Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Creator Roundup

165233_10150091039045345_579090344_6353993_463065_n
This week Dan Hipp draws Travolta, Nick Spencer talks about his guidance councillor, Jeff Lemire rejoices over a lost dog, Charles Soule discusses process, JH Williams III flogs a bit of art, Jason Aaron shows off his mightily impressive beard, Peter David pens a bill of rights, Jim Rugg does OC Weekly, Dave Johnson draws a rabbit, Frank Miller opens his mouth, Brandon Graham confirms the rumours and Skottie Young draws Wormwood.



- Let’s begin with our weekly fix of
Hipp:
GROOVY

-
Nick Spencer talks to CBR about Morning Glories. Here’s a taster:
Let's talk Ms. Hodge. We've been "place setting" a lot of characters in these opening arcs for the book from the teachers to Abraham to the kids and their families. Is Ms. Hodge one of the last major piece of the cast puzzle, or are there a few players out there to come?
No, there's still a lot of characters to be introduced that I consider to be...if not core cast then certainly major members of the supporting cast. There are a lot of new faces to be introduced, and we'll start to see some of them in the third arc and then some more in the fourth. She is a very important player, and she's somebody who's going to have a major impact on the story. I think that's pretty clear from this issue. But she's not the last one.

Aside from her growing specific role in the lives of the kids, did you just need a nice member of the faculty for balance?
I don't know. What was really interesting to me about the response has been how many people seemed to take to her immediately. It's always tricky when you're introducing a new character, and we've obviously just been through five "spotlight" issues that covered the background and lives of our main cast members. So I was a little nervous in going from that to introducing somebody new and giving her the spotlight. In my first conception of this issue, she didn't play that big of a role. She would make her first appearance, but my original intention was to focus more on the Glories themselves again. But as I got into writing it, she made a big impression on me. So I decided to stick with her and make the entire issue about her.
I think that the response to her is very strong and overwhelmingly positive, and I think that speaks to the fact that we've established a lot of empathy for the main cast. We're just feeling from the Glories really that there might be someone on this campus that isn't a homicidal maniac. That was kind of nice. Everyone let out a sigh of relief that there might be one person there who might have a little more to them. So she's an interesting piece to throw into the mix because she's clearly very different from Ms. Daramount or Mr. Gribbs or Nurse Nine. She clearly has a very different outlook and approach. And whether or not that means she has the best of intentions is a separate issue. But at the very least, she's not wickedly smiling at the idea of torturing one of our kids. So if nothing else, she's an interesting voice in the mix.


- Jeff Lemire’s very first graphic novel, ‘Lost Dogs’ is back in print. Here’s the cover:
lost_dogs_cover_sm_lg

-
Charles Soule talks about the process of making comics and the 27 covers. Here’s a sample:
The process of getting a comic together can take some strange turns.  From time to time, I’ll have an idea for an element of a book, whether it’s a line of dialogue or a plot twist or just about anything else.  I’ll be thrilled about this idea, because it will seem like the best ever.  Then, eventually I see the finished version, and I’m like hooooooly crow… mistake.  If I’m lucky, it’s not too costly, and won’t require massive rewrites or new art.  It’s just part of the process, though.  As I’ve said a bunch of times, you don’t always have all your good ideas at once, and being able to recognize and discard bad ideas is incredibly important.

With 27 Second Set, we decided to continue the series’ tradition of using homages to famous images of musicians as the covers for each issue.  First Set used members of the 27 Club.  Second Set is using one-hit wonders.  As I write this, Issues 1 and 2 are on shelves, as well as available digitally, for those who prefer reading on smartphones, tablets and laptops (Issue 3 is out next week, November 23).  The cover for Issue 1 is an homage to Vanilla Ice.  The cover for Issue 2 references The Buggles.  It’s one of my favorite covers of the whole series – Scott Forbes really nailed it. 

-
JH Williams III is selling some art this saturday. here’s a sample:
6336399500_49a380e2ae_z

-
Jason Aaron sat down with CBR to discuss Scalped and other things:


-
Peter David authored a Fan/Pro bill of rights for convention behaviour. Its pretty ace. Here’s a sample:

I think it would be an interesting idea to produce a list of simple, basic rights that everyone attending conventions–both pros and fans–should expect. I mean, you’d think that they would be common sense; things that people would just know. On the other hand, the 10 Commandments were pretty common sense too, when you think about it, so I figure if it’s good enough for God…

Obviously there’s the one that tops them all, which naturally I call the Prime Directive:

Fans and Pros have the right to be treated by each other with the same courtesy that they themselves would expect to be treated. Fans and Pros who act like jerks abrogate the right to complain when they themselves are treated like jerks.
But there’s others, such as:
Guest Pros being sponsored by the convention have a right to written confirmation of all terms of their convention attendance at least ninety days before the convention, with travel arrangements finalized no later than thirty days prior. Travel in such instances should never be the expense of the Pro with subsequent expectation of reimbursement unless the Pro agrees to this…in which case, the Pro better be damned sure the organizer is good for it, because otherwise he’s on his own.

Fans and Pros have a right to walk through convention space without being impeded by other attendees who are either taking photographs or posing for photographs. Particularly applicable when large numbers of costumed individuals are posing for a large group of photographers. It’s a convention, not the red carpet at the Oscars. Should such blockages occur, fans and pros desiring to get from Point A to Point B should have the right of way and walk directly through the picture-taking area without the slightest concern about ruining other people’s pictures. If they weren’t courteous enough to worry about you getting to your panel, you shouldn’t have to worry about them getting their photograph of five slave Leias and a Wookie.

- Jim Rugg does some pen drawings for OC Weekly:
chamberlain_coverfinal

-
Dave Johnson does Usagi Yjimbo:
usagi_yojimbo_for_comic_twart_by_devilpig-d4g9y1l

-
Frank Miller caused a stir this week on his thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here’s his post in its entirety, but check out the blog, because the comments are worth a read:
Everybody’s been too damn polite about this nonsense:
 
The “Occupy” movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.
 
“Occupy” is nothing short of a clumsy, poorly-expressed attempt at anarchy, to the extent that the “movement” – HAH! Some “movement”, except if the word “bowel” is attached - is anything more than an ugly fashion statement by a bunch of iPhone, iPad wielding spoiled brats who should stop getting in the way of working people and find jobs for themselves.
 
This is no popular uprising. This is garbage. And goodness knows they’re spewing their garbage – both politically and physically – every which way they can find.
 
Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.
 
Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you’ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you’ve heard terms like al-Qaeda and Islamicism.
 
And this enemy of mine — not of yours, apparently - must be getting a dark chuckle, if not an outright horselaugh - out of your vain, childish, self-destructive spectacle.
 
In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.
 
Or better yet, enlist for the real thing. Maybe our military could whip some of you into shape.
 
They might not let you babies keep your iPhones, though. Try to soldier on.
 
Schmucks.
 
FM

-
Brandon Graham announced that the teaser we saw last week was indeed for the King City trade. Here’s the cover:
kc-collectionloww

-
Skottie Young has been keeping up his daily sketches, including this one of Wormwood:
Wormwood002

No comments:

Post a Comment