Simon Pegg and Nick Frost teamed up in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Now they’re bringing a CG alien, voiced by Seth Rogen, along for the ride. Paul opens next year.
Broken Frontier Awards 2010
You have until Sunday to vote for the best work in comics form the past 12 months, and it has been a good year for comics. Here’s all the details and the categories are below.
Broken Frontier Awards 2010: The Ballot
Best Writer – Mainstream
Bill Willingham (Fables, Jack of Fables)
Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Avengers)
Grant Morrison (Batman and Robin, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne)
J. Michael Straczynski (Superman: Earth One, Brave & The Bold)
Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four, Secret Warriors)
Best Writer – Independent
Dan Clowes (Wilson)
Jeff Smith (Rasl)
Mark Waid (Irredeemable, Incorruptible)
Nick Spencer (Morning Glories, Shuddertown)
Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible)
Best Artist – Mainstream
Doug Mahnke (Green Lantern)
Frazer Irving (Batman and Robin, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne)
Jim Cheung (Avengers: The Children’s Crusade)
Olivier Coipel (Siege)
Steve Epting (Fantastic Four, The Marvel’s Project)
Best Artist – Independent
Charles Burns (X’ed Out)
Darick Robertson (The Boys)
Darwyn Cooke (The Outfit)
Jen Wang (Koko Be Good)
Nathan Fox (Fluorescent Black)
Best Ongoing Series
Batman and Robin (DC)
Scalped (DC/Vertigo)
The Unwritten (DC/Vertigo)
The Walking Dead (Image)
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (Marvel)
Best Limited Series
Blackest Night (DC)
Daytripper (DC/Vertigo)
Hellboy: The Storm (Dark Horse)
Siege (Marvel)
Spider-Man: Fever (Marvel)
Best Debut Book
American Vampire (DC/Vertigo)
Morning Glories (Image)
The Sixth Gun (Oni Press)
Skullkickers (Image)
The Traveler (BOOM! Studios)
Best Graphic Novel
45 (Com.X)
Moving Pictures (Top Shelf)
Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia)
Wilson (Drawn + Quarterly)
X’ed Out (Pantheon)
Best Publisher
BOOM! Studios
Dark Horse
DC Comics
Image Comics
Marvel Comics
New Spider-Armor
Hmmm…looks like something from the Spidey musical.
Your First Look At The NEW SPIDER-ARMOR!
Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Spider-Man’s all new Spider-Armor, debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #656, from the superstar creative team of Dan Slott and Marcos Martin. Peter Parker may have hit the Big Time, but that hasn’t stopped new villains from terrorizing Manhattan. What kind of foe would prompt Spider-Man to suit up in this high-powered costume? Find out in Amazing Spider-Man #656!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #656
Written by DAN SLOTT
Penciled & Cover by MARCOS MARTIN
Captain America 70th Anniversary Variant Cover by JOE QUESADA
Rated A …$3.99
ON SALE IN MARCH!
Velocity #3 Preview
Any excuse is a good one to show some Kenneth Rocafort artwork. Below is the official description of this week’s Velocity #3 by Rocafort and written by Ron Marz and published by Top Cow.
Velocity #3
Ron Marz (A) Kenneth Rocafort (Cov) Kenneth Rocafort
The Pilot Season Winner is Back!
Like fast women? Boy, do we have a girl for you. The clock is literally ticking on the life of Carin Taylor, the hero known as Velocity. The fastest girl in the world must race around the globe in an attempt to save her Cyberforce teammates. If Carin can’t beat the clock, she and her friends will succumb to a techno-virus and give Cyberforce’s greatest foe his greatest victory. The issue continues the creative collaboration of writer Ron Marz (Witchblade, Angelus) and artist Kenneth Rocafort (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer).
Full Color 32 pages $3.99 limited series
Your Art in Mega Man Tribute Book
Udon have released a few great tribute books recently, dedicated to different artistic interpretations of classic video game characters such as those from Street Fighter and Darkstalkers and now it’s Mega Man’s turn, and your trun to get your own artwork featured in its pages. Check out all the official details below.
UDON is sending out a call to comic artists, video game artists, freelance illustrators, and fan artists all around the world to show us your artistic tribute to Mega Man! Give us your best artwork featuring the cast of Mega Man®, Mega Man® X, Mega Man® Zero, Mega Man® ZX, and Mega Man® Legends. All styles are welcome – anime, western comic style, cartoon, pixel-based, sculptures – whatever you can come up with as your tribute to the blue bomber!
The best pieces submitted will be included in Mega Man Tribute, which will premiere as a special 300-page limited-edition hardcover book at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. UDON’s past tribute books have had a huge artist turnout, with Street Fighter™ Tribute andDarkstalkers™ Tribute each receiving thousands of entries. As one of the most beloved characters in video game history, and with hundreds of characters to work with from across the Mega Man franchise, Mega Man Tribute is poised to be UDON’s most diverse and exciting art book yet!
Help make Capcom® history as part of the Mega Man Tribute art book and have your artwork showcased alongside top names in the industry! It’s time to show UDON and Capcom your unique vision of Mega Man!
For full contest rules and to submit your artwork head to: www.MegaManTribute.com
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is Next DCU Toon
Thanks to the Superman Homepage sharing the just released back cover of the All-Star Superman animated film we know that next in line is Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Apparently this snippet has been released before, but it doesn’t ring any bells. What we do know is that’s supposed to be released in June, with the live action film and will be an animated anthology showing other members of the GL Corps. Awesome.
The first animated film Green Lantern: First Flight introduced Hal Jordan to a new audience, so hopefully this and the Ryan Reynolds-starring film will make a lot more people aware of Hal and co.
All-Star Superman arrives on February 22.
New Batman: Arkham City and Thor Trailers
Just shown at the Video Game Awards were a bunch of new trailers including Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3, but of most interest to us comics readers are brand new ones for two cool looking games that are both due out next year.
Obviously Batman looks much more intriguing.
This Week’s Winners
The New Avengers #7. Man, what a fun comic. Brian Michael Bendis knows how to do the kind of stories that intertwine casual, charming dialogue and world ending crises. I suppose the closest writer to his approach would be Geoff Johns and his Green Lantern work at DC, but Bendis has a lot more fun. He does entertaining dialogue so well, which means that for an issue like this that’s all talk, big fight scenes aren’t even missed. Stuart Immonen’s pencils make everything look ultra cool and his facial expressions add much pizazz to the humorous words. Basically, the “new” new Avengers, consisting of Luke Cage, his wife Jessica Jones, Ms. Marvel, Thing, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Dr. Strange and Mockingbird move into Avengers Mansion, given the keys and free rein by the resurrected Captain America.
It opens with nervous discussions and frank realisations about the damage to the Mansion, before some sincere encouragement gets thrown towards the uncertain Dr. Strange and a roll call of lesser known superheroes apply for the job of nanny for Luke’s and Jessica’s baby. Those two pages of close ups are the highlight of the ish, with characters like D-Man (“Does Captain America ever talk about me?”) and Hellcat (“Well, I don’t like babies, per se, but…) showing up as well as others I’m not familiar with (“I can change into a large, ape-like creature, but I don’t necessarily have to if you think that will scare the baby.”). As always, characterisation is great and everyone doesn’t revert to witty one-liners if it’s out of character. Spider-Man’s anger at having former Osborn aide Victoria Hand on the team is great and having new nanny Squirrel Girl hint at a romantic relationship with Wolverine (or James as she calls him) is another masterstroke.
Lady Mechanika #1. Like Image’s Skullkickers, this is another broad, fun series that shouldn’t be dismissed due to its slightly off-center initial appearance. After the #0 issue a few weeks ago, I knew I’d be back for more of this steampunk gal’s adventures. Joe Benitez does everything except the letters and colours here and it shines with a singular vision. An attractive design sense permeates these pages, from the title page to the bordered captions and the return of steampunk themed recipes first introduced in #0. Set in and around the cutting edge city of Mechanika in 1879, the titular heroine investigates the death of a girl who, like herself, is part machine and part flesh. Lady Mechanika searches for answers as to her origin and forges relationships with a doctor and his daughter, and Mr. Lewis, a security consultant with whom she sees as more of a nuisance than a friend. The ish is striking and detailed throughout and it’s obvious that much care has gone into the creation of this world, including Mechanika’s many costumes, which would cause Lady Gaga to be envious. Apparently there’s a chance to appear in LM #2 in Feb, but there’s no mention of it on the sites given just yet.
Pood #2. From Big If Comics and definitely for mature readers comes the next issue in this large format anthology series. We discussed the premiere issue in the very first episode of our podcast and were both impressed. Wisely opening with Jim Rugg’s and Brian Maluca’s USApe parody, next up is a Terry Gilliam-like pastiche of old photos and comics in a nonsensical display by Geoff Grogan, followed by Joe Infurnani’s colourful Ultra-Lad tale. 13 more stories on 13 pages by different creators follow, and as is to be expected in any anthology, they’re not all gold, but most of the creators here make full use of the newspaper size format. Think of it as an indie version of DC’s Wednesday Comics and that’s what you have. Some are in colour, some aren’t, but they are all pretty much experimental. Most aren’t concerned with telling a story as such, but in tales like Cochlea and Eustachia by Hans Rickett they’re just so visually delicious, that it doesn’t matter. For readers who want something very different or art students looking for inspiration.
Kevin Smith Talks Batman
Up now at CBR is an entertaining interview with director and occasional comics writer Kevin Smith about his somewhat controversial run on Batman with his Widening Gyre mini-series. I found the mini enjoying, although at times it became too casual for a Batman title, but Smith’s love of the character can’t be denied. He talks about his fave Bats tales, Batman’s bladder problems and more right here. It is Kevin Smith, so expect profanity.
The Frontiersman #16
Out now is the FREE digital PDF of Broken Frontier’s nifty magazine, The Frontiersman. Inside is a great interview with Charles Burns (Black Hole, X’ed Out), a look at Next Men, Thunderbolts, my review of the Hawks of Outremer TPB, an exclusive preview of Secret Warriors #23 and so much more. Check it out right here.
Potential Superman Sequel and Costume
There’s no mention of where the writers got this info from, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless. Essentially it’s what Bryan Singer’s plans were for the sequel to Superman Returns. It certainly seems much more action packed and features Brainiac and removes (if harshly) the whole bad idea of Superman’s son, but I’m still glad this film wasn’t made. Read the article here.
Also on the net are more costume concepts from another Supes film attempt, this time for the J.J Abrams version, though they may have carried over to Singer’s film too in the early stages. Steve Johnson released those Nic Cage/Tim Burton costume test pics a while ago and now you can see them and more recent ones at his Facebook page.
Talking With Gods Review
This is something I’ve been meaning to review for a while. We talked about it on our Extra Sequential podcast a few weeks ago, in episode 15, but I thought it might be worth an extra mention as we come close to Christmas, as it is a great present for the fanboy or girl in your life. For comics newbies, it’s not that acceessible. That is to say, if you don’t know who Grant Morrison is, then this won’t convince you of his awesomeness. Produced by the fine folks at SequArt, who are known for their insightful literary criticism of comics, this 80 minute documentary did surprise me in at least 2 ways. Firstly, I was sure they’d need to put subtitles on the film as every other time I’ve seen Morrison talk in his thick Scottish accent it was barely decipherable. Maybe he’s softened now that he’s spending more time in America, but it was fine and his casual revelations were easy and entertaining to take in. Secondly, he’s not as weird as I thought. He’s one of those creators, like Alan Moore, whose work is often examined and criticized, because we expect so much of him. Like Moore, he shares an interest in magic, but Morrison seems more public and approachable. When he discusses his dealings with the subject thanks to an influential uncle it just seems matter-of-fact. He also talks about his drug use (but no cocaine) and the strange visions that he experienced, and usually worked into his scripts on Vertigo series The Invisibles.
Of course, there’s many interviews with his fellow creators who aren’t shy on praise, including Frank Quitely, Phil Jimenez, Dan DiDio and many more. Though they’re not always revealing, they at least show Morrison’s down to earth nature and reinforce the fact that he is loved by critics, fans and fellow professionals.
It’s only $34 at Amazon bundled with the unsuprisingly more slick Secret Origin doco on DC Comics, which make perfect companion pieces, especially as most of Morrison’s work has been with DC in the last 20 years. It was Morison’s dynamite run on JLA for DC in the ’90s that cemented my love of comics and from that to WE3 to Seaguy to All Star Superman to a stint on X-Men for Marvel he’s shown that he’s a capable scribe of big ideas.
Talking about his upbringing, his love life, his artistic skills and the respect he has for the storytelling power of superheroes is all fascinating stuff. Unfortunately there are no interviews with loved ones, but the man himself is revealing and honest enough to paint a real self-portrait.
Director Patrick Meaney does a grand job of keeping it visually interesting and although it can divulge into a series of talking heads at times, generous use of the man’s comics work, and convention footage, make sure the visuals stay as interesting as the subject himself. The back cover of the DVD states that it contains, “mind bombs, psychedlic ideas and transgressive concepts,” which sums up Morrison’s work aptly. Of all the possible creators the film makers could have chosen Morrison is in the top 5 most obvious ones for he’s led an interesting and highly creative life. Their next film is on writer Warren Ellis and although I’m less familiar with his work, I’ll be sure to grab it too.
On a related note if you like behind the scenes on creative types, Chronicle Books is releasing Art Work in April which has looks at the notepads and journals from creators from many fields, such as Wes Anderson and Will Self.
Extra Sequential Podcast Episode Nineteen
61 mins. It’s Christmas time! Well, almost. Mladen and I throw out a few suggestions for present buying. Let’s call it our Generous Geek Goodies Giving Guidelines. Or something. We also yak about the manga 2001 Nights, two titles from GG studio and a lesser known character from the creator of Conan.
LISTEN TO IT BELOW, DOWNLOAD IT HERE, ON ITUNES OR MIXCLOUD.
1:35 NEWS
No Two-Face or Joker in The Dark Knight Rises, Tron: Legacy soundtrack is now available, the trailer for Transformers 3, Anthrax’s Scott Ian is writing The Demon for DC Comics, superheroes become samurai in Marvel’s 5 Ronin mini-series due in March.
17:20 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Twilight: Eclipse, Hard Candy, the original Spartacus film, Kull: The Hate Witch #1 from Robert E. Howard, manga 2001 Nights from Viz Media, A Skeleton Story and The One from Italian publisher GG Studio.
42:34 GEEK CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Mladen and I give you some guidelines for Christmas purchases. If you want to buy something for the fanboy/fangirl in your life, or if you’re a fanboy/girl who wants to get something for the comics curious person in your life, then have we got some great tips for you?! Yes, yes we do.
First Thor Poster and Trailer
Yes, it’s pretty bland and the character’s name/film title is miniscule, but fans already know what the film version of Thor looks like. I’d expect the posters that are released closer to the May 6, 2011 release date to play up the fantasy angle and the Marvel angle. Really this one-sheet could be of any action movie, but as directed by Kenneth Branagh and tying in to the Iron Man/Avengers film continuity we know it won’t be.
The trailer has also just been released. Some of the footage has been seen in the Comic-Con footage form July this year, but it also shows Thor’s winged helmet, his hammer Mjolnir and the evil Destroyer in action. Oh, and it’s 3D too. Looks pretty awesome.
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