Howdy!
A group of comics professionals, including Darwyn, Cameron Stewart, and Adam Hughes, are trying to help out a friend with some hefty medical bills and are selling some artwork and other special items on ebay. Anything raised above what's needed will be donated to the HERO Initiative charity.
You can check out the goods here, but here's a taste:
Alright guys! I have an awesome prize to give away to one lucky reader! This is a prize that is SO AWESOME that I figure I can pretty much make you do anything to win it.
First of all, do you guys know that Darwyn Cooke has been nominated for an Emmy award for The New Frontier (Outstanding animated program for programming one hour or more)? Good luck in L.A., Darwyn!
And on that note, here's the prize I have to give away: A signed copy of Darwyn Cooke's very new, very limited art book. This book was available at this year's Comic Con, and is now only available in select Canadian comic shops. The book is a hardcover retrospective of Cooke's work from 1998 to the present. If you like looking at page after page of stunning art, then you will probably like this book.
This fabulous prize is, as always, courtesy of Strange Adventures Comic Shops.
SO...I figure that since this is a distinctly Canadian prize, and because I am already jealous of whoever wins this because I don't even own a copy of this book, I am going to make y'all do something that will delight and entertain me.
I like two things: comic books and hockey. If you want a shot at winning this book all you have to do is draw a picture of a super hero playing hockey. Then scan it and post it somewhere and link to it in the comment section. Here's a couple of examples to get the creative juices flowing:
Matt (my husband) sketched this at a restaurant while we were waiting for our food:
And here's what I came up with in a hurry:
As you can see by my submission, you don't need to be a great artist to enter this contest. I'm not picking the best drawing. Anyone who makes an honest attempt will be entered into a draw. The winner takes it all.
I'll give it a week or two. Good luck!
Alright, let's get this HeroesCon recap underway.
First of all, the five boys from The Dollar Bin were the greatest hosts ever. Adam, Brian, Devin, Tre and Kris are all really nice guys and even spoke to me again after I totally ditched them on Saturday night when Darwyn Cooke invited me to dinner with Matt Wagner, Michael Golden and Francesco Francavilla and their assorted and lovely dates. Because...what are you gonna do? Say no to that?
Alright, so that ends the shameless namedropping portion of this post. I do want to say that I met a lot of my idols this weekend, and every single one of them was completely awesome and nice. I'll get to that in a minute.
North Carolina is a nice place and the people there are very friendly and have great accents. There was less taking off of shirts and spinning them round their heads like helicopters than Petey Pablo suggested, but it was still fun. I was something of a curiosity around the con as a Canadian who seemed to have strayed very far from her Nova Scotia home. My accent also seemed popular with the locals.
You know what else rules about North Carolina? The food! My first night there I ordered something called the Pork Three-Way at a BBQ joint. As if I could not order that. And if you are ever in the Charlotte area, I highly recommend the Cajun Queen restaurant. It's pretty outstanding. Don't let the blinding grape-coloured website fool you.
So I met a ton of people whose work I have admired for a long time, including Cliff Chiang, Matt Fraction, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Cho, Guy Davis, Phil Noto, Jason Aaron, Robert Kirkman, Dean Trippe, Adam Hughes, Mark Waid, Peter Laird, Stephane Roux, Nicolas Gurewitch, and Chris Giarusso, along with the above-mentioned people I went to dinner with. Amanda Conner gave me one of her sketchbooks she was selling. Man, I just love her stuff. And Matt Wagner is just a really great guy. It's so nice to meet people that you've been a fan of for so long and they are just awesome.
I also got to meet Josh Elder, which was exciting as we've been conversing through email for some time. He even gave me a signed copy of his book, Love Bytes. He's a great guy and I really hope Mail Order Ninja gets picked up by someone so we can get some new books!
AND...I got to meet Matt and Mike Chapman of Homestar Runner fame, which was a really big deal for me. I have been tuning into that site regularly for five years now. Meeting them in person seemed so crazy because it was like "Wow! You guys are real!" They were really nice and easy to talk to and I got a Poopsmith sketch from Matt, shown here:
He said it was the best one he ever drew. And then told Robert Kirkman that he got the second-best Poopsmith he ever drew. I compared my sketch with Kirkman's and concluded that mine was indeed better. Mostly because it had a bigger shovel. Rachelle 1, Kirkman 0.
Robert Kirkman, by the way: really nice guy.
I actually have no complaints about a single person at that con. I hear stories sometimes of fans going to cons and getting some pretty rude treatment from their heroes. I have nothing but good memories.
And on top of meeting lots of my heroes, I also made lots of new friends! Benito Cereno is a regular LBW reader, and is a very nice guy and a talented writer. You may have read the Image-published Hector Plasm (which is fantastic and you should get it from your local shop), or the also excellent Atom Eve two-part Invincible tie-in. Or perhaps you've read Tales from the Bully Pulpit, which is drawn by Graeme MacDonald, who is from Halifax (which was in a movie with Kevin Bacon)! Small world!
Anyway, he's very cool. And his art partner, Nate Bellegarde, is also really nice and he drew me this sweet Two Face!
I also met Rob Ullman, who is insanely talented and loves hockey! Almost as much as I do! You should check out his site and everything he's written/drawn. Dude is awesome. And he gave me this amazing print of Barda listening to her Mother Box/iPod!
AND I got to meet some fellow bloggers and blog readers! I met the Invincible Super-Blog's Chris Sims in person after months of gmail chatting. I also met Andrew Kunka, aka Dr K. And I met Chris Haley, who was kind enough to walk me to my hotel late at night.
So the Dollar Bin guys worked insanely hard the whole weekend, running around and recording the panels and interviewing the stars. Especially Adam. I barely saw that guy. Thanks to their efforts you can listen to a lot of the panels on their site. I was at the Collaboration in Comics panel they recorded with Darwyn Cooke, Matt Fraction, Cliff Chiang, Barry Kitson and Jimmy Palmiotti. And you can listen to it at that link. They will have many more posted soon, so keep checking.
They also have some interviews up on their site. They have one with Mark Waid, and one where Adam and I are interviewing Jimmy Palmiotti. Palmiotti is an easy interview because he is hilarious and talks a lot. If you listen to the end of the 10 minutes, you can hear a guest appearance by Amanda Conner. There will be an interview I did with Jason Aaron going up soon. I'll let you know.
And now it's time to post some pictures and some scans of sketches I got.
Francesco Francavilla was great to talk to, as was his wife. He told me all about how he refuses to draw rape scenes in his comics, and that sort of thing only happens off panel in his books. It was really great to hear that. He drew me this great sketch of Zorro as a wedding present! Isn't that nice?
He also generously gave me a copy of his book, Sorrow (rhymes with Zorro) which was written by Rick Remender. I haven't read it yet, but the art is certainly beautiful. By the way, are y'all reading Zorro? Because it is awesome.
After three days of searching for him, I finally got to meet Jeff Parker, who as you probably know if you read this blog, is one of my very favourite writers. He doesn't do art so much anymore, so it's easy to forget that he can also draw. Check out this sweet Cyclops he did for me!
Awwww...it was great to meet you too, Jeff Parker!
I got Dean Trippe to do a Superman sketch for me. I absolutely love it.
He did a Batgirl sketch for my friend Tiina, too, but I forgot to scan it before I gave it to her. Trust me. It's great.
Oh, and I was also lucky enough to see a lot of commissioned sketches being drawn by various artists. There were some really amazing ones that made me jealous. I know that Cliff Chiang has the ones he did up on his site. You should check them out. The Mister Miracle is so good I want to explode.
I seem to have misplaced my camera, so I can't post any photos from the weekend yet. I honestly didn't take many pictures. I wish I had taken more. I was just so busy running around looking at everything! I want to do another post where I talk about all the mini-comics and such that I picked up. I picked up some fantastic ones from Jason Horn, Rob Ullman, and Pat Lewis, among others. Rob Ullman has an old timey hockey stories comic! It's like he can read my mind!
It was really an amazing weekend. As I've mentioned, I'd never been to a con before, so I don't have much to compare it to, but this seemed exceptionally amazing to me.
I don't know if the DC Nation panel from HeroesCon is going to be on the DC website, but I did ask a question about Catwoman at it. I learned that she'll be showing up in Detective Comics...fighting Hush...booooooo.
I am sure I am forgetting lots of stuff, but I am getting tired of writing the words "really nice."
Good adaptation, overall, taking into account the compression of story necessary to squeeze two volumes into 90 minutes.. The art is, I guess, a compromise between that of the comic and the DC Animated Universe style, which works better than the triangle-shape Bruce Timm style would have. Excellent voice casting. King Faraday isn't as big a jerk, which is good or bad, depending on how much you like King Faraday.
Watching this thing on a big screen is definitely a good idea. Also, I feel that for maximum enjoyment you should watch it with Darwyn Cooke. Okay, fine, I was a couple of rows away from him. Going out for drinks with Darwyn Cooke afterward also enhances the movie's impact. Okay, drinking a couple of tables away from him. His wife was at our table, though. We all talked about lolcats.
The most important thing that happened tonight, at least for people who like Hourman, is that Rachelle asked Darwyn to clear up an argument that we'd been having. Turns out that she's been right for the last year: Hourman doesn't die in New Frontier. Whee!
JOHN APPROVED
(so I don't get to name-drop very often, so sue me. Darwyn Cooke is a stand-up guy and a talented comicsman.)
Let's see if I still remember how to review comics.
Daredevil #105
When you are feeling stressed out, there is really no better cure than picking up a Daredevil comic. Because no matter how bad your life is going, Matt Murdock's is much, much worse. And his loved ones are having an even rougher time.
So, this concludes the Without Fear story arc. And does it end happily? Oh my goodness no. Not at all. Daredevil confronts Mr. Fear re: the poisoning of Matt's wife, which has turned her into a murdering lunatic. Mr. Fear is a stone-cold badass:
Haha...good one, Fear.
DD is pretty badass too:
Well, that shut him up.
So anyway, Matt punches Fear around and, having beaten him, believes he's going to get the cure for poor Milla. Nope:
Ohhhhhh shit.
And I love that the preview of the next issue is a picture of Daredevil crying in the rain.
Captain America #35
Let's see if my boy Winter Soldier is faring any better than Daredevil this week.
Yup. *sigh*
Blue Beetle #24
Love it! Love the cover. Love how much ass Jaime kicked in this comic. Love the Death of Ted Kord motif.
Love Traci 13:
This comic rules.
All-Star Batman and Robin #9
Ok, I wasn't going to say anything about this comic, because I am trying to ignore it. But, seriously...
WTF, DC?! Why are you even allowing this?! I don't care who's writing it or how "legendary" they are...this is just wrong.
Batman #674
Well, at least this was some awesome Batman. I like it when Batman just does something really, really cool. Like this:
I liked how this issue ended too. Bruce Wayne is clever.
Teen Titans #56
This issue was really entertaining. I've been pretty underwhelmed by McKeever's Titans run so far, while at the same time being very impressed with his Birds of Prey writing. So of course he's leaving Birds of Prey. When McKeever was announced as the new writer of Titans, I thought it would be perfect, and this is the first issue of his run that had the level of fun I was expecting. The Titans are teenagers! This title should be two things:
a) fun
b) a soap opera
I think we are getting there.
In this issue Kid Devil decides to invite some fans from a Kid Devil message board to Titans Tower for a party...with hilarious results!
I particularly loved this little detail, with Robin bitching Kid Devil out from home:
Very funny.
And, of course, Batman getting prank called:
Saying "Your Mom" to Batman is funny for so many reasons...
New Frontier DVD
And, of course, New Frontier came out on DVD this week. In case you forgot. You should buy at least one copy. You won't be disappointed.
There were lots of other good comics this week too. I actually haven't gotten to Nexus #100 yet. I'm saving it. It's going to be rad.
Blah. I had an 8.5 hour operations management class today. My brain is fried. Time for comics!
The Amazing Spider-Man #546
I LOVED THIS!
One More Day was terrible beyond words. It was actually a giant insult to comic readers everywhere, as far as I'm concerned. But this issue of the all-new Spider-Man was excellent. Peter Parker is a lovable loser, it's funny, he has a secret identity, he's friends with Harry Osborne, he's single, he's broke...it's great.
Scenes like this one, where Peter is looking for a job, are so enjoyable:
Oh, Spider-Man. It's so nice to laugh out loud while reading your comics, and know that the writer wants me to.
So while One More Day was just awful, at least it led to this. Even if it took the laziest route possible.
Now if I could just think about this comic without getting that damn Sting song in my head.
Green Lantern Corps #20
I loved this because it TOTALLY sounded like Guy and Kyle decided to get married.
They have, in fact, decided to move to Oa together. And Guy is going to open a bar there! I think this is a fun development.
I love how Hal and John are all "Wow, that's a big decision. Are you guys sure? When did you decide this?" Totally sounds like they're getting married.
Hee!
Green Arrow/Black Canary #4
This issue was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, obviously it looked fantastic. Chiang's art is so good that it can even make scenes as goofy as this one look amazing:
The hero who is panicking and yelling at everyone because a loved one is on the brink of death story line is nothing new, but there was something extra touching about Ollie losing it on everyone over Connor. Especially when Hal got there.
Awwwww.
And then Black Lightning makes a fairly sensible observation:
I would think that, being a member of Meltzer's Justice League, he wouldn't even notice that anymore.
Wally's comment here confused me:
Arthur is in the water? Really? Where? What's his status? I thought he was dead. Or whatever.
So Connor isn't dead. But he is brain dead. You can still be hot when you're brain dead right?
Nightwing #140
Saaaay...this was good! Rags Morales serves up some great-looking art, and Tomasi gives us a story that's kinda like Nightwing: Brand New Day.
Nightwing is making some changes. He's making an HQ for himself in New York, for one:
Look at how nice that art is!
I loved this meeting between Batman and the two boys about family always coming first:
Oh, Batman.
The Nightwing title has a long, proud tradition of being very boring, but I really liked this issue. I look forward to more!
Marvel Adventures Hulk #7
This was totally awesome as always. I know there was that other big Hulk comic out this week, but I would advise everyone to buy this one instead. I mean, if you like Hulk. Like, regular Hulk being Hulk. But maybe you guys aren't interested in fun adventure stories full of the greatest Marvel characters. Maybe you want Hulk to be red.
I mean, check this out: Bruce Banner wants to step in and help out the Silver Surfer, so he asks Rick to punch him. Rick refuses. Hilarity ensues:
Jeph Loeb can't write funny like that, people!
Superman #672
All I want to say about this is that I hate insects. They are gross.
Ew.
The Spirit #12
Ohhhhhhhh...why did this have to be so good? The last Spirit comic by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone and it was so damn perfect that now I'm all upset.
Why does this have to end but Marvel Zombies continues?! It's not fair!
I want a Cooke-designed Spirit action figure. Anyone else?
Scalped #13
This is the first issue of a new arc and it was AWESOME. I think this might be the best storyline yet. Although, really it is all one long storyline. I hope everyone is reading this series by now. You can buy the first trade with a money back guarantee! Do it! (I'll bet they get exactly zero books back from unsatisfied customers).
Teen Titans Lost Annual
Oh man. Bob Haney + Jay Stephens + Team Allred + JFK = the best.
I am pretty vocal about my love for the late, great Bob Haney. Nobody can write insanity like that man could. Sadly, he never got to see this comic before he died. Happily, the rest of us have finally gotten that opportunity.
JFK is kidnapped by aliens who believe his leadership skills will help them win a war on their planet. He is replaced by a shape-shifting alien. Robin notices. The Titans go to the distant planet to help win the war so the president can return to Earth. While all this is going on, the president is assassinated...on Earth...as in, it's actually the shape shifter who is famously killed, not the real JFK. The real Kennedy decides that the shock of revealing that he is actually still alive would be too much for Earth to handle (??!!...so his wife and son can just deal with the loss, I guess). He decides to return to the far away planet, where he continues to live happily.
Bob Haney is the greatest writer of all time. And this panel alone proves it:
Yeah, that's definitive Haney right there.
The art looks really great. The cover is beautiful. There's a lovely Nick Cardy sketchbook in the back.
Showcase Presents Robin The Boy Wonder
Trust me. You want this. If you don't own it you are missing out on heartwarming classic tales like this one:
Ha Ha! Good luck, boys!
***
Good news, everyone! I have found the perfect wedding cake!
And they make cupcakes too! Which are more fashionable these days.
Living Between Wednesdays is a place for people who love comic books and superheroes.
