THIS is:

1. A must-read for anyone looking to turn their art into money.

2. The reason why I focus on publishing my own stuff.

Thanks to my mandatory daily read Journalista! for the link.

Also, holy moly look at this DEMO cover by Becky Cloonan. Seems like just yesterday the first Demo series was dropping from AIT and now its all puttin’ on the frills with the big boys. Time flies, is all I’m sayin’.

I’ve been a fan of Becky Cloonan for years (What self-respecting comics fan isn’t? Demo? American Virgin? East Coast Rising? 5? Pixu? Tales of the Vampires?).

She and Hwan Cho have teamed up for a new weekly webcomic “K.G.B.” (kgbcomic.com) and they gave me some of the inside scoop. Honestly anytime two cartoonists team up to co-write and co-illustrate something, it’s always interesting and if the first installment is any indication it doesn’t look exactly like anything either has done before.

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22887

     Based on the concept of the previous miniseries, Tales of the Vampires, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight: Tales of the Vampires is actually only one tale.  A young man living in Massachusetts is bored with his life and desires something more.  He tries to get a rush from being fed upon by vampires, but that still is not enough.  One day, he refuses to be fed upon, and the vampires beat him extremely badly.  A female vampire, whom he met before, sires him in order to save his life.  Although he is initially happy with his new situation and gets revenge on the vampires who hurt him, life is still somewhat boring.  Eventually, his only friend, who turns out to be a Slayer, kills the vampire who sired him.  In anger, he decides to sire her so that they may be together.

     This issue was rather interesting, even though it was only tangentially related to the Buffy universe.  Rather, what it did show was how the world now was, with vampires out in the open thanks to Harmony’s reality TV show.  Vampires can go wherever, and so long as they harm no one and only feed upon those who consent to it in secrecy, they are not ostracized.  It’s a slightly different version of the way things are in the world of True Blood.  The juxtaposition of the two women in the boy’s life is also interesting, with one being a Slayer and the other a vampire.  I’d like to see Becky Cloonan do a bit more Buffy stuff, since she showed a fair understanding of the world. Vasilis Lolos was the perfect artist for this, as he captured the darkness of the subject matter while still keeping it grounded by reflecting the age of the characters.  In essence, it was an amusing story, if inconsequential.

Plot: 8.0      Art: 8.0      Dialogue: 8.0      Overall: 8.0

Conan doing the Batusi by Becky Cloonan

‘Tusi #: 062

Artist:  Beck Cloonan
Subject: Conan The Barbarian
Date: May 9, 2009
Location: Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Note(s): I feel shame every time I look at this sketch.  It has been a LONG time since I last read a Conan book so when I saw Becky’s  sketch, the “What is good in life”  had me stumped.  I think she took pity on me when I asked her about it…

This has been an epic month and a half in nerdery.  Let me see if I can cover the main points.  I am on the last case of Apollo Justice and I’m still on the Floating Continent in FF6…mostly because it fills me with unbridled rage and I don’t have enough health potions to move on and I don’t want to have to do it all again by going on the airship and then coming back later.  It’s a bit of a quandary.  Other than that, work stuff has kept me busy lately, Conor and I are PAing for a certain reality TV show that involves singing other people’s songs.  In addition, Buffy is finally no longer on hiatus, I just read the most recent Tales of the Vampires one-off written by Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, and Vasilis Lolos and a 5 issue arc by Jane Espenson is supposed to be coming out soon I believe.

In addition, our merry band of miscreants has been watching an anime series called “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion“.  It’s 50ish episodes total divided into 2 seasons and COMPLETELY worth your time.  I just finished it last night and I feel great about how it ended.  The characters are interesting and consistent, the artwork is decent and though CLAMP did the original character designs they aren’t horrible, and finally and most importantly the writing is really intriguing and subtle.  At times it can be extremely over the top, but I found that my feelings regarding many of the main characters vacillated between extreme hatred and overwhelming sympathy.

I recently started playing through Mass Effect, and it’s still too early for me to make a statement on how I feel about the game, but I must admit that the character models are GREAT and I enjoy the conversation tree system a lot.  The gameplay is taking a lot of getting used to, I’m not very apt at squad based combat but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.  I tend to be a lone, stealthy person and right now Shepherd is bumbling about.

That’s enough rambling, expect something more coherent soon.  Also, I would be remiss not to recommend Endless Frontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga for the DS.  Conor, Terry, and the rest of our merry band have been playing the hell out of it.  Personally, I want to pick up Broken Sword but right now I’m reading a book by Herman Hesse named Narziss and Goldmund and before that I reread Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

-Amanda Seamus

Para começar, como havia”prometido”, os links para download de Lúcifer e Hellblazer:

Hellblazer, nº01 ao nº125:

clique aqui

Lúcifer, nº 01 ao nº75

clique aqui

(Valeu Vertigem!)

Agora, dando continuidade ao post iniciado aqui

Bem, quem conhece o cenário indie de quadrinhos? Assim como o cinema, a música, o “estilo”, há também hqs indies e alternativas, como “Epiléptico“, “Scott Pilgrim“, “5“, “10 pãezinhos“, “Mesmo Delivery“, entre outras hqs independentes.

Uma que pretendo falar é a mini-série em pb, Demo:

Escrita por Brian Wood, que é, entre outras coisas, colaborador da Rockstar Games (ele que desenha as capas e imagens da série GTA) e “criador” da série DMZ do selo Vertigo da DC Comics. As ilutrações, tanto das capas como do interior, são de Becky Cloonan, que entre seus projetos estão a arte de American Virgin e o “encontro” 5, junto comVasilis Lolos e os brasileiros Rafael Grampá e os gêmeos, Gabriel Bá e Fábio Moon.

O que importa é, a mini Demo serve como um reflexo dessa “geração” meio indie. Becky Cloonan faz parte desse meio, seus personagens se vestem como ela. A música esta intimamente ligada a essas passagens da “moda”. Se sente a música nas hq’s demos. Demos pois são curtas, pequenas histórias com personagens jovens e aparentemente comuns, com seus problemas e seus “estilos”.

A grande sacada esta ai, há “poderes” em meio a hq, revelados somente no seu final. O bacana acaba se tornando descobri qual é o “fardo” que cada personagem carrega. Definitivamente uma série necessária e recomendada.

(ps: a última hq os papéis se invertem em dado momento, Brian desenha e Becky escreve. Em forma de prosa, solta… é uma das passagens mais belas da mini)

Os links para download:

Número 1

Número 2

Número 3

Número 4

Número 5

Número 6

Número 7

Número 8

Número 9

Número 10

Número 11

Número 12

Bem, na próxima (assim que eu encontrar) coloco uma história do John Constantine ótima, que é feita toda em cima de um música.

Só preciso me recordar quando e aonde saiu… alguém sabe? (eu vou ter que revirar minhas pilhas e caixas aqui para ver pelo jeito)

E para fechar, um desenho que eu fiz, ouvindo Little Joy:

Eu ainda to fazendo umas coisas, acho q vou pintar no Photoshop e tal… essa versão ta “crua”, só com lápis msm, e o scanner não ajuda, perdeu vários pequenos detalhes….mas tudo bem, só para não perder o costume =D

lucas ticano

Olá Galerê !

Hoje tenho a tarefa de postar sobre algo que particularmente eu adoro: desenhos ! Gosto que veio de meus pais que fizeram técnico em desenho a muitos anos atrás. Ao ver a imagem de John Lennon e Yoko Ono no papel, feito por minha mãe, me apaixonei.
Para representar nosso curso, nada melhor que nosso colega de sala Lucas Fonseca, faz Comunicação em Multimeios na PUC-SP, e está no seu 3º semestre.

” Comecei a desenhar bem novo, com uns 5 anos ja rabiscava qualquer superfície lisa;
 com o tempo, comecei a copiar coisas, desenhos que eu gostava
e depois tentava reproduzir eles, sem ver o original.
como eu lia (leio) muita hq, minha referência maior sempre foi um traço mais de “quadrinhos”
quando mais novo gostava de bolar heróis e fanfics, pequenas histórias só para mim e meus pais
(eventualmente uma série para o pessoal da época do colégio)

A maioria dos meus desenhos são “originais”, não tira de lugares, copio, ou coisa do tipo
nem gosto muito, normalmente tento mais criar… não são nada exemplares comparado com o ramo “profissional” das coisas, mas td bem
a sim, nunca fiz ou frequentei aulas de desenho e essas coisas. No máximo um curso de quadrinização de 6 meses
mas um bom curso de desenho esta em minhas metas “

” Amo os traços de Frank Quitely e Moebius
mas como eles são muito detalhistas e de estilo único, as referencias “de verdade”, que tomo como base para mim são 3:
Ted Benoit , artista francês que participou do movimento “Ligne claire“. Seus traços são simples, limpos e bem definidos. Adoro, mesmo que os meus sejam sujos e rabiscados.
Becky Cloonan, ela tem um traço bem simples, quando quero fazer algo rápido, de caneta, normalmente sai algo parecido com as coisas dela. É leve e cai muito bem em histórias rápidas e mais “sentimentais”, como a mini série Demo. É uma artista indie do novo cenário americano.
Rafael Grampá, esse desenho faz parte de um “encadernado” chamado 5. 5 pq são os 5 nomes principais das hqs indies de hj em dia, alem dos 5 serem amigos. Becky Cloonan, os irmãos Fabio Moon e Gabriel Bá, Vasilis Lolos e Rafael Grampá. Desses 5, 3 são brasileiros, de grande destaque internacional. Acho Rafael Grampá o mais “talentoso” de todos, seu traço é “sujo”, cheio de detalhes. É algo que se aproxima mais do que pretendo “ser”.”

www.flickr.com/lucasfonara

É isso pessoal, espero que tenham gostado dos desenhos !

Beijos Beijos

Depois da decepção que foi a leitura de Crepúsculo, vou dar uma chance a este True Blood, série da HBO sobre vampiros.

A Luíza Lushvargh fez um texto ótimo para O Grito! sobre a série.

Cata.

foto da becky cloonan.

Or: “My Year In Lists, part four: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Just Wish The New Year (So I Wouldn’t Feel Any Different) Was Fucking Here Already!” What do you think, too long?

The year that was: food shortages, scares, and rising costs.

The year in photographs.

50 We know now that we didn’t know this time last year.

Many teens don’t keep their virginity pledges. Good on you, kids.

The coolest movie posters of the year. And big, stupid Hollywood movies to look forward to in 2009.

NYT’s top pictures of the year.

And a whole other kind of best pictures of the year list.

The 7 funniest apolitical skits on SNL this year. Can you believe that there’s actually that many? Ha ha, I can’t!

What you can do to prepare yourself for a post peak oil world, part one.

The 15 best videos of the year (some of them have been around much longer than a year, though).

Insane discoveries that science can’t explain.

2008: Totally the year to take yourself out on a date and enjoy a nice dinner for one. Cause you know, nobody has to know!

The best 100 comics of the year, part 1 (#100 – 81). All I know is that the quite frankly fantastic endings to both All Star Superman and Y The Last Man and maybe even Pixu and definitely Young Liars had better be in the top 5 of this list. Or the conclusion to the second run of Casanova, which has been talked about here before. I could probably go on and on…

Also, here’s NPR’s best graphic novels of the year, a list which includes Local and Paul Pope, which pleases me, but I’m unhappy that it doesn’t mention Three Shadows. Or Bottomless Belly Button.

R.I.P. VHS.

Best book covers of the year.

Top archaeology discoveries of the year.

The most embarrassing moments of campaign 2008.

Top tech breakthroughs of the year. And tech trends to expect in 2009.

Social media predictions for the new year.

Moments that mattered!

The best female bloggers of 2008. And the best male bloggers as well.

30 of the most notable blogs of the year.

2008: The year the geeks took over.

What not to miss in visual art in 2009.

The buzzwords of the year. Personally, I think they forgot “superdelegates.”

Some outrageous predictions for 2009.

Top astronomy pictures of the year.

A rundown of the talented (famous) people who’ve died this year.

15 overlooked deaths in 2008.

Counterforce’s best music of the year, part 1. Part 2. Annnddd part 3.

The wildest rock photos of the year.

Want to catch your favorite band playing on New Year’s Eve? Here’s who’s playing where.

Jesus. Tomorrow’s the last day of the year. Can you believe that? What a long, strange trip it’s been…

Khepri.com is taking pre-orders for Pixu #2. It’s the end of the psychological suspense story started in the SDCC exclusive first issue, written and drawn by Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Gabrial Ba, and Vasilis Lolos. Its definitely worth checking out.

Becky Cloonan, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá e Vasilis Lolos. O mundo já descobriu o quanto é importante ficar de olho nessa trupe. Depois de vencerem o Eisner Awards por melhor antologia (5, ainda disponível em algumas comic-shops por 5 pila), eles emendam projetos e continuam bem articulados, morando em três países diferentes. O novo filhote é Pixu, que chega à segunda edição. A Becky divulgou a capa em seu blog.

O CBR publicou uma matéria sobre o lançamento, onde conta com eles se conheceram. Os gêmeos Moon e Bá encontraram a moça no Comic-Con de 2004, andando pra cima e pra baixo com um grego esquisito, o Vasilis. Àquela época todos eram promessas no mercado editorial americano de quadrinhos. Os brasileiros tinham lançado Ursula, pela AiT/PlanetLar, Cloonan desenhava Demo, de Brian Wood e Lolos era o autor de The Pirates of Coney Island.

A matéria destaca ainda o modo de trabalho desses autores. Mesmo com contatos entre editoras americanas como Oni Press, Image e outras, eles ainda mantém um método bastante independente com relação à feitura e distribuição das HQs. Vide o exemplo de 5 e do primeiro número de Pixu.

Fiz uma entrevista com o Fábio e Gabriel, ano passado, aqui.

The day before I left for San Diego Comic Con, I shared a bit of art by the amazing Josh Middleton, but little did I know that I would get the chance to meet the man himself!

Below is a sketch he drew for me of the character Adam from Steven T. Seagle and Becky Cloonan’s American Virgin (Vertigo Comics).  Josh’s site is here and you can learn about American Virgin here.  This is the cover that Josh drew that made me fall in love with the character.  Of course, once I read an issue I fell in love with Becky Cloonan’s drawings of him as well!  Go get American Virgin from your local comic book dealer!  

Thing is, I used that cover as a focus for a story I was writing in graduate school since he somewhat resembled the main protagonist.  I must have stared at that image on my wall for at least two years (I bought two copies of the comic and ripped off the cover of one to hang up)!  So, it is a great treasure to have an original drawing of the character who inspired so many late night writing sessions!

Thanks, Josh for an amazing sketch!

Look at those soulful eyes!  This is a character who obviously thinks deep thoughts (and has great hair to go with a big brain).

Yesterday I spent the day at Comic-Con International in San Diego serving as Barbie’s professional photograher. I’ll let her walk us through these and provide captions. Take it away, Barbie!

Thanks, Corey! I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what a super-cute and cool chick like me was doing at “Nerd Vegas”. Normally I wouldn’t be caught dead there but that all changed this past weekend!

This is My Comic-Con Adventure!

It all started Friday night… I got back from shopping early and found Ken reading something weird. Like, gross weird.

That’s right, he was reading PORN! (And I think he was doing something with those big green fists, too.)

I couldn’t believe it! It must’ve been something he picked up when we split up. I mean, I know that was a real dark period for him but still, have some class.

He made some lame argument about it not being porn. “It’s a suspenseful sci-fi graphic novel called Girls by the Luna Brothers that examines gender roles and the battle of the sexes,” he said. I don’t know why he was talking like a press release, but whatever. All I see are lots and lots of boobies. Naked ones, at that!

Then he said that comic books and graphic novels are the next big thing. And that most of them don’t have naked boobies. Well you know how much I love the next big thing! So I asked, “Where can I find out more?”

Apparently there’s this big convention every year in San Diego called Comic-Con International. And it just so happened to be going on as we were talking. What a coincidence! Even though San Diego is like a million miles away from Malibu, I said I’d go. But this better not be a trick to get me into porn.

Here’s me in the big crowds of Comic-Con! I arrived Saturday morning super early. There were WAY too many people. More than I could count. Math is hard. Anyway, I had no idea there were so many perverts out there. And with weird fetishes like dressing up in weird costumes. I would NEVER dress up in so many strange outfits.

I walked around a bit and saw tables where they were selling movies. Hey, I like movies!

Uhm… this isn’t the right picture. That’s not even me, I was looking at the Disney movies!

Anyway, as you can see, more porn! How many of these does Ken have? I bet these “examine gender issues”, too. Oh, I was getting so mad! I had to talk to someone. And then I met a kindred spirit.

Flo Jalin was SO sweet! She made me feel much better! (And her outfit was super hot!) She told me that this wasn’t a porn convention or anything and that the convention was about real Hollywood movies and TV shows and video games and all sorts of stuff. She said I would feel better if I walked around and met some people. I was still a little nervous, so she had me loosen up by doing some quick modeling.

Isn’t this fun? I’m standing in for the girl on the cover of Five Color Comics #1 from The Art of Fiction. I don’t know what that weird symbol is at the end of his stick but it looks neat, doesn’t it?

The first real-life comics creator I met was Gris Grimly. His art is creepy but cute and lots of fun! I don’t think he believed that I liked it. He seemed kind of shy, but maybe these comic book people aren’t used to normal, good looking and popular girls liking what they do.

I next snuggled up to Rick Geary. He was a sweet man. He makes these fun postcards and also does these scary books about real-life murder mysteries that take place a million years in the past. Kind of creepy but he was super nice. I don’t think he would’ve murdered me at all!

Scott Shaw! (yes, he really has “the yelling period,” as I like to call it, at the end of his name) was really excited to see me! He was very welcoming and affectionate. He’s drawn like every cartoon ever since ever! He also does this really funny panel called Oddball Comics that I went to and it made me laugh tons! At one point when we were talking I thought he was going to lick my face or something but he said that he was just really thirsty. I thought that was kind of weird but I know he was really busy, so I guess it makes sense.

Scott being thirsty made me realize that I was really hungry! Normally I just ignore hunger, but all this walking around was working up my appetite. The food choice wasn’t the greatest. Fortunately I’m totally rich so the prices didn’t bother me.

Once we finished eating, I heard the most sexy music. This guy was playing saxophone right in the middle of the convention. Who knew? I just had to sit down and listen. It felt like he was playing right to me!

I was looking for toys for my little sister Kelly when I saw my old rivals packed away in a dusty box. I know this probably seems petty but it made me laugh!

I totally forgot I used to have a comic book! I guess people loved them because every table we asked, they said they didn’t have any. I’ll have to talk to my business manager and find out how much money we made on those.

Hey girls, we can make comics, too! Comics aren’t just for boys! Jill Thompson gave me some pointers on how to draw comics. She’s done tons of amazing stuff, like her own graphic novels Scary Godmother and Magic Trixie. And she said I had a knack for drawing comics!

Sitting at the same table was Brian Wood. He’s a super-talented writer. He pulls off the sexy bald thing pretty good. He wrote a comic called Local about this girl who keeps moving to different towns and taking on different jobs and identities. A part of me really relates to her. I thought all comics were naked boobies or muscle-men fighting or fantasy stuff. But the more I’m here, the more I see that comics can be about anything!

Next we met Becky Cloonan, another super-cute, super-cool and super-talented girl in comics. We became fast friends and she turned me on to a bunch of great stuff. She draws American Virgin, which I thought might be more porn, but she said it was about this minister trying to stay pure with all these temptations. I don’t know, it sounded really good and it made me think that maybe Ken wasn’t lying.

Just as things were starting to make sense, I was arrested! This Stormtrooper questioned me for what seemed like hours. I guess I gave him what he wanted because he finally left me alone.

I felt so happy I felt like dancing on someone’s hat.

Fortunately Ben Lichius was there to help me out. He writes The Black Coat, a dashing hero from the Revolutionary War. I don’t know what kind of hat that is, but it was fun grinding on it.

While I was talking to Terry Moore I wanted to show him what Jill Thompson taught me but I didn’t have a pen! I guess artists are really attached to their pens because I had to bug him for an hour to get him to lend me his! God, what happened to encouraging fellow artists? By the time I finally got the pen, I forgot what Jill taught me. So we talked about Terry’s comics. Strangers in Paradise is about two women who like each other. I mean they like like each other. I thought, “Oh great, here comes the naked boobies.” But the story was really good! I hate to say it, but I think the comic was dealing with gender roles. Maybe Ken really WAS reading his comic for the story.

I had to sit down and think. Everything was moving too fast. And then, boy did it!

I thought this giant Optimus Prime robot was going to kill me! But then, some shirtless firefighters saved me!

I thought they were being heroic, but then they started fighting over me!

Fortunately cartoonist Chris Giarrusso saved me and let me put my clothes back on behind his cute and funny graphic novel Mini-Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors.

After all of that excitement, I had to take a break at the G4 booth. The day was coming to an end, and I just needed a little power nap to make it home.

I guess I zonked because when I woke up, Christian Gossett, creator of the sci-fi adventure The Red Star had safely brought me to my car.

I learned a lot at Comic-Con. I learned that comic book people weren’t scary sex addicts. They weren’t porn pushers. They were talented and caring people with wonderful stories to tell.

I drove back to Ken and explained to him everything that happened. Then I read Girls and found out that it really WAS a suspenseful sci-fi graphic novel that examines gender roles and the battle of the sexes. I apologized for jumping to conclusions, and he apologized for not telling me about it sooner.

Then we had great make-up sex.

The End

[See the Flickr page for these pics.]

]]> http://cinemagia.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/grande-premio-para-os-quadrinhos-brasileiros/ Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:29:43 +0000 Tommy Beresford http://cinemagia.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/grande-premio-para-os-quadrinhos-brasileiros/

Do Terra:

Os brasileiros Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá e Rafael Grampá conseguiram nesta sexta-feira um feito inédito na história dos quadrinhos brasileiros. Juntos, ganharam três categorias no Eisner Awards, considerado o “Oscar” do mercado mundial de quadrinhos.

Bá e Moon – que são gêmeos [foto] – tiveram seu trabalho consagrado na premiação. Gabriel Bá venceu na categoria Melhor Série Limitada, com The Umbrella Academy (parceria com o vocalista do grupo de rock My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way). Moon venceu na categoria Melhor História em Quadrinhos Digital, com Sugar shock, parceria com Joss Whedon.

Os gêmeos, junto com Grampá e os americanos Becky Cloonan e Vasilis Lolos venceram a categoria Melhor Antologia, com 5, de criação do grupo.

Leia mais clicando aqui.

O Brasil deixou sua marca no Comic-Con, em San Diego, Estados Unidos. O evento, que é o mais importante evento de quadrinhos e séries de TV do mundo, premiou na noite da última sexta-feira os irmãos Gabriel Bá e Fabio Moon e do quadrinista Rafael Grampá na categoria melhor antologia. O troféu foi conquistado pela revista independente “5″, que inclui também histórias de Becky Cloonan e Vasilis Lolos.

Se não bastasse, Bá subiu outra vez ao palco para receber o prêmio de melhor série limitada por “The Umbrella Academy”, HQ da Dark Horse com roteiro de Gerard Way, da banda My Chemical Romance e desenhos do brasileiro.

Na seqüência da premiação, o “brazuca” Bá foi chamado para entregar o prêmio de melhor HQ digital para o irmão Fábio Moon pela HQ “Sugar Shock”.

É isso aí, o tempero verde-amarelo presente no Comic-Con. Sinceramente, não conheço nem um dos brasileiros em questão, mas com tantos prêmios, os caras devem ser feras.

O Brasil deixou sua marca no Comic-Con, em San Diego, Estados Unidos. O evento, que é o mais importante evento de quadrinhos e séries de TV do mundo, premiou na noite da última sexta-feira os irmãos Gabriel Bá e Fabio Moon e do quadrinista Rafael Grampá na categoria melhor antologia. O troféu foi conquistado pela revista independente “5″, que inclui também histórias de Becky Cloonan e Vasilis Lolos.

Se não bastasse, Bá subiu outra vez ao palco para receber o prêmio de melhor série limitada por “The Umbrella Academy”, HQ da Dark Horse com roteiro de Gerard Way, da banda My Chemical Romance e desenhos do brasileiro.

Na seqüência da premiação, o “brazuca” Bá foi chamado para entregar o prêmio de melhor HQ digital para o irmão Fábio Moon pela HQ “Sugar Shock”.

É isso aí, o tempero verde-amarelo presente no Comic-Con. Sinceramente, não conheço nem um dos brasileiros em questão, mas com tantos prêmios, os caras devem ser feras.

In this week’s column, there’s an update on speculation about Pixie’s status in the post-Messiah Complex X-Men, some stuff about the new Invincible Iron Man ongoing, and speculation about what Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan might be up to…

NEWS: Just as a postscript to our original piece of X-Men speculation, turns out that the image of the team with Pixie is apparently promo/cover art for an original comic that Marvel will be releasing as part of this year’s FCBD. Will it turn out to be as important to the X-Men franchise as last year’s Swing Shift was to Spider-Man? Time will tell. JH

NEWS: Marvel to launch second Iron Man ongoing. As good a writer of modern superheroics as Fraction is, it feels a little like it’s being set up to fail. Sure, the movie buzz will keep it afloat in the short term, but even the Fantastic Four, a far richer stable of characters, couldn’t keep up a second ongoing series for long. I can’t help but wonder what they’re going to do to make this title substantially different from its parent series – it’s an odd move to see, especially when half the reason that the Spider-titles were consolidated was because everyone knew that stuff that happened in the peripheral books didn’t really count towards the character – surely Invincible Iron Man is going to have exactly the same problem? JH

SONG: You’ve probably seen this – from the creator of the brilliant “Hey Hey 16K” – already, but just in case you haven’t… “Alan Moore”, by MJ Hibbett. No words necessary. SP

SPECULATION: Brian Wood, a creator everyone knows I have serious fanboy issues with, is going to giving a joint Q&A with some-time collaborator Becky Cloonan at Wondercon on the 23rd. Brian reposts the press on his blog, which has the following information attached: Brian and Becky will have an exclusive announcement to make during this panel!- while this is sure to be good news, with Wood currently exclusive at Vertigo, Cloonan’s pencilling gig on American Virgin at an end with the cancellation of the title, and the rights to the Demo collection now licensed to DC, there’s a fair chance it’ll be the rumoured sequel series to Demo. If so, that’s utterly fantastic – it’s a series that, alone, managed to contain about 3 of my top 10 comics ever. Whether they announce a direct sequel to Demo, a thematic/structural one, or even something else entirely – it’s got my money already. JH

I almost didn’t review this, because as anyone following the title will know, it’s being axed with issue 23 and if you didn’t buy it, it’s YOUR FAULT. American Virgin is like no other comic out there at the moment, and soon it won’t even be out there itself. It’s always been an ill fit for Vertigo, but the paradox is that if it had come out with another publisher, it probably wouldn’t even made it this far. It’s deeply disappointing that a book dealing with religion, sex and death couldn’t find some kind of audience, because it’s the sort of thing that could’ve really stood out if only the right people had found it, but oh well, presumably this frees up some shelf space for another zombie epic or Sandman rip-off. (Ooh, drama alert!)

As I’ve more or less said, the writing and art in American Virgin have always been high quality. There was a period about 9 issues in where it hit a bit of a slump, but it bounced back in a really big way over the last year. The artwork has done nothing but improve, and I’ll soon be sad to miss out on my monthly hit of Cloonan.

In this issue, Adam travels to Cuba with his extended family to find his real father, which Mamie attempts to dissolve his recent marriage. Particular emphasis is placed in this issue on turning Mamie, who was previously little more than an antagonistic matriarchal dragon, into an interesting and sympathetic character, something Seagle largely achieves without having to have her act against type. The mystery of Adam’s real father is something I’m glad to see tackled, and it’s just a pity that Cyndi’s pregnancy plot – the most interesting mystery left – probably isn’t going to get played out to completion before the title’s last issue. I’m going to be sorry to see AV go when ultimately, its only crime was being TOO original.