Archive for the ‘Comics’ Category
Well, day two turned into a lot of waiting in line for events I wound up missing. The baby and I dropped Scott off at the WildStorm booth for his morning shift and headed up to Ballroom 20, where the Caprica/BSG line was already hundreds deep. We joined the throng, but before long, word came that too few people were leaving the previous panel, and the Caprica panel was already at maximum capacity.
Ah, well. The baby was hungry anyway, so we found a nice bench and people-watched for a while—which really is one of the best parts of a con.
Think that backpack is full of Wonka bars?
Then we spent some time wandering the main exhibit hall. The display of Mouse Guard books at the Archaia booth reminded me I wanted to hit the Archaia panel—
—so we headed back upstairs and joined that line, which was nice and short because we were early. Alas, we had to slip out of the panel after only fifteen minutes because the baby was feeling chatty. Actually I had kind of a mortifying moment. I was standing in the back of the room with the baby in the sling, bouncing him a bit to keep him happy while simultaneously typing one-handed notes on the presentation into my Blackberry. And now and then the baby would make a little happy noise, but it really wasn’t loud enough to disturb anyone (yet). But suddenly I realized Mouse Guard author David Petersen was looking at me and what he saw would have been a woman with a wiggly baby, a woman staring intently at her cell phone, appearing not to be paying attention. Horrible. Probably looked like I was texting someone. How could he know that I was faithfully chronicling his own words? It was right about then that Sean’s soft-happy became edging-toward-loud happy, so I slipped out the side door.
But we were there long enough to hear from David Petersen about the publication, at last, of the second volume of his beautifully illustrated graphic novel series. My kids (especially Beanie) are big fans of the first Mouse Guard book, Fall 1152, and I’m looking forward to reading Winter 1152. Also full of promise: the Mouse Guard roleplaying game, the discovery of which inspired a couple of excited tweets yesterday. The rules are published in a gorgeous hardcover book. It’s thick. Possibly complicated? Might be fun to find out.
Mouse Guard author David Petersen (left) and Archaia Studios Press editorial director Stephen Christy
We had to leave before I got to hear about Archaia’s recently announced partnership with the Jim Henson Company, but I gather there are plans to publish comics based on such Henson classics as (oh boy oh boy!!) Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal. (Unabashed Fraggle Rock fan here.)
Loads more to tell, of course (for starters, there’s the smashing karaoke performance of “If I Had a Million Dollars” by writer Mike Costa and my very own husband), but the kids are waking up and it’s about to be busy-Saturday-morning around here. Friday summary is:
Having a ball—
Wish you were here.
Convention center.
Crowd.
Color.
Zombie.
Panel: Wonder Women—Female Power Icons in Pop Culture.
“They say there aren’t enough good roles for women. That’s because Eliza Dushku is playing them all.” (On Dollhouse.)
Sigourney Weaver: “Ripley could take Clint Eastwood in a fight.”
Will Juliet return to LOST this season? Says Elizabeth Mitchell: “That depends on whether or not Jack’s plan worked.”
Zoë Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek) on women in action roles: “We fight against a room full of men over why we can’t wear pants for all the running, the fighting…They think I can do it in a skirt and Gucci boots.”
Missed the end of the panel because the baby, who’d been an angel up to that point, had had enough. Had strategically placed myself on an aisle seat next to an exit just in case I needed to slip out. Slipped out. Headed down to the mad crush of the main hall and found—our favorite superhero of all.
July 16, 2009 @ 8:39 pm | Filed under:
Comics Hannah makes a good point. San Diego Comic-Con is just a week away, and I’ve been poring over the schedule. The LOST panel, oh I’m there. And there’s a Dollhouse thing I plan to attend, baby permitting. The “Female Power Icons in Pop Culture” panel with Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Mitchell (that’s Juliet to you LOST fans) sounds interesting, but it’s early on, before my parents arrive to take over the child-wrangling.
Here are the schedules. Anything here strike your fancy, O Bonny Glen friends? Any events you’d especially like to hear more about? Any particular comic-book-or-pop-culture-related topics you’d like to discuss? You know how I suffer from option paralysis…
April 3, 2009 @ 1:01 pm | Filed under:
Comics People often ask me for comic book recommendations for young kids. Most comics today are written for adults, and they are emphatically NOT for children. Back in the days when Scott was writing Gotham Adventures (a Batman monthly aimed at children), I could point inquirers in that direction with a clear conscience. His comics were age-appropriate and fun, and darn well written, I might add, and I’m not just saying that because I adore the guy. But he stopped writing that title long ago and has returned to the editor’s side of the desk.
The day before the movers pulled the truck into our Virginia driveway to load my hundreds of boxes for the move to California, another box arrived in the mail. From Scott, who was already out here. A little one, but still: I admit I sputtered a bit at the thought of having ONE MORE BOX to deal with. I should have known better. Shame on me. The box contained: chocolate (bless that man!) and a fat trade paperback which, upon inspection, turned out to be a reprinted collection of Batman material originally published in the 60s and 70s
.
60s and 70s, see, which is to say: back when comic books were still being written for kids. The Batman book is part of a series called Showcase Presents
, and there are around a dozen more titles now, I believe. They’re black-and-white reproductions, not full color, but that hasn’t seemed to matter to my gang. They were so crazy about the Batman one (it was passed from child to child in the car and was the most popular reading material on our long, long drive) that he brought home a few more, and OH MY GOODNESS. These book are never NOT being read by someone in the house. (No kidding, right in the middle of THIS VERY PARAGRAPH Rose came to me in tears because Jane had just finished the pick-o’-the-bunch, Teen Titans
, and had the nerve to give it to Beanie instead of Rose who was waiting impatiently for her turn.)
I consider these books perfect reading material for the topsy-turvy days we’ve had this past month: light, fun, absorbing, did I mention fun? When they aren’t reading, Rose and Beanie are LIVING the books; they are superheroines named Aquagirl and Flash Girl, and they have informed me that I’m Wonder Woman, which: bwah ha ha, but thanks!
I haven’t vetted all the titles in the series yet, but some others that Scott gave the gang are The Elongated Man
, Superman
, and Justice League of America
.
By the way, Rose and Beanie seem to have solved their problem by reading side by side.
Funny story. I went out into the lobby to unpack all the paper wadding from the new bag so I could put my own stuff inside it. (Clerk: “Do you want a bag for your bag?” Me: “This IS a bag for my bag!”) I knelt against a wall, as many other con-goers were doing, resting their tired feet, and commenced setting up housekeeping in the loverly new bag. A guy leaning against the wall nearby complimented me on my purchase, particularly on its lime green hue. I thanked him and said I’d been torn between the green one and the black one, but I figured there were a million black bags in the world, so I went for the more unusual one.
Well, all the con-walking must have gone to this guy’s head, because he began waxing philosophical about the dramatic effect this decision to go with the green instead of the black was going to have on my life. “Think about it,” he said, glancing at me, observing, no doubt, my extremely tame appearance—brown t-shirt, jeans, self-inflicted haircut—against the colorful Comic-Con backdrop of superheroes, pirates, and stormtroopers. “Until now, you’ve probably moved through life invisibly, escaping notice. But now it will all be different, now that you’ve made this leap into the Different by choosing the green bag—”
And I couldn’t help it: I burst out laughing. Buddy, I’ve got five kids. This is probably the only day of the year you’ll catch me alone. We travel in a pack. I can’t move through anywhere invisibly.
Actually, selective invisibility sounds like a pretty good superpower to me. Guess I’d have to leave the green bag at home, though.
And I was only there for half of it.
Whew. As has always been my comic book convention experience, the weekend was exhausting but sooo much fun. That it fell on this particular weekend was a bummer, though, because a bunch of my girlfriends were at an entirely different conference on the other side of the country, and I (sob) could not be in two places at once.
Looking at all the beautiful pictures from the FCL Conference gave me such a smile, because talk about a study in contrasts! Here’s what their weekend looked like.
Here’s what mine looked like.
Scott had to work at the con Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday, and through the weekend. My mother arrived bright and early Saturday morning, and I brought her home from the airport, gave her a hug, and abandoned her with the children for the next two days. More or less.
On Saturday, while Scott worked at the WildStorm booth and did portfolio review and all that editor stuff they pay him for, I strolled up and down the convention center taking in the sights. There is always a lot to take in.
View from the DC Comics green room.
Saw eye to eye, Yoda and I did.
After a while, you’ve seen so much it all becomes a blur.
Sometimes you just need to sit down and take a little breather.
Fortunately, Scott got a late lunch break just in time for us to hook up with our beloved (and gorgeous) college friend Kristen, her husband Vinny, and Vinny’s Attack of the Show co-producer, Joshua. We survived the cattle crossing that is the big intersection right outside the convention center
and wandered into the Gaslamp District in search of a good place to eat.
Speaking of cattle crossings, we passed these characters just hanging out on a streetcorner.
Rumor has it they were a promo for the TV show Fringe.
The restaurant that boasted of having award-winning meatloaf had a 45-minute wait, so hmph to them. We found ourselves at Fred’s Mexican Cafe, and oh my goodness. The complimentary chips and salsa were so good they nearly made us weep.
Kristen took this picture of me basking in post-salsa contentment.
She also got much better Comic-Con pix than I did.
After stuffing ourselves with cajun shrimp tacos (oh. my. goodness.) and carnitas burritos, we waddled back down the street toward the Con. OK, I waddled. Scott had to dash ahead to get back for booth duty. Kristen and I took our time. We passed Joss Whedon on the street. Kristen greeted him with what is now my favorite greeting ever. (“Hey, Joss Whedon! Yay!”) He grinned. Then we reached Kristen’s hotel and said a weepy goodbye. L.A. is just too dang far away. At least, as the car drives.
Back to the Con for me, where I visited artist friends until Scott was finished at the booth. Tim Sale shook his head in amazement at the news that we are expecting again. I told him we figure there won’t be any Social Security by the time we’re old enough to draw it, so we’re making sure we have plenty of children around to take care of us. He said, “Good point. It’ll be an agrarian society by then anyway, so you’ll need all those kids to work the farm.” Ha.
It was around that time that I had a little bag crisis. The bag I’d brought with me (this delicious creation by Beauty That Moves) turned out to be just a leetle too small for the event. My camera was perched too near the top, just begging to be snatched. What choice did I have? There was this booth full of big ole bags with zippers, and one of them was lime green. Seriously, what choice did I have. OK. I admit it. I have a little problem when it comes to bags. In fact, just minutes later when my husband was introducing me to one of his favorite writers in the comics industry (Kelley Puckett, whom I’ve been hearing about—and reading—for fifteen years, but somehow had never met until this weekend!), he broke off in mid-sentence and said, “Hey, is that a new bag?” I said, “Hmm? What?” And he turned to Kelley and said, “My wife has only two flaws.” (He’s wrong about that, but it was sweet.) “Number one: her ridiculous affection for me. Number two: her compulsion for bags.” I can’t deny it. I am so thrifty and purchase-cautious when it comes to clothes and furniture and household items and pretty much everything except books and handbags. I mean, it’s not like I buy a bag a month or anything like that. But three or four a year, yeah, maybe. It’s a quest, see, for the perfect bag. As pretty as this one but with lots of pockets and a sturdy bottom and some kind of inherent magic that will make me always be able to locate my keys when I need to. That kind of bag.
But I digress.
Our Saturday evening wrapped up with what is for me the best part of a comic book convention. We wound up in the Hyatt bar eating appetizers and drinking beer (ginger ale for me) with a group of writers and artists. I love this, the jovial camaraderie and stimulating discussion of a community of creative colleagues. Our Barcelona pal Andy Diggle was there (but no Jock, alas), and Kelley Puckett joined us, and Fiona Staples (Scott’s artist on Jack Hawksmoor), and a bunch of WildStorm people, and assorted other folks wandering in and out. We stayed up talking too late and dragged ourselves home well past midnight.
And then poor Scott had to start all over at 9 a.m. on Sunday. I lingered at home, took the girls to Mass, played with my little ones. I didn’t want to take a second car into the convention-center madness, so I parked at the trolley station near our house and took the orange line downtown. And what an interesting trolley ride that was. I Twittered the experience (scroll down to “waiting for the trolley” and read upwards) and was probably lucky the Loud Girl didn’t know I was recording her rantings for all the internet to see. I told Scott you know it’s been a freaky train ride when it’s a relief to get back to all the nice, sane people at Comic-Con.
Like these guys.
I am proud to say I bought no bags on Sunday (although the blue soldier guy’s messenger bag up there is kind of cute, isn’t it). I took in the sights and drank free DC Comics cranberry juice and met more nice artists and attended the WildStorm panel. And then it was back to the Hyatt for more food & fun with Fiona and Andy (but no Kelley this time) and Mike Costa and Neil Googe and other engaging, talented folks. Scott, Mike, Andy, and I spent a good three hours talking about the nature of story. That, my friends, is why I go to comic conventions.
Later we stopped by a party hosted by Mark Buckingham, Bill Willingham, and Matt Sturges, but I was too tired to stay long. My obliging hubby took me home where I snuggled up next to my baby who is no longer a baby and dreamed about absolutely nothing, because I was that wiped out.
Here’s another topic I’ve written many posts on, both here and at Lilting House.
Books We Love, Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Signing Time DVDs
More about Signing Time
Yet more about Signing Time
Showcase Presents comic book collections
Settlers of Catan, Wedgits
Books on drawing
Art prints
Family memberships to zoos, museums, etc.
Each of the above link is a longer post on the subject.
Note: these are old posts and may contain links to my Amazon Affiliates account.
December 7, 2006 @ 7:11 am | Filed under:
Comics Not long ago I wrote about how hard it is to find kid-appropriate comic books these days. Zack Smith agrees.
In a much-publicized keynote address
at the 2004 Eisner Awards, Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon argued
that in the quest to achieve respect as an adult medium, comic books
had abandoned children.
Well, yeah.
Marvel and DC have become so oriented toward teen and adult readers
that material construed as acceptable for 8-12-year-olds is set in an
outside universe, usually labeled as ‘Adventures’. There’s some
excellent work being done here, but it’s not going to find an audience
with the readers of the mainstream books.
My hubby was the original editor of the Adventures line. He pretty much created the genre, though he would say he was one of several people involved. During his time as editor of Batman Adventures, books he edited won something like five Eisners and two Harvey Awards—those are the biggie awards in comics. When I was packing for our move, I found a box of award plaques hidden away in the darkest corner of the basement. He also wrote a three-year run of Gotham Adventures, which are some of my children’s favorite things to read. Funny, funny stuff, and great art.
Smith continues:
Let us also be thankful for the fact that there are once again Disney
books being published in the US (and that poor Don Rosa can finally
read his stories in his native tongue), that John Stanley’s LITTLE LULU
is back in print after all these decades, and that there are still
collections of TINTIN and ASTERIX in print.
But it’s worth noting that those books are either major licenses, or
they’re reprints of 50-year-old material.
What if someone wants to create something new for kids?
The independent market is already pretty treacherous on that score.
The latest issue of POLLY AND THE PIRATES, a superb all-ages comic by
Ted Naifeh, sold 2,400 copies, according to Diamond sales figures.
Issue #2 of Marvel’s CIVIL WAR, by comparison, sold 240,000 copies.
Without speaking to CIVIL WAR’s quality, it’s clearly not a comic for
kids. Someone going into a comic shop is 100 times more likely to find
a copy of that than POLLY AND THE PIRATES.
Not only that. Today’s comic shops are NOT places you want to take little kids. Ohhh, no.
But there is a strong market in bookstores for all-ages material. Manga
is the obvious example, but there are others. JM DeMatteis and Mike
Ploog’s excellent ABADAZAD was rescued from the implosion of its
publisher, CrossGen, and recently revived as a series of illustrated
books from Disney/Hyperion. These volumes combine heavily illustrated
text with sequences of the original comic and – one can assume – new
comic book material as time goes on. Mark Crilley’s AKIKO has enjoyed a
second life as a series of illustrated novels. TRAVELS OF THELONIUS, a
new hardcover by Susan Schade and Jon Buller, takes a route similar to
ABADAZAD by combining comic book sequences with passages of text. This
may very well be the new route for children’s comics – comics as books.
I hadn’t heard of Thelonius yet, but I’ll have to get my hands on a copy. I love Jon Buller’s illustrations. I first encountered his work in the pages of Aliens for Breakfast
and its sequels, which were written by Stephanie Spinner, my boss at Random House back in the day.
Backing up to TINTIN for a minute, an amusing interjection: while I’m sitting here typing this, Beanie is drawing with crayons at the table behind me. A minute ago I congratulated her on using her pencil grip instead of the fist grip she prefers. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I forgot to show you my NEW grip! It’s my cigarette grip!"
"Your what?"
"My cigarette grip. See?" She demonstrated, holding the crayon lightly between two fingertips in a perfect forties-starlet ciggie pose.
"Um, where did you learn that one?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
"From Tintin!" chirped Miss Bean.
First the Pillsbury Doughboy, now Tintin. Is there no one left I can trust? Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, you stay away from my precious children!
But back to Zack Smith (and this is the exciting part):
This [publishing comics in book form] isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it doesn’t auger well for those
who might try doing a serialised monthly or bimonthly comic for
children outside of Marvel or DC.
There are exceptions to every rule. One in this case is MOUSE GUARD,
a small press series by David Petersen reminiscent of the REDWALL
series of children’s books. It’s received excellent reviews and plenty
of media attention, and often sells out at shops that carry it. But
it’s still under a lot of people’s radars, and it’s still too early to
call it a breakout hit.
Have any of you heard of this? Mouse Guard
? I hadn’t, and I am psyched to know it’s out there. I’ll try to rustle up some copies for a review. Peeking at the covers, I can see I love the art already. If these are good, my young Redwall fans will be ecstatic. Stay tuned…
Smith closes with a question: "Why is it important for kids to read comics?" He presents some possible answers—that comics are a great medium and ought to be available for all ages, that comics can hook kids on reading, that there are incredibly talented writers and artists in the field and it would be good to share that creative genius the youngest readers. But I find the question itself intriguing. Of course it begs another question—"IS it important for kids to read comics?" What do you think? Are comic books an integral part of (Western) childhood? Do they teach something or inspire in a way that other types of books don’t?
October 24, 2006 @ 12:52 pm | Filed under:
Books,
Comics This blog really IS about children’s books, you know. Sometimes.
People who know that my hubby writes and edits comic books for a living often ask me for recommendations for young kids. Most comic books today are written for adults, and they are emphatically NOT for children. You want to be veeerrry careful about turning your little ones loose with most of the superhero stuff that’s out there nowadays.
Back when Scott was writing Gotham Adventures (a Batman monthly aimed at children), I could point inquirers in that direction with a clear conscience. His comics were age-appropriate and fun, and darn well written, I might add, and I’m not just saying that because I adore the man. But he stopped writing that title long ago. He occasionally writes Scooby Doo now (among other things) and that has been a huge hit with our kids, of course. Funny funny stuff.
The day before the movers pulled the truck into our Virginia driveway to load my hundreds of boxes, another box arrived in the mail. From Scott. A little one, but still: I admit I sputtered a bit at the thought of having ONE MORE BOX to deal with. I should have known better. Shame on me. The box contained: chocolate (bless that man!) and a fat trade paperback which, upon inspection, turned out to be a reprinted collection of Batman material originally published in the 60s and 70s.
60s and 70s, see, which is to say: back when comic books were still being written for kids. The Batman book is part of a series called Showcase Presents, and there are around a dozen more titles now, I believe. They’re black-and-white reproductions, not full color, but that hasn’t seemed to matter to my gang. They were so crazy about the Batman one (it was passed from child to child in the car and was the most popular reading material on our long, long drive) that he brought home a few more the other night, and OH MY GOODNESS. You want to know how I’m chipping away at the unpacking and still have a minute to write a quick post? It’s these books. (No kidding, right in the middle of THIS VERY PARAGRAPH Rose came to me in tears because Jane had just finished the pick-o’-the-bunch, Teen Titans, and had the nerve to give it to Beanie instead of Rose who was waiting impatiently for her turn.)
I consider these books perfect reading material for the topsy-turvy days we’ve had this past month: light, fun, absorbing, did I mention fun? When they aren’t reading, Rose and Beanie are LIVING the books; they are superheroines named Aquagirl and Flash Girl, and they have informed me that I’m Wonder Woman, which: bwah ha ha, but thanks!
I haven’t vetted all the titles in the series yet, but some others that Scott gave the gang are The Elongated Man, Superman, and Justice League of America.
By the way, Rose and Beanie seem to have solved their problem by reading side by side.
