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Archive - 2011

September 3rd

Will Wacom Inkling Replace the Scanner?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 3, 2011 - 21:45

By now I'm sure you've seen announcements of the new WACOM INKLING product -- sure does look cool doesn't it? 

August 28th

Amulet 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 29, 2011 - 00:00

The Last Council, the fourth book of the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi is truly its Empire Strikes Back moment.  The tone is much darker, things go badly for our heroes and a fairly dramatic reveal occurs that changes and broadens the scope of the saga.  The first three Amulet books built to bigger and challenges and larger triumphs and so it is a fairly significant shift for the fourth book to dramatically deepen the challenge and leave Emily and her fellow heroes with even bigger odds to overcome than they imagined at the start of the series.

August 25th

Too Small To Fail: A (Th)ink Anthology by Keith Knight

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 25, 2011 - 06:39

When I think of Keith Knight, I think of The K Chronicles, a multi-panel weekly look at culture and politics which ran forever in Salon before that website foolishly abandoned several series it had long featured.  But he's been creating the single panel comic (Th)ink for just about as long.  I reviewed (Th)ink way back in 2004 (although sadly all of the links to individual comics I embedded in that review no longer work).  (He's also the creator of The Knight Life which is syndicated in newspapers.)  He has a new collection of (Th)ink out called Too Small To Fail.

August 24th

Ratfist by Doug TenNapel

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 24, 2011 - 06:03

I've gotten to know Doug TenNapel's work through his graphic novels for kids, including his most recent Bad Island.  It's fair to say I have become a fan of his work.  This year he also serialized his first webcomic, Ratfist, which will be collected in a print edition to be published by Image this December.  Clocking in at 150 pages, Ratfist shares a lot with his all ages work, but in other regards is completely different.

It's about the adventures of a superhero of sorts named Ratfist, although we are introducted to him as he is about to retire (or at least say goodbye to his partner, a rat) in order to propose to his girlfriend Gina.  Since we don't get to see his actual adventures beforehand, I'm not entirely sure he's not just a deluded guy who liked wearing a costume and has a pet rat.

There's much less coherent world-building going on in this story than what I've come to expect from TenNapel --  it has much more of a, "yeah, let's throw that in too!" feel to its disparate elements which range from angels to aliens (tiki-aliens) to time travel to science fiction.  It looks like TenNapel's having fun with the comic, but for me it doesn't really hang together as a convincing world.  Part of the problem to me was the introduction of TenNapel himself as a character which doesn't seem to serve any real purpose other than to emphasize the fictional nature of the story we're reading.

August 23rd

Comix Talk for Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 23, 2011 - 10:07

I posted a review of Doug TenNapel's Bad Island today.  I have a review of Keith Knight's latest (Th)ink collection scheduled for publication this Thursday -- Rob Clough at TCJ just dropped his review of the book today.

BORG OUT: I saw a new webcomic collective site pop up -- Open Fire Comics features The End; Sweet and Sour Grapes; UNDERLING; and Walking the Lethe.

INTERVIEW: Tangents has an interview with J.T. of the slice-of-life comic Between Failures.

EVERYONE WAS SUPER ART FIGHTIN': So I missed the big SUPER ART FIGHT XXXIXL this month in Baltimahh but there'll be lots of sharpie-fu next month in the DC Metro area.  First, Super Art Fight will be the post-Ignatz Award Ceremony entertainment at this year's SPX and second, at Intervention, a full-fledged round of bouts.

WEBCOMIC TEEVEE: Kris Straub and Scott Kurtz are the new Heidi and Spencer. Just kidding but they just posted the second episode of their reality teevee show.

Business Time: Zach SMBC Weiner posted a number of great tips for readers and fans titled "On the Proper Care and Feeding of Artists."

HYPIN' THE HYPE

Bad Island by Doug TenNapel

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 23, 2011 - 06:00

It was just a year ago that we reviewed Doug TenNapel's graphic novel Ghostopolis which was a clever, adventure in a purgatory-like world of the dead.  This year TenNapel has a new graphic novel available this month -- Bad Island -- which is an inventive, exciting and moving adventure.  It's much more science-fiction and action-adventure in tone than Ghostopolis which had sort of a noir detective feel to it.

August 22nd

Comix Talk for Monday, August 22, 2011

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 22, 2011 - 06:28

Maybe I'll just stick with the weekly uodate schedule for awhile.  ComixTalk is seriously in need of a reboot to the ass but I don't have the right concept to dive in and rework the innards yet.

MILESTONE: First off let me note a milestone I somehow overlooked -- Gina Biggs wrote last week letting me know that the all female creator erotic comics anthology website Filthy Figments (NSFW) is celebrating its one year anniversary and has posted over 1000 pages.  

ORIGINAL WEBCOMICKER: I had no idea Ryan Smith had a new webcomic. I knew Smith from his work on Funny Farm  -- his new project Accursed Dragon is about Coven, "a half-man, half-dragon, who is cursed to reptilianoid form until he does enough good deeds to redeem himself. Since he is naturally sour tempered, he has been at it a while – 122 years..." Sounds like a fun story!

KICKSTART MY ART: Bleeding Cool has a list of a bunch of recent Kickstarter projects you might be interested in supporting.

HYPE:  IO9 writes up Terry LaBan's Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman, which originally ran as a DC miniseries, but LawBan has resurrected as a webcomic:

Muktuk is a nomadic shaman who travels the snowy reaches of Siberia on his trusty (but none too bright) reindeer, waiting for a good supernatural crime to come along. Finally, a troubled dame walks into his camp and into his life. Her son has fallen to a mystical illness, and only a shaman can set him right. Muktuk suspects he's not getting the whole story, but he agrees to take the case.

MAILBAG

Michael Pohrer writes that today is the launch of his new rebooted The Jungle comic.  Pohrer is The National Free Press' Editorial Cartoonist which explains why I don't know who he is (editorial cartoons don't usually do much for me) but to compound it I didn't see any real online presence to speak of... so I guess I'll have to check out his site tomorrow to see what the new project is.

LIVE! IT'S RYAN NORTH TALKING

Comic Alliance asked Ryan North to read one of his Dinosaur Comics and he did:

INTERVIEW:  A little late linking to it but Tall Tale Radio interviewed Brad Guigar of Evil, Inc. and Dave Kellett of Sheldon and Drive at the San Diego Comic:

August 21st

Amulet 4 Cover

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 21, 2011 - 16:33

I received a review copy of Amulet 4 from the publishers.  From a quick scan it looks amazing.  This is already one of my favorite series so my expectations for this volume are nearly sky high.  Needless to say we'll have a review later this month.

2011 Hugo and Harvey Award Winners

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 21, 2011 - 11:39

Kate Beaton took the Harvey for Best Online Comic at this year's Harvey Awards - announced yesterday evening at the Baltimore Comic Con.  The Washington Post has a full list of this year's winners.

Phil and Kaja Foglio and Cheyenne Wright won the Hugo Award for BEST GRAPHIC STORY for Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse.  There's a full list of the Hugo winners here.

August 15th

Comix Talk for Monday, August 15, 2011

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 15, 2011 - 08:31

Welcome back to me.  I haven't paid enough attention to know how insightful Lets Be Friends Again's take on the London riots is but... Let's Be Friends Again has a take on the London riots?  V for Verklempt!

BIG STORY: It's been about a year but the long-planned Kurtz/Krahulik/Holkins webcomic The Trenches has launched.  A fairly big publicity splash for it this week, here's a blurb at Computerworld; -- Comic Riffs wrote about their forum for game testing horror stories;

INTERVIEW: Danielle Corsetto answered questions from readers at the Any Asq site.  Good interview. 

RECIPE FOR COMIX: Have I linked to Saveur's Recipe Comics series?  They've had several good webcomic artist draw a comic illustrating their favorite recipes.  Very cool stuff.

NEVERMIND THE GRUNGE: Comic Alliance has a comic from Jonathan Bennett remembering Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the Nevermind album 20 years later.

DrunkDuck Staggers Thataway: Delos writes that DrunkDuck changed its url structure, making all your bookmarks (and any webcomic review links) outdated. I'm not saying DrunkDuck might not have some value, but don't put all your eggs in that basket. 

HYPE

MILESTONES

  • Happy 8 years of Questionable Content!
  • I missed posting about it earlier this summer but Holiday Wars from Comicbook publisher Th3rd World Studios hit its one year anniversary in July.  I don't know much about the publisher but its store also handles well-established webcomics The Legend of Bill and The SuperFogeys.    Concept-wise it's a bit similar to a long-running storyline in Pete Abram's Sluggy Freelance, but I don't know that the notion of personifying holidays is all that startlingly original to begin with.  It's created and written by Scott King with art on the comicbook model:  Michael Odom – Penciler;  Arturo Said – Inker; and  Giuseppe Pica – Colorist.  It looks promising enough -- I plan to check it out further this month.

TRAGEDY OF THE COMMON GROUNDS:  Did you see this story about the guy who put his Starbucks card online?  Penny Arcade had a pretty funny take on it here.