A little bit on the Disney/Marvel-Jack Kirby settlement...

I spent a great deal of time over the weekend on Facebook reading Kurt Busiek's responses to another Jack Kirby fan's skepticism over the Disney/Marvel-Jack Kirby family amicable settlement.  I couldn't read the fan's comments (he earned a block for excessive negativity a while back), only Busiek's replies.  Which were lengthy and not in the least combative.  He just explained-- much more patiently than I ever could, and certainly more cogently-- why the fan was badly mistaken this is somehow a bad thing.  Or at the very least why someone with zero stakes involved would get upset about it when both Disney/Marvel and the Kirby family, with major stakes involved, both seem so pleased with the outcome.

Late in the game another fan added some commentary.  Busiek jousted with him as well and knocked him off his horse more than once.  Each time the game fan remounted and took up his lance, only to have it blunted and knocked aside no matter what attack he chose.  Greedy heirs*.  WHACK.  Stick to a contract, even a lousy one.  WHOMP.  Copyright law was meant to do something else.  KRACK.  If I pay you to build a house...  THUMP.

The last I saw before averting my eyes the fan was hurtling himself down the tilting lane, this time without even a horse.  The horse had long since retired to the clubhouse for some hot toddies and a massage.  I believe the fan had armed himself with the only weapon he had left in his arsenal, a wet noodle, which he was waving around while shouting, "Now we'll never have a New Gods movie!" 

I just couldn't watch any longer.

So I started drawing.  I drew all day and into the night.  I drew that lousy Hulk you see below.  That version is number four of four.  The first three suffered fates more ignominious than the naysaying arguments in the Facebook thread.  When you consider how many outright shitty drawings I've posted here over the last few months or even years, you can imagine just how bad something must be if I don't even try to post it.  Pretty bad.

But what's pretty good is this settlement between Disney/Marvel and Jack Kirby's family.  I can't see anything negative about it for either party, cannot fathom why anyone would naysay it.  I see it as a major win-win situation for both the big corporation and the little family that could.  The Kirbys get to enjoy some of the fruits of Jack Kirby's decades-long labor, Disney/Marvel can add the Kirbys to their marketing plans for all their future movie and multi-media extravaganzas along with Stan Lee. 

After all, Kirby's fantastic creations aren't the only things marketable here.  The man himself is an amazing story of unrelenting creativity and hard work spanning generations.  The guy co-created Captain America with Joe Simon then went off and fought in the last good war, for Thor's sake.  You want to show him off, and Stan, too:  "Look at what these plucky, grandfatherly guys did for all of us.  Enjoy their work and buy a lot of our licensed stuff, which we will produce at a record-breaking pace, relatively guilt-free for a change."

Disney/Marvel may be paying out to his family, but they're going to cash in on this, too.  I've never been opposed to that.  I just wanted the guy who made that possible for them to get a little more than the kick in the pants he got way back when.  Since he's not around anymore, giving it to his children and grandchildren is the best of all possible things.  If you can't grasp that, you are an alien to me.  Or I am to you.  Norin Radd, at your service.

Settling like this makes good business sense.  And it feels good to this fan, too.  Thanks to this and the things I've heard about Marvel's relationship with Bill Mantlo (the guy who made that little Guardians of the Galaxy movie possible in the first place), I have warm, gooshy feelings about Disney/Marvel I've never had before!

*In the interest of accuracy, if not engaging storytelling and myth-making, this point may have come from someone else, in another thread or even on another site entirely.

Marvel-Kirby...

I did this crappy drawing yesterday to celebrate the best comic book-related news story to come our way in decades.

Mike Allred on the Fantastic Four?

Okay, it's not Marvel, but it's Allred!

Whereas DC's kind of like, "Nyahhh nyahhh, we don't need you!" it seems Marvel's going out of its way to solicit my hard-earned yen.  They've got Dani Moonstar practically headlining a book and now this exciting news.  Exciting to me, anyway!

I've loved Mike Allred's art for quite some time now-- and he's just such a positive, nice guy I can't help but like the man himself and his whole family, too-- and have especially fond memories of the last Marvel series other than the new New Mutants I bought with any regularity.  I'm talking the awesome X-Force/X-Statix book Allred did with Peter Milligan.  I really need to go back and re-read that.  It's been too long since I communed with the likes of Mr. Sensitive, U-Go Girl and Doop.  I can't even remember the other characters' names.  Spike?  Tike?  Man, it was gloriously weird and emotionally engaging in a way few mainstream comics ever are.

While I'd love it if Allred also happened to be writing Fantastic Four, just the presence of his artwork is a guarantee I'll be tracking this down over here, across the sea in Japan!

Excelsior!

Xenozoic Tales coming back in a big way!

Literally.  Next June (2013 for those counting the years), IDW will release Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales Artist's Edition, 144 pages printed at a whopping 14" x 20" size.  It's their latest in a series that's seen big ol` versions of Walt Simonson's The Mighty Thor, Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer and others.  You get to see blue lines and all that jazz, almost as if you were holding the original art in your hands.  It should prove as instructive as it is aesthetically pleasing.  As both an artist and an art junkie, I'm going to buy this book when it hits the streets, probably leaving a massive crater.  Mark Schultz is just amazing.  I've already read these stories dozens of times each, but I never get tired of looking at his pages.  If you can get the regular comics or one of the many reprint books it's more than worth a lazy afternoon charting the Schultz's growth as a writer and artist.  You can actually see him working through various techniques and influences, starting with Wally Wood, then Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta plus others whose work I'm actually not familiar with until he emerges as a unique synthesis of all these classic elements, his personal style as easily recognized as that of any of those other giants.  The plot itself goes from EC-inspired vignettes to something more epic as Schultz gains confidence as a writer, too.  It's a super cool progression.

IDW must love huge books because I've got their Genius Isolated:  The Life and Art of Alex Toth book and that crazy thing must way thirty or forty tons.  We had to hire a special heavy lifting crane to winch it into my apartment and it's left the floor permanently depressed.  Not only that, but it's the first of a trilogy of books.  I'm going to have to build a special annex with some sort of carefully engineered load-bearing elements and perhaps a shock-absorbing system installed in the floor to handle them.  I find these kinds of books worth the expense, though.

You'd have to be some kind of nut not to be excited about this next piece of news.  You're not a nut, are you?  No?  Great!  Then, let's celebrate because it's official!  At the Flesk Publications panel during this year's San Diego Comic Con, Schultz promised when he finishes his book Storms at Sea, he's going to do another issue of Xenozoic Tales.  Finally!  It's been something like 16 years since he left us hanging with mechanic-shaman Jack Tenrec ousted from City in the Sea and planning to head back to Fessenden's Station where the story began.  The last few issues of Xenozoic Tales raised a lot of questions and its hiatus left them hanging in the air.  What are the reptilian grith?  What's their relationship with Hannah Dundee and how much do they know about her mysterious origins as a foundling?  Can the sometimes bull-headed Tenrec maintain his tenuous new alliances, retake City in the Sea, reinstate the Machinato Vitae and restore the balance between humans and nature before destructive elements in control of his home cause another catastrophe?  These questions drive me to distraction at times!

It may take a while for Schultz to get around to it, but in the meantime, here's a cartoon version. You know, for kids...

 

Speaking of Love and Rockets...

Fantagraphics promises a "major Love and Rockets-related announcement" to be made at the San Diego Comic-Con this year.  Well, they are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the ground-breaking series from Los Bros Hernandez, and they have a lot of Hernandez-produced books coming out shortly, including Love and Rockets New Stories #5 and Gilbert's all-ages graphic novel The Adventures of Venus, the cover of which looks adorably appealing.  And here's their slate of signings and what-have-you's, which I took from the email they sent, not because I'm special but because I signed up for their emails:

Wednesday, July 11th:
7:00 - 8:00 PM Gilbert & Natalia Hernandez/Mario Hernandez

Thursday, July 12th:
12:00 - 2:00 PM  Gilbert & Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez
2:00 - 3:00 PM  Esther Pearl Watson/Trina Robbins
3:30 - 5:30 PM Gilbert & Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez

Friday, July 13th:
10:30 - 12:00 PM  Gilbert and Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez
12:00 - 1:30 PM Dave McKean
12:00 - 2:00 PM  Gilbert Shelton
2:00 - 3:30 PM  Gilbert and Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez
3:30 - 5:30 PM  Justin Hall/Trina Robbins/No Straight Lines special guests
5:30 - 6:30 PM  Mark Kalesniko/Shannon Wheeler

Saturday, July 14th:

11:00 - 12:30 PM  Gilbert and Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez

12:30 - 2:30 PM  Johnny Ryan/Steven Weissman

3:00 - 5:00 PM  Gilbert & Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez

5:00 - 6:00 PM  Mark Kalesniko/Michel Gagne

Sunday, July 15th:

10:30 - 11:30 AM  Mark Kalesniko/Michel Gagne

11:30 - 1:30 PM  Gilbert & Natalia Hernandez/Jaime Hernandez/Mario Hernandez

I would LOVE to meet Los Bros, but also Trina Robbins.  Frankly, some of the other names are just mysteries to me.  But I've always been... one step... BEHIND!

A Xenozoic tease...

Is this what I think it is?  Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales and Other Stories over on a certain social network is making me drool in anticipation of what-- if it is what I believe it to be-- the most eagerly awaited and anticipated comic book event of my lifetime so far.  I mean, if you think Mike Baron and Steve Rude returning to Nexus made me excited, the potential for another issue of Xenozoic Tales to go along with said Nexus has me in severe need of heavy sedation.  I mean, really, Xenozoic Tales, Nexus and Love & Rockets fulfill my comics needs.  They are filling enough they leave me satiated.  When I have new stories from any of those series to look forward to, why should I care about re-boots and crossovers and capes and underwear and all that?

Apparently there will be some sort of announcement at one of Mark Schultz's panels at the this year's San Diego Comic-Con.  He has several:

Thursday, 7/12/12
10:00a.m. - 11:00a.m.
Room: 32AB
Flesk: Celebrating a Decade of Publishing

Thursday, July 12
12:30-1:30PM
Room 4
Spotlight on Mark Schultz's Unlikely Career

Friday, July 13
11:00-12:00PM
Room 23ABC
The Artists’ Way

Friday, July 13
3:30-4:30PM
Room 7AB
75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant

Sunday, July 15
2:00-3:00PM
Room 25ABC
Cover Story

Being as ah'm a-way over here in the south-- south central Japan, that is-- I'm going to miss out on seeing one of my writing-and-drawing idols in person, the man who inspired me to try dry-brush on my graphic design entrance portfolio at the University of Georgia.  The man whose comics I spent money on even when I didn't have money to spend on food.  There hasn't been a new Xenozoic Tales comic since 1996, just the odd print and sketchbook now and again.  And the damned thing ended on a cliff-hanger!

If you have the fat Xenozoic volume from Flesk Publications, which reprints the Schultz-illustrated stories from the 14 issue run of the original series (but unfortunately leaves out the Steve Stiles back-ups), you remember the promise near the back:  "The adventures of Hannah Dundee & Jack Tenrec will continue.  Look for more mystery, mayhem & intrigue in future Xenozoic stories!"

I will!  I will look!  You started something!

How the new "Nexus" story came about...

If you're interested (as I obviously am), you should read the blog at Steve Rude's website.  The Rudes just posted an entry called "The Real Story Behind the Nexus Reunion."  It seems to have happened pretty fast.  One minute Rude and Mike Baron were talking on the phone, the next minute Mike Richardson of Dark Horse got involved and a minute after that, Rude was at the drawing board laying down lines with everything in line for a May publication date.  I have to hand it to the fine folks at Dark Horse and especially Richardson for making this happen.  He must have jumped at the chance, and as luck would have it, Dark Horse Presents happens to be enjoying a comeback of its own-- the perfect vehicle for Baron and Rude to revisit Nexus.

While I love the cool photo of Rude working away at his drawing table, my favorite part of all of this is one little comment that seems to be a promise:

A man who speaks as succinctly as his written words, Mike Baron simply added, “I look forward to many more stories with the Dude.”

That has me all wiggly over this yet again!  Rude back in comics!  Baron writing Nexus!  Nexus stories coming our way in 2012 and possibly beyond!  Look for the new story in Dark Horse Presents #12, this May.  They've rung the bell and I'm already slobbering like a conditioned dog.  Conditioned to love delicious comic books!*

*Don't worry.  I'm not going to eat it.  Well, I make no promises.

Boom! Studios is reprinting the classic Terror on the Planet of the Apes!

Finally, my demands have been met and I can release the hostages. Wait-- a gorilla sniper! KA-POW!  Damn you, Dr. Zaius! Thank God, I die a true human...  But... first... let me push... this button...

With the frivolity finished, I can announce the happiest comic book news I've heard in quite some time. BOOM! Studios, holders of the Planet of the Apes license from 20th Century Fox and publishers of fine Planet of the Apes comics since about April 2011, will reprint the rambling and mostly off-the-rails epic Terror on the Planet of the Apes by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog, plus contributions by other artists. The geniuses behind this decision at BOOM!  haven't set a release date, but if the cover image holds, it looks like they'll be using the old painted covers from the Marvel series as well. Time to introduce a whole new generation to the lurid charms of these images by Bob Larkin and Earl Norem.

This is what I've been begging for since I started comic book blogging.  The way Dark Horse has been publishing old Marvel/Curtis magazine material, I expected them to come through for me.  But it was BOOM! Studios all along.  I'm grateful to them for doing this, and to all the Apes fans who helped make it happen.

And now the bad news.  This series is going to be difficult for me to come by.  I had problems getting issues of BOOM!'s regular Planet of the Apes title when I lived in the States.  They're also publishing Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, starring a young Dr. Zaius.  I'm dying to read this book!  How can I get my filthy, stinking paws on these Apes comics here in Japan?

I will not rest until I solve this problem!*

*Actually, I think they have international subscriptions.  And there's always EBay.