Watching the WATCHMEN (Artist)

WATCHMEN and MARTHA WASHINGTON GOES TO WAR artist Dave Gibbons, one of the creators behind the recent GREEN LANTERN renaissance, appeared at Midtown Comics in Manhattan for a signing appearance today. My camera continued not to love me. Still, I took photos and stood idly by instead of attempting an interview due to the sheer daunting scope of the crowd in the cramped comic shop.

Gibbons appeared in New York to promote the forthcoming book, WATCHING THE WATCHMEN, which annotates the series and details the long and winding road to WATCHMEN's film adaption.

I appeared late to the signing, but an hour and fifty minutes into the two-hour signing appearance, Gibbons retained a pretty imposing line of folks waiting for signatures and sketches.

Robert Kirkman on Broadway

While it's a sure thing I'm not the only one who thinks Walking Dead: The Musical is a genius concept, for now when I say “Robert Kirkman on Broadway,” it's going to have to just mean that the Kentucky native (that's right, Chuck—represent!) has made his way to my fair city for a signing appearance at Forbidden Planet at the corner of 13^th and Broadway.

Less than a block from The Strand Books, where last night Chip Kidd appeared to speak on his new book Bat-Manga and where immediately following my meeting with Kirkman I was able to procure a copy of Booster Gold: The Blue & Gold, because apparently street dates mean nothing in this city, Forbidden Planet is one of the biggest and best comic stores in New York.

Kirkman, author of Battle Pope, Brit, Invincible, The Astounding Wolf-Man, The Walking Dead and a mess of other stuff, appeared at Forbidden Planet today and, because I arrived after the initial rush of people (the crowd was rowdy enough that signs were placed on the door reading “Line for Robert Kirkman forms inside”), he was relaxed, cordial and joking that because the crowds were manageable, it meant that he wasn't as popular as Forbidden Planet had reckoned.

It was a nice little appearance, and one that bodes well for Comic Related, as Kirkman communicated a willingness and a desire to work with us on stories in the future. After a brief conversation about the movie An Unreasonable Man, Kirkman instructed me that my next interview request should indicate that I'm “The Ralph Nader Guy” from Forbidden Planet, and that he'll be happy to have a conversation. So look for that the next time The Walking Dead comes out!

Related Recap

Tonight's Related Recap will be very Russ-heavy. I've got Lukas Ketner and Ted Rall on tap, fresh from their work on Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Steal Back Your Vote graphic novel. Also, as previously announced, we have an interview with Terry Moore, creator of Strangers in Paradise and Echo and current writer of Marvel titles Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and Runaways.

More news to come, as a Comic Related Halloween Podcast isn't out of the question.

Zinn For Nader

Howard Zinn now says he's voting for Nader.

The famous historian lives in Massachusetts, where Obama is ahead by 20 points.

Zinn created a stir earlier when he said he was voting for Obama.

He legitimately took some heat for supporting the corporate Obama.

But late last night, Zinn admitted in an e-mail to our campaign that he made a mistake and now says he will vote for Nader.

And Zinn urges all people of conscience to vote for the true progressive in slam dunk states.

Of which there are now many.

(Zinn says that in non slam dunk states, he urges people to vote for Obama. We obviously disagree with that bit of advice.)

Or as Ralph Nader put it today:

"A vote for Nader/Gonzalez on November, rather than being wasted by piling onto an Obama landslide or McCain implosion, will produce a stronger hammer and watchdog for what millions of Americans want -- including public Medicare for all with private delivery and a living wage for the one in three workers who don't make one."

"Unless millions of voters of conscience choose the progressive hammer and watchdog of Nader/Gonzalez, millions of votes will be tactically wasted and serve only to increase the mandateless landslide of Barack Obama."

So, if you are ambivalent about this election, fear not.

If you live in a slam dunk state, follow the advice of Howard Zinn.

Vote Independent.

Vote Nader for President.

Terry Moore on the Related Recap

It's been about a month in the making, and was something we didn't want to spill until we were sure it would happen, but I just completed a 20-minute interview with Echo and Strangers in Paradise creator Terry Moore for The Related Recap! Originally proposed as a quickie interview to accompany a review of Echo: Moon Lake, Chuck and I knew as soon as he agreed that any conversation with Terry Moore had to happen on tape.

In the conversation, we talk about Echo, the challenges of running his own comic company, Moore's philosophy on collected editions (much more akin to the philosophy of most fans than you'll hear from any of the mainstream publishers, I assure you) and an upcoming deluxe, hardcover omnibus of Strangers in Paradise.

Moore was a genuinely friendly and soft-spoken man who seemed frankly flabbergasted when I told him that Chuck Moore and I considered Strangers in Paradise probably the greatest overall accomplishment in American comics. I'm already looking forward to the next time we can get him on the show!

Conscientious Sequentials: The Comic!

Maybe that's not what I'll call the book, I dunno. But those of you who have been reading this blog or checking out the site know that I put together a 24-page comic yesterday. I wrote and penciled it already, and am going to be inking, scanning and lettering nonstop to get it done by Tuesday or Wednesday, at which point I'll be offering it for sale online. However, like the Steal Back Your Vote comic that I helped spearhead for Greg Palast, I'll be offering this comic for the low, low price of "Whatever you want to pay." Paypal me anything from a penny up to capninternet@gmail.com, and I'll send you a PDF, DOC or CBR of the finished book. I'm going to donate half of the proceeds, so when you contact me, let me know if you'd like half of whatever you pay (unless it's a penny, those I'll keep) to any of the following:

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
The HERO Initiative
Ralph Nader for President
The Palast Investigative Fund
ComicRelated (I'll give it to Chuck for equipment and such)

If you have another charitable or political organization you'd like to make me donate to, let me know. I'm not picky. These are the ones I'm already working with, but if you want me to donate to Obama/McCain/Greenpeace/the NRA, I'll do it. It's your nickel and really the idea of the "splitting the money" is to make myself feel like more of an activist and less of a whore. Anyone who buys a comic and doesn't specify where the money goes, I'll be splitting up whatever I make between those groups and handing it out (I don't expect it to be much, so you small publishing types can save yourself the headache of saying, "This'll probably be two bucks a group," or anything smart like that).

Contact me at russell@comicrelated.com if you want a sample of the art (it'll be a day or two) before you buy. In the meantime, I'll be working on a solicitation for the issue so that y'all know what you're looking at. That'll be on the blog and the boards by the end of the day.

24-Hour Comic Book Day Status Update 2: Electric Bugaloo

Just over the halfway point in terms of story development, as I've got 12 pages scripted and penciled, and I've created a very nice little device to hold together what has rapidly become a series of vignettes. I don't know if that's cheating a bit, since they aren't technically “a story,” but it's going to be 24 pages of comics, and they'll be written in a day, and the device will hold them together to be debatably one larger story. I'm getting tired and hungry and have lost much faith that the book will be fully inked by the end of the day, but inking and lettering are less of a concern because if it's written and penciled, I'm not going to back out of the inking and lettering. So all I have to do is lay it out and script it and the damned book is basically done.

My clothes have changed because I walked my beautiful girlfriend to the subway and didn't want to do so in the same t-shirt I'd been wearing around for 30 hours.

24-Hour Comic Book Day Status Update

So I've got 8 pages loosely penciled and laid out. There's a basic script for two stories--the first, five pages, is already finished and the second is about halfway drawn, which will be 8-10 pages. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do to fill out the remaining pages and hours, but it'll probably involve inking what I've got to that point and brainstorming while I do so. I expect to do the lettering later this week, once the art has been scanned, but I'll upload a text for the stories to the blog(s) once it's completed.

The first story is "World Without a Crusader," wherein a whiny Democratic voter who bemoans "why Ralph Nader ever bothered us in the first place" is taken by a Serling-like, suited companion to a world where Ralph Nader was never born--someplace where Americans are fatter than hell because there's no nutritional information anywhere, ignorant of any number of government activities because there's no Freedom of Information Act, and still dying in the tens of thousands from preventable road injuries and food poisoning because Nader wasn't there to hassle General Motors or the FDA.

The second story revolves around Cap'n Internet, and the first time HTMLad was old enough to vote. Since my current Cap story is going to get rid of the kid sidekick, this is the last time we'll actually see him on-page unless I decide to make him not-gone, but that's not foreseeable.

First Sketch for Free Comic Book Day

It's Paulson, pulling the strings on McCain and Obama. It'll eventually say, "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAIN BEHIND THE BAILOUT."

Manhunter Canceled...Again.

Eight issues.

That's how long Marc Andreyko's Manhunter lasted this time around, before DC decided to cancel the critically-acclaimed, low-selling series. The final issue will reportedly be January's #38.

After Comics Continuum got wind of the story last night, Andreyko confirmed the cancellation today, saying on his Facebook page, “Marc Andreyko sadly announces Manhunter's cancellation. Again.” Andreyko then implored fans—and particularly retailers—to engage in a letter-writing campaign to DC to save the book. This would be the third such campaign on behalf of the beleaguered title, and a website—SaveManhunter.com—has remained functioning since before the first cancellation, never abandoning their site merely because the book had once again been “saved.”

The series was previously canceled at issues #25, given a five issue “trial period” and re-canceled at #30. The recent relaunch, with artist Michael Gaydos, began in April with #31. Andreyko had told ComicRelated that with the relaunch, the book was being viewed by the publisher as a forum to examine social and political issues in the context of the DC Universe. They have explored similar territory with their election-themed miniseries DC Universe: Decisions by Bill Willingham and Judd Winick.

Manhunter's first arc back will end with November's #36; it dealt with immigration, human rights, medical ethics and a number of related issues. The second arc was originally slated to deal with abortion, as was hinted in the final pages of #30, but it remains to be seen what will happen to that story, as Andreyko indicated to ComicRelated that it was a six-part story and that the book is currently slated to end two parts in.

Whether series protagonist Kate Spencer will appear in other DC Universe books in the absence of her ongoing series is unclear, but it seems likely. When the series was canceled after #30, the character was added to the cast of the all-girl superteam Birds of Prey as a way of keeping her in circulation. It seems likely that Manhunter will remain there as a member of the team, since the Birds of Prey have guest-starred in the current story arc in Manhunter.

When reached for comment, Andreyko said that he would be available to ComicRelated later today, so expect updates as the story develops.