SDCC EDITION
This weekend is, obviously, San Diego Comic Con. And while I am not one of the bazillion attendees this year, there's no escaping the overwhelming outpouring of news and announcements coming out of the convention. So below are a small handful of things that interest me personally from SDCC '12 so far.
Undoubtedly Gorgeous New Sandman Material
Neil Gaiman announced that he would be returning to Sandman in 2013 (the series' 25th anniversary) to write a brand new story illustrated by J.H. Williams III. I saw a fair amount of naysaying online when the news broke, people calling it "Before Sandman" and whatnot, but as far as I'm concerned this is unequivocally good news. An amazing writer returns to an amazing character with an amazing artist. I'm celebrating.
David Marquez In Your Face
I've never been shy about my adoration of David Marquez's work on Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, so any new project with him on art duties is bound to draw my attention. But a nutty sci-fi family adventure series done entirely in 3D by Marquez? That I will absolutely be buying. The Joyners in 3D is, so far, the title I'm most excited for that was announced at SDCC this year. And really, how could anything hope to top a gimmicky, beautiful, three-dimensional space romp?
The Eisners
Of course the Eisner Awards are always a major piece of comicbook news, and last night the winners were announced. Mark Waid and Jim Henson's Tale of Sand led with three wins apiece. I have not read Tale of Sand but it moved up my "to read list" considerably after last night. And Waid definitely deserves the win. He's a killer writer working on creator-owned and Big Two series in both digital and print. Also a big fan of the decision to give Francesco Francavilla Best Cover Artist. That dude is one of the strongest artistic talents currently working, and deserves to be acknowledged for it. Overall a satisfying year of Eisners.
Some Other Stuff I'll Likely Read
I am a huge Books of Magic fan and am already following Justice League Dark, so the announcement that Tim Hunter would be joining the series was something I definitely noticed. I don't know if I would describe myself as "excited" for it, but I'm curious to see how Jeff Lemire handles the character and how different Hunter's experience will be dealing with the JL Dark rather than the four cosmic powers from the original series. Constantine carries over, but the New 52 Constantine is a wildly different guy than the Vertigo one, so that barely counts.
Because I like Nathan Edmonson a lot and am also reading all of Marvel's current Ultimate titles, I expect I'll read Ultimate Comics Iron Man come October. The "Divided We Fall" crossover might turn me off before then, as events are wont to do, but barring that I think I'll make the four-issue commitment.
Lastly, I suspect I'll pick up Masks when it comes out. My experience with Chris Roberson is pretty limited (still haven't cracked open any iZombie but I read his Cinderella mini) but Alex Ross is a tremendous talent and, I don't know...a "pulp crossover event" just sounds like something I want to read. Dynamite has a great track record of late, and this is, in theory, meant to bring new readers to a bunch of its titles, so Masks will likely be an excellent series.
Showing posts with label Eisner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eisner. Show all posts
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Smatterday 04/07/2012
ECCC 2012
As we all know, Emerald City Comic-Con was last week in Seattle, and even though I couldn't go, plenty of other awesome people did. And it seems like they got to see some pretty amazing stuff.
Personally, I wasn't too excited about most of the news and announcements coming from ECCC this year, but there were a few nuggets of interest. Michael Oeming's got a new creator-owned series, Victories, coming out in the fall that promises to look badass even if the story sounds less cool than I think Oeming thinks it is. Who knows, though? Maybe it'll be an incredible story that I judged too quickly. Wouldn't be the first time.
Of course, this biggest news was that Scott Pilgirm is getting full-color hardcover editions. YAY!!!!! And there was much rejoicing.
Also, Revival sounds alright. If I remember, I'll give that a look when it comes out.
Avengers vs. X-Men vs. Shipping Schedules
Officially, Avengers vs. X-Men #1 came out on Wednesday (04/04), but for an unknown number of readers (myself included) it actually came out last Wednesday (03/28) because Marvel, employing their typical bizarre business sense, shipped them all a week early in order to be sure retailers would have them in time. However, apparently neither Diamond nor Marvel included any kid of special instructions to retailers explaining what the deal was, so numerous stores went ahead and sold the issue a week early.
I mean...duh, right? I get that Marvel maybe didn't trust Diamond completely (who does?) with getting so many of such an "important" issue out in time, but shouldn't they have made some kind of effort to be sure that retailers knew the situation? I know Marvel can't contact evey comicbook store in the country, but some kind of insert or special packaging or SOMETHING to have Diamond include with the orders seems like a no-brainer. Or else you get exactly what you got.
In general, the Internet seems to have been cool about respectfully waiting to review or discuss the issue until this week, so no real harm done. And I mean whatever, comic info leaks online all the time so this is nothing new. But it's a pretty silly blunder, and feels like it could have been so easily avoided.
Best New Awards Controversy
Also this week, the 2012 Eisner Nominees were announced, but due to a lack of "contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for," there is no Best New Series category this year. And people are pretty pissed. I guess the defense of the decision was that in order to qualify, a title had to be an ongoing series and also have had at least two issues published in 2011, which I'm sure does, in fact, narrows things down. Not so much that it justifies cutting the award completely, I don't imagine, but I can see where they are coming from. I think the real issue is that the difference between Best New Series and Best Continuing Series seems to be pretty thin. Three of five nominees in the latter category were new in 2011, so...what the hell? Maybe put some more established titles in that category, Eisner folks, and let Best New Series stick around. Like we all want.
Watch But Don't Listen
Everybody (even me) already hates the Avengers Movie soundtrack just based on the listing. Except depressed middle-schoolers from the nineties.
As we all know, Emerald City Comic-Con was last week in Seattle, and even though I couldn't go, plenty of other awesome people did. And it seems like they got to see some pretty amazing stuff.
Personally, I wasn't too excited about most of the news and announcements coming from ECCC this year, but there were a few nuggets of interest. Michael Oeming's got a new creator-owned series, Victories, coming out in the fall that promises to look badass even if the story sounds less cool than I think Oeming thinks it is. Who knows, though? Maybe it'll be an incredible story that I judged too quickly. Wouldn't be the first time.
Of course, this biggest news was that Scott Pilgirm is getting full-color hardcover editions. YAY!!!!! And there was much rejoicing.
Also, Revival sounds alright. If I remember, I'll give that a look when it comes out.
Avengers vs. X-Men vs. Shipping Schedules
Officially, Avengers vs. X-Men #1 came out on Wednesday (04/04), but for an unknown number of readers (myself included) it actually came out last Wednesday (03/28) because Marvel, employing their typical bizarre business sense, shipped them all a week early in order to be sure retailers would have them in time. However, apparently neither Diamond nor Marvel included any kid of special instructions to retailers explaining what the deal was, so numerous stores went ahead and sold the issue a week early.
I mean...duh, right? I get that Marvel maybe didn't trust Diamond completely (who does?) with getting so many of such an "important" issue out in time, but shouldn't they have made some kind of effort to be sure that retailers knew the situation? I know Marvel can't contact evey comicbook store in the country, but some kind of insert or special packaging or SOMETHING to have Diamond include with the orders seems like a no-brainer. Or else you get exactly what you got.
In general, the Internet seems to have been cool about respectfully waiting to review or discuss the issue until this week, so no real harm done. And I mean whatever, comic info leaks online all the time so this is nothing new. But it's a pretty silly blunder, and feels like it could have been so easily avoided.
Best New Awards Controversy
Also this week, the 2012 Eisner Nominees were announced, but due to a lack of "contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for," there is no Best New Series category this year. And people are pretty pissed. I guess the defense of the decision was that in order to qualify, a title had to be an ongoing series and also have had at least two issues published in 2011, which I'm sure does, in fact, narrows things down. Not so much that it justifies cutting the award completely, I don't imagine, but I can see where they are coming from. I think the real issue is that the difference between Best New Series and Best Continuing Series seems to be pretty thin. Three of five nominees in the latter category were new in 2011, so...what the hell? Maybe put some more established titles in that category, Eisner folks, and let Best New Series stick around. Like we all want.
Watch But Don't Listen
Everybody (even me) already hates the Avengers Movie soundtrack just based on the listing. Except depressed middle-schoolers from the nineties.
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