Periscope: Portland's storyboard and comics studio.

The American Library Association has the complete list of nominees for the Young Adult Library Services Association's list of Great Graphic Novels. Special congrats to Periscope's own Jesse Hamm for the Good As Lily nomination and Jeff Parker for Agents of Atlas.

Labels: Agents of Atlas, Good as Lily, Jeff Parker, Jesse Hamm

Jeff Parker interviewed at Newsarama about his work on Marvel's All-Ages books.

"Usually I write out pitches for the stories, but the Ego (as the universe's biggest playah) one was so clear to me that I called Nate Cosby and just told it to him, describing things like seeing the Moon by itself in space while Ego assumed Earth was a single mother with a shortie - and he's cool with that. My favorite bit is Hulk pounding on Ego's surface screaming "Earth just want to be friend!" Sometimes these weird notions won't go away, so I run them by the editors to see if they make sense."

Labels: Jeff Parker

Jeff parker reports that

several early copies of X-Men First Class #6 that have pages seriously out of order. Like, the Colleen Coover cartoon falls in the middle of the book now, out of order. I assume Marvel will tell shops to hold on to these books while they make the printer fix things, but just in case watch out this Thursday. This is especially irksome because I was excited about the new storyline starting, and we have the longest Coover story yet. Oh well, it’s not like an asteroid is headed directly for Earth or anything. Which it isn’t.

Here's the cover, drawn by Eric Nguyen. In a better world I'd also be able to show you a panel or two from Colleen Coover's backup story, but that would be a world in which I'm not in Ohio right now.

Labels: Colleen Coover, Jeff Parker, X-men First Class

"You can almost always tell an artist what really needs to happen in a scene, and she will have opinions on how that should all go down. And she’ll be taking composition into consideration, and balancing lots of visual elements. Can you do that? It’s not really necessary with a good artist, she’ll do it anyway. But if that isn’t a strength of yours, then don’t impose such notes on our artist. Then you’re just Sam Phillips at Sun Records walking in the recording room and telling Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins how to sing."

Jeff Parker has an essay up on writing for artists: Part One | Part Two

Labels: career advice, Jeff Parker

Colleen Coover's Rom:

Jeff Parker's Rom:


And we've got more Roms by Jonathan Case and Steve Lieber. Find out why so many top cartoonists are drawing Rom:Spaceknight.

Labels: Colleen Coover, Jeff Parker, Rom

As Paul works on his coffee table tome Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel, he maintains an elusive political stance. Is Boilerplate right-wing military history, or left-wing social history? Getting clues from his personal life can be equally confusing. He was involved with peace movements before America went into Iraq, but a few weeks ago it looked like he was training for a contractor position over there. He's posted pictures of an adventure in the woods with his dog--and guns with telescopic sights! Donations are being accepted to help with Paul's bipolar disorder...

In other news, reviewers and fans are still going nuts for Jeff Parker's work. Dem's good reading, Comixfan , Comic Book Resources , Comic Pants.

And here's a terrific interview with Portland's own Kevin Moore, author/artist of the great all-ages comic WANDERLOST (formerly known as "Sheldon.")

Labels: Jeff Parker, Kevin Moore, Paul Guinan

"This happens to the story's main character, and I don't know how Ryan could have done it any better. We get a remarkably vivid sense of the frustration and confusion she feels, and artist Dylan Meconis is up to the task, enhancing and adding nuance. "

Johnny Bacardi reviews Sara Ryan and Dylan Meconis' CLICK.(Read the whole comic online for free.) He also reviews Flytrap #3, illustrated by Ron Chan, and X-Men First Class #3, written by Jeff parker and featuring a backup illustrated by Colleen Coover.

Colleen's work is also under discussion at Millarworld, where they're talking about adult comics, and everyone agrees that she's one of the best out there. If you've got an opinion on the matter, join in!

And David Hahn's Bite Club just got a rave review over at It's Thursday, I'm in Love

So, no word from blogspot on getting rid of the blogjacking spammer yet. If anyone reading this knows anyone who works for blogger/blogspot, any contact there would be hugely appreciated.

Labels: David Hahn, Dylan Meconis, Jeff Parker, ron chan, Sara Ryan

"Jeff Parker and Colleen Coover have a four page back-up story in today’s X-Men: First Class #3 from Marvel Comics. In it, Marvel Girl and the Scarlet Witch team up to bond over shopping, and stop an attempted robbery.

I’ve been reading comics for about 30 years now, and I loved the fact that the characters are actually, you know, IN CHARACTER. They’re not angsty and filled with rage, or crazy, or broken."

Pink Raygun checked out the latest issue of X-men First Class, and they like what they saw.
And since I found them on the desktop of this computer, here are a couple of panels from the story:

Labels: Colleen Coover, Jeff Parker

Jeff Parker's tribute to Mike Wieringo, with great photos.

Labels: Jeff Parker

Sorry, I don't have part two of the con report yet.


From the calendar at Powell's Books:
The first serious, readable, provocative, canon-smashing book of comics criticism by the leading critic in the field, Douglas Wolk's Reading Comics (Da Capo Press) illuminates the most dazzling creators of modern comics — from Alan Moore and Alison Bechdel to Dave Sim and Chris Ware — and introduces a critical theory that explains where each fits into the pantheon of art. This event includes a panel discussion on graphic novels, featuring Wolk, Whiteout artist Steve Lieber, and a late addition to the line-up: Agents of Atlas author Jeff Parker!

Karl Kesel sends along one of his con sketches:


And we asked Jonathan Case about his con experience and in his radio-trained voice, he replied:"It was a big opportunity for me to meet people on both the publishing and creative side of the business, folks like Jeff Smith and Brett Warnock. It was great to get such a positive response to my work!" He's only got a few of his excellent Seafreak preview booklets left, but if you blog about comics and would like one, email us your address at periscope.studio(at)gmail.com and we'll send one out.

Labels: Douglas Wolk, Jeff Parker, Jonathan Case, Steve Lieber

From Parker's blog:

Some of you are pretty proactive about the Marvel Adventures books, so if you’re looking for somewhere to talk about the Avengers one, may I suggest popping in to Avengers Forever.org, or Comic Book Resources or ComicBoards? Every week I find people who simply didn’t know the book existed who liked it once they knew it did. And now would be a REALLY GOOD TIME to remind everyone to order the Giant Size issue with the Agents of Atlas in it to show that a fanbase is growing for the book. I’M JUST SAYING.

Labels: Agents of Atlas, Jeff Parker

Extra TV made a visit to the Whiteout set and shot this interview with Kate Beckinsale. Turn down the sound on your computer so you don't have to hear the creepy-ass voice-over guy. This was actually filmed one of the days I was there. And hey, as long as Warner Bros is showing a bit of the look of the film, I guess I might as well put up a few of my sketchbook doodles from the set:


Kate Beckinsale and Gabriel Macht, in character.


Executive Producer Don Carmody


A tech waitiing for instructions.


Director of Photography Chris Soos


Director Dominic Sena. When his focus got intense, he'd sort of "conduct" along with the action, moving his hands like there was an orchestra in front of him.

Our daily list of Jeff Parker raves: Scans Daily | Face rockery | London Loves Comics | Johanna Draper's Comics Worth Reading | Wednesday's Haul | Newsarama

Those Newsarama and Scans Daily links also have comics in them for you to read.

Here's a sharp review of a favorite webcomic of mine- Planet Saturday, by Pittsburgh-based illustrator Monty Kane.

Douglas Wolk writes us:

Hi, my dear Portland friends--

As most of you know, I've got a book that comes out this week:
"Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean." There's
going to be a release party for it, too: a First Thursday event this
Thursday evening, July 5, from 6 to 10 PM. It's at Floating World
Comics, an awesome little comics-and-art-book store at 20 NW Fifth
Ave. #101, between Burnside and Couch; their number is 503.241.0227.
The "Reading Comics" release party doubles as an art opening and book
release party for Jeremy Tinder's book "Black Ghost Apple Factory."
It should be a good time.

Jeremy also made a poster for the party, which you can see here.

Here's a sketch from Jonathan Case of a character from his GN in progress, Sea Freak.


-Steve Lieber, posting for Periscope.

Labels: Douglas Wolk, Jeff Parker, Jonathan Case, Sea Freak, Steve Lieber, whiteout movie

This just in from New York magazine:

All week on the Comics Page, we're excerpting Good As Lily, a charming English-language manga written by Derek Kirk Kim and drawn by Jesse Hamm, coming in August from Minx.

Read the first of five installments.

Also, some great reviews of Jeff Parker and Mike Wieringo's Spider-man/Fantastic Four miniseries. Kleefeld | Zodarzone | Every Day is like Wednesday | Living Between Wednesdays |

Labels: Good as Lily, Jeff Parker, Jesse Hamm

The Portland Tribune picked up on our show at Floating World and has some art. And that show, by the way is at 20 N.W. Fifth Ave. #101, Call 503-241-0227 for more info. (Special thanks to VJ for reminding us that information like the address of an event can come in handy.)

This is the sort of thing that Jesse blogs about better than I do, but I followed a Journalista link to Austin Kleon's post about "one point" perspective and thought it needed some sort of reply. (And I posted one there as well as here.) I won't quote Austin's post because most of it is images, but just to clarify I think the term he meant to use was “linear perspective” not "one-point perspective." One-point perspective is a type of linear perspective. It’s used when there is only one vanishing point needed to construct an object or a space in a picture.

Obviously when says “death to one point perspective” it’s just fun hyperbole, but I think in rejecting linear perspective, he's throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It’s an extremely useful system for describing basic physical facts in a picture, like the distance between objects or their relative size. And offering readers the illusion of varying degrees of depth throughout the pages of a comic does a lot to keep the eye interested.

What else? Jeff Parker's Walk-In is becoming a sleeper favorite with the people who've found it. Here's a review of the first five issues.

Also Parker-centric: this reviewer declares Marvel Adventures:The Avengers #12 "absolute genius."

Comic-Con has announced that they're "currently talking to the major Hollywood studios and the following films are under consideration for presentations at this year's event."

Alien vs. Predator 2: No Peace On Earth, American Gangster, Babylon A.D., Balls of Fury, Beowulf, The Bourne Ultimatum, Coraline, Fred Claus, Get Smart, The Golden Compass, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, I Am Legend, The Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones 4, The Invasion, Iron Man, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Resident Evil: Extinction, Speed Racer, The Strangers, Stardust, Star Trek, Sunshine, Sweeney Todd, 30 Days of Night, Trick 'r Treat, Wanted, Where the Wild Things Are, White Out

I think that last one is actually this:

This means there might be a big panel promoting the movie at SDCC, which means I'll have to actually stand up, leave my chair in artists alley and cross the floor in the middle of Comicon. I'm... I'm not sure if I'm ready for that.

Labels: gallery, Jeff Parker, nerdism, whiteout movie

Steve here. I'm still in Ohio. There was a bit of excitement today when I sprinted across a lawn to put myself between a reckless toddler and a hot barbeque. As a reward for my heroism, an albino squirrel was revealed unto me.

I'm in Ohio. I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of squirrels, I just made my very first post to Scans Daily, and it's, well, sort of squirrel-centric.

My god, two squirrel-related items in a row. I wonder if this means it's time for Milo to re-assemble the troops. Maybe not, but at the very least it's an excellent excuse to mention that Tom Spurgeon has put up his ungodly huge, impossibly thorough San Diego Comicon guide, and to make the link to it this picture of Tom standing at SDCC with a squirrel for a head.

Labels: Jeff Parker, squirrels, Steve Lieber

For the past couple months, we've been pacing impatiently around the studio waiting for Jeff Parker's X-Men First Class Special to come out. Of course everyone was thrilled to see the Kevin Nowlan pages as they came in, and the Nick Dragoda/ Mike Allred story was a hoot, but what really had us shaking was this: "Will the Colleen Coover pages make the internet's collective head explode?" How can I put this diplomatically? Um...How about this: Not all comics fans are able to handle the idea of their funnybooks containing stuff that's funny. Well, the book came out last week and the reaction, I'm pleased and relieved to say, was better than we'd dreamed.

Bully says it best and notes the existence of a possible department of stealth humor at Marvel. We can neither confirm nor deny, though we were glad to see that he also tipped his hat to Parker's Marvel Adventures:The Avengers and David Hahn's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Others who weighed in with praise include:Zodarzone | Blake Petit |Living Between Wednesdays |
The ISB |Phonin' it in | Comic Pants |Comics Should be Good |Silver Bullet |Gad Sir, Comics. |CGSPodcast board (this one's evenly divided between the yeas and the nays.) | and, of course, the good people at Scans Daily have put up one of Colleen's three pages and have taken the most important question to the people: Which is cuter: ducklings or otters?



For what it's worth, I've given the matter some careful thought, and I think that Hank's got it right:


EDIT: I forgot to add, Colleen and Jeff would LOVE to do more stories like these, but it's only going to happen if you let Marvel know you want more. Write and let Marvel know at mondomarvel@marvel.com

Labels: Colleen Coover, Jeff Parker

None of us remembered to bring a camera to FCBD. Fortunately, Aaron Albert of About.com has put up a cool gallery of photos of the day. Here's one:


Two Reviews of the FCBD edition of WHITEOUT. Douglas Wolk surveyed the entire slate of titles for Salon. And this one is easily my most favoritest review ever, EVER: Blogger Laura Hudson's mom

And don't miss this interview with Parker, or more importantly, the alarming photo mash-up thing they did.

Labels: Colleen Coover, free comic book day, Jeff Parker, whiteout

Scans Daily looks in at the Grendel miniseries I did many years ago. They also had an epic thread appreciating the latest issue of Jeff Parker and Juan Santacruz's Marvel Adventures Avengers #12. (Though they do manage to get through sixty-some posts without ever mentioning Juan or Jeff. Hey Scans people, these stories don't just happen. If you like the stuff enough to scan and upload it, why not take that extra second and mention the names of the people responsible? (My mock-outrage is purely on Jeff and Juan's behalf- the Grendel piece credited both me and the writer Jeff Lang.)

Ahem, sorry. Actually, a lot of people are talking about that particular issue of Marvel Adventures Avengers. It's the "Ego the Loving Planet" story: M C Sheffrey | Progressive Ruin | CBR | Eye on Comics | Warren Peace | Those Wednesdays | Every day is like Wednesday | HC Realms

Sam Hobart's Free Comic Book Day analysis says that getting behind Whiteout is "a no-brainer" and hopes that the movie will continue its development. For more on that, we check in at Greg Rucka's livejournal.

And finally, lets all take a moment and contemplate the existence of a comics-themed bed and breakfast.This place could've been AWESOME, in the mode of the Sylvia Beach Hotel but it looks to me like they didn't push the concept anywhere near as far as they should've.

Labels: Jeff Parker, whiteout movie

"So what was good? First rule: look for Jeff Parker’s name."
Johanna Draper Carlson talks about new superhero comics

Here's the first part of an interview with Too Much Coffee Man auteur Shannon Wheeler

"it’s a homecoming film of sorts for one of the city’s most talented creative duos, the brothers Jacob and Arnold Pander. They describe “Selfless" as a “sexy psychological thriller about the corrosive nature of ego and obsession.”"
The Portland Tribune looks atthe Pander brothers' move into film making.

The Scans Daily Community is talking about David Hahn's debut on Spider-man loves Mary Jane.

Finally, if you haven't seen it yet, go read Jeff Parker's tribute to his cat. Bring kleenex.

Labels: David Hahn, Jeff Parker, personal tragedy

Doritos and Feet
So, we've had this vexing question that's annoyed and puzzled us for years. Yesterday, we decided to take action and see if there's an answer. We wrote a letter to the customer service manager of Alvin & Company.

Hi. First, I should note that I realize this might sound like a prank question, but honestly, it isn't.

I'm part of a studio of comic book artists and we all use Alvin ellipse templates. We all bought them at different times, from different retailers, but they *all* have the same cheesey mildew smell, even the set that someone just bought this week.

It's finally sunk in that we might be able to do something about this. Before we risk ruining an expensive set of templates by washing them in a bleach solution, we were hoping you'd have a suggestion. Is there a recommended way to clean them (and the clear plastic envelopes they came in) that would get rid of that unpleasant smell?

Steve Lieber
Mercury Studio
http://mercurystudio.blogspot.com

And no, this wasn't a prank. The templates are great. They're lightweight, strong, and well-marked, but they smell like a bowl of doritos and feet. So anyway, the reply came today.

We know this is not a prank question.

See?

Unfortunately this is a line of product that we have this issue with.

We do not recommend a bleach solution. They can be washed with a mild soap to clean them, but that may not do anything for the smell. The only remedy for the smell is time. Eventually the smell should subside.

(name withheld)
Customer Service Manager
Alvin & Co.
www.alvinco.com

So that's that. The only solution is time.

Whiteout Movie
Some nice news in Variety today:

Sena to direct 'Whiteout'
Action-thriller is first Dark Castle film
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

Dominic Sena will direct Kate Beckinsale in action-thriller "Whiteout," the first movie to go into production under Joel Silver's new Dark Castle Entertainment genre label.

Warner Bros. will distribute the pic, based on Greg Rucka's 1999 comicbook miniseries of the same name. Scribes Jon and Erich Hoeber are adapting for the bigscreen.

Dark Castle Prods., a unit launched last fall within Warners-based Silver Pictures, is backed by more than $240 million from 15 different investment firms. Coin will be used to finance 15 pics over the next six years, with Warners distribbing the entire slate.

Silver has sole greenlight authority under the terms of the deal. He also has full creative control. Film budgets are expected to be in the $15 million-$40 million range.

"Whiteout" is set to begin lensing March 5 in Montreal.

I'd like to say I'm starting to believe this might actually happen, but my brain doesn't work that way. Truth is, I won't fully believe any of this is real until I see the DVDs on the blowout rack at Blockbuster.

Jeff Parker continues to bask in the admiration of people who think the comics medium can delever "entertainment."

Rack Raids | The ISB | Lone Star Comics | Jonny Bacardi | Don MacPeherson's Eye on Comics.

Meeting David Hahn
Just found this. It's a bloggers con storystory of how he met the artist of Bite Club and Private Beach.

Family Man

Dylan Meconis has posted page 49 of her ongoing serial Family Man, which means, she notes, that "the comic has officially covered 24 hours in the life of the unusual and imperfect Levy family. Phew." Go Dylan!

-posted by Steve Lieber

Labels: art supplies, David Hahn, Dylan Meconis, Jeff Parker, Steve Lieber, whiteout movie