Stuart Moore:
Blog, Biography, Bibliography

Thursday, December 27, 2007

End of the Year Thoughts (1)

Been a while since my last post. Time gets away from you.

Anyway, here's an exercise. Watch any news program, from CNN to the nightly network broadcasts. Note how many stories there are that just seem to be designed to make you nervous, then end with a shrug: Everything's screwed up and nobody knows why.

Now imagine the newscaster finishing each of these stories by saying: "The reason, of course, is the hideous mismanagement of [FILL IN TOPIC]* over the past seven years by the Republican Party leadership of the United States of America."

You're still nervous, but at least things make more sense now.

*Greatest hits: Katrina, the food supply, NSA spying, torture, and of course Iraq. There are a lot more, of course.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

State of the Art: Earth Year 2007 BCE

I just wrote this in a conversation on Heidi's excellent blog, but that thread is getting a bit old, so I thought I'd repost it here. The whole thread is well worth reading.

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This is educated guesswork, but here's how the comics market seems to break down in late 2007, to me:

Superhero readers are divided between those who prefer trade paperbacks and a still-strong contingent of readers who follow single issues month to month. From the continuing sales of singles, I assume that those readers are not bothered by the common net complaints of extended plot threads or lack of "enough content" per issue. They still like buying their comics every week and following continued stories as they come out.

Indy comics readers, in contrast, have largely abandoned the single-issue format. They prefer a larger chunk of work and are willing to pay for it. For most indy publishers, including (I'm hearing) Slave Labor, singles are no longer worth the expense to publish.

There are, of course, exceptions on both sides, particularly for long-established creators with an existing following. It's definitely true that if fans really want to read a new comic -- any new comic -- they'll follow it to the format it's published in.

And along those lines: I seem to be the only one, but the new LOVE & ROCKETS format mystifies me. I understand the impulse to try something that fits the material better, but this strikes me as combining the high price of a trade paperback with the short shelf-life (and lack of bookstore salability) of a single issue. Sam Henderson tried something similar a few years ago with, I recall, disastrous results. ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY works, but that's a real art object. And I say this as someone who will buy it -- I'd buy LOVE & ROCKETS if it was stencilled on the side of shipping containers.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Batman: Death and the City

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Out this week: BATMAN: DEATH AND THE CITY, a collection of stories from Detective Comics. Includes the two-part story "SIEGE" by me and Andy Clarke, in which a mad bomber decides to bring down Wayne Tower. Robin must try to stop the bomber from the lower floors, while Bruce Wayne is trapped upstairs, unable to change to Batman, with a group of peace conference delegates.

This story was a lot of fun and Andy drew the hell out of it. You can see his Robin up above -- as good a shot as I've ever seen of that character. He didn't get to draw Batman until late in the story, but it was worth the wait.

The book also features several other stories written by Paul Dini and Royal McGraw, and drawn by Don Kramer and Wayne Faucher. $14.99 from DC Comics.

In other news, I promise a blog post soon that ISN'T just blatant self-promotion. Been busy!

Monday, November 12, 2007

C'mon In...

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...while I discuss GHOST RIDER ANNUAL #1, on sale this week.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Transformers Spotlight: Ramjet

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Out today: a self-contained one-shot by me and Robby Musso. Five reasons you should buy it:

• Robby draws the best Decepticons in the business.
• The opening sequence features two alien planes speeding clear across the world while having a nice, long conversation.
• Ramjet has a cone for a head.
• This story follows on my AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS miniseries, but it stands completely on its own. No prior knowledge is necessary.
• It wasn't until I finished writing this book that I realized I'd written a variation on a classic Warner Brothers cartoon plot, adapted for the modern Transformers milieu.

From IDW Publishing - $3.99 US. For a preview, go here.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Final Nightmare

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For now, anyway. Join the NIGHTMARE FACTORY crew -- joined on this occasion by Fox Atomic e-i-c Eric Lieb, editor Heidi MacDonald, and master artist Ted McKeever -- for this panel discussion:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2007 – NEW YORK, NY
MOCCA – MUSEUM OF COMIC & CARTOON ART — 6:30 p.m.

594 Broadway/Suite 401
(bet. Houston & Prince)
New York, NY 10003

(212) 254-3511

Writers Stuart Moore and Joe Harris, artists Michael Gaydos and Ted McKeever, editor Heidi MacDonald and Fox Atomic Editor-in-Chief Eric Lieb come together for a discussion of Fox Atomic and The Nightmare Factory with moderator Calvin Reid, PW. -- FREE

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The panelists have a pretty wide variety of experience, so we're planning to open up the discussion to a lot of different areas depending on audience interest. Come on out and ask us anything. (Straight answers are not guaranteed.)

Both of last week's events were a blast. The Comic Book Club show is hilarious -- well worth a visit, and fun to be part of. And the McNally Robinson Bookstore went all out for Halloween. We signed books, listened to five authors read scary stories, and drank complimentary beer (good beer, too!). Here's Heidi at the party:

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Sunday, October 28, 2007

This Week: The Nightmare Factory

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It's Halloween and that means I'm running around NYC promoting THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY! Here's the scoop -- note revised location and time for the first item:

1. Tuesday, October 30 @ 9:30 PM:

COMIC BOOK CLUB
***NIGHTMARE FACTORY SPECIAL***

Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben

Featuring:
Stuart Moore (New Avengers/Transformers)
Joe Harris (Darkness Falls)
Michael Gaydos (Alias)
& Colleen Doran (Sandman)

Tickets: $10 tickets in advance / $15 tickets day of show
***$5 off with the promo code CBCCMX***

Online: ComixNY.com
Phone: 212-524-2500

COMIX NY
353 West 14th St.
Just East of 9th Ave.

Check out the Comic Book Club website, and their MySpace page.

The show is sponsored in part by Midtown Comics.

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2. Wednesday, October 31 @ 6:00 PM:

– NEW YORK, NY
MCNALLY ROBINSON BOOKSELLERS —
52 Prince St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 274-1160
*Literary Halloween Party event with readings; refreshments – FREE
*Silent projections from horror comic anthology Nightmare Factory (HarperCollins/Fox Atomic) and signings by artist Colleen Doran and writer Stuart Moore

Sunday, October 21, 2007

New Avengers: The Spirit of America

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I haven't promoted this project because most of you can't get it -- but I'm proud of it anyway. It's the fifth in a series of NEW AVENGERS comics produced specifically for the US army's soldiers, and the second one I've written. I always feel a particular sense of responsibility working on these books, because of the terrible burdens our soldiers face these days.

In this book, a message from Captain America -- taped before his death -- sends Wolverine and Iron Man, separately, to protect two siblings -- a soldier and a national guardsman -- who, together, hold the key to an A.I.M. terrorist plot. I had some fun with the Iron Man/Captain America conflict, and also with the fact that Wolverine now has dual membership in the Avengers and the X-Men. (He drags Cyclops overseas with him.)

There's a nice, brief review here. If anyone else has read it and has feedback -- or has a friend or relative serving, who gets hold of it -- I'd love to hear it.

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Saturday, October 20, 2007

January: Two Trades

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Briefly noted: In January, Marvel has two trade paperbacks featuring my work:

NEW AVENGERS / TRANSFORMERS is collected into a single volume for the low, low price of $10.99 US. Doctor Doom, the Autobots, and Giant Iron Man vs. Megatron. And admit it: There's some small, shameful, reptile part of your brain that's always wanted to see Luke Cage buddy up with Ratchet.

And GHOST RIDER: APOCALYPSE SOON collects two regular issues of Daniel Way's run on the book, along with my Annual -- which isn't even out yet. Introducing the mysterious Mister Eleven...a man trapped between Heaven and Hell, who seeks Ghost Rider for his own, selfish reasons.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Redwall

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While I wasn't looking, REDWALL - the Graphic Novel slipped into comic shops and bookstores. This is a faithful adaptation of the first novel in Brian Jacques's much-loved fantasy series, about a group of mice and badgers under assault from the evil rat Cluny the Scourge and his minions. It was once described to me as "Wind in the Willows meets Lord of the Rings," which is about as close as you can get...with its own brand of charm and adventure.

School Library Journal says: "The adaptation of the novel is excellent; even this condensed form captures the spirit and the language of the original...The story is a page-turner, and the detailed black-and-white drawings capture both the passion and the pathos."

I provided the script adaptation, and Bret Blevins came through with the best art of his career. Comics fans may remember Bret from his '80s and '90s Marvel work, which was often excellent -- but he's much more at home here. See the sample pages below.

More information on the Amazon page.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The 99

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This week, Teshkeel Comics begins its U.S. publication schedule in earnest with THE 99 #1. THE 99 is a multinational, multicultural team of teenaged superheroes, each of whom possesses one of 99 Noor Stones -- ancient gems of power that bring out a particular attribute within each person. The first few members: Jabbar the Powerful, Noora the Light (pictured on cover #1, above), Darr the Afflicter, and Jami the Assembler (cover #2, below).

THE 99 has already been published in Kuwait, and distributed overseas to great acclaim. This past summer, Teshkeel distributed two free preview issues to comic shops in the U.S., each featuring two full-length stories. Check with your local shop to see if they're available.

These are superhero comics aimed largely at kids, designed deliberately to foster a message of international and cross-cultural cooperation. The first two issues each feature lead stories co-written by creator Naif al-Mutawa and Fabian Nicieza, with art by John McCrea; and back-features written by me, with art by Steve Yeowell (#1) and McCrea (#2). I'll have some full-length stories later in the run.

Check 'em out. More information on Teshkeel -- which also publishes Marvel, DC, and Archie comics overseas -- here.

UPDATE: Very nice interview with Fabian about THE 99 on Comic Book Resources.

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Tuesday, October 9, 2007

This Week

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Out tomorrow: NEW AVENGERS / TRANSFORMERS #4.

Preview here.

And don't forget, Thursday night: I'm signing at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan. Details here, or directly below...

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Factory Work

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We're doing a lot of promotion for THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY in New York City, over the next month.

First off:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2007 – NEW YORK, NY
JIM HANLEY’S UNIVERSE — 6:30 p.m.
4 West 33rd St.
New York, NY 10001
(off 5th Ave. - opposite the Empire State Building)

*Signing event with Nightmare Factory writers/artists: Stuart Moore, Joe Harris, Michael Gaydos *

Steve Niles is on at 5:00, and then we bat cleanup. A nice bunch of guys and a great creepy book.

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Later in the month, Colleen Doran joins us for:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007 – NEW YORK, NY
THE COMIC BOOK CLUB — 8:00 p.m.
@ The Peoples Improv Theater
154 West 29th St., 2nd Fl.
(btwn. 6th and 7th Aves.)
New York, NY 10001

*Live radio interview/panel event with studio audience – entry fee $5.00/per person
*Panel of artists/writers: Stuart Moore, Joe Harris, Colleen Doran, Michael Gaydos

NOTE: TIME AND LOCATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS CHANGED -- GO HERE FOR DETAILS!

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And:

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007 – NEW YORK, NY
MCNALLY ROBINSON BOOKSELLERS — 6:00 p.m.
52 Prince St
New York, NY 10012

*Literary Halloween Party event with readings; refreshments – FREE
*Silent projections from horror comic anthology Nightmare Factory (HarperCollins/Fox Atomic) and signings by artist Colleen Doran and writer Stuart Moore

I ain't never been to no "Lit'ry Halloween Party" before. Does m'pumpkin need a tie?

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Finally, Heidi MacDonald and Ted McKeever join us for:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2007 – NEW YORK, NY
MOCCA – MUSEUM OF COMIC & CARTOON ART — 6:30 p.m.
594 Broadway/Suite 401
(bet. Houston & Prince)
New York, NY 10003

*Writers Stuart Moore and Joe Harris, artists Michael Gaydos and Ted McKeever, and editor Heidi MacDonald come together for a discussion about Fox Atomic and The Nightmare Factory with moderator Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly. -- FREE

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And then we are tired.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Ghost Rider Annual

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First look at the color art, plus a wide-ranging interview with me.

More on GHOST RIDER ANNUAL #1 here.

Elsewhere, on Johanna Carlson's site, I seem to be involved in a debate about the Zuda contracts. The best solution: Blast them with the Penance Stare. Then you'll know a company's true intentions!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Eye to Eye (Marvel Edition)

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Preview of NEW AVENGERS / TRANSFORMERS #4 -- the heavy-metal conclusion.

Two nice reviews of MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #1:

Augie de Blieck at Comic Book Resources.

Stacy B. at The Comic Stew.

A Love Story

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Special thanks to Bunny-Luv Carrot Snax (rabbit), Red Hot & Blue Memphis Pit Bar-B-Que (pigs), and Some Fax Machine Where I Used to Work (Mickey).

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Qvote Unqvote

"Mike Nichols told me long ago that there is no such thing as a career -- that if a person has done five great things over three decades of work she is indeed blessed."

-David Mamet, BAMBI VS GODZILLA

Monday, September 17, 2007

Marvel Comics Presents

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Out this week: Marvel Comics Presents #1, featuring no fewer than four stories (update/correction: FIVE!) of, and by, Marvel's finest:

COVER BY: J. SCOTT CAMPBELL

WRITER: MARC GUGGENHEIM
STUART & KATHYRN IMMONEN
STUART MOORE
RICH KOSLOWSKI

PENCILS: STUART IMMONEN
CLAYTON HENRY
DAVE WILKINS

LETTERED BY: DAVE SHARPE

THE STORY:
Classic heroes! Top talent! All-new stories! Jump on board the landmark first issue of MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS! 4—count ‘em 4—brand new stories with a landmark wrap-around cover by J. Scott Campbell! Inside, you’ll find these incredible mysteries: Who is DAMIEN CROSS? Why will his murder shake the very foundations of the Marvel Universe? Why is SPIDER-MAN needed in outer space? Patsy Walker is HELLCAT. But then who’s the other HELLCAT? What is the SYSTEM? And what does it mean for the future of super heroes? Extra-sized first issue!
48 PGS./Rated A …$3.99

IN STORES: September 19, 2007

My story, "Unfriendly Neighborhood" featuring Spider-Man, is a great little eight-pager. And Clayton Henry (UNCANNY X-MEN) did a really sweet job on the art. If you ever wondered what would happen if John Romita Sr.'s Spider-Man joined the Green Lantern Corps...well, this is probably about as close as you'll ever get.

Preview the stories here, and read about them here.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

The New Swamp Thing

More from the vaults:

At some point, Swamp Thing was flagging a bit, so Tom Peyer and I decided to brainstorm some new approaches. First Tom drew this enticing "teaser ad":

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Then I drafted this idea over an existing piece of Mike Hoffman art (sorry, Mike):

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However, in high-level discussions, it was deemed that World War II books were on the way out. So Tom came through with this inspired redesign instead, brilliantly revamping the character for the '90s:

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Sadly, "the suits" didn't see it that way, and life went on.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

A Tom Peyer Classic

I was just cleaning my files...

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This is from the period where Tom and I were the two pre-Vertigo Vertigo editors. Note the Hellblazer logo briefly used on the early Garth Ennis issues.

I've got more embarrassing nonsense I can put up if people want. For the Tom Peyer of 2007, go here!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

O Say Can You See

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On sale Wednesday: NEW AVENGERS / TRANSFORMERS #3. Where it all hits the fan belt. Luke Cage and Ratchet infiltrate the Array in search of Spider-Man, while the Avengers and Autobots, including Giant Iron Man, battle the Decepticons. And what's Doctor Doom up to? (For that matter, what's Ramjet up to?)

Check out the series everyone's talking about.

Also out this week: CRUEL AND UNUSUAL, a dark comedy by Jamie Delano, Tom Peyer, and John McCrea, originally edited by, uh...let's see...me. For details, see our sister blog, Beer & Meat.

Comic Shops and Such

This article by Tom Spurgeon does a really nice job of breaking down the direct market's purpose, potential, and problems in refreshingly unhysterical (ahysterical?) terms. I have a similar feeling about the worth of this market: Without comic shops, I'd have "aged out" of reading comics in my twenties, too.

I'd add a couple notes to the "scheduling" section. This issue tends to get heated very fast because it's actually two very different problems with related, self-reinforcing reactions. Fans hate late comics because, well, they want their comics, and because many of them grow to adulthood with the gradual realization that institutions they've trusted (parents, Presidents of the United States, DC and Marvel) aren't perfect and, in fact, sometimes do bad things. Late books are a very simple proof of a broken contract. And because the draconian newsstand distribution system of the '70s and prior made late titles almost unheard of, their current presence is evidence of a Decline in Overall Professionalism. (Which it's not, really. It's just that when Gil Kane or Neal Adams was late, the company would slap in a fill-in or a reprint.)

Late comics are a different and serious problem for retailers, especially cash-strapped ones. Comic shops budget tightly on nonreturnable product, and a late title -- or, to be precise, a high-profile late title -- can cause them real trouble, especially when that book misses its solicited ship date by months. It's therefore in retailers' interest to rile fans up about a popular title that's absent from the shelves for several months at a time. And the retailers' understandable agitation justifies the fans' feelings that the companies are screwing them.

Despite this, as I've said before, there's no evidence at all that fans stop reading late books. Readers read books they're interested in and stop reading books they're not, whether those books come out as solicited or months later. (Tightly-plotted crossover titles are a special case, but even there it's not clear the interest goes away unless the order of books published is seriously compromised. I don't think anybody's sitting on unsold copies of the later CIVIL WAR installments.)

There are ways to deal with late books; I used most of them when I was a full-time editor. And they should be dealt with, for the sake of retailers' fiscal health. But this topic kicks up a lot of smoke that obscures the real issues.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

My Buddy

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Ladies and gentlemen, Puck the Cat. Seventeen years old, slowing down a little but still a complete asshole. He needs medicine swabbed in his ear twice a day; one time, when a sitter tried to do it, he pissed all over the sitter and THEN all over the sitter's duffel bag. That sure ruined somebody's plans for the evening, didn't it? DIDN'T IT YOU CUTE LITTLE WOOBIE DOOBIE?

Puck's favorite period was when we had a bachelor pad, just the two of us. He still hasn't forgiven me for moving us in with a woman. In 1993.

He went to the doctor recently. When they pulled him out of the carrier, he went postal, spazzed his way past two trained vets onto the floor, then calmed down completely. I think he just had to let them know: I still got it.

He's my best friend.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

My Boyfriend Won't Wash the Dishes in the Sink...

...but my couple-times-a-month e-mail newsletter just went out today. Most of the information is also provided here on the blog, but you never know. Sometimes I slip in a bon mot so juste , you'd hate to miss it. This installment covers THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY, GHOST RIDER ANNUAL, and TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT: RAMJET, among other topics.

You can subscribe to the newsletter by sending an email to me at stuartcomics at mindspring.com. Just replace the "at" with...you know.

(No, I don't really have a boyfriend. It's just an obscure song I've always liked.)

Monday, September 3, 2007

Two from Dos Passos

aren't you coming to the anarchist picnic there's going to be an anarchist picnic sure you've got to come to the anarchist picnic this afternoon it was way out at Garches in a kind of park it took a long time to get out there we were late there were youngsters and young girls with glasses and old men with their whiskers and long white zits and everybody wore black artist ties some had taken off their shoes and stockings and were wandering around in the long grass a young man with a black artist tie was reading a poem. Voila said a voice c'est plutot le geste proletaire it was a nice afternoon we sat on the grass and looked around le geste proletaire

But God damn it they've got all the machineguns in the world all the printingpresses linotypes tickerribbon curling iron plushhorses Ritz and we you I? barehands a few songs not very good songs plutot le geste proletaire

--Nineteen Nineteen (U.S.A. volume two), 1932

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it was the speech that clung to the ears, the link that tingled in the blood; U.S.A.

U.S.A. is the slice of the continent. U.S.A. is a group of holding companies, some aggregations of trade unions, a set of laws bound in calf, a radio network, a chain of moving picture theatres, a column of stockquotations rubbed out and written in by a Western Union boy on a blackboard, a public-library full of old newspapers and dogeared historybooks with protests scrawled on the margins in pencil. U.S.A. is the world's greatest rivervalley fringed with mountains and hills. U.S.A. is a set of bigmouthed officials with too many bankaccounts. U.S.A. is a lot of men buried in their uniforms in Arlington Cemetery. U.S.A. is the letters at the end of an address when you are away from home. But mostly U.S.A. is the speech of the people.

--Introduction to the U.S.A. trilogy, 1930

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Happy Labor Day.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Lazy Labor Day Links



Interview & preview: NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS.

Likewise: MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #1.

Review: THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY.

Friday, August 31, 2007

KTHXBYE

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I haven't seen this on any comics sites, but courtesy of Cute Overload: Go here for an extremely charming, funny series of mock-vintage comic strips featuring a cast of hobo cats -- who talk entirely in LOL-cat-speak.

A completely unique idea, and some of the best new cartooning I've seen in a long time. The creator's blog is Hobotopia; he sells originals and merchandise.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Qvote Unqvote

"Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you."

-Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

Marvel Comics Presents #1

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This new anthology, out September 19th, features the 8-page Spider-Man story "Unfriendly Neighborhood" by me and Clayton Henry of recent X-MEN fame. Preview here.

MCP #1 also features stories by Stuart & Kathryn Immonen, Rich Koslowski, and Dave Wilkins, and a wraparound cover by J. Scott Campbell.

If you read only one Spider-Man story this year...well, let's not kid ourselves, it'll probably be this one. But ours is worth a look too, especially if -- like me -- you always liked the Green Lantern Corps but secretly thought they were, well, kind of silly.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Wednesday: The Nightmare Factory

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Out this week in comic shops: THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY, a gorgeous graphic album of stories adapted from the works of Thomas Ligotti. Includes "The Last Feast of Harlequin" by me and Colleen Doran, and "Dream of a Mannikin" by me and Ben Templesmith. Plus two other stories by Joe Harris, Ted McKeever, and Michael Gaydos.

We're all pretty proud of this one; Ligotti's stories were tricky to adapt, but I'm very happy with the results. From the fine folks at Fox Atomic/HarperCollins.

More at the above links, and IGN has exclusive preview pages from all the stories here.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Qvote Unqvote

"Easy cynicism is no more truthful than easy optimism, though it seems to be so to the young."

-Philip Pullman

Sunday, August 26, 2007

This Is The One

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The COMPLETE PEANUTS series from Fantagraphics has been chugging along for three-plus years now, and a new volume isn't greeted as an event anymore. The first seven books showed the evolution of the characters, some false starts (the characters 3,4, and 5 never really caught on), and presented a fascinating collection of never-before-reprinted strips, including an early continuity featuring an out-of-character Lucy in a golf tournament with actual adults.

But THIS is the one. This is where it all comes together. 1965-66 was the absolute height of Charles Schulz's continuity storytelling. It starts off with the finale (continued from the previous volume) of Charlie Brown's agonizing attempts to put off writing a school-vacation book report as long as possible. He can't bring himself to actually do the work, but he can't enjoy a single minute of his Christmas break, either.

Then we proceed to Sally's childlike/adolescent humiliation at having to wear an eyepatch for her amblyopia. Charlie Brown's total humiliation at the spelling bee, after which he screams at the teacher and spends a week of strips dreading his visit to the principal's office. Lucy and Linus's deep sadness when their parents decide to move away from the neighborhood (temporarily, of course). The introduction of beatnik lesbian Peppermint Patty, an ideal foil for the others and a perfectly realized character from Strip One. The first, agonizing, Little Red-Haired Girl strips --and, counterpointing them, the first two summer camp storylines, where we see that even losers can leave their familiar surroundings and, temporarily, become Someone Else.

And near the end, in a horrifying sequence, Snoopy's doghouse burns to the ground. This storyline in particular taps into a lot of genuine fear and dread, from Snoopy trying to sleep on the charred, bowed, fish-skeleton framework of his former house; to Lucy's blame-the-victim insistence that "he was probably smoking in bed"; to Snoopy's frustration with red tape as he tries to build a new home.

Schulz's timing is at its height here, and so are his facial expressions. Incidental panels pop out at you, like Charlie Brown and Snoopy sitting together on a chair, talking; or Snoopy angrily BOOT-ing Lucy clear out of the panel when she suggests his plans for a new home are too extravagant -- "He's only a stupid dog!" There are curiosities, too, like a Christmas strip wherein Linus recites the same verse as in A Charlie Brown Christmas, but in Revised Standard translation, not King James. (The strip, which I believe was published after the Christmas special, takes pains to point out the source version. It must have been important to Schulz for some reason.)

Most of us initially read these strips in scattered, dog-eared paperbacks, the strips shuffled and rearranged. Sometimes this made the continuities tighter -- for instance, Linus's two strips about "the gift of prophecy" appear here hundreds of pages apart, but they're funnier when read together. But assembled in order of original publication, these strips really show a cartoonist at the absolute height of his powers. This is the first volume where the incidental, one-off strips never let you down. Spliced in and among the continuities are such gems as Snoopy waiting in line for the movies with everyone else, proud of belonging, until he reaches the front and realizes "I don't even know what's going on"; Lucy's hilarious non-fight with Snoopy; and Violet -- a much-diminished character by this point -- proclaiming to Charlie Brown, "I'll be glad when I grow up and can move out of this neighborhood...everyone around here bores me!" "Everyone?" he replies. "Especially 'everyone'!!!"

And sometimes, Schulz weaves storylines together in unexpected ways. While Charlie Brown deals with the horrors of the spelling bee in the daily strips, the Sundays feature some of the finest of the surreal, mock-melodramatic Snoopy/Red Baron gags. Then, in the last daily of that sequence, Charlie Brown -- trudging home after "the worst day of my life" -- thinks, "On a day like this, a person really needs his faithful dog to come running out to greet him." Snoopy, of course, sits astride his sopwith camel, wholly focused on his quest for the Red Baron. Charlie Brown just sighs.

One note: Skip the Hal Hartley introduction. Hartley completely ignores this finest period of Peanuts, dwelling instead on (a) lesser strips from a later period and (b) his own films and the critical reaction to same. The piece is both egotistical and out of place; it would have fit much better in a later volume or, preferably, in a drawer. This book deserves better.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Shadrach Stone

Something a little different: Here are a few pages and images from SHADRACH STONE, a project Jon Proctor and I are working right now to place with a publisher. It's a politically-charged drama about the biggest liar in America, who undergoes a horrific ordeal on 9/11 and finds, afterward, that he cannot lie. And that's only the beginning of his initiation into a nightmare of parallel worlds.

Jon's work can currently be seen in AiT/PlanetLar's The Black Diamond.

Comments welcomed...if you click through the Flickr links, you can see larger versions.

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All work TM & © 2007 Stuart Moore and Jon Proctor.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

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"He is an artist only in the sense that he is not a hydraulic engineer."

-Thomas M. Disch on Ray Bradbury

(I love Bradbury's work, but that quote always makes me laugh.)

The Perfect Prize that Waits Among the Shelves

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Tom McLean's Bags and Boards reports on a project I haven't publicized yet: A short prequel comic to the upcoming SciFi miniseries TIN MAN, written by me and drawn by Siju Thomas. TIN MAN, which airs in December, is a hard-edged updating of The Wizard of Oz. It features a great cast including Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cummings, and Richard Dreyfuss, and some really gorgeous set designs.

The comic was a giveaway at Comic-Con San Diego, but Tom reports that it'll be rolled out on the SciFi website and for cellphones soon. Don't read it while you're driving!

Tom has the first five pages up, and SciFi has a very cool TIN MAN website.

And just to clarify: This project was packaged by Virgin Comics, but it's not directly related to the Virgin/SciFi imprint that I'll be editing. More on that soon.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Now Soliciting: Ghost Rider Annual #1

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GHOST RIDER ANNUAL #1
Written by STUART MOORE
Pencils & Cover by BEN OLIVER
Meet the mysterious Mister Eleven -- a powerful player with a unique place in the battle between Heaven and Hell! But is he an angel, a demon, or something else entirely? Ghost Rider and Lucifer may find out -- if they survive an epic battle in a snow-covered, deserted amusement park! This story by Stuart Moore (NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS) and Ben Oliver (ULTIMATE X-MEN) stands alone, but also introduces an important new character into the Ghost Rider mythos!
48 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

An interesting project...I had an idea for a new character that might fit in with GHOST RIDER, and Axel Alonso liked it. GHOST RIDER has a tougher tone to capture than you might think; it's part horror, part action-adventure, and part comedy. I think it came together nicely.

I also wanted to throw Ghost Rider into snowy New England, since most of his stories are set in the rural south or southwest.

Ben Oliver is mostly known for his ULTIMATE X-MEN work, but he's done this whole book in graywash and it looks really wild. A nice departure from a talented artist.

On sale November 14th.

Monday, August 20, 2007

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A good thought for a Monday:

"All the time you spend tryin to get back what's been took from you there's more goin out the door."

-Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

Sunday, August 19, 2007

More Ramjet

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Preview art for TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT: RAMJET, written by me and drawn by Robby Musso, coming from IDW in November.

I really get a kick out of this opening sequence. Just two alien supersonic jets having a nice conversation as they fly all the way around the world.

More info here.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

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"Easy cynicism is no more truthful than easy optimism, though it seems to be so to the young."

-Philip Pullman

Friday, August 17, 2007

Now Soliciting: Ramjet Spotlight

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TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT: RAMJET is a one-shot written by me and drawn by Robby Musso, a talented artist who's done at least one other SPOTLIGHT for IDW. His opening sequence is gorgeous -- he's great with planes, and his work has a really nice sense of motion to it. If IDW's cool with it, I'll post some of the art here soon.

RAMJET spins out of my current NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS miniseries, where the wiley Decepticon just made his first IDW-Universe appearance. But the Spotlight is self-contained. If you've read NEW AV/TRANS, you'll get more of where the conehead is coming from. If not, you'll just get a good metal ass-kicking story.

And when all is said and done: His name is RAMJET and he has a CONE FOR A HEAD.

What more do you need to know?

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Qvote Unqvote - Special Rvdy Givliani edition

"Giuliani combines Bush's foreign policy genius with Clinton's sexual impulse control."

- Reader "DC," from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo

Yak Yak Yak

Two recent interviews with me, both covering a variety of subjects:

The Comic Book Gazette asks me about favorite writers, characters, and stories, and digs up the first comic book I ever read.

Fractal Matter talks Transformers, Virgin/SciFi, and the Writer/Editor Problem...which I like to think of as comics' own version of the Mind/Body Dichotomy.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Last Feast of Harlequin

Another story from THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY, this one adapted by me and Colleen Doran. I'm posting the first two pages, lettered; these are the black and white versions. Colleen has a couple of others in colored (unlettered) form, with commentary, here.

I'm really happy with this book; the other stories are by Joe Harris, Michael Gaydos, and Ted McKeever. Well worth a look when it hits stores, in a couple of weeks. And let me know what you think.

Edit: I just noticed I forgot to use any adjectives like "stunning" or "evocative" or "beautifully detailed" for Colleen's work on this story. My bad. The Ligotti stories are very tricky to adapt because most of the horror is psychological and interior. Colleen did a gorgeous job.

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"Any deviation from nominal magnifies the anxiety."

- Bigelow Aerospace program manager Eric Haakonstad on the launching of Genesis 2, its second privately-built orbital module, 6/28/07

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Dream of a Mannikin

Out in a couple of weeks: THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY, a graphic album featuring several stories adapted from the works of horror writer Thomas Ligotti.

One of the stories is "Dream of a Mannikin," adapted by me and the inimitable Ben Templesmith...who's best known for Thirty Days of Night, with Steve Niles, and Fell, with Warren Ellis.

Here are the first two pages. The low resolution doesn't do justice to Ben's exquisite painting, but I wanted to show off the lettering as well.

Mannikin_01

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Tomorrow: "The Last Feast of Harlequin," adapted by me and Colleen Doran.