Barbiere's "Howling Commandos" Mixes Universal Monsters with Early Marvel Comics
Comic Books
Brigid Alverson, Author at Robot 6 | The Comics Culture Blog
Comics A.M. | Akira Himekawa to release ‘Zelda’ manga ‘Twilight Princess’
The Legend of Zelda
Manga | Akira Himekawa, the two-woman team that drew the Legend of Zelda manga, has announced a new project: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, based on the 2006 game of the same name. The manga will be published on Shogakukan’s MangaOne app, which is not the same as the Manga One app available in English. Viz Media published Akira Himekawa’s previous Zelda manga, which ran from 1998 to 2008. [Anime News Network]
Today is Hourly Comic Day!
Joe Decie starts his hourly comics in the wee hours
Feb. 1 is Hourly Comic Day, one of those Internet holidays that people sort of make their own. There used to be a website for it, but it seems to have been taken over by spam. Instead, we have hashtags on Twitter and Tumblr for those who want to follow along in real time.
Angouleme grand jury condemns fake festival awards
Angouleme International Comics Festival
The members of the Angouleme grand jury, who chose the winners of this year’s awards, have released a statement saying they are “stupefied by the cruelty and vulgarity” of the fake prizes presented Saturday during the festival’s closing ceremony.
“The announcement of fake awards, which broke the hearts of numerous authors, publishers and readers, in addition to the sexist and off-color remarks of the MC, are beneath the dignity of a festival that remains an internationally respected flagship event in the world of comics,” said the statement, signed by all seven members of the grand jury.
Angouleme organizers criticized for presenting fake awards [Updated]
As if this year’s Angouleme International Comics Festival hadn’t been plagued by enough controversy, the organizers decided to play a practical joke at the closing ceremony that a lot of people didn’t find very funny.
The ceremony began with comedian Richard Gaitet, clad in a neon-blue suit and red bow tie, announcing, “This will be the shortest ceremony in history, because all we want to do is drink and dance.” He proceeded to present nine awards in rapid succession, including the award for best series to Saga, best comic for young people to Aaron Renier’s The Unsinkable Walker Bean, and the Fauve d’Or, the big prize, to Arsène Schrauwen, by Olivier Schrauwen. And then two women appeared and said, “Bravo Richard, for that joke about the false fauves [awards] and the size of the Grand Prix. We laughed a lot, but now we must go.” And then they presented the real awards because that first set? That was fake.
‘Ms. Marvel’ wins best series at Angouleme
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1
The winners of the major awards (called “fauves”) at the Angouleme International Comics Festival were announced Saturday evening in a ceremony that has turned out to be quite controversial: The emcee came on and announced the nine winners, only to be followed by two actresses who revealed it was all a joke, after which the real awards were presented.
We’ll have more on that shortly, but first of all, here’s the list of the actual winners:
French Minister of Culture honors eight creators
Aya: Love in Yop City
Eight creators were named last week as Knights of France’s Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of their contributions to arts and literature.
Fleur Pellerin, the French Minister of Culture, made the announcement Thursday at the opening night of the Angouleme International Comics Festival. The creators are: Julie Maroh, Chloé Cruchaudet, Aurélie Neyret, Mathilde Arnault (Tanxxx), Marguerite Abouet, Christophe Blain, Mathieu Sapi, and Riad Sattouf.
Comics A.M. | ‘Valerian’ creator on (possibly) influencing ‘Star Wars’
Creators | Pierre Christin, the creator of Valerian and Laureline, discusses the possibility that his space opera was a source for the Star Wars movies — and how he and his collaborator Jean-Claude Mézières changed the story to move it away from the Star Wars universe: “I instantly felt connected with Star Wars because of the number of intersections and parallels with our comic strips. George Lucas had created complex worlds, just as we had. Like us, he had staged the functioning of societies from within, although Star Wars focused perhaps a bit more on the struggle between good and evil. In this respect, Valerian was more European, more intellectual.” [EuropeComics]
Comics A.M. | Angouleme Grand Prix goes to Hermann
“Jeremiah” art by Hermann
Awards | Jeremiah creator Hermann has been selected as the winner of the Angouleme International Comics Festival Grand Prix. The Belgian artist, who was a finalist last year, will serve as president of the 2017 festival. The prestigious award was mired in controversy this year when the longlist of nominees featured the names of 30 male creators but no women. Hermann is well known in the French-language comics world; some of his work has been published in English by Dark Horse. [Le Monde, YouTube]
Comics A.M. | Iranian cartoonist acquitted on ‘illegitimate relations’ charges
Atena Farghadani
Legal | Iranian political cartoonist Atena Farghadani and her lawyer Mohammad Moghimi have been acquitted on charges of “non-adultery illegitimate relations.” The charges were brought after the two shook hands during one of Moghimi’s visits to Farghadani in prison, where she’s serving a 13-year sentence for drawing a cartoon critical of the Iranian parliament. The “illegitimate relations” charges carried a maximum penalty of 99 lashes, and in the course of the investigation, Farghadani was subjected to involuntary pregnancy and virginity tests. She’s not out of the woods yet, however: The prosecutor could appeal the acquittal. [CBLDF]
Comics A.M. | Ben Hatke’s ‘Little Robot’ wins children’s literature award
Awards | The Center for Children’s Books at the University of Illinois has chosen Ben Hatke’s Little Robot as the winner of this year’s Gryphon Award for Children’s Literature. The award honors children’s books that bridge the gap between being read to and reading on one’s own. “Hatke’s graphic novel is both cleverly crafted and utterly irresistible,” said Assistant Professor Deborah Stevenson, the head of CCB and chair of the committee. “Our young heroine is an admirable adventurer and capable wielder of a tool belt, and the little robot she finds, repairs, and befriends is an endearing pet/sidekick. The balance between wordless sequences and simple speech-balloon dialogue (plus the robot’s sound effects) will reassure tentative readers and encourage them to decode narrative from both visual and textual clues.” [University of Illinois]
Comics A.M. | Complete set of Marvel comics sells for $200,000
Retailing | The complete set of Marvel comic books offered for sale by B-Bop Comics of Kansas City has been sold to an anonymous buyer for for the asking price of $200,000. “The first guys who came to look at it bought it,” said B-Bop owner Frank Mangiaracina. [ICv2]
Comics A.M. | Black Keys’ Daniel Auerbach to create comic soundtrack
“Murder Ballads” art by Paul Reinwand
Music | Daniel Auerbach, half of the blues/rock duo The Black Keys, is creating a soundtrack album to go with the new comic book miniseries Murder Ballads, which publisher Z2 Comics describes as a “rock ’n’ roll noir story about the music industry and redemption.” The comic, by Gabe Soria and Paul Reinwand, will debut later this year. [Vulture]
Finalist Claire Wendling doesn’t want Angouleme Grand Prix
Art by Claire Wendling
The saga of the Grand Prix d’Angouleme has taken another sour turn, as one of three finalists for the festival’s top honor has asked people not to vote for her.
French illustrator Claire Wendling said she doesn’t want the Angouleme International Comics Festival award, writing on Facebook, “Would you like to please me? Don’t vote for me any more.”
Comics A.M. | Viz Media expands Walmart deal, makes Best Buy debut
Assassination Classroom, Vol. 1
Publishing | Viz Media has struck separate agreements that will expand the number of manga titles it sells at Walmart and bring its books to Best Buy for the first time. Under the Walmart deal, bestsellers Tokyo Ghoul, Pokeman, One Punch Man and the new Naruto one-shots will be available in more than 2,000 of the retailer’s locations across the United States. Under the Best Buy agreement, two Naruto titles and Assassination Classroom will be packaged with their respective anime and featured in floor displays at 687 locations. [Publishers Weekly]
Comics A.M. | The changing industry and its changing audience
The Mighty Thor #2
Comics | The comics industry has undergone seismic changes in the past few years, and Heidi MacDonald rounds up some recent comments from retailers and pundits about what they’re seeing. It’s a good read that leads to many other good reads, but here’s the takeaway: “ The real issue — one that many people in the industry may have trouble dealing with — is that the comics audience has changed. They didn’t get into comics during the first run of the Ultimate universe. They didn’t come in with the original 52 mini series or Final Crisis. They probably didn’t even start with the New 52. The methods and product mixes that were formulated to deal with a readership that grew up when comics were a niche product for nerds have to be reevaluated when new readers are coming in from the top properties in every form of entertainment, from graphic novels that they were taught in school, from webcomics, from creators with strong social media, from every which way. There is no well marked four lane highway to comics any more, just a delightful variety of roads, interstates and worn down dirt paths.” [The Beat]
