Milo Manara art inspired by Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960).
Comics news weekly roundup Dec 7 2011 – Manara, Fellini, Moore, Miller, more
– by Shawn Conner and Ryan Ingram
– A Langley filmmaker recently interviewed comics master Milo Manara. Chelsea McMullen is studying at Fabrica, Benetton’s art institute, near Venice. According to a story by Brenda Anderson in the Langley Times, McMullen was helping shoot a commercial in Verona when she overheard people talking about Manara and his collaborations with Federico Fellini. A lifelong Fellini fan, the 28-year-old decided to follow up by contacting the Italian artist, and managed to arrange a 20-minute interview about his work on an aborted Fellini project, a movie called Il Viaggio di Mastorna detto Fernet. The result is a short film, Derailments, which McMullen has shown at the Toronto and Vancouver film festivals (watch an excerpt here). We hope to have a more in-depth chat with McMullen about her experience when she returns home for the holidays. [Langley Times: “Training sessions”] – Shawn Conner
Milo Manara art inspired by Fellini's La Strada (1954).
– We don’t want to take sides, but when the two opponents are Alan Moore (Watchmen, Swamp Thing, From Hell) and Frank Miller (300, Sin City, The Dark Knight), well, it’s hard not to. The two comics creators are at odds over the Occupy Wall Street movement; last month, Miller came out on his blog against the protesters, calling them “nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness.” According to a story in The Guardian, Moore – When asked about Miller’s comments by British independent publisher Honest Publishing, called the movement “a completely justified howl of moral outrage” which has been “handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it.” [Moore vs. Miller in The Guardian] – SC
Frank Miller art from this year's Holy Terror, which was originally going to be a Batman story.
– Speaking of Moore, the English comics writer/warlock has written the forward to Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland. Top Shelf Productions and Zip Comics will release 128-page memoir, one of Harvey Pekar‘s final projects before his death last year, in hardback in February. Joseph Remnant did the art. [Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland pre-order] – SC
Harvey Pekar's Cleveland will be available Feb 2012.
– Great news broke this week for fans of Emily Carroll, the Vancouver-based cartoonist. Next year, Simon and Schuster will release a print collection of her work called His Face All Red And Other Stories. The award-winning web-cartoonist’s book is said to feature “a set of horror comics inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales,” according to Publishers Weekly. [Emily Carroll interview] – Ryan Ingram
Illustration by Emily Carroll.
– Kerry Callen transformed some of comics’ most iconic covers into tiny digital masterpieces. Click the link and feel the crushing claustrophobia of a waterlogged Spidey! Experience the booze-shakes of Tony Stark! Get dizzy as the Justice League spin right round, right round, like a record, even! Fingers crossed that Callen is working on bringing the cover of Green Lantern #85 to life next, featuring a teenaged sidekick Speedy, spacing-out on heroin. [Kerry Callen’s iconic comic book covers] – RI
The infamous Green Lantern # 58. Check out the self-righteous prig on the left...
– This month’s GQ features ‘For God and Country”, a comic depicting one of the biggest news stories of the year: Seal Team Six’s assassination of Osama Bin Laden. If you don’t want to flip through a thousand pages of cologne-drenched glossy ads to get to the goods, it’s now online with added commentary from writer Matt Fraction (Casanova, Iron Man) and artist Nathan Fox, explaining how they crafted a story from a historic event with very few details. -RI
– There’s been some confusion (or backtracking) on Dark Horse’s new digital comics distribution strategy. The Oregon-based publisher recently announced it would offer comics digitally the same day they show up in comics shops, joining Marvel and DC. Apparently there was significant blowback from retailers who thought Dark Horse’s digital prices would be significantly cheaper than print copies, and who then threatened to boycott the publisher. But Dark Horse head honcho Mike Richardson has since clarified the situation by explaining that the prices would be the same. Despite the messy situation, writer Brian Wood (DMZ, Northlanders and Dark Horse’s upcoming Conan book) offers a levelheaded look at a “bleeding” industry, where everybody is hurting. [Brian Wood in Bleeding Cool; Brian Wood on tumblr] – RI
– Here’s a huge reason to get to a comic shop today: the release of the X-Statix Omnibus. Ten years ago, with sales slumping, Marvel editorial let the creatives run wild with some pretty great results. Grant Morrison pushed the X-Men into the 21st century with the New X-Men, Brian Michael Bendis dirtied up the Marvel U with crime-comic Alias, and Peter Milligan teamed up with Mike Allred (Madman, iZombie) for one of my favorite comics ever, X-Force (later retitled X-Statix), featuring a team of super-powered mutants living in Hollywood and who thrived for the spotlight of the papparazzi’s always-flashing cameras. The omnibus collects every single gore-soaked, satirical issue into a tank of a book that is approximately the size of over a dozen mandarin oranges, and makes the perfect perching spot for a Mego Spider-Man holding a toonie. If that’s not enough, it also beautifully complements any Vancouver Grizzlies blankets you may have laying around. – RI
X-Statix Omnibus. Photo courtesy of Adam at Grey Haven Hobbies in White Rock)
