---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 284 1999 EAGLE AWARD NOMINEE 9/29/2000 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995 ______________________________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] Submissions, mailing address, web page [1] On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc [2] Letters to the Editor ................. Your Page! [3] TRIVIA CONTEST ........................ Win *real* prizes! [4] Network Buzz .......................... News, gossip & rumors [5] Interview:Paul Ryan ................... Tim O'Shea [6] Interview:Pat Bishow .................. Paul Dale Roberts [7] Thoughts to be Heard .................. Jeff Clifford [8] E-Dispatches From The Great White North Jonathan A. 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These are non-zipped text files. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net David LeBlanc Ok, take out that brand new issue of PREVIEWS, Volume X, No.10, October 2000. Now, turn to page 20 and begin reading at the top. The KING OF TRIVIA winner from last month is announced there. Ahem, I'll be waiting for the prize to show up any day now. *8^) Well, It seems Mr. Jones got a few of you to react to last week's column! This is good. Whether you agree or disagree with something you see here, we encourage you to hit the old REPLY key and let your opinion be heard. Often, as with last issue as well, we will get a response to a letter of comment rather than a column. That is good too. I just need to make everyone aware that this is not intended as a chat forum where a thread is continued ad nauseum until everyone is done beating things to death. If a column is responded to you should send a copy to the columnist as well. If you don't, I do. To be fair to the letter writers, originals or a copy need to be sent to me so I can run it as you intended it. If you just want to talk directly to the columnist that's cool, and if you want to make comment to me but not get the letter in print please remember to preface your letter with notice to me it is not for print. What I want to avoid is you writing to the columnist and he or she then takes part of your letter, grossly out of context, and uses it in the next column. That is unfair and most columnists would not do that anyway. However, to avoid such things I regularly tell the columnists to respond to letters with a letter themselves. If the letter was private to them I really can't run it without permission. This does not preclude them from mentioning a comment from a letter (perhaps without attribution - "a reader writes:") in their column to make a point or to thank someone, or make a correction. On occasion the letters get really long, with the reader quoting many passages from the subject column. The urge for the columnist is to then write back with specific comments, quoting the quotes and the comments and soon the letters section is turning into an epic. In fact, this week's letter's section is the longest we have ever had, partly because I decided to run a rather lengthy letter quoting lots of John's last column. SO, by policy, I generally have the columnist write back on the letters and let that stand as the final word. Sometimes someone new will have a comment on that and depending on whether that adds to the discussion significantly, I will let those run. Most of the time I will encourage the participants to take it to Email and have fun. I don't want constant back and forth to dominate the letters column. I do welcome those who have a different view to send it in though. I want those with motivation to write to continue to comment on the new material presented each week. Speaking of new material, Here are this week's items of interest, IMHO ABSTRACT STUDIOS Strangers In Paradise Vol III #35, 2.75 DC COMICS Authority #19, 2.50 Supergirl #50, 3.95 Top Ten Book One HC, 24.95 DIAMOND PUBLICATIONS Previews Vol X #10, AR IMAGE COMICS Rising Stars #10, 2.50 <---------Pick of the week! MARVEL COMICS Universe X #2 (Of 12), 3.50 WIZARD ENTERTAINMENT Gatecrasher The Series Greg Hildebrandt Cover #4, 2.50 Final word on the above subject: I want to encourage the columnists to present new thoughts, subjects and ideas in their columns each week rather than try to "get through" to someone who did not like what they wrote in the past. Sometimes a columnist will not agree with that policy but that is why editors exist. If they insist that they can put anything they want in their column, then they will just be absent from these pages until what they put in it is relevant to the mission of the Emag, rather than satisfying their own ego. That's life and I am the guy who gets the final word here. I have been guiding the content here for almost 5 years and the fact that hundreds of fans come back, week after week, is enough to assure me the policies are sound. What I have to say "specifically" to any columnist, in an editorial manner or otherwise remains private between us. At least from my side. If someone chooses to copy private email to third parties, in an attempt to get people "on their side" then perhaps they should try out for Survivor or Big Brother or something where such breaches of trust and privacy are common and even admired. In my opinion it is really a desperate plea for attention. Best regards to our friends of the Jewish faith celebrating Rosh Hashanah. Happy New Year! David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Letters to the Editor If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to the editor to try and get your name in print send Email to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Note: Letters of comment may be used in future issues of CBEM unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Your Email address and/or name will be withheld upon request. Subj: Re: [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 283.5 From: gperez@cfl.rr.com (George Pιrez) A correction to the recent MARTIAN VISION: > Subject: [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 283.5 > However, there is > little doubt that the full script method can also stifle the capacity > of a master visual storyteller to fully bring a plot to life, as can > be adequately seen in the relatively poor art George Perez turned in > on AVENGERS under Jim Shooter's fully scripted art directions, or > that Todd McFarlane churned out when similarly saddled with full > scripts from Roy Thomas on INFINITY INC. While I'm sorry that Mr. Jones thought my artwork substandard during my AVENGERS run with Jim Shooter, let me just clarify that Jim never wrote a full script for the series for me to follow. Jim wrote a detailed (but not so detailed that it restricted my storytelling) plot in longhand on a legal pad and it is from that plot that I pencilled the story, which Jim then scripted. If there were any inadequacies in my work in Mr. Jones' eyes, they were totally my own and should not in any way be blamed on Mr. Shooter's method of operation. [Thanks for taking the time to write George. John appreciates your setting the record straight and said he sent you a direct letter of apology for his error. - D.L.] +++++ Subj: Martian Vision From: augie@nic.com (Augie De Blieck Jr.) Hey David, I fear John Jones may have let his vitriol get in the way of common sense: "Ernie Colon, when he was editing THE FLASH shortly before the Crisis, may have unwittingly (and witlessly) stated the Image Comics manifesto best when he declared that you could have a comic story that was simply pictures and no words, but you could never have a comics story that was simply words without pictures. Years later, Image Comics would take this stupid and insulting statement to its next logical step. " That's hardly insulting or stupid. It's the very definition of the comic book form, whether you go by Neil Gaiman's definition or Scott McCloud's or just plain old Common Sense's. In order for a comic book to be a comic, you need words and pictures. Words without pictures are novels. Pictures without story behind them are quaint little drawings/pieces of art/whatever you think of them. Silent stories are comics because they string a narrative along just by their pictures. A bunch of words without any pictures is not a comic because there is not art. Not to say I agree with the rest of the column, but this one is quick and easy to correct. =) -Augie ------------------------------------------------------------ Augie De Blieck Jr. * augie@nic.com New Pipeline Commentary and Review every Tuesday and Friday! http://www.comicbookresources.com +++++ From: NeedelR@aol.com In a message dated 23/09/00 6:39:50 Israel Standard Time, ComicBknet@aol.com writes: + Jim Starlin has never pencilled or written so much as a panel or a caption that Kirby himself didn't draw or dialogue better ten or twenty years earlier, + I really liked his Warlock, both classic and the modern age infinity watch stuff, and unlike most of the comics i loved in fifth grade (X-men 2099 rocks! yeah!) It's stuff that i enjoy re-reading to this day. Am i the only person who thought the whole Infinity Trilogy was cool? on the other hand, I met Chris Batista at a signing for that new Spaceknights series about a month back. He told me that Jim Starlin scripted the whole series having never read a single Rom story, and, with a really pissy expression, claimed that he had to rewrite half the book for him. When I laughed and said that that was funny, he just shook his head and said: "it's f***ed up is what it is" + the first time I saw one by Erik Larsen, I was astounded that a worse artist than Jose Delbo actually existed and managed to get work in comics. + Larsen's stuff has, or at least in his hey-day had, a cute vicious fluidity to it that made him fun to look at. at least it was different, right?, and he was doing all this and backgrouds too! what an odd combination circa 1992. He, on Amazing Spider-Man, was the first comics artist I ever had an appreciation for as an individual, i.e., enough so to remember his name. His toothy languid Venom is still an image that shoots clearly into my mind, I like his better even than Mcfarlane's. His Doctor Doom, with the scars visible just past the eye slits, cape hanging menacingly over his shoulders, floating an inch above the earth... these are images burned into my brain forever. Me and my cousin still talk about Savage Dragon, 4-12 as one of our favorite comic runs ever, as he still had a coherent grasp of his charchters personalites at that point, and was still making an effort to keep his pencil line in control. Years later, he would appear to go quite mad, and abandon all effort to make anything he'd draw look or speak remotely human, and seeing his work on Thor nowadays is just too f***ing funny for words, with grotesque arms the size and shapes of buses hoisted in all directions, and facial expressions that remind me of nothing so much as Charlie Brown in all his varied emotional panics... alas. Liefeld, on the other hand, i was also drawn to at about the same time, and i really won't try too hard to justify that. I was young. Scott Mcloud's explanation, about how his jagged lines attracted disaffected confused kids sounds about right. liefeld, i'm not even going to try, but Larsen (sigh)... my heart still swoons at the thought. + Writers, in the eyes of Image, were no more important to the ultimate product than the letterer or the colorist. + The letterer and colorists were VERY important to the early image style. I remember staring in wonder at books that i would not buy because the writing, and, to me, even the art were so stupid... but staring awestruck at the typesetting works of Richard Starkings, chris eliopolis and Todd Klein, and the chromatic rainbow of shine that went only by the evocative names of Olyoptics, I.H.O.C., Extreme effects, and the to me unknown name of Joe Chiodo. Writers may have been irrelevant, even redundant (although co-plotters like Eric Stephenson and Brandon Choi where always around, keeping the Artist from blasting too hard, losing direction, flopping around and getting the floor all wet,) but colorists? letters? they were all revered as part of the visual effect. their contribution was never over looked. ---Jo +++++ Subj: LOC on CBM 283 From: jsmith@onlocationmm.com (Jerry Smith) Date: 9/28/00 12:19:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time To: ComicBkNet@aol.com CC: martianmanhunter2@juno.com CBM, The Martian Manhunter was really on a rant last week. By far the most enjoyable column in the e-mag, I still have to respectfully disagree with a few of Mr. Jones' points. First of all, it's taken a long time for me to realize that very few artists purposefully create excrement. Think of your most hated storyline, writer or artist. Do you think those people try on purpose to do work that is sub-par or hated by comic readers? Even if the majority of comic book readers hate the work of (insert hack of choice here), it's not as if the person in question wants to tick you off and **** in your Wheaties. An exception is Kevin Dooley with GREEN LANTERN and, well, just about every other book he edited. He tried to tick off fans and create negative stories and controversy. How do I know? He said so himself in the pages of the late and lamented AMAZING HEROES fanzine. So when John states that Doug Moench churns out pap, or Chuck Dixon and Mike Baron "churned out endless pablum" in the '80s, there are two points I wish to make. First, I don't agree about Dixon and Baron. They're still two of the best writers working in the field (even though Baron has moved on for the most part). Second, I think you're just plain wrong. How can you point to a creator's entire decade of work and claim that in every story they wrote they were churning out pablum? True, I think some creators get lazy and rest on their laurels, or they just don't try. But personal attacks on creator credibility are inappropriate. Readers can't read minds, so I would rather criticize the specific work rather than the creator or their mindset. >>At Image, it was no longer assumed that if you were a good artist, you were automatically a good writer. No, their presumption was even more fundamental: that if a comic book had a good artist... no... scratch that... if a comic book had someone who could trace old Frank Miller and John Byrne panels and string them together into something that seemed, on the surface, like an exciting visual narrative, however senseless... it didn't need any other creative input AT ALL. I never thought I would ever find myself in a position to defend the early days of Image, but ... as awful has these books were, it's ridiculous (and hurts your own creditability) to suggest that the Image crew were directly ripping off Miller and Byrne. The comics weren't that good, and again you suggest plagiarism and criminal intent. Don't confuse stupidity with malice. Although I haven't enjoyed John Byrne's work for some time, your die-hard refusal to admit that no work of his entire career has risen above pig-droppings is also credulous. At times, I have enjoyed Byrne's art, at other times, his writing, at other times, both. It's a matter of taste. But to suggest that he is totally incapable of either is inaccurate. You express enjoyment of Dave Cockrum's work. I don't care much for Cockrum's work. But I'm not going to proclaim him a hack. Byrne, despite his flaws, cares about the industry and I believe tries to do his best. If you don't like it, fine, but it's a stretch to crucify the guy for being everything wrong with the industry. >>In the 1960s and 1970s, comics fans could go to any spinner rack in any drug store and plunk down their dimes or nickels for nearly any Marvel or DC title they found there and they were almost guaranteed a solidly enjoyable and entertaining reading experience. I'm not saying this because these were the times when I was a kid and of course, the comics you read as a kid will always be your favorites. John, that's exactly why you're saying it. Everyone loves the "good old days." I understand, and even agree with, a lot of points you've made in your essays. But it's time to "Know Thyself" better. >>Comics, for the vast most part, suck these days. They are an embarrassment. I defy anyone who can write a coherent sentence and who has a shred of integrity in their soul to write me an email and tell me different, and then support such a statement with actual examples. For every well written comic being published right now there are ten spectacularly shitty ones, and the reason the proportions are that low is that comics has, for the last three years, been undergoing a Renaissance in the field of writing. In 1996, it was more like 50 rotten comics to every good one. Of course this paragraph could lead to a response as lengthy as the original essay. But let's look at the big picture. Yes, some comics suck these days. Some comics are awful. Some company's entire outputs are bad. But it has always been that way, and it will always be that way. Remember Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is crud." Comics is no different, and if you think it was different in any decade this century, you're wrong. You keep living in the "good old days" where every comic book was done for love of the industry, and every story was a Pulitzer-level masterpiece. Those days never existed. There are plenty diamonds in the rough today, surrounded by boatloads of crud. I won't strain the length of this response by endless examples, but a can honestly say that right now I am enjoying the output of comic book publishers as much or more than I ever have. There's great stuff out there for all tastes if you look. So Marvel is awful. Marvel has been trying to destroy the comic book medium for many years. Go somewhere else. There's real gold out there if you try to find it, and it's not always superheroes. But sometimes it is. I'm sorry you think the world will end with Joe Quesada. I am so disgusted with Marvel's tactics since the early '80s that I'm willing to give the new guy a chance. I like a lot of the Marvel Knights output, and I want to see that energy extend to other Marvel titles. What if Quesada should take comics back to the prized good old days? It can't get any worse, can it? Respectfully, Jerry Smith Old codger with a positive attitude +++++ Subj: Fw: [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 283.5 From: pjhay@clara.net (Paul &Jackie Hayward) A few comments of my own on John Jones's last column ( an e-mail to him at the Martianmanhunter address came back as account inactive so I haven't been able to send it to him) > Like many things in the strange subgenre of heroic fantasy fiction we > call superhero comics, the whole mess seems to start with Jack Kirby. > Oh, there were artists who wrote their own dialogue before Kirby. It > isn't particularly surprising that there have always been > writer/artists in comics, Doesn't that destroy your argument? Or are you saying that comics= superhero comics (post 1960's)? > since the adventure comic strip, which arguably gave birth to the > whole superhero comics industry, was loaded to the gunwales with > gifted writer/artists like Lee Falk, Milt Caniff, Frank Robbins, > Alex Raymond and Al Williamson. In fact, back then and > to this day, if you want to be a successful comic strip cartoonist, > you had to write AND draw, To be a successful cartoonist in what terms? Sales? Creatively? Who judges and how? Do sales of a newspaper go up or down because of cartoons? Do lots of people write in to say they enjoy them? Does the editor decide? > So, while art is important, words are essential. No, a comic book without art is called a novel or a book. It's only the joining of words and images that qualify something as a comic book to me. Does this mean an artist is more important than a writer? No, but it means that there can be no comics without pictures. Pictures need someone to draw them. Whoever draws them is, by definition an artist whether or not he is a specialist in that field, considers himself to be or is considered to be so. > .. something > the comic book editors at DC in the mid 80s, and Marvel in the early > 90s, and Joe Quesada today, would do well to remember. (But he won't.) Why do you say that? He's been in the job for what? 2 weeks? Past record as an editor? Black Panther anyone? Daredevil? Christopher Priest? Didn't Quesada hire him? Isn't a good comic book one with good art illustrating a good story? (Of course, that brings up the whole notion of what is good which is a whole other subject) > The important point here, and one that I think editors and modern fans > frequently lose sight of, is that writing a story for comic books, and > drawing a story for comic books, are too very different arts, requiring > very different kinds of talent and skill. The techniques for both are > wildly disparate, as disparate as the ability to act and the ability to > direct. There are people who can do both, absolutely. But the fact > that a person is skilled in one field does not mean they necessarily > know anything about the other. But it also does not mean that they cannot do both. The techniques for painting and sculpting are "wildly disparate" too aren't they? The techniques for writing a story in different mediums are also different. Doesn't mean they can't be done. I'm sure that Da Vinci would have a few arguments with you on this subject. Not that I'm saying that anyone in the comics field should be mentioned in the same breath as him, but it's a wildly exaggerated example. One. Of many. More on that later. > But I'm getting ahead of myself. Right from the start, the superhero > genre was different from the adventure comic strip industry that half > heartedly inspired it. After all, the bloody, laboring birth of > superhero comics was accomplished by a collaborative writer/artist > combination of two obscure guys named Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. Why bloody? Why labouring? I thought that Action & its ilk were successes? Fairly swift too, for a new medium (if you compare them to the early popularity of cinema or novels). Were the collaborations better in any sense than the newspaper strips you cited ? Weren't ther any writer/artists working in the newspaper strip field at this time? I'm no expert, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't. > Jack Kirby himself spent his first fifteen years in the field as the > pencilling half of the legendary Simon-Kirby duo. Did he do just pencilling? Again, I'm no expert, but I thought that Kirby also did some inking & I'd be very surprised if he didn't at least write suggestions or prompts for dialogue as he did on all the pencilled art from his Marvel days that I've seen. Similarly, was Simon just a writer or did he do some of the art as well? Might it not have been more like a combination of 2 creators who could both perform all the creative tasks necessary for the completion of a comic book? > By the dawn of the Silver Age decades later, the distinct roles of > writer and artist had been so clearly established as to be an > invariable tradition. Um.. when is this? Is it before Eisner's the Spirit (which I notice doesn't get a mention in any of your piece)? 'full script' > style in which virtually all control of the story was in the hands > of their writers. However, there is little doubt that the full > script method can also stifle the capacity of a master visual > storyteller to fully bring a plot to life, as in the example of dave Gibbons on the Watchmen? Another example which proves the rule? How about *any* artist working with Alan Moore? Is it true that Alan has never worked with any "master storytellers" or that he has not stifled them? Or do you mean that it can? as can > be adequately seen in the relatively poor art George Perez turned in > on AVENGERS under Jim Shooter's fully scripted art directions, um, yes... but wasn't Perez *beginning* his career then? If he can't improve over 20 odd years then there isn't much hope for him. Maybe it would be better to say that he was fortunate to begin with a full script method because then he didn't have to worry about pacing (compare Perez's Avengers & FF/ Inhumans and there are differences. He as learning & working with different creators) >or that Todd McFarlane churned out when similarly saddled with full >scripts from Roy Thomas on INFINITY INC. again, wasn't this McFarlane's first (or almost if you don't count Coyote & Spitfire) professional comics art & his first regular series? Wouldn't you expect a beginner to feel a little inhibited when working with a veteran on a title the vet created? >. Lee simply didn't have TIME to work full script > with anyone... and he was fortunate enough to be working with creators > like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who were more than competent to plot > their own stories. (Lee's contributions to the collaborations were, I > think, still significant, since Kirby's dialogue is crude, hammering > stuff at its best, and Ditko, left to his own devices, is a raving Ayn > Randite whose literary and philosophical excesses in solo works like > THE QUESTION and MR. A are embarrassing to say the least.) So, Lee as a competent scripter and the others were the visual storytellers? With you on that one. On the other hand try comparing Lee's stuff with the lesser artists with the stuff he did with Kirby & Ditko? Yep, they certainly added a lot to the mix. I understand that the Silver Surfer was Kirby's idea (although Lee may have given him the nobility the basic idea was Kirby's) as were the Black Panther, the Inhumans and many others. So, yes, a competent scripter working with exceptional artists could create some comics which were exceptional (ie not the norm) in the their own time & in some cases hold up well today. > By developing the "Marvel Style", Lee could toss a few ideas at > imaginative geniuses like Kirby and Ditko and trust them to run with > the ball, as both were perfectly capable of taking even relatively > vague instructions like "Let's have another masked criminal mastermind > show up, and how about bringing the Green Goblin back?" or "Let's have > the FF fight God" and transforming them into 24 pages of astonishing > graphics packed with more plot than the average modern comic manages > to do in a full year's worth of issues. So aren't the artists actually doing most of the storytelling in your examples? Aren't they doing most of the writing with the "writer" supplying most of the words & perhaps a basic concept? Couldn't it be the *quality* of the artist rather than the method used which ensures its success or otherwise? > Stan obviously didn't have TIME to reject ANYTHING, even if it was > something completely out of left field (as, apparently, the Silver > Surfer was in his first appearance); Lee never rejected anything? That's a bit of an outlandish statement. I've seen pages which puport to be rejected pages from Kirby in many publications- indeed I remember a 3-page Thor sequence which had to be redone. This statement is simply not true. >Suddenly, artists like Ditko, Kirby, Heck, > and Colan weren't just pencilling by specific instruction; they were > making up sub-plots, establishing different characterization > directions, making up supporting characters and villains out of > whole cloth, even deciding how the stories were going to end. Don't know about you, but they sound an awful ot like writers to me in that description. Read it again & tell me the difference between what they were doing & writing (apart rom actually putting words in the text) > Thus were the seeds sewn that would decades later grow into the > "Image attitude"... a manifest belief that the art was the only > crucial and truly creative element in any comic book, and that the > writing was just words that practically anyone could throw nearly at > random into the word balloons and caption boxes. A bit of an oversimplification. I think they obviously did see art as more important but it seems to me that the fans & corporations agreed with them at this point in time. I think the "at random" was overstated although it is true that, initially, they did not hire a top-quality, proven writer. > The "Marvel style" worked well for the infant Bullpen, so much so that > Marvel's second generation of writers and artists, people like Roy > Thomas, Len Wein, Steve Engelhart, Steve Gerber, John and Sal Buscema, > Neal Adams, John Romita, and even later, Chris Claremont, Marv Wolfman, > John Byrne, Bill Mantlo, Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, Mike Ploog, and > others, adopted it and used it unthinkingly... all of them laying the > groundwork for the writer/artist singularity phenomenon that was to > nearly put superhero comics in an almost well deserved grave by the > mid-90s. Um, how the heck did the Buscema brothers do any such thing? I've read (from both Gerber & Englehart) that Sal B often worked with the full script method, & if he didn't do that gave a faithful translation of the writer's ideas in his art without adding hardly anything of himself. I've *never* seen a Sal b scripted or written book & don't remember seeing him listed as a co-plotter or co-writer, so how did he get there? >full > script... something Shooter, whose writing habits had been set in > apparent concrete by his earliest experiences writing the Legion of > Superheroes strip for DC, continued to do, even though his lack of > grasp on basic storytelling techniques um. Excuse me- examples? The great Korvac saga which has been hailed by many fans as one of the greats in Avengers history? Which Shooter story didn't have a beginning, middle and ending? I thought his characterization & development were often very good. Not always, sure, but often. Now Bill Mantlo, on the other hand.. wasn't he often accused of being the "Poor man's Stan Lee" in his Marvel Team Up days? I 've also read that he was a pain in his last days at Marvel. often ringing up editors for plot ideas. hey- what about the role of the editor? Seems to be a major omission in this piece! > Perez, and even > mediocrities like Bob Hall, to draw far worse for him than they ever > had under other Marvel writers who simply gave them plots to pencil. So Bob Hall's Avengers were worse than his Champions? Fine. Did he have equal amounts of time to do them or was one of them a rush job? Are there any other factors we are not aware of? A bit of a sweeping statement, that Shooter was responsible for the variation in quality in an artist's work, even if true. > I think Kirby's later series for DC, KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH, > as well as the far too short lived OMAC, makes most of his "Fourth > World" work look childish and cumbersome, if only in that both > KAMANDI and OMAC had a sense of whimsy to them that poor Orion, > Lightray, Darkseid, and even the goofy-but-somehow-never-amusing > Forever People couldn't even hope to aspire to. So what do you mean? That a writer/artist is capable of prodding work of varying quality? How many creators do you know in any medium at any time who haven't? > well, might not there be other artists out there who could work > similar wonders? Abruptly, the entire role of the writer in comic > books was brought into question for the first time since the Golden > Age. Not just Kirby. Also Wally Wood, Will Eisner, Gil Kane & many others. > That Jack Kirby is the spiritual father of the whole writer-artist > singularity phenomenon really can't be doubted. It can't? May be in the mainstream '90s that was true. How much do a lot of independent creators owe to Kirby (are you only talkimg about superhero comics in this piece? They are the only examples?) > Jim Starlin and John Byrne, as well, both of whom started out > scripting their own art as little more than Xeroxes of the King's > style. Sorry, but I really can't see that much similarity between Starlin's Captain Marvel & Kirby's anything. Byrne yes (consciously) Starlin... don't think so. >To this day Jim Starlin has never pencilled or written so much as a >panel or a caption that Kirby himself didn't draw or dialogue better >ten or twenty years earlier, have you read & seen *all* of Starlin's work? If not don't make such sweeping statements. If you have then how does Starlin's Wynn The reluctant warrior fit into this scheme? > editors and > publishers apparently began to come to the conclusion that being able > to draw was the same thing as being able to write... and it ain't > necessarily so, Joe. Or perhaps the cult of the creator & the weakness of editors gave an opportunity for artists to try their hand at being writers as well. Don't editors & fans have any place in your argument? In my view they are both important. I think the art of editing has largely disappeared & this has resulted in many things. > Mike Grell, who first scripted his own stiff, mannequin-like > art on the obscure DC title WARLORD, and later went on to utterly > destroy Green Arrow in two wretched post Crisis reboot mini series, > seemed to get most of his inspiration from old hard boiled detective > magazines and pulp 50s SF, You mean he took influences from outside comics themselves! Christ?! What a visionary. You're right, he should simply have recycled the same tired plots & cliches that Green Arrow had suffered from for years. How many years do you think GA would have survived in his won book with all the trick arrows silliness in the grim & gritty '80s? About as long as Blue Devil but longer than Blue Beetle I imagine. It wasn't just in comics that grim was the order of the day. > Howard Chaykin's self scripted stories were similarly misogynic, if > rather more libidinous; in them, the good looking girl didn't simply > sprawl at the hero's feet helplessly, but to a purpose, which usually > involved spreading her legs or bobbing her head just off panel > shortly before or after she was rescued. And American Flagg? Rubbish, wasn't it? Tch, these writer/artists! What's that? it was one of alan moore's favourite books at the time? Oh. > Fortunately, all Chaykin was allowed to screw up at DC post > Crisis were the Blackhawks. (It's interesting to note that while > Chaykin and Grell's heroic characters tended to be fine, stalwart > examples of broad-shouldered, clear-eyed, mighty thewed warrior-sorts > that nearly any Edgar Rice Burroughs fan would have recognized > immediately, they were a comparatively pasty and wheezing lot within > the context of any superhero universe. Bouncing Boy, or nearly any > member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, could have thrashed an > auditorium-ful of them without breaking a sweat.) So what? These were human more than superhuman. they added variety. no, if you read a lot of Grell or Chaykin one after the other there isn't a lot of variation. but drop them into a month's reading of standard superhero comics & whoa Nellie! (Hmm, love & Rockets?) > Frank Miller ...his BORN AGAIN story arc, as well as the original > MARTHA WASHINGTON limited series, to be exceptionally fine works in > the comic book field, Another exception! > although I'm not sure Martha really counts as a superhero... But does she *have* to? Does everything have to revolve around "who's the strongest?" Isn't that as bogus as , for example, who's the grimmest? > Still, Miller only seems to write well for other artists; when he > scripts over his own pencils, he tends to produce nonsense laden with > ninjas or mutants or cybernetic > samuraii that is only useful as a cure for insomnia. Or the 300. Where does that fit in to the above? Or his Batman stories? > I'd should also note at some point in this article that competent > artists who also write well aren't completely unknown in modern > comics. Do you mean superhero comics? There are other sorts too, you know. > But this article isn't about the exceptions, it's about the rule, and > as a rule, this astounding notion that, just because someone is a > wonderfully gifted penciller (as John Byrne and Todd McFarlane, just > for two examples, undeniably are), they must also have even a vague > grasp on the basics of story structure, plot, or interesting > characterization, is patently ridiculous... It was, in point of > undeniable fact, responsible for the apparently irrevocable death of > quality comic books at DC. Hang on. Wolfman & Wein were & are primarily both writers. so an event created by writers with story first sensibilities is responsible for this death of quality books (like chase, Hourman , Starman, sandman etc etc) So writer/artists are innocent then? Or at least only partially guilty. are you saying that if Wolfman had scripted Superman for byrne to pencil it would have been better? Are you saying that, say, alred or mccloud being responsible for story & art on superman would have been terrible? How about Miller recresting Batman from the ground up? > If there's a watershed moment when quality writing died at DC Comics, > it has to be the Crisis... and while that miserable, poorly conceived > and terribly executed miniseries itself was helmed by two of > comicdom's hoariest and most unimaginative hacks, Len Wein and Marv > Wolfman, Right, so the writer has his share of the blame for the decline in quality comics. BTW, why is Crisis so bad/ thought it was the last decent comics crossover myself. It was the editors who dropped the book afterwards. > This was a dreadful period in superhero comics. Silver Age fans like > myself watched in horror as one of the finest imaginary worlds ever > treasured by an entire generation of young readers was slashed, > shredded, pissed on, and trampled underfoot by a berserk, bungling > gang of non-writers that, in a more sane universe, would never have > been allowed to come within four feet of a typewriter or word > processor. Really? What happened to the sales on those books? Didn't they go up? weren't a new generation of fans thrilled by them & the older generation pleased that some of the barnacles had gone? Should Silver age fans such as yourself have some kind of stranglehold on character development? > We winced as the psychotic headbanging Dark Knight from Miller's > futuristic, out of continuity fable THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was > established as the official, canonical interpretation of the post > Crisis Batman. i didn't I thought it was more in tune with his rots. I winced at the '50s S-F Batman & the camp '60s batman. > We shuddered as Mike Grell turned Green Arrow into a > vicious sadist who would rather punch holes in the hands, arms, and > legs of criminals with cruelly barbed hunting shafts than cleanly > incapacitate them with boxing glove or knockout gas arrows, Vicious sadist? I think it was more that Grell was trying to write more in the real world. Boxing glove arrows? Who, over the age of 6 even then would have bought that? He made the Arrow an archer again, something he had lost over the years. > and we > shuddered again when we saw Black Canary, the last surviving > superheroine of Comics Golden Age, tortured and raped for no other > reason but to provide her suddenly humorless paramour with a > motivation for becoming so gruesomely vindictive. Ok, agree on that one! >Make it grimmer. More violent. Bloodier. And the editors had no say in this? Don't you think it's more a case of Julius gives way to Mike Carlin & a whole slew of different ideas & sensibilities which you don't share? > This horrible rape of comic book's Original Universe went on, > relentlessly and remorselessly, for years and years, until finally, > the only thing that anyone who had ever treasured a Cary Bates-Curt > Swan > Superman story, or a Hamilton-Forte Legion tale, or even a > mediocre Wein-Dillin JLA story, could do was wash their hands of the > whole thing and turn away with sickened stomachs and hardened hearts. In other words, comics (at least superhero comics) had changed & it was past time that you moved on. > The immediate result of the DC reboots, and its apparent lesson that > actual writers were considered mostly unnecessary in the greatest > creative undertaking in the history of superhero comics, was that the > good writers in comics fled in droves for other fields. Cary Bates, > Steve Engelhart, Steve Gerber, Alan Moore, Archie Goodwin, even solid > second stringers like Bill Mantlo, all became notable by their > absences I think that Bill Mantlo left to become a lawyer, Englehart left Marvel because a dispute over his constant missing of deadlines, Gerber left over a row over ownership of Howard the Duck, Moore left over a dispute with his editors, Archie Goodwin spent more time editing.. was Englehart even writing for Dc at the time of Crisis/ Or Gerber? Did Mantlo work much for DC? So why's he there? > Still, Marvel seemed content to employ writers who didn't draw, as > well as artists who didn't write, as did DC, for the most part. When were writer/artist ever a majority (or even a significant minority?) > It wasn't until the dawn of the 1990s that Marvel, apparently, lost > its corporate mind entirely... and the key word there is corporate. Let's face it, if McF & Liefeld sold in the millions then what corporate suit wouldn't give them whatever they wanted. Who actually read the damn things anyway? And history? That just got in the way. Nothing to do with Kirby. Everything to do with greed. > and apparently, they're now poised to jump headlong back into the > madness again. How? By bring in Brian Michael Bendis, Garth Ennis, Grant Morrison as writers? Priest? Need more of a list? None of them are producing writer/artist stuff for Marvel. > I will never, for the life of me, even begin to grasp how any > professional editor ever looked at a Todd McFarlane plot, a page of > pencils by Erik Larsen, or anything at all, plot or pencils, from Rob > Liefeld, and then thought "Hey, I know, let's pay this idiot money for > this shit and then actually publish it... with my name in the credits > as being responsible for it, much less." But did they sell in the millions? Did you buy them? if not, how do you know they were shit. if you did - did you buy multiple copies or several issues of their work? Then aren't you guilty too? > (Todd later assured us that he had never > actually read Shakespeare, or, really, much of anything besides the > sports page, and he was confident that actually reading Shakespeare > wouldn't make him a better writer. I shall not argue with The Great > Man, since I myself am of the firm opinion that only a full frontal > lobotomy could make him a better writer, anyway.) 1 Not all great writers have read shakespeare. 2 Does the phrase "Pearls before swine" mean anything? > Ernie Colon, when he was editing THE FLASH shortly before the Crisis, > may have unwittingly (and witlessly) stated the Image Comics manifesto > best when he declared that you could have a comic story that was > simply pictures and no words, but you could never have a comics story > that was simply words without pictures. Years later, Image Comics > would take this stupid and insulting statement to its next logical > step. Uh, sorry. But it's true, isn't it? What is a comic book? Words AND pictures. There can be silent strips , books & sequences. There can be pages of just text but in the end the medium is a partnership. > The artist certainly could, but if he was too busy banging teen age > groupies to be bothered with such tedious monkey-work, Isn't that illegal? Do you have one example of this? If not, then why is it there? > Nonetheless, the dreadful things sold in the millions. Because people bought them in the millions. For whatever reason. In any business, if the other guy is doing something successfully it's only good business to try to copy him. Business, not art. Wasn't the Avengers begun as a copy of the JLA? > Even when the Image founders started > to surreptitiously bring in actual writers to upgrade their story > quality somewhat, it didn't seem to have any impact on their general > creed that scripters were now completely unnecessary to comics. What, McF brought in Gaiman, Sim (a writer/artist) and Miller (does he count) he did it surreptitiously/ In what sense? > It's a lesson that was learned more or less > across the board by every aspect of the entertainment industry in the > 80s and 90s. Like The Bay City Rollers (in the '70s) and many others before & since. This wasn't a uniquely 80s thing by any means. What about the impact of punk & the Pistols on music? >Pop groups that can't play their instruments and don't actually sing, > right alongside the creative sterility and bankruptcy of marketing > gimmick storylines like DEATH OF SUPERMAN, Wasn't the death of Superman more of a writer's thing (if there has to be a difference) Or more properly an event/sales thing rather than a creative one. > If you need to pump up sales for a while, you don't need to hire a > good writer. You can either come up with a gimmicky story arc, Yes, that was true. > Until recently, I thought there were signs that superhero comics might > be recovering from the writer/artist singularity madness. > Alan Moore, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Kurt Busiek, and Warren Ellis, most of whom are working for Marvel which is going down the pan > . I took it as a positive sign > that both companies have once more started courting actual writers, Like Quesada is doing? > But then there's the other side of the coin. Writer-artist > singularities like John Byrne continue to thrive without a shred of > writing talent. Is Byrne thriving? i thought he was off Spidey? What is he doing now at marvel? > Many of the current crop of fan favorite > writers are actually lousy, lazy no- talents who would be better > employed pumping gas than screwing over my favorite heroes, For example/ And why & how do they have no talent? > and if the fans can adulate such paragons of style over substance as > Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, (who was given as an example of being good > earler on) and Warren Ellis, it's a good indication that the paying > customers still have no clear idea what good writing actually is. And you alone do? > Most ominous of all, the ascent of Joe Quesada to the highest > editorial chair at Marvel is one I have to view with a great deal of > uneasiness, since the man clearly can't write a lick, and just as > clearly seems to have no grasp on the concept that comics really > should be well written. Has he ever said that he can write? And how is it demonstrated that he has no grasp... oh I get it- he's talked about breaking the rules & taking chances (not the illusion of chance that silver age Lee famously spoke of) heresy! > And that, at > base, is all I'm saying. Giving John Byrne a writing assignment > because he can draw is no different than publishing a lousy horror > novel by a terrible writer because she's Stephen King's wife. I think it is different. At least Byrne has, in theory at least, had the opportunity to work with writers. also, as comics are apparently a collaborative medium (in the important DC universe) as you have stated earlier artists are often responsible for some of the story in its final form. not the same as being someone's wife. > Consider, just for a moment, how any of us would feel if it was > announced that Grant Morrison had agreed to go back to writing JLA... > on the condition that he be allowed to draw it, too. Now consider how > we'd feel if his first issue as writer/artist came out, and not only > did the art just plain SUCK... Wouldn't we think his editor was > unprofessional, for subjecting us to such lousy art, instead of > standing up to Morrison and saying "Sorry, Grant, your art sucks, > we're going to hire a penciller for you?" EXACTLY! The final form of the book is the editor's responsibility. > Nowadays, anything as sophisticated and complex as > Engelhart's Celestial Madonna story in AVENGERS, his Nomad story in > CAPTAIN AMERICA, or Steve Gerber's Sons of the Serpent or Bozo/Headmen > stories in DEFENDERS, would automatically be slapped with a Mature > Readers Only tag, simply because it would be presumed that young > readers wouldn't like it, buy it, or understand it... but in the > 1970s, those comics were being bought by 12 and 13 year olds, and we > loved them. But one of the above were best sellers, especially the Defenders. Which proves what? Weren't they more like a creative dead end which encouraged older readers to stay with the habit & gave us the situation we have in superhero comics today where the majority of readers are well over 20. Is this a good thing? > and then support > such a statement with actual examples. Astounding Space Thrills, berlin, breakfast after noon, cerebus, darklight prelude, finder, herobear & the kid, house of java, kane, murder me dead, optic nerve, powers, strangers in paradise, stray bullets. oh wait- they're by writer/artists. sam & Twitch. Ultimate Spider-Man. Not a bad list, for starters. > For every well written comic > being published right now there are ten spectacularly shitty ones, Always have been. sturgeon's law. Hope it's not too long. usually enjoy the pieces but this time I violently disagree. I realize that this is too long for the e-mag & would take too long to edit into a reasonably coherent form but couldn't let it go unchallenged. You're right that there are a number of positive things in comics right now. Paul Hayward +++++ [Editor: And, as always, our columnist is given space to respond. For the record, comments meant for only me were edited from the start and end of this response. - D.L.] Subj: okay... From: martianmanhunter2@juno.com (John J. Jones) For what it's worth, since to respond to the 2 part diatribe the one fellow sent me at length WOULD require a column, I'll just make a generic response to what seems a common criticism so far below: "First, I want to say that I've never had this much mail on any column before, and I appreciate it, even the stuff that I think really misunderstands everything I was trying to say. But I am grateful to everyone who wrote. I enjoy knowing people have read my work and given it some thought. Specific responses: to the fellow who corrected me on CC Beck and Mack Raboy being artists, not writer artists, and to the several others who pointed out other factual errors. : I apologize, quite sincerely. I really can't make any excuse. As an explanation, however, I would like to say that I do use qualifying phrases like "seemingly" and "apparently" and "in my opinion", etc, about as often as McDonalds uses salt in their fry-beds. I don't put myself forward as any sort of factual scholar, especially on the Golden Age. I do not have a million dollar collection of Golden Age comics, I don't even, for the most part, like them that much. Beyond that, I'm a fallible human being and I make mistakes. I am, like many of you, I suspect, an aging fanboy, a wannabe pro, I have no life, and I write my columns for CBEM for the most part from the heart, through the dim memory of comics I read and enjoyed as a kid. These columns are for entertainment, not education. I'm expressing my views. I regret my factual errors, as much as I regret the fact that my strong opinions and writing style often lead me to state things I believe to be facts AS actual facts. But nonetheless, while nitpicking is fine and certainly serves its purpose of embarrassing and humiliating me in public by making me look like a dolt and an amateur, I would like to gently point out that I have never pretended to be anything but a dolt and an amateur. I write to express my opinions. If people want to point out my (many, many) factual errors, that's fine, and I'll apologize for them when it happens. However, I'm far more interested in debating about the ideas I'm setting out, if people want to do that. I thought I had made my thesis clear in my last column, but I've had several letters so far pointing out to me that in fact, Ernie Colon's insulting and stupid statement regarding the definition of comic books ("pictures without words are still comics, words without pictures are not") is, in fact, true. I never said it wasn't. I said it was insulting and stupid, and it was, and unprofessional, too, for a professional editor, who also just happened to be an artist, to publish, on a letters page, in response to a fan who had written in to praise Cary Bates scripting while asking for a different artist on the book, to so denigrate and demean the contribution to QUALITY comic books of writers throughout the industry, and in that specific example, of Cary Bates in specific. And I still think it was. For an artist turned editor to use his editorial position to weigh in on a controversy in such humiliating terms was, I think, astoundingly unprofessional. Beyond that, however, the point I was trying to make... and that, in rereading the column, I think I MADE, if anything, TOO often... was not that Colon or Image Comics were WRONG when they said all it takes is art to make a comic book. What I think is insulting and stupid (and, when an editor says it, unprofessional) about that statement is that it doesn't address the main point of ANY artistic endeavor... which is to do it WELL. My article talks about QUALITY comic books, and the grievous lack theroef of such at DC post Crisis, at Image in whole except when Alan Moore writes for them, and generally, across the spectrum of 80s and 90s superhero comics. I never said pictures without words, or pictures with lame words, weren't comics. I said, if a comic isn't well WRITTEN, it is a bad comic. Period. And then I pointed out, using various specific examples and references to support my thesis, that when you let a good artist who can't write write comics (especially comics that redefine seminal characters like Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, and Hawkman), you end up with not only bad comics, but a poisoned superhero mythology that we've been stuck with for the last fifteen years. If anyone wants to take issue with those ideas and opinions, I'm happy to debate them at length. Again, I apologize for errors in fact, but I will continue to make them. I'm not a computer. And I regret the fact that apparently, people thought I was arguing with Colon's definition of comics itself. I wasn't, and I think I made that clear, but for the record: words without pictures aren't comics. Sequential pictures meant to tell a specific story without words ARE comics. Sequential pictures meant to tell a story WITH words are BETTER comics, IF THE WORDS ARE WELL WRITTEN. Comics is a hybrid medium, a creative alloy. They are meant to be a marriage of two of humanity's most powerful known forms of communicative art... words and pictures. They are at their most powerful when both elements are present... and... (and this is the controversial part) IN MY OPINION, as a wannabe writer and someone who has always bought comics for the WRITING, not the art, the WRITING is the most important element... to a QUALITY comic book. I will buy a well written comic with lousy art (as probably 80% of the run of SANDMAN was) and still enjoy it. I CANNOT enjoy, and will not buy, a badly written comic with GREAT art (as, for example, the entirety of the Wolfman/Perez TITANS were, in my opinion, or is nearly anything written and drawn by John Byrne before the 90s). I really think I made all that clear in the column, but y'all continue to nitpick as you please." J'J +++++ Subj: Re: Welcome to ComicBookNetworkEmag From: buffysman56@hotmail.com (paul williams) G'Day Comic readers My names Paul , I like DC comics , especially Superman Family , Justice league , Young Justice and Legionnaires . I also like Buffy and I hate to say but I liked the X-Men movie , my excuse is because Hugh (Aussie) Jackman and NZ's Anna Paquin were in it , Ha Ha Ha ,I look forward to reading and sending stuff about what we think should be happening , Here's my first , Clark and Lois should become parents now , I think twin boys , named Jerry Jer-El and joseph Jos-El . +++++ From: rasmus@timespell.com Well guys...I'll try this again, and sorry if you've gotten this twice. See, earlier today I began building a Delphi Forum for small press comics and the like, fans of Timespell or any other independent comic. Talk about your scary con story's, the cool shit you pick up along the way, or the time your buddy smoked up with Mark Hamill at San Deigo. What's the Hennfactor and how does it apply to you? (inside joke) (I guess I should have named the forum Club 408 Graphics or something...) Talk about the SPX/Expo, whatever... ANYway...the forum sent out this generic email inviting folks, and I guess it never sent a URL. So here it is. http://www.delphi.com/rich_henn/start/ Rich P.S. Well, I've done it again...first a forum at Delphi, now a BB. http://members2.boardhost.com/timespell/ +++++ Subj: cbem 283 From: pjhay@clara.net (Paul &Jackie Hayward) David, While I agree with you on most points with your criticism of the fan's (& columnist's) reaction to the Ultimate Spider-man there is one point I disagree with you on. I don't think that uncle Ben necessarily has to die. If Brian Michael Bendis can do the origin without his death & still make it powerful & memorable while setting up an interesting & enduring character then all power to him. [Well yes, but this is not Flash II, i.e. Wally vs. Barry or GL II or Robin II or III. It is the same character restarted. The essence of Peter Parker's dedication was forged in his remorse over the consequences of his inaction resulting in the death of one he loved dearly. It can still be a compelling interesting, enduring character, but it is not the same essential Spider-Man, in my opinion. - D.L.] Personally, I don't care much if any character lives or dies. Cynically I could say that's because, as someone remarked (Peter David in X-Factor?), death is more like a revolving door in Marvel comics. Partly because chance doesn't have to be bad. I don't say that all change is good since change for its own sake doesn't benefit anyone in the long run, but since this is a Spider-man for a new generation (or it's nothing) then all bets should be off. Uncle ben's death in Spider-Man is more pivotal than Superman's adoptive parents but I think that Byrne was able to pull it off when he rebooted Supes with parents. (Speaking of Byrne, isn't it about time everyone stopped bashing him? It's beyond a joke now. It may be that the majority or whatever of fans don't like or hate what he doing. That's fine. But it's a bit strong to say that he was never any good & always a talentless hack who couldn't write or draw. I think that a lot of people have forgotten the impact he had when he made over Superman & the FF. Both were in need of a change, having become very stale & I think that by and large he succeeded. Why people continue to buy books they don't like by creators they can't stand is & has always been a mystery. how do they hope to see a change if they continue to support the book? Don't like Byrne- fine, don't buy it. In this Previews age you can only very rarely not know who the creative personnel on a particular book are.) [There is no accounting for some people's animas toward particular creators. I don't care for Liefeld's work, never have, but I don't spew venom at him every chance I get and espouse his stoning at the wall just because I don't care for his work. I think Byrne has done some good and some bad. No worse than many successful people in the business. Why certain people have to crusade for his total obliteration from the industry is beyond me. It just comics after all. These same people probably could not care less about the moral bankruptcy at the highest levels of our government though - something far more important than words and pictures on paper! Go figure. - D.L.] Yes, if it's completely different then there is an argument that it shouldn't be called Spider-man. But then what about the Flash & Green Lantern to name but two. [I don't care if they call it Spider-Man and have not heard anyone espousing differently. - D.L.] To sum up, each generation should be entitled to their own version of a book and not feel tied to the past. Interestingly, in my comic shop (which ordered 20 more copies than it sells Amazings) they sold out in 3 days. The extra sales were exclusively to fans like myself- older fans who had given up on the character over the years. How long readers like me will stay I don't know. But then we're (for once) not the primary focus of this experiment. I just hope that this generation can have ground level access to the major comics icons. You're right to say that fans should be more supportive of the medium in general (& perhaps Marvel in particular- I've certainly done my share of Marvel bashing over the last 8 years or so). Hope to see some teenagers writing in the e-mag one day. It would certainly make a change from all us old crusties! Really enjoyed the e-mag this week. John Jones column was food for thought, as was yours. I don't like Paul Dale Roberts column, but, following my own advice from earlier, I simply scroll through it without feeling any the worse for wear! There's certainly plenty of meat in the mag for everyone. If there isn't , whose fault is it? Yep, the contributors, the readers & lastly the editors. That's not the case here & hasn't been for at least the more than two years I've been reading. Thanks paul [Thanks for writing and the kind words about the mag. - D.L.] +++++ Subj: Re: [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 283 - Response From: exidor@juno.com Hello, David. I feel moved to respond to some of this week's issue If you wish to use it, feel free to edit it. > Subj: Some thoughts on the Ultimates line > From: alex_stres@email.com (Alex Stresino) > I like Bendis' work and I enjoyed the first issue of > Ultimate Spiderman. So why are the other books being published? Because there are many of us that enjoy the other books. > Spider-woman, Deadpool, Generation X, etc. Who's reading > these books? My hand is raised. In fact, not only do I read them, I purchase them, as well as most of the mainstream Marvel & DC comics. I keep what I purchase, so I qualify as a collector or sorts. For those that demographics, I'm a 37-year-old male, married, one son, and almost 17 years Navy service. I've been reading/collecting since the late 70's, primarily using Westfield Comics (http://westfieldcompany.com/wow/hub.html) as a supplier since the mid 80's. > The only books I currently enjoy from Marvel are the > Marvel Knight books. And that's where I keyed in when I first read it. Just because you enjoy only those, the rest of us should not enjoy the rest, or should we suffer them to be closed up if you have your way? > Is it really anyone's fault in this industry when no one wants to pick > up four monthly books of X-Men, Spiderman, Batman or Superman > besides the hard core fans who can care less about expanding > readership and extending to a variety of age groups. Hard core... never thought of myself that way. I read comics and other books because I enjoy the escapism. The characters are old friends. I like seeing different writer's takes on the characters, and enjoy most artwork (though I know some enjoy it, I actually detested Bill Sienkiewicz's artwork in New Mutants - but I enjoyed the story nonetheless). > The only monthly Batman book I was following was the > Batman: Dark Victory series. It has a beginning and > an end and it truly builds on character. Why can't there be one > monthly for all the best characters? For much the same reason that you and I have already hit on - not everyone (including the "fans") want it that way. > The first two years of Valiant were magical. Everything > after was a sad waste. I got into very few of the independents. I enjoyed the Elementals, and Justice Machine (when it started at Noble Comics). as well as some others. > Sometimes we got to take a chance on books. And sometimes we have to face it that not everyone likes what we do. I miss the New Warriors and some other now-defunct series. I would have stuck with Slapstick if it went longer, but one can only stand so much of that. And the only reason I have the second issue of Solar-Man (a Marvel Comic) was that I hoped they changed the character - I thought it had some promise (I thought the second one sucked, too). > Essentially I feel we should welcome the Ultimates line. I'm giving them a chance, true. > We should be able to see how the X-Men, Spiderman, > the Hulk, Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Nick Fury, and everyone else fits > into one universe but at the same time not have to worry about > these connections. Sorta like in the 70's, when Spidey would mention something that went on elsewhere that month, but it wasn't necessary to go get that issue to enjoy the story one already had in hand, yes? > If the Ultimates continue to expand we should welcome these > books and allow the other books to fade into oblivion. I disagree. > Otherwise these books will never have the impact they are trying to have. Perhaps the writers are trying to have an impact... and if they are good enough at their trade, it won't matter that the other books exist. The success of one does not necessarily have to detract from the success of the other. > Yes deadlines are important but if it jeopardizes the quality of the > work then it is obvious that rules can be bent. To a degree, probably so. > Projected sales will be effected. How much will Marvel now > lose in sales for a book that no one will be interested in because > a primary creator couldn't make its deadlines? Such as Daredevil right now? For what it's worth, there must be much in their unpublished archives that could be used as a spacer in such a situation - such a delay is probably loosing Daredevil readers. > Marvel needs to redefine itself. It needs to takes chances. It needs to cancel > everything and start with new dynamics. Perhaps... but on the other hand, how would that affect their licensing... some companies licensing likenesses may not like to be associated with the "new direction"... Marvel, as a company, has to look at that aspect as well. "A pebble in the water..." > Subj: response > From: BiLyClub39@aol.com > I think the vast majority of your subscribers > are comics shop owners I know I'm not... David, do you have some demographics on this? [None really. I do know we have a wide range of readers from both sides of the counter and fans and pros alike. Vast majority is probably avid readers who care enough to want to pursue their hobby with others and get more opinions through our Mag. Are the vast majority of people frequenting USENET comic forums also retailers? I don't think so. - D.L.] > Subj: Re: Fwd: response > From: Krissy80@aol.com > For starters, I hate stores like this. Small and cramped, they're > extremely claustrophobic. There's no such thing as the casual > shopper here. You venture into these dungeons for a reason. > Which is why many of them, such as here in Brooklyn, have > closed down. I disagree with this conclusion - purely from my observations, the ones that closed down are mostly the ones that opened to get in on the collector/speculator craze, or because many of those new ones started out with such special pricing that they couldn't compete in a shakey market in the first place. And it's not just isolated to the speculators, either. I recall a shop in Lancaster, OH that ran another shop out of business by having prices below the competitor only during the hours of business the competitor was open, then the prices would go back to normal. An isolated incident, perhaps, but it shows me that there is more than one reason for a business to go under, comic shop or not. > The dedicated base > moved on, and there was no one new to fill the void. That's mostly > observation. I'd say "opinion" to be more accurate. 8) > I never said you had to be Barnes and Noble, I just thought it was > an example to work from. Obviously the business model for a bookstore > would be very different from a comics shop. Which is why Barnes & Noble isn't a good example to work from... I've yet to see on that even carries comics (other than the Trade Paperbacks & Prestige editions). > And how much room you have > isn't important, it's what you do with it. I'd say it was a combination of both. > >Where does she think we should put couches and chairs to sit in > > and how long does she think they would survive with ten and > >12 year old kids climbing all over them? > > From this, I just get the feeling you don't like kids. I had a different conclusion - that he knew kids (I know my son can be hard on furniture). > Who said comic shops needed to be small? Most of the long term > stores I know are pretty big, and those that aren't make good use of the > floor space they have without being claustrophobic. I'd qualify that one - I'd wager they started out small, and fit into a niche quite well. I know that Mile High Comics has moved (or is in the process of moving) into a new, larger warehouse... but they, too, started out small, and I doubt they encouraged the kind of browsing that you appear to. They built their customer base, and they kept their customers happy (Qualification - I have had no problems with them, your mileage may vary). - Patrick Long +++++ Subj: reading in comic shops From: yrogerg@ukans.edu (greg huneryager) Regarding Bill Jurgens' comments in CBEM #283 "This isn't a library. Buy it or put it back on the rack. And stop whining about it too." : The store I buy from [Kwality Comics in Lawrence, KS] has the old sign about limiting your reading to 10 minutes but they also have a chair near the front counter where a regular customer can sit and read through books, I may read through half a dozen titles that aren't on my pull list and then when I'm ready to leave, pick up my books, I often don't pick up any of these other books but sometimes I enjoy them so much I do. I, like a lot of people, don't have tons of money to spend on comics so an additional book has to be extra special for me to buy it. If I just bought everything that seemed kind of interesting I would be broke for the rest of the month and then just half to cut back on my pull list, Still, by allowing a regular customer to read other books my store has made extra sales on items I wouldn't have picked up otherwise such as "Ant-Man's Big Christmas." I'm especially resistant to buying a $5 or $6 item like this out of the blue because of my budget but I enjoyed it so much I knew I would have to have it. This is also true of new series, If it's by a writer I'm unfamiliar with I'd rather just read the first couple of issues to get a feel for it.. I've added "Lucifer" to my pull list but wouldn't if I hadn't read the first several issues. Now, I do spend quite a bit of time in the store on Wednesday afternoons but the fact that I've read something extra has resulted in other sales. I told someone how fun the first issue of "Ultimate Spider-Man" was and he bought a copy. Now, I enjoyed it but didn't care for the art so I got a fun read and the store still made a sale. This policy is a reflection of the people who work at Kwality -- they're just fun to talk and create an warm open atmosphere that make the customer want to hang around and visit. And you know what, I think that the longer you hang around a store the more likely you are to buy more books. And, no, this is not that big a store but it's attitude and competence have made it a survivor against stores that have had larger discounts. Greg Huneryager +++++ Subj: comic book store controversy From: pmca@together.net (paul howley) David, I was amused at the comic shop owner's anger when standard business practices were suggested to him. Imagine his horror at the thought of sound business ideas like clean attractive displays, proper stock levels and the idea of making his existing customers and potential new customers comfortable while they shop! At my store in Massachusetts, I've devoted about 10,000 square feet to retail displays. I carry EVERY comic book published ...at least for the first 4 issues (if they have shown that they won't sell at least one copy by the fourth issue, then we stop ordering it) I try to manta in at least 2 copies of every comic book ever published as back issues in stock at all times so that a collector can always find something to buy in my store. Now obviously I don't ever achieve that, but it is my goal! All of my merchandise is clearly marked with a price tag and we don't ever change the price just because some "made up" price guide says they are now worth more! To me, this is the key to selling back issue comics...have what they want at a reasonable price. If I've bought a huge collection of comics for 10 cents each, it makes no sense to price them for $3.00 just because the price guide lists then that high. Price them at 95 cents and they'll sell very quickly. Do the math. We've just made a great profit, and the customer will be back to spend again. As far as "just barely making a living"...I feel badly for many of my fellow comic book retailers, but this isn't the case with us! I have 11 full time employees and they are all paid very well. We give a full 14% of their gross pay as a retirement benefit with no contribution on their part! We pay full medical insurance. We give fully paid vacation time for all full time employees. My employees may not be perfect but I'll tell you...they are knowledgeable and loyal! I'm not easy to work for but some of my employees have been with me for over 10 years! On top of all of this, I'm making a good living! It's not always easy, but if you adopt smart cash flow principles and don't fall for the hype of the comic book companies, order conservatively, grow your business slowly, don't go for the quick and easy buck, and treat your customers fairly, you will improve your image and eventually improve your bottom line profit. Please don't misunderstand me...my store is not perfect! It looks like a big warehouse store....but that was intentionally done because that was the building that was offered to me. I certainly welcome any comments from comic book fans and other retailers. I don't have all of the answers, but what we've been doing for the last 20 years has worked for me and I'm sure it can work elsewhere. Paul Howley, owner That's Entertainment [I can attest to Mr. Howley's claims of reasonable prices and depth of stock. As many of you know I shop at his store. It is not for nothing that he earned the Will Eisner Spirit of The Industry Award. - D.L.] ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] [TRIVIA CONTEST] **THE FIRST PLACE TO FIND THE EMAG EACH WEEK IS ON OUR HOME PAGE!** IF YOU ARE DESPERATE TO WIN THE TRIVIA, GO THERE FIRST ON FRIDAY NIGHT http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet/emag.htm QUESTION OF THE WEEK Prizes donated by Discount Comic Book Service at www.dcbservice.com where you can order most DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse comics, statues and retail products for 35% off. +Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you can stump+ +the readers! You MUST submit the correct answer with your question.+ LAST ISSUE'S QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What native "mystery hero" did Jimmy Olsen meet when he became the Beatle of 1000 BC? Steve Chung got it right away. Jimmy met Mighty Youth who was secretly Samson of Biblical fame. The Beatle tie in was about long hair! :) Steve will receive The Rise of Apocalypse TP from our sponsor, Discount Comic Book Service. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: Who won the Great Cow Race? IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE The first correct answer to reach the editor wins the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm). The editor will be the sole judge as to which guess arrived first! Messages with more than one guess will be disqualified. LIMIT: ONE PRIZE PER MONTH PER PERSON! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry Consumers Can Reserve VHS and DVD Copies of X-MEN Beginning TOMORROW; Debuting November 21, Priced to Own CENTURY CITY, Calif., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting tomorrow, Friday, September 29, consumers can reserve their copies of the highly anticipated VHS and DVD release of Twentieth Century Fox's star-studded, special effects-filled $157 million summer blockbuster, X-MEN, at participating retailers in the U.S. and Canada. Allowing the millions of VHS-purchasing households the chance to enjoy great, added-value materials, both the DVD and VHS versions of the debut X-MEN release will include never-before-seen bonus footage, insightful interview segments with acclaimed Director Bryan Singer and a special animated production storyboard "animatic." The ultimately collectible DVD features even more great extras including hot actor Hugh Jackman's screen test for the role of Logan/Wolverine, a special "Extended Branching Version" to preserve the integrity of the film -- as intended in its original theatrical form -- while allowing consumers to view six never-before-seen sequences. Starring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and James Marsden, X-MEN captured a wide theatrical audience, pulling in $57.5 million in its opening weekend and ranking as the fourth-highest and number two biggest grosser for a non-holiday. Available just in time for the holidays, X-MEN is priced at an ownable $22.98 ($26.98 Canada) on VHS and $29.98 ($41.98 Canada) on DVD. VHS: Spectacularly packaged in a collectible foil video sleeve, X-MEN VHS is presented in pan & scan format. It includes 10 minutes of never-before-seen footage, including and exciting "animatic" animated storyboard, created to demonstrate Bryan Singer's vision for one of the movie's action sequences, as well as a fascinating interview with director Bryan Singer from PBS' Charlie Rose Show. DVD: In addition to the elements included on the VHS release, the X-MEN DVD also features many more extras, including hot actor Hugh Jackman's screen test for the role of Logan/Wolverine and is presented in a special "Extended Branching Version" to preserve the integrity of the film in its original theatrical form while allowing consumers to view six never-before-seen sequences. The X-MEN DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen format (aspect ratio: 2.35:1) with a spectacular "reference quality" video transfer and English 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround and English and Spanish subtitles. A complete list of DVD contents: -- Never-before-seen footage comprised of ssix movie sequences (available as part of "Extended Branching" or to be viewed one after another in a special section). They are: -- Storm character development -- Teaching Class. -- Logan Notices Jean and Scott/Rogue, Scottt and Storm in the classroom. -- An extended bedroom sequence between Loggan, Jean and Scott. -- Relationship development as Bobby walks Rogue to her Dorm and Professor Xavier and Jean are in the Cerebro. -- Development of relationship between Proffessor Xavier and Jean in his office. -- Ready Room. -- An exciting 22 minute "behind-the-sceness" documentary "Mutant Watch" which was created for HBO and aired to promote the movie's theatrical release. -- The screen test of hot Australian actor Hugh Jackman, as he auditioned for the part of Logan/Wolverine. -- Five excerpts from Bryan Singer's intervview on the Charlie Rose Show -- Singer discusses making a "studio film."" -- Expansive Art Gallery -- 170 concept artt stills from both production and character design stills and development stills -- including shots of several characters not included in the film. -- Two "animatic" animated storyboards, creeated to demonstrate Singer's vision for the look, blocking and angles of shots in the Statue of Liberty fight sequence and train station fight sequence. -- Two theatrical trailers. -- Three TV spots. -- THX Optimode -- home theater audio optimmizing system. -- Two exciting "Easter Eggs" DVD enthusiassts will enjoy. Based on Stan Lee's Marvel comic book series, X-MEN recounts the story of Professor Xavier's X-Men, all born with a unique genetic mutation, and their physical and philosophical battle with the Professor's former colleague and friend, Magneto, who believes mutants are the rightful heirs to the future. They are scientific oddities ... outcasts who are feared and loathed by those who cannot accept their differences. Yet despite society's pervasive ignorance, Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean (Famke Janssen) and Storm (Halle Berry), and thousands like them survive. Their professor, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), welcomes two newcomers: Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and Rogue (Anna Paquin). The X-Men find themselves locked in a physical and philosophical battle with the Professor's former colleague and friend, Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto (Ian McKellen). He and his evil Brotherhood -- the mammoth Sabretooth (Tyler Mane), the metamorph Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) and the near-sighted, far-jumping Toad (Ray Park) -- will stop at nothing to ensure that future, even if it threatens the very existence of mankind ... or mutantkind. +++++ Contact: David Seidman, Marketing Director, at (310) 652-4369 VAMPIRES OUT, MUMMY IN! Elvira #91 Trades One Kind of Monster for Another in Schedule Switch Claypool Comics' ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK #91 was originally to feature the sexy, sassy video hostess in "Forever Bite," a battle against Canadian vampires--or so Claypool's solicitation announcement said. Unfortunately, that story won't be available on time. Since Claypool always strives for on-time shipping, the company will not delay the issue but instead insert another tale: "One for the Mummy" by DC and Marvel veterans JO DUFFY, DAVE SIMONS, and BRUCE PATTERSON. On the set of the world's cheapest mummy movie, Elvira's stalked by a real mummy, who wants to try his wrap out on her! The issue's back-up tale remains the same as before. In "From the Gavel to the Grave," by FRANK STROM, TOD SMITH, and LOUIS LACHANCE, Elvira's guest-judging on one of those syndicated court-TV shows--and the court has never been less orderly! The entire issue will appear under a color photo cover of Elvira. Besides Elvira, Claypool publishes the super-powered satire SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY by PETER DAVID, RICHARD HOWELL, DAVE COCKRUM, and AMANDA CONNER, and the vampire epic DEADBEATS by RICHARD HOWELL and RICARDO VILLAGRAN. +++++ Press Release: For Release Tuesday, September 26, 2000 Graham Annable to publish Grickle with Alternative Comics Gainesville, Florida, September 26, 2000: Alternative Comics is proud to announce the arrival of a brilliant and charismatic new comics talent, award-winning Canadian-born animator Graham Annable March 2001 will see the release of Grickle, and at 128 pages with a cover price of $14.95, this is truly a chance to dive headfirst into the deep end of Annable's world. Grickle collects two dozen beautiful stories in which devilish comedy and eye-watering art enclose a rich, chocolatey center of sad poetry and bruised but intact innocence. Annable has been creating these stories for his own satisfaction concurrent with his commercial animation work, and it shows in their intimate, conversational tone and wholly personal outlook. The skills honed at his day job are just as evident in the deft, fluid way he puts his stylish figures through their paces – it's like listening to the eloquent solo improvisations of a jazz musician who has sharpened his chops playing every night in the band. Even several panels of an Annable character just sitting still at a table practically glitter with life and cartoon joy. A man is carried safely through the ugly harshness of the world by his own Polaroid-enabled brand of narcissism. The sadistic make-believe of two little boys is no match for the laid-back cruelty of their grandfather. Two buddies go on an ice fishing trip. One finds enlightenment, but the other catches a whole hell of a lot of fish. A factory drone discovers his creative side with the help of the toilet. Vehicular manslaughter turns to out be pretty okay as long as there aren't any witnesses. Sound interesting? Wait till you see them come to life in vivid black-and-white! Grickle is a hefty treasure trove of visually arresting, hilarious, wise, and emotionally rereadable cartoon stories. Graham Annable was classically trained as an animator at Sheridan College in Toronto, graduating in 1992, and has worked as an animator ever since, including work on British children's TV, storyboards for Chuck Jones Enterprises, Disney's “A Goofy Movie,” and since 1994 an extended string of computer game projects for LucasArts such as Full Throttle, The Dig, Afterlife, Outlaws, and The Curse of Monkey Island. He is the lead animator for the forthcoming LucasArts computer game Obi-Wan. His projects have won numerous animation and graphics awards including the ASIFA Annie Award, animation's highest honor, in 1998 for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Interactive Program". Graham currently resides in the Bay Area, California. A mock-up of the cover to Grickle is available on-line in JPEG format at: http://www.indyworld.com/pics/grickle.jpg (650k), in TIF format (CYMK color mode) at: http://www.indyworld.com/pics/grickle.tif (960k) or in GIF format (RGB color mode) at http://www.indyworld.com/pics/grickle.gif (70k). The official Grickle web site is: http://www.indyworld.com/grickle The official Alternative Comics Web site is: http://www.indyworld.com/altcomics For more information or additional graphics please contact Alternative Comics publisher Jeff Mason at 503 NW 37th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32609-2204. Phone: (352) 373-6336. E-Mail: jmason@gator.net; or Graham Annable at grickle@hotmail.com. +++++ Former WWF Champion and Centerfold Rena Mero Takes on the Underworld as a Comic Book Character in ``The 10th Muse LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2000-- `Wrestler Turned Actress Proves That She Is Just as Feisty on Paper!' She dropped a 300-pound man on his head while reigning in the ring as the former World Wrestling Federation Women's Champion, her April "Playboy" cover was the fastest selling issue in history, she is the only female to grace the cover of "Playboy" twice during the same year, and her video, "Sable Unleashed," was the number one selling video in the country. Now, Actress and Model Rena Mero is using her beauty, strength, intelligence, and passion to tip the scales of justice her way as "The 10th Muse." Like none other, she takes the law into her own hands as both a District Attorney and vigilante -- only this time she's in a comic book. Move over Wonder Woman, there's a new goddess in town! "To date, Greek mythology has documented nine Muses, the inspirational daughters of the almighty god, Zeus," explains Darren Davis, President/Editor-in-Chief of TidalWave Studios, and creator of the comic book. "`The 10th Muse' introduces Emma Sonnet, the forgotten Muse, who uses her powers from birthright to battle evil in the courtroom by day and shadows at night. This project is a new kind of super-hero saga unlike anything else on the market." Written by comic book legend Marv Wolfman ("Blade") and penciled by Ken Lashley, ("JLA," "Rising Stars," "Excalibur"), "The 10th Muse" utilizes the best in color and graphics to showcase the beauty of Rena Mero. From her long blonde hair to piercing green eyes, TidalWave Studios has taken every precaution to ensure that none of her characteristics have been lost in their interpretation. The highly-anticipated Image Comics publication will hit stores the first week of November. "I am excited to be involved with `The 10th Muse,'" says Rena Mero. "Of the many projects that I have been featured in including television, wrestling, and modeling, this has to be one of the most unique because it's an artist's vision of my look and personality. And it's an impressive one at that!" As a former WWF wrestler, Rena Mero commanded the highest ratings in cable history. Following her departure from the ring, she guest-starred on numerous television shows, and consistently graces the covers of a variety of magazines. Next, Rena Mero is slated to appear in her first starring role in the movie, "Forgotten Kingdom." For additional information, visit www.tidalwavestudios.com. Rena Mero is available for interviews and appearances. CONTACT: Agnes Huff Communications Group, LLC Dominic Friesen, Sr. Account Executive Tel: (310) 641-2525/E-mail: dfriesen@ahuffgroup.com +++++ THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND - www.cbldf.org GAIMAN TO PREVIEW NEW NOVEL ON LAST ANGEL TOUR Acclaimed author NEIL GAIMAN has announced that he will be previewing selections from his upcoming novel "AMERICAN GODS" as part of THE LAST ANGEL TOUR. The tour, Gaiman's last on behalf of the COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, will bring the author to New York, Chicago, Portland OR, and Los Angeles for a series of dramatic, intimate readings from his fiction and poetry. All proceeds from these events benefit the non-profit CBLDF and help protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators and retailers. Gaiman first attracted critical acclaim for his graphic novels and the groundbreaking comic series "Sandman." In addition to his comics work, Gaiman is the author of the best-selling novels "Neverwhere" and "Stardust," and has seen his unique vision translated for film, television, and the stage. He is the recipient of the prestigious World Fantasy Award and is noted in "The Dictionary of Literary Biography" as "one of the top ten post-modern writers" in America. The four stops on the Last Angel Tour will be Gaiman's final public appearances until the release of "American Gods," currently slated for summer 2001. Gaiman describes the novel as "the closest thing I've done to 'Sandman' since I finished 'Sandman.' It's either a fantasy novel or a theological thriller. A murder mystery or a horror novel. Or a short story collection . . . it includes all those things in its makeup." Gaiman has previously offered fans glimpses of the work-in-progress at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Members' Reception at the 1999 Comic-Con International, and aboard Making Waves, the CBLDF Fundraising Cruise. The Last Angel Tour will be the seventh reading series Gaiman has undertaken in support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. To date, these Guardian Angel Tours have raised more than $100,000 to protect free expression in comics. Earlier this year, Gaiman announced that the 2000 Guardian Angel series would indeed be the Last Angel Tour. "It's two weeks that I don't get to do other work," Gaiman explained. "I have too many stories to tell right now. So it's time to call it a day, but this will be one fun last tour, and I think we're really going to make an impact." Tickets are currently on sale at TICKETMASTER for all four Last Angel Tour events: OCTOBER 16: The Vic Theatre, CHICAGO call Ticketmaster at (312) 559-1212 or visit http://www.ticketmaster.com/cgi/artist.idc?searchname=NEIL_GAIMAN&state=il&t ype=STATE&minorcatnum=21&MajorCatNum=2 OCTOBER 18: St. Mark's Church, NEW YORK call Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171 or visit http://www.ticketmaster.com/cgi/artist.idc?searchname=NEIL_GAIMAN&state=ny&t ype=STATE&minorcatnum=104&MajorCatNum=4 OCTOBER 24: The Aladdin Theatre, PORTLAND OR call Ticketmaster at (503) 224-4400 or visit http://www.ticketmaster.com/cgi/artist.idc?searchname=NEIL_GAIMAN_LAST_ANGEL _TOUR&state=or&type=STATE&minorcatnum=43&MajorCatNum=2 OCTOBER 26: Pacific Design Center, LOS ANGELES call Ticketmaster at (213) 480-3232 or visit http://www.ticketmaster.com/cgi/artist.idc?searchname=NEIL_GAIMANS_LAST_ANGE L_TOUR&state=ca&type=STATE&minorcatnum=104&MajorCatNum=4 Tickets are available for $20, or $16 with a valid student ID. PREMIUM TICKETS, which include seating in the front rows and admittance to a private cocktail RECEPTION with Gaiman before the reading, cost $60. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund MEMBERS are welcome at the reception regardless of what level ticket they may purchase. The readings begin at 8 pm, with the private receptions kicking off the evening's festivities at 6 pm. For complete tour information, visit the CBLDF website at http://www.cbldf.org or call the Fund toll-free at 1-800-99-CBLDF. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization protecting First Amendment rights in the comics community. Donations and inquiries should be directed to the CBLDF at P.O. Box 693, Northampton, MA 01061. For more CBLDF news and information, pick up a copy of "Busted!," the Fund's free quarterly newsletter, or visit the CBLDF web-site at http://www.cbldf.org. For additional information please contact Chris Bleistein at (413) 586-6967 or cbleistein@cbldf.org +++++ Hello again to everyone in the comics and entertainment press! In about three weeks, I'll announce a contest that will begin in RUMBLE GIRLS #5 with winners announced in RUMBLE GIRLS #7. Right now, I can tell you that the grand Prize will be Adam Warren's (Gen 13, Dirty Pair) original art for the cover to RUMBLE GIRLS #2! Other prizes will be RG #2 signed by myself and Adam and sets of my books. More details to follow. Lea Hernandez divalea@aol.com lea@divalea.com +++++ Activision Takes Mutant Franchise to the PlayStation(R)2 Computer X-MEN Fighting Game and Action-RPG in Development for Next Generation Platform SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Marvel Comic's super-human mutant heroes will wield their brand of justice on the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system when Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) brings the popular franchise to the next-generation console system. The company confirmed today that it is in development on two X-MEN titles for the new platform, a fighting game and an action-RPG. These titles are among the 14 games that Activision has in development for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. The announcement follows Activision's successful release of X-Men Mutant Academy(TM) for the PlayStation game console, which coincided with the opening of Twentieth Century Fox's "X-Men: The Movie" in mid-July. "The success of X-Men Mutant Academy established Activision as a leader in bringing super-hero characters to the console marketplace," states Ron Doornink, President and COO, Activision. "With the power of the PlayStation 2 and the strength of the X-MEN franchise, Activision will be able to deliver a new dimension to fighting games and launch the series into the popular action-RPG genre." Marvel's X-MEN continues to captivate consumers worldwide. Since their introduction 35 years ago, the X-MEN have become the most successful comic book property of all time, selling approximately 30 million comic books each year. For six straight seasons -- from October 1992 to January 1998 -- the X-MEN dominated the Saturday morning airwaves on the Fox Kids Network. This November, the X-MEN will once again take Saturday mornings by storm as Marvel Studio's debuts an all-new animated series "X-MEN EVOLUTION" on the kids WB Network. +++++ From the Comics Continuum at http://www.comicscontinuum.com/: MERO/10TH MUSE ON ET Rena Mero, the former professional wrestler known as Sable, promoted the upcoming Image Comics series The 10th Muse during an appearance on Entertainment Tonight on Thursday. Mero's likeness is the basis for the character in the book, which starts in November. The title, from Tidal Wave Productions, is written by Marv Wolfman, with art by Ken Lashley. Mero appeared in a spot comparing her and the pro wrestler Chyna in regards to their appearances in Playboy. "I've been able to use my brains and my brawn throughout my entire life," Mero said. "Now that I have a cartoon character that embodies that, it's really exciting." NOLIN TALKS SHEENA Gena Lee Nolin appeared on CBS' The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn on Wednesday night, promoting Sheena, her upcoming syndicated, comics-based television show. Here are some of Nolin's comments: On the show's concept: "Sheena is actually based on the comic book from the 1930s. So she's a very tough, strong, sort of warrior of her jungle. She morphs into animals, I morph into animals, so it's a lot of fun." On problems Sheena encounters: "There's people that try to invade the jungle, and, of course, I have to beat them up. I'm the one that makes it all happen and I keep my family and my animals safe." What she wears: "A chamois cloth. It's very cute. It's exciting, it's something that's different. I've never done anything quite like this." What she prefers wearing, the loincloth or the swimsuit she wore on Baywatch? "I really prefer this because it's a sexy sort of outfit, and yet it's practical. I'm able to do what I need to do. I can fight, I can do all of these important things and be a very strong and independent woman, but yet, I look good doing it." What kinds of animals does she work with in Sheena? "Lions, panthers, tigers, snakes. They're real. There have been times where it gets pretty dicey. It's scary." Vicki Phillips, who was the stunt double of Rebecca Romijn Stamos' Mystique, is doing stunts for Gena Lee Nolin in the syndicated Sheena television series. "She can do just about anything," Nolin said. BRIEFLY Last Saturday's 10:30 a.m. (ET) debut of Static Shock posted what Kids' WB termed "solid time-period ratings" in Kids 2-11 (3.2/13), Kids 6-11 (3.7/15), Boys 2-11 (4.6/17) and Boys 6-11 (5.2/19). At 11 a.m., Batman Beyond outperformed the time period broadcast competition to rank first among Kids 2-11 (2.8/12), Kids 6-11 (3.4/15), Boys 2-11 (3.8/16), Boys 6-11 (4.4/18) and Girls 6-11 (2.4/12). +++++ From Comics2Film at http://www.comics2film.com ALLEY CAT --------- Mindfire Entertainment will launch their new genre division Mindfire Millennium by rolling cameras on a big screen adaptation of Alley Cat. Greg Aronowitz is going to be directing. http://www.mindfireentertainment.com/ http://www.alleybaggett.net/ +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Elfman To Score Spidey Director Sam Raimi told Cinescape that he has enlisted Danny (Sleep Hollow) Elfman to compose the score for his Spider-Man feature film. "He is [perfect for the film]. He's a great composer," said Raimi, during an online chat Friday. "I really have enjoyed working with him in the past." Not only did Elfman score Raimi's Dark Man and A Simple Plan, he makes a cameo appearance in the upcoming feature The Gift. "He just came in and did a no-line part," Raimi said. "He's a buddy of mine, and I needed a fiddler in one of the scenes, and he was kind enough to come down and perform the part for me." --Cinescape Iron Man's Movie Makeover? Last week, Marvel and 20th Century Fox announced that Iron Giant screenwriter Tim McCanlies had been picked to pen a script for an Iron Man motion picture. Now studio execs are pondering how best to bring the armored superhero to the big screen in a manner that will please fans but won't seem too, well, ridiculous. "You always use the comic book as the starting point," opined Marvel Films senior vice-president Kevin Feige. "You see what works and doesn't work on camera. We don't want him looking like a walking Academy Award." Apparently, both Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage have expressed an interest in playing Iron Man and his playboy/industrialist alter ego Tony Stark. Internet gossip has also linked Cage to the upcoming Ghost Rider feature film, even though studio heads reportedly are pursuing Johnny Depp to take on that role. --E! Online Top Cow Signs Straczynski Protege Top Cow has hired Fiona Avery to write the new Samurai comic book series, No Honor. Avery previously worked with her mentor, J. Michael Straczynski, on the Babylon 5 TV series. An internationally published writer, No Honor will be Avery's first comic book venture. "I love comics and have always lurked about comic shops reading up on characters like Batman, Rogue, Concrete, and Usagi," Avery said. "My favorite thing to do on a day off is hit the comic store and the ice cream stand and read up on the new issues of my fave characters. To be able to tell a story in this format is a dream come true." Due out in February, No Honor deals with a jewel thief who steals an ancient katana from a museum. Accidentally nicking himself with the blade, the thief unleashes the spirit of an ancient Samurai warrior which then enters his body. X-Men Videos Draw Lawsuit On Tuesday, Saban Entertainment Inc. and Fox Children's Network filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Universal Studios Home Video. The legal action stems from Universal's announced intention to distribute on video up to 65 episodes of The X-Men animated television series. Saban and Fox's lawsuit alleges that Universal "attempted to exploit the recent success of the X-Men movie, with which they had no involvement, by planning to release as many as 65 episodes of the animated X-Men." In 1994, Saban licensed the video and DVD rights of certain episodes to PolyGram Video International. "While Fox broadcasts the series, Universal, successor to PolyGram, is limited to the release of three episodes on one video per broadcast season," claims Saban and Fox's lawsuit. --The Hollywood Reporter +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.Fandom.com/comics/ WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE STRACZYNSKI/ALONSO ON SPIDER-MAN CONFIRMED In a conversation with Newsarama Tuesday afternoon, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada confirmed that today Marvel has officially reached an agreement with writer J. Michael Straczynski to write Amazing Spider-Man, following the departure of Howard Mackie. Despite the timetable suggested by yesterday's Wizardworld report, Quesada said they do not yet have an estimated start date for Straczynski`s debut. "I honestly don't not know when Mackie's last issue will be or JMS' first issue will be," he said. "Once Howard, Joe, and Axel work out those issues, we'll welcome Joe with a sort of mini-launch_though it won't involve a new #1 issue or anything stupid like that." "Just good comics man." And yes, you did read that right_Quesada also officially confirmed Axel Alonso as the new Spider-Man editor, though the EIC stressed this was not a demotion for ex-longtime Spider-editor Ralph Macchio. Explained Quesada, "We're doing some restructuring in the company, so what's actually happening is, Ralph's still going to be editing books. He's still on Ultimate Spider-Man, and he's got a couple of other new projects that we've got cooking that will be really cool. But he's also going to be working as what's essentially a `continuity editor' as well, much in the vein that Chris Claremont used to operate here. "Chris used to read all the plots before they were ever drawn, and Ralph will be operating under that situation. He'll be reporting to me and in essence just letting me know if characters are written out of character or if we have any continuity problems – say for example if we have Doctor Strange appearing in an issue and he's supposed to be on the moon or something - so he's going to be helping me out a story content editor. "So that's what happening_we're sort of just shifting people around a bit. Axel takes over the two core Spider-books and also the unofficial third title that is made of these series of mini-series that we've been publishing the last several months. "Axel will also be launching some new projects with us that will be announcing soon. So we're moving and grooving man_" MARVEL LEAVES AOL After more than five years with the popular ISP, Marvel announced last night that it has pulled up stakes on its AOL domain. The site had been very popular over the years, hosting many regular chats and providing a forum for many Marvel creators to communicate with their fans. The following message was left in the only operating folder on the message boards: "As part of the ongoing effort to provide a common, easy to navigate user experience, AOL content is being relocated to www.marvel.com. Please go to Marvel.com, in particular the Partners and Community sections for upcoming announcements regarding branded email, ISP services, Wireless and other fun stuff." All folders at the location are currently hidden and cannot be accessed, and all message boards are read-only. As of Tuesday morning, the message board function is not operating at Marvel.com. The move is a logical one for Marvel, most likely an attempt to centralize Marvel fans` online experience at their own website, and probably has very little to do with AOL`s purchase of Time-Warner, parent company of Marvel`s chief competitor, DC Comics. LOEB SCRIPTS FANTASTIC FOUR According to a report at Wizardworld.com , Jeph Loeb has signed on to serve as scripter for Fantastic Four, working off of plots by current writer/artist Carlos Pacheco. Loeb`s first scripted issue will be December`s #38. COCKRUM`S REVISED FUTURIANS GOES FRENCH In the latest round of French reprinting, Grand Design Communications has announced that it has brokered a deal between Semic SA and Dave Cockrum to recolor and reprint Cockrum's creator-owned series from the late ‘80s, The Futurians in 2001. The property was first published in 1985 in an 80-page story in Marvel Graphic Novel no. 9, which went into multiple printings. The success of the graphic novel led Cockrum to launch a series with Lodestone in 1986. The series only lasted three issues, and was collected, along with an unpublished fourth issue in a graphic novel by Malibu in 1987. A black and white edition of The Futurians #4 was published in 1996 and contained the 5-page story, "Two Guys in a Bar" which will be reprinting the French series as well. The French series will reprint the original graphic novel, and the four issues. Cockrum will provide new story, covers and art to beef each of the four issues up to 48 pages in length. Arthur (Alison Dare) De La Cruz will color the new version. Grand Design Communications will make the new version of The Futurians the centerpiece of its presentation at October's Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest publishing event. There's no word yet on whether or not Cockrum's revised and recolored version of The Futurians will be picked up by an American comic publisher. Semic has already recently inked a deal to publish French versions of the CrossGen Comics line and according to writer Kurt Busiek, the entire Gorilla Comics line as well (Tellos is already reprinted by Semic, as the title began as an Image Central title before moving under the Gorilla imprint). In a post on usenet`s rec.arts.comics.misc, the Gorilla founder revealed they have just signed with Semic for them to publish the line, and that Semic will most likely start with his and Stuart Immonen`s series Shockrockets early next year. According to Busiek, each French issue will reprint two American issues, meaning the series will be published as a three-issue limited series in France. VIOLENT MESSIAHS EXTENDED The creators of the Image Comics/Hurricane Entertainment series Violent Messiahs have announced they've "gotten the blessing" from Image to extend the series' story arc beyond the initially scheduled six-issues. "It is really great to be given this kind of freedom. Now I can pace out my issues according to the needs of the story as opposed to the needs of the market place," Dysart said. "We`re going to end the arc with a fabulous 48-page revelatory blowout issue." And after that, the creators also expect to be making an announcement detailing a "bright future" for the series. POWERS MEETS THE RED STAR MEETS SPIDEY Marvel Comics and Activision apparently have plans to promote the new Spider-Man videogame in an eight-page Spidey comic to be inserted into an upcoming issue of Game Pro magazine. But don't expect a throwaway affair...turns out the comic will have a creative team of some pedigree. According to Brian Bendis, he will script (but not plot) the comic and it will be drawn by fellow red-hot Image creator Christian (The Red Star) Gossett. Bendis promised more details soon_"It`s just a small little diversion so I can do a little fun comic thing with one of my favorite new artists," he said. MARVEL REVEALS NEW ULTIMATE MARVEL MAGAZINE Marvel has given Comics Newsarama details on Ultimate Marvel Magazine, their `new year/new editorial regime' push into newsstand and mass market distribution. Debuting on January 16th, 2001, the monthly, ongoing magazine will be published in "standard magazine dimensions", in an effort to "avail itself to a much wider distribution system than with traditional comic books. This broader distribution system will widen the magazine's reach into more conventional retail outlets including newsstands and mass-market retail chains." With a cover price of $3.99, both of the first two issues will serve as "debut" issues of sorts. Ultimate Marvel Magazine #1 will feature the sold-out 48-page Ultimate Spider-Man #1 by Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley, along an additional 22-page comic reprint from Marvel's mainstream line_ "Right now it's anticipated to be Peter Parker: Spider-Man #20 (Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham's first issue)" said Matt Ragone, Marvel Vice President Retail Sales. "But there has been at least one or two good ideas put forward by a couple of people as to other ways to go there." February's Ultimate Marvel Magazine #2 will then feature the 48-page Ultimate X-Men #1 by Mark Millar and Adam Kubert along with another 22-page, to-be-determined reprint. Subsequent issues will then each contain 44 pages of story, or two regular issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, respectively, on a rotating, bi-monthly basis. For example Ultimate Marvel Magazine #3 will include the direct market Ultimate Spider-Man #2 & 3; issue #4 of the magazine will include Ultimate X-Men #2 & 3, and so on_ In addition, every month the magazine will contain four to six pages of "teen-centric" editorial content, including movie previews, music and movie reviews, celebrity interviews, extreme sports, features on hot toys and video games, and more. "These features will probably revolve around Marvel, pop culture and things kids like," said Ragone. "Our perfect model for issue #1 would be to feature an interview with Tobey Maguire as at least one of the components of the editorial content." "Having said that, I don't know that anyone has contacted Tobey Maguire and signed him on for the first issue," Ragone added with a laugh. "Bill Rosemann (who is spearheading the non-comics content) is working with Ralph Macchio right now on the content issues outside of the comic book reprints." Ragone tells Newsarama Marvel is anticipating and shooting for an initial distribution of 200,000 copies. "Relative to what we're doing in comics, that's a significant increase," said Ragone, commenting on the projected numbers. "And actually, considering where new magazine products launch - with the exception of things like ESPN the Magazine or Maxim, which have multi-million dollar marketing budgets behind them - a 200,000 opening distribution would be ppretty a good number." "I can safely say the 1-800 retail locator number will be available in the magazine," he said. "And we've also been talking recently about house advertising. I think it's safe to say what we're looking at in terms of our regular 32-page direct market format comics line is as Joe [Quesada] goes through that line and makes editorial changes in an effort to build stronger entry points and more accessible product, that is a time that we'd want to focus on those products in Ultimate. "I think if you go back to Bill Jemas' original comments about why we're doing Ultimate, it's to try to create a contemporary feel for a young consumer, and therefore if you were to try to sell them – and I'm not going to pick on one particular book – but if you were to try to sell them Marvel Comic Book #382, the question is, are you kind of developing the same sort of problem that Ultimate is meant to address. So our goal is not to ignore the rest of the line, but to try to look at the line selectively, and try to promote really good jumping in points for it." AND IN OTHER QUESADA/MARVEL NEWS_ The new editor-in-chief has also recently addressed another upcoming new Marvel initiative – the improvement of their backlist program. In an interview with Diamond Distributors` Diamond Dialogue, when asked to address criticism for the publisher's backlist program, and what plan he has, if any, to get their program back on track, Quesada said one of the main issues he's been working on consistently since starting in his position is "an actual trade paperback program." "We`re looking at our entire backlist, and looking at new product to put out as trade paperbacks," Quesada told Dialogue "The biggest problem we`ve had - and the retailers know this - is that we would get orders for 5,000, so we`d print 5,000. And then, reorders would come in, so we would print another 5,000. Lo and behold, this is not an economical way for Marvel to print its trade paperbacks, and it is something we`re going to be improving dramatically. That is probably one of the first major improvements retailers will notice shortly down the road. Not only will these books be available, but they`ll also be in stock. We`re looking at some huge numbers in regards to overprinting on selected trade paperbacks. Book for book, Marvel`s backlist sells as well as anyone else`s; we just don`t put out as much product. We need to offer retailers that product they`re craving. The fact that they`ve been complaining is a major red flag, and that red flag has been noticed by someone who`s going to do something about it." +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail: subscribe@ZENtertainment.com THIRD 'CROW' FILM GOES DIRECT TO CABLE DIMENSION Films has reportedly decided to shop around THE CROW: SALVATION to cable networks, instead of releasing it widely. The film was recently tested in Spokane, Washington. SPECIAL 'POWERS' ISSUE OFFERED THROUGH WIZARD The December issue of WIZARD Magazine will include a mail-in offer for a #1/2 issue of Brian Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming's comic series POWERS. http://www.jinxworld.com NEW FROM DC DIRECT DC DIRECT's April line up of action figures will feature an ORION AND DARKSEID Deluxe set, as well as a colorful new variant of the Golden Age SANDMAN, and the Golden Age heroes Dr. MIDNIGHT and HOURMAN. http://www.dccomics.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interview Tim O'Shea tim_jen@mindspring.com [Tim O'Shea is a 31-year old desktop publisher who lives in Atlanta with his wife and son. Tim, who has been reading comic books on a weekly basis since 1977, thinks he's the only rabid comic book fan who intends never to attend a convention.] Originally posted to: http://www.thecomicreader.com/newsmain.htm Copyright 2000 - The Comic Reader, used with permission An Interview With Paul Ryan! At present, Paul Ryan is a very busy artist or as he put it to me: "In this industry the term "feast or famine" is always appropriate. At the moment a feast is in progress." Despite his busy schedule, Paul was kind enough to answer a few questions about his artistic past, present and future. My thanks to Paul for his time! Tim O'Shea, TCR Senior Staff Writer O'SHEA: You've recently helped out George Perez by working on the two most recent issues of AVENGERS. How much fun was that to return to the book? Any hopes to do further work on the Avengers down the road? RYAN: It was an exciting opportunity for me to work with George Perez. George was the first professional to view my portfolio. He was very encouraging. It seems that we have come full circle by working on the Avengers together. It was a little strange for me to be working on George's thumbnails. He prefers to sketch them out full size on the finished boards. In most cases I xeroxed the pages and then lightly erased the pencils before putting my own finished pencils on the board. Tom Brevoort is planning a large jam issue of the Avengers. He hopes to get anyone who has every worked on the book to contribute. That includes yours truly. O'SHEA: You'll also be doing an upcoming issue of Iron Man written by Chuck Dixon, how did that come about? RYAN: Every so often I make the telephonic rounds at Marvel and DC to scout any potential work. I had called Bobbie Chase some months ago. By the time she had a chance to return my call I was booked solid. When, sometime later, she needed help on the Iron Man Annual she called and my schedule was such that I was able to pitch in. This lead to a fill in on the monthly title, Iron Man #34. I was pleased to get another call just recently from Bobbie asking that I pencil Iron Man #36. O'SHEA: I read a recent interview with John Byrne (http://www.comicbookresources.com/features/byrne/) where he mentioned that while he had had a long run on the FANTASTIC FOUR, he believed your run as artist had been longer. What was it about the FF that held your interest for so long? Is there any particular member of the FF you favor more than the others? RYAN: I have had this discussion with John before. I don't know how many issues of the Fantastic Four John penciled but it certainly seems like a heck of a lot. And John had two separate runs on the title. I worked on issues #356-414 a total of 58 stories. At the tender age of 11 I bought Fantastic Four #1 and was immediately hooked. I loved this book. I loved the characters. It was an honor, a privilege and a blast to work on the title for as long as I was allowed. Tom was also a blast to work with. Of the quartet I would have to say that I loved Ben the best. O'SHEA: One of your creative partners on FF, Tom DeFalco recently announced he is branching out and will no longer work exclusively with Marvel. Any chance you'll be working with Tom in the near term? RYAN: Tom has already mentioned, to me, his plans for a creator-owned project. It is possible that we will collaborate again in the future. Only time will tell. O'SHEA: It looked like you enjoyed working on DC's GOTHAM KNIGHTS? Will you be drawing more issues down the road? RYAN: I enjoy working with Devin Grayson. She is a fine writer and a pleasure to work with. Working on Batman was a lot of fun. My future with Gotham is in the hands of the Bat Office at DC. Promises were made and broken. I am not aware of exactly what my current status is concerning that title. O'SHEA: Are there any characters or creators that you've not had the chance to work with that you'd like to? RYAN: I would like to work with Peter David, just so that I can say, "I worked with Peter David!" I would like to work with Ron Marz and I would love to work with Kurt Busiek again. Kurt and I collaborated on a Superman Annual (Legends of the Dead Earth) back in 1996. Although I got to draw him in the Avengers (305-332) I would love to pencil the adventures of THOR. O'SHEA: Do you ever go back and look at your early professional work and see a substantial improvement in the way you draw now versus then. If so, in what aspect of your art have you grown the most? RYAN: I shudder to look at my early work. If I hadn't improved after fifteen years I think it would be time to take the Selective Service Exam. I feel that I have learned something about anatomy, dynamic figure drawing, composition, use of shadow and architecture since my humble beginnings in 1985. My inking has improved lately with the additional inking assignments I have received. My old mentor, Bob Layton, once said you only get better with practice. I have finally been given the opportunity to practice that craft. O'SHEA: What are some of your artistic influences? RYAN: I would have to include as my artistic influences Hal Foster, Curt Swan, John Buscema and Jack Kirby. To me, Hal Foster's work still stands as some of the finest work the industry has ever seen. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] Interview Paul Dale Roberts http://www.jazmaonline.com/ Interview with: Pat Bishow, Creator of The Adventures of El Frenetico & Go Girl! Question: Before we get this interview started, can you tell us something personal about yourself? Your family life, where you were born and raised, what schools you attended? Well...I was raised in Charleston South Carolina but moved to New York in Jr. High (so that's why I talk like dis!). I've been in NYC for the last 12years. I'm in my late thirties (is age important?- yes, I'm old!) married with a three year old son. I dropped out of School of Visual Arts after a year (couldn't afford it) and taught my self film making. My day job is in financial news. I run the tv studio for Standard & Poor's (a lot of pe