The News Blog of Comics Culture
Tweet“I’m sorry I’m late with my book”, Jimmy Palmiotti said rather humbly, opening a “spotlight” panel on March 31st 2013 at WonderCon, and asked the audience if he ought to put on some “background music”. Amanda Conner, his co-spotlighter, and Palmiotti explained, tongue in cheek, that if the panel appeared “random”, months of deep thought [...]
TweetPhotocomix are strange creatures. They look like a hybrid of a photography medium and a comics format, and when you spot them in the wild you’re never sure whether they arose as some part of a natural evolutionary process in art or if they were the result of some kind of misguided experiment, maybe even [...]
TweetI noticed a common feature in the comics I was reading this week, a feature that made them all compelling as stories: the role of the underdog pitted against overwhelming odds. Seeing the psychological reactions of the characters was an important part of the ride, but excellent artwork, particularly in executing fight scenes, left me [...]
Tweetby LTZ A while back, the Beat’s own Henry Barajas – tireless observer of Kickstarted comics that he is – took some time to preview a crowd-funded book by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jimmy Broxton, and Juan Santacruz. Sex and Violence, Vol. 1 was laid bare (spread-eagle, perhaps) to its supporters this past week, after [...]
Tweet[warning: mild spoilers ahead for CREATOR-OWNED HEROES #8 and major spoilers ahead for BLACK BEETLE #1] Well, here it is. The final issue of CREATOR-OWNED HEROES. When you think “last issue”, particularly on a series meeting an untimely end, you might expect the rough edges left behind by a team just going through the motions [...]
TweetEarlier this week, Jimmy Palmiotti announced that the noble experiment CREATOR OWNED HEROES would conclude after its 8th issue. Over the course of the magazine’s publication, outreach on social media emphasized the need to raise awareness and increase solicitation from comic shops to keep the multi-contributor series in motion. Consistently strong reviews appeared on media, [...]
Tweet Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray debut their second Kickstarter project of the year, SEX AND VIOLENCE Volume One.
TweetOn Sunday, I went out and got groceries from the already Walking Dead-like store with its empty shelves and zombie walkers and then I stashed everything that could be blown around outside my house, causing damage. Then I settled in for some 30 Rock on demand and snatched some Halloween candy from the pile, getting [...]
TweetBy Steve Morris Suspiciously, DC have today announced on CBR that writers Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Jerry Ordway will be the creative team for a four-issue ‘Human Bomb’ miniseries. Why suspiciously? Because this follows two previous miniseries by the writers, which also starred members of DC’s Freedom Fighters team. SUSPICIOUS WORK IS AFOOT!
TweetBy Alexander Añé Saturday afternoon Jimmy Palmiotti introduced the panelists, Cindy Au, Vijaya Iver, and Batton Lash, for Kickstarter Changes Comics. Paul Levitz was originally to introduce the panel but he was not in attendance and so Jimmy carried the show more than well enough. The premise for the panel is to help instruct potential [...]
For years, writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray have been running a “Get MONOLITH A Trade!” campaign to get their 12-issue maxiseries from 2004 a collection. Although the book had a dedicated following—especially for fans of Phil Winslade’s amazing art—given that its sales were modest, that wasn’t the most likely outcome. However, on Facebook it’s revealed that rights have finally reverted and a collection is in the works from Image. Or rather—two collections, both in an oversized European hardcover album, like The Pro deluxe hardcover.
With the announcement of the closure of WildStorm imprint at DC and the retiring of the WildStorm name, it isn’t just another in a long list of comics imprints that have ended over the years. In its 18 year run WildStorm has been a vital part of several revolutions in commercial comics, and changed the game in many ways — Rob Liefeld’s post below gives a succinet run down of some of the highlights.
Founded by Jim Lee as one of the original six Image Studios (along with Marc Sillvestri’s Top Cow, Todd McFarlane’s McFarlane Productions, Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios, Jim Valentino’s ShadowLine and Erik Larsen’s Highbrow Entertainment), WildStorm immediately established itself as one of the most commercial, with huge sellers like WildCATS and Gen 13. A series of developing fan favorite artists, including of course Lee himself, but also J. Scott Campbell, Joe Madureira and Humberto Ramos, kept popularity up, while the creator owned Homage imprint delivered such strong properties as Astro City and Leave it To Chance.
Although known first for their art, by the end of the decade, WildStorm was really becoming known for some of the most daring mainstream writing of the period, with genre-defining work by Warren Ellis and Mark Millar, strong adventure material by Jimmy Palmiotti and Ed Brubaker, as well as daring experiments like Automatic Kafka, a book by Joe Casey and Ashley Wood that people are still figuring out.
And then there was America’s Best Comics, an new line of comics written by Alan Moore that would introduce the world to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tom Strong, Promethea and Top Ten, the superhero police procedural. And our favorite, Jack B. Quick, the boy inventor who solved science’s greatest non problems.
Of course, there are dark parts to the legacy as well, all of which will be trotted out and discussed at length, we’re sure. But for now, we asked creators and staff for some of their good memories, and this is what they came back with.
Recent Comments