#October2011
Check Out Becky Cloonan’s Gorgeous ‘Conan’ Artwork.
Thanks to the glories at Comics Alliance, there’s some sexy Conan artwork by Becky Cloonan to dig on prior to the son-a-bitch’s official release. It’s sexy, man. This Wood/Cloonan collab is going to be The Glory.
Hit the jump to check it out.
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Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan Taking Over ‘Conan’. This Is Awesome.
Dark Horse teased a project a couple of weeks back that would reteam the glory super-combo of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, and now it hast been revealed. Motherfucking Conan.
Marvel Drops Teaser For Brian Wood On “Wolverine”. Pants Snikt.
Marvel is teasing a Brian Wood-powered Wolverine that’s going to be revealed at NYCC. Fucking awesome. Hit the jump for the full gorgeous promo.
Dark Horse To Unveil Brian Wood/Becky Cloonan Project? OMGYes.
Goodness me! With Northlanders and DMZ ending I’ve been going into fits about where I’ll get my fix of Wood. (Quiet you.) Apparently the good man is teaming up again with Becky Cloonan and that sends a shiver of squee down my leg.
Brian Wood To Work For Marvel, Writing ‘Wolverine’ Title? Glory Be! Yes!
Brian Wood’s DC exclusive stint is coming to an end with the conclusion of DMZ and the cancellation of Northlanders looming. What’s he going to do in addition to use usual plate of creator-owned material? Apparently rock out with Sir Logan of Cut-A-Lot.
Hit the jump for the teaser poster.
‘Northlanders’ Canceled By Vertigo. I Am A Sad Viking.
This is seven shades of bullshit smashed into a can of failure Motherfucking ‘Northlanders’ by Brian Wood and a litany of extremely talented artists such as Becky Cloonan has been nixed by Vertigo due to poor sales of the trades. I am awash in a raft of sadness, floating across a sea of hate. We’ve all failed guys. Failed.
Variant Covers: Comic Books and the Infinite Adolescence!
Yo! Welcome to Variant Covers. This is the weekly column where I kick you my pull list for the week, and you spit back at me with yours. There’s too many titles to keep up with and buy on a weekly basis, so don’t nerdfroth if your favorite comic isn’t here. It’s part of the fun, send the recommendation my way.
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Breakneck #1.
Comic books are a crapshoot. The market is flooded, and as I’ve often intimated, there’s too much good shit out there. Sometimes things fall by the wayside, and I’m not a perfect dude! Take for example Breakneck #1. I came across the title when searching for a sweet header image. I thought the artwork was fantastic, and pressed I carried on my way. Snagged it, cropped it, didn’t think of even promoting it until a reader pointed out the douchery behind that in the comments section. Douchery, indeed. My bad.
Dropping this week, Breakneck a superhero title daring to exist outside of the gauntlet of Marvel and DC titles. The indie offering by writer Mark Bertolini and artist James Boulton is an inversion of the superhero motif, deciding to fixate on the workings of a bottom feeding supervillain. What’s the world look like to someone peering through the opposite side of the looking glass? Superheroes as menacing bastards, the supervillain as enterprising down on his luck protagonist. Don’t be like me, deciding to feed the machine while simultaneously bemoaning it. Check this out.
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Infinite Vacation #2.
I really dug the first issue of this series by Nick Spencer and Christian Ward. It strums up the zeitgeist of the modern dude or dudettes: we’re never happy, we’re always searching, we are missing life in search of something better, newer, faster. Vacation seems to posit that we can be perfectly happy if we just sit down and appreciate the moment. All done through the conceit of multiple dimensions, and modern technology, riding a couple of our other obsessions.
I don’t know if that’s something that rings of the Man Stuffing Us Back In Place, or as I imagine Spencer hoping, as a life-affirming notion.
This issue continues the main character’s search for the killer who is wiping out him out across dimensions. Gulp!
Around The Horn:
Casanova: Gula #4 is coming out, and it concludes the collections of Fraction’s first two stories in the Casa-verse. This summer the title will kick off new content. Then there’s Northlanders #39. I’m not really feeling this Northlanders storyline, but that’s the beauty of the title. With smallish storylines, you need just wait a couple of issues for something new to be introduced. Also, let’s face it: Wood’s lesser storylines carry more heat than most people’s fastballs. I just mixed all sorts of metaphors.
WEEKEND OPEN BAR: Time To Put Down Watchmen, Fanboys.
[WEEKEND OPEN BAR: The one-stop ramble-about-anything weekend post at OL. Comment on the topic at hand. Tell us how drunk you are. Describe a comic you bought. This is your chance to bring the party.]
A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a few fellow graduate students waiting for a class to begin. They were all talking about what their final thesis was going to be on, when I decided to spurt nerd juice all over the crowd. “I want to work with comic books for mine”, I said. I wasn’t stunting, it’s my geeky aspiration. An unimpressive woman with no chin turned and smiled at me. “Oh, you mean graphic novels.” The smile lingered. In my mind, fantasies of spin-kicks and flawless victories danced about. Her chin shattered into a thousand pixels of hate, her smile evaporated and an announcer bellowed “KO!”
I returned the smile and informed her no, I very much meant comic books. No need to dress it up in the high-brow artsy-fartsy name.
When she assailed the cred of my favorite medium, the first thing I wanted to do was pull out the typical parry. Watchmen. It’s at the tip of every fanboy’s tongue when the medium of comic books comes under assault. If it isn’t the first thing, it’s surely the second. Watchmen, Watchmen, Watchmen. Considered one of the greatest novels of all time. Deconstructs the superhero. Blah, blah, blah. Commentary on the conflict of ideologies in the Cold War. Blah blah. Watchmen, Watchmen, Watchmen.
But I didn’t say anything, I was tired of using that usual comic book as a defense. It was then that I realized: we need to come up with new stalwarts. New examples. We need to put Watchmen down.
Variant Covers: Wolverine Is A Pedophile, Right?
Welcome to Variant Covers. I like comic books. Sometimes I really like them. And every week, I write in this column about the comic books that are dropping this week that I’m interested in. If you’re so inclined, hit up the comments section with what you’re throwing down some ducets on. My ears. They’re open.
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Northlanders #36.
Those who follow this column know that I have an unapologetic butt-crush on Brian Wood. His work hits me on a variety of levels, from fucking awesome! to fucking inspirational. The second and final issue of “The Girl in The Issue” drops this week, and I’m expecting the latter. The storyline follows a weathered old man trying to solve the murder of a girl he found frozen in time. The first issue garnered serious love here, and I’m expecting the same from the finale. Its a quiet, almost Hemingway-esque march through the final tolling of a man’s life, cognizant of his small and dwindling station in the world.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Becky Cloonan’s artwork is stunning, and issue #35 provided three of the most gorgeous panels (its three panels, right?) I can recall in recent time.
Outstanding.
Also Dropping: Wood’s DMZ #61. I’m waiting on the sixth trade to arrive in my mail, for I desperately need to catch up before it ends.
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Scarlet #4.
Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s post-modern metatextual affair continues this week. Still featuring a sexy redhead with guns. Still featuring her directly engaging the reader every issue. Still getting me very, very excited every time it drops. The last issue ended (if I recall, the long breaks between issues is killing me) with her capping a cop, and I imagine the title is only going to get more violent. I mean, fuck, she’s trying to encourage the reader to join her in a cultural uprising.
Not exactly for the faint of heart.
I don’t think the title gets as much love from others as I give but, I can understand why. The tropes themselves aren’t new: V for Vendetta with a vixen, mix in some teenage uproar, et cetera. But it’s done well, and Maleev’s artwork is stunning. Some of the stuff he’s doing with paneling is fresh to a guy like me. Bearing in mind that I mean a guy who doesn’t have much in the way of technical knowledge when it comes to art. I’m a lit dork, leave me alone.
Images & Words – Northlanders #35
[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]
How does it feel to be abandoned by those once thought of as family? What life can be led when the shadow of death looms overhead? Is losing all purpose liberating, allowing an individual to take chances otherwise thought foolish? Just how much would it suck to be an old dude in a Viking village?
These are the questions raised in Northlanders: The Girl in the Ice.
