Archive | Comics by the Bay

Bay Area CrowdFunding: Nathan Watson’s “Runner”

By Jesse Russell on February 27, 2014 in Comics by the Bay

Ever thought the world needs more female superheroes who are “tough and pretty and not need guys help all the time”? Artist and Writer Nathan Watson’s 10-year-old daughter agrees with you. Watson, who’s illustrated comics based on well known properties including Toy Story and Ghostbusters, is hoping to kickstart his daughter’s dream into reality with a new miniseries called Runner. Watson is shooting for $6,000 to cover the production cost of the first issue and anything above and beyond will go toward creating the second and third issues in the series. According to the campaign’s Kickstarter page:

Mixing a few things my daughter and I really dig like monsters, comedy, and parkour, RUNNER will take you on a wild ride of twists and unexpected turns, with super hyper action and creature-punching craziness. Along the way, we’ll watch Bethany learn to control her temper (though not much). She’ll also learn that having someone that she can trust is better than having something she can hit, even though there will be plenty of appropriate things for her to hit over the course of the first three issues! Finally, there’s the central idea of the project: That just because something is big, ugly and gruesome, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the villain.

Strong Female Leads. Gigantic Aliens. Gigantic HUMANS. Freerunning. Dimension Hopping. Conspiracies. Betrayal. Family Drama. Comedy. All these elements come together in RUNNER, where we’re having fun for the sake of having fun!

The project has a long list of unique backer rewards including paper dolls, copies of Watson’s previous work, limited sketch cards, a papercraft figure, and more.

Although Watson has a publisher lined up to assist in packaging and distribution Runner will be completely creator-owned. The purpose of the Kickstarter is to provide Watson with the opportunity to focus on completing the first issue while also paying a fair rate to his colorist William Blankenship.

CBR Previews Daredevil Goin’ Back to Cali

By Jesse Russell on February 21, 2014 in Comics by the Bay

In March, Daredevil returns to San Francisco for the first time in 40 years. Comic Book Resources has the first preview of Daredevil saving a life while leaping from a historic streetcar to the top of a building with palm trees silhouetted in the background. In case you missed his last awkward experience in the Bay I broke it down in November.

San Jose Mercury News fails to run Dilbert strip criticizing India’s antigay ruling

By Jesse Russell on February 12, 2014 in Comics by the Bay

The San Jose Mercury News chose to not run a Dilbert strip last week that featured the character Dogbert criticizing a ruling by India’s Supreme Court to reaffirm a British colonial-era law that criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.” While the law doesn’t technically make it illegal to be homosexual in India it has been interpreted as making the act of same sex intercourse illegal. India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had sought to remove the language, but the Supreme Court upheld the law.

In the February 7, 2014 Dilbert strip Dogbert breaks the fourth wall and informs readers that to “commemorate” India’s Supreme Court upholding a law “making it a crime to be born gay” Asok the intern “is now officially gay.”

The Advocate reported that “several U.S. newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, refused to run the Dilbert strip, opting instead to rerun an older comic.” It’s worth noting that in spite of the use of the word “several” no other publications have been cited as having censored Friday’s strip.

The first comic book store owner has passed away

By Jesse Russell on January 18, 2014 in Comics by the Bay

According to ICv2 Gary Edson Arlington, who founded the San Francisco Comic Book Company, passed away on January 16, 2014. Arlington was a comic pioneer opening in 1968 the San Francisco Comic Book Company at 3339 23rd Street in the Mission District. The store is thought by many to be the first comic book store in the United States.

Nearly one year ago Arlington, who was 73 at the time, was profiled by the San Francisco Chronicle after Bay Area-based Last Gasp published a book of his art titled I Am Not of this Planet. The article quotes an Art Spiegeleman passage from the book: “San Francisco was the capitol of comix culture in the ’60s and early ’70s; and Gary Arlington’s hole-in-the-wall shop was, for me, the capitol of San Francisco.”

Comix Experience to take over Comic Outpost

By Jesse Russell on December 13, 2013 in Bay Area Comic News, Comics by the Bay

We noted a few weeks ago the unfortunate news that the decade old Comic Outpost, 2381 Ocean Avenue in San Francisco, was in danger of closing. This morning we learned the Lake Merced region of San Francisco will continue to have funny book service thanks to Comix Experience proprietor Brian Hibbs taking it over. Hibbs, author of comic retailing bible Tilting at Windmills, announced the takeover yesterday on Savage Critic and the Comics Outpost website. In an open letter to Comic Outpost customers, Hibbs said “I want to assure you that we have no intention of changing the essential nature of the Outpost. Customers dictate the kind of store that exists, and we’ll be dedicated to bringing you the same passionate and engaged love-of-comics service you’ve received from Gary over the years!”

Due to the unfortunate circumstances Comic Outpost had been forced to suspend new comic deliveries, but Hibbs assures customers that deliveries will resume immediately. However, he warns that due to the suspension of orders “for the next 3-4 weeks there may be the occasional individual comic you may have to wait an extra week or two while we track down more copies.”

Westfield Comics interviews Cartoon Art Museum curator about Bobby London’s Popeye

By Jesse Russell on December 12, 2013 in Bay Area Comic News, Comics by the Bay

Westfield Comics is one of the longest running mail order distributors in the country and when I lived in Wisconsin I was lucky to have their brick and mortar store as my local comic shop. In a nice blending of my old city and my new city Westfield recently posted an interview with San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago about the new collection Popeye The Classic Newspaper Comics Vol. 1: 1986-1989 by Bobby London. Farago is writing the introduction for the book. In the interview, he discusses the importance of London’s contribution to Popeye’s history and London’s work as an Underground comic creator. You can read the interview here.

Berkeley’s Madefire adds Hellboy to motion comic line-up

By Jesse Russell on December 10, 2013 in Bay Area Comic News, Comics by the Bay

According to Comic Book Resources, Berkeley-based Madefire will be adding Mike Mignola’s Hellboy to their growing list of motion comics. Hellboy in Hell is the first Dark Horse title to join the Madefire Motion Book roster and more are expected to appear in the future. In August the company announced IDW’s participation with titles including Transformers, My Little Pony, and Star Trek. The company has additionally been developing a number of original titles including the Dave Gibbons created Treatment.

Daredevil will return to San Francisco! Let’s hope it goes better than last time.

By Jesse Russell on November 27, 2013 in Comics by the Bay

In March, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee will move Daredevil from New York City to start a new life in San Francisco.

This will be Daredevil’s second attempt at adapting to life in the Bay Area. He last moved to San Francisco in 1972 while somewhat obsessively crushing on Black Widow. They lived together in a mansion Black Widow rented for a year using the last of her inheritance. (This is in 1972 dollars, so her inheritance would likely only secure her a month’s rent in San Francisco’s current rental market.)

Daredevil’s arrival in San Francisco is well timed as it happens to be the same month Electro decided to move to the Bay Area “to get away from that creep Spider-Man.” Never one to be idle, Electro decides to use his opportunity in a city “uneducated in the matters of supervillainy” for “the total annihilation of San Francisco’s will to resist.” Much to his shock, Electro is defeated by Daredevil and San Francisco’s will is preserved. Imagine what would have happened if Daredevil hadn’t coincidentally moved to San Francisco at the same time as Electro! He might have broken the will of San Francisco, but he could have fulfilled the city’s dream of being powered 100 percent by clean energy (assuming being powered by Electro is considered “clean”).

Living in the Bay Area quickly becomes a frustrating experience. San Francisco’s media proves to be much less dense than New York City’s. In issue 92 a television reporter notes Daredevil and Black Widow showed up at the same time as “a certain trial lawyer known for his connection with that same infamous lady.” The reporter concludes that Murdock and Daredevil are one and the same.

Sadly that reporter never has the opportunity to see a Pulitzer for being the first ever to put facts together and figure out a superhero alias. To save his identity, Murdock asks T’Challa to fly from New York City to San Francisco, put on the Daredevil costume, and appear with him at a news conference. He explains to the reporters that Daredevil used to be his brother Mike (who was really Matt), who died, but before his death asked a new Daredevil to watch over his blind sibling. Therefore, this new Daredevil followed Murdock all the way from New York City to San Francisco and teamed up with Black Widow. Everyone buys it.

All of this should have fallen apart when Peter Parker, on assignment from the Daily Bugle, shows up to interview Daredevil and Black Widow. As Spider-Man he tails them to the Widow Mansion, changes into his civilian clothes, and knocks on the door. Conveniently, Matt Murdock apparently enjoys spending his leisure time in his Daredevil costume, because he’s still in hero gear when Parker is let in the mansion for his unannounced interview. The interview is interrupted by the villain Ram Rod and, of course, Spider-Man appears to lend an assist. Black Widow and Daredevil are confused when Spider-Man “pops up out of nowhere to help us than just swings away into the sunset.” Parker appears moments after Spidey swings away and the heroes never connect the two.

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The Fuse: Murder police 22,000 miles above Earth

By Jesse Russell on November 12, 2013 in Comics by the Bay

This morning I speculated San Francisco-based illustrator Justin Greenwood could be one of the unannounced guests at 2014’s Image Expo. This assumption was predicated on the teases released yesterday regarding his new project with Wastelanders writer Antony Johnston. All we knew was that it was a comic book, it takes place beyond the geocorona of Earth, and it would be titled The Fuse. This evening we still don’t know if Greenwood will be at Image Expo, but we do have much more information regarding The Fuse. Image released a description of the title, an interview with Johnston, and a release date of February (one month after Image Expo, so I up my ante and add an Image Expo exclusive of The Fuse issue one to the pot). Johnston described the series to Image:

“I’m a sucker for detective stories, down-at-heel cop shows, and the kind of ‘lived-in’ sci-fi where everything feels like it might fall apart at any moment,” he explains. “Combine those with a frontier attitude, where a half million people all think they can get away with murder, and you’ve got THE FUSE.”

“So Super Duper” creator interviewed on 10 Percent

By Jesse Russell on September 27, 2013 in Comics by the Bay

So Super Duper follows the journey of Psyche, a gay superhero, as comes to terms with and embraces his sexuality. Earlier this year, creator and San Francisco resident Brian Andersen has collected the first 12-issues of the series into a shiny 326-page trade paperback. This week Andersen appeared on locally produced LGBT focused talk show 10 Percent with David Perry. You can watch the interview below, but also read some recent interviews with Andersen at ComicBook.com and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

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