Another slow week for me with only 4 titles coming in…
American Mcgee’s Grimm #3
Dwight MacPherson (w) Grant Bond (a & c)
Episode 3: Strap on your chaps and ten-gallon hats-Grimm’s in the western comic book world! The dead walk the streets of Gravestone as resurrected outlaw Thumbless Jack Hammer squares off against Sheriff Sam Sixshooter in a showdown at high noon. It’s a fight the sheriff always wins… but this time Jack’s got a Grimm ace up his sleeve!
Gravel #12 Wrap Edition
Warren Ellis (W) Mike Wolfer (W/A)
Combat Magician William Gravel is playing with powers far beyond his own in this second story arc of his ongoing series! The nature of the game William Gravel’s playing is revealed. He has a process for discovering who killed Avalon Lake, and it’s as brutally logical as you’d expect from an SAS man. The problem is that all the members of the Major Seven are more powerful than him and have been magicians for a lot longer. How does one man affect a group who are more numerous and more deadly? Well, that’s pretty much what the SAS was invented for!
Green Lantern Corps #38
Peter J. Tomasi (W), Patrick Gleason (A) and Rebecca Buchman (A)
“Emerald Eclipse” hits its shocking conclusion leading directly into BLACKEST NIGHT. The sciencell riot causes a new law to be doctored into the Book of Oa as Kyle and Guy fight against it. What fate awaits the honor guards, and who will be left standing from the riot that shook Oa to its core?
Witchblade #128 Cover A
Ron Marz (W), Stjepan Sejic(A), Stjepan Sejic (Cov) and Luke Ross (Cov)
‘War of the Witchblades’ Part 3 (of 6)
The momentous ‘War of the Witchblades’ story arc continues! Every war has casualties and the climactic battle in Witchblade #127 has left both Sara and Dani lying on the ground. Which one will rise to reunite the Witchblade? Or will the Witchblade choose a new bearer entirely to carry the mantle of The Balance? Featuring a beautiful homage variant cover by Luke Ross (Captain America)! Cover A – Stjepan Sejic, Cover B – Luke Ross
Images are from my online pull list at Comixology.com where you can get your pull list emailed to you each week
And continuing the trend of 11 Questions, I have another one for your reading pleasure.
I’ve had the pleasure to have Josh Finney (Writer/Artist) and Kat Rocha (Artist) who are the creators of the fantastic Titanium Rain which will be coming out from Archaia in August this year.
Check out more about Titanium Rain at their website or check our the trailer after the interview.
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What initiated your interest in comics?
Josh:
Uhhh…this is a trick questions, isn’t it? You’re trying to goad me into saying something monumentally embarrassing, like I read the Archie’s, or that there’s a pile of Lulu comics hidden under my bed that I’ve kept there since I was child! And on days when I’m down, I’ll pull them out and enjoy all the sickeningly sweet stories of wholesome goodie good niceties. It’s a loving child-safe world where froo-froo bunnies sleep in their feetie-pajama and polk-a-dotted toad stools blows candy kisses to the happy stars. I say this, then you’ll plaster it all over the internet in a tell-all expose, “Josh Finney, macho Titanium Rain guy, says Lulu comics makes him weep sissy tears of sissy joy.” Sorry, man. Ain’t gonna happen, buddy!!! Er…uhhh…yeah, so what sparked my interest in comics? It’s hard to say. I recall as far back as five-years-old being intrigued by the newspaper funnies. The sequential nature of the art/story-telling always struck me as superior to the big stack of illustrated story books my parents had for me at that age. In the books the art was static. Comics on the other hand, the art was just as alive as the prose were. And consequentially, I’ve been doodling comics for fun most of my life…even before I realized it was what I wanted to do with myself.
Kat:
Not surprisingly, my interest came from the X-Men cartoon. I was obsessed with that show as a kid. I remember in first grade, my best friend and I would talk for hours about the characters — who we liked best, who we wanted to be, who should fight who. Typical stuff. Then one summer day, he brought over a suitcase filled with all of his X-Men action figures and…wait for it…COMICS! Finding out my favorite show had literally decades worth of comics behind it was awesome! It didn’t matter that my friend didn’t have full runs of any of the stories! It was the X-Men, damn it! And I was going to read every one he’d stuffed into that suitcase!
Was it always your dream to work in comics or did you somehow ‘fall into it’?
Josh:
In 2001 I made the conscious decision I would make a career of comics. I’ve never looked back.
Kat:
Hehe…In 2002, I was in college and really not sure what the hell I was doing there. I’d always wanted to follow art as my career path, but didn’t really know where I wanted to go…and hadn’t really coughed up the guts yet to do it. Then one day, out of the blue, Josh told he was going to pursue a career in comics, and asked if I’d like to come along. The rest is history.
Who do you look up to as influences?
Josh:
The guy who invented Viagra. That guy is a genius. Anything I do, anything I create, I always have the image of Doctor Dale Viagra, Jr. at the forefront of my mind. I think to myself, how can I be more like him? How can my art and my creations affect the world the same way Viagra has? When someone has finished a story of mine, I want them to be sporting the biggest woody of their life! I want them so overtaken by the mood, they want to grab their lover and say, “It’s Hammer-time, baby!” Uhhh…you’re going to hurt me now, aren’t you? Your mad. I can tell. You’re making that “I’m a mad Australian-face” again…I’ve seen it before. Last time you interviewed me, I think. Okay…okay…I’ll give a serious answer….if just because you’re a lot bigger than me and I don’t need any more injuries today. Sooooo my influences?
Well, writing-wise, I was raised on a steady diet of classic sci-fi. I read a lot of Asimov especially. Then at age fourteen my father brought home a copy of William Gibson’s Neuromancer and life was never the same again. Gibson’s prose, especially his earlier work, when he was still angry, has stuck with me to this day.
In my adult years I’ve found myself deeply affected by Mamoru Oshii’s body of work --Avalon, Jin-Roh, and of course, all things Ghost in the Shell. His approach to sci-fi, the way it operates on multiple levels, is something I strive for in my own work. I admire how Oshii can weave a gripping sci-fi tale that is full of action and drama, and yet still be deeply rooted in high philosophical concepts. As well, the way he frames his shots, assembles his scenes — all have made their way into what I do. Although, I suppose the same could be said about Ridley Scott.
Other personal heroes would include John Carpenter, Gene Roddenberry, and Hunter S. Thompson, Andy Kaufman. And on a few occasions some have accused me of channeling Harlan Ellison — although I believe they were speaking in regards to my “charming personality” and not my writing skill.
Kat:
I attribute my desire to draw to flipping through my the copy of the AD&D player’s handbook my mom bought for me as a kid. All that old-school D&D art really stuck with me. As I headed into high school the White Wolf games caught my eye and I was introduced to Tim Bradstreet and Brom. Other artists who really get me inspired are Michael Manning and Marini.
Where did you develop your unique art style?
Josh:
The year was 1999 and I’d just had dental-work done. A wire-retainer had just been fixed to my lower front teeth. I’d begun to hear voices. At first I though I was losing my mind. Then I realized it! The retainer! It was acting as an antenna! I was receiving extra-dimensional transmissions from an alien hive-mind and…er…what? What?! You’re making the “mad Australian-face” again. Stop it! You’re scaring me! Christ! Okay… Okay… How’d our art style develop! Yeah! I heard you already! You don’t have to twist my nuts!!!
The style we created for Titanium Rain was an outgrowth of work I’d done for a few gaming companies. I’ve been a prolific 3D modeler for years, as well as a digital painter, and back in the early 2000s I started meshing styles. Then a company hired me to do box art for a Mechwarrior-type game, which required these fantastic scenes of giant robots blazing across a war torn earth. That was the initial seed of the Titanium Rain style. Problem was, it was still a bit cold looking. Too polished, too hyper-realistic. So I started working with Kat to bring in a more organic feel to the process.
Do you find it different using only a digital medium rather than the traditional pencil and ink style?
Josh:
Very different. It’s safe to say the Titanium Rain’s style, or Digital Realism as I call it, could not exist without computers.
Kat:
The undo button is a marvelous invention! No messy pencil marks and it’s instantaneous.
Probably one of the biggest hurdles for me, though, was going from being a strictly paper and pencil woman to all digital. There are a lot of benefits to paper…being able to judge how big my piece really is compared to what I’m looking at on-screen, for instance. I really like to hunch down and get really close to my drawing. On the computer, it’s a totally difference experience. Instead of hunching down, it’s the zoom function. Putting pressure on the stylus for a darker, thicker line if VERY different from a pencil.
If you had your pick of any property within the comic book medium to work on what would it be?
Josh:
Okay, you won’t believe me since I’ve been such a twerp in this interview, but in all seriousness, I would love to get my hands on a few of DC’s characters. Specifically there’s a Mister Terrific / Power Girl story I’ve been dying to tell. Being an atheist and a mentat myself, I have a special affinity for the Terrific character. The chance to get inside his head and do a tale that explores how this man ticks would be a lot of fun.
Other properties I want to try my hand at would be Grendel Tales, The Surrogates, and Judge Dredd. I realize none of these titles are a huge leap from the kind of stories I already do, but…
Kat: Susan from Grendel Tales. Most kick ass Grendal character ever. For mainstream characters? I say Huntress. Gotta be the Huntress.
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There is any way we will get to see a return of the Utopiates world and the possibility of a trade of the original mini series?
Josh:
Unreadable reality error. Data may be lost. Abort. Retry. Fail. Uhhhh…next question!
How have you found the reaction to your books?
Josh:
Well, Bryan Deemer of Comic Geek Speak once said on-air that Titanium Rain was like a punch in the gut from a REALLY HOT STRIPPER. No joke. So I suppose that lands me closer to my goal of following in the footsteps of Doctor Dale Viagra, Jr. But aside from Deemer’s strong reaction to our work, the two things we hear the most are either the unique nature of the art, or strength of the writing. I recall one reviewer actually saying, “Wow…this isn’t just another comic. This is like, you know, a real story!” Which, if you think about it, shouldn’t be a rarity in a medium like comics, which is supposed to be all about art and text forming a story. Oh well. That’s how it is. What else can we do? Murder Rob Liefield in his sleep? The damage has been done. Unless there’s a way to jump back to 1991 and go all Terminator on the guy, we’re still stuck slogging our way out of the art-over-story trend of the 1990’s.
Kat:
The thing is, even if you could go back and murder Leifield, the space-time continuum would probably attempt to correct any glitch in timeline, and the next thing you know, we’d find out Liefield survived! He’d, like, get out of the hospital with a wicked scar and be more popular than we could have imagined possible. Then in an interview he would say the inspiration for his crappy art came to him the night he was attached by a crazed mad man wielding a knife and screaming, “Why the fuck can’t you draw feet?!”
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What has been the greatest thing you have either done or been told about your work since you started in the industry?
Josh:
Okay. Now I know you’re fucking with me. That’s two questions, and you damn well know it! Greatest thing I’ve done? Managing to insult an entire audience of uptight geeks with a bullshit spoiler regarding Archie #600. Let’s just say some people didn’t much care for my heartwarming tale of Archie becoming a homeless drunk straining grain-alcohol through burnt pieces of toast he’d found in the trash. The amount of hate mail I’ve received for that on-air fumble has been epic.
Kat:
Convention attendee’s reactions to a certain art-piece of mine I like to call, “The Power Tool.” Come see me at the San Diego Comic Con or shoot me an email if your curious. Warning, it’s very much an NC-17 piece.
Most of the comics you have created so far have fit into the Science Fiction realm, would you like to try your hands at anything different?
Josh:
Absolutely. I’m a sci-fi guy at heart and I do have an abundance of story concepts I’d like to see take flight. But amongst all the futuristic tales there’s a fair share of twisted horror, modern mythology, and crime noir. I have a Mafioso re-telling of MacBeth set in 1970’s New York that I want very badly to take shape. Imagine the classic MacBeth, but done like Goodfellas. There’s also a horror story set in 1960’s San Francisco, which I’ve dubbed The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test meets Lovecraft. I’m hoping once Kat and I get a bit more of a name in the industry these projects can find homes.
Kat:
Children’s stories, actually. I was very inspired by Mouse Guard. I’ve got this idea for a book entitled “Sammy Squirrel’s New Suit” where Sammy discovers that he really wants to be a beautiful lady-squirrel, so he starts kidnapping the female squirrels in the neighborhood and… ack! Josh is right! That angry Australian face you do is scary. Ok, honestly, horror. I’m currently writing a horror story set during the depression. Carnivale definitely had a hand in inspiring the setting, as well as Pete’s Dragon. No joke. I was always intrigued by the snake oil salesman as a kid.
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Apart from each other who would you like to work with in the industry either on your own or as a team?
Josh:
Ideally, we’d like a situation in which I’m writing for numerous artists on multiple books, and then have one “prime” book which Kat and I do the art on. As a creator, there’s no way I could write and illustrate more than one book at a time. But writing? Not a problem. I can write and illustrate one project, while still producing scripts for at least one or two more books. So that’s where I’d like to go next. Frankly, I’d kill to script a book for Martheus Wade to illustrate. Martheus is the artist/co-writer of Jetta, and his art is amazing! Likewise, Alex Eckman-Lawn would be my ideal choice for the The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test meets Lovecraft story. Other artists I would love to work with? Ross Cambell, Michael Manning, Mark Harrison, Chandra Free…maybe Jack Kirby’s animated corpse.
Kat:
I can’t see myself working with anybody else really. I’d rather concentrate on my own projects as well as any ideas that Josh comes up with.
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I’d like to thank Kat and Josh for their time in taking part of this interview and you should check out the Titanium Rain website for all information about the book. Also you can follow Kat Rocha and Titanium Rain on Twitter.
With the relaunch of Archaia a couple of months back we saw the collected Awakening written by Nick Tapalansky, art by Alex Eckman-Lawn, letters by Thomas Mauer.
Nick Tapalansky is going to be at the Archaia booth at SDCC so if you wanted to check it out be sure to go and see him there and also have a look at the Trailer for the book below!
Awakening
A series of missing-persons and gruesome murders has begun to unfold in the city of Park Falls.
Derrick Peters, a former member of the Park Falls Police Department, receives a visit from Cynthia Ford one January afternoon. Cynthia, well known as the town crazy, seems to have finally lost her mind. She claims to have information about the murders…but does she hold the key to unlocking the mystery or has she truly gone insane?
As I mentioned in the previous post I managed to get a Tim Sale sketch at Supanova this year and this also is the only sketch that I had commissioned over the weekend as well. The first day I missed out on getting a fastpass but as I planned it for the Sunday, I was there an hour before the show opened and was the second one to get a fastpass.
When Tim asked what it was I was wanting to get a sketch of, I let him know that I wanted a Grendel from him. As for which one he wanted to do that was up to him. I did take The Art of Grendel with me again so he could go through it to get any reference that he needed.
Now if you didn’t know, Tim has done some Grendel work in the past with him working on Devil’s Reign, Devil Child and Red, White and Black.
After thinking about it Tim asked me if I didn’t mind if he did Eppy Thatcher.
Eppy Thatcher was an insane factory worker fuelled by a designer drug called “Grendel” and convinced God hated him.
As Eppy is one of the most unusual Grendel’s I couldn’t say no and also I didn’t have a Sketch of Eppy in my Grendel Sketch Book yet so how could I say no!
He had 2 looks at the reference and just started right away at it. I was fascinated at how he was working so fast. you could see his years of experience at work. While he was sketching I did chat with him but I didn’t want to distract him from what he was doing.
Not long later and it was finished and the final product just blew me away.
Tim was a really nice guy and hopefully I’ll get the chance to talk with him again down the track. If you haven’t had the chance to get one of his Sketches then I’d recommend one and if it’s out of your price range then just go and say hello and let him know, as I did, how much you appreciate what he has down within the industry.
Kryptographik is a trans-continental podcast featuring Brian (in the U.S.) and Damian (in Australia), providing news, reviews, commentary and interviews covering horror, dark fantasy and science-fiction.
In our 29th episode, we discuss Barry Nugent’s Fallen Heroes and Modern Horror vs. “Torture Porn.” We also give our thoughts regarding the trailers for Transformers 2, Public Enemies, Moon, The Final Destination (in 3-D!), Terminator: Salvation, Drag Me To Hell, Halloween 2, Pandorum, The Surrogates, Inglorious Bastards, Tim Burton’s 9, Sherlock Holmes, The Road, Sorority Row, Whiteout & Zombieland.
Thanks to the Everything Comes Back to 2000AD podcast for the clip!
As I have done over the last couple of years, the second day of Supanova has been a day that I spend with my son so he can get in on the hobby and get a day out doing something different. We got there around 9am just so we could get in line and I could get a Tim Sale fast pass. Malachi did well waiting around in line.
He decided that he was going to have to wear his Clone Trooper costume that he had received the day before. This had him getting more attention than he wanted as people wanted to get photos of him and he didn’t want to have any taken. Maybe next year!
As it got closer to the 10am opening time, Malachi was looking in through the doors and started getting excited since he’d started seeing Stormtroopers and a R2D2 roaming around inside. We didn’t have much longer to wait and they let everyone who had been in the day before first so with in a minute of getting into the show I was down at Tim Sale’s table to get my fastpass.
After that since it was Malachi’s day there we started searching out Star Wars for him. Since I knew where the were set up, near the cafe so I could get my morning coffee, we headed towards the 501st and the R2D2 builders tables where Kai was overjoyed to see them and would walk up and ask for photos with the Stormtroopers then tell me to get the camera out.
After fulfilling Kai’s will I headed us over to get the life giving coffee and we planned out what he wanted to do throughout the day. Kai wanted to go and say hello to Stewart McKenny who he remembered from last year and then he proceeded to remind me that we had left his sketch book at home.
From there Kai was basically leading me up and down aisles as we looked for anything and everything he was looking for. He looked at nearly every toy stand that was there and came out with an Anakin Skywalker bobble head that he needed for something that he hasn’t told me about yet. Also when we went past a cosplay stand he saw some oversized blow up swords and asked for one. As they were only $5 I didn’t see a problem with it and after he chose “the right one” he let me know it was for his sister as he had a lot of toy swords and he wanted her to get one. The thing is the one he picked is 2 feet taller than her.
Soon after it was time to get back to Tim’s table so he could start on my sketch. I’ll talk about that in a later post when I have it all scanned in. After that I was planning on doing some recording with Christopher Sequeira but it was around lunch time so Kai and I went for some food. about 30 minutes later we were back on the floor and Kai came across the EB Games booth where he wanted to play some of the games they were showing there and we ended up sitting there for another half an hour while he indulged in playing a new Donkey Kong game for the Wii, which thankfully he hasn’t asked me to pick up yet.
As we finished there I could see that Kai was getting over the crowds so we went up to the balcony where he could not have as many people around him and also he could stand there and look for anyone in costume and also he watched the wrestling. We stayed up there for about 20 minutes and he spotted someone dressed up as pacman so we went in search of them. When we found them they were about to sit and eat so we didn’t want to interrupt them. This is when Kai decided that he’d had enough.
We went for one last walk around and I went to say goodbye to everyone and to apologise to Chris, Stewart and Nicola as I wasn’t going to be able to do any recording with them as if I try anything then Kai would just lose it and as with any 5 year old when it gets to that level then you go.
So we left around 2pm and we had a good day. Next year the plan will be that my wife will come and get Malachi so I can keep going but he enjoyed it and it’s always fun introducing him to new things.
Unfortunately a group of people from work who were going I managed to miss but I’ll see them tomorrow otherwise.
As usual I’m now waiting for next year to come around. Maybe I could try to get to Melbourne next year.
I didn’t get to take that many photos today but go and check out the Flickr Feed.
The first day of Supanova is over now and it was a fun day.
We started off waiting in line. This is something I didn’t expect as I had pre-purchased my ticket and the pay at the door line seemed to be blitzing through. I don’t know what happened there but an hour later I arrived in the door.
My first stop was to be seeing if I could get one Tim Sale’s Sketch list but unfortunately it was closed in the first hour. If there was better management of the lines I might have had a chance but what can I do apart from aim to get there early enough to make it on tomorrow.
The Cosplayers were out in force and if you check my Flickr feed for day one you can see all of the photos I took but here are some of my favourites.
After seeing Tim and getting my The Art of Matt Wagner’s Grendel and Devil Child hard covers signed I went and said hello to Stewart McKenny who you would know currently from DC Superfriends and Nicola Scott who’s working on Secret Six. I wanted to try to get some time with them through the day to do some recording but it was that busy throughout the day that I didn’t want them to stop working on sketches or talking to new people. I’m going to try again tomorrow to find some time.
I then bumped into Jan Scherpenhuizen who has his new comic The Twilight Age which is a mature reader’s book from Black House Comics. I picked up all 3 of the issues of that book. Then at the same table was W. Chew Chan who I had a little chat with but he was busy with commissions and again I was too late to get on his list. He has just recently had a story with Christopher Sequeira in Astonishing Tales. Speaking of Christopher Sequeira he also was there and was showing me his new The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes comic, also from Black House Comics, which I’ll pick up the first 2 issues tomorrow and hopefully get to record with him about it and what he thinks of the new movie coming out.
I had the chance to sit in on Tim Sale’s panel which was great to hear what he had to say about working with Jeph Loeb and Heroes among other things.
I bumped into some old friends which we end up running into each other every year so we spent a good hour doing our yearly update on what we have been doing.
Apart from that I did some shopping, picking up Queen and Country Definitive Edition Vol 4, The Twilight Age, Magellan (which is an introduction to the web comic) and apart from that I grabbed a Shadow Stormtrooper Mighty Mugg and the Comedian Action figure.
So after a long day walking around it’s over now and I have to get rested up for tomorrow. And I’m taking my son with me for that one.
The nice people producing the motion picture “9″ have given us another morsel from the forthcoming film:
About 5
Voiced by Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly, 5 is a caring, nurturing engineer – the loyal, big-hearted “common man” who always tries to play the peacemaker. He is also an apprentice of 2, with whom he shares a special bond.
Insider Trivia
Screenwriter Pamela Pettler previously co-wrote the animated hits “Monster House” and Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride.”
Can’t get enough of 9?
- Meet the Scientist at Facebook.com/9Scientist
- Explore the Scientists Lab at 9Experiment.com
- Watch the trailer at 9TheMovie.com
- Visit on your cell phone at 9.msite.tv
- Sign up for mobile alerts by texting ‘9″ to 4FOCUS (436287)
- Be sure to download the reader by texting ‘READER’ to 4FOCUS (436287) so you can decipher the secret messages on the street and gain access to exclusive content!
- Secret Tip: Comic Con 2009!
Yes it’s the night before the official Supanova opening. I was unable to go to the preview night so I’ve been planning what to take with me this year.
With the main people I want to try and get sketches or autographs from this lear being Dave Gibbons, Tim Sale, Nicola Scott and Stewart McKenny I’m not going to take that much with me.
First up as always I’ll take The art of Matt Wagner’s Grendel – Mainly for reference for Grendel Sketches but I can also get Tim Sale to sign it as well as getting him to sign Devils Child.
I can’t resist taking Watchmen to be signed as well but instead of getting a Watchmen Sketch which I’m sure he’ll have enough people asking for I’m going to see if he can choose his favourite villain so it will be interesting to see what he can come up with.
Other than that I’ve created a list of questions for different people incase I can get some time to interview them over the next 2 days. Although I want to get as many done tomorrow as posible as I’m taking my 5 year old with me on Sunday.
That’s it for now as I have a bag to go pack but remember to look for updates from me on Twitter over the weekend.
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