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TMNT 25th Collection - Fabry Cover

Comic superheroes in town!

A Look Back At The 29th Barcelona International Comicon!

Posted 4/22/11 5:00 pm ET by Janna O’Shea in Comic Book Conventions, Comic Books

On the weekend of April 14th-17th I had the pleasure of attending the 29th Barcelona International Comicon. Featuring artists and writers from all over the world, the convention opened my eyes to comics that I had never experienced before. The only downside was my discovery that there were no English books to be found at the convention. I came home with a long list of names that I need to do some research on!

Zombie-themed bands played music every evening

I kicked off the festivities on Thursday by interviewing Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson of Astro City.Thanks to a mix-up with their next interview we had some extra time and wound up chatting about their legendary series for almost an hour. It’s obvious that they enjoy each other’s company and are truly delighted by the work that they do. The convention provided translators to help the Spanish press (and vice versa) understand interviews with the English-speaking creators. Each translator had their own unique way of jotting down notes and turning them back into sentences. They work incredibly fast and it was quite amazing to watch.

Many fans have criticized SDCC and NYCC for being too crowded to move. Barcelona was a surprisingly calm experience where creators can walk freely throughout the convention. Another pleasant aspect was the food! The cafeteria offered crispy baguette sandwiches with delicious Spanish meats instead of the usual greasy fare.

My next interview was with Garth Ennis, best known for The Boys, Preacher, The Punisher, and much, much more. I am a big fan of his work and it was a real privilege to sit down and talk with him. Among other things, we spoke about his new Nick Fury ongoing series for Marvel. Ennis promises that it will "be sort of the Marvel MAX ultimate whirlwind cauldron of hell book".

My last interview of the day was with Charlie Adlard of The Walking Dead! As expected, the artist was in high demand at the convention and was busy all weekend with interviews and signings. We had a great discussion about his favorite type of horror, both on and off the page. The organizers brought over ten chilling pages from The Walking Dead, including Adlard’s favorite quiet panel. Part of a larger zombie exhibition, these pages were accompanied by walls upon walls of gory zombie art. Many fans visited the zombie make-up corner where fans could join the ranks of the undead.

Elsewhere on the convention floor, one of my favorite booths was the Spanish Garrison of the Star Wars 501st Legion. I visited a few times to steal kisses from R2-D2, pose with some Rebels, and giggle at the stormtroopers! Many of the cosplayers at the convention appeared to be high schoolers dressed as characters from anime and manga. I ran into an awesome group cosplaying Kingdom Hearts!

I took a break from the convention on Friday afternoon and visited beautiful Parc Guell. Barcelona is a captivating city with mysterious old buildings, delectable food, and friendly people. The wine is sweet, the cheese is young, and the tapas are incredible.

The con was bursting with illustrious talent and interesting booths. Norma Editorial featured Carlos Ezquerra (Judge Dredd), Busiek, and Anderson, just to name a few. I discovered the work ofReinhard Kleist, a fantastic German artist who has released graphic novels based on Johnny Cash and Fidel Castro. Kleist drew us a gorgeous Johnny Cash and I have already ordered both of his books in English.

Planeta DeAgostini Comics had Adlard along with Brian Azzarello and Dave Johnson of 100 Bulletsfame. Superman and Green Lantern hung around Planeta to make sure the creators were protected! The remarkable Eddie Campbell (From Hell) and his daughter Hayley were signing at the Astiberri booth. I was thrilled to discover that Glenn Fabry (Preacher) was also attending the convention. I wanted to ask for something unique, but I just couldn’t help myself and requested a sketch of Jesse Custer. Fabry is working on some incredible new ideas with Steve Niles.

Jesse Custer from Preacher

There weren’t many choices for English speaking panels, but I was able to see Editorial Director ofMarvel.com Ryan Penagos (Agent_M) and editor Jeanine Schaefer of Marvel Comics on Saturday evening. They touched on a variety of topics, ranging from what Marvel looks for in a writer/artist to the impact that Marvel.com has had upon the industry. I unfortunately missed the Ennis/Ezquerra panel as it was scheduled at the same time.

The convention featured a beautiful array of art that I immediately fell in love with. One of my favorites was this intriguing piece from Dead Moon by Luis Royo. There was also a large exhibition highlighting popular characters from different countries in Europe. This included two of my childhood heroes, Asterix from Asterix and Obelix and Lucky Luke.

A shot from Dead Moon by Luis Royo

Convention director Carles Santamaria told us about The Center of the Arts of the Comic and the Illustration (CACI), a new museum planned for Spain. It will honor the comic books and illustrations that are a big part of daily life and culture. The goal is to help expose the world to these mediums and will feature work from Europe, South America, United States and Japan. With both permanent and temporary exhibitions, CACI also plans to hold workshops for students along with other activities and areas for research.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience in Barcelona! The convention itself was great, but if you add in a beautiful city and delicious food, the week becomes amazing.

Special thanks to David Macho for press passes and other amenities at the convention!

http://youtu.be/T6TWOrHvwPkComics

New Publisher Mike Kennedy Talks ARCHAIA's Digital Future

By Albert Ching, Newsarama Staff Writer
posted: 19 April 2011 09:51 am ET

Mike Kennedy has been writing comic books for nearly 20 years, with credits including Lone Wolf 2100 for Dark Horse and DC Comics graphic novel Superman: Infinite City. Yet he’s just now working in his first full-time gig in the industry.

He’s the new publisher of Archaia Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based company currently nominated for nine Eisner awards thanks to releases like Return of the Dapper Men and French import The Killer. Kennedy’s news was just widely announced on Monday, though he said that he’s officially been on board since roughly last month’s C2E2 convention, which ran in Chicago from March 18 to 20.

Kennedy’s main focus for the past two decades has been working in the video game industry, with past stints at studios including EA, 3DO and Vogster. While a producer at Vogster, Kennedy worked with Archaia on the anthology tie-in to first-person shooter Bleedout, on sale this month. For that book, Kennedy recruited top-flight artistic talent, including Howard Chaykin, Glenn Fabry and Ben Templesmith, among others.

“With that book coming together, it just kinda opened up some conversations,” Kennedy said in a phone interview with Newsarama. “’What would you think about coming in and doing that full-time for us?’”

Given that background, one of his first goals as Archaia publisher is ramping up current multimedia initiatives, saying that digital comics are “not something that you can ignore, frankly.” Kennedy makes it clear that he’s not just talking about making comic book pages viewable online, but also exploring ways to truly embrace and integrate the format.

“Not just doing a flat, direct, two-dimensional presentation,” said Kennedy, who called digital comis “another tool” as opposed to another market competing with the print product. “Not just putting it into a scanner and calling it a day. How can we make this a more interactive experience? As soon as one person does something cool and new, then everybody does it, so we want to see if we can be the first person to do the next cool, digital thing.”

Kennedy’s joining Archaia at a conspicuous point in the company’s history. Along with their Eisner nods, they announced a couple of buzzworthy projects at C2E2 and WonderCon, including an anthology starring characters from upcoming film Immortals; and more details on A Tale of Sand, a graphic novel realization of an unproduced Jim Henson screenplay.

“It seems like every two weeks it’s another step in the satisfaction meter,” said Kennedy, adding that his immediate priority at this point is making sure the unreleased projects they’ve already announced stay on schedule.

While Kennedy is working on growing their digital efforts, he also recognizes that a vital part of Archaia’s appeal is the production values that go into their actual printed graphic novels — just check out the cloth binding on the Dapper Men hardcover.

“That is the heart and soul of Archaia, putting out a high quality book experience,” Kennedy said. “And not just from the physical, tangible, ‘it feels good to hold,’ aspect, but even the content itself. Very high quality content in a very high quality package.”

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Mike Carey and Glenn Fabry: “Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere”

BY APRIL, ON APRIL 11TH, 2011

This review originally ran on Green Man Review.

Over a decade after the original televised mini-series and the novel it spawned, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere has found new life in comic form — but not scripted by Gaiman himself. That honor has gone to Mike Carey, writer for the Vertigo series Lucifer and Crossing Midnight, with Glenn Fabry (Preacher, Hellblazer) providing the artwork. Gaiman did serve as consultant for the project. In his introduction, Carey remarks on the difficulty of adapting a novel to comic format, noting that some scenes have been moved around, some cut, dialogue changed to accommodate both, and the omission of a character. His hope is that fans of the original will appreciate the decisions that were made and the final result.

And by and large, they probably will. The dialogue definitely isn’t the same (a quick comparison of scenes with the novel confirms that), and yes, scenes aren’t necessarily quite in order, but Carey and Fabry still manage to capture the essence of Gaiman’s quirky fantasy, the memorable characters and his marvelous London Below, in a condensed format. There’s not much time to linger over scenes or dialogue because the plot pretty much hurtles forward at a breakneck speed from when hapless Richard Mayhew picks up wounded Door on a rainy London street to the story’s conclusion. But despite this lean format and rapid pace, Carey’s crafted a script that keeps enough of the original while reworking it to a new format to pass muster.

Fabry’s artwork is vibrant and bold, with sturdy, memorable characterization, though a couple of interpretations are a little surprising, such as Door, who is rather more a solid-seeming punker than Gaiman’s original prose suggested (she’s described as being light, and having short, dark red hair and mismatched eyes — here she has a keyhole tattooed over one eye and dark braids; and, truthfully, looks like she could kick some serious ass). And the Marquis literally has ebon skin, rather than simply being dark complected. Croup and Vandemar are suitably creepy, though, and Hunter and Islington both beautifully statuesque in their own ways. In lieu of Gaiman’s wonderful descriptions of the Floating Market or other locations in London Below, readers are treated to panels bursting at the seams with Fabry’s detail. It’s a good trade-off for the graphic novel format.

Readers new to the world of Neverwhere will easily be drawn into Carey and Fabry’s taken on Gaiman’s creation, and fans of the original will likely find enough of the humour and charm of the novel and mini-series to enjoy here.

(Vertigo, 2007)

RAGE™ Universe To Have Duel Début

Monday, March 14th, 2011 at 3:11 am

RAGE™ Universe To Have Duel Début

Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, and Dark Horse Comics announced a three-issue comic book series based on id® Software’s upcomingRAGE® video game. This original miniseries is being written by Arvid Nelsion, the acclaimed creator of Rex Mundi, and penciled by Andrea Mutti (DMZ). The cover art is being created by Glenn Fabry, best known for his work on Hellblazer andPreacher. Set prior to the events in the game, the comics are an extension of theRAGE universe and will provide numerous insights into the game’s storyline. The first of the three comics will be available in North America and the UK on June 22, 2011.

This comic series, developed with the direct participation of RAGE’s creative director, Tim Willits, presents a new twist on the post-apocalyptic near future as one woman discovers that the survival of humankind doesn’t necessarily mean the survival of humanity. The Earth has been devastated by a collision with an asteroid, with a tiny fraction of the population surviving in life-sustaining Arks buried deep below its surface. Those who survive emerge to find a wasteland controlled by a global military dictatorship called the Authority. But a rescued scientist learns that the Authority has lied to her and the other survivors about how this new world came to be.

RAGE is the latest game from id Software, the acclaimed designers of the Wolfenstein®, DOOM®, and QUAKE® series. RAGE features intense first-person shooter action, breakneck vehicle combat, an expansive world to explore and jaw-dropping graphics powered by id’s revolutionary id Tech® 5 technology. Set in the not-too-distant future, you emerge to discover humanity working to rebuild itself against forces such as bandit gangs, mutants, and more.

Eagerly awaited by the gaming community, RAGE is already being touted as one of the industry’s most innovative first-person shooters, winning numerous awards at E3 2010, including ‘Best Overall Game of Show’ from IGN and three ‘Best of E3’ Game Critics’ Awards including ‘Best Console Game’. RAGE is slated for release in North America on September 13th and throughout Europe on September 16th and will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows.

For more information on RAGE, visit www.rage.com.

For information about more comics from Dark Horse Comics, please visit: www.darkhorse.com.

Major Comic Talent Brings Rage To The Page

retweet 1

By Mike Fahey on March 12, 2011 at 7:20 AM

Crack open a case of ammo and take to the post-apocalyptic wasteland of id Software’s Rage, you’ll be able to crack open a comic book to uncover a dark secret of the game setting with Dark Horse Comics’ Rage miniseries.

The three-issue Rage comic book series tells the story of one woman’s struggle to uncover lies being fed to the remnants of humanity by global military dictatorship The Authority.

Developed with the participation of the game’s creative director, Tim Willits, Dark Horse has tapped some top-notch talent to bring the asteroid-ravaged planet to life. The series is written by Rex Mundi creator Arvid Nelson, for starters. Interior graphics are being handled by Andrea Mutti. who’s done some amazing work for DC’s Vertigo line and many others.

And then there are the covers, lovingly crafted by Hellblazer and Preacher cover artist Glenn Fabry. Fabry’s work alone will make this series a must-own for at least one comic book fan currently sitting in my computer chair.

Look for the series to kick off with issue one on June 22. Then look for Rage to hit the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 on September 13.

ROBOT 6

Dark Horse to release Rage video-game prequel

From Glenn Fabry's "Rage" cover

Dark Horse is teaming with developer id Software and video-game publisher Bethesda Softworks for a miniseries based on Rage, the first-person shooter set for release in September.

Debuting on June 22, the three-issue series is written by Arvid Nelson (Rex Mundi) and penciled by Andrea Mutti (DMZ), with covers by Glenn Fabry (Hellblazer, Preacher). Rage creative director Tom Willits will oversee the title.

Set before the events of the game, the comic is described as presenting “a new twist on the post-apocalyptic near future as one woman discovers that the survival of humankind doesn’t necessarily mean the survival of humanity.” In Rage, Earth has been devastated by a collision with an asteroid, leaving a fraction of the population to survive in live-sustaining Arks buried deep beneath the surface. When they emerge, they discover a wasteland controlled by a military dictatorship called the Authority, which has lied about this apocalypse came to be.

See the full Fabry cover after the break.

Rage prequel comic inbound from Dark Horse

by Randy Nelson on Mar 11th 2011 5:30PM

There's evidently enough of a story to id Software's upcoming Rage beyond mutants and, er, shooting to warrant a three-issue prequel comic from Dark Horse Comics. With its first issue set to hit shelves on June 22, the limited series is being written by Arvid Nelson, whose comic Rex Mundi, a murder mystery about the quest for the Holy Grail, was also published by Dark Horse.

The book is being drawn by Andrea Mutti, known for his work on Vertigo's DMZ. The three covers will be provided by Preacher and Hellblazer artist Glenn Fabry, who, like us, continues to draw inspiration fromthe cover of Dead Space: Extraction. You can see the full issue one cover after the break, startled female character and all.

RAGE Comic Book Series Revealed

Posted by on March 11th, 2011

Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company, and Dark Horse Comics today announced a three-issue comic book series based on id Softwares upcoming RAGE videogame. This original mini-series is being written by Arvid Nelsion, the acclaimed creator of Rex Mundi, and pencilled by Andrea Mutti (DMZ). The cover art is being created by Glenn Fabry, best known for his work on Hellblazer and Preacher.

RAGE Comic Coming from Dark Horse

By John Colaw

A comic series for the upcoming RAGE is being produced by Dark Horse comics. The three issue mini-series is being created by a crack team whose names and credentials should turn heads of comic fans everywhere. With a story written by Arvid Nelsion (creator of Rex Mundi), penciled by Andrea Mutti (DMZ), and cover art by Glenn Fabry (Hellblazer and Preacher), this book has all the trappings of something worth your attention.

The first issue is set to release on June 22nd, with the game releasing September 13th. Check your local comic shops for more details and please support them if you can.

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