Have you recovered from Fan Expo yet? I’m not sure I have. There’s always so much to do and so much to see; if you don’t watch yourself you’ll find yourself scrambling to the concession area for a $5 bottle of water and a $7 slice of pizza. But a good time was had by all, and now it’s back to business as usual, at least until I’ve had the final say in today’s Lucid Comics and next week’s Lucid Gaming. But for now, onto the news…
Table Of Contents
Fan Expo - In Comics
Fan Expo - Small Press
Fan Expo Movie Review – Back Issues
Fan Expo Comic Reviews
New Releases
Fan Expo – In Comics
 | Oh yes, Fan Expo is also about comics. Several high profile and low profile creators were at this year’s con. The big line-ups though were for the star writers and artists, which included Brian Bolland, Alex Ross, Tim Sale, Peter David, Dan Slott, J. Scott Campbell, Matt Fraction, Keith Giffen, Mark Bagely, Ethan van Sciver and Steve McNiven.
One of the highlights of the comic program was a series of seminars call “Cool School” which had industry professionals hand out tips and advice for aspiring individuals looking to break in to the comic book trade. I went to “Writing Comics from Start to Finish with Matt Fraction,” as the writer of The Uncanny X-Men, The Invincible Iron Man and The Immortal Iron Fist talked about what works and what doesn’t work for him when writing as well as taking audience questions. Fraction touched on his struggles with plotting, in finding the right balance of how much story he can cram into a single issue.
To work around this impediment, Fraction says to plan out your stories in advanced the best you can. Keep notebooks or index cards so that you know the major landmarks of your story so that you’re able to hit each one and fill in the details. Fraction also recommended that when you write a comic script don’t go crazy with the thumbnails; let the artist work out the visuals with you. “A great artist can make you look like a genius,” he said. A book called On Directing Movie by David Mamet taught Fraction a lot about visual storytelling, he said, before adding that writer’s should allow themselves “the gift of failure” and should write everyday to strengthen their skills. |
Matt Fraction returned in the “Cup of CB” panel with Avengers: The Initiative writer Dan Slott and talent liason and writer and C.B. Cebulski. They took fan questions and made commentary on various topics; like how cell phones and direct deposit have seriously thrown a wrench into the way a lot of superhero stories are written. They also talked about the fine art of writing for everyone, which was split into two facets. First there was the fact that “writing for everyone” didn’t mean G-rated fair, and Fraction pointed out the work of Pixar as an example of artistically complex storytelling that’s suitable for people of any age. Slott saw it as addressing the complaints of fans that complain about the fact that the characters don’t “grow-up with them.”
As for what’s going on at the House of Ideas there were some hints about the plans to come. Slott had some answers about The Amazing Spider-Man and upon seeing a young, female fan with blonde-hair and smartly dressed, he asked her she was dressed as Gwen Stacy. When she indicated that she was Slott apologized as the strongest voice for the “Keep Gwen Dead” camp when plotting “Brand New Day.” Another fan asked why Spider-Man seemed out of touch with the rest of the Marvel U since BND, and Slott said it was because they had to plan so far ahead with the thrice-monthly schedule. Slott added that fans should look out for more Spidey adventures with fellow heroes in the months to come and a “completely logical, non-magical reason why Harry Osborne is still alive,” coming up later this year.
Not to be outdone, DC Comics Executive Editor Dan Didio was also in Toronto and hosted a number of comic-related events talking about developments at DC and comics in general. In a conversation with fans on Sunday, Didio eagerly engaged everyone present asking about comic buying habits; how they got into comics, where they buy them and so on. Didio joked that this panel could be considered a focus group of sorts for him, but what seemed to be driving the day was the editor’s enthusiastic love for the medium. |  | Didio asked people about the first comic they bought and one person said that it was a Spider-Man comic where he helps a girl in a flying wheelchair save the Calgary Stampede. Everyone laughed at the idea, but I think most of them agreed with Didio and wanted that same issue to call their own. He also asked about the circumstances one got their first comic, and the common theme was that it was a method by moms to shut up their kids. Didio also talked about his own obsession with collecting comics, including the day he got off the bus on the way to school to buy a certain issue of Captain America, only to find it cost him all the money he had on him, including his bus fare.
Fan Expo – The Small Press
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But aside from the big guns, Fan Expo hosts a number of creators working on the fringes, labouring long and hard hours to pursue their passion and put out a product. For them, a convention like this is more of trade show than a fan gathering – Fan Expo serves as a chance to promote and a chance to sell.
Take the good people from Fantasy Prone, for example, Publisher Jack Latner was there with a comic entitled United Free Worlds; a gigantic, globe-spanning epic now going into its third issue. But like a lot of companies at Fan Expo, Fantasy Prone is focused on more than just one niche. “We create intellectual property for more than one platform,” explained Latner, “We create franchises.” The LA-based company also did the animation of the Spaceballs animated series and has also done some work on video games.
Somewhere nearby the Fantasy Prone booth were the guys from The Bear Stories. Chris Hatz and George Todd created the book which Hatz simple described as being about “a cartoon bear that lives in a realistic city.” Their division of labour is simple, “I draw the bear with my crude artistic style and George draws all the big stuff: the people, the city, the realistic environment,” Hatz said.
The process is very “Marvel Method” and it works by Hatz and Todd coming up with the story, drawing it out and then filling in the dialogue and jokes. Depending on the emphasis of the panel, either Todd will draw first if its background heavy or Hatz will draw the Bear if he’s the dominant subject. “It was more of a concept piece where we wanted to have these two styles,” adds Todd
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The duo started with an internet comedy sketch troupe called “TSF,” but it never “went anywhere.” So they buckled down and took their unique sense of humour by doing the first 8-pages of Bear Stories 10 years ago now as a black and white version. The full-colour version came out this past April with a volume two coming sometime in early 2009. The Bear Stories is available online at http://www.thebearstories.com/ or is available at Diamond Distributors and through your local comic book shop.
Nick Mohr, editor of The Blitz, seems to like symmetry: his comic has four stories, by four different creators for $4. The Blitz was put together by members of the Durham Comics Guild, a collective of comic creators based in Oshawa, and it hopes to be the first of many issues to come. “The guild is just a networking area where people can meet up bounce ideas, find other writers and artists,” explains Mohr, who adds that there are currently almost 30 members of the DCG.
“We’ve had a lot of people show interest in what we’re doing so we’re hoping to expand,” he says. The Guild has been around for a couple of months now and in that same amount of time they created, packaged and printed the first issue of The Blitz. Plans for the second issue are already underway and Mohr himself says that he’s looking to contribute to the next edition. To find out more about the Durham Comics Guild head over to their website or look-up their group on Facebook.
The relatively low-key gang from the DCG couldn’t match the flare of Matthew Mohammed, writer, publisher and spokesperson for The Black Bastard. Now Mohammed may have been, ahem, pimped out to look like the titular character from his book, but he assured me that he was in fact not the basis of the character. “The truth is I grew my hair out and started to model to help promote it,” he says. “When you’re putting your own money up for these things you do everything you can to make it back.”
The book plays on racial stereotypes obviously, the main character is a high school guidance councillor that looks and acts like a 70s pimp. “It’s 100 per cent wrong, but feels 110 per cent right,” says Mohammed with a grin. He adds that he came up with the idea after an office co-worker wouldn’t stop going on about the Fat Bastard character from Austin Powers: The Spy That Shagged Me. When Mohammed suggested he get back to work, his colleague jokingly called him the Black Bastard, which got Mohammed’s creative juices going, turning his co-workers jab into a t-shirt, which later begat the comic. |  | Mohammed has written every issue so far with a roster of different artists who, like him, just have a passion for the character and are squeezing this project into their spare time. Now Mohammed’s looking at getting a few issues in the can so that he can start the book on a more regular schedule, especially since he has ideas for many more stories to come. Look for more info about The Black Bastard at http://www.rorschachpress.com/
Fan Expo Movie Review – Back Issues
From Jonathan Parra, a San Francisco editor and filmmaker, comes a story a lot of people at Fan Expo can relate to: the point in our lives when moving on means giving up our dreams. Or does it? This is the question Parra pursues over the about 24 minutes the film unspools. Young Peter (Todd Brotze) faces a difficult decision: keep looking to fulfill his wish of being a comic book letterer or throw it away, get a real job and marry his girlfriend Felicia. Of course, women just understand that lettering jones that men have – it’s unfair really.
Parra manages to pack in a lot of comic references in such a short time; all the characters have comic derived names, there’s a lot of talk about the comic book art and to top it all off there’s a full-on conversation about who has the lamest superpower. And for anyone that’s ever worked the humdrum of retail, there’s some Clerks-style humour with a hilarious appearance by Steve Shotts as the “Annoying Customer.” Actually, the film kind of reminded of the 90s sitcom Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, with its exaggerated sound effects and broad comedic characterization. But even taking that into account, the film is till a winner because it speaks a truth to those of us that have pursued the arts to a dead end.
After the film, Parra took some questions. The film was made with a budget of $5,000 though if he had to pay the people involved that amount probably would have come to $15,000. The toughest part of the shoot was getting the first scene in the subway station, which was shot guerrilla-style the crew found that getting the City of San Francisco’s permission protection would be too costly. The director also said that he has a plan for a sequel to Back Issues, but he wants to get a few other projects off his chest first. In the meantime, the film looks to continue to play at film festivals and comic cons to get the word out. For more information on Back Issues check out the film’s My Space page at http://www.myspace.com/backissuesmovie and see the trailer on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nH_Xk-kOgM
Fan Expo Comic Reviews
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United Free Worlds #1 & 2
Blake Leibel and Jason Raines (#1) & Patrick Blaine (#2)
Fantasy Prone
This book looks so much like the inside of your 8-year-old self’s head, it’s scary. This beautifully drawn and coloured book immerses the reader into one of the most richly rendered fantasy worlds I’ve ever seen: one on which a new planet suddenly appears in our solar system. The new arrival compels the countries of the Earth to set aside their differences in the spirit of exploration and exploitation of the new world. The inhabitants of this planet are a warrior race that uses dinosaurs as mechanized warfare, and if the sight of the Earth’s tanks and planes against saddled T-Rexes and Pterodactyls doesn’t awaken the kid in you nothing will. Again, the art is very, very strong; clean and detailed and easy to follow with a couple of really sweet splash pages in issue two. The story is just compelling enough to suspend your disbelief too, as Leibel puts a lot of thought, and squeezes a lot of story, into the narrative. Look for issue three in stores from Devil’s Due this October and for more information visit the book’s website at http://fantasyprone.com. | The Blitz #1
Various Writers and Artists from the Durham Comics Guild
Dark Dagger Comics
The Blitz is a project from a group called the Durham Comics Guild, which is a coalition of comic creators in the Durham region that decided to take it up on themselves to publish a monthly anthology. Such DIY spirit should be rewarded with great enthusiasm, especially if subsequent material ends up standing as loud and proud as this initial package of four stories. “Spree” had me laughing out loud as a dad literally has to fight through a store full of villains in order to buy his kid a popular video game system. “Spree” was written by Adam Prosser, who wrote and drew the closing story “Lumeria” which featured some great artwork that is anime meets comic strip in terms of style. The middle two stories are “Sister Revolver,” which features a manga-sense for visual humour and “August Penn,” which channels Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns in terms of visual style, follows the titular character: an anti-hero that can change the odds. For more information about the Guild go to their website: http://www.geocities.com/durhamcomicsguild/
New Releases
August 27th
Dark Horse
THE END LEAGUE #4
STAR WARS: LEGACY #27
STAR WARS: REBELLION #16
DC Comics
ALL STAR SUPERMAN VOL. 1
AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #2 (OF 6)
BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT #4 (OF 12)
BLUE BEETLE #30
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD VOL. 2: THE BOOK OF DESTINY
CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #48
CATWOMAN #82
COUNTDOWN PRESENTS: LORD HAVOK AND THE EXTREMISTS
DC UNIVERSE: LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
FAMILY DYNAMIC #1 (OF 3)
FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES' REVENGE #2 (OF 3)
FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND #1 (OF 2)
JLA VOL. 1: DELUXE EDITION
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #18
THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #45
METAL MEN
REIGN IN HELL #2
SUICIDE SQUAD: FROM THE ASHES
SUPERMAN #679
TEEN TITANS #62
TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE #6 (OF 6)
TRINITY #13
Image Comics
BRIT #8
GUERILLAS #1 (of 9)
I KILL GIANTS #1 (of 7) second print
NEW WORLD ORDER: DAWN OF A NEW DAY TPB
PROOF #11
THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN, VOL. 1 TP
THE SURREAL ADVENTURES OF EDGAR ALLAN POO, BOOK 2 OGN
VIX #2 (of 3)
Marvel Comics
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 569
ANGEL: REVELATIONS # 4
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE # 16
BLACK PANTHER # 40
DAREDEVIL # 110
FANTASTIC FOUR: TRUE STORY # 2
GHOST RIDER ANNUAL: MERCY # 2
HAUNT OF HORROR: LOVECRAFT # 3
IMMORTAL IRON FIST # 18
KICK-ASS # 4
MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR # 39
MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES # 2
MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS # 27
MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS # 12
MARVEL: YOUR UNIVERSE SAGA # 1
MIGHTY AVENGERS # 17
NEW AVENGERS # 44
NEW EXILES # 10
NEW WARRIORS # 15
NEWUNIVERSAL: CONQUEROR # 1
NOVA # 16
RUNAWAYS # 1
SECRET INVASION: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 1
SHE-HULK # 32
SKAAR: SON OF HULK # 3
THUNDERBOLTS # 123
ULTIMATE IRON MAN II # 5
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN # 125
ULTIMATE X-MEN # 97
WOLVERINE # 68
WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS # 6
X-FORCE # 6
X-MEN: LEGACY # 215
Collections
DAREDEVIL BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS OMNIBUS VOL. 1
FANTASTIC FOUR VISIONARIES: WALTER SIMONSON VOL. 2
IMMORTAL IRON FIST VOL. 2: THE SEVEN CAPITAL CITIES OF HEAVEN
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN VOL. 3: HERO BY DESIGN
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS VOL. 3 HC
NEW WARRIORS VOL. 2: THRASHED
OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z VOL. 4 PREMIERE
SHE-HULK VOL. 6: JADED
X-MEN: LEGACY - DIVIDED HE STANDS PREMIERE
X-MEN: THE COMPLETE ONSLAUGHT EPIC BOOK 3
September 3rd
Dark Horse
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 8 #18
CRIMINAL MACABRE: CELL BLOCK 666 #1
MY NAME IS BRUCE
DC Comics
ADAM STRANGE SPECIAL
THE BATMAN STRIKES! #49
DEATH OF THE NEW GODS
DETECTIVE COMICS #848
DR. FATE: COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY
EL DIABLO #1 (OF 6)
GREEN LANTERN #34
INVASION
JONAH HEX #35
LOONEY TUNES #166
MANHUNTER #34
NIGHTWING #148
SECRET SIX #1
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN VOL. 4
SUPERGIRL #33
TITANS #4
TOR #5 (OF 6)
TRINITY #14
THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #5
Image Comics
DEVOID OF LIFE OGN
ELEPHANTMEN #14
FIREBREATHER #3
GEMINI #3 (of 5)
HYPERKINETIC #3 (of 4)
I KILL GIANTS #2 (of 7)
INVINCIBLE #51 2ND PRINTING
MIXTAPE, VOL. 2 HC
NOBLE CAUSES #36
STRANGE EMBRACE TP
TELLOS COLOSSAL, VOL. 2 HC
THE SWORD #11
TRANSHUMAN #4 (of 4)
WAR HEROES #2 (of 6)
Marvel Comics
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 570
DEAD OF NIGHT FEATURING DEVIL-SLAYER # 1
ETERNALS # 4
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN # 5
IRON MAN: GOLDEN AVENGER # 1
KICK-ASS MUST HAVE # 1
MARVEL 1985 MUST HAVE # 1
MARVEL APES # 1
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE # 15
MS. MARVEL ANNUAL # 1
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL # 23
SECRET INVASION: FRONT LINE # 3
SHE-HULK # 31
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE # 2
SUB-MARINER: THE DEPTHS # 1
THE TWELVE 1/2 # 1
UNIVERSAL WAR ONE # 3
VENOM: DARK ORIGIN # 2
X-FACTOR # 33
X-MEN ORIGINS: BEAST # 1
X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY # 1
X-MEN: RETURN OF MAGIK # 1
Collections
CLANDESTINE: BLOOD RELATIVE PREMIERE
COUNTER X VOL. 2
ESSENTIAL THOR VOL. 2 TPB
IRON MANUAL
MAGICIAN APPRENTICE VOL. 2
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN VOL. 10: IDENTITY CRISIS
THE TWELVE VOL. 1 PREMIERE
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 5
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