Update: A couple of Halloween-themed posts over at my other blog:
Happy Halloween!
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Monthly Archives: October 2009
Keeping Comics on Schedule
By now the delays on Flash: Rebirth #4-6 have become legendary. But the book is hardly alone. Just this week, I picked up issues of Dynamo 5 and Ignition City that, despite the series starting on a monthly schedule, came out several months after the previous issue. In fact, a lot of the independent comics I read don’t seem to have a strict schedule. Rather than soliciting them monthly and then rescheduling them the way DC often does, they seem to solicit them as they’re ready.
On the plus side, it’s less frustrating for the reader who doesn’t see a particular issue get scheduled, then delayed repeatedly. On the minus side, the reader has no clue when to expect more.
Solutions
If the goal is to keep a book to a regular schedule, some of the ways I’ve seen to keep it from falling behind include: Continue reading
Speed Reading: Dezago, Manapul, Reviews and More
It’s been a busy week, and while I’ve got a couple of posts I’m working on, nothing’s quite close to ready. So what to do? Of course! Some mid-week linkblogging!
Interviews
Here are a couple of interviews with upcoming Flash artist Francis Manapul: one at Multiversity Comics, and one at Comic Book Resources. He talks about trying different ways to portray the hero’s speed, and adds:
…for me, the trickiest part is making sure my Barry Allen looks different from my Wally West. Having grown up with Wally, my natural portrayal of The Flash tends to look like him. As I get more familiar with Barry, I know I’ll get my footing and get it right.
Update: CBR has followed up by interviewing Scott Kolins, artist on Blackest Night: The Flash (starting in December) and the Wally West “second feature” stories in the upcoming monthly book.
Robot6 interviews Todd Dezago, former Impulse writer, on Perhapanauts and its recent Halloween Spooktacular. At the end he reveals what’s next for the series: another special in Spring, followed a few months later by the next major story: “Fourshadowing.” (After “First Blood,” “Second Chances,” and “Triangle.”)
Reviews
Weekly Crisis reviews a bunch of collections including Flash: Ignition.
Several sites have reviews last week’s Brave and the Bold starring Flash (Barry Allen) and the Blackhawks. The Savage Critics didn’t like it. 4thLetter really didn’t like it.
DoubleDCoverage reviews last week’s books including the DC Universe Halloween Special, which featured a Kid Flash story and a Flash vs. Superman race.
Commentary
Daily Scans finds it odd that, early in his career, Jay Garrick didn’t hide his identity very well.
Art
Kid Flash sketch by Teen Titans artist Yildiray Cinar. (via SpeedsterSite)
This Week (Oct 28): Blackest Night, JSA
Blackest Night #4
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert
Variant cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Sketch variant cover by Ivan Reis
Summer’s hottest event explodes in this critical issue! Hold on to your power rings, because the secrets behind the Blackest Night finally stand revealed! While Earth is evacuated, Hal Jordan embarks on a brave journey to the darkest depths to uncover the truth behind the Black Lanterns! You won’t believe what he uncovers!
This issue will ship with three covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver). For every 100 copies of the Standard Edition, retailers may order one copy of the Sketch Variant Edition (with a cover by Ivan Reis). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
4 of 8 · 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Blackest Night: Titans #3
Written by J.T. Krul
Art and cover by Ed Benes & Rob Hunter
Variant cover by George Pérez
With their backs against the walls of a battered Titans Tower, the few remaining Titans face their dead former teammates who have now become Black Lanterns! Meanwhile, one Titan discovers a secret weapon…but at what price? Don’t miss this finale from writer J.T. Krul (JSA CLASSIFIED, Fathom) and superstar artist Ed Benes (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA)!
This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ed Benes & Rob Hunter), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by George Pérez).
3 of 3 · 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Justice Society of America #32
Written by Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham
Art and cover by Jesus Merino
The seismic rift among the members of the Justice Society deepens due to the strange actions of several new team members as well as some long-seeded conflicts! It all leaves them dangerously weakened as their home base faces assault from an army of bounty hunters who plan on collecting the price on the head of each and every member of the Society!
32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Update: DC has posted a 5-page preview at The Source.
GeoCities, RIP: Fandom’s Lost Pages
Today, as quietly announced six months ago, Yahoo is shutting down Geocities.
Geocities was one of the icons of the Internet in the 1990s. It was emo before LiveJournal, boasted legendarily awful layouts before MySpace (be sure to check XKCD today), and spurred user revolts over terms-of-service changes before Facebook. As one of the major free web providers, it attracted everything from teenage poetry to fan sites to do-it-yourself social networking.
Over the last decade, people have mostly moved on. A lot of old sites have been shut down or abandoned. Spammers and phishers set up shop, using the free service to hawk pills or bootleg software, or host malware, in the hours it took for Yahoo to catch them and shut them down. No doubt it’s become more trouble to maintain than it’s worth.
To be honest, I won’t miss most of it. But there are fan websites that have never moved. Book annotations, timelines, analysis, fanfic — a huge chunk of fandom history will simply vanish today. (As of noon Pacific time, all my links still work.) Some of it will survive in public archives by the OTW and Internet Archive, or in personal archives. I contacted a few site owners, or tried to, but most of my emails bounced.
One advantage for fanzines: ink on paper doesn’t require anyone to keep a central service going.
It’s funny: the things we expect to disappear from the web often don’t, but the things we expect to be permanent often do drop out of existence. GeoCities appeared 14 years ago. Will today’s blogs, Facebook pages, forums, and wikis still be around 14 years from now?
Update: GeoCities lingered for a day, but has shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.
Poll Results: Upcoming Flash Series
In the end, 79 people responded to the poll asking which upcoming Flash series had them most excited.
The breakdown is interesting: Nearly half (47%) are looking forward most to the upcoming Flash monthly series, which launches (in theory) sometime next March. Almost a fourth each are most interested in the Blackest Night: Flash miniseries launching in December (22%) and the Kid Flash ongoing that will launch “about a month” after Flash.
That leaves 9% who have actually been turned off of the comics by Flash: Rebirth.
Early on, one reader pointed out to me that while The Flash will have two features — a lead feature starring Barry Allen and a second feature starring Wally West — they’re not separated in the poll options. Well, I guess this poll can’t be used to gauge interest in a particular character….
Next Poll: What’s the farthest you’ve traveled for a fan or comic convention?
Edit: I wrote this up Sunday night, intending to schedule it for Monday morning. I forgot to change the date, and accidentally posted it back-dated to Sunday morning — behind two posts that had already gone up! Oops! I’ve changed the time so that they appear in the right order now.