chats with Ronda Pattinson about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, hitting 150 issues not out, the joys of working in your PJs, and keeping engaged on a long ongoing series.

• Chris Coplan interviews Cullen Bunn about Invasive, the comic's breaking of the Hippocratic oath, writing from nightmares, and the addictive nature of power over others.

 

The Beat

Noam Steinerman speaks with Neil Kleid about Nice Jewish Boys, the real-life inspirations for the comic, and advice for your younger self.

 

Broken Frontier

Andy Oliver chats with Daniel Freedman and CROM about Birdking, picking the graphic novel format, individual skill sets, and spin-off merch.

 

Decider

Raven Brunner interviews Bryan Lee O’Malley about Scott Pilgrim, the legacy of the book and its adaptations, and the reader response to a protagonist not doing the right thing.

 

KCRW

Amy Ta and Danielle Chiriguayo speak with Dave Chisholm about Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound, musical synaesthesia, and the candid nature of Davis’ autobiography.

 

School Library Journal

Brigid Alverson talks to David Ezra Stein about Beaky Barnes and the Devious Duck, headwear inspirations, and thinking cinematically when constructing comic book pages.

 

The Seattle Times

Paul Constant chats with Jessixa Bagley and Aaron Bagley about Duel, comic book and Where’s Waldo origins, and alternating your narrative between characters’ POVs.

 

Women Write About Comics

Alenka Figa presents the second part of a conversation with Jamila Rowser about tips for newcomers to writing scripts for collaborative comics projects, and the budget planning involved in making indie comics.

This week’s features and longreads.

• For TCJ, Steven Brower untangles questions regarding the provenance of scripts for Jack Kirby and Joe Simon comics featuring the Boy Commandos, which bear marked similarities to manuscripts written by Joseph Greene - “Paul Greene, son of comic and science fiction writer Joseph Greene, informed me he had unearthed full comic story manuscripts penned by his father, including a dozen Boy Commando scripts, produced between 1943 and 1945. Of particular interest were the stories that Kirby and Simon illustrated. Conventional wisdom is that the team, either solo or in tangent, wrote their own stories, and rejected scripts by others.”

• Also for TCJ, Daniel Parker writes on the life and work of music hall comedian Dan Leno, and the publication of Dan Leno’s Comic Journal, and the addition of characters on the page to those portrayed on the stage - “Much like he had done when creating merchandise to sell at his shows, Leno recognized that his image and name were his most valuable assets for a new project. Therefore, he determined it wise to make the comic predominantly about himself. Well, an embellished version of himself for comedic purposes anyway.”

• Over at Polygon, Susana Polo eulogises comiXology, charting the rise, acquisition, and demise of the platform, as Amazon recently hammered the final nail into the coffin vis a vis its functionality and overall purpose.

• Continuing discussion of the current state of the Direct Market, for ICv2, Rob Salkowitz examines the enduring problems that beset the recent output of comics from the Big Two.

• Shelfdust’s appraisal of Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell’s John Constantine: Hellblazer concludes, as Amy Garvey writes on the series’ finale, and the guilt and pride that burns at its core.

• For Nerdist, Eric Diaz charts the history of Nightcrawler’s parentage, as Simon Spurrier and Wilton Santos’ X-Men Blue: Origins sees the narrative freed from the lingering restrictions of the Comics Code Authority.

• From Cover to Cover’s Scott Cederlund continues to chart a year in the company of stories by Chris Claremont, with September and October heating up in the path of the Inferno storyline, and the character conclusions to be found therein.

• Paul O’Brien’s census of the varied villains of Daredevil continues, and this week it’s the turn of one Klaus Kruger to make a fleeting appearance.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as the death of Henry Kissinger, the death of X (formerly Twitter), civilian deaths in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the continued march towards the 2024 presidential election, and Taylor Swift all made the headlines.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Tegan O’Neil and Claire Napier return with a fresh pale of Udder Madness, as the Top Cow odyssey this time out looks first to the work of Malachy Coney, and to the themes of Catholicism running through a number of the publisher’s comics, as typified by The Magdalena.

• Ben Katchor hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as this week Meredith Hale spoke on the function and dynamics of political satire, examining the caricature work of Romeyn de Hooghe, as well as more contemporary examples.

• Multiple visits with John Siuntres and the Word Balloon, as conversations were had with Kelly Thompson on Birds of Prey, Gabriel Hardman on Aquaman, Ram V on The Vigil, Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok on Ghost Machine plans, and Pat Mills on Dr Who and 2000 AD.

• David Harper welcomed Simon Spurrier to this week’s edition of Off Panel, as they discussed having plenty of work-for-hire and creator-owned irons in the fire, and crafting jumping on points for the all-important new readers.

• Heidi MacDonald, Meg Lemke, Kate Fitzsimons, and Shaenon Garrity convened for the latest episode of Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as they discussed the current boom in the webtoon and webcomics spaces, and the market for works from these moving into print.

• Closing out another winter week with Cartoonist Kayfabing from Ed Piskor, Jim Rugg, Sean @Japanbookhunter, and Bryan Moss,  as pages were turned on the work of Hino Hideshi, Kazuo Umezz, Bill Mauldin, Jaime Hernandez, Frank Miller, and Bryan Talbot.

No more for this week, but there are two (publishing) weeks left of the year, and thus plenty of time for more lawsuits and business deals to be filed.

The post As Dark As December – This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.


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