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Category Archives: Bay Area Comic News

Wonder Woman to perform at Yoshi’s San Francisco

Lynda Carter

Lynda Carter

Wonder Woman is going to be performing at Yoshi’s in San Francisco! Well, sort of. Lynda Carter, who popularized Wonder Woman in the live action television series, will be performing at Yoshi’s on April 9 and 10 with her All-Star Band. Music was one of Carter’s first passions before being crowned Miss World USA and eventually taking the Wonder Woman role in the 70s. Carter released an album in 1978 and it would be 30 years before she dropped a second. That second album, At Last, reached number 10 on Billboard’s Jazz charts. Carter is currently touring in support of her fourth album which will be released this April. The Bay Area Reporter recently interviewed Carter and discussed her relationship with San Francisco and music.

Lynda Carter and her All-Star Band
April 9 and 10, 2014
510 Embaracadero West
San Francisco, CA
Purchase tickets at the Yoshi’s website

Bay Area Comic Crowdfunding: The Rattler

The Rattler prismatic

The Rattler prismatic

Why did I invest in the Kickstarter for Jason McNamara and Greg Hinkle’s horror graphic novel The Rattler? Because if I’m going to trust anyone to put out a solid horror comic it’s going to be the guy who says he writes graphic novels because he wants “every child in America to believe Two-Face wants to chop them into little pieces.”  Bonus: It includes an artist who went on an epic San Francisco bender with James Robinson in an effort to come up with an original concept for a new Airboy series.

According to Kickstarter The Rattler is a 96-page “atmospheric thriller that delivers strong characterization, a dark sense of humor and moments of abject terror.”

The last two years have seen a healthy  increase in horror comics, but it’s still rare to find a title that can instill genuine terror. Many of the early reviews of The Rattler seem to suggest this book succeeds in bringing terror and tension. The graphic novel came to my attention thanks to an enthusiastic write-up on Nerdlocker who says “I was terrified of what was waiting to jump out at me in the next panel.” Greg Burgas, writing for ComicBookResources, backs this up adding “Reading the book is a fairly white-knuckle experience, and it’s partly because McNamara knows how to manipulate the reader well.”

The Kickstarter launched today and is shooting for a modest $4,600.  There are some great backer rewards including a rad prismatic sticker you can use to decorate your Trapper Keeper.

rattler

A Daredevil Tour of the Bay Area: Issue 1

The Man Without Fear is also the Man Without Rest. After a long road trip Daredevil finally arrived in San Francisco yesterday. Instead of taking a day or two to enjoy the smells and sounds of the Bay Area, he’s already working with the SFPD to track down a kidnapped child. The first issue of the fourth volume of Daredevil is an enjoyable romp that finds hornhead being chased by sky sleds from The Embarcadero to Nob Hill. As noted in the issue, this isn’t the hero’s first stint in San Francisco.

This regular feature on The Shared Universe is intended to act as a tour guide of the Bay Area by following the adventures of our most recent New York City transplant.  If an issue of Daredevil features any notable landmarks I’ll pull them out and provide some context for readers unfamiliar with this region of the country.

In the unlikely event that Waid or Samnee stumble across this website I want to mention that I have no interest in nitpicking inconsistencies with reality. I respect the prerogative of the artist and writer to bend facts and visuals for the purpose of storytelling. Also, I know Daredevil’s a character in a funny book.

A Daredevil Tour of the Bay Area: Issue 1

The issue starts at a San Francisco police station where Matt Murdock is lending his unique set of highly tuned senses to the search for a missing child. He puzzles together enough clues for one of the officers to conclude that the girl may be in the old Naval Yard on San Francisco’s Treasure Island. Matt believes she may be in a bowling alley on the island.

Daredevil Issue 1: Treasure Island reference

Daredevil Issue 1: Treasure Island reference

First Stop: Treasure Island Naval Yard

Treasure Island is a man-made land mass in the San Francisco Bay. The landmass is named for Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson who briefly lived in San Francisco from 1879-80. It was built in the 30s as a federal Works Progress Administration project to provide a place to host the 1939 World’s Fair. The island became a Naval Base during World War II until it was closed in 1997. In 2008 the federal government sold Treasure Island to the city of San Francisco. Since that time there’s been a great deal of controversy over radiation levels and whether or not the island should have been opened for residential use.

(This is at least the second mention of Treasure Island in a comic book since August of last year. In Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman‘s Station-to-Station a secret lab there creates dinosaurs, laser guns, and a massive tentacle monster.)

And, yes, as Matt Murdock learns, there is an abandoned bowling alley on the naval base grounds.
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Image to release Sex Criminals on local comic shops

Berkeley-based Image Comics is preparing to release the first trade paperback of Chip Zdarsky and Matt Fraction’s wildly successful time stopping sex romp Sex Criminals next month. The publisher announced 28128Sex Criminals Vol 1_LGlast week volume one, Sex Criminals: One Weird Trick, will be available at local comic shops on April 16 with mass market distribution on April 29. Over the last few years Image has been loudly declaring its continued commitment to local comic shops as the first line of defense for a strong comic industry foundation. If you’re in the Bay Area consult our directory of local comic shops to find out where you can pick up a copy.

Gene Yang revives the first Asian-American superhero in “The Shadow Hero”

ShadowHero-Ecover-1-rgbBay Area creator Gene Yang is arguably one of the most consistently celebrated modern graphic novelists. His 2013 two volume novel Boxers & Saints was a finalist for a National Book Award, landed on numerous end of year lists, and was noted as one of the best books of the year by Library Journal. His 2006 book, American Born Chinese, was also a National Book Award finalist, received both a Printz and an Eisner, was named 2006/2007 Best Book by the Chinese American Librarians Association, and was noted on numerous lists.

Yang is finally applying his craft to the realm of superheroes with The Shadow Hero. He’s teaming up with illustrator Sonny Liew to resurrect Chu Hing’s Golden Age hero the Green Turtle. The Green Turtle made his appearance in issues of Blazing Comics and is considered the first Asian American superhero. Yang recently conducted an email interview with Publishers Weekly and he explained the publishing history of the Green Turtle.

Rumor has it, Chu Hing wanted to make his character a Chinese American, but his publisher didn’t think it was a good idea. Chu subverted his publisher by drawing the Green Turtle so that we almost never see his face. In those original comics, he usually has his back to us. When he is turned around, something – a piece of furniture, another character’s head, his own arm – blocks his face from our view. Supposedly, Chu did this so that we could imagine the Green Turtle as he originally intended, as a Chinese American.

Yang goes on to say that the Green Turtle wasn’t very popular and only lasted five issues of Blazing Comics. As a result of his short life in pulp the back story of the hero has never been told. That back story is what Yang is telling in his new comic.

The comic is first being released as a six-part digital series. That six-part series will be published by First Second in a trade paperback format this July. The Publishers Weekly article has more details on The Shadow Hero. Yang has also been writing occasional behind-the scenes posts at creation of the comic on his blog. The digital issues are available on Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, and Apple iBooks.

Daredevil swings through North Beach

In advance of the first issue of Daredevil’s new series, which will see the horned hero in San Francisco, Marvel Comics and Wizard World have released a sneak peak at a variant cover that will be made available for VIP attendees of Wizard World Louisville Comic Con. The cover by illustrator Michael Golden gives fans a first taste of Daredevil with recognizable San Francisco landmarks. The cover shows Daredevil swinging to action in front of the 105-year-old Columbus Tower (also known as the Sentinel Building) and the Transamerica Pyramid. The Transamerica Pyramid, which is the tallest building in San Francisco at 853-feet, had only recently completed construction when Matt Murdock last visited the Bay Area in 1972. Around that same time Francis Ford Coppola purchased and renovated Columbus Tower and it currently houses his American Zoetrope studios. The variant cover is below.

Daredevil Columbus Tower Large

The first issue of Daredevil Volume 4 hits shelves on March 19.

Last Chance to See: ‘Lasso of Truth’ at the Marin Theatre Company

Jessa Brie Moreno, Liz Sklar and Nicholas Rose

Jessa Brie Moreno, Liz Sklar and Nicholas Rose

Regrettably, I only found out about Marin Theatre Company running a production of Carson Kreitzer’s “Lasso of Truth” on Friday. The show, which tells the story of Wonder Woman’s creator William Moulton Marston, debuted on February 20 and runs until March 16. The story follows a woman who grew up with Wonder Woman untangling how all of the elements of Marston’s rather fascinating personal life and how those elements came into the creation of the world’s most popular female superhero. Marston invented the polygraph, was in a polyamorous relationship with his wife and a student, and had an interest in bondage. The show runs nightly until the 16th with bonus matinee shows at 2 p.m. on March 9, 15, and 16. The San Francisco Chronicle has a short interview with playwright Carson Keitzer. Below is a preview trailer for the play.

Marin Theatre Company
397 Miller Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941

 

Exhibit: Spoke Art Gallery pays tribute to David Lynch

The owls are not what they seem.

The owls are not what they seem.

Never in my life have I wanted to attend Paris Fashion Week, but reading The 405’s description of Kenzo’s fashion show is making me reconsider my lack of interest in high fashion. Kenzo designers, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, literally turned heads on Sunday by tapping David Lynch’s Twin Peaks as inspiration for their Autumn/Winter 2014 line. In case that doesn’t make the clothing line intriguing enough the design duo had Lynch direct the atmosphere for the Kenzo show. In addition to the models doing their turns on the catwalk to a soundscape provided by Lynch there was an unsettling screaming head that looked like a grownup version of the Eraserhead tadpole baby. According to the 405’s post this is the third time these particular designers have used Lynch as a muse.

Kenzo’s designers aren’t the only artists mainlining Lynch this week.  Starting March 8, San Francisco’s Spoke Art Gallery, 816 Sutter Street, will open In Dreams: An Art Show Tribute to the Films of David Lynch (hat tip to the Last Gasp blog). The exhibit, which runs until March 29, will showcase art inspired by Lynch’s entire body of work from the Great Northern Hotel to Arrakis.

More than 50 artists will be contributing to this group show and a preview of some of the work can be seen on the Facebook event wall. The open reception is March 8 starting at 6 p.m. It promises to be a crazy clown time.

The list of artists can be found below and at the Spoke Art Gallery website.

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Roxie Theater to host Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pizza Party

When the programmers at San Francisco’s historic Roxie Theater looked at the cinemas long list of accomplishments they realized there had somehow never been a “totally tubular all-night pizza party.” They’re tmnt_poster-195x300planning to remedy that situation this weekend with the help of the 90s-era Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On Saturday and Sunday the theater will be screening Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze back-to-back. On March 8 the doors open at 7:30 p.m. and on March 9 at 2 p.m.  According to the Roxie:

Join us for a night of pizza, photo booths, costume contests, drinks, and those heroes-in-a-half-shell themselves: Raphael, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Leonardo!  Fun starts at 7:30pm!  Your ticket includes ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA (Vegan ‘za, too, brah!)

TMNT, originally created as a 1984 comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, has been experiencing a bit of a resurgence in the last couple of years. IDW started publishing a new TMNT series in 2011, a CGI-series was launched by Nickelodeon in 2012, a new film is scheduled for release later this year, and Vanilla Ice has been getting back in touch with his TMNT roots through a mac & cheese commercial and headlining an epic crowdfunded TMNT party.

Comix publisher Last Gasp holding logo design contest

Are you interested in having your name join the ranks of R. Crumb, Mark Ryden, and Saeki Toshio?

lastgaspLast Gasp, perhaps the longest running publisher of comix, has a unique opportunity for you. As an alternative comix publisher it perhaps isn’t surprising that the company has resisted traditional branding and have allowed artists to apply a personal interpretation to the skull, cross bones, tongue logo. According to the company “Last Gasp played it fast and loose in those early days of publishing. There was no set logo design. Since each artist drew their own cover for each comic book, they were also tasked with creating their own interpretation of the Last Gasp logo.”

Last Gasp is hosting a contest to find a 2014 “redesign” (as much as a logo with no set-in-stone design can be redesigned). The company website has all of the rules, but the design concept is pretty much an open canvas:

All artwork must refer to LAST GASP by including, visibly and legibly, EITHER (a) the words LAST GASP (capitalized); or (b) a skull and crossbones image; or (c) both LAST GASP and the skull and crossbones image; or (d) Artist’s Choice.

There are a number of prize levels and Last Gasp founder Ron Turner may personally judge your entry. Entries are being accepted until March 25, 2014.

(hat tip to Laughing Squid)