Kazu Kibuishi once again takes us back into the world of Amulet in Book Two: The Stonekeeper's Curse which is due out from Scholastic in September 2009. The Stonekeeper's Curse is a compelling story with tons of actions and opens up in much wider ways the world of the first Amulet book. It's a thrilling tale, a fantastic piece of comics from Kibuishi and a worthy successor to the first book.
The Dragon Players, the second book in Frank Cammuso's Knights of the Lunch Table series is scheduled for release this September. I got a chance to review a preview copy this month and it's a great sequel to the first book, The Dodgeball Chronicles. The version I got to read had a great color cover and a few pages in color (but the rest in black and white). The released version will be all in color and based on the color I saw, it will certainly be another bang-up job from Scholastic's GRAPHIX imprint.
Just another day in the home office in itstoodamnhotville…
MILESTONES
It will be a sad day in Mudville when Scary Go Round steps up to the plate for the last time. Even John Allison is getting verklempt.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
Awhile ago Warren Ellis put out a call to creators to post about their webcomics at his Whitechapel forum. A long list ensued – much good stuff there, some of it new to me! From there I found Border Crossings a suitably strange story but one with promise. I can’t tell if the two stories so far are meant to be interlocking or not but either way it has a creepy, odd tone — both the art and the writing. Definitely interesting so far.
Also reading Mister Crimson which has art very like Howard Chaykin’s The Shadow comic book. Actually the plot is a bit like putting The Shadow into the future.
CRAFT
Cartoonist Bob Flynn talks about the tools he uses making comics.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Reuben Bolling incites his fans to vote Tom the Dancing Bug to the top of the Rankopedia’s list for best comic ever. As far as lists go this is one of the most naked popularity contests I’ve seen in awhile. I doubt Bolling is doing this out of anything other than a sense of fun and irony.
Kind of an interesting site – 30 Day Artist – features an artist each month making 40 pieces of art on the site.
Is Chris Hastings’ dog (name: Commissioner Gordon) the cutest dog in the world?
I bought TRASHED from Derf as SPX several years ago. A totally underrated comic about working as a trashman one summer; I thought Derf (better known for his weekly THE CITY strip) really showed his range in this autobiographical tale. Now he’s serializing it on his website so go check it out.
I’ve set up a new way to look through the archives of cover art for Comixpedia/TALK — that’s 7 years worth now! Click here.
And here’s some stories from around the blogs this morning:
How many webcomic creators do stand up comedy? I know of at least two: Adam Burke and Hampton "My Name Is" Yount.
(Above) Adam Burke on equity and the recession; (Below) Hampton Yount on "Clue"
This is pretty cool – the Ohio State Cartoon Library & Museum has asked Dave Kellett to donate a piece of Sheldon original art to their collection of American cartoon art. Kellett is asking his readers to help him pick which piece to donate.
Ruben Bolling links to this piece by Tim Kreider in the NYTimes who only recently gave up his comic strip The Pain for other projects. Kreider writes interestingly about happiness, nostalgia and being in the flow, what he calls "absorption" – a good read.
INTERVIEWS
Newsarama has an interview with Lucy Kinsley of the autobiographical comic French Milk. (h/t Daily Crosshatch)
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
Cat Rackham made me laugh.
It is indeed August and I for one cannot believe the rapid passing of this summer. Posting this month may be even lighter then usual for this year (which is already ComixTalk-lite it seems) and I'll be at the beach the last week of the month so perhaps that will turn into a very special themed "beverage-mixin'" week.
BUSINESS
Gary Tyrrell interviewed Holly Post of Jeff Rowland's TopatoCo which has turned into the biggest merchandise company for webcomic artists.
JUSTIFY THE HYPE
Jim Zub flagged this funny comic summing up all Hollywood hype panels at Comicon — Magnolia Porter's whole comic, titled Bobwhite, is very worth checking out.
Box Brown pointed to this new comic about a fired Wall Streeter moving back in with his parents. Lyman Dally's Living With Les has a timely topic, well-drafted art and it's funny enough (it could be funnier though).
Maira Kalman's comic about inventors, including the original ODB — Ol' (Dirty) Ben (Franklin). h/t Journalista!
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