The News Blog of Comics Culture
TweetMarvel’s female characters do tend to be their very best, so here at The Beat we’ve been following Will Sliney (at a distance, so he doesn’t suspect) as he helps set up the all-female Fearless Defenders team. Whenever a new character joins the team, Will very kindly talks a little about them, and how he [...]
TweetAnthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series of novels, telling the story of a young boy who becomes a super-spy, are massively popular, and have sold over 12 million copies to date. Following on from the success of the novels, Antony Johnston has been adapting the books into a series of similarly-acclaimed graphic novels for Walker Books, [...]
TweetIt’s St George’s Day today, so to celebrate here’s an interview with the only other person on known record to have slain a dragon – Emma Vieceli, writer/artist for a number of graphic novels including Vampire Academy, Dragon Heir, and Avalon Chronicles. She’s also responsible for the artwork in Bates Motel on A&E, and is currently [...]
TweetJimmie Robinson can do basically anything. Writer, artist, designer and letterer, his most recent work Five Weapons has been receiving great acclaim from fans and critics alike. Set in a school for young would-be-assassins, the series sees the weaponless Tyler Shainline come to school and find himself immediately ducking and diving from the attentions of [...]
TweetThere’s a new issue of Fearless Defenders out today, in which another character steps forwards into the spotlight. This time around it’s not Valkyrie, Misty Knight, or Dani Moonstar, but Hippolyta (now known as Warrior Woman). Now, this is an existing character who hasn’t been seen for a while, and so Marvel turned to Phil [...]
With comics having reached a hitherto unseen level of respectability, that’s the cue for the comics literati to go back to the begining and argue about how the whole thing works…or doesn’t.
Following up on last year’s bestselling Vader and Son, Jeffrey Brown is back this April with Vader’s Little Princess
TweetWith Fearless Defenders #1 out today, artist Will Sliney has returned to The Beat to talk about the first recruit to Valkyrie’s cause: Misty Knight! Yes, she of the afro-wearing sass, street-fighting fighting, and Jean Grey… college roommate-ing.
The other day the New York Times interviewed South Park’s Matt Stone which you should be able to read unfirewalled here, and Stone delivers a confirmation of Content as King:
Tweet Well, as we were just saying, colorists are an integral part of the comics creation process, more responsible fore the look of a book than anyone else, really in the modern production process. And yet one con does not think that colorists are worthy to be listed as guests for their show. Or that’s [...]
This is one of those “the killer is calling from inside the house!” posts. As the digital tide slowly eats away at the limestone foundations of print, sometimes it’s the hidden damage that is most destructive. In this case, artist Jim Rugg points out something that isn’t discussed nearly enough: how coloring comics on computer monitors is not really an adequate preparation for the print versions. In this case, he notes that the print version of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy in Hell just doesn’t look as good as the digital version:
I’m sure this post on how to make it as an artist by animator Geneva Hodgson (and reblogged by Kate Beaton, hence my embarrassing ID mixup) doesn’t need any promotion from me, but here it is anyway. IT’s full of solid observations and advice, and you should READ THE WHOLE THING, but she mentions one thing that I don’t think most career advice articles cover enough:
TweetOne of the more interesting aspects of Marvel’s relaunch is how involved some of the creators have been in discussing their craft with fans. While Jonathan Hickman’s formspring account has been pinging away daily with fresh questions from Namor and Black Panther shippers, several other writers have set up frequent ‘annotations’ after the release of [...]
Tweet Over the years there have been many attempts to start a comic book creators union or guild. Neal Adams tried one back in the day, and got frustrated and gave it up. Tony Harris recently tweeted about starting one before he got distracted by something bright and shiny. And now Rantz Hoseley, Eisner winning [...]
Tweet The resourceful Colleen Doran explains how she avoids the damage of sitting on your duff all day with a Treadmill Desk Details on how to make one in the post, as well as tips for using it: I can read and write on it, but drawing is a no-go. This is fine. I still [...]
After yesterday’s bucket of cold water dumped over our heads by Jim Zub, we were toying with the idea of making a “resource page” with links to facts and figures on the industry but former Flash Gordon artist and current MCAD teacher Jim Keefe has done it for us! Keefe collects various pages and post on contracts, horror stories, rates and other things everyone should know. We recommend that young creators (and maybe some old ones as well) check out all the links.
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