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November26, 2005 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 551.06 >> |
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------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> AIDS in India: A "lurking bomb." Click and help stop AIDS now. http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpTY2A/lzNLAA/yQLSAA/bGIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ***** Jimmie Robinson writer/artist "Bomb Queen" from Image Comics interviewed by Richard Vasseur www.jazmaonline.com Rich: Can you give us a brief outline of the story in "Bomb Queen"? Jimmie: Briefly, Bomb Queen who has ruled her city for almost a decade is threatened by an outsider running for mayor who wants to clean up the city. Chaos and sparks fly when the mayoral candidate brings a Hero into town. Bomb Queen not only has to get rid of this Hero, but also the goody-two shoes politician. This is a complete REVERSE spin on heroes and villains. Rich: Will "Bomb Queen" have lots of super-heroes showing up? Jimmie: Not for this mini-series.? Only one real hero shows up, and that is just to serve her story, not his. Because Bomb Queen isn't just about the villain. It's about what happens to a society that allows a villain power over their lives. In this case, New Port City is that society, and superheroes are not welcome in this town... as long as Bomb Queen is in charge. Rich: What does the category Shadowline mean from Image? Jimmie: Simply that Jim Valentino runs his division of Image Comics on his own, under his rules and guidelines. Shadowline is just like any other part of the Image Umbrella. Be it Top Cow, Image Central, or other. Rich: Why is this considered a mature comic? Jimmie: Due to the nature of a villain in charge I'm pretty liberal with the blood, nudity and violence. In fact, these are platforms I use to describe the society that Bomb Queen rules. It's not so much that these horrible things happen, it's horrific that this society doesn't care. Usually a villain or a superhero is just dropped into a "normal" world. Horrible things happen TO the main characters. But when you flip that around and make society the bad guy, then you've gone beyond simple adventures and into the realm of social commentary. All combined this book won't be something you hand to any "kid". Rich: Will we get to see how the residents feel about living in a town with a super villain? Jimmie: Oh yes, clearly. And they love it. In many ways this reflects our own society. This is happening in many ways right here and now. Travel to the state of Nevada and gambling and prostitution is legal. But if you cross the state line into Utah, you'll be up to your neck in Mormons and a highly organized religious statehood. The same for New York City, one of the more culturally diverse spots on the face of the planet. Yet cross the state line into Pennsylvania and you can find the Amish communities. There are "pockets" of societies living in different ways all over the world. And in each of those towns they have a way of life they are happy with. Bomb Queen's city is just one of those towns and the people that live there like it. Rich: How was it working on "Evil & Malice"? Jimmie: A blast. Loved it. I just wish there was more response. But it's a hard sell in a market geared toward adults. Of course there are kids, and of course material needs to be created for that audience. I gave it my best shot at the time and I didn't split hairs. Evil and Malice was a title aimed at a young female audience. A title like that needs to be nurtured and helped in the direct market. Image did all they could, and MORE, but not enough support came through. Still, from the creative side, it was a joy and this year I hope to return to the all-ages format with a new title. Rich: Why was "Avigon" important in your career? Jimmie: For the same reason all my books are important. I like diversity. I thrive in it. Avigon was another style I had to adapt and a story that I hadn't thought about. Also, it was my first original trade paperback. 200 pages are nice to see all in one package. A solid body of work and Che' Gilson really did a nice job with the script and allowing me to adapt it into comic format. Avigon wasn't for everyone and especially at the when it first hit the shelf. Nowadays Barnes & Noble and Borders Books are chock full of trade paperbacks with love stories and friendship and slice-of-life. In many ways, Avigon was ahead of pack. I hope Che' Gilson repackages that to Tokyopop, or Viz, and gets distribution in book stores. Rich: Who has inspired your life the most? Jimmie: Bah, I don't know. I'm such a loner. That's my trouble. I rely on myself too much. Of course my mother has been instrumental in following my career, and some characters in my books have been modeled after her. Then my daughter was a big part of my life, but she's grown and on her own now. But lately I haven't turned to many people in need of inspiration. My cats help sometimes. Hahah! Rich: If you could change one thing in your life what would it be? Jimmie: So many things. Why just one? Just picking one out the air I wish I could change the early part of my life when I was skateboarding my life away for 15 years. I could have been drawing, or getting involved into the comic industry. I'm a late bloomer (starting in my mid 30s). Don't get me wrong, I loved my days of skateboarding, but I can see where it hurt my body physically and how I might be paying for that in the future. And that might affect my artwork in the future, too. That is one thing I wish I could change. Rich: Do you have any future projects? Jimmie: Yes, but nothing I'm talking about right now. I really need to keep Bomb Queen on target and not miss my deadlines. I will say I'm working on a Romantic Comedy and an all-ages adventure much like "Leave it to Chance". I hope to get working on those in 2006. I have a LOT of projects in mind. Only so many I write down and develop, and being a one-man army allows me to do it all, but I can't do it all at the same time. In 2006 I hope to work with others and lighten my load and possibly see more than one title out at a time. Rich: Will you be attending any cons? Jimmie: Yes, WonderCon, Alternative Press Expo (APE), HeroesCon, San Diego Comic Con, and a few others wiggled somewhere in there. Not to mention any book store signings. Rich: How can someone contact you? Jimmie: My website is still under construction (yes even more stuff to do) but I'm always around through Image Comics, or directly at Jimmykitty@mac.com Rich: Any last words of wisdom? Jimmie: Just have fun with comics. That's what I'm doing, and also why I create so many different books. I like diversity and with Bomb Queen under my wing this is just another side of comics that I want to explore and have fun. But I think readers should employ this, too. Experiment and discover new titles. This is a great time in comics to find just what any reader is looking for. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMICS OBSCURA Mike Curtis shandafa@cyberback.com [COMICS OBSCURA are facts Mike Curtis has dug out during his 30 years of collecting Superman and writing about comics. His website for his comic imprint is www.shandafantasyarts.net ] THIS WEEK'S VILLAIN IS OBSCURITY JONES One comic oriented recording that did NOT become a huge hit was the Snuff Garrett single DICK TRACY. The song tells the story of a thief stealing Chief Patton's wrist Yoyo. Tracy and Sam track the culprit to a shack, and discover Lizz, who's " a klep-to-man- i-ac!" Conversely, around the same time, one of the selection on the album THE VENTURES GREATEST HITS is the them to the unproduced DICK TRACY 1966 TV series. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [6] The Nitpicker's Column Martin A. Perez magnus@montevideo.com.uy http://perdidoseneleter.tripod.com [Martin A. Perez (AKA MaGnUs) writes short stories, articles, comics and radio plays. One of his stories is about to be published for the first time, and his articles have appeared in online or print magazines like Inforol, Kryptonian Cybernet and Strange Days. He co-produces and co-hosts a radio show about comics and related subjects, Perdidos en el Eter. An active part of Uruguay's fan scene, he's one of the creators of Montevideo Comics, the first local convention (since 2002), and one of the founders of Caballeros de Montevideo, which promotes RPGs through charity events. MaGnUs works as an administrative policeman, and is happily married to his wife Cindy, with whom he has a one year old son, Gabriel, who already chooses Spider-Man over Mickey Mouse, and laughs at his father's Darth Vader impersonations.] <<WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!>> Hey readers, welcome to this week's Nitpicker! I've been catching up with some titles, for example, I started reading Black Panther (which is very good). So, incidentally, it's been mostly Marvel stuff... so this is a three quarters Marvel column... it'll happen from time to time that I read more from one company than another, or that I find more nits in one publisher's output than in the others. It's not the wee hours of the morning this time, since I started writing my column yesterday, and now I'm just adding in this intro and the other stuff.. That's called getting the hang of writing on a deadline. Well then, I'll let you go on to the nits: <--------------------------------> "HOPEFULLY, THEY'LL NEVER NOTICE..." TITLE: X-Men. ISSUE: 177. CULPRIT: Peter Milligan (writer) NIT-TO-PICK: No flavor text here, just straight to the nit: on page 2 Polaris reveals (in her thought balloons) that she's hiding the fact that she's lost her powers, like most of the mutants on the regular Marvel U. Riiiight... and nobody noticed yet? They did not use Cerebra to check who still has powers and who does? As we saw in other X-titles, they did. Can she hide her thoughts from Emma Frost, one of the most powerful telepaths in the world? Failing all that, did they not do blood work on each and every single mutant in the mansion to gather information about what's happening? NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, nothing that affects the story greatly, but a cheap plot trick. <--------------------------------> "HEY, I WAS JUST CAMPING NEARBY AND DECIDED TO SEE HOW THE SENTINELS ARE DOING..." TITLE: X-Men. ISSUE: 177. CULPRIT: Peter Milligan (writer) or Salvador Larroca (penciller). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 22, Valerie Cooper is leading, or at least forming part of a military team that supports the sentinels that have invaded Xavier's. My problem? The team is in full assault gear, helmets, armor, etc... and Val is wearing sunglasses, a tanktop and a backpack... what is she, hiking? NIT-O-METER: A measly 1 Bazzars, this is only strange, not an error per se. It just seems stupid, that is. <--------------------------------> "HEY SHIFT, IS THAT A MASK, OR YOUR REAL FACE?" TITLE: Supergirl V5. ISSUE: 03. CULPRIT: Jeph Loeb (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: In page 10, Supergirl thinks about the Outsiders "... they won't take off their masks or tell me their real names?". Of all the Outsiders, only Nightwing hides his face behind a mask; and if you've had access to Superman's database in the Fortress of Solitude (as Kara most likely has), you know who he actually is. The rest of the Outsiders don't wear masks or take great efforts to hide their secrets identities, if they have one. Grace doesn't, Shift doesn't, Arsenal doesn't wear a mask, neither does Thunder and Supergirl knows who her father is, and Black Lightning's identity is public, as far as I remember. NIT-O-METER: Just 2 Bazzars, it might be a figure of speech. <--------------------------------> "PARDON ME, MY UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR IS BROKEN." TITLE: Supergirl V5. ISSUE: 03. CULPRIT: Jeph Loeb (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: The dark side of Supergirl starts speaking Kryptonese, and Lex can't understand it. Please, according to the current version of Superman's origin, Birthright, Lex invented a machine to spy on Kryptonian past, and reversed-engineered many of his scientific advances from there... but he doesn't know how to speak their language? Please. NIT-O-METER: This is kinda hard not to have avoided with some thinking, so it gets 7 Bazzars. <--------------------------------> "YOU'RE NOT REALLY MY DAD! TITLE: X-Men: Deadly Genesis. ISSUE: 01 Of 06. CULPRIT: Ed Brubaker (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: In page 9, Rachel Summers calls Cyclops "Scott", and on page 19, she calls Jean Grey "Jean"; she's always called them "mom" and "dad", even if she's their daughter from an alternate timeline. NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, not a big deal. <--------------------------------> "IF JIMAINE CAN BE AMANDA, I CAN CHANGE MY NAME TOO!" TITLE: Nightcrawler V3. ISSUE: 09. CULPRIT: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 3, Margali Zsardos says her deceased son is called "Stephen", when his name is Stefan. NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, they keep repeating this mistake during the next issues, and his name has been said before in several other books, correctly. <--------------------------------> "WOLVERINE, ENGLISH TEACHER" TITLE: Nightcrawler V3. ISSUE: 09. CULPRIT: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: Okay, Aguirre-Sacasa is _this_ close to winning the prize of worst writer of the moment. Not only his storylines are dull, and unimaginative (I'm reading this ONLY because of Nightcrawler), but his dialogues are horrible as well. On page 6 Wolverine utters this line "I called Cyke, who's coming in the Black Bird." Has this Aguirre-Sacasa ever read Wolverine's dialogues? In fact, has he ever heard someone speak? NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars... come on, a professional writer should know better than this. Also, not a nit, but a stupid retcon, what the hell is this crap about Kurt living in an American Circus? Only because it serves Aguirre-Sacasa's storyline, he invents that part of Nightcrawler's past? Lousy writing. <--------------------------------> "WHOSE EYE IS THIS?" TITLE: Nightcrawler V3. ISSUE: 09. CULPRIT: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer) or Rus Wooton (letterer). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 20, Margali Zsardos mentions "the eye of AGOMOTTO", when it's "Agamotto", with an "a". Who's Agomotto, Agamotto's brother? NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, not a big deal, probably a typo, although I'm leaning towards the fact that Aguirre-Sacasa is just a bad writer. In fact, the nit-o-meter scale might soon be graded in Ragsacs.... <--------------------------------> "DON'T MIND THE FLIES, I"VE JUST HAVEN'T BATHED IN TWO YEARS..." TITLE: Nightcrawler V3. ISSUE: 11. CULPRIT: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer) and/or Darick Robertson (penciler). NIT-TO-PICK: I already said it, I'm not fond of this rehashing of Kurt's past, so I'll be direct: what's up with his brother, Stefan, having red eyes and all the flies buzzing around him? Okay, I can buy into the fact that he was demon-possessed, but not one of the previous telling of that episode of Nightcrawler's life showed him like that, all "lord of the flies" like. It's official, Aguirre-Sacasa just made my black list of writers... I might keep reading on, just because a Nightcrawler junkie... NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzar's, I hate continuity patches like this, done only to serve a meaningless story arc. I mean, Nightcrawler's one of my favorite characters, but he doesn't merit a solo book. Not even Wolverine does, story-wise, no matter what sales may show. <--------------------------------> TITLE: Black Panther V4. ISSUE: 07. CULPRIT: Reginald Hudlin (writer) and/or Trevor Hairsine NIT-TO-PICK: This issue is a House Of M tie-in, and in that reality, Kurt Wagner (aka Nightcrawler) is a member of the Red Guard, the elite shield team led by Wolverine. Then why is he here, attacking Africa, as one of Apocalypse's troops (maybe even a Horseman), wearing a different uniform than his Red Guard one (he wears a uniform almost like his regular 616 clothes), and with a different haircut (longer) than in his other House Of M appearances? Okay, that was a long sentence. NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzar's, this is something you could have avoided by asking the House Of M editor what mutants were available for use as Apocalypse troopers. <--------------------------------> "NO, NO, I'M DE COOL GUY OF DE TEAM, BUT I'M NOT THE ICEMAN!" TITLE: Black Panther V5. ISSUE: 09. CULPRIT: Reginald Hudlin (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 3, Wolverine calls Gambit "Drake", which is of course, the last name of the Iceman. NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, Hudlin's Panther run has been nearly flawless, but this is just not paying attention. <--------------------------------> "ICE THIS THINGY FOR ME!" TITLE: Black Panther V5. ISSUE: 09. CULPRIT: Reginald Hudlin (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 21, the Black Panther asks Iceman to put "this glove" on a block of ice until his medical team can arrive. Problem is, it's not a glove, it's a vial or container with a virus inside it... I've never seen that thing called a "glove". NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars again, I guess this wasn't Hudlin's day... <--------------------------------> "NO HURRICANES, JUST A GALE" TITLE: Wizard Magazine. ISSUE: 169. CULPRIT: Chris Ward (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: Yes, I know, this is not a comic book, it's about comic books. But this was funny, and I couldn't let it pass... On page 61, in his article about Infinite Crisis, Chris Ward mentions Villains United writer, "Gale" Simone (her first name is "Gail"). NIT-O-METER: I'm giving this a 6, it's not big, but a long time member of Wizard's staff like Chris Ward should know the name of such prominent a writer as Simone is. Who's next, "Jeff" Loeb, "Gerry" Ordway and "Sean" Byrne? <--------------------------------> "THERE HASN'T BEEN ANY PREVIOUS ONES, AND THERE WILL BE A SECOND ONE!" TITLE: DC Universe Golden Age Secret Files & Origins. ISSUE: Single issue. CULPRIT: John Ostrander (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 17, before WWII, Johnny Thunder refers to WWI as "The First War"... not only that wasn't the first war ever, but people referred to what we now call WWI as "The Great War". NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, I expect more historic knowledge from a good writer as Mr. Ostrander. <--------------------------------> "MULTIPLE MAN-UFACTURER" TITLE: Madrox. ISSUE: 3. CULPRIT: Peter A. David (writer). NIT-TO-PICK: On page 13, Madrox is handcuffed, and doesn't want to make a duplicate of him, because it would appear handcuffed as well. WTF?!?! That has never been the case, as far as I can remember, with Madrox's power... if so, it would be easy to make money: just borrow a 50 karat diamond ring and start making dupes, you get several rings to sell, and return the original one. Besides, PAD may be able to contradict his own writing, but it was himself who established in his X-Factor run that there's no "original" and "duplicate" Madroxes, they're all multiple bodies of the same person... and on this run of Madrox, he reverted to the original idea of the character. I must say, I like the fact that each Madrox has its own ideas and feelings, it makes for an interesting story, but I'd rather we stick to the "no original Jamie" thing. NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, PAD should know better, he wrote this character for a long time, and this whole "handcuffed dupe" only served to show that Madrox had acquired escapist skills. <--------------------------------> This week we had a 5.1 average, lower than last week's 6.4. Am I reading more quality stuff? Or is it just that there's more nits, but lower ranking? I vote for option B. Until next week, I'll be on the outlook for more nits, because (almost) nothing escapes... THE NITPICKER! _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMICS OBSCURA Mike Curtis shandafa@cyberback.com [COMICS OBSCURA are facts Mike Curtis has dug out during his 30 years of collecting Superman and writing about comics. His website for his comic imprint is www.shandafantasyarts.net ] MOVIE COMEDY FROM A PARALLEL WORLD Currently showing at your local Wal-Mart in the $1.00 DVD bins, is the film BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA. This strange film was written to showcase one of the oddest teams in movies, SAMMY MITCHELL and DUKE PETRILLO. These two were professional MARTIN AND LEWIS imitators, and this 1952 film was to be their debut. Shortly afterwards, they were sued by the real Martin and Lewis and forced to disband. Watching the film gives one a sense of being on a parallel Earth where Lugosi met Martin and Lewis and is a bargain for $1.00 (if you can sit through it) _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Suspended Animation Michael Vance & Mark Allen MiklVance2@worldnet.att.net http://www.starland.com/sus [Michael Vance, a professional writer since 1977 and has been published in dozens of magazines including Starlog and Jack and Jill, and as a syndicated columnist and cartoonist in over 500 newspapers. His history book, Forbidden Adventure: The History of the American Comics Group, has been called a "benchmark in comics history". He ghosted an internationally syndicated comic strip, and his wrote own strip, Holiday Out, that was reprinted as a comic book. Vance also wrote the comic books Straw Men, Angel of Death, The Adventures of Captain Nemo, and Bloodtide. He is listed in the Who's Who of American Comic Books and Comic Book Superstars. His short stories have appeared in dozens of magazines and recorded by actor William (Murder She Wrote) Windom. Suspended Animation, has been published for more than sixteen years, and Vance worked in newspapers for 22 years as an editor, writer and advertising manager. Mark Allen lives in Western Oklahoma with his wife and daughter. He has been a Baptist minister for over 15 years, and has also written for the Oklahoma news industry. Having indulged in comics for nearly 30 years, Mark now enjoys using the written word to share with others what he believes is a true, and extremely under-acknowledged, art form.] The King has reentered the building. Please. Not again. Let's be honest. What more can be done with the old canard that Elvis Presley isn't dead? In fact, this idea has run so rampant that no Rock and Roll singer has ever died, and Elvis, Jim Morrison, Jimmie Hendrix and Buddy Holly are actually playing Pinochle with Janis Joplin and John Lennon somewhere in Oklahoma right now. Elvis is winning. But can artist and writer Rich Koslowski bring something fresh in the way of characterization, plot and dialog to his graphic novel The King? Astonishingly, yes. Is his visual storytelling strong enough to keep a reader turning pages to reach the denouement? You bet. His art is cartoonish but powerful, the staging in each panel flawless, the pacing from panel to panel enticing, and his visual characterizations are both appealing and consistent. Well then, can just a little bit of what The King is all about be shared? Sure. It is about real and phony faith. Put your fists down. It is also about a washed up National Enquirer journalist investigating an Elvis impersonator in a gold helmet who is so convincing that he has turned a dump in Las Vegas into a money-making machine and founded his own church. The impersonator picked this reporter to interview him. It is about the cronies that surround this Elvis, and why they do so. And it is about 261 pages long. And it is all done using profanity, nihilism, sexual and drug abuse, and nudity, all sure markers that it will get slammed by this reviewer. The King is highly recommended for adults. Wha...? Huh?!? It never glamorizes these vices. And it's about time you bought a copy. Thank you very much. The reviewer has left the building. MV The King/$19.95 from Top Shelf Productions/sold in comics and book stores, and at www.topshelfcomix.com Order you copy of the all-Michael Vance horror paperback Apocris 1 at http://www.lighthousemediaone.co.uk/FutureProjects.html. For information on the exciting Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection go to www.actionfiguremuseum.com _________________________________________________________________ Thanks for subscribing to the Comic Book Network Electronic Magazine (CBEM) --------------------------->Disclaimer<--------------------------- This is an ANNOUNCE only mailing list, only the Editor can send messages to the list. No one else has access to the subscriber list. Replies to these messages will be received by the Editor ONLY, so you must CC: individual contributors if you want them to get your E-Mail. The E-mail to the E-mag MAY be used in future issues at the Editor's discretion UNLESS you specifically request that they not be. It is our policy to withhold names and/or Addresses, by request only, from letters of comment. All contributors are required to use their real name and have a valid Email address for their columns to be published. Send Email comments to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Material for inclusion in the Emag - press releases, solicitations, column submissions, Letters to the Editor, guesses for the trivia contest should be sent to ComicBkNet@aol.com The EDITOR, not the submitter, has final approval and edit rights on ALL material. Printed comic books and advanced copies for review in the Emag should be sent via US Mail or UPS to David L. LeBlanc 84 Heather Circle Jefferson, MA 01522-1419 TO Subscribe send a message FROM the intended address to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-subscribe@yahoogroups.com TO Unsubscribe send a message FROM the address to be dropped to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com You may also unsubscribe from the Egroups Web page at the short cut below. Shortcut URL to the Egroup page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ComicBookNetworkEmag All contents COPYRIGHT 2005 The Comic Book Network. 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