This was one of the freebies from our recent visit to BICS 2009. Skizz written by Alan Moore and drawn by Jim Baikie was first published in 1983, serialised over a number of 2000AD issues. The main character is Skizz an alien that crash lands on Earth and is helped by a school girl called Roxy. Its set in Birmingham UK which is very appropriate considering I picked up the book at the Birmingham Comic Con and I have lived in Brum for 11 years so have a certain attachment to it. I can confidently say that this definitely helped me along when reading it. It was nice to see that not only was there recognisable land marks in the art but also regional accents in the script.

When I started reading this book I didn't really know how old it was. I should have appreciated that Moore (see what I did there...), as at first I was feeling a little disappointed that all of the characters were utterly familiar. We have all met them all before and they were pretty unoriginal. The odd thing though was that although I felt like that I still wanted to read on. I think this is testament to actually how good Alan Moore's writing is, not only was I hooked but after checking out when it was written it made me think that the reason we are so familiar with these sorts of characters is because of Moore.

The artwork is not really quite to my taste. I didn't hate it but I felt there was a lot of unnecessary detail that confused the page more than it did anything stylistic. I generally like black and white though and after reading a few pages I got in to reading the art work.

On the whole I enjoyed this. Its a quick hit short story that is well told and has a definite end conclusion, even if it was pretty predictable. I wouldn't say rush out and buy this as its definitely showing its age but if you see it for cheap some where and fancy a quick story in between something a bit heavier then do it. I guess its a bit like picking up a cheap DVD from the corner shop although that does read a lot harsher than it sounded in my head.

Link: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/09/22/marvel-uk-less-this-week/

Last week it was reported by Bleeding Cool that certain Marvel comics would not be available in the UK due to some mix up with the distributors. The titles in question were: Avengers Initiative #28, Fantastic Four #571, Guardians Of The Galaxy #18, Halo Helljumper #3, New Avengers #57, Riftwar #4, Uncanny X-Men #515 and Wolverine Origins #40. Those are some pretty big books we're looking at there, the Avengers titles and X-Men books alone are some of Marvel's biggest selling titles and in the week that Halo 3: ODST was released I think it's pretty inexcuseable to miss out Halo: HellJumper #3 when interest is at it's peak.

The problem is with the direct market, don't get me wrong I love comic book shops, my local shop is my home from home but it's the way that comics are distributed to that direct market. Diamond Distributors are currently the only source for comic shop owners to get hold of their comic books, you could even say they have a monopoly. If there's a problem with Diamond then everyone feels it, if Diamond lose your order; tough shit, you have nobody other than Diamond to complain to. You can't take your business elsewhere, there is literally nowhere to go. I feel that this lack of competition has made Diamond inexplicably complacent, lazy and far too powerful. You only have to look at the effect on the market Diamond had by raising the amount of pre-orders a book had to generate to even be listed in their direct market monthly Previews catalogue.

In a world where everything is so immediate and you can literally download (illegal as it may be) the entire weeks collection of comics in under an hour you'd think that comic book distribution would look to improve the service they offer. What is wrong with the publishers that they are allowing their books to be treated in such a disrespectful and harming manner? They've tried their own distribution before and it didn't work, now Diamond have all the business and it doesn't work, it's time for something new, something different. And it maybe that this is the problem, the comic book indistry is currently in a state of flux and it's possible nobody wants to move first just in case that is the wrong move. Everyday there are movements made towards more digital content, motion comics, digital comics, web comics, it seems that paper could be on the way out effectively destroying the direct market.

So now after all my bitching I'm left with the possibility that maybe the direct market that I 'hate' so much may disappear before my eyes and I'm filled with dread. I don't want it to go anywhere, there should always be a place for good old fashoned, in your hand, paper and ink comic books, it just needs to be managed better. So if you think you can do a better job at distributing millions of comic books across the globe, week on week, year on year, please for the sake of my sanity get to it.

Don't worry I'm not trying to fool anybody by the headline I realise I've been conspicuously quiet on the subject of Disney buying up Marvel Entertainment and with good reason. I honestly don't know how I feel about the whole thing and until we know more information it's very difficult to judge whether this is a good thing, a bad thing or just a 'meh' thing. One of the things that has amazed me about this deal is just how quiet they were able to keep the whole thing, I'm sure if you travel in the right circles (that'd be those stupid amounts of cash kind of circles) then you may've heard something but I was truly stunned when I heard the news.

There are a few things we do know:

1) Disney will be honouring all the current contracts that Marvel has with various movie studios with regards to distribution of their upcoming movies: Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers.

2) Current movie franchises that are owned by other studios will stay at thos studios under the terms originally set by Marvel.

3) Some people are gonna make a hell of a lot of money on this deal with some economists saying that Disney have paid far too much for Marvel Entertainment.

I think if you look at those three statements there are two possible conclusions to be made, either Disney are playing the long game not wanting to rock the boat until they really need to at which point Marvel properties will get raped withtin an inch of their lives or they are are genuinely interested in the properties and just see Marvel as an independent subsidary of the Disney family. We can't possibly know Disney's intention so there really is no point in speculating we'll just have to wait and see and focus on what we need to know about the future of both companies.

What I want to know:

1) Will Marvel be getting their hands on the Disney properties currently owned by Boom! Studios? This deal is still in it's infancy but Boom! appear to be doing a great job.

2) How much did John Lasseter (Principal Creative Advisor at Disney and former head of Pixar) have to do with the deal?

3) If John Lasseter did have something to do with the deal does this mean as AICN suggested that there could be a PIXAR/Marvel Team-up? I think I just multiple nerdgasmed!

4) What does the future hold for Universal's Marvel Superhero Island? Surely Disney will want to incorporate some of the 5000 Marvel characters they've acquired into their own theme parks?

5) And finally but probably most importantly how will this change effect the most important part of Marvel's business (as far as I'm concerned); the comic books.

That last one is impossible to answer, at best Marvel will be able to use the financial power of Disney to put out even better material at lower costs. At worst the interference of the corporate overseers will strangle creativity at the House of Ideas destroying everything they've built up. For now I'm keeping an open mind but I sure will be keeping a close eye on any developments at either Marvel or Disney and I recommend you do too.

Link: http://www.renegadeartsentertainment.com/news/?p=13

I rolled up to the comic shop and headed straight over to the "new comics" section with the sole intention of getting an issue #1 of something. I maybe should have done a bit of research first but felt like I wanted to take myself back to days before the internet where if you wanted to buy something you went in a shop and you bought it.

10 minutes later I leave the shop with an issue #1 of Channel Evil. I'll admit it, I'm a cheap whore who was totally seduced by the bold 3 colour cover and the black white art work which I would describe as a glossy version of Sin City. Its written by Alan Grant & the art is by Shane Oakley, at this point I guess I should be saying something about what they have done before but in all honesty I have no idea and no inclination to do any reaserch.

The premise in someone else's words:

A slick and sleazy television chat show host gets more than he bargained for when he channels an ancient source of evil, unleashing terror and carnage upon the world!

All the characters in this are clichéd to fuck. I mean you have the crass arse hole chat show host sceptical of everything, his sweet girl friend who gets him into something he doesn't believe in and the quietly confident clairvoyant. Not even half way in you can pretty much work exactly where this issue is going, and really this reads like a bad episode of Tales from the Crypt. When I started this review I thought that it had one saving grace and that was, that I wanted to see what they do with it. Where it goes and if the clichéd beginning was deliberate to set up the reader into thinking it will be a of processed cheese, but then flipping it on 'em and that be the twist in the tale. I'm not so sure now, I generally try to give something the benefit of the doubt particularly when you are only one issue in and I want to believe this is going to get better but I'm not so sure it will.

At this stage I don't know if I will buy another issue. I think I will just to give it a chance and to settle in with the story. I didn't like Proof "that much" 1 issue in but after issue 2 was hooked so there is precedent. Also this is only a 4 parter so maybe as a quick short it will be OK once I'm into it.

On the whole I would say this was disappointing but not total clown shoes.

Before I get into the article proper just wanted to say that I have had this one laying round for a few weeks, waiting to be finished off so if anything is out of date..... tuff.

This is the first in a set of articles I aim to write called 'Strictly Digital'. I will be taking a look into digital comics available for the iPhone. I'm interested in how conversions will be made for this specific medium and also to see how titles might develop when made purposely to be digital only releases. I think it could be a little while before that starts happening, as it must be cheaper to convert something over rather than starting a title from scratch but as the market matures and other portable devices become viable options I would hope that we will see more appear. Over at Comic Book Resources they have a great comparison using a page from the Proof book and how this now looks on the iPhone.

I'm going to start with a couple of titles that are available for free via the App Store in iTunes that all use the iVerse player. As far as I'm aware you will need to have either an iPod Touch or iPhone to view them.

Read more »

Link: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18655

As we've been putting out alot of the Super-Obama pictures I thought I'd put up this last one from LA I saw on CBR today. I like the fact that it's graffiti and show's the will of the people right down to street level, it's good to see that people still care enough about politics to deface public property. This is the way it should be.

Way back in Sidekickcast Episode #1 we briefly discussed the range of Presidential Comics being brought to us by IDW publishing . This sparked my interest in the links between comics and politics, was this a one off event or was there evidence to suggest comics have been the secret weapon in political campaigning?

I decided to begin my investigation by learning all I could about the source of my inspiration; the Presidential Materials comics from IDW. There are three books available, each US presidential candidate has their own biographical story with a third flipbook also available collecting both candidate's issue in one volume. The Barack Obama writing duties are being handled by Wheadonverse novel author Jeff Mariotte, whilst Andy Helfer, a former editor at DC with biographies of Malcolm X and Ronald Reagan under his belt crafts John McCain's journey that could lead to the White House.

Each story chronicles the life events that drove these men to pursue the hot seat at the Oval office, including their rise to prominence in the US political system. At the time of posting IDW reports that pre-order sales have Obama with a significant lead over John McCain; 48-34%. Will this be reflected come polling day or is it more likely that people that comics are already more attracted to the more liberal ideals of the Democratic party? Surely John McCain's story has the potential to be a far more entertaining story, his time as a POW during the Vietnam War should provide the reader with some real life drama and tragedy.

Read more »

Link: http://erictanart.blogspot.com/

Ok, I realise I may be a bit behind the times, especially when you consider Eric Tan posted this image on his blog at least eight months ago, but look at it, it is quite possibly one of the most awesome posters I’ve ever seen…fact! You may have heard the Disney designer’s name being mentioned in all the right places recently due to his again stunning, stylised work on the Wal-E posters. This X-Men poster, made for a Stan Lee art exhibition incorporates a similar style used on his Incredibles work with inspiration from old UFA German cinema posters.