My interview with writer Nathan Edmondson (Olympus, The Light) is now up at Broken Frontier, in which he discusses his new Image spy/supernatural series, Who Is Jake Ellis?
Zorro Review
Up now at Broken Frontier is my review of a new Zorro comic. It’s Australian, which I’m always happy to see. A double sized debut issue with two tales, one of which has a surprisingly effective supernatural bent, it’s pretty entertaining. Here’s the site for publisher Silver Fox Comics, where you can see previews of the issue.
Street Fighter Ultimate Editions
From publisher Udon are two updated TPBs of Street Fighter comics, with a heap of new extras. Udon’s work is always visually dazzling and accessible, and of course, any SF fans will find them irresistible. From Udon’s blog, here are the details.
STREET FIGHTER: THE ULTIMATE EDITION
– collects Street Fighter #0-14, including all backup stories & covers.
– plus bonus stories from Newtype Magazine and the Capcom Summer Special, and “Cheap Shots” comedy strips.
– this new printing features a new Dark Ryu cover!
– featuring the art of Alvin Lee, Arnold Tsang, Long Vo, and Omar Dogan!
– guest stories by Joe Madureira, Adam Warren, Hyung-Tae Kim, and more!
STREET FIGHTER II: THE ULTIMATE EDITION
– collects Street Fighter II #0-6, including all backup stories & covers, and comedy strips.
– collects the main story from Street Fighter II Turbo #1-12, plus the Turbo prelude story from Street Fighter Remix #0
– featuring the art of Alvin Lee and Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz!
– guest stories by Skottie Young, Arnold Tsang, Chris Stevens, and more!
Fantagraphics 20% Off Sale
From now until Jan 10 publisher Fantagraphics have a 20% off sale on everything. Yes, everything in their back catalogue. Check out the details here.
101 Batman Issues for 99 Cents
If you’re quick, you can get 101 issues of Batman for only 99c each from DC’s Digital Store. It’s a good way to ring in the New Year and those issues, from Batman #600 – #700 have some great stories including Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, the return of Jason Todd, and Batman: R.I.P.
You have until 11 p.m. EST, so go now!
Happy New Year!
Goodbye 2010, hello 2011. Here’s a pic from one of this year’s most anticipated new mini-series, Who Is Jake Ellis? from Nathan Edmondson and Tonci Zonjic. It goes on sale Jan 5 from Image Comics and my review of #1 should be up at Broken Frontier around the same time.
Captain Salvation Debuts
As mentioned on Bleeding Cool, where the comments have not been kind, there’s now a new Christian superhero – Captain Salvation. Created by Joshua Carpenter with art by Greg Waller (who has worked as a colourist on such hardcore Avatar series like Crossed and Black Summer) you can find out more about the hero right here. Yes, the website needs work, as the Free Resources and Character Bios are dead links, and there’s no previews.
However their Facebook page is filled with stuff, including videos. Sure, jaded fanboys may roll their eyes at this sort of stuff, but I for one I’m glad there’s increasing Christian alternatives for parents who’d understandably be concerned at today’s mature superhero offerings.
On a related topic, the Encounter radio show on Australia’s ABC Radio 810 had a recent special on comics and religion, which aired on December 19. You can listen to it and download the transcript here. The show is described like this:
This week Encounter talks to the Kuwaiti creator of 99 comic book superheroes who are endowed with an attribute of Allah. We explore the way comics in India have become regarded by some Hindus as sacred texts; find out why Torah portions that are read each week in synagogues around the world, now have a humorous comic to accompany them; and talk to a Christian theologian who thinks Superman and Jesus have a lot in common.
You can discover more Christian comics here.
New Young Justice Clip
The pilot aired in the States in November and the first season kicks off on Jan 21. Hopefully, they’ll show it here in Oz too. Here’s a new clip from the show centred on the teenaged superheroes from DC Comics. Yes, it does look awesome.
Talking With Gods in Melbourne
At the Australian Centre for the Moving Image at Federation Square in Melbourne you can see the new doco about comics writer Grant Morrison. It will be shown on Friday January 28 at 6:45 pm and tickets will be available soon.
The trailer is below and here’s the official site for Talking With Gods.
9/11 Heartbreaker Review
This short but emotional tale is definitely worth a look. To be honest, some may be put off by its somewhat crude renderings but writer/artist Craig Staufenberg does an admirable job of keeping the tale focused, which is not easy considering its dealing with memories rather than any strict narrative.
9/11 Heartbreaker is Staufenberg’s first book, and as a 28 page one-shot it holds up well. It follows an unnamed young woman and her reflections on the tragic events of September 11. There’s no dialogue as all the text is conveyed through captions. It may be hard to believe that Staufenberg took 2 years to create this as it’s not an intricately realised book, at least visually, but there is a sense that every word was chosen with great care and each page does have a certain resonance. Of course, 9/11 was such a universal day for the world, regardless of where you were and Staufenberg wisely shows no images from the day and avoids all the politics behind it all. What he does bring to the surface is the power of quiet reflection, but it’s not a depressing book to read.
The young woman at the centre of this tale meets Peter, a photographer at a karaoke bar who records students’ recollections of 9/11 for his site. Most of the plot here is driven by the woman’s inner thoughts, but also memories of others, including a student from Peter’s site and her friend Mary, who wonders why signs on the subway ask passengers to be alert for any suspicious activity, when the subways are so run down, that they shouldn’t even bother protecting them.
Inspired, the woman travels to various locations and takes photos of places and statues of historical significance. Like I said, it’s a somewhat quaint book, where not a lot necessarily happens. However, I couldn’t help but be charmed by it and the last few pages are surprisingly touching. I hope Staufenberg continues writing stories, as there’s some obvious talent on display and although some may be put off by the hand lettering and simple (though colour) art, I found it added to the project as a whole, making it seem real and relatable.
The Best of The Best of 2010
No, that title’s not a typo. As the year draws to a close and we all say things like, “Where has this year gone?!” in disbelief it’s also the time to vaguely recall what the last 12 months have delivered us. Comics sites are of course filled with the best of lists, and we’ll be doing one when we return to our podcast early next month. However, here’s a rundown of some lists which you may or may not agree with. However, most of them unsurprisingly agree on a few excellent standouts, such as Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, Batwoman and X’ed Out. Off the top of my head, the standouts for me this year were The Light, Action Comics, Brightest Day and Frankencastle and for the worst I’d have to say Superman: Earth One and Batman: Odyssey. Sorry DC!
CBR’s staff create a multi-part series on the best individual comics of the year. Part 1 is here.
You can also vote on the biggest comic event of the year including Al Simmon’s return to Spawn and the death of The Atom (Ryan Choi) and the biggest news story including the Gaiman/McFarlane lawsuit and DC’s restructuring, and the oddest story of the year. You can also check out the 12 best X-Men related happenings.
Newsarama have a bunch of similar voting options available plus their best of the year and what to watch in 2011. There’s also nifty entries on the characters, creators and series to keep an eye on next year.
MTV’s Splashpage have their Top 10 interviews including Tom Welling, Jon Favreau and Mark Millar.
MTV Geek let some creators pick their Top 3 and also have their best webcomics of 2010.
Amazon have their best selling comics and OGNs including the much maligned Twilight: The Graphic Novel.
Comic Attack have a look at the best manga and a look at some great toys and figures coming at us next year.
Publisher’s Weekly’s list of best comics is under their best books list.
Lastly, here’s IGN’s list, broken down into categories such as best anthology, best art team and best collectible.
Phew, that’s a lot of links. If you’ve been in and out of comics for this year, or more, though these lists will certainly help you catch up on the series, characters and creators to prepare you for 2011.
Scott Pilgrim Gallery
I really need to get the Scott Pilgrim DVD. It looks like it’s filled to the top with some sure to be amazing extras. Anyway, here’s a great selection of Scott Pilgrim art inspired by the film and the Bryan Lee O’Malley comic from Oni Press which inspired it. Some of my faves are below.
Dark Horse’s New Year’s Resolution Contest
You have until December 31, if you’re a North American resident that is, to put your NY resolution on the Dark Horse Comics blog. If your’s is one of the 3 best you win a swag of unspecified DH goodies. Now get thinking and commenting!
More Hot Toys Iron Man Mods
At Tomopop are 2 pages of stunningly detailed Iron Man modifications from that recent Hot Toys 10th anniversary exhibition in Tokyo. Check out Tony Stark’s new duds right here.
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