Anne Freaks, Volume 2

This week's Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs is about the second volume of Anne Freaks:

Well, that was not at all what I expected.

Anne Freaks is the first manga that I’ve ever liked enough to buy a second volume (Akira doesn’t count because I borrowed the entire thing from a friend), so I don’t know a lot about Japanese serial storytelling. I guess I kind of figured that I’d get more of what I liked about Volume 1, but that wasn’t the case. I very much enjoyed Volume 2, but it surprised me by being a very different kind of story from the first installment. I don’t know if that’s typical of manga series or not (I suspect that - like most things - it varies from series to series), but it’s certainly welcome and exciting.

Volume 1 was so psychological. It had beautiful Anna recruiting two, tragic boys named Yuri and Mitsuba to help her take down her father and a terrorist organization. Did she orchestrate the events that led to their recruitment or is she just taking advantage of a couple of fortuitous incidents? Yuri is falling in love with her; maybe Mitsuba is too. Is that also part of her plan? Or does she actually have feelings that she’s doing a very good job of hiding? Kotegawa sucked me in with these questions and I was looking forward to spending more time with these characters and hopefully getting some answers. I’m going to have to keep waiting though.

Read the rest here.

Comics Day at the Saint Paul Central Library

I've been asked to participate in Comics Day at the Saint Paul Central Library again this year on Sunday, October 25th. The event lasts from 1:30 to 4:30 pm and features a comics panel where we get to talk to teenagers (and anyone else who's interested) and answer their questions about making comics.

I had a great time doing it last year, but didn't get to stay for the other activities because it was in the middle of a work day. This year I think I'll take the family and make an afternoon of it.

Music Meme: 2004

Continuing my list of favorite albums from every year I've been alive.

2004

U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb



In 2004, the light appeared at the end of my dark tunnel of adult contemporary music. The best radio station in the history of mankind wouldn't go on the air until the following year, but at least I had the best U2 album since The Joshua Tree to keep me company until then.

Riot on an Empty Street by Kings of Convenience was also released this year, but I wouldn't learn about it until 2005 thanks to the Current. It's a great album to chill to, has a fantastic single ("I'd Rather Dance With You"), and it introduced me to Faust.

But U2 had "Vertigo."



Runners Up:
Kings of Convenience: Riot on an Empty Street

Singles:
The Killers: "Somebody Told Me"

And Now the News: DC Entertainment

Thanks to an unusually busy weekend, I'm a bit behind on the news from last week, but like the week before there's one story that really needs a post of its own before I can play catch-up on the rest. DC Comics is now DC Entertainment.

When I first filed that link for future reference, I wrote a note with it: "DC responds to Disney-Marvel." But as Spurgeon pointed out, that's not really the case at all, "because Time Warner doesn't work that way and nobody works that quickly." And besides, "these exact moves or their rough equivalent have been rumored for some time."

Kevin created a fantastic summary of "what we know so far" for Robot 6, so that's where you should go if you're interested. The short version seems to be that Paul Levitz' former job as President and Publisher of DC Comics is being divided into two positions. Diane Nelson (famous for shepherding the Harry Potter movies at Warner Brothers) will fill the Presidential role and assist in getting movies and TV shows made from DC's characters. A new Publisher will be announced later. Levitz will return to editing and writing.

As part of getting movie deals under control, Warner/DC has apparently pulled back on a couple of developing projects like the Wonder Woman movie that's been in the works for so long. It feels like a step backwards, but I'm hopeful that it's a temporary set-back that'll get everything in order so that work can move ahead quickly and soon. That's where most of my interest in this story is focused.

Art Show: Until the Jedi show up

Ships



By Frank Brangwyn. [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

Wonder Woman vs. Octopus



By Brian Bolland. [Poulpe Pulps]

Fight to the DEATH!



By Evan "Doc" Shaner. [EDITED TO ADD: And Jay Fosgitt. I'm totally embarrassed that I missed that. Shame on me.]

Argosy Knight



By L. A. Shafer. [The FictionMags Index]

Black Canary



By Dan Brereton. [Comic Art Community]

Batgirl



Except for the '90s leg pouches, I really dig this new design by Lee Garbett. Enough that I think I'd like to check out at least the first collection of the new Batgirl series. Even with the Liefeld pouch, it's tons better than the last version. Looks like Batgirl again.

And here's cover artist Phil Noto's version:



But just in case you still prefer it Old School:



By Mike Maihack.

Doritos Asylum



Anthony Ventura did a fantastic cut-out diorama display for Doritos. The above piece is just a small part of it. Click the link to see the whole, beautiful thing. Then, if you like Anthony's work, check out this short story he and I did together about a beautiful woman, a mad doctor, and some cybernetic little people.

Dark Centuri



By John Spencer. [American Pulps and Magazines]

Padme at Geonosis



By Otis Frampton. I have some big, big problems with the Star Wars sequels, but Padme circa Attack of the Clones is not one of them. I love the arena scene (until the Jedi show up) and this piece captures exactly why that is.

Current Song I Can't Get Out of My Head

Not that I want to.



Her banjo player it totally me circa mid-1980s, by the way. And her drummer cracks me up.

Quotes of the Week: Your Mummy-Infested Towns

So live in your mummy infested towns you cat haters while I sleep soundly with nary a wrapping or the sound of shuffling to disturb my slumber.
--Admiral Calvin, explaining the risks of spending a Day Without Cats.

The comic's cover, as Rowling devotees are well aware, depicts a pivotal moment from the author's life previously only seen air-brushed on the side of a van: When an aged unicorn-physician tended to Rowling's dislocated shoulder.
--Kevin Melrose, on Bluewater's latest "Female Force" biography.

When Drive-Ins Attack!: Midnight Special

I decided not to stick this in the "Elsewhere" post because it's not really my work, but if you'd like to see another story from Dread Central's presentation of When Drive-Ins Attack!, they've got a new one up by Jason Pell and Ardian Syaf called "Midnight Special." And it actually features a drive-in.

FallCon 2009

My favorite comic convention is almost here. Way too close actually, considering everything that needs to get done before it arrives. With any luck, we'll be debuting Cownt Tales there.

Anyway, FallCon is October 10-11 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in the Grandstand. You can see the entire guest list here. I hate dropping names because I'll always forget someone, but Peter Bagge, Gerry Conway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Phil Hester, Dan Jurgens, and Ryan Kelly are some of the most recognizable folks who'll be there. And of course Jessica Hickman, Paul Taylor, and I will be on hand to sign Cownt stuff, Alex Ness will be there with copies of Lancelot (I'll have a few copies too), and Grant Gould will be nearby looking pretty and attracting hordes of Star Wars fans.

Elsewhere...

Here's what else I've been up to on the Internet this past week:

Five for Friday



I contributed to Tom Spurgeon's Five for Friday again. The assignment was to Name Your 5 Favorite Funny (And Not-So-Funny) Animals. Mine were:

1. Cerebus
2. Foghorn Leghorn
3. Snoopy
4. Hong Kong Phooey
5. Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What are yours?

Plump Sister



This week we finally got to my favorite Christmas Carol adaptation: 1951's Scrooge with Alastair Sim.

Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs



A look at interesting new adventure comics coming out in November. There's some Dracula, some Flash Gordon, some musketeers, some dinosaurs, and a ton of Sherlock Holmes.

And Now the News: So Many Ways to Take a Life

Here's the rest of the news from last week that (mostly) wasn't about Disney's buying Marvel.

Meandering Aquaman

The Stonechat Museum - a Hawkman blog - picked up a quote I missed from Dan Didio about the difficulty of finding a spot for Aquaman in the current DCU:

Where is Aquaman: Rebirth? It’s hard for us to do a Rebirth because Rebirths stand for something to us. It’s a particular character returning who had the lead mantle of that character, and him being re-established in the world. Aquaman has never been removed from the role, with the exception of maybe what we did with the One Year Later. It’s a different sensibility going on there.

The other thing with Aquaman is he never got the level of traction the other characters did. He never broke free. Most people’s references to Aquaman really are the cartoon series from the 1960s and Super Friends. We look at Aquaman a lot of times and say "What is the iconic interpretation?" When we do that, you have 15 different answers because the problem with Aquaman ... is that every time he was rebooted, the origin was moved a little bit to the right, moved a little to the left, moved around half way and then it came back three quarters. He never really had a clear change and his story just meandered along. Our goal following Blackest Night, if there is an Aquaman, would be to make sure to get clear what the iconic interpretation is and present it in the best light possible.

I don't have any real concern that DC's going to leave Aquaman dead at the end of Blackest Night, but what this does sound like is that there are no definite plans for him yet. They're still feeling their way around, trying to get to that "iconic interpretation." Which is strange, since Didio says what the iconic interpretation is right there in his comments: the '60s and '70s cartoons. Maybe those are what I should be checking out instead of old issues of Justice League.

Doris Danger: Giant Monster Adventures



It's like they're making this stuff just for me now.

The Three-D Musketeers

Paul WS Anderson is adapting The Three Musketeers in 3D. I have a hard time getting as upset about this as /Film does. Anderson's not a brilliant director or anything, but he's no Uwe Boll either. I've very much enjoyed the Resident Evil movies and it's not like there aren't a zillion, other, good Musketeers movies to fall back on if this one blows.

And really? I don't get what /Film is complaining about other than some justifiable concern that Anderson may not make a very good movie. He wants to make a Musketeers film that's "rich in eye-popping action, romance and adventure?" Good! That's exactly what a Musketeers film should be. And it's kind of putting words in his mouth to say that he wants to make a "non-period period film" when all that he really said was that he didn't want the "corsets and feathered hats" to be the focus. I don't want them to be the focus either. The Three Musketeers shouldn't be The Duchess.

Gripe all you want that Anderson's making another movie. I do that about Michael Bay all the time. Just don't pretend that he's ruining some sacred franchise by doing a new version of it with some cool technology.

Untitled Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz Spy Movie

Double O Section has new information about the cool-sounding spy movie formerly known as Wichita. Like most people, I've been skimming over Wichita news because of the non-descript title and missing that it's about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her blind date turns out to be a super spy and takes her on a violent, worldwide journey to protect a powerful MacGuffin.

Fantastic Four movie reboot

I think it's interesting that on the very day the Disney/Marvel deal was announced Fox let everyone know that they're starting from scratch and making a completely new Fantastic Four movie. All they have so far is a new screenwriter with a shaky resumé, but - as much as I'll miss Chris Evans - I welcome the attempt. Please please please let them get it right this time.

Half-Minute Horrors



How scared can you get in 30 seconds? Lemony Snicket, James Patterson, Neil Gaiman, R.L. Stine, and others want to help you find out.

Dark Days direct-to-DVD movie has a director



That's good news. The bad news is that Melissa George isn't returning as Stella. Not that no one else can play the role, but it would've been nice to see her back if only for continuity's sake. Hopefully they'll find someone who (with a new Eben) can stick around for a while and make future sequels like Return to Barrow and Eben and Stella.

Still, Dark Days is my favorite of the 30 Days of Night books and I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out. Especially since Steve Niles has a co-writing credit on the screenplay. The director (and other writer) is Ben Ketai, who's been involved with the 30 Days of Night web shorts.

Rambo V: The Savage Hunt

This story on the proposed next film in the Rambo series sounds like it's trying very hard not to say the word "werewolf," but I totally hope that's what it's about.

Trick 'r Treat review



I've been hoping that Trick 'r Treat is as cool as that poster makes it look. According to /Film, it is.

Inglourious Wizerds



"That’s why every sonofabitch we find wearin’ a Death Eater mask, they’re gonna die."

It gets said often, but still not enough: Chris Sims is a genius.

No more Harryhausen comics



Ray Harryhausen and Bluewater Comics have parted ways, each saying that they're the party who made the decision to leave. The only disappointing part of that news is Harryhausen's statement that there are "no plans to move the properties to another publisher," because frankly the world needs Harryhausen comics. We just need some with a professional level of art that Bluewater hasn't been providing.

Of course, "no plans" doesn't mean that Harryhausen wouldn't consider other offers; just that there aren't any attractive ones on the table right this second. Hopefully someone will step up and make some comics worthy of the man's imagination. Of course, I'd rather have no Harryhausen comics than deal with the frustration of constantly seeing ones on the shelves that I have to pass up because they're awful.

Steampunk Art at Oxford



Brother Calvin's turned up a steampunk art exhibit at Oxford University. Reason #5,695 that I need to visit Britain.