Discourse Chronicle

April 07, 2008

Acceptance [International Journal of Comic Art] (Discourse Chronicle)

[Today I received my copy of the Internaional Journal of Comic Art (Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring 2008) which contains my exhibit review of The Golden Age of American Political Cartooning at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, OH! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

Three Writers are Drawn by the Allure of Comics (NPR)

As comic books — or, in more highbrow parlance, graphic novelizations — nudge their way onto the shelves of bookstores and the pages of literary magazines, some well-known writers are trying their hand at the genre. Pop-culture icon Joss Whedon, best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult and rapper Percy Carey are among those feeling the lure of comics. -John Ridley

[From Elizabeth. Comics and graphic novels transition easily from page to screen using storyboards, but a storyboard is different from a comic panel, which Scott McCloud explains in Understanding Comics and Making Comics. I remember strongly disagreeing with associating comics and film in a portfolio paper for my MA degree, but Mark C. Rogers presented a similar argument at last year's National PCA with "Wile E. Coyote Still Died for Your Sins: Intertextuality and Continuity in Sandman and Animal Man". BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

National PCA 2008 Recap (Discourse Chronicle)

[Elizabeth and I returned from presenting in San Francisco on Saturday. Both of us presented well and I am always pleased with how National PCA keeps getting better every year as I celebrate my fifth consecutive year presenting at that conference. Here is a recap about our trip:

Day 0

• Our friends David McClure and Suzan Aiken provided a ride to the airport despite learning about us flying out of Cleveland two days beforehand

• Continental Airlines kindly served a small breakfast with cereal, milk, and fresh fruit along with a snack

Day 1

• Elizabeth and I caught up with my comic scholar colleagues Area Chair Nicole Freim, her husband Jason Tondro, and Amy Nyberg at dinner

• I attended and supported fellow BGSU PhD student Jeff Geers as he panel chaired for the first time

• I caught up with other comic scholar colleagues such as Gene Kannenberg, Jr. and his wife K.A. Laity (author of Jane Quiet)

Day 4

• Elizabeth and I attended each other's presentations and believe we did well

• My keyring with laminated sheets using "15 min.," "10 min.," "5 min.," and a giant "STOP" sign received good praise as a timekeeping device

• I briefly caught up with Rey Valdez, a PhD student colleague from Texas A&M, who presented on Saturday

• I caught up with John Shelton Lawrence and he asked me to comment on an article he is submitting to a magazine about comics

• I also caught up with Erica Benson, an English professor from UW-Eau Claire, who knows Patrick Day (a professor-mentor of mine from undergraduate work)

• I won "The Korvie" from The Institute for Korvac Studies (a parody panel poking fun at academia and comic scholarship by comic scholars)

One conference down and one more to go. Elizabeth and some of our colleagues are presenting at the 4 C's conference and facilitating a half-day workshop for college writing programs next week. I am going with them as moral and tech support since videotaping is involved with the workshop. I look forward to it because the 4 C's is a major conference in the field of Rhetoric and Composition and being there will also give me a chance to catch up with professor-mentors I have not seen in years such as Dennis G. Jerz. I do remember, though, that techies dress in black! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2008

STUDY COMICS: Graphic novel journalism explains the news better (Street)

Look at this list of award-winning graphic novels. Especially if you want to understand another item in the news, like Kosovo peeling itself away from Serbia (graphic journalist Joe Sacco's Balkan War novels shed ink and insight on the region. To understand what's popping off in Palestine, check out Sacco's book of the not-quite-a-recognized-country's same name.) And how else would a layman understand the 9/11 Commission's report? -Kell Dailey

[Here at BGSU, freshman students are required to take two composition courses, Eng 111: Introduction to Composition and then Eng 112: Varieties of Writing. I am currently teaching Eng 112 and students gain exposure to reading academic articles while learning to argue in writing, but they often complain that articles are not entertaining enough. I wonder if students might be more interested in composition and English as a subject if a textbook presented material in graphic novel format like Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:00 AM | Comments (1)

March 05, 2008

U of M gets major collection -- of comic books (MinnPost)

There's no debating the logic of donating the comics. They'll be far safer in the high-security, fireproof library. And besides, I keep telling John, books are meant to be read, not sit in our basement. People will be able to study John's books in the Andersen reading room, as long as they leave their packs outside, use only a pencil or a computer to take notes, and wear white cotton gloves while handling them. That's a far cry from the days when my son read his copies in the bathtub. -Judith Yates Borger

[I also consider having my collection donated to a university library when its time comes, but I imagine that will span more than one and a half five-shelf bookcases then. I believe a great retirement plan for me in the future is owning and running a comics shop after spending most of my life as a college English professor. I am currently 27. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 07:29 AM | Comments (1)

March 01, 2008

VG Cats #248: Humble Suggestion (VG Cats)

[I found this webcomic hilarious because I know Elizabeth's research is on cookbooks and cooking. However, I imagine from a feminist perspective, many things are going wrong in these three panels. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

New Graphic Novel: Say "No" to Internet Piracy (Wired)

Initially, I was skeptical about a comic strip deploring online file sharing. But the 18-page story does what the NCSC set out to do: explain the court system in an interesting way. I guarantee you I wouldn’t have been able to read a black and white document on this stuff but I whizzed through it in its graphic novel format. -Miyoko Ohtake

Posted by kuechebj at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)

Superman Writers Won't Return (IGN)

Things aren't looking super-duper for the next Superman movie, after Warner Bros. announced Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris - the writers from Superman Returns - don't want to pen the follow-up.

[...]

However, Singer's future has now come into question too because of his long-running collaboration with the Dougherty and Harris - stretching back to 2003's X2 - although this has been denied by the studio. Warner also unveiled that Brandon Routh is donning the iconic red Lycra underpants again, as expected. -Orlando Parfitt

[New writers may benefit Warner's investment in its Superman franchise on the big screen, which works with many other successful franchises such as James Bond, but not so much with others like Star Wars. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2007

‘Batgirl’ flap reopens debate over sexism in comic books (Nashua Telegraph)

So why the sexism charge? Well, originally the book was solicited with the 1967 cover to “The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl” on the front, a standard shot of Batgirl running toward the reader with the Dynamic Duo reacting in the background. But when the book arrived, another cover had been selected – the first page of “Batgirl’s Costumed Cut-Ups” (“Detective” No. 371, 1967), where Batgirl is depicted as being more concerned with her lipstick than fighting crime. -Andrew A. Smith

[Smith points out that the chosen cover image is slightly misleading since "Cut-Ups" shows Barbara Gordon / Batgirl overcoming doubts about being both a woman and a crime-fighting superhero. However, fans reactions are divided by gender, with men saying "What’s the problem?" and women saying "If you don’t see the problem, that is the problem." BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2007

30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library (Angry Alien Productions)

[Hilarious re-enactments of great movies like Superman, Spider-Man 1 and 2, James Bond, and Star Wars along with others! From Monty Ernst. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:08 PM | Comments (1)

July 03, 2007

Colbert’s comics coming soon (Quillblog)

Entertainment Weekly is giving the world a sneak peek at Stephen Colbert’s new comic book series, entitled Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen. The five-issue series features art by Scott Chantler, of Northwest Passage fame, and follows the intergalactic adventures of Jansen, the hero of a sci-fi novel that Colbert’s Comedy Central host character claims to have written. The title is a nod to William Shatner’s TekWar series. -Megan Grittani-Livingston

Posted by kuechebj at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2007

Supergirls in comics (Times of India)

Comic-book writer, Gerry Conway, responsible for the death of Gwen Stacey (Spiderman) and rape of Cinder (Cinder and Ashe) says, "Male creators of comics act out subconscious adolescent male hostility toward women in their art." Samarjit Choudhry, VP Gotham Comics (India) disagrees, "Superheroines are killed as often as the superheroes." -Himank Sharma

[Sharma claims a lack of female readership among comics due to preferences for "humorous, light hearted comics" over "high-action, superhero-versus-the baddie-in-mid-air drama." I disagree with Sharma's apparently black-and-white assessment on why women read fewer comics. The description given for superhero comics is also true for manga and an increasing number of women are attracted to that format. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

Marvel Comics Will Bury Captain America on Thursday (Associated Content)

In the issue that came out on March 7th of this year, Captain America was shot by an assassin's bullet. This outraged many fans of Marvel's oldest superhero. It also made many fans realize the political connotations of the storyline that led up to one of their favorite hero's deaths.

The current storyline for Marvel Comics centers around the Superhero Registration Act. The goal of the act is to have all of the superheroes officially register with the government, and to reveal their secret identities. -L. Vincent Poupard

Posted by kuechebj at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2007

Spider-Man 3 (Sony)

[I am definitely impressed with Spider-Man 3, despite some casting reservations about Topher Grace as Eddie Brock / Venom, but Grace's performance is a perfect counterbalance for Tobey Maguire. Fan buzz points toward potential actors and actresses to replace Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man) and Kirsten Dunst (Mary-Jane Watson) if they opt out from Spider-Man 4. Losing Maguire and Dunst is risky since both performers present true representations of their characters, but Spider-Man 3 is a logical departure point. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2007

Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppe coming to Lakewood Ranch (Herald Tribune)

A Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppe is scheduled to open this summer at the San Marco Plaza in Lakewood Ranch, the first of its kind in this region. The chain — using a concept conceived of by second-generation “Blondie” illustrator and writer Dean Young — has opened three restaurants, all in Florida. Four more, including the San Marco site, are expected to open this summer. The aim is for 50 restaurants by year’s end. Steve Kreesevich is the “market partner” for the Southwest Florida territory, which stretches from Naples to Bradenton. -Staff Report

Posted by kuechebj at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2007

Webslinger to Become Web Singer (Comic Book Resources)

"The Hollywood Reporter" reports that Marvel Studios is assembling personnel for "Spider-Man: The Broadway Musical" with Tony-winner Julie Taymor and U2 members Bono and The Edge writing new music and lyrics for the show. -Michael Patrick Sullivan

Posted by kuechebj at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

Be Careful Of The Kryptonite, Superman! (CBS 4)

He said that the mineral's chemical formula, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, was the same scientific name written on a "case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film "Superman Returns".

Learning that the chemical composition of the material was an exact match to an invented one from comic books and movies "was the coincidence of a lifetime," he added. -CBS4

[Unfortunately, Krypton is already an element on the periodic table with no relation to Superman, so Dr. Chris Stanley named his mineral Jaradite. -BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2007

Distinguishing Comic Strips, Comic Books, and Graphic Novels (Discourse Chronicle)

[Today I appeared in a colleague's class as a guest-speaker presenting about comic books, so I used an opening lesson about comics from my time as an undergraduate TA, which begins with distinguishing three genres of comics: comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels. All three are different and those differences are dependent upon length and content. For me, graphic novels are NOT "collections of comic books that are bound together in book form" because that is what I identify as a trade paperback since those issues are released individually in serial format first.

Defining a graphic novel in my mind only requires understanding the two words in its name: "graphic" (which describes content) and "novel" (which describes length and also means "new" in Latin). Therefore, a graphic novel is a new book-length comic containing graphic content not found within regular monthly comic books. I know a debate exists about comics and comix as well as some creators referring to their own works as "comic books" while others call them "graphic novels," but each category is uniquely different, so I do not know why addressing those differences is difficult.

During my trip to Boston, I launched this debate in a question and answer session after hearing a paper call Art Spiegelman's Maus a comic book, which is also how Spiegelman classified his own work. However, comic scholars and fans call it a graphic novel. I believe one reason differences like that exist is because Spiegelman (like Scott McCloud) is not a scholar and may not be aware of discussions resulting from scholarship, but we love their work and use them in our own projects. Now, some people argue back saying such knowledge is specialized I am inclined to believe it, but only if its context is a geek session.

Comic scholars and comic book readers are not some secret society holding meetings in the most remote places in the world. Non-comic scholars should probably be aware that scholarship exists on comics and that might reduce the number of dabblers in the field. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2007

The Physics of Superhero Comic Books (Dr. Dobb's)

For instance, as Kakalios recently pointed out in his lecture "The Uncanny Physics of Superhero Comic Books" that was part of the MIT Physics Colloquium Series, when the Green Goblin kidnapped Spiderman's girlfriend, Gwen Stacey, and pushed her from the George Washington Bridge to her death, was it the fall that killed her or Spidey's attempt to save her by catching her in webbing mid-fall, causing her neck to snap? In fact, this was a question Kakalios posed to his students in an introductory physics exam.

The answer? According to Kakalios, if Gwen has a mass of 50 kilograms, fell 300 feet, and acquires a velocity of 95 mph, there would be 10g of force on her body, which she could potentially survive. But stopping short against all that force in half a second would break her neck. In other words, when she hit the web, the impact on her body would have been 10 to 20 times the force of gravity. "That proved -- mathematically at least -- that Gwen Stacey died of a neck snap when Spider-Man caught her in his webbing," he says. -Jon Erickson

Posted by kuechebj at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2007

Going Graphic (Deseret News)

Graphic novels are a loose genre comprising lengthy comic books — often hundreds of pages long — that contain literary elements such as a plot and characterization. Some graphic novels feature favorite comic figures, such as Superman. Others are fantastical adventures, Japanese comics, or attempts to retell Shakespeare.

[....] He recommends adults curious about graphic novels start with "Maus: A Survivor's Tale" by Art Spiegelman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the author learning about his father's experiences as a Jew in Poland during the Holocaust. -Laura Hancock

[I wonder what "loose" means here because both comic books and graphic novels are capable of achieving unity in an Aristotelian sense, although I believe graphic novels accomplish that task more successfully due to its independence from serials, but I notice nothing is said here about the content.

I commend Dr. Stephen Gibson for choosing Maus as an option for graphic novel reading, but as a starting place, I might suggest Will Eisner's A Contract with God instead since that title is an "original" graphic novel. I recently fielded questions from friends and colleagues about how graphic novels might be incorporated into college English classes. For Introduction to Literature-type courses, I suggested titles such as Watchmen, Maus, Sandman, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen along with McCloud's Understanding Comics and Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art. For Creative Writing, I recommended those same titles, except I would use Eisner's Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative and McCloud's Making Comics. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:14 PM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2007

Superman Musical Card (Hallmark)

Hallmark has released a new range of musical cards with a selection ranging from Movies, Songs, and Television. Included in the Movies range is a Thank You "Superman Returns" card that features Brandon Routh on the cover, with the John Williams "Superman" theme played by the card. The cards are available at your local Hallmark Gold Crown store. -Steve Younis

Posted by kuechebj at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)

Buddhist Channel Examines Superman (Buddhist Channel)

Yes, Superman (played by Brandon Routh) is not enlightened after all. He can only save physical lives, and not save individuals' spiritual lives - though he might inspire many with his compassion in action. Superman was featured almost in a god-like way with a host of archetypal comic book super powers, while Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) comments that "gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind." Well, it's not so much that he doesn't want to share, but that he can't share his power, it being his self-earned karmic birthright! Similarly, the enlightened cannot literally make us wise, but can only share with us their wisdom on how to become as wise as them. -Shen Shi'an

[Many of us graduate students choose Analyzing Visual Rhetoric as our first paper units when teaching freshman composition. Here is a brief visual analysis of the Superman Returns movie poster through a religious studies lens using Buddhism. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:48 PM | Comments (2)

January 12, 2007

Duck Dodgers - The Green Loontern pt2 (YouTube)

[What if Duck Dodgers picked up Hal Jordan's Green Lantern costume at the dry cleaners by mistake? Hilarious! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2007

Keep it in the panels (Orlando Sentinel)

Admittedly, Moore has good reason to be grumpy. Movie producers have butchered four of his books or characters over the years with varying degrees of gore. (Five if you count Swamp Thing; Moore won't.) Unfortunately, his tends to be a lonely voice in pop culture, where fanboys endlessly debate the casting of the next big superhero movie as if it were a foregone conclusion. -Tod Caviness

[Caviness continues with a list of graphic novels which should never be adapted to film: Alan Moore's Watchmen, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, David Lapham's Stray Bullets, Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey, Rob Schrab's Scud: The Disposable Assassin. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

Creativity's in the bag (Des Moines Register)

Jennifer Mahr: Designs From Mahrs

[...] Last spring, Mahr, who works in corporate relations at Principal Financial Group, looked for a new purse and couldn't find one she liked.

She decided what she wanted most was a purse with Death on it.

"So the first purse I made was for me," she said. "It has all my favorite themes. And from there people saw it and said, 'Oooh, can you make me one?' and it's turned into quite a little business." -Erin Crawford

[Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2006

More than doodles to this story (Buffalo News)

From there, Brunetti arranges about 80 comic strips - everything from a few simple panels to snippets from full-length graphic novels - in a rough parallel to the evolution of a work of graphic fiction. We move from simple drawings and sight gags to densely illustrated, or experimental, examinations of sex, economics and the human condition. -Dan Murphy

Posted by kuechebj at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2006

Jim Rugg Aims to Catch Your Eyes with "Plain Janes" (Comic Book Resources)

As DC Comics recently announced, the comic book company behemoth announced a new line of comic books aimed at the broader female audience, with a new imprint called Minx. The first book scheduled to hit in May is the 176 graphic novel "Plain Janes," from writer Cecil Castellucci and artist Jim Rugg. -Arune Singh

Posted by kuechebj at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2006

Acceptance - National Popular Culture Association Conference 2007 (Popular Culture Association)

This letter is a formal acceptance of your paper, "Superman's America: History, Reception, and Imperiex," for the 2007 national meeting of the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations. The conference will be at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, April 4-7, 2007.

Posted by kuechebj at 02:41 PM | Comments (2)

November 14, 2006

Spring 2007 Book Order (Discourse Chronicle)

[Here is my list of assigned textbooks for my freshman composition students next semester with rationales:

Writer's Harbrace Handbook (Third Edition)
Texas A&M University uses the Harbrace Handbook as a standard adoption, but our department is not switching to third edition until next year, due to custom cover requests. Despite that, I received permission to assign this new edition early because I learned about a new chapter on visual rhetoric after a recent meeting with its author, Dr. Cheryl Glenn.

Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers (Fifth Edition)
An excellent collection of popular culture essays about topics ranging from Barbie dolls to comic books and film. I chose this text as my reader because my students provided feedback wishing for in-class examples that may seem more familiar to them. I may develop lessons from its readings, but more importantly, I am assigning oral presentations about them as a means of encouraging in-class participation on a regular basis. I am also able to speak better on popular culture than some other topics, thus improving my teaching due to increased confidence over material.

Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud's text discussing comic books in comic book format. I assigned a few chapters from this book already and students responded extremely well and claim McCloud's presentation helped them learn difficult concepts such as Aristotle's Model of Argument (Ethos, Logos, Pathos). Many of its chapters relate with our four paper topics and will act as a supplement to our handbook readings.

Writing Traditions
A compositional exercise workbook containing sample student essays and covers concepts such as summary and paraphrase, plagiarism, MLA format, peer review, and others. Non-negotiable.

Typical American
Gish Jen's novel about Ralph, a Chinese immigrant graduate student working on his PhD in Engineering, and how him and his family become Americanized. Non-negotiable. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:49 AM | Comments (2)

November 03, 2006

The Day the Music Died (Wired)

Gene Luen Yang is a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area who also happens to be a fine illustrator. He produced a graphic novel (or "comic book," as we used to call them), American Born Chinese, which has been nominated for a National Book Award in the young people's literature category.

I have not read this particular "novel" but I'm familiar with the genre so I'm going to go out on a limb here. First, I'll bet for what it is, it's pretty good. Probably damned good. But it's a comic book. And comic books should not be nominated for National Book Awards, in any category. That should be reserved for books that are, well, all words.

This is not about denigrating the comic book, or graphic novel, or whatever you want to call it. This is not to say that illustrated stories don't constitute an art form or that you can't get tremendous satisfaction from them. This is simply to say that, as literature, the comic book does not deserve equal status with real novels, or short stories. It's apples and oranges. -Tony Long

[From Ted. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:53 PM | Comments (2)

October 13, 2006

See You in the Funny Papers (NY Times)

His strip also conveyed a Midwesterner’s goggle-eyed perspective on the metropolis. “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” which took over The Herald’s Sunday supplement cover in 1905, married something of Muybridge’s stop-action photography with Lewis Carroll to invent a phantasmagoric vision that guided a viewer’s eye seamlessly across differently shaped candied panels. They magically blended to make a collective cogent abstraction out of the page: the essence of comics art. -Michael Kimmelman

[Thanks to the Comix-Scholars-List and Dr. Stephanie Kerschbaum. I knew Winsor McCay sounded familiar to me and then I remembered how much work Gene Kannenberg, Jr. does with McCay and Nemo. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

No Undergrad Left Behind (NY Times)

Take a look at what passes for subjects of scholarly and instructional focus on campuses. Should taxpayer dollars really go to underwrite courses in such things as the history of comic book art? Policy makers and tuition payers need to be made aware of what sorts of courses institutions consider appropriate to fulfill core academic requirements, if anything resembling an academic core even exists. And there needs to be a greater emphasis on teaching students what they need to know, rather than what faculty want to talk about. -Eugene Hickok

[Thanks, Ted. I am obviously going to give an emphatic "Yes" to funding courses like history of comic book art. Comic studies are interdisciplinary and its applications are probably as flexible as rhetoric. However, increasing awareness and encouraging disciplines to dialogue with one another is a current goal, evidenced by the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate. I also disagree about faculty interests conflicting with students learning necessities. I always try and incorporate my research interests with comics and popular culture into my lessons as examples when teaching essential concepts such as composition or literature. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2006

Graphic novels find niche at Essex High (Burlington Free Press)

Comic book superheroes have successfully fought their way onto the shelves of public libraries in the form of graphic novels. Time-resistant superhero Wonder Woman, along with such newbies as Spy Boy, Black Panther and X-Men, have hit the shelves of Essex High School library and are garnering reader wait lists that have their classic counterparts green with envy. - Emily Guziek

[A colleague in the English department mentioned a current discussion within the American Library Association about how to classify graphic novels and comic books in the Library of Congress system. Another quote I support from this article is: "It's a misconception to assume the graphic novel is a comic book," said Steve Dowd, co-chairman of the Essex High School English department. "It's a particular genre, and we recognize the role graphic novels can play for us. They can't even keep those books on the library shelves." BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2006

Colbert Report - The Word - Superman (YouTube)

[Favorite Colbert line: "...he disguised himself as the one thing farthest from a hero - a journalist." Favorite bulletpoint: "Like get a comics page" (To the New York Times). BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2006

Graphic novels the hot new library item (Braeden Herald)

Books in graphic format can be fiction or nonfiction material. "Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: the Graphic Novel" adapted by Tim Hamilton, and "Anna Sewell's Black Beauty: the Graphic Novel" adapted by June Brigman, are examples of fiction classics. While "Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad" by Michael Martin, and "Battle of the Alamo" by Matt Doeden, are nonfiction subjects presented in graphic format. -Libby Rupert

[Will Eisner adapted Moby-Dick, Don Quixote, and The Princess and the Frog. Eisner also presented Fagin the Jew (from Dickens's Oliver Twist) and Sundiata. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

'Tweens' curl up with graphic novels (Christian Science Monitor)

Not everyone is impressed by graphic novels. Some teachers refuse to assign them to their students, claiming they aren't challenging to read. But many librarians and teachers stand by the books.

"Reading graphic novels leads to reading other things," says Robin Brenner, a young-adult librarian with the Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts. "There's a value in and of themselves, not just as a bridge to reading 'real books.' " -Randy Dotinga

[Believing graphic novels are not sophisticated reading is a serious mistake and teachers who are refusing to use graphic novels on those grounds must be members of an uninformed persuasion. I am convinced people holding such an attitude are hindering scholarly progress each time I read an article making a similar statement.

I am wrapping up a four-week unit on Analyzing Visual Rhetoric with my freshman composition students next week and two things made it especially hard. First, high school curriculums divorce rhetoric from composition and only focus on the latter which leads to value being assigned to the final draft (product). Second, students lack a necessary background in rhetoric to discuss analysis and argument, so instructors must fuse rhetoric and composition again and emphasize the writing process. Theoretically, if we improve the process our students use to produce the product, then the product is improved as a result.

Brenner's comment fuels the unnecessary negative stigma associated with comics and graphic novels by alluding to these texts as if they are gateway drugs, which may be an apt metaphor, if we substitute books for drugs. Comic books and graphic novels are capable of leading young readers to read increasingly difficult texts if we are willing to make connections between literature and comics or graphic novels, but I am thinking the answer lies in encouraging people to read. I know one reason I became an English major to begin with is because I knew if I did not, then I may never read texts most people encounter, but I also love reading. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)

Marvel Partners with Dabel Brothers Productions to Adapt Best Selling Novels into Comics (Comic Book Resources)

The first new project to be released under the agreement features New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. Based on Hamilton’s most famous creation, Anita Blake, Marvel and The Dabel Brothers will release a thrilling new comic book series called Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter in Guilty Pleasures in October 2006.

[...]

Additionally, in the coming months Marvel and The Dabel Brothers will be bringing to comic book form George R. R. Martin's Hedge Knight series, Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet, and Raymond E. Feist's Magician: Apprentice (part one of the Riftwar saga). -CBR News Team

Posted by kuechebj at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2006

Truth, justice, American way (Plain Dealer)

"If Superman must be classified, then he is best aligned with the Democratic Party," said Bobby Kuechenmeister of the English department at Texas A&M University. "In 'Vote Lex 2000' [the storyline in which Lex Luthor is elected president], Superman reacts negatively after placing his faith in voters."

Kuechenmeister notes that Superman's reaction to Luthor's unexpected victory was similar to the reaction of many Americans to the confusing Bush/Gore election debacle. -Michael Sangiacomo

[Last spring, I presented an article titled "Superman's America: Audience, Reception, and President Lex" at the National Popular Culture Association 2006 conference and Brad Ricca (who moderated our Superman panel) passed my name along to Sangiacomo, who contacted me about being interviewed over the summer. I remember asking fellow comic scholars at the conference about how we know that our scholarship is getting better. I got my answer right here. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

September 08, 2006

Comic Books for Girls (Associated Content)

It's no wonder girls don't read comics books. The comic book store is teeming with unwashed, testosterone drenched males, who generally all turn their head at the first sign of a female in the store. Even if the girl is willing to brave the perils of the comic shop, they're treated to a large selection of huge boobed and often hostile female superheros. -Rudy Ascott

[Ascott explains how certain comics women like reading are available for purchase online or at bookstores such as Borders or Barnes and Noble, suggesting female readership of comics and graphic novels is an underground concept, which I am willing to agree on. However, Ascott's stereotypical claim about males and comic shops forces me to question whether or not a similar argument may be proposed about why comics make men less attractive to the opposite sex. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

New Sept. 11 Book Is Riveting (Ledger)

Sept. 11, though, was no fantasy, and thus I approached "The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation," a graphic novel, with a certain appalled fascination. I love comic books -- the "graphic novel" designation is a nice upgrade in nomenclature for the genre, but changes nothing -- and I received a great deal of my early moral education from them. And we know, courtesy of artists such as Art Spiegelman, that comic books can handle deadly serious topics the way superheroes deal with emergencies: deftly and well. -Julia Keller

Posted by kuechebj at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

Comic books for Christians (Charlotte Observer)

Some Christians question whether comics are appropriate for religious content. Some apparently shy away from the books because they think "graphic novel" means adult material. Some mainstream stores are reluctant to carry books appealing to what they view as a small niche. -Tonya Caldwell

[Why do people automatically assume that "graphic" means "adult"? I remember teaching literature students taking a course on The Novel that graphic novels differ from comic books in two significant ways. First is length since comic books are mostly 22 pages in length with a comfortable maximum number of panels being nine (graphic novels are at least 100 pages following a similar convention). Second is the audience because graphic novels are not targeting younger readers as a monthly comic book supposedly does. Instead, graphic novels target more mature readers and may not relate with its monthly title companion, which I taught separates graphic novels from trade paperbacks. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2006

Scott McCloud at Abilene Christian University (Scott McCloud)

[4/21- McCloud]: And then, only two days later, on May 4, I'll be speaking in Abilene, Texas at Abilene Christian University (on the subject of comics, not religion, obviously!). 7:00 pm in Cullen Auditorium.

[Unfortunately, I will be presenting at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire English Festival next week, but I love McCloud's books and consider him as a contemporary of Will Eisner. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2006

Comic books the next frontier for product placement (Ad-Jab)

Both Marvel and DC, the two largest comic book publishers, have signed deals that will integrate product placement in the issues of some of their titles. DC will have a new hero called The Rush drive a Pontiac that the publisher says is just as important to that character as the Aston Martin is to James Bond. Marvel is jumping in whole hog by putting the Nike swoosh logo in a variety of places such as car doors and character t-shirts. Pontiac has also partnered wth Marvel in a deal that will have their cars appear in some titles. The product placement deals also include print ad buys. The whole thing is largely because the comics industry has been selling itself less and less as a kids thing and more and more a hobby of 20-something guys. That's roughly the same demographic as the one constantly being sought out by advertisers so the partnership is a natural fit for both parties.

[I always believed comics are capable of being mimetic. Marvel already uses such a technique because most of its universe is set in New York City, but I wonder if product placement helps DC also achieve that connection with us as an audience, since its universe is mostly fictional cities like Metropolis and Gotham. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2006

National Popular Culture Association 2006 Recap (Discourse Chronicle)

[Here are a few highlights from my trip to Atlanta, GA:
Day 0 - April 11, 2006

• I am convinced being a cab driver requires NO knowledge about city streets or locations.

• A cab from the airport to the hotel costed $38.

• I left copies of my paper and handouts I requested from my department behind in Texas.

Day 1 - April 12, 2006

• A cab from the hotel to the conference costed $20

• Many conference attendees were denied conference materials (PCA/ACA portfolio with notepad and pen along with nametag) unless proof of membership was provided. The organization did not share its most updated paid member list with the conference causing delays and long lines.

Day 2 - April 13, 2006

• I attended my first panel in the Rhetoric and Composition area.

• I heard many papers in the Comics area that may be of interest to my colleagues studying Neil Gaiman's Sandman or 9/11 and terrorism.

• I discovered new potential Calls for Papers in peer-reviewed journals.

• I learned about Atlanta's inexpensive mass-transit system Marta (Special Thanks to Jason Tondro and Nicole Freim).

Day 3 - April 14, 2006

Unfortunately, I had to miss a presentation by Mick White (a colleague in Creative Writing), but for a good cause. Each year I present at a conference, I find a Harley-Davidson dealership and bring home a T-shirt or tanktop for my Dad, which indicates where I am. Therefore, when my parents ride their Harley, it seems like my Dad has been to Honolulu, San Antonio, San Diego, and now Atlanta (which is true), but it is really me who has been to those places. I took two buses, one train, and walked a few miles outside of Atlanta's immediate area to track down this year's shirt. I found the bus drivers to be as helpful as cab drivers about stops and locations.

Day 4 - April 15, 2006

• I experienced a surprisingly good turn-out for an early morning panel on the last day of a conference.

• I promised future Superman papers for at least another three years.

• I missed my flight from Houston to College Station because the flight leaving Atlanta experienced a mechanical delay. My compensation included one free night in a Wyndam Greenspoints hotel.

I believe this time at PCA is the best year yet. It always keeps getting better. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:17 AM | Comments (2)

March 31, 2006

Marvel & DC's Super-Hero "Claim" (ComicsResearch & Such)

Marvel and DC have been claiming and attempting to enforce this "trademark" for many years. According to this link (one of several) from the US Patent and Trademark Office's "Trademark Application and Registration Retrieval system," Marvel & DC claim a "First Use in Commerce Date" of October 1966. Most knowledgeable folks aggree that this claim is bogus on many levels, but that hasn't stopped the USPTO from allowing the publishers to register the claim successfully and repeatedly over the past few decades. Digging around the archives via TESS reveals that all TM claims aren't automatically registered - some are denied. But from what I can tell, they've never denied Marvel & DC's claim.

Apparently, just because the USPTO allows you to register a trademark doesn't actually mean that they're endorsing your claim's validity - they're just aggreeing that, well, you've made the claim (tax dollars at "work," folks!). I suppose if someone with deep enough pockets and stamina to spare were to take Marvel & DC to court over this, the claim's bogus nature would be revealed and overcome. But until then, these two "super-gorillas" continue to throw their imagined weight around.

[A posting from Gene Kannenberg, Jr. The Comics Scholars' Discussion List has spent some time on this issue recently. Sarah Peters, a colleague of mine in the English department, sent me a blurb about it from NPR. None of us are lawyers, so I want to hear a lawyer who works in Intellectual Property comment, especially since issues like trademark and fair use come up frequently on the list. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:52 AM | Comments (2)

March 24, 2006

Episode 676: Supernatural Selection (Nuklear Power)

Red Mage: All it required was a cocktail of dangerous, experimental surgery and a willingness to ignore the unnecessary suffering of perfectly innocent beings!

[Hilarious and wrong on so many levels, not only because it conjures up Frankenstein's monster and Victor Frankenstein (although those are on my mind right now). The two other things coming to my mind are the Hippocratic Oath and an ethical problem involving a patient who comes into a hospital for a routine check-up and above him are five patients who each need a different transplant in order to live.

The problem is that all of those necessary organs are in the patient getting a check-up and the doctor knows it. Therefore, the question is whether or not it would be ethical to remove those organs and save the five lives at the cost of an innocent patient. A great exercise in utilitarian thinking with many variants. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2006

College students assigned comic books, best-sellers (News-Record)

Salisbury also uses "Birth of a Nation," a comic-book novel by Aaron McGruder, creator of the popular cartoon strip "Boondocks." And she's not the only professor outside the art department assigning comics. An English 105 class this semester was required to read "Watchmen" -- a dystopian comic about superheroes who are outlawed by presidential order and struggle with existential dilemmas.

[Joel Pace, one of my undergraduate mentors, taught Neil Gaiman's Sandman series for a long time in his Introduction to Literature course. Now he is switching to Blackpool. David Myers assigns Maus and Sally Robinson assigns Watchmen in their curriculums here at Texas A&M University. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2006

Making Comics (Scott McCloud)

In Making Comics, I’ll do my best to cover the storytelling secrets I don’t see any other books talking about, including:

• Choosing the right moments to make into panels; what to include, what to leave out.




• Framing actions and guiding the reader’s eyes.




• Choosing words and images that communicate together.




• Creating varied and compelling characters with inner lives and unforgettable appearances.




• Understanding body language and facial expressions.




• Creating rich, believable worlds for your readers to explore.




• Picking the tools that are right for you, and understanding how those tools evolved.




• Navigating the vast world of comics styles and genres.

Whether you want to draw graphic novels, superheroes, neo-manga, comic strips or webcomics, you’re going to be putting one picture after another to tell a story. This is the book where I'll do my best to show you how.

[Coming September 2006. I am looking forward to it now that I resolved to use McCloud and Eisner together. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)

True Believer wants comic books taken seriously (South Bend Tribune)

In his research, Smith has found the work of Scott McCloud extremely valuable. McCloud, an artist and critic, explored many of the ideas Smith is interested in with the books "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics," which both use the form of comic books -- cartoon artwork, speech bubbles and so forth -- to advance ideas about the medium itself.

[All of us working with comics want that headline to be true someday. Matthew J. Smith is a former Indiana University-South Bend professor turned chairperson of Wittenberg University's (Springfield, OH) communication department. He is writing a book about comic scholarship's quest for legitimacy within academia. McCloud opened the door of comic scholarship for me three years ago, but after recent discussions on the Comix-Scholars' Discussion List, I will probably read and rely more on the late Will Eisner instead.

Ron Marz explained the difference to me a few years ago saying how McCloud's Understanding Comics is more for artists whereas Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art is for writers. Fellow comic scholars remind me that McCloud is also not a scholar, but a comic industry person with his own agenda for comics. Maybe McCloud should not be taught alone, but with Eisner, just as I.A. Richards is not an effective stand-alone introduction to rhetoric. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2006

Is NBC's Heroes the Next Lost? (Superhero Hype)

Just as Lost isn't really a show about a haunted island, Heroes isn't a show about crusaders, caped or otherwise. It's about people — albeit ones with extraordinary quirks. "I kind of want to stay away from the superhero aspect," says Kring. "It's about very ordinary people all over the world who literally discover that they have special powers, and it's their dealing with that." The superheroes, er, ordinary people include a 30-year-old male nurse who believes he can fly — and, unlike R. Kelly, really can; a 28-year-old junkie who has the ability to paint images of the future; a 33-year-old Las Vegas showgirl who can do incredible things with mirrors; a 24-year-old Japanese comic-book geek who literally makes time stand still; a 31-year-old inmate who can transport himself through walls (eat your heart out, Michael Scofield); and a 17-year-old cheerleader who defies death at every turn (think of Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, only with blonde hair and big pom-poms).

[I am not getting my hopes up for this one because it seems like ever since reality shows became a television genre, all other genres suffer, which is evidenced by screenwriters for dramas not getting jobs as they once did. The only network I believe is still giving drama its credit is The WB. However, The WB is merging with UPN to form CW next fall, but hopefully things will not change. Nevertheless, survival on television is only a sure thing if that program is a reality show or a game show. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:52 PM | Comments (2)

February 24, 2006

Spiegelman squeaks out (Corvallis Gazette-Times)

Spiegelman’s stories and artwork are part confessional and part societal commentary, part humor and part nightmare. He doesn’t set his cartoons and graphic novels in a fantasy world in order to fly his theories and messages in under our conscious radar.

Instead, he forces us to examine the very real world we live in by baring his own animated soul on small rectangular sheets of paper. In doing so, he packs a plane full of sweaty dynamite and aims it directly between your eyes.

[...]

Equally as engaging, if not quite as hauntingly fully realized, Spiegelman’s 2004 series of political cartoons, “In the Shadow of No Towers,” was an an angry emotional and intellectual reaction to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

By offering an intensely personal account of his and his family’s experiences during and following the collapse of the towers, he simultaneously gives us the most intimate view we’ve had of the tragedy, but also the least pretentious, most scathing critique of the Bush administration’s opportunistic response.

The resulting cartoons were turned away by every mainstream publication in our country, eventually appearing in the Jewish Daily Forward and several European magazines. Fortunately for us, the pages were collected into a hard-bound addition that communicates perfectly one man’s rage, astonishment and sense of loss in the wake of a galvanizing act of terrorism.

[Ryan Malphurs and Jennifer Hayley are two rhetoric colleagues from the English department who research 9/11 and terrorism. Jen is using Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers in her current project. The article above places that collection of political cartoons into perspective with Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus: A Survivor's Tale. Spiegelman is speaking at the University of Oregon on February 27, 2006. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)

Judaism through comics (Jerusalem Post)

Avraham studied drawing and painting in art school, and has been passionate about reading and creating comic books since childhood. Yet something was missing from his life as a secular artist, and seven years ago he started to become more observant. For four years, Guy stopped creating art, which didn't seem as important to him as learning Torah and performing mitzvot.

The 29-year-old started studying in Yeshivat Abirin Yaacov with Rav Avirevach in Tel Aviv seven years ago. He continues to learn every day, though the now married father of two is working once again as a full-time artist.

[...]

Hatzelem, a graphic novel, illustrates the life of a cubist man in a cubist world, and his quest for a circular form. The work is somewhat autobiographical, an allegory for the artist's own search for spiritual truth. The idea for the circle within the square comes from Jewish sources, illustrated as geometric diagrams of a square within a circle, and another one of the converse, in the Babylonian Talmud (Succot). Hatzelem opens with a text by Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ha'arizal), discussing the square steps to the higher levels of this world and the primordial round steps that will return in the world to come. It closes with another dozen Jewish sources - midrashim, Etz Ha'hayim, Sfat Emet and the Zohar among them - all discussing the symbolism of the circle and square. But Barchil uses only a minimum of text, and only as a framing device. The viewer is shown the mystical narrative through the elegant black-and-white pictures alone.

Posted by kuechebj at 03:33 PM | Comments (4)

Entrepreneur develops Catholic comic books (St. Louis Review Online)

"Stories of the Saints," published monthly by Arcadius Press, is a four-book packet of comics, each featuring the life of a different saint.

"For example, a recent packet had St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Joan of Arc and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton," said Tony Sansone III, chief operating officer of Arcadius Press.

Sansone, a member of a large, local Catholic family, is 22 years old, a member of Our Lady of the Pillar Parish and a student at Fontbonne University.

[Cool! I remember seeing an ad on television for The Picture Bible when I was younger and I thought its premise was an interesting one. It featured stories from the Bible told in comic book-style. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)

Mobile Comic Books For Your Phone (PR Web)

Launching early April, GoComics Books will include three new titles joining the already impressive GoComics line. Slated for release in the early Spring of 2006 is an eclectic blend of features that appeal to dedicated comic book readers and new fans alike. Titles include the new “cosmic” superhero comic GØDLAND, the geek and gamer strip PvP, and the too hip, too weird, Too Much Coffee Man. Bundled into one monthly subscription package, all stories are published in an anthology format with new pages for each title added every day.

GoComics Books presents comics in a panel-by-panel format for quick viewing and a simple interface that offers a great user experience. GoComics has optimized the original comics for the mobile screen, subtly adjusting and refining layouts and improving legibility and readability. This process has paid off, giving an essential vibrancy to this new comics format.

[I notice that our culture is favoring increasingly smaller technology, such as the iPod Nano or Motorola's new Slvr phone, but why? Is it a reflection of our obsession to overcome an obesity epidemic or do we like straining our vision seeing details in our shows that a normal television easily reveals? I said it before and I will say it again: If I don't want to watch Smallville on a 3" screen, then what makes you think I will read it on a 1" screen? BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2006

Comic books, songs express forest management woes (Web India 123)

A documentary - 'Forest Dialogues' - produced jointly by Cambridge University and Moving Images and directed by Sanjay Barnela, showcased the successes and failures of the Joint Forest Management experience in Harda.

It voiced the views of academicians, tribals and forest officials of Madhya Pradesh. The film also incorporated excerpts of a street play 'Jungle Ki Katha' (The story of the forest), which was performed in villages surrounding the forest areas in Harda.

In collaboration with the Viveka Foundation, a Delhi-based publishing house, comic books that narrated the plight of the tribals were also released.

Published in both English and Hindi, the books were released by Mercy Mathew, a social worker who has lived in the Gond tribal hamlets of Madhya Pradesh for the last 20 years.

[A few of my colleagues in the English department and the Fisheries and Wildlife department are interested in environmental rhetoric. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2006

Catwoman 2 (Comic Book Resources)

The Associated Press has an amusing story, saying that actress Halle Berry had to write "I will not make 'Catwoman II'" on a chalkboard four times Thursday in order to earn her pudding pot as Harvard's Hasty Pudding woman of the year. "Berry also shook her hips in a comic faux dance competition to prove her superpower skills and to jokingly test her abilities as an action star." Clicking through for the photo makes it all worth while.

[I remember seeing Catwoman. It must be the worst comic book adaptation movie I have ever seen. I loved Halle Berry as Storm in the X-Men movies and as Bond Girl Jinx in Die Another Day. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)

George Clooney's "Batman" costume for sale (Yahoo!)

This is so much George Clooney's year that a seller of Hollywood memorabilia thinks he can earn up to $100,000 by auctioning off the costume the Oscar-nominated actor wore in one of his biggest flops -- the much maligned "Batman and Robin."

Joe Maddalena of the auction house Profiles in History says he plans to sell off Clooney's costume from the 1997 movie that some fans list as among the worst ever made in an auction on March 31 along with several other costumes from the film.

Maddalena said the latex body suit contains all sorts of extras -- nipples, a cape and a cowl, gloves, bat ears and a utility belt.

But the auctioneer said that the costume would probably have sold for about $30,000 two or three years ago when Clooney was less of a star than he is now.

Posted by kuechebj at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2006

Who needs comic-book villains when real ones lurk? Not Batman. (SF Gate)

Frank Miller, who changed the way people looked at comics with his noirish 1980s Batman graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns" and his "Sin City" series, says he's started work on a book where the caped crusader will "kick a lot of al Qaeda butt."

[...]

Miller says the book will be called "Holy Terror, Batman." While there's no telling when it will be released -- Miller is known for taking his sweet time with his best projects, and he's in the middle of a different Batman series -- it's clear that the writer of "Sin City" is passionate about tackling the subject.

But having the most popular comic book characters taking on real-life enemies of the state seems to be more of a rarity today. Captain America fought a terrorist group clearly modeled after al Qaeda a few years back. Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord, said that after a few popular issues, interest waned.

Posted by kuechebj at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

Publishers Find Growth in Comics (Comix Scholars List | NY Times)

For the big publishing companies that provide distribution services — companies like Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, the Time Warner Book Group and Holtzbrinck — Tokyopop was not just another potential customer, however. Graphic novels generally, and manga specifically, are among the few rapidly growing areas of the publishing business, so securing the right to distribute Tokyopop's books was a hotly contested prize.

The prize went to none of those giants, however, but rather to the Perseus Books Group, a medium-size publisher whose imprints include Basic Books, PublicAffairs and Da Capo Press. That is notable because Perseus entered the distribution field just last year through the purchase of one of the largest independents, Client Distribution Services.

[John R. Ronan offered this story on the Comic Scholars' Discussion List. I am familiar with manga's rise to popularity, although I occasionally watch its anime counterpart, bowing down to superior animation and overall character development compared to current American offerings. Alongside those manga titles in bookstores are trade paperbacks and hardcover editions of comic book story arcs from Marvel and DC. The Big Two are catching on to getting comics back into the mainstream and publishing fewer "collector's edition" issues, which I think is the right direction as Bradford Wright claims in Comic Book Nation that comic shops may have saved the industry in the 1990s, but now they are a bane to progress. I am optimistic that comic books will always be around, but someday, my work needs to cross the Pacific. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:02 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2006

Sorry, your refund has been sent to charity (Electric New Paper)

Ms Rosalind Fong, 40, when she e-mailed a manufacturer about a set of plastic book-covers that did not fit properly. [...] About nine months ago, she ordered 100 custom-made plastic covers for her 11-year-old daughter Jermayne's comic book collection. Jermayne has been collecting Archie comic books, which cost between $3.95 and $5.95, for about three years. She has more than 100 of them. The covers were delivered in May last year, but to Ms Fong's dismay, only three out of 100 fit the books. The covers were supposed to be 11cm by 17cm, about the size of a DVD cover.

[...]

Madam Siau said the covers did not fit because the books were of different sizes. Ms Fong said even though the books were of slightly different thickness, they were the same height and width. The three covers that fit, could fit books of different thickness, she added. The rest had the wrong height or width. She has already returned them. Ms Fong said: 'My main concern now is not the money but how consumers can be protected.'

[I sympathize with Ms. Fong's situation in Singapore. I know that I become extremely irritable when something goes wrong when working with comic books, especially since in my mind, they are priceless (much like how I imagine an 11-year old child probably sees them). Hardcover plastic slipcases sounds like an ultra-cool idea, but my question is why not use polybags? I use them and I cannot foresee a child treating a comic book like an action figure or a doll. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2006

Over 100 Years of Comics Represented on a Ford Model A (Comic Book Resources)

Robert Luczun has shared his love of comics through an antique Ford Model A. Luczun's spent a little over a year covering the antique car with illustrations from the history of comics, dating back to the first published comic, "The Yellow Kid."

[...]

Luczun began airbrushing characters onto the truck on October 18th, 2004, the anniversary of the first published comic, "The Yellow Kid" (October 18th, 1896). He finished painting the truck just a few short weeks ago, January 12th, 2006. "As much as possible, the truck was disassembled and a lot of it was painted in back breaking positions," said Luczun. "The only record I kept was on airbrush painting hours-- over 2,000. This does not include the original restoration of the Model A, research and layout. I expanded also into wartime illustrations, political cartoons, movie stars and sci-fi.

[...]

The truck will be available for viewing at the New York Comic-Con held at the Jacob Javits Center February 24th through 26th. "The comic guys will be the true acid test! They know their comics!"

Posted by kuechebj at 05:54 PM | Comments (1)

February 06, 2006

Superman Helps Children Understand Religion (Superman Homepage)

"Teenagers visit the cinema and see films on television and DVDs so it's hardly surprising that their assessments of what is heroic and what is evil, possible or impossible, are partly based on what they watch," says Ms Cook, the head of post-graduate teacher training in religious education.

She sees many parallels between Superman and Jesus:

• Both arrived on Earth in unusual circumstances after being sent by their fathers.

• Both moved from obscurity to a prominent adulthood.

• Both were able to help humans they were sent to live with.

• Both struggled to stand up for truth against injustice and evil.

[I am unsure if I would compare Superman with Jesus. I see two points of contention about Superman / Clark Kent here (depending on what denomination of Christianity or religion one subscribes to). First of all, many Christian branches believe Jesus came to be from an immaculate conception, whereas Superman was not. Second, Superman's childhood and teen years are covered in comic books and other mediums like The WB's Smallville, whereas Jesus's childhood is covered in the Gospel of Thomas. Nevertheless, I agree with this article in that Superman / Clark Kent is a positive role model for our society and I believe that image provides an explanation for Superman's over six decade existence. I know that learning what my parents taught me about morals and seeing them in action with Superman significantly contributed to my maturity as an adult. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:02 AM | Comments (2)

February 03, 2006

Talking Comics With Clive Barker (Newsarama)

In March, IDW Publishing will present a special 12-part exploration of Clive Barker’s epic novel, The Great and Secret Show: “The First Book of the Art”. Adapted with the full cooperation and assistance of Barker himself, this sprawling tale of secret lives and secret lands is equal parts fantasy, horror story and love fable. As Barker himself describes the book, “it’s about Hollywood, sex, and Armageddon.” The book is being adapted by the same team that tackled George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, IDW’s Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Chris Ryall, and artist Gabriel Rodriguez.

Posted by kuechebj at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

Disney to Release Tron Comic Books (Digital Silence)

SLG Publishing and Disney bring a thrilling new chapter to the Tron story with Tron: The Ghost in the Machine, a comic book written by Landry Walker and Eric Jones (Little Gloomy, X-Ray Comics) and drawn by Louie De Martinis. Tron: The Ghost in the Machine picks up where the critically-acclaimed video game Tron 2.0 leaves off, bringing you the same thrilling action, as well as an exploration of the effects of the cyberworld on the human psyche.

[People claim Disney's Tron (starring Jeff Bridges) was a precursor to Warner Bros.'s The Matrix. The article claims that Tron: Ghost in the Machine picks up where recent video game Tron 2.0 left off. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2006

Drawing the Line (Times Online)

Some two decades ago, relations between Europe and the Islamic world were convulsed by the controversy surrounding the publication of the book The Satanic Verses. It is depressing that cartoons first printed in a Danish newspaper last autumn appear to have had much the same effect now. It should not, alas, be surprising. The cultural chasm has, if anything, grown in the past 20 years. Many in Europe today think nothing of mocking the most revered aspects of Christianity — often in a crass, tasteless manner — while the abject corruption and failure of secular regimes in the Middle East have helped to inspire a revival of Islam, including a most extremist strain.

[...]

On balance, we have chosen not to publish the cartoons but to provide weblinks to those who wish to see them. The crucial theme here is choice. The truth is that drawing the line in instances such as these is not a black-and-white question. It cannot be valid for followers of a religion to state that because they consider images of the Prophet idolatry, the same applies to anyone else in all circumstances. Then again, linking the Prophet to suicide bombings supposedly undertaken in his honour was incendiary. The Times would, for example, have reservations about printing a cartoon of Christ in a Nazi uniform sketched because sympathisers of Hitler had conducted awful crimes in the name of Christianity.

Posted by kuechebj at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2006

The Freak (Comix Scholars List | Ted Rall Online)

[From Beth Davies. The elite attitude portrayed in this comic strip is not exclusive to comics as art, but also comics as a valid subject for academic study, which is a struggle all of us wade through. Navigating the minefield is difficult, as I remember last semester, when I was talking to a professor and received negative feedback when I declared comics as an area of research. Although I became extremely upset, I forgot one important lesson that Jason Tondro taught me, which is the "...and Comics" approach. We talked about this on a few occasions and I realized that I had yet to fill in the first part of that statement. I will always say that I am "Rhetoric, Theory, and Comics" but sometimes comics becomes the subject and not the declaration. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:41 AM | Comments (3)

January 27, 2006

Sgt. Rock Soldiers On (Star-Gazette)

Sgt. Rock was introduced to readers in "Our Army At War" No. 81 in 1959. Although he was called "Rocky" in this story, the template had been set. Later stories written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Joe Kubert fleshed out these humble beginnings and turned Rock into comics' longest running and most prominent war comics character. The good sergeant became so popular that, by the late '70s, "Our Army At War" was retitled "Sgt. Rock." The letters page of any given issue carried missives sent in by enlisted men as well as the usual comics fans.

[...]

Today the fictional sergeant is starring in a brand new mini-series titled "Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy." Written and drawn by Kubert, the new mission takes Easy Company into Nazi-occupied Lithuania to retrieve a hidden treasure that must be returned to the United States by any means necessary. The first issue is on sale now with the remaining five hitting stores on a monthly basis. Check your local comic shop for details. Also available is the graphic novel "Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place" by Brian Azzarello and once again drawn by Kubert.

[General Rock appeared in Superman comics a few years ago as President Luthor's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During the "Our Worlds at War!" story arc of 2001, he gives Strange Visitor / Kismet / Sharon Vance a speech about true bravery and unselfish sacrifice, which she understands and demonstrates by rescuing Superman from Imperiex. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

Devil's Due Starts Family Guy Comics in April (Newsarama)

Initial plans call for a three issue, prestige format miniseries shipping bi-monthly. Each issue will focus on one of the characters, with volume one, 100 Ways to Kill Lois featuring Stewie Griffen. The series format will be a hybrid, combining both prose and traditional comic book stories. For example volume 1 will begin with Stewie’s thoughts on his family, and, obviously, ways to kill his mother, Lois, and then segue into a comic book story, and then finish with more from Stewie.

The publisher has tapped Family Guy writer Matt Fleckenstein to write the series, with art by Benjamin Phillips. According to sources at Devil’s Due, the three 48-page issues will be collected later in the year, and if sales warrant, more Family Guy will roll out.

Posted by kuechebj at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

Seven Seas to Launch New Speed Racer Miniseries (Newsarama)

Seven Seas Entertainment announced today its agreement with Speed Racer Enterprises to release an all-new original color comic based on Speed Racer, the famous animated TV series from the 1960’s. Like Speed’s race car, the Mach 5, the series will zoom into stores monthly as a 5-issue mini-series starting July, 2006.

[...]

In 2005, Seven Seas carved a name for itself in the manga industry for producing original English language manga with high quality art and stories. The Speed Racer mini-series will mark Seven Seas’ first foray into traditional 32-page color comics. For this latest incarnation of Speed Racer, Seven Seas promises an engaging cinematic storyline written by a prominent Hollywood screenwriter, along with dynamic artwork by a top-notch manga artist – both to be announced shortly.

[I remember watching Speed Racer cartoons when MTV had them years ago. I also love the Geico ad featuring Speed, Trixie, Chim Chim, and the Mach 5. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

One Fan's Opinion 26 Jan 2006 (Comic Book Resources)

Marvel and DC and every other comic book company that owns their characters have a vested interest in their well-being. These characters are their bread and butter and when a Frank Miller comes along and gives them a gift like Elektra-- it's no wonder that they want to keep playing with that gift even after Frank buried it in the backyard. These corporate conglomerates can't endure if every creator that comes along decides to kill off their icons. They need their icons to peddle as movies or plaster on beach towels, Slurpie cups and Underoos.

So what we've ended up with is the "Illusion of Change." And the Illusion of Change means that they'll forever be pulling fast ones-- killing off characters and reviving them, breaking characters' backs, replacing them, giving them new costumes and every other kind of harebrained shenanigans.

That's why I have trouble getting all that excited about the next sprawling epic from corporate comics that promises to "change the world forever" because I've seen how long "forever" has lasted before and it's not very long.

[I would rather think about Erik Larsen's "Illusion to Change" as an appeal to change. Many people tell me that change is a good thing and I agree that it may be for some people at certain times. However, when changes are manipulated, they become acts of poetics and result in a rhetorical effect (rhetoric and poetics are not divorcable in my mind). Sometimes that effect is negative, as it was when Superman became his energy-being self, Superman Blue. I was talking about this in my History of Rhetoric Since 1800 course and the professor suggested that one reason changing Superman into energy fails is because it no longer makes an appeal to the body, or in other words, nobody wishes they were an energy being so they reject the character. Nevertheless, readers purchase issues following these changes because either they like them or wish they would change back to what they are familiar with.

Larsen's lack of enthusiasm toward comic book epics is understandable and reveals how poetics is malleable. For instance, DC Comics released Crisis on Infinite Earths twenty years ago and its purpose was to give their fictional universe an overhaul while cleaning up loose ends with their characters. Over time, comic book writers told stories that gradually reversed those changes, or took off in completely different directions. To clean up again in 1994, DC Comics released Zero Hour, which performed a similar function to Crisis. Now there is the Infinite Crisis, triggering another overhaul and cleansing, but included with that is rebirth as new titles start (Marz on Ion) and new teams work on familiar titles (Busiek and Johns on Superman and Action Comics). All of these are proofs of rhetoric and poetics working in cyclical fashion. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2006

Comics to Battle for Truth, Justice and the Islamic Way (NY Times)

Mr. Mutawa's Teshkeel Media, based in Kuwait, says that in September it will begin publishing "The 99," a series of comic books based on superhero characters who battle injustice and fight evil, with each character personifying one of the 99 qualities that Muslims believe God embodies.

[...]

In addition, "The 99" will piggyback on a distribution network Mr. Mutawa is setting up for a parallel project, publishing all manner of other comics in the region. Teshkeel has signed on with Marvel Comics to translate and distribute their comics in the Middle East, and will soon begin publishing Arabic versions of Marvel's Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, X-Men and others. He said he is in talks with Archie and DC Comics for similar deals. He says that Teshkeel has attracted $7 million from investors, based on the promise that he will turn his company into the largest comics publisher in the Middle East.

[Thanks to Drs. Jan Swearingen and Anne Morey for showing me this article. I am unsure about whether or not this effort will be successful because Teshkeel is associating himself with American publishers, which probably carries negative connotations, especially in the Middle East. I remember reading about our country's humanitarian efforts during the Afghan War being explained by a general in Time magazine when I was researching 9/11 for my undergraduate thesis. His explanation involved taking out a dollar bill and looking at the seal on the back. One notices there is an eagle with arrows in one claw, but an olive branch in the other. The general believed that dropping humanitarian aid packages (medical supplies and food) while running an intense military campaign searching for Osama Bin Laden would ease Arab disdain toward America being in their country. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 06:48 PM | Comments (2)

January 20, 2006

FF Glory vs JLA (Nuklear Power)

[Hilarious web comic parody of a Super Friends episode starring 8-bit Superman and Batman who pose like Mega Man. The most hilarious part for me was the silent panel with the words: "Please, for the love of all that is holy, save me!" running across a screen. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)

Randomized Garfield (Jerz's Literacy Weblog | Memepool)

[From Dennis G. Jerz's blog. Here is a random generator supplying three different Garfield panels taken from various strips. Users may lock any panel and continue randomizing the others or lock all three. I question on Dennis's comments to this post whether or not this may be a step toward hypercomics. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:28 PM | Comments (8)

'Spider-Man 3' casts its web over Howard (Hollywood Reporter)

Bryce Dallas Howard is in negotiations to play Peter Parker's love interest Gwen Stacy in Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man 3." Sam Raimi is directing the movie, which is scheduled to roll this month.

[...]

Columbia is keeping a tight lid on the third movie's story line, though it is known that Gwen is the third part of a love triangle and that the character does survive.

[The article briefly recaps Gwen Stacy's shining moment in Spider-Man comics as Peter Parker's original love interest, but was killed by the Green Goblin during a bridgetop battle, which played itself out differently in the first Spider-Man film using Mary Jane in her place.

Here we have a violation of my rule for adaptation: Things shown must be explainable from a comic book standpoint OR true to its own mythology. Inserting Gwen Stacy into Spider-Man movie lore forces comic book readers to experience an error in their minds, not only from what is known about her from Amazing Spider-Man 121, but also from how we understand the movie mythos. We have already seen the comic book death of Gwen Stacy played out in the first Spider-Man movie with Mary Jane in her place with her living through the ordeal. Now we will have to revise what we know about Gwen Stacy and attempt to accept that she is Peter Parker's second love interest who does not die. I believe that may be asking too much from audiences, but we will see how it is explained, if at all. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

Mad About Manga (Detroit News)

You may not have noticed, but we're in the midst of a significant new cultural invasion. Comic books -- that great mainstay of American childhood -- have been in steep and steady decline for years, despite some recent gains. By contrast, manga in the United States has shot up like a hot biotech stock, jumping from $10 million in sales six years ago to $300 million today.

[Comic scholars are already aware of a declining readership of comics among younger audiences and there is no defnitive reason about why yet. Tessie Chin, 22, said titles like Superman "are all kind of the same" and manga readers accuse American comics as being too focused on the superhero genre.

Obviously comic books are going to be focused on superheroes. According to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation, DC proposed the first comic book (Action Comics) as a medium for featuring Superman, whose success helped launch other familiar titles such as Batman and Spider-Man at Marvel Comics.

As for Superman remaining unchanged, I would disagree and use Chin's example as proof that younger comic book readers are failing to identify with these characters as I did when I started reading comics, which continues to this day. Readers are no longer looking at Superman as a role-model for behaving as better human beings because they only see his superpowers in action and realize that those are impossible in reality. True, I will never be able to fly, use vision powers, be invulnerable, or move faster than a speeding bullet. However, those are not what I take away from this character.

Here are a few things I do take away: I read about Superman devoting himself to helping other people using all of his abilities (fictional or not), so I choose to become a college professor; I listen to Superman in the movies defend mass transit, so I am unafraid to fly or ride trolleys and buses, despite September 11; I also watch Superman in the movies make promises and keep them, no matter what the consequence may be, so I learn how important it is to always be honest. These learnable qualities are still being taught using characters like Superman, but people are listening less. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:46 PM | Comments (4)

January 10, 2006

Pungent Smell of Mildew (VG Cats)

Leo: This room looks like the other five thousand. The only difference is that over there the monsters will kill me a little faster than here. Oh and this melee class is working just super. I love getting wasted before dealing a single hit in.

[The panel comparing radii is hilarious. Any Final Fantasy player hit with spells like "Aqua Rake," "Quake," "Meteo," or "Ultima" should relate and laugh. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2005

Editing He-Man (Jerz's Literacy Weblog | Penny Arcade)

[Dennis Jerz (one of my mentors from undergraduate) blogged this and I thought it was hilarious. Most of the humor is in the last panel, which highlights how panel-to-panel transitions function from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, but some humor may come from Wikipedia's anonymous editing feature or its recent headlines with Encyclopedia Britannica. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:45 AM | Comments (2)

December 08, 2005

Lex Luthor Vs. Bruce Wayne (Forbes)

“We cannot continue to put unlimited trust in beings who can crush coal into diamonds with their bare hands or move asteroids using energy beams,” says Luthor. “These superheroes--or as I like to call them, superzeros--have weaknesses, and the government should make an effort to learn them--guarding against the day when these do-gooders are no longer doing good.”

[...]

In a surprise move, Wayne, who is more famous for his dalliances with heiresses and supermodels than his politics, has rallied to the side of the superheroes. “I just think it is anti-American to argue that law-abiding people with incredible abilities should not be allowed to put on masks and save the planet,” says Wayne. “The effort to create a Global Superhero Positioning System smacks of Big Brother.”

[Found on Superman Homepage. Here is an Onion-style article pitting Luthor against Wayne over whether or not superheroes need to be restrained. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2005

One Fan's Opinion 1 Dec 2005 (Comic Book Resources)

The thing is-- those who swipe profit from the work of others-- period. Swiping is a shortcut, be it defined as an homage or as a swipe. And it's unlawful as well. It's not legal to plagiarize. People have gotten in serious trouble for swiping photos and any number of things. These images are protected by the laws of the land. The copyright holders own them and they're not up for grabs. Parody is protected, yes, but that doesn't mean you can feel free to rip off everybody on everything. It's unlawful and it's wrong.

[...]

For some reason-- in comics-- it has been deemed acceptable to swipe something as long as you put a little disclaimer on it-- if it says "after Jack Kirby (or whoever)" it's all good. In the real world, things don't work that way. If Patrick Nagel did a drawing of a saucy brunette and some other artist copied the drawing, made her blonde and put a little "after Patrick Nagel" on it and sold a million prints-- Patrick Nagel's estate isn't going to feel as though it was a lovely tribute to Patrick Nagel. They're going to sue the thief's pants off.

[I remember how Gloria Hochstein handled plagiarism at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Outside of her office, she has a small plastic skeleton with a string tied around its neck, hanging from a thumbtack off of a fabric board. The skeleton also has a sign around its neck with "Plagiarizers" written on it. Awesome! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

"X-Men 3" Trailer Debuts Online (Comic Book Resources)

"X-Men 3" stars Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romjin, Kelsey Grammer and is directed by Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour"). "X-Men 3" bows May 26th, 2006.

[Trailer is available from Apple's Quicktime Trailer Website. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)

Joshua Ortega Talks "Star Trek" Manga (Comic Book Resources)

Tokyopop's recent announcement of a new "Star Trek" manga, set during the time line of the original series (referred to as "TOS" by fans) featuring Captain Kirk & Spock, raised the eyebrows of many fans, who hadn't quite expected a new comic book to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary. With all television and movie projects on hold, "Star Trek" has seen better days, but writer Joshua Ortega is hoping to remind fans just why they fell in love with the adventures of the starship Enterprise (and all those other ships too).

Posted by kuechebj at 04:20 PM | Comments (2)

Stephen King's Role Still "Dark" (Comic Book Resources)

"King is the Executive Editor and Creative Director of Marvel's much-awaited Dark Tower comic boo